106 Dr. A. P. W. Philip on the 



the presence of the above-mentioned committee. These results, 

 however, do not seem to warrant the inferences which both he 

 and that committee draw from them. 



There are two ways in which we may account for the power 

 of the heart being destroyed in M, le Gallois' experiment. 

 Either it derives its power from the spinal marrow, and conse- 

 quently loses it, on the destruction of the whole or a consi- 

 derable part of this organ, or deriving its power from some 

 other source, it is influenced by agents affecting the spinal 

 marrow. It was incumbent on M. le Gallois therefore to 

 ascertain by experiment in which of these ways crushing the 

 spinal marrow produces the effect he observed. In order to 

 ascertain whether the spinal marrow possesses a power over 

 the heart not possessed by the brain, the brain and spinal 

 marrow should have been placed under the same circum- 

 stances in M. le Gallois' experiments. They ought both to 

 have been removed, or both crushed. 



On placing them under the same circumstances, I found the 

 relation they bear to the heart the same*. Its power is nearly 

 destroyed by crushing either, but uninfluenced by the removal of 

 either. When the head of a rabbit is cut off, after a ligature 

 has been thrown round the neck to prevent hemorrhagy, the 

 heart continues to beat with unimpaired vigour. But when the 

 brain is suddenly crushed, the power of the heart is instantly so 

 enfeebled, that it can no longer propel the blood. When, 

 on the other hand, the spinal marrow, instead of being sud- 

 denly crushed as in M. le Gallois' experiments, is slowly 

 destroyed or merely removed, the action of the heart continues 

 unimpaired f. It thus appears that the power of the heart 

 is equally independent of the brain and spinal marrow, but may 

 be influenced through either]:. 



Similar observations apply to M. le Gallois' opinion of the 



* Experimental Inquiry into the Laws of the Vital Functions, second 

 edition, Exper. 19, 20, 21. f lb. Exper. 2,3, 4, 5, &c. 



X Both M. le Gallois and the Committee forg-et what the latter had just 

 stated, that the heart continues to beat after it is removed from the body. 



I 



