260 Wilson Philip nnthe 



.well-proportioned, and seemed in perfect health. It moved its 

 limbs with agility, swallowed well, and took a sufficient quantity 

 of nourishment. All the external organs of sense were per- 

 fect. The eyes were as full and lively as in any other child of 

 the same age. The iris evidently contracted on the application 

 of light, and from some other observations which Dr. Heysham 

 then made, he had no doubt that vision was perfect." (Page 447.) 

 A similar case is given on the authority of Sir Everard Home, 

 where the only appearance of brain was a little medullary pulp 

 behind the orbits. Are we to conclude from such cases, that 

 the sensorial power has no dependance on the brain ? 



The following are the only facts with which I am acquainted, 

 that tend to throw light on this very obscure subject. In other 

 instances we see the functions of vital organs going on, when, 

 as far as we can judge by inspecting the organs, the structure 

 on which these functions depend is wholly lost. Those who 

 are in the habit of seeing the dissection of phthisical subjects, 

 know how strikingly this observation is sometimes illustrated 

 by the state of the lungs. The brain, it appears from many 

 observations, admits under certain circumstances of a great 

 degree of distension and compression, without its functions 

 being materially deranged. If we suppose that it possesses 

 these properties to such a degree as occasionally to admit of 

 being thinned to a membrane, or contracted to a small nob, 

 without its functions being deranged, the above cases may be 

 explained. It also deserves particular attention in considering 

 such cases, that it appears from the experiments of M. Le Gallois, 

 in which, beginning from the upper part, he gradually sliced 

 off the brain and cerebellum, that the functions of the eighth 

 pair of nerves, on which both the sensorial power employed in 

 respiration, and the power of secretion in the viscera, as fai* as 

 the brain is concerned, chiefly depend, contmued after the whole 

 of both organs had been removed, except the parts in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of the origin of these nerves, parts 

 hardly admitted to belong to the brain. But in the present 

 state of our knowledge, it would be profitless fb pursue this 

 subject farther. It is enough to remind the reader that Dr. 



