the Doétrine of Materialifm. 39 
*: primis vertebris excipitur - -- - SPHACELO* in- 
* vente funt correpte.” f 
The fpinal marrow, where it leaves the head, 
has been feen greatly injured, in other cafes, where 
no change in the thinking powers had been obferved.t 
It anfwers my purpofe to remark, that in thefe 
different partial injuries, which we have followed 
round the brain, Reafon has not been affected fooner 
than Life, but objections lie againft the conclufion 
which I wifh to draw from the facts. 
The principal objection that occurs to me, is that 
the medullary fibres of the brain decuffate and 
intermix with each other, on the Pons Varolii, and 
at the beginning of the medulla oblongata. || In 
confequence of this connection, it is eafy to explain 
feveral phenomena in difeafes, efpecially in palfies, 
which otherwife appear difficult; and in this way, 
it may be faid, when one part of the brain is deeply 
injured, or deftroyed, the lofs of its activity is 
unfelt, becaufe, in a healthy ftate, the oppofite parts 
have formed a habit of interchanging impreffions 
with each other. A fimple encreafe of activity, 
therefore, 
* That Sphacelus may take place in the brain, ig 
allowed by Morgagni. De Caus, et fed. Morb. p. 50. 
+ Bonnet, Anatom. Praétic, p. 42. 
+ Bonnet. Id. p. 352. Ephem. Nat. Curios, T, 6. 
Obf. 1723. Wepfer. Hift. Apopleé. p. 379. 
| See Winflow’s Anat. fud titulo, 
