64 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



moved. This mass had the consistence of the white substance 

 of the brain, and presented a perfect continuity with the 

 cerebral peduncles, which had not been removed. It had 

 the form of the two hemispheres, presenting a cavity filled 

 with liquid and a septum. The whole mass consisted of per- 

 fect primitive fibres of double contour, and, in their meshes, 

 ganglionic cells. 1 



This observation is certainly one of the most remarkable 

 on record, and, from the extraordinary character of its 

 results, would hardly be accepted for a moment, but for the 

 established reputation of Prof. Voit. As it is, such an ob- 

 servation demands full confirmation. It is well known to all 

 who have been in the habit of removing the cerebral lobes, 

 that it is absolutely necessary to remove every portion of 

 their substance, in order to obtain uniform results, and that 

 this is accomplished sometimes with considerable difficulty. 

 In demonstrations to a medical class, we have frequently 

 verified this fact, and have observed recovery, more or less 

 complete, when but a small portion of the posterior lobes 

 escaped. This criticism upon the remarkable observation 

 just detailed is made by Yulpian, 2 and its pertinence will be 

 recognized by every practical physiologist. "We have only 

 to study the experiments first made by Flourens, to learn 

 how, in the lower animals, a part of one of the great central 

 ganglia may gradually assume the function of the whole, after 

 this function has been interrupted by the first mutilation. 3 



"We have cited the essential points in this observation 

 because it has been so extensively commented upon by 

 physiologists, but it is far from establishing the principle 

 that a great nervous centre, like the cerebrum, may be ana- 

 tomically and functionally regenerated after extirpation. 



1 C. VOIT, Phenomenes qui suivent Vdblation des hemispheres du cerveau cJiez 

 les pigeons (Academic des Sciences de Munich], traduit de T allemand par le Dr. 

 RABUTEAU. Revue des cours scientifiques, Paris, 1869, tome vi., p. 256. 



2 VULPIAN, Archives de physiologic, Paris, 1869, tome ii., p. 802. 



3 FLOURENS, Recherches experimentales sur les proprietesel lesfonclions du sys- 

 teme nerveux, Paris, 1842, p. 100. 



