116 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



was left entire. In others the brain was me- 

 chanically disorganised by means of an instru- 

 ment introduced through the foramen of the 

 occiput. In the former case it is evident that 

 the brain must have retained its influence over 

 the head, and to a certain extent over the rest of 

 the system, by means of the pneumogastric and 

 great sympathetic nerves ; and it is by no means 

 certain that the disorganisation of the brain must 

 have been always so complete as wholly to destroy 

 its influence in the latter.* Further experiments, 

 indeed, are required before this question can be 

 positively determined. The main fact, however, 

 remains the same, namely, that under certain 

 circumstances, there is no relation between the 



* Some experiments made by Dr. Enoch Hale (of the 

 United States), are recorded in the London Medical and Phy- 

 sical Journal for 1815, in which, having merely divided the 

 spinal chord immediately below the occiput, and having main- 

 tained the action of the heart by artificial respiration, he found 

 that a small degree of heat was still generated. As the brain 

 and nerves in the neck remained entire, it is plain that these 

 experiments are liable to the objection which has been stated 

 above. It may, moreover, be observed that in such experi- 

 ments it ought to be ascertained afterwards whether the divi- 

 sion of the spinal chord has been complete, as the result 

 of accidental injuries shows that even a partial laceration 

 of the spinal chord may produce total paralysis of the 

 parts below the seat of the injury. In another respect also 

 Dr. Hale's experiments cannot be regarded as a repetition of 

 my own, having been made on dogs ; whereas my compara- 

 tive experiments were all made on rabbits. M. Le Gallois 

 found that young cats produced a small degree of heat after 

 decapitation ; and it may possibly be the same with respect 

 to dogs. 



