THE PURIFICATION OF THE BLOOD, ETC. 51 



brains, to winch we have alluded, are situated. 

 It is because of these ganglia that a blow on 

 the pit of the stomach fells a man to the 

 ground, or even proves instantaneously fatal. 



While upon this subject we may observe, 

 that man and the higher animals have two 

 species of life, one cerebral, or belonging to the 

 brain, another dependent upon the functions of 

 the ganglionic system. The first dies before 

 the latter. The head may be struck oil* and 

 yet the heart will beat, and the peristaltic 

 action of the viscera continue, and, indeed, may 

 by galvanic means, and by artificial respiration, 

 be maintained for a considerable time. Were 

 this not the case, a drowned person, dead as 

 far as the brain is concerned, could not be 

 resuscitated. In cold-blooded animals, as 

 snakes, tortoises, etc., this ganglionic life 

 appears to predominate over the cerebral. 

 The heads of snakes and tortoises may be cut 

 off, and the animals will crawl about and live 

 for days — nay, even the vitality of the ampu- 

 tated head does not soon depart. We have 

 seen a viper deprived of its head swim when 

 thrown into water, and we well know that sea- 

 turtles live for days after decapitation. But in 

 these lower vertebrate animals, vitality and 

 consciousness do not very quickly depart from 

 the head struck off from the body, and we 

 have even reason to believe that the head of 

 man, or any highly organized animal, struck off 

 by the axe or the knife of the guillotine, does 

 not instantaneously lose consciousness, for the 



