DISEASES OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 83 



practitioner or not, we shall borrow from analogy, in the intro- 

 duction of the following article from "Watson's Practice" : 



" In certain of M. Magendie's experiments on animals, tht 

 following curious facts were ascertained : When a vertical section 

 of the cerebellum of a rabbit was made, leaving one-fourth of the 

 whole adhering to the crest of the right side of the cranium, and 

 three-fourths to that of the left, the animal rolled over and over 

 incessantly, turning itself toward the injured side. The same phe- 

 nomenon occurred upon the division of the crus cerebelli. The 

 animal lived for eight days, and continued, during the whole of 

 that time, to revolve upon its long axis, unless stopped by coming 

 in contact with some obstacle. How like is this to the symp- 

 toms exhibited at one period in the girl whose case is related by 

 Dr. Watts. Nor is Dr. Watts's case a singular one. M. Serres 

 has described another much resembling it. A shoemaker, sixty- 

 eight years old, of intemperate habits, after one of his debauches, 

 exhibited a kind of drunkenness which surprised his friends. 

 Instead of seeing objects turning around him, as a drunken person 

 is apt to do, he thought he was himself turning, and soon began 

 to revolve, and this lasted till he died ; and when his head was 

 examined, extensive mischief was found in one of the pedicles of 

 his cerebellum. Again: M. Magendie noticed that when the 

 upper part of the cerebrum is gently removed in birds and mam- 

 malia, they become blind; but no affection of the locomotive 

 powers is produced. No further result is occasioned by the removal 

 of a portion of the gray matter of the corpora striata ; but when 

 the striated part is cut away, the animal immediately darts forward 

 with rapidity, and continues to advance as if impelled by some 

 irresistible force, until stopped by an obstacle; and, even then, it 

 retains the attitude of one advancing. The experiment was tried, 

 with the same results upon various species of animals — dogs, cats, 

 hedgehogs, rabbits, Guinea-pigs, and squirrels. It seems that 

 there are horses that can not back, although they make good 

 progress enough in a straightforward direction. Now, Magendie 

 says that he has opened the heads of such horses, and has always 

 found in the lateral ventricles of their brains a collection of water, 

 which must have compressed and even disorganized the corpora 

 striata. It has been further ascertained, by the same experimenter, 

 and by others, that certain injuries of the cerebellum cause ani- 

 mals to move backward contrarily to their will. If the tail of 



