PROGRESS IN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 



ing out of the new knowledge as to subconscious men- 

 tality in general, and the inhibitory influence of one 

 centre over another in the central nervous mechanism. 



rv 



These studies of the psychologists and pathologists 

 bring the relations of mind and body into sharp relief. 

 But even more definite in this regard was the work of 

 the brain physiologists. Chief of these, during the mid- 

 dle period of the century, was the man who is some- 

 times spoken of as the " father of brain physiology," 

 Marie Jean Pierre Flourens, of the Jardin des Plantes 

 of Paris, the pupil and worthy successor of Magendie. 

 His experiments in nerve physiology were begun in the 

 first quarter of the century, but his local experiments 

 upon the brain itself were not culminated until about 

 1842. At this time the old dispute over phrenology had 

 broken out afresh, and the studies of Flourens were 

 aimed, in part at least, at the strictly scientific investi- 

 gation of this troublesome topic. 



In the course of these studies Flourens discovered that 

 in the medulla olblongata, the part of the brain which 

 connects that organ with tne spinal cord, there is a cen- 

 tre of minute size which cannot be injured in the least 

 without causing the instant death of the animal oper- 

 ated upon. It may be added that it is this spot which 

 is reached by the needle of the garroter in Spanish exe- 

 cutions, and that the same centre also is destroyed when 

 a criminal is "successfully" hanged, this time by the 

 forced intrusion of a process of the second cervical ver- 

 tebra. Flourens named this spot the "vital knot." Its 

 extreme importance, as is now understood, is due to the 

 So 417 



