( 105 ) 



of the vessels and fall of temperature. Bernard also, in 1852, arrived 

 at the same result. The observations of the earlier experimenters 

 referred more to the state of the pupil than to that of the blood- 

 vessels. A. Waller, in 1853, traced the nerves to his cilio-spinal 

 region of the cord. Bernard clung tenaciously to his first idea of the 

 effect of the sympathetic nerves on temperature. 



In 1858, while trying to discover the condition of the blood 

 escaping from glands during rest and activity, by experimenting on 

 the chorda tympani he found that the blood-vessels were dilated and 

 that the blood flowed out red from the sub-maxillary gland. On 

 stimulating the sympathetic the blood was scanty and dark-coloured. 

 He had discovered the other factor, viz., vaso-dilator nerves, and that 

 each gland is supplied by vaso-constrictor and vaso-dilator fibres. 



We have not space to refer to the other works of Bernard — to 

 his work on heat and poisons. He showed that carbonic oxide 

 combined firmly with the haemoglobin of the red blood corpuscles 

 and thus caused death by asphyxia ; the tripod of life of Bichat was 

 upset. He also showed that curare acted on the intra-muscular parts 

 of the nerves, and thus set at rest the old question of " independent 

 muscular excitability," a problem that involved a war of words 

 between Whytt and Haller. He showed the identity of animal and 

 vegetable processes. 



Indeed, in 1846, he had even shown that stimulation of the vagus 

 arrested the heart and that its section (1849) made the heart beat 

 quicker ; that the respiratory movements were arrested by stimulation 

 of the superior laryngeal nerve (1853). There were all the data for 

 the discovery of inhibitory nerves ; but his mind was preoccupied 

 with other matters. He contented himself with stating the facts. 

 These facts are taken from L'CEuvre de Claude Bernard (1881). Any 

 one interested in the story of his life-work will find it in that volume, 

 which contains — First, the eloge of E. Kenan, who succeeded Bernard 

 as Membre de TAcad^mie Francaise ; the discourse pronounced at 

 his funeral by his favourite pupil, Paul Bert, and the analytical table 

 of his works (p. 97 to p. 333) ; the Bibliography of his Scientific 

 Work, p. 337 to p. 384. He published in seventeen octavo volumes 

 his lectures given at the College de France, at the Sorbonne, 

 and the Museum. The charmingly written Life of Bernard, by 

 Sir Michael Foster, in the series Masters of Medicine (1899), gives a 

 graphic picture of the man and his works by one " who never saw 

 his face." 



Bernard died of an acute renal affection in 1877, probably 

 contracted in the damp, dingy room in which he worked. 



D D 



