30 



it may be a section of tlie spinal cord, of the consist- 

 ency of cream. Tlie nerve substance lias become homo- 

 ^i^eneoiis ])y gradual disintegration, yet, there may be 

 no local or distal effect, conunensurate with the breaking 

 down of nerv^e tissue, and the evident destruction of nerve 

 cells nor need there always be striking mental mani- 

 festations, consequent thereon. Brown-Sequard says: 

 (vide Za?irf-^, September 16, 1870) "that considerable 

 alterations, and even complete destruction of parts, can 

 exist without the appearance, or at leas, any marked 

 degree of paralysis, whether the lesion exists in motor 

 parts, or in the other parts, or in Ijotli simultaneously." 

 On the other hand, a haemorrhage, the size of a pea, in 

 the pons Varolii, has been known to produce paralysis 

 and death. The experiments of Hitzig, Ferrier, Car- 

 ville. Durst and Nothnagel, lead us to V^elieve that there 

 is a center for perception, soniewh'^-"^ in the cortical 

 substance of the brain. This is diviueu in true j^hreno- 

 logical style into other circumscribed spaces, of distinct 

 mental power. At the same time they tell us that the 

 occi])ital lobe can be destroyed without producing any 

 effect on the sensibility ; that the convolutions of this 

 lobe, as well as those of the frontal, the insula, those of 

 the internal faces of the hemispheres, and those of the 

 suborbital, do not respond to electrical excitation; and 

 that for the most part lesions of these have little or no 

 results. They think that ablations of the frontal lobes 

 appear to lessen the activity of the intelligence, and 

 that of the occipital extremity of each hemisj)liere 

 seems to abolish the apj^etite. Orchansky, a celebrated 

 pathologist of St. Petersburgh, after numerous experi- 

 ments on dogs and rabbits with the electric current, 

 and by vivisection on the motor centers, candidly states 

 that the separation of the cortex into motor and non- 

 motor parts rests, probal)le upon an anatomical basis 



