3s NATURE 
73 
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1881 
ANTI-VIVISECTION versus HUMANITY 
HE physiology of the brain is a subject which has 
long been matter of much speculation and of 
some experiment, but till twelve years ago little was 
known about it. The experiments of Flourens and others 
had taught us something about the functions of the cere- 
bellum, and Broca’s observations on disease had led him 
to localise speech in the third left frontal convolution ; but 
with these exceptions the functions of the different parts 
of the cerebrum were almost entirely unknown ; although, 
as a whole, it was regarded as the organ of thought. The 
experiments of Fritsch and Hitzig, published in 1870, 
showed that the cortex of the brain could be excited by 
galvanic currents, although mechanical irritation seemed 
to have no effect upon it. When certain parts of the 
cortex were thus irritated in the dog, definite movements 
of the paws ensued. 
In a series of experiments published in the West-Riding 
Asylum Reports for 1873, Dr. Ferrier confirmed these 
results, and greatly extended them by experimenting on 
guinea-pigs, rabbits, and cats, as well as by investigat- 
ing more fully and precisely the various areas in the 
brain of the dog. Dr. Ferrier’s most brilliant disco- 
veries were due, however, to the happy thought of 
using monkeys as the subject of experiment. For 
though a general resemblance can be traced between the 
functions of different parts of the brain in rabbits or dogs, 
and in man, yet the brains of these animals are so little 
developed in comparison with that of man, that exact 
and definite conclusions regarding the human brain can- 
not be drawn from experiments on them. Monkeys 
resemble man more closely than quadrupeds in the 
more or less erect posture which they tend to assume, in 
the use of their hands and fingers as prehensile instru- 
ments, and even in their muscles of expression. Their 
brain, though less complicated than that of man, still 
corresponds closely with it in the general arrangement of 
the convolutions, and even in many details. 
Dr. Ferrier’s experiments were performed by anzesthe- 
tising the animal and removing a part of the skull so as 
to expose the brain. The animal was then allowed to 
recover either partially or completely from the anesthetic. 
On the brain being stimulated by touching it with the 
wires of a battery at various points of its surface, definite 
movements resulted. A touch on one part, for example, 
would cause the animal to stretch out its paw as if to 
grasp some fruit, on another to raise its hand to its mouth, 
as if to convey the food into it, and another to move its 
mouth and tongue as if chewing. These motor areas 
were chiefly around the fissure of Rolando, towards the 
anterior part of the brain. Stimulation of the posterior 
parts appeared to cause sensation (not pain), a touch on 
one part causing the animal to look round as if it saw j 
something unusual, on another to prick up its ears as if it 
heard something, and on others to move the nostrils 
and mouth as if it perceived some unusual smell or taste. 
Destruction of the surface of the brain at the parts 
whose stimulation caused movement resulted in the im- 
pairment or loss of the power of executing the corre- 
sponding movement voluntarily, and where stimulation | 
VoL. XXv.—-No. 630 
| caused sensation the destruction of the part diminished or 
destroyed the corresponding sensation of hearing, sight, 
or touch. 
These experiments might seem at first sight necessarily 
to involve the infliction of great pain, and some unthink- 
ing people have loudly cried out against what they call 
horrid cruelty, and have denounced the experiments in no 
measured terms; yet the fact is that the animals experi- 
mented on suffer very little pain, and probably a single 
sportsman in a day’s pheasant-shooting inflicts more pain 
than Dr. Ferrier has done in the whole course of his re- 
searches. Every one will understand this who has seen a 
child hurt its finger and cry bitterly for a few minutes, 
and then run cheerily about as soon as the wound was 
bound up. 
The painful part of Dr. Ferrier’s experiments, viz. the 
exposure of the brain, was performed under anesthetics, 
and when the animals were allowed to recover they ex- 
hibited no signs of pain. Stimulation of the surface 
of the brain, even on the sensory areas, does not seem 
to cause pain. The effect ofstimulating the motor areas 
and thus causing movements of the limbs in monkeys, 
appears to be simply to excite their wonder and curiosity 
at the extraordinary circumstance of their limbs moving 
independently of their volition. 
The localisation of function in the brain is of exceeding 
interest as a simple addition to our knowledge of the 
wondrous mechanism of the body, but it is also of very 
great use in practical medicine. By means of it we are 
able to say, with considerable certainty, that the lesions 
which give rise to particular groups of symptoms are 
situated at this or that point in the brain. Ferrier 
found, for example, that stimulating one part of the brain 
would cause movements of the hand, ending in clenching 
of the fist, and if the stimulation were continued for a 
long time other muscles were involved, until at last the 
animal fell into an epileptic fit. Previous to Ferrier’s 
researches we were in the dark regarding the origin of 
epileptic fits in man, but now when we find a fit be- 
ginning with clenching of the fist we can with consider- 
able certainty localise the cause of it in a definite region 
of the brain. Not unfrequently epilepsy comes on after 
a blow or fall on the head, and may continue for months 
or years, completely ruining the patient’s prospects, and 
perhaps ultimately destroying his intellect. In such cases 
the disease has been cured by the removal of the injured 
portion of skull; but before the researches of which we 
have been speaking showed how to localise the injury, this 
was impossible, except immediately after its inflection, 
and while the evidences of its position were unmis- 
takable. Now, however, thanks to Dr. Ferrier, it is 
possible to operate successfully long after the injury, 
as the following case, which we extract from the British 
Medical Journal, will show :— 
“CA child, aged seven, received a blow from a poker ; it 
produced no external wound, and no scar or depression 
of bone remained. A year later the child had an epileptic 
fit, and continued to have fits daily for about seven years, 
with occasional periods of exacerbation, at which time the 
fits increased to twenty or thirty a day. At the end of this 
time Dr. Ferrier was asked to see the child in consulta- 
| tion; tenderness was found over the right parietal region, 
with loss of power in the left hand and indistinct utterance 
| from loss of muscular power in the lips. Trephining was 
decided upon, and Dr. Ferrier pointed out that the seat 
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