30 THE SPINAL CORD AND CEREBELLUM 



the nervous system is brought into connection with 

 another. These views, the latter of which is now 

 almost universally held, are not in reality so antago- 

 nistic or divergent as they might appear to be. If 

 the cerebellum acts as a reinforcing organ to other 

 parts of the nervous system, its anatomical relations, 

 being, as is well known, extremely elaborate, would 

 naturally imply a very considerable amount of co- 

 ordination as an essential element in its activity. 

 Under pathological conditions the absence of this 

 factor would make itself felt at times, and especially 

 immediately after an operation, in a somewhat marked 

 manner. If, on the other hand, the cerebellum be a 

 great co-ordinating centre, it could only be said to 

 exert no reinforcing or augmenting influence on the 

 cells with which it is connected anatomically, provided 

 the cerebellar cells be of the same size and power as 

 those on which they react. This, however, we know 

 is not the case, for the cells of Purkinje are beyond 

 all question amongst the largest and most powerful 

 nerve-cells in the whole body ;* and to contend that, 

 under these circumstances, they do not, when suffi- 

 ciently stimulated, increase the force of the action of 

 other cells seems to be the very negation of both fact 

 and reason. 

 Patho- Although pathological evidence as bearing on the 



evidence, function of any part of the nervous system must 

 always be received with a certain degree of caution, 



* The diameter of these cells is said to be x^an to a^j of an 

 inch. — Quain's ' Anatomy,' p. 313. 



