THE SPINAL CORD AND CEREBELLUM 137 



on this statement, one would be inclined to suppose 

 that the period of gestation, instead of being as usual 

 62 or 63 days,* had been so prolonged as to extend to 

 many months. In the article to which Ferrier refers 

 one in connection with this matter t there is the same 

 obscurity in regard to this point, for no direct mention 

 of the duration of the period of gestation is made. 

 It is said, however, that it began about the beginning 

 of September, and at the meeting of a scientific society 

 interested in the case it was resolved that the animal 

 should be allowed to survive until after she had 

 whelped. She was again examined by the members 

 of this society in the following April — that is to say, 

 about four or five months after whelping — supposing 

 the period of gestation to have been of normal dura- 

 tion. It is to be regretted that on this point clear 

 evidence is not forthcoming. But if we suppose the 

 period of gestation in this case to have been normal, 

 the main factors in this problem would remain un- 

 changed, for we are justified in assuming that the 

 nervous system as a whole controls nutrition ; that 

 the cerebellar system (of which the cerebellum, be it 

 said, is only a part) exercises an especially powerful 

 influence in this respect by reason of the large cells 

 which it contains and of the connections of these cells 

 with the rest of the nervous system ; and that nutrition 

 is frequently so modified during the period of gestation 

 that even the removal of the cerebellum may not lead 



* Miles, ' Stock Breeding,' p. 406. 



t The Alienist cmd Neurologist, St. Louis, July, 1885. 



