THE SPINAL CORD AND CEREBELLUM 139 



instance of complete atrophy, whilst in the other that 

 organ was represented by a very small portion of the 

 right lobe only. Alexandrine Labrosse lived to the 

 age of eleven years. After death, in the place of her 

 cerebellum nothing but a cyst containing serum was 

 found. She is described as being physically well 

 developed and as possessing normal sensory powers. 

 On the other hand, she was defective in intelligence, 

 could not articulate distinctly, could not stand until 

 she was five years old, and at the age of seven had 

 difficulty in holding herself upright, and often fell. 

 The other case was that of a girl who died of phthisis 

 at the age of fifteen. She resembled Labrosse in regard 

 to her sensory faculties and defective articulation, 

 besides being somewhat weak in intellect, although 

 not pronouncedly so. Her muscles were weak, but 

 she could walk ' well and steadily.' The early death 

 in both these cases, and in one of them the suscepti- 

 bility to phthisis, may be looked on as suggesting a 

 lack of vitality or nutritive power. 



According to Perrier, the doctrine of Flourens, that 9°"°?'^™*" 



'^ non la. pos- 



the cerebellum is indispensable to co-ordination, issibieimhe 



absence of 



untenable, for in that case the girl Alexandrine the cere- 

 Labrosse would have been totally incapable of walk- 

 ing. Of this there can be no doubt, and it seems 

 very manifest that if the cerebellum is a co-ordinating 

 centre this function is of a secondary character. Nor 

 is it possible to accept Ferrier's suggestion that its 

 function is primarily to act as an organ of equilibra- 

 tion, unless we give to that term a much more 



