254 
SIR CHARLES BELL ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
the canal of the bone, the animal ceased to breathe. It did not die like an animal 
suffocated by compression of the windpipe, but there came a gradual subsidence of 
the motion of respiration, evincing that the source of activity and of sensibility in the 
centre of the respiratory system was withdrawn. 
Practically considered, this is a subject of interest. Are we not daily seeking for 
the cause of sudden death in organs, the condition of which cannot explain the 
phenomena ; for example, the heart and brain ? The pathologist is satisfied when he 
finds the heart in a slight degree removed from a condition of health ; and yet he 
must be aware that when wounded or deeply diseased, death is protracted : there 
is the agitation of dying, the labour of these organs of respiration. It is only in vio- 
lent injury, which shall affect the centre of the respiratory system, that there is no 
act of dying, but a sudden cessation of all action. The bruiser, on receiving a blow on 
the throat, or a blow on the stomach unexpectedly, is killed, as by the coup-de-grace 
given to the malefactor broken on the wheel. He dies instantly without a sigh, and 
without a motion of the features indicative of agony. 
Are not these instances of injury propagated to the centre of the nerves of this sy- 
stem, on which the vital action of respiration and expression depend ? The cause is 
equal to the effect ; while death from organic lesion in the thorax, is attended with 
symptoms, with suffering, more or less prolonged, with the act of dying. 
I 
