COMPARATIVE LESSONS OF BRAIN WOUNDS. 
459 
High as this author deservedly stands, the impression will 
assert itself that those who corroborate and voice such teachings 
have never chanced to observe the brain in any animal possessed 
of the full vigor of life. Nothing can be further from the truth 
than to imagine the cerebral organ a soft, pulpy, pudding-like 
mass, or a gelatinous substance such as it sometimes appears after 
death. On the contrary, it is a firm and elastic organ, possessing 
peculiar homogeneity; its individuality is such that it leaves its 
impress upon the inner table of the skull during development and 
growth. Again, the discussions excited regarding hernia cerebri 
for the most part deal with effects rather than causes , and 
pathology has been ignored in the desire to secure “ safe treat¬ 
ment .” 
In fact hernia cerebri may be the sequel of three different 
conditions: 1. A tumor, composed of partially or wholly disor¬ 
ganized brain substance. 2. Brain matter, protruded by inflamma¬ 
tory processes within the cranial vault. 3. Exuberant or ex¬ 
cessive granulations, springing from damaged cerebral tissues. 
What then ? 
If a hernia is composed of disorganized tissue, certainly the 
animal economy derives no benefit from its retention ; it is a clog 
and excrescence, is probably irritative, and therefore the more 
quickly removed the better, as a means of checking or forestalling 
more grave disturbance. 
If protruded by inflammatory processes, is it not prhna facie 
evidence of danger lurking behind—an accumulation of pus per¬ 
haps, as in the two fatal cases above cited; and in such case does 
not common as well as surgical sense dictate an outlet should be 
afforded for such inflammatory products, and a portion of cerebral 
tissue sacrificed, if need be, for the preservation of the whole ? 
That the knife is always demanded is not certain. No doubt 
aspiration would fullfil all indications oftentimes. 
Exuberant granulation is repressed by the free use of scalpel 
or caustics in accordance with demand when occurring in other 
parts of the body, therefore it is a logical sequence that the same 
should not be neglected merely because the tissue is cerebral, 
especially as all evidences go to prove that the brain is most 
