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matter , are discovered , with large quantities of the white , fibrous substance interposed . There is all the certainty that is attainable upon such a subject , that the several ganglionic masses in tho encep halon subserve different functions , and that the office of the white matter is t 0 br * nS tnes 0 ma 3 Ses into mutual relation and harmonious ' action . " "We now pass to what is questionable . Having described the vesicular neurine , or nerve-cells , Dr . JSoble says : — . . V ' ' ; ¦ « Althoug h not actually demonstrated , it is yet a tolerably certain inference , that , distrilmted largely and very minutely along the whole cutaneous and mucous surfaces , there is tne
vesicular neurme ; tms torms penpneral expansion of nervous filaments , and may be likened to the structure of the retina as it expands itself behind the vitreous humour . " So far from this being a tolerably certain inference , we have no hesitation in saying that it is an hypothesis quite ahead of all present knowledge , and not corresponding with what anatomy has discovered up to this time . It may turn out to be true ; meanwhile , the facts to justify it are wanting . No one has dabbled in . the literature of the nervous system without being aware of the vezata qucsstio of the peripheral termination of nerves ; and we are at a loss to conceive where Dr . Noble found authorities for the following
hypothesis ""* " ¦ ¦ " The nerves and ganglia of the five external senses constitute the instruments whereby the primary and more simple forms of consciousness display themselves . Vesicular neurine distributed upon the lining membrane of the nostrils possesses a specific sensibility to odoroas matters ; the impression which these make is convened by conducting fibrous filaments to the bulbi olfactorii—the gangliouic centres wherein the sense of smell is called into exercise . The retina is composed of vesicular neurine ; visual impressions are carried a ] on < r the course of the optic nerves , and attain the corpora quadrigemina , which there is every reason for concluding to be the ganglia of -sight : Vesicular neurine , spread largely within the internal ear , receives the vibratory undulations constituting the external cause of sound ; the fibrous filaments of the auditory nerve conduct the influence to certain grey nuclei in the posterior pyramids of the medulla oblongata , that form the gangaa of hearing The vesicular termination of nervous filaments upon the lingual surface and the palate are specifically impressed by sapid particles , and the impression being passed along fibrous filaments to the proper ganglionic centre ( yet undetermined ) , induces the consciousness of
taste . '¦ ¦ ¦ : ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ' ¦¦¦¦ ' As before hinted , this may turn out to be true ; but what is already known js insufficient , we believe , to justify it . Dr . Noble speaks of " vesicular neurine distributed upon the lining membranes of the nostrils . " Who has over seen it there ? Dr . Carpenter , whom heseems to be following , suggests that " perhaps" it may be there ; but in anatomy , " perhaps" will ' not do . Dr . Noble further says , that the retina is " composed of vesicular neurine . " If this be not a very vague use of the term , we must altogether deny it . A reference to Kolliker , Handbuch der Gewebelehre , p . 607 , will inform him of what is known , and what is hypothetical on the structure of the retina . And as to taste , the nerve-cells terminating the nerves of the tongue , have not even been suspected . Having made . this necessary criticiam on an hypothesis presented as " tolerably certain , " we continue Dr . Noble's exposition : —
" But there is developed a sense-consciousness which is not limited to any particular organ , but which maybe said to pervade the entire fabric ; it comprehends that general sensibility which resides principally in the cutaneous and mucous surfaces , and , to a less extent , the interior structures . It is by it we appreciate the state of the jjiuscles , —obtain the muscular sense , as it has been called . This ' common sensation' is best illustrated by the simple notion of resistance . Its various modifications comprise the several impressions essential to ideas of the hard , the soft , the rough , the smooth , the painful , the titillatory , and sa on . This fifth sense is also awakened through the vesicular extremities of fibrous iilamcnts . "Whether the grey expansion and white cords engaged in common sensation be the same as those which subserve the spinal reflex function , is a question yet undecided . This much , however , is certain : the communicated impression ascends alon g the posterior columns of the spinal cord , and attains a grey , vesiculur centre—the ganglia of common sensation . Physiologists are not agreed upon the structures which fulfil this office ; they
must , however , like the other sensory ganglia , be somewhere at the base of the cranium ; and , for my own part , I am disposed to think that some portion of the cerebellum constitutes tho encephalic centre of common sensation . Many years ago Foville assigned this function to the entire organ ; and others have , with great plausibility , advocated the same notion , Tho anatomical connexion between the restiform bodies and certain ganglionic masses within the cerebellum favours the idea which I have advanced ; and there are various physiological and pathological facts and considerations which corroborate it . It is a view , moreover , which would seem to reconcile , in a great degree , the doctrine oi" Gall with that of Flourens . The former , as everybody is awan-, taught that the cerebellum is the organ of the sexual instinct ; and tho latter , supported by most modern physiologists , states " io ia 10 i tne in
. »<•« umue co-ordinate muscular action , as n balancing uoiiy ana omcr sucn - stinctive acts . Now , if some portion of the cerebellum subserve ordinary feeling , its iniHU'iice upon the function imputed to it by Gall is conceivable , without the adoption of his actual teaching . The facts receive another explanation . In the other view , regarding the muscular oflico of the cerebellum , the explanation may bo afforded by reference to tho existence of its cortical prey matter , which may determine some influence to tho muscles responsive ly to their feeling , it being generally held that the muscular sense comes from ieir possessing common sensation , though in a less degreo than tho skin . However all i 'is may be , it is certain that this fifth souse must have ganglia ; and it cannot bo doubted > : > t these , through the spinal cord , arc in some sort of connexion witJi every sentient
struc-< h i 'l ° t ! ° ns ory £ anKli : S it may here be noticed , besides their instrumentality in inkt ^ i ' r ' ° ' P ' fonna of consciousness , react upon the muscular system when stimui « V , n witll 0 u * 7 and that , too , in apparent independence of thought or volition . The , vclnefits thus arising Dr . Carpenter very aptly designates consensual ; they aro soon , Crt tl J dazzled eye withdraws , instinctivoly , from tho light ; when the startle follows J " . ' , loud and unexpected sound ; and when tho young infant , from contiguity to its mn-. \ s ° » ex' » ibits restlessness , provoked by tho odour of the mammary fluid . These red U a . ctions . « re reflex as to their modes of occurrence ; but they differ from the spinal diri ' 8 m ' '" £ ' . ni tncuT nature , attended with consciousness ; and they differ from orpror . ^ 1 movem 9 > n the circumstance that neither ideas , nor will , nor mental emotion , t , ' ,, ? K l K'aking , are concerned in their production . tt i » * * riJ * ' * - * " v »«* v . » j , i Jll . « . & 411 I . IIUI& 1 / 1 Ulllll't M / Ila lna
I'riniY " . Inucn moro tnan a sentient and instinctive unimal . Sensations supply the ti «« | - , mntor ' ' * ideas , or those mental perceptions of external things and their < iu . ililm , ? W , ' coriBtituto the basis of nil positive knowledge ; and which , once , in tho niiiuf , can " " . {•^ rod ucod and employed in reasoning . ti 0 I 1 ,. " ! j ! onHc iousnoHa of objoctB , facts , and circuinstnncoH , in the reception and coinbina-• 'Vid « . 1 ( 'f ' > l' » s without doubt Homo cerebral iiistriuncntality for its manifestation , and Krcv i om ml Hourc-cs , an . itoinieal , physiological , and pathological , points to tho cortical '' ition . lH ° ^ brain , investing tho convolutions , as suppl y ing tho requisite organic oonynnr / lin " "tnicturo to which has been « pplie < l , very appropriately , tho term hemispherical of Uj , w In'l'tor inlorvcne . s bofwoon the vesicular nourino of tlio sensory ganglia and that f ? 'i'd ( ' ( l CerC convolutions ; tho conscious impressions received by theso forinor may bo re" > l » iiiir T aHcon ( l »; g . « l « ne : tho white fibres , and , on tho grey oiunniit being attained , deve-(! , ! .. " ^ 'IHllgCB ill its O . OVlililinn wliinli iniiiiut'ti- to ttitt inli < lli ( r . > nr >» l < li >» u nriMt . If \ V «
rC-Ruitihin / r i f ° P r 0 Ct > 8 HCa that go ou within our own minds , there is no dillieulty in distiu'" <> w off , ' sensation and nn idea ; or in marking the sequential oriciu of tho latter . ""KWs li - Hnd tl'nt , when the full conHciousnosH of sonnation is obtained , tho idua "'•) utt lt ¦ * ° not f 0 UOW "" t ' * nuny Hccondd , or Cvoii miniitoB , nftorwarda . You hear erunco Of tortttin words , as Bounds : their signification doea not strike you ; no effort
of attention is made ; yet , suddenly , the sense breaks in upon your intelligence . The correlated physiological phenomena may thus be stated . The auditory ganglia take up thesentient impression at once ; its passage upwards to the region of thought is delayed ; presently , however , its natural course is freed from hindrance , and it attains the hemispherical ganglia , forming , or awakening , ideas in the mind . The anterior" convolutions would appear from cranioscoj ) ic facts to be especially concerned , with those ideas and combinations of thought which flow from science and philosophy ; the superior convolutions with classes of ideas , or states of the intelligence , related to the higher sentiments , as of justice , veneration , and benevolence , and the posterior convolutions would seem to be operative in combinations of ideas and habits of thinking , referring themselves more particularly to the lower affections and propensities of our nature . " We now come to an hypothesis which is Dr . Noble ' s own , namely , that the seat of the emotions is in the optic thalami and corpora striata : —
" But there are large masses of vesicular neurine entering into the constitution of the encephalon , of which as yet no mention has been made , and which , nevertheless , must have important functions in the display of psychical energy . There are several tracts of grey matter near the base , that have probably some connexion with particular instiucts—of hunger and thirst , for example : but I allude , more especially , to the optic thalami and the corpora striata . These are ganglionic structures intimately communicating , in the ascending direction , with the cortical grey matter of the hemispheres , and , downwar . ls ^ with the spinal cord ; in each case , through the medium of white fibrous substance . The office of these bodies has not been decisively made out . Physiologists differ in their opinionupon the question . It is most probable , however , that the optic thalami , notwithstanding their designation , have no immediate share in the production of vision . Dr . Carpenter , and some others , think that they are most likely the ganglia of common sensation . I differ from this view , for many reasons . It would , however , be tedious and out of place to argue
this point , at any length , upon this occasion . I have myself a strong persuasion that the structures under consideration form the ganglia of that inner sensibility , which ideas , rather than external impressions , call forth ; I regard them as the seat of the emotions . Their locality , midway as it were , between the hemispherical and the sensory ganglia ; their universal and very close connexion , by means of tho central white mass of the brain , with the grey expansion of the convolutions ; and their fibrous communication with the spinal cord , constitute good anatomical reasons for the opinion of their function which I have been led to entertain . The necessity , upon psychological grounds , for separating the emotional sens-ibility , as evinced in grief , joy , hope , fear , pride , vanity , aflVction , and so on , from the sensibility of the five senses , is sufficiently obvious ; and the distinctness of these states of consciousness from all necessary activity of the intelligence , however dependent upon ideas primarily , is very clear to the self-observer . Hence , every antecedent probability would suggest the speciality of nervous centres ; and , as already stated , I regard the optic
thalami ^ and corpora striata as the organic site of all sensibility that is internal and emotional . " Inasmuch as those two masses of the brain are at present without known functions , we may expect a number of tentative guesses to be put forth before the real function be discovered . This hypothesis of Dr . JNbble ' s suggesting we have already combated ( in the review of Morell ' s Elements of Psychology , where it was first broached ) as one contradicted formally by anatomical considerations . These bodies are structurally different ; different * in anatomical connexion , different in colour , so much so that the grey corpora striata are at once distinguishable from the cafe au lait coloured optic thalami . Todd and Bowman describing these bodies say : — " In the corpora slriata the fibrous matter is arranged in distinct fascicles of very different size
many , if not all , of which form a special connexion with its vesicular matter . In the optic thalami , on the other hand , the fibrous matter forms a very intricate interlacement , which is equally complicated at every part . " Somuch for structure ; and no anatomist need be told how much difference of function is involved in difference of structure . Then , again , with regard to connexion ; while they have in common an extensive connexion with th& convoluted surface of the brain , they are in the most marked way connected inferiorly with separate and distinct portions of the medidla oblongata . In fact , be the functions of these bodies what they may , assuredly they are different functions . That they have anything specially to do with the emotions there is not , we believe , the shadow of a proof .
We have dwelt so long on these details that the main purpose of Dr . Noble ' s book has been lost sight of ; that purpose was to describe insanity in its various forms and modes of treatment . Let us now turn to it . Insanity is disease of the mind—in other words , altered function of the brain . We very mucli prefer Dr . Noble ' s definition of u alteretLAinction " to the ordinary one of a disease of the brain ; . for , although strictly ^ peaking there must be disease of the brain , there need not necessarily be lesionvf the brain . It is because men confound structure with composition that so much confusion exists on this subject ; the structure of a room may remain unaltered , but if a mephitic gas takes the place of wholesome atmosphere , the composition of the room is so altered that it becomes uninhabitable . So with the brain : its structure may be without perceptible alteration , but the blood which flows through it , or the state of its electricity , may be so altered as totally to destroy the function . Hence we ai * e disposed to accept _ Dr . Noble ' s conclusion that the " true locality of psychological disease is within , the head , " only as localising the function—the cause of the disturbance may be a diseaaed stomach or liver . He says truly enough : —•
" But disease of tho brain docs not in every case provoko insanity . There are cerebral maladies which do not give rise to mental derangement . Simple congestion some forma ol hifliimin . 'ition , certain tuberculous affections , and even serous accumulations in tho yenticlcs ,, will often exist , without perverting thought ko as to prejudice moral liberty . Still these facts iiro not in opposition to the doctrine that the bnun nub « crves tho mental operations , for tho oxerciHO of tho mind is nearly always influenced in somo miy or another , though insanity may not arise as a coimoquenco of such affections us those just cited . " Not only ho , but insanity is often unaccompanied by disease of the brain : — " No reasonable doubt can exist a » to tho physical site of mental derangement , so far , at least , jib concerns its relation to tho onceplmlon . Yet them have been authors and practitioners who luivo had somo difficulty in admitting this doctrine , owing to what they deem to bo tho want of corroboration from morbid anatomy . Thus Jacobi , Nasso , Flamming , -md others , liavo ' beon influenced by tho consideration thftf , in the bodies of inaano patients , in tho viseora than in tho braint
anatomical lesion * aro discovered moro frequently ; hat , m fact , thin latter ' soinutimcs exhibits no alteration at all , whilst , on tho contrary , very deeiied change is apparent m tho orgimn of nutrition . Tho precise lesion , indeed , which tho encephalon sustains in disordered iriind , has not been determined . But in many of our investigations , and in much of our reasoning , wo mo most of us vory apt to conceive that a moro intiinato correspondence exists between changes found in tho organs after death and tho symptoms of disease appreeiublo during lite , than tho actual state of things warrants . Marks of inflammation or venous congestion , tubercles , oysts , collections of water , induration mid softening of tissuo , linvo again mid « gain been discovered in examination of the d « nd brain , whore , there lias been no insanity . Uut , still , according to tho statistics of establishments for treatment of tho inwino , in evory hundred bodies inspected after death , a state of cerebral congestion is found in twenty- ( ivo instances ; induration of tho structure of tho brain id witnossad in somewhere about tho sumo proportion ; and atrophy of tho uncephulic tissue in about cloven cases . It must bo admitted that there is no form or degreo of mental derangement , which has not been known to « xiut unaccompanied by any physical change
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December 24 , 1853 ] T HE LEADER . 1241
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1853, page 1241, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2018/page/17/
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