On the diseases and derangements of the nervous system : in their primary forms and in their modifications by age, sex, constitution, hereditary predisposition, excesses, general disorder, and organic disease / by Marshall Hall.

  • Hall, Marshall, 1790-1857.
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the diseases and derangements of the nervous system : in their primary forms and in their modifications by age, sex, constitution, hereditary predisposition, excesses, general disorder, and organic disease / by Marshall Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    271. Facts in the blended anatomy, thus ascertamed, may- lead to the discovery of strictly anatomical facts, in the Ar- ticulata, or other Classes, in which the anatomy of the differ- ent nervous sub-systems may be distinct. 272. In tracing the Anatomy, we must advert to the pe- ripheral origin, as well as the muscular insertion, of incident and reflex nerves; and, as Rolando, Bellingeri, Spurzheim, and Mr. Grainger have done, to their connections with the spinal marrow. 273. It becomes obvious that, if a nerve be compounded of sentient and exciter filaments, it has, probably, two origins, one in the cerebrum, the other in the medulla. The same remark is true of the nerves compounded of voluntary and motor fibres (see § 150). Is it possible to trace this structure in any part of the zoological series ? What an interesting subject for the scalpel and for experiment! 274. I believe an objection has been raised against desig- nating a nerve, known to be a sentient nerve, an exciter nerve : but the question is one not of words, but of facts. Is the trifacial a sentient nerve ? If so, let it be so designated. Is it also an exciter nerve ? If so, there is the same reason for designating it by this epithet. In short, it is not only sentient and exciter, but it is, probably, nutrient too. And any view of the subject short of this is distant from the truth. In the same manner, the pneumogastric must be viewed, not as a mere sentient or secretory nerve, but as em- phatically the Internal Excito-motory nerve. 275. The next enquiry would be. What are the special motions produced by stimulating given incident nerves ? The most usual efiect produced is a motion of the limbs. But in other instances we have acts of inspiration, of deglutition, of expulsion, —of closure in the eye-lids, larynx, pharynx, and the sphincters :—interesting facts, which speak a physiological language, and assign distinct and special offices to certain exciter nerves. 276. These exciter nerves may be viewed as guards of the orifices and exits of the animal frame, as seen in the sub- sequent Table: