The connection of the nervous centres of animal and organic life / by John O'Reilly.

  • O'Reilly, John, 1813-1868.
Date:
[1859?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The connection of the nervous centres of animal and organic life / by John O'Reilly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    When chloroform is administered, it first acts on the orgnnio nerves in the bronchial ramifications; secondarily, on the brain, known by the delirium that takes place; thirdly, on the central organic ganglion, and from it, by reflex action, on the brain and spinal chord ; aifd through the nerves, of the latter, on the intervertebral ganglia, and ultimately the Aliments which proceed from the latter, to the muscles. That chloroform operates in the manner described is made painfully true, when the heart of man under its influence ceases to be it when all human efforts will prove futile, in some instances, to restore its vital action—and thus demonstrating, bydeatfy that chloroform is able to destroy an organ endowed with the greatest degree of muscular strength. When a man gets drunk, the intoxicating liquor makes its first impression on the organic nerves in the coats of the stomach : tho par v'gum announces its presence to th« brain, which becomes exhila- rated and after some time.it shares its insidious sensation with the cen. tral organic ganglion, which reflects the intelligence through the bruin and spinal chord to the intervertebral ganglia, and from the latter to the filaments destined to supply tho muscles. This description is literally true: when witnessing the movements of a drunken mm, his lower extremities will be observed not to obey his will: his legs cross one another; he stumbles from side to side; and, if he has im- bibed too much, the muscles refuse to move and he fails prostrate to the earth, perhaps to awaken in another world. Here it is evident that the faulty movements of the muscles, as well as their loss of power, is caused by the canglia at the roots of the lumbar and sacral plexus, and that death is caused by the destruction of the ganglioric 6ystem ; postmortem examination fails to discover any lesion My frien 1 Doctor Finncll, who has mado such an immense number of ex- aminations of the dead bodies of drunkards and others, can corroborate this statement. I hope I have now given ample proof that the muscul>r fibres of the muscles are furnished with nerves from the organic nervous system ; that the muscles owe their enormous power to their connec- tion with the nerves in question. It may bo said, no nervous filament can be discovered in the muscular fibre ; but the same observation is true of capillary arteries and veins, although no person doubts their presence. When'a drop of prussic acid is placed on the tongue of the sul ject, as Doctor Copeland remarks, dies before the poison has time to get into the circulation; post-mortem eXamina tion discloses that tho