Physiology of common life Author:George Henry Lewes Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IX. (Continued.) THE MIND AND THE BRAIN. SECTION II. THE CEREBELLUM AND MEDULLA OHLONGATA. Description of the Cerebellum -- Gall's hypo... more »thesis -- Experiments of Flourens to prove that the Cerebellum co-ordinates muscular movements: arguments against such au hypothesis -- Flat contradictions -- The experiments of Schiff -- Evidence furnished by Comparative Anatomy; and by Disease -- Absence of the Cerebellum not accompanied by absence of co-ordination: Combette's case -- The Cerebellum as a seat of sensation and volition -- Has the Cerebellum any share in intellectual operations ? -- Description of the Medulla ob- longata -- Is the Medulla distinct from the Spinal Chord ? -- The Medulla a seat of volition -- Why it is considered a seat of sensation -- Is there a " vital point?" -- Experiments of Flourens contradicted by the experiments of Schiff and Brown-Sequard -- Influence of the Medulla on the heart's action -- Why a " shock " of grief or joy causes death -- Pain the cause of death- Summary of the functions of the Brain. After the Cerebrum, or big brain, our attention must be claimed by the Cerebellum, or little brain, which, in man, lies underneath the greater mass, as seen in Fig. 51, 2, p. 109. The two organs present some differences in structure, but they agree in principal points : they are both composed of grey matter externally, and internally of white matter. The convolutions of the Cerebellum are more compressed, and have the appearance of leaflets. Like the Cerebrum, itGall's Hypothesis. Fig. 51. is totally insensible to pricks or pinches. Its relation to the other centres is roughly indicated in this diagram (Fig. 52). Gall, to whom we owe so great a debt for the impulse he gave to the study of the nervous system, assigned the s...« less