The psychic development of young animals and its physical (somatic) correlation with specific reference to the brain / by Wesley Mills.
- T. Wesley Mills
- Date:
- 1896
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The psychic development of young animals and its physical (somatic) correlation with specific reference to the brain / by Wesley Mills. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![Skc. IV., 1896. [19] Trans. R. S. C. ll.—The Psychic Development of Young Animals and its Physical f Somatic') Correlation icith Special Reference to the Brain. Bj’ Wesley Mills, 'SI.A., M.D., F.R.S.C. Professor of Physiology in McGill University, Montreal. (Read May 20, 1896.) It seemed to me important that j>sychic and somatic development should be traced contemporaneously, so closely are they related, and in the six papei's printed in these Transactions for 1894 and 1895, an attcm))t. was made to realize, to some extent, this ideal, but as m}' researches on the brain were not completed till after the ])ublication of these investiga- tions I thought it better not to attemjit to utilize them at the time. The investigation bearing on the functional development of the cerebral cortex, with special regard to the motor centres, extends to all the groups of animals falling under my studies in )>sychic development, and is pre- sented in the present volume of the Transactions, so that it is now possible to deal with the most important part of the somatic correlation^ viz., with the brain. Xaturally I shall draw chiefly from the latter paper and frem those on psA'chic development for the facts, etc., on which reliance will be i»laced in attempting further ])rogress in regard to a more complete correlation of the somatic with the j)sychic. No attempt will be made in this pa}xn- to discuss somatic correlation in general as that subject has been treated in the papere ]»reviously pub- lished in these Transactions. It would be quite correct to speak of the i-elations as anatomical and physiological correlation, but as movements are so bound up with the psychic developments of animals I think it will be more instructive to consider the subject from this point of view, and in doing so the psychic will be first taken into account. I.—The Dog. As soon as a puppy is born, it is capable of cries, crawling and suck- ing, and if we except those concerned with the vital or vegetative func- tions, these about cover all its po.s.sible movements. Uj) to the period when the eyes open, there are no new movements. Every one of these can be produced experimentally as reflexes, and the question is, are they naturally of this character. They improve from day to day, but that is a feature of alt reflexes, even the best organized (as swallowing) though it has hardly been adequately recognized.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22471650_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
