The intra-cranial circulation and its relation to the physiology of the brain / by James Cappie.
- Date:
- 1890
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The intra-cranial circulation and its relation to the physiology of the brain / by James Cappie. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![to alertness, yet set masses of grey matter vibrating ] and in proportion as the lines of vibration are shortened, or are extended and free, is the dream likely to be fantastic or more coherent. Another point which requires to be considered, and with the facts of which a theory of sleep must be consistent, is the facility or rapidity with which at times consciousness can be lost and regained. Every one has had experience of more or less complete un- consciousness alternating within short periods with waking. I have frequently, says Sir Henry Holland, when in a carriage, obtained proof that this alterna- tion of loss and recovery of waking consciousness must have occurred three times within a minute by knowing the distance gone over while the observation was made. The following is an experience with which the medical practitioner (at all events the accoucheur) is not unfamiliar. Having been disturbed perhaps several nights in succession, he is again called to the bed-side of a patient in labour, and he finds he must wait for some time. The feeling of drowsiness soon becomes strong, and the talk of the gossips does not prevent him from falling asleep while sitting on his chair. But with the slightest expression of suf- fering from his patient he is at once awake. He be- comes quite alert, and can take a full survey of all the possible contingencies of his case. He may speak](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21915593_0114.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
