The intra-cranial circulation and its relation to the physiology of the brain / by James Cappie.

Date:
1890
Catalogue details

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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    and general interest than the functions of the brain, says Professor Ferrier, and there are few which present to experimental investigation conditions of greater intri- cacy and complexity. No one who has attentively studied the results of the labours of the numerous investigators in this field of research can help being struck by the want of harmony, and even positive con- tradictions, among the conclusions which apparently the same experiments and the same facts have led to in different hands. * It is not as opposed to experiment, however, but as suggesting something complemental, that I would wish to lay some stress on the importance of certain general physical conditions being taken into account as bearing on the action of the brain. It is becoming trite to remark that, in the development and activity of every- thing living, its environment, surroundings, or medium may have an influence only second in im- portance to that of special structure. Now, what I would respectfully contend for is, that the physiologi- cal bearing of the brain's surroundings has not received the attention it deserves. The cranium has been re- garded simply as an organ of protection, and much has been written to show how well adapted it is for such a purpose. By its form, and by the firmness and elasticity of its walls, it combines moderate weight with great power of resistance, and thus, while not a burden to * The Functions of the Brain, p. xxi.
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