Contributions to experimental physiology : showing that the ligation of the trachea, the divisions of the spinal cord in the cervical and dorsal regions, the removal of the viscera ... do not prevent intelligence, sensation, and motions ... / by Bennet Dowler.
- Bennet Dowler
- Date:
- 1852
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Contributions to experimental physiology : showing that the ligation of the trachea, the divisions of the spinal cord in the cervical and dorsal regions, the removal of the viscera ... do not prevent intelligence, sensation, and motions ... / by Bennet Dowler. 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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![winter. The rapid haemorrhage, for which no ligatures could be used, was another most unfavorable circumstance. I had never before divi- ded the spinal canal with a sharp chisel, having generally used hatch- ets, saws, or dull instruments, whereby haemorrhage was in a great de- gree prevented. In decapitating with a dull hatchet, the great carotid is sometimes, though rarely so contused or compressed by a sort of tor- sion, that a ligature is not required. Furthermore—The animal had been prepared for vivisection for four days before it took place ; during this long delay it was constantly and strongly bound with numerous cords, from the tip of the muzzle to the tip of the tail, including the limbs. I found, upon subsequent dissection, that portions of the mus- cular tissue had been injured by the cords. This constant pressure for four days, doubtlessly, impaired its muscular activity. I subjoin a small portion of the measurements : From the tip of the muzzle to the central interspace of the orbits, 5 inches; to the occiput, 7; interscapular, 11^ ; sacro-iliac, 25 ; caudal extremity, 50 ; circumfer- ence of the tnigh, 7^ ; of the body, 21. Programme of the Vivisection. 1. Divide the cervical cord: Will each division continue to manifest sensation and voluntary motion ? Will each division act in concert or simultaneously on irritating either at, near, and remote from the line of division. [Ans. Yes.] 2. Divide the lower dorso-lumbar cord : Will all three parts af- terwards manifest sensation and voluntary motion ? Will two or three act simultaneously for a common end, where the middle or extremities are injured? [Ans. Yes.] 3. Dissect the brachial plexus of nerves from a fore-leg : Will voluntary motion and sensation still continue to manifest themselves on irritating the axilla, and the dorsal and cervical ends of the cord ? Will the bare dissected muscles, if pinched or pricked, contract ? [Ans. Yes.] 4. Destroy the principal trunks of the sympathetic : Will this dis- section excite or destroy sensation and voluntary motion ? [Ans. Dis, section excites these, but the destruction of the ganglions and plexuses of the sympathetic does not appear to hasten their extinction. See Dr. Dalton's very interesting experiments accompanying this paper. Dr. Daltou must have cut away the chief part of the splanchnic nerve, toge- ther with the solar, coclic, hepatic, gastric coronary, splenic, mesenteric,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21115606_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
