An investigation into the functions of the occipital and temporal lobes of the monkey's brain / by Sanger Brown and E.A. Schäfer.

  • Brown, Sanger, 1852-1928.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An investigation into the functions of the occipital and temporal lobes of the monkey's brain / by Sanger Brown and E.A. Schäfer. 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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    and, although in many points improvement was manifest, there was never, during the whole time that the animal was kept, that complete return of intelligence which was observed in No. 6 (which had, it will be remembered, a much more extensive bilateral lesion). Her appearance remains stupid, and her movements lethargic; she is still savage towards her fellow Monkeys; her attention is not easily attracted, either by sights or sounds, although an abrupt movement or a sudden and unusual noise will produce signs of perception. She usually takes her food up with her hands, but is still markedly greedy, taking, when she can get it, much more food than a normal Monkey of the same size. After being kept under observation for more than eight months, during which she was exhibited to numerous visitors and to the Neurological Society, the animal was killed and the brain examined. Autopsy.—Both superior temporal gyri are completely removed, and their place is occupied by a large fissure in which the island of Reil can be seen. The rest of the brain is, to all appearance, normal. The brain is shown in Plate 50, figs. 12a and 126. Remarks. —What is most remarkable in this case is the fact that a comparatively limited bilateral lesion of the cerebral surface should have produced so considerable a change in the general cerebral functions. The case of Monkey No. 6 is far less striking in this particular, because the bilateral lesion there was very extensive ; more- over, the loss of intelligence was far less persistent, although at first not less distinct. The experiment is quite conclusive against the localisation of auditory perceptions in the superior temporal gyri alone. In this case there was certainly no trace remaining of either convolution, and the animal could unquestionably hear, even slight sounds. Whether the appreciation and discrimination of sounds remained the same is a point which, it must be admitted, it is hardly possible to solve satisfactorily by experiments on animals. But in this case, at least, even if it 'had been possible (which it was not) to prove that the discrimination of different sounds was abolished or diminished after the lesion, such abolition or diminution must still be looked upon merely as one of the manifestations of the general idiocy which was produced by the operation rather than as due to the interference with any special auditory function of the part.* XIII. Vigorous Rhcesus, S. Operation.—The whole of the left angular gyrus, to a depth of 6-7 millims., was scooped away, the removal being completed up to and including the grey matter in the fissures bounding the convolution. * The extensive character of the lesion of the superior temporal gyrus in this case, and also in that of Monkey No. 6, having been called in question by Dr. Perrier (Vide Article in ‘ Brain,’ April, 1888),. I have caused photographs of these two brains, and of sections across them, to be made, and intend to publish these photographs in the succeeding number of ‘ Brain.’—[E. A. S., June 18, 1888].