Volume 1

Aphasia and kindred disorders of speech / by Henry Head.

  • Henry Head
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Aphasia and kindred disorders of speech / by Henry Head. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is localised in a different portion of the brain. The organ of the vital force resides in the brain-stem1 (“moelle allongee”), which forms the inter¬ mediary between the brain and the spine; for butchers kill oxen by thrusting a stylet between the first vertebra and the occiput. The inclina¬ tions and affections of the soul belong to the basal ganglia, whilst the intellectual qualities of the mind are situated in various parts of the cerebral hemispheres. Hence the moral and intellectual characteristics can be deduced from measurements of the skull, which is modified in * shape by the underlying brain. Now it is obvious that this doctrine, though logically conceived and developed, consists of two parts of very unequal value to-day. It intro¬ duced an entirely new method of approaching the structure and functions of the nervous system, but at the same time formed the basis of what was called “ Craniology,” or the estimation of character and mental faculties from the shape of the skull. Unfortunately it was this latter aspect of Gall’s teaching which excited at the time such widespread interest and subsequently led to its disrepute; but by an odd chance it is this part of the theory that has the more intimate bearing on the history of aphasia. In the memoir presented in conjunction with Spurzheim to the In¬ stitute of France, he devoted his attention solely to general conceptions of the structure and functions of the brain and spinal cord. These have been absorbed so completely into the pool of general knowledge that their importance can only be recognised by studying the current teaching of the time. This has been fairly summarised by Gall himself in the Preface and in the Introduction to vol. I of his complete publication2. He insists that when dissecting the brain it should be approached from the spinal cord upwards; the customary method of cutting it into slices from above downwards must be abandoned. For the brain is not the seat of a “sensorium commune,” but is the expansion of lower nervous mechanisms which are thus enabled, though independent, to interact upon one another. The spinal cord and brain-stem (“moelle allongee”) are not simply downward projections from the brain, but are made up of independent ganglia, from which arise the nerves of the body and head. Amongst other facts in support of this contention, he cites the condition 1 It must be remembered that the “moelle allongee” is not the medulla oblongata, but the whole of that portion of the central nervous system between the upper end of the spinal cord and the basal ganglia. When the older authorities said that all nerves arose from the brain, they meant the hemispheres and basal ganglia. Thus the “couches optiques” or optic thalmus was so called, because it was supposed to give origin to the optic nerves. 2 [53].
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