Address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of California at its annual session, April, 1873 / by G.A. Shurtleff.

  • Shurtleff, G. A., -1902.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address delivered before the Medical Society of the State of California at its annual session, April, 1873 / by G.A. Shurtleff. 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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    tion, or rather a matter of belief, which no physiological investi- gation can reach. It is now satisfactorily demonstrated and generally acknowl- edged, that the gray cortex of the cerebral hemispheres is the seat of the mental faculties. At the base of the brain are the sensory ganglia, possessed by the lower animals as well as by man, which receive, but have not the power of retaining, im- pressions from the external world. Above these sensory ganglia, never developed in the lower animals as in man, are the cerebral hemispheres, with their deep sulci and numerous convolutions. In the gray substance of these convolutions are layers of innumerable nerve-cells. Now the sensory ganglia, at the base of the brain, which receive impressions from with- out but never retain them, are connected with the nerve-cells of the hemispheres by fine medullary fibers, whose function undoubtedl}r it is, to take up the fleeting impressions from the sensory nerve-centers to the supreme nerve-centers, where they are retained. Thus, what we see, and hear, and feel, if recognized by the supreme nerve-cells, is preserved, compared, and arranged, and elaborated into definite ideas. These nerve- cells of the cerebral hemispheres are the nervous centers of ideas (Maudsley); or, more comprehensively, of the mind, including the intellect and the emotions or feelings, and the executive function of volition. Conductive medullary fibers also connect the supreme nervous centers with each other, thus giving them the power of reaction upon each other and securing the coordination of the whole. A kind word does not create a pleasurable emo- tion until the intellect comprehends the quality of the word; and an insulting sj>eech cannot arouse the emotion of anger until intelligence discerns the offensive character of the speech.