Case of unilateral hallucinations of hearing, chiefly musical : with remarks on the formation of psycho-cerebral images / by Alex. Robertson, M.D.

  • Robertson, Alexander, M.D.
Date:
[1902]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Case of unilateral hallucinations of hearing, chiefly musical : with remarks on the formation of psycho-cerebral images / by Alex. Robertson, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    complete tune or other piece of music, assumes a definite shape and enters into consciousness in the related perceptive centre in the temporo-sphenoidal lobe. There may probably be a certain arrangement of impressions in the labyrinth and auditory nerve, but it is not likely, considering the structure of these parts, that this will go beyond such an assortment as will prepare them for fitly taking their place in the central blend that constitutes the fully developed form. The reappearance in the mind, from time to time, of the same combination of impressions as in Dr. Barr's case of the recurring psalm-tune, or the words, come this way, come this way, in one of my own cases,(') raises a question of still greater difficulty than the one just referred to, viz. how on the physical side is the revival produced ? The same problem is involved in the memorial recurrence of all sensory images, and, indeed, in the exercise of thought. Some light may ultimately be thrown on the subject by the study of simple and one-sided phenomena, such as are recorded in this and the previous paper, or we may at all events be able to formulate a working hypothesis as a platform for further investigation. It would, of course, be out of place in the present connection to attempt a discussion of questions of such magnitude. I may, however, in accordance with the most generally accepted views of the neuron and its associations, briefly indicate the direction in which, as appears to me, progress is most likely to be made. In the higher animals the gemmae of the protoplasmic processes and collaterals of the axis-cylinders are discon- tinuous, though in close proximity to each other, and are thus open to receive impressions coming by different routes. It is further to be noted that in immediate relation to the cell- body of the neuron there is a pericellular reticulum, which is in intimate association with the similar reticula of at least neighbouring nerve-cells. In these structural conditions there seems to be a mechanism fitted to combine and unify the elementary parts of images into one harmonious whole. Again, it is to be borne in mind that the molecules of matter are believed to be in constant motion—motion that is under the plane of observation with our present powers. Turning now to the formation and renewal of cerebral images, we may conceive that impressions coming from external objects are transmitted as waves of subconscious