The influence of the cerebral cortex on the larynx.

  • Russell, J. S. Risien.
Date:
1896
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The influence of the cerebral cortex on the larynx. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    contentions can only be satisfactorily proved by such an investigation as the joint one to which I have just referred. II. History. Bouillaud# destroyed the frontal lobes in dogs by means of a drill, or the cautery, after which the animals did not bark, but whined when disturbed. Ferrier t was the first experimenter who obtained any evidence of the repre- sentation of laryngeal movements in the cerebral cortex, as shown by the results of electrical stimulation. He obtained barking when the electrodes were applied to the lower portion of the anterior composite gyrus from area (9) in his figure. Duret^, from ablation and compression experiments, came to the same conclusion. H. Krause§ was, however, the first to find the focus in the dog's brain excitation of which resulted in closure of the glottis, as brought about by bilateral adduction of the vocal cords ; the focus being the isthmus of the prsecrucial gyrus. Francois Franck|| observed that during an epileptic convulsion, induced b}^ cortical stimulation, the glottis is closed during the tonic stage, whereas during the clonic stage the cords move in conjunction with the movements of the respiratory muscles of the thorax and abdomen. MasiniI, from excitation and ablation experiments in dogs, concluded that the movement of adduction of the vocal cords is represented over the whole motor region, but maximally so in the centres for the movements of the soft palate and tongue. While with strono- currents he obtained bilateral adduction, with weak he obtained movement of the opposite vocal cord first, followed later by slower movement of the cord on the side stimulated. Aronsohn** could not decide whether the adductor movements of the vocal cords which he obtained were due to the excitation of the brain or not. Horsley and Semontt in an elaborate investigation of the central motor inner- vation of the larynx, conducted in cats, dogs, and monkeys, obtained the following results. As their results in cats correspond more or less with those obtained in dogs, with one important exception, it will suffice if we state that the cat was the only animal from whose cerebral cortex they were able to evoke pure abduction of the vocal cords in the adult animal. In their investigations in the adult dog they * Bouillaud, ' Journ. hebd. de Med.,' Paris, 1830, vi., p. 527. f Ferrier, ' Functions of the Brain,' 1st ed., 1876. % Duret, 1 Traumatisniea cerebraux,' 1878, p. 142. § Krause, ' Arch, fiir Anat. und Physiol., Physiol. Abth.,' 1884. || Franck, ' Lecons sur les Fonctions Motrices du Cervean,' Paris, 1887, p. 146. 1 Masini, 'Arch. Ital. di Laryngol.,' Napoli, April, 1888, p. 45. ** Aronsohn, ' Deutsch. Med. Woch.,' 1688. ft Horsley and Semon, ' Phil. Trans.,' 1890, p. 187.