Physiological Facts Research Articles

Physiological Facts at Examinations

Physiological Facts at Examinations

THE TREATMENT OF HEMOPHILIA WITH CHLORID OF CALCIUM, WITH REPORT OF A CASE.

The treatment of hemophilia with the usual agents recommended for this disease, has been so ineffective that much difficulty has been experienced in arresting the hemorrhage from the slightest wounds, and many patients have died from the excessive loss of blood after the most trivial injuries. The only advance in the therapy of this disease, has been made by Dr. E. A. Wright, 1 who taking as a basis for his investigations the physiologic fact that a certain per cent. of calcium salts is necessary for the coagulation of the blood, made a series of experiments with calcium chlorid, and demonstrated its efficacy in increasing the coagulability of the blood. In a later article the author reports the results of his examination of the blood of a case of hemophilia, and the coagulability of the blood before and after the administration of chlorid of calcium. He found that the blood

Report of the American Humane Association on Vivisection and Dissection in Schools.

This pamphlet consists mainly of replies to circulars sent out by the Humane Association in regard to the benefits and propriety of vivisection in the teaching of children. Naturally, they are nearly all condemnatory—in fact, there is very little to be said in any way for the practice. It is a very different thing from experimental investigation, and young children can, and readily will take physiologic facts on trust without practical demonstration, which will, at the best, be likely to be very imperfectly appreciated. The tendencies of children to torture animals need checking, and vivisection under the sanction of instruction is, with them on the whole, liable to do harm rather than good.

Physiology for Science Schools

THE book before us belongs to a class which requires some apology for its existence. This particular work has been prepared for lay students intending to present themselves for the second or advanced stage of the Science and Art Department. It aims at being something more than a mere cram book, and in justification of this aim it professes “to furnish precise and accurate information on such parts of histology and anatomy as are required, as well as to give a reasoned account of the physiological processes of the human body.” For all this, however, the book belongs to a class to which exception may justly be taken. The writer appears to have depended almost entirely upon the existence of descriptive physiological works for his material. The result is that the book represents simply a compilation of physiological facts, and in no sense can it be described as a guide to physiological practice. The South Kensington examinations, both elementary and advanced, attempt, as far as their opportunities permit, to test the practical acquaintance of a candidate with the subject in which he presents himself for examination. This is very frequently found to be non-existent, and most usually the reason of this is that the teacher himself is not in a position to act as an instructor in the practical work of a subject he professes to teach. There exists a large number of books which give the minimum of the required amount of physiological fact necessary to impart to his pupils, and upon these alone he usually depends. This class of books gives the teacher no information as to the best way to demonstrate practically the facts he teaches, for the reason generally that the writers themselves are unacquainted with the methods. These books are the class which we would wish to see abolished from our elementary science schools; they are necessarily unreliable, and they always tempt the teacher who uses them to depend upon a wholly artificial knowledge of little practical value whatever. What advantage is it to a student to know that if fibrin be “placed in gastric juice and the mixture kept at a temperature of about 40° C… in about an hour the fibrin will be in great part dissolved ”? By itself this is simply a naked fact (though stated in the way the writer puts it, it can hardly be called a fact). The whole process could be shown the student in the most simple way on the lecture table, and unless he actually sees the change produced by the gastric juice, he can, as a rule, have but an imperfect idea of what really occurs. Human Physiology. By John Thornton (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1894.)

TYPHOID FEVER—A SYNOPSIS.Read in the Section of Practice of Medicine, at the Forty-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association.

I retain the old name in preference to the newer ones, as "enteric fever." This new name refers to a single lesion, which lesion, however constant, is not the cause, exclusive seat, or descriptive of the condition; but is plainly the result of a general process. Nor is all the fever produced in or confined to the intestinal tract. Typhoid fever is a specified condition of the economy, with local modifications. We shall consider the condition known as typhoid fever first, then the lesions which are results of the process producing that condition. The laws of "disease" in general are to be reached inductively, by generalizations of physiological facts supported by clinical phenomena and morbid anatomy. These laws applied to the special conditions under consideration, are illustrated and supported by the phenomena and changes observed. The fever is the<i>result</i>, and not the<i>cause</i>of the abnormal condition. Heat is

The Condition and Management of the Intestine after Abdominal Section Considered in the Light of Physiological Facts

The Condition and Management of the Intestine after Abdominal Section Considered in the Light of Physiological Facts

The Kingdoms of Nature, or Life and Organization from the Elements to Man.

The object of this book, the author states, is to present intelligibly to the average reader the leading facts of Natural History in the most natural order possible, "so that he who runs may read something of the laws or rules of action established by the Creator for the government and conservation of natural objects throughout the wide domain of animal existence." The facts presented and the order of their presentation may be briefly described as follows: In the first chapter the author asks "what is life," and describes in a general way the prominent and most universal facts of physiology. The Vegetable Kingdom is described, beginning with the lowest forms of life, and extending chapter by chapter to the highest. In the same way the Animal Ringdom is reviewed. Not only are the amatomical characteristics given but also many of the physiological peculiarities and habits common to whole groups.

Physiological Cruelty, or Fact versus Fancy; an Inquiry into the Vivisection Question

WE desire to draw the most marked attention to this little book. The author says that his “aim has been to place in the hands both of professional and unprofessional readers a sort of compendium of the principal facts and most obvious reasonings on the question of experiment on living animals.” Such being his “aim,” he has hit his mark with singular force and precision. For our own part, after having read the literature on both sides of the vivisection question ad nauseam, we feel that no essay which has yet appeared upon the subject is better worthy of perusal both by lay and professional readers, and therefore we can have no doubt that, again to quote the words of its preface, “such a work may prove useful to medical men who have not time to consult books of reference, and examine into the details of the subject for themselves, without its being too technical to interest those of the general public who are willing to give thought and attention to a most important matter.” Physiological Cruelty, or Fact versus Fancy; an Inquiry into the Vivisection Question. By Philanthropes. (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1883.)

Second Note on the Electrical Resistance of the Human Body

THE fact that the note on this subject inserted in NATURE, June 14, p. 151, was copied in extenso by the Electrical Review, by the New York Electrical World, and I believe by some other papers, as well as the fragmentary way in which these observations must of necessity be obtained, encourages me to ask for a little further space. This is the more pardonable as the writer in the former paper, in two editorial articles which he founds on my observations, shows ignorance and misconception of certain physiological facts involved in them—a misconception the correction of which by myself he does not think fit to publish.

Resting Spores

A VERY interesting memoir by Dr. Wittrock, the well-known Swedish botanist, was communicated to the Swedish Academy of Sciences in December last “On the Spore-Formation of the Mesocarpeæ and especially of the New Genus Gonatonema.” The chief interest of this memoir seems to us to lie in its somewhat novel interpretation of some pretty well-known physiological facts, which we shall as briefly as possible proceed to enumerate.

On the Cardiograph Trace

By placing the sphygmograph, as constructed by M. Marey, over that portion of the chest where the heart can be best felt beating, instead of on the wrist-pulse for which the instrument is constructed, tracings called cardiograms can be obtained which bring to light physiological facts not otherwise ascertainable. In the last-published volume of the Guy's Hospital Reports there is a paper by Dr. Galabin, on the interpretation of these tracings, which will be read with interest by physiologists on account of the considerable difficulty there is connected with all attempts to explain the numerous ups and downs which they present between any two pulsations of the heart, and also because of the comparatively slight attention which they have had paid to them.

Elements of Animal Physiology

THERE is more than one way by which the relative importance of scientific facts may be arrived at. An investigator, whilst prosecuting his independent researches, will not be long in forming a fairly accurate standard, and this he finds it easy to impart to others. Many engaged in educational work find it impossible to afford the time for independent observation or prolonged study, and yet it is their ambition to give their pupils a fairly correct estimate as to those of the innumerable facts surrounding them on which they should lay stress in preparing for a pass examination. The standard with them therefore becomes nothing more nor less than the questions of former years or of ether similar examinations; the work which answers the greatest number of these in the most satisfactory manner being looked upon as the most valuable, especially if the irrelevant matter is reduced to a minimum. The small book before us contains a carefully compiled and accurate digest of many of the most prominent facts of human physiology, with incidental references to some of the best known peculiarities of a few of the lower animals, illustrated by several appropriate and well-selected diagrams, among which, however, there is an important one indicating the general distribution of the arterial system, which is unfortunately reversed, and another explaining the leverages of the body, representing a man as standing with his centre of gravity far in front of the tips of his toes. The language employed is clear and concise, whilst many of the best known terms in common use among physiologists are explained in a glossary at the end of the book. Some of the practical illustrations suggested to the pupil for his own instruction are particularly to the point. There are some explanations with which, however, we cannot agree, such as that the activity of the circulation of the blood which accompanies physical exercise is the result of the alternate compression and relaxation of the veins; and that a much vaunted theory as to the cause of cholera, which involves the purchase of a much advertised apparatus for its relief, has sufficient foundation for even the slightest mention in any book for the use of students. The non-technical character of the work will commend it to many as a useful introduction to physiology.

The Origin of Nerve Force

ONE at least of the “obvious difficulties” which your correspondent, Mr. Henry R. Proctor, finds in my hypothesis as to the origin of Nerve Force, would scarcely have existed if he had directed his attention to a sentence in my article (NATURE, July 31), which runs thus: “In what are termed hot-blooded animals, that is, in mammals and birds, the difference of temperature between the surface and the interior is considerable under all natural circumstances, and in them there is a regulating action of the skin by which they maintain a uniform internal temperature, always hotter than the surface, whatever that of the external medium may be.” The correctness of this proposition as regards the human being is now a physiological fact, as many observers from different starting points have arrived at the same conclusion; among others, my proof of it has appeared in the “Journal of Anatomy and Physiology” (vol. vi. November 1871). When the temperature of the atmosphere is above 70° F. the amount of perspiration is always proportionate to the temperature, and is sufficient to maintain the depths of the body at 98° or so. Below 70° the same condition results from the influence of cold on the cutaneous vessels, they contracting in proportion to the degree of cold, and so modifying the radiating and conducting power of the body surface. There is never therefore any reversal of the current, or a temperature at which it is nil.

On Craniology

There are two classes of men who occupy themselves in observations on mental functions, frequently working widely apart from each other. These are, the metaphysicians, who investigate the phenomena of mind apart from anatomical or physiological facts, and the physiologists, who keep as exclusively to their own labours. Neither of these classes of men have as yet formed any philosophical system of the mental powers, and other functions of the brain; and it may be safely asserted that it is only by a combination of metaphysics and physiology that we can advance any considerable steps in our knowledge. The philosophical Reid, whose greatest disciple was Sir William Hamilton, stated many years ago, in his “Essays on the Powers of the Human Mind,” that they are “so many, so various, and so connected and complicated in most of their operations, that there never has been any division of them proposed which is not liable to considerable objections.” All the classifications made by metaphysicians differ materially from each other, and what was true in Reid's time is true now. We have a different race of metaphysicians from those who flourished years ago, different from Reid, Dugald Stewart, and Brown, but as yet we seem no nearer than we were to a systematic and comprehensive classification of mental faculties, or more properly, of the functions of the brain. I would not say that no progress has been made, for a vast mass of facts has been accumulated, and careful observations have been made, which will be available at some future period for a scientific and philosophical classification.

What shall we Teach? or, Physiology in Schools A School Manual of Health

THERE is an old saying, “that every man when he gets to be forty is his own doctor unless he happens to be a fool;” by which is meant that the pains and discomforts of ill health will, in the long run, convince most men that some knowledge of the facts of physiology and of the laws which govern the human body, is, after all, a desirable thing for the comfortable conduct of life. The main object of Dr. Lankester's pamphlet is to urge the question, “Why leave these lessons to chance and the fourth decade? Why not steal a march on bitter experience, and by making physiology a branch of general education, forewarn and forearm everyone against bodily indiscretions and against transgressions of sanitary laws?” Leaving on one side altogether the value of physiology in its scientific aspect as a means of training the mind, and taking his stand on the ground simply of the importance of it as mere information, the author works out his plea with unflagging zeal and energy. Indeed, all the pages bear tokens of almost the enthusiasm of a crusade. Into town and country, into girls' schools, boys' schools, infants' schools and universities, into corporations, vestries, and town councils, into the functions of clergymen, householders, lawyers, and domestic servants, the flag of physiology is most gallantly carried; and we can hardly imagine an impressionable general reader finishing the little work without at once rushing off to order “Huxley's Elementary Lessons” and the “School Manual of Health.”

Illustrations of the Influence of the Mind upon the Body in Health and Disease, with Especial Reference to the Imagination

A few weeks∗ ago a gentleman informed the public, through the newspapers, that he had been cured of rheumatism by the fright he had experienced in a railway accident. The remarks which the circumstance has elicited lead me to think that the whole subject of the influence of the mind upon the body deserves more serious and systematic consideration than it has received. It is now some time since I endeavoured to formularise the generally admitted facts of physiology and psychology so far as they bear on this question, and to collect from the sources at my command all authenticated facts illustrative of this influence. Dissatisfied with my work, I laid my cases aside. Judging, however, from the remarks above-mentioned that, imperfect as they are, they may be of some service, I conclude to forward my observations to the Journal of the Association. I must apologise to the reader for treating the subject in so elementary and aphoristic a manner; but I trust the advantage of this method will be apparent as I proceed.

A Discovery of the Means of Determining the Comparative Length or Duration of Human Life, and Other Important Physiological Facts

A Discovery of the Means of Determining the Comparative Length or Duration of Human Life, and Other Important Physiological Facts

XIII. Electro-physiological researches.—third memoir. On Induced contractions

The term Induced contractions was applied in England to a physiological fact discovered by myself, and described in the tenth chapter of my treatise on the Electro-physiological Phenomena of Animals. I shall henceforth adopt this denomination, since it has the advantage of expressing the phenomenon with brevity, and, to a certain degree, its nature. I will begin by explaining, in a few words, in what this fact consists, together with the principal researches which I made in the commencement for the purpose of discovering its laws. Having prepared a galvanoscopic frog, I laid its nerve upon one or both the thighs of a frog prepared in the ordinary manner; this done, on applying the poles of a pile upon the lumbar plexuses of the frog, at the same time that the muscles of the thighs were contracted, contractions were excited in the galvanoscopic leg, the nerve of which reposed upon the thigh of the other frog. I discovered the same fact, placing the nerve of the galvanoscopic frog upon a muscle of the thigh of a rabbit, and exciting the muscle to contraction by means of a current, which traverses its nerve. I have even seen contractions of the galvanoscopic frog occur without applying the electric current for the purpose of contracting the muscle which ought to induce the contractions, adopting for this purpose any other stimulus to the lumbar plexuses or to the spinal marrow. I finally tried these experiments, introducing between the nerve of the galvanoscopic frog and the inducing muscular surface very fine laminæ of different substances. A leaf of gold and a very fine non-conducting stratum of mica or of glazed paper being interposed prevented the phenomenon, that is to say, the induced contractions in the galvanoscopic frog failed to appear, whilst a stratum of fine paper soaked in water did not interrupt the induced contraction. From the whole of these facts I was led to conclude,—1st, that the contraction induced in the galvanoscopic frog could not be attributed to the effect of derived currents; 2nd, that it should rather be considered the effect of an electric discharge taking place during the contraction of a muscle. For the sake of supporting this explanation of the induced contractions by facts, I instituted a great number of experiments which are described in the tenth chapter above referred to. With this view I composed a pile of entire frogs, and closed the circuit with the two extremities of the galvanometer. Allowing the needle to become stationary, I touched specially the nerves of the frogs composing the pile with a solution of potassa, by which means contractions were excited in these frogs. Operating in this manner, I have often remarked the deflection of the needle to be increased by a few degrees, after which the needle retrograded. When the frogs were touched several times with the potassa, or were very much weakened, so that touching them again with the alkali no longer produced contractions, it has, in most cases, occurred that there was no sign of increased deflection in the needle of the galvanometer. Finally, bathing the nerves of frogs arranged in piles with acid or saline solutions, the deflection, far from increasing, rapidly diminished, at least in the beginning.

XXXI. Case of a lady born blind, who received sight at an advanced age by the formation of an artificial pupil

As imperfections in the original structure of our organs of sense, which are remediable by art, are extremely rare, and as cases of successful operations on these organs essentially contribute to illustrate their functions, as well as to throw light on the operations and developement of the human mind, the following instance of vision being imparted to a lady born blind, by an operation at an advanced period of life, will, it is hoped, not be considered unworthy of being submitted to the consideration of the Royal Society. The case, besides establishing the curious physiological fact, that the nerve of the eye can remain fit to receive the impressions of external objects, though totally excluded for a long series of years from the performance of that function, claims a much higher interest in a philosophical point of view; some of the facts here detailed confirming in a remarkable manner what Berkeley had predicated of “a man born blind being made to see," in the 79th Section of his “New Theory of Vision," published in the year 1709. He says, “a man born blind being made to see, would, at the first opening of his eyes, make very different judgements of the magnitude of objects intromitted by them from what others do. He would not consider the ideas of sight with reference to, or as having any connection with the idea of touch. "It may also be observed, that in the present case the blindness was more complete, and the period at which vision was acquired was much later in life, than in any instance which has hitherto been recorded.