Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Luys claims that momentary vertigo, often produced by changing from a
horizontal to a vertical position, seasickness, pain in movement in cases
of meningitis, epileptic attacks at night, etc., may be by this
explained. These views of Luys are accepted as true, but to a less extent
than taught by Luys. The prevalent idea that a lesion of one hemisphere
produces a paralysis upon the opposite side of the body alone is no
longer tenable, for each hemisphere is connected with both sides of the
body by motor tracts, the larger of the motor tracts decussating and the
smaller not decussating in the medulla. Hence a lesion of one hemisphere
produces paralysis upon the opposite side of the body. It has recently
been established that a lesion of one hemisphere in the visual area
produces, not blindness in the opposite eye, as was formerly supposed,
but a certain degree of blindness in both eyes, that in the opposite eye
being greater in extent than that in the eye of the same side. Analogy
would indicate that other sensations follow the same law, hence the
probability is that all the sensations from one side of the body do not
pass to the parietal cortex of the opposite side, but that, while the
majority so pass, a portion go up to the cortex of the same side from
which they come.
Dr. Hammond says that the chief feature of the new Siberian disease
called miryachit is, that the victims are obliged to mimic and execute
movements that they see in others, and which motions they are ordered to
execute.
Dr. Beard, in June, 1880, observed the same condition when traveling
among the Maine hunters, near Moosehead Lake. These men are called
jumpers, or jumping Frenchmen. Those subject to it start when any sudden
noise reaches the ears. It appears to be due to the fact that motor
impulse is excited by perceptions without the necessary concurrence of
the volition of the individual to cause the discharge, and are analogous
to epileptiform paroxysms due to reflex action.
The term spiritualism has come to signify more than has usually been
ascribed to it, for some recent authors are now using the term to denote
a neurosis or nervous affection peculiar to that class of people who
claim to be able to commune with the spirits of the dead.
Evidence obtained from clinical observations has tended of late to locate
the pathological lesions of chorea in the cerebral cortex.
Dr. Godlee's operation of removing a tumor from the brain marks an
important step in cerebral localization, and cerebral surgery bids fair
to take a prominent place in the treatment of mental diseases.
Wernicke has observed that the size of the occipital lobes is in
proportion to the size of the optic tracts, and that the occipital lobes
are the centers of vision.
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