The Origin and Nature of the Emotions; Miscellaneous PapersCrile, George Washington
Science
The Origin and Nature of the Emotions; Miscellaneous Papers
Crile, George Washington
Emotions; Psychophysiology
The complete data of these experiments will be later reported in
a monograph; here it is sufficient to state that anger, fear, injury,
muscular exertion, inhalation anesthesia, strychnin, alcohol, in fact,
all the stimuli which we had already found to produce histologic
changes in the brain, the adrenals, and the liver-excepting
bacterial toxins--caused increased H-ion concentration.
Of striking significance is the fact that morphin alone caused
no change in the H-ion concentration, while if administered before
the application of a stimulus which by itself produced increased
H-ion concentration, the action of that stimulus was neutralized
or postponed. If, however, morphin was administered after increased
acidity had been produced by any stimulus, or by inhalation anesthesia,
then the time required for the restoration of the normal alkalinity
was much prolonged, and in some instances the power of acid
neutralization was permanently lost.
After excision of the liver, the normal H-ion concentration
was maintained for periods varying from one to several hours,
after which the concentration (acidity) began to increase as
the vitality of the animal began to decline, the concentration
(acidity) increasing rapidly until death. After excision of
the adrenals the blood remained normal for from four to six hours,
when the H-ion concentration increased rather suddenly,
the increase being synchronous with the incidence of the phenomena
which immediately preceded death.
In none of these cases was it determined whether the increased
H-ion concentration was due to other causes of death or whether
death was due to the increased acidity.
It is also significant that after the application of each of
the adequate stimuli which increased the H-ion concentration
of the blood in other parts of the body the blood from the adrenal
vein showed a slight diminution in acidity, as, in most instances,
did the blood from the hepatic vein also.
In fact, the H-ion concentration of the blood in the adrenal vein
was less than in the blood of any other part of the circulation.
Kinetic Diseases
If our conclusions are sound, then in the kinetic system we find
an explanation of many diseases, and having found the explanation,
we may find new methods of combating them.
When the kinetic system is driven at an overwhelming rate of speed,--
as by severe physical injury, by intense emotional excitation,
by perforation of the intestines, by the pointing of an abscess
into new territory, by the sudden onset of an infectious disease,
by an overdose of strychnin, by a Marathon race, by a grilling fight,
by foreign proteins, by anaphylaxis,--the result of these acute
overwhelming activations of the kinetic system is clinically
designated shock, and according to the cause is called traumatic shock,
toxic shock, anaphylactic shock, drug shock, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account