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
We have studied the brain-cells in human cases of fever,
and in animals after prolonged insomnia; after the injection
of the toxins of gonococci, of streptococci, of staphylococci,
and of colon, tetanus, diphtheria, and typhoid bacilli; and after
the injection of foreign proteins, of indol and skatol, of leucin,
and of peptones. We have studied the brains of animals which had been
activated in varying degrees up to the point of complete exhaustion
by running, by fighting, by rage and fear, by physical injury,
and by the injection of strychnin (Figs. 2, 4, 5, and 37). We have
studied the brains of salmon at the mouth of the Columbia River
and at its headwater (Fig. 55); the brains of electric fish,
the storage batteries of which had been partially discharged,
and of those the batteries of which had been completely discharged;
the brains of woodchucks in hibernation and after fighting;
the brains of humans who had died from anemia resulting from hemorrhage,
from acidosis, from eclampsia, from cancer and from other chronic diseases
(Figs. 40 to 43, 56, 74, and 75). We have studied also the brains
of animals after the excision of the adrenals, of the pancreas,
and of the liver (Figs. 57 and 60).
In every instance the loss of vitality--that is, the loss
of the normal power to convert potential into kinetic energy--
was accompanied by physical changes in the brain-cells (Figs. 45
and 46). The converse was also true, that is, the brain-cells
of animals with normal vital power showed no histologic changes.
The changes in the brain-cells were identical whatever the cause.
The crucial question then becomes: Are these constant changes in
the brain-cells the result of work done by the brain-cells in running,
in fighting, in emotion, in fever? In other words, does the brain
perform a definite role in the conversion of latent energy into
fever or into muscular action; or are the brain-cell changes caused
by the chemical products of metabolism? Happily, this crucial
question was definitely answered by the following experiment:
The circulations of two dogs were crossed in such a manner that the
circulation of the head of one dog was anastomosed with the circulation
of the body of another dog, and vice versa. A cord encircled the neck
of each so firmly that the anastomosing circulation was blocked
(Fig. 58). If the brain-cell changes were due to metabolic products,
then when the body of dog "A" was injured, the brain of dog "A"
would be normal and the brain of dog "B" would show changes.
Our experiments showed brain-cell changes in the brain of the dog
injured and no changes in the brain of the uninjured dog.
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