The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1811-04-09
ARi5reila1leDu8.
FROM MITCHELL AND MILLER'S
MEDICAL N. Y REPOSITORY,

TO the Edifsys Of fke Medical Rebos;,ory. ce,s-
tnsnnieafed BY D. D. Warden. &C.
Some curious experiments have been lately
made in anivaal physiology, ON the principle and
seat OF sensation and motion in reptiles and man.
nsijryes, ny Dr. lie Calois. He decapitated rab-
bits, at the moment OF their birth, and saw that
the trunk continued to feel and to move, and the
hesd to cape for ~ or Is minutes. He. at the
sane time. observed, that AL the phenomena
which the trunk presented, were, in their nature
and duration, the same as II the animal bad been
esphyxied by submersion in water, with this diff
Ference only, that the hesdless trunk made no eff
fnrt of Inspiration This led him to suppose that
1t loet its motion and sensation by asphyxia, as
respiration was impossible. Ifthis were so, pull
rnonary imitation ought to restore it to lfe-1
This was verified by experiment. Sensation, mo.
ton, and all the signs of life were manifested by
blowing AIR into the lungs every IL or Is minutes
alter their total disappe arance. The experiments
w : made on rabbits, CATS, frogs, and salaman.
sserss and were repeated, with complete success,
in the presence of the professors of the m .dicai
school 90 Paris.
The duration Of life, depending on pulmonary
initiation in decapitsted rabbits, was found to de-
pend on their age. The day of birth il was so
minutes; the s,h day, II minutes the 10Th,
10 minutes the 18th, minutes the 20lh, 6 n,i-
nutss, and the Goth, minutes.
If the spinal marrow be destroyed by the in.
PRODUCTION of probe into the ver,ebral canal,
life ihstsRtly disappears & cannot be restored by
pulmonary initiation
DR.. Gsllois is therefore ofopinion, that the
principle of sensation and motion in the trunk
comes from the spinal marrow, and not from the
brain that the nerves are its conductors -
chat they draw it even from the place where they
originate. but that the nerves on which depend
the mechanical phenomena of respiration, Dor.
row the principle of their action from the brain.
and not from the spinal marrow, notwithstanding
that they seem to originate from this marrow
NJ 4 Irot nf 4,
dogs, cats. and rabbits, he found 10 exist in the
sneaalld s6iongafd, were retarded in the spinal
marrow, these animals would live without head.
and would not often perish, In this case bat from
inanition But to live without head two con
ditiOns are necessary LIST. The organ, where
resides the first cause of respiratioi must remain
en,iIe during and after decapitatioh I'D The
hsTofrhagy must Rot be violent, SO that the cir
Culstion may preserve certain activity not ONLY
inthe rest OF the body, but particularly in the
organ in question conditions which are almost
impossible to exist in warm blooded animals,
though they may be easily obtained in those Of
cold blood.
He supposes that the principle of sensation &
moton, which resides in the n,eduiia obioneata
and spinal marrow constitutes personally the be
ing. and that the rest of the organization of the
animal serves only to put this principle in reia-
tion with exterior objects, OF to prepare & fur.
nsh II with arteral blood necessary for its re.
newai or support that this principle is as dura
bic as the spinal marrow itself; and that it is
the chemical alteration OF the blood, or the ces
sation of the circulation in the marrow, which
produces its extinction.
Powerful Effects Of the Gaiyanic Pie. connnu
nicafcd By the same.
The voltaic pile belonging to the Polytechnic
School in Paris, is composed of 600 plates vi cop
per and zinc, which are fixed in wooden frames.
At email distances from each other, leaving suf-
ffcient space for the acid liquor which deter
mines the electrical current. Lime exposed to
the conductors of platina, which communicate
with the two poles of the pile, assumed the APP
Fearance of very red fame. Barytes emitted
a'vspour which affected Mr.. Gaylussac, who
held the conductors. The action ofylhe pile was
al first manifested by sparks and combustion.-
Wires ofiron and OF platina, which served for
conductors, burned with rapidity in atmospheric
air. In 10 or Is minutes the pile begins to lose
Its activity. Some individuals received shock
Of The pile which strongly affected the body
Building in Pise, recommended as being greatly
cheaper than brick or stone, for email houscs in
the country,
The Sieur Cointeraux, of Paris, Rural Archi
tect, has addressed letter of a very late (March
"a 1808)date to The Society, for the encouragement
of arts in ~ r. He soicits the attesiion of the
members to the construction of houses, Gotta.
geG, and buildings of all kinds, from artificial
stones, formed from sand and gravel, by the SIM
pie operation of pounding and ramming. The
FICTITIOUS materials, formed III this easy manner
are compact enough for any house or barn of mo.
derate size, & sufficiently durable to last great
length of time.
MIR. C. assures the public that he has made Ca
pital improvements in this important art. And
NE urges the adoption OF them, in all places
where timber is scarce, stone is dear, and brick
hard to be got. He has accompanied his epistlc
with two pamphlets, explanatory of his mode OF
construction. Herein he censures the objections
that had been made to his method and by yari-
GUS plates igures,shows how an entire surface
6f Plse-ws may be painted in fresco, & be deco
rated with great taste. He in short concludes that
the requisites in edifces, strength, convenience
and beauty, may be combined perfectly in struc
lures ofthese extemporaneous materiaiy, which
in addition TO their frmness and ncornhustibility
have the advartage Of being formed out Of the
soil itself, upon the spot where it is wanted for
use.
Such persons rs do not read French, and may
not have it in their power to see Mr. CPS publ
cations, may find much information upon the SUBJ
ject in Mitchil! and Miller's Medical Repository,
vol g: in Jobnsons Treatise on this art, put
iished in New.York about four years ago and
In Livingston's memoirs, contained in the last
volume Of the transactions Of the New-York So.
ciety at Albany, during the current year, page
165.
Turkish NszY Tstauent.-The Missionaries
deputed by the Edihburg Missionary Society to
Emsss on abe borders of the Caspian Sea, have
been for considerable time engaged in prepar-