The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-06-09

nerve Of motion TO extend from the spine
to the muscles. Then when the nerve of
sensation is rritated, the impression il
conveyed to the spinal cord, and thence to
the nerve Of motion, which causes the mus
Gle to contract and yet the patient can
/ ne 'ther feel nor control the motions in ex-
treme cases, although he may see them.
| Aineng other illustrations, it is stated that
feather passed lightly ever the instep,
though unfelt, gave rise to j rks in the
limb which far exceeded in vehemence the
movements produced by pricking and
pinchine, which were sufficiently acute 10
be perceived by the subject of the expert
ment. This was probably owing to the
fact that in the one case the mind was
conscious Of the irritation and exercised
control oyer the limb, and the other was
unconscious and could not act. The fact.
however, is undonbted, that the very ab-
sence of feeling may cause IN aggravation
of muscular convulsons, and this phenom-
onon in man is regarded a. the key to
many of the nervous motions of brutes.
The body, says Dir. Kirkes, of de-
capitated lizard will writhe when the skin
is punctured and if the animal is div-
ded in two, the lower portion can be rous-
ed into activity as well as the upper. If
the head of frog be cut of, it will leap
when the feet are pinched and if the
back or abdomen is irritated, will push
with its legs as though it were impatient
of the treatment, and desired t, remove
the cause, The irascble insect called the
W4H'iS rei'gi0s0, Or prayiug mantis, from
the attitude it assumes in seizing its prey,
will, when hcadiess, wound with it's claws
the finger which touches them. Tfa cen
tiorede, says DR.. Carpenter, is sliced into
several lengths, the action Of the feet cen
tinues in each, and carries forward the
fragments. Both the halves of leecb
which has been cut in two continue to
swim in the water and when one of these
creatures has been deprived Of its head
and tail, the trunk will retain an apparent
vitality for several months. But the move
ments of decapitated animals must, like
the movements in the limbs of a human
! being where the connection with the brain
is destroyed, be exclusively due to the
| physical functions Of the nerves, and not
at all to feelings which can have no exis-
! tence apart from the mind. \ slice cut
from the middle Of a centipede can have
no more power Of perception than the am
puated leg Of Il man. The contrary sup
| position would indeed require us to assume
that a centipede must be compounded Of
I half hundred distinct individuals. overv
one Of which possessed a separate con
sciousness The consequences involved in
the notion seem not to have struck many
intelligent persons, who fancied that, when
the bits Of an eel which was skinned and
disemboweled, as well as divided into
score or more Of pieces, jumped from the
( frying pan, it was the intolcrable agony
of being grilled which prompted the act. T"
The upper portion of worm which has
been cut i'll two is still, however, under
the government of its brain, and retains
consciousness out the fact that The two
parts, if united, will grow together again
shows, independently of other proofs, that
these writings are stimulated by an
amount of feeling very far short of the in
tolerable anguish they might lead us to
infer The following interesting account
of the ability of some of the lower orders
Of creatures to repair severe bodily injury
is given by Prof. Owen:
"A worm cut in two was found to re.
produce the tail at the cut extremity Of
the cephalic half and to form head up
on the caudal moiety. Bonnet progres-
sively increased the number Of sections in
healthy individals of small worm or nait
which he calls Lumjticus rarieqatus
and when one Of these had been so divided
into twenty-six parts, almost all of them
reproduced the head and tail, and became
so many distinct individuals. The small
fresh water maids show great powers oI
repair and reproduction There are som,
species found in sand or mud, such as thos,
that stain of red color extensive tracts o,
the Thames mud at low water, which ,wher
submerged, habitually protrude the anteri
Or half of their body, which is remarkabl,
for its regular, oscillating movement
Bonnet cut off the head Of one of the maid,
of this genus, which was soon reproduced
and, when perfect, he repeated the act, anc
again as often as the head was REPRODUCED