The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1873-03-26
Unique,
a pgAp MANS BRAINS TRANSFERRED 70 A
klyiRa sunjsOg,
iworld Paris letter.

uioht, on reviyi6cation bad time TO cool
before another series Of experiments by
the samo phylologist, and no ltss respect
ably authenticated slarl'e9 the worll Of
science. II IL necessary 70 premise hnt
tho ylews Of physlologiSs respecting the
mode Of activity OF lhe brain have recept-
ly und, rgone great modification, and the
correctness vi tho modern ideasisfplly
supported by the experiments sloiwhicll
weIeter. Twas formerly imaglned aud
It 10 siill largely taught that tbs activity
Of the brain depended upon tho forces
liberated by certain cells in Ihe gray mat
ter OF that organ, which were supposed to
be the seat nf very active changes de-
mandpg abundant supply OF blood.
Nerve force was supposed 10 be set at lib
erty in these cells, It's liberation being Mt
tended with TIM production OF heat But
Ihvse yirve have not bpsR able 10 eAjnre
tho close ssrnipy 10 which tho brain has
recently been subjected, The microscope
has shown that these cells those supposed
ncrys.force producers are only a means Of
Interchange OF nervous Rlamehtn pro-
vision for the distribution OF telegraph
wires, as II were, not active centers, not
batteries llberaling vita force Of any
kind. " has bean proved Tint In death
from s,arvatlon, when the stomach has
been unable TO receive retain or DE-
gest food, while all the rest Of tho body
loses weight, such Is not the case With the
brain substance proper. la case Of sud-
den death the muscles have been found
producing heat long after life is extinct,
while In tho brain no heat is liberated af-
tar death, although the brain may be
gorged with blood. The inference drawn
from these facts, as well as from the in
tegrily OF the brain in all manner Of dis
eases, is that this organ is one of slug
| gish nulritive changes, M inert instru'
ment, played upon by forces which have
their origin elsewhere than in the brain
matter. Furthermore, nerves and brain
substance, when divided, reunite as ieadi-
| ly as teudon, or SKIN, or mucous MEM
branes aud the nervous phenomena inter
rupied by the wound or section are re.es-
tablished when the wound has healed, All
Psychologists agree on tn point, And rs
skin, or peri0sieum, or mucous membrane
can be trnnspaute1, rs surgeons well
know and constantly demonstrate prac-
| tce, cannot nerv0ns tissue be subjected 10
the same process? So reasoned our exIe-
rimcnter, and these prelminaries Will
show that Professor Mulers experiments
were legitimaed by strict scientific rea-
\ Drnf Autln,
after having transplanted or transferred
the hemispheres OF the brain from one au-
imal to another Of the same species in the
higher animals mammals--dogs,ca eats &c.,
and having engraited the brain so as TO
produce the manifesto tions of cerebral ac-
tiyity, secured at length the opportunity
of performing the same expert meht in
man, and with the result which it is The
object of this letter to detni. give the
facts as recorded in tine Gazette llebdoma
daire, taken from Virchows Archives, Il
medical Journal published at Berlin.
1t was at Leipzig that the experiment
was performed soldier who had kin
ed - colonel Of his regiment il cold
blood and whom the severity OF prussian
military discipline would have caused to
die hundred deaths, had it been possible
was deliberately handed over to the sur
geons, by sentence OF coult-mauial, and
was contncd in " strong room in the mill
tary hospital, entirely in the dark as to
the fate which awaited him. lie was kept
there ready for an emergency, which did
not fail to cccGr. a keeper OF N bc,r.ccl
lar in Leipzig, n man resembling in many
respects the condemned soldier, aud wao
had been seized vita acute inflammation
of the heart, or rather OF its Investing
membrane, was brought to the hospital TO
die of that incurable and promptly fatal
malady, No sooner had the anticipated
death taken place than the dead saloon
keeper was placed on n table by the side
of another operating table, on which was
the chloroiormed but living body OF the
soldier. Two surgeons, with assistants,
proceeded alike in both cases, TO divide
the scalp over the summit OF the skull
from ear to ear, turn back the divisions
and remove the skull-cap by missions
passing around the skull like crown. In
the soldier, whose carotid arteries had
been prepared for compression, these yes,
sels were ciampeu' SO as 10 prevent hem,
orrhage, "au out" row drops oil blood
wet0 ios' turing 'he entire operation, In
eacn .he uura mater was messed, ana the
hemispheres Of the brain were removed by
nh , inc's'on WIN sharp Inundated
hnile passing ABOVE the cereoeiium, or
narrow narrow portion OF ABOUT Two inches in
uiame'er caiieu the crura cerebrl, The
Drain Oh '6e saloon keeper, winch was