The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 67.

A. Nervous system of a Crab, showing its ganglia. B. The nervous system of a Caterpillar.]

The nervous system of some insects consists of two long, white cords, which run longitudinally through the abdomen, and are dilated at intervals into knots, consisting of collections of nerve-cells, called ganglia. They are really nerve-centers, which receive and transmit impulses, originate and impart nervous influence according to the nature of their organic surroundings. The ganglia situated over the esophagus of insects correspond to the medulla oblongata in man, in which originate the spinal accessory, glosso-pharyngeal, and pneumogastric nerves. The latter possess double endowments, and not only partic.i.p.ate in the operations of deglut.i.tion, digestion, circulation, and respiration, but are also nerves of sensation and instinctive motion.

The suspension of respiration produces suffocation. In insects, these ganglia are scarcely any larger than those distributed within the abdomen, with which they connect by means of minute, nervous filaments.

Insects are nimble in their movements, and manifest instinct, corresponding to the perfection of their muscular and nervous systems.

When we ascend to vertebrates, those animals having a backbone, the amount of the nervous substance is greater, the organic functions are more complex, and the actions begin to display intelligence.

Man possesses not only a complete sympathetic system, the rudiments of which are found in worms and insects, and a complete spinal system, less perfectly displayed in fishes, birds, and quadrupeds, but, superadded to all these is a magnificent cerebrum, and, as we have seen, all parts of the body are connected by the nervous system. The subtle play of sensory and motor impulses, of sentient and spiritual forces, indicates a perfection of nervous endowments nowhere paralleled, and barely approached by inferior animals. This meager reference to brainless animals, whoso knots of ganglia throughout their bodies act automatically as little brains, shows that instinct arises simultaneously with the development of the functions over which it presides. Here begins rudimentary, unreasoning intelligence. It originates within the body as an inward, vital impulse, is manifested in an undeviating manner, and therefore displays no intention or discretion. While Dr. Carpenter likens the human organism "to a keyed instrument, from which any music it is capable of producing can be called forth at the will of the performer," he compares "a bee or any other insect to a barrel organ, which plays with the greatest exactness a certain number of tunes that are set upon it, but can do nothing else." Instinct cannot learn from experience, or improve by practice; but it seems to be the prophetic germ of a higher intelligence. It is nearly as difficult to draw the dividing line between instinct and a low grade of intelligence, as it is to distinguish between the psychical and psychological[4] functions of the brain.

The intimate relation of instinct to intelligence is admirably ill.u.s.trated in the working honey-bee. With forethought it selects a habitation, constructs comb, collects honey, provides a cell for the ova, covers the chrysalis, for which it deposits special nourishment, and is disposed to defend its possessions. It is a social insect, lives in colonies, chastises trespa.s.sers, fights its enemies, and defends its home. It manifests a degree of intelligence, but its sagacity is instinctive. Reason, though not so acute as instinct, becomes, by education, discerning and keenly penetrative, and reveals the very secrets of profound thought. We recall the aptness of Prof. Aga.s.siz's remark: _"There is even a certain antagonism between instinct and intelligence, so that instinct loses its force and peculiar characteristics, whenever intelligence becomes developed."_ Animals having larger reasoning powers manifest less instinct, and some, as the leopard, exercise both in a limited degree. This double endowment with instinct and low reasoning intelligence, is indicated by his lying in ambush awaiting his prey, the hiding-place being selected near the haunt of other animals, where nature offers some allurement to gratify the appet.i.te.

Simple reflex action is an instinctive expression, manifesting an intuitive perception, almost intelligent, as shown by the contraction of the stomach upon the food, simply because it impinges upon the inner coats, and thus excites them to action. A better ill.u.s.tration, because it displays sympathy, is when the skin, disabled by cold, cannot act, and its duties are largely performed by the kidneys. Though reflex action is easily traced in the lower organic processes, some writers have placed it on a level with rational deliberation. Undoubtedly, all animals having perception have also what perception implies--consciousness--and this indicates the possession, in some degree, of reason. _Compound_ reflex action extends into the domain of thought. _Simple_ reflex action, or instinct, answers to the animal faculties, such as acquisitiveness, secretiveness, selfishness, reproductiveness, etc., and accomplishes two important purposes; self-preservation and the reproduction of the specie. With many persons, these appear to be the chief ends of life!

The psychical functions connect, not only with animal propensities, but also with the highest psychological faculties. Instinct is the representative of animal conditions, just as the highest spiritual faculties are indicative of qualities and principles. The consistent mean of conduct is an equilibrium between these ultimate tendencies of our being. The psychological functions render the animal nature subservient to the rule of purity and holiness, and deeply influence it by the essential elements of spiritual existence. The psychical organs sustain an intermediate relation, receiving the impressions of the bodily propensities, and, likewise, of the highest emotions. Obviously, these extreme influences, the one growing out of animal conditions, the other, the result of spiritual relations, pa.s.s into the psychical medium and are refracted by it, or made equivalent to one force. The body requires the qualifying influences of mind. The tendencies of the animal faculties are selfish and limiting, those of the emotive, general, universal. The propensities, like gravity, expend their force upon matter; the emotions pour forth torrents of feeling, and produce rhapsodies of sentiment. The propensities naturally restrict their expression to a specific object of sense; the emotions respond to immaterial being. The tendencies of the former are acquisitive, selfish, gratifying; of the latter, bestowing, expanding, diffusing. The one cla.s.s is restricted to the orbits of time and matter, the other flows on through the limitless cycles of infinity and immortality. The former is satiated in animal gratification, the latter in spiritual beatification.

The one culminates in animal enjoyment, the other expands to its ultimate conceptions in the perfections of Divine Love.

In the present life, mind and body are intimately connected by nervous matter. In this dual const.i.tution, the spiritual mental, and animal functions are made inseparable, and modify one another. The ultimate tendencies of each extreme exist, not absolutely for themselves, but for qualifying purposes, to establish a basis for the deeper economy of life. By the employment of reason, animal and spiritual experiences are mutually benefited, and the consciousness rendered accountable. The bodily and mental workings are in many senses one, and help to interpret each other.

Every fact of mind has many aspects. A brain force, which results in thought, is simultaneously a physiological force, if it influences the bodily functions. Likewise, spiritual conceptions take their rise in the same blood that feeds the grosser tissues. This vital fluid is momentarily imparting and receiving elements from all the bodily organs, and these, in turn, must influence the process of thought, and, in a degree, determine its quality. The delicate outline, yea, even the substance of an idea, may depend upon the condition of the animal organs. Thought is subject to the laws of biology, and, therefore, is a symbol of health. Morbid conditions of the system hang out their signs in words and utterances. Words which express fear are as true symptoms of functional difficulty as is excessive palpitation. The organ representing fear sustains a special relation to the functions of the heart both in health and disease. Bright hopes characterize pulmonary complaints as certainly as cough. Exquisite susceptibility of mind indicates equally extreme sensibility of body, and those persons capable of fully expressing the highest emotions are especially susceptible to bodily sensations. Tears are physical emblems of grief, and fellow-feeling calls forth sympathetic tears. Excessive anxiety of mind produces general excitability of body, which soon results in chronic disease. Pleasurable emotions stimulate the processes of nutrition, and are restorative. This concomitance of mental and bodily states is very remarkable. Joy and Love, as well as jealousy and anger, flash in the eye and mould the features to their expression. Grief excites the lachrymal, and rage the salivary glands. Shame reddens the ears, drops the eyelids, and flushes the face; but profligacy destroys these expressions. The blush which suffuses the forehead of the bashful maiden betrays her love, and _maternal_ love, stirred by the appeals of an idolized infant, excites the mammary gland to the secretion of milk. The sigh of melancholia indicates hepatic torpor, thus showing a special relation between the liver and respiratory organs. These conditions of mind and body react upon one another. Even the thought of a luscious peach may cause the mouth to water. The thought of tasting a lemon fills the mouth with secretions, and a story with unsavory a.s.sociations may completely turn the stomach.

The relationship of mental and physical functions may be ill.u.s.trated by entirely removing the spleen of an animal, as that of a dog. An invariable result of its extirpation is an unusual increase of the appet.i.te, for at times the animal will eat voraciously any kind of food.

The dog will devour, with avidity, the warm entrails of recently killed animals, and thrive in consequence of such an appet.i.te. Another symptom, which usually follows the removal of the spleen, is an unnatural ferocity of disposition. Without any apparent provocation, the animal will attack others of its own, or of a different species. In some instances, these outbursts of irritability and violence are only occasional, but the experiments show quite conclusively that the spleen moderates combativeness, restrains the appet.i.te, and co-operates with the will and judgment in controlling them.

We shall briefly consider the practical question whether the elements of mind can be ideally arranged and presented, so as to more completely reveal their relations to, and disclose their effects upon the bodily functions. Modern philosophers conceive that mind consists of a triad of essentials; _Intellect, Emotion,_ and _Volition_. Physiologists a.s.sign to the cerebrum its functions, and neurological, as well as phrenological writers, have located them as represented in Fig. 68.

True, there is no structural division between the parts of the cerebrum to indicate this diversity of function, nor is there any perceptible limit between the sensory and motor filaments of the game nerve. As no one has any reason for denying that separate portions of the brain may manifest distinct functions of the mind, we shall a.s.sume it as a conceded proposition. The regions of the cerebrum, thus ideally represented, occupy but little more than half of the arc of a circle, whereas it is evident that the base of the nervous ma.s.s is not idle, and is equally ent.i.tled to our consideration. In the posterior chamber of the skull is the cerebellum, anterior to, and below which, is the medulla oblongata, connecting with the spinal cord and sympathetic system. These various parts are essential to the harmonious blending of mind and body. To this end, two conditions are necessary. (1.) All the nervous forces must be so related that action and reaction may be fully established. (2.) A complete nervous circuit is requisite for the reciprocal influence of mind and body.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 68.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 69. ]

Nature answers to mind in physical correspondences. The planetary system is fashioned after a circle. Life itself springs from a spherule of forces. The perfection of an idea, or the completeness of a conception may be expressed by a circle. The elements of Science, Astronomy, Geology, and Natural History, are pictorially represented in this manner. How appropriately and logically can a fragment of natural history, this epitome of all nature and science--_the mind_--be ill.u.s.trated by a simple circle! Every element must act and react, and be equal and opposite. Thus may the existence of the opposing energies and functions of each faculty be equally represented. The contrast aids us in understanding their ultimate tendencies, and enables us to correctly value and define their nature. Faculties of kindred qualities may be grouped together, and their antagonisms represented in the opposite arc of the circle. Let us employ a circle to represent mind. The conception of the abstract quality of _good_, requires contrast with one of a converse nature, _bad_, (see Fig. 69). Opposite faculties may be portrayed in the same manner. The functions of the cerebrum and spinal system may be symbolically represented as those of the highest and lowest organs, thus giving rise to the positive and negative extremes of feeling. The writer conceives of no other way in which the widely contrasted facts of human experience can be so perfectly symbolized.

_Good_ (Fig. 69) may represent moral faculties, and _bad_, their opposites. Undoubtedly, nature is not so arbitrary in her arrangements as we are in shadowing forth our imperfect conceptions, yet is not this a decided improvement in determining cerebral faculties and their relations? We observe how scholars and philosophers confound the n.o.blest and most exalted emotions with the animal propensities instead of distinguishing between them. "_The emotions are a department of the feelings, formed by the intervention of intellectual processes. Several of them are so characteristic that they can be known only by individual experiences; as Wonder, Fear, Love, Anger_." See Logic: Deductive and Inductive, by Alexander Bain, LL. D., page 508, (1874).

This is not an exceptional, but a common example of cla.s.sifying Love, the highest and purest of the emotions, with Anger, an animal propensity. Is it not more practical and philosophical to group the emotional faculties together, and upon an opposite arc represent their antagonistic energies, the ultimate tendencies of which are criminal?

Both groups are mutually modifying and restraining; the one relates instinctively to the bodily wants, the other to the requirements of mind, and each is essential to a consistent life. Accordingly, we deem it philosophical to consider words as symbols of mental faculties, and to cla.s.sify together such spiritual unities as joy, hope, faith, and love, the tendencies of which are to quicken and transform the ultimates of carnal life into the rudiments of an immortal one, the beginning of heaven on earth. These restrain those opposites, which lead to crime and death. Love and Hate are as antagonistic as heat and cold, and the usefulness of both depends upon their _proper_ temperament. Fig. 70 represents the antagonism of the Intellectual faculties to the Animal, the Emotional to the Criminal, the Volitive to the Enfeebling. It is not essential to discover in the nerve-substance the precise power from which an impulse originates. We may reasonably interpret the functions of the brain, and yet be unable to disclose the duties of any ganglionic corpuscle composing it. We may foretell what each season of the year will bring forth, when we cannot forecast the history of a blade of gra.s.s or a single grain of any kind. We may predict the amount of rain for a month, and be unable to prognosticate correctly, the character of any storm, or give the history of a special drop of water. Although we cannot follow the movements of individuals in a battle, yet we may predict the result of the combat; and thus, we judge of the functions of the brain without the ability to reveal the actions of one of the organic molecules of which it is composed. We aim to give a general, reasonable, and popular description of cerebral functions and their bearing upon health and disease.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 70.]

REGIONAL DIVISIONS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 71.]

The anterior portion of the cerebrum is devoted to intellectual processes, which freely expend the vital energies. The Intellectual faculties are cla.s.sified as represented in Fig. 71. The lower portion of the brain, bounded exteriorly by the superciliary ridge, corresponds to the Perceptive, the middle region to the Recollective, and the upper to the Reflective faculties. (See also Fig. 65, _b_.) If we divide the forehead by vertical lines, as shown in Fig. 71, the divisions thus formed represent respectively, the Active, Deliberative, and Contemplative departments of the intellect, all the processes of which are sustained by vital changes, the transformation of organized materials. No mental effort can be made without waste of nervous matter.

The gardener's hoe wears by use, and so does every part of the animal organism. Otherwise, nutrition would be unnecessary for the adult. The production of thought wears away the cerebral substance. In ordinary use, the brain requires one-fifth of the blood to support its growth and repair. Great mental efforts are attended by a corresponding expenditure of vital treasures, which are abstracted from the total forces available for the necessities of the system. To repair the losses thus occasioned, materials are appropriated from the blood, which furnishes supplies in proportion to the demands made by the mental activities. The production of thought wears away the gray matter of the cerebrum as surely as the digging of a ca.n.a.l wears away the iron particles of the spade. The brain would soon wear out did not the nutritive functions constantly make good the waste. The intellect, whether engaged in observation, generalization, or profound study consumes the brain and blood, hence intellectual activity implies VITAL EXPENDITURE. _Expenditure_ is an emphatic word because all functions are essential to the production of this nerve-energy, which returns to the system no equivalent. Physical exercise, although attended by structural waste, is advantageous to the circulation of the blood, nutrition, secretion, and, in fact, beneficial to all the organic processes. This is not true of vigorous and prolonged mental labor, which is not attended by any of these incidental advantages. If a child attends a school in which mental development supersedes physical culture, an inordinate ambition sways the youthful mind, and its baneful effects upon the health soon become manifest.

Rigorous application of the intellectual faculties consumes the blood, exhausts the vital forces, weakens the organic functions, while pallor covers the face, and the eyes sparkle with a hectic radiance. The family physician p.r.o.nounces the condition _Anaemia_ (a deficiency of red corpuscles in the blood), and this change in the quality of the blood is owing to the undue appropriation by the brain. Conversely, if the blood be destroyed, or its vitality reduced, in the same proportion will the mental energies be weakened and all the functional powers of the physical system enfeebled. In brief, if the intellect be unduly exercised, the red corpuscles of the sanguine fluid will be gradually destroyed, and the serum allowed to predominate. The blood becomes weak and watery, the subject is nervous, dropsical, consumptive and derangement of the important functions follows almost invariably.

Excessive intellectual activity often produces weak state of the system, and the person thus affected becomes languid, spiritless, and an easy prey to disease. This mental cause and its bodily results may be cla.s.sified in the following order. Mental Cause: EXCESSIVE MENTAL EXERTION, which produces _waste of the brain substance and blood_.

/ VITAL EXPENDITURE, Bodily results: { ANaeMIA, A WEAK CONDITION.

This kind of waste is best summed up in the words, VITAL EXPENDITURE.

Upon the forehead, as represented in Fig. 72, we will therefore inscribe INTELLECT, ACTIVITY, and VITAL EXPENDITURE. Intellectual employment is usually accompanied by sedentary habits, neglect of healthful exercise, and a deprivation of pure air, to all of which ill health may be attributed. Were the intellectual expenditure arrested, and the forces turned into recuperative channels, many a person would become beautiful with the ruddy glow of health. Without health there is no use for thought; cultivation of the mind is just as natural and essential as the culture of the body, and the trained development of both is needed for mutual improvement.

EMOTIVE FACULTIES.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 72.]

What results follow the _natural_ and the _excessive_ exercise of the EMOTIVE FACULTIES? AS distinct organs of the body have diverse functions, so, in like manner, different parts of the brain perform the separate operations of the mind. It is easier to discriminate between the products of these dissimilar endowments than to determine the location of the faculties. The intellect deals with concrete subjects, and the emotions with abstractions; the intellect is exercised with material things, the emotions dwell upon attributes; the intellect considers the forces of matter, the emotions, the powers of the soul; the former deliberates upon the truths of science, the latter is concerned with duties, obligations, or moral responsibilities; the first is satisfied only with new truths, original ideas, and rational changes, the last rest securely on fundamental principles, moral certainties, and the absolute constancy of perfect love. The intellectual faculties are wakeful, questioning, mistrustful; the emotions are blind, hopeful, confiding; the one reasoning, exacting, demonstrating; the other, believing, inspiring, devout. The intellect sees, the emotions feel; and, though these functions may blend, the one can never supersede the other.

The quality of the emotional faculties is represented by Benevolence, Sympathy, Joy, Hope, Confidence, Grat.i.tude, Love, and Devotion, all of which are the very ant.i.theses of the attributes of animal feeling, described as Melancholy, Fear, Anger, Hate, Malevolence, and Despair. To the emotions we refer the highest qualities of character, while their opposites represent the animal or baser impulses. True, the emotions modify the propensities, as sympathy softens grief. They may subdue and refine the animal feelings, and thus veil them with a delicacy characteristic of their own purity; but the unrestrained influences of grief find vent in loud lamentations, and the bitter disappointments of the selfish faculties are pa.s.sionate and violent.

The _Emotive Faculties_--the organs of spiritual perceptions--are impersonal, outflowing, bestowing. The function represented by Benevolence, is willing, giving. Devotion expresses dedication, consecration; Grat.i.tude manifests a warm and friendly feeling toward a benefactor.

"The depth immense of endless grat.i.tude."--MILTON.

Love flames toward its object, is out-pouring, blessing; indeed, all the emotions are gushing, effusive, impetuous, and profusely flowing; grand, torrent-like, overwhelming; employing ideal, immaterial, spiritual expressions, developing principles and perfections while aspiring to happiness and immortality. Though beginning with humanity, they embody the Divine. They expand to their ultimate conceptions in the sublime attributes: the perfections of the G.o.d of Love; a.s.sociating with mortality a divine destiny commencing on earth, extending through time, pausing not at the portals of death, the gateway to eternity, but flowing onward into the realms of eternal day.

We may consider their counteracting influences, for, without doubt, by checking the selfish tendencies and restraining the animal propensities, they a.s.sist in controlling the sensual pa.s.sions, and thus balance the mind and body. Such an equilibrium we call _happiness_. If the emotions be acute and vehement, they will absorb all other impressions and revel in their culminating and delightful experiences. They exhaust all the bodily energies, and a functional suspension, termed _ecstasy_, follows.

It is a swooning, or fainting, a temporary loss of sensation and volition, accompanied by involuntary movements of the arms, smiting of the hands, sighing, and short ejaculatory expressions of rapture. This condition, occasioned by excessive emotion, as in praying, singing, exhortations, and sympathetic appeals, is contagious, often spreading with mysterious rapidity. Its culmination, ecstasy, is popularly termed "_the power_." When gradually induced, it is called _trance_, and each state is regarded by many as supernatural, caused by the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit. The explanation is this: when the emotive faculties are suddenly and powerfully excited, they quickly expend the organic forces, so that the individual swoons from sheer exhaustion.

Undue expenditure of this cla.s.s of brain functions not only consumes the bodily powers, but exhausts and prevents other mental operations. The sudden collapse of all voluntary functions resembles the fainting produced by blood-letting. We may sum up this rapid expenditure of energy in one expressive word, EXHAUSTION, which results in _Ecstasy_, or trance, and which, if carried a degree further, terminates in death.

Beginning with the natural exercise of the emotions, we may state the order of sequences thus:

Ordinary exercise leads to CALMNESS.

Proper exercise " " HAPPINESS.

Increased exercise " " ECSTASY.

Excessive exercise " " SYNCOPE.

Prolonged exercise " " TRANCE.

Fatal exercise " " MORTALITY.

Their tendencies are EXHAUSTIVE.

VOLITIVE FACULTIES.

What are the physiological and morbid results attending the ordinary and the immoderate exercise of the VOLITIVE FACULTIES?

The generic term _will_, comprehends those faculties, the action of which is termed _volition_. The faculties of the will are Determination, Firmness, Decision, Ambition, Authority, and Vigilance, all of which indicate strength and continuity of purpose. Bordering upon the emotions are Patience and Perseverance, while adjoining the animal faculties are Power, Coa.r.s.eness, and Love of Display. The former exhibit moral, the latter animal heroism. A sense of power urges forward, whether it be higher or lower, just as the sense of greatness makes a man _great_ by inspiring him with confidence to put forth exertion. Nature is truthful in her aspirations. We know that courage, a.s.surance, and conscious power are necessary for the fulfillment of purpose, because intention precedes action. Will-power is an indication of HEALTH, and the constant exercise of these mental faculties exerts a steady, regular, and strengthening influence over the bodily functions. We translate mental energies into physiological industry. These faculties impart tone to the system, sustain the processes of nutrition, circulation, a.s.similation, secretion and excretion, and their distinguishing characteristics are vigor, tension, and elasticity. They temper each element of character, as well as every vital act. They infuse the organism with a resisting power which renders it proof against the influence of miasma and malaria, and overcomes that pa.s.sivity and impressionability so favorable to disease.

Firmness expresses a physiological cohesiveness which strongly binds together the fibers of the tissues, and renders the organization compact and powerful. He, who can skillfully employ these energies, is already master of half of the diseases incident to mankind, and wields an indispensable adjunct to medicine, in the practice of the healing art.

It is the key to success, for it unlocks difficulties and opens wide the door which leads to favorable results.

Surplus energy sustains the circulation, increases capillary action, as if the excess of nerve-power were discharged from the distant extremity of each nerve and pervaded every tissue. The voluntary muscles indicate their partic.i.p.ation in this energy, and, indeed, the whole organism is exalted by the influence of the mental faculties. They oppose the tendencies of Feebleness, Relaxation, and Derangement, and modify their proclivities to Disease. The will is the servant of the intellect, emotions, and propensities, and the executive agent of all the faculties. When the volitive faculties are in excess, they may overdo the other functions, prematurely break down the bodily organs, and, by overtaxing the system, subject it to pain and disorder.

_VOLITIVE FACULTIES._

The natural effect of FIRMNESS is physiological stability. The exercise of the volitive faculties displays both mental and bodily ENERGY.