The Origin and Nature of Emotions | Page 4

W. CRILE. CLEVELAND, OHIO, _February, 1915_.

CONTENTS PAGE PHYLOGENETIC ASSOCIATION IN RELATION TO CERTAIN MEDICAL PROBLEMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
PHYLOGENETIC ASSOCIATION IN RELATION TO THE EMOTIONS . . . . 55 PAIN, LAUGHTER, AND CRYING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
THE RELATION BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL STATE OF THE BRAIN-CELLS AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS-EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL . . . .111
A MECHANISTIC VIEW OF PSYCHOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
A MECHANISTIC THEORY OF DISEASE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
THE KINETIC SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
ALKALESCENCE, ACIDITY, ANESTHESIA--A THEORY OF ANESTHESIA. .227
INDEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237 THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE EMOTIONS
PHYLOGENETIC ASSOCIATION IN RELATION TO CERTAIN MEDICAL PROBLEMS[*]
[*] Address delivered at the Massachusetts General Hospital on the sixty-fourth anniversary of Ether Day, Oct. 15, 1910.
The discovery of the anesthetic properties of ether and its practical application to surgery must always stand as one of the great achievements of medicine. It is eminently fitting that the anniversary of that notable day, when the possibilities of ether were first made known to the world, should be celebrated within these walls, and whatever the topic of your Ether Day orator, he must fittingly pause first to pay tribute to that great event and to the master surgeons of the Massachusetts General Hospital. On this occasion, on behalf of the dumb animals as well as on behalf of suffering humanity, I express a deep sense of gratitude for the blessings of anesthesia.
Two years ago, an historic appreciation of the discovery of ether was presented here by Professor Welch, and last year an address on medical research was given by President Eliot. I, therefore, will not attempt a general address, but will invite your attention to an experimental and clinical study. In presenting the summaries of the large amount of data in these researches, I acknowledge with gratitude the great assistance rendered by my associates, Dr. D. H. Dolley, Dr. H. G. Sloan, Dr. J. B. Austin, and Dr. M. L. Menten.[*]
[*] From the H. K. Cushing Laboratory of Experimental Medicine, Western Reserve University, Cleveland.
The scope of this paper may be explained by a concrete example. When a barefoot boy steps on a sharp stone there is an immediate discharge of nervous energy in his effort to escape from the wounding stone. This is not a voluntary act. It is not due to his own personal experience-- his ontogeny--but is due to the experience of his progenitors during the vast periods of time required for the evolution of the species to which he belongs, _i. e_., his phylogeny. The wounding stone made an impression upon the nerve receptors in the foot similar to the innumerable injuries which gave origin to this nerve mechanism itself during the boy's vast phylogenetic or ancestral experience. The stone supplied the phylogenetic association, and the appropriate discharge of nervous energy automatically followed. If the sole of the foot be repeatedly bruised or crushed by a stone, shock may be produced; if the stone be only lightly applied, then the consequent sensation of tickling causes a discharge of nervous energy. In like manner there have been implanted in the body other mechanisms of ancestral or phylogenetic origin whose purpose is the discharge of nervous energy for the good of the individual. In this paper I shall discuss the origin and mode of action of some of these mechanisms and their relation to certain phases of anesthesia.
The word anesthesia--meaning WITHOUT FEELING--describes accurately the effect of ether in anesthetic dosage. Although no pain is felt in operations under inhalation anesthesia, the _*nerve impulses excited by a surgical operation still reach the brain_. We know that not every portion of the brain is fully anesthetized, since surgical anesthesia does not kill. The question then is: What effect has trauma under surgical anesthesia upon the part of the brain THAT REMAINS AWAKE? If, in surgical anesthesia, the traumatic impulses cause an excitation of the wide-awake cells, are the remainder of the cells of the brain, despite anesthesia, affected in any way? If so, they are prevented by the anesthesia from expressing that influence in conscious perception or in muscular action. Whether the ANESTHETIZED cells are influenced or not must be determined by noting the physiologic functions of the body after anesthesia has worn off, and in animals