The Origin and Nature of the Emotions: Miscellaneous Papers

The brain-cells have existed for eons and, amid the vicissitudes of change, they have persisted with perhaps less alteration than has the crust of the earth. Whether in man or in the lower animals, they are related to and obey the same general biologic laws, thus being bound to the entire past and performing their function in accordance with the law of phylogenetic association.

For so long a time have we directed our attention to tumors, infections, and injuries that we have not sufficiently considered the vital force itself. We have viewed each anatomic and pathologic part as an entity and man as an isolated phenomenon in nature. May we not find in the laws of adaptation under natural selection, and of phylogenetic association, the master key that will disclose to us the explanation of many pathologic phenomena as they have already explained many normal phenomena?

And may medicine not correlate the pathologic phenomena of the sick man with the forces of evolution, as the naturalists have correlated the phenomena of the sound man, and thus may not disease, as well as health, be given its evolutionary setting?

[[1]]

Address delivered at the Massachusetts General Hospital on the sixty-fourth anniversary of Ether Day, Oct. 15, 1910.

[[2]]

From the H. K. Cushing Laboratory of Experimental Medicine, Western Reserve University, Cleveland.

[[3]]

Since the presentation of this paper, novocain has been substituted for cocain in operations under anoci-association.

[[4]]

Darwin: Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.

[[5] See footnote, page 4 [note 3 above]]

[[6] See footnote, page 4 [note 3 above]]

[[7] See footnote, page 4 [note 3 above]]

[[8]]

In later papers and in "Anoci-association" (Crile and Lower) methods of combating postoperative hyperthyroidism are fully discussed.

[[a]]

Note the normal condition of the Purkinje cells in B, the shock-producing impulses having been prevented from reaching them by the division of the cord.

[[b]]

Note the absence of hyperchromatic cells in B and the signs of disintegration in the cells indicated by the arrows.

[[c]]

Note the protective effect of nitrous oxid by comparing B with the preceding photomicrograph of the brain-cells of the dog which received equal trauma under ether.

[[d]]

Note in B the absence of hyperchromatic cells, the hypochromatic condition of all the Purkinje cells, and the almost complete disintegration of the cells indicated by arrows.

[[e]]

Note the percentage of hyperchromatic cells.

[[f]]

The hyperchromatic cells show that the first effect of fright is to stimulate the cells to meet the increased demand.

[[g]]

Note the absence of chromatin from all the Purkinje cells in focus (see arrows).

[[h]]

The attitude of each animal is that of watchful approach rather than of fear, an emotion unfelt by the cobra guarded by his venom, or by the tiger conscious of his strong and powerful equipment for defense.

[[i]]

Compare the intense stimulation and fearful excitement manifested by these animals with the calm control of the animals in Fig. 6.

[[j]]

The contrast between animals in Figs. 6 and 7 finds its analogy in a comparison of these runners—A, poorly equipped by training and fearful of the result, shows every evidence of exhaustion; while B, confident in the strength given by superior training, wins the race with ease.

[[k]]

The animal had recovered, but the cells are still hypochromatic and some have been exhausted beyond the power of recuperation.

[[l]]

Note the fatigued cells and the faint traces of exhausted cells.

University of Virginia Library

Conclusion