At the beginning of the present cen
tury the ideas which were entertained
with regard to the functions of the
different parts of the nervous system
were chaotic, and, so far as they were
coherent, were mostly erroneous. It
wus known that animals moved, and
that they felt, and that motion and
feeling w'ere in some w r ay dependent
upon the integrity of the brain, the
spinal cord and the nerves issuing from
or entering them. Beyond this there
was nothing, and there was absolutely
no pqwer to discover either the nature
or the seat of any nervous disease. ]
Sir Charles Bell, by rreearches which
were entirely experimental, and which
were carried on during the years be-!
tween 1807 and 1826, took the first !
great step toward educing order out
of chaos. He proved that the nerves
connected with the anterior portion of
the spinal cord ministered only to mo
tion, and that those connected with the
posterior portion ministered only to sen
sation. It is worth while to note, at a
time when accusations of inhumanity
are freely brought against experimen
ters, that the completion of Bell’s In
vestigations was delayed for years, be
cause he could not bring himself to
from his operations. He rendered It
possible, for the first time, to analyze
the symptoms of paralytic affections,
and to refer them to disease of this or
of the other structure. A few years
probably acting more or less upon
Later, from 1833 to 1837, Marshall Hall,
hints gathered from previously unno
ticed passages in the works of Unzer
and Prochaska, established on a firm
basis, and solely by experiment, the
so-called “reflex” function of the spinal
cord, and its independence, in certain
conditions, of the control ordinarily ex
ercised over it by the brain. His dis
coveries, like those of Bell, at once
threw a flood of light upon many of
the dark places of nervous pathology,
and pointed out the means of rational
and successful treatment. Within the
last few years experimental research
has forced the nervous system to dis
close more and more of its secrets, and
it is full of promise for the future. 