Phylogenetic association in relation to certain medical problems / [by] George W. Crile. Ether day address, 1910.

  • Crile, George Washington, 1864-1943.
Date:
[1910]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phylogenetic association in relation to certain medical problems / [by] George W. Crile. Ether day address, 1910. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    6/48 (page 4)
    The scope of the title of this paper may be ex- plained by a concrete example. When a barefoot boy steps on a sharp stone there is an immediate discharge of nervous energy in his effort at escape from the wounding stone. This is not a vol- untary act. It is not due to his own personal experience (i.e., his ontogeny), but is due to the experience of his progenitors during the vast periods of time re- quired 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 appro- priate discharge of nervous energy automatically followed. If the sole of the foot is repeatedly bruised or crushed by the stone, shock may be produced. If the stone be only lightly applied, then there is also a discharge of nervous energy from the sensation of tickling. The body has had implanted within it in a similar manner other mechanisms of ancestral or phy- logenetic 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 including 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 set up by a surgical operation still reach the brain. We know that not every portion of the brain is fully anesthe- tized, since surgical anesthesia does not kill. The