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is instantaneously fatal to all the rep-tile tribe. Many a time the same

stick, my dear James, was red withthe blood of Charleys, in numerous

engagements with these guardians ofthe night, on the military road, as Icame home from " Bully’s Acre."Secondly, You will have to reduce theprice to the standard of works of su-perior merit. Thirdly, To leave thereviewing of all Irish books to THE

LANCET ; and, fourthly, not to be va-pouring about pirated lectures, ho-nesty, and personality, to our mutualdisgrace, and the great amusement ofthe public. These precautions I taketo be essential to the future safety ofthe Repository. But should our laud-able endeavours to infuse fresh bloodinto its exhausted frame prove inef-fectual, it is but wisdom to be pre-pared for the melancholy event witha suitable remedy. I know how hard

it would be for a man of your habitsto be deprived all at once of the soli-tary enjoyments of the writing desk ;should you, therefore, be inclined tocontinue author, send me whatever I,trifles -you write for amusement, andI will do what I can with the Editorof The Lancet, with whom I flattermyself I have some influence, to havethem inserted. Apropos, don’t mindthe punctuation, for you lay on with

such a heavy hand that you seem tohave driven the pen through thepaper in some late articles in the Re-

pository, from the manner in which

epithets are divorced from their law-ful partners, and verbs from theircases-all of them indeed agreeing asbadly with each other as husbandsand wives do now-a-days. Thoughseparated from you by the waves andporpoises of the Irish Channel, I am-still as affectionately

Yours as ever,ERINENSIS.

For James Tartuffe Copland, Esq.. Dublin, March 30, 1825.

PHYSIOLOGY.

On the functions of certain parts of theNervous System. By M. MAGEN-DIE. Read at the Academy of Sc.Mar. 7, 1825.41 I shall, in’this memoir," says

M. M., " confine myself to some ex-

perimental truths, which, I believe,have not as yet been noticed by phy-siotogists, and shall first call the at-tention of the Academy to a resultwhich appears to me of some interest.I endeavoured to cut upon the fifthpair of nerves of a rabbit, before itpassed over the peteous portion of thetemporal bone, to effect which I per-forated the cranium just opposite itsorigin. By this opening I introduceda needle upon the posterior surface,and endeavoured, by various move-ments, to touch the trunk of this pairof nerves. In making this delicate,and to me entirely new experiment,I happened, unknowingly, to woundand even to cut transversely, thecrura cerebelli. Scarcely had I in-flicted this accidental wound, than Isaw the animal turn suddenly on itsback, without making the least effortto occasion this singular movement ;and whatever position I gave the ani-mal, it rolled incessantly until somephysical body arrested it. This phe-nomena continued for more than twohours, at which time I put it in abasket with some hay, and placedsome food near it. On visiting it thenext morning I found it still rolling,with the hay twisted around its body,as a bottle is when packed. It ap-peared quite well, and ate the foodwhilst lying on its back. I then noticedwhat had escaped me the day before,that the eyes had lost their ordinarymovement-had become inverted. Therabbit lived eight days and then died.On dissection I found I had divid-

ed, in great part, the crus cerebelli,corresponding to that side towardwhich the animal had a tendency toturn.On repeating this experiment on

another rabbit, I produced exactlythe same results ; but on cutting theleft crus, the rotation reverted fromleft to right. It struck me as beingprobable that the one transmitted aforce which was equally counterba-lanced by the other, and that it wasthe equitibrium of these two forcesthat regulated the position, repose,and divers voluntary and involuntarymovements. Subsequent experimentsconvinced me such was the case, foron cutting both the crura the animalbecame quite immoveable and showednot the least sign of animation.

28

If I admitted the opinion of Profes- sor Rolando upon the functions of thecerebellum, which he regards as theorgan producing movement, I musthave hesitated ; but having, in the Icourse of my researches, observedsome animals completely deprived ofthe cerebellum and yet execute someregular movements, I considered itnecessary to make further inquiry.Instead of commencing above, as I hadpreviously done, I began on the lowerpart of the cerebellum, for then Icould divide the semicircle which itforms above the spinal marrow. Itherefore opened the spine betweenthe occiput and the first vertebræ,and also uncovered the fourth ventti-cle ; by this means I could touch suchpart of the cerebellum as I wanted.The first step I took was to partially

- cut it, from the bottom upwards, insuch a manner as to leave three-fonrths to the left and one-fourth tothe right; the animal rolled to the

right, and its eyes were placed asif I had cut the left peduncle. Ithen made a section of the same ex-tent on the left side ; the rotation im-mediately ceased, and the eyes re-sumed their natural position. Atanother time, after making a partialdivision as before, I cut the left crus ;the animal, in the place of remainingstill as in the former case, revolved tothe left, and its eyes likewise changed.

It is evident from this last experi-ment, that the division of the crurahas more influence upon the lateralrotation of the body and inverted eyesthan the union of the cerebellum itself,and this induces me to think, that theimpulsive force comes not from thisorgan, but elsewhere.An experiment, it struck me, would

-throw some light on this subject-itwas to separate vertically the cere-bellum in two equal parts. Severalineffectual attempts were made beforeI could completely succeed, the sec-tion either verging a little too muchto the right or to the left, when thephenomena already described were

produced, but in a less degree. Buton eventually succeeding, the mostcurious phenomena were observable,the eyes were, to an extraordinarydegree, agitated, they seemed to jumpin their orbits, and the animal itselfappeared placed between two re-

pelling powers ; on its inclination onone side it was instantly repelled bythe other, and it remained balancedin this wonderful manner for severalhours.

I have met with the same resultson various mammiferous animals ofdifferent ages ; the revolutions variedmuch in the different species. Theanimal in which I found it the mostrapid was the guinea pig; the revo-lutions were as many as sixty a minute.From what has been said, it is not im-probable that the same occurrenceswould happen if the crus cerebelliwas wounded in man.

I M. Serres has given the followingcase, which appears to have the

greatest analogy to the results alreadyadduced. A shoemaker, ast. 68, agreat drinker, became one day, afterdinner, so (trunk as to greatly sur*prise his friends ; and instead of see-

I ing things turning about him, as hap-pened with him sometimes, he beganto roll himself about. His friends puthim to bed, and what is ’ery strange,he continued to roil about there, and

had soon wrapped all the bed-ctothesround him, and so he continued to dountil he died.

On examination of the brain, oneof the crura cerebe!li was found verymuch changed in texture.M. Magendie concludes by remark-

ing, that he shall continue his re-

searches on this part of the cerebralstructure in the other genera of ver-

tebrated animals.

MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL.

The Case of Hernia, Vol. 6, No. 10.,f

p. 317.On Tuesday last, a motion prefatory

to inquiry into the circumstances at-

tending this melancholy case was

made in the Board-room of the Hos-

pital, and, as he has latterly been

accustomed, the Junior Surgeon at-tempted to impugn the truth of theallegations against Mr. Joberns. We