The brain-stem conceived as the highest level of function in the nervous system; with particular reference to the automatic apparatus of Carpenter (1850) and to the centrencephalic integrating system of Penfield.

Walshe, Francis Martin Rouse

Publication Date: 1957

About this Item

Brain, 80/4. - London, MacMillan and Co. Limited; New York, St, Martin's Presds, Inc., 1957, 8°, pp.510-539, 2 Figs., orig. wrappers. Rare Offprint! "The concept of "levels" in the physiological hierarchy within the nervous system we owe to Hughlings Jackson, and it is not proposed now to discuss the particular roles he attributed to the levels he postulated. It suffices to say that the concept was a physiological and not a morphological one, though necessarily each level of function had its morphological substratum which he designated as its "anatomy," using this term to refer to a group of structures as engaged in a co-ordinated activity: that is, referring to structures in their functional relationships. Further, as we know, the concept of levels was based, not primarily upon a speculative or a philosophical basis, but as an inference from facts of clinical observation, comprising the motor disorders of chorea, of convulsions beginning unilaterally, and the patterns of motor disorder ensuing upon destroying lesions of the brain. This review deals with a new concept of levels elaborated by Penfield and compares it with a similar concept that was widely held a century ago when it was formulated by W. B. Carpenter, the author of the standard textbook of physiology at that time.' Jackson's was perhaps the first modem generalization about the nervous system as a co-ordinating system that was based on observation rather than on affirmation. Moreover, it was unique in that it rigorously excluded psychical activities from the dynamic properties of the nervous system, which for Jackson was solely a system for the co-ordination of impressions and movements. Adopting the doctrine of psychophysical parallelism, he wrote of the nervous system, as did Sherrington, in the language of anatomy and physiology, and expressed himself as not competent to solve the metaphysical problems involved in the nature of the relationship of brain and mind." Introduction Sir Francis Martin Rouse Walshe (1885-1973) was a British neurologist; he pioneered the description and analysis of human reflexes in physiological terms. He was awarded a DSc in 1924 and from 1937 to 1953 was editor of Brain; in which he published important papers on the function of the cerebral cortex in relation to movement and on neural physiology in relation to the awareness of pain. See - Landau W.M. & Aring, C.D.: Francis Martin Rouse Walshe. 1885-1973. Arch Neurol. 29/5 (1973): pp.355-357.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The brain-stem conceived as the highest level of function in the nervous system; with particular reference to the automatic apparatus of Carpenter (1850) and to the centrencephalic integrating system of Penfield.
• Publication Date: 1957
• Binding: Soft cover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Chirurgie