He now enters into a detailed analysis of the course of the sensory nerves as far as they are able to be demonstrated (›in ipsius oculi luce›), and he thus follows the optic nerves to the optic thalami, and thence their radiation towards the cerebral cortex, the olfactory nerves to the corpora striata or the medulla of the centrum ovale and from there out towards its cortical surroundings, the auditory nerves to the medulla oblongata and thence up toward the cortex of the cerebrum, (›versus supremum corticem›), and in the same manner he follows the nerves of taste and touch. (See Œc. R. A. II., No. 192; and III., No. 66). He cannot now follow further the particular fibres through the medulla all the way to the cortex, of whose importance for consciousness and sensibility he became convinced through the clinical experiences, but here he must suppose a connection, and he says: ›these effects (conscious perceptions) could never be produced ... unless in every quarter there were a mutual connection and perpetual communication of the cortical substance with the medullary, as regards the fibrils ...›, (as well as a special arrangement of the cortical elements and special qualifications in them, of which more will be said later).[66]
From all this it is clear, that it was probably through a combination of clinical and anatomical experiences that Swedenborg secured the premises for his conclusions that the centre of the soul’s sensory activity is in the cortex of the cerebrum.
ON THE CENTRES OF THE MOTOR FUNCTIONS.
Swedenborg also placed the centres of the soul’s motor activity in the cerebral cortex (See Œc. R. A., No. 127, etc.).
I have not been able to find anything of this kind even hinted at in the antecedent literature. We are reminded of how preceding authors, who made an attempt at some kind of localization of the origin of motion, in most cases placed this in the medulla of the brain, as for example the Bartholins;[67] and also Boerhaave.[68] And as we have just heard, Haller still held the same view.[69] Nevertheless Swedenborg expresses his conception without the slightest hesitation, and this he did because he regarded it as resting on a sure foundation. His strongest grounds and proofs were here also derived from the clinical and pathological observations in certain cerebral diseases which had caused changes in the cortex, and in patients, who had been injured in the cerebral cortex. It was these clinical cases at which I hinted just now. And now some of these may be brought forward, for the most part as Swedenborg himself has related them—with some few abbreviations:
A female seventy years of age, who after exhibiting the premonitory symptoms of apoplexy for some months suddenly lost the power of speech, and on being conveyed to bed, lost all sensation and motion. On a post mortem examination a large cavity was found in the cortical substance of her brain (›in ejus Cerebri substantia corticali ampla cavitas reperta fuerit›, see Œc. R. A. II., No. 154). The case was taken from J. J. Wepfer’s ›Historiae Apoplecticorum› (Amsterdam, 1681, pp. 5-11).
Another case taken from Wepfer was the following: A man 50 years of age had for some weeks before his death suffered from excruciating headache, the pain of which sometimes drove him mad, so that he was not seldom unconscious of what he said and did. On examining his head after death, the whole surface of the cerebrum and cerebellum, including both the convolutions and the furrows between them, seemed to be clogged all over with a gelatinous substance, from which, when it was pricked with a lancet, genuine serum oozed out. And also the very substance of the cerebrum and cerebellum had imbibed a large quantity of serum. (Œc. R. A., loco cit. and J. J. Wepfer: Op. cit., p. 15-19).
A case from A. Pacchioni was as follows: A young man had died under symptoms of fever, severe headache and spasms, or cramp. On opening his cranium, it appeared that the firm fibrous membrane of the brain, the dura mater, was loosened from the bone on the top of the head; and here, according to the description, it had exercised a strong pressure upon the underlying portion of the brain and was tightly adherent to it. (Œc. R. A., loc. cit.)——Consequently, in the last two cases: inflammation of the membranes of the brain, or meningitis with accompanying influence upon the superficial layer of the brain, the cerebral cortex.
And still another case from Pacchioni, which was still more convincing: A youth was brought into the hospital in an almost unconscious condition, spoke incoherently, cast himself about in all directions, etc.; and furthermore——his lips were somewhat drawn over to the left side (›labris ad sinistrum paululum detractis›), thus a right-sided facial paralysis! On examination after death no injuries could be found upon the integuments of the head, nor upon the outer or inner sides of the cranium, but on the left side of the brain a depression of the cortex was discovered, occasioned by the formation of a tumor or ›bladder› on that part of the surrounding dura mater lying just over the place of depression: ›ibi depressus et durioris consistentiae cortex cerebri cavernam ostendebat vesicae congruentem.›[70]