Introductory Addresses AT THE OPENING OF THE MEDICAL SCHOOLS

1906 BMJ (Clinical Research Edition)  
Ocr. 6 igos.] INTRODUCTORY ADDRESES. L THU 3RITISH 873 point in the central nervous system, and in consequence of its position this point becomes the destination of all the important stimuli coming from the external world to make impressions on the receptive cells of the higher regions of the brain. Three characteristic features of this subject make a deep impression upon him who works at it. In the first place, these manifestations present great facilities for exact investigation. I ani here
more » ... ferring to the ease with which they may be repeated, to their character of uniformity under similar conditions of environment, and to the fact that they are capable of further subdivision experimentally. In the second place, it is inevitable that opinions formed on this subject must be objective only. In the third place, the subject involves an unusual abundance of questions. To what departments of physiology does it correspond? It corresponids partly to what was in former days the physiology of the organs of special sense and partly to the plhysiology of the central nervous system. Up to the present time the physiology of the eye, the ear, and other superficial organs which are of importance as recipients of impressions has been regarded almost exclusively in its subjective aspect; this presented some advantages, but at the same time, of course, limited the range of inquiry. In the investigation of the conditioned stimuli in the higher animals, this limitation is got rid of and a number of important questions in this field of research can be at once examined with the aid of all the immense resources which experiments on animals place in the hand of the physiologist. The investigation of the conditioned reflexes is of very great importance for the physiology of the higher parts of the central nervous system. Hitherto this department of physiology has throughout most of its extent availed itself of ideas not its own, ideas borrowed from psychology, but now there is a possibility of it being liberated from such evil influences. The conditioned reflexes lead us to the consideration of the position of animals in nature; this is a subject of immense extent and one that must be treated objectively. Broadly regarded, physiology and medicine are inseparable. Since the medical man's object is to remedy the various ills to which the human body is liable, every fresh discovery in physiology will sooner or later be serviceable to him in the preservation and repair of that wonderful structure. It is an extreme satisfaction to me that in honouring the memory of a great physiologist and man of science I am able to make use of ideas and facts which from a unique standpoint affording every prospect of success throw light upon the highest and most complicated portion of the animal mechanism. AT THE
doi:10.1136/bmj.2.2388.873 fatcat:l4m3wqz25zejxcn4ozv6o6py74