Untersuchungen über die Localisation der Functionen in der Grosshirnrinde des Menschen

Abstract

THIS work is an attempt to determine the functions of different parts of the cerebral hemispheres by an examination of the facts of disease alone, independently of physiological experiment. The difficulties which have to be encountered in the solution of the problem by this method are great, and the sources of fallacy numerous. The facts, collected as they must be from the most diverse sources, are not all of the same value, and errors of observation on the score of inaccuracy or incompleteness have to be taken into account and allowed for. The experiments of disease are as a rule rude, and the conditions highly complex. Certain parts of the brain are more liable to disease than others, and one hemisphere more than the other. Besides the lesion actually discovered after death, there may be others not discovered or not discoverable by our present methods, either coincident merely or indirectly connected with the visible lesion; for morbid anatomy and morbid physiology are by no means coextensive. Exactly symmetrical bilateral lesions are extremely rare in disease, and yet such facts are absolutely necessary for the decision of many important questions.

Untersuchungen über die Localisation der Functionen in der Grosshirnrinde des Menschen.

Von Prof. Sigmund Exner. (Wien, 1881.)