London : C. J. Clay, M.A. & Son ; Cambridge University Press, 1883.
Journal : The Physiological Journal ; vol. iv.
Description : 286–309 p., 2 pl. ; ill.: 2 phots., 20 lith. figs., 3 in-text cuts, tbls. ; 22 cm.
Photographs : 2 views of a specimen brain on obverse of printed folded leaf.
Subject : Brain — Anatomy ; localization.
Notes :
Two photographs are given of the right side of the brain (Figs. 1, 2, Pl. X.); both are very bad, but they will serve to show the untrustworthiness of the wood-cuts of the brain which were given in the preliminary account; thus in the wood-cut of the right side of the brain the thick mass of connective tissue at the posterior region of the of the cortex (cf. Figs. 15, 19,20, Pl. IX.) is represented as uninjured cortex; this is only one of many errors; for these wood-cuts the Committee were not responsible,—in the haste consequent of the desire to publish a Preliminary Report in the Transactions of the Society the wood-cuts were inserted without having been submitted to the Committee.—Page 286.
Figs. 1 and 2. Photographs of brain of Goltz' dog taken after the brain had been hardened in ammonium bichromate, the pia mater was not removed. In Fig. 1 there is a knife-cut a little behind the crucial sulcus.—Page 306.
Langley's third contribution to a suite of five papers commissioned by the Physiological Society to provide the anatomical evidence that would settle the Goltz vs. Ferrier dispute over cerebral localization. David Ferrier was a leading proponent of cerebral localization whereas his opponent, Friedrich Leopold Goltz, was hostile to the theory, impugning it as "modern phrenology." The two rivals were given the opportunity to present experimental animals before the physiological section of the 1881 International Medical Congress. Goltz exhibited one of his decerebrated dogs that exhibited no apparent loss of function except for a slight clumsiness, whilst Ferrier presented two macacque monkeys with targeted cortical ablation accomplished by galvanocautery. The monkey with surgical lesion to the left motor area exhibited dramatic right sided hemiplegia and conjugate deviation of the eyes and head (Lancet, no. 121, p. 327 ; 1881»»). The experimentum crucis was decided in favor of Ferrier by a single utterance from Charcot. According to the aural surgeon Dr. Charles Alfred Ballance, Charcot observed Ferrier's monkey and exclaimed, "C’est un malade!"–It is a patient!
Langley was also the coauthor with Edward Albert Schäfer and Emanuel Edward Klein for the lead report titled, "On the cortical areas removed from the brain of a dog, and from the brain of a monkey" (p. 231–247), and the sole author of "The structure of the dog's brain" (p. 248-285, 2 pl.), the second paper in the suite. Klein, complaining that the photographers and woodcut artists mishandled and damaged the unprepared specimen, was tasked with the anatomical examination of the left hemisphere of Goltz' dog, which he communicated in a fourth paper titled, "Report on the parts destroyed on the left side of the brain of the dog operated on by Prof. Goltz" (p. 310-315, 1 pl.) And finally, the fifth paper in the suite presented the evidence of Ferrier's animal, written by Schäfer and titled, "Report on the lesions, primary and secondary, in the brain and spinal cord of the macacque monkey, exhibited by Professors Ferrier and Yeo" (p. 316–326, 1 pl.).
Langley's greatest contribution to medical science was his description of the efferent nerve impulses of the autonomic nervous system which he classified as sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteral (intestinal) systems. The annual Langley Award is awarded by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) in honor of Langley's ground breaking research into the physiological effects of nicotine and his discovery of cellular "receptive substance" that binds transmitters and initiates biologic processes.
