In a message dated 5/2/2000 10:42:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Subj: A query about specific nerve energies
Date: 5/2/2000 10:42:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Stephen Black)
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
(Stephen Black)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (TIPS)
I've waited a patient four days for this message to appear. Since
it hasn't, I conclude it's lost and gone forever in cyberspace.
Here it is again.
The 19th century physiologist Johannes Muller proposed a "law
of the specific energies of nerves", the idea that sensations
depend on which nerves are activated, not on the nature of the
stimulus that provokes them. For example, a beam of light on the
retina and a smack in the eye both cause a visual sensation.
I've long illustrated this concept with the charming speculation
of a 19th century physiologist (Muller himself?). He proposed
that if the auditory and visual nerves could be crossed (so that
the auditory nerve reports to the visual cortex and the optic
nerve to the auditory cortex), then we would "see thunder and
hear lightning".
The problem is, I don't have a clue where I got this from. Does
anybody know? >>
Hi Stephen,
Found the Muller references below in the Guest Exhibitions section of the
Bryn Mawr College, Serendip site. . .
Trying to edit, revise, and hyperlink almost 400 pages of writing in the two
weeks between Winter and Spring semesters (among other activities). Have
written about two of Muller's students, Helmholtz and Virchow, in this
project. Perhaps, I should add something about Muller's specific nerve
energies (as well as the new finding published in Nature). Thanks for the tip.
Also, need to think of a better strategy for handling the reading of almost
2,000 pages of student writing in the midst of other end of the semester
activities. . . anyone have suggestions??
_________________________________________________________
<A HREF="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/">Serendip Home Page</A>
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/
<A HREF="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exhibitions/Mind/EpistemologyoNS.html">
The Epistemology of the Nervous System</A>
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exhibitions/Mind/EpistemologyoNS.html
Johannes Müller (1801-1858) [see figure 36] was born in Coblenz and educated
at the University of Bonn. He received his medical degree in 1822 and, after
a year in Berlin, was habilitated as privatdozent at Bonn, where he rose
eventually to the professoriate. In 1833, he left Bonn to assume the
prestigious Chair of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Berlin. His
most important contributions to the history of experimental psychology were
the personal influence that he exerted upon younger colleagues and students,
including Hermann von Helmholtz, Ernst Brücke, Carl Ludwig, and Emil
DuBois-Reymond, and the systematic form he gave to the doctrine of the
specific energies of nerves in the Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen für
Vorlesungen [38], published between 1834 and 1840.
Although Müller had enunciated the doctrine of specific nerve energies as
early as 1826, his presentation in the Handbuch was more extensive and
systematic. Fundamentally, the doctrine involved two cardinal principles. The
first of these principles was that the mind is directly aware not of objects
in the physical world but of states of the nervous system. The nervous
system, in other words, serves as an intermediary between the world and the
mind and thus imposes its own nature on mental processes. The second was that
the qualities of the sensory nerves of which the mind receives knowledge in
sensation are specific to the various senses, the nerve of vision being
normally as insensible to sound as the nerve of audition is to light.
Müller, Johannes (1801-1858)
Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen für Vorlesungen. Von Dr. Johannes
Müller ... Coblenz, Verlag von J. Hölscher. 1834-1840. 2 vols.
iv,[iii]-viii,v-xvi,852; vi,780,[2] p.
ENGLISH: Elements of Physiology. By J. Müller, M.D. ... Translated from the
German, with notes. By William Baly, M.D. ... London: Printed for Taylor and
Walton, ... 1838-1842. 2 vols. xxii,[ii],848; [ii],xxiii-
xxxviii,[iv],849-1715,[1],22 p. front. illus., plates. 22 1/2 cm.
___________________________________________________
Sandra Nagel Randall
Asst Professor, Psychology
Saginaw Valley State University
7400 Bay Road
University Center, MI 48710
517.249.4635
home: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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