Note 112 — Chapter X · OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE DEATH OF THE BRAIN OVER THAT OF THE LUNGS.

We have said in a preceding note, that the division of the nerves of the eighth pair could produce death in two ways; first, by closing the glottis, and preventing the entrance of the air into the air tubes; secondly, by altering the lungs and preventing the production of the chemical phenomena. Of these two kinds of death the first is in some measure accidental; it is an indirect effect of the interruption of the action of the brain; but it is not so with the second, and though it may not be instantaneous, it is not less a direct effect of the division. It might be supposed that the motions of the glottis being destroyed, and the entrance of the air being rendered consequently more difficult, that it is in consequence of this obstruction that respiration is embarrassed, and that the alteration of the lungs is only a consecutive phenomenon. But in the experiments made by M. Dupuy at Alfort, a free passage was given to the air, by an opening made in the trachea. Now it cannot be believed that the small wound necessary for this opening, could contribute to produce the disturbance of the respiration, for a similar operation is daily performed on horses, without producing the slightest inconvenience.