AbstractsPsychology

In 1933 F. A. Gibbs, by his description of a thermoelectric blood flow recorder of small bulk and simple construction, enormously expanded the application of the well known physical principle of the thermocouple to physiological research. Since its introduction, and that of the somewhat similar invention of Schmidt, the instrument has been of especial·value in problems relating to the cerebral circulation. Much of the work, such as that of Lennox and Gibbs (1933, 1934, 1935), is based on qualitative estimations of variations in the total blood flow through the brain. The thermocouiple has been put to a yet more interesting use in the detection of focal changes in flow, which use is exemplified by the work of Schmidt, and, at the Montreal Neurological Institute, by that of Norcross, Penfield and Erickson in animals and Penfield in human patients during operative procedures. [...] It will be seen that the problem is twofold and I have analysed the experimental findings under two main heads - the nature of the activity responsible for the circulatory changes, and the cortico-subcortical connections as revealed by the method. During the course of the work facts bearing on the problems of the central vasomotor tracts came to light and have been included, together with observations on autonomic functions recorded on several occasions. [...]