Theories of Brain Localization From Flourens to Lashley

was not known in what way, if any, grey and white matter differed in function.In the following experiment, for example, on which Flourens based his principle of equipotentiality, it is certain that he must have extirpated more than the hemispheres, and that septic and oedematous processes must have resulted in generalized damage of an unknown extent.He removed, 'layer by layer', different parts of both cerebral lobes of a pigeon, and found that the animal's sight weakened with each new extirpation until it was totally lost, and that 'from the moment that sight was gone, hearing was gone too; and with it went all intellectual and sensory faculties'.'33