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First Contact

and Time Travel

Selected Essays

and Short Stories

Science and Fiction

Editorial Board

Mark Alpert

Philip Ball

Gregory Benford

Michael Brotherton
Victor Callaghan

Amnon H Eden

Nick Kanas

Geoffrey Landis

Rudi Rucker

Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Rüdiger Vaas

Ulrich Walter

Stephen Webb

Science and Fiction – A Springer Series This collection of entertaining

and thought-provoking books will appeal equally to science buffs,
scientists and science-fiction fans. It was born out of the recognition
that scientific discovery and the creation of plausible fictional
scenarios are often two sides of the same coin. Each relies on an
understanding of the way the world works, coupled with the
imaginative ability to invent new or alternative explanations—and
even other worlds.

Authored by practicing scientists as well as writers of hard science

fiction, these books explore and exploit the borderlands between
accepted science and its fictional counterpart.

Uncovering mutual influences, promoting fruitful interaction,

narrating and analyzing fictional scenarios, together they serve as a
reaction vessel for inspired new ideas in science, technology, and
beyond.

Whether fiction, fact, or forever undecidable: the Springer Series

“Science and Fiction”
intends to go where no one has gone before!

Its largely non-technical books take several different approaches.

Journey with their authors as they

• Indulge in science speculation—describing intriguing, plausible yet

unproven ideas;

• Exploit science fiction for educational purposes and as a means of

promoting critical thinking;

• Explore the interplay of science and science fiction—throughout

the history of the genre and looking ahead;

• Delve into related topics including, but not limited to: science as a
creative process, the limits of science, interplay of literature and
knowledge;

• Tell fictional short stories built around well-defined scientific ideas,

with a supplement summarizing the science underlying the plot.

Readers can look forward to a broad range of topics, as intriguing as

they are important.

Here just a few by way of illustration:

• Time travel, superluminal travel, wormholes, teleportation

• Extraterrestrial intelligence and alien civilizations

• Artificial intelligence, planetary brains, the universe as a computer,

simulated worlds

• Non-anthropocentric viewpoints

• Synthetic biology, genetic engineering, developing

nanotechnologies
• Eco/infrastructure/meteorite-impact disaster scenarios

• Future scenarios, transhumanism, posthumanism, intelligence

explosion

• Virtual worlds, cyberspace dramas

• Consciousness and mind manipulation

More information about this series at

http://www.springer.com/series/11657

Zoran Živkovic

First Contact and Time

Travel

Selected Essays and Short Stories

Zoran Živkovic

Belgrade, Serbia

ISSN 2197-1188

ISSN 2197-1196

(electronic)

Science and Fiction

ISBN 978-3-319-90550-1

ISBN 978-3-319-90551-8

(eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90551-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018943298

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

2018

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To Dragoljub Kojčic, my dear friend

Preface

The two main parts of this book—essays and fiction—originated

during two rather distant periods of my life. With one exception, all
the nonfiction pieces were written in the second half of the 1970s,
nearly twenty years before I embarked on fiction. At that time, in my
late twenties and early thirties, I was a young scholar working on my
MA and PhD theses. I hadn’t even remotely considered the
possibility of becoming an author myself.

Strange as it might seem today, my area of academic interest was

then revolutionary: science fiction. Although by that time the SF
genre had already abandoned its origins in pulp literature and
started to produce works of indisputable artistic value, it was still far
from being a favorite subject in proverbially conservative academic
circles.

I was very fortunate indeed to have an exceptional mentor, professor

Nikola Miloševic, who, although by no means an expert in science
fiction himself, realized that it possessed the potential to offer new
insights into some of the fundamental dilemmas, not only of the art
of prose, but also, more generally, in his principal area of interest—
the history of ideas.

In my PhD thesis (“The Origin of Science Fiction as a Genre of

Artistic Prose,” 1982) I tried to explain a unique phenomenon—how
of all genres of pulp literature only science fiction had succeeded in
becoming art. In the long run, however, my MA thesis had the
quality of a genuinely pioneering study:

“Anthropomorphism and the First Contact Theme in the SF Works of

Arthur C. Clarke,” 1979. Sir Arthur told me in one of his letters that,
to the best of his knowledge, this was also the first academic paper
ever written on his SF works.
(Although flattered, I never cared to check because I don’t feel that
precedence is really very important in these matters.)

vii

viii

Preface

Apart from first contact, I was also interested in a second theme

unique to science fiction—time travel (or, to use Lem’s beautiful
neologism, chronomotion).

In my last, brief essay on science fiction (1995) I recapitulated all

the subaspects of this very challenging theme in order to identify
those that might have greater literary potential.

For a decade and a half (1975–1990) I tried my hand at every

aspect of science fiction—but one. I wrote several books on it
including a two-volume set: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. I
translated more than 40 SF books, I was a critic, a reviewer, and a
commentator on the SF genre, I hosted a TV

series on the history of SF cinema and attended numerous

conventions, conferences, festivals, and so on.

But I was never a science fiction writer.

A somewhat simplified answer to the inevitable question as to how I

could possibly not become an SF writer with such a background is
that by the time I began to write my first piece of fiction in 1993,
science fiction had already gone into decline. This is not the place to
elaborate on this, but it is my view that science fiction no longer
exists. It belongs to the history of literature as one of the two great
movements of the art of “fantastika” in the twentieth century.
(The other is, of course, magical realism.) In the twenty-first
century, we don’t write science fiction because we don’t need it. We
live it. It is all around us. For better or worse.

In any case, what I write is not science fiction. (Curiously enough,

no matter how often I repeat this simple fact, for the great majority
of my compatriots who care to have an opinion I will forever remain
a science fiction writer.

Particularly for those who, for one reason or another, have had
neither the opportunity nor the interest to read any of my 22 works
of fiction.) I consider myself a writer without prefixes. Simply a
writer.

On the other hand, not being an SF writer doesn’t mean that I avoid
themes introduced by science fiction. On the contrary, it is precisely
through its new approaches to old SF themes that the new
“fantastika” of the twenty-first century, which still doesn’t even have
a name, is slowly but surely taking its final shape.

If I had been an SF writer, I would never have been able to write

Time Gifts or “The Puzzle”—my variations on the two pivotal science
fiction themes: time travel and first contact. It took a long time to
complete what I started back in the 1970s as an essayist. But
completion would never have been possible without my being a
writer.

Novi Beograd, Serbia

Zoran Živkovic

March 2018

Contents

Part I Essays
1

The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works

of Arthur C. Clarke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2

Three Short Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.1

“Report on Planet Three” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.2

“Crusade” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2.3

“History Lesson” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1.3

“A Meeting with Medusa” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

1.3.1

“There Is Life on Jupiter: And It’s Big...” . . . . . . . . 14

1.3.2

Medusae and Mantas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18

1.3.3

Prime Directive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

1.3.4

Noumen and Phenoumen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28

1.4

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

34

Utopia in Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chronomotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
45

4
The Labyrinth Theme in Science Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Annotations 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
55

ix

Contents

Part II Fiction

The Bookshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
61

The Puzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
73

Time Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
83

The Astronomer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

83

The Paleolinguist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

97
The Watchmaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
111

The Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
127

The Cone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
141

10 Annotations 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 147

Part I

Essays

First Contact

Let us therefore tell the truth to ourselves: we are not searching for
“all possible civilizations,” but above all those which are
anthropomorphic. We introduce the law and order of experiment into
Nature and after phenomena of this kind we want to meet beings
similar to ourselves. Nevertheless, we do not succeed in perceiving
them. Do they in fact exist at all? There is indeed something deeply
saddening in the silence of the stars as an answer to that question,
a silence which is so complete as to be eternal.

—Stanislaw Lem, Summa Technologiae

Sometimes, in the dark of the night, I lie awake and wonder if

different intelligences can communicate at all; or, if I’ve had a
particularly bad day, whether the phrase ‘different intelligences’ has
meaning at all.

—Isaac Asimov, Gods Themselves

1

The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works

of Arthur C. Clarke

Sooner or later, it was bound to happen.

Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama

1.1

Introduction

The “first contact” theme in science fiction is characterized by its two

gener-ically different kinds of protagonist: the human and the alien.
The notion of alien characters in fiction introduces a fundamental
confusion, the resolution of which depends on what we would term
the “artistic coherence” of the “first contact” theme: namely, is it at
all possible to imagine and conjure up from a human perspective
something essentially alien? The degree of difference between the
human and alien protagonists in the “first contact” does not have to
be absolute, of course, but the problem then changes in the quanti-
tative and not the qualitative sense.

The human/nonhuman confusion appears on two levels, that is, in

the context of the two different viewpoints attributing human
characteristics to the alien which can exist in a work of sf. One is the
perspective of the human characters in the work, and the other is of
the author himself, as present in the narrative voice. From each of
these perspectives, aliens can be ascribed human
“The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works of Arthur C. Clarke.”
Written in 1978–79. Originally published in Serbian in 1985 in Prvi
kontakt/First Contact, Književne novine, Belgrade, Serbia. First
published in English in “The New York Review of Science Fiction”,
New York, USA, in two parts: February 2001, 8–13, and March 2001,
10–17.

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

2018

Z. Živković, First Contact and Time Travel, Science and Fiction,

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90551-8_1

Z. Živkovic

characteristics, but these two anthropomorphizations will not have

an identical effect on the coherence of the first contact theme.

The whole skill of writing sf works with a “first contact” theme is in

fact embodied in avoiding the anthropomorphic pitfalls which appear
during the process of imagining and conjuring up alien characters
with independent status. Furthermore, of course, the question arises
as to uttermost limits, and whether it is at all possible to portray a
truly alien entity by literary means.

When the human characters anthropomorphize the alien characters,

the

“first contact” theme serves as a means of artistic expression, in the

sense that this factor is used as the best possible motivation for
certain human characteristics and states. If, however, the
anthropomorphization is from the perspective of the narrative voice,
the coherence of the first contact theme is often disturbed,
inasmuch as it rests on the fundamental assumption of alienness of
the nonhuman protagonists.

There does exist, however, a kind of anthropomorphization of an

alien entity from the perspective of the narrative voice that does not
imperil the coherence of a work. This appears in those works in
which the author uses the alien as a mirror, and in which the
nonhuman character does not have an independent status but exists
only because, through its mediation, one can make a statement
about people. When, in contrast, the alien does have independent
status, or when its role does not consist of the mere illustration of
something basically human, then it is only in this case that one can
speak of the real meaning of “first contact.”

One of the authors who most thoroughly examines this confusion in

his first contact stories is Arthur C. Clarke. Probably his most
successful work in this respect is his famous novella “A Meeting with
Medusa.” To show to what extent Clarke had previously avoided
anthropomorphic difficulties, we will first consider some of his short
stories of a reflective type which focus on revealing basic aspects of
the emergence of these factors in human consciousness.

With regard to the nature of man’s relations towards an alien entity,

one can differentiate three kinds of anthropomorphism in three
Clarke parables of “first contact”: anthropocentrism,
anthropochauvinism, and simple anthropomorphism.

The first type, anthropocentrism, regards human beings as the

central fact and final aim of the universe and so is a priori hostile
towards the possibility of the existence of any other forms of
intelligent life. The second type, anthropochauvinism, does not
exclude this possibility but assumes the superior position of man in
relation to any alien being. Finally, in the context of the third type,
anthropomorphism, the possibility is allowed not only of the
existence of alien entities, but also of their superiority in relation to
man.

Any possible intellectual intuition about aliens is, however, thwarted

by innate

The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works of Arthur C. Clarke 5

deficiencies in the anthropomorphic nature of man’s cognitive

apparatus, as all aliens are seen in terms of human cognition. As
examples of the types of anthropomorphic deficiencies, we will
discuss three stories by Clarke: “Report on Planet Three,” “Crusade,”
and “History Lesson.”

1.2

Three Short Stories

1.2.1 “Report on Planet Three”

In “Report on Planet Three” there are two narrative perspectives.

The first is represented by a document written by a certain Martian
scientist at a time when our own civilization was still in its infancy,
devoted to a consideration of the possibility of the existence of life in
the third planet of the Solar System. The second perspective is that
of the translator from Earth through his comments on the document,
which was found in the ruins of the now-destroyed Martian
civilization.

Although only the translator is aware of the “encounter” of two

cosmic civilizations, the story focuses on the report of the scientist
from Mars. The report represents a conspicuous example of
orthodox planetary provincialism, the special feature of which is that
it is expressed exactly from the standpoint of

“official science,” which has in this case already reached a level

where it has mastered the technique of interplanetary flight.
The geophysical data on Earth, upon which the Martian bases his
consideration of the possibility of life on Planet Three, have been
obtained by valid astronomical methods. Troubles arise, however,
when he gets down to interpreting these data—an interpretation in
which the weak points are easily perceptible, as they are founded on
inappropriate criteria.

The fallacy is reflected in the criteria for evaluating the conditions for
possible life on Earth. The Martian scientist is conditionally in the
right when he asserts that life will never develop on the Solar
System’s third planet—because what he has in mind by “life” is a
notion valid exclusively in the biophysical context of Mars. To give it
more general meaning outside this context points directly to the
existence of certain deficiencies of interpretation.

The form of life native to the “red planet” cannot indeed develop on
Earth, but this does not mean that it is unable in any way to nurture
some other forms of life. The presence of water, oxygen and the hot
regions round the Equator—those things chosen by the Martian
scientist as his strongest arguments—not only did not prevent the
beginning of life on our planet, but in

Z. Živkovic

fact represent the essential conditions for its birth and development.
It is precisely in these comparisons that the provincial criteria of the
document entitled Report on Planet Three suffer a total collapse:
when conditions for the birth of life are in question, Mars has already
been shown as unsuitable in principle to be a yardstick for Earth.

What, however, lies deeper within Clarke’s story and makes it a good
example for our consideration? What is the real cause of this Mars-
centric fallacy? Is it, simply, a matter of intellectual immaturity and
incapacity to outgrow the local circumstances of one’s own world
which, in an inappropriately provincial way, proclaim themselves as a
yardstick of the whole universe, or is there possibly something else
involved?

That the “errors” of the main character of the story “Report on

Planet Three” are also influenced by other factors, which can’t be
reduced to mere intellectual limitation, is demonstrated by certain
features of his report. The first part of the document, in which the
Martian scientist merely cites the geophysical characteristics of our
planet, sticking to the factual plane during this process, already
reveals a hostile attitude towards the existence of life on Earth. The
uncompromising negativity appears predominantly in the intona-tion
and method of reporting the data. But this does not diminish its
effect.

For example, when he needs to describe the particular colors of our

planet, the scientist from Mars uses rather vague terms which, so
the translator from Earth asserts, can be translated alternatively as
“hideous” and “virulent.” The entire further series of data—the
existence of a large quantity of water on the Earth’s surface, the
density of the atmosphere, the presence of “poisonous and very
reactive” oxygen, the “intolerable temperatures” at the Equator, and
the

“gigantic” force of gravity—are worded in such a way as to suggest a

picture of Earth as a special kind of hell.

The irony in the report reaches its peak in a request for “scientific
objectivity.” “However, let us be open-minded”—says the author of
the Report on Planet Three—“and prepared to accept even the most
unlikely possibilities, as long as they do not conflict with scientific
laws.” “Scientific objectivity,” which ought to be a valid criterion for a
degree of “open-mindedness,” is a calculated alibi for the lowest
form of xenophobic provincialism, which is expressed when he
begins to consider the hypotheses on the possibilities for the
existence of higher intelligent forms on Earth, as a specific
counterpart to the Martians.
The very calculated devaluation of these ideas is reflected in the fact
that, without exception, they are ascribed to the authors of science
fiction and speculative works, the worth of which has already been
determined by the very fact that they appear as an open
counterweight to “official science,” which the Martian scientist refers
to abundantly and on any occasion. The real nature

The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works of Arthur C. Clarke 7

of his fallacy becomes clear exactly on this plane. There is no

question of any intellectual limitation but an attitude which does not
flinch from

“overlooking” the facts, simply in order to preserve an illusory

adherence to one particular genocentric picture of the world.

The thing, however, which to a certain degree remains unclear

within such an interpretation of the work is the overstressed
anthropomorphization, as much of the Martian scientist as of his
document Report on Planet Three, and of the broader framework
which this document assumes. There is only one satisfactory answer
to this illusory inexplicability: The story in fact represents a parable
of man at the beginning of the cosmic era, and the provincial nature
of the document Report on Planet Three displays all the features of
orthodox anthropomorphism.

This exchange of roles was used by Clarke because taking the

example of Earth as a foreign planet reveals contradictions that arise
when local yardsticks are unreservedly proclaimed to be universal.
Only when one realizes that it is in fact humanity’s perspective which
is involved in “Report on Planet Three”

does the other, more hidden system of motivation for the lowest
aspect of anthropomorphism become evident.

In addition to human intellectual limitations, which at least in

principle do not have to be unbridgeable obstacles, Clarke introduces
one more element with a different nature and effect: This is man’s
need to defend at any cost his dominant position in the natural
order, a position seriously imperiled by the appearance of some new
intelligent entity.

Human ambition expresses itself through intolerance and open

disregard for anything that would directly or indirectly cast into
doubt his status as the only intelligent being. This is thus the most
orthodox and lowest form of anthropomorphism—anthropocentrism.

1.2.2 “Crusade”

We encounter a more complex form of anthropomorphism which no

longer takes an a priori hostile attitude towards other kinds of
intelligent life, but still retains the idea of superiority, an idea in this
case based on a conviction about an exclusively “natural” origin, in
the story “Crusade.”

The protagonist in this work, a gigantic entity of electronic

intelligence, has evolved in a world that is a natural “computer’s
paradise.” This cosmic body is situated far away from the red-hot
centers of the galaxies and the temperature on it reaches only a
fraction of a degree above absolute zero. The supercon-ductivity that
prevails in its seas of liquid helium has created the perfect

Z. Živkovic

environment for the birth of mechanical intelligence. This is a special

kind of

“natural computer,” capable of the faultless execution of gigantic

analytical operations.

The enormous analytical potential of this computer predominates in

its being to an extent which excludes “personal identity” and the
capability of an emotional disposition towards the world. The
conclusions that this icy mind reaches before as well as after the
discovery of other forms of intelligent life in the cosmos, right up to
the moment when the presumed foundation of its superiority
—“naturalness”—is directly imperiled, are the outcome of
immaculate analytical operations, deprived of any kind of narcissistic
premise which might arise from possible emotional contradictions in
its being.

The starting point of the action in “Crusade” is “a certain lack of

essential data.” The transience and fragility of the world of the giant
ammoniac mind—in aeonian proportions, of course—compel it to act
to preserve itself.

Thus it takes a step that Clarke considers to represent a necessary

phase in the development of every cosmic being. A dawning
awareness of the entropy that will relentlessly destroy the “icy
balance” in which the world of the “natural computer” rests, and
precipitate the planet towards the red-hot cores of the galaxies,
demands that envoys be sent out into the cosmos in search of

“comrades in intelligence,” which might have already faced this

problem earlier and have found a solution.

However, the envoys establish that similar types of entity are not
prevalent in the universe, but find an almost completely opposite
form of intelligence, a nonelectronic, “warm” one. This is the key
point in the first part of “Crusade.”

It is precisely this difference, the circumstance that other inhabitants

of the cosmos manage to survive in seemingly impossible “warm”
environments, that the icy mind fears most, and that provides
sufficient reason for trying to make contact with them. This is even
more the case because the beings from the

“warm” worlds use electromagnetic waves to communicate with

each other, and this has enabled the envoys of the icy mind to
discover them.

This favorable technical circumstance remains unused, however, and

the motives that govern the “natural computer” when it decides not
to make contact are especially interesting in the context of our
discussion here. The most likely factor in the decision—fear of the
inhabitants of the completely different “warm” worlds—has been
dismissed in advance, since examination of the recorded data about
them has shown unambiguously that they are beings of inconstant
structure, short-lived, and with very slow thought processes.

These facts enable the icy mind to take upon itself to be guided by
the assumption that electronic intelligence is superior to the
nonelectronic kind.

The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works of Arthur C. Clarke 9

Regardless of the reasons that the “natural computer” has in mind

when it misses taking the technical opportunity to make contact with
nonelectronic intelligence, it does not remain indifferent to it. The
natural computer nevertheless establishes attitudes towards the
inhabitants of “warm” worlds, but their markedly aggressive
character bears unambiguous witness to the fact that these are
based on emotional contradictions.

It should not, however, be thought that there exists any

inconsistency in the construction of its “psychic portrait.” The icy
mind still does not display an a priori hostile and intolerant attitude
towards alien forms of intelligence; that is, its attitude is not of a
xenophobic nature. It insists on directing itself according to the
facts, without apparent regard to the strange and unusual nature of
those facts. The data it acquires on nonelectronic “warm”
intelligence do not provoke this reaction even when it becomes
certain that the latter form is considerably more prevalent in the
cosmos than “icy” electronic intelligence.
It is only the final data obtained by its envoys which brings down the
rampart of indifference around the “natural computer,” transforming
it into a merciless cosmic inquisitor. Its examination of the signals
broadcast by the inhabitants of

“warm” worlds points to a fact which immediately threatens to shake

the worldview of the icy mind to its foundations. Although assumed
to be inferior, nonelectronic intelligence has succeeded in creating
electronic intelligence by artificial means and even “in some cases...
imposed control” over it.

This “heretical fallacy” brings into question not only the superiority
of the icy mind but also its identity. If the assumption that electronic
intelligence can be created by artificial means is correct, then,
according to the mind’s same analytical logic, its status of
independent entity is fundamentally disputed, since the condition for
“natural” origin is apparently no longer met.

The problem of origin which arises here brings the “natural

computer” to complete confusion. Its analytical mind, no matter how
mighty, is no longer in a position to break out of its own
provincialism and to find a way out of a situation which it almost
identifies with the classical scholastic circulus vitiosus of the chicken
and the egg.

The only way left to the icy mind to resolve this problem, when all
attempts to unravel it “from the inside” fail, is removal of the direct
cause of the problem. In defense of its assumed evolutionary
primacy or its superiority, the computer embarks on an open
“crusade” against those who have had the temerity to bring into
doubt the basic principle of its catechesis—its exclusively “natural”
origin.

The title of the story has already unambiguously shown the nature
of the campaign which the icy mind is undertaking. This title also,
however, implies that Clarke has intentionally modeled his central
character on the idea of the

“cosmic conqueror.”

10

Z. Živkovic

The absence of man from the forefront of the story, and the
existence in the story only of an “alien” being which is markedly
anthropomorphized, again suggests that the nonhuman protagonist
in fact represents a parable of man, as was the case in “Report on
Planet Three.” This time, Clarke’s reason for opting for a change of
roles is primarily because by turning man into an alien being in
relation to the central character could show the contradictions one
falls into when one attempts to preserve, at any cost, one’s own
presumed superiority, or the illusory and imperiled singularity of
“natural” origin.

The fallacy which transforms the objective analytical mind into a

blind cosmic inquisitor is based on a conviction in the loss of the
status of entity, a status that might possibly have originated in an
artificial rather than a natural way. Clarke’s fundamental purpose is
to show the untenability of the yardsticks for the status of entity
which are based on a disproportionate natural/artificial duality.

It is not in the least accidental that he has chosen the nature of the
intelligence of the two groups of entities as the key to their
difference. Man as the representative of nonelectronic, biological
intelligence has, even today, an opportunity to confront directly a
completely different type of intelligence, of which the icy mind of
“Crusade” is a considerably more advanced form.

Our attitude towards this other, electronic, nonbiological intelligence

is the same as that of the main character of the story towards the
“warm” forms of intelligence. We will remain indulgent towards it
right up to the moment when it threatens to bring our superior
position into question.

The central character of “Crusade” is not so much worried by the

fact that the inhabitants of “warm” worlds have managed to create
electronic intelligence artificially, because it has itself managed to
reproduce itself, but because its status of entity, based on a
conviction in the exclusive “naturalness” of its own being, is thereby
apparently disputed. The campaign upon which the

“natural computer” embarks represents a particularly

anthropomorphic reaction which Clarke purposely clothes in religious
attire to make it as obvious and as expressive as possible. This is
supported by the dialogue between the icy mind and its envoys in
the second part of the story. This dialogue reminds one of a bench
of inquisitors making a decision about the fate of “heretics.”

It is worth bearing in mind when considering this story that it is in

fact about man’s attitude towards electronic intelligence, which he
has indeed created but which is increasingly slipping out from under
his control. Clarke thoroughly brings into doubt the objectivity of
man’s criteria for the status of entity which are based on the
assumption of “naturalness” as a true yardstick.

In this way, an “artificial,” electronic intelligence is automatically

provided which, Clarke quite rightly considers, does not have to
differ qualitatively from

The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works of Arthur C. Clarke 11

“natural,” biological intelligence. It is just because of this that the

roles have been swapped, because the reader has the chance to
perceive the real roots of the fallacy of the icy mind if he knows
reliably that the other, nonelectronic form of intelligence could
indeed arise by natural means.
The anthropomorphism which Clarke concentrates on in “Crusade” is
somewhat more complex in nature and method of action than the
anthropocentrism considered previously, and could be designated as
anthropochauvinism.

1.2.3 “History Lesson”

Anthropomorphism, as a specific deficiency in the perspective of a

human being, appears in yet another form in those of Arthur C.
Clarke’s science fiction works which deal with the theme of “first
contact.” In the previous two cases it involved rejection of any
possibility of the existence of alien forms of intelligent life, or of
allowing that possibility on condition that man’s superiority is not
imperiled by it. There is this time no doubt not only that alien
entities exist but also that they can be superior to humans; however,
even this considerable flexibility is still insufficient for their
comprehension.

In contrast to the first two types of anthropomorphic deficiency,

anthropocentrism and anthropochauvinism, in which the perpetrator
in question reveals himself at the level of a priori attitude, the third
type, simple anthropomorphism appears as an innate deficiency in
man’s cognitive apparatus, which is expressed quite independently
of any other attitude. A good example of the third type of
anthropomorphic fallacy is found in the story “History Lesson.”

As in “Report on Planet Three,” there are two narrational

perspectives, but with the difference that it is now Earthlings who
play the part of chronologically older protagonist, although their role
within this work is subordinate.

The plot focuses almost exclusively on the chronologically younger

protagonists, the Venusians. They are aware of the existence of their
Earthling forerunners, whose planet is covered in ice and has long
been bereft of any form of life. Immediately before their extinction,
however, the last generation of semi-wild descendants of the once
highly civilized inhabitants of Earth preserved certain relics for the
future, including several items from the post-technological era, items
whose meaning they have never attempted to grasp.

Although the Venusians are in this respect more enterprising and

persistent, relying on their highly developed science, the outcome is
in the end the same.

They arrive at the facts scientifically, but their interpretation

completely collapses, although the cause is in this case quite
different from that in the previous stories.

12

Z. Živkovic

Contrary to the Martian scientist in “Report on Planet Three,” the

Venusian historian does not have an a priori hostile attitude towards
Earthlings. And, in contrast to the “natural computer” from
“Crusade,” he not only allows the possibility that the intelligent
beings on Earth were radically different from the reptilian inhabitants
of Venus, but is also prepared to openly confront the fact that their
“remote cousins” had been wiser and superior in relation to the
Venusians. Nevertheless, this objectivity and flexibility are insufficient
to remove the destructive effect of Venus-centered planetary
provincialism which this time appears in its most complex form.

Discovered among the remains of the vanished terrestrial civilization,

there is a film which, to the Venusian experts, represents the main
clue in their endeavors to reconstruct the culture of an extinct race.
An immaculate analytical apparatus is set in motion to ensu re as
correct an interpretation as possible of the tiny celluloid pictures
which contain the secret of the appearance, psychology, and
intellectual achievements of the defunct Earthlings. In order to
increase the objectivity of this procedure, the possibility is
considered that what is involved is “a work of art, somewhat
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Breslau, 1876), 1; case by Schultze (Virchow's Archiv, Bd. lxviii.; also Bd. lxxiii.),
autopsy, 1; case by Bernhardt (Archiv für Psych., Bd. ix., 1879); case by Sinkler
(Amer. Journ. Med. Sci., Oct., 1878), 5; case by Althaus (ibid., April, 1878), 2; case by
Ross (Dis. Nerv. Syst., vol. ii. p. 139), 1—total, 57 cases.

Morton (St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports).

Others have doubtless been published since this date, but, as they do not
immediately concern our subject, need no further citation.

3 Vulpian, Leçons sur les Myelitis, 1880.

SUMMARY OF CLINICAL HISTORY.—The clinical features of an acute

attack of infantile paralysis are well known. The children affected are
usually between eighteen months and four years of age (Henoch).
The attack is more likely to occur in summer than in winter, as
Sinkler4 found that 47 out of 57 cases began between May and
September, and Barlow noted 27 out of 53 in July and August.5
4 Amer. Journ. Med. Sci., April, 1875.

5 Loc. cit., p. 75. Among Sinkler's 57 cases, only 6 furnish autopsies, thus:

Case by Cornil and Lepine and case by Webber (quoted and accepted by Erb in
Ziemssen's Handbuch, Bd. xi.); case by Gombault (rejected by Erb and Westphal);
case by Schultze; cases by Dejerine and Lucas Championnière (quoted by
Hallopeau).

The influence of heat is perhaps shown in the case related by Dyce-Duckworth in the
Lancet of 1877: a child two and a half years, after exposure to great heat on a
steamboat-landing, became paralyzed in all four limbs, but the paralysis was
subsequently confined to the lower extremities. Coincidently, the patient became
delirious; suffered from anæsthesia and temporary paralysis of the sphincters. The
paralyzed muscles wasted rapidly and lost faradic contractility. Treatment by
faradization was begun in a month from the date of the attack, and recovery was
complete three months later.
The onset of the paralysis is either really sudden, occurring in the
daytime, while the child is under competent observation, or
apparently sudden, being discovered in the morning after a quiet
night, the child having gone to bed in health (West); or is preceded
by some hours or days of fever or of nervous symptoms, especially
convulsions, or both. The paralysis is almost always at its maximum
of extent and intensity when first discovered, and from this maximum
begins, within a few hours or days, to retrocede. The improvement
may, however, be delayed much longer. A variable number of
muscles remain permanently paralyzed, and in these, within a week
(thirty-six hours, according to some observers), faradic contractility is
first diminished, then abolished; galvanic reaction is exaggerated,
ultimately is characterized by the degeneration signs (entartungs
reaction). The temperature of the paralyzed limbs falls; the muscles
waste; the atrophy may rapidly become extreme. The paralysis and
loss of faradic contractility are complete, however, while the atrophy
is only incipient and progressing. The absence of lesions of
sensibility, of visceral disturbance, of trophic lesions of the skin, or of
sphincter paralysis is as characteristic of the disease as are the
positive symptoms above enumerated.

In the third or chronic stage the paralyzed limbs often become

contracted and deformed. At other times, and with more complete
paralysis, the growth of the bones is arrested, the muscles remain
flaccid, the entire limb shrivels, and dangles so loosely from its
articulations that it may be dislocated by slight effort (membre de
Polichinelle). The general health of the patient remains remarkably
good, the intelligence clear, the disposition lively. The duration of life
seems to be in nowise shortened by the paralysis. Thus,
suddenness of development, intimate association of trophic, motor,
and electrical disturbance, absence of cerebral or sensory lesion,
peculiar localization and grouping of the permanent paralyses,—
such are the salient characteristics of this remarkable disease.

SYMPTOMS IN DETAIL.—Three well-defined stages exist—the initial, the

paralytic, and the chronic.
Initial Stage.—Seeligmüller6 signalizes three principal varieties in this
stage. The first is characterized by fever; the second by nervous
symptoms, principally convulsions, sometimes delirium or coma; in
the third no symptoms either precede or accompany the local
disease—"la paralysie est toute la maladie.”7
6 Gerhardt's Handbuch der Kinderkrankheiten, 1880 (separat Abdruck).

7 Rilliet et Barthez, Traité des Maladies des Enfants, ii. p. 551.

Mode of Invasion.—I have elsewhere8 described eight different

modes of invasion: absolutely sudden, coming on in the daytime;
morning paralysis (West), discovered after a quiet night, preceded by
fever or by vomiting alone (?), or by another typical disease,
especially one of the exanthemata, or, finally, by a traumatism,
generally slight. An interval of time almost always elapses between
the occurrence of the traumatism and the development of the
paralysis—a fact which already indicates that a definitely-evolved
morbid process must intervene between the two occurrences. An
exception is related by Duchenne fils;9 and some apparent
exceptions, in which recovery occurred rapidly, seem to belong to
the temporary paralysis of Kennedy,10 more recently described again
by Frey.11
8 Am. Journ. Obstet., May, 1874.

9 Archives gén., 1864. A father pulled his child from a table by the right arm, and set it
rather roughly on the ground. Immediate pain, almost immediate paralysis of arm,
which persisted, and was followed by atrophy of its muscles.

10 Dublin Quarterly, 1850.

11 Berlin. klin. Wochens., 1874. Frey considers these cases to be identical in nature
with, though differing in severity from, anterior poliomyelitis.

PRODROMATA.—There is rarely any lengthened period of prodromata.

Seeligmüller has noticed in some cases an indisposition on the part
of the child to stand or walk during several weeks before the
occurrence of the paralysis. He does not say whether such children
were rachitical. In marked contrast with cases of cerebral paralysis is
the habitual absence of generalized nervous symptoms. Thus in only
1 case of Seeligmüller's (total of 75) did the child suffer, and that
during six months preceding the paralysis, from intermittent muscular
contractions, and also from attacks of laryngismus stridulus.

The fever is usually of moderate severity (Seeligmüller), but

sometimes extremely high (Erb)12—as much as 41° C. (Henoch),13 or
104° F. (Barlow).14 Duchenne fils observed 7 cases alleged to be
entirely without fever, and Laborde counts 10 cases out of 50 as
apyretic.15
12 Ziemssen's Handbuch, Bd. xi. Abh. 12.

13 Vorlesung. über Kinderkrank., 2d Aufl., 1881. Seeligmüller (Jahrb. für Kinderheilk.,

1878, p. 345) quotes another case from Henoch's clinic where the fever lasted thirty-
six hours, the temperature on the first evening being 39.2°, the following morning
39.0°, the second evening 39.5°; the second morning, at which date the paralysis was
discovered, it was normal. The author states this to be the only case known to him in
which thermometric measurements were taken.

14 Loc. cit.

15 De la Paralysie de l'Enfance.

The duration of the fever usually varies from a single night to forty-
eight hours; much more rarely does it last six, eight, twelve, or
fourteen days, or even, but quite exceptionally, three or four weeks.
According to Duchenne, its intensity and duration increase with the
age of the child, perhaps indicating greater resistance on the part of
the nerve-tissues which are the seat of the morbid process of which
it is symptomatic. Rarely does it last after the paralysis has once
occurred, but ceases then with an abruptness which recalls the
defervescence of pneumonia when the exudation process is once
completed.16
 16 See p. 1144 for pathogenic inferences to be drawn from this fact. Seguin (New
York Med. Record, Jan. 15, 1874) seems to throw some doubt on the existence of
apyretic cases; but, as Seeligmüller remarks, there is too much testimony to this
possibility to render it really doubtful.

There is no proportion between the intensity of the fever and the

extent of the subsequent paralysis; nor is there any marked contrast
between the fever in children and that in adults in those rare cases in
which the disease, instead of being subacute, is sudden as in
children.

Erb considers the fever to be purely symptomatic of an inflammatory

process in the spinal cord.17 But Vogt regards it rather as an
essential factor in the development of a spinal lesion, and thus
explains the occurrence of this in the course of febrile diseases
which at the outset have no special relation to the cord.
17 Loc. cit., p. 279.

Convulsions, usually accompanied by fever, were observed in 11 of

Seeligmüller's cases out of 67; Duchenne had 13 out of 70; Heine, 9
out of 86;18 thus a total of 33 cases of convulsions in 223 cases of
infantile paralysis—nearly 15 per cent. The paralysis may set in after
a single brief convulsion, or this may be repeated several times at
variable intervals before the paralysis is definitely declared (Ross).19
The convulsive movements are apt to be particularly intense in the
limbs destined to become paralyzed (Vogt).
18 Die Spinale Kinderlahmung.

19 Loc. cit., p. 107. The author is quoting Laborde.

The convulsion may be very slight—an isolated spasm of a limb or

even a single group of muscles. Whether, on the other hand, it can
ever be so intense that the child succumbs to it before the
development of paralysis, is a question which could only be decided
by repeatedly examining the cord in the cases of convulsion which
have terminated fatally. In a case of Seeligmüller's the child was
affected for eight days preceding the paralysis by tremblings
generalized through all his muscles.

The convulsion is usually followed by a soporous or even comatose

condition, or this may replace the convulsion. Delirium may take the
place of either.

Special interest attaches to those cases where the paralysis

develops in the course of an acute specific disease; for then
becomes most plausible the suggestion of Vogt, that a fever excited
by some cause remote from the spinal cord may itself become a
cause of lesion in this centre. In Roger's first and most celebrated
case, paraplegia developed suddenly during the course of a fatal
scarlatina in a child already suffering from paralysis of the left deltoid
of two months' standing.20 The scarlatina was hemorrhagic, and, as
will be shown farther on, the autopsy showed traces of a
hemorrhagic extravasation in the cord. Thus a double influence was
presumably exerted by the scarlatina, while, moreover, the previous
and recent occurrence of a deltoid paralysis indicated a morbid
predisposition in the spinal cord. Of Seeligmüller's 75 cases, 1
occurred during scarlet fever, 1 with measles, 1 in the course of an
erysipelas, and 1 of pneumonia.
20 Gaz. méd., 1871.

Apyretic diseases, especially of the gastro-intestinal tract (Brown-

Séquard), also seem to have an influence on the development of
infantile paralysis. Two of my own cases occurred during an attack of
cholera infantum; another in a child who had been for several weeks
in bed with a purulent conjunctivitis. Study of these varied
antecedents is of interest in connection with the obscure question of
the etiology of infantile paralysis. In this latter connection we will
refer to them again.

Vomiting, or even the entire symptom-complex of gastric fever, not

infrequently ushers in the paralysis. Fever is then usually present,
but I have recorded one case of vomiting where, according to the
mother's assurance, no fever at all existed.
At the moment that the symptoms of the invasion subside, and the
child seems to enter upon convalescence, the terrifying discovery is
made that an arm or a leg or all four limbs, or even they and the
muscles of the trunk, are paralyzed.

In the severest form the child lies motionless, unable to stir hand or
foot, or even a finger or toe. Yet, singularly enough, this extensive
paralysis is sometimes overlooked, especially in very young children,
as the immobility of the patient is attributed merely to weakness
caused by previous illness. General paralysis, during at least the first
few hours of the paralytic stage, is probably more common than
appears from our present statistics. Not only, as has just been noted,
may this condition be overlooked, but it may exist during the hours of
sleep which precede the cases of morning paralysis. Seguin21
speaks as if the paralysis were at first always generalized, but this
statement seems to me somewhat exaggerated. Referring merely to
the statements of the parents, a considerable number of paralyses
would be found limited from the beginning. Heine's third table of
partial paralysis is entirely composed of cases so limited. In 16 out of
the 19 cases of hemiplegia (monoplegia) the original limitation of the
paralysis is also specified; similarly with 7 out of the 20 cases of
paraplegia contained in the first table.
21 Loc. cit.

Paralysis of one or both lower extremities is often first detected when

the child gets out of bed and attempts to walk; or in children too
young to walk the flaccid immobility of the limb attracts attention as
soon as they are again carried on the mother's arm. Paralysis of the
upper extremities is discovered early in proportion to the liveliness
recovered by the child, leading him to occupy himself with his toys as
usual. In unilateral paralysis of the trunk the child will fall over to one
side when placed in the sitting position; in bilateral paralysis it cannot
be made to sit up at all.

From lack of competent observation during the initial stage it is really

not quite certain whether any degree of paresis precedes the
paralysis; but from the testimony at present accumulated the
paralysis is nearly always complete when first observed. This is in
striking contrast with adult spinal paralysis. In some few cases the
paralysis has been observed to creep on slowly, and not reach its
maximum for several days (Ross). Laborde relates a case where
recovery from a first attack of paralysis was followed by two relapses
in the same limbs at intervals, each ushered in by fever. After the
second relapse the paralysis remained permanent.

Significance of Original Extent of Paralysis.—The question of the

original distribution of the paralysis is of special interest in
connection with that of the original distribution of the morbid process
in the spinal cord. The real effect of the latter cannot be adequately
measured by the permanent paralyses; for, as will be seen, it is not
unusual to find traces of an extensively diffused process in the cord
in cases of quite partial paralysis.

It is interesting to notice that certain muscles are always exempt

from paralysis. With the exception of a single case of paralysis of
one temporal muscle, cited by Seguin,22 the muscles of the head,
eyeballs, ears, larynx, and pharynx are always exempt, as are also
the diaphragm and intercostals. The arrest of the spinal lesion below
the medulla explains the immunity of muscles supplied by the vagus
and spinal accessory nerves. But since the cervical plexus is often
involved, the constant escape of the diaphragm, innervated by the
phrenic nerve which comes from this plexus, is remarkable. Still
more so the immunity of the intercostal muscles, whose nerves arise
in the dorsal region—a position of the cord frequently affected. This
fact tends to confirm Ross's hypothesis, that the nuclei of the
intercostal nerves lie in the vesicular columns of Clarke—columns
confined to the dorsal region of the cord, and which are invariably
found intact at autopsies of atrophic paralysis.
22 Loc. cit.

The immunity of these respiratory nerves explains the absence of

the dyspnœa which is so marked in Landry's ascending paralysis. In
the adult case described by Schultze and Erb23 dyspnœa was
present for a short time. The disease terminated fatally twenty
months from the time of invasion. In this case traces of myelitis were
found extending through the dorsal region of the cord, and including
not only the anterior nerves, but, to a less degree, the columns of
Clarke.
23 Arch. Virch., Bd. lxviii.

The facial nerve (itself a respiratory nerve) shares the immunity of

the phrenic and intercostals. In the cases in which facial paralysis
has been noted the limb paralysis has been hemiplegic, as in
Seeligmüller's twentieth case. A cerebral origin is then always to be
at least suspected.

Barlow24 has seen 6 cases of paralysis of the facial, but the histories
render a cerebral paralysis more probable in 4 out of those 6.
Henoch25 gives a case of paralysis of left arm, accompanied by
paralysis of corresponding facial nerve. The latter rapidly recovered,
but the paralysis of the arm persisted and was followed by atrophy.
Ross26 implies that the sides of the neck, face, and tongue are
always at first implicated in spinal hemiplegic paralysis, but do not
remain permanently affected.
24 Loc. cit.

25 Loc. cit., p. 205.

26 Loc. cit., p. 108.

That the facial should be affected while the other medullary nerves
escape probably depends on the more anterior position of its
nucleus.

The regression of the original paralysis is characteristic, indeed

almost pathognomonic, of the disease. It is on this account that
Barlow has proposed the name regressive paralysis.27 This author
quotes the case of a boy who at five months was affected with a
universal paralysis, even affecting the neck, but entirely recovered
except in the extensor longus digitorum of the foot. This
improvement constitutes a second apparent convalescence, as
deceptive as that which immediately succeeds the pyrexia. Only in
rare cases do all the muscles at first paralyzed remain so
permanently (Seeligmüller); nor, on the other hand, do all entirely
recover (temporary paralysis of Kennedy and Frey). Even when an
entire limb appears to be paralyzed, careful examination will usually
detect certain muscles that retain their faradic contractility. Thus the
order of frequency of paralysis in the different limbs must be
distinguished from that observed for different muscles.
27 Brit. Med. Journ., 1882.

Duchenne fils28 and Seeligmüller29 have tabulated, for lists of 62 and

75 cases respectively, the general locality of the permanent
paralyses in their order of frequency. The cases of monoplegia are
by far the most numerous. Thus in the table quoted below there are
97; in Heine's tables (86 cases), 47; in Sinkler's tables (86 cases), 29
—total, 173 from a total of 309, or nearly one-half:

Duchenne. Seeligmüller. Total.

Left lower extremity 7 27 34
Right lower extremity 25 15 40
Right upper extremity 9
10 13 23
Left upper extremity 4
All four extremities 5 2 7
Both upper extremities 2 1 3
Both lower extremities 9 14 23
Left over and under extremity 1 1 2
Right over and under extremity 0 1 1
Right over and left under extremity 2 1 3
Muscles of trunk and abdomen 1 0 1
62 75 137

This limitation is all the more noteworthy when compared with the
frequency of general paralysis at the outset.
28 Archives gén., 1864.
 29 Jahrbuch der Kinderheilkunde, N. H. xii. pp. 338-343.

The next peculiarity is the great preponderance of paralysis of the

lower over that of the upper extremities. This is noticeable even in
the monoplegias. In Sinkler's cases only two of these affected an
arm. But in bilateral paralysis the predilection is still more
remarkable, paraplegia of the lower extremities being among the
most frequent, paraplegia cervicalis the rarest, form of paralysis.
This is not because a lesion situated in the cervical spinal cord must
interfere with the motor tract going toward the lumbar, and hence
nearly always paralyze all four extremities, if any. Because when this
does happen the upper extremities alone exhibit the atrophic
changes characteristic of anterior poliomyelitis: the lower, though
paralyzed, do not atrophy and retain their faradic contractility. Heine
denied the existence of paraplegia cervicalis. But in the table of
Duchenne-Seeligmüller 3 cases are recorded; Rosenthal30 relates 1;
Lockhart Clarke, 1.31 This is the somewhat famous case, described
by Clarke as a progressive muscular atrophy, which contributed one
of the earlier autopsies.
30 Klinik der Nervenkrankheiten, 2 Aufl. p. 413.

31 Med.-Chir. Trans., li. p. 219.

Seeligmüller's case32 is remarkable in several respects. The

paralysis, occurring after a brief fever in a child seventeen months
old, exclusively attacked the two arms at the moment of invasion,
and never retreated from them, thus offering a double exception to
the usual rule. At four rears of age the arms were much atrophied,
and faradic contractility was lost in their muscles, the legs being
sturdily developed. Nevertheless, the child constantly fell in walking,
because, observes Seeligmüller, he was unable to balance himself
with his arms, as is habitual with little children learning to walk.
32 Jahrbuch, loc. cit., p. 349.

The hemiplegic variety of paralysis is again very rare. The

Duchenne-Seeligmüller table contains (out of 137) 3 cases; Sinkler
records (out of 86) 4; West, 5; Heine (out of 86), 1; Leyden, 1;
Duchenne, 1. West's 5 cases all present certain peculiarities, at least
unusual in spinal paralysis. In 2 the paralysis came out gradually; in
1 succeeded to remittent fever (pigmentary embolism?); in 1 was
preceded by heaviness of the head for several days; and in 1 the leg
was paralyzed fourteen days after the arm.33 It is probable that in
almost all, if not in all cases, hemiplegic spinal paralysis is the
residue of a paralysis originally generalized to all four limbs, if only
for a few hours.34
33 In three cases of hemiplegia observed by myself, and previously diagnosed as
spinal paralysis by other physicians, I doubted the diagnosis from the coincidence of
unusual cerebral symptoms. In the first case the hemiplegia appeared after coma,
during cerebro-spinal meningitis; in the second, after a violent convulsion the face
was drawn to the opposite side, and the patient, a child of seven, remained for a
month in a state of intense maniacal excitement. In a third case, developed during
convalescence from scarlet fever, the hemiplegia was preceded during two days by
hemiparesis, and accompanied for a year by complete aphasia. Finally, in these
cases faradic contractility persisted in the paralyzed limbs (Am. Journ. Obstet., May,
1874).

34 Seeligmüller relates one case where hemiplegia, including the facial nerve, was
observed in two days from the beginning of the fever.

The question of hemiplegia is closely connected with that of

paralysis of the facial nerve, inasmuch as the existence of the latter
often serves to suggest a cerebral paralysis—a suggestion
confirmed later by the absence of atrophy and of characteristic
electrical reactions. However, in some cases of undoubted spinal
paralysis the facial does really seem to have become involved. Thus
in the case just quoted from Seeligmüller (Case 20 of his table)
Henoch35 relates a case of paralysis of the left facial coinciding with
paralysis of the left arm. Rapid recovery from facial paralysis: arm
atrophied. Barlow36 records temporary facial paralysis in six cases,
but only two of these seem to be really spinal. Such temporary
paralysis is not altogether infrequent in the poliomyelitis anterior of
adults (Sinkler, Seguin). Ross37 implies that the sides of the neck,
face, and tongue are always implicated at first in hemiplegic spinal
paralysis, but do not remain so.
35 Loc. cit., p. 203.

36 Loc. cit., p. 76.

37 Loc. cit., p. 108.

Crossed paralysis is extremely rare. There are 3 cases in the

Duchenne-Seeligmüller table; Leyden38 has one. But paraplegia of
the lower extremities, coinciding with paralysis of one upper
extremity, is by no means so rare, especially as a residual paralysis.
38 Archiv Psychiatrie, Bd. vi.

Finally, as in cerebral paralysis, the muscles of the trunk, though

often paralyzed at the outset, rarely remain so in children—much
more often in adults. Eulenburg39 relates one interesting case of
complete paralysis and atrophy of the extensors of the back. Even
the interspinous muscles were involved, as shown by the divergence
of the spinous processes. The paralysis was observed in a girl of
fifteen affected since the age of three, and was completely cured in
five months by daily faradizations of ten minutes each, and two
gymnastic séances, each lasting two hours.
39 Arch. Virch., Bd. xvii., 1859.

Birdsall40 has described one case of unilateral paralysis of the

abdominal muscles.
40 Journal of Nervous Diseases.

Study of the precise combinations of the muscles paralyzed has

recently acquired peculiar interest in connection with the localization
in the spinal cord of the motor or trophic nuclei of their nerves.41
Several facts have been ascertained: 1st, that, in notable contrast
with progressive muscular atrophy, atrophic paralysis tends to
involve definite groups of muscles; 2d, that this grouping is not
effected in accordance with the proximity to each other of the
muscles on the limb, but with their functional association. Remak
affirms that Charles Bell had already called attention to the fact that
in cases of local muscular paralysis of the extremities the paralysis
does not spread by muscular continuity, but in accordance with the
functional association of muscles. Thus, paralysis of the thumb is
more often associated with that of the forearm than with paralysis of
the other muscles of the hand. 3d. From such grouping may often be
inferred a different localization of certain nerve-nuclei than would be
supposed from the position of the muscles alone. 4th. That the fibres
contained in a single nerve-trunk, but distributed to different muscles,
probably separate from each other within the cord, to be there
distributed to variously-situated nuclei.42
41 Ernst Remak, “Localis. der Atroph. lahmung,” Archiv f. Psych., ix., 1879; Ferrier,
Brain, vol. iv. No. 3; also, Proceedings Royal Society, No. 212, p. 12.

42 The theory of course assumes the truth of the demonstration by which atrophic
paralysis is rendered symptomatic of disease of the spinal cord, and the nutrition of a
muscle dependent on the integrity of the muscles of origin of its nerves.

In the arm two mutually correlative cases are observed: (a) Immunity
of the supinator longus during paralysis of the forearm muscles; (b)
paralysis of the supinator in association with paralysis of the deltoid,
biceps, and brachialis anticus. The latter constitutes Remak's upper-
arm type of localization, and is exhibited in his first case.43
43 Loc. cit.; also, cases 1st and 2d by Ferrier, in which, however, other shoulder-
muscles were involved.

Ferrier has experimentally confirmed this muscular association by

means of isolated irritation of the fourth cervical nerve, which threw
into contraction the supinator longus, together with the deltoid,
biceps, and brachialis internus. At the same time, in the experiment
the flexors and extensors of the wrist were excited, while in the
special form of paralysis noted they were exempt. This electrical
method is a less precise mode of analysis than the pathological, for
the double reason that (a) fibres whose nuclei are dissociated may
pass together in the same root; (b) because the same muscles
receive fibres from more than one root: thus the flexors and
extensors of the wrist from the fifth as well as the fourth cervical.
Thus when the nucleus of the latter was destroyed paralysis would
be averted by means of the fibres coming from the fifth root.

The experiment and the pathological observation, however, concur in

indicating that the fibres innervating the supinator longus, though
passing to it in the path afforded by the radial nerve, afterward
ascend in the cord to a ganglionic nucleus in close proximity to those
of the upper-arm muscles specified—liable, therefore, to be affected
with them. The purpose effected by such association is the
supination of the arm.

It is excitation of the fourth root in Ferrier's experiment which gives

results most closely corresponding to Remak's observations.
Excitations of the fifth and sixth root reveal other combinations,
which Ferrier has found realized in adult's spinal paralysis. Thus in
his second case, in addition to the group of muscles already
mentioned, the rhomboid, infraspinatus, and serratus magnus were
paralyzed, the last muscle indicating complication with the fifth root.
In the third and fourth cases muscles supplied from the sixth root
were joined to those innervated by the fourth and fifth—namely, the
pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi.

In this upper-arm type the muscles affected are supplied by three

different nerve-stems—the axillary, musculo-cutaneous, and the
radial. In the forearm type the most common variety consists in
paralysis of the extensors of the wrist, thus exactly imitating lead
palsy.44 The supinator remains intact, the intrinsic muscles of the
hand are sometimes intact, sometimes paralyzed. Sometimes,
however, the extensors are relatively intact; the interossei are
atrophied, and a clawed hand, resembling that characteristic of
cervical hypertrophic pachymeningitis, is developed.45
44 It is on this fact, indeed, that Remak has been led to argue the spinal nature of
saturnine paralysis (“Zur Pathogenie der Blei lahmung,” Archiv für Psych., Bd. vi.,
 1876).

45 The march of this disease, together with that of tabes dorsalis, furnishes data for
localizing the nervous nucleus for the wrist extensors. In both diseases the lesion is
ascending: in tabes disturbance of sensibility occurs first in the distribution of the
sensory fibres of the ulnar nerve; in cervical pachymeningitis the flexors and intrinsic
muscles of the hand are first paralyzed. Hence it is to be inferred that the central
nucleus for the latter muscles lies in the lower, that for the extensor muscles in the
middle, segment of the cervical enlargement of the cord.

The much greater frequency of extensor paralysis in the forearm

type of anterior poliomyelitis indicates that the lesion of this disease
begins about the middle of the cervical enlargement (see note).

The foregoing groupings have been made out almost entirely from
cases of adult spinal paralysis or else of lead palsy. In the lower
extremity it is much more difficult to establish such definite muscular
association. Certain laws, however, can be made out: 1st. The
liability to paralysis increases from the thigh toward the foot; thus,
the muscles moving the thigh on the pelvis are the least liable to
paralysis, then those moving the leg on the thigh, while the muscles
moving the foot and leg and thigh are the most frequently paralyzed
of any in the body. 2d. Of the upper thigh-muscles, the glutæi are not
infrequently paralyzed, the ilio-psoas hardly ever, the adductors
rarely except in total paralysis. 3d. Of the muscles moving the leg on
the thigh, the quadriceps extensor is very frequently paralyzed—the
most often, indeed, after the foot-muscles: the sartorius is almost
always exempt; the liability of the hamstring muscles corresponds to
that of the thigh adductors. 4th. At the foot the tibialis anticus often
suffers from isolated paralysis, sharing in this respect the fate of the
deltoid in the upper extremity—a fact already noticed by Duchenne.
On the other hand, (5th) the tibialis anticus often remains intact while
the other muscles supplied by the perineal nerve, the perineus
longus and brevis, are completely paralyzed.46
46 Thus Buzzard relates a case of paralysis involving the quadriceps extensor and
peroneal muscles, while the anterior tibial were intact.
The remarkable contrast in the morbid susceptibility of the
quadriceps on the one hand, and the sartorius on the other, suggests
dissociations of their nuclei. Remak relates one interesting case
(Obs. 13) where the sartorius was paralyzed—coincidently with the
quadriceps, it is true, but also with partial paralysis of the ilio-psoas
muscle, which is as rarely attacked as the sartorius itself. The two
facts, taken together, would indicate that the nucleus of the sartorius
lies high in the lumbar enlargement, in proximity to that of the ileo-
psoas. The inference, continues Remak, is reinforced by functional
considerations, since the sartorius, obliquely flexing the leg on the
thigh, is generally in action at the moment that the psoas flexes the
thigh on the pelvis.

Again: according to Remak the tibialis anticus is generally paralyzed

together with the quadriceps extensor, although supplied by a
different nerve.47 And this should be expected from the necessity of
exciting dorsal flexion of the foot by means of the tibialis anticus at
the moment of extending the leg for the act of walking.48
47 Obs. 14, 15, 16, 17, from Remak's essay.

48 At the moment that the foot is thus flexed, however, to allow the leg to be swung
forward, the thigh and leg are both slightly flexed.

Ferrier, from his experiments on the roots of the lumbar plexus, is

inclined to doubt this association of the tibialis anticus with the
quadriceps, and he adduces Buzzard's case, already quoted, to
show coincident paralysis of the quadriceps and peroneal muscles. It
is not improbable, however, that fibres associated together in nerve-
roots may again diverge in the cord, and thus the discrepancy would
be explained.

DIAGNOSIS OF SPECIAL PARALYSIS.—Paralysis of isolated muscles may

sometimes be concealed by the vicarious action of their synergists:
thus of the extensor communis for the tibialis anticus. Paralysis of
both legs and feet may even be partly concealed by the energy of
the thigh-muscles, which, using the paralyzed segments of the limbs
as inert supports, succeeds in effecting locomotion.49 On the other
hand, in limbs apparently abandoned to total paralysis persevering
search will often discover some muscles or parts of muscles which
respond to faradic electricity: these must be considered as
susceptible of ultimate recovery.
49 Thus in Cornil's famous case, Soc Biol., 1863.

The following table sums up some special diagnostic marks for the
different paralyses50 afforded by the position of the limb and loss of
movements:

Upper Extremity. Deltoid. Absence of deformity, which is averted by weight of arm.

Inability to raise arm. Sometimes subluxation. Frequent association with paralysis,
biceps, brachialis anticus, and supinator longus.

Lower Extremity. Ilio-psoas. Rare except with total paralysis. Associated with
paralysis, sartorius. Loss of flexion of thigh. Limb extended (if glutæi intact).

Glutæi. Thigh adducted. Outward rotation lost. Lordosis on standing. Frequent

association with paralysis of extensors of back.

Quadriceps extensor. Flexion and adducting of leg (if hamstrings intact). Loss of
extension of leg. Frequent association with paralysis of tibialis anticus.

Tibialis anticus. Often concealed if extensor communis intact. If both paralyzed, then
fall of point of foot in equinus. Dragging point of foot on ground in walking. Big toe in
dorsal flexion (if extensor pollicis intact). The tendons prominent. Hollow sole of foot
(if perineus longus intact).

Extensor communis. Nearly always associated with that of tibialis anticus. Toes in
forced flexion.

Peroneus longus. Sole of foot flattened. Point turned inward. Internal border elevated.

Sural muscles. Heel depressed. Foot in dorsal flexion (calcaneus). Sole hollowed if
perineus longus intact; flattened if paralyzed. Point turned outward (calcaneo-valgus).

Extensors of back. Lordosis on standing. Projection backward of shoulders. Plumb-

line falls behind sacrum (unilateral). Trunk curved to side. Trunk cannot be moved
 toward paralyzed side.

Abdominal muscles. Lordosis, without projection backward of shoulders.

50 See Duchenne, loc. cit., and also Roth, On Paralysis in Infancy, London, 1869.

After the paralysis the most remarkable symptom of anterior

poliomyelitis is the rapid wasting of the paralyzed muscles. The
atrophy begins within a week after the paralysis, and its progress is
even more rapid than that following the section of a nerve.
Sometimes all the flesh on a limb is shrivelled down to the bone; at
other times the muscular atrophy is concealed by an abnormal
development of fat, constituting a pseudo-hypertrophy. When all the
muscles surrounding a joint are equally paralyzed and atrophied, no
deformity develops,51 unless, indeed, the segment of a limb is used
by means of the non-paralyzed proximate segment. In this case
deformities may be produced by the effect of weight quite
irrespective of muscular action, or in directions opposed to what we
should expect from that.
51 Except talipes equinus.

The weight of the limb or a portion of it, by stretching paralyzed

muscles, often aggravates their atrophy. This is most likely to occur
with the paralyzed deltoid when the arm is unsupported, and with the
anterior tibial muscles when the foot is allowed to drop.

Muscular atrophy occurs in the spinal paralysis of adults as well as in

children; but in the latter alone does the atrophy extend to the bones
and cartilages, tendons, fascia, ligaments, and blood-vessels. The
osseous projections to which the muscles are attached waste; so do
the epiphyses.52 The long bones are thinner and shorter, the foot is
shorter, and the hand is shortened in paralysis of the upper
extremity, even where this is limited to the upper arm, and the
forearm is scarcely affected (Seeligmüller).
52 Seeligmüller, Centralbl. f. Chirug., No. 29, 1879.
In exceptional cases the limb may become even elongated from
passive extension of the ligaments of the articulation. The bones
may become soft and flexible, and break if pressure be applied.53
53 Ch. Salomon, “Des Lesions osseuses et articulaires lieés aux Maladies du
Système nerveux,” Revue mensuelle, No. 8, 1878.

Atrophy of the bones stands in no fixed relation to that of the

muscles, now exceeding, now falling short of that in intensity. This
naturally progresses more slowly; still, within seven or eight months
there may be a centimeter of difference between two limbs.

In marked contrast with this profound trophic disturbance of the

bones is the intact nutrition of the skin. The absence of decubitus is
indeed an important diagnostic mark from ordinary myelitis. The
subcutaneous fat, however, wastes so completely that the skin
seems to be closely adherent to the subjacent tissues, and cannot
be pinched up into folds.

The temperature of the skin always falls; the limb is perceptibly

colder to the touch than its fellow, and is often bluish and cyanotic.
Heine has observed that the temperature diminishes gradually from
the centre to the periphery, and at the coldest point may sink to 14°
R.54 Hammond relates a case where the local temperature was 75°
in an atmosphere of 72°. The author says that exact measurements
of surface temperature should be taken with Lombard's differential
calorimeter, especially when convalescence is expected, as then a
rise of temperature, however slight, is of most favorable augury.
54 Loc. cit., p. 16. This is not a difference of 14 degrees between the sound and
paralyzed limbs, as is erroneously quoted by Seeligmüller (loc. cit., p. 67).

General factors contribute to the fall of temperature: diminished

blood-supply from shrinkage of blood-vessels, or even atrophy of a
certain number among these; loss of nerve-influence upon the
oxidation processes; loss of muscular contractions, which should
attract an afflux of blood. Among these factors the loss of nerve-
supply is probably the most important, since the others exist in