Question 1. Explain how a kidney can function when the nerve supply is cut off; as the experiment on a dog explained in Best & Taylor.
Answer 1. No kidney “can function” when mental impulse supply IS cut off. A kidney, heart, or other organ CAN BE removed, severed from its normal body, after which it can be immersed in various chemical solutions from which it will contract and relax, but such is NOT “function.” There is a difference to be understood between a saline solution bringing about a “stimulation” or stimulated movement. Many people do not discriminate between stimulus and mental impulse action; between organs in natural situ and organs removed; between intelligent action and incoordinated movement. A muscle may be removed from a frog’s leg. It is “dead” as natural, normal, intelligent function in a living frog. That removed muscle can be made to jerk by an electrical, thermal, chemical, or manual stimulus.