still very considerable doubt. With disease or willful destruction of the cerebral tissue the personal initiative is affected-- the animal becomes more distinctly a mechanism; the cerebellum is probably concerned in the coordination of muscular movements; and the medulla is a centre for the higher and more complicated respiratory reflexes, yawning, coughing, and so on. The great majority of reflex actions centre, however, in the spinal cord, and do not affect the brain.
Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata · The Wunder Library — complete classics, free to read, with narration.