Sect. XXXII. 10. i. OF IRRITATION. ga* 



Recapitulation* 



X. Thofe mufcles, which are iefs frequently exerted, 2nd. 

 whole actions are interrupted by fleep, acquire lefs accumulation 

 of r enfori?.i power during their quiefcent ftate, as the mufcles 

 pi lc x>moiion. In thefe mufcles after great exertion, that is, 

 after great exhaustion of the fenforial power, the pain of fatigue 

 enfues3 and during reft there is a renovation of the natural 



amity of fenforial power ; but where the reft, or quiefcence 



•cf in fele, is long continued, a quantity' of fenforial power 



cumulated beyond what is neceffary ; as appears by 



rnefs occafioned by want of exercife ; and which in 



g animals is one caufe exciting them into action, as is feen 



in the play of puppies and kittens. 



But when thofe mufcles, which are habituated to perpetual 

 actions, as thofe of the ftomach by the ftimulus of food, thofe 

 of the veflels of the fkinby the ftimulus of heat, and thofe which 

 conftitute the arteries and glands by the ftimulus of the blood, 

 become for a time quiefcent, from the want of their appropria- 

 ted ftimuli, or by their aflbciations with other quiefcent parts of 

 the fyftem •, a greater accumulation of fenforial power is ac- 

 quired during their quiefcence, and a greater or quicker ex- 

 hauftion of it is produced during their increafed action. 



This accumulation of fenforial power from deficient action, 

 if it happens to the ftomach from want of food, occafions the 

 pain of hunger ; if it happens to the veflels of the fkin from 

 want of heat, it occafions the pain cf cold ; and if to the arterial 

 fyftem from the want of its adapted ftimuli, many difagreeable 

 fenfations are occafioned, fuch as are experienced in the cold fits 

 of intermittent fevers, and are as various, as there are glands or 

 membranes in the fyftem, and are generally termed univerfal 

 uneafinefs. 



When the quiefcence of the arterial fyftem is not owing to de- 

 fect of ftimulus as above, but to the defective quantity of fenfo- 

 rial power, as in the commencement of nervous fever, or irrita- 

 tive fever with weak pulfe, a great torpor of this fyftem is 

 quickly induced ; becaufe both the irritation from the ftimulus 

 of the blood, and the aflbciation of the vafcular motions with 

 each other, continue to excite the arteries into action, and thence 

 quickly exhauft the ill-fupplied vafcular mufcles •, for to reft 

 is death 5 and therefore thofe vafcular mufcles continue to pro- 

 ceed, though with feebler action, to the extreme of wearinefs 

 or faintnefs : while nothing iimiiar to this affects the locomo- 

 tive mufcles, whofe actions are generally caufed by volition, and 



not 



