40 Royal Society. 



suggests doubts of the soundness of the inferences he draws from his 

 experiments*. 



The author then proceeds to examine the electrical phenomena 

 elicited by magneto-electricity, and shows that, as far as they have 

 been observed, they coincide with those of voltaic electricity, and, 

 consequently, are referrible to the same agency. The only effects that 

 have not yet been obtained are chemical decompositions. The quan- 

 tities of thermo-electricity that can be elicited in ordinary cases are 

 too small to produce any effects but those of magnetism, and also 

 muscular contractions in the limbs of frogs. The animal electricity 

 of the torpedo produces most of the effects of voltaic electricity, ex- 

 cepting the evolution of heat and light. The general conclusion de- 

 duced by the author from these researches is, that electricity, what- 

 ever be its source, is perfectly identical in its nature. 



In the concluding chapter of the present paper, the author endea- 

 vours to establish some relation by measure between common and 

 voltaic electricity. He shows, by experiment, that whenever the same 

 absolute quantity of electricity, whatever be its intensity, passes through 

 the galvanometer, the deflecting force exerted upon the magnetic 

 needle is invariably the same. Hence this deflecting force may be 

 taken as the measure of the absolute quantity of transmitted electri- 

 city ; a principle which establishes the value of the galvanometer as 

 an instrument of measurement in all cases of electricity in motion. 

 The power of chemical decomposition he finds to be also directly as 

 the quantity of transmitted electricity. 



Feb. 7. — A paper was read, entitled, "On the relation which sub- 

 sists between the Nervous and Muscular Systems in the more perfect 

 Animals, and the nature of the Influence by which it is maintained." 

 By A. P. W. Philip, M.D., F.R.S. L.&E. 



The author, after referring to his former papers which have at dif- 

 ferent times been read to the Royal Society, and published in their 

 Transactions, is led to view the brain and spinal marrow as the only 

 active parts of the nervous system j the nerves, whether belonging 

 to the class of cerebral or ganglionic, together with their plexuses 

 and ganglions, serving only as the means of conveying and combining 

 the various parts of the former organs, and therefore being passive 

 with reference to their functions. This view of the subject is directly 

 opposed to that which has been adopted by many physiologists, who 

 consider these ganglions as the sources, and not the mere vehicles, 

 of nervous influence. In order to determine this point, the author 

 made the following experiment on an animal that had been pithed 

 so as to destroy its sensibility, while the action of the heart continued. 

 Under these circumstances, he applied mechanical irritation, and also 

 various chemical agents, to the ganglions and plexuses of the gan- 

 glionic nerves, and found that the heart continued to beat with the 

 same regularity as before, and with the same frequency of pulsation. 

 From these and other observations, the author concludes that the 

 ganglionic system of nerves, with their plexuses and ganglions, per- 

 forms the office of combining the influence ot every part of the brain 



* An abstract of Mr. Barry's paper appeared in Phil. Mag. and Annals, 

 N.S. vol. ix. p. 357. 



