TRANSACTIONS OF Tllli SECTIONS. 



IV. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 



Observations on the proper method of studyi7ig the Nervous 

 System. By Sir Charles Bkll, F.It.S. K.H., Sfc. 



SirCharlesBell commenced by stating the remai'k able simi- 

 larity in the ideas entertained on the nervous system from the 

 time of Galen to that of Monro and Baillie, which he attri- 

 buted to the anatomists and teachers rigidly following the same 

 mode of investigation, and having the subject presented ever in 

 the same aspect. After illustrating by different examples how 

 men placed in exactly similar circumstances have the same con- 

 ceptions elicited, he proceeded to show how inconsistent the 

 minute anatomy of the nervous system in the human body was 

 with the prevailing doctrine of one source of energy, and the 

 notion of the brain being the officina spiritmim, and to prove 

 that to explain the meaning of the seeming intricacies of the 

 nervous system, it was necessary to consider the nerves as 

 possessed of different endowments. In prosecuting the inquiry 

 there were three distinct considerations to be attended to — 



1. The minute distribution of the nerves, 



2. The functions of the parts to which they go, 



3. Their roots, or the distinctions in their origins. 



With regard to the first, he observed that during the period 

 of his early teaching, and some time previously to that, the ana- 

 tomists of Europe had brought the knowledge of the branching 

 and distribution of the nerves to great perfection, but Avith no 

 commensurate improvement in the knowledge of their functions. 



As to the second head, he said it had been most negligently 

 considered ; it was the investigation into the fmictions of the 

 part to which the nerves went which must be the ground of 

 all rational theory. 



His first illustration was taken from the eye. Six nerves 

 crowd towards this small organs what purpose could this 

 serve ? But when we consider not only the capacity of vision, 

 but the exquisite and peculiar sensibilities of the surfaces of 

 the eye \ when we consider the sensibilities as putting in action 

 all the guardian motions of the eye ; when we consider the 

 globe of the eye moved by four muscles subject to volition, and 

 others whose motions are instinctive ; the motions of the eye- 

 lids ; the motions of the iris ; and the motions of the eyeball ; 

 the conviction arises that there is a relation between the many 



