186 
facy in his theory of inflammation. 
“ Inflammation (says he) in my opinion 
may be defined, an augmentation of the 
vital powers of that part which is the seat of 
it. Sensibility there becomes more live- 
ly, mobility greater ; and from this in- 
crease of sensibility and motion arise all 
the symptoms that denote the inflam- 
matory state,” p. 16.—Now this defini- 
tion is bad, because it expresses none of 
the phenomena of inflammation, and 
still more, because it involves an hypo- 
thesis, which is contradicted by expe- 
rience. Those morbid actions which 
constitute inflammation take place in dif- 
ferent -degrees,. and in very opposite 
states of the system, and of the part. 
In some cases there is increased action of 
the vascular system, increased sensibility, 
&c. and in others the healthy actions are 
diminished, and an evident loss of power 
exists. 
‘Lhe ebservations in the second section 
on; the relation of physiology to the other 
sciences are. just, and the author with 
great propriety has insisted on the utility 
and importance of comparative anatomy. 
So.much cannot be said in praise of his 
account of the “system of the great 
sympathetic nerves.” Let us hear what 
the author has thought worthy of re- 
publication on this subject : 
9 The great sympathetic nerves should be 
egusidersd as a medium. destined to unite the 
organs that are animated by the assimilating 
powers, and by means of wltich man grows, 
developes himself, and constantly repairs the 
continual loss from vital motion. "They form 
anervous system, very di-tinct from the sys- 
tem of the cerebral nerves ;/ and as the latter 
arecinstruments of the fractions .by which 
we have a relation to external objects, so the 
reat sympathetic nerves give motion and 
validity to the internal, assimilating, or di- 
gestive functions. at 
«« Is nut the nervons systém of animals 
without vertebric, that oats in thre cavities 
with the viscera they supply, entirely eor- 
fined to the great sympathetie nerves? “It 
distributes itself chieflyon the organs of-in- 
ternal life, the activity of which seems to.in- 
crease in animals,.in proportion to the weak- 
ness of their external, senses, and power of, 
loco-motion, If the great sympatietie nerves 
. . . pig Fi) Fh ei Le & 
exist in all animals that have a distinct ner- 
vous system, do they not peculiarty contain 
ay + Pe - ‘ " ¢ 7 
the principle of this’ vegetative Tif, essential 
to the existence of every organized being, and 
to which:belong the phenomens of digestion, 
absorption, the cireukstion, secretion, and of 
nutrition? Fs.it net, in fact, probable, that 
in man, the system of the great sympathetic 
aerves has the most important influence in g 
~ _ 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, ANATOMY, &c. 
great number of complaints; and that it ts 
to its numerous ganglions that, its affecting 
impressions have a relation, whilst the braim ’ 
is, exclusively, the seat of intelligence ard 
reflection 2” - 
We must confess that we are so dull 
of comprehension, or so fastidious, as to 
hesitate in coinciding with our author’s 
sentiments upon this point. He appears 
to have formed this general conclusion im 
a hasty manner: it does not seem so clear, 
that because the sympathetic nerves are 
numerous, and perform very important 
purposes in the animal economy, that. 
they form a separate and distmet system. 
The different parts of the whole body, 
and especially the nervous system, are 
so connected together, that no part can 
he said to be independent of the others. 
Some of the branches of the sympathetic. 
nerves only serve as media of commu- 
nication, and they have all an intimate 
relation to one centre, the brain, Like. 
most theorists, M. Richerand has mag-. 
nified the importance of these nerves, 
and makes them the seat of all our plea- 
sures and pains. In answer to the ques-. 
tion about the use of these nerves ia 
some animals, it may be remarked, first, 
that in animals without vertebra, there 
is no great sympathetic nerve.’ And 
2dly, that the heart, stomach, and in- 
testines, whose actions are involuntary 
in animals possessing sympathetic nerves, 
are immediately and powerfully influ- 
enced by the communication with the 
brain being interrupted or cut off. 
Chapter Ist, on Digestion.—Many 
things are here said, but to little pur- 
pose. The author adopts the opmion,' 
that this function is performed by a so- 
lution of aliment in the gastric juice: 
he takes no notice of the different expla. 
nations which have been proposed, he. 
mentions no interesting experiments, and, 
refers te no sources for farther informa- 
tion. This whole chapter might be read 
by any student, without his having an 
idea that Spallanzani ever lived, or that 
Stevens, Hunter, and Fordyce ever wrote. 
When speaking of the organs which se- 
crete bile, M. Richerand has adopted the 
common error, in supposing that the he- 
patic artery only supplies blood neces- 
sary for the nourishment of the liver. 
He ought to have known that this ar- 
tery contributes to the secretion of bile, 
as ee been established by an accidental 
discovery of a singular termination of° 
the vena portz in the yenacava. Under 
the article digestion many subjects. are 
LDS 
