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VI. Analyses of a Series of Papers on the Structure, Distribu- 

 tion, and Functions of the Nerves ; by Charles Bell, Esq.; 

 which have appeared in some late Volumes of the Philosophical 

 Transactions. 



WE propose, in the present article and continuations of it, 

 to present our readers with analyses of a valuable series 

 of papers on the nerves, by Mr. C. Bell, which have appeared 

 in the Philosophical Transactions from 1821 to 1823; and 

 shall probably conclude them with some remarks on certain 

 parts of his system. 



I. On the Nerves; giving an Account of some Experiments on 

 their Structure and 'Functions, which lead to a new Arrange- 

 ment of the System.— PhiL Trans. 1 821, p. 398-422. 



The author's inquiry in the present paper is limited to the 

 nerves of respiration, and in his conception of this matter they 

 form a system of great extent, since they comprehend all the 

 naves which serve to combine the muscles employed in the act oj 

 breathing and speaking. ... 



Now the number of muscles concerned in respiration is 

 unquestionably great; as all those which are in any way con- 

 nected with or employed in the act of breathing, or in the 

 common actions of coughing, sneezing, speaking and singing, 

 are regarded by the author as muscles ol respiration, liie 

 association of these muscles is effected by certain nervous 

 chords which combine them in the performance ot the above- 

 named actions, and which he calls respiratory nerves, lo 

 illustrate the sense in which this latter term is intended to be 

 employed, the following case serves extremely well: "When 

 a post-horse has run its stage, and the circulation is hurried 

 and the respiration excited, what is his condition? Does he 

 breathe with his ribs only; with the muscles which raise and 

 depress the chest? No. The flanks are in violent action ; the 

 neck as well as the chest is in powerful excitement ; the 

 nostrils as well as the throat keep time with the motion ot the 

 chest. So if a man be excited by exercise or passion, or by 

 whatever accelerates the pulse, the respiratory action is ex- 

 tended and increased, and, instead of the gentle and scarcely 

 perceptible motion of the chest, as in common breathing, the 

 shoulders are raised at each inspiration, the muscles of the 

 throat and neck are violently drawn, and the hps and nostrils 

 move in time with the general action; and it he does no 

 breathe through the mouth, the nostrds expand, and tall in 

 time with the rising and falling of the chest; and that appa- 

 ratus of cartilages and muscles ot the nose (which are as cu- 

 rious as the mechanism of the chest, and which are for ex- 

 Vol. 64. No. 315. My 1824. F panding 



