Spiral Structure of Muscle. 185 



see in them the spiral structure with such distinctness, as to 

 feel astonished at its not having been long since observed. As 

 the tails of spermatozoa of course correspond to cilia, their struc- 

 ture must be essentially the same. He states it to be now nine 

 years since he published his observation of the spiral structure 

 of the tail of the mammiferous spermatozoon (Phil. Trans. 1842, 

 p. 107). It is probably owing to a like refractive power in the 

 spirals and in the hyaline which lies between them, that the 

 spirals are so difficult to distinguish in the tails of spermatozoa ; 

 and hence it no doubt is that they were not observed before. 



The subject of the present paper being the structure of muscle, 

 the author has avoided the special mention of other tissues. 

 Lest, however, from this omission it should be supposed that he 

 has abandoned his views,— that the structure of all the element- 

 ary fibres, as well of plants as of animals, is originally spiral, — 

 he thinks it right before concluding briefly to declare that those 

 views remain unchanged. Bowman says : " Dr. Barry might 

 as well have entitled his paper ' On the Spiral Structure of the 

 Organic World*.' " To this title, satirically proposed by Bow- 

 man, the author remarks that he has not the least objection ; so 

 far, indeed, is he from being thereby annoyed, that he thanks 

 him for it. He thanks Prof. Bowman for having thus recorded 

 in the Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, as far back as in 

 the year 1842, that his (Dr. Barry\s) views in regard to the 

 spiral structm-e of organic fibre were universal in their character ; 

 "and I am convinced," it is added, "that the day will come 

 when my views will be as universally adopted by physiologists, 

 as I myself am convinced that the spiral structure is universal! 

 Let it only be fully understood what those views are. Wliat I 

 maintain is, that the spiral form of fibre everywhere is the ori- 

 ginal and incipient form ; and that if this form be lost in many 

 tissues in the course of their special development, it remains 

 permanent in the fibre of muscle as a necessary attribute of its 

 function." 



In a postscript it is added, that in the contractile stem of the 

 Bell polype {Vorticella comallaria) , of which several specimens 

 were examined, the author found his double spiral. In relaxa- 

 tion, this double spiral lay in its extended cylindrical gelatinous 

 sheath, (which he regards as its elastic sarcolemma) in [elon- 

 gated] spiral winds. In contraction, it presented itself in a 

 manner about the same as that in fig. 18; with this difference, 

 that the double spiral in the polype was enclosed in its gelati- 

 nous sarcolemma, which that figure, representing quite another 

 object, docs not show. 



* Cyclopsedia of Anat. and Phys., art. " Muscle and Muscular Motion." 

 p. 511. 



