102 INFLUENCE OF NERVES 



in either condition. The most successful wrestlers 

 and gladiators among the ancients seem to have 

 owed their superiority chiefly to the possession of 

 both endowments in a high degree ; and among the 

 moderns, the most remarkable combination of the 

 two qualities is exhibited by some of our harlequins, 

 clowns, rope-dancers, and equestrian performers, 

 and also by those who display their strength and 

 power of equilibrium by balancing wheels, ladders, 

 or other heavy bodies, on the chin ; and whose per- 

 formances require from the small muscles of the 

 jaw and neck a force of contraction which, when 

 reduced to calculation, almost exceeds belief. Bel- 

 zoni combined both conditions in a high degree. 



From the general resemblance which character- 

 izes the different nerves, a similarity of function 

 was long ascribed to them all, and no explanation 

 could be given why one muscle sometimes received 

 filaments from a variety of nervous trunks. Re- 

 cently, however, the labours of Sir Charles Bell 

 and Magendie have clearly established, that, in 

 such cases, each nerve serves a distinct purpose, in 

 combining the movements of the particular muscle 

 with those of others necessary to effect a given end, 

 and that without this additional nerve such a com- 

 bination could not have been produced. The mus- 

 cular nerves must not be confounded with those 

 which we have seen ramified on the skin for the 

 purposes of sensation. The former are provided 

 for the purposes of motion and not of feeling, and 

 hence muscles may be cut or injured with little pain, 

 compared to what is felt by the skin. Weariness is 

 the kind of sensation recognised by the muscular 

 nerves. 



So uniformly is a separate instrument provided 

 for every additional function, that there is every 

 reason to regard the muscular nerves, although run- 

 ning in one sheath, as in reality double, and per- 

 forming distinct functions. Sir Charles Bell has 



