... 



Ill 



were included a notable paper on the Structure of the Vitreous 

 Humour, and a few Cases of Ophthalmic Disease. 



It may justly be believed that no series of papers by one author 

 has been more important in the progress of histology and of its 

 influence on physiology than were these. They have been called by 

 many " epoch-making ; " and the term may certainly be well applied 

 to those on the structure of muscles and of the kidneys. 



In the structure of striated muscle, Bowman showed that the 

 whole substance of the fibre, " primitive fasciculus," exclusive of the 

 sarcolemma and nuclei, " muscle-corpuscles " (of both of which he 

 gave the first minutest account), was composed of particles, " sarcous 

 elements," united together by an intermediate material (concerning 

 which he offered no exact opinion), so as to form in one direction 

 fibrillae, and in another discs. This conception cleared away the many 

 previous views as to the nature of the striation ; and, though subse- 

 quent researches have led to the belief that the structure of the fibre 

 is more complicated than he thought, yet, in many ways, the ideas at 

 present accepted may be regarded as expansions or modifications of 

 those expressed in these papers. The " sarcous element " is not now 

 regarded as a simple homogeneous body, but as one made up of dif- 

 ferent parts : but it is still held that the fibre is made up of such 

 " elements," and that, as Bowman believed, the act of muscular con- 

 traction consists essentially in a change in these elements. 



By his researches on the structures of the kidney he first made 

 known the relation of the blood-glomerules to the uriniferous tubules, 

 which were previously supposed to end blindly or in loops, with the 

 glomerules lying in spaces outside them. He gave a very good 

 account of the circulation in the kidney, and rendered possible a true 

 view of the process of urinary secretion, and suggested the double 

 nature of that process ; a suggestion which subsequent researches 

 have done little more than amplify and enforce. 



In his work on mucous membranes, Bowman gave clearness and 

 distinctness to the views previously arrived at by Henle ; and by his 

 descriptions of their structures and of the glands associated with them, 

 he contributed largely to the knowledge of the process of secretion. 

 And in his studies of the structures of the eye he added clearness 

 and fulness to all previous descriptions of them, and made many 

 things sure that were before his work deemed doubtful. Indeed, it 

 may safely be said that scarcely inferior in value to his discoveries 

 were the many instances in which his accuracy and clearness decided 

 doubts and questions, and led to the general acceptance of his descrip- 

 tions as sure for teaching and for guidance in further research. And, 

 though he did not often work at what might be deemed experimental 

 physiology, yet he derived from his minute anatomy of structures 

 many accurate suggestions of their modes of action; he called itr 



