410 MUSCULAR MOTION. 



tion of a Fuseli or of a Kean." At this period, several of the spectators 

 were forced to leave the room from terror or sickness ; and one gentle- 

 man fainted. 



The last experiment consisted in transmitting the electric power from 

 the spinal marrow to the ulnar nerve as it passes by the internal con- 

 dyle at the elbow; when the fingers moved nimbly, like those of a violin 

 performer; and an assistant who tried to close the fist, found the hand 

 open forcibly in spite of every effort to prevent it. When one rod was 

 applied to a slight incision in the tip of the forefinger, the fist being 

 previously clenched, the finger was instantly extended; and from the 

 convulsive agitation of the arm, he seemed to point to the different 

 spectators, some of whom thought he had come to life. 



The experiments of Dr. Ure have been several times repeated in this 

 country on the bodies of criminals, and with analogous results. 1 



What important reflections are suggested by the perusal of such 

 cases ! The great resemblance between the galvanic and the nervous 

 fluids, and the absorbing idea, to the philanthropist, that galvanism 

 might be found successful in resuscitating the apparently dead, in cases 

 where other means may have failed! Unfortunately, it can rarely 

 happen, that the means will be at hand, so as to be available ; and, 

 moreover, when the heart has ceased to beat for a few minutes, it is 

 generally impracticable to cause it to resume its functions. 



An experiment, described by Dr. George Fordyce, 2 exhibits the 

 power of contractility resident in the tissue. He slightly scratched, 

 with a needle, the inside of a heart removed from the body, when it 

 contracted so strongly as to force the point of the needle deep into its 

 substance. This experiment has been often cited for the purpose of 

 showing, that the mechanical effect, in such cases, is infinitely greater 

 than the mechanical cause producing it ; and hence, as we have endea- 

 voured already to show, that all mechanical explanations must be in- 

 sufficient to account for the phenomena of muscular contraction: we 

 are compelled, indeed, to infer, that a new force must always be gene- 

 rated. 



In the year 1806, a cause was tried before the Court of Exchequer 

 in England, in which a better knowledge of the properties of muscle 

 might have led to a different result. 3 According to the English law, 

 where a man marries a woman seised of an estate of inheritance, and 

 has, by her, issue born alive, which was capable of inheriting her 

 estate, in such case he shall, on the death of his wife, hold the lands 

 for his life as tenant ~by the courtesy of England. It has, consequently, 

 been a point of moment for the husband to show, that the child was 

 born alive; and the law authorities have, with singular infelicity, 

 attempted to define what shall be regarded evidences of this condition. 

 According to Blackstone, 4 "it must be born alive. Some have had a 

 notion that it must be heard to cry, but that is a mistake. Crying, 



' Dunbar, in Baltimore Mecl. and Surg. Journal, i. 245, Bait., 1833, and the Journals re- 

 ferred to in the preceding pages. 

 8 Philos. Transact, for 1788, p. 25. 



3 Taylor, Medical Jurisprudence, Amer. edit., by R. E. Griffith, p. 480,Philad., 1845. 



4 Commentaries, B. ii. 127. 



