INTRODUCTION 1 1 



existence of a series of channels uniting the arterioles and 

 venules into one united whole. It, moreover, may yet be 

 possible to show experimentally the truth of the induction 

 and its applicability to the pathological and therapeutical 

 bearings of the subject. 



Again, circulation within the metabolic area on these 

 lines lays the protoplasmic elements open to the chemico- 

 physiological forces of organic analysis and synthesis, so 

 that waste and unemployed materials are being continually 

 moved on, or removed, to secure the existence of an 

 unencumbered structural condition in which physiological 

 health can be maintained amid the fluctuations in food 

 supply and the altering conditions of the body as to the 

 exercise of everyday life and existence. Another great 

 missing link in the chain of human (and higher animal) 

 circulations is the cerebro-spinal fluid circulation, which is 

 co-extensive and conterminous with the systemic nervous 

 system, afferent and efferent, and which performs a 

 function in the organism of innervation of an importance 

 only comparable to that of the circulation of the blood 

 in the general economy and of an absolutely specific 

 character. 



With this circulation, moreover, is associated a series of 

 what for the want of a better term we must describe as 

 neuronal circulations due to absorption or secretion by 

 the nerve cells from the matrix of the neuroglia of neural 

 pabulum, and its excretion, or growth, along the afferent 

 and efferent nervatures respectively, into the substance of 

 the skin, on the one hand, and the substance of the 

 voluntary muscles, on the other. 



These missing links in the chain of the general, or pan- 

 circulation will be found elsewhere in these extracts dealt 

 with in detail, and recognised on the afferent, or sensory, 

 side of the nervous system as terminal or outfall, and on 

 the efferent, or motor, side as linked up again to the 

 circulation of the blood. 



We have proved to our own satisfaction the truth of 

 these views from both the theoretical and practical sides, 

 and are now firmly convinced that their practical appli- 

 cation to the subjects of diagnosis and treatment of disease 

 it would be difficult to exaggerate, or unduly appraise. 



