THE SYSTEMIC NERVE CELL 313 



The materials excreted, may be immediately, and finally, 

 thrown off, or may still be utilised for purposes of, pro- 

 tection, growth, lubrication, etc., ere they are allowed to 

 be finally disposed of, or shed ; thus, the epidermis, with 

 its appendages, may be largely regarded, as the latest, or 

 final, organic result of the peripheral, or sensory, nerve 

 excretory process, while the muscular fibre structures may 

 likewise be regarded, to some extent, but to some extent 

 only the exceptions being interstitial nerve products as 

 the final stage of motor nerve cell excretion, or elimina- 

 tion the sympathetico-systemic system, also, having its 

 excretory contents disposed of, used up, or spent, in 

 aiding in the execution of the various duties to which it 

 becomes subservient, in the economy of the involuntary 

 operations of the muscular system. This process of 

 excretion, or, what may be regarded as, the final stage of, 

 or in, the nerve developmental evolution of the nerve 

 cell, and nuclear products, takes place, in, and on, the 

 free surfaces of the skin of the body generally, where 

 the epidermal scales are shed, as Milton says, " Thick as 

 autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in Vallombrosa," 

 in, and on, the free surface of the mucous, and serous, 

 membranes, and linings of the free surfaces within the 

 body generally, and within the sarco-lemmar coverings of 

 the muscular fibres, striped, and unstriped, wherever 

 present, throughout the, length, and breadth, of the 

 systemically, and sympathetico-systemically, innervated 

 organism. Thus, we perceive, that a far-reaching vista 

 of nerve activity, within the sphere of the fundamental 

 vital, or physiological, processes of, assimilation, nutrition, 

 disintegration, and excretion, is opened up for investi- 

 gation, and a prospect of important practical results 

 presented. 



We shall now proceed slightly to elaborate the foregoing 

 views, in order to make their meaning more plain, and to 

 explain, in somewhat greater detail, what takes place, 

 between the ending of the blood circulation within the 

 neuroglial texture, the beginning of the formative, or 

 organic, processes, through which the materials left by it 

 pass, within that texture, and the methods by which, the 

 residual materials, are finally disposed of. 



