270 ANIMAL FORCES. [ii. 



haemorrhages are cured by external applications. Sleeping with 

 a pillow of oak-chips beneath the loins, or having a decoction 

 of gall-nuts applied to the abdomen, cures a haemorrhage from 

 the hsemorrhoidal veins ; cold water to the forehead or nape of 

 the neck, cures a bleeding from the nose ; a blister applied 

 externally, relieves inflammation of the subjacent parts, &c. 

 The external impressions made by such remedies on the nerv^es 

 they are brought into immediate contact with, are in many 

 cases transmitted upwards, since they are felt; but in other 

 cases in which they excite no external sensation they must 

 be reflected downwards on the nerves distributed to the capil- 

 laries, and excite contraction of their bleeding mouths. 



523. That the diaphragm may be excited to action by non-con- 

 ceptional internal impressions made on its nerves, has been proved 

 by experiments. (Haller, ^ Opera Minora,' tom. i, pp. 365, 199.) 

 Further, the irritants, which when applied to the nose, excite 

 sneezing — a convulsive action of the diaphragm — as the sen- 

 tient action of an external sensation (208), contribute much to 

 the restoration of life in cases of suspended animation; and 

 since they are not felt for some time after the action of the 

 heart and lungs is re-excited, it follows that they act in virtue 

 of a reflexion of their external impressions on the trunk of the 

 phrenic nerve, and thus excite the movements of this muscle as 

 their indirect nerve-action. Consequently, we can infer that 

 the same movements will result from non-conceptional internal 

 impressions. 



524. The ordinary and natural movement of the diaphragm, 

 does not arise from external stimuli that are felt, although it is 

 very much influenced by such (208) ; nor is it ordinarily a sen- 

 tient action from external sensations ; and inasmuch as it takes 

 place without our consciousness, and even without any know- 

 ledge on our part of its existence, it is not a sentient action 

 from other conceptions, although these can change it volition- 

 ally (171). Consequently, the usual stimulus to the continued 

 natural movement of the diaphragm, acts by means of non-con- 

 ceptional impressions, and it is either a direct nerve- action of 

 the latter, or of external impressions (356) : if from the non- 

 conceptional, it may be either from primary internal im- 

 pressions or reflected external impressions (419, 483). Granted 

 that it arises from external impressions, still as in the instance 



