52 MUSCLES. 



meets its tendon obliquely ; but where it is conti- 

 nuous, in the same line with the tendinous fasciculus 

 with which it corresponds, the two tissues blend 

 together insensibly, without any line of demarcation 

 at their point of contact.* 

 Aspect of the We cannot close our description of muscular fibre 



striated fibre dur- 



antraction. w j t } lout remarking that Weberf long since demon- 

 strated that it does not wrinkle during contraction. 

 It becomes shorter by increasing in breadth and 

 thickness, at the same time, just like a cylinder of 

 caoutchouc after being stretched. The zigzag wrin- 

 kling occurs only where the extremities of the fibre, as 

 it shortens, do not return by the same line in which 

 it was elongated. It is very easy to verify the exact- 

 ness of Weber's assertion by examining, under the 

 microscope, the glosso-laryngeal muscle of the frog, 

 when under the influence of galvanic stimulus. 

 Nerves of mus- T}ie nerv es of striped muscle are supplied both by 

 the cerebro-spinal axis, and the sympathetic system ; 

 but those derived from the latter source are very few 

 in number. 



'" " In the human body the smooth muscular tissue nowhere forms large 

 isolated muscles, as in the case of the recto-penal muscles of mammals, 

 for example, but occurs either scattered in the connective tissue, or in 

 the form of muscular membranes. In both cases its bundles are either 

 arranged parallel to each other, or united to form networks ; and, even 

 in man, are connected in many places with tendons of elastic tissue, as 

 first detected by me in the tracheal muscles, and in the cutaneous feather 

 muscles of birds." Kolliker, Manual of Human Microscopic Anat. 

 London, 1860, p. 65. (Ed.) 



t This is not the celebrated Weber, Professor of Anatomy at Leipzig, 

 and famous for his researches on the structure of the placenta, the ske- 

 leton, joints, etc., but E. Weber, author of an elaborate article, " Muskel- 

 bewegung," in Wagner's Handworterbucb, 1846. (Ed.)* 



