SOME CHAPTERS ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF 



NERVE 



BY N. H. ALCOCK 



I. Introduction. II. The Nerves in the Living Animal. III. Fatigue. 

 IV. Regeneration. V. The Theory of the Nervous Impulse. 



I. INTRODUCTION 



THE physiology of the peripheral nervous system has certain 

 peculiarities which too often deter the would-be student from 

 the study of the subject. The experimental facts are simple 

 and easy to understand, and have been determined with great 

 accuracy, yet the explanation is apt to be complex and lengthy 

 to a degree unusual even in physiology, and the task of mastering 

 the literature and understanding the various theories of what at 

 first sight appears far removed from any practical application is 

 one which is too often deferred indefinitely. It is a matter for 

 regret that this should be so, for the study of living tissues cannot 

 be separated into watertight compartments ; no one subject can 

 be neglected without hindrance to the rest. The processes under- 

 lying the injury current of nerve are governed by the same 

 laws that determine the secretion of the salivary glands, of the 

 cells of the stomach or of the kidney, and it is only because 

 so much interest has been aroused about the obvious and 

 tangible results of the activity of these tissues that the under- 

 lying causes have for the moment been lost sight of. As soon as 

 one reflects as to the reason why a cell of the stomach sends 

 HC1 in one direction rather than another, one comes across 

 problems that rest on the same physico-chemical basis as in the 

 apparently simpler case of nerve. 



For these who demand an immediate practical advantage from 

 everything they read there is one comparatively minor considera- 

 tion that may perhaps appeal. The charlatan and quack, ever 

 with us, take advantage of the prevailing neglect of electro- 



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