DISEASES OP THE OX AND SHEEP. 597 



treatment is to be recommended; the pharmacopoeial ointment 

 of iodine is very valuable. 



Tincture of iodine may be painted on with a stiff hair-brush. 

 Hyposulphite of sodium has also been found to be efficacious. 



SECTION IX.— VITAL MOVEMENT AND THE BIS- 

 OBDEBS OF THE 0BGAN8 OF LOCOMOTION. 



We have not very much to say under this heading in relation 

 to the sheep and the ox, partly because what might fitly be 

 introduced under it is otherwise classified, and need not be 

 repeated here, as for example an account of Foot-and-Mouth 

 Disease, and also a consideration of some surgical disorders. 



Before we commence our subject proper, it seems not out of 

 place to say here a few words respecting the very important 

 subject of the causation of vital movement, which we accord- 

 ingly proceed to do forthwith. 



THE CAUSATION OF VITAL MOVEMENT. 

 Dr. W. Kiihne, Professor of Physiology in the University of 

 Heidelberg, has for thirty years been engaged in investigations 

 concerning the terminations of nerves in muscles, and the ulti- 

 mate structure of muscles in many classes of animals. Move- 

 ment is an attribute of all living matter, of protoplasm, whether 

 animal or vegetable; and every living cell is spontaneously 

 active. The movement may go on in opposition to gravity, and 

 may overcome frictional resistance, and it results from chemical 

 processes taking place within the protoplasm itself, which pro- 

 cesses may be to some extent determined by outside forces. 

 Protoplasm reacts to stimuli just like muscle does, and electrical 

 stimulation especially first strengthens the movements, and then 

 brings the mass into a form having the least surface, i.e. a 

 sphere, as a result of prolonged maximal contraction. We must 

 look upon all movement as either originating automatically, i.e. 

 as a consequence of internal changes, or by external stimulation. 

 Even oxygen seems to be not actually necessary for movement 

 in some kinds of protoplasm. At any rate that gas can be dis- 

 pensed with for long periods. Delicate gradations can be traced 

 betwixt the most homogeneous and formless protoplasm, through 



