RESPIRATION, ORGANS OF. 



fend the theory of Malpighi.* Willis f came 

 next in the list of disputants. By him it was 

 argued, that the extreme bronchi deprived of 

 their cartilages bulged on all sides into the 

 "vesicles" described by Malpighi, and that 

 they communicated among themselves. After 

 Willis came BorelJ, and Duverney. By 

 the former it was denied that muscular fibres 

 exist in the walls of the vesicles ; by the latter 

 it was maintained that the extremities of the 

 bronchi in man's lungs, as in that of the bird, 

 communicated amongst themselves. 



Helvetius (1?18)|| now sought to modify 

 the views of Malpighi as developed by Bar- 

 tholin and Duverney. He also admits that 

 the pulmonary tissue consists of a cellular or 

 spongy tissue, of which the cells open the one 

 into the other. 



Haller^ now entered the arena. This 

 illustrious anatomist doubted the existence 

 of a system of air-cells in the lungs, because 

 he could not see that those of one lobule 

 were connected with those of the adjacent. 

 Haller, at this period, was followed by Hales, 

 Volelfart, Hamberger, Hildebrand, each in his 

 turn advocating some modification of the 

 opinions already stated. 



A new epoch now occurred in the history 

 of this controversy by the publication of the 

 far-famed "Dissertation" of Reisseissen.** In 

 the judgment of the Berlin academicians the 

 researches of Reisseissen overthrew, by un- 

 deniable fact and experiment, the theories of 

 Willis, Malpighi, and antiquity. It was taught 

 by Reisseissen, that the air-cells form the real 

 terminal extremities of the bronchial tubes, each 

 vesicle being independent of the others, and 

 having its own separate bronchial peduncle.ff 



In 1825, Magendie published opinions with 

 reference to the structure of the lungs, which 

 were essentially a reproduction of the views 

 of Helvetius. J J The facts adduced by Magen- 

 die did not, however, satisfactorily overthrow 

 the theory of Reisseissen. In England, Home 

 and Bauer , attempted at this period to show 

 that the pulmonary vesicles did not consist of 

 dilated air-tubes, as supposed by Willis and 

 Reisseissen, but of polygonal cells of deter- 

 minate form. They declared a preference for 

 the theory of Malpighi. M. Bazin, in the year 



* Bartholin. De Pulmonum Substantia et Motu 

 Diatribe. S. 1. p. 355 of the edition added to the 

 works of Malpighi, Op. Om. &c. 1687. 



t Willis, Thomas, Opera omnia, " De Respira- 

 tione et Usu," p. 8. Genev. 1680. 



J Borel, De Motu Animantium, pars secunda. 

 Hagae, Com. 1743. 



anne'e 1718, p. 22. torn. i. 



^ Elementa'Phys. Corp. Humani. Laus,etBern, 

 1761, t. 3. et p. 178. 



'* Op. cit. 



" Extremi surculi cylindri sunt ut reliqui rarni, 

 sed brevissiini, nee sphaericas vesiculas nee poly- 

 edras, nee cubicas refcrunt." 



t J Lemons sur les Phe'nomenes Physiques de la 

 Vie, ii. 37. 



Phil. Trans. 1827. 



265 



1832*, reproduced the opinions of Reisseis- 

 sen. In 1839, M. Sereboulletf followed on 

 the same side. About this period, M. Bour- 

 gery in France, and Dr. W. Addison in Eng- 

 land, combated severally the views of Willis 

 and Reisseissen. To the theories of these 

 anatomists, more especial reference will be 

 afterwards made. Dr. Addison J, from a re- 

 petition of the method adopted by Reisseissen, 

 concludes, "that the bronchial tubes, after 

 dividing into a multitude of minute branches, 

 which take their course in the cellular inter- 

 stices of the lobules, terminate in their in- 

 terior in branched air-passages and freely 

 communicating air-cells." Mr. Rainey, whose 

 excellent memoirs have rendered great service 

 to the cause of the minute anatomy of the 

 lungs, more clearly defines the distinction be- 

 tween the inter-cellular passages (the lobular 

 passages of Drs. Todd and Addison) and the 

 true bronchi. M. Hiischke || in 1844 pub- 

 lished researches which tended to support 

 the views of M. Bourgery. At this time Dr. 

 Eichholtz ^ contributed to anatomy the re- 

 sults of careful investigations into the structure 

 of the lungs. The dissertation of Dr. Mole- 

 schott** was also added to the rich list of 

 works on the organisation of these parts. The 

 views of this excellent writer differ in no essen- 

 tial respects from those of M. Rossignolf f, 

 who describes the extreme bronchi as termina- 

 ting in infundibula, which sacculate into lateral 

 and terminal alveoli (air-cells). In the year 1 848, 

 Adrius Adriani J J published a dissertation of 

 considerable value. It is illustrated by draw- 

 ings taken from their own preparations by 

 Schrceder van der Kolk and Halting. To 

 this admirable essay, special allusions will be 

 afterwards made. An inaugural dissertation, 

 also, by Ernest Schultz , devoted chiefly to 

 questions of structural anatomy, now appeared 

 to enrich the literature of this subject. 



The standard writings of the English ana- 

 tomists issued at this period express chiefly 

 the views of the continental authors above 

 quoted. In Carpenter's Principles of Human 

 Physiology, and Messrs. Todd and Bowman's 

 Physiological Anatomy, excellent chapters 



* Comptes rendus de 1' Academic des Sciences, 

 la Structure intime du Poumon. Paris, 1832. 



f Sereboullet, Anat. Comp. de 1'Appareil Respir. 

 Strasbourg, 1838. 



t Phil. Trans. 1842. 



See his Memoirs " On the Minute Structure of 

 the Lungs," 1845 ; " On the Minute Anatomy of an 

 Emphysematous Lung," 1848 ; and " On the Minute 

 Anatomy of the Lung of the Bird," in vols. xxxii. 

 and xxxiii. of Medic. Chir. Trans. 



II Sommering's Lehre von den Eingenweiden 

 (etc.), p. 268. 



^ In Mullen, Archiv, fur Anat. und Physiologic, 

 Heft V. 



** De Malpighianis PulmonumYesiculis. Heid 

 1845. 



ft Recherches sur la Structure intime du Poumon 

 de PHomme et des principaux Mammiferes, &c. 

 1846, Bruxelles. * 



JJ Dissertatio Anatomica Inauguralis de subtiliori 

 Puulmenum Structura. Trajecte ad Rhenum, 1848. 



Disquisitiones de Structura et Textura Cana- 

 lium aeriferorum, &c. 1850, Mitavae et Lypsi. 



