110 Mr. W. M. Dobie on the Minute Structure and’ 
ments advanced, than that of voluntary muscle, so that even at 
the present time it must still be considered a question by no 
means set at rest. “FOI 
My object in the present communication is to state briefly 
the opinions which a careful examination of this texture in seve- 
ral animals has led me to adopt, confining my observations to the 
elementary fibre, independent of its sarcolemmal sheath. 
Before proceeding to do so, I shall very shortly notice the 
opinions of the principal microscopic anatomists who have been 
empioyed in this investigation. : | 
Robert Hooke and Leuwenhoek were the first to examine 
muscular fibre with the microscope. Robert Hooke speaks of 
the “ fibres resembling a necklace of pearl ;”’ it is probable that 
by fibres he means the ultimate fibrille. 
Leuwenhoek saw and figured the transverse strie, which he 
regarded as only surface-markings produced by the windings of 
a spiral thread. He considered the fibre to be composed of glo- 
bules, less in size than the corpuscles of the blood. He made 
cross-sections of the fibres, and showed them to be polygonal and 
surrounded by areolar texture. 
Malpighi, in an isolated passage of his works, notices the 
transverse striz. De Heide also described and figured them. 
In the large work of Muys, which appeared in the middle of 
the last century, the author describes muscle with great care ; he 
was evidently acquainted with the transverse strie, and figured 
the fibrille, which he terms “ fila,’ and describes as “ nonnun- 
quam etiam nodosa” (PI. VII. fig.laé cd). The nodose appear- 
ance would seem to have perplexed him, and he considered it not 
universal. Muys was well-aware of the solidity of the elementary 
fibres, and his drawings of cross-sections of muscle are well- 
worthy of examination. 
Prochaska wrote an excellent treatise on muscle* ; he supposed 
that the markings seen on the surface of a muscular fibre were 
caused by the lateral pressure of vessels, nerves or fibres. He 
injected muscle very successfully, and found the vessels so nu- 
merous, that he attributed the contraction of muscle to the dis- 
tension of these vessels throwing the fibre into zigzag flexures. — 
Fontana, in his treatise “On the Venom of the Vipert,” 
makes some short but excellent observations on muscular fibre ; 
he was the first anatomist who ascribed the transverse striz to 
the lateral coaptation of the sarcal elements of the fibrille. He 
thus speaks of the fibrillee :— ere 
“ Les fils charnus primitifs sont des cylindres solides, égaux 
entr’eux, et marqués visiblement a distances égales de petits 
signes, comme d’autant de petits diaphragmes, ou rides. Je n/’ai 
* De Carne Musculari. + Sur le Vénin de la Vipére, 178}. 
