as 



iuntary actions ; therefore this opinion does 

 not appear to me to be such as we should 

 receive with entire confidence. Again, it 

 it is further apparent, that the functions 

 of the abdominal and other viscera are 

 greatly affected by disorders of the brain, 

 and that the brain is greatly affected by dis- 

 orders of these viscera. 



The ingenious and industrious French 

 anatomist, Bichat, has classed the living 

 functions into the organic and animal: 

 the distinction seems a natural and useful 

 one, and throws light on the physiology 

 of the visceral nerve. In vegetables, 

 and in some moluscae, no traces of a 

 nervous system are discoverable. In some 

 of the lower order of animals, that 

 have organs for the preparation and dis- 

 tribution of nutriment, they are supplied 

 by a visceral nerve, which it is probable 

 maintains amongst those organs a con- 



