87 



numbs and paralyzes the parts which it 

 supplies, which regain sensation and mo- 

 tion on the removal of the pressure ; yet 

 if irritability exist in vegetables and 

 some animals that have no nervous system, 

 it shews the possibility of irritability 

 being produced without the intervention 

 of nerves. 



It has been my object to shew that 

 Mr. Hunter's Theory of Life is a verifiable 

 Theory, and that it affords the most ra- 

 tional explanation of the phenomena of 

 irritability, and of those nervous functions 

 that have been considered. It is, how- 

 ever, impossible in the compass of a lec- 

 ture, as I have before observed, to re- 

 view all the phenomena of the nervous 

 functions, which it is necessary to do in 

 order to establish it as a rational Theory. 

 The contemplation of this subject at large, 

 is fitter for meditation in the closet than 



