MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 221 



*fl. The contractility depends on the development of 

 muscular texture; the vital forces depend on the varying 

 impulses of cerebral nervous energy. 



Q. What destroys contractility of texture in the muscles? 



*#. Putrefaction; death diminishes, but does not imme- 

 diately destroy it. 



Q. What distinguishes this contractility from the horny 

 hardening? 



J2. In the same organ the last is great, the first slight, 

 as in the fibrous organs. Contractility acquires force 

 from life, the other does not. Contractility is lost in the 

 dried organs, the other is not. Contractility is slowly 

 manifested, the other rapidly. The absence of extension 

 excites contractility, but foreign bodies are necessary to 

 produce the hardening. 



2. Vital Proper ties of the Muscular System of Animal 



Life. 



Q. Is animal sensibility well marked in healthy muscle ? 



/?. It is the most obscure of all the vital properties; 

 pain in cutting a muscle is not severe; irritants do not 

 much excite them; in short, the peculiar texture of the 

 muscle has but little animal sensibility. 



Q. But there are circumstances in which this property 

 is manifestly conspicuous, what are they? 



/?. In the lassitude from fatigue, and that which pre- 

 cedes many diseases, it is seen. In the first, it warns 

 against continued exertion; in the* second, it admonishes 

 of the approach of disease. In the inflammation of the 

 peculiar texture of muscles, this sensibility is most acutely 

 increased^ and this differs from lassitude. 



