8i THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



not to operate upon the blood in the same way 

 as the aura which is furnished by the pile, but to 

 regulate the respiratory functions, whose busi- 

 ness it is to exercise a more extended influence 

 upon the qualifies of the sanguineous fluid and 

 its mode of circulation ; and as long as these cir- 

 cumstances are attended to, whether by the nor- 

 mal action of the nerves, or the stimulus of gal- 

 vanism, the stomach will continue to secrete gas- 

 tric juice; nor does the explanation compel us 

 to look out for some other mysterious agent 

 whereby w r e shall be enabled to give reasons, 

 why these apparently complicated functions are 

 performed during the absence of their proper in- 

 struments. We shall now pass to another infe- 

 rence, No. 24. ; and after critically examining its 

 merits, we shall be better prepared to judge of 

 the correctness of those principles promulgated 

 by this physiologist, and the reader will then 

 perceive more clearly the value of others which 

 are substituted in their place : 



te That lessening the extent of the nervous si/s- 

 tem, by destroying' the influence of any considerable 

 part either of the brain or spinal marrow, deranges 

 the secreting power" * 



LXXV. WILSON PHILIP having proved that 

 digestion is destroyed when the eighth pair of 

 nerves are divided, was desirous of ascertaining 



* Dr WILSON PHILIP on the Vital Functions, 247. 



