444 FANCIED FUNCTIONS OF 



removed from the human form : and in idiots, with a want of 

 quantity and quality of encephalo-spinal substance, the ganglionic 

 system is usually well developed and sound. No wonder, there- 

 fore, that, by irritating these nerves, the parts to which they run 

 are not pained or moved; for they are not nerves of sense or motion, 

 but, instead of stimulating, give the property of being capable of 

 stimulation. Again, the division of the ganglionic nerves is not 

 followed by a loss of excitability, as the nerves in the parts them- 

 selves appear calculated to produce excitability, since the gan- 

 glionic nerves contain, like their ganglia, grey and white substance, 

 not white substance only, like the nerves of sensation and the 

 nerves of motion, both which are merely transmitters, and not 

 producers, of the respective qualities with which they are con- 

 cerned. 



A powerful argument against this hypothesis is the circumstance 

 of no nerves existing in vegetables, although they are nourished 

 and secrete great varieties of substances, perform organic func- 

 tions similar to those of animals. Another is the account of 

 foetuses having existed without nerves; imperfect foetuses indeed, 

 but still animal organised active substances. Another is the cir- 

 cumstance of a clot of blood becoming organised before it is con- 

 nected with surrounding nerves or vessels. Another is the fact 

 that, while some parts are abundantly supplied with ganglia and 

 their nerves, other parts of great size, of great vital properties, of 

 great secretion, have no more supply than is communicated along 

 all arteries, and which is very far short of what parts supplied with 

 ganglia and plexuses must possess. I allude to the extremities, 

 in which are a great extent of superficial and cellular secreting 

 structure, as well as the synovial membranes of the joints, great 

 masses of muscle, &c. that would require ganglia for their 

 nourishment and powers as much as the stomach, liver, and other 

 viscera ; and yet they have no ganglia and receive no more gan- 

 glionic nerves than what pass insensibly along the arterial coats, 

 while the viscera have copious supplies to their blood-vessels, amidst 

 which numerous plexuses and ganglia are found. The various 

 experiments made to prove the importance of nerves to secretion 

 are considered unsatisfactory by Dr. Brachet a great supporter 

 of the necessity of the nerves to all the organic functions; and his 

 own appear to me equally unsatisfactory. Finding that he could 



c Dr. John Clark, Phil. Trans. 1775. 



