THE DISCOVERY OF MOTOR AND SENSORY NERVE CHANNELS. 291 



ne ricn negliger, j'ai coupe a la fois les racines anterieures et les posterieures; 

 il y a eu perte absolue do sentiment et de moiivement. 



J'ai repete et varie ces experiences sur plusicurs especes d'animaux : les 

 resultats que je viens d'enoneer se sont confirmes dc La maniere la plus com- 

 plete, soit pour les membres anterieurs, soit pour les posterieurs. Je poursuis 

 ces recherches et j'en donnerai un recit plus detaille dans le prochain numero; 

 il me suffit de pouvoir avancer aujourd'hui comme positif, que les racines 

 anterieures et les posterieures des nerfs qui naissent a la moelle epiniere, ont 

 des fonctions differentes, que les posterieures paraissent plus particulierement 

 destinees a la sensibilite, tandis que les anterieures semblent plus specialement 

 liees avec le mouvement. 



III. The Fifth and Seventh Nerves. — We have now to examine 

 the second or subsidiary ground upon which Bell's claim to have dis- 

 covered the distinction between motor and sensory nerves has been 

 placed, viz., the motor and sensory functions of the fifth and seventh 

 nerves. 



The issue in this case, while sufficiently distinct, cannot be presented 

 with the same brevity and simplicity as was possible in the case of the 

 nerve-roots. It is not a simple issue in which only Bell and Magendie 

 are concerned ; it rests directly between Bell and Mayo; Magendie is only 

 indirectly concerned in so far as his discovery of 1822 concerning the 

 spinal roots modified and cleared up the views both of Bell and Mayo 

 as to the sensory and motor functions of the facial nerves. This was 

 fully acknowledged by Mayo; it is obviously recognisable in Bell's 

 publications. Finally as regards the anatomy and physiology of the 

 nerves of the face it will also be necessary to take into account the work 

 of the Italian investigator Bellingeri, who in 1819 presented to the 

 Royal Society a copy of his dissertation of 1S18 in which the motor 

 and sensory functions of the fifth nerve and the motor functions of the 

 seventh nerve are clearly recognised and described. 



Bell in 1821 communicated his first paper to the Royal Society: — 



(1) 1821. ' On the Nerves : Giving an Account of borne Experiments on 

 their Structure and Functions, which lead to a New Arrangement of the System," 

 by Charles Bell, Esq. Communicated by Sir Humphry Davy, Bart., P.R.S. 

 Read July 12, 1821.— ' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society,' 1821, 

 part II. , pp. 398-424. 



In the following year he communicated a second paper: — 



(2) 1822. ' Of the Nerves which Associate the Muscles of the Chest in the 

 Actions of Breathing, Speaking, and Expression : Being a Continuation of the 

 Paper on the Structure and Functions of the Nerves,' by Charles Bell, Eeq. 

 Communicated by Sir Humphry Davy, Bart., LL.D., P.R.S. Read May 2, 

 1822.—' Phil. Trans. R.S.,' 1832, Part II. , pp. 284-312. 



These two papers antedate Magendie 's publication of 1822, and any 

 information concerning the distinction between the sensory and motor 

 portions of the fifth nerve, or any clear definition of the motor character 

 of the portio dura of the seventh nerve, would justify us in reckoning 

 Bell as having participated with Magendie in the discovery of the dis- 

 tinction between motor and sensory nerves. 



But the papers in question contain no such information or definition. 

 On the contrary it is evident that at that time, i.e., in 1821 and 1822, 



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