36 LECTURE I. 



mon observation, but the same kind of 

 motion may be perceived at all times by 

 attention, as has been shown by Doctor Wool- 

 aston in the Croonian Lecture for the year 

 1810. It is then I think manifest, that Mr. 

 Hunter's conjectures are the most probable 

 of any that have been offered as to the cause 

 of irritabihty. 



My allotted time does not permit me at 

 present to consider the other vital functions ; 

 yet I relinquish the subject with reluctance, 

 because I have been speaking only on that 

 point in which it seems most difficult to 

 persuade the incredulous, of the probability 

 and rationality of Mr. Hunter's Theory. 



When hereafter I shall have to speak of 

 the other vital functions, I think it will 

 appear that it is impossible to account 

 for the phagnomena in any other manner 

 than that which Mr. Hunter has suggested. 



In ascending the difficult and lofty ladder 

 of knowledge, men of great talent and in- 



