LECTURE I. 19 



been led to form so high an estimate of his 

 intellectual powers. I can draw no other 

 inferences from the facts than those which 

 he has drawn, and therefore am I a convert 

 to his opinions. 



I proceed now to consider the structure 

 and functions of those fibres which con- 

 stitute the muscles, in order to introduce 

 the discussion of the probability and ration- 

 ality of Mr Hunter's Theory as a cause of 

 irritability. Muscular fibres are soft and 

 readily lacerable in the dead body, and even 

 during life, when they are in a state of in- 

 action. They are composed of that inso- 

 luble substance which we meet with in the 

 blood, and which, from its disposition to 

 concrete in a fibrous form, is called the 

 fibrous part of that fluid. The threads and 

 flakes of common cellular substance, which 

 connect the muscular fibres, and every 

 where pervade the structure of a muscle, 

 may be removed by boiling, and then the 

 muscular fibres may be separated, till they 

 become too minute to admit of further se- 

 paration, and almost elude our unassisted 



c 2 



