7^ LECTURE IL 



that may be made to HaUer*s opinion of 

 irritability being independent on sensibility, 

 I have only to remark, that the effects of 

 pressure made on nerves, as well as other 

 observations, have induced the general be- 

 lief that some fluid or energy pervades the 

 nerves for the supply of the body. Pres- 

 sure on a nerve benumbs and paralyzes the 

 parts which it supplies, which regain sensa- 

 tion and motion on the removal of the 

 pressure ; yet if irritability exists in vege- 

 tables and some animals that have no ner- 

 vous system, it shows the possibility of 

 irritability being produced without the in- 

 tervention of nerves. 



It has been my object to show that Mr. 

 Hunter's Theory of Life is a verifiable 

 Theory, and that it affords the most 

 rational explanation of the phaenomena of 

 irritability, and of those nervous functions 

 that have been considered. It is, how- 

 ever, impossible in the compass of a lec- 

 ture, as I have before observed, to review 

 all the phaenomena of the nervous func- 

 tions, which it is necessary to do in order 



