18 Mr. H. F. Baxter on Nerve Force. 



that these are the views that are generally entertained ; but the 

 language usually employed implies them. The experiments of 

 Hehnholtz, in which he has calculated the time that elapses in 

 the conveyance of an impression from one part of the nervous 

 system to another, and the analogy that has been attempted to 

 be drawn between a current of electricity traversing a wire in a 

 galvanic circle, and the force which is supposed to be conducted 

 by a nerve, have afforded some grounds for the supposition ; but 

 how could we explain reflex actions unless we supposed that the 

 force was generated at the peripheral extremities of the nerves ? 

 Again, if nerve force be generated in any particular part of the 

 nervous system, how is it that we are enabled to excite con- 

 tractions in the muscles of a limb by stimulating the divided 

 extremity of the nerve ? We cannot suppose for a moment that 

 the mere irritation is converted into nerve force ; this would be 

 carrying the convei^sion-doctrine to rather an absurd extent. 



The supposition that nerve force is generated in the vesicular 

 or ganglionic portion only of the nervous system and then 

 transmitted to other parts, I believe to be erroneous. That the 

 peripheral extremities of the nerves, distal and central, are more 

 adapted to receive impressions than the white or fibrous sub- 

 stance, I admit. Impressions are made at the peripheral ex- 

 tremities of the nerves, and then transmitted to other parts by 

 means of the white fibrous substance, or even by the grey or 

 ganglionic portion ; but the force, nerve force, is generated or 

 associated with the nervous tissue under whatever form it 

 assumes. ■ . 



Although I have failed in establishing to my own satisfaction 

 the development of nerve force from electric force, still the appli- 

 cation of the principle of Conservation of Force must not be lost 

 sight of by physiologists. We have a right to ask how a force 

 is generated, and how exerted or expended ; we have no right to 

 assume that nerve force is increased by action ; action implies ex- 

 haustion. I have elsewhere stated that nerve force may be con- 

 sidered in a state of tension, and that it bears a stronger resem- 

 blance to magnetism than to current force. Its loss by action, 

 nervous exhaustion, is restored by nutrition; and increased 

 nutrition may give rise to excess of nerve force; but during 

 health the various forces in the organized body are so admirably 

 adjusted, that in their action and reaction upon each other no 

 disturbance ensues; in disease, however, the disturbance may 

 manifest itself in various forms. 



There is one other observation to make before concluding. 

 We shall err greatly if we keep- limiting our inquiries to the 

 mere study of the electric properties of the various tissues, just as 

 we should err if we limited them to the investigation of the heat 



