72 0,i the intimate Structure of Muscular Fibre. [No. 1, 



the fibrous matrix of muscle that I would direct your special attention. 

 The prevalent ideas which histologic hold on this subject appear to 

 be mainly derived from the investigations of Bowman and are weU 

 defined in the following remark of Busk and Huxley, xn then 

 translation of Kollikeris Histology. They observe « m a homogeneous 

 I parent matrix definite particles are imbedded, the sarcoirs ehe 

 me nts, which are arranged, side by side, in transverse rows. In some 

 Ls the sarcous elements are all of one size, m others they are 

 lately larger and smaller. The reason of this does not at present 

 appear, hot it is possibly connected with the nutnt.on of he musch. 

 The matrix usually tends to break up in longitudinal hands-tie 

 fibrils-which have the diameter either of a single sarcous element or 

 of some multiple thereof. It likewise tends to break up in the transverse 

 direction giving way between the pairs of rows of sarcous element, ; 

 "e cleavmg Hues are no indications of the existence of discs or 

 fibrils as such in the unaltered muscle." The more one endeavours o 

 comprehend the meaning of this passage the more perplexed n 

 becomes, and in fact I have long since arrived at the condusmn 

 the authors themselves did not comprehend the nature of the ap cm 

 ances which they attempted to describe ; at any rate when they con 

 to apply their anatomical description to the facts observed m th 

 contrlion of a muscle, they are absolutely in fault, and p amly s tate 

 they are ignorant of the process which takes place u. the fibrils dunng 



the consideration of these difficulties which led me to 



contraction 

 It was 



investigate the subject for myself, with a fiftieth o an inch leu. The 

 magnifying power of this glass can be best comprehended when I state 

 that a particle having a definite outline the TVJ f m of an rnch ,n size 

 could be distinctly defined, and that an object three feet long would 

 appear as high as Mount Blanc if it were possible to examine it under 



tlU I lave already noticed the relation of the fibrous sheaths and matrix 

 to the contractile tissue; if we carefully examine the latter we shall 

 find it to consist of bundles of contractile fibres, each fibre be.ng 

 composed of two longitudinal bands running continuously from one 

 end of the muscle to the other end, and connected throughout then 

 length by spiral transverse bands, the whole being encased m a sheath 



