434 



December 22, 1842. 



GEOKGE RENNIE, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Aiigustin F. B. Creuze, Esq., and Captain Samuel F. Widdring- 

 ton, R.N., were balloted for and duly elected Fellows of the Society. 



A paper was in part read, entitled " On the Nerves :" by James 

 Stark, M.D., F.R.S.E. Communicated by James F. W. Johnston, 

 Esq., F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Durham. 



The Society then adjourned over the Christmas recess, to meet 

 again on the 12th of January next. 



January 12, 1843. 

 The MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON, President, in the Chair. 



1. The reading of a paper, entitled " On the Nerves," by James 

 Stark, M.D., was resumed and concluded. 



The author gives the results of his examinations, both microscopical 

 and chemical, of the structure and composition of the nerves; and 

 concludes that they consist, in their whole extent, of a congeries of 

 membranous tubes, cylindrical in their form, placed parallel to one 

 another, and united into fasciculi of various sizes ; but that neither 

 these fasciculi nor the individual tubes are enveloped by any fila- 

 mentous tissue ; that these tubular membranes are composed of 

 extremely minute filaments, placed in a strictly longitudinal direc- 

 tion, in exact parallelism with each other, and consisting of granules 

 of the same kind as those ^vhich form the basis of all the solid 

 structures of the body ; and that the matter which fills the tubes 

 is of an oily nature, differing in no essential respect from butter, 

 or soft fat ; and remaining of a fluid consistence during the life of 

 the animal, or while it retains its natural temperature, but becoming 

 granular or solid when the animal dies, or its temperature is much 

 reduced. As oily substances are well known to be non-conductors 

 of electricity, and as the nerves have been shown by the experiments 

 of Bischoff" to be among the worst possible conductors of this agent, 

 the author contends that the nervous agency can be neither elec- 

 tricity, nor galvanism, nor any property related to those powers; 

 and conceives that the phenomena are best explained on the hypo- 

 thesis of undulations or vibrations propagated along the course of 

 the tubes which compose the nerves, by the medium of the oily 

 globules they contain. He traces the operation of the various 

 causes which produce sensation, in giving rise to these undulations ; 

 and extends the same explanation to the phenomena of voluntary 

 motion, as consisting in undulations, commencing in the brain, as 

 determined by the will, and propagated to the muscles. He corro- 

 borates his views by ascribing the effects of cold in diminishing or 



