463 



filaments of the latter being uniform in their size,, and pursuing indi- 

 vidually one unvarying course, in lines parallel to each other. The 

 fibres of the heart appear to possess a somewhat compound character 

 of texture. The muscles of the pharynx exhibit the character of ani- 

 mal life ; while those of the oesophagus, the stomach, the intestines, 

 and the arterial system, possess that of inorganic life. The determi- 

 nation of the exact nature of the muscular fibres of the iris presented 

 considerable difficulties, which the author has not yet been able satis- 

 factorily to overcome. 



A paper was also in part read, entitled, " On the Function of the 

 Medulla Oblongata and Medulla Spinalis, and on the Excito-motory 

 System of Nerves." By Marshall Hall, M.D., F.R.S. L. and E., &c. 



February 23, 1837. 



The Right Honourable the EARL OF BURLINGTON, V.P., in 

 the Chair. 



Richard Partridge, Esq., was elected a Fellow of the Society. 

 The reading of Dr. Marshall Hall's paper was resumed, but not 

 concluded. 



March 2, 1837. 

 WILLIAM LAWRENCE, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



The reading of a paper, entitled, " On the Function of the Medulla 

 Oblongata and Medulla Spinalis, and on the Excito-motory System 

 of Nerves." By Marshall Hall, M.D., F.R.S., L. and E., &c, was 

 resumed and concluded. 



The author begins by observing that a former memoir of his, en- 

 titled, "On the Reflex Function of the Medulla Oblongata and Me- 

 dulla Spinalis/' published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1833, 

 has been translated into German, and favourably spoken of by Pro- 

 fessor Muller, of Berlin . He states that his object in the present paper 

 is to unfold what he calls a great principle in physiology ; namely, that 

 of the special function, and the physiological and pathological action 

 and reactions of the true spinal marrow, and of the excito-motory 

 nerves. The two experiments which he regards as affording the type 

 of those physiological phenomena and pathological conditions, which 

 are the direct effects of causes acting in the spinal marrow, or in the 

 course of the motor nerves, are the following : — 1 . If a muscular nerve 

 be stimulated, either mechanically by the forceps, or by means of gal- 

 vanism passed transversely across its fibres, the muscle or muscles to 

 which it is distributed are excited to contract. — 2. The same result 

 is obtained when the spinal marrow itself is subjected to the agency 

 of a mechanical or galvanic stimulus. The following experiment, on 

 the other hand, presents the type of all the actions of the reflex func- 



2o2 



