Ciliary Motions in ReptUes and Warm-blooded Animals. 1 19 



As one of us was engaged in the beginning of last spring, in 

 examining a rabbit which had been impregnated three days pre- 

 viously, with the view of finding ova in the Fallopian tube, he 

 perceived with the microscope, small portions of the mucous 

 membrane of the tube moving briskly, and whirling round their 

 axis. The other confirmed the truth of this observation, and at 

 the same time recognised the appearance as an instance of vibra- 

 tory motion. The whole uterus and the internal organs of ge- 

 neration generally were now diligently searched, and these mo- 

 tions were discovered throughout their entire extent ; being no- 

 where absent, though of very different degrees of intensity at 

 different places. They were especially brisk in the tubes, less 

 so in the cornua of the uterus, still less in the conjoined parts of 

 that organ, most lively and rapid of all on its swollen and dark 

 red lips, and of considerable strength in the vagina. The next 

 step which naturally suggested itself was to examine the oviduct 

 of a bird immediately after the passage of an egg ; and on mak- 

 ing the trial we found, according to expectation, most lively and 

 incessant vibratory motions along the whole oviduct. Animals 

 of the same kind were then submitted to examination in the un- 

 impregnated state, and in these also, as well as in the Amphibia, 

 which were afterwards examined, we found a confirmation of 

 our interesting and remarkable discovery. This naturally led 

 us to search for the phenomenon in other parts of the animal 

 body, and we thus arrived at results, of which we here in the 

 mean time communicate the most important. 



a. Parts of the Body, and Classes of Animals, in which the Vibratory 

 Motions exist 



According to the numerous experiments we have hitherto 

 made, the vibratory motion occurs only in two systems of organs, 

 viz. in the sexual organs of the female, and in the organs of 

 respiration ; it is general over all parts of the internal surface 

 of these organs, in mammalia, birds, and reptiles. No trace of 

 it can be found in any part of the intestinal canal of vertebrated 

 animals ; even in the avertebrata we know of but one example 

 of its existence on the intestinal membrane, and this is not a per- 

 fect one. The instance alluded to is the river mussel ; the in- 

 testine of this animal presents a longitudinal fleshy ridge on its 



