268 



ON ORGANIZATION 



of state of the smallest nerve being communicated 

 at that point, from whence all the nerves originate, 

 and where they are all concentrated and united* an 

 action may naturally, and must be produced on the 

 whole system, corresponding to each peculiar excite- 

 ment. That this is the very mode in which the ani- 

 mal machinery works* we by no means assert. 

 While the operations are in progress, they are be- 

 yond our observation ; and whilst we are in doubt, 

 whether the nerves contract or vibrate, or contain a 

 fluid, or are altogether solid, it is not to be expect- 

 ed, that we can offer proof of the manner in which 

 their active agency is exerted. Yet we may hazard 

 an opinion, that whatever be their peculiar compo- 

 sition, or their means of communicating over the 

 whole, an impulse applied to one particular point, 

 it must be by some such connection as we have at- 

 tempted to describe, that the principle does operate ; 

 and that, though a law or principle sui generis, it 

 is still only a law or quality impressed on matter * 

 In pursuing this investigation, one can scarcely 

 avoid perceiving the distinctive characters, which 

 prove that there is a structure peculiar to the or- 

 gans ; and that it is inaccurate to say, that it is the 



* From Dr Ure's description of the phenomena exhibited 

 on the application of the galvanic stimulus to the nerves of 

 Clydesdale the murderer, after his death, we have reason to 

 suppose, that, under such influence, muscular motion and se- 

 cretion, and consequently assimilation, might be produced and 

 continued. 



