i i8q ) 
- iiatomifts aftirn>*d the Op//V Nerve to be hol'ow, and that them- 
felves hadfeen that bollownefs,througb which they would have'the 
Anmial fpirits, that convey the vifible fpecies, teprefented in the 
cye,pafs into the Brain;I thereupon concluded with niy fe!f,that,if 
there were fucha cavity vifible in that Nerve, that it might alfo be 
feenby me, efpecially fince, ifitbefo, it muft be pretty bigg, and 
the body of it pretty ftifF, or elfe the circumjacent parts would 
prefs it together. And in order to this difcovery, 1 follicitouUy 
viewed three Optic Nerves of Cows 5 but I could find no hollow- 
nefs in them ; 1 only took notice, that they were made up of many 
filamentous partiqles, of a very foft fubftance, as if they only con- 
lifted of thecorpufclesof the Brain joined together, the threds 
were (b very foft and loofe: They were compofed of conjoined 
globuls, and wound about again with particles confifting of cth^r 
tranfparent globuls. 
ThefeObfervations 1 likewife imparted to the lately named Do- 
Bor^ who thereupon encouraged me to proceed to others 5 which 
made me to attempt a view of the jixt fair of Nerves, call'd far va- 
gum^ cutting it off about the pipe in the Lungs of a Gow, and find- 
ing it to confift of a very few filamentous particles, compofed of 
globuls joined together, which threddy parts are very ftrong, (to 
which thofe of the Optic Nerve, as to ftrength, are not at all to be 
compared,) and they lay as wound about with a matter made up of 
pellucid globuls, of which ihe fmall threds were compofed, Fur- 
ther,that Nerve within was for thegreateft part filled with globuls 
far bigger than thofe, of which the Nervous parts were made up; 
which filling g-obuls I can judge to be nothing elfe but Icatt. Ar.d 
betwixt this Fate and the Nervous filaments I at firft faw now and 
then fome hollownefs, which I efteem'd might have been caufed by 
the knife. Thisldid with much follicitude further inquire into 3 
whereupon I found not only one holIownefs,but as often as I cnt the 
Nerve afunder, the hollownefs ftill continued therein, and I found 
in fome places not only one cavity , but two or three cavities at 
once 3 and where the cavity of the nerve was any thing bigg, it was 
lined about with filmes, as if they had been purpofely contrived 
thereto keep open thofe cavitys, and to keep them from being 
comprelTed by thefurrbunding parts. 
This cavity in the Nerve was alfo furnillit with aTunic!e, as if it 
had been a great Artery (in proportion to the Nerve.j In the fame 
Nerve I alfo faw feveral little Arteries running through. But as to 
its ftrength, that was but veify fleiider^not fit for any ftrong motion, 
forafruuch 
