1896 - 97 .] 
Chairman's Opening Address. 
189 
separate individual, a cell with psendopodic-like processes peculiarly 
differentiated ? Has it a life of its own ; if so, has it a conscious- 
ness of its own ; and is our consciousness related to the conscious 
states of the millions of neurons in the brain ? It must be confessed 
that these new investigations have not made it easier but more 
difficult to comprehend the mode of action of nerve centres, and as 
I examine microscopical specimens showing the neurons of the 
cord, or the still more complicated arrangement of neurons 
in the cerebrum, and the baffling complexity of the cerebellum, 
I feel bewildered in attempting to understand how these struc- 
tures act. What we now need is a satisfactory physiology 
of an individual morphological nervous unit, a neuron, and I shall 
he glad if these remarks stimulate younger workers to investigate 
this most difficult subject. 
Experiments on the Rhythmic Stimulation op Sensory 
Herves op the Skin. 
Suppose we introduce a telephone a into the primary circuit of 
an ordinary induction coil, such as used in physiological laboratories, 
and another telephone b into the circuit of the secondary coil, and 
suppose the wires connecting telephone a with the primary and 
connecting telephone b to he many yards in length. If one ob- 
server speaks into <2, another observer will hear every word if b 
is applied to his ear. Every one is acquainted with this fact, 
that the currents awakened in a induce corresponding currents in 
the secondary coil, which are transmitted to b. If we substitute 
for a a microphone-transmitter c, and speak to it, the tones are 
reproduced by telephone b. 
Further, as I showed to the Society in February last, if we 
suspend a microphone-transmitter over the phonograph, when the 
latter is in motion and giving out tones, the variations in resist- 
ance in the microphone-transmitter produce such alterations in the 
current flowing through it to the coils of an electro-magnet as to 
make it possible, mechanically, to record these variations. 
These considerations led me some months ago to try the follow- 
ing experiment. The microphone-transmitter was suspended over 
the phonograph disk, and it was introduced into the circuit of 
the primary coil of the induction machine along with four Obach’s 
