636 
Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
On the Restoration of Co-ordinated Movements after 
Nerve Section. By Robert Kennedy, M.A., D.Sc., 
M.D., Glasgow. Communicated by Professor M‘Kendrick. 
(Abstract.) * 
It is now well known that after reunion of a divided nerve by 
means of suture, function may return sooner or later, and that not 
only does this restoration of function imply simple return of 
sensation and of the capacity of making voluntary movements, 
hut the re-establishment of complete localisation of sensation and 
of co-ordination of movements. When it is remembered that 
the individual nerve fibres are supposed to be paths between well- 
defined centres and peripheral endings, it is clear that so perfect 
a restoration of function is in many respects remarkable. Thus, 
in coapting a divided nerve, it is not likely that this can he 
effected with so great accuracy, that the corresponding ends of 
the divided nerve fibres can be brought into apposition. It is 
more likely that in coapting the nerve, most of the ends of the 
nerve fibres which are brought into contact are ends which do 
not correspond ; and thus it would he expected that in the 
reunited nerve new paths for the nervous impulses would be 
established. And yet, despite this complexity of structure and 
of function, the reunited nerve seems to be as capable as before 
the division of subserving its functions. 
In suturing divided nerves, care is usually given to secure that 
the two segments are approximated as nearly as possible in their 
old relationship. Thus, the perfect recovery of localised and co- 
ordinated function might be due to a majority of the fibres being 
thus placed in a position for union as before the division to 
take place. 
To investigate this subject, three experiments were performed 
on dogs, the sciatic nerve being chosen. In two experiments 
* The paper is published in extenso in the Transactions. 
