[ « 3 
This- Experiment, he fays, is. the more to be relied 
on, becaufe, by Microfcopicai Obfervation, he pre- 
tends to have found thefe FibrilU exactly like a fine 
String of a mufical Inftrument. From this Syfteni 
he concludes, that, as fome Force is necelTary to dif- 
tend the String to its former Dimenfions after Con- 
traction, if no Force is applied, it will always remain 
contracted 5 and that therefore, when there happens 
a Paralyjis of a Mufcle, its Antagonift is convulfed, 
oris fpahnodically affeCted. Thusmuchis fufficient 
to fhew what our Author’s Notions were concerning 
this difficult Subject. The next we fhall confider is 
the famous Borellii a Man famous indeed for his 
Calculations of the Powers of moving Bodies, but 
much lefs lo for his Account of the Caufe and Manner 
of the Motion of Mufcles. The following is the 
Subftance of his Opinion concerning that Particular. 
XXVII. 
He fuppofes * * * § , that, within the Mem- BorelH. 
brane which invefts a Mufcle, the Fafci- 
culi of mufcular Fibres have a prifmatical § Form ; 
which is fometimes triangular, fometimes fquare, and 
fometimes 
* Johan. Alph Borelli De Motu Animalium , Pars prima , c. 2. 
Prop. 1. & c. 17. Prop. 114, 1155 116. Pars alter a, c, 3. Prop. 
22 ; 23, 24, &c. 
§ Our Author thought fo, becaufe he made his Obfervations upon 
a dry’d Ham ; which, having its Moifture exhaled, and its Fibres 
being collected, by the Salt ufed in preferving it, into Bundles, will 
flake off in Parcels when boiled. But it mult be obvious to every 
one, that Salting, or Boiling, will alter the Contexture of Fibres fo 
minute; and, confequently, that no great Truth can be drawn from 
fuch Obfervations. 
I 
