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XXXIII. Effay on the Ufe of the Gangli- 
ons of the Nerves : By James John (lone, 
M . D. Communicated by the Right Rev . 
Charles Lord Rifloop of Carlifle, and 
F. R. S. 
Read May 3 1,/ g A H E Ganglions of the incercoftal 
I?6+ J[ nerves, firft difcovered by Fallo- 
pius, are oblong and very hard bodies ; the ufes of 
which have not been fatisfadorily afcertained by any 
one. Few anatom ifts have indeed entered deep into 
the fubjed, except the learned J. M. Lancifi, who 
imagined them mufcles fui generis, and, like other 
mufdes, capable of contradions ; by which he thought 
the nervous fpirits were acclerated and impelled with 
fuch additional forces, as are by him fuppofed neceflary 
to the produdion of motions in mufcles fubjed to the 
will : And in order to give an idea of the ftrudure 
of all other Ganglions, he particularly defcribes and 
delineates that of the ftrft cervical Ganglion [a). 
This theory has the misfortune to be erroneous 
in its foundation. For Haller and other fucceeding 
anatomifts have not been able to difcover this muf- 
cular apparatus in the firft cervical Ganglion [b). The 
coats of Ganglions I have found with the appearance 
and firmnefs of ligaments; but incapable of fuch 
extenfion or retradion, as elaftic mufcular fibres al- 
ways allow of. 
(a) See Lancifi’s Diflertation in Morgagni adverfar. 
(b) Halle , Element. Phyfiolog. Human. T. iv. p. 203. 
Vol. LIV. * A a Ganglions 
