6 
Mr. Home’s Lecture 
no other part had been divided, whose action could make the 
portions of the nerve recede. 
That nerves, when divided, do retract, is well known in the 
practice of surgery ; but this effect has been usually attributed 
to the contraction of the neighbouring parts, as the cellular 
membrane and blood-vessels, with which the nerves are con- 
nected. As none of these causes could produce the effect in the 
present instance, it was natural to suppose, that an independant 
action existed in the nerve itself, which had been so much in- 
creased by the influence of disease, as to become unusually great ; 
and, therefore, the retraction was more distinctly seen than in 
a healthy state of the body. 
The moment the nerve was divided, there was a spasm over 
the whole body, and a momentary insensibility. The blood- 
vessels divided in the operation were not secured by ligature, 
but allowed to stop of themselves, to give the wound every 
chance of healing by the first intention. The edges of the skin 
were carefully brought together, and kept in that state by 
compress and bandage, to promote as much as possible the 
union. 
For eight hours after the operation, the parts were perfectly 
quiet, and there was no spasm. The wound then began to feel 
hot, as if a red hot coal had been applied to it. To relieve this 
sensation, the outer bandage was loosened, and immediately 
there were twitches in the nerve, which soon went off. The 
patient felt himself generally unwell, extremely nervous, and 
irritable. 
Fifteen hours after the operation, he had a violent spasm, 
which went along the arm to the head, but did not affect the 
brain. In an hour, there was a second attack, at which I was 
