PHILOSOPHICAL 
' TRAN SACTIONS. 
I. The Croonian Lecture. By William Hyde Wollaston, M. D 
Sec. R. S. 
Read November 1 6, 1809. 
I am aware that the remarks, which I have to offer on the 
present occasion, may be thought to bear too little direct re- 
lation to each other for insertion in the same lecture ; yet any 
observation respecting the mode of action of voluntary mus- 
cles, and every enquiry into the causes which derange, and 
into the means of assisting the action of the heart and blood- 
vessels, must be allowed to promote the design of Dr. Croone, 
who instituted these annual disquisitions. And it has always 
appeared to be one great advantage attending the labours of 
this Society, that it favours the production of any original 
knowledge, however small, in a detached form ; and enables 
a writer to say all that he knows upon a particular subject, 
without inducing him to aim at the importance of a long dis- 
sertation. 
{f MDCCCX. B 
