300 Dr. Philip’s observations on the effects , &c. 
It appears from these facts, that the effect of dividing the 
nerves of a vital organ, and separating the divided ends, is 
not merely that of deranging its secreting power, but all 
those powers on which its healthy structure depends ; and that 
the effect of voltaic electricity, is that of preserving all these 
powers. It is particularly to be observed, that the voltaic 
apparatus should be so arranged that its influence may be 
transmitted through the lungs as soon as the nerves are di- 
vided, the delay of even a short time appearing to give rise 
to more or less morbid appearance in the lungs. 
The present Paper may be considered as the concluding 
part of an inquiry in which I have been engaged for many 
years ; two papers relating to which the Royal Society did 
me the honour to publish in the Philosophical Transactions 
for 1817 and 1822.* To the first of these papers I have 
already had occasion to refer ; the other was entitled, “ On 
the effects of Galvanism in restoring the due action of the 
lungs.” The objects of this inquiry were to ascertain how 
far the nervous power is essential to the function of secre- 
tion, and the other assimilating processes of the animal 
body ; and whether the voltaic electricity, applied as far as 
possible, in the same way in which the nervous power is 
applied, is capable of supplying its place in these processes. 
It appears from the various experiments, the results of 
which have now been laid before the Society, that the answer 
in both instances is in the affirmative. 
* The contents of these Papers have, with the consent of the President and 
Council of the Royal Society, been re-published more in detail, in the third edition 
of my Inquiry into the Laws of the Vital Functions. 
