692 
ME.  J.  LISTEE  ON  THE  EAELT  STAGES  OE  INFLA^IMATION. 
ferred  to  cold  water.  On  examining  it  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  two  minntes.  I found 
the  ciha  acting  decidedly  more  briskly  than  at  first,  but  in  the  course  of  the  next  quar- 
ter of  an  hour  they  flagged  very  much,  and  in  many  parts  ceased  to  move  altogether. 
By  this  time  I had  fixed  the  specimen  securely  at  the  bottom  of  a glass  trough,  which  I 
now  suddenly  filled  up  with  water  at  102°  Fahe.,  and  on  first  catching  sight  of  the 
object,  within  a quarter  of  a minute  of  this  procedure,  found  all  the  cilia  absolutely 
motionless.  I then  at  once  drew  off  the  warm  water  with  a siphon  pre%iously  aiuanged ; 
and  no  sooner  had  this  been  done,  than  movements  already  began  to  show  themselves 
in  the  cilia,  and  their  action  increased  rapidly  on  my  filling  up  the  trough  with  cold 
water,  and  in  a short  time  was  all  but  universal  and  brisk,  far  superior  to  what  it  was 
before  the  hot  water  was  put  in.  After  a few  minutes  more,  however,  it  was  again  very 
languid,  and  ceased  entirely  in  many  parts.  I now,  at  9*^  38“,  filled  up  the  trough  with 
water  at  104°  Fahe.  : at  9**  38™  17®  the  ciha  were  almost  aU  motionless;  by  9*’  38™  55* 
the  trough  had  been  again  emptied,  but  at  9**  39™  5®  there  was  even  less  movement  seen. 
Cold  water  was  again  poured  in  at  9^  39™  35®,  and  after  eighteen  seconds,  action  was 
reappearing  in  the  cilia,  and  it  continued  to  increase  during  the  next  seven  minutes,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  it  was  again  almost  universal.  At  9^‘  52™  the  cold  water  was  drawn 
off,  and  the  same  condition  of  the  cilia  having  been  ascertained  to  exist,  the  trough  was, 
at  9**  52™  27®,  filled  up  again  with  water  at  104°  Fahe.  ; eighteen  seconds  after  this  had 
been  done,  the  ciliary  action  was  found  much  diminished,  but  had  not  fuUy  ceased ; and 
after  nine  seconds  more,  during  which  the  warm  water  was  drawn  off,  the  ciha  were  still 
acting  very  slightly.  Within  twenty-three  seconds  of  this  time  the  trough  was  again 
filled  with  cold  water : now,  however,  the  epithelium  was  in  many  parts  beginning  to 
exfoliate,  swelling  up  by  endosmose  in  obedience  to  the  ordinaiy  laws  of  chemical 
affinity,  and  so  indicating  that  it  was  losing  its  vitahty.  I also  lost  sight  of  the  precise 
spot  which  I had  been  observing,  but  noticed  that  ciliary  action  was  again  going  on  pretty 
quickly  in  some  places.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  although  there  was  no  opportunity  for 
observing  the  fact,  that  the  first  immersion  in  hot  water  caused  cessation  of  the  ciliary 
action ; and  that  being  admitted,  we  have  in  this  case  suspension  of  function  and  recovery 
four  times  repeated  in  the  same  fragment  of  tissue  in  consequence  of  as  many  apphcations 
and  withdrawals  of  the  irritant.  It  is  a curious  chcumstance  that  each  recovery,  except 
the  final  one,  brought  up  the  action  of  the  cilia  for  a time  to  a better  state  than  they 
had  just  before  the  last  introduction  of  warm  water.  But  the  discussion  of  this  and 
other  circumstances  in  this  case  will  be  best  reserved  till  after  the  mention  of  another 
set  of  experiments. 
In  order  to  eliminate  the  nerves  completely  from  among  the  causes  both  of  the  suspen- 
sion of  function  produced  by  irritants  and  the  recovery  from  that  state,  it  seemed  de- 
sirable, if  possible,  to  observe  those  occurrences  in  detached  epithelium-cells,  and  on  the 
22nd  of  January  1859  I made  the  attempt  to  do  so.  At  fii’st,  however,  it  proved  mere 
difficult  than  I had  anticipated.  It  was  of  course  easy  to  obtain  the  material  to  operate 
on,  by  gently  scraping  the  surface  of  the  palate  of  a recently  killed  frog  ^^ith  a knife, 
and  placing  the  mucus-like  product  on  a plate  of  glass  with  a di’op  of  water.  But  the 
