The works of William Cullen : containing his physiology, nosology, and first lines of the practice of physic; with numerous extracts from his manuscript papers, and from his treatise of the materia medica / Edited by John Thomson.

  • Thomson, John, 1765-1846.
Date:
1827
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The works of William Cullen : containing his physiology, nosology, and first lines of the practice of physic; with numerous extracts from his manuscript papers, and from his treatise of the materia medica / Edited by John Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    pieces. What the proofs are which this author adduces I cannot say, as I never, by any means, could obtain a sight of his dis- sertation ; I can only give the grounds of my conjectures. Bo- relli, and other authors upon this subject, have computed the force in living bodies ; and we have experiments upon the force in dead animals by Hales and Muschenbroek ; and from these compared, we find that the force in the living is vastly greater than that in the dead fibre. But these experiments have not yet been fairly established; and so I give it as a matter of con- jecture to be further prosecuted; but, independently of this calculation, there is some probability in the theory that I have offered. It is the opinion of some of the greatest philosophers, particularly the English, with Sir Isaac Newton at their head, and of several of the foreign of the greatest rank, that the co- hesion of bodies depends upon the presence of an elastic fluid, which is more rare in the pores of bodies, and more dense up- on their surface, by which the parts are kept together; and upon this doctrine, which there is no difficulty in admitting, there is no difficulty in explaining the whole phenomena of in- animate elastics; and all that our theory requires, is to suppose that this subtile elastic fluid is by various means excited to a greater degree : we have some illustration of it in the case of electricity and magnetism, which are only modifications of this subtile fluid; and we need only suppose that this elastic fluid can be thus excited upon the nerves and muscular fibres of liv- ing animals, and that, in consequence of a certain degree of excitement, the nerves are rendered sentient; and that by some peculiarity of the muscular fibre, it can be accumulated in them and occasion muscular action. Having thus stated the matter, I acknowledge to you that there are difficulties with regard to it, in establishing the fundamental facts and applying them to the several phenomena; but what we call the fluid of the nerves, that upon which the living power, upon which both sense and motion depend, is manifestly an elastic fluid of one kind or other. “ I go on to add another circumstance to obviate some of the difficulties which might be offered. I say”— If this is true, it will also explain why the force of cohesion in muscular fibres is greater than that of the medullary fibres in any