Experiments made with a view to ascertain the principle on which the action of the heart depends, and the relation which subsists between that organ and the nervous system / by A.P. Wilson Philip.

  • Philip, Alexander Philip Wilson, 1770-1847.
Date:
1815
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experiments made with a view to ascertain the principle on which the action of the heart depends, and the relation which subsists between that organ and the nervous system / by A.P. Wilson Philip. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    depends as immediately on the brain, as that of the latter does on the heart, others maintain, that the nervous power may be wholly destroyed without impairing the vigour of this organ. This point it is necessary to determine, before we can trace with precision the modus operandi of poisons. The following inquiry therefore may be divided into two parts. In the first, I shall endeavour to ascertain how far the power of the heart is influenced by the state of the nervous system ; in the other, by what steps certain poisons destroy the powers of both. This I shall reserve for another paper, and here confine my- self to the first part of the subject. Till the time of Haller, it seems to have been the general opinion, that the muscles derive their power from the nervous system. He taught, that the power of the muscles depends on their mechanism, that the nervous influence is merely a stimulus which calls it into action, and consequently that those muscles, the heart for example, which act only by the appli- cation of one peculiar stimulus, unconnected with the nervous system, are wholly independent of it. This opinion seemed confirmed by its being generally admitted, that the action of the heart continues after it is removed from the body, and that it cannot be influenced by stimulating the brain, or spinal marrow, or the nerves which terminate in it. Haller and his followers maintain, that there are two distinct vital powers, one of the nervous and another of the sanguiferous system. The supporters of Haller’s doctrine however, found many difficulties to contend with. The evident objections tw it are, that the heart is influenced by affections of the mind, and that it is supplied with nerves. Various hypotheses have been