Inaugural dissertation on the nature of respiration, and the extent of its connection with the nervous system : sumitted to the Medical Faculty of the University of Edinburgh, in conformity with the rules for graduation, by authority of the Very Rev. Principal Baird, and with the sanction of the Senatus Academicus / by George A.F. Wilks.

  • Wilks, George Augustus Frederick.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inaugural dissertation on the nature of respiration, and the extent of its connection with the nervous system : sumitted to the Medical Faculty of the University of Edinburgh, in conformity with the rules for graduation, by authority of the Very Rev. Principal Baird, and with the sanction of the Senatus Academicus / by George A.F. Wilks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    appeared to nle beyond the reach of explanation on physical principles, although the precise mode of explaining them may, as yet, be somewhat embarrassing. As for the pheno- menon observed in the kalmia, it appears to be a simple instance of elasticity, which is possessed by the stamens of this plant in common with dead caoutchouc, and sure- ly the action of the one and the other, might with equal propriety be ascribed to the influence of a nervous system. The phenomenon of the leaves of the mimosa, is, I con- fess, somewhat difficult of explanation ; I would venture, however, to suggest, that it is but a manifestation in a higher degree, of the property by which flowers unfold their petals to the sun, and close them again in the absence of its genial beams ; of the property by which they present the upper surface of their leaves to the heavens, and their radi- cles to the earth, all of which are probably dependent upon certain chemical or vital attractions existing between the constituent parts and the surrounding media,* and to ascribe them to the action of a nervous system, would be about as philosophical as to explain in a similar manner the attrac- tion of the iron for the loadstone, or the rotation of the earth upon its axis. But it may be argued, admitting that, As a proof how much this is the case, it is only necessary to consult a very interesting memoir by Dutrochet himself, in the 25th vol. of the Anna- les des Sciences Naturelles, from which it appears, that if the mimosa be introduced under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump, its excitability is al- together suspended ; and so far is this from being explicable on the supposi- tion that the plant is asphyxiated, and its vitality thereby destroyed, (as he endeavours to demonstrate,) that when the air is re-admitted, the excitability is promptly restored. It has been further shewn, by the same ingenious ex- perimenter, that the phenomena of sleeping and waking exhibited by the petals of many plants, may likewise be effectually suspended in a similar manner. Even the solar beams were found to be absolutely powerless, if the atmosphere were artificially excluded. It really seems extraordinary, that with such proofs as his own experiments adduce of the real nature of these phenomena, he should still persist in considering them as manifestations fff the agency of the nervous system.