Copy 1

An inquiry concerning that disturbed state of the vital functions usually denominated constitutional irritation / [Benjamin Travers].

  • Travers, Benjamin, 1783-1858.
Date:
1826
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry concerning that disturbed state of the vital functions usually denominated constitutional irritation / [Benjamin Travers]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is possessed, however, in unequal degrees by different organs, and even by distinct parts of the same organ. It is not in the ratio of sensibility, nor vascularity, nor mus- cularity, nor any particular endowment, but according to the importance of the texture or organ to the functions of life. Thus . muscle retains irritability longer than any other texture, and the heart later than any other muscle. The sign of irritability is according to the function of the organ; in some sensa- tion, in others motion; in some a combina- tion of these, and in others a result of such modifications of sensation and motion as escape our powers of perception, and of which we discern only the effects. Irritability is indispensable to life, be- cause it is essential to the functions of those organs upon which life depends. Parts, with the functions of which the system, at whatever inconvenience, can dispense, may. survive their irritability. Thus a person may live with an inirritable retina, or in- irritable muscles of his limbs, although irri- tability is as essential to the economy of