Epilepsy and other convulsive affections : their pathology and treatment / by Charles Bland Radcliffe.

  • Radcliffe, Charles Bland, 1822-1889.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Epilepsy and other convulsive affections : their pathology and treatment / by Charles Bland Radcliffe. 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.

    19/142 (page 7)
    cular action—a change which amounts to no less than a complete revolution—and hence I am en- couraged to take up the subject anew, and point out the numerous particulars in which subsequent inquiry has shown that the old argument requires to he modified and expanded before it can hope to demand the attention of physiologists and pathologists. In the present instance, I propose to confine myself, simply and exclusively, to the Physiology of Muscular Motion, and, leaving the pathology for the body of this work, I shall endeavour to establish the three following propositions : 1. That muscular contraction is not produced by the stimulation1 of any property of contracti- lity belonging to muscle. 2. That muscular elongation 2 is produced by the simple physical action of certain agents, electricity and others, and that muscular contraction is the simple physical consequence of the cessation of this action. 1 The recognised opinion is that muscle is endowed with a vital property of contractility, and that muscular contraction is brought about when this property is called into action by certain agents, such as electricity or nervous influence. It is supposed, indeed, that this vital property of contractility is roused or ex- cited or stimulated into a state of action when the muscle con- tracts, and hence the agents which thus rouse or excite or stimulate are called stimuli. * The term elongation is used in preference to the term relaxa- tion for reasons which will appear in the sequel.