Observations on the physiology and pathology of the nervous system : retrospective address delivered at the twenty-seventh annual meeting of the British Medical Association in Liverpool, 1859 / by A.T. Houghton Waters.

  • Waters, A. T. Houghton (Alderman Thomas Houghton), 1826-1912.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the physiology and pathology of the nervous system : retrospective address delivered at the twenty-seventh annual meeting of the British Medical Association in Liverpool, 1859 / by A.T. Houghton Waters. 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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    [Reprinted from the “ British Medical Journal”.] OBSERVATIONS ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. Mr. President and Gentlemen,—When the committee of your Association did me the honour to request me to deliver an Address in Physiology at this meeting, I acceded to their wish; not, I must confess, without some feelings of my own incompetence, and with a strong conviction of the difficulties of the task I undertook. When I began to reflect on the sub- ject, it seemed to present difficulties of no ordinary character, from the great abundance of material it afforded. I felt that to attempt to generalize on the science of physiology, in the short space of time allotted to an address, would tax powers far greater than mine; and that to endeavour to sketch the recent advances which the various cultivators of the science, in its different departments, had made, would necessarily be attended with failure. It is true, that some of the great principles which regulate the phenomena of life admit of easy definition, and great and varied application; and no more interesting and important subject could possibly be chosen as the groundwork of an address : but yet, when we come to deal with many of the questions of the science, we often find ourselves rapidly passing from the domain of well grounded theory and recognised laws to that of hypothesis; and from our incompleter knowledge of many of the manifestations of vital action, we are compelled to rest satisfied with but an imperfect explanation of the facts we witness. But, in making this remark, it is impossible not to rejoice at the high position which physiology now holds as a science, and at the great advances and brilliant discoveries which have marked