Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 095.djvu/21

Rh substance throughout the canal of the vertebræ. Another class of muscles, which are not subject to the will, are supplied by peculiar nerves; they are much smaller, in proportion to the bulk of the parts on which they are distributed, than those of the voluntary muscles; they contain less of the white opaque medullary substance than the other nerves, and unite their fibrils, forming numerous anastomoses with all the other nerves of the body, excepting those appropriated to the organs of the senses. There are enlargements at several of these junctions, called Ganglions, and which are composed of a less proportion of the medullary substance, and their texture is firmer than that of ordinary nerves.

The terminal extremities of nerves have been usually considered of unlimited extension; by accurate dissection however, and the aid of magnifying glasses; the extreme fibrils of nerves are easily traced as far as their sensible properties; and their continuity extends. The fibrils cease to be subdivided whilst perfectly visible to the naked eye, in the voluntary muscles of large animals, and the spaces they occupy upon superficies where they seem to end, leave a remarkable excess of parts unoccupied by those fibrils. The extreme fibrils of nerves lose their opacity, the medullary substance appears soft and transparent, the enveloping membrane becomes pellucid, and the whole fibril is destitute of the tenacity necessary to preserve its own distinctness; it seems to be diffused and mingled with, the substances in which it ends. Thus the ultimate terminations of nerves for volition, and ordinary sensation, appear to be in the reticular membrane, the common covering of all the different substances in an animal body, and the connecting medium of all dissimilar parts. MDCCCV.