Page:The Harveian oration delivered at the Royal College of Physicians June 26, 1889 (IA b22361285).pdf/25

 by the anterior roots of the spinal nerves, into the cervical portion of the sympathetic and into the splanchnic nerves.

In reflecting upon these very interesting manifestations of nervous force, we may be allowed to regret that we have not the advantage in the present day of applying the mind of a Harvey to the task of unravelling and developing, with the originality and boldness so necessary to the work, the nature and scope of the mysterious power transmitted by the nerves. We are checked, perchance, in dealing with this great subject, by the influence of some generally received but yet false notions, which the perspicacity of a Harvey might at once set aside, and with a mind thus freed from a weight of error, we might expect him to pass on to discovery with rapid steps. We know no more of the intimate nature of nervous force than our predecessors of the eighteenth century, and for my own part I would say, there appears but little hope of advancing our knowledge of the subject until the nervous system is regarded from other points of view than those from which it has been examined. The neglect of chemistry in its application to this subject is remarkable, and that its