Preliminary account of an inquiry into the functions of the visceral nerves, with special reference to the so-called "inhibitory system" / by Joseph Lister .. ; in a letter to Dr. Sharpey, Sec. R.S. received August 13, 1858, communicated by Dr. Sharpey.

  • Lister, Joseph, Baron, 1827-1912.
Date:
1858
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Preliminary account of an inquiry into the functions of the visceral nerves, with special reference to the so-called "inhibitory system" / by Joseph Lister .. ; in a letter to Dr. Sharpey, Sec. R.S. received August 13, 1858, communicated by Dr. Sharpey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Preliminary Account of an Inquiry into the Functions of the Visceral Nerves, with special reference to the so-called * Inhibitory System.' By Joseph Lister, Esq., F.R.C.S. Eng. & Edin., Assistant Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh; in a Letter to Dr. Sharpey, Sec.R.S. Received August 13, 1858. Communicated by Dr. Sharpey. My dear Sir,—The fact that the irritation of visceral nerves sometimes causes arrest of the movements of organs supplied by them, as shown by Edward Weber's experiment of stopping the action of the heart by stimulating the vagus, and by Pfliiger's more recent observation that the application of galvanism to the splanchnic nerves produces quiescence of the small intestines, appears to me to have an intimate bearing upon the question how inflammation is deve- loped through the medium of the nervous system at a distance from an irritated part; and as the nature of the inflammatory process has lately engaged my especial attention, I have been led to make an experimental inquiry into this inhibiting agency, the true in- terpretation of which is, as you are aware, still suh judice. I now propose to state the principal results at which I have arrived, re- serving further details for a more extended communication which I hope soon to offer to the Royal Society. The view which has been advocated by Pfliiger*, and I believe very generally accepted, viz. that there is a certain set of nerve-fibres, the so-called inhibitory system of nerves (Hemmungs Nerven- system), whose sole function is to arrest or diminish action, seemed to me from the first a very startling innovation in physiology; and you may possibly recollect my mentioning to you in conversation, when in London last Christmas, my suspicion that the phenomena in question were merely the effect of excessive action in nerves pos- sessed of the functions usually attributed to them. On further reflection upon the subject, the consideration of the contraction pro- duced in the arteries of the frog's foot by a very mild stimulus, as compared with the relaxation of the vessels caused by stronger irri- tants acting through the same nerves, confirmed my previous notions. * Eduard Pfliiger ueber das Hemmungs Nervensystera, 1857.