The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-20
NERVES As MOTORS
mo Common Errors About Nerve
Tissue Are Explained by
an Anatomist
ave Men and towards. Virtuous
and Vicious, Are Alike
In Structure.

II
10 wHl Power Back OF tho Nerves II
What Makes tho characteristics
Of tho Man.
Now" said tho anAtomist, 10 . Wash
Rton Star reporter. "that young fellow
Z no mora nervous organization in his
'dy tno more and no less) than THAT col
I'd boy who 10 gaping up at him. and yss
. colored boy would NO more think OF
ing what your man Of nerve has lone
an he would OF flying. That will power
hich runs our nerves-this involuntary,
d s~slf-aoting volition which strings them
AZ it strung that young fellow up before
now-is Whist you mean after all, and 1t Is
hat everybody means when they talk OF
srve' a. indicative Of superior courage
ID ability. l can tell you all about our
|rves. but neither l nor any n else can
|ll what that other matter ID. The brave
an and the coward, the good man and the
cious. are all anatomically and p~hysioloRic-
|ly put up just alike as to nerve structures;
ht that will power which Regulates them
3 and makes them move on as they do In
h, that peculiar matter is just as inscrut-
ble to us now az it was to Adam.
"Whsn examined under the microscope
10 tissue of which orr entire nervous sys-
m is composed can be readily separated
to two elements, the vascular and the
brous. The former is gray in color. gran
ar in it's texture, and is largely supplied
18th blood; this is our brain matter. The
tier ID usually white in solor (though in
me parts Of our body it 10 gray and il
Imposed Of tubular fbsrs, and II IL less
k~scular than the brain substance. Our
FAin IL the originating seat Of the force
hich We manifest in all orr nervous
btions, while the latter or the fbers are
IMPLY the propagators of those Impressions
J wills of the former. The union of these
NO kinds Of matter constitutes y nervous
bnter, and the threads of tibrous matter
hich pass to and from it are called nerves.
he smaller nervous centers are ormed
anglia. and the larger ones are the brain
nd the spinal cord.
'''These nerve tubes or fbers which run
II through our bodies are softs fine, cylin-
|rical tilamsnts within a tube Of soft,
bmi-fuid, whltish, pulpy substance. a
kruotureless sheath; when the nerve tibers
re examined under Il poweral microscope
hey appear clear, a. a rule, and transpar-
ht, with simple dark contours. by the use
K transmitted and reflected lights nat
mists agree in observing that these hbers
|onsist of three entirely distinct compon-
Int structures. viz, of a delicate coat and
visoid fluid, in the center Of which Is a
pit, but elastic nerve. There is a great
|eal more that l might add in this respect,
ut il is purely technical. and the arrange
bent OF our nerves - they branch out
rom our brains and spinal cords il diver
flied in a countless manner.
1--WE have in our scientific orioles quite q
lumber of men who insist that life Is moth
|ction-that it is simply matter in motion;
Ind these men have subjected the nerve
|ubstance to searching chemical analysis,
Iut they have been obliged to admit that
|ur knowledge Of the chemical composition
|f nervous matter throws no light upon the
functions Of that 81 stem.
1.-THE most striking popularity of our
system is the fact that a nerve fiber
Gems to POSSESS three distinct natures, or.
h other words, we seem to have bound up
ID this fiber "A SGT of special sense nerves, q
Jet of commo sensation nerves, a set of
motor nerves-all travelling together in one
bundle and ending ut the same place, on
he principle Of q quadruplex telegraph
gire.
Now notice how strangely and how COM
)lSxly these nerves work.. lake for e1-
an operation on q mans eve; q skill
jul oculist in removing a cataract touches
he retina; the patient instantly declares
hat he perceives a brilliant flash of light.
nut experiences no pain whatever-does
lot even feel it! But let him touch any
part of the eye where the nerve of ommon
sensation exists as a factor, then the suf-
:erlnR of the patient is instant and acute,
spite of the fact that the laws under
which Impressions are conveyed to the
are the same. yet those nerves of
sensation. such as those of the re-
40 more capable of receiving the impress
sions of contact of no~n-vibrating bodies
than are the nerves of your leg of perceiv-
tho impressions of light and darkness.
ut is upon our nerves Of common sensa-
lion, however, shat We most depend for be-
coming acquainted with all other pelpable
a. to their forms, size, hardness,
sold, heat, etc. Aud again our ideas OF
form. size, etc., are dependent in some de-
gree upon another sense which is peculiarly
connected with the muscles and ia called
muscular sensibility.' BY ii we know wha,
af muscular force we must and dc
sxert at any time for a given purpose, and
The chap over there who stopped that horse
called that faculty into play when be
at and held to its bride.
"How often have We heard a legless or IN
man say, as he pointed down to his
that he could feel that foot which
though il were there now. The man told
you the truth in spite of the seeming alb
of tho claim. It arises in this way
II that part Of q divided nerve which il still
connected with the brain be stimulated thu
ssme sensation is perceived as if this stimu-
lus were applied to all parts in which the
branches of that nerve were distributed be-
fore they were cut of. Everybody has {
illustration Of this strange actor
have felt when q particular sttok on oul
elbow Ia given. That queer, tinglinR pair
which SUCH q blow produces, and which ap.
pears to have its seat in the inner forearm
and hand and in the little and ring fingers
10 owing to tho filanents of the ulnsr nerve
(which pass behind the elbow being dis
tributed to those parts and to the sensa,
of that filament, no mattel
where it may be irritated.
"Now. it 10 OF course impossible to expert
upon . single nervous ilament, les
the accuracy with which the imagined sea
of sensation produced by irritating a bun
die of hlaments accords with their distri
button leaves nc doubt of the accuracy 0
the following odd truths:
"Ihe nearer to the brain that the stimuli,
Of irritation is applied the more extended
10 the bodily sensation; hence. in disease O
the spinal cord pain is often felt in all til,
parts supplied with nerves coming off from
the cord below the diseased portion, ant
tina main Of dividinu n nprya ia folt nvnr ~