scholarly journals Further researches on the nervous system of the uterus

1851 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 609-610
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Gravid Uterus ◽  
Elastic Tissue ◽  
Spinal Nerves ◽  
Striking Resemblance ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fibrous Tissues ◽  
Made In

The author states, that on the 8th of April 1838, he discovered, in dissecting a gravid uterus, structures which had a striking resemblance to ganglionic plexuses of nerves; and, in the following December, he traced, in another gravid uterus, the sympathetic and spinal nerves into these new structures. He requested several distinguished anatomists to examine these dissections, and to compare them with similar dissections of the unimpregnated uterus, which he had made in the course of the same year. He then quotes, at some length, the opinions given by these several referees after their examination; and which appear, for the most part, to be favourable to the views of the author, namely, that the structures in question are not mere fibrous tissues, but that they possess the character of nerves, and that they augment in size with the enlargement of the uterus during pregnancy. Among those to whom the preparations were submitted for examination, however, two persons declared it to be their opinion, which they founded on observations with the microscope, that the filaments regarded by the author as nerves, are bands of elastic tissue only, and not plexuses of nerves; and the author, on receiving this intimation, withdrew the paper which he had presented to the Royal Society, and which had been read on the 12th of December 1839, in which paper the appearances displayed in his dissections were minutely described and delineated. The author next proceeds to give the history of his subsequent researches on the same subject, which he extended to the corresponding parts in some of the larger quadrupeds; and from all these he obtained accumulated evidence of the truth of his original opinions. He also adduces the testimony of various observers, in addition to those he had before cited, which are all in accordance with his own views, as they are expressed in his paper, printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1841, an Appendix to which was published in the volume of the same work for 1842. Later observations and dissections have served only to confirm him in his opinions; and he considers them as establishing the fact that the nerves of the uterus are considerably enlarged during the gravid state of that organ.

scholarly journals XV. Supplement to a paper “on the nervous ganglia of the uterus.”

1846 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 211-211 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Cellular Membrane ◽  
General Distribution ◽  
Gravid Uterus ◽  
Spinal Nerves ◽  
More Care ◽  
Sacral Nerves ◽  
Full Period ◽  
Period Of Gestation

In the First Part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1841,I have described and represented in two engravings the nervous ganglia, situated on the sides of the neck of the uterus, in which the great sympathetic and third sacral nerves unite, and from which branches proceed to the vagina, bladder, rectum, and the whole of the lower part of the uterus. In an Appendix to that paper, published in the Second Part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1842, there is contained a further account of the nervous structures situated on the fundus and body of the uterus, and an engraving in which the appearances they present at the full period of gestation have been ac­curately delineated. From the form, colour, vascularity, and general distribution of these structures, and from their branches actually coalescing, and being continuous with those of the great sympathetic and spinal nerves, I inferred that they were true nervous ganglionic plexuses, and formed the nervous system of the uterus enlarged during pregnancy. In a gravid uterus at the full period I have recently, and with still more care, traced the great sympathetic and spinal nerves into the two hypogastric ganglia, and from thence over both sides of the uterus to the fundus. A lens which magnified six diameters was employed in this dissection, which enabled me with unerung certainty to distinguish and to separate the nervous filaments from the fine cellular membrane by which they are so closely surrounded, and from all the other contiguous structures. In this minute dissection, many of the details of the nervous system of the uterus are more perfectly shown than in any previous dissection made by me, and they confiim, in the most complete manner, the accuracy of all that is contained in my previous communications on this subject to the Royal Society. To this preparation I can now appeal, as affording a perfect demonstration of the truth of all my statements respect­ing the ganglia and other nervous structures of the uterus.

XXIII. On the water-barometer erected in the hall of the Royal Society

1832 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 539-574 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Metallic Tube ◽  
French Academy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Made In

I have for some time entertained an opinion, in common with some others who have turned their attention tot he subject, that a good series of observations with a Water-Barometer, accurately constructed, might throw some light upon several important points of physical science: amongst others, upon the tides of the atmosphere; the horary oscillations of the counterpoising column; the ascending and descending rate of its greater oscillations; and the tension of vapour at different atmospheric temperatures. I have sought in vain in various scientific works, and in the Transactions of Philosophical Societies, for the record of any such observations, or for a description of an instrument calculated to afford the required information with anything approaching to precision. In the first volume of the History of the French Academy of Sciences, a cursory reference is made, in the following words, to some experiments of M. Mariotte upon the subject, of which no particulars appear to have been preserved. “Le même M. Mariotte fit aussi à l’observatoire des experiences sur le baromètre ordinaire à mercure comparé au baromètre à eau. Dans l’un le mercure s’eléva à 28 polices, et dans Fautre l’eau fut a 31 pieds Cequi donne le rapport du mercure à l’eau de 13½ à 1.” Histoire de I'Acadérmie, tom. i. p. 234. It also appears that Otto Guricke constructed a philosophical toy for the amusement of himself and friends, upon the principle of the water-barometer; but the column of water probably in this, as in all the other instances which I have met with, was raised by the imperfect rarefaction of the air in the tube above it, or by filling with water a metallic tube, of sufficient length, cemented to a glass one at its upper extremity, and fitted with a stop-cock at each end; so that when full the upper one might be closed and the lower opened, when the water would fall till it afforded an equipoise to the pressure of the atmo­sphere. The imperfections of such an instrument, it is quite clear, would render it totally unfit for the delicate investigations required in the present state of science; as, to render the observations of any value, it is absolutely necessary that the water should be thoroughly purged of air, by boiling, and its insinuation or reabsorption effectually guarded against. I was convinced that the only chance of securing these two necessary ends, was to form the whole length of tube of one piece of glass, and to boil the water in it, as is done with mercury in the common barometer. The practical difficulties which opposed themselves to such a construction long appeared to me insurmount­able; but I at length contrived a plan for the purpose, which, having been honoured with the approval of the late Meteorological Committee of this Society, was ordered to be carried into execution by the President and Council.

scholarly journals II.—Gastaldi on Italian Geology and the Crystalline Rocks

1887 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 531-540
Author(s):  
T. Sterry Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Crystalline Rocks ◽  
Present Writer ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Late Professor ◽  
Especial Reference ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Made In

The present writer in 1883 reviewed the history of the rocks of the Alps and the Apennines with especial reference to the geological relations of serpentine and its associates, in a paper which appeared in the first volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, and is reprinted, revised and with some additions, as the tenth chapter of his volume entitled “Mineral Physiology and Physiography” (Boston, 1886). Therein he gave a somewhat detailed account of the labours in Italian geology of the late Professor Bartolomeo Gastaldi, of Turin, a list of whose publications on that subject from 1871 to 1878, so far as known to the writer, will there be found, including his letter to Quintino Sella, in 1878, on the general results of explorations made in 1877 (loc. cit., 458).

scholarly journals The scholar as craftsman: Derek de Solla Price and the reconstruction of a medieval instrument

2014 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seb Falk
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Cavendish Laboratory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Made In

The Royal Society Conversaziones were biannual social evenings at which distinguished guests could learn about the latest scientific developments. The Conversazione in May 1952 featured an object that came to be called King Arthur's Table. It was a planetary equatorium, made in Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory at the behest of Sir Lawrence Bragg. Conceived by the historian of science Derek de Solla Price as a huge, tangible realization of Chaucerian astronomy, it was displayed at the new Whipple Museum of the History of Science, discarded, stored incognito, catalogued with that whimsical name, and finally re-identified in 2012. This article examines the biography of that object and, through it, the early, inchoate years of the discipline of history of science in Cambridge. The process of disciplinary establishment involved a range of actors beyond well-known figures such as Herbert Butterfield and Joseph Needham; the roles of Price and Bragg are highlighted here. Study of these individuals, and of the collaboration that brought about the reconstruction, reveals much about the establishment of a discipline, as well as changing scholarly and curatorial attitudes towards replicas.

scholarly journals Address of the President, Sir Archibald Geikie, K. C. B., at the Anniversary Meeting on December 1, 1913

1914 ◽  
Vol 89 (613) ◽  
pp. 451-468
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Vice President ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Fatal Disease ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
Special Studies ◽  
Made In

On these annual occasions it is usual to begin the retrospect of the year by discharging the melancholy duty of taking note of the losses which death has inflicted on our Society since the last Anniversary. On the present occasion we are fortunate in not having to deplore the passing away of any of the distinguished men who form the remarkable band of our Foreign Members. But on the other hand, the blanks which have been made in our Home List are exceptionally heavy, for no fewer than twenty of our Fellows have died, and among these some whose places it will for many years be hard to fill. Especially numerous and serious have been the losses among those who represent the various departments of the Physical Sciences. In George Howard Darwin we mourn the departure of one of the most brilliant and most estimable of our colleagues, who by the originality and distinction of his researches amply sustained the scientific renown of our publications and enhanced the prestige of the Society. He was elected a Fellow in 1879, served repeatedly on the Council, and was Vice-President during the last year of his presence there. He was awarded a Royal Medal in 1884, and only two years ago received as the crowning mark of our appreciation of his achievements in science the award of the Copley Medal. There was a widespread hope among the Fellows that he would this year be elected to the Presidential Chair of the Royal Society. But, while still with the promise of further years of fruitful work before him, he was attacked by a fatal disease which carried him off on December 7 last in the 68th year of his age. With admiration and pride we recall the keen insight and the laborious but brilliant calculations which culminated in the production of George Darwin's memorable essays on the history of our planet and its satellite. We remember the long years during which he devoted his mind to the study of the Tides, thereby elucidating that complicated subject, and at the same time rendering valuable service to the art of navigation. We think, too, of the many hours which, first and last, he cheerfully gave up to the furtherance of scientific progress by attendance on committees, boards, and congresses, not in this country only but also abroad, as representative of the Royal Society in international organisations. On this Anniversary, however, our thoughts turn more tenderly to the man himself as he lived and moved among us. Long shall we cherish the remembrance of the example of his gentle and studious nature, his unfailing courtesy and kindly cheerfulness, his ardour in the cause of scientific research, his large-minded tolerance towards those who differed from him, and that helpful sympathy, inherited from his illustrious father, which led him to take interest in each fresh advance of knowledge in every department of Nature, even in those furthest removed from his own special studies.

scholarly journals XXI. Some observations on the functions of the nervous system, and the relation which they bear to the other vital function

1829 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. 261-278
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vital Organ ◽  
Vital Function ◽  
Animal Economy ◽  
Vital Functions ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Made In

The experiments relating to the function of digestion detailed or referred to in a paper which I lately had the honour to present to the Society, appear to throw light on the function of the ganglionic nerves, which hold a higher place in the animal economy than those either of sensation merely or voluntary power, being as essentially a vital organ as the heart or lungs, as will more fully appear, I think, from the review of facts which I now beg leave to submit to the Society. For the last fifteen years I have been engaged in an experimental inquiry relating to the laws of the vital functions; and have from time to time laid the results before the Royal Society in six papers, which the Society has done me the honour to publish. All the experiments on which the statements are founded, having been made in the presence of competent witnesses, the rule from which I never deviated, has been to repeat each experiment till no doubt respecting the result remained in the mind of any one present; and it is satis­factory to me to be enabled to state, that, although many of these experiments have been repeated by the physiologists both of this country and the continent, they have in no instance been found inaccurate. I have always abstained from troubling the Society till I had some new facts to state, which appeared to me to deserve its attention; and I have confined myself to the simple statement of the facts and the means by which they were ascertained.

On the nervous system

1843 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 218-218
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Respiratory System ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Posterior Column ◽  
The Other ◽  
Spinal Nerves ◽  
Spinal Accessory ◽  
Vertebral Arteries

The author adverting to the papers on the nervous system, which he presented to the Royal Society nearly twenty years ago, recapitulates the train of reasoning which originally led him to the inquiries in which he has been so long engaged, on the different functions of different classes of nerves, and adduces various pathological facts in corroboration of the correctness of the views he then entertained. With regard to the spinal nerves, cases are related where, in consequence of disease of the bodies of the vertebrae, the anterior columns of the spinal cord, and anterior roots of the nerves were affected, and paralysis of the muscles to which those nerves are distributed was produced, while the posterior column of the cord was uninjured, and the sensibility unimpaired. The author next considers the respiratory system of nerves, which he regards as being both muscular and sensitive, and describes as arising from a tract of the spinal cord, on the outside of the corpus oliva re, and anterior to the processus ad cerebellum ; and which constitute columns having no decussations with one another, as is the case with the other systems. The conclusion he originally formed, that both the phrenic and the spinal accessory nerves are provided for motion, which he had deduced from the anatomical fact of the former taking a direct course to the diaphragm, and the latter a circuitous one for the purpose of associating the muscles of the respiratory organs with those which act on the chest, is, he thinks, amply confirmed by subsequent experiments. He concludes his paper with some remarks on the supply of blood to the respiratory system of nerves, which supply, being derived from branches of the vertebral arteries, affords an explanation of several pathological phenomena.

scholarly journals I. Monthly means of the highest and lowest diurnal tem­peratures of the water of the Thames, and comparison with the corresponding temperatures of the air at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich

1883 ◽  
Vol 34 (220-223) ◽  
pp. 275-284
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Self ◽  
Partial Reduction ◽  
Medical Department ◽  
Registrar General ◽  
Sanitary Condition ◽  
Royal Observatory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Hospital Ships ◽  
Made In

In presenting to the Royal Society a partial reduction of the thermometrical observations made in the water of the Thames during a period of thirty-five years, I commence with a brief history of the undertaking and progress of this work. The observations were instituted at the suggestion of the con­ductors of the Medical Department in the Office of the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, with the view of supplying some knowledge of an element which may possibly affect the sanitary condition of the Metropolis. The plan of observations was arranged at the Royal Observatory of Greenwich; and the instruments were procured and mounted, and repaired, when necessary, under the care successively of James Glaisher, Esq., and William Ellis, Esq., Superintendents of the Magnetical and Meteorological Department of the Observatory. The self-recording instruments were attached to the Hospital Ships successively anchored in the Thames, nearly opposite to Greenwich: and their records were read and registered by the medical officers of those ships, and these written registers were transmitted every week to the Royal Observatory. And I cannot too strongly express my sense of the care with which the observations were made, the fidelity with which they were recorded, and the order and regularity with which they were transmitted to the Royal Observatory. The weekly register, when received at the Observatory, was combined with the brief record of other meteorological facts observed at the Royal Observatory, and (with the medical record) was published every week by the Registrar-General.

scholarly journals An appendix to a paper on the nervous ganglia of the uterus, with a further account of the nervous structures of that organ

1843 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 395-396
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Gravid Uterus ◽  
Subsequent Paper ◽  
Original Condition ◽  
Human Uterus ◽  
Short History ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
History Of ◽  
Full Period ◽  
Period Of Gestation

After premising a short history of the opinions of Galen, Dr. William Hunter, Mr. John Hunter, Professor Tiedemann, Professor Lobstein, and Professor Osiander, relative to the existence, course, and enlargement of the nerves of the uterus, the author adverts to his own researches on this subject, which commenced with his discovery, in April 1838, of the trunk of a large nerve accompanying the uterine vein, and of the great nervous plexus with which it was continuous. Of this discovery he gave an account to the Royal Society in a paper read on the 12th of December of the same year. In a subsequent paper, he described some large nervous ganglia situated at the neck of the uterus; and in the present appendix he describes other nervous structures of still greater size which presented themselves to him, on a still more complete dissection which he made of a gravid uterus at the full period of gestation. It appears from the results of these dissections that the human uterus possesses a great and extensive system of nerves, which enlarge during pregnancy, along with the coats, blood-vessels, and absorbents of that organ, and which after parturition resume their original condition. It is chiefly through the influence conveyed by these nerves that the uterus is rendered capable of performing its various functions, and by which sympathies are established between it and other parts of the system.

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