The ferrier lecture on problems connected with the principle of humoral transmission of nervous impulses

Abstract

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,—I am deeply appreciative of the honour, which has been done me by the President and Council of the Royal Society, in inviting me to deliver here, in this ancient and famous institution, a lecture which commemorates the work of Sir David Ferrier; and my sense of the honour is enhanced by the thought that my predecessors, as lecturers on this Foundation, have been Sir Charles Sherrington and Professor Ariëns Kappers. Each of these lectures in memory of Sir David Ferrier is to deal with some subject related to the structure or function of the nervous system. Within recent years investigations in this field have dealt not only with the course of the specific nervous functions but, in an ever-increasing degree, with the analysis of nervous action into its fundamental factors, and especially those of a chemical nature. Having been mainly interested in these lines of development, and assuming that you have chosen the lecturer with a view to his own particular field of research, I have thought it proper that I should endeavour to deal with problems connected with the principle of the humoral transmission of nervous impulses.