Syncopation

“ An ordinary Syphon acts by the pressure of the air on the upper water, which drives it into the ascending pipe, because there is a (partial) vacuum made there by the weight of the falling water in the descending pipe; this being always longer than the first. Thus, in Plate 29, fig. 5, A B shews the rising pipe of a Syphon, and C D the falling pipe, which is longer, and sinks to a lower level D, than that A of the water, which feeds the machine. E, in this figure, represents the vessel containing the mechanism on which the new effect depends: and which I shall now describe. ”

“ In all the syncopes, which I have seen induced after convulsive fits, the pulse has continued natural, though the organs of sense, as well as the locomotive muscles, have ceased to perform their functions; for it is necessary for the perception of objects, that the external organs of sense should be properly excited by the voluntary power, as the eye-lids must be open, and perhaps the muscles of the eye put into action to distend, and thence give greater pellucidity to the cornea, which in syncope, as in death, appears flat and less transparent. ”

“ Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose! Hence true syngamy may be distinguished as karyogamy from the process of plastogamy, or fusion of the protoplasmic bodies, of frequent occurrence in many forms of Protozoa. The individuals whose nuclei undergo fusion are termed gametes. They may be in no way different from each other or from ordinary individuals of the species, or, on the other hand, they may be highly differentiated in size, form and structure. ”

“ It is interesting to notice that in some species of Sycon, the gaps between the distal ends of the chambers are covered over by a delicate perforated membrane, thus leading on, as we shall see presently, to the next stage of advance. [219] The larva of Sycon is an amphiblastula (see p. 227) . Fig. 80 is a drawing of the young sponge soon after fixation; it would pass equally well for an ideally simple Ascon or, neglecting the arrangement of the spicules, for an isolated radial tube of Sycon. ”

“ In my general observations on Proteaceæ I have noticed two very remarkable characters of Synaphea, namely, the cohesion of the barren filament with the stigma, which is peculiar to this genus, and the structure and connection of the Antheræ, in which it agrees with Conospermum: it is also remarkable that these two nearly related genera should differ in the position of their barren and fertile stamina with relation to the perianthium; plants of the same natural family very generally agreeing in the order of abortion or suppression of these organs ”

“ Syphons are necessary in numerous manipulations of the laboratory, and modern researches in chemistry have given rise to several beautiful devices for charging them, and also for interrupting and renewing their action. ”

“ To every joint there are attached certain glands that supply a kind of oily substance technically named “synovia,” which acts exactly the same part as the oil or grease of machinery. If these glands do not do their duty, and the supply of synovia be defective, the joints become stiff, painful, and crackle when they are moved.
Then, exactly as the joints of a machine become stiff from non-usage, so do those of a human being. We will take, for example, the Indian Fakirs who vow that they will not move some limb from a definite posture. ”

“ All the above symptoms may be readily caused by even slight currents, whether galvanic or faradic, passed through the head. The syncope thus produced is to be carefully differentiated from the syncope caused psychically by excitement or fear of the application of electricity. Hysterical women, and even persons who show no special signs of nervous instability, may faint at the suggestion of the application of electricity. ”

“ In figures 41 and 42 the point of union of homologous chromosomes is indicated in some cases by a knob, in others by a sharply acute angle. In a slightly later stage (fig. 43) , when all of the short loops have straightened and united in pairs, the point of union is no longer visible, all of the loops being rounded at the bend and of equal thickness throughout. My attention was first called to this method of synapsis by the conspicuous difference in number and length of loops in the synizesis stage compared with the later bouquet stage just before the spireme is formed. ”

“ The tendency to separate is the tendency not to act together, probably arising from inability to act together any longer; and the process of separation is the process of ceasing to act together. How truly non-co-ordination is the essence of the matter will be seen on observing that fission takes place more or less rapidly, according as the co-ordinating apparatus is less or more developed. Thus, "the capability of spontaneous division is one of the most distinctive attributes of the acrite type of structure;" ”

“ The word synthesis, in its broad or general acceptance, signifies the union of any two or more substances to form a physically-homogeneous mass, and into a product which cannot be mechanically divided into dissimilar parts. Under this definition nearly every operation of chemistry would be synthetical ”

“ Contraction.—Motions, which are due to the contraction of individual portions and cause changes in volume or form, have been partly already spoken of under the head of locomotion (§ 220) and are partly connected with other functions. Examples may be seen in the contraction of the central capsule and of the calymma. A certain contraction of the central capsule is probably brought about by the myophanes, which arise by differentiation of the endoplasm and hence may assume different forms in the four legions. ”

“ There are many curious phenomena seen in the behaviour of parts normally repeated in bilateral symmetry which may some day guide us towards an understanding of the mechanics of division. A part like a hand, which needs the other hand to complete its symmetry, cannot twin by mere division, yet by proliferation and special modifications on the radial side of the same limb, even a hand may be twinned. ”

“ The different life types or character of the scion and top do not fuse, but we have a mechanical union of cells, and that mechanical union is as clearly shown forth as possible when we make a section through the point of union. If your type of cell in the stock differs very materially from the type of structure in the scion, the union is unsatisfactory. If the types of tissue are much alike, the union is good and you do not have either overgrowth of stock or undergrowth of scion very much, but you have what is called a good union. ”

“ But if we admit the conception, argued above, that at the nexus between A and Z, i.e. at synapse A Z, and similarly between B and Z, i.e. at synapse B Z, there exists a surface of separation, a membrane in the physical sense, a further consequence seems inferable. Suppose a number of different neurones A, B, C, &c., each conducting through its own synapse upon a neurone Z. The synapses A Z, B Z, C Z, &c. are all surfaces or membranes into which Z enters as a factor common to them all. ”

“ To these characters it may be added that reproduction is effected by some form of fission, or division of the body into smaller portions, and that in the vast majority of Protozoa, if not in all, a process of conjugation or syngamy occurs at some period in the life-cycle, the essential feature of the process being fusion of nuclear matter from distinct individuals. ”

“ Adjacent counterfolds may appear to be coalesced in many instances. Coalescence is more likely to be seen in species where a wider variation in the number of the counterfolds is involved and it appears as a gradient in the reduction of the number of counterfolds. ”

“ Thus it will be seen that each cylinder begins its revolution from identical positions and at the same instant, and as the clockwork of both receiver and transmitter are duplicates, approximate synchronism is maintained during a revolution. ”

“ But this phenomenon, while it brings about a certain departure from complete symmetry, is still compatible with, and coexistent with, many of the phenomena which we have seen to be associated with surface-tension. The symmetry of tensions still leaves the cell a solid of revolution, and its surface is still a surface of equi­lib­rium. The fluid pressure within the cylinder still causes the film or membrane which caps its ends to be of a spherical form. ”

“ These genera are Simsia, Conospermum, and Synaphea, all of which are most truly syngenesious; for not only do their antheræ firmly cohere together, but the corresponding lobes of these being, when considered separately, entirely open, are so applied to each other as to form but one cell, without a trace of any intermediate membrane. In Simsia the four antheræ are perfect, each consisting, as in the rest of the order, of two lobes, and therefore the whole before bursting constitute four cells. ”

“ The current most highly regarded specific conception of the synapse is largely due to and has been best described by Eccles (5) : “ ... the synaptic connections between nerve cells are the only functional connections of any significance. These synapses are of two types, excitatory and inhibitory, the former type tending to make nerve cells discharge impulses, the other to suppress the discharge. There is now convincing evidence that in vertebrate synapses each type operates through specific chemical transmitter substances ...”. ”

“ As regards the actual mechanical division of the cell into two halves, we shall see presently that, in certain cases, such as that of a long cylindrical filament, surface-tension, and what is known as the principle of “minimal area,” go a long way to explain the mechanical process of division; and in all cells whatsoever, the process of division must somehow be explained as the result of a conflict between surface-tension and its opposing forces. But in such a case as our spherical cell, it is not very easy to see what physical cause is at work to disturb its equi­lib­rium and its integrity. ”

“ Manifestly, if two or more kinds of units contained in any aggregate, are united by powerful affinities, an incident force, failing to destroy their cohesions, will not cause such various re-arrangements as it would, could it produce new chemical combinations as well as new mechanical adjustments. On the other hand, chemical affinities that are easily overcome, must be favourable to multiplied re-arrangements of the units. ”

“ They do not touch one another at all and there is no trace of an ectosome or dermal cortex, and hence there are no true inhalant canals, and the water circulates without interruption between the chambers. In the genus Sycon (fig. 14) the walls of adjacent chambers come into contact with one another and fuse together and thus give rise to more or less well-defined inhalant “inter-canals.” The chambers themselves may branch, and in some species of Sycon a thin, pore-bearing dermal membrane connects together their distal extremities and covers over the entrances to the inhalant canals. ”

“ Each additional convolution, like each additional cell, adds its electro-motive force to that of all the others; and though it also adds its resistance, thereby diminishing the quantity of current contributed by each convolution, the integrated current becomes endowed with the power of leaping across the successive spaces necessary for the production of a series of lights in its course. ”

“ During the exchange, the atoms were considered to be free molecules, charged with electricity—essentially ions,—capable of moving under the influence of electrical forces and of thus carrying a current. Finally, such ions were supposed, in part, to escape recombination, and to remain free, until each ion either collided and combined with an ion of opposite charge, or collided with a molecule and displaced an atom of the same charge from that molecule, a new ion being thus liberated. ”

“ A very delicate connective tissue, called the synovial membrane, lines the capsules of the joints, and covers the ligaments connected with them. It secretes the synovia, or joint oil, a thick and glairy fluid, like the white of a raw egg, which thoroughly lubricates the inner surfaces of the joints. Thus the friction and heat developed by movement are reduced, and every part of a joint is enabled to act smoothly. ”

“ Fig. 2,570.—Westinghouse rotary type of synchroscope or synchronism indicator. The indication is by means of a pointer which assumes at every instant a position corresponding to the phase angle between the pressures of the busbars and the incoming machine, and therefore rotates when the incoming machine is not in synchronism. The direction of rotation indicates whether the machine be fast or slow, and the speed of rotation depends on the difference in frequency. The pointer is continuously visible, during both the dark and light periods of the synchronizing lamps. ”

“ Give the tube the bend necessary to constitute a syphon, and open the two branches. The soldering of the two tubes is facilitated by giving to the extremity of the little tube a bend which adapts it to be applied parallel to the large tube. When the syphon is desired to be well finished, the mouth-piece of the little tube must be bordered and widened, and a bulb must be blown near the mouth-piece.
Syphon with Jet of Water.—This instrument is represented by pl. 3, fig. 1. Take a tube of a large diameter, close it at one end, and draw it out at the other. ”