:08:00
Neither do we intend them
to carry out our contraction of muscles.
:08:04
Yet, as you can see, they work by themselves.
:08:07
But what if we block the nerve impulse
by simply applying local pressure,
:08:11
which can be done
with any ordinary metal clamp
:08:14
just at the swelling
on the posterior nerve roots
:08:19
for, say... five or six seconds?
:08:28
Why, you mother-grabbing bastard.
:08:31
As you can see,
all communication is shut off.
:08:37
In spite of our mechanical magnificence,
:08:41
if it were not for this continuous stream
of motor impulses,
:08:46
we would collapse
:08:48
like a bunch of broccoli.
:08:56
In conclusion, it should be noted...
:08:59
- Give him an extra dollar.
- Extra dollar. Yes, sir.
:09:02
..that any more than common injury
:09:05
to the nerve root is always serious.
:09:08
Because once a nerve fibre is severed,
:09:11
there is no way, in heaven or on earth,
:09:15
to regenerate life back into it.
:09:18
Are there any last questions before we leave?
:09:21
Dr Frank...
:09:23
- Fronkonsteen...
- Yes?
:09:26
Isn't it true that Darwin preserved
a piece of vermicelli in a glass case
:09:30
until, by some extraordinary means,
:09:32
it actually began to move
with a voluntary motion?
:09:36
Are you speaking of the worm
or the spaghetti?
:09:41
Why, the worm, sir.
:09:43
Yes. It seems to me I did read something
of that incident when I was a student.
:09:48
But you have to remember that a worm,
with very few exceptions,
:09:51
is not a human being.
:09:55
But wasn't that the basis
of your grandfather's work, sir?
:09:58
The reanimation of dead tissue?