Everard Home Quote

The nerves have been hitherto considered as chords that have no powers of contraction within themselves, but only serving as a medium, by means of which the influence of the brain may be communicated to the muscles, and the impressions made upon the different parts of the body conveyed to the brain.

On the Irritability of Nerves, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1801 (p. 1)