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stimulimore about stimuli

stimuli

 

  1  definition  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Stimulus  \Stim"u*lus\,  n.;  pl  {Stimuli}.  [L.,  for  stigmulus, 
  akin  to  L.  instigare  to  stimulate.  See  {Instigare},  {Stick}, 
  v.  t.] 
  1.  A  goad;  hence  something  that  rouses  the  mind  or  spirits; 
  an  incentive;  as  the  hope  of  gain  is  a  powerful  stimulus 
  to  labor  and  action 
 
  2.  That  which  excites  or  produces  a  temporary  increase  of 
  vital  action  either  in  the  whole  organism  or  in  any  of 
  its  parts  especially  (Physiol.),  any  substance  or  agent 
  capable  of  evoking  the  activity  of  a  nerve  or  irritable 
  muscle,  or  capable  of  producing  an  impression  upon  a 
  sensory  organ  or  more  particularly  upon  its  specific  end 
  organ. 
 
  Note:  Of  the  stimuli  applied  to  the  sensory  apparatus, 
  physiologists  distinguish  two  kinds:  a  {Homologous 
  stimuli},  which  act  only  upon  the  end  organ,  and  for 
  whose  action  the  sense  organs  are  especially  adapted, 
  as  the  rods  and  cones  of  the  retina  for  the  vibrations 
  of  the  either  b  {Heterologous  stimuli},  which  are 
  mechanical,  chemical,  electrical,  etc.,  and  act  upon 
  the  nervous  elements  of  the  sensory  apparatus  along 
  their  entire  course,  producing,  for  example,  the  flash 
  of  light  beheld  when  the  eye  is  struck.  --Landois  & 
  Stirling.




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