Irritability

The term irritability (also irritability or excitability ; from Latin irritabilis ) describes the ability of the living body to respond to external influences. It was coined by Francis Glisson (1597–1677) and further specified by Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777).

Glisson understood it to be a natural excitability that can be demonstrated in the muscle fibers in particular . Von Haller defined the term as the ability of the muscle to respond to stimuli or the ability to shorten it and differentiated it from sensitivity as a sensation and stimulus conduction phenomenon of the nerves .

Glisson already integrated the term into a physiological concept of life and is therefore considered an early forerunner of the "theory of irritability", which was mainly influenced by Albrecht von Haller. Accordingly, “irritability” and “sensitivity” are, so to speak, “implanted” phenomena of living things ( vires insitae, innatae ).

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• Wolfgang Eckart: History of Medicine. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg 1990, ISBN 3-540-51982-3 .
• Urs Boschung : irritability, irritability. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 681 f.