quality:correction, structural:expansion
1856 On the minute structure of involuntary muscle fibre

Lister's third paper was published in 1858 in the same journal and was read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 1 December 1856. It was research into the histology and function of the minute structures of involuntary muscle fibres. The experiment was conducted in the autumn of 1856, and was designed to confirm Kölliker's observations on the structure of individual muscle fibres. Kölliker description had been criticised as he had used needles to separate the tissue, to observe the individual cells, so his critics stated that he had observed artefacts for the experiment rather than the real muscle cells. Lister proved conclusively that the muscle fibres of blood vessels, described by Lister as slightly flattened elongated elements, were similar to those found by Kölliker in pig intestine, but were wrapped spirally and individually, around the innermost membrane. He stated that the different variations in shape, from long tubular bodies with pointed ends and elongated nuclei to short "spindles" with squat nuclei, were due to different phases of the contraction. During "The Huxley Lecture" he stated he could not imagine a more efficient mechanism being used to constrict these vessels.