90 PHYSIOLOGY OF MUSCLES AM) NERVES, 



itself, mid that this cna^ulal ion repiv-eiit- the e-seutiaJ 

 'act in ilcath-st itVening. 



Death-stiffening intervenes. as \\v found, earlier 

 in ]ii-oj)orlion a- tin- tcmj). -rat ure is higher. Kxactly 

 the same is the case in expressed muscle-thud. If it 

 is heated to a temperature of 45 C. it coagulates 

 in a fe\v minutes, becoming acid at the same time. 

 Muscles also, if they are heated to a temperature of 



45 C., undergo death-stiffening in a few minutes. If 



they are still further heated, up to or above a temj e- 

 rature of 73 C., they contract into shapeless lump-, 

 become quite hard and white, and exhibit a firm solid 

 tissue re-emblin^ the white of eggs when cooked. 

 lY'iin this it may be inferred that, besides the matter 

 which coagulates during the death-stiffening, other 

 soluble albuminous bodies are also present in muscle, 

 ami that these act as ordinary albumen as it occurs in 

 blood and in e^gs ; for the latter also coagulates when 

 heated to 73 C. It therefore appears t hat various kinds 

 of albumen occur in muscle. That which coagulates 

 at 45, or, though somewhat more slowly, in the or- 

 dinary temperature of a room, is called myo.-in. It 

 mav be assumed that this albuminous body is natu- 

 rally soluble, but that it is rendered in>oluhle by tin- 

 acids occurring \\ithin the mu-cle. Death-stiffening 

 would accordingly be the result of the formation of 

 acid. Our knowledge on this point K however, yet 



very incomplete, and mu>t remain so until chemistry 



ha- afforded more full explanation of the nature of 

 albuminous boilies. 



