58 ANIMAL MECHANISM. 



instant (f\ and the electricity of its discharges was collected 

 by means of conducting wires which scut it to the nerve of 

 the//-"// siijiml. This would give its shock at the point (<). 



Fio. 12. Mrnur of tlio tinio wtv'ch elapses between the excitation of 



thu electric; nuive, and the discharge of the torpedo. 



The difference (g t] would express the time consumed by 

 the torpedo between the excitation of its nerve and the dis- 

 charge. By varying the experiment, as we have done for the 

 motive nerves (page 43), we obtain the measure of the 

 rapidity of the electric nervous agent, and that of the lost time 

 in the torpedo apparatus.* 



Finally, in order to measure the duration of the electrical 

 action, we had recourse to a method which consists in col- 

 lecting this discharge during a very short time (l-100th of a 

 second) to send it to the frog sii/nal, and varying gradually the 

 instant at which the electricity of the torpedo was collected. 

 It was thus ascertained that starting from the point (/.) one 

 might, during 1 -1-lOOthsof a second, obtain a series of signals 

 from the frog t', t", t'" , t"" , but that beyond that time the 

 frog gave no signals, thus proving that the discharge had 

 terminated. 



\Ve have not been able to follow out farther the compari- 

 son "T Hie electric with the muscular action; but, according 

 to the result, already furnished by experiment, we can foresee 



' Deprived iif appropriate apparatus, we have Leon olili^od to construct 

 for oursehi > a kind <if registering instnimriit which should measure short 

 intT\.ils "if time with snlliciciit precision. We refer the reader, for the 

 i< il .!iT:iii'_'etiieiit ,,f the experiments, to the " Journal de r.-matomie et dc 

 li phvMi'lo^ic," I...', cit. Fi^. 1'J represents tracings which one would 

 i.lil.iin with tin 1 re-i>ti iin;_' instruments already known. 



