EFFECTS OF ELECTRICAL WAVES 495 



as long as the distance between the copper wires in the glass 

 tube is great; that is to say, as long as the resistance is great. 

 If the ends of the copper wire are brought close together, so 

 that the resistance between them becomes small, the effects 

 cease. In this case we also deal with the production of a 

 difference in potential which brings about a separation of 

 the ions in the muscle preparations, which leads to the 

 passage of a current through the nerve when the difference 

 in potential dissappears. But the oscillatory nature of the 

 disappearance of the difference in potential has nothing to 

 do with the physiological effect, since the discharge of the 

 Ruhmkorff coil is not oscillatory when it is closed through 

 the tube of water. 



The third series of experiments of Danilewsky deal with 

 unipolar stimulation. One pole of the Ruhmkorff coil is 

 connected with the earth, the other with a metallic plate. 

 This experiment differs from the two other methods given 

 above only in this, that the one pole has a potential of zero, 

 while the other has a potential twice as high as that in the 

 other experiments. In regard to the absence of actual 

 oscillations this experiment is similar to the other two. But 

 I would especially emphasize that my previous experiments 

 are in themselves sufficient to show that the oscillatory 

 nature of the discharge of a Ruhmkorff coil (where this 

 property is actually present) does not bring about the physi- 

 ological effect upon the nerve; but that this effect is deter- 

 mined only through the (single) disappearance of a charge. 

 These things have, therefore, nothing to do with electrical 

 waves. 



It is perhaps necessary to touch upon the possible prac- 

 tical application of these experiments in medicine. Dani- 

 lewsky makes suspicious suggestions in this direction. I 

 scarcely believe that we can expect much of a practical 

 application of these experiments. For one can easily con- 



