Pulse and Respiration. 117 



attention and quick response in reaction experiments would be asso- 

 ciated with a pulse rate slower than the average resting pulse recorded. 

 It will be seen that the faster pulse in period 1 (pre-alcohol) is in con- 

 formity with the results found for the same period with finger-movement 

 pulse, and post-tetanus pulse, i. e., in all three cases the pre-alcohol 

 pulse is faster than that before the control dose. It is probably not an 

 accident that all these represent conditions where the subject was more 

 active than in Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 and the pre-tetanus period. The 

 resting pulse preceding patellar reflex gives an average alcohol effect of 

 -7.9, which is relatively small, and particularly so if compared with the 

 average of —16.8 for resting after the patellar reflex. Pulse record 

 No. 1 was of course the very first record taken in each period. Previous 

 to it the subject had been moving about more or less; in period 2 the dose 

 for the day immediately preceded this record. 



The average percentile effects of alcohol upon the pulse in the several 

 experimental conditions for periods 2 to 6, inclusive, are given in table 

 21 as -10.6, -10.0, -12.9, -8.5, and -17.8, with a total average for 

 all conditions and all periods of — 11.9 per cent (decrease in duration of 

 cycle length and increase in rate). The pulse-duration averages pre- 

 viously discussed and the differences summarized in table 21 therefore 

 agree in showing a faster pulse after alcohol. 



There still remain for consideration the pulse records 8 and 9, which 

 were taken at the time of the finger movements. These were not 

 usually 15 seconds long, but were regulated by the finger-movement 

 records, which were about 10 seconds in length. 



A peculiarity exists in the pulse during the finger movements which 

 may be seen in the illustrative records shown in figure 11, E and F, page 

 96. The electrical waves are decidedly reduced in amplitude and in 

 some instances seem to be dropped out, particularly the P and T waves. 

 Approximately one-third, that is 20, of the finger-movement pulse 

 records show this phenomena in more or less marked degree. These 

 records are well distributed throughout the various days, as there were 

 three or four on each day except on June 30. In considering this diffi- 

 culty it may be called to mind that the subject in performing the finger- 

 movement measurements tended to lean forward somewhat during the 

 exercise. Since the pulse line shows no great irregularities, as would be 

 expected were the electrodes out of contact with the body a part of the 

 time, it seems that the only explanation of this phenomenon which is at 

 all satisfactory is that a change in the position of the body produced a 

 change in the electrical axis of the heart, so that at times there was no 

 voltage across the string galvanometer. Curves E and F in figure 11, 

 as well as others that might be shown, indicate that the condition was 

 also dependent in part upon the phase of respiration, as the electrical 

 waves disappear in the pulse cycles during the moments at the height 

 of inspiration. 



