Patellar Reflex. 47 



relaxation on the part of the subject, who previously may have stiffened 

 the body somewhat preparatory to receiving the heavier blow on the 

 tendon, which usually caused in his case a violent reflex. 



A', 30 grams and 50 grams, tend to show results which are opposed to 

 those for the amplitudes of the first reflex. The opposition is most 

 clearly marked in periods 2, 3, and 4, with the reflexes from 30-?ram 

 stimuli. Whether this tendency is an alcohol effect, an individual pecu- 

 liarity, or a normal phenomenon can not be determined with certainty, 

 as there are insufficient normal data for refractory-phase phenomena 

 on this and other subjects with which the alcohol data may be com- 

 pared. The original records for the second series of patellar reflexes 

 with Subject VI show frequent instances in which an extraordinarily 

 large A was followed by a diminished A', or vice versa, within any one 

 set of records. The effect of alcohol as shown in percentile difference 

 by Dodge and Benedict 1 for Subject VI is L, +0.3; A, +13; L' (illegi- 

 ble); A', +173. Since the former investigators used experimental 

 sessions 3 hours in length, while those here described were approximately 

 5 hours in length, an average for periods 2, 3, and 4 will most nearly 

 compare with the previous results in point of time following the alcohol 

 dose. The effect of alcohol as shown by an average of the percentile 

 differences for these periods is therefore as follows: 



30 grams, L, +2.6 A, -16.1 L', +4.5 A', +17.0 



50 grams, L, +1.0 A, - 3.2 I/, +1.7 A', -37.5 



It might be supposed that the earlier results for L were influenced in 

 part by the use of two intensities of stimulation, i. e., 30 grams on the 

 normal day and 50 grams on the alcohol day. 2 However, the statement 

 that the 50-gram hammer was used for Subject VI on October 14, 1913, 

 is incorrect, as the original records show that 30-gram hammers were 

 employed on this day. All of the Dodge and Benedict records for this 

 subject are therefore entirely comparable as to stimulus intensity. The 

 two series of experiments yield results which for the 30-gram stimulus are 

 partially in agreement; the L values have the same sign (+) and are 

 both small, the A' values have the same sign and are both large; those 

 for A are of about equal size and opposed in sign, and those for 1/ in the 

 former series were illegible because the contraction was too slight. The 

 30 c.c. of alcohol affects but little the patellar reflex latencies of Subject 

 VI. The percentage effects reported by Dodge and Benedict in their 

 summary table for all their subjects are usually very much higher, 

 partly because they include the effects of dose B (45 c.c. of alcohol) ; 

 but Subject VI showed a smaller effect of alcohol on the latency than 

 any of the others in the normal group; the two series of experiments 

 confirm this as an individual tendency. The results for the two series 

 on A' are again peculiar, but confirm each other. 



1 See Dodge and Benedict's report, p. 54, table 3. 



2 See Dodge and Benedict's report, p. 50, table 2. 



