28 Froceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



was now recorded, or 81 in 10 minutes, ranging from as 

 low as 5 beats per minute, when there were relatively long 

 pauses, up to 11 in a minute. The movement was less 

 regular without, than with the pericardium, and this is in 

 keeping witli what we know of the steadying action of the 

 pericardium and its contained fluid. 



The heart was next excised about 6 hours after death 

 (exactly at 8.39 p.m., or 84 minutes after the body was 

 opened up). The auricles alone contracted for the first minute, 

 then the ventricle began, but at a much slower rate than the 

 auricles. Hence the ventricle and auricles did not contract 

 in unison, but independently. The ventricle contracted at 

 first at an average rate of 4| times per minute, or 22 times 

 in 5 minutes, while the auricles in the succeeding 5 minutes 

 contracted 92 times, or on an average of 18| times per 

 minute. During the same period, the ventricle only 

 contracted 18 times, or about one-fifth as often. The 

 ventricle gradually began to beat at distant intervals, 

 sometimes even of ten minutes, and finally ended with three 

 beats at intervals of 1 , ] , and J minutes respectively. The 

 ventricular contraction entirely ceased 23^ minutes after 

 excision. Meanwhile, the two auricles continued to beat as 

 near as may be together, but the left auricle ceased about 

 the same time as the ventricle. The right auricle still 

 continued beating steadily at a rate of 8 beats per minute, 

 then it gradually became enfeebled, and ceased to beat about 

 85 minutes after the left auricle. 



Thus the ventricle and left auricle beat for about 0^ hours 

 after somatic death, and the right auricle for about 7 hours, 

 and almost exactly one hour after excision of the heart. 

 For purposes of comparison, however, we will reckon the 

 excised heart as a whole, and the pulsations would then 

 cease with the ventricle, or 28| minutes after excision. 

 Both ventricle and auricles reacted to stimulation, such as 

 the prick of a pin after spontaneous beating had ceased. 

 The ventricle was found to do so for over 45 minutes, and 

 the right auricle for about 15 minutes. The temperature of 

 the room was pretty constant throughout at 19° C., and the 

 heart was simply laid out on a moistened plate. 



The second and much smaller snake, measuring only 16 

 inches, was killed with chloroform. The effect of the 

 chloroform was, that the snake coiled itself up and i-emained 

 perfectly motionless, all but the tip of the tail. This 

 moved to and fro for about 1 minutes, then quivered only, 



