34 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



I may briefly refer in conclusion to the results already 

 obtained from the comparative study of the excised hearts 

 of fish, frogs, reptiles, birds and mammals. As regards 

 the movements of the heart, they are usually stated to be 

 those of pulsation alone, but we have now to add progression 

 and what I have ventured to call rhythmic quivering. This 

 consists of a feeble quivering movement, after the regular 

 visible beating has ceased, and which may last for a consider- 

 able time. 



The following Table (II) gives the movements of pulsation 

 and progression of excised hearts in the five classes of 

 verebrate animals, with the maximum result obtained in 

 each case : — 



Table IT. 



In frog, snake, and kitten, chloroform was used as the 

 means of death, so that these results are strictly comparable. 

 Such investigations have evidently important bearings on all 

 questions relating to the heart, and the nature of its action 

 even within the living body. Incidentally, too, they throw 

 important light on the effects of chloroform u})on tlie heart's 

 action. They show that when the breath is out of the body, 

 the heart may be still beating away and capable of consider- 

 able exertion. 



