Literary Notices. 



205 



the nerve stands in direct relation to the rapidity of the process of con- 

 traction in the muscle." In the light of this possible relation between 

 the rapidity of muscle contraction and that of nerve transmission the 

 author is led to suggest that "a similar relation may exist between the 

 processes of conduction in the secretory nerves and the processes of 

 secretion in the glands. The rate of the nervous impulse would thus 

 constitute a measure of the relative rapidity of the metabolic process 

 in muscle and gland." As evidence of this relationship the following 

 table seems worthy of reproduction : 



Comparison between the contraction-time of the muscle and the rate of 

 propagation of the impulse in the nerve. 



' Carlson. Archiv filr die gfsammte Phvsiolo^ie, ci, p. 23, 1904. 

 ' Fredericq and Vandevelde. Bulletins de /' Academic Royale du Belgique. 

 ^ Jenkins and Carlson. American Journal of Physiology, viii, p. 251, 1903. 



E. M. Y. 



Carlson, A. J. Beitrage zur Physiologic der Nervensystems der Schlangen. 

 Pfliiger^s Archiv, Bd. loi, pp. 23-51, 1904. 



This paper is a report of an experimental study of the physiology 

 of the snake. Its results include (i) certain functional indications of 

 the nature and courses of the nerve tracts in the cord, (2) the deter- 

 mination of the rate of nerve impulse, it being in the cord 16 m. peV 



