Ö57 



26 JaniKiry. Both hiiid-logs arc hanging in stiffened extension- and 

 abdnclion-porfilion (25 Jan. nol controlled). 

 26 January. 5 p.m. Rigor mortis has ceased. 



Vill. 26 Jamiary. 9.45. The Rr. communicantes are cut through. 



jO a. m. Frog hung in the damp case, after the heart has been bound up. 



1 p. m. All joints still supple. 



6 p. m. Left shoulder and elbow stiffened, sliglit rigor mortis in left hip. 



9 p. m. Lett hind-leg completely stiffened in tense position with expanded 

 webs. 



Right shoulder and elbow also stifT, liut less so than left ones. Right hip 

 still' in flexed-position, but right knee and foot are still supple. 



So I have made a series of 20 experiments in wliich I ahways 

 found retardation of rigor, mortis on that side wliere I had cut tlii'ough 

 the Rr. oommnnicantcs. The |)rocess of rigor mortis is conse(|neiilly 

 accelerated, when the muscles are connected with the- central ner- 

 vous system by means of the efferent autonomic nerve-tracks. In 

 the first operation, which was performed at i-oomtemperature the 

 ojierated side stiffened at least 7 hours after the not operated one. 

 But also in experiments that I made at a temperature of over 30° 

 Celsius, the difference was even 1 or 2 hours. The experiments men- 

 tioned hero were made on individuals of Ivaua esculeuta. 1 made 

 also some experiments on Rana tem[)oraria, iu which the pi'ocessof 

 rigor mortis went off quickei-. In my opinion the reason of this is 

 to be found in the iniuMi iJiiiiner limits by which the rclatioii be- 

 tween \oluiue and surface of the muscles becomes less favourable. 

 Hereby the mortification-process and the process of rigor mortis is 

 evidently promoled. The same difference between the operated and 

 the not operated side I observed here likewise. In all my ex|)cri- 

 ments it struck me immediately thai of the fore-legs the shoulder, and 

 of the liind-legs the hip sliffens lirst. 'i'lic knee however was now 

 stiff before the fool, now the reverse took place. With slight devia- 

 tions this occm-red thus according lo the law of Nystfa. 



Further iu all my experiments the flexors stiffened first and after- 

 wards the tensors. No excejition was made in this respect for the hind- 

 legs, so that at the end of each experiment the hind-legs were in 

 a tense position. Fui-ther 1 must |)oint out that in all my experi- 

 ments the rigor mortis was accompanied by a shortening of the 

 muscles, first rigor mortis and shortening of the flexors, then of the 

 tensors. 



Hi'iHMANN, who first |)roved that the process of rigor mortis was 

 accelerated under Ihe influence of the central nervous System, took 

 rigor mortis for a last contraction of the muscles. Because, as I have 



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