138 Galvanie Eocperiments 



as strong a? they had been when excited by the stunukis 

 of the pile: thev continued till fourteen minutes^ though 

 those of the diaphragm had ceased, 



I then removed the left luns; to uncover the thoracic aorta, 

 and at seventeen minutes we applied the conductors to the 

 heart and the aorta near the diaphragm : the contractions 

 of the former were very strong, while those of the aorta 

 were such that they approached the heart, where the con- 

 ductor of the negative part was applied. Vassalli-Eandi, 

 Avho measured them with his decimetre, found that the 

 shortening of the aorta was a millimetre. Immediately 

 after, I cut the aorta transversely near its inscrtiou in the 

 diaphragm ; and, having repeated the experiment as above, 

 the shortenino; at twentv-one minutes after decapitation was 

 about two miUimclres. At twenty-four minutes the heart 

 was insulated with a part of the aorta ou a glass plate. A 

 portion oi the aorta a decimetre in length was also insulated 

 on tile same plate v ilh a part of the same length of the sar- 

 torius muscle, while an assistant uncovered the muscular 

 tunic in a determinate place of the small intestines. Every 

 thing was ready at the twenty-sixth minute, and the expe* 

 riments were begun by irritating all these parts with thq 

 point of the scalpel. 



The results were as follow: — 1st, The heart, with the 

 email part of the aorta still attached to it, gave moderate 

 contraptions, while the separated portion made only some 

 faint movements ; but those in the sartorius muscle were 

 very strong. 2d, The conductor of the positive part being 

 applied to the small portion of the aorta still attached to the 

 heart, an^i that of the negative to the apex of the heart, 

 produced movements of systole and diastole niuch stronger 

 in all the four cavities, and even in the continued part of 

 the aorta, which shortened about a millimetre. The sepa- 

 rated portion of this aorta, the two conductors being applied 

 to the two ends, gave contractions, or rather became short- 

 ened about a millimetre. The portion of the sartorius 

 inuscle exhibited a shortening of fifteen millimetres. 



I then applied the conductor of the positive part fo the 

 spinal marrow of the ncck^ and tliat of the negative to the 

 place of the muscular tunic, which had been freed from it.s 

 peritor^cal covering, on which tlie movement qf the intes- 

 tines was peristaltic ; and when the conductor of the nega- 

 tive part was introduced into the anus, the contrary motion 

 took place. Thirtv-four minutes after decapitation the parts 

 were left at rest till the thirty-sixth mimile, and in that m- 

 terva! I uncovered the anterior straiglit muscle of the left leg; 



aftef. 



