TENSIONS IN MUSCLf>rRISMS AND RHOMBI. 



233 



side by side and one behind the other in the regular 

 arrangement which we have assumed, then the Avhole 

 must, as has been shown by calculation, be positive 

 throughout its longitudinal section, negative through- 

 out its cross-sections. Now, sipposing that this whole 

 ao-ofreofation of muscle-elements is surrounded by a 

 thin layer of a conducting substance, then currents 

 such as are represented in fig. 63 must be present 

 within it. These current-curves then accurately corre- 

 spond with that distribution of the tensions which was 

 experimentally shown. The greatest positive tension 



Fig. 63. Diagham of the electric action in an aggregation of 



muscle-elements. 



must prevail in the centre of the longitudinal section ; 

 the greatest negative tension in the centre of the 

 cross section ; and both must decrease in a regular way 

 toward the edges. 



We now take a bundle of muscle-fibies, the ends 

 of which are formed by two artificial straight cross- 

 sections, in other words, a regular muscle-prism. The 

 separate muscle-fibres, which constitute the bundle, 

 are surrounded by sarcolemma, held together and en- 

 veloped by connective tissue. Moreover, the outer- 

 most strata must obviously become subject sooner than 

 the inner to the unfavourable influences of mortifica- 

 tion, which, as we have seen, finally lead to the entire 

 loss of electric qualities ; these outermost strata there- 



