198 SECONDARY ELECTROMOTIVE PHENOMENA IN 



Matteucci in 1860, four years later than I and without mentioning 

 me, described similar phenomena as if he had discovered them, and 

 laid claim on the same occasion to the discovery of internal negative 

 polarisation of nerves also. 



Like me, he terms the actions 'secondary-electromotive.' His 

 methods of investigation certainly do not resemble mine. He lays 

 the two ends of a nerve first on the platinum electrode of a battery of 

 from two to eight cells composed of zinc, carbon, and salt-water ele- 

 ments, passes the current through, from two seconds to three minutes, 

 and then transfers the nerve to the multiplier pads. Negative polar- 

 isation is then found in the intrapolar tract, but positive in the 

 two extrapolar tracts, and stronger in the one bordering on the 

 kathode. These experiments were made not only with nerves 

 of frogs, but also and by preference with those of warm-blooded 

 animals, sheep, rabbits, and fowls. Negative polarisability was 

 found to persist for several hours after the loss of vital properties. 

 It was destroyed only by boiling temperature and compression. 

 Matteucci attributes secondary electromotive action to the acids 

 and alkalies set free at the platinum electrodes 1 . 



In a second communication, however, he alters his expressions 

 in many ways in a manner peculiar to himself, without saying 

 whether the first were mistaken or not. Now, the nerves were 

 * in most cases ' not brought directly into contact with platinum 

 electrodes, but passed through strips of woollen stuff steeped in 

 spring water. The batteries were of 8 to 10 Groves, and the 

 time of closure amounted to 25-30 minutes. He no longer speaks 

 of polarisation of the extrapolar tracts, but now states that 

 the part of the intrapolar tract adjoining the anode has a greater 

 negative secondary electromotive force than that adjoining the 

 kathode, and that the difference between them is greater when the 

 current ascends than when it descends in the nerve. He professes 

 to have convinced himself of this by opposing the two sections to 

 one another in the same circuit. This kind of action he ascribes to 

 contamination of the nerves with ions. Between the terminal 

 portions of the nerves having an electro-chemical action of this 

 kind, he seems to distinguish a middle portion, every point of 

 which has a negative secondary electromotive action even after 

 very short closure of the current 2 . 



1 Comptes rendus etc., 27 FeVrier, 1860, vol. 1. p. 412; Archives des Sciences 

 physiques et naturelles, Fe*vrier, 1860, vol. vii. p. 173. 



2 Comptes rendus etc., vol. lii. 1861, n FeVrier, p. 231 ; 13 Mai, p. 954. 



