290 



THE SO-CALLED SECONDARY ELECTROMOTIVE 



Quite otherwise is the case in muscle. In many experiments the 

 + after-current was so decidedly favoured by the neighbourhood of 

 the anode as to leave no question of chance : that is to say, the 

 4- phase was, both absolutely and relatively to the phase, markedly 

 stronger in the led-off region near the entry of the polarising 

 current than in the other regions ; and by certain strengths of 

 polarising current it was generally only found in this region. As 

 this relation remained constant with reversal of current, its cause 

 could not be special to the muscle group investigated. (The 

 direction of the current was generally changed after two experi- 

 ments.) Although the majority of experiments showed the above 

 relations, there were some dubious ones ; some in which nothing of 

 the kind was observed, and some which appeared to give opposite 

 results. But one single exception is sufficient to invalidate a law, 

 however distinctly the majority of experiments may indicate it. 



In this embarrassment a circumstance happily came to my mind 

 which has very often been overlooked, namely, the inscriptio tendinea 

 with which, as is well known, the gracilis and semimembranosus of 



