322 THE SO-CALLED SECONDARY ELECTROMOTIVE 



with the vitality of the tissue, whilst the first negative phase, our 

 polarisation-current, occurs in dead tissues so long as their structure 

 is not destroyed. The unproductive speculations of du Bois-Rey- 

 mond connected with these relations are thus very simply settled. 



Finally, the most convincing proof lies in the fact, quite over- 

 looked by du Bois-Reymond, and now established by myself, that 

 the intrapolar + phase of muscle is connected in the most pro- 

 nounced manner with neighbourhood to the anode, whilst there 

 is no trace of the phase there. It is obvious that the in- 

 difference-point, even with the strongest currents, does not move 

 so far towards the kathode in muscle as in nerve ; so also the 

 spreading of polarisation and the electrotonic currents do not 

 extend so far in muscle as in nerve. 



It is therefore not to be wondered at, as has been already remarked, 

 that the + phase in nerve should appear equally well in all parts 

 of the intrapolar region, since with currents of the strength used 

 in these experiments the indifference-point is brought, as Pfliiger 

 has shown, quite close up to the kathode \ 



This is the place to mention a set of experiments which I have 

 conducted on consideration of the fact that Ritter's tetanus is pro- 

 duced even by currents of moderate strength when these are kept 

 closed for some time, half an hour for instance. In such a way I 

 hoped to be able to bring out the 4- intrapolar phase with weak 

 currents (one zinc carbon cell). The nerve was left attached to the 

 leg so that the breaking tetanus might be present as a control. But 

 after half-an-hour's ^ closure a very strong and abnormally long - 

 deflection was all that appeared during the violent breaking tetanus ; 

 that is to say, the long closure had developed polarisation of a much 

 more marked and more slowly vanishing character than would 

 otherwise have been the case, so that this fully compensated the 

 current of action. This experiment however shows the interesting 

 result that Hitter* t tetanus is connected with a polarisation of the 

 nerve which remains for a long time after the Ireak. 



The above statements also disfavour the theory of the breaking 

 excitation recently set forth by Tigerstedt and Griitzner 2 , which, 

 after reading Griitzner's detailed work 3 , I hold to be erroneous. 

 We - see after the short closure of a strong current, the intrapolar 

 current of action immediately appearing ; that is to say, the 



See previous remarks upon electrotonic spread. 



' S('t> mv rvrovinna romorlra IT* T*fli*i<TMM * AivVi\r ' yol XXXI D OO 



. 



3 See my previous remarks in Pfliiger, ' Archiv,' 

 3 Pflflger, 'Archiv/ vol. xxxii. p. 357. 



