FUNCTIONAL INERTIA 



hotter atmosphere does not all at once respire with 

 greater frequency, nor after return to the normal 

 temperature does the dyspnoea cease immediately." 

 Here Professor Mosso most clearly describes first 

 the anabolic and then the katabolic or post-stimulant 

 inertia, and I would have included this example 

 in the next chapter which deals more in detail with 



FIG. 10. First and third lines: records t)f the post- tetanic tremor 

 of frog's gastrocnemius muscle stimulated through the sciatic 

 nerve average periodicity 5 to 7 per second. Middle line : time 

 in half-seconds. 



such phenomena, did I not here desire to show that 

 the idea of inertia of the respiratory centre has 

 received the sanction of high authority. I need not 

 say that, as Mosso's book was published in 1904, I did 

 not obtain any assistance from it when writing my 

 first paper. 



Another type of rhythm is that of the post-tetanic 

 tremor which I have lately investigated. 



This is seen in muscles completely tetanised until 

 fatigue sets in, when often quite suddenly the muscle 

 breaks off into a tremor of relatively slow periodicity, 

 4 to 6 a second. This tremor I have called post- 



