Ml 



kfUSCLK 



MUSCLE. 



The dried muscular flech of the ox has been analysed by Playfair 

 and Bockmann, and found to be identical in iU composition with dried 

 blood: 



Flesh (Beef). 

 I'Ujfair. Buckmann. 

 Carbon . 61*83 61*89 



Hydrogen . 7'59 



Nitrogen , 15-01 15-05 



Oxygen . 21*37 21-24 

 Ashea . 4-23 423 



Ox-Blood. 

 Flayfair. Buckmann. 

 61-96 

 7-38 

 15-08 

 21-21 

 4-42 



7-17 

 15-07 

 1:1 N 



4-42 



100-01 100-00 100-00 100-00 



Deducting the ashea or inorganic matter, the composition of the 

 organic part is 



Carbon . . 54-12 51-18 54-19 54*20 



Hydrogen . . 7*89 7-93 7'48 7'65 



Nitrogen . . 15*67 1571 1572 1573 



Oxygen . . 22'32 22'18 22'31 22-12 



100-00 10-000 99-70 9970 

 Which corresponds to the formula C,,, H.^, N , 0,,. 



In 100 parts of the ashes yielded by the incineration of ox-flesh, 

 Enderliu found 



Soluble Salts. 



Tribasic Phosphate of Soda (3 N. 0, P O s ) . 45-100 1 Q1 .... 

 Chlorides of Sodium and Potassium . . 45*936 / 



Insoluble Salts. 



Phosphates of Lime, Magnesia, and Peroxide of Iron 6*840 

 Loss 2-124 



100-000 



The following analyses of the flesh of other animals have been made 

 by Schlossberger . 



The analyses of Schultz correspond in many points with those of 

 Schloasberger. In calves' flesh Schultz found a little more animal 

 fibre than Schlossberger : in the flesh of a pig four weeks old Schultz 

 found 21-1 ptrU of muscular fibre and 3'45 of albumen and haemato- 

 globulin; and in the flesh of a pig two years and a half old he found 

 20*3 parts of the former and 4-2 of the latter. Schultz also found 

 that the amount of muscular fibre was leas in the flesh of Fishes than 

 in that of the Mammalia; thus in the flesh of C'ifprinui natut and 

 C. barlnu, the proportions of fibre were 13'5 and 17*18 respectively. 



A series of experiments were performed by Helmholtz, on the con- 

 ram ption of tissue during muscular action. 



Powerful muscular contractions were induced by passing an electric 

 current through the amputated leg of a frog as long as convulsions 

 continued to be manifested. The flesh of the two legs was then analysed. 

 The albumen was apparently scarcely affected, the mean of six experi- 

 ment* giving 2-108 of albumen in the electrised, and 2-138 in the non- 

 electrised flesh. With regard to the extractive matters, it appeared 

 that in all the experiment*), without a single exception, the water 

 extract in the electrised flesh was diminished, while on the other hand the 

 spirit- and alcohol-extract* were increased by that process. The amount 

 of fat was unaffected. No urea could be found in the alcohol extract 



There is a great difficulty in performing experiments of this nature 

 on warm-blooded animals, in consequence of the rapidity with which 

 isolated portions of muscle lose their irritability. The best results 

 were obtained with decapitated pigeons : 



Albumen . 



Water-Extract 



.Spirit-Extract 



a. In electrised *. In non-elcctrUcd 



MuKlc. Muscle. 



. . 2-04 . . . 2-18 . . 

 . 0*64 . . . 0-73 . . 

 .. 1-68 ... 1-68 . . 



0-88 

 1-06 



It remains to be considered whether the fibrin takes part in this 

 competition : a priori we should infer that it did, for the protein- 



.! . g 



com oiinds seem universally the conductors of the highest vital energies ; 

 anil further, the increased amount of sulphates and phosphates in the 

 urine after muscular exertion indicates a decomposition of the sulphur 

 and phosphorous compound*. 



The above facts sufficiently show that muscular action is always 

 accompanied by a chemical change in the composition of the acting 

 muscle. (Simon, ' Animal Chemistry,' translated for Sydenham Society 

 by Dr. Day.) 



The following account of the development of muscular tissue is 

 given by Kulliker in his ' Manual of Human Histology ': 



" The rudiments of the muscles consist originally of the same 

 formative cells as those of which the rest of the body of the embryo 

 is constituted ; and it is not till afterwards that the muscle-', tendons, 

 &.C., are gradually developed by a histological differentiation. In man 

 the muscles are not evident before the end of the second month; at 

 first however they cannot be detected by the unaided eye : they are 

 soft, pale, gelatinous, and not to be distinguished from their tendons, 

 la the tenth and twelfth week they are more distinct, especially in 

 specimens preserved in alcohol ; and at this time the tendons also 

 may be distinguished as somewhat clearer but at the same time 

 transparent streaks. 



" In the fourth month both the muscles and tendons are still more 

 distinct, the former being on the trunk of a light reddish colour, the 

 latter more transparent and grayish, both retaining a soft consistence. 

 From this period both textures acquire more and more of the con- 

 figuration which they afterwards retain, so that at the maturity of 

 the embryo excepting that the muscles are still softer and paler, and 

 the tendons more vascular and less white they no longer present any 

 difference worth notice. 



"With respect to their intimate conditions, the primitive fasciculi, in 

 the embryo, at the end of the second month, present the aspect of 

 elongated bands O'OOl'" to 0-002'" broad, with nodular enlargements 

 at different points, at which places are situated elongated nuclei ; the 

 bands exhibit either a homogeneous or finely-granular aspect, and 

 but rarely an extremely faint indication of transverse striatiou. In 

 their further development, these primitive muscular fasciculi, which, 

 as comparative histology teaches, originate in cells arranged in a linear 

 series, continue to increase in breadth and length, and their contents, 

 the original cell-contents, ore developed into the muscular fibrils. In 

 the fourth month they measure for the most part 0-0028'" O'OOS'", 

 some even 0-006'", whilst others do not exceed 0-0016"' and 0-002'". 

 The larger ones are still always flattened, but of uniform width, and 

 also considerably thicker than before, mostly with evident longitu- 

 dinal and transverse stria:, and even witji fibrils, which admit of being 

 isolated. It is partially evident even in a longitudinal view, but still 

 better in a transverse section, that in many cases the fibrils do not 

 occupy the entire thickness of the primitive tube, but that they are 

 deposited around its periphery ; the interior being as yet filled with 

 a homogeneous substance as at first, and which now appears like a 

 canal within the fibrils. All the primitive tubules possess a sarco- 

 lemma, which on the application of acetic acid or soda appears as a 

 very delicate membrane, which by the imbibition of water may occa- 

 sionally be raised from the fibrils. The tubes moreover, as at first, 

 present nuclei lying close upon the sarcolemma, and which frequently 

 cause rounded elevations on the surface of the tube, and may be 

 observed actively engaged in the process of multiplication. They are 

 all vesicular, roundish, or elongated, with very distinct, simple, or 

 double nucleoli, measuring 0'0004"' O'OOOS'", and frequently with 

 two secondary cells in the interior. They are much more numerous 

 than previously, and most frequently disposed in pairs closely approxi- 

 mated ; but often also in groups of three or four, or even six, either 

 contiguous or arranged serially. From this period to that of birth no 

 further important change takes place in the muscular fasciculi, except 

 an increase in their size. In the new-born infant they measure 

 0-0056'" 0-0063'", are solid, rounded, polygonal, longitudinally or 

 transversely striated, according to circumstances, as in the adult, 

 with very long isolated fibrils, and no longer any appearance of 

 nuclei 



" From what has been remarked, it is clear that the sarcolemma 

 represents the sum of the membranes of the coalesced cells, and that 

 the nuclei of the youngest fasciculi are the original cell-nuclei, whose 

 descendants ore represented in the nuclei of the older fibres, which 

 have multiplied by an endogenous process. The muscular fibrils are 

 the altered contents of the original tubes, become solid ; they appear, 

 demonstrably in many instances, to be formed on the inner surface of 

 the sarcolemma, from without to within, but in other cases probably 

 in the whole of the tube at once. 



" The growth of the entire muscle is chiefly to be referred to the 

 increase, both longitudinal and in thickness, of the primitive fasciculi ; 

 and the rudiments of all the future primitive fasciculi appear to bo 

 formed probably even as early as the original rudiments of the muscle 

 itself in every case at the middle period of f octal life. In the embryo, 

 at the fourth or fifth month, they are perhaps five times as thick as in 

 one at two months ; in the new-born infant they measure for the most 

 part twice, occasionally even three and four times as much as in the 

 fourth and fifth month, and in the adult their size is perhaps five 

 time* greater than in the new-born child. The number of fibrils 

 must necessarily increase in proportion to the size of the fasciculus, 

 because, according to Harting, they are but little thicker in the adult 

 than in the fcctus." 



The development of the tendons takes place subsequently to that 

 of the muscular fibre, and in no case previously. It is not till the end 



