42 



THE PHYSIOLOGY OF MUSCLE AND NERVE. 



traction of this character is described as a complete tetanus. If, 

 however, the rate of stimulation is not sufficiently rapid the mus- 

 cle will relax more or less after each stimulus and its recorded 



Fig. 19. Analysis of tetanus. Experiment made upon the gastrocnemius muscle of a 

 frog to show that by increasing the rate of stimulation the contractions, at first separate 

 (1), fuse more and more through a series of incomplete tetani (2, 3, 4) into a complete tetanus 

 (5) in which there is no indication, so far as the record goes, of a separate effect for each 

 Stimulus. 



curve, therefore, will present the appearance shown in 1, 2, 3, and 

 4 of Fig. 19. A tetanus of this character is described as an incom- 

 plete tetanus. It is obvious that according to the rate of stimu- 



