LECT. IX. LIEBIG'S HYPOTHESIS UNTENABLE. 189 



plain the muscular current by saying that it is due to the 

 combination of the acid with the alkali of the blood. But 

 it is obvious that, on this hypothesis, the laws of the mus- 

 cular current which we have given, cannot be understood. 

 Weak acid and alkaline solutions are Found in the tissues 

 of animals where there is no electrical current. [The 

 muscular current, whose direction from the interior to the 

 surface of the muscle is constant, whose intensity and du- 

 ration varies in a constant manner in mammals, birds, rep- 

 tiles, &c., and which is destroyed by sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen, and by want of respiration, does not admit of so vague 

 an explanation, and one so little founded in fact.*] 



* The passage within brackets is a translation from a notice by Mat- 

 tcucci in the Comptes Rendus, March 15, 1847. J. P. 



