LECT. XIV. XV. is ELECTRICITY EVOLVED? 269 



a definite, not appreciable, deviation. I renewed the in- 

 terior of the muscle and recomposed the pile ; but the 

 result did not vary. In this case, also, the conducting 

 power had not changed. Consequently, acid and alkaline 

 solutions acted, as I had found water to act when at a high 

 temperature. 



I made another experiment of this kind, which I relate 

 merely to show you that it accords perfectly with those 

 before mentioned. Sixteen half-thighs were left for some 

 seconds in water at -f 50 centig. [ = 122 Fahr.]. These 

 elements were then withdrawn from the water, washed in 

 cold water, and formed into a pile, the circuit of which I 

 completed, and obtained 12 at the first deviation, in the 

 direction of the muscular current, and afterwards the needle 

 stopped at 0. The pile was re-formed, the internal surfaces 

 of the muscles renewed, and the signs of the current were 

 exactly the same as those which I had at first obtained. In 

 this 'case, also, I am convinced that the conducting power 

 was not sensibly modified by the action of the warm water. 



I may add, also, that the muscular current is not dimi- 

 nished by repeatedly washing the muscles in pure water, at 

 the ordinary temperature. I have many times observed the 

 same deviation, sometimes a trifle stronger, sometimes a 

 trifle weaker, by means of a pile of a certain number of 

 elements, or halves of thighs, washed or not washed in pure 

 water. 



This experiment confutes Liebig's hypothesis relative to 

 the muscular current. 



A very concentrated solution of common salt, into which 

 the muscular elements are plunged for a few seconds, equally 

 diminishes, in a very perceptible manner, the signs of the 

 current. Thus, whilst sixteen ordinary elements give a 

 first deviation which may amount to 90, and a definite one 

 of 20 to 22, we obtain, on the contrary, if the elements 



