Influence of Corpus luteuui Extracts upon Phiin Miisclf 



3 



also generally neutral. It will be referred to as extract of dried corpus 

 luteuin. 



Method of Recording the Contractions of the Uteris. 



The method which 1 iiave used for recordini: the contractions is 

 a modification of that used by Magnus (G) in his investigations into the 

 movements of the plain muscular tissue of the alimentary canal. The 

 method has since been applied to the uterus (cat, dog, rabbit, and man) 

 by Kehrer (7) and others. The following are the details of the method 

 as employed by me: — A glass tube, 10 cm. long and r25 cm. internal 



J f 



9 



S^ 



^ 



Fig, 1. — Diagram of tube for immersion of excised tissue in Ringer's fluid 

 and for replacement of this fluid by extracts. 



diameter, corked at the bottom and open at the top, serves to hold the 

 tissue under investiofation. Two side tubes which are fused in the main 

 tube serve as inlet and outlet respectively for the fluid in which the uterus 

 is to be immersed. The shape and relative position of these tubes are 

 showm in the accompanying figure (fig. 1). The outlet tube is somewhat 

 larger in diameter than the inlet. By means of a finely drawn glass tube, 

 which was allowed to dip from above into the main vessel, oxygen was 

 supplied in fine bubbles to the immersion fluid. 



The piece of tissue taken (usually from 1 to 1-5 cm. long) was fixed at 

 the lower end to a hooked wire passed through the cork. The upper end 

 of the tissue was attached by a fine thread to a recording lever of the first 

 kind arranged to write upon a vertical drum moved by an electromotor at 

 a slow rate, a time-tracing in minutes being always recorded underneath 

 the myographic curve. The whole apparatus was immersed nearly to the 

 open upper end of the main tube in a glass beaker filled with warm water,, 



