THE ELECTRICAL RESPONSE OF MUSCLE TO VOLUNTARY, 

 REFLEX, AND ARTIFICIAL STIMULATION. By Florence 

 Buchanan. (From the University Museum, Oxford.) 



{Received for publication May 29, 1908.) 



CONTENTS. 



I. Introduction : The question at issue ..... 



II. The Two Kinds of Rhythm exhibited in Capillary Electrometer 



Records of the Reflex Response of Frog's Muscle in 



Strychnine Spasm : 

 Experiments in which the temperature of the recording muscle alone 



was varied .....-• 



Experiments in which the temperature of the spinal cord alone was 



varied ......•• 



Conclusions to be drawn from the.se experiments as to the nature 



of the stimulus immediately provoking the response 



III. The Rhythm exhibited in Capillary Electrometer Records of the 



Response of Muscle to Voluntary Effort in Man : 

 Methods of obtaining, and of testing the significance of, the effect 

 Attempts to alter the effect by varying . . . • • 



(a) The contacts ......•• 



(b) The recording muscle ...... 



(c) The voluntary effort .....•• 



IV. Contrast between Capillary Electrometer Records of the Volun- 



tary Response in Man and that of the same Muscle to 

 Artificial Excitation of its Nerve by a Series of In- 

 duction Shocks of a Frequency of about 50 per second . 



V. Conclusions to be drawn from the foregoing Experiments and 



further Experiments which favour these Conclusions : 

 The special advantages possessed l)y a quick capillary electrometer for 

 the investigation of relative differences of potential of small but 

 unknown amount, recurring with an unknown fre(i^uency 

 Evidence that the rhythm observed in voluntarily contracting muscle 

 has its origin in the muscle ..... 



Futility of the objections to such a view .... 



The fact that the frequency is not altered by the strength of the 

 stimulus . . . . . . • • 



Differences of rhythm obtaining in the responses of different 

 muscles in man, have their counterpart in those obtaining in 

 different muscles of the frog, subjected to cerUun kinds of 

 artificial, as well as to reflex, stimulation. Suggestion as to 

 the significance of these dirterences 



VI. The Reflex Electrical Response in Max 

 VII. Summary .....-•• 



VIII. Note on the Effect on the Electrocardiogram of Man of the 

 Contraction of Voluntary Muscles . 

 IX. Note on the Misuse of the Word "Rhythm" . 



AddenduxM ......•• 



References ..... • • 



VOL. L, NO. 3. — 1908. 15 



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