ON MUSCULAR POWER AND CONTRACTION. 521 



Epd on the Lifting-iooivev of Muscle. 

 Experiment XLVIII. 



The lifting-power of a frog's gastrocnemius which had been 

 ])laced in a ^^-^ sobition of casca was compared with that of a 

 similar preparation placed in salt solution, by attaching the one 

 muscle as quickly as possible after the other to an apparatus for 

 estimating their lifting-power connected with a revolving drum. 

 The irritations were made with electrodes connected with a 

 Leclanche's battery. 



The results of our first experiments appeared to show that 

 the drug possesses a stimulating action on the lifting-power of 

 muscle ; but on repeating the experiment this result was not 

 confirmed— the conclusion we drew from the whole series of 

 experiments being that muscles which had been immersed in 

 casca and salt solution respectively possessed nearly the same 

 lifting power. 



Effect on Muscle-curves, 

 Experiments XLIX, L. 



Two frogs were injected with casca, and when they seemed 

 dead, nerve-muscle preparations were made of the gastrocnemii. 

 In Experiment XLIX the preparation was attached to a Tick's 

 pendulum myograph, and a tracing taken. In Experiment L the 

 nerve-muscle was made to trace on a revolving cylinder : the 

 curves obtained in these experiments are evidently normal. 



In Experiment LI the action on the sensibility to electrical 

 stimuli of muscle and motor nerves was tried, also with com- 

 pletely negative results, by making two nerve-muscle prepara- 

 tions of a frog's gastrocnemii, and immersing one in casca 

 solution, the other in salt solution. The sensibility of the two 

 preparations was then tested by various strengths of a Du Bois 

 Eeymond's coil connected with a Leclanche's battery. The two 

 muscles responded quite similarly. 



Remarks on the Action of Casca on Muscle. 



1. When applied to fresh muscular fibre no change is observed 

 in its histological details. 



