AND ITS MODE OF ACTION. 397 



were subjected to a similar violence. The electricity produced by 

 these animals, accordingly, is not supplied by the nerves, but by a 

 special generating organ, the action of which is regulated by nerv- 

 ous influence. 



Moreover, the experiments of Longet and Matteucci 1 have shown 

 that no electrical current is to be detected in a living nerve, even 

 when in a state of activity. The electrical phenomenon, when it 

 exists, is only a secondary effect, and is not the active force residing 

 in the nervous tissue. This force is special in its nature, and is 

 regulated by laws peculiar to itself. 



1 Longet, Traito de Physiologic. Paris, 1850, vol. ii. p. 130. 



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