292 Explanation of Inheritance 



capable of being produced and deposited solely by a 

 current of a definite intensity or specificity, and at the 

 same time capable of producing, by its decomposition, 

 this current only, of the same intensity or specificity i is 

 that of the charge. This accumulator, then, will discharge 

 itself and produce this current as often as its nervo-motive 

 force, which we may still call E, is sufficiently great to 

 overcome the respective resistance, according to the 

 equation : E=iR. 



Finally, we can assume that the magnitude of this 

 nervo-motive force, is proportional to the quantity or 

 mass of the substance which has been gradually deposited 

 and accumulated, as if the successive infinitesimal deposits 

 of this substance were innumerable little Ley den jars ar- 

 ranged in serial order. Then the greater the mass of 

 the specific substance of this nervous accumulator the 

 greater in proportion will be the resistance which its dis- 

 charge will be able to overcome. At the same time, this 

 accumulator, capable of surmounting by its current of a 

 fixed intensity i a given resistance R, will be capable also 

 of surmounting every other resistance less great than R ; 

 for to effect that, it will suffice that it be not the total 

 quantity of material at disposal that enters into action, 

 but only a portion more or less large, so as to furnish for 

 each resistance R'<R, the nervo-motor force E'<E, 

 given by the formula : 



E'=iR' 



Suppose now that the discharge of this accumulator 

 on account of the ubication or the mode of its insertion, 

 is able to flow only upon a definite point of a given plexus 

 traversed along its meshes by as many currents of the 

 most diverse specificities capable of combining one with 



