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deviation, but there is an evident state of contraction in all the 

 paralysed muscles, particularly around the lips.* 



When one of the facial nerves is divided on a dog, on 

 a cat, or on a guinea pig, there is generally no deviation 

 on either side. But very frequently there are convulsive move- 

 ments, and sometimes rhythmical contractions, in the para- 

 lyzed side of the face. One of these two kinds of movements 

 always exists in young cats. They are increased, or produced 

 when they do not exist, in dogs and guinea-pigs, almost every 

 time we prevent the animal from breathing freely. Once, on a 

 very vigorous guinea pig, upon which one of the facial nerves 

 had been torn away, I saw alternate contractions and relaxa- 

 tions taking place, without a relapse, for eight or ten days after 

 the operation in the paralysed muscles. After that time, these 

 tremblings appeared only when the circulation and the respira- 

 tion were rendered very active, or when the respiration was pre- 

 vented or diminished. In the case of an impaired respiration, 

 the strength and frequency of these movements were in propor- 

 tion to the degree of asphyxia. During many months, the same 

 phenomena existed in this animal. 



I ought to say that in all the experiments above related, the 

 nerve could not have any share in the movements, because, 

 the fifth day after the division, or after the extirpation of a 

 portion of it, the peripheric part had entirely lost its vital 

 property. 



In man, as Dugs justly remarks, as long as there is no 

 attempt at movement, voluntary or emotional, the face remains 

 without any deviation, in cases of facial hemiplegia, which have 

 not lasted a long time. 



2. On spontaneous rhythmical or irregular contractions in 

 muscles of animal life, after death It is a very important fact 

 in connection with the theory of the action of the heart, as I 

 will try to prove hereafter, that other muscles, and particularly 

 muscles of animal life, are capable of having rhythmical move- 

 ments. This fact I have discovered in the following cases : 



a. After the division of the nerves of the ischiatic and lumbar 



* Dr. Martin-Magron and myself have found that death occurs from inani- 

 tion in all the species of mammals on which we have divided the two facial 

 nerves. After the operation they cannot swallow : we do not know why. 



