Carbon Dioxide From Nerve Fibres 



117 



expect at the outset that if ether had no direct affect on the respira- 

 tory process, as some physiologists believe, then the negative results 

 would not at all interfere with my contention. The fact is, however, 

 that either an isolated nerve directly treated with ether vapor or 

 urathane, or the nerve isolated from a deeply anaesthetized frog gave 

 a much less quantity of CO% than the normal nerve isolated from a 

 normal frog whose heart has been cut away for a period of time equal 

 to that of etherization. Anaesthetics, then, diminish CO 2 production 

 from an isolated nerve fibre. These experiments are being continued 

 quantitatively. 



CO 2 Production of Isolated Nerve at Successive Time Intervals. 

 It was also thought that if CO 2 production was due to bacterial 

 decomposition, although it is highly improbable for such a fresh 

 tissue, we may expect that either killing by steam or treating with 



TABLE IV 



SHOWING DECREASED CO 2 PRODUCTION BY LONG-STANDING (FROG'S SCIATIC) 

 123 4 



1 The gradual increase at this point should be noted (after 26 hours, it is clear that 

 bacterial decomposition sets in). 



ether would check the C0 2 production, and that the results observed 

 above may not necessarily prove that C0 2 production from the isolated 

 nerve fibre is due to a respiratory process. Hence a number of the 

 nerves were isolated from several frogs of the same size and sex, and 



