MuscuuarR TWITCHINGS 765 
kations. In view of the fact that thus far no explanation 
has been found for pathological phenomena of this kind, it 
becomes of some importance to see whether or not in certain 
of these diseases the relative amount of calcium ions in the 
blood is diminished. If this should be the case, the adminis- 
tration of calcium would be the cure for these diseases, which 
thus far have been beyond medical control. It is also 
apparent from our experiments that for the suppression of 
neurogenic twitchings or contractions more calcium may 
possibly be required than for the suppression of myogenic 
twitchings. There has thus far been no clue as to the origin 
of hypersensitiveness or hyperalgesia of the skin. Our ex- 
periments show that slight variations in the proportion of 
certain ions in the skin can cause an enormous hypersensi- 
tiveness. 
As far as the theoretical side of the paper is concerned, 
it was our aim to test the idea whether or not the “stimulat- 
ing” and inhibiting effects of ions are an unequivocal func- 
tion of their electrical charge or valency. Over a year ago 
I tested the same idea without being able to obtain positive 
results, and nothing was said about the subject in the paper 
in which the results were published." The test was con- 
tinued in the above-mentioned experiments, with results _ 
which, in my opinion, are equally questionable, if not alto- 
gether negative. 
1Part II, p. 692. 
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