1887.] 



and its Relation to Putrefaction. 



447 



Nevertheless, when both the brain and spinal cord had been de- 

 stroyed, the spasm was sufficiently strong to pass directly into rigor, 

 showing that however much the peripheral nerves were concerned, 

 " cataleptic rigor " was possible without the central nervous system. 



It has always been extremely difficult to account for partial cata- 

 leptic rigors, such as sometimes occur in the battlefield from gunshot 

 wounds. It has been supposed by Falk and others that these obscure 

 rigors result from injury of the spinal cord. I had no difficulty in 

 producing partial rigors in fish, e.g., when one electrode was intro- 

 duced into the brain of a fish, and another into the muscles half along 

 the lateral line, the anterior half of the fish was thrown into strong 

 rigor, from which there was no recovery, while the rest of the fish 

 remained quite limp for five hours after death. Before the posterior 

 half of the fish had become stiff, the rigor had all but disappeared 

 from the anterior half ; the posterior half remaining rigid for nearly 

 twelve hours. In the same way, in a fish in which the brain and 

 spinal cord had been destroyed, the posterior half could be thrown 

 into rigor which almost vanished before the anterior half became rigid. 

 Hence we may suppose that in partial rigor a strong tetanic spasm 

 has been produced directly influencing the muscles, or by injury of 

 the nerves or the nerve-centres by which a particular group of muscles 

 is controlled. I may mention that in several instances the electric 

 current was seen to flash along the surface of the skin, and that when 

 this happened there was often marked pigmentation of the one side, 

 while the other remained pale, and further the muscles under the 

 darkened skin were often quite rigid, while those under the unaltered 

 skin remained for a time elastic and extensible. 



The influence of Faradaic currents and of often repeated continuous 

 currents was very marked. A trout, e.g., in which after death first 

 the brain and afterwards the spinal cord were stimulated, was thrown 

 into spasms which became weaker and weaker until, 10 minutes after 

 death, no response was obtained. In this case the rigor set in 20 

 minutes after death, and 20 minutes later it had extended to the 

 caudal muscles. The appearance and nature of the rigor were 

 always directly related to the previous exhaustion produced in the 

 muscles. 



The effect of animal electricity seems to correspond to that of 

 ordinary electricity, except that in fish killed by electricity from 

 electric organs the rigor seems later in setting in. For example, in 

 two small roach killed by the electric eel (Gymnotus electricus) in the 

 insect house of the Zoological Gardens, London, on the 21st March, 

 and kept under observation in water at a temperature of 45° F., no 

 distinct rigor had set in twelve hours afterwards.* Two roach killed 

 on March 31st about 5 p.m., after receiving numerous weak shocks 



* I am indebted to Mr. Romanes for making this observation. 

 VOL. XLII. 2 K 



