40 PHYSIOLOGY: A. G. MAYER 
Line No. 2 shows the beginning of a nerve impulse wherein the ad- 
sorbed cations of particle A have combined with some anions to form an 
ion-proteid, thus neutralizing their positive charges and unmasking the 
negative charge of the colloidal particle. As a result other cations from 
the surrounding fluid (sea-water) are at once attracted and captured by 
the particle. 
70 
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Kate of -nerve 
^X"> 
X^-m^'^'* 
n 
e 
3 
f» 
«»• 
e 
9 
^X ^ 
X 
X^ vVi 
Ccncenti'ation of 
Cations Na.Caand 
X 
> 
K in sea water. 
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FIG. 2 
In Line No. 3 the reaction has passed on to particle B and its negative 
charge is unmasked, and thus the negative charge passes through the 
nerve at the rate of nerve conduction until each particle has lost its 
original cations, and then recaptured others from the surrounding fluid 
as in Lines 2-7, Line 7 representing the resting nerve after the reaction 
