190 Scientific Intelligence.— Physiology. 
lions had become unequal and very weak ; they revived, how» 
ever, when the heart was irritated by pinching it. A mechani- 
cal irritation made upon a branch of the great sympathetic, ac- 
celerated a little the motion of the heart, but only for a minute 
at most; the motion itself, however, continued for a long time, 
only decreasing in intensity. A puncture made in the trans- 
verse muscle of the abdomen of the same body occasioned strong 
convulsions, especially in the lower extremities, and yet the 
nerves had not been immediately irritated. A mechanical irri- 
tation made at the lower part of the spinal marrow caused vio- 
lent contractions in the muscles of the trunk, as well as in those 
of the neck, particularly those of the upper part, at the place 
of the section (which had already been frequently remarked). 
On irritating the upper part of the spinal marrow of another 
head, convulsive motions were produced in the muscles of the 
face, and there resulted a movement of the tongue and sur- 
rounding muscles. In the third body, a motion was remarked 
in the lower part of the trachea which remained attached to the 
trunk : this motion was accompanied with a sort of hissing, an 
effect caused, without doubt, by the convulsive contractions of 
the muscles which had been cut. Similar motions took place 
in all the others. The head of the last decapitated was trans- 
ported to the theatre, which, on account of the distance, occa- 
sioned the loss of an hour. Here, our first care was to try the 
duration of the galvanic irritation upon the different muscles of 
the head. The elevator-muscle of the upper eyelid, and the 
superior oblique muscle no longer contracted ; but the frontal 
muscles, the orbicularis palpebrarum, masseter, digastric, &c. 
still continued to contract. The contractions ceased first in the 
masseter muscle ; they were prolonged in the buccinator. Two 
hours after execution, it had entirely ceased in all the muscles, 
and it could not be excited on moistening them anew. In ano- 
ther head, cut off twenty minutes at least before the preceding, 
the galvanic irritation caused the depressor commissurae labia- 
rum, the orbicularis palpebrarum, and masseter, to contract ; 
this latter always much longer than the others. Two hours 
and three quarters after decajiitation, the muscles of this head 
appeared to have lost all irritability. Before concluding our 
