On animal electricity : being an abstract of the discoveries of Emil Du Bois-Reymond / edited by H. Bence Jones.

Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On animal electricity : being an abstract of the discoveries of Emil Du Bois-Reymond / edited by H. Bence Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    CHAPTER XXVI. BEHAVIOUR OF THE NERVOUS CURRENT ON TETANISING THE NERVES. If a series of currents of short duration be passed in the same direction through the excited portion of a nerve, lying on the platinum ends, fig. 43, the derived portion still shows that posi- tive and negative phase of the electrotonic state which was spoken of in the last chapter. If an interrupting wheel be included in the circuit of the exciting current, variations will still occur in the same direction on turning the wheel, as occurred when the current was continuous; and this will be the case however short the time may be during which the circuit is closed. The interrupting wheel used by du Bois-Re3rmond was so constructed that he could make the period of each closure of the circuit equal to '001 of a second, while the time of interruption between two closures of the circuit was about nineteen times longer. As the phases of the electrotonic