On the nature of inhibition, and the action of drugs upon it / by T. Lauder Brunton.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature of inhibition, and the action of drugs upon it / by T. Lauder Brunton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    4] 'i i i i as it ceases, however, the last half-wave which runs along B will have no corresponding portion of a wave along A :o interfere with, and will therefore create a single fluctuation at the point of concourse P.” It is obvious that if everything else remains the same, he effect which the waves have upon each other at p will oe altered if the rate at which they travel is increased or iiminished. The more the speed is increased the less effect com- | paratively will the greater length of B have in retarding the ii>^ave which flows along it, so that its crest will no longer aoincide with the trough or sinus of the waves in A, but vanil, on the contrary, coincide more nearly with the crest | of one of the waves in A. The more the speed is diminished, the more will the i vave in B lag behind that in A, so that its crest, instead fjf coinciding with the trough between two crests of. the . vaves from A, will gradually come to coincide with the :rest succeeding the trough, and thus double its magni- ude instead of destroying it. We see, then, that under the conditions we have sup- posed either increase or diminution in the rapidity of heir transmission may convert the interference of waves nto more or less complete coincidence, and the effect of he two waves may thus be doubled instead of neutralised py their superposition. The alteration which is produced in the mutual effect of two waves by increase or diminution of their rate of : ransmission along channels of constant length supplies is, I think, with a test by which we may ascertain the ruth of the hypothesis that inhibitory phenomena in the animal body are due to interference. For if it be true ve ought to find that a nerve which produces inhibitory ' phenomena when excited under normal conditions will