A course of practical instruction in elementary biology / by T. H. Huxley, assisted by H. N. Martin.

  • Martin H. Newell (Henry Newell), 1848-1896.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A course of practical instruction in elementary biology / by T. H. Huxley, assisted by H. N. Martin. 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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    cut the muscles of the limb will contract: whether or not, however, they will contract violently while the interrupted current is going through the nerve. [If an induction-coil is not at hand a hit of clean copper wire twisted round a strip of zinc, with the points of contact moistened with dilute acetic acid, may he used to stimulate the nerve; smart tapping or pinching with a pair of forceps will also excite it, hut by such means the nerve is soon killed.] The above experiments shew :— c. That the muscle is irritable and contractile: cer- tain external agencies (stimuli) excite some change in it, the result of which is a muscular contraction. d. The nerve is irritable: certain external agencies excite some change in it, which in this particular case manifests itself by a contraction of the muscles connected with the nerve. e. The nerve possesses conductivity: although it is stimulated at some distance from the muscles, yet the change excited by the stimulus travels along it to them. M. 17