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 XXXI. CONCLUSIONS. Fkom du Bois-Reymond's researches, as far as they are yet published, the following conclu- sions may be drawn :— 1. The muscles and nerves, including the brain and the spinal cord, are endowed during life with an electromotive power. 2. This electromotive power acts according to a definite law, which is the same in the nerves and muscles, and may be briefly stated as the law of the antagonism of the longitudinal and transverse section. The longitudinal surface being positive, and the transverse section negative. 3. As the nerves have no natural transverse section, their electromotive power, when they are in a state of rest, cannot be made apparent unless they have previously been divided. 4. The muscles having two natural transverse sections may show their electromotive power, without being divided. However, the electro-