This assumption is contradicted, however, by the fact that subsequently to the disappearance of the response at a point situated at the _greatest distance_ from the place of exit, an effect of stimulation can be obtained at the _nearest_ point to the exit with the same or even less strength of the current. As the irritability in the affected stretch is reduced at all points in equal measure, the fact of a weaker stimulus becoming inoperative whilst a stronger remains effective can only be attributed to the circumstance that the wave of excitation set free at some point of the influenced stretch by a weaker stimulus is sooner obliterated on its way to the muscle than that produced at the same point by a stronger stimulus. These experiments, in which the manifestations of the nerves in response to stimuli applied centrally above the chamber in the normal stretch are compared to those in response to a stimulus acting on the affected stretch, clearly demonstrate the totally different effect in both cases. In stimulation of the centrally situated normal stretch, the wave of excitation, which enters from here into the influenced stretch, is obliterated at the same point simultaneously for the weakest as well as for the strongest stimulus; stimulation of the affected stretch, the wave of excitation which is set free at one point by a weak stimulus, is obliterated sooner and after passing through a shorter stretch than that which is produced by a stronger stimulus. It is self-evident that in the first instance, in which the stimulus acts on the centrally situated normal stretch, the wave of excitation, thereby set free, must in passing through the affected stretch undergo a decrement of its intensity. If, therefore, the wave of excitation, coming from above, is obliterated exactly at the same point, whether brought about by weak or strong stimuli, the inevitable conclusion must be drawn that, whether either a weak or a strong stimulus is operative, the wave of excitation must have entered into the influenced stretch from the normal stretch with exactly the same intensity. In other words: the weakest as well as the strongest stimuli produce excitations of equal intensity in the normal nerve, that is, the “_all or none law_” is _valid for the nerve_.