One further experiment may here be mentioned. Having split open
the paralyzed bell of Sarsia along the whole of one side from base
to apex of the cone, I suspended the now sheet-like mass of tissue
by one corner in the air, leaving the rest of the sheet to hang
vertically downwards. By means of a rack-work support I now lowered
the sheet of tissue, till one portion of it dipped into a beaker
filled with a solution of glycerine of appropriate strength. After
allowing this portion to soak in the solution of glycerine until it
became slightly opalescent, I dropped the entire mutilated bell, or
sheet of tissue, into another beaker containing sea-water. If the
exposure to the glycerine solution had been of sufficient duration, I
invariably found that in the normal sea-water the rhythmic movements
were performed by the whole tissue-mass quite as efficiently as was
the case in my other experiments, where the whole tissue-mass, and
not merely a portion, had been submitted to the influence of the
irritant. But on now suddenly snipping off the opalescent portion
of the tissue-mass, _i.e._ the portion which had been previously
alone submitted to the influence of the irritant, all movement in
the remainder of the tissue-mass instantly ceased. This experiment
I performed repeatedly, sometimes exposing a large and sometimes a
small portion of the tissue to the influence of the irritant. As I
invariably obtained the same result, there can be no doubt that in
the case of chemical stimulation the artificial rhythm depends for
its manifestation on the presence of a constant stimulus, and is not
merely some kind of obscure fluttering motion which, having been
started by a stimulus, is afterwards kept up independently of any
stimulus.
Such being the case, I naturally expected that if I were to supply
a constant stimulus of a thermal kind, I should also obtain the
phenomena of artificial rhythm. In this, however, my expectations
have not been realized. With no species of Medusa on of artificial
rhythm by immersing the paralyzed animals in heated water. I can only
explain this fact by supposing that the stimulus which is supplied
by the heated medium is of too uniform a character over the whole
extent of the excitable tissues; it would seem that in order to
produce artificial rhythm there must be a differential intensity of
stimulation in different parts of the responding tissue, for no doubt
even the excitatory influence of acidulated water is not of nearly so
uniform an intensity over the whole of the tissue-area as is that of
heated water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account