The intensity of the minimum current required to produce a contraction for each point should be noted, and compared with the effect of a similar current on the opposite side of the body. The reaction of degeneration of the faradic current consists in no contraction at all being elicited, even when a very strong current is employed. If there be unilateral wrist-drop in the left hand, consisting of loss of power of the extensor communis digitorum on that side, no movement of the muscle is produced at all when the electrode is placed across the motor points of the muscle. These are situated to the outer side of the arm when the dorsum of the hand is uppermost, about 1¹⁄₂ to 2 inches below the olecranon. The same quantity of current, when applied to the unaffected muscle on the opposite side, produces a brisk reaction. Having observed the effect with the faradic current, and the results having been recorded, the continuous current is used, and the electrodes made use of in an exactly similar fashion. When a small electrode is used, the superficial nerves and muscles are more stimulated than those lying deeply. It is necessary, therefore, to begin with a small current and gradually increase it until the individual muscle responds. The strength of the current employed is registered by means of a milliampèremeter. With the continuous current quantitative as well as qualitative alterations may be determined, and with the quantitative change of the galvanic current the muscular excitability is increased, contraction following the application of a weaker current than is necessary to produce it in health or in the sound muscle on the other side of the body. With the qualitative change, the contraction is no longer sharp, but sluggish. The anodal closing contraction is elicited with a weaker current than kathodal closing contraction, so that ACC>KCC. The quantitative change depends partly on the nutrition of the muscle; the qualitative change depends on the fact that the nerve no longer regulates the character of the contraction, and also to a small extent is the result of changes in the muscle itself. In a complete reaction of degeneration in an affected muscle, reaction to the faradic current is absent, contraction to the galvanic current is sluggish, and is produced with a smaller current in the anode than the kathode.[A] [A] The kathode, or negative electrode, is attached to the zinc rod; the anode, or positive electrode, to the copper or carbon. As the nerve lesion passes away, the voluntary contraction generally begins to return before the nerves show any reaction to electrical stimulus. The following three cases in which the electrical reactions of the muscles were determined, give examples of typical cases of lead paresis. In No. 3, owing to the fact that the case was treated immediately the paralysis occurred, complete recovery had taken place, and, as will be seen, the electrical reactions have again become normal.