Fig. 117.—Abolition of Response in Nerve, Plant, and Metal by the Action of the same ‘Poison’
Fig. 117.—Abolition of Response in Nerve, Plant, and
Metal by the Action of the same ‘Poison’
The first half in each set shows the normal response, the second half
the abolition of response after the application of the reagent.
Thus living response in all its diverse manifestations is found to be
only a repetition of responses seen in the inorganic. There is in it no
element of mystery or caprice, such as we must admit to be applied in
the assumption of a hypermechanical vital force, acting in
contradiction or defiance of those physical laws that govern the world
of matter. Nowhere in the entire range of these
response-phenomena—inclusive as that is of metals, plants, and
animals—do we detect any breach of continuity. In the study of
processes apparently so complex as those of irritability, we must, of
course, expect to be confronted with many difficulties. But if these are
to be overcome, they, like others, must be faced, and their
investigation patiently pursued, without the postulation of special
forces whose convenient property it is to meet all emergencies in virtue
of their vagueness. If, at least, we are ever to understand the
intricate mechanism of the animal machine, it will be granted that we
must cease to evade the problems it presents by the use of mere phrases
which really explain nothing.
We have seen that amongst the phenomena of response, there is no
necessity for the assumption of vital force. They are, on the contrary,
physico-chemical phenomena, susceptible of a physical inquiry as
definite as any other in inorganic regions.
Physiologists have taught us to read in the response-curves a history of
the influence of various external agencies and conditions on the
phenomenon of life. By these means we are able to trace the gradual
diminution of responsiveness by fatigue, by extremes of heat and cold,
its exaltation by stimulants, the arrest of the life-process by poison.
The investigations which have just been described may possibly carry us
one step further, proving to us that these things are determined, not by
the play of an unknowable and arbitrary vital force, but by the working
of laws that know no change, acting equally and uniformly throughout the
organic and the inorganic worlds.
INDEX
- Action current
- in metal, 88
- in nerve, 8
- in plant, 19
- After-images and their revival, 177
- After-oscillation in photo-sensitive cell, 159, 163
- Anæsthetics, effect on response
- Annealing, effect on response in metal, 101, 138
- Binocular alternation of vision, 175
- Block method, advantages of, 28, 77
- for obtaining response in metal, 82
- for obtaining response in plant, 28
- Chloral, effect on plant response, 75
- Chloroform, effect on
- nerve response, 72
- plant response, 74
- Compensator, 22
- Current of injury in nerve, 7
- Curves, characteristics of response, 3
- Death-point, determination of, in plants, 61, 63
- Depressants, effect on inorganic response, 142
- Depression, response by relative, 87
- Dewar on retinal current, 149
- Diphasic variation
- Dose, effect on
- Electrical recorder, 11
- Electrical response. See Response, electrical
- Electric tapper, 24
- Exaltation, response by relative, 89
- Fatigue,
- absence of, under certain conditions,
- in metal, 120
- in muscle, 39
- in plant, 39
- apparent, with increased frequency of stimulation,
- in metal, 120
- in muscle, 40
- in plant, 40
- diminution of response under strong stimulus due to, in plant, 57
- in metal, 118, 119, 185
- in muscle, 118, 185
- in plant, 20, 185
- rapid, under continuous stimulation
- removal of, by rest in plant, 43
- theory of, in muscle, 38, 185
- Holmgren on retinal current, 149
- Hysteresis, 137
- Injury, current of, in nerve, 7
- Inorganic response. See Metal, electrical response in
- Kuhne on retinal current, 149
- Kunkel on electrical changes by injury or flexion in plant, 14, 70
- Light,
- after-effect of short exposure to,
- on photo-sensitive cell, 171
- on retina, 171
- decline and reversal of response under continuous,
- in photo-sensitive cell, 166
- in retina 166
- effect of temperature on
- response of photo-sensitive cell produced by, 158
- retinal response produced by, 158
- relation between intensity and response to,
- in photo-sensitive cell, 161, 162
- in retina, 162
- response to,
- after-oscillation in photo-sensitive cell, 159, 163
- effect of increasing length of exposure
- in photo-sensitive cell, 159
- in retina, 160
- in frog’s retina, 150, 151, 156, 164, 166
- in photo-sensitive cell, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 165, 166
- McKendrick on retinal response, 149
- Mechanical
- recorder, 3
- response, 1
- stimulus
- by electric tapper, 24
- by spring-tapper, 23
- by vibrator, 24
- conditions of maintaining uniformity of, 26
- means of graduating intensity of, 22, 24, 96
- Metal, electric response in,
- abnormal, 125
- abolition of, by ‘poison,’ 143
- additive effect of superposition of stimulus on, 135
- annealing, effect of, on, 101
- by method of
- depressants, effect of, on, 142
- diphasic, 113, 114, 115, 116, 188
- enhancement of, after continuous stimulation, 127, 128, 186
- fatigue, 118, 119, 120, 121, 185. See also Fatigue
- maximum effect due to superposition of stimuli, 136
- modified, 129
- ‘molecular arrest,’ effect of, by ‘poison’ on, 145
- molecular friction, effect of, on, 108, 109
- prolongation of recovery
- by overstrain, 106
- by ‘poison,’ 145
- relation between, and stimulus, 134, 135
- staircase effect, 122, 186
- stimulant, effect of, on, 141
- temperature, effect of, on, 111
- uniform, 102, 184
- Minchin on photo-electric cell, 165
- Molecular
- ‘arrest’ in metals by ‘poison,’ 145
- friction, 108, 109
- model, 107
- voltaic cell, 99
- Munck on electric response in sensitive plants, 14
- Muscle, fatigue in, 38, 39, 40, 42. See also Fatigue
- prolongation of recovery by ‘poison’ in, 144
- relation between stimulus and response in, 52
- staircase effect in, 122
- stimulus, effect of superposition of, on, 36
- Myograph, 2
- Negative variation, response by method of,
- Nerve,
- current of injury in, 7
- injured and uninjured contacts corresponding to Cu and Zn in voltaic couple, 8
- response in,
- abnormal, when stale, 124, 187
- abolition of, by ‘poison,’ 139, 189
- anæsthetics, effect of, on, 72
- by method of negative variation, 9
- current of action of, 8
- enhancement of, after continuous stimulation, 127
- modified, 128
- relation between, and stimulus, 52
- reversed when stale, 11
- uniform, 184
- Nomenclature, anomalies of present, 9, 85
- Photographic recorder, 11, 22
- Plant
- chamber, 64
- electrical response
- in,
- abnormal, when stale or dying, 48, 187
- abolition of, by high temperature, 32, 64
- additive effect of stimulus on, 37
- anæsthetics, effect of, on, 30, 73, 74, 75
- by method
- of block, 28
- of negative variation, 18, 183
- diphasic, 46
- fatigue, 20, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 57, 185. See also Fatigue
- physiological character, 30
- ‘poison,’ effect of, on, 30, 32, 78, 79
- relation between, and stimulus, 52, 53, 54
- staircase effect, 37, 185
- stimulus,
- effect of single, on, 35
- effect of superposition of, on, 35
- temperature, effect of, on, 32, 59–69
- uniform, 36, 184
- radial E.M. response in, 49
- Poison,
- effect of, on response
- ‘molecular arrest’ in metal by, 145
- prolongation of recovery by action of,
- Record, simultaneous mechanical and electrical, of response, 13
- Recorder,
- electrical, 11
- mechanical, 3
- photographic, 11, 22
- response, 19
- Response-curve,
- characteristics of, 3
- electrical,
- abnormal,
- in metal, 123, 125
- in stale nerve, 11, 123
- in stale or dying plant, 48, 187
- in stale retina, 11, 164
- converted into normal after strong or continuous stimulation
- abolition of,
- by high temperature in plant, 32, 64
- by ‘poison,’
- additive effect of stimulus on,
- in metal, 135
- in plant, 37
- anæsthetics, effect of, on,
- annealing, effect of, on, in metal, 101, 138
- by method of block, 28, 82, 92
- by negative variation, 9, 18, 87, 183
- by relative depression, 87
- by relative exaltation, 89
- conditions for obtaining, 6, 86, 87
- continuous transformation from positive to negative in metal, 115
- decline and reversal of, under continuous light in photo-sensitive cell, 166
- decline and reversal of, under continuous light in retina, 166
- depressants, effect of, on inorganic, 142
- diminution of. See Fatigue
- diphasic
- dose, effect of,
- enhancement of, after continuous stimulation in metal, 127, 128, 186
- enhancement of, after continuous stimulation in nerve, 127, 186
- maximum effect due to superposition of stimulus, 35, 136
- measure of physiological activity, 13
- molecular
- friction, effect of, on, 108, 109
- modification, effect of, on, 11, 48, 123, 125, 129, 164, 187
- physiological character of, in plant, 30
- positive and negative, 11
- prolongation of recovery in, by ‘poison’ in metal, 145
- prolongation of recovery in, by ‘poison’ in muscle, 144
- prolongation of recovery in, from overstrain, 106
- relation between, and stimulus
- in metal, 134, 135
- in muscle, 52
- in nerve, 52
- in plant, 52, 53, 54
- in real and artificial retinæ, 162
- staircase effect,
- stimulant, effect of, on, in metal, 141
- temperature, effect of, on. See Temperature
- threshold of, 135
- to light. See Light
- uniform
- universal applicability of, 12
- mechanical, 1
- retinal. See Light
- simultaneous mechanical and electrical record of, 13
- Retina. See Light
- Sanderson, Burdon-, on electrical response in sensitive plants, 14
- Spring-tapper, mechanical stimulus by, 23
- Staircase effect
- Steiner on retinal response, 149
- Stimuli, maximum effect due to superposition of,
- in metal, 136
- in muscle, 36
- in plant, 36
- Stimulus,
- advantages of vibrational, 25
- and response, relation between,
- in metal, 134, 135
- in muscle, 52
- in nerve, 52
- in plant, 52, 53, 54
- in real and artificial retinæ, 162
- effect of different kinds of, 2
- mechanical,
- by spring-tapper, 24
- conditions for maintaining uniformity of, 26
- means of graduating intensity of, 22, 96
- vibrational, 24, 25, 26
- Temperature,
- death-points in plants, 61, 63
- effect of, on response
- in metal, 111
- in photo-sensitive cell, 158
- in plants, 32, 60–69
- in retina, 158
- increased sensitiveness in plant due to variation of, 66, 67
- Vibrational stimulus, 24, 25, 26
- Vision,
- binocular alternation of, 175
- effect of various conditions on the period of binocular alternation of, 177
- Visual
- images, revival of, 177
- impression, unconscious, 178
- impulse,
- chemical theory of, 148
- electrical theory of, 149
- phantoms, 179
- recurrence, 174
- Vital force, 13
- Vitalism, 182
- Waller
- on enhancement of nerve-response after continuous stimulation, 127
- on relation between stimulus and response in muscle, nerve, and retina, 52, 162
- on retinal response, 150, 156, 165
- on reversal of response in stale nerve and retina, 11, 124, 164
- on transformation from abnormal to normal response in nerve after continuous stimulation, 124
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