IV. On muscular action from an electrical point of view

The author begins by observing, that the signs of electrical action in living muscle die outpari passu with the signs of irritability; and, as with these latter signs,their last trace has disappeared before the occurrence of rigor mortis . It would appear, also, (in so far as electrical action is concerned) that there is a close agreement betweenordinary muscular contraction andrigor mortis , forin ordinary muscular contraction, as Prof. Du Bois Reymond has so well shown, there is a 'partial disappearance of electrical action . Professor Matteucci, however, is doubtful as to this, and he maintains, on the contrary, that at this time the “muscular current” is sometimes reversed, and sometimes increased in intensity without being reversed.