Coordination of ciliary movement. I. Methods of study and the relation of ciliary coordination to ciliary inhibition

A simply constructed apparatus, which includes a cinema camera, is described for the recording of ciliary movements. From data for Modiolus demissus obtained by this method, it is concluded that the coordinating impulse is a propagated impulse which regulates the temporal and spatial relationships of ciliary contractility, that this impulse has to a certain degree a determinant effect upon ciliary inhibitory influences so that the area rendered inactive is a multiple of the ciliary wave length, that the coordinating impulse is transmissible through cells bearing quiescent cilia, and that it may act as a stimulus of sufficient strength actually to cause quiescent cilia to become active.