Note 124 — Chapter V · ACTION WITHOUT NERVE-CENTRES.

Dr. Norris has recorded some striking observations in his paper on “Muscular Irritability” in the Journal of Anatomy, 1867, No. II. p. 217. Here is the only one I can find room for: “On taking up the dead frog and touching the limb (which during life had been paralysed by section of its nerve) with my finger, it was suddenly shot out as if alive. I placed the body down, and one or two apparently spontaneous movements of small extent afterwards occurred. On touching the skin gently with the point of a needle, by the slight pressure upon the muscle beneath, movements of the limb were also induced, but this high degree of exaltation very rapidly disappeared.”