Response in the Living and Non-Living | Page 3

DIPHASIC VARIATION IN METALS 113
67. NEGATIVE, DIPHASIC, AND POSITIVE RESULTANT
RESPONSE 115 IN METALS
68. CONTINUOUS TRANSFORMATION FROM NEGATIVE TO
POSITIVE 116 THROUGH INTERMEDIATE DIPHASIC
RESPONSE
69. FATIGUE IN MUSCLE 118
70. FATIGUE IN PLATINUM 118
71. FATIGUE IN TIN 119
72. APPEARANCE OF FATIGUE DUE TO SHORTENING THE

PERIOD 120 OF RECOVERY
73. FATIGUE IN METAL UNDER CONTINUOUS STIMULATION
121
74. 'STAIRCASE' RESPONSE IN MUSCLE AND IN METAL 122
75. ABNORMAL RESPONSE IN NERVE CONVERTED INTO
NORMAL 124 UNDER CONTINUED STIMULATION
76, 77. ABNORMAL RESPONSE IN TIN AND PLATINUM
CONVERTED INTO 125 NORMAL UNDER CONTINUED
STIMULATION
78. GRADUAL TRANSITION FROM ABNORMAL TO NORMAL
RESPONSE 126 IN PLATINUM
79. INCREASE OF RESPONSE IN NERVE AFTER CONTINUOUS
127 STIMULATION
80, 81. RESPONSE IN TIN AND PLATINUM ENHANCED AFTER
127, 128 CONTINUOUS STIMULATION
82. MAGNETIC ANALOGUE 132
83, 84. RECORDS OF RESPONSES TO INCREASING STIMULI IN
TIN 134, 135
85. INEFFECTIVE STIMULUS BECOMING EFFECTIVE BY 135
SUPERPOSITION
86. INCOMPLETE AND COMPLETE FUSION OF EFFECTS 136
87. CYCLIC CURVE FOR MAXIMUM EFFECTS SHOWING
HYSTERESIS 137
88. ACTION OF POISON IN ABOLISHING RESPONSE IN NERVE
139

89. ACTION OF STIMULANT ON TIN 141
90. ACTION OF STIMULANT ON PLATINUM 142
91. DEPRESSING EFFECT OF KBr ON TIN 143
92. ABOLITION OF RESPONSE IN METALS BY 'POISON' 143
93. 'MOLECULAR ARREST' BY THE ACTION OF 'POISON' 145
94. OPPOSITE EFFECTS OF SMALL AND LARGE DOSES ON
THE 146 RESPONSE IN METALS
95. RETINAL RESPONSE TO LIGHT 150
96. RESPONSE OF SENSITIVE CELL TO LIGHT 152
97. TYPICAL EXPERIMENT ON THE E.M. VARIATION
PRODUCED BY 154 LIGHT
98. MODIFICATION OF THE PHOTO-SENSITIVE CELL 155
99. RESPONSES IN FROG'S RETINA 156
100. RESPONSES IN SENSITIVE PHOTO-CELL 157
101. EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE RESPONSE TO LIGHT
159 STIMULUS
102. EFFECT OF DURATION OF EXPOSURE ON THE RESPONSE
159
103. RESPONSES OF SENSITIVE CELL TO INCREASING 161
INTENSITIES OF LIGHT
104. RELATION BETWEEN THE INTENSITY OF LIGHT AND 162
MAGNITUDE OF RESPONSE
105. AFTER-OSCILLATION 163

106. TRANSIENT POSITIVE INCREASE OF RESPONSE IN THE
164 FROG'S RETINA ON THE CESSATION OF LIGHT
107. TRANSIENT POSITIVE INCREASE OF RESPONSE IN THE
165 SENSITIVE CELL
108. DECLINE UNDER THE CONTINUOUS ACTION OF LIGHT
166
109. CERTAIN AFTER-EFFECTS OF LIGHT 168
110. AFTER-EFFECT OF LIGHT OF SHORT DURATION 172
111. STEREOSCOPIC DESIGN FOR THE EXHIBITION OF
BINOCULAR 176 ALTERNATION OF VISION
112. UNIFORM RESPONSES IN NERVE, PLANT, AND METAL
184
113. FATIGUE IN MUSCLE, PLANT, AND METAL 185
114. 'STAIRCASE' EFFECT IN MUSCLE, PLANT, AND METAL
186
115. INCREASE OF RESPONSE AFTER CONTINUOUS
STIMULATION IN 186 NERVE AND METAL
116. MODIFIED ABNORMAL RESPONSE IN NERVE AND
METAL 187 TRANSFORMED INTO NORMAL RESPONSE AFTER
CONTINUOUS STIMULATION
117. ACTION OF THE SAME 'POISON' IN THE ABOLITION OF
189 RESPONSE IN NERVE, PLANT, AND METAL

RESPONSE
IN THE

LIVING AND NON-LIVING
CHAPTER I
THE MECHANICAL RESPONSE OF LIVING SUBSTANCES
Mechanical response--Different kinds of
stimuli--Myograph--Characteristics of response-curve: period,
amplitude, form--Modification of response-curves.
One of the most striking effects of external disturbance on certain types
of living substance is a visible change of form. Thus, a piece of muscle
when pinched contracts. The external disturbance which produced this
change is called the stimulus. The body which is thus capable of
responding is said to be irritable or excitable. A stimulus thus produces
a state of excitability which may sometimes be expressed by change of
form.
#Mechanical response to different kinds of stimuli.#--This reaction
under stimulus is seen even in the lowest organisms; in some of the
amoeboid rhizopods, for instance. These lumpy protoplasmic bodies,
usually elongated while creeping, if mechanically jarred, contract into a
spherical form. If, instead of mechanical disturbance, we apply salt
solution, they again contract, in the same way as before. Similar effects
are produced by sudden illumination, or by rise of temperature, or by
electric shock. A living substance may thus be put into an excitatory
state by either mechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical, or light
stimulus. Not only does the point stimulated show the effect of stimulus,
but that effect may sometimes be conducted even to a considerable
distance. This power of conducting stimulus, though common to all
living substances, is present in very different degrees. While in some
forms of animal tissue irritation spreads, at a very slow rate, only to
points in close neighbourhood, in other forms, as for example in nerves,
conduction is very rapid and reaches far.
The visible mode of response by change of form may perhaps be best
studied in a piece of muscle. When this is pinched, or an electrical
shock is sent through it, it becomes shorter and broader. A responsive

twitch is thus produced. The excitatory state then disappears, and the
muscle is seen to relax into its normal form.
#Mechanical lever recorder.#--In the case of contraction of muscle, the
effect is very quick, the twitch takes