Page:Life in Motion.djvu/187

Rh I touch the copper wire on the left and the zinc trough on my right the spot travels to the left; that is to say, when the right-hand trough is positive the light moves to the right, and when the left-hand trough is positive it moves to the left. We must keep this in mind.

I now take this muscle—the gastrocnemius of a frog—and, with a sharp pair of scissors, cut it clean across the fibres. Observe that I lay the muscle on the clay pads, so that the surface of the muscle touches the pad on the right, and the cut surface, that is, the transverse section, touches the pad on the left. I close the key so as to allow any current that may exist to flow to the galvanometer, and you see that at once the spot of light swings to the right. Observe also that the spot of light keeps to the right, showing that a current is flowing through the wire of the galvanometer. You will remember, however, that without the muscle there was a small amount of movement to the right, but the movement you now see is much greater, and cannot be due to the cause that produced the previous small movement. I open the key so as to break the circuit, and at once the spot