Feeble hetero­dromous current enhances conductivity, homo­dromous current, on the other hand, depresses it.

Ineffectively transmitted excitation becomes effectively transmitted under hetero­dromous current. Effectively transmitted excitation, on the other hand, becomes ineffectively transmitted under the action of homo­dromous current.

The after-effect of a current is a transient conductivity change, the sign of which is opposite to that induced during the passage of current. The after-effect of a heterodromous current is, thus, a transient depression, that of homo­dromous current, a transient enhancement of conductivity.

The char­ac­ter­is­tic variations of conductivity induced in animal nerve by the direction and intensity of current are in every way similar to those induced in the conduct­ing tissue of the plant.

These various effects are demonstrated by the employment of not one, but various kinds of testing stimulus, such as the excitation caused (1) by a single break-induction shock or (2) by a series of equi-alternating tetanising shocks or (3) by chemical stimulation.


VIII.—EFFECT OF INDIRECT STIMULUS ON PULVINATED ORGANS

By