heart, because it is immersed in a fluid, called Biedermann's fluid, composed of common salt, alkaline phosphate of soda, and carbonate of soda and water. This striking experiment, which always is of great interest to me, shows how rhythmic movement may to some degree depend on nutritional changes going on in the muscle.[1]
We saw in last lecture that a muscle is a little laboratory in which chemical processes go on, and that the energy manifested by the muscle depends upon the activity of these operations. If a muscle is constantly throwing off effete matters arising from the wear and tear of its substance, and if it is always expending energy, fresh matter and fresh energy must be supplied to it. What is the source of supply? You naturally answer, the blood, and this answer is right. It is this fluid that brings to the, muscle the matters that it uses to build up its substance or the matters that it acts upon, as we may suppose a machine acting on something supplied
- ↑ Biedermaun's fluid: chloride of sodium, five grammes; alkaline phosphate of soda, two grammes; carbonate of soda, five grammes; water, one litre.
