III. On some elementary principles in animal mechanics. No. VII. The law of fatigue

Abstract

The approximate law of muscular action, which I have called the law of fatigue, is thus expressed:—“ When the same muscle (or group of muscles) is kept in constant action until fatigue sets in, the total work done multiplied by the rate of work is constant .” The following experiments, in illustration of this law, were performed in Trinity College during the spring of the present year.