The action of anæsthetics on living tissues. Part II.—The frog's skin

Abstract

The currents given by the frog’s skin and their variations after excitation both directly and through the nerves have already been studied by many authors, but, as far as I can determine, no one has up to the present time observed the action of anæsthetics on the resting current, and as these phenomena form a fitting sequel to those occurring in nerve (Part I of this series), they form the subject of this paper. It is to be observed that from the nature of the object one of the possible alternative hypotheses in the case of nerve is here excluded, and it is therefore now legitimate to take a further step in explanation of the action of chloroform on the tissues generally. Experiments . Series I . A chamber was constructed of vulcanite, through the bottom of which three non-polarisable electrodes projected. A movable partition of model­ ling wax, luted with moist china-clay, divided one electrode, A, from the other two, C and B (fig. 1). The skin was placed with the outer surface resting on A and C, the movable upper portion of the partition adjusted, and contact effected with the electrode B through a bundle of linen threads soaked in m /10 NaCl solution. In this series the electrode C served merely as a support, and the potential differences between A and B were alone considered.