Abstract
Since little or no specific knowledge is to be had regarding water and the physiological activity of cells, it was thought desirable to investigate the relationship between the variation in total water content and muscular efficiency.
The gastrocnemii muscles of normal frogs were removed by the usual method. After weighing they were suspended in an ordinary muscle chamber. Contractions were obtained by stimulating with an electric current of known strength. All the muscles were forced to lift a known weight, thus leaving the variation in height of contractions as the criterion of efficiency. Readings were made at onehalf to one-hour intervals, with the experiments extending from 3 to 6 hours.
The variation in water content was produced osmotically by using Ringer's solution of different concentrations. All the solutions were prepared from a known stock solution. The muscles were immersed in the solutions at all times except when contractions were being taken.
The right gastrocnemius in all cases served as a control and was submerged in normal Ringer's fluid, whereas the left gastrocnemius of the same frog served as the experimental muscle and was submerged in either hypotonk or hypertonic Ringer's solution of known concentrations. After the experiment was completed, the muscles were again re-weighed and the percentage variation in weight was determined. The degree of weight change was dependent upon the strength used and presumably is due to alteration of the water content of the cells.
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