ON THE PROCESS OF EXCITATION BY BRIEF SHOCKS IN AXONS

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Abstract
The amplified spike of single axons (Rana pipiens) recorded by the cathode ray oscillograph was used as the index of response in a study of the nature of the delay between the termination of a short threshold shock and the appearance of the spike at the stimulated locus. Analysis of the relation of stimulating voltage to the shock-spike delay and to the spontaneous play of the latter, and of the effects of an opposing shock during this period, leads to the conclusion that excitation develops during the shock-spike time (maximum 0.4 msec.), the axon responding when threshold is attained, with a latency less than 0.01 msec. It is suggested that the local excitatory process is a rise of the applied potential across the irritable interface through the complicated electrical circuit of the nerve.

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