Critical temperature of freezing—living muscle

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Abstract
The effects of freezing and dehydrating on irritability, osmotic behavior, water uptake, etc. were studied in the sartorius and gastrocnemius muscles of frogs. After freezing below [long dash]2[degree] C. or losing more than 62% of their wt. by drying, the muscles would not respond at all to stimuli when suspended in Ringer''s solution. Freezing above [long dash]0.9[degree] C. or drying out less than 58% of their wt. was followed by complete recovery of all normal muscle properties. While muscles dried to 55% of their original wt. had an increased rheobase, the chronaxie was normal. The effects of freezing are due to dehydration of the muscle since the crystals first separating out are pure ice.

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