THE DECREMENT IN MUSCULAR FORCE WITH INCREASING SPEED OF SHORTENING

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Abstract
Contractions of the maximally tetanized gastrocnemius of the decerebrate cat against inertia disks were recorded photographically using up to 180 exposures a sec. The forces exerted were calculated from the displacements by numerical differentiation, and compared with the isometric forces measured by a torsion wire myograph. Results with 15 cats show that the ratio of the difference between the isometric and isotonic forces to the speed of shortening was constant over a part of the contraction, the value of the constant depending on the equivalent mass of the inertia disk used. The results partially support a viscosity theory of Hill (J. Physiol. 56, 28 [1922]).

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