Abstract
THE fact that in the living muscle heat always appears when the muscle does work (Heidenhain having shown that of two muscles equally weighted and undergoing equal contractions, one doing external work, while the other does none, the former gives out more heat than the latter), is an exception to the general rule in mechanics, that heat disappears when work is done. It is not, however, in contradiction to the general principle of the conservation of energy, but shows that in the living muscle, when stimulated to action, molecular processes occur, which, along with the doing of work, cause a development of heat. The relation of the heat developed to the work done had not been determined with any satisfactory accuracy, probably owing to the want of sufficiently delicate apparatus, though it might naturally be expected to help to an understanding of the phenomena. The subject has been taken up by M. Nawalichin, who, favoured by the experimental means at hand in M. Heidenhain's Physiological Institute, made a careful examination of the development of heat in the active muscle. The experiments were very difficult and tedious, and by reason of the smallness of the values to be measured, required very great foresight and care in the experimental arrangements. The full account of this investigation is given in Pftüger's Archiv.
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The Heat Phenomena Accompanying Muscular Action . Nature 16, 451–452 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/016451a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/016451a0