oxygen. On the other hand, recent work suggests that one of the means of increasing working power or temporarily, at least, delaying its loss, is by artificially supplying oxygen to the body. It has been known for some time that with the usual conditions under which we live, the main source of the energy of muscles and probably of other organs is carbohydrate material, glycogen or its near
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| Fig. 3. Series of 550 contractions of a frog's gastrocnemius muscle, excised and stimulated at intervals of two seconds. Every contraction is recorded, except at the places indicated by the black bands, at each of which the records of fourteen contractions are omitted. The record of the first contraction is at the bottom of the figure: that of the last one at the top. Fatigue is shown in the progressive decrease in height and the increase in length of the curves. | Fig. 4. Series of contractions of a rat's gastrocnemius muscle, excised and stimulated at intervals of two and one half seconds. Fatigue is shown in the progressive decrease in height of the curves. | |
relative, sugar. In the burning of carbohydrate in the tissues its potential energy becomes the actual energy of heat and muscle work. This fact would suggest the loss of carbohydrate as one of the factors in the oncoming of fatigue, especially in its later stages. Exact laboratory investigation, moreover, shows that if most of the carbohydrate be removed from an animal's body, he presents the symptoms of pro-
