Action potentials from the isolated nerve cord of the earthworm

Abstract

Though a great deal of work has been done upon the earthworm, the only investigation of giant fibre activity in the isolated nerve cord appears to be that of Eccles, Granit & Young (1933). As this account is only two pages long and contains no records, it seemed worth while to repeat the work, and section A gives in full my evidence, which supports their conclusions, and doubtless is what they have already observed. Their identification of the active structures with particular giant fibres was rather convincingly inferred, and this has now been confirmed by direct micromanipulation as described in section B.