SUMMARY1. Longitudinal vibration was applied to the de-efferented soleus muscle of anaesthetized cats while recording the discharge of single afferent fibres from the proprioceptors within the muscle. Conditions were defined under which vibration can be used to excite selectively the primary endings of muscle spindles without exciting the secondary endings of muscle spindles or Golgi tendon organs.2. Frequencies of vibration of 100-500 c/s were used. The maximum amplitude of vibration which the vibrator could produce fell with increasing frequency; it was 250 ,t (peak to peak) for 100 c/s and 20 ,u for 500 c/s.3. Primary endings of muscle spindles were very sensitive to vibration. Most could be 'driven' to discharge one impulse for each cycle of vibration over the whole of the above range of frequencies, provided the initial tension was moderate (20-200 g wt.). The amplitude of vibration required to produce driving usually varied by less than a factor of two over the whole range of frequencies. The most sensitive endings could be driven by vibrations of below 10 t amplitude.4. Stimulation of single fusimotor fibres, whether static or dynamic fusimotor fibres, increased the sensitivity of primary endings to vibration. Contraction of the main muscle, produced by stimulating ac motor fibres, reduced the sensitivity of primary endings even when fusimotor fibres were also being stimulated.5. The secondary endings were very insensitive to longitudinal vibration and with the amplitudes available not one of twenty-five endings could be driven at 150 c/s or above; one ending could be driven at 100 c/s by vibration of 250 t amplitude. Stimulation of single fusimotor fibres, probably all of which were static fusimotor fibres, made them slightly more sensitive to vibration but none of them approached the sensitivity of the primary endings.6. The Golgi tendon organs were as insensitive as the secondary endings * Wellcome-Swedish travelling research fellow. Present address:
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