The nervous motive energy

The relation of frequency and extent of action currents to intensity of muscular contraction.

“…Athanasiu (8) in his last work published after his death found that in voluntary contraction of the flexor muscles of the fingers and from reflex contraction of a frog's gastrocnemius there were two types of waves. The large irregular waves of a frequency of from 70 to 150 per second he believed were of muscular origin as far as energy is concerned because they represent the action current which accompanies muscle twitches.…”