III. The electromotive properties of the skin of the common eel

Abstract

1. The assumption that the E. M. F. of the current of rest of the skin of the Fish is entirely due to mucin-metamorphosis, and that it is not possible to attribute it to the presence of glandular elements is negatived, in the case of the Eel, by the absence of any such mucinous change in the superficial epidermic cells and by the presence of abundance of secretory cells throughout the structure. 2. The existence of considerable differences of potential between two contacts upon the outer surface of the skin, and the fact that such E. M. F. is capable of excitatory augmentation upon mechanical stimulation, coincides with the assumption that the E. M. F. of the current of rest is the outcome of glandular processes of variable activity and is not compatible with the theory of origin of the E. M. F. in mucin-metamorphosis.