ON THE THEORY OF NERVOUS CONDUCTION

Assuming that the propagation of the nervous impulse consists in the excitation of adjacent regions of the nerve by the action current of the already excited region, exact equations for the velocity of such a propagation are established and integrated. The result depends on the assumptions which we make about the laws of excitation. If Hoorweg's law is accepted, it is found that the velocity of propagation decreases exponentially with time, and that there is a limiting distance which the impulse will travel and which cannot be exceeded. If however a set of equations proposed by L. Lapique is assumed to govern the process of excitation, we find that the velocity of propagation asymptotically reaches a constant value.