Further observations on the production of reflex stepping by combination of reflex excitation with reflex inhibition

IN a previous paper' an attempt was made to determine factors at work in the reflex act of stepping, that is to say in the stepping performed by a purely reflex preparation, either decerebrate or purely spinal. The present experiments are in contribution toward the same problem. Method. In the present experiments the mode of evoking the rhythmic reflex has been that recently found by T. Graham Browns, A. Forbes3, and myself4; and the reflex preparation employed has consisted of an isolated pair of symmetrical extensor muscles5, i.e. the main extensor muscle of each knee, right and left, in the decerebrate mammal (cat).