A study of the general physiology of the innervation of normal striated muscle in man may safely be limited to a few basic features. It is justifiable to assume that in most respects the muscles of the normal human being behave like those of other mammals, which have been the subject of numerous investigations. Some aspects of muscular activity, for example voluntary contraction, which differs in important respects from the results of electrical stimulation or of reflex innervation, are more readily observed in human subjects than in animals.
The neurologic disorders to which man is subject present an opportunity for the study of the physiology of striated muscle which is in many ways unique, as they can be duplicated only to a small extent by mutilating experiments on animals. In the course of various diseases muscles can be observed under the influence of a great variety of conditions, some of