BioelectricaAlterspan Labs
JB
Julius Bernstein
Portrait: Biographisches Lexikon hervorragender Ärzte, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
1839–1917

Julius Bernstein

Lillie names Bernstein among those who built a membrane theory of bioelectric potentials, applied to the fall of potential during stimulation12. Bose cites Bernstein's work on polarisation in frog nerve4. Bayliss cites a muscle tension measurement5.

Born
18 December 1839
Died
6 February 1917
Country
Kingdom of Prussia
Field
physiologist, neuroscientist, university teacher
In the library
1 work, named in 12 passages elsewhere
Facts from
Wikidata · Wikipedia · Open Library
18501875190019251950197520002025Lillie, R. S., 19231Lillie, R. S., 19232Lillie, R. S., 19233Bose, J. C., 19074Bayliss, W. M., 19155Lillie, R. S., 19236Verworn, M., 18997
01

The membrane theory

Lillie traces the membrane explanation of bioelectric potentials from Ostwald, followed by Cybulski, Bernstein and others. Bernstein took up Ostwald's idea of a membrane acting as an ion sieve. The aim was to explain the sudden fall of potential during stimulation1. At that stage Bernstein supposed the membrane became permeable to both classes of ions2. Lillie judges that real conditions are more complex than the simple diffusion potentials Ostwald and Bernstein considered3.

02

Experiments on nerve and muscle

Bose reports that Bernstein, working on the frog sciatic nerve, found that excitation produced a polarisation decrement4. Bayliss cites Bernstein (1908) on muscle. The maximal tension of a muscle was 375 g. at 0° and 205 g. at 18°. Bayliss took this negative temperature coefficient as evidence that surface tension changes help drive contraction5. Lillie also describes Bernstein's comparison of water evaporation through living and dead tissue6.

SourcesEach quotation was checked word for word against the passage it opens.
  1. This hypothesis was adopted by Bernstein as affording a point of view from which the sudden fall of potential during stimulation might be explainedLillie, R. S., 1923 · Protoplasmic Action and Nervous Action · open at passage 511
  2. at this time Bernstein supposed the membrane to become permeable to both classes of ionsLillie, R. S., 1923 · Protoplasmic Action and Nervous Action · open at passage 511
  3. The actual conditions, however, are undoubtedly more complex, and include other factors than the simple diffusion potentials considered by Ostwald and Bernstein.Lillie, R. S., 1923 · Protoplasmic Action and Nervous Action · open at passage 511
  4. Bernstein, experimenting on the sciatic nerve of frog, found that excitation induced a polarisation decrement.Bose, J. C., 1907 · Comparative Electro-Physiology: A Physico-Physiological Study · open at passage 1303
  5. made practically certain by the observation of Bernstein (1908), who found that the maximal tension developed by a particular muscle, for example, was 375 g. at 0° and 205 g. at 18°Bayliss, W. M., 1915 · Principles of General Physiology · open at passage 1945
  6. determined the relative rates of evaporation of water from living and dead tissuesLillie, R. S., 1923 · Protoplasmic Action and Nervous Action · open at passage 239
  7. numerous inquirers, such as H. Munk, Hermann, Engelmann, Bernstein, and most recently Biedermann ('95), investigated the electrical phenomena of plants and various animal tissuesVerworn, M., 1899 · General Physiology: An Outline of the Science of Life · open at passage 688
In the library1 work
Elektrobiologie: Die Lehre von den elektrischen Vorgängen im Organismus auf moderner…Bernstein, J.
1912
Elektrobiologie: Die Lehre von den elektrischen Vorgängen im Organismus auf…
Bernstein, J.
1912 · described