Goodwin M. Breinin

The Electronic Integrator for Quantitative Definition of Biological Curves

To the Editor: —I have read Dr. Drohockis letter with great interest. I certainly did not know of his work nor did our consulting engineers who are connected with major neurophysiological departments. Of course, integrating systems have been employed in electrophysiology for many years and in themselves are not unique. The particular combination of integrating and differentiating features in one instrument is I believe, unusual, although both principles have long been employed separately. Dr. Drohockis first integrator was of the same type as ours, and certain of his criticisms are quite valid. It is tedious to measure amplitudes, but for certain purposes it supplies the best answer. The linearity, although not perfect, is adequate and is not altered by oscilloscope presentation (we do not use the inkwriter). As a matter of fact, the method upon which Dr. Drohocki finally settled, although most ingenious, would not suit the purpose of electromyography