Helmholtz succeeded in measuring the velocity of the nervous impulse, by applying the knowledge and techniques of ballistics to the problem. In 1852, using a pendulum-myograph of his own invention, he measured the duration of an electric current through a galvanometer from the moment the nerve was stimulated to its interruption when the muscle contracted. A more detailed report “Messungen über den zeitlichen Verlauf der Zukkung animalischer Muskeln und die Fortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit der Reizung in den Nerven”, appeared in the same journal volume, [276]-364, with its second part in the volume for 1852, 199-216.