SKETCH OF LUIGI GALVANI. 409 



among the most important of which were those on the urinary 

 organs and kidneys of birds and on the ears of birds. In the 

 former paper he treated the subject with remarkable accuracy, 

 showing the position of the kidneys of birds in the abdomen, 

 their situation with respect to the vertebral column, and how 

 they are adapted, as in quadrupeds, to the secretion of urine. 

 The descriptions, all drawn with equal care, contained various 

 curious facts, some of which had then the merit of novelty. 

 Three years after this Galvani had prepared a large work em- 

 bodying the fruits of his studies of the organ of hearing, when 

 he was anticipated by the publication of Scarpa's Observations 

 on the Fenestra Rotunda. He was astonished to find in this book 

 the facts which he had announced at special sessions of the in- 

 stitute, and which he had believed to be his own exclusively, 

 and, giving up the publication of the larger book, satisfied him- 

 self with imparting in a short sketch such facts as were not 

 mentioned in Scarpa's treatise. He gave interesting details re- 

 specting the chord of the tympanum, the membranous labyrinth, 

 the semicircular canals, and on the single little bone which in its 

 own body and appendices performed the functions of the three 

 little bones found in the ears of mammals. His most important 

 work, the one on which his enduring fame is based, was pub- 

 lished in 1791, under the title De Viribus Electricitatis in Motu 

 Musculari Commentarius, or Commentary on the Forces of 

 Electricity in Muscular Motion. It embodied, in a small volume 

 of only fifty-five pages, the account of his experiments with the 

 frog's leg, in which the kind of electrical manifestation to which 

 Galvani's name is attached (galvanism) was first remarked by him. 

 Previous to the publication of this little book Galvani suffered 

 his greatest grief by the death of his wife, Lucie Galeazzi, with 

 whom he had lived happily for thirty years, and who, according 

 to some of the versions of the story, had no little to do with his 

 great discovery. This loss was followed by other troubles, which, 

 although they did not so nearly touch his heart, were severe 

 enough, and eventually perhaps hastened his death. The Cisal- 

 pine Republic required an oath from all persons in its service, 

 which, it being repugnant to his political and religious convic- 

 tions, Galvani refused to take. The Government deprived him 

 of his position, and he, nearly reduced to poverty, went to live 

 with his brother Giacomo. Soon afterward he fell into a decline, 

 from which he could not be raised even by the skill and careful 

 attention of the eminent physicians Uttini and Cingari. The 

 Government of the republic, recognizing the eminent worth of his 

 scientific achievements, notwithstanding he persisted in refusing 

 to take the oath, ordered him restored to his chair in the univer- 

 sity, but he never took advantage of the act. 



