88 Biographical Account of [Ffb . 



gaseous state, imparts to the bodies which it touches, heat 

 and electricity. The electrical fluid is therefore an essential 

 part of the great masses of vapours which are daily formed 

 at the expense of seas, lakes, and rivers. These vapours 

 being condensed in the cold regions of the atmosphere, the 

 electricity would accumulate, unless rain, snow, and hail 

 enabled it to return to its proper source. 



We arrive now at the important epoch when a new form 

 of electricity was discovered. If is curious that the im- 

 mortal invention of the galvanic pile owes its origin to a 

 slight rheumatism with which a lady of Bologna was 

 affected in 1790, and for which, a dish of frogs was pre- 

 scribed by her physician. Some of these animals, deprived 

 of their skins by the cook of Madame Galvani, lay on the 

 table, when accidentally, an electrical machine was dis- 

 charged. The muscles although they had not been touched 

 by the sparks, were strongly contracted. Galvani, in 

 varying his experiments upon this point, observed that 

 similar contractions may be produced by interposing one or 

 two plates of a metal between a muscle and nerve ; and, 

 following up his researches, he thought he had proved 

 that positive electricity had its seat in the nerves ; negative 

 electricity in the muscles. These views seduced the public ; 

 electricity now took the place of the nervous fluid, which 

 had long been a great favourite, although its existence no 

 one had attempted to demonstrate, and it was thought that 

 the physical agent had been at length obtained in an insu- 

 lated state, which carries to the sensorium the external 

 impressions; but alas! this romantic dream was dispelled 

 by the rigid experiments of Volta, for he proved that con- 

 tractions are produced by merely touching the muscle with 

 two metals, and affirmed that electricity was the active 

 agent in these contractions. 



Although opposed on all hands, he continued stedfast 

 in his opinions ; and at present, when a splendid science 

 has been erected on the discovery of Galvani, his deductions 

 are found to be correct. 



It wa3 in the beginning of the year 1800 that Volta . 

 constructed the pile, the most wonderful instrument which 

 human intelligence has ever created ; for to it we owe some 

 of the finest discoveries in chemical science ; and with it 



