90^ Eloge of Alexander Volta. 



soever they might be, would produce, by mere touch, an evolu- 

 tion of electricity. 



The attacks of the galvanists were not now formidable. They 

 no longer confined their experiments to the smaller animals. 

 They produced singular nervous motions in the nostrils, tongue, 

 and eyes of an ox, which had been a long time dead, strength- 

 ening, more or less, the expectations of those in whose eyes gal- 

 vanism seemed a means of reanimating the dead. On the theory 

 itself, they threw no additional light. In drawing their argu- 

 ments, not from the nature, but from the greatness of effects, the 

 adepts of the Bolognese school resembled a certain philosopher, 

 who, in order to prove that the atmosphere is not the cause of 

 the rise of the mercury in the barometer, thought of substituting 

 a wide cylinder for the narrow tube of that instrument, and then 

 represented, as a formidable difficulty, the exact number of 

 quintals of liquid raised. 



Volta had given a death-blow to animal electricity. His con- 

 ceptions always adapted themselves to experiments, which, be- 

 ing ill understood, were thought likely to afford the means of 

 refutation; and he could not obtain the unreserved assent of all 

 men of science. The contact of two metals, of two dissimilar 

 substances, gave birth to a certain agent, which, like electricity, 

 produced spasmodic movements. Of this fact there could be no 

 doubt ; but was the agent in question really electrical ? Were 

 the proofs adduced sufficient to prove it so ? 



When two metals of different kinds, are placed on the tongue, 

 in a certain order, an acid taste is felt at the moment of their 

 contact. If the position of these metals is changed, an alkaline 

 taste is perceptible. On applying the tongue to the conductor 

 of an ordinary electrical machine, a taste is felt, of an acid or 

 alkaline nature, according as the conductor is electrified in a great- 

 er or less degree. In this case, the phenomenon is unquestion- 

 ably owing to electricity. Is it not natural, said Volta, to infer 

 identity of causes from similarity of effects ; to liken the first ex- 

 periment to the second ; and to see no other difference between 

 them, but the mode in which the fluid is produced which stimu- 

 lates the organ of taste ? 



No one will dispute the importance of this agreement. The 

 penetrating genius of Volta saw in it enough to warrant a full 



