KLECTRICITY IN THE PHENOMENA OF ANIMAL LIFE. 441 



would play tlie part of the uegative i)late, the fluids producing- oxida- 

 tion and hydration that of the positive plate; the uerves would serve 

 to close the circuit. 



We should tiius recognize in the economy of the living auimal the 

 chemical duality necessary for the i)roductiou of electrical energy; 

 should Ave not, consequently, be justified in considering this organism 

 as a true i»liysiol()gical battery? If so, we ought to follow up the com- 

 ]»arison, and try to understand how this battery works; what is the 

 nature and what the extent of its circuit; what are the causes which 

 make its discharge to vary, and finally, wliat becomes of the energy 

 which it develops. 



III. — OK THE PHYSIOLOGICAI. VOLTAIC )5ATTERY. 



In every battery the existence of available electrical energy is mani- 

 fested only in so far as the electricity is able to flow off by api)roj»riato 

 conductors to parts of the api>aratus where it may be utilized or 

 transformed. 



In default of such an arrangement — in the case, for instance, of a bat 

 tery short-circuited by means of a conductor of low resistance — we 

 l)erceive nothing but a development of heat, which seems to be the 

 immediate result of the transformation of energy which occurs, but 

 which, in accordance with what Ave have said as to the i)reapi)earance 

 of electricity, may here again be regarded as a secondary i)henomenon. 



To Justify the use of the expression physiological battery or pile, we 

 have at the outset to prove that there exist in the animal organism 

 lines of least electrical resistance (or behaving as such) capable of giv- 

 ing direction to the electricity disengaged, of conducting and distrib- 

 uting it. 



But I have good reason for believing that this part devolves upon tiie 

 nerves, and that wherever they are developed and ramified they gather 

 up a i)art of the electricity i)roduced by the electrogenic api)aratus and 

 convey it to points Avhere it reappears unaltered or transformed. 



The slight oxidizability of nervous tissue and its great functiouaJ 

 imi)ortance lend, moreover, supi)ort to this mode of looking at it. 



In what way does the propagation of electricity in the nerves take 

 place! This question is certainly destined to occupy a large iflace in 

 the programme for the experimental Avork of the institute. To answer 

 it there Avill be need, it seems to me, for seeking first of all to complete 

 our knowledge of the constitution itself of the nerve fiber, afterwards 

 to study very closely the electro-physical properties of nerve tissue, to 

 investigate under Avhat influences its electrical resistance Aeries, to 

 determine finally the nature of the process itself by which the nerve 

 current is propagated toAvard the organs where it is utilized. The 

 inmost nature of this i)rocess is as yet unknown to us, and I do not 

 understand that it is to be regarded as identical Avith the i>roi)agation 

 of electricity in a metallic conductor. I limit myself then, for the 



