ANIMAL ELECTRICITY. 237 
2. We have found, that when a piece of filver is brought in 
contact with the tinfoil coating of a nerve, the mufcles in which 
that nerve terminates, are thrown into action, although the | 
nerve has been furrounded with a tight ligature between the 
coating and the mufcle, or even although it has been divided 
by atranfverfe incifion, provided the divided parts are again 
brought into contaét, or tied together by a thread. 
3: WHEN we tie the coated nerve, after it is cut tran{verfely, 
to another nerve which has been cut tranfverfely, we have 
found, that the mufcles fupplied by the latter are thrown into 
action, 
4. AFTER the fpinal marrow and while body of the frog- 
were divided tranfverfely about the middle of the back, and 
the tin coating and filver were applied to the fciatic nerve, 
I did not obferve, that the mufcles at the loins and pelvis were 
thrown into action, or the effect produced by the metals did _ 
not influence mufcles’ fupplied by branches of nerves fent 
off from the fpinal marrow or fciatic nerves sdteh the coat- 
ing. 
IT appears, that the nerve of a living animal, whither entire, 
or cut and rejoined, conducts that matter by which the mufcle 
is influenced more readily than the fkin, the flefh or the blood- 
veflels do. 
5. ALTHOUGH, on repeating Dr GALVANI’s experiments, it 
fhould be proved, that electrical matter, dtawn from a cloud or 
excited by the common machinery, and conduéted to a nerve, 
and that matter, which is put in motion by the application of 
cettain metals to each other and to a nerve, produce fimilar 
motions in the mufcles in which the nerve terminates, we are 
not at liberty to take for granted, as GALvawni and VALLI 
feem to have done, that the eleGrical matter and this matter 
are the fame, as the nerves may be affeded by ftimuli of dif- 
ferent kinds. 
. 
a . 6..As 
