136 Galvanic Experiments 



striking in the aorta. At twenty-three minutes after deca- 

 pitation [ cut the thoracic aorta near its passage into the 

 diaphragm, and it was taken from the thorax, with the 

 heart, and insulated on a plate of glass. I insulated also a 

 portion of the anterior straight muscle of the left leg, and 

 at thirty minutes after decapitation I began to irritate the 

 heart with the scalpel ; but the contractions were very 

 feeble : those of the straight muscle, excited with the same 

 stimulant, were much stronger ; but it was not possible to 

 produce the least effect on the aorta. 



Thirty-four minutes after decapitation I made use of the 

 pile ; it excited pretty strong" contractions in the heart, still 

 stronger in the straight muscle, and a few faint contractions 

 in the aorta, which soon ceased entirely. I continued the 

 experiment, sometimes irritating the heart and the muscle 

 with the scalpel, and sometimes with the fluid of the pile, 

 fill fifty minutes, when the movements of the heart disap- 

 peared altogether, while those of the muscle were still visi- 

 ble bv means of the scalpel, and very strong by means of 

 the pile. 



I opened the cavities of the heart, that is to say, the ven- 

 tricles and auricles : the scalpel produced no effect, the pile 

 alone was capable of exciting some faint movements in the 

 ventricle and right auricle. At this period, that is, at fifty- 

 six minutes after decapitation, the scalpel still produced 

 som.e effects in the insulated straight muscle ; but the pile 

 excited in it very strong contractions, which continued till 

 an hour and eighteen minutes ; after ^^ hich they entirely 

 ceased. 



I then turned mv observations to the muscles of the ex- 

 tremities left in their place : in these the scalpel occasioned 

 sensible contractions, which increased very much in strength 

 bv means of the pile : they still continued one hour and 

 fifty-three minutes, at \:hich time I left off my experi- 

 ments. 



These results are perfectly analogous to those which I 

 comnmnicated to the class in regard to dogs which iiad 

 been decapitated ; it is therefore needless to repeat the con- 

 sequences which ought to be deduced from them. Besides, 

 they will be found in the memoirs, which, by a decree of 

 the academy, will be inserted in the volume now in the 

 press. I shall only observe, that if the theory of Crawford 

 and Lavoisier on animal heat is the most correct of any yet 

 formed on that subject, and if the assertion of Humboldt 

 on the property ■^vhieh he ascribes to oxygen, of nourishing 

 vitality, be true ; these experiments will oblige us to con- 

 clude 



