ELECTRICITY AND LIFE. 163 



a few minutes, that all the parts near the positive pole of 

 the battery turn blue in presence of the starch, proving 

 that they are impregnated with iodine. The iodide has 

 been almost instantly decomposed, and the iodine carried 

 by the current toward the positive pole. 



It is not surprising, then, that the action of electricity 

 influences the whole system of the nutritive operations. 

 Onimus and Legros found that ascending continuous cur- 

 rents quicken the twofold movement of assimilation and dis- 

 assimilation. 1 Animals electrified under certain conditions 

 throw off a greater proportion of urea and carbonic acid, 

 proving a higher energy of the vital fire. On the other 

 hand, if young individuals, in course of development, are 

 subjected to the action of the current, they grow tall and 

 large more quickly than in ordinary circumstances, furnish- 

 ing the proof of an increase in the quantity of substances 

 assimilated. To show how far vital phenomena are stimu- 

 lated by electricity, we will cite another experiment made 

 by Robin and Legros on noctilucae. These are microscopic 

 animals, which, when existing in great numbers in sea-wa- 

 ter, render it almost as white as milk, and at certain times 

 phosphorescent. Now, a current directed into a vessel filled 

 with such water suffices to bring out a trace of light mark- 

 ing all its course. Electricity stimulates the phosphores- 

 cence of all the noctiluca3 met on its passage between the 

 two poles. 



Interrupted currents, or currents of induction, con- 

 tract the blood-vessels and slacken the circulation in almost 

 every case : if they are intense, they even effect its com- 

 plete check by a strong contraction of the little arterial 



1 Electricity passes in a machine between two poles. It is ascertained 

 that the current circulates from the positive pole toward the negative 

 one. The current is called ascending when the positive pole is applied 

 to the lower part and the negative to the upper part of the spine ; it is 

 called descending in the reverse case. 



