ANIMAL CHEMISTRY. 393 



that currents of electricity are always circulating in 

 the animal frame ; that positive electricity is constantly 

 passing from the interior to the exterior of a muscle. 

 Matteucci, by arranging a series of muscles, has formed 

 an electric pile of some energy.* These currents 

 have been detected in man, in pigeons, fowls, eels, and 

 frogs. 



In the human body it is evident a large quantity of 

 electricity exists in a state of equilibrium. Du Bois 

 Eaymond has shown that we may by mere muscular 

 motion give rise to electric currents which can be 

 measured by the galvanometer. This, however, may be 

 said of even' substance. It is perhaps more easily dis- 

 turbed in the human system ; indeed, the manifestation 

 of sparks from the hair and other parts of the body by 

 friction is not uncommon. Every chemical action, it 

 has been already shown, gives rise to electrical mani- 

 festations ; and the animal body is a laboratory, beauti- 

 fully fitted with apparatus, in which nearly every 

 chemical process is going on. It has been proved that 

 acid and alkaline principles are constantly acting upon 

 each other through the tissues of the animal frame ; 

 and we have the curious phenomena of endosmose and 

 exosmose in constant effort, and catalysis or surf ace force, 

 operating in a mysterious manner.f 



With the refined physiological questions connected 

 with the phenomena of sensation we cannot deal, nor 

 will any argument be adduced for or against the hy- 



* For a concise account of these experiments see Elements of 

 Natural Philosophy : by Golding Bird, A.M., M.D., &c. 3rd Edi- 

 tion, chap, xx p. 336. In this work all the most recent researches 

 are given, and the authorities referred to; see also Matteucci's 

 interesting papers already quoted. 



f On the laws according to which the mixing of fluids, and their 

 penetration into permeable substances, occurs, with special reference 

 to the processes in the Human and Animal Organism, by Julius 

 Yogel, of'Giessen: translated for the Cavendish Society. "Liebig, 

 On the Motion of the Juices in the Animal Body. 



