SINGULAR GALVANIC EXPERIMENTS. 



whether he was not Professor | pal nerve, which leads immediately 

 Junker, of Halle ? and, being an- to some great limb or muscle ; when 



swered in the affirmative, he re- 

 quested, in an earnest manner, his 

 company to dinner. The professor 

 consented. Having reached the mer- 

 chant's house, he was shown into an 

 elegant apartment, where he found a 

 beautiful wife, and two fine healthy 

 children ; but he could scarcely sup- 

 press his astonishment at meeting 

 so cordial a reception from a family, 

 with whom he thought he was en- 

 tirely unacquainted. 



After dinner, the merchant, tak- 

 ing him into his counting -room, 

 said, " You do not recollect me T 

 " Not at all." " But I will recol- 

 lect you, and never shall your fea- 

 tures be effaced from my remem- 

 brance : you are my benefactor : I 

 am the person who came to life in 

 your closet, and to whom you paid 

 so much attention. On parting 

 from you, I took the road to Hol- 

 land ; I wrote a good hand ; was 

 tolerably good at accounts; my 

 figure was somewhat interesting, 

 and I soon obtained employment 

 as a merchant's clerk. My good 

 conduct, and my zeal for the inte- 

 rests of my patron, procured me 

 his confidence, and his daughter's 

 love. On his retiring from busi- 

 ness I succeeded him, and became 

 his son-in-law. But for you, how- 

 ever, I should not have lived to 

 experience all these enjoyments. 

 Henceforth, look upon my house, 

 my fortune, and myself, as at your 

 disposal." Those who possess the 

 smallest portion of sensibility can 

 easily represent to themselves 'the 

 feelings of Junker. 



SINGULAR GALVANIC EXPERIMENTS. 



The galvanic experiments which 

 have hitherto been made by philo- 

 so'phers upon animal bodies, may 

 be reduced nearly to a single point ; 

 the statement of Avhich will suffice 

 to give the reader a general idea of 

 the subject. Lay bare any princi- 



this is done, let that part of the 

 nerve which is exposed, and which 

 is farthest from the limb or muscle, 

 be brought into contact with a 

 piece of zinc. "While in this state, 

 let the zinc be touched by a piece 

 of silver, while another part of the 

 silver touches the naked nerve, if 

 not dry, or the muscle to which it 

 leads, whether dry or not. In this 

 state, violent contractions will be 

 produced in the limb or muscle, but 

 not in any muscle on the other side 

 of the zinc. 



Among the numerous experi- 

 ments which have lately been made, 

 very few have been more singular 

 in their effects than those which, 

 were produced by Dr. Ure, in Glas- 

 gow, on the body of a man named 

 Clydesdale, who had been executed 

 for murder. These effects were 

 produced by a voltaic battery of 

 270 pair of four -inch plates, ,of 

 which the results were terrible. 

 In the first experiment, on moving 

 the rod from the thigh to the heel, 

 the leg was thrown forward with 

 so much violence as nearly to over- 

 turn one of the assistants. In the 

 second experiment, the rod was ap- 

 plied to the phrenic nerve in the 

 neck, when laborious breathing 

 commenced ; the chest heaved and 

 fell ; the belly was protruded and 

 collapsed with the relaxing and 

 retiring diaphragm ; and it was 

 thought that nothing but the loss 

 of blobd prevented pulsation from 

 being restored. In the third experi- 

 ment, the supra-orbital nerve was 

 touched, when the muscles of the 

 face were thrown into frightful ac- 

 tions and contortions. The scene 

 was hideous, and many spectators 

 left the room ; and one gentleman 

 nearly fainted, either from terror, 

 or from the momentary sickness 

 which the scene occasioned. In the 

 fourth experiment, from meeting 

 the electric power, from the spinal 



