PRESEXT STATE OF ORGANIC ELECTRICITY. 307 



up a boundless field of discovery, yet organic electricity still 

 remains comparatively uncultivated. 



In the investigation of electrical force as manifested in 

 organic nature, the peculiar economy of the organised being 

 must be taken into account. Each organised being, although 

 dependent on certain external circumstances as the conditions 

 of its existence, is, nevertheless, a system per sc. Irrespective 

 of those electrical conditions into which it may be thrown, 

 through suiTOunding bodies, or through the medium in which 

 it lives, it undoubtedly contains more or less numerous sources 

 of electrical disturbance, in the numerous processes and 

 aiTangements productive of cui-rents in the structures which 

 collectively constitute its organisation. The organised being 

 may be considered electrically as a system of electrical cuiTcnts 

 excited by electrical an-angements in the disposition of its 

 fluids, textures, and organs. 



So far as has yet been ascertained, these electrical cuiTcnts, 

 with the exception of those produced by the special batteries 

 in the electrical fishes, are not employed in the economy of 

 the being. They are merely necessary consequences of the 

 organic processes carried on by the different structures ; and 

 eflect, by their arrangement, the distribution of the resulting 

 electricity, and the maintenance of the general electrical equi- 

 librium of the organic s}i;em. The detection and investigation 

 of these organic electrical phenomena are, however, important, 

 not only for general electrical science, but also for the eluci- 

 dation of the oi"ganic processes themselves. Eesidual pheno- 

 mena, as such electrical disturbances must generally be 

 considered in physiology, will, when investigated, imlicate the 

 probable nature of the actions from which they result. 



Electrical Phenomena in Yegetahles. 



Various obser\'ers have proved the existence in plants of 

 arrangements which affect the condenser and galvanometer. 



