124 Traces of Unity in 



ne p^rira point ; les siecles futurs profiteront de sa 

 decouverte, et, comme le dit Brandes, ils reconnaitront 

 que la physiologic doit a Galvani et a Harvey ses deux 

 bases principales.'* At this time, then, and in this 

 place, Galvani saw the contractions he describes, and 

 discovered or rather divined, in them the existence of 

 animal electricity. How, he asked himself, were these 

 contractions to be accounted for ? They could not be 

 due to discharges of atmospheric electricity, for the sky 

 at the time presented no indications of electric disturb- 

 ance : they could not be due to the discharges which 

 gave rise to them within the house, for the electric 

 machine, which remained behind, was then at rest : they 

 could not be due, that is to say, to discharges of either of 

 the two kinds of electricity then known ; and having 

 arrived at this point, he jumped from it to the conclusion, 

 that the limbs themselves must have an electricity of 

 their own, and that the contractions were brought about 

 by discharges of this electricity. It never occurred to 

 him to doubt that electricity was the agent at work in. 

 causing these contractions : and, in short, he did not 

 hesitate to conclude, not only that the contractions were 

 in themselves abundant proof of the existence of animal 

 electricity, but also that the muscular fibres are charged 

 during rest as Leyden jars are charged, and that muscular 

 contraction is the sign and effect of the discharge of this 

 charge, the discharge, in one way or another, being 

 brought about by an electrical action of the nerves upon 

 the muscles. 



From this time until the day of his death, Galvani 

 went on performing experiment after experiment, sacri- 



" Experiences sur le galvanisme, et en general sur 1'irritation des 

 fibres musculaires et nerveuses." F. A. Humboldt. Traduit par J. F. N. 

 Jadelot. 8vo. Pans, 1799, p. 361. 



