8' 



wandered in that way which we shall soon see him take. The problem presented to 

 him was an equation with two unknown quantities, one of which was the galvanism 

 which VOLTA discovered, the other animal electricity, which latter, after half-a-centurv, 

 now again appears claiming its proper place." 



" Galvani really discovered not only the fundamental physiological experiment of 

 galvanism properly so called (the contraction of the frog when touched with dissimilar 

 metals), but also that of the electricity inherent in the nerves and muscles. Both cf 

 these discoveries were, however, hidden in such a confusion of circumstances, that the 

 result in both cases appeared equally to depend upon the limbs or tissues of the animals 

 employed." 



" Galvani was by profession an anatomist and physiologist. He was possessed with 

 the idea, which then was popular, of an animal electricity ; which he demonstrated to 

 his class in the anatomical theatre. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that he 

 should endeavour to solve the problem in that manner which appeared to open the way 

 to the explanation of a multitude of facts. Volta, indeed, held the same opinion, 

 though at first he was sceptical, in consequence of the many deceptions which had 

 already occurred in this branch of knowledge. He passed, as he himself tells us, from 

 unbelief to fanaticism, as soon as he had handled the wonderful facts. Nevertheless, he 

 was ready to reject those bright prospects which Galvani's discoveries appeared to unfold 

 for physiology of the muscles and nerves, as soon as he considered that he had proved 

 that they were not tenable in the existing state of science. 



" No one who wishes to judge impartially of the scientific history of those times, 

 and of its leaders, will consider Galvani and Volta as equals, or deny the vast superiority 

 of the latter over all those of the Bologna school. We shall scarcely again find in one 

 man gifts so rich and so calculated for research as were combined in Volta. He possessed 

 that ' incomprehensible talent ' as Dove has called it, for separating the essential from 

 the immaterial in complicated phenomena ; that boldness of invention which must 

 precede experiment, controlled by the most strict and cautious mode of manipulation ; 

 that unremitting attention which allows 110 circumstance to pass unnoticed : lastly, with 

 so much acuteness, so much simplicity, so much depth of thought, he had a hand which 

 was the hand of a workman." (Du Bois-Reymond, quoted by Bence Jones, Animal 

 Electricity, 1852.) 



" After Galvani had examined the shock produced by a spark from the electric 

 machine on a frog prepared for that purpose, he tried the same experiment with 

 lightning. These experiments occupied him during the summer of 1786. In the 

 autumn of the same year he endeavoured to discover the action of atmospheric electricity 

 on the prepared legs of a frog when the sky was stormless. It was on the liOth 

 September, that Galvani made that eventful observation upon muscular contractions in 

 animals, which forms the starting point for the new science of electricity. 



"Galvani first published these experiments with his deductions, in 1791, in his 

 celebrated work, De Viribus Electricitatis in motu musculari Commentarius." 



"The storm," says Du Bois-Reymond, "which was produced by the appear- 

 ance of the above-named Commentary among philosophers, physiologists, and physicians, 

 can only be compared to that which disturbed at that time (1791) the political horizon of 

 Europe. It may be said that wherever frogs were to be found, and where two different 

 kinds of metal could be procured, everybody was anxious to see the mangled limbs of 

 frogs brought to life in this wonderful way. The physiologists Mieved that at length 

 they should realize their visions of a vital power. The physicians, whom Galvani had 

 somewhat thoughtlessly led on with attempts to explain all kinds of nervous diseases, as 

 sciatica, tetanus, and epilepsy, began to believe that no cure was impossible ; and it was 

 considered certain that no one in a trance could in future be buried alive, provided only 

 that he were galvanized." 



