72 ELECTBIC CONDITION CHAP. VII. 



the experimental results obtained by Vassaij Eandi, 

 and to which I have already referred*. To him, 

 therefore, must the credit be given, as having been 

 the first to establish the important fact, the electric 

 condition of the blood by experimental evidence. 

 That his experiments should have been overlooked, 

 or even passed by as undeserving of attention, is 

 somewhat remarkable ; and I can only refer it to 

 that injudicious scepticism, too frequently expressed 

 where a knowledge of the subject is wanting, and 

 sometimes from other motives, which is as great a 

 bane to the progress of science, as the opposite evil 

 a too easy credulity. 



Although objections may be raised to the expe- 

 rimental results obtained by Bellingeei as recorded 

 by MuLLEE, he nevertheless appears to have arrived 

 at the conclusion, that arterial and venous blood 

 presented no difference in regard to their electrical 

 properties ; and that the electrical property of tiie 

 blood is preserved long after its abstraction from 

 the vessels. 



There can be no doubt that most important 

 phenomena are connected and associated with this 

 electric condition of the blood; that a great many 

 of its properties, which have been referred, in conse- 

 quence of being inexplicable, to a vital condition, 

 belong to it. Its particles must be in a state of self- 

 repulsion, and may therefore assist in the circulation 

 of the blood. Some of the peculiarities connected 

 •» Chap. i. 



