ELECTRICITY AND LIFE. 163 
a few minutes, that all the parts near the positive pole of 
the battery turn blue in presence of the starch, proving 
that they are impregnated with iodine. The iodide has 
been almost instantly decomposed, and the iodine carried 
by the current toward the positive pole. 
It is not surprising, then, that the action of electricity 
influences the whole system of the nutritive operations. 
Onimus and Legros found that ascending continuous cur- 
rents quicken the twofold movement of assimilation and dis- 
assimilation. Animals electrified under certain conditions 
throw off a greater proportion of urea and carbonic acid, 
proving a higher energy of the vital fire. On the other 
hand, if young individuals, in course of development, are 
subjected to the action of the current, they grow tall and 
large more quickly than in ordinary circumstances, furnish- 
ing the proof of an increase in the quantity of substances 
assimilated. To show how far vital phenomena are stimu- 
lated by electricity, we will cite another experiment made 
by Robin and Legros on noctilucz, These are microscopic 
animals, which, when existing in great numbers in sea-wa- 
ter, render it almost as white as milk, and at certain times 
phosphorescent. Now, acurrent directed into a vessel filled 
with such water suffices to bring out a trace of light mark- 
ing all its course. Electricity stimulates the phosphores- 
cence of all the noctiluce met on its passage between the 
two poles. 
Interrupted currents, or currents of induction, con- 
tract the blood-vessels and slacken the circulation in almost 
every case: if they are intense, they even effect its com- 
plete check by a strong contraction of the little arterial 
1 Hlectricity passes in a machine between two poles. It is ascertained 
that the current circulates from the positive pole toward the negative 
one. The current is called ascending when the positive pole is applied 
to’ the lower part and the negative to the upper part of the spine; it is 
called descending in the reverse case. 
