1799.] Authentic Experiments on the Phenomena of Galvanifin. 193 
vanic operations, certain enervating, and 
certain exciting difpofitions ; of which, 
fome not only augment or diminifh the 
energy in the prefent inftance, but, be- 
fides, difpofe the animal to a greater or a 
fmaller {ufceptibility, under fubfequent 
experiments, 
6. In order to accuracy of experiment, 
and to the correct afcertaining of the ef- 
fects of an experiment, it is of great im- 
portance to know the precife ftate of the 
animal, the manner in which it has been 
preferved and fuftained to the prefent mo- 
ment, the ftate of the atmofphere, particu- 
larly as it is indicated by the hygrometer, 
by the barometer, the thermometer, and 
the electrometer. 
7. It were to be wifhed, that in mak- 
ing a ftatement of experiments of diffe- 
rent forts thefe fhould be arranged in the 
order of their efficacy, and that there 
might thus be formed a Galwanie fcale, 
which fhould help us to determine the 
precife degree of the Galvanic fufceptibi- 
lity of any animal in this or that parti- 
cular ftate or pofition, fhould direct us in 
fubjecting every fuch animal only to ex- 
periments fuitable to its particular fufcep- 
tibility ; fhould enable us to eftimate, 
from the efficacy or inefficacy of our expe- 
riments, the Galvanic value of the cir- 
cumftances in which we every day find our- 
felves, and fhould enable us to judge 
when the fuccefs or mifcarriage of an ex- 
periment can afford room for certain con- 
clufions abfolutely negative or afhrmative. 
IV. In their experiments upon the 
means of VARYING, DIMINISHING, and 
RENEWING the SUSCEPTIBILITY of ani- 
mal bedies to the influence of Galvanifm, 
the committee examined, 1ft, the influence 
of electricity upon that fufceptibility ; 
2. theeffeéts of the mufcular organs, and of 
certain liquors, fuch as alcohol, the oxy- 
genated muriatic acid, the folutions of 
potath andopium, upon the Galvanic pro- 
perties; 3. and at the medical fchoal of 
Paris they made a number of experi- 
ments, in order to afcertain what new 
modifications the Galvanic energy under- 
gees in various cafes of fuffocation or 
afphyxia. Thefe laft-mentioned experi- 
ments were made upon hot-blooded ani- 
mals, of which fome were reduced into 
the ftate of afphyxia by fubmerfion, fome 
by ftrangulation, feme by the aétion of 
afes, while others were killed iz vacuo 
3 the difcharge of the eleétric fpark. In 
that fuffocation which was produced by 
fulphurated hydrogenous gas, by carbonic 
vapours, and by fubmerfion in which the 
animal was fulpended by the hinder feet, 
MONTHLY Mac, No, xii, 
the Galvanic fufceptibility wasentirely de- 
ftroyed. The Galvanic fufceptibility was 
only fufpended by fuffocation produced 
by the pure carbonic acid confined under 
mercury. It was diminifhed, but not de- 
ftroyed, in thofe caies of fuffocation, which 
were occafioned by fulphurated hydroge. 
nous gas that had loft a portion of its 
fulphur, by gas ammoniac, gas azote, 
or fuch gafes as had been exhaufted of 
their pure air by refpiration ; and the 
fame thing was found to take place in ani+ 
mals which had perifhed by total fubmer- 
fion. But the Galvanic fufceptibility 
furvived unaitered in fuffucations brought 
on by fubmerfion in mercury, by purge 
hydrogenous gas, by carbonated hydro- 
genous gas, by oxygenated muriatic acid, 
by fulphureous acid; as alfo when the 
fuffocation was occafioned by ftrangulde 
tion, by the abftraction of the air in the 
air-pump, or by the difcharges from an 
electrical battery. The refults of the ex» 
periments at the medical fchool fuggefted 
the following refleétions : 
1. Though it be true that all cafes of 
fuffocation refemble one another in the 
privation of refpirable air, and in the 
fufpenfions of the functions of refpiration, 
and of the circulation of the blood ; yet, 
in their other circumftances, they are 
fubjeét to great differences, arifing from 
diverfity of nature in the fubftances by 
which they are occationed. : 
2. Of thefe caufes, fome appear to a&h 
with a more thorough cflicacy, penetrat- 
ing at once all parts of the nervous and 
mufcular fyftems. Others again feem to 
act but fuperficially, producing only pul- 
monary afplhyxia, with its iamediate 
effects. - 
3. One of the moft remarkable changes 
not confined to the organs of refpiration, 
confifts in the alterations produced on the 
Galvanic fufceptibility. In that refpeét 
the various cafes of afphyxia differ greatly 
one from another. 
4. The ftate of the irritability of the 
mufcles, when examined by means of’bo- 
dics, the mechanical action of which 
caufes the mufcles to contract by irritate 
ing them, is far from always corre{pond- 
ing to the ftate of their Galvanic fulcep- 
tibility. 
5. Laftly, the caufes of fuffocation. or 
afphyxia, do not a& upon all parts of the 
mufcular fyftem in the fame manner... But 
the heart is very often found in a ftate 
extremely different from that of the other 
muicles. 1 
V. The comparifon between the pha- 
nomena of Gatvanism and thofe of 
b ELECTRI« 
