Animal Electricity

Animal Electricity

This is a series of lectures delivered at the Royal Institution last year, and now published with numerous illustrations. Although of an elementary and almost popular kind, the matter contains much that is conjectural and controversial. The diagrams of the various apparatus are numerous and clear, and the graphic illustrations showing the effect of chloroform, ether and carbonic acid on the ner...

Additional Observations on Animal Electricity

Luigi Galvani's path to animal electricity.

In spite of the historical importance of the research that, in the second half of the 18th century, led Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) to lay down the foundation of modern electrophysiology, his scientific personality is largely misrepresented in science history and in popular imagery. He is still considered as a pioneer that by chance incurred some surprising experimental observations and was incap...

Giovanni Aldini: from animal electricity to human brain stimulation.

Two hundred years ago, Giovanni Aldini published a highly influential book that reported experiments in which the principles of Luigi Galvani (animal electricity) and Alessandro Volta (bimetallic electricity) were used together for the first time. Aldini was born in Bologna in 1762 and graduated in physics at the University of his native town in 1782. As nephew and assistant of Galvani, he acti...

A Computational View of the Historical Controversy on Animal Electricity

A scientific controversy retains often some controversial sides after its fundamentals have well been explained. This is particularly true for the controversy that arose in Italy in the second half of the eighteen century between the anatomist Luigi Galvani, and the physicist Alessandro Volta, around the intrinsic nature of nerve and muscular function. The two scientists were providing, almost ...