An Account of the Late Improvements in Galvanism: With a Series of Curious and Interesting Experiments Performed Before the Commissioners of the French National Institute, and Repeated Lately in the Anatomical Theatres of LondonAldini, Giovanni
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An Account of the Late Improvements in Galvanism: With a Series of Curious and Interesting Experiments Performed Before the Commissioners of the French National Institute, and Repeated Lately in the Anatomical Theatres of London
Aldini, Giovanni
Electricity -- Early works to 1850
As I found it difficult, in the course of my travels, to obtain large
animals for my experiments, a desire of prosecuting my researches
induced me to be satisfied with such small animals as were easiest to
be procured. I therefore declared war against the dogs, which
exhibited the same phænomena as oxen, and with the greatest energy, as
may be seen by the following extract from the before-mentioned Report
of the Commissioners of the French National Institute: “The head of a
dog being cut off, Aldini subjected it to the action of a strong pile,
by which means the most frightful convulsions were produced. The mouth
opened, the teeth gnashed, the eyes rolled in their orbits; and, if
the imagination had not been restrained by reason and reflection, one
might have almost believed that the animal was restored to life, and
in a state of agony.”
EXPERIMENT XVIII.
The head and trunk of a dog, separated from each other, and placed in
such a manner as to leave an interval of about a foot between them
(Plate II. fig. 4.), were made to move simultaneously by applying the
Galvanic action to one of the ears, and to a small incision made in
one of the extremities of the trunk. I saw the same effect produced in
a public sitting held at the _Hôpital de la Charité_ at Paris. In this
case, the distance between the head and trunk was a foot and a half.
EXPERIMENT XIX.
In the preceding experiments, it is always necessary that the part of
the table which forms the interval between the head and trunk should
be moistened with salt water, or some other _conducting fluid_.
Considered in this point of view, the head and trunk mutually form an
arc which conducts the Galvanic action; so that the contractions
excited at the same time do not depend on the particular organization
of the animals subjected to experiment. This I confirmed by producing
simultaneous contractions in the trunk of a dog combined with the head
of a rabbit, and vice versa.
EXPERIMENT XX.
At the School of Medicine at Paris, in presence of the Commissioners
of the French National Institute, and of Professor Huzzard, I tried
the action of Galvanism on a horse which had been killed by the
insufflation of air into the jugular veins. The trunk exhibited no
extraordinary motion; but the head was violently agitated. A very
sensible gnashing of the teeth was produced, and all the muscles
performed, in a surprising manner, the same motion as is exerted
during the time of mastication. There was even a visible excretion of
the saliva. Of all the heads hitherto tried, that of the horse
exhibited the most violent motion by the action of Galvanism.
EXPERIMENT XXI.
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