Having performed this series of experiments, it was necessary that a comparison should be made, cæteris paribus, between the action of those stimulants proposed by the celebrated Haller, and the means here used to excite the action of Galvanism. For this purpose I employed a head weakened to such a degree that it was no longer sensible to the action of the Hallerian stimulants applied to the muscles and nerves, and then to different parts of the brain laid bare, and separated one from the other. I tried the action of the sulphuric and nitric acids, and the effect of the bistouri, but without ever producing the smallest contraction in warm-blooded animals: on the other hand, the action of Galvanism, on these parts, in the above state, occasioned very powerful muscular contractions. SECTION II. _Experiments made on human bodies after death._ From the experiments already described, one might by analogy conjecture what effect the action of Galvanism would produce on that noble being man, the sole object of my researches. But to enable philosophers to judge with more certainty respecting the effects of this wonderful agent, it was necessary to adhere to certain conditions, and to apply it immediately after death. The bodies of persons who had died of disease were not proper for my purpose; because it is to be presumed, that the development of the principle which occasions death destroys the elasticity of the fibres, and that the humours are changed from their natural to a corrupted state. It was therefore necessary to obtain the human body while it still retained, after death, the vital powers in the highest degree of preservation; and hence I was obliged, if I may be allowed the expression, to place myself under the scaffold, near the axe of justice, to receive the yet bleeding bodies of unfortunate criminals, the only subjects proper for my experiments. In consequence of an application made for that purpose, I obtained from Government the bodies of two brigands, who were decapitated at Bologna in the month of January 1802. As both these individuals had been very young, and of a robust constitution, and as the parts exhibited the utmost soundness, I entertained strong hopes of obtaining the happiest results from my proposed researches. Though accustomed to a more tranquil kind of operations in my closet, and little acquainted with anatomical dissections, the love of truth, and a desire to throw some light on the system of Galvanism, overcame all my repugnance, and I proceeded to the following experiments. EXPERIMENT XXII.