"This explains the action of certain chemical substances when introduced into the human body, some of which tend to quiet the nerves and others to excite them. The nerve-quieting ions are those that bear charges of positive electricity, such as atoms of sodium, potassium, calcium and hydrogen, and tend to keep the colloidal particles of the nerves in a state of solution, so that the nerves remain inactive. The nerve-stimulating ions are atoms of such substances as fluorine and chlorine, which carry charges of negative electricity and cause the nerve particles to coalesce or become jellied, in which condition the nerve is active, the degree of activity depending upon the intensity of the stimulation. Death appears to be the result of the stagnation of the nerves, and this discovery may enable us to oppose the process that ends in death." This throws a flood of light on other obscure problems, and offers an explanation of the effect of anaesthetics upon the human body. Anything that tends to keep the nerve particles in a state of solution quiets the nerves. Now, nerve particles are largely composed of fat, and anaesthetics dissolve fat. Hence anaesthetics produce the effect of positively electrified ions, preventing the nerve particles from coalescing and thus quiets the nerves. The action of whiskey in arresting the progress of snake poison is explained. The alcohol counteracts the coagulating tendency and keeps the nerves in a colloidal condition. It explains many other familiar facts, as why heat tends to quiet the nerves, and that chemical stimulation is identical with electrical stimulation, and solves the long standing puzzle of muscular contractility. Dr. H. Preston Pratt, an eminent electro-therapeutic expert, says: "Dr. Loeb's experiments have demonstrated that _electricity is life_--that the entire human organism is controlled by electrical forces. The twentieth century will prove electricity and not salt is the real life-giving principle. "If this force is taken away, life ends, and, in the same manner, if this force is supplied the result is the immediate stimulation of the organic life. "The necessary elements of life are taken into the body through the air and food, and the entrance of the essential elements into the blood sets the human battery into operation, and it continues to operate as long as the electrical forces are supplied to the blood. _The human body is of elements the same as a magnet and is built of smaller magnets or molecules._" This I have contended for many years. He continued: "To show the connection between human life and electricity, take an ordinary battery of chloride of ammonia or salammoniac and study its workings. You will see that by the introduction of the element zinc the electrical current is found. The zinc is of positive polarity and so is the ammonia, while the chloride is electro-negative.