Luigi Galvani: Animal Electricity

Luigi (or Aloysii) Galvani (1737-1798) was born, lived and died in Bologna, Italy. He studied at the famous university of his hometown, first theology, and then medicine. In 1762, he taught medicine and had researched the physiology of the kidney, in addition to other studies on, the auditory organ of birds. In 1775, he got appointed Professor of Anatomy and later Professor of Gynecology.

Luigi Galvani systematically investigated the effects of electricity on the muscles. In 1773, Galvani lectures would play a significant role in the history of bioelectricity, Sul moto nelle rane muscle, based on his studies of the stimulation of "nerves that move the muscle," that is, the motor nerves.

From about 1780, Galvani began his lectures include practical experiments that showed little to students the nature and properties of electricity. In one of these experiences, the scientists demonstrated that by applying a small electrical current to the spinal cord of a dead frog, massive muscle contractions occurred in members of the same. These discharges could make the legs (even apart from the body) jump like that when the animal was alive.

The doctor had discovered this phenomenon while dissecting a frog leg, the knife accidentally touched a brass hook from which hung the leg. There was a small download and the leg contracted spontaneously. Through consistent and repeated experiments, Galvani convinced that what we saw were the results of what he called "animal electricity". Galvani's animal electricity identified with the life force that animated the muscles of the frog, and invited his colleagues to reproduce and confirm what he did.

He did so at the University of Pavia, Galvani's colleague, Alessandro Volta, who said the results were correct but was not satisfied with the explanation of Galvani.

On November 6, 1780, while experimenting with an electrostatic generator designed by Otto von Guericke (1602-1686), Galvani made a momentous discovery. He noted that when the nerves of a frog's leg got touched with the tip of a scalpel dissection strong shocks occurring in the muscles, even without the electrostatic device was connected directly to any of the parties. However, contractions occurred simultaneously with the electric sparks from the machine and only when holding the blade with the conductive sheet and not by its handle insulator. These observations are known today as the first experiment of Galvani (Grundfest, 1997, 1-85).

Galvani also investigated the effect on animal preparations of atmospheric electricity. In a series, ...