Art and the Brain: Chapter 10. Electricity Sparks the Imagination
Topics
Learning about electricity
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
Luigi Galvani (1734–1798)
Excerpt
In summary, the 18th century Zeitgeist stimulated the study of what we now call electrophysiology by showing that animal tissues are endowed with intrinsic electricity — which is involved in fundamental physiological processes such as nerve conduction and muscle contraction. These ideas extended into the life sciences and efforts to bring life to cadavers were not totally uncommon; John Hunter’s portfolio included an experiment similar to the one Aldini tried. Both, as a result, have been compared to the fictional Frankenstein, who created a monster in his laboratory with a galvanic spark, as discussed in the next chapter.
Image Gallery
Fig. 10.1. Demonstration of John Walsh’s experiment with electric fish in which the circuit is completed by two participants joining hands.
Fig. 10.2. De Magnete (1600) by William Gilbert. Title page of the 1628 edition.
Fig. 10.3. Flying Boy Experiment. Stephen Gray (1666–1736) suspended a boy from the ceiling via silk cords and then “electrified” him with a charged glass tube. Bottom. Frontispiece of Novi profectus in historia electricitatis, post obitum auctoris, by Christian August Hausen (1746).
Fig. 10.3. Flying Boy Experiment. Stephen Gray (1666–1736) suspended a boy from the ceiling via silk cords and then “electrified” him with a charged glass tube. Bottom. Frontispiece of Novi profectus in historia electricitatis, post obitum auctoris, by Christian August Hausen (1746).
Fig. 10.4. Electric Kiss. Bose. “I kissed Venus, standing on a pitch. / It pained me to the quick. My lips trembled / my mouth quivered, my teeth almost broke.”
Fig. 10.5. Luigi Galvani. Experiments in electrophysiology. De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentaries, 1791 (Volume 7, Plate 3)
Fig. 10.6. Luigi Galvani. Experiments in electrophysiology. De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentaries, 1791. Note how the joining of hands in this plate corresponds to John Walsh’s earlier demonstration as depicted in Fig. 10.1.
Fig. 10.7. Essai theoretique experimental sur le Galvanisme. Giovanni Aldini, galvanism experiments. Giovanni Aldini (Plate 5, 1804).
