Part 4

The curiosity natural to a philosopher induced me to subject these birds to anatomical dissection, that I might examine what effects had been produced on the animal machine by these convulsions. The principal phænomena which I observed were extravasated blood in the muscles; a derangement of the humours in different parts; the intestines removed from their usual seat, and thrown towards the pelvis. At some future period, I purpose to examine how long these animals are capable of living under the continued action of Galvanism, applied to them in different ways.

EXPERIMENT IX.

I applied the Galvanic action to a pullet just killed, forming an arc from one of the ears to the other. When this arrangement was made, I observed contractions not only in the feet, but also in the wings and the whole animal machine. The same phænomena were produced by the same means in two other pullets. I then combined the different parts of these three pullets in such a manner, that the head of the second was joined to the foot of the first, and the head of the third to the head of the second. An arc being then formed to the two extremities of this chain of animal parts, I was much pleased to see the three pullets move their wings and their feet at the same time.

EXPERIMENT X.

The results of the preceding experiments led me to examine the power of an arc formed by animal moisture. For this purpose, having connected the heads of two oxen, (Plate II. fig. 3.) by bringing near each other the sections of the neck, I established an arc from the summit of the pile to one of the ears of one head, and another from the base of the pile to one of the ears of the other. When this arrangement was made, I observed that both the heads exhibited evident signs of muscular contractions.

EXPERIMENT XI.

The trunks of two calves being united by the sections of the neck, and an arc being established by the interposition of the pile from the anus of the one to that of the other, both the trunks received, at the same time, a commotion, but not very violent. I repeated this experiment on the trunks of two lambs, but with a more striking result, as all the extremities and muscles experienced violent convulsions. A glass vessel, employed for the experiments, which stood on the table, was overturned by one of the extremities, and thrown to the distance of about two feet. I tried other combinations, but the contractions were weaker.

EXPERIMENT XII.

Having sawn open the skull, I directed the action of the pile to different parts of the brain, in the same order as they occurred in the course of anatomical dissection. All these parts appeared to be affected by the Galvanic force; but its action was stronger on the corpus callosum and the cerebellum. The same result nearly was obtained, when I repeated the experiment on the heads of different calves and lambs.

EXPERIMENT XIII.

The heart of an ox, removed from the body, being exposed to the action of Galvanism, though the pile was very powerful, exhibited no signs of muscular contraction. I repeated the same experiment on the heart of an ox, without removing it from the body, and on the hearts of several dogs, one arc being applied to the spinal marrow, while the other touched sometimes the surface of the heart, and sometimes penetrated into its substance; but with the same result: no muscular convulsions were produced.

EXPERIMENT XIV.

I prepared some frogs; and having waited till the motion of the ventricles of the heart had become very slow, and almost imperceptible, I communicated to them the Galvanic influence, and it appeared to me that some movements were produced in the ventricles. I repeated this experiment lately on the heart of a rabbit, and with the same success. Having tried the hearts of several calves and dogs, I could not observe any decided motion in the ventricles; but I remarked that the Galvanic power exercised a strong action on the auricles.

EXPERIMENT XV.

Without taking into consideration the differences in the action of Galvanism on the heart, according to the different applications and the different kinds of animals subjected to experiment, I observed, that after this muscle has lost its susceptibility to the action of Galvanism, the other muscles still retain it in a very high degree. This effect is very striking in regard to the heart and the muscles of oxen and dogs; and this corresponds with what has been stated by the Commissioners of the French National Institute in their Report. Speaking of the anomalies found in this respect in the heart, they conclude _that it is at any rate certain that this organ loses, in a very short time, and much sooner than the other muscles, the faculty of being agitated by Galvanism_.

EXPERIMENT XVI.

All the observations I was able to make on the involuntary muscles will be found in the same Report, from which the following is an extract: “Dr. Grapengiesser says, that he saw the vermicular motion of the intestines increased by the action of Galvanism in a living subject, whose large intestines protruded beyond the abdomen, in consequence of a scrotal hernia. Professor Aldini made us observe the same effect on the intestinal canal of a dog. We perceived also very evident contractions in a portion of the stomach, separated from the animal. We saw the auricles of the heart contract; but never found this to be the case with the ventricles.”

EXPERIMENT XVII.

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.

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.

The first of these decapitated criminals being conveyed to the apartment provided for my experiments, in the neighbourhood of the place of execution, the head was first subjected to the Galvanic action. For this purpose I had constructed a pile consisting of a hundred pieces of silver and zinc. Having moistened the inside of the ears with salt water, I formed an arc with two metallic wires, which, proceeding from the two ears, were applied, one to the summit and the other to the bottom of the pile. When this communication was established, I observed strong contractions in all the muscles of the face, which were contorted in so irregular a manner that they exhibited the appearance of the most horrid grimaces. The action of the eye-lids was exceedingly striking, though less sensible in the human head than in that of the ox.

EXPERIMENT XXIII.

Having established an arc from the top of the left ear, and then from the bottom of that ear to the tongue, drawn about an inch without the mouth, contractions were observed in the face, and the tongue sensibly returned into the mouth. I then touched the upper or lower lips, and obtained contractions, which were remarkable chiefly in all the muscles of the left part of the face; so that the mouth appeared as if distorted by a partial kind of palsy. On the first application of the arc, a small quantity of saliva was discharged from the mouth.

EXPERIMENT XXIV.

I caused the head to be shaved exactly above the parietal protuberance on the right side; and having moistened the integuments, armed with silver and zinc, I established a communication by means of the pile between the parietal bone and one of the ears. I obtained contractions, but weaker than those observed when the arcs were formed according to the different methods already described.

EXPERIMENT XXV.

Having formed an arc from the ears to different parts of the face, moistened with a solution of muriate of soda, such for example as the nose and forehead, I always observed violent contractions. But the contractions were stronger when, instead of the first-mentioned pile, I employed another consisting of fifty plates of copper and zinc. I even still decreased the number of plates, in order that I might try, in the course of these experiments, the different degrees of activity which the pile would exhibit.

EXPERIMENT XXVI.

The head of the other criminal being brought to me after I had employed about half an hour in these experiments, I repeated them on this second head, and found the results to be analogous to those before obtained. But the contractions produced in the second head were stronger in consequence of its greater vitality: the vitality of the first seemed to have been nearly exhausted.

EXPERIMENT XXVII.

Being desirous to examine, according to the principles of Galvani, the power of an arc of animal moisture in warm-blooded animals, I recollected that I had several times observed simultaneous convulsions produced by these means in two frogs, and recently in the heads of two oxen, the arc being conveyed from the one to the other in different ways.

I placed the two heads in a straight line on a table, in such a manner that the sections of the neck were brought into communication merely by the animal fluids. When thus arranged, I formed an arc from the pile to the right ear of one head, and to the left ear of the other, and saw with astonishment the two heads make horrid grimaces; so that the spectators, who had no suspicion of such a result, were actually frightened. It was however observed, that the convulsions excited in the heads disposed in this manner, were not so strong as those produced when I performed the experiment on each head separately. It is certain that, in this experiment, the arc of animal moisture supplies the place of a continuation of the nervous and muscular fibres.

EXPERIMENT XXVIII.

Having tried the effect of Galvanism on the exterior part of the head, I proceeded to examine the phænomena exhibited by the interior organs when treated in the same manner. I therefore removed the upper part of the cranium by a section parallel to its base, uncovered the pia mater, and established an arc from one of the ears to the medullary substance. On the application of the arc strong convulsions were observed in the face. While preparing the brain for my experiments, I remarked that, in dividing the muscles of the forehead, at each stroke of the dissecting knife, very strong contractions, which continued after the dissection was finished, were excited in the muscles of the face. I was informed that this is an uncommon phænomenon in anatomical dissections; and therefore I shall leave it to anatomists to determine whether it was occasioned, either in whole or in part, by the preceding action of the pile.

EXPERIMENT XXIX.

Having then separated the lobes of the brain, I applied the arc to the corpus callosum, to the ears or to the lips, and found that the whole osseous box and the muscles of the face were violently agitated. Some of the spectators even imagined that the corpus callosum itself was affected by a peculiar convulsion; but it is possible that this emotion was owing to a mechanical impulse which shook the whole head. New experiments will, therefore, be necessary before any thing further can be said in regard to this observation.

EXPERIMENT XXX.

Having carried the dissection to the olfactory nerves, and even to the crossing of the optic nerves, I formed an arc from these parts to the lips and the eyes, and obtained contractions, but very weak in comparison of the preceding. I observed that on touching the optic nerves with one of the arcs no sensible convulsions were produced in the eye-lids.

EXPERIMENT XXXI.

This mutilated head, which had been so long the subject of observation, was united by the plane of the section to that of the other criminal, which had not been subjected to anatomical dissection. I then applied two arcs, making one of them to communicate with the summit of the pile and the right ear of one head, and the other with the bottom of the pile and the left ear of the second head. Both heads experienced contractions similar to those described in the 27th experiment; but in the head which had already been employed they appeared to be weaker.

EXPERIMENT XXXII.

After these experiments on the head, I proceeded to the trunk of the second criminal, which I conceived to be most proper for my purpose.

I think it necessary here to observe, that the body had been exposed for about an hour, in an open court, where the temperature was two degrees below zero. The muscles of the fore-arm and the tendinous parts of the metacarpus being laid bare, an arc was established from those muscles to the spinal marrow. In consequence of this arrangement, the fore-arm was raised, to the great astonishment of those who were present.

EXPERIMENT XXXIII.

Having established an arc between the biceps muscle of each arm, which I had laid perfectly bare, I obtained similar contractions, but somewhat weaker than in the preceding case.

EXPERIMENT XXXIV.

Having laid bare the tendons of the fingers, on the back of the hand, I established an arc between that region and the spinal marrow, and obtained strong contractions in the fingers and in the whole hand.

EXPERIMENT XXXV.

Proceeding to the lower extremities, I formed an arc from the spinal marrow to the vastus internus, vastus externus, sartorius, and other muscles, and obtained strong contractions in all these muscles. Having removed the arcs and the pile, the muscles retained a small oscillatory motion, which continued for ten minutes. I observed the same phænomenon in the muscles of the neck, when I established an arc between the spinal marrow and various other parts of the trunk.

EXPERIMENT XXXVI.

Having applied the arc to the spinal marrow and the uncovered muscles of the under part of the tarsus of the right foot, the extensor muscles of all the toes, and particularly of the great toe, experienced very sensible contractions. I repeated the experiment with the arc applied, not to the spinal marrow, but to the uncovered muscles of the thigh, employed in the preceding experiment, and found the contractions excited to be much stronger. In like manner, the muscles of the soles of the feet, when I established an arc between them and the muscles of the thigh, manifested much stronger contractions than when the arc extended to any other distant part.

EXPERIMENT XXXVII.

Having examined the force of the contractions, when the arcs were applied to the surface of the muscles of the extremities, I tried what effect would be produced by introducing them into their substance. In this case, the energy of the contractions was much increased.

EXPERIMENT XXXVIII.

After trying the action of Galvanism on the extremities, I resolved to examine the trunk. With this view, having established an arc from the spinal marrow to the muscles of the diaphragm, I obtained very sensible contractions every time the arc was applied.

EXPERIMENT XXXIX.

I then caused the thorax to be opened, that I might try the effects of Galvanism on the most important of all the muscles, the heart. The pericardium having been detached, I applied the conductor to the principal organ of life, and I even caused it to be opened, to examine whether there existed in any of its folds some fibre susceptible of oscillation; but my researches were fruitless. This insensibility ought, perhaps, to be ascribed to the want of a certain degree of heat and of animal moisture, not to be found in a body two hours after death. It will, therefore, be proper to repeat this experiment, taking care to observe all those conditions which may be necessary to ensure its success.

EXPERIMENT XL.

In the preceding experiment I observed that the diaphragm contracted, and that the blood, which after this phænomenon I supposed to be coagulated, flowed on the contrary from the vena cava inferior, and the jugular veins, the moment the arc was applied, and appeared of a bright red colour. Is there reason to conjecture that, though great contractions cannot be produced, it is possible to excite in the interior parts of the heart some oscillations analogous to those which I observed in the muscles of the thigh and neck? This question can be determined only by new experiments.

EXPERIMENT XLI.

I observed in these experiments, that the more the points of contact of the arc with the biceps muscle were multiplied, the more the motion of the arm was extended; especially when care was taken to insulate the muscle by removing the integuments, and surrounding it with the wire bent in the form of a ring. Having applied arcs to the biceps muscle of each arm, I was much surprised to see the fore-arm and hand of the extremity, where the before-mentioned ring was placed, rise quickly to the height of about six inches.

EXPERIMENT XLII.

I repeated the experiment, forming the arc from the biceps muscle of the fore-arm to the spinal marrow. By these means contractions so violent were excited, that the anterior part of the arm, the whole of which lay extended in a horizontal position, rose seven inches above the plane of the table. Having placed on the palm of the hand a metallic body, such as a piece of money, the hand at first supported it for a little time; but at a certain degree of elevation it projected it to some distance. I then substituted for the piece of money a pair of iron pincers, about half a pound in weight; the hand rose up and seemed to seize them; but at the highest degree of elevation the contraction ceased, and the pincers fell. I observed that the weight with which the hand was loaded, diminished the elevating power of the arm very little. It may be proper to remark, that the last two experiments were performed an hour and a quarter after the execution, and those on the lower extremities almost two hours.

If this experiment were speedily repeated, in order to take advantage of the highest degree of vitality, loading the hand with different weights in succession, till the motion of the hand should be totally impeded, I am of opinion that an estimate might be formed of the elevating force, according to the different degrees of vitality.

In the preceding experiments I have omitted certain observations, which did not agree with those made on other warm-blooded animals. But my silence deranges no theory; and, besides, facts not sufficiently confirmed would have led me into physiological discussions of little utility, as these points can be determined only by new experiments.

It is painful to a philosopher to reflect, that his doubts cannot be cleared up until new victims shall fall under the sword of justice; but the hope that his researches may lead to some new discovery beneficial to mankind, in a physiological point of view, lessens in a certain measure the disagreeable sensations excited by these melancholy scenes.