Frogs and Galvanism.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue VI, 9 February 1901, Page 269

Frogs and Galvanism.

The discovery of electricity has been traced to an accidental meal of frogs indulged in, under medical advice, by Signora Galvani. It was certainly the cause of the discovery of galvanism. Galvani was professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, and was in his laboratory making experiments with an electrical machine, when (so the story goes) his wife came into the room with her dish of frogs, and sat down beside him. She had probably little relish for the amphibians; at all events, she does not appear to have been in any great haste to consume them, for while they lay on the table uneaten, an assistant accidentally touched one of the presumably dead frogs with the point of a scalpel, and its crural nerves immediately became violently agitated, givjng the creature all the appearance of restored animation. The wife observed this incident with surprise, and, drawing her husband’s attention o it. he repeated the dose upon the Poor frog, and the discovery of what subsequently came to be known as galvanism was established. Signora ■alvani’s frog soup was the means of Sology" 1 * a new system of phy-