An international system of electro-therapeutics : for students, general practitioners, and specialists . sed into excitement by the unparalleled disclosures that philosophyseemed about to make. Electricity had but lately been drawn down from the clouds; thewhole earth was shown to be electric ; with one stride more the daringscience might unfold the whole m^stery of being. But, fortunately for itssuccess, galvanism was taken from the control of its speculative discoverer,and fell into more practical hands. Yolta, Professor of Natural Philos-ophy at Como,an excellent electrician, assailed the t
An international system of electro-therapeutics : for students, general practitioners, and specialists . sed into excitement by the unparalleled disclosures that philosophyseemed about to make. Electricity had but lately been drawn down from the clouds; thewhole earth was shown to be electric ; with one stride more the daringscience might unfold the whole m^stery of being. But, fortunately for itssuccess, galvanism was taken from the control of its speculative discoverer,and fell into more practical hands. Yolta, Professor of Natural Philos-ophy at Como,an excellent electrician, assailed the theorj^ of his colleague,and showed that the galvanic action came from the two metals, and notfrom the nerves. A violent controversy raged between the Bologneseschool of Galvani and the followers of Volta, and the important question ofthe origin of life was discussed by the philosophers and the people whileNapoleon was preparing to cover Europe with carnage, and while thehorrors of the Parisian massacres were yet fresh in every mind. The reign of terror which had been commenced in France was about to. Fig. 9.—Experiment with Frog. A-204 BLEYER. extend over jvU European civilization when tlie two Italian philosopherswere marshaling their disciples in a vigorous intellectual combat. Yoltawas victorious, and his peaceful triumphs will outweigh a thousandfold,in its beneficial consequences, the disastrous successes of Napoleon. In the year 1800, a memorable epoch in the history of electricity,Yolta announced to the world, in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, his in-vention of a wonderful machine. It was composed of alternate sheetsor la3^ers of zinc and copper, separated from each other by discs of wetcloth. Two streams of electricity, one negative and the other positive,were found to flow from either pole of the instrument, and its intensitycould be increased apparently- without limit bj enlarging the number oflayers. He had invented a voltaic pile. Its form was afterward changedby s
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectuterus, bookyear1894
