. Principles of the human mind, deduced from physical laws; . other event which THE VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF MAN. 55 it has registered or remembered from the firstmoment of its life. The motor nerves, by which the circuit iscompleted in the body, are distributed, inman, to the muscles 5 in other creatures to theelectric organs5 in others, to light-generatingstructure. The electric battery of fishes, as itis technically called, is composed of an enor-mous number of minute cells, supplied withblood-vessels. The nervous force, which Ihave already shown to be voltaic, acts at right-angles to the direc
. Principles of the human mind, deduced from physical laws; . other event which THE VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF MAN. 55 it has registered or remembered from the firstmoment of its life. The motor nerves, by which the circuit iscompleted in the body, are distributed, inman, to the muscles 5 in other creatures to theelectric organs5 in others, to light-generatingstructure. The electric battery of fishes, as itis technically called, is composed of an enor-mous number of minute cells, supplied withblood-vessels. The nervous force, which Ihave already shown to be voltaic, acts at right-angles to the direction of the cells, and thereproduces some change of matter which in-stantly causes a powerful voltaic current. I have here a glass vessel, containing a so-lution of ferrocyanate of potash, into the inte-rior of which is placed a porous cell, contain-ing a similar solution 5 a platinum pole isinserted into both vessels, for the purpose ofconnection with the galvanometer. Now, if Ipass a voltaic cm Ten* from the outside to the 56 ELECTRO-BIOLOGY J OR, Fig. Artificial electric eel: Z, S, connections to be attached to thebattery; N, P, wires exhibiting the phenomena. inside (Z S), no change of matter takes placein one part — the prussiate of potash remainsthe same $ in the other, it is converted into thered prussiate. From this change, one sidebecomes strongly positive to the other; andyou perceive that so powerful a current hasbeen generated, that the needle completelyswings round the instant connection is madewith the galvanometer, I have only shownthis experiment upon one cell 5 but it must bemanifest to you, that, as every cell adds acertain amount of force, it simply requires anumber to make a battery as powerful as thatof an electric eel. The artificial electric eel THE VOLTAIC MECHANISM OF MAN. 57 I have myself constructed, in a vast varietyof ways, which I have not now time to con-sider. The muscular substance is ultimately divis-ible into primitive fibrils, which con
Size: 1829px × 1366px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectpsychology, bookyear1
