Animal Electricity

Two men, Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, dominated the scientific discussion of animal electricity in the latter eighteenth century. Galvani argued that electricity represented the long sought-after “animal spirits” carried in nerves to control body functions while Volta, after initially agreeing with Galvani, changed his mind and became a critic of Galvani’s work. In the process Volta discovered the electricElectrics pile, a major step in the use of electricity for practical purposes including medicine. The epic confrontation between these two giants changed the history of electricity and neuroscience. Ironically, Galvani’s nephew, Giovani Aldini used Volta’s electricElectrics pile to electrically stimulate the brains of dead animals and humans raising the possibility that electricity could revive the dead. The public became enthralled with the life-giving potential of electricity causing a young Mary Shelly to envision a monster brought to life by electricity.