The last of a brilliant quartette of physiologists : E. du Bois-Reymond / [William Stirling].

  • Stirling, William, 1851-1932.
Date:
[1897]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The last of a brilliant quartette of physiologists : E. du Bois-Reymond / [William Stirling]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    show to make visible by projection) to a Royal Institution audience his most delicate thermo-electrical experiments, the nerve-current and the negative variation of the muscle-current in the living human body.* Some of his papers are translated into English. Those on “ Secondary Electro-motive Phenomena ” and “ Electrical Phenomena of Malapterurus and Torpedo” in the Oxford Biological Memoirs.f His first visit to London was all the more gratifying to him as some of his results had been questioned in the French metropolis, and it was to him always a great pleasure to recount the acts of kindness he ^ f received from his English confreres. By an odd coincidence the actual ^ •' copy of the “Thierische Electricitat,” once the property of Bence V *1 Jones, is now in the Manchester Medical Library. He spoke English ^ with a fluency and grammatical accuracy which was quite remarkable, and indeed he was justly proud of this accomplishment. At his family circle it was no uncommon thing to hear the entire conversation conducted by all members of his family in English. His great work on “Animal Electricity,” published in two volumes, is a monument of literary research on the one hand, and assiduous scientific labour on the other. The historical introduction is charmingly written, and the references to other works in other languages are so numerous as clearly to show the great erudition of its author. It is like reading a tale from the “ Arabian Nights,” so enchanting and vivid are the descriptions of the early history of this subject given by du Bois. On the publication of the famous researches on animal electricity by Galvani, in 1791, says du Bois: “The storm which was produced among philosophers, physiologists, and physicians can only be compared to that which disturbed at that time the political horizon of Europe. Physiologists believed that at length they should realise their visions of a vital power, physicians began to believe no cure impossible, and it was considered that no one in a trance could in future be buried alive, provided only that he were galvanised.” Such has ever been the optimism of human nature, and such it seems likely to remain. We cannot give here an account of the early dispute between Galvani and Volta, nor enter into the controversies between du Bois and Matteucci, but, amongst the incidents of this strange history, it is pleasing to recall the Italian sonnet dedicated to Luigi Galvani on the discovery of galvanism, and in praise of Lucia, the wife of Galvani. J Du Bois has translated this sonnet, and perhaps some day, it is to be hoped, some one will be found with sufficient poetic zeal, and sufficiently “ gallant,” to translate it into English. * Gesam. Abhand., Vol. L, p. 131. t “Foreign Biological Memoirs.” Edited by J. Burdon-Sanderson. Oxford. 1887 t “ Thierische Electricitat,” Berlin Vol. I., p. 39.