Forster, on whose body these experiments were performed, was twenty-six years of age, seemed to have been of a strong, vigorous constitution, and was executed at Newgate on the seventeenth of January. The body was exposed for a whole hour in a temperature two degrees below the freezing point of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, at the end of which long interval it was conveyed to a house not far distant and, in pursuance of the sentence, delivered to the College of Surgeons. Mr. Keate, master of that respectable society, having been so kind as to place it under my direction, I readily embraced that opportunity of subjecting it to the galvanic stimulus, which had never before been tried on persons put to death in a similar manner. The result of my experiments I now take the liberty of submitting to the public.
Experiment I
One arc being applied to the mouth, and another to the ear, wetted with a solution of muriate of soda (common salt), galvanism was communicated by means of three troughs combined together, each of which contained forty plates of zinc, and as many of copper. On the first application of the arcs, the jaw began to quiver, the adjoining muscles were horribly contorted, and the left eye actually opened.
Experiment II
On applying the arc to both ears, a motion of the head was manifested, and a convulsive action of all the muscles of the face: the lips and eyelids were also evidently affected, but the action seemed much increased by making one extremity of the arc to communicate with the nostrils, the other continuing in one ear.
Experiment III
The conductors being applied to the ear, and to the rectum, excited in the muscles contractions much stronger than in the preceding experiments. The action even of those muscles farthest distant from the points of contact with the arc was so much increased as almost to give an appearance of reanimation.
Experiment IV
In this state, wishing to try the power of ordinary stimulants, I applied volatile alkali to the nostrils and to the mouth, but without the least sensible action: on applying galvanism, great action was constantly produced. I then administered the galvanic stimulus and volatile alkali together; the convulsions appeared to be much increased by this combination and extended from the muscles of the head, face, and neck, as far as the deltoid. The effect in this case surpassed our most sanguine expectations, and vitality might, perhaps, have been restored, if many circumstances had not rendered it impossible.
From an account of experiments performed on January 17, 1803. In 1782 Aldini joined the laboratory of his uncle Luigi Galvani, taking part in experiments on frogs’ muscles. Alessandro Volta criticized Galvani, insisting that muscle contractions were caused by contact between two different metals rather than by electricity inherent in the body. Aldini defended his uncle’s work and published the first report reconciling the two competing theories; both theories would later be proved correct. “I felt at ease to be able to pay a tribute to the truth,” Aldini wrote.
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