Before scientists figured out electric motor , batteries were first used in chemistry experiment and crude medical research . From his pleasurable Christian Bible , The Battery , Henry Schlesinger key out the genuine - life Dr. Frankenstein who pep up Mary Shelley ’s classic horror story :
At the dawn of the nineteenth 100 , electricity was still mysterious and experimentation took some strange crook indeed . Gentlemen scientist began applying current to plant , animals and their own genitals to test its result .
Science was not only newfangled and glamorous , but also held the potential difference to reveal secrets previously unknown to adult male — making it near sacrilegious . As for the scientists , they made it a point to be as compelling as possible . The thought was to apprize through entertainment . Among the more outstanding of these science show was that of Giovanni Aldini , the physicist nephew of [ world - renowned electrical energy trailblazer and frog electrocutor ] Luigi Galvani .
An other and ardent supporter of his uncle ’s theory of animal electricity , he excel experiments featuring vellication anuran , taking the same general principle to spectacularly pathological levels . During one demonstration in the early 1800s , Aldini applied electric current from a powerfully burden Leyden shock to the straits of a new slaughtered wild ox , causing audiences to heave as the eyes , nose and tongue thrash about and spasmed .
move on to man , he acquired subjects from local authorities fresh from carrying out for experiment and demonstrations . “ A large dent was made into the nape of the neck , close below the occiput , ” Aldini wrote of one other experimentation on a late deceased 30 - year - onetime human race . He go forward :
The posterior half of the Atlas vertebra was then removed by forceps , when the spinal marrow was brought into view . A profuse flow of smooth origin spurt from the lesion , inundating the floor . A considerable incision at the same prison term was made in the left hip through the groovy gutteal muscle so as to bring the sciatic nerve into raft , and a modest cut was made in the heel ; the pointed retinal rod with one end colligate to the battery was now placed in contact with the spinal marrow , while the other pole was placed in contact with the sciatic nerve . Every muscle of the body was directly budge with convulsive movements resemble violent shiver from the cold … On moving the 2d rod from the hip to the heel , the genu being previously bent , the leg was thrown out with such personnel the assistants , who in vain attempted to prevent its extension .
In other experimentation and demonstration , Aldini reportedly used just the heads of executed prisoner . moisten both ears with a seawater solvent , he completed a circuit with two wires — very much resembling 21st hundred MP3 player headphones — attach to a crude battery comprised of a hundred layers of flatware and zinc .
“ When this communication was established , I detect strong contractions in the muscles of the face , which were deform in so temporary a manner that they exhibited the coming into court of the most horrid grimace , ” he wrote . “ The natural action of the heart - eyelid was super spectacular , though less sensible in the human mind than in that of an wild ox . ”
travel from Bologna to Paris , and then on to London , Aldini took his ghastly show on the route , staging scientific demonstrations have human cadavers and beast with theatrical fanfare at universities and medical schools . Though normally not overt to the general public , these demonstrations were excitedly report in the popular public press causing a sensation across Europe .
In London , George Forster , found hangdog of remove his married woman and child and punctually executed , was ramble out on stage and into medical history at the Royal College of Surgeons refreshed from the gallows at Newgate Prison . As Aldini began jab the body with two gat attached to a charged Leyden Jar , Forster ’s legs , mouth , and rectum clench and contorted .
Its objective was to shew [ sic ] the excitability of the human frame , when this animal electrical energy is duly applied . In case of drowning or asphyxiation , it promises to be of the utmost use , by repair the action of the lung , and thereby rekindling the expiring spark of vitality . In case of apoplexy , or disorder of the head , it propose also most supporting prospects for the welfare of mankind . The Professor , we see , has made use of electrical healing also in several case of insanity , and with gross success . It is the opinion of the first aesculapian man that this find , if justly managed and punctually prosecuted , can not fail to be of unforeseen utility .
Yet the conclusion drawn by those outside the medical and scientific communities were often not as nuanced . If movement was tantamount to aliveness , then spirit had been somewhat touch on through galvanizing shocks . Could it be possible that death was no longer permanent ? Given the already awkward family relationship with the enigma of death prevalent during the 19th century , it seemed whole possible that electrical energy might one 24-hour interval provide a viable alternative to the inevitableness of the memorial park .
For many such anecdotes about the colourful personalities of scientist and impresario who seek to rein in the Promethean might of the electron , Schlesinger ’s book , The Battery , is well deserving the toll . It ’s now useable everywhere—$17.15 in hardbackat Amazon,$9.99 for the Kindle version .
This copyrighted book extract is used with license from Smithsonian Books , a HarperCollins imprint .
Top photo should ask no insertion . For anyone confused , it is not of Professor Aldini , but is a still shoot from one of Mel Brooks ’ finest comedies , Young Frankenstein , availablehereon DVD .
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