Details
[GALVANI, Luigi (1737-1798) and Alessandro VOLTA (1745-1827)]. Memorie sull elettricit animale inserite nel giornale fisico-medico del Sig, Brugnatelli. Offprint from: Giornale fisico-medicale, volume II, 1792. Pavia: Baldassare Comini, 1792.
8o (214 x 134 mm). Divisional title to part 3 of the Memorie, drop titles to other parts. (Foxing.) Original plain blue wrappers, manuscript paper lettering-piece on spine, uncut; cloth folding case.
FIRST SEPARATE APPEARANCE of a collection of letters and articles concerning the correct interepretation of Galvani's electrical discoveries. When Volta had first heard of Galvani's discoveries concerning the electrical excitation of disembodied frog's legs, he dismissed them as unbelievable. Urged by colleagues to repeat Galvani's experiments, he was surprised to see the latter's results confirmed, but he quickly concluded that "animal electricity" played no part in them, and that the spasms were the result of purely external electrical stimulation. Further experimentation with whole frogs and other animals confirmed his suspicion that the electric current resulted from the contact of two dissimilar metals in a moist environment. He announced his initial discovery in the three-part Memorie... sull' elettricit animale, published in this collection along with the Carminati-Galvani correspondence of 3 April and 8 May 1792 (see preceding lot), and a letter, also dated April 3rd, from Volta to Dr. Baronio, a physician at the Ospedale Maggiore in Milan. Fulton and Stanton Galvani 19; Wheeler Gift 577; Norman 870.
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FIRST SEPARATE APPEARANCE of a collection of letters and articles concerning the correct interepretation of Galvani's electrical discoveries. When Volta had first heard of Galvani's discoveries concerning the electrical excitation of disembodied frog's legs, he dismissed them as unbelievable. Urged by colleagues to repeat Galvani's experiments, he was surprised to see the latter's results confirmed, but he quickly concluded that "animal electricity" played no part in them, and that the spasms were the result of purely external electrical stimulation. Further experimentation with whole frogs and other animals confirmed his suspicion that the electric current resulted from the contact of two dissimilar metals in a moist environment. He announced his initial discovery in the three-part Memorie... sull' elettricit animale, published in this collection along with the Carminati-Galvani correspondence of 3 April and 8 May 1792 (see preceding lot), and a letter, also dated April 3rd, from Volta to Dr. Baronio, a physician at the Ospedale Maggiore in Milan. Fulton and Stanton Galvani 19; Wheeler Gift 577; Norman 870.