Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-05
IS LIFE ELECTRICITY?
WASHINGTON SCIENTIST MAKES
RESEARCHES INTO VITAL FORCE.
New Society to Investigate Relation
ship Of Organic Electricity and
the Problem of Life.

C.
myself propose to live long as l please"
| The speaker made his astonishing declara-
ton with no bravado, but with an air of
ca.mness and sane conviction. He was, he
said. student of Andrew McConnells,
scientist of Washington.
Life, he continued, lis electricity. With
the discoveries which Mcconnell Is making
there will now be an exact science of health;
chronic diseases will vanish from the earth;
| mind development will be systematically
cultivated, and all the so-called miracles of
the magnetic healers, the faith cure special
lists. mental scientists, Christian scientists.
and SO on, which have astonished and mys-
tilted and scandalized the world, will be
seen to have simple scientific basis. Frank
| Inns kite experiments established the rela-
| tionship of lightning and electricity and the
phenomenal applications of electrical dis
coveries in these days by Edison, Bel and
Marconi in lights, monographs, telephones
and wireless telegraphy have prepared the
world for wonders. Mcconnell has only
| gone step further and opened the realm
OF organic electricity which gets down to an
| Interpretation of life itself and makes plain
| the phychic mysteries of telepathy, thought
! transference, suggestive healing and the
| pro:ongation of life itself"
The claims of Andrew McConnell's stu
dent are so astonishing that the reporter
who called on the scientist was prepared to
find some visionary If not an absolute
schemfng charlatan. The fact is Andrew
Mcconnell is quiet, unpretentious and I'M
worldly scholar, who has for some years
been making researches into what he calls
life force, or organic electricity. For two
years he has been making experiments
quietly In southern community and lately
has been carrying on in Washington a
ries of tests in the influence of his new
organic electricity In Stfmnla ting Wit al
force. Much attention is being attracted to
these experiments. and particularly signi-
fcant Is the interest being manifested by
the corps of scientists at the Smithsonian
Institution.
To Aid Research.
society," OF local scientists is being or
ganized under Mcconnell among the lead
ing investigators in various government
laboratories to make researches into the
laws governing electricity and life, as the
tests which have been made establish the
fact that the investigator Is able scientifl-
cally to perform the various cures which
are claimed to be performed miraculously
by Christian Scientists and others. The
stated objects of the organization are to
investigate the laws of organic electricity.
with the threefold view of overcoming
chronic disease. increasing mind power and
frightening life.
Life Is Electricity.
Mr.. Mcconnell himself Is convinced that
life itself Is electricity. He says:
1--WE have conclusive proofs that life is
electricity. We do not take up the ques-
ton of the immortal soul. but simply prove
that the physical basis of life and intelli-
gence is electricity.
I'm 1775, Galvani, an Italian scientist
found by accidentally bringing dead frogs
legs close to an electrical machine that
the electric current made the muscles of
or nd 1ink ott1
This proved that electricity can produce
muscular action.
I'm 1923 another scientist, Nobili put
live frog on the circuit Of Galvonmeter.
the instrument that is used to detect and
measure an electric current. The live frog
DETECTED the needle degrees. This proved
there is electricity in animal life and is the
energy that moves all living things.
The researches of Matteuccio and E. Du-
Bois Raymond proved conclusively that
muscular action is due to electricity. One
experime ut was to grasp stick with one
hand while the Galvonmeter was connected
with the muscles of each arm. When the
right hand grasped firmly the stick, tensing
the muscles Of the forearm, the Galvon-
meter showed strong current in the right
arm muscles and none in the left arm which
was lax. Then 1t was reversed, tensing
the left arm muscles. The Galvonmeter
showed strong current in the muscles of
the left arm, while the current subsidized
in the right arm muscles. 1t was found
that all electricity left the body at death.
| lnlS is conclusive proof tnaI muscular ac-
tion is due to electricity generated in the
body.
"All know that the electric eel and tor
pedo fish can send out at Will an electric
shock strong enough to kill another fish
and to shock horse senseless. Scientists
have measured the electric shock Of the
electric eel Of the South American rivers
and it averages one-tenth of a horsepower.
These cells have been dissected and the or
CANS producing the electricity were found
to be knots of simple muscles and nerves
similar to the muscles and nerves OF all
animal life. This proves that electricity
can be produced by living organisms and Is
another conclusive proof that vitality Is
electricity.
to find, If. as phrenologists claim, the brain
acts from departments or acts a whole.
They proved that faculties have separate
location in the brain by opening to the
brain of a dog and touching an electric cur
rent to different portions. This current pro-
duced movements in different parts of the
body, showing that certain portions of the
brain furnish the power to move certain
organs, etc This proved without their no
t.cinR it, that electricity in the brain can
move the muscles, taking the place of life
vitality.
Through these FIVE experiments we have
absolutely conclusive proof that muscular
action in all life is from electricity gener-
ated In the body.
Body a Voltaic Battery.
Mr. Mcconnell, with the usual modesty
of the scientist. does not claim to have
made any great discovery himself. but says
that he has rather summarized the discov-
cries of others and applied them. He is con-
WINGED that every vital process generates
electricity, and recalling that every chemi-
cal change liberates energy, he regards the
process o. digestion as chemical rather
than mechanical change, and argues that
digestion produces electricity. DR.. Priestly
as early as 1777 showed breathing to be a
chemical change. and Mcconnell. extending
the argument, shows that all the micro
scopic cells of which living organism Is
composed are constantly undergoing chemi-
cal change and that these billions of cells,
whose life depends upon the continuous
chemical change, give back the larger part
of the body vitality.
What we call vitality" says the sc,en-
fist, lis the electricity that comes from all
chemical changes. The fact is the whole
body is a voltaic battery, and generates
electricity on the Identical principle as the
electricity is generated for commercial
uses"
When asked what he regarded as the
new and significant phase of his discoy-
cries. Mr.. Mcconnell said:
No Chronic Disease.
"Men overwork. worry and dissipate till