GALVANI, Louis, a celebrated natural philosopher, was born in 1737, at Bologna in Italy, where many of his relations had arrived at distinguished eminence in jurisprudence and divinity. From boyhood he became enamoured of the austerities of the Catholic religion, and attached himself to a convent, the monks of which were celebrated for their attention to the solemn duty of visiting the dying. He wished much to become a member of this order, but was prevailed on by one of the brotherhood to relinquish the idea, and then turned his attention to the study of medicine in its various branches. He studied under Beccaria, Tacconi, Galli, and especially Galleazzi, whose daughter he afterwards married. In 1762 he acquired great reputation by his inaugural thesis Be Ossibus, and was soon afterwards chosen as public lecturer in the university of Bologna, and reader in anatomy to the institute of that city. His talent for lecturing was so much admired that vast numbers constantly attended him; and he employed his few leisure hours in making experiments and in the useful study of comparative anatomy. We find in the Memoirs of the Institute of Bologna a number of curious observations by Galvani on the urinary organs, and also on the organs of hearing in birds.

Soon after his reputation for anatomical and physiological knowledge had been fully established in the Italian schools, a mere accident led him to that interesting discovery which will transmit his name to the latest posterity. His wife, for whom he cherished the most ardent affection, and with whom he had been united for a number of years, being in a declining state of health, was using a soup made of frogs by way of restorative. Some of these animals, skinned for the purjx>se, happened to be lying on a table in Galvani’s laboratory, where also stood an electrical machine, when one of the persons who assisted him in conducting his experiments unintentionally brought the point of a βcapel near the crural nerves of a frog which lay near the conductor, and immediately the muscles of the limb were violently convulsed. Signora Galvani, a woman of a penetrating understanding, and a lover of science, having witnessed the phenomenon, instantly informed her husband. On his arrival Galvani repeated the experiment, and discovered that the convulsions only happened when the sea-pel was in contact with the nerve, and when a spark was at the same time drawn from the conductor. After an almost endless variety of experiments, conducted with great ingenuity, but which it would be foreign to the design of this article to enumerate here, he concluded that all animals have within them an electricity of a peculiar nature; that this fluid is contained in other parts, but is most apparent in the nerves and muscles; and that it is secreted by the brain, and diffused by the nerves through various parts of the body. To this new principle, which is now commonly called Galvanism, he gave the name of Animal Electricity.

He compared each muscular fibre to a small Leyden phial, and attempted to explain the phenomena of muscular motion by analogies taken from that instrument. He also thought of its pathological influence in rheumatic, convulsive, paralytic, and other nervous affections. His first publication on this grand discovery was entitled Aloysii Galvani de viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari Commentarius, which made its appearance in 4to in the year 1791, and was printed for the Institute of Bologna. This work instantly attracted the attention of philosophers both [7:10:302]in Italy and other countries; and it was soon followed by ' numerous publications, in some of which the sentiments of Galvani were defended, and in others opposed. The celebrated Volta turned his attention to the subject, and produced a number of arguments to prove that Galvani’s opinion respecting animal electricity was erroneous, deriving the phenomena from the electric matter of the atmosphere, and allowing the nerves and muscles no higher function than that of being the most sensible tests hitherto discovered. The doctrine of Volta met with many admirers and advocates; yet there are still to be met with in the learned world many persons who support the opinions of Galvani, and adhere to his original theory, in the defence of which he displayed equal candour and ingenuity, and by which he may be justly considered as deserving that distinguished place amongst experimental philosophers, which the union of his name with the most interesting natural phenomena will probably for ever secure to him.

These important inquiries, joined to the duties of his office as professor, and his extensive practice as surgeon and accoucheur, in both of which capacities he eminently excel* led, afforded abundant scope for his indefatigable industry. He composed a variety of memoirs upon topics connected with his profession; but these have not, as far as we know, been published. He delighted to converse with men of science, and to read and investigate the merits of new publications in their society, which he found a valuable source of intellectual improvement.

The character of Galvani in private life is allowed to have been most exemplary; and his sensibility, which was naturally strong, received a violent shock in the death of his wife, Lucia Galleazzi, in 1790. This event brought on an alarming melancholy, which he delighted to encourage, by visiting her tomb in the nunnery of St Catharine, and pouring out his unavailing lamentations over her grave. He was punctual in the discharge of his religious duties, and retained through life the pious impressions which had been early made on his mind. To this may probably be traced the misfortune which afterwards befel him, and which undoubtedly hastened his end. The Cisalpine republic having required of all those holding public employments an oath to the government, Galvani refused to take it. Who can blame him, says Μ. Alibert, for having followed the voice of his conscience, that internal and sacred voice which alone prescribes the duties of men, and which preceded all human laws? Who can avoid commending him for having sacrificed, with exemplary resignation, all the emoluments attached to the office which he held? Besides, this learned professor entertained strict notions as to those solemn obligations, which are so often abused in the hope of strengthening the laws of empires; he thought, with reason, that they were only suitable to nations incapable of violating them. Deprived of his rank and employment, and almost reduced to indigence, Galvani retired to the residence of his brother James, and soon afterwards fell into a state of extenuation and languor, which, notwithstanding all the skill and attention, equally enlightened and generous, of Doctors Uttini and Cingari, continued to gain ground. Moved by his great celebrity, and ashamed of the severity with which they had treated a man who valued his conscience above all earthly possessions or distinctions, the Cisalpine government now decreed that, notwithstanding his obstinacy, he should be reinstated in his chair. But the indulgence was useless; it came too late. His sensibility had received too many violent shocks to leave a hope of recovery; and death, which he had for some time desired, at length came to his relief on the 4th December 1798. In the Memoirs of the Institute of Sciences of Bologna are to be found the works, few in number, but of the highest importance, which have immortalized the name of Galvani. These are, 1. De renibus atque ureteribus volatilium; 2. De volatilium aure; 3. De viribus Electricitatis in motu musculari Commentarius, already mentioned.