From Clouds to the Brain. Celine Cherici

      1 1 Bertholon alludes, in this passage, to the research of Nicolas, M. “Experiments made on some animals fallen into asphixia caused by coal vapors”, in Observations sur la physique, sur l’histoire naturelle et sur les arts, [NIC 86, p.231, author’s translation].

      2 2 The muscle referred to in this quote from Aldini is the heart.

      3 3 A Franco-Belgian physiologist, Nysten, together with Bichat, conducted pioneering electromedical experiments, particularly in connection with the determination of the stages of rigor mortis, described in 1811 and known as “Nysten’s law”. This research cannot be detached from experiments on the galvanization of the heart, nor can it be detached from investigations into the length of time the tissue retains potential excitability.

      4 4 To understand the atmosphere and the race of these physiologists and experimenters to obtain these bodies, it is exciting to read Nysten’s story of his adventure to arrive just at the moment when the tortured man gave his last breath. Thus he saw the announcement of execution, went urgently to the director of a medical school who could receive such a subject and assisted him in motivating the request: “I testify to him the desire that I have to try on the heart of man the experiments that I had already made on the hearts of several animal species. I add that we are going to torture a criminal, […] I obtain authorization by virtue of which the body of the person to be killed was placed at my disposal, after his beheading, […]. No sooner had I got there than I saw the fatal knife fall” [NYS 02, p. 18, author’s translation].

      5 5 Ultimum moriens is Latin for the last thing to die. In cardiac anatomy it describes the right chamber of the heart, considered as still susceptible to contraction after the rest of the heart and as the last part to stop.

      6 6 Historically, this debate is part of older quarrels about the respective places of the heart and the brain. Moreover, it accompanies the progressive cerebralization of faculties. “Such a relationship is not self-evident and has not been established without difficulty. Aristotle and his school located the center of sensations in the heart, and gave the brain, a cold and humid organ, the only function of tempering the body’s internal heat. The idea that the brain is the center of intelligence is found in a cursive and often metaphorical way among some Presocratics, Hippocrates and Plato. But it was Galen (131–200) who, refuting Aristotle, provided the first systematic demonstration of this, based on convergent anatomical and pathological arguments” [LAP 70, p. 599, author’s translation].

      7 7 Aware of the ambiguities of the state of proven death, Aldini underlined the fact that an individual can be paralyzed and alive or, on the contrary, moving and dead: “[…] that a man whose paralyzed limb refuses to undergo muscular contractions can very well be alive; whereas muscular contractions can easily be obtained by galvanism, or any other stimulant, in a subject who is truly deprived of life.” [ALD 04, pp. 222-226, author’s translation].

      8 8 These preoccupations to differentiate between the state of life and that of death were developed during the 19th Century [DES 51; CAR 15].

      9 9 “Execution of Weems”, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, August 13, 1819.

      10 10 William Sturgeon is known to have introduced the first electromagnet in 1825. In 1832, he introduced the first electric motor. In 1836, he published the journal Les Annales de l’Électricité and invented the galvanometer.

      11 11 In his film Frankenstein (1994), the director Coppola shows the doctor plunging the patched body into a tank filled with electric fish. This other interpretation of the novel refers to the work on these animals, and also to a natural electricity, here organic.

      12 12 To give just a few examples of French language references of articles on Thomas Courant’s therapies: Le Siècle from September 18, 1821, article by M. Pecatier; La France Musicale from January 25, 1852, article “Castil-Blaze”; Le Constitutionnel from June 20, 1852; L’Assemblée Nationale de juin 1853, article by Doctor Aussandon; Le Siècle from October 19, 1853, article by Doctor Aussandon; Les Débats from September 10, 1854, article by M. F. Barrière; Le Siècle from July 13 and January 25, 1855, articles by Léon Plée; Le Pays from September 16, 1855, article by M. Lecouturier; Le Courrier médical from April 30 and July 23, 1861, Le Mouvement médical from August 20, 1805 (Scientific observations); Le Temps from October 14, 1865, les ceintures du docteur Courant sont recommandées contre le choléra, by Doctor O. de Langenhagen, Le Pays from January 10, 1866, article by M. J.-F. Gall; finally, the English language Daily Post, London, August 2, 1864.

      13 13 Andrew Crosse is known for his research on electrocrystallization.

      14 14 Excerpt from the newspaper Le monde illustré, dated August 14, 1887.

      15 15 Aldini also experimented with human conduction chains: “Let four or more people, holding hands moistened with a solution of muriate of soda, form a long animal chain; let the first person hold in his hand the muscles of a prepared frog; if the last person, placed at the opposite end of the room, touches the spinal cord or the crural nerves, the contractions take place; if the animal chain is interrupted, the contractions cease at that instant” [ALD 04, p. 10, author’s translation].