MATTEUCCI, CARLO. - THE DISCOVERY OF THE "CURRENT OF INJURY" AND THE "CURRENT OF REST".

Note sur les phénomenes électriques des animaux;

(Paris, Bachelier), 1841. 4to. No wrappers. In: "Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de L'Academie des Sciences", Tome XIII, No. 10. Pp. (487-) 558. (Entire issue offered). Matteucci's paper: pp. 540-41.

First appearance of a main paper in the history of electro-physiology.

"The discovery by Volta of means for producing galvanic currents led to the construction of a galvanometer for measuring currents and later to its refinement.... In 1841 Matteucci presented... a paper which showed that a galvanometer indicates a curring flowing whenh it is connected from the surface of a muscle to a wound in the muscle, a current that was later called the "current of injury" and also the "current of rest", since it flowed without observable muscular contraction. Johannes Müller showed tis paper to his brilliant pupil, du Bois-reymond... Du Bois interest was caught at once. He published his first paper on "thierische Electricität" in 1843, and his two-volumes on the subject - soon to become the classic - in 1848-49."(Boring "History of Experimental Psychology", p. 40).

Order-nr.: 47143