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The Shocking History of Electric Fishes

The Shocking History of Electric Fishes

From Ancient Epochs to the Birth of Modern Neurophysiology

9780195366723
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Description
This book looks at how three kinds of strongly electric fishes literally became electrical, and how they helped to change the sciences and medicine. These fishes are the flat torpedo rays common to the Mediterranean, the electric catfishes of Africa, and an eel from South America. The discovery of the electrical nature of these fishes in the second half of the 18th century was the starting point of the two fundamental advances in the sciences:: on the physiological side, thedemonstration that nerve conduction and muscle excitation are electrical phenomena, and on the physical side, the invention of the electric battery. Starting with catfish tomb drawings from Ancient Egypt and colorful descriptions of torpedoes from the Classical Era, the authors show how these fisheswere both fascinating and mysterious to the ancients. After all, not only could they produce torpor and temporary numbness when touched, they could stun through intermediaries, such as wet nets and spears. Various explanations were given for these remarkable actions in ancient times, including the idea that they might release some sort of cold venom. Through the Renaissance, they also tended to be associated with occult and magical qualities. During the 1600s, natural philosophers speculated that rapid movements of specialized muscles could account for their actions. This idea was widely accepted until the 1750s, when the possibility that their shocks might be electrical began to bediscussed. Showing how researchers set forth to provide support for fish electricity is a major focus of this book. Here the authors transport us into the jungles of South America and later show how some live eels were transported to London, where John Walsh demonstrated in1776 that they can actually spark. Subsequent chapters deal with further evidence for specialized fish electricity and how electric fishes helped to change ideas about even our own physiology. The authors also show how these fish remained a part of medicine, and how Volta modeled his revolutionary pile or electric battery on their anatomy.From beginning to end, this drama is firmly anchored in the philosophy and science of the day. Moreover, with biographical information about the key players, readers can fully appreciate what they were thinking as they tried to understand one of Natures greatest puzzles - a mystery that would transform nerve and muscle physiology in ways that earlier generations could not have anticipated. Although a scholarly volume, the books style is generally narrative and, with its hundreds ofmagnificent illustrations, it should appeal to a large audience.
Product Details
OUP USA
84916
9780195366723
9780195366723

Data sheet

Publication date
2011
Issue number
1
Cover
hard cover
Pages count
496
Dimensions (mm)
216 x 279
Weight (g)
1746
  • PART I: INTRODUCTION; 1- The Allure of Electric Fishes: Humboldts Obsession; PART II: ANCIENT CULTURES; 2- The Shocking Catfish of the Nile; 3- Torpedoes in the Greco-Roman World:; Pt. 1. Wonders of Nature Between Science and Myth; 4- Torpedoes in the Greco-Roman World:; Pt. 2. From Therapeutic Shocks to Theories of the Discharge; 5- Byzantine and Islamic Writings; PART III: MIDDLE AGES TO THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD; 6- Torpedoes: From the Scholastics through the Renaissance; 7- Rediscovering The Torporific Catfishes; 8- The Eels of South America; 9- From the Occult to Mechanical Theories of the Discharge; PART IV: THE EMERGENCE OF FISH ELECTRICITY; 10- The Electrical World of Benjamin Franklin; 11- Animal Spirits and Physiology; 12- First Steps Toward Fish Electricity; 13- The Dutch, the Eel, and Electricity; PART V: THE ROYAL SOCIETY AND THE COVETED SPARK; 14- Edward Bancrofts Guiana Eels and London Connections; 15- John Walshs Scientific Journey; 16- The Royal Society and Interdisciplinary Science; 17- Out of the Guianas: The American Philosophical Society and the Eel; 18- Alexander Garden: A Linnaean in South Carolina and Captain Bankers Eels; 19- Sparks in Darkness and the Eels Electrical Sense; 20- Public Knowledge: Newspapers, Magazines, and Shocking Poetry; PART VI: FROM FISH TO NERVE PHYSIOLOGY AND BACK; 21- Galvanis Animal Electricity; 22- Electric Fishes in Voltas Path to the Battery; 23- Galvanism Contra Voltaism: Electric Fishes and the Unsolvable Dilemma; 24- Electric Fishes in the Nineteenth Century; 25- The Changing Neurohysiological Setting; 26- Understanding the Shock Mechanisms: A Twentieth Century Odyssey; EPILOGUE; APPENDIX I: Names with Birth and Death Dates; REFERENCES;
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