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Caption:

Engraved portrait of Luigi Galvani (1737-1798). Whilst investigating the effects of electrostatic stimuli applied to the muscles of frogs, Galvani (1737-1798) discovered he could make a muscle twitch by touching the nerve with metal (a pair of scissors for example) without a source of electrostatic charge. He called this phenomenon 'animal electricity'. The term 'galvanise' - to shock or excite into action - takes its name from him. Illustration from 'Die Elektricität im Dienste der Menschheit' (Electricity in the service of mankind) by Alfred Ritter von Urbanitzky (b 1852), published in Vienna in 1885.