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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Paper, 'An experimental inquiry undertaken with the view of ascertaining, whether any and what signs of current electricity are manifested during the organic process of secretion in living animals; being an attempt to apply some of the discoveries of [Michael] Faraday to physiology' by H F [Henry Foster] Baxter

Reference number: AP/31/1

Date: 1848

Description

Baxter relates details of 24 experiments into signs of current electricity being manifested during the organic process of secretion in living animals. He comes to the following conclusions: that when the electrodes of a galvanometer are brought into communication, one with the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal, the other with the blood flowing from the same part, a deviation of the needle takes place, indicating that the secreted product and the blood are in opposite electric states; that the effect occurs during the life of the animal, it ceasing after its death; that the effect may be considered as arising from the decomposition of the blood, i.e. the changes which occur during the formation of the secreted product and venous blood; and that these changes are effected by the organic action of the part.

Includes five pages of figures of experimental apparatus and anatomical diagrams with descriptions.

Marked on front as 'Archives 2nd November 1849 S H C [Samuel Hunter Christie]' and 'Unaltered paper having been given in by the author at the suggestion of the committee of physiology'.

Subject: Physiology / Electricity

Received 6 May 1848 / 11 May 1848. Communicated by Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie.

This paper was published in volume 138 of Philosophical Transactions as 'An experimental inquiry undertaken with the view of ascertaining whether any, and what signs of current electricity are manifested during the organic process of secretion in living animals, being an attempt to apply some of the discoveries of Faraday to physiology'.

Reference number
AP/31/1
Earliest possible date
1848
Physical description
Ink and graphite pencil on paper
Page extent
84 pages
Format
Diagram
Manuscript

Creator name

Henry Foster Baxter

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Citation

Henry Foster Baxter, Paper, 'An experimental inquiry undertaken with the view of ascertaining, whether any and what signs of current electricity are manifested during the organic process of secretion in living animals; being an attempt to apply some of the discoveries of [Michael] Faraday to physiology' by H F [Henry Foster] Baxter, 1848, AP/31/1, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_31_1/paper-an-experimental-inquiry-undertaken-with-the-view-of-ascertaining-whether-any-and-what-signs-of-current-electricity-are-manifested-during-the-organic-process-of-secretion-in-living-animals-being-an-attempt-to-apply-some-of-the-discoveries-of-michael-faraday-to-physiology-by-h-f-henry-foster-baxter, accessed on 24 April 2025

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_31_1/paper-an-experimental-inquiry-undertaken-with-the-view-of-ascertaining-whether-any-and-what-signs-of-current-electricity-are-manifested-during-the-organic-process-of-secretion-in-living-animals-being-an-attempt-to-apply-some-of-the-discoveries-of-michael-faraday-to-physiology-by-h-f-henry-foster-baxter

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  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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