The shocking history of electric fishes : from ancient epochs to the birth of modern neurophysiology / Stanley Finger, Marco Piccolino.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Finger, Stanley, author.

Piccolino, Marco, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neurosciences--History.

Neurosciences.

Electric fishes--History.

Electric fishes.

Neurophysiology--history.

Electric Fish--physiology.

Electric Organ--physiology.

Medical Subjects:

Neurophysiology--history.

Electric Fish--physiology.

Electric Organ--physiology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 470 pages) : illustrations, maps

Other Title:

From ancient epochs to the birth of modern neurophysiology

Place of Publication:

New York ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This title looks at how three kinds of strongly electric fishes 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.

Contents:

Cover; Contents; Part I: Introduction; 1. The Allure of Electric Fishes: Humboldt's 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: Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period; 6. Torpedoes: From the Scholastics through the Renaissance; 7. Rediscovering the Torporific Catfish; 8. The "Eels" of South America

9. From the Occult to Mechanical Theories of the DischargePart 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 Bancroft's Guiana Eels and London Connections; 15. John Walsh's 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 Baker's Eels19. Sparks in Darkness and the Eel's Electrical Sense; 20. Public Knowledge: Newspapers, Magazines, and "Shocking" Poetry; Part VI: From Fish to Nerve Physiology and Back; 21. Galvani's Animal Electricity; 22. Electric Fishes in Volta's Path to the Battery; 23. Galvanism Contra "Voltaism": Electric Fishes and the "Unsolvable" Dilemma; 24. Electric Fishes in the Nineteenth Century; 25. The Changing Neurophysiological Setting; 26. Understanding the Shock Mechanisms: A Twentieth-Century Odyssey; Epilogue

APPENDIX: Names with Birth and Death DatesReferences; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; X; Y; Z

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-971057-0