Mary Shelley's 'Galvanism'

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Galvanism Galvanism is defined as being “the physical effect of the application of electric current pulses through body tissues that causes the muscles to contract.” In the late 18th century, a scientist named Luigi Galvani was experimenting on dissected frogs. He ended up accidentally touching a brass rod to a steel scalpel. The electric shock that was initiated by the contact of two metals made the dead frog clearly contact its muscles. He believed that the form of electricity that caused this contraction was “animal electricity.’’ His theory was that a form of energy was still being held in the animal’s tissue. Today, Electrophysiology is the name for this phenomena. Scientists now know that it is not, as previously theorized, an electrical…show more content…
I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion.” This really goes to show Shelley’s interaction with the experimental processes of galvanism being conducted at the time. Throughout the novel, it’s pretty obvious that Mary Shelley is intrigued by the idea of using electricity to raise life from a dead state; electricity is the source of life for the monster. Another example of this would just be Victor Frankenstein’s general obsession with creating the monster, and his effort to force the readers and audiences in the book to see him as the supreme creator of all living…show more content…
On March 25th, 1827, an expedition led by a British William Edward Parry sailed beyond Spitsbergen, while using human powered sledges. They made it to the coordinates at 82°36′52″ N but soon made the discovery that all the northern ice was flowing southward. They were unable to go any further, so they turned back. In 1853, American explorer Elisha Kent Kane sailed along the coast of Greenland, and was able to map many undiscovered areas of northern Greenland based on her observations. Charles Francis Hall followed Kane's route in 1871, hoping to go even farther north (aiming for the North Pole.) He and his crew made it to 82°11′ N, just above Greenland, unfortunately he murdered by arsenic. He still accomplished quite a lot, for he discovered a way to get closer to the North Pole by ship than anyone had before. Frederick Albert Cook claimed he reached the North Pole on foot with three Inuit companions on 21 April 1908. However, these claims were quite likely false, for he had also written a book about how he climbed a mountain when he actually only made it half way. Another American explorer, Robert Edwin Peary claimed he reached the North Pole by foot on 6 April 1909. Peary's account of his expedition was sound, and a review by the National Geographic Society proved that he passed within five miles of the North
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