ABSTRACT
Famously, John Aldini's experiments, along with those of other 'Galvanists', interested the poet Percy and the novelist Mary Shelley, and the latter incorporated the theme into her novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Galvanists thought that electrical experiments would help reveal the nature of life, and would have practical benefits such as enabling revival of dead persons. Aldini and others demonstrated this idea through experiments, often held in public, applying electrical charges to dead animals and humans. The Galvanism affords very powerful means of resuscitation in cases of suspended animation under common circumstances. The remedies already adopted in asphyxia, drowning, &c. when combined with the influence of Galvanism, will produce much greater effect than either of them separately. Galvanism exerts a considerable power over the nervous and muscular systems, and operates universally on the whole of the animal conomy.
