ABSTRACT
During the 100 years following Galvani’s 18th-century studies, most successful experimental investigations of the vertebrate nervous system were confined to the muscular response to activation of peripheral nerves. In fact, the contraction of the leg of a pithed frog became a standard test of nerve activity and history has many examples of physiologists backing into the nervous system by way of the musculature; 20th-century “neuroscientists” were no exception.
