GALVANIC CULTURES - ELECTRICITY AND LIFE IN THE EARLY 19TH-CENTURY

Electricity has long proved to be a powerful tool for investigating th e properties of life. Towards the beginning of the nineteenth century new discoveries and inventions in electricity stimulated a new popular fascination with such questions. Electricity seemed a good way of und erstanding the machinery of life. It was the key to unlocking the secr ets of vitality. Looking at these early nineteenth-century debates and discussions provides a good way of focusing on the cultural connectio ns and ramifications of science. As electricity provided tools for und erstanding life, it provided tools for understanding culture also.