De Zuid-Amerikaanse aal. Twee vroege brieven uit de Nederlandse koloniën over dierlijke elektriciteit

The South-American eel. Two early letters on animal electricity from the Dutch colonies Speculations about the nature of nerve action, including animal spirits, date back to antiquity. Only during the 18th century, when it became possible to store electricity in Leyden jars, did natural philosophers begin to realise that the sensations caused by electric fish are like those produced by these primitive capacitors. The important roles played by amateur observers in the Dutch colonies of South-America, and how they communicated with more established Dutch scientists in the Netherlands, are often... Mehr ...