Galvanic Experiments on Human Subject, 1818

Andrew Ure (May 18, 1778 - January 2, 1857) was a Scottish doctor, scholar, chemist, Scriptural geologist and early business theorist. In 1818 Ure revealed experiments he had been carrying out on a murderer/thief named Matthew Clydesdale, after the man's execution by hanging. He claimed that, by stimulating the phrenic nerve, life could be restored in cases of suffocation, drowning or hanging. Every muscle of the body was immediately agitated with convulsive movements resembling a violent shuddering from cold... When the supraorbital nerve was excited every muscle in his countenance was simultaneously thrown into fearful action; rage, horror, despair, anguish, and ghastly smiles, united their hideous expressions in the murderer's face, surpassing far the wildest representations of Fuseli or a Kean. At this period several of the spectators were forced to leave the apartment from terror or sickness, and one gentleman fainted. This image has been colorized

Restrictions Only for Ireland and United Kingdom

1810s 1818 Bioelectricity Clydesdale Contraction Density Electromagnetism Galvanic Galvanism Muscle Nerve Personalties

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