title: Alexander von Humboldt and the concept of animal electricity.
abstract: More than two hundred years ago, Alexander von Humboldt helped to establish Galvani's view that muscle and nerve tissue are electrically excitable. His 1797 publication was a landmark for establishing the concept of animal electricity. Almost half a century later, von Humboldt became the mentor of the young du Bois-Reymond. With the help of von Humboldt's promotion, du Bois-Reymond demonstrated convincingly that animal tissue has the intrinsic capacity to generate electrical activity, and thus laid the ground for modern electrophysiology.
authors.affiliation: Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin-Buch, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kettenmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000266:history*; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology*