[Between radical change and conservation: the investigation of bioelectric phenomena in Germany in the late nineteenth century].
This paper aims at illustrating the historical circumstances which led Julius Bernstein in 1902 to formulate a membrane theory on resting current in muscle and nerve fibers. It was a truly paradigm shift in research into bioelectrical phenomena, if qualified by the observation that, besides Bernstein, many other electrophysiologists between 1890 and 1902 borrowed ideas from the recent ionistic approach in the physical chemistry domain. But the Bernstein's subjective perception of that paradigm shift was that it constitued a mere re-interpretation of the so-called pre-existence theory advanced by his teacher Emil du Bois-Reymond in the first half of the 19 century.
De Palma
Armando
A
University of Turin.
Pareti
Germana
G
D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000266:history*; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D009424:Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; D009488:Neurosciences / Q000266:history