“Animal Needs”: The Frog as Medium

Last week´s seminar was about “epistemic animals” which “inscribe themselves” through technical instruments and apparatuses. Today we wanted to talk about animals being used as media, focusing on a certain animal: The frog, which has been introduced to the history of science by Luigi Galvani.

Experimental setup as desribed in “De viribus electricitatis in moto musculari” (1791)

To read:
Benjamin Bühler, Stefan Rieger (Germany, 2006): Vom Übertier. Ein Bestiarium des Wissens
Luigi Galvani (Italy, 1791): Abhandlung über die Kräfte der Elektrizität bei der Muskelbewegung (Aloysii Galvani: De viribus electricitatis in moto musculari)