PHYSICAL ON THE PHENOMENA OF LIVING BEINGS. BY CARLO MATTEUCCI, PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PISA. TRANSLATED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF JONATHAN PEREIRA, M.D. F.R.S. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. ΤΟ MICHAEL FARADAY, D.C.L. F.R.S. FULLERIAN PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. DEAR DR. FARADAY, Professor Matteucci has requested me to dedicate to you, in his name, this English edition of his Lectures on the Physical Phenomena of Living Beings. With that request I most cordially comply. To no one could the following pages be more appropriately inscribed than to yourself, to whom the physical sciences are indebted for some of the most brilliant and splendid discoveries of this prolific age. To no one could I with more pleasure address this work than to you, for whom I have ever entertained the warmest feelings of admiration, respect, and esteem. Believe me, my dear Dr. Faraday, Ever faithfully yours, Finsbury Square, Sept. 1847. JONATHAN PEREIRA. PREFACE ΤΟ THE ENGLISH EDITION. IN 1844, Professor Matteucci was appointed by the Government of Tuscany to deliver, in the University of Pisa, a course of Lectures on the Physical Phenomena of Living Beings. These Lectures were subsequently published; and their popularity is attested by the fact, that they have already passed through two editions in Italy, and one in France. The present translation has been made from a copy furnished to the Editor by Professor Matteucci, and containing a very large number of additions and corrections. Although the French edition is, as far as matter is concerned, more complete than the Italian ones, it contains, on the other hand, numerous errors ascribable to the translator. These have been corrected by M. Matteucci, who has also embodied the results of his most recent investigations in the present edition, which must not, therefore, be regarded as a mere translation of any of the editions hitherto published. |