Leviathan and the Myograph

Hermann Helmholtz's "Second Note" on the Propagation Speed of Nervous Stimulations

Bibliographic Data

ID4516634
AuthorsHenning Schmidgen (0000-0002-9326-6902, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume28
Issue3
Pages357-396
Publication date2015-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889715000174
PMID26256504
OpenAlexW1814429683
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited33

ArgumentIn the winter of 1849-1850 in Königsberg, German physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) conducted pioneering measurements concerning the propagation speed of stimulations in the living nerve. While recent historians of science have paid considerable attention to Helmholtz's uses of the graphic method, in particular his construction of an instrument called "myographion," this paper draws attention to theinscription surfacesthat he used in effective ways for capturing and transmitting his findings. Against the background of recent archival findings, I show that Helmholtz used isinglass copies of his graphical recordings in order to communicate the basic principle of previous measurements to the academic public. As the correspondence with his Berlin-based friend and colleague Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896) and the subsequent development of the myographion make clear, these curves were not meant as measurements but functioned as demonstrations. In other words, Helmholtz's curves did provide "images of precision" (Olesko and Holmes 1993) - but they were not precise images

Computer security · Helmholtz free energy · Myograph · Physics · Thermodynamics · Computer Science · History of Medicine Studies · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Neurology and Historical Studies · Internal Medicine

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