英语词汇galvanic的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

galvanic; galvanism, etc. These words enshrine Luigi Galvani (1737–98), a brilliant physiologist at Italy’s University of Bologna—although galvanism originally proved less than bril- liant. Galvani’s experiments began in about 1771. No one knows if his observant wife Lucia pointed out the first galvanic reaction, or if the professor had been preparing frog legs for her dinner—the tale has numerous versions—but one evening Galvani did notice that the skinned leg of a frog he was dissect- ing twitched when he touched it with a scalpel. After experi- menting for about 20 years, Galvani wrote a paper concluding that the reaction had been produced by “animal electricity.” Ac- tually, the original frog’s leg had twitched because his scalpel had touched the brass conductor of a nearby electrical ma- chine, the charged knife shocking its muscles involuntarily “into life” with a current of electricity. Alessandro Volta quickly pointed out that the contact of two different metals really pro- duced the electricity, but controversy raged between his and Galvani’s supporters for years. Despite his monumental mis- take, Galvani’s name was lionized in numerous scientific terms indicating the use of direct current. Technically, we speak of galvanizing as shocking with an electric current, or galvanizing metal as giving it a protective zinc coating, while galvanic refers to electricity produced by chemical action. Yet the words have much broader nontechnical meanings when they imply arousal or stimulation, as when we say someone is galvanized into ac- tion by a galvanic happening—shocked into an excited response like Galvani’s frog. See volt.

词汇	galvanic
词源	galvanic; galvanism, etc. These words enshrine Luigi Galvani (1737–98), a brilliant physiologist at Italy’s University of Bologna—although galvanism originally proved less than bril- liant. Galvani’s experiments began in about 1771. No one knows if his observant wife Lucia pointed out the first galvanic reaction, or if the professor had been preparing frog legs for her dinner—the tale has numerous versions—but one evening Galvani did notice that the skinned leg of a frog he was dissect- ing twitched when he touched it with a scalpel. After experi- menting for about 20 years, Galvani wrote a paper concluding that the reaction had been produced by “animal electricity.” Ac- tually, the original frog’s leg had twitched because his scalpel had touched the brass conductor of a nearby electrical ma- chine, the charged knife shocking its muscles involuntarily “into life” with a current of electricity. Alessandro Volta quickly pointed out that the contact of two different metals really pro- duced the electricity, but controversy raged between his and Galvani’s supporters for years. Despite his monumental mis- take, Galvani’s name was lionized in numerous scientific terms indicating the use of direct current. Technically, we speak of galvanizing as shocking with an electric current, or galvanizing metal as giving it a protective zinc coating, while galvanic refers to electricity produced by chemical action. Yet the words have much broader nontechnical meanings when they imply arousal or stimulation, as when we say someone is galvanized into ac- tion by a galvanic happening—shocked into an excited response like Galvani’s frog. See volt.
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