Read The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body Online
Authors: Frances Ashcroft
Further Reading
Here are suggestions for further reading. I only include books and articles that are of general interest and readily accessible. For those who wish to know more, a more detailed bibliography may be found on my website.
Books
Ashcroft, Frances (2000),
Ion Channels and Disease
, San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Bakken, Earl (1999),
One Man’s Full Life
, Minneapolis, MI: Medtronic Inc.
Bryson, Bill (ed.) (2010),
Seeing Further
, London: Harper Press.
Darwin, Charles (1859),
On the Origin of Species
, London: John Murray.
Darwin, Charles (1875),
Insectivorous Plants
, London: John Murray.
Finger, Stanley and Marco Piccolino (2011),
The Shocking History of Electric Fishes
, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gregory, Richard (1997),
Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing
, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hodgkin, Alan (1992),
Chance and Design: Reminiscences of Science in Peace and War
, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hofmann, Albert (1980),
LSD: My Problem Child
, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Holmes, Richard (2009),
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
, London: Harper Press.
von Humboldt, Alexander ([1834] 1995),
Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent
, London: Penguin Books.
Huxley, Aldous (1954),
The Doors of Perception
, London: Chatto and Windus.
Ings, Simon (2007),
The Eye: A Natural History
, London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Lane, Nick (2009),
Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution
, London: Profile Books.
Lomas, Robert (1999),
The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century
, London: Headline Press.
Martin, Paul (2003),
Counting Sheep
, London: Flamingo.
Medawar, Jean and David Pyke (2001),
Hitler’s Gift: Scientists who Fled Nazi Germany
, London: Piatkus.
The Oxford Companion to the Body
(2001), Colin Blakemore and Sheila Jennett (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The Oxford Companion to the Mind
(2004), Richard Gregory (ed.), 2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Powers, Francis Gary and Curt Gentry (1971),
Operation Overflight
, London: Hodder & Stoughton.
de Quincey, Thomas ([1822], 1986),
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Quintilian (2002),
The Orator’s Education
, trans. D. L. Russell, Oxford: Loeb Classical Library.
Raeburn, Paul (1995),
The Last Harvest
, New York: Simon and Schuster.
Rippon, Nicola (2009),
The Plot to Kill Lloyd George
, London: Wharncliffe Books.
Sacks, Oliver (1996),
The Island of the Colour-blind
. London: Picador.
Sacks, Oliver (1986)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
, London: Picador.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft ([1818]),
Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus
. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schmidt-Nielsen, Knut (1997),
Animal Physiology
, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Streatfeild, Dominic (2001),
Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography
, London: Virgin Publishing.
Syson, Lydia (2008),
Doctor of Love: James Graham and his Celestial Bed
. Richmond: Alma Books.
Wesley, John (1760),
Desideratum: Or, Electricity Made Plain and Useful. By a Lover of Mankind, and of Common Sense
, London: W. Flexney.
Articles
Feldberg, W. (1977), ‘The early history of synaptic and neuromuscular transmission by acetylcholine: reminiscences of an eye-witness’, in A. L. Hodgkin et al.,
The Pursuit of Nature
, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harlow, J. M. (1848), ‘Passage of an Iron Rod Through the Head’,
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. 39, pp. 389–93.
Hodgkin, A. L. (1977), ‘Chance and design in electrophysiology: an informal account of certain experiments on nerve carried out between 1934 and 1952’, in A. L. Hodgkin et al.,
The Pursuit of Nature
.
Horgan, J. (2005), ‘The forgotten era of brain chips’,
Scientific American
(October 2005).
Kalmijn, A. J. (1971), ‘The electric sense of sharks and rays’,
Journal of Experimental Biology
, vol. 55, 371–83.
Kellaway, P. (1946), ‘The part played by electric fish in the early history of bioelectricity and electrotherapy’,
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
, vol. 20, pp. 112–37.
Krider, E. P. (2006), ‘Benjamin Franklin and Lightning Rods’,
Physics Today
(January 2006),
Lissmann, H. W. (1951), ‘Continuous electrical signals from the tail of the fish Gymnarchus niloticus Cuv.’,
Nature
, vol. 167, p. 201.
Loewi, O. (1960), ‘Autobiographic sketch’,
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
, vol. 4, pp. 3–25.
Miesenböck, G. (2008), ‘Neural light show: scientists use genetics to map and control brain functions’,
Scientific American
(September 2008).
Quinton, P. (1999), ‘Physiological basis of cystic fibrosis: a historical perspective’,
Physiological Reviews
, vol. 79, S3–S22.
Acknowledgements
I could not have written this book without a great deal of help. I am grateful to many of my scientific colleagues for reading the chapters, helping ensure my facts are accurate and providing invaluable comments on content and style. I thank Richard Boyd, David Clapham, Nathan Denton, Carolina Lahmann, Chris Miller, Mike Sanguinetti and Walter Stühmer for bravely reading the whole book. For reading individual chapters or parts of chapters, I thank Jonathan Ashmore, Mike Bennett, Pietro Corsi, Keith Dorrington, Clive Ellory, Ian Forsythe, Uta Frith, Fiona Gribble, Andrew Halestrap, Judy Heiny, Edith Hummler, Peter Hunter, John Mollon, Keith Moore, Erwin Neher, Denis Noble, David Paterson, Marco Piccolino, Andy King, Geoffrey Raisman, Bernhard Rossier, Julian Schroeder, Paolo Tammaro, Tilly Tansey, Irene Tracy, Louise Upton and Gary Yellen. I thank Peter Brown for help with the Latin and Greek references, and for translating some of the original texts; Michaela Iberl for translating some German papers; Mathilde Lafond for help with the French translations; and Vivien Raisman for providing a modern translation of the Edwin Smith papyrus. Marco Piccolini and Bryan Ward-Perkins supplied historical information and advice, Andrew Forge provided the pictures of the hair cells, and Peter Atkins lent me his Galvani texts. Bruce Barker Benfield at the Bodleian Library very kindly showed me Mary Shelley’s original manuscripts of
Frankenstein
and unearthed a letter from Percy Bysshe Shelley. I am particularly grateful to Peter and Karin Hunter for providing sanctuary in their beautiful home in New Zealand while I struggled with the first two chapters. Many friends and colleagues supplied me with interesting stories and I apologize to those whose stories or scientific research I was unable to include. Needless to say, any errors or infelicities that remain are my own.
There is an Italian proverb that states ‘Se non è vero, è ben trovato’, which roughly translates as ‘Even if it’s not true, it is a good story’. I have tried to ensure that the science is factually correct, but it is more difficult to be as confident that the many historical stories I tell are completely accurate or correctly attributed. In some cases, names have been changed to protect an individual’s identity.
I thank my friend and wonderful agent Felicity Bryan for encouraging me to write another book and never losing confidence that I would eventually do so; my editors at Penguin, Helen Conford and William Goodlad, for valuable comments, wise advice and listening to my writer’s agonies; Louisa Watson and Tertia Softley for their careful copy-editing; and Patrick Loughran for his assistance with the pictures. I am indebted to Ronan Mahon for the beautiful line drawings. I am also grateful to my brother and sister for valuable criticism and advice, and my fellow wordsmith, Chris Miller, for helping to coin a few choice phrases. Most of all, I thank Tertia Softley and Iara Cury, who tracked down many obscure articles, winkled many books out of the Bodleian Library and generally kept me sane, as well as the members of my research team for their patience and forbearance when I spent the weekends working on this book instead of writing their papers, reading their theses or applying for more grant money to fund our research.
Credits
Image “Cerebelo de paloma: celulas de Purkinje y granulares,” reprinted by permission of Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Cajal Legacy. Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
Oil painting by Edmund Bristow (
Dispensing of medical electricity
, 1824) reprinted by permission of Wellcome Library, London.
Excerpt from “Goodness Gracious Me” by Herbert Kretzmer reprinted with permission of Berlin Associates Limited.
Excerpt from Brian Turner,
Here, Bullet
reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books.
Extract from “Newdigate Poem” from Verses by Hilaire Belloc reprinted by permission of Peters Fraser & Dunlop.
Excerpt from
Discourses
by Jo Shapcott, published in
Discourses: Poems for the Royal Institution
, 2002. Reprinted by permission of the Royal Institution.
Excerpt from “The Hanging Man” from
The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath
, edited by Ted Hughes, Copyright © 1960, 1965, 1971, 1981 by the Estate of Sylvia Plath. Editorial material copyright © by Ted Hughes. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers and Faber and Faber Ltd.
Excerpt from “The Tender Place” from
Birthday Letters
by Ted Hughes, Copyright © 1998 by Ted Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC, and Faber and Faber Ltd.
Excerpt from Percy Bysshe Shelley letter to Ralph Wedgwood (15 Dec. 1810) held by University College. Reprinted with permission from the Master and Fellows of University College, Oxford.
Index
Note: page numbers in
italics
refer to figures,
and those with suffix ‘n’ refer to notes.
acetylcholine 82–6, 89, 91–8, 104, 165–7, 270
acetylcholine receptor
89,
92, 96,104
effect of nicotine 260
in myasthenia gravis 98
in torpedo ray 127
muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (heart) 165–6
acetylcholinesterase 95–8
achromatopsia 202–3
aconite (aconitine) 75–6
action potential
62
all-or-none nature 58–9, 65, 69, 105
in electric fish electroplaques 123
in heart cells
147
, 148, 156–9, 168
in muscle fibres 104–5, 111–13
in nerve cells
62
, 65–67, 69
in plants 189–91
mechanism
62
, 65–67, 69
transmission of 56–7
see also
nerve impulse
acupuncture 278
addiction 257–9, 262
adenosine 256–7
adrenaline 163–4, 167–8,175
Adrian, Edgar 59–61
Adrian, Richard 110–12
agent SS
see
saxitoxin
agent TZ
see
saxitoxin
Agre, Peter 180–81, 313n
Aldini, Giovanni 23, 28–9
alpha-toxin,
Staphylococcus aureus
183
alternating current (AC) 298–301
Alzheimer’s disease 270, 311
amber 10–11
amnesia
drug-induced 280, 283
electroconvulsive therapy 295
amoebic dysentery 183
amp (A) 37, 121, 125, 127, 298
definition of 34, 36
Ampère, André-Marie 6, 34
amphetamine 259
ampullae of Lorenzini 130, 132, 314n
amygdala 240, 257, 265, 268, 273
amyl nitrate 164
anaesthesia 95, 237–8
general 279–80, 282
local 223–4
malignant hyperthermia 114–16
anaesthetics 278–81
local 223–4
general 114, 280–81
Andersen, Dorothy 178
angina 163–4
animal electricity 6, 22, 24–6, 32
differences from mains electricity 36–7
antidepressants 263
apoptosis 184–6
aquaporins 180–82
arrow poisons 52, 920–23
artichoke, globe 213, 316n
Ashley, Jack 307
Ashmore, Jonathan 208
ATP 45, 52, 312n
atrial fibrillation 149–50
atrioventricular node
142
, 143, 148, 156
Atropa belladonna
(deadly nightshade) 166
atropine 97, 166
auditory nerve 205, 207–8, 306–7
Aum Shinrikyo sect 95–6
axons 55–7,
56,
57,
232–6
in development 185
myelinated
57,
57–8
squid giant 61–6, 68
Bacillus thuringiensis
183–4
bacteria 100, 178, 182, 230
bacterial toxins 71–2, 80–1, 313n
channel-forming proteins 42, 182–4
Bakken, Earl 151–2
basilar membrane
206
, 206–7, 209
batrachotoxin 76
bats, vampire 199, 221
battery, electric 40, 152, 285
early (voltaic pile)
25–6, 28, 30, 31,
122
biological 37, 43, 120, 123–5
Beethoven, Ludwig van 209–10, 212
Békésy, Georg von 206–7
Belloc, Hilaire 297
Bennett, Alan 210
beta-blockers 161,164
beta-cells, pancreatic 2–4, 99, 312n
Bichat, Xavier 29
Bingen, Hildegard von 245
biological control agents 183–4
biological weapons 74–5, 77
birds 76, 78, 166, 199, 220, 249–50, 275
black smokers 41
Blake, William 192, 193, 262, 315n
blindsight 242
blind spot 195
blood–brain barrier 56, 58, 70, 230, 250
BOAA (β-
N
-oxalyl-L-alanine) 248
Bond, James (007) 72
Booth, Herbert 94
botulinum toxin 80–81, 92, 313n
botox 80–81
bradycardia 148
brain
228
amygdala 240, 265, 268, 273
blood supply 229–30
brain waves 236–7, 273–4
cerebellum
228,
229, 269
cerebral cortex 227–8, 235, 270, 273, 274
corpus callosum 227,
228
el
ectrical stimulation 235–6, 304–6, 309, 310
forebrain 227–8, 257
fusiform gyrus 244
glia cells 229
grey matter 229
hippocampus
228
, 267–9, 276
imaging 238–9, 283, 309–10
limbic system 217
motor cortex 235, 238–40, 269
nucleus accumbens 257, 258, 261–2
olfactory bulb 217
prefrontal cortex 234, 240–41
reward centre 238, 257, 259, 261, 277
somatosensory cortex 235–6
surgery 236, 304–5
thalamus 274
visual cortex 236, 240, 242, 245
white matter 229
brain damage 233–5
Alzheimer’s disease 270
epilepsy 253–4
migraine 244–5
‘brainbow’ mouse 232
brainstem
228
, 228–9, 230, 274
Brillat-Savarin, Anthelme 213–14
Broca, Paul 234–5
Broca’s area 234, 235, 238
Brock, Lawrence 87–8
Brown, Harold 300, 301
Brugada syndrome 157–8
Bryant, Shirley 109–12, 116
Byatt, A. S. 296
Caenorhabditis elegans
233
Cajal, Ramón y 231, 232
Calabar bean 97–8
calcium channels 197, 312n
in disease 90–91, 114–15, 245
in neurotransmitter release
89,
90, 197, 278
in skeletal muscle contraction 105, 112–14,
113
in contraction of the heart 156, 158–9, 163, 165, 168
calcium ions 37, 42
in cell death 248, 250
in contraction of the heart 156, 158–9, 163
in muscle contraction 112–14,
113
in neurotransmitter release 88–92,
89,
197
calcium stores 112–13, 114, 156, 158, 163
camphor 221
capacitor 14–5
capsaicin 220–21
cardiac arrest 22, 153–5
cardiac arrhythmia 150, 157–8, 159–61, 162
cardiopulmonary resuscitation 22, 154
carnivorous plants 189–90, 315n
Carroll, Lewis 245
Carson, Rachel 78
Castor and Pollux 265
cataplexy 275
cataracts 200–201
Caterina, Mike 220
catfish 117–19,
118
, 130
Catsper channels 172–3
Celestial Bed 290
cell 38
ion concentrations 39–41
origins 40–41
membrane 38–41
programmed cell death 184–6
cerebellum
228,
229, 269
cerebral cortex 227–8, 235–6, 238–42, 245, 266, 269, 270, 273–4
Cerletti, Ugo 293
channel-forming proteins 42, 182–4
channel rhodopsin 271
channelopathies
see
ion channel diseases
Charak 248
Châtres, Duc de 35–6
Cheema, Lakhvinder 75
chemical messengers 51, 100–101
see also
intracellular messengers, neurotransmitter
chilli peppers 219–20
‘Chinese restaurant syndrome’ 250
chloride channels
cystic fibrosis (CFTR) 178–9
in muscle 105, 110–12,
113
in plants 189
startle disease, glycine receptors 251–2
chloride (ions) 37, 105, 110, 178–9, 189, 251
chloroform 279–80
cholera 179–80
Chondrodendron tomentosum
93
Church of Scientology 303
clams 72–4
Clapham, David 172
Claviceps purpurea
264
Clostridium botulinum
80
see also
botulinum toxin
Coca-Cola 258
cocaine 258–9
cochlea
204
, 205–7, 306–7
cochlear amplifier 208–9
cochlear implants 209, 306–7
Cockcroft, John 15
Cole, Kenneth 63–4, 65–6
Coleridge, Samuel 277
colour blindness 201–3, 315n
colour vision 195–6, 198–203, 241–2
Colquhoun, David 45
complement 183
cones 194–6, 197, 198
Conium maculatum
94–5
consciousness 264
origin of 281–4
loss of 22, 160, 253, 273, 279–81
Cook, James 54–5, 69
Coombs, Jack 87–88
corn
see
maize
cornea 193,
194,
315n
cortex (of brain)
cerebral 227–8, 235, 270, 273, 274,
motor 235, 238–40, 269
prefrontal 234, 240–41
somatosensory 235–6
visual 236, 240, 242, 245
cot death 160–61
courtship
fish 138–9
Drosophila
271–2
praire voles 261
crayfish 272
Cream, Thomas Neill 252
curare 52, 92–5
current
alternating 298–301
definition of 34, 36–7
direct 298–9
electrocution 21–2, 296–8
war of currents 298–300
Curtis, Howard 63–4
cyclic GMP 164, 196–7, 203
cynarin 213
cystic fibrosis 177–9
cystic fibrosis transmembrane receptor (CFTR) 178–9
Dale, Henry 83, 84–7
D’Alibard, Thomas-François 17
Dalton, John 201–2
dantrolene 115–16
Darwin, Charles 41, 119, 133–4, 189, 313n
Davy, Humphrey 278–9
DDT 77–8
deafness 160, 209–12
cochlear implants 209, 306–7
death 30–31, 114, 150, 151, 152, 177, 179, 202, 237, 276, 282
capital punishment 167–8, 300–301, 314n
cell death 149, 170–1, 184–6, 229, 247, 248, 270