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Electric catfish were instrumental in the development of this physiological research method

Posted: 25 Feb 2021, 17:40
by bekateen
Vojtech, J. M., & Stepp, C. E. (2021). Electromyography. In, Manual of Clinical Phonetics. (M.J. Ball, ed.). Routledge, 2021. 540 pp. ISBN: 100033466X, 9781000334661.
(https://books.google.com/books?id=Qe8eE ... &q&f=false)


Introduction to Electromyography
Historical Background
The electrical properties of living organisms have been of interest to humans across time. The earliest records of bioelectricity date back to c. 2750 BC when ancient Egyptians depicted electric fish on tomb walls (Kellaway, 1946). Ancient Greeks also knew of the bioelectric properties of some eels, rays and catfish, and even described using these properties to induce numbness in the body (Finger, Boller, & Tyler, 2009). Emil du Bois-Reymond (1848) was the first to demonstrate that the electrical activity of human muscle could be detected during a voluntary contraction. The first recording of this activity was produced by French scientist, Étienne Marey, in 1890. Marey later coined the term electromyography or EMG.

Re: Electric catfish were instrumental in the development of this physiological research method

Posted: 25 Feb 2021, 22:01
by bekateen
If you follow the JSTOR link (https://www.jstor.org/stable/44441034) and look at the original publication, you'll see two other images. All three images feature the electric cats, and also prominently Synodontis and what looks like Mormyrids. A few other fish are recognizable, but I'm not coming up with their names very fast.

Cheers, Eric