Electricity and Galvanism in the Early 19th Century

The galvanic battery, unlike the electrical machine (which had to be cranked), stored electrical energy that could be used at any time. Many forms of these batteries were proposed for medical purposes as depicted in the page below, taken from The Mechanics' Magazine.

Electrical machines did not store energy, but were cranked by hand to produce a charge that was then transferred to another object. More frequently than not, the subject was a frog. But in some cases, as in the experimental demonstrations of Giovanni Aldini, the subject was a recently slaughtered cow or, on at leat one occasion, a recently hanged convict.

Sometimes electrical devices were used in parlor activities either to send a small shock through a group of people holding hands, as in the drawing below which was made by a young girl in the late 1810s. In other instances, an electrical charge was used to energize a little toy (such as the one depicted at the bottom of this page) for the amusement of friends and family.

The young man in the center is turning the crank of an electrical machine and the spark/energy will pass through the chain on the right through the line of people holding hands. (From: Mrs. Hurst Dancing)