Halloween Special

At the University of Bologna in Italy, noted surgeon Luigi Galvani was investigating the effects of electricity on animals. It was not an unusual line of inquiry. Researchers knew electrical shocks produced violent spasms and speculated that electricity might cause muscular contractions.

On January 26, 1781, while dissecting a frog near a static electricity machine, Galvani's assistant touched a scalpel to a nerve in its leg, and the frog's leg jumped. Galvani repeated this and several other experiments, observing the same violent muscle spasms. He also noticed that frog legs occasionally twitched when they were hung from a brass hook and allowed to touch an iron trellis, so Galvani joined a length of each metal together to form a brass and iron arc that made the leg muscles contract when touched.
But where did the electricity come from?

Galvani, who called it "animal electricity," believed it resided in the frog itself. He thought that the bimetallic arc merely conducted the electricity from one part of the frog to the nerve, causing the leg to jump. He published his findings in 1791 and, as the story goes, came to be known as the frog dancing master.

Industrial Revolution and Mary Shelly

      The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world.
The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. In the two centuries following 1800, the world's average per capita income increased over 10-fold, while the world's population increased over 6-fold.

Starting in the later part of the 18th century, there began a transition in parts of Great Britain's previously manual labour and draft-animal–based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways.

**Frankenstein in jail Britain was in the middle of the Industrial Revolution when Mary Shelley   wrote Frankenstein

Natural Philosophy

        Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature, is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science. It is considered to be the precursor of natural sciences such as physics.

       Forms of science historically developed out of philosophy or more specifically natural philosophy. At older universities, long-established Chairs of Natural Philosophy are nowadays occupied mainly by physics professors. Modern notions of science and scientists date only to the 19th century. Before then, the word "science" simply meant knowledge and the label of scientist did not exist. Isaac Newton's 1687 scientific treatise is known as The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.

Luddite influence in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

While the Industrial Revolution was intended to increase prosperity, some, like the anti-machine protesters of the early 19^th century, saw it as a de-humanizing movement. In the novel, the monster is feared by the people he encounters because of his appearance and greater strength. When the monster tries to become a part of the community, in a parallel with the introduction of machines, Felix, like the Luddite protesters, fights back against his infiltration. Felix then moves away from his cottage with his family because he feels unsafe and doesn’t want to subject them to the monster’s influence. In the novel, mechanization is associated with the horrific aspects of the story, while the natural world represents the monster’s idyllic respite from his problems and the possibility of acceptance by the family he observes. This fear of mechanization reflects the ambivalence towards the use of machines in peoples’ lives in the 19^th century, and is echoed in subsequent science fiction stories about artificial beings, as well as film adaptations of Frankenstein. This interpretation shows how the novel reflects on real-life events in England, with which Mary and Percy Shelley were directly associated. The natural world is valued over the mechanized world due to its more authentic associations and perceived increased worth.