Contents
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Spark
Chapter 3: Catching Up
Chapter 4: The Anatomist's Eye
Chapter 5: Cambridge, 1904. The Engineer
Chapter 6: The Cathode Ray Oscilloscope
Chapter 7: The Code
Chapter 8: Excitation and Inhibition
Chapter 9: The Messengers
Chapter 10: The Squid Giant Axon
Chapter 11: The Neuromuscular Junction
Chapter 12: The Giant Axon Impaled
Chapter 13: The War Years
Chapter 14: Sodium Unmasked
Chapter 15: The Voltage Clamp
Chapter 16: Aftermath
Chapter 17: Muscle: the New Physiology
Chapter 18: More Triumphs with Microelectrodes
Chapter 19: The Single Ion Channel
Chapter 20: Myotonic Goats and Migraines
Chapter 21: The Swinging Gate
Chapter 22: Departures
Chapter 23: Postscript
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Dr. Alan J. McComas was born in Bruce Rock in Western Australia and
immigrated to the United Kingdom where he attended Great Yarmouth
Grammar School. He received both his BSc in physiology and MBBS
from Durham University in the UK and was trained at the Royal
Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne, the National Hospital
for Nervous Diseases in London, and the Department of Physiology at
the University College London. After successive positions at
the
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1971 he became Professor of
Medicine (Neurology) at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario,
Canada. In 1988, he also became the Founding Chair in the
Department of
Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University. Since 1996 he has held
the position of Emeritus Professor of Medicine.
Dr. McComas has pursued a successful career in medicine and
physiology. His research accomplishments include some of the
earliest microelectrode studies of muscle diseases, the
electrophysiological estimation of numbers of human motor nerve
fibers, and, more recently, the demonstration that magnetic
stimulation of the brain may abort migraine attacks. In 2001, he
achieved the Distinguished Researcher Award of the American
Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine. He was also awarded
a
Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 2005.
On two occasions, he has been peer-ranked in the top 2% of doctors
in North America. He has authored or coauthored seven books.
Recipient of the 2014 International Society for the History of the
Neurosciences Award for Outstanding Book in the History of the
Neurosciences!
"Galvani's Spark is an outstanding work of scholarship which will
unquestionably prove to be a treasure house, as it is bursting with
information, with scientific detail and with innumerable
fascinating illustrations and references to the relevant
literature. To do it full justice would almost require me to write
another comprehensive volume, as this work embraces not only a vast
amount of detailed scientific information, but also includes a
number of
delicious personal vignettes relating to the work, activities and
views of many of the glitterati of neuroscience. In my opinion this
book is a colossal achievement which will be widely read and
enjoyed, not
only by physiologists, but also by people like myself who have
spent a lifetime in neurological practice." -- John Walton (Lord
Walton of Detchant) Kt TD, MA, MD, DSc, FRCP, FMedSci, Former
Professor of Neurology and Dean of Medicine, University of
Newcastle upon Tyne , Belford, Northumberland, UK
"This excellent historical survey covers a fundamental area of
modern neuroscience and neurobiology, namely the generation of the
nerve impulse. McComas writes in a popular style with amusing
anecdotes and his own commentaries and opinions, but there is no
sacrifice of accuracy or erudition. It is all very easy to read. It
should be widely enjoyed by neuroscientists, including those, now
in the majority, who have grown up with little or no acquaintance
with
electrophysiology; indeed, it is entirely suitable for anybody
interested in the way nerves work. McComas incidentally provides a
serious teaching text by explaining and putting into context the
major
experiments underlying current understanding of the nerve impulse
and synaptic transmission; thus he provides a stimulating
introduction for both honours and doctoral students. Galvani's
Spark can be warmly recommended." -- Peter Matthews MD, DSc, FRS,
Emeritus Professor of Sensorimotor Physiology, Oxford University,
UK
"Alan McComas has made very significant scientific contributions in
neurophysiology and in the estimation of motor units in particular.
Remarkably he has been able to explain the story of the nerve
impulse in a clear and engaging narrative which has some
similarities to a detective story. This approach brings to life the
triumphs, sacrifices and disappointments in the progress of
knowledge and discovery. Imperfect scientists have contributed to
our
understanding of this story which relates to every one of us. I
believe this book will become a classic and it is a remarkable
achievement." -- Dr. Adrian R.M. Upton M.B., B.Chir., FRCP(C),
FRCP(E), FRCP(G),
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, McMaster
University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
"Physiologists, regardless of specialization, will find Alan
McComas' scholarly presentation of 'the wonders of the nerve
impulse' to be a captivating example of making history interesting,
alive, and at times, exciting." -- Charles M. Tipton, PhD, Emeritus
Professor of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
"The year 1953 is renowned in Science for the discovery of the
molecular basis of inheritance by Crick and Watson at Cambridge
University. Alan McComas proposes and ably supports the thesis in
Galvani's Spark, that in the preceding year at the same university,
Hodgkin and Huxley made a comparable leap in the understanding of
the membrane basis of the initiation and conduction of the nerve
impulse." -- Professor Vahe E. Amassian, Department of Physiology
and
Pharmacology, State University of New York-Downstate Medical
Center, Brooklyn, NY
"A detailed and thoughtful account of research into the nature of
the nerve impulse, the electrochemical signal that enables the
various parts of the nervous system to communicate with each other.
Along the way, the book embraces the work of many physiologists,
biologists, physicians, biochemists and physicists, with special
attention being given to the voltage-clamp experiments of Hodgkin
and Huxley in the early 1950s. McComas, currently Emeritus
Professor at
McMaster University, is well equipped to write the story; a
neurophysiologist himself, he is best known for estimating numbers
of spinal motor neurons in human subjects, including those with
neuromuscular disorders. It is likely that Galvani's Spark will
become a classic and will be read with interest by many established
researchers and physicians involved with the nervous system. For
those entering the field it provides a valuable and unique
introduction to the subject." -- Roberto E. Sica, Arquivos de
Neuro-psiquiatria
"McComas not only tells the story of how nerve function was
elucidated but equally importantly of the courage it took for the
scientists who performed this research to question persistent
dogmas, face outspoken critics, publicly recant untenable theories,
invent novel procedures, and carry out nearly impossible
experiments... McComas's book exhibits the panorama of
neurophysiology in a manner that reveals its integration,
integrity, and living intensity. I
highly recommend Galvani's Spark to any reader who wants to learn
how current knowledge of nerve function came to be." - Robert
Root-Bernstein, PhD, JAMA
"This is an excellent book which should be a mandatory purchase for
all electrophysiologists and an accessible introduction to the
subject for inquisitive students." -- Physiology News, Angus Brown,
Associate Professor of Neuroscience, University of Nottingham
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