He says: "A part of the chemical energy of foodstuffs is transformed into electric energy, which gives energy to the body. In one experiment I put a jelly-fish in contact with a solution of electrically charged substances, and it immediately responded by muscular contraction. I then put it in a substance that was a non-conductor and there was no response. In this way I concluded it was the electric charges which effected the muscular contraction, that a pure salt always acts as a poison to the egg, and in order not to have toxic effects it is necessary that the positive and negative electric charges should easily balance. A muscle is stimulated by electro-negatively charged particles, and prevented from contracting by electro-positively charged particles.
"I have experimented with eggs of different low forms of animal life, with single protoplasmic cells, and with muscles. Professor Mathews has shown that my results hold true for nerves. I took the eggs of the fundulus and found that after they were fertilized they will develop in sea water.
"In a sodium-chloride solution I found they will not develop, but by adding a trace of calcium as many eggs will develop as in the sea water. This is due to the electrically charged atoms of the calcium. Artificial parthenogenesis, or life artificially produced, has been of interest only as it leads me to learn how the electric charges of ions affect life phenomena. You can bring about parthenogenesis only by positive ions. I have come to two conclusions: First, rythmical contraction occurs only in the presence of electrically charged substances. Second, the efficiency of the charges depends upon the number of the charges or the different ions. Professor Mathews has arrived at a third conclusion, which is, that the negatively charged ions are those which stimulate, and the positively charged ions are those which hinder contraction."
Dr. Loeb's paper created a sensation among the assembled scientists, as also did that of Professor A. P. Mathews, on "The Nature of the Nerve Stimulation and Alteration of Irritability." "Dr. Loeb's discoveries have revolutionized the basic principles of physiology," declared one of the scientists. "A greater part of the text-books on this subject will have to be rewritten to accord with the results of these new views of life phenomena." And Dr. G. N. Stewart, who presided at the meeting, eulogized Dr. Loeb and said, "He has given us an insight into the mechanics of living tissue which we never before have had. He has brought forward the science of electro-physiology, which has hitherto been despised, but which will now be accorded a respectable position."
Professor Garrett P. Serviss says: "This discovery of Dr. Loeb and Prof. Mathews comes closer to the solution of the mystery of life than physiologists have ever before been able to approach, and is so fundamental and far reaching as to warrant the hope that we shall soon know what are the conditions and the limits of man's power to prolong his own life.
"The whole foundation of physiology and medicine may be reconstructed, and we may find that we possess a control over the phenomena of life more masterful than anybody has yet dared to dream. Briefly, it has been discovered that our nerves consist of what is called a colloidal solution—that is, matter resembling gelatin held in solution in water before it is jellied, and these colloidal particles in the nerves carry charges of positive electricity. When the nerve particles pass from the colloidal condition into the state of gelation, or become jellied, the nerve experiences a stimulation or becomes active. This is produced by the action of atoms or ions bearing charges of negative electricity.
"This explains the action of certain chemical substances when introduced into the human body, some of which tend to quiet the nerves and others to excite them. The nerve-quieting ions are those that bear charges of positive electricity, such as atoms of sodium, potassium, calcium and hydrogen, and tend to keep the colloidal particles of the nerves in a state of solution, so that the nerves remain inactive. The nerve-stimulating ions are atoms of such substances as fluorine and chlorine, which carry charges of negative electricity and cause the nerve particles to coalesce or become jellied, in which condition the nerve is active, the degree of activity depending upon the intensity of the stimulation. Death appears to be the result of the stagnation of the nerves, and this discovery may enable us to oppose the process that ends in death."
This throws a flood of light on other obscure problems, and offers an explanation of the effect of anaesthetics upon the human body. Anything that tends to keep the nerve particles in a state of solution quiets the nerves. Now, nerve particles are largely composed of fat, and anaesthetics dissolve fat. Hence anaesthetics produce the effect of positively electrified ions, preventing the nerve particles from coalescing and thus quiets the nerves. The action of whiskey in arresting the progress of snake poison is explained. The alcohol counteracts the coagulating tendency and keeps the nerves in a colloidal condition. It explains many other familiar facts, as why heat tends to quiet the nerves, and that chemical stimulation is identical with electrical stimulation, and solves the long standing puzzle of muscular contractility.
Dr. H. Preston Pratt, an eminent electro-therapeutic expert, says: "Dr. Loeb's experiments have demonstrated that electricity is life—that the entire human organism is controlled by electrical forces. The twentieth century will prove electricity and not salt is the real life-giving principle.
"If this force is taken away, life ends, and, in the same manner, if this force is supplied the result is the immediate stimulation of the organic life.