The Swiss physician-naturalist Albrecht von Haller was perhaps the most prolific physiologist of the eighteenth century.
He came of a new breed of doctor that sought to establish by experimentation the truth of conclusions.
He was skeptical about nerve vibration theories and animal electricity.
In his Physiological Elements of the Human Body (1757-66), he re-defined two well-known properties of life: sensibility (perception) and irritability (response).
Von Haller demonstrated the differences between muscle and nerve fiber, laying the foundations of neurophysiology.
Von Haller used the ‘irritability’ of muscle fiber and the ‘sensitivity’ of nerve fiber to explain how the heart pumped blood.
Von Haller based his conclusion on anatomical observations and he conducted animal experiments.
He demonstrates that nerves control muscle action. He also traces the nerves of the body to the spinal cord.
Von Haller changed the scientist viewed the relationship between nerves and muscles by position the fiber as the basic unit of both system.
Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777) and properties of life
The Nok Culture: A Cornerstone of Early West African Civilization
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The Nok culture, one of the earliest civilizations in West Africa, thrived
in present-day Nigeria between 1000 BC and 300 AD. Renowned for its
sophisticate...
