Electricity, Galvanism & The Resurrection of Thomas Weems

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

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Summary

In 1818 Mary Shelley published her infamous novel, “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”. More than just a work of gothic fiction, it represented a host of fears and concerns that the public held after viewing experiments by the natural philosophers of the day. In the same year, in a lecture theatre in Glasgow, the dissection and supposed resurrection of an executed criminal took place. As electrodes were placed on the body, it jumped and danced, its fingers moved “nimbly, like those of a violin player,” all for the amazement of the excited audience members. It was the dawn of electricity and a period of wild experimentation in an age of divisive and dangerous theories. SOURCES Rhys Morus, Iwan (2011) Shocking Bodies: Life, Death & Electricity in Victorian England. The History Press, UK. Oxford University & City Herald (1918) Country News. Oxford University & City Herald, Sat 15 May 1918. p4. Oxford, UK. Oxford University & City Herald (1918) Shocking Murder. Oxford University & City Herald, Sat 15 May 1918. p4. Oxford, UK. Cambridge Chronicle & Journal (1918) Execution of Weems. Cambridge Chronicle & Journal, Fri 13 Aug 1918. p3. Cambridge, UK. Cambridge Chronicle & Journal (1918) Trial For Murder. Cambridge Chronicle & Journal, Fri 6 Aug 1918. p3. Cambridge, UK. Haley, Christopher D., & Archer, Mary D. (2005) The 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge: Transformation and Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Mackenzie, Peter (1865) Reminiscences of Glasgow & The West of Scotland. John Tweed, Glasgow, UK. Rhys Morus, Iwan (2009) Radicals, Romantics & Electrical Showmen: Placing Galvanism at the End of The English Enlightenment. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 63, No. 3, Thomas Beddoes, 1760-1808 (20 September 2009), pp. 263-275. Royal Society Publishing, UK. Bostock, John (1818) An account of the history and present state of galvanism. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, London, UK ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/darkhistories and get on your way to being your best self. -------For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In 1818, Mary Shelley published her infamous novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.
0:08.0	More than just a work of gothic fiction, it represented a host of fears and concerns
0:13.2	that the public held after viewing experiments by the natural philosophers of the day.
0:18.3	In the same year, in a lecture theatre, in Glasgow, the dissection and supposed resurrection
0:24.0	of an executed criminal took place.
0:26.6	As electrodes were placed on the body, it jumped and danced.
0:30.4	Its fingers moved, nimbly, like those of a violin player, all for the… and all of this,
0:38.1	the amazement of the excited audience members.
0:41.3	It was the dawn of electricity, in a period of wild experimentation, in an age of divisive
0:47.0	and dangerous theories.
0:49.2	This is Dark History, where the facts are worse than fiction.
1:00.2	Hello and welcome to Dark History, Season 7, Episode 3.
1:04.6	I'm your host Ben, as always, and it's good to be back.
1:08.6	There's not much to mention this week, so we should probably just jump straight into it.
1:13.2	This week's episode is called Electricity, Galvanism,
1:16.8	and the Resurrection of Thomas Weems.
1:23.5	By the late 18th century, electricity was unknown, but far from understood phenomena.
1:29.4	The natural philosophers of the age had been experimenting for some time
1:33.1	with a series of ever-expanding experiments that seemed to be designed
1:36.9	as much for entertainment as they were for education.
1:40.3	Unsurprisingly, as they boldly strode through the new discoveries of the Enlightenment,
1:45.0	they were found to be spectacularly far from the mark on more than a few occasions.
	...

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