Angelo Mosso’s Pioneering Work in the Study of Human

Physiology
A
Scientists in the late nineteenth century were beginning to
investigate the functions of blood circulation, trying to tease out
the reasons for variations in pulse and pressure and to
understand the delivery of energy to the functioning parts of our
bodies. Angelo Mosso (1846–1910) was one such pioneer, an
Italian physiologist who progressed to become a professor of
both pharmacology and physiology at the University of Turin.
As was true of many of his enlightened, well-educated
contemporaries, Mosso was concerned about the effect of the
industrial revolution on the poorer working classes. Hard
physical labour and an excessively long working day shortened
lives, created conditions conducive to accidents, and crippled the
children who were forced into such work at a very early age.
One of his most influential contributions to society came from
his work and writings on fatigue.
B
Early experimenters in any field find themselves having to
construct previously unknown equipment to investigate fields of
study as yet unexplored. Mosso had reviewed the work of fellow
scientists who had worked on isolated muscles, such as those
extracted from frogs, and who had observed movement and
fatigue when these were stimulated electrically. He found two
major issues with their methodolgy: there was a lack of evidence
both that the findings would be relevant to the human body, and
that the dynamometers used to measure the strength of
movement could give accurate results. He therefore became
determined to construct an instrument to measure human
muscular effort and record the effects of fatigue with greater
precision.
C
His device was named an ergograph, meaning “work recorder”.
To modern eyes it seems remarkably simple, but such is true of
many inventions when viewed with hindsight. It allowed the
measurement of the work done by a finger as it was repetitively
curled up and straightened. There were basically two parts. One
held the hand in position, palm up, by strapping down the arm to
a wooden base; this was important to prevent any unintentional
movement of the hand while the experiment was taking place.
The other part was a recording device that drew the movements
of the finger vertically on a paper cylinder which revolved by
tiny increments as the experiment proceeded. The index and ring
fingers of the hand were each inserted into a brass tube to hold
them still. The middle finger was encircled with a leather ring
tied to a wire which was connected to a weight after passing
through a pulley. The finger had to raise and lower the weight,
with the length and speed of these flexions recorded on the
paper by a stylus. In this way, he not only learned the fatigue
profiles of his subjects but could observe a relationship between
performance, tiredness and the emotional state of his subjects.
D
Mosso’s interest in the interaction between psychology and
physiology led to another machine and further groundbreaking
research. He was intrigued to observe the pulsing of circulating
blood in patients who had suffered traumatic damage to the
skull, or cranium. In these patients, a lack of bone covering the
brain allowed the strength of the heart’s pumping to be seen
beneath the skin. He carried out experiments to see whether
certain intellectual activities, such as reading or solving a
problem, or emotional responses, such as to a sudden noise,
would affect the supply of blood to the brain. He detected some
changes in blood supply, and then wanted to find out if the same
would be true of individuals with no cranial damage.
E
His solution was to design another instrument to measure brain
activity in uninjured subjects. He designed a wooden table-top
for the human subject to lie on, which was placed over another
table, balanced on a fulcrum (rather like a seesaw) that would
allow the subject to tilt, with head a little higher than feet, or
vice versa. Heavy weights beneath the table maintained the
stability of the whole unit as the intention was to measure very
tiny variations in the balance of the person. Once the upper table
was adjusted to be perfectly horizontal, only the breathing
created a slight regular oscillation. This breathing and pulses
measured in the hands and feet were also recorded.
F
Once all was in equilibrium, Mosso would ring a bell, while out
of sight of the subject. His hypothesis was that this aural
stimulus would have to be interpreted by the brain, and that an
increased blood flow would result in a slight head-down tilt of
the table. Mosso followed the bell-ringing with a wide range of
intellectual stimuli, such as reading from a newspaper, a novel,
or a university text. He was no doubt well satisfied to observe
that the tilting of the table increased proportionately to the
difficulty of the subject matter and the intellectual requirements
of the task. Mosso’s experiments indicated a direct link between
mental effort and an increased volume of blood in the brain.
This research was one of the first attempts to ‘image’ the brain,
which is now performed by technology such as MRI (magnetic
resonance imaging), commonly used in making medical
diagnoses today.
Who Wrote Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare is the Western world’s most famous
playwright – but did he really write the plays and poems that are
attributed to him?
There has been controversy over the authorship of the works of
Shakespeare since the nineteenth century. The initial impetus
for this debate came from the fact that nineteenth century critics,
poets and readers were puzzled and displeased when they were
presented with the few remaining scraps of evidence about the
life of “Shakspere”, as his name was most commonly spelled.
The author they admired and loved must have been scholarly
and intellectual, linguistically gifted, knowledgeable about the
lifestyle of those who lived in royal courts, and he appeared to
have travelled in Europe.
These critics felt that the son of a Stratford glove-maker, whose
only definite recorded dealings concerned buying property,
some minor legal action over a debt, tax records, and the usual
entries for birth, marriage and death, could not possibly have
written poetry based on Classical models. Nor could he have
been responsible for the wide-ranging intellectually and
emotionally challenging plays for which he is so famous,
because, in the nineteenth century world-view, writers inevitably
called upon their own experiences for the content of their work.
By compiling the various bits and pieces of surviving evidence,
most Shakespearian scholars have satisfied themselves that the
man from Stratford is indeed the legitimate author of all the
works published under his name. A man called William
Shakespeare did become a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s
Men, the dramatic company that owned the Globe and
Blackfriars Theatres, and he enjoyed exclusive rights to the
publication and performance of the dramatic works. There are
23 extant contemporary documents that indicate that he was a
well-known poet or playwright. Publication and even
production of plays had to be approved by government officials,
who are recorded as having met with Shakespeare to discuss
authorship and licensing of some of the plays, for example,
‘King Lear’.
However, two Elizabethans who are still strongly defended as
the true Shakespeare are Christopher Marlowe and Edward de
Vere, both of whom would have benefited from writing under
the secrecy of an assumed name.
Marlowe’s writing is acknowledged by all as the precursor of
Shakespeare’s dramatic verse style: declamatory blank verse
that lifted and ennobled the content of the plays. The records
indicate that he was accused of being an atheist: denying the
existence of God would have been punishable by the death
penalty. He is recorded as having ‘died’ in a street fight before
Shakespeare’s greatest works were written, and therefore it is
suggested that he may have continued producing literary works
while in hiding from the authorities.
De Vere was Earl of Oxford and an outstanding Classical
scholar as a child. He was a strong supporter of the arts,
including literature, music and acting. He is also recorded as
being a playwright, although no works bearing his name still
exist. However, in 16th century England it was not acceptable
for an aristocrat to publish verse for ordinary people, nor to have
any personal dealings with the low-class denizens of popular
theatre.
To strengthen the case for their respective alternatives, literary
detectives have looked for relationships between the biographies
of their chosen authors and the published works of Shakespeare.
However, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there
was no tradition of basing plays on the author’s own life
experiences, and therefore, the focus of this part of the debate
has shifted to the sonnets. These individual poems of sixteen
lines are sincerely felt reactions to emotionally charged
situations such as love and death, a goldmine for the
biographically inclined researcher.
The largest group of these poems express love and admiration
and, interestingly, they are written to a “Mr W.H.” This person
is clearly a nobleman, yet he is sometimes given forthright
advice by the poet, suggesting that the writing comes from a
mature father figure. How can de Vere or Marlowe be
established as the author of the sonnets?
As the son of a tradesman, Marlowe had no aristocratic status;
unlike Shakespeare, however, he did attend and excel at
Cambridge University where he mingled with the wealthy. Any
low-born artist needed a rich patron, and such is the argument
for his authorship of the sonnets. The possible recipient of these
sonnets is Will Hatfield, a minor noble who was wealthy and
could afford to contribute to the arts; this young man’s
friendship would have assisted a budding poet and playwright.
Marlowe’s defenders contend that expressions of love between
men were common at this time and had none of the homosexual
connotations that Westerners of the twenty-first century may
ascribe to them.
The Earl of Oxford had no need of a wealthy patron. The object
of De Vere’s sonnets, it is suggested, is Henry Wriothesley,
Earl of Southampton, whose name only fits the situation if one
accepts that it is not uncommon to reverse the first and surnames
on formal occasions. De Vere was a rash and careless man and,
because of his foolish behaviour, he fell out of favour with
Queen Elizabeth herself. He needed, not an artistic patron, but
someone like Henry to put in a good word for him in the
complex world of the royal court. This, coupled with a genuine
affection for the young man, may have inspired the continuing
creation of poems addressed to him. Some even postulate that
the mix of love and stern advice may stem from the fact that
Henry was de Vere’s illegitimate son, though there is no
convincing evidence of this fact.