I'm the one who asked that. Thanks - I wondered. Here is the quote from the
book that I am using
Hergenhahn: "While in the army, he was able to build a small laboratory and
to continue his early research, which concerned metabolic processes in the
frog. Helmholtz demonstrated that food and oxygen consumption were able to
account for the total energy that an organism expended. He was thus able to
apply the already popular principle of conservation of energy to living
organisms."
That isn't the only text that suggested that connection (although I have no
idea where I read it first).
At 10:51 AM 9/29/2005 -0400, you wrote:
Yesterday on TIPS, someon asked about hos Helmholtz wenst about measuring
the amount of energy put into and expended by a frog (to prove
conservation of energy in living things). I've done a bit of searching and
consulting over the past day, and it appears at this stage of my
investigation that there was no such experiment conducted by Helmholtz.
His work on conservation of energy (1847 -- see my "Classics in the
History of Psychology" site) was theoretical. There may have been (much)
later experiments done by others along the lines suggested, but I have not
been able to find exact references. Helmholtz's primary work with frogs
involved his measuring the speed of neural transmission, not conservation
of energy. The two ideas may have become confused with each other (as with
many of these popular historical myths), resulting in the idea of an
experiment on conservation of energy involving frogs.
Regards,
--
Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.yorku.ca/christo
Office: 416-736-5115 ext. 66164
Fax: 416-736-5814
---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Deb
Dr. Deborah S. Briihl
Dept. of Psychology and Counseling
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698
(229) 333-5994
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/dbriihl/
Well I know these voices must be my soul...
Rhyme and Reason - DMB
---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
