Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et la mort.

When Volta questioned the validity of experiments claiming to show responsiveness of an ex vivo heart, devoid of blood flow and nervous connections, Bichat obtained permission to experiment upon the freshly killed bodies of those guillotined during the French Revolution. His trials on both laboratory animals and human cadavers led him to conclude that cardiac excitation by electricity would occur only when the organ was stimulated by direct contact. English translation of second edition, Philadelphia, 1809.