杏吧原创

DOCTOR Frankenstein鈥檚 identity has finally been revealed after almost 200 years. Mary Shelley鈥檚 infamous fictional figure was inspired by the eminent Scottish scientist John Lind, the first person in Britain to try to animate dead animals with electricity.

Ever since Shelley wrote her classic book, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, in 1818, scholars have argued over where the inspiration for her obsessive doctor came from. She acknowledged that her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, played a part in stimulating her creativity, and she was present in the summer of 1816 when he regaled his fellow poet Lord Byron with tales of the latest scientific developments during their famous stay at Byron鈥檚 villa on the shores of Lake Geneva.

But where did Percy Shelley acquire his deep knowledge of the subject? According to Christopher Goulding, a researcher in English literature at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, much of it came from Lind. While Percy was a schoolboy at Eton, the Scottish scientist was his mentor.

Lind by that time had retired. But he was extremely well connected and well travelled, and brimming with tales of science and adventure. 鈥淗e knew everyone who was anyone in science,鈥� says Goulding.

What was most relevant to Frankenstein was Lind鈥檚 passionate interest in 鈥済alvanics鈥�, the revolutionary experiments to 鈥渁nimate鈥� dead limbs with electricity pioneered not long before by Italian scientist Luigi Galvani. Lind鈥檚 curiosity about the subject had been kindled by William Cullen, his tutor at the world-renowned Edinburgh Medical School and the author of the first clinical guide to reviving victims of suffocation.

In the 1790s, Lind became the first British scientist to repeat Galvani鈥檚 experiments, jolting frogs鈥� legs with electric pulses. 鈥淚 have no doubt he could have shown young Shelley this, or at least told him about it,鈥� says Goulding. 鈥淎t the time, it was seen as disturbing the murky area between life and death.鈥�

Galvani鈥檚 ideas about using electricity to breathe life into dead body parts later formed the scientific core of Mary鈥檚 novel. But her bleak passages about icy wastelands might also owe much to Lind, who had served as a ship鈥檚 surgeon and travelled to Iceland with Sir Joseph Banks, then President of the Royal Society, to study geology and botany. 鈥淟ind would have been able to tell Percy about glaciers, although much of the imagery in Frankenstein might have come from what Mary saw in Switzerland too,鈥� Goulding admits.

His analysis overturns the accepted idea that Percy did little more than rehash popular scientific ideas of the time. 鈥淚 think he had much more knowledge than people give him credit for,鈥� Goulding says.

鈥淲hat science there is in Frankenstein came from James Lind via Mary鈥檚 husband,鈥� says Goulding. Mary herself acknowledged the debt, quoting her husband as saying of Lind: 鈥淚 owe that man far鈥攐h! Far more than I owe my father.鈥�