[The amputated leg--a tale of scientific curiosity--1792].

In 1792 the young military surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey (later Baron de l'empire) had to amputate a soldier's leg. His scholarly knowledge combined with intellectual curiosity turned a common event into an innovative scientific experiment, after he used the severed leg to affirm in the human being the recent observations made by Galvani on frogs. The possibility of inducing muscular contractions by galvanic current led him to foretell, much ahead of his time, that this mode would facilitate rehabilitation of the paralyzed.