- L. R. Miiller,Die Lebensnerven(3rd ed., Berlin: Springer, 1931).
- Friedrich Kraus,Allgemeine und Spezielle Pathologie der Person(Leipzig: Thieme, 1926).
- WR approached “the function of the orgasm” from diverse viewpoints. For his paper on
the subject most relevant to his experimental work of this period, cf. “Der Orgasmus als
Elektrophysiologische Entladung,”ZPS, I, 1934, 29-43. English translation by Barbara
Koopman: “The Orgasm as Electrophysiological Discharge,”The Impulsive Character and
Other Writings, 123-138. - Koopman, 127.
- Maxim Gorki,Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev(London: The Hogarth Press,
1934). - AC with WR, Summer 1948.
9.I am considerably indebted to Douglas Levinson, psychiatrist and researcher in electro-
physiology, for his help with technical aspects of this chapter and its rewriting.
- Some readers may appreciate a review of the basic concepts in this area. Electric cur-
rents consist of electrons flowing along any available conductive path from an area of more
negative charge to an area of less negative charge. The “pressure” for electron flow is the
amount of the difference in charge between the two areas, measured as voltage. For any
amount ofvoltage, the actual current flow in a given time depends on the conducting path-
way’s resistance to current flow (measured in ohms, while current is measured in amperes).
If a gradient exists between two areas, one can speak of a potential voltage, even if there is
no conductive pathway and thus no flow of current.
In electrodermal research, skin resistance can be measured by passing a controlled, imper-
ceptible current through the skin via two electrodes placed a short distance apart. Any
change in the current from moment to moment can then be attributed to variation in the
skin resistance. Early researchers found that stimuli, particularly frightening or surprising
ones, produced discrete, brief (seconds) wavelike reductions in skin resistance, known as the
“psychogalvanic response” or “galvanic skin response,” or today simply as the “skin resist-
ance response”or its inverse,“skin conductance response.”
It was also found that even without externally applied current, the skin would often gener-
ate a small current between two electrodes placed on the skin because of unequal charge,
i.e.,a skin potential. While skin resistance responses are unidirectional, toward lower resist-
ance,skin potential can show either brief(wavelike) or prolonged changes because of the
demonstration of spontaneous change in the skin and the two opposite directions of
change.
11.For a fuller account of WR’s concepts as well as his experimental results, cf. WR,
Experimentelle Ergebnisse uber die Elektrische Funktion von Sexualitat und Angst(Oslo:Sexpol
Verlag, 1937). The English translation I have used is by Koopman, “Experimental
Investigation of the Electrical Function of Sexuality and Anxiety,”The Impulsive Character and
Other Writings,139-189.(This monograph is also available through FSG.)
466 Myron SharafFury On Earth