Galvani's spark : the story of the nerve impulse / Alan J. McComas.

New York : Oxford University Press, [2011], ©2011.

xxiii, 391 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm

The spark -- Catching up -- The anatomist's eye -- Cambridge, 1904 : the engineer -- The cathode ray oscilloscope -- The code -- Excitation and inhibition -- The messengers -- The squid giant axon -- The neuromuscular junction -- The giant axon impaled -- The war years -- Sodium unmasked -- The voltage clamp -- Aftermath -- Muscle : The new physiology -- More triumphs with microelectrodes -- The single ion channel -- Myotonic goats and migraines -- The swinging gate -- Departures.

Includes bibliographical references and index.