[11][12] Alessandro Volta, a professor of experimental physics in the University of Pavia, was among the first scientists who repeated and checked Galvani’s experiments.

However, he started to doubt that the conductions were caused by specific electricity intrinsic to the animal's legs or other body parts.

Volta believed that the contractions depended on the metal cable Galvani used to connect the nerves and muscles in his experiments.

[14] Since Galvani was reluctant to intervene in the controversy with Volta, he trusted his nephew, Giovanni Aldini, to act as the main defender of the theory of animal electricity.

Jean-Louis-Marc Alibert said of Galvani that he never ended his lessons “without exhorting his hearers and leading them back to the idea of that eternal Providence, which develops, conserves, and circulates life among so many diverse beings.”[15]