As mentioned upthread, Becker's book 'The Body Electric' gets into all of this including the finding that limb regeneration in amphibians etc was modulated by the body's electrical response- he could replicate this by applying small electrical currents to the wounded site, thus stimulating regeneration of the lost limb.

Fascinating book and interesting to note that his offices were raided, all of his research confiscated (same as happened to Wilhelm Reich) and he was shut out from the scientific establishment- prompting him to publish his work in book form instead.

Here's an amazing video- whether it's 'electricity' (seems not if you watch the vid) or the more elusive 'chi' / orgone...



Another awesome book: The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine ( [link to www.amazon.co.uk (secure)]

"Why can salamanders grow new legs, and young children grow new finger tips, but adult humans can't regenerate? What is the electricity that flows through the human body? Is it the same thing that the Chinese call Qi? If so, what does Chinese medicine know, that western medicine ignores? Dan Keown's highly accessible, witty, and original book shows how western medicine validates the theories of Chinese medicine, and how Chinese medicine explains the mysteries of the body that western medicine largely ignores. He explains the generative force of embryology, how the hearts of two people in love (or in scientific terms ... " (<50%)