How did Luigi Galvani’s experiments influence Alessandro Volta’s invention of the battery?

Luigi Galvani’s experiments provided the essential stimulus for Alessandro Volta to develop the first electric battery, known as the voltaic pile.12

In 1791, Galvani reported that touching the leg muscles of a skinned frog with two different metals caused the leg to twitch. Galvani incorrectly concluded that this was caused by an innate "animal electricity" within the tissue.132

Volta, a physicist, challenged this interpretation, arguing that the frog’s leg acted merely as a conductor and that the electricity actually originated from the contact between the two dissimilar metals. To prove his theory of "metallic electricity," Volta began experimenting with metals alone, eventually discovering that animal tissue was unnecessary to produce a current.123

By replacing the frog tissue with cardboard soaked in brine, Volta successfully generated a continuous electric current. This led to his 1800 invention of the voltaic pile, which used alternating disks of metal separated by moist material, marking a foundational achievement in the history of electricity.31