How does an electric cell work?

The first electrical circuit was created by an Italian physicist named Luigi Galvani in the 1780s. He discovered a frog's leg would twitch when touched with two pieces of metal. His work was taken up by Professor Alessandro Volta. He created the Vollaic pile. The pile consisted of discs of zinc and copper with pieces of cardboard soaked in brine between the metal plates. It was the first "wet cell battery". This principle is used similarly today but the metals and fluids are quite different.