116 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



gave about 27 cubic inches of the mixed gases, oxygen and hydrogen, 

 per minute. We cannot but regard this very ingenious arrangement 

 as an improvement on the ordinary batteries, as far as economy is 

 concerned, where an electric current is required, since the stannate 

 formed must always be of considerable commercial value. It is curi- 

 ous, too, that the stratum of fluid in the immediate neighborhood of 

 the voltaic plates is kept uniformly of the same specific gravity, not- 

 withstanding that the acid is rapidly removed. The oxide of tin 

 formed takes down water with it, and at the same time establishes a 

 current by which fresh acid is applied to the plates. We were 

 informed that the battery continued in most uniform action for sLxteen 

 hours. 



KILLING WHALES BY ELECTRICITY. 



THE New Bedford Mercury describes a process invented at Bre- 

 men, and brought forward at New Bedford, for killing whales at the 

 moment of striking them with the harpoon, by means of electricity. 

 The object of the expedient is to produce an immediate paralysis of 

 the A r ital powers of the whale at the moment at which he is struck, so 

 as to obviate the danger, the labor, and the hazard of loss, from the 

 struggles of the whale after he is struck. The process is thus described 

 by the Mercury. 



" The electricity is conveyed to the body of the whale from an electro- 

 galvanic battery contained in the harpoon, and so arranged as to re-con- 

 duct the electric current from the whale through the sea to the machine. 

 The machine itself is simple and compact in construction, enclosed in 

 a strong chest weighing about 350 pounds, and occupying a space in 

 the boat of about three and a half feet long by two feet in width, and 

 the same in height. It is capable of throwing into the body of the 

 whale, eight tremendous strokes of electricity in a second, or 950 

 strokes in a minute, paralyzing in an instant the muscles of the whale, 

 and depriving it of all power of motion, if not actual life." 



This invention has been partially tried by the Captain of a Dutch 

 whale ship, which left for the Pacific in July, 1851. This vessel was 

 provided with three rotation machines of various sizes, in order to 

 ascertain the degree of power necessary to secure sperm, or right 

 whales ; one machine containing one magnet, another four, and another 

 fourteen. 



The Captain, in a letter dated New Zealand, Dec., 1851, writes as 

 follows : 



" The first experiment we made with the new invention was upon a 

 shark, applying the electricity from the machine with one magnet. 

 The fish after being struck, instantly turned over on its side, and after 

 we had poured in upon him a stream of electricity for a few moments 

 by turning the handle of the machine, the shark became stiff as a 

 piece of wood. We next fell in with a black fish. As soon as the 

 whale iron was thrown into him, and the machine handle turned, the 

 fish began to sink. The operator then ceased turning the machine, 



