484 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 





 cient to sustain the excitation of the chain or band for an indefinite 



time. That the current does exist, even in its dry state, we have al- 

 ready shown by the test of the electroscope. 



An interesting experiment, showing the electricity of the human 

 frame, and bearing strongly on the importance of these inventions for 

 restoring the lost or suspended electric powers, was made by Mr. 

 Rutter, of Black Rock, Brighton. Having brought the two ends of 

 the conducting wires of a galvanometer into two basins of water, a 

 lady, acknowledged'to be in consumption, placed a hand in each basin, 

 and grasped two pieces of wood with the left hand lightly to com- 

 plete the contact, while her right pressed the wood firmly with muscu- 

 lar contraction. The needle of the galvanometer at once deflected from 

 twelve to fifteen degrees, but in a few moments came back to zero ; 

 and no muscular effort on her part could deflect it. A stalwart black- 

 smith was then brought in and the same experiment tried, but with all 

 his muscular contraction the needle was only deflected about 5 degrees. 

 He was then made to give 25 strokes on an anvil with his sledge-ham- 

 mer, and when he afterward rej>eated the experiment the needle de- 

 flected at once 12 degrees. 



By this experiment two things are shown that, in a state of dis- 

 ease, the body readily parts with, or rather has not the power to re- 

 tain, its electricity ; and that, in a state of health, muscular exertion of 

 considerable severity is requisite to cause it to pass out of the system. 

 There is just room, however, in this experiment, for the captious spirit 

 to object that some chemical action took place by the use of the water. 

 Mr. Pulvermacher has improved on the experiment, by using simply 

 two metallic handles of the same kind of metal, when precisely the 

 same effect is produced upon the galvanometer. 



It was suggested, in 1850, by the writer of this article, that the 

 proximate cause of cholera might be found in the rapid passage of elec- 

 tricity from the human frame ; the peculiarity of the atmosphere, known 

 to exist during cholera, favoring the passage of that which is the life 

 itself to the human system. 



Since that time, wonderful cures of cholera have been recorded by 

 Dr. Godwin, of Elboeuf, Dr. Defontaine, of Mons, Dr. Atkinson, and 

 others. The latter, on one of his cases, remarks : " It was indeed sin- 

 gular to notice the visible quantity of electric fluid which continually 

 discharged itself on the approach of any conducting body to the sur- 

 face of the skin of a patient laboring under the collapse stage." M. 

 Andraud states that at the height of the epidemic in Paris, in 1849, it 

 was impossible to obtain from the electrical machine any thing but 

 slight cracklings without sparks, and on the 7th of June it was quite 

 dumb. He continued his observations, and on the 9th the machine at 

 the least touch rendered with facility most lively sparks. It is remark- 

 able that, in the six days following the 8th of June, the mortality in 

 Paris fell regularly from 067 to 355. 



