ELECTRICITY u\ND LIFE. 529 



The latter are, at all events, exceedingly complex. There is in us, 

 and in every organized being, an infinite world of the most various ac- 

 tions going on. The forces penetrating us are as manifold as the ma- 

 terials we are moulded from. In every point of our "bodies, and at 

 every moment of our existence, all the energies of Nature meet and 

 unite. Yet, such order rules in the course of these wonderful work- 

 ings, that harmonious blended action, instead of bewildering confusion, 

 characterizes beings endowed with life. Every thing in them com- 

 mands and answers, with balance and counterpoise. Buffon long ago 

 felt and expressed this. " The animal," he said, " combines all the 

 forces of Nature : his individuality is a centre to which every thing is 

 referred, a point reflecting the Avhole universe, a world in little." A 

 deep saying, coming from the great naturalist as the flash of an intui- 

 tion of genius, rather than the result of rigid investigation words 

 which the movement of science confirms with ever stronger proofs, 

 while borrowing from them light for its path. 



Having: determined that living- bodies are in themselves sources of 

 the electric fluid, we next inquire into the nature of the effects pro- 

 duced in the animal organism by electricity under different forms. 

 The atmosphere contains a variable quantity of positive electricity ; 

 the earth itself is always charged with negative electricity. It is 

 not yet j^recisely known how this diffused and silent force originates. 

 Physicists suppose that it proceeds from vegetation and the evapora- 

 tion of water. Becquerel has quite lately set forth a number of rea- 

 sons, more or less plausible, for the belief that the chief part of atmos- 

 pheric electricity is derived from the sun, and diffused by it into space 

 together with light. Whether this be true or not, while the sky is 

 clear this fluid has no visible effect on human beings ; but, whenever it 

 accumulates in the clouds, and gives rise to storms, it produces effects 

 that are the most manifest proofs of the influence exerted over life by 

 electricity. Persons killed by lightning present a great variety of ap- 

 pearances. Sometimes one struck by lightning is killed outright on 

 the spot, the body remaining standing or sitting ; sometimes, on the 

 contrary, it is thrown to a great distance. Sometimes the flash tears 

 off and destroys the victim's dress, leaving the body untouched, and 

 sometimes the reverse is the case. In some instances the destruction 

 is frightful, the heart is torn apart and the bones crushed ; in others 

 the organs are observed entirely uninjured. In certain cases flaccidity 

 of the limbs occurs, softening of the bones, collapse of the lungs ; in 

 others, contractions and rigidity are remarked. Sometimes the body 

 of the person struck decomposes rapidly, but at times it resists decay. 

 Lightning, which shatters trees and overturns walls, seems not to pro- 

 duce mutilations in animals at all readily. When the stroke does not 

 produce death, it creates at least serious disturbances sometimes tem- 

 porary, but oftener beyond remedy. Besides the burns and various 

 eruptions noticed on the skin of those struck with lightning, they often. 

 vol. n. 34 



