4^ Influence xtf Atmoipherie Elettricity 



tatidii, as well as tlloso of aniffial life, iiivolve unceasing altera- 

 tion in its states ; — that no twt) bodies can be present to each 

 other of different temperature, nor even separate parts of the 

 same body be differently heated, without evolution of this 

 agent ; — that every act of evaporation or deposition of Water 

 on the surface of the globe has similar effect of change, even 

 the spray of a waterfall sensibly altering the balance of electri- 

 city around it ; — we may well understand how wide is the circle 

 of these mutual changes, and how important in the econbttiy 

 of nature, including in this the existence and functions of dl'- 

 ganic life itself. 



It is difficult to advert to the effects of atmospheric electri- 

 city on the body, either as a vital stimulus or cause of disease, 

 without noticing the question, whether this great natural agent 

 is not itself directly engaged in the functions of the nervoUs 

 system ? If this Were eventually determined to be so, the re- 

 lation of the actions without, to those of the same agent with- 

 in, would become of still more complex kind, and little amen- 

 able to our present means of research. But, taking at present 

 the simplest view of the influence of electrical states of air on 

 the human frame, many circumstances occur, well deserving 

 notice, though yet wanting the certainty needful to give them 

 a place in science. 



The natural history of the animal kingdom through its whole 

 extent, furnishes numerous examples (exclusively of those in 

 which there exists an especial organization for electrical pur- 

 poses) of the singular susceptibility of different animal species 

 to electrical changes in the media which surround them ; and 

 many particular cases of instinct, hitherto unexplained, may 

 doubtless be traced to this source. In man the effects are ge- 

 nerally less marked, yet nevertheless certain. Without ad- 

 verting to those singular cases in which the balance of electri- 

 city with external objects seems altered by the production of 

 an excess of it within the body, it is obvious that changes of 

 atmospheric electricity have much influence both on the sensa- 

 tions and voluntary powers,* producing results variously ana- 

 logous to those which attend certain morbid states of body 



* Of the various instconccs on record of the curious fact alluded to above, 

 lltfe most tciftarkable and best attested is that related in the American Jfour- 



