374 On the Disengagement of Caloric by Friction. 



its surface is agitated by a gentle breeze. Having placed on 

 the object-glass of his microscope, water containing these ani- 

 nialcula, he was exceedingly astonished to perceive, that the 

 diffuse glimmer which surrounded them was nothing else than 

 a collection of a vast number of small sparks which came 

 from every part of their bodies, and particularly from the bo- 

 dies of the annelides. These sparks, which succeeded each 

 other with great rapidity, had such a resemblance with those 

 we observe in common electrical discharges, that M. Ehrenberg 

 does not hesitate to conclude that they are identical. He has 

 also satisfied himself that the light emitted is not owing to a 

 particular secretion, but solely to a voluntary act of the ani- 

 malcule, and that it shews itself as often as it is irritated by 

 mechanical or chemical means, that is to say, by agitating the 

 water, or throwing either alcohol or acid into it. This is an 

 additional analogy with the torpedo, which only gives a dis- 

 charge when it is irritated. In the animalcula, as in the tor- 

 pedo, it is also observed that the discharge recommences after 

 a certain time of repose. From this similarity of effects, in the 

 same circumstances, may we not infer an identity as to the 

 causes ? Now, in the torpedo, it is already known, and no one 

 longer doubts it is electricity ; and, hence, we must admit that 

 electricity is also the cause which produces the phosphorescence 

 of the infusoria and the annelides. It is sufficiently remark- 

 able that the luminous or other phenomena which depend upon 

 electricity are so much the stronger in proportion as the ani- 

 mals are smaller ; and it would appear that this profusion of 

 the electrical fluid, which is emitted only by beings of an in- 

 ferior order, is destined to discharge other functions in beings 

 of a hiffher order. 



o 



Is it not, after this, allowable to imagine, as M. Berzelius 

 and other philosophers have advanced, that the light which is 

 disengaged by combustion, and which occasions so great a 

 disengagement of electricity, is, also, nothing more than the 

 result of the discharge of an infinite number of small sparks 

 produced in the combination of combustible with other burn- 

 ing bodies ? 



We perceive, therefore, that the relations which associate to- 

 gether light, heat, and electricity, acquire from day to day ad- 



