52 The Rev. Dr. Callan on a new form of Galvanic Battery. 



month. The first experiment consisted in passing the voltaic 

 current through a very large turkey, which was instantly 

 killed by the shock. The craw of the turkey was burst, and 

 the hay and oats contained within it fell to the ground. In 

 order to give the shock, a piece of tin-foil, about four inches 

 square, was placed under each wing along the sides of the 

 turkey, which were previously stripped of their feathers, and 

 moistened with dilute acid. The tin-foil was kept in close 

 contact with the skin by pressing the wings against the sides. 

 The person who held the turkey had a very thick cloth be- 

 tween each hand and the wing, in order to save him from the 

 shock. As soon as the wire from the zinc end of the battery 

 was put in contact with the tin-foil under one wing, sparks 

 were given by the tin-foil, and shocks received by the turkey, 

 before the connexion was made between the negative end of 

 the battery and the tin-foil under the other wing, although 

 the negative and positive ends of the battery were on tables 

 nearly 3 feet high, and 3 feet asunder. 



When a copper wire in connexion with the negative end 

 was put in contact with a brass ring connected with the zinc 

 end of the battery, a brilliant light was instantly produced. 

 The copper wire was gradually separated from the brass ring 

 until the arc of light was broken. The greatest length of the 

 arc was about 5 inches. As soon as the connexion was 

 made between the opposite ends of the battery by the copper 

 wire, which was £ of an inch thick, and about 5 feet long, 

 a loud noise was produced by the combustion of the solder 

 which fastened some of the copper slips to the zinc plates. I 

 immediately went to the part of the battery from which the 

 noise proceeded, in order to try whether the connexion be- 

 tween the cast-iron cells and zinc plates was broken ; I found 

 one slip of copper detached from the zinc plate to which it 

 had been soldered. There were probably others disconnected 

 with their zinc plates, but I did not find them. The result of 

 this experiment showed that the turkey conducted only a part 

 of the current circulated by the battery, for the current which 

 killed the turkey produced no combustion of the solder by 

 which the copper slips were attached to the zinc plates. 



We next tried the ignition of charcoal points. We were 

 not able to determine the length of the arc of light between 

 them ; for before Sir Robert Kane had time to separate them, 

 they were burned away. The light was, of course, most bril- 

 liant: .the charcoal scintillated like steel or iron. I never 

 before observed these scintillations in the combustion of char- 

 coal. Coke points were also ignited, and a most intense light 

 produced; but during the experiments with the coke points 



