Mr. Clarke o;j a ne^m Phcenomenon in Mag7ieto-Electricity, 169 



the contractile organs of animals, as the heart and other mus- 

 cles, it seems to me to be a legitimate inference from all which 

 has been said, that divergence is a vital action, and in every 

 sense analogous to the contractility or irritability of the ani- 

 mal system. 



In a future communication I shall endeavour to extend this 

 analogy, by showing that the motions of plants may be traced 

 to this same property, as those of animals are to irritability*, 

 Shrewsbury, Oct. 6,] 834. 



XXVII. On a new PJi/cnomenon ifi Magneto-Electricity. 

 By Mr, Edward M. Clarke. 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal, 

 Gentlemen, 



AVING for some time past been engaged in the manu- 

 facture of the new magnetic electrical machines, in their 

 completion and in the subsequent trials of their action I have 

 observed a phsenomenon which I have not anywhere seen an 

 account of. I shall describe the effect as briefly as I can : in 

 order to do this I have furnished a diagram of part of the 

 machine. 



H 



[* We are indebted to a medical friend for the remark, that the phse- 

 nomenon described by Dr. Johnson most closely resembles the contraction 

 of the ligamcntum nucha, by which the head of animals is retracted after 

 death, and which Bichat attributes to vital contractility, which he regards 

 as a distinct property. — Edit.] 



Third Series. Vol. 6. No. 33. March 1 835. Z 



