304 Oti the "RhSlric'ity excited hy the 



interpofed between each pair of metals, and to fix thefe me- 

 tallic plates in their places by enveloping the whole column 

 with wax or pilch : but this would be fomewhat difficult in 

 the execution, and would require a great <leal of patience. 

 ,1 have, however, fucceeded ; and have formed in this man- 

 ner two cylinders confifting of twenty pair of metals, which 

 can ftill be employed though made fcverai weeks, and which, 

 1 hope, will be ferviceable for months. 



Thefe cylinders are attended with this advantage, that 

 they may be employed for experiments either in an ere6l:, 

 rnclined, or lying pofition, according as you choofe, or even 

 immcrfcd in water, provided the top of it be above the furface 

 of the fluid : they might alfo give a flioclc when entirely im- 

 mcrfed if they contained a greater number of plates, or if 

 feveral of thefe cylinders were joined together, and if there 

 were any interruption that could be removed at pleafure, &cc. 

 -by which means thefe cylinders would have a pretty good re- 

 femblance to the electric eel ; and, to have a better refem- 

 blance to it even externally, they might be joined together 

 by pliable metallic wires or ferew-fprings, and then covered 

 with a fkin terminated by a head and tail properly formed, &c. 



The elTedls fenfible to our organs produced by an appa- 

 ratus formed of 40 or 50 pair of plates (and even by a fmaller, 

 if one of the metals be filver or copper and the other zinc,) 

 are reduced merely to Ihocks : the current of the cle6lric fluid, 

 impelled and excited by fuch a number and variety of dif- 

 ferent c()nducl;ors, filver, zinc, and water, difpofed alternatelv 

 in the manner above defcribcd, excites not only contractions 

 and fp;ifms in the mufcies, convulfions more or lefs violent 

 in the limbs through which it pafiTes in its courfe; but it" 

 irritates alfo the organs of tafte, fight, hearing, and feeling, 

 properly fo ci^lcd, and produces in them fenfations peculiar 

 to each. 



And firft, in regard to the fenfe of feeling: If, by means 

 of an ample contaft of the hand (well moiftened) with a 

 plate of metal, or rather, by immcrfing the hand to a con- 

 Jiderable depth in the water of the bafon, I eftabiiQi on one 

 fide a good communication with one of the extremities of n\y 

 ill ciro' moth' c apparatus, (we iiuifj give new names to infiru^ 



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