304 On the FitcSlridty excited hy the 



cleftric fluid in a circle of condiiftnrs, 'where there are fome, 

 which, by being of a different kind, perform, by their mu- 

 tual contacSt, the office of exciters or mo'vers : tiiis propoli- 

 tlon, which I advanced in my iirll refearches and difcovcrics 

 on the fiibjeiSt of galvanifm, and always maintained by fiip- 

 porting them with new fails and experiments, will, I hope, 

 meet with no oppofers. 



Recurring to the fenfation of pain which is felt in the ex- 

 periments above defcribed, I muit add, that if this pain be 

 very ftrong and pricking in the parts covered by the fkln, it 

 is much more fo in thofe where the fkin has been taken off — 

 in recent wounds for example. If by chance there iliould be 

 a fmall incilion or bit of the fkin rubbed off in the finger 

 which I immerfe in the water that conmumlcates W'ith one 

 of the extremities of the elc£iro-motive apparatus, I experience 

 there a pain fo acute, when, by eftablifliing the proper com- 

 munication with the other extremity, I complete the circle, 

 that I mult foon defift from the experiment ; that is to fav, 

 mult withdraw my finger, or interrupt the circle in fome 

 other manner. I will fay more; that I cannot even endure 

 it above a few feconds w hen the part of the apparatus which 

 I put in play, or the whole apparatus, contains only twenty 

 pair of plates, or about that number. 



One thing, which I muff Rill remark, is, that all thefe 

 fenfations of pricking and pain are flronger and fliarper, 

 every thing elfe being equal, when the part of the body 

 which is to feel them is towards the negative electricity ; 

 t>hat is to fay, placed in fuch a manner in the conducting 

 circle, that the elcftric fluid traverfing that circle is not di- 

 rected towards that fenfible part, does not advance towards 

 it, and enter from the outfide invi-ards, but takes its direction 

 from the infide outwards; in a word, that it iffues from it: 

 in regard to which it is ncceffarv to know, of the two metals 

 that enter by pairs into the conftruftian of the machme, 

 which is the one that gives off to the other. But I had al- 

 ready determined this rcfpe6ling all the metals by other ex- 

 periments, publiflied a long time ago at the end of my firft 

 niemuirs on oialvanifm. I fliall therefore fay nothing fur- 

 Iher here, than that the whole is completely confirmed by' 



the 



