mere ContaSi of covduSling Suhjlaitccs. 309 



thefe fenfcs, as I have found, produces in the ulterior of 

 the nofe onlv a pricking more or lefs painful, and commo- 

 tions more or lefs oxtenlive, according as the faid current 

 is weaker or ftronger. And vhence comes it, then, that it 

 does not excite any fenfation of fmell, though, as appears, it 

 ftimuiatcs the nerves of that fenfc ? It cannot be faid that 

 tlie elcclric fluid of itfelf ig not proper for prcrJucing odorous 

 fenfations, fince, when it diftufcs itfelf through the air in the 

 form of aigrettes, Sep. in the common experiments made with 

 eleSric machines, it conveys to the nofe a very fenfible fmell 

 refembling that of phofphorus. Taking fniiilitude into con- 

 iideralion, and reafonjng from its analogy with other odo- 

 riferous mdtters, I will lay, that it mull completely diiTufe 

 itfelf throuolioiit the air to excite fmell; that it has need, 

 ]ike other effluvia, of the vehicle of the air to afieft that 

 fenfe in fuch a manner as to excite the fenfations of fmell. 

 But in the experiments of which I fpeak, that is to fay, of 

 an eleclric current in a circle of contluftors, all contiguous, 

 •and without the lead interruption, tliis abfolutely cannot 

 take place. 



All the fafts which I have related in this long paper in 

 regard to the atlion which the cleiilric fluid excited, and 

 when moved by my apparatus, exercifes on the different part* 

 of our bodv which the current attacks and palTes through ; — . 

 an aclion which is not momentaneous, but which lafts, and 

 js maintained during the whole time that this current can 

 follow the chain not interrupted in its communications; in 

 a word, an aftion the effect of which vary according to the 

 different degrees of excitability in the parts, as haS been feen; 

 — all thefe facts, fufficiently numerous, and others which may 

 be ftill difcovered by multiplying and varying the experi- 

 pients of this kind, will open a very wide field for refleftion, 

 and of views, not only curious, but particularly interefting 

 to medicine. There will be a great deal to occupy the ana- 

 tomift, the phyfiologilt, and the praftilioner. 



It is well known, by the anatomy which has been made of 

 it, that the cledlric organ of the torpedo or eleftric eel, 

 confifts of feveral nieiubranacenns columns, filled from one 

 (lid to the other with a great nqmber of plates or pclliclpg, 



14 



