246 



ELLIOTSON, JOHN. 



contact at particular points, and lighting up a 

 coruscation which, like a running fire, passes 

 along the whole line. When the coruscations 

 are more than usually vivid or violent in their 

 motion, it would indicate a larger arrival than 

 usual of negatively electric air from S. or S. W., 

 which, in a shorter or longer time, according 

 to its strength, first checks, and then overpow- 

 ers the N. or N. E. wind, generally blowing 

 when the aurora is seen. The lower tempera- 

 ture of the atmosphere, cooled down by the 

 recent northerly wind, condenses the moisture 

 borne from the warm south, and precipitates it 

 in showers. 



Effects of Lightning. General Morin has 

 communicated to the French Academy an illus- 

 tration of the heating effect of a flash of lightning, 

 which penetrated a piece of furniture where 

 was placed a silk purse containing gold and sil- 

 ver pieces. The gold pieces were not fused, 

 but slightly soldered together, without appar- 

 ent alteration. The silver coins were com- 

 pletely defaced and strongly soldered together. 

 A more remarkable story was narrated to the 

 Academy by M. Bobierre. It seems that at 

 Nantes last July a violent storm occurred, and 

 a man on the bridge of the Canal de Bretagne 

 found himself, as he says, "enveloped in a 

 brilliant light." Looking at the contents of 

 his pocket-book some time after, he discov- 

 ered that the silver pieces had a dull, partly- 

 fused look ; and on examining a gold piece in 

 another part of the pocket-book, separated 

 from the silver by a partition of leather, he 

 observed the gold piece uniformly covered by 

 a thin layer of silver, having the appearance 

 (under a microscope) of a multitude of globules 

 in contact with each other. A portion of this 

 coating of silver having been removed by weak 

 nitric acid, the gold below was found in the 

 same condition as the deposited silver, exhib- 

 iting a slight appearance of fusion. M. Bo- 

 bierre explained the phenomenon on the theory 

 that the electric shock, to which the man was 

 subjected when "enveloped in a brilliant 

 light," volatilized a portion of the silver, and 

 that the metallic vapor passed through the 

 leather, and coated the gold piece. 

 > ELLIOTSON, JOHN, M. D., an English phy- 

 sician and medical professor and author, born 

 in London in 1788 ; died in that city, July 29, 

 1868. He was educated at Jesus College, Cam- 

 bridge, and pursued his medical studies at 

 Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospital, and after- 

 ward at Edinburgh, where he took his medical 

 degree, but subsequently became a Fellow of 

 the Royal College of Physicians, London. He 

 was appointed physician of St. Thomas's Hos- 

 pital, and assisted greatly in the establishment 

 of a separate medical school there, in which he 

 became a lecturer on state medicine, and after- 

 ward on the principles and practice of medi- 

 cma. He distinguished himself also by the re- 

 form of several administrative abuses in the 

 hospital, as well as by the adoption of some 

 new prescriptions, among them those of hy- 



ELLIOTT, CHAELES L. 



drocyanic acid in affections of the stomach, of 

 sulphate of copper, and of creosote. These, 

 with his discoveries in the use of the stetho- 

 scope, roused the opposition of his professional 

 brethren and brought a great deal of ridicule 

 upon him, without, however, affecting his rep- 

 utation, which was greatly increased by a 

 course of clinical lectures which he delivered 

 in London about that time. In 1831 he ac- 

 cepted a professor's chair in the University 

 College, and the course of lectures he delivered 

 immediately after was published at length in 

 The Lancet and The Medical Gazette. In 1837 

 he turned his attention to the subject of animal 

 magnetism, and, having made a variety of ex- 

 periments which satisfied him of its remedial 

 efficacy, he applied this mysterious agent to 

 the treatment of certain affections which were 

 up to that time considered incurable. His 

 experiments excited public curiosity to the 

 highest pitch ; but his new doctrine as to the 

 curative powers of magnetism, while it made 

 many converts, raised up a host of adversa- 

 ries against him, and he was ultimately com- 

 pelled to resign the professor's chair which he 

 held. He was subsequently instrumental in 

 establishing a hospital for the treatment of pa- 

 tients on mesmeric principles, became the 

 founder of the Phrenological Society, of which 

 he was elected president, and started, under 

 the title of The Zoist, a journal devoted to 

 mesmerism and phrenology. Dr. Elliotson's 

 best titles to fame are a remarkable work on 

 sulphate of quinine ; his employment of creo- 

 sote in excessive irritability of the stomach ; 

 his essay " on the Advantages of Sulphate of 

 Copper in Dysentery;" his discovery of the 

 admirable curative properties and diuretic 

 qualities of potash ; his " Lectures on the Prin- 

 ciples and Practice of Medicine ; " his transla- 

 tion of Blumenbach's Institutiones Physiologi- 

 cce, which passed through many editions, and 

 to which he had added more matter in the way 

 of notes than the original work contained ; and 

 his experiments in the use of the stethoscope. 

 Among his later works is one on " Surgical 

 Cases in Mesmerism," etc. 



ELLIOTT, CHAELES LOSING, one of the most 

 distinguished of American portrait-painters, 

 born in Scipio, K Y., in December, 1812 ; died 

 in Albany, N. Y., August 25, 1868. His boy- 

 hood was passed in Syracuse, where his father 

 was a builder. His father at first obtained a 

 situation for him in a store, but, finding that 

 he had no taste for mercantile pursuits, he de- 

 termined to make an architect of him; but 

 the boy's instincts for painting were too.strong 

 to be resisted. His friend F. S. Cozzens says 

 that " while a mere boy he narrowly escaped 

 suffocation from locking himself up into his 

 bedroom, in order to paint ' The Burning ot 

 Moscow,' during the winter, with no compan- 

 ion but a portable furnace of burning charcoal 

 to keep himself warm s In after-days, at the 

 early age of fourteen, he made a copy of the 

 portrait of a clergyman, which he painted with 



