ELECTRICITY. 



419 



History, medical effects of electricity, said to have been perform- 

 ed at Venice, and repeated at Leipsic. J. Francisco 

 Pivati, a gentleman of eminence at Venice, published 

 a pamphlet in Italian, containing an account of these 

 experiments. He inclosed in a glass cylinder a quan- 

 tity of balsam of Peru, so that none of its effluvia could 

 escape : and with that cylinder he electrified a man 

 who had been afflicted with a severe pain in his side. 

 As soon as the patient returned home, he fell asleep and 

 perspired ; and so powerfully had the balsam been trans- 

 fused through the pores of the glass cylinder into his 

 body, that his clothes, his hair, and his bed, were filled 

 with the effluvia?. On the following day I'ivati electri- 

 fied another person who was in good health. In the 

 course of halt an hour a warmth was gradually diffused 

 through his whole frame, and he became unusually 

 cheerful. An odour was emitted from his body, and was 

 distinctly perceptible to his companion. Induced by 

 these results, Professor Winkler of Leipsic repeated the 

 same experiments with success. He found that beaten 

 sulphur, which, when enclosed in a glass sphere, emit- 

 ted no odour by being burned over the fire, sent forth 

 a sulphureous vapour, when electrified, to the distance 

 of 10 feet. His friend Professor Ilaubold, and other 

 visitors, were obliged to leave the room from the inten- 

 sity of the sanell, and the professor's clothes were im- 

 pregnated next day with the sulphureous vapour. He 

 afterwards diffused the odour of cinnamon and balsam 

 f Peru in a similar manner, and in both these cases the 

 effects of the odour remained on the day following. 

 The experiment was again tried upon a person ignorant 

 of what was doing and he distinctly stated that his 

 nose was filled with a sweet smell like some sort of bal- 

 sam. Encouraged by the success of his first experiments, 

 Pivati drew .-parks, for >i>mr minutes, from an ulcera- 

 ted foot, which hail resisted every surgical application, 

 by means of a glass cylinder filled with proper mate- 

 rials. In the morning, the patient found a red tuber- 

 cle on his foot. He perspired every night for eight 

 flays, and was then perfectly recovered. The BttMO 

 of Sebcnico, an old man of 75, who was miserably af- 

 flicted with the gout, was attracted to Venice by the 

 fame of Pivati's cures. His fingers were immoveable, 

 and his legs incapable of bending ; but as soon as he 

 had been electrified from a glass cylinder filled with 

 'ir-it medicines, " his Lordship opened and shut 

 both his hands, gave a hearty squeeze with his hand 

 to one of his attendants rose up, walked, smote his 

 hands together, helped himself to a chair, and sat 

 down, wondering at his strength, and liardly knowing 

 whether or not it was a dream. lie walked out of the 

 chamber, and down stairs, without any assistance, and 

 with the agility of a young man. Soon afterwards 

 Pivati rchevvd a lady, (il years old, in like manner, 

 from the gout, with which she had been six months tor- 

 mented. Her fingers were much swollen, and always 

 trembling, and one of her arms was convulsed. After 

 receiving the electricity for two minutes, the trembling 

 of her fingers ceased, and the next day the swelling was 

 so far abated, that she could draw on her gloves, and 

 make use of her fingers." See Phil. Trans. 17*8, vol. 

 xlv. p. ttte. 



As soon as these results were known over Europe, 

 every electrician endeavoured in vain to verily them. 

 The Abbe Nollet undertook a journey to Italy, for the 

 purpose of v i-iting the different experimenters by whom 

 they were published. He repeated the experiments in 

 their own presence ; and though he found that in par- 

 ticular cases, such as disorders of the eyes, the ear, and 



jj. 1741. 



the head, and in some cases of paralysis, the patients had 

 found considerable relief; yet he was convinced, that, in V " 

 other instances, the effects were greatly exaggerated ; 

 and m no one case could he find any transpiration of 

 odours through glass, or any communication of the effects 

 of drugs to persons who were electrified with them in 

 their hands. The British electricians were equally de- 

 sirous with the Abbe Nollet, either to confirm or refute 

 the experiments of Pivati. They had been tried with- 

 out success by the members of the Royal Society ; and 

 as an account of Winkler's and Pivati's experiments 

 had appeared among the transactions of that learned 

 body, the secretary was desired to request from Mr 

 Winkler a circumstantial account of his experiments, 

 and a loan of some of the globes and tubes by which he 

 had obtained such singular results. The German elec- 

 trician readily complied with this request; and Dr 

 Watson was appointed to conduct the experiments at 

 his own house, on the 12th of June 17-51, before the 

 president and office-bearers of the Royal Society. Not- 

 withstanding every precaution, however, in obeying 

 the in.-tructions of Mr Winkler, they were unable to 

 force through glass the effluvia of odoriferous bodies. 

 Dr Bianchini of Venice failed in the same attempt; and 

 the pretended results of Pivati and Winkler were no 

 longer credited. 



tit Canton, one of the most eminent of the English Discoveries 

 electricians, had early distinguished himself by a sue- of Mr Can - 



cessful repetition of Dr Franklin's method of drawing I t , OIV ' ,_,,. 



. . " ~ . n Born 1718, 



electricity from the atmosphere during a thunder storm. Die) j 



He was the first who discovered that air was capable of 

 receiving electricity by communication, and of retain- 

 ing it for a considerable time ; and, by a delicate appa- 

 ratus, he even measured the quantity of electricity 

 which it had received. He found also a method of 

 electrifying, to a considerable degree, the whole air of a 

 room, either posit iv ely or negatively. In the year 1753, 

 he even succeeded in electrifying a room to such a 

 pitch that it retained its electricity for some time. In 

 very dry weather, the electricity thus communicated 

 sometimes continued alx>ve an hour. 



Hitherto the same electricity had always been produ- 

 ced by the same electric ; a result which had been in- 

 troduced into the very terms of ri/reoi/s and retinaitx 

 electricity. It was reserved, however, for Mr Canton to 

 disprove this long established result, and to shew that 

 every electric was capable of affording both kinds of 

 electricity, according to the state of the surface of the 

 body, and according to tlie nature of the rubber by 

 which that surface was excited. Mr Canton had found 

 before he completed this great discovery, that he could 

 communicate positive electricity to sealing-wax. The 

 stick was two feet and a half long, and one inch in dia- 

 meter, and when an excited glass tube was drawn se- 

 veral times over one part of it without touching the 

 other, the half thus excited was positively, while the 

 other was negatively electrified. In December 1753, 

 Mr Canton removed the polish from a glass tube by 

 grinding it with emery and sheet-lead ; and upon exci- 

 ting it witli new flannel, he found that it possessed ne- 

 gative electricity, but when it was excited by a piece of 

 dry oiled silk, it exhibited signs of positive electricity. 

 If the rough tube l>e all greased over with tallow, and as 

 much of the tallow as possible wiped off with a napkin, 

 the oiled silk will receive a polish by rubbing it, and after 

 a few strokes, tle tube will exfiibit signs of negative 

 electricity. When the oiled silk is covered with chalk or 

 whitening, the greased rough tube will give positive 

 electricity ; but by continuing the friction till the rub- 



