THE ELECTRIC SPARK AND FIRE. 



497 



ing from the end of a metal rod would have upon it. Ac- 

 cordingly he brought to the rod a spoonful of previously- 

 warmed sulphuric ether, which instantly, to the amazement 

 of the entire assembly, burst into flame. There could now 

 be no doubt that the electric spark and fire were the same. 

 The resulting notion that the human body might thus be a 

 miniature volcano created a profound impression, and pop- 

 ular excitement over the subject increased. Lectures on 

 electricity were in great demand; exhibitions of electrical 

 phenomena drew large audiences; even at the didactic 

 discourses at the colleges the populace flocked to the halls 

 and crowded the students out of their seats. 



Daniel Gralath, writing at the time, records electrical 

 experiments as in progress in the palaces of kings and 

 princes and in the castles of the great. Meanwhile lyii- 

 dolfF continued his work, and ignited alcohol and turpen- 

 tine in the same way, and is said even to have drawn the 

 kindling sparks from pieces of ice and snow. It may here 

 be noted that he turned his attention from this subject to 

 that of the luminous barometer, and with his research ends 

 even the German belief in the phosphorescent character of 

 the mercury light, for he affirms it positively to be elec- 

 trical. 1 



The news of L,udolff's exhibition drew immediately 

 from Bose a claim to prior discovery, not only of the elec- 

 tric ignition of liquids, such as alcohol and ether, but of 

 butter, resin, sealing-wax, sulphur, and a great variety 

 of light and 'inflammable materials. These, being pre- 

 viously partly melted, he set on fire, not merely by the 

 discharge from rods, but by the sparks from men's fingers. 

 Then he turned to gunpowder, and succeeded in exploding 

 it after getting it in a state so as not to be scattered by 

 the discharge from the rod. Thus he made the first step 

 toward the electric fuse, now a necessity in every mine, 

 every quarry, every fort and every war-ship. 



1 Hist, de 1'Acad. Roy. des Sciences et Belles Lettres. Berlin, 1746 and 

 1750. 



32 



