530 THE INTELLECTUAL RISK IN ELECTRICITY. 



Then he turns to animals. Two cats, "each four months 

 old, of nearly the same size, and fed alike," are placed in 

 cages, one of them being near the conductor of the electric 

 machine, which is excited for some hours. Both the elec- 

 trified cat and the non-electrified cat lose weight, but the 

 electrified cat loses the most, about 54 grains. Nollet 

 thinks this may be due to "difference in temperament," 

 although he admits that the cats went placidly to sleep, 

 except when he gave them shocks. Then he electrifies 

 pigeons and small birds, and finally persons, and concludes 

 that in all cases there is a loss in weight due to "transpira- 

 tion;" but when he attempts to treat actual maladies he 

 fails. "The paralytics, experiencing no relief which 

 would sustain their patience (for some is necessary in 

 order that they may undergo this sort of torture), com- 

 plained bitterly," and the Abbe abandons for the time his 

 high hopes of thus relieving suffering humanity. 



The great majority of experiments now contemporane- 

 ously recorded, however, are of little interest. A better 

 idea of the thought and achievement of this period can be 

 had by following the work of a few men, whose superior 

 intelligence, or better facilities, or both, led their thought, 

 for a short time only, to bring forth all the fruit that is 

 worth garnering. 



Winkler discovered that when electricity had several 

 paths to choose from, it appeared to traverse the one which 

 was composed of the material which conducted best, and 

 that is all that need be said now about him. The two 

 philosophers who most attract and hold attention are rivals 

 Louis Guillaume Le Monnier, the younger, in France, 

 and Dr. William Watson in England. At this time no one 

 pretended to understand why the Leyden jar behaved as it 

 did. First, it could be electrified by the ordinary globe 

 machine or rubbed tube; second, it yielded an extraordi- 

 narily strong shock and bright spark; and third, it did this 

 last only when its exterior was connected in circuit with 

 its interior. In entering upon a new inquiry, it is often 





