330 ELECTRICITY. 



held in the hand of a person standing on the stool, 

 in the manner mentioned above. It will be more 

 amusing, and the effect will be as certain, if the 

 spark be drawn through the spirits by the end of a 

 person's finger. This experiment succeeds best 

 when the spoon is previously warmed. If a candle 

 be blown out, and an electric spark be imme- 

 diately drawn through the smoke, it will often be 

 lighted again ; but it requires a pretty strong 

 spark, and some degree of dexterity and expe- 

 rience in the operator, to produce this effect with 

 certainty. 



Not only are the senses of feeling, seeing, and 

 hearing, affected by electricity, in the manner de- 

 scribed above, but it is even sensible to the smell 

 and the taste. If a pointed brass rod be electrified, 

 either by being fastened to the prime conductor, 

 or held in the hand of a person electrified, and 

 another person standing upon the floor present his 

 nose within an inch or two of the point, he will 

 discover a strong and disagreeable smell, like that 

 of burning sulphur ; and if he receive the electric 

 effluvia issuing from the point upon his tongue, he 

 will perceive a taste which is manifestly acid. 



The electric spark will go to a greater or less 

 distance through the air, in order to reach a con- 

 ductor, according as its quantity is greater or less ; 

 as the parts from which it proceeds, and on which 

 it strikes, are sharper or more blunt, and as the 

 conductor is more or less perfect. The strength 

 of the machine is known from the length and den- 

 sity of the sparks it gives. 



