338 ELECTRICITY. 



with the prime conductor, by means of a wire. . 

 With the other hand, he was disengaging it from n 

 the conductor, supposing that the water had re- L 

 ceived as much electricity as the machine could L 

 give it, when he was surprized by a sudden shock L 

 in his arms and breast, which he had not in the 1] 

 least expected from the experiment. 



It is extremely curious to observe the descrip- j P 

 tions which the philosophers who first felt the elec- 1. 

 trical shock, give of it. I. 



Muschenbroeck, who tried the experiment, says, I 

 that he felt himself struck in his arms, shoulders, I 

 and breast, so that he lost his breath, and was two J 

 days before he recovered from the effects of the I 

 blow and the terror. He adds, that he would not | 

 take a second shock for the kingdom of France. 

 Many other accounts equally extraordinary were 

 published. 



Such was the surprise and terror with which 

 these electricians were struck by a sensation which 

 thousands have since experienced without any dis- 

 agreeable effects ; and it affords us a lesson how 

 far we ought to credit the first accounts of extra- 

 ordinary discoveries, where the imagination is liable 

 to be affected. 



On account of this experiment being first satis- 

 factorily made at Leyden, a bottle coated on the 

 outside and inside, for the purpose of charging and 

 discharging, is called the Leyden phial, or electric 

 jar. 



Plate 19. fig. 4. represents an electric jar of the 

 usual shape. Its mouth is filled with a piece of 

 mahogany, or cork, turned to fit it, and varnished. 

 Through the centre of this, there passes a brass 

 wire with a knob, and having a bit of chain fas- 



