3 ( ,)0 GALVANISM. 



a basin of water, wherein you may plunge one of 

 your hands : then grasping with your other hand 

 well moistened a large piece of metal, for instance 

 a large silver spoon, touch the other end of the 

 batterv with it, and the shock will be felt more 

 distinctly. 



Several persons may receive the shock together, 

 by joining hands in the same manner as in receiv- 

 ing the shock from a Leyden phial. For this pur- 

 pose, the hands must be well moistened with water. 

 But the strength of the shock is much diminished 

 bypassing through so long a circuit, the last person 

 feeling it much less violently than the first. In 

 general, its effect is lessened by passing through 

 imperfect conductors. 



The shock from a battery consisting of .50 or 60 

 pairs of zinc and silver, or zinc and copper, may 

 be felt as far as the elbows ; and the combined 

 force of five or six such batteries will give a shock 

 that few men would be willing to receive. The 

 prepared limbs of a frog, or other animal, are vio- 

 lently convulsed, but soon exhausted of their irri- 

 tability by the action of this battery. 



The spark from a galvanic battery acts with 

 astonishing activity upon inflammable bodies when 

 sent through them. It fires gunpowder, ether, 

 spirit of wine, cotton, hydrogen gas, phosphorus, 

 &c. ; it renders red hot, fuses, and consumes, me- 

 tallic wires, and metallic leaves, as tin-foil, gold, 

 silver, and brass-leaf. The method of making 

 these experiments is as follows : having filled the 

 cells of the battery (Fig. 9.) with water containing 

 a little nitrous acid (about one-tenth of acid will 

 form a very active fluid), wipe carefully the edges 

 of the plates with a towel, to prevent any commu- 

 nication between the cells. Having fastened bits 



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