]64 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO 1757* 



before was seized wirii a violent nervous fever, accompanied with an asthma, and 

 was so ill, that her life was despaired of. She recovered however from the vio- 

 lence of her distemper, but the sad effects of it remained. For from this time 

 she continued in a weakly state of health tillJuly, 1755, when she was again 

 taken ill of the same kind of fever; and after it went off she was troubled with 

 worse nervous symptoms than ever, ending at last in a paralytic disorder, which 

 sometimes affected the arm, sometimes the leg, of the left side , in such a man- 

 ner as that these parts, though deprived of all motion for the time, yet still 

 retained their sensibility. In this condition she remained till the spring 1756, 

 when unexpectedly she got much better; but not so far as to get quite rid of her 

 panilytic complaints; which in cold weather seldom failed to produce a numbness, 

 trembling, sensation of cold, and a loss of motion in the left side. About the 

 end of August, her symptoms gradually increased, and in a short time she lost 

 all sensation in her left side. In this state she continued throughout last winter, 

 with the addition of some new complaints ; her head shook ; her tongue faltered ; 

 her left eye became so dim, that she could not distinguish colours with it; and 

 she was often seized with such a universal coldness and insensibility, that those 

 who saw her at such times scarcely knew whether she was dead or alive. 



While the woman was in this miserable condition, observing that she had some 

 intermissions, during which she could converse and use her right leg and arm, 

 in one of those intervals Mr. B. proposed trying to relieve her by the power of 

 electricity. With this view, he got her supported in such a manner as to re- 

 ceive the shocks standing, holding the phial in her right hand, while the left was 

 made to touch the gun-barrel. After receiving several very severe shocks, she 

 found herself in better spirits than usual; said she felt a heat, and a pricking 

 pain, in her left thigh and leg, which gradually spread over all that side; and 

 after undergoing the operation for a few minutes longer, she cried out with great 

 joy, that she felt her foot on the ground. The electrical machine producing 

 such extraordinary effects, the action was continued : and that day the woman 

 patiently submitted to receive above 200 shocks from it. The consequence was, 

 that the shaking of her head gradually decreased, till it entirely ceased; that she 

 was able at last to stand without any support; and on leaving the room quite 

 forgot one of her crutches, and walked to the kitchen with very little assistance 

 from the other. That night she continued to be well, and slept better than she 

 had done for several months before, only about midnight she was seized with a 

 faintishness, and took notice of a strong sulphureous taste in her mouth; but 

 both faintness and that taste went off, on drinking a little water. Next day, 

 being electrified as before, her strength sensibly increased during the operation, 

 and when that was over she walked easily with a stick, and could lift several 

 pounds weight with her left hand, which had been so long paralytic before. The 



