A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



to kill birds and small animals. He also attempted 

 to measure the strength of the discharges, but soon 

 gave it up in despair, and the solution of this problem 

 was left for late nineteenth-century scientists. 



The advent of the Ley den jar, which made it possible 

 to produce strong electrical discharges from a small 

 and comparatively simple device, was followed by 

 more spectacular demonstrations of various kinds all 

 over Europe. These exhibitions aroused the interest 

 of the kings and noblemen, so that electricity no longer 

 remained a "plaything of the philosophers" alone, but 

 of kings as well. A favorite demonstration was that 

 of sending the electrical discharge through long lines 

 of soldiers linked together by pieces of wire, the dis- 

 charge causing them to "spring into the air simulta- 

 neously" in a most astonishing manner. A certain 

 monk in Paris prepared a most elaborate series of 

 demonstrations for the amusement of the king, among 

 other things linking together an entire regiment of 

 nine hundred men, causing them to perform simulta- 

 neous springs and contortions in a manner most amus- 

 ing to the royal guests. But not all the experiments 

 being made were of a purely spectacular character, 

 although most of them accomplished little except in a 

 negative way. The famous Abbe Nolle t, for exam- 

 ple, combined useful experiments with spectacular 

 demonstrations, thus keeping up popular interest while 

 aiding the cause of scientific electricity. 



WILLIAM WATSON 



Naturally, the new discoveries made necessary a new 

 nomenclature, new words and electrical terms being 



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