Curiosities of Science. 219 



the rumbling of distant thunder. The rain is already plashing in great 

 drops against the glass, and the sound of the passing sparks continues 

 to startle your ear ; you see at the window a huge brass conductor, with 

 a discharging rod near it passing into the floor, and from the one knob to 

 the other sparks are leaping with increasing rapidity and noise, every 

 one of which would kill twenty men at one blow, if they were linked to- 

 gether hand in hand and the spark sent through the circle. From this 

 conductor wires pass off without the window, and the electi'ic fluid is 

 conducted harmlessly away. Mr. Crosse approached the instrument as 

 boldly as if the flowing stream of fire were a harmless spark. Armed 

 with his insulated rod, he sent it into his batteries : having charged 

 them, he showed how wire was melted, dissipated in a moment, by its 

 passage ; how metals silver, gold, and tin were inflamed and burnt 

 like paper, only with most brilliant hues. He showed you a mimic au- 

 rora and a falling-star, and so proved to you the cause of those beauti- 

 ful phenomena. 



Mr. Crosse appears to have produced in all "about 200 varie- 

 ties of minerals, exactly resembling in all respects similar ones 

 found in nature." He tried also a new plan of extracting gold 

 from its ores by an electrical process, which succeeded, but was 

 too expensive for common use. He was in the habit of saying 

 that he could, like Archimedes, move the world "if he were 

 able to construct a battery at once cheap, powerful, and dura- 

 ble." His process of extracting metals from their ores has been 

 patented. Among his other useful applications of electricity 

 are the purifying by its means of brackish or sea water, and the 

 improving bad wine and brandy. He agreed with Mr. Quekett 

 in thinking that it is by electrical action that silica and other 

 mineral substances are carried into and assimilated by plants. 

 Negative electricity Mr. Crosse found favourable to no plants 

 except fungi ; and positive electricity he ascertained to be in- 

 jurious to fungi, but favourable to every thing else. 



Mr. Crosse died in 1855. His widow has published a very 

 interesting volume of Memorials of the ingenious experimenter, 

 from which we select the following : 



On one occasion Mr. Crosse kept a pair of soles under the electric 

 action for three months ; and at the end of that time they were sent to 

 a friend, whose domestics knew nothing of the experiment. Before the 

 cook dressed them, her master asked her whether she thought they were 

 fresh, as he had some doubts. She replied that she was sure they were 

 fresh ; indeed, she said she could swear that they were alive yesterday ! 

 When served at table they appeared like ordinary fish ; but when the 

 family attempted to eat them, they were found to be perfectly tasteless 

 the electric action had taken away all the essential oil, leaving the 

 fish unfit for food. However, the process is exceedingly useful for keep- 

 ing fish, meat, &c. fresh and good for ten days or a fortnight. I have 

 never heard a satisfactory explanation of the cause of the antiseptic 

 power communicated to water by the passage of the electric current. 

 Whether ozone has not something to do with it, may be a question. 

 The same effect is produced whichever two dissimilar metals are used. 



