spheric electricity. The former claimed that by 

 increasing the supply of electricity he could 

 markedly hasten the maturing of plants, and the 

 latter that by depriving plants of it, he could very 

 materially retard their growth. Gardini's method 

 was to protect plants from the influence of the at- 

 mospheric electricity by covering them with cages 

 of wire gauze, and then to compare them with 

 others exposed to the action of the electricity in 

 "the atmosphere. The wire gauze which surrounded 

 the plants conducted the atmospheric electricity 

 away from them to the ground, and the result was 

 that the plants drooped; when he removed the wire 

 cages they revived again. He gave his conclusions 

 as follows: 



" i. Atmospheric electricity exerts considerable 

 influence upon the production of vegetable matter. 

 All things equal, plants will develop better every- 



the enemy, mowing them down instantly. If it pleased these 

 dispensers of death within the fort, they could, by reducing 

 the strength of the current, merely temporarily paralyze their 

 foemen, and then go out and capture them ; or, if they were 

 diabolical enough to crave some sport at the expense of their 

 helpless victims, they, by still further reducing the strength of 

 the current, could cause them to throw away their weapons 

 and engage in a dance, which, while amusing to the merciless 

 men within the fort, would be anything but pleasurable to the 

 writhing humanity at the other end of the streams of electri- 

 fied water. Of course, the enemy might come clad in rubber 

 suits, or otherwise insulated ; a'nd then it would be a question 

 of strength of current on the one hand, and perfection of in- 

 sulation on the other. It is hardly likely that we shall have a 

 practical test of this matter ; it belongs more to the realms of 

 electric fancy. 



