334 Mr. Alden’s account of electrical phenomena. 
was considerably hurt. Her gown of muslin was set on fire, and her 
stocking of silk was crimped, so as to look like a piece of pin over 
the path of the fluid. 
After leaving its flesh conductor, the lightning tore up several 
boards of the floor, and was attracted by a wire, which it followed, 
through the third and second stories, into the basement, to a bell at 
‘the end of it, which hung in the chimney corner. It then went to 
the andirons and to the embers on the hearth, which were scattered in 
every possible direction. | 
The first sensation which the lady felt, after receiving the shock, 
was, to use her own language, “ that she was as big as a house. Ina 
little time, her usual sensibility returned, except on her right side. i 
Doctor Abraham Clark, a distinguished physician, who resided 
within a few steps, was immediately called in. As soon as he ascer- 
= the condition of his patient, he sent for his Galvanic trough, 
which was furnished with sixty pairs of plates, and, in less than fifteen 
minutes after the alarming incident, got it into operation. Previously 
to the use of the Galvanic electricity all pulsation, on the right side, 
seemed to have been suspended. Ina short time the elbow began 
to smart, where the skin had been fractured, and circulation was grad- 
ually restored. Something of the torpor, however, remained, for 8 
day or two; but ina week, or less, the patient was perfectly recov- 
ered from the effects of the explosion, 
_ The happy result from the prompt use of the Galvanic electricity, 
at a time, when no other could have been obtained, in this particular 
instance, ought to be generally known, as a precedent of no small i HB: 
portance i in cases of injury by lightning on the human frame. 
As the caLvanic TRovcH is so readily prepared for of : 
‘it seems highly expedient that it should not be forgotten in instances, 
like tht, of which I have the happiness to communicate this account 
* 
