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cal action of the electric discharge. In a letter to the Royal 
Society he gives an account of these experiments.* ‘‘ He made 
first several experiments on fowls, and found that two large, thin 
glass jars gilt, holding each about six gallons, were sufficient, 
when fully charged, to kill common hens outright ; but the turkeys, 
though thrown into violent convulsions, and then lying as dead for 
some minutes, would recover in less than a quarter of an hour. 
However, having added three other such to the former two, though 
not fully charged, he killed a turkey of about ten pounds weight, 
and believes that they would have killed a much larger. He con- 
ceited, as himself says, that the birds killed in this manner eat un- 
commonly tender.’’ ‘‘ In making these experiments he found that 
a man could, without great detriment, bear a much greater shock 
than he had imagined ; for he inadvertently received the stroke of 
two of these jars through his arms and body, when they were very 
nearly fully charged. It seemed to him an_ universal blow 
throughout the body from head to foot, and was followed by a vio- 
lent, quick trembling in the trunk, which went off gradually in a 
few seconds. It was some minutes before he could recollect his 
thoughts, so as to know what was the matter; for he did not see 
the flash, though his eye was on the spot of the prime conductor 
from whence it struck the back of his hand; nor did he hear 
the crack, though the bystanders said it was a loud one; nor 
did he particularly feel the stroke on his hand, though he afterward 
found it had raised a swelling there of the bigness of half a pistol 
bullet. His arms and the back of the neck felt somewhat numbed 
the remainder of the evening, and his breast was sore for a week 
after, as if it had been bruised. From this experiment may be 
seen the danger, even under the greatest caution, to the operator, 
when making these experiments with large jars, for it is not to be 
doubted but several of these fully charged would as certainly, by 
increasing them in proportion to the size, kill a man as they before 
did a turkey.”’ 
With reference to the practical application of these experiments, 
Franklin subsequently wrote the following letter to MM. Dubourg 
and D’Alibard: + ‘* My answer to your questions concerning the 
mode of rendering meat tender by electricity, can only be founded 
upon conjecture ; for I have not experiments enough to warrant the 
* New Experiments and Observations, p. 253. 
+ Memoirs, Vol. vi, p. 228. 
