168 Hall on the Staining of Wood, and 



try for that purpose, with which I am acquainted- Care 

 should be taken that the dye be not too much concentra- 

 ted ; when this happens, the color is far less bright and deli- 

 cate ; and approaches nearer to orange. It is hardly ne- 

 cessary to add, that the dye should be boiled, and kept, 

 in a brass, or some other vessel into the composition of 

 %vhich iron does not enter. 



On Medical Electricity. 



Since I have taken upon me to write, I will add some- 

 thing on another subject. Soon after the general proper- 

 ties of electricity were discovered, and attention to them 

 had become fashionable, it was suspected to possess medic- 

 al virtues of great value, and of extraordinary character. 

 Essays to prove those virtues were accordingly made, and 

 with exactly the success which might have been anticipated 

 from the peculiar character of the electric fluid, and the 

 peculiar propensity of mankind to form, in the first instance, 

 high-wrought expectations from something new and striking 

 to the senses ; and then to vibrate to the opposite extreme, 

 so soon as the novelty is lost in habitual contemplation, and 

 those senses are cloyed with repeated gratification, or dis- 

 gusted with disappointment. For a while, it was believed 

 by many, that electricity would have the same efficacy in 

 the cure of all diseases, as the inventors of nostrums as- 

 sert that their preparations possess. After this, public 

 opinion changed ; and now, for a good while, little reliance 

 has been placed on the medical properties of the electric 

 fluid in any case. As the truth, however, is offener found 

 to lie between extremes, so, I apprehend, it will be found 

 in the present instance. That electricity does actually pos- 

 sess some valuable medical properties, I deem to be cer- 

 tain ; and cannot but regret that trial of them is not oftener. 

 but more judiciously made. I deem it to be equally cer- 

 tain, that these properties have, in a great measure, failed of 

 proper credit, because electricity has been too exclusively 

 applied to patients by way of shocks. Had it oftener been 

 used by way of insulating the patient, and then extracting 

 the fluid from the diseased part hy moving a metallic or 

 other conductor, frequently over it, I have no doubt that its 

 application would have oftener been attended with success. 

 But I do not intend to write a treatise— I barely give these 



