216 Description of a Magnetic Electrical Machine. 
To give the Shock. 
Grasp the two brass conductors, RS, in the hands,* put one of 
their connecting wires into the holes of either of the brass slips M 
or N, the other wire into the hole at the end of the brass stem that 
carries the break H. Connect MN by T, turn the multiplying 
wheel in the direction of the arrow, and a violent shock will be re- 
ceived by the person holding RS. The shock which is obtained 
from the intensity armature having one thousand five hundred yards 
of fine insulated wire, is such that a person, even of the strongest 
nerves will not readily volunteer to receive a second shock. Indeed 
the effects are so violent, that the inventor has proposed to many of 
his military customers that this instrument would be a good substitute 
for the lash, being capable of producing even greater torture than 
that brutal instrument, without producing any corporeal injury to 
the delinquent. Place RS in two separate basins of salt and water, 
immerse a hand in each basin, and the shock will also be felt very 
powerfully ; this method is to be preferred, as it leaves the person 
who is electrified the power of quitting when he pleases; not so with 
the conductors; for the muscles of the arms contract violently, so 
as to close the hands completely on the conductors, taking away the 
power of letting them go. If the two connecting wires of R S are 
put in MN, the shock is not so powerful. The shock can be mod- 
ified in different ways. By turning the wheel E very slowly, or 
increasing the distance between the battery A and the armature D, 
or by making the break H separate from the spring Q when the 
armature D is horizontal. U V a pair of directors, holding a piece 
of sponge, each to be used when the electricity is to be applied me- 
dicinally. ‘Uhe connecting wires are to be placed in the same way 
as the conductors are in the figure ; the sponges must be wetted with 
a little vinegar or salt and water, so as to make them conduct the 
electricity. By those directors a succession of most powerful shocks 
ean be given, when the case requires it; or they can be so modified 
as to be barely felt by the most nervous patient.t Remove T from 
* If the hands are wetted with vinegar or salt and water, the effect is consider- 
ably increased. 
+ To medical gentlemen, the instrument may be strongly recommended from 
the following advantages. Its portability; its being always in a fit state for action, 
even in the dampest weather; the nicety with which the power of the shocks may 
be increased or diminished. Indeed it combines the advantages of the electrical 
