130 
THE ART OF REARING 
To these causes of sudden disorders we often 
have to add another, which proceeds from the 
sour, also putrefying' animal bodies, particularly fish. And 
there is one fact that seems to establish this opinion. 
“ One year I laid some thin iron wire on the edge of 
6ome brackets, that were close together; these wires were 
prolonged down the supporters of the brackets ; and, 
finally, all united, on the floor of the room, perforated 
the wall, and were led into a cistern of water. The other 
brackets were not thus armed with electrical conductors. 
The season was occasionally stormy, without, however, the 
sultriness which sometimes occurs. The litter of the brackets 
of the laboratory was changed as often as I had advised, 
so that all the circumstances were equal ; and I can, without 
hesitation, affirm, that on all the brackets armed with con- 
ductors the silk-worms were invariably more active and 
more healthy than on any of the others ; and that those 
brackets that were near the armed ones benefitted by the 
conductors of the others. This explains a practice extant 
among the peasants, of arming the bottom of brooding nests 
■with old iron, which had been deemed a prejudice, and a vulgar 
error, by grave authors, who had not tried the experiments.” 
There is no doubt that too strong an impression of electrical 
fluid upon silk-worms, in certain atmospherical variations, 
may disorder them, and even kill them. It appears to me, 
that the action of this strong natural agency, particularly in 
and upon organic bodies, is not sufficiently observed. There 
is much coincidence between it and the element that regu- 
lates life. It is found in the interior of the globe, upon its 
surface, in all organized beings that inhabit it, and in the 
regions of air that envelope it. Numberless phenomena in 
geology, natural history, and meteorology, depend on it. 
Physicians have observed its connexion with the nervous 
system, have considered it as a remedy, and have applied 
it with success in some cases, but failure in other cases has 
contributed to throw it, unjustly, into disrepute. My daily 
practice has convinced me, that it should in medicine be con- 
