[ 2 7 r ] 
to affure ourfelves they may be killed thereby ; a 
Suppofition that Difeafes may be cured by means of 
this Power, having met with fo little Countenance 
amongft us, that very few Trials have been made, 
to afeertain what, in diftemper'd Cafes, it can or 
cannot perform. Foreigners , on the contrary, feem 
fond of believing, that the fubtil eledric Fluid (be 
it Fire, dither, or whatever elfe) which can per- 
vade all Bodies, and (being accumulated) even kill 
an Animal, in certain Circumftances, and by cer- 
tain Methods of Application, may, poflibly, in. 
other Circumftances, and applied in different De- 
grees, and by different Methods, fo operate on the 
Fluids or Solids, and perhaps on both, that very 
beneficial and falutary Effeds * may refult therefrom. 
With this View the Abbe Nol/et made feveral 
Experiments on living Birds, Kittens, and human 
Bodies ; and if we may give Credit to the Accounts 
thereof communicated to us, he found, in every 
Trial, that F erfpiration was fo confiderably pro- 
moted thereby, as to caufe a very fenfible Difference 
between the Weight of fuch Animals as had been 
eledrified, and others of the fame Kind that were 
treated exadly alike in every refped befides : Whence 
he naturally concludes, that, in Cafes where it is 
neceffary to quicken the Circulation of the Fluids, 
and throw off a greater Quantity of the perfpirable 
Matter, Electricity muft be greatly ufeful. 
The 
* As is fuggefted by Dr. Mortimer in thefe Tranfaft. n. 476, 
p. 479. ’ C. Mx 
