C 180 ] 
The fpe&ators were amazed to find, that, at this 
firft trial, the young man could fucceflively extend 
his thumb , index, and middle fingers, and at length the 
ring and little fingers ; and on the following days his 
friends obferved, that his hand was no longer fo ri- 
gid as it had been. The good effed: of this firfl: efiay, 
and the defire of the patient and his relations, encou- 
raged me to repeat it on the 16th ; and I increafed 
the eledrical power by the known means of the 
flagon of water. I flripped his arm, and by turns 
gave the fhock to the cubitceus externus , radius 
ext emus, the extenfor magnus, the interoff’ei , exten- 
J'or policis , and the other mufcles of the thumb. He 
complained fometimes, that his hand and arm were 
numbed and ftiff: I therefore caufed it to be well 
rubbed with a towel, by which it became flexible : 
I made them alfo rub his hand with a woollen cloth, 
and continue it fome time ; and I obferved, that this > 
hand, which bent towards the elbow for fifteen 
years, became flxaitened out, altho’ it fell into its 
former fituation fome feconds after. This was the 
more remarkable, as many applications had been 
made before by the ablefl: phyficians. The 17th the 
patient told me, that his hand opened of itfelf the 
day before at three different times, and was alfo 
ftraitened out with the elbow; but that it clofed and 
bent up again of itfelf. The fecond time that I elec- 
trified him, he was more fenfible of the fparks, and 
this day he felt them ftill more, having made them 
flronger by Mufchenbroek’s invention ; he could 
fcarce bear them : the numbnefs of his arm and hand 
followed as before, which generally happened after- 
wards upon ele&rifying him 5 but he always found 
