[ 34 ° ] 
XXXVI. New Experiments and Obfervations 
concerning EleElricity ; by Robert Symmer, 
Efq\ F. R. S. 
' P A P E R I. 
Of the ’Electricity of the human Body , and the Ani- 
mal Subfances, Silk and IVool. 
Read Feb. i.T" had f or f 0 me time obferved, that upon 
I759 ’ X pulling off my dockings in an evening 
they frequently made a crackling or fnapping noife ; 
and in the dark I could perceive them to emit fparks 
of fire. I made no doubt but that this proceeded 
from a principle of electricity ; and I was confirmed 
in this opinion, by obferving that, in weather favour- 
able for eleftrical experiments, thofe appearances were 
more remarkable than at other times. I mentioned 
this obfervation to feveral of my friends, and fome of 
them told me, they likewife had often perceived the 
fnapping, and the emiffion of fire from their dock- 
ings upon pulling them off, efpecially in the winter 
evenings: but I could not hear of any body that had 
taken this phenomenon into confideration in a phi- 
lofophical way. For my own part, I could not but 
think that fo driking an appearance, one that feems 
to have an immediate connexion with the human 
body, or is at lead as much about us as the cloaths 
we wear, and is obvious to the perception of our 
fenfes, merited not only a philofophical attention, but 
the drifted inquiry podible. 1 was the more in- 
4 duced 
