[ 209 ] 
He has alio fmelt the eledtrical fire, when drawn thro' 
gold, filver, copper, lead, iron, wood, and the hu- 
man body, and could perceive no difference; the 
odour being always the fame, where the fpark does 
not burn what it ffrikes ; and therefore he imagines, 
that it does not take that fmell from any quality of the 
bodies it paffes through. There was no abridging 
this experiment, which 1 think very well conceived, 
and as well conducted, in a manner to make it intel- 
ligible; and therefore I have laid the author’s words 
nearly before you. 
As Mr. Franklin, in a letter to Mr. Collinfon fome 
time fince, mentioned his intending to try the power 
of a very ftrong eledtrical fhock upon a turkey, I 
defired Mr. Collinfon to let Mr. Franklin know, that 
I fhould be glad to be acquainted with the refult of 
that experiment. He accordingly has been fo very 
obliging as to fend an account of it, which is to the fol- 
lowing purpofe. He made firft feveral experiments 
on fowls, and found, that two large thin glafsjars 
gilt, holding each about 6 gallons, and fuch as I 
mentioned I had employed in the laft paper I laid 
before you upon this fubjedt, were fufficient, when 
fully charged, to kill common hens outright ; but 
the turkeys, though thrown into violent convulfions, 
and then, lying as dead for feme minutes, would re- 
cover in lefs than a quarter of an hour. However, 
having added three other fuch to the former two, 
though not fully charged, he killed a turkey of about 
ten pounds weight, and believes that they would have 
killed a much larger. Fie conceited, as himfelf fays, 
that the birds kill’d in this manner eat uncommonly 
tender. 
D d 
In 
