[ * t8 ] 
faction to fee that the conductor was fo much 
charged, that it emitted fparks of a confiderabie 
force, and attracted flrongly fuch light bodies as 
were brought near it ; but the cat at laft becoming 
uneafy, threatned to put an end to our experiment. 
The paflage of the electrical fire, from the hair of 
her back to the fmall wires, occafioned, it feems, 
a difagreeable fenfation, which the could not bear; 
fo that turning about her head to defend her back, 
the tip of her ear happening to touch the conduc- 
tor, and a large fpark coming from it, (he fprung 
away in a fright, and would not allow me to come 
near her more. However, after a long interval, 
the animal feeming to have forgotten her adven- 
ture, a young lady in company, lefs obnoxious to 
her than I was, undertook to manage her. Hav- 
ing fiift covered the back of this lady’s hand with 
a piece of dry filk, that none of the eledtric fire 
communicated to the wires might be loft, fhe then 
began to ftroke the cat as I had done, and the 
conductor foon after appeared fully charged : we 
drew large fparks from it, and if the animal would 
have continued quiet, I have no doubt that we 
fhould have {hewn many of the common experi- 
ments in eledtricity ; but fhe foon became fo out- 
rageous, that we were glad to put an end to our 
operations, without any hopes of being able to re- 
peat them, at lead: with the fame inftrument. In 
this dilemma I recolledied, that a lady had told 
me, that on combing her hair, in frofty weather, 
fhe had often been lenfible of a little crackling 
noife ; and in the dark had fometimes obferved 
fmall fparks of fire to iffue from it. I propofed, 
therefore, 
