Mr . cavendish on the Torpedo. 217 
I find, that five or fix rows of my battery will give as 
great a fhock with the leathern torpedo, as one row electri- 
fied to the fame degree will with the wooden one; con- 
fequently, if with the wooden torpedo and my whole 
battery, I can give a fhock of a fuffrcient ftrength, which 
yet will not pafs through a chain of a given number 
of links, there can be no doubt, but that, if my battery 
was five or fix times as large, I fhould be able to do the 
fame thing with the leathern torpedo. 
I covered a piece of fealing wax on one fide with a flip 
of tinfoil, and holding it in one hand, touched an electri- 
cal organ of the torpedo with the end of it, while my 
other hand was applied to the oppofite furface of the 
fame organ. The fhock paffed freely, being conducted 
by the tinfoil ; but if I made, with a penknife, as fmall a 
feparation in the tinfoil as pofiible, fo as to be fure that 
it was actually feparated, the fhock would not pafs, con- 
formably to what Mr. walsh obferved of the torpedo. 
I tried the experiment in the fame manner with the 
lane’s electrometer defcribed in p. 202, and found that 
the fhock would not pafs, unlefs the knobs w r ere brought 
fo near together as to require the afliitance of a magni- 
fying glafs to be fure that they did not touch. 
I took a chain of fmall brafs wire, and holding it in one 
hand, let the loweft link lie on the upper furface of an elec- 
tric organ, while my other hand was applied to the oppo- 
fite furface. The event was, that if the link, held in my 
hand, was the fifth or fixth from the bottom, and confe- 
quently, that the electricity had only four or five links 
Vo l. LX VI. Ff to 
