Obfervations on Electricity* 287 
Without referring to the intenfe ele&ri'citjr of a cloud, or 
the bulk of a man, it may be obferved, that fuch a fpark 
would be very painful. But to purfue our computation. The 
cylinder charged a fquare foot of glafs, of about 0.08 thick, 
in 15 turns fo as to explode over a rim above four inches 
high. Fifteen of the pieces of talc would therefore poffefs as 
much eleClricity as makes the charge of a jar of one foot 
fquare, and the 45 pieces or folid inch would contain enough to 
charge three fquare feet. If we fuppofe the bulk of a man to 
be only 3 folid feet or 5184 folid inches, the natural eleCtricity 
of this mafs, as deduced from the foregoing faCts, will be 
equal to the charge of a battery of upwards of 15,000 fquare 
feet. 
I beg leave to obferve, in concluding this Paper, that I 
have been very careful in repeating the experiments with many 
precautions which the experienced in this branch of natural 
philofophy will perceive the neceffity of ; though, in order to 
keep this communication within proper limits, 1 have here 
avoided a minute defcription of them. With the fame view I 
have likewife forborn to fpeak either of theory, or of a number of 
other experimental refearches I have made during the courfe 
of this enquiry. Dates are entirely omitted from a conviction 
that the priority of accidental difcovery is not worth con- 
tending for, and that no difputes ever arife about that general 
tenor of conduCt in the cultivation of fcience, upon which 
the rational part of mankind ground their approbation or 
cenfure. 
New North-flreet, 
May 14, 1789. 
p. s. 
T £ % 
