412 
L. ROSSIGNOL. 
A fourth discharge was also negative. 
At the fifth the current was raised to 600 volts ; the horse 
flexed his fore parts, made a jump and stopped after walking a 
few steps as if nothing had taken place. 
A sixth trial with 700 volts gave no result. 
The second horse was then brought forward for experiment: 
it was a little stallion, in fair condition. 
One of the fore feet was placed on the cast-iron pole and 550 
volts sent through the current. The animal received a powerful 
shock, flexed down 011 his fore quarters, but his foot having left 
the electrified pole, he rose immediately. Examined a few 
moments after, he presented nothing abnormal ; his pulsations 
were slow, 42 to the minute, his heart beat quietly. His nerv¬ 
ous system did not seem excited. 
With all those failures, the first arrangement of the cast-iron 
poles was modified and each pair of poles was covered with a 
piece of sheet iron to widen the surface of Contact, and the 
animals were placed in such a manner that both fore feet were 
resting on one piece and the hind feet on the other. 
The little stallion being in place, a continuous current of 
550 volts was sent; all of a sudden, the horse fell on his side, 
remaining a few seconds on the plates of sheet iron, sparks 
jumping quite numerously. The shock was considered as fatal. 
The horse, however, succeeded in rising, made several wild 
jumps, then stopped and recovered quite rapidly. Yet the 
mucous membranes remained pale, the beatings of the heart, at 
first bounding, soon became quiet—the pulse was 80 a minute. 
Then the feet (front and hind), the belly and the inside of 
the thighs were washed and kept moist. The animal was then 
placed in the same position, the fore feet on one plate, the hind 
feet on the other and a 550 volts current established. This 
time the shock was frightful, the animal fell down in a mass, 
the four legs apart, all the muscles contracted, he remaining in 
sternal decubitus, resting on the abdomen, sternum and infer¬ 
ior extremity of the head. The muscular contractions became 
more and more powerful ; the neck was stiff, the teeth w T ere 
