ilosophers who first experienced, in their own
person, the shock attendant on the transmission of an electric
discharge, were so impressed with wonder and with terror by this novel
sensation, that they wrote the most ridiculous and exaggerated account
of their feelings on the occasion. Muschenbrok states, that he
received so dreadful a concussion in his arms, shoulder, and heart,
that he lost his breath, and it was two days before he could recover
from its effects; he declared also, that he should not be induced to
take another shock for the whole kingdom of France. Mr. Allemand
reports, that the shock deprived him of breath for some minutes, and
afterwards produced so acute a pain along his right arm, that he was
apprehensive it might be attended with serious consequences. Mr.
Winkler informs us, that it threw his whole body into convulsions, and
excited such a ferment in his blood, as would have thrown him into a
fever, but for the timely employment of febrifuge remedies. He states,
that at another time it produced copious bleeding at the nose; the
same effect was produced also upon his lady, who was almost rendered
incapable of walking. The strange accounts naturally excite the
attention and wonder of all classes of people; the learned and the
vulgar were equally desirous of experiencing so singular a sensation,
and great numbers of half-taught electricians wandered through every
part of Europe to gratify this universal curiosity.

It is on the nervous system that the most considerable action of
electricity is exerted. A strong charge passed through the head, gave
to Mr. Singer the sensation of a violent but universal blow, and was
followed by a transient loss of memory and indistinctness of vision.
If a charge be sent through the head of a bird, its optic nerve is
usually injured or destroyed, and permanent blindness induced; and a
similar shock given to larger animals, produces a tremulous state of
the muscles, with general prostration of strength. If a person who is
standing receive a charge through the spine, he loses his power over
the muscles to such a degree, that he either drops on his knees, or
falls prostrate on the ground; if the charge be sufficiently powerful,
it will produce immediate death, in consequence, probably, of the
sudden exhaustion of the whole energy of the nervous system. Small
animals, such as mice and sparrows, are instantly killed by a shock
from thirty square inches of glass. Van Marum f