References.—Leithead, “Electricity,” p. 135; Gray, “Elements of Natural Philosophy,” 1850, p. 323; “Electrical Researches of Lord Cavendish,” 1879, pp. xxxv, xxxvi and 395–437; Fifth Dissertation of “Encycl. Britannica,” 8th ed. p. 738; Phil. Trans. for 1773, 1774, 1775 and 1776; also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. p. 469; “Chambers’ Ency.,” 1868, Vol. III. p. 821; “People’s Cyclopædia,” 1883, Vol. I. p. 628; Kaempfer (A.D. 1702); Sc. American Supplement, No. 457, pp. 7300, 7301, “Lettera dell’ Abate Spallanzani al Signore Marchese Lucchesini,” Feb. 23, 1783, inserted in the Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen for 1783, p. 409. See also the experiments of Dr. Ingram, of Kaempfer and of Borelli, described in Van Swinden’s “Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vol. II; Wilkinson’s “Galvanism,” 1804, Vol. I. pp. 318, 324; G. W. Schilling, “Diatribe de morbo,” etc., 1770, and Friedrich von Hahn in the preface to Schilling’s “De Lepra,” etc., 1778, as well as at pp. 436–442, Vol. I and at note, p. 160, Vol. II of Van Swinden’s “Recueil,” already noted; J. B. Leroy and M. Saignette “Sur. l’élect. de la Torpille,” etc. (Jour. de Phys., 1774, Vol. IV and for 1776, Vol. VIII); “Annales du Musée d’Hist. Nat.,” p. 392; R. A. F. De Réaumur, “Mém. de l’acad. des Sc. de Paris“ for 1714; C. Alibert, “Eloges,” etc., Paris, 1806.
A.D. 1773.—Odier (Louis), a well-known Swiss physician, thus addresses a lady upon the subject of an electric telegraph: “I shall amuse you, perhaps, in telling you that I have in my head certain experiments, by which to enter into conversation with the Emperor of Mogol or of China, the English, the French, or any other people of Europe, in a way that, without inconveniencing yourself, you may intercommunicate all that you wish, at a distance of four or five thousand leagues in less than half an hour! Will that suffice you for glory? There is nothing more real. Whatever be the course of those experiments, they must necessarily lead to some grand discovery; but I have not the courage to undertake them this winter. What gave me the idea was a word which I heard spoken casually the other day, at Sir John Pringle’s table, where I had the pleasure of dining with Franklin, Priestley and other great geniuses.”
References.—Necrology of Prof. Odier in “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. IV. N. S., 1817, pp. 317–328; see also allusion to Odier at Schwenter (A.D. 1600), and in the report of Bristol meeting of the British Association, August 25, 1875; also Chambers’ “Papers for the People,” 1851, El. Com., p. 6; Bertholon, “Elec. du Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol. I. p. 357.
A.D. 1773.—Hunter (John), a native of Scotland, “by common consent of all his successors, the greatest man that ever practiced surgery,” gives at p. 481 of the Phil. Trans. for 1773 his observations on the anatomical structure of the raia torpedo.
The electricity of the animal, he found, is generated by organs on each side of the cranium and gills, somewhat resembling a galvanic pile, and consisting wholly of perpendicular columns reaching from the upper to the under surface of the body. Dr. Walsh gave him for examination a fish about eight inches long, two inches thick and twelve inches broad, and Hunter found in each electrical organ as many as 470 columns; but in a very large fish, four and a half feet long and weighing 73 pounds, he counted as many as 1182 in each organ.
He remarks that there is no part of any animal with which he is acquainted, however strong and constant its natural action, which has so great a proportion of nerves; and he concludes that, if it be probable these nerves are not necessary for the purposes of sensation or action, they are subservient to the formation, collection or management of the electric fluid.
References.—Phil. Trans. for 1773, p. 461; for 1775, p. 465 (gymnotus electricus); for 1776, p. 196; the Phil. Trans., Vol. LXIII. p. 481, (torpedo); Vol. LXV. p. 395 (gymnotus); and Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. pp. 478, 666; also John Davy’s account in Phil. Trans. for 1832, p. 259; “Am. Trans.,” Vol. II. p. 166; Nicholson’s Journal, Vol. I. p. 355; Journal de Physique, Vol. XLIX. p. 69; Becquerel et Brachet, Comptes Rendus, III. p. 135; Carlo Matteucci, “Recherches,” Genève, 1837; Delle Chiage, on the organs of the torpedo; Geo. Adams, “Essay on Electricity,” etc., 1785, p. 315; D. J. N. Lud. Roger, “Specimen Physiologicum,” etc., Göttingæ, 1760; Dr. Buniva’s experiments recorded in “Journal de Littér. Médicale,” Tome II. p. 112; Leithead, “Electricity,” Chap. XII; Scient. Am. Suppl., No. 457, pp. 7300–7302. See also the account of his having been the first to observe the galvanic sensation of light in the experiment on the eyes, published in “Opuscoli Scelti,” Vol. XXII. p. 364.
A.D. 1774.—At p. 16 of the third volume of Dr. Wm. Hooper’s “Rational Recreations,” etc., there is given a fine illustration of the electrical machine made by Dr. Priestley, and mention is made of the fact that, since the publication of the latter’s “History and Present State of Electricity,” he contrived, to be placed on the top of his house, a windmill by which the machine could be occasionally turned.
Much of the remainder of the volume is given to all kinds of experiments in the line of electricity and magnetism.
A.D. 1774.—Lesage (Georges Louis, Jr.), a Frenchman living at Geneva, Switzerland, makes in that city the first real attempt to avail of frictional electricity for the transmission of signals between two distant points (see C. M., or Charles Morrison, at A.D. 1753). His apparatus consists of twenty-four metallic wires insulated from each other and communicating with separate electrometers formed of small balls of elder held by threads and each marked with different letters of the alphabet. Whenever the electric current was transmitted, the balls indicated the desired letter.