der-clouds; and to their utter astonishment, found their bodies so full of electrical fire, that spontaneous flashes darted from their fingers with a crackling noise, and the same kind of sensation as when strongly electrified by art.This was communicated by Mr. Jalabert to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, I think, in the year 1763; and you will find it recorded in their memoirs.

It seems pretty evident, I think, that these feelings were owing to the bodies being pos-. sessed of too great a share of electric fire. This is an uncommon case; but I do not think it at all improbable, that many of our invalids, particularly the hypochondriac, and those we call Malades Imaginaires, owe their disagreeable feelings to the opposite cause, or the bodies being possessed of too small a quantity of this fire; for we find that a diminution of it in the air seldom fails to increase their uneasy sensations, and vice versa.

Perhaps it might be of service to these people to wear some electric substance next their skin, to defend the nerves and fibres from the damp, or non-electric air.-I would propose a waistcoat of the finest flannel, which should be kept perfectly clean and dry; for the effluvia of the

body, in case of any violent perspiration, will soon destroy its electric quality: this should be covered by another of the same size of silk. The animal heat, and the friction that exercise must occasion betwixt these two substances, produce a powerful electricity; and would form a kind of electric atmosphere around the body, that might possibly be one of the best preser vatives against the effect of damps.

As for our Swiss lady, I have little doubt that her complaints were owing in great part, perhaps entirely, to her dress; and that a very small alteration, almost in any part of it, would effectually have cured her. A lady who has her head surrounded with wires, and her hair stuck full of metal pins, and who at the same time stands upon dry silk, is to all intents and purposes an electrical conductor insolated, and prepared for collecting the fire from the atmosphere; and it is not at all surprising, that during thunderstorms, or when the air is extremely replete with electrical matter, she should emit sparks, and exhibit other appearances of electricity. I imagine a very trifling change of dress, which from the constant versatility of their modes may some day take place, would render this lady's disease altogether epidemical

amongst the sex.-Only let the soles of their shoes be made of an electric substance, and let the wires of their caps, and pins of their hair, be somewhat lengthened and pointed outwards; and I think there is little doubt, that they will often find themselves in an electrified state:-But, indeed, if they only wear silk, or even worsted stockings, it may sometimes prove sufficient; for I have often insolated electrometers as perfectly by placing them on a piece of dry silk or flannel, as on a glass.

How little do our ladies imagine, when they surround their heads with wire, the most powerful of all conductors; and at the same time wear stockings, shoes, and gowns of silk, one of the most powerful repellents, that they prepare their bodies in the same manner, and according to the same principles, as electricians prepare their conductors for attracting the fire of lightning! If they cannot be brought to relinquish their wire caps and their pins, might they not fall upon such preservative as those which of late years have beeh applied to objects of less consequence?

Suppose that every lady should provide herself with a small chain or wire, to be hooked on at pleasure during thunderstorms. This should

pass from her cap over the thickest part of her hair, which will prevent the fire from being communicated to her head; and so down to the ground. It is plain this will act in the same manner as the conductors on the tops of steeples, which from the metal spires that are commonly placed there, analogous to the pins and wires, were so liable to accidents. You may laugh at all this; but I assure you I never was more serious in my life. A very amiable lady of my acquaintance, Mrs. Douglas of Kelso, had almost lost her life by one of those caps mounted on wire. She was standing at an open window during a thunderstorm: the lightning was attracted by the wire, and the cap was burnt to ashes; happily her hair was in its natural state, without powder, pomatum, or pins; and prevented the fire from being conducted to her head; for as she felt no kind of shock, it is probable that it went off from the wires of the cap to the wall, close to which she then stood. If it had found any conductor to carry it to her head or body, in all probability she must have been killed. A good strong head of hair, if it is kept perfectly clean and dry, is probably one of the best preservatives against the fire of lightning. But so soon as it is stuffed full of

powder and pomatum, and bound together with pins, its repellent force is lost, and it becomes a conductor. *-But I beg pardon for these surmises: I throw them in your way only for you to improve upon at your leisure: for we have it ever in our power to be making experiments in electricity. And although this fluid is the most subtile and active of any we know, we can command it on all occasions; and I am now so accustomed to its operations, that I seldom comb my hair, or pull off a stocking, without observing them under some form or other.

Since the writing of these letters, the author has made some experiments on the electricity of hair; which tend still to convince him the more of what he has advanced. A lady had told him, that or combing her hair on frosty weather, in the dark, she had sometimes observed sparks of fire to issue from it. This made him think of attempting to collect the electrical fire from hair alone, without the assistance of any other electrical apparatus. To this end, he desired a young lady to stand on a cake of bees wax, and to comb her sister's hair, who was sitting on a chair before her.-Soon after she began to comb, the young lady on the wax was greatly astonished to find her whole body electrified; darting out sparks of fire against every object that approached her. The hair was extremely electrical, and affected an electrometer at a very great distance. He charged a metal conductor from it with great ease; and in the space of a few minutes collected as much fire immediately from the hair, as to kindle common spirits; and by means of a small phial, gave many smart shocks to all the company. A full account of these experiments was lately read before the Royal Society. They were made during the time of a very hard frost, and on a strong head of hair, where no powder or pomatum had been used for many months.