degree by the discovery of the similarity of electricity with
_lightning_, and the _aurora borealis_, with the connexion it seems to
have with _water-spouts_, _hurricanes_, and _earthquakes_, and also with
the part that is probably assigned to it in the system of _vegetation_,
and other the most important processes in nature.

Yet, notwithstanding all this, we have been, within a few years, more
puzzled than ever with the electricity of the _torpedo_, and of the
_anguille temblante_ of Surinam, especially since that most curious
discovery of Mr. Walsh's, that the former of these wonderful fishes has
the power of giving a proper electrical shock; the electrical matter
which proceeds from it performing a real circuit from one part of the
animal to the other; while both the fish which performs this experiment
and all its apparatus are plunged in water, which is known to be a
conducting substance.

Perhaps, however, by considering this fact in connexion with a few
others, and especially with what I have lately observed concerning the
identity of electricity and phlogiston, a little light may be thrown
upon this subject, in consequence of which we may be led to consider
electricity in a still more important light. Many of my readers, I am
aware, will smile at what I am going to advance; but the apprehension of
this shall not interrupt my speculations, how chimerical soever they may
be thought to be.

The facts, the consideration of which I would combine with that of the
electricity of the torpedo, are the following.

First, The remarkable electricity of the feathers of a paroquet,
observed by Mr. Hartmann, an account of which may be seen in Mr.
Rozier's Journal for Sept. 1771. p. 69. This bird never drinks, but
often washes itself; but the person who attended it having neglected to
supply it with water for this purpose, its feathers appeared to be
endued with a proper electrical virtue, repelling one another, and
retaining their electricity a long time after they were plucked from the
body of the bird, just as they would have done if they had received
electricity from an excited glass tube.

Secondly, The electric matter directed through the body of any muscle
forces it to contract. This is known to all persons who attend to what
is called the electrical shock; which certainly occasions a proper
_convulsion_, but has been more fully illustrated by Father Beccaria.
See my _History of Electricity_, p. 402.

Lastly, Let