John Trowbridge reported something similar in his (remarkable) 1907
paper "High Electromotive Force" about lightning
"We are beginning to realize, however, that 500 volts, accompanied by a
currrent of between 10 and 20 amperes is sufficient to destroy human
life. One compartment of the storage battery that I have described in
this memoir, - a compartment affording over 800 volts, -short circuited
through the body of the janitor of the laboratory, was sufficient to
knock him senseless".
A case of #overlyhonestresults
Nigel
On 01/06/2017 01:56, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Getting back to Franklin, he pioneered many aspects of electricity. In
one of his less successful experiments, he almost killed himself with
electricity from a battery, in 1750. It sounds like a cold fusion
experiment gone bad. He was trying to electrocute a turkey. He wrote:
"I have lately made an Experiment in Electricity that I desire never
to repeat. Two nights ago being about to kill a Turkey by the Shock
from two large Glass Jarrs containing as much electrical fire as forty
common Phials, I inadvertently took the whole thro' my own Arms and Body.
[. . . although self-electrocution had not been his intention, he
still maintained a scientific interest in the results. . . .
Nonetheless, he also felt some chagrin over the accident.] "You may
Communicate this to Mr. Bowdoin As A Caution to him, but do not make
it mor Publick, for I am Ashamed to have been Guilty of so Notorious A
Blunder."
