WE discovered the means of drawing out the various electricities from
the body to which they are appetent, and of concentrating and preserving
them for use.
Man, beasts, birds, insects, fish, reptiles, trees, plants, water, in
short, all substances organic and inorganic, possess each its own
peculiar electricity. In naming fish, I refer to each species, and not
merely to those already known to you as electrical, and which have the
power of emitting strong currents of their own peculiar electricity. A
huge fish, well known on your earth, supplies us with the most powerful
of all electricities--an electricity of immense value. Docks
sufficiently large are built expressly where the sea monster is driven,
there to be subjected to the process by which he is made to yield up the
electricity contained in his huge frame.
The different kinds of electricity collected and concentrated are stored
ready for use in a large building called "The Electric Store-house,"--
the electricities, secured in non-conducting pouches, being placed in
separate compartments. This is the more necessary, since explosions
arise when antagonistic electricities come into contact with each other,
and the commingling of sympathetic electricities deteriorates their
quality. For that reason care is taken to keep out light. By the
electricity of light most other electricities are affected.
To the storehouse are attached extensive grounds for experiments and for
exhibitions, which at the same time delight and instruct the people. I
should observe that beautiful as well as humorous effects are produced
by certain electrical combinations. By means of sympathetic action
living bodies can be attracted and raised without removing their
inherent electricity, as you attract light substances with the magnet or
the electricity known to you.