ELECTRIC WOMEN".

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 8, 24 May 1888, Page 2

ELECTRIC WOMEN".

A curious communication of particular interest to both sexes has just been made by_ M. Fe" re" to the French Society of Biology. The doctor has j discovered an electric woman ! The name and address of this phenomenon are not given, probably to avoid her being got hold of by some enterprising Barnum. It appears that both her hair and body emit electric sparksi The electricity is more visible when the hair is combed. The hair then stands on an end. When she puts on j her underclothing its contact with her skin first produces a crepitation, theu the clothes adhere as it were to the body, and finally her movements are partly paralyzed. These phenomena are particularly observable during dry and frosty weather. The electric tension also increases under ! the influence of emotions— such, for example, as the effect of music, which augments the crepitation. Tnis extraordinary creature, however, is not unique. Dr Legue* mentioned the case of a woman who during an aurora borealis was suddenly charged with electricity, which manifested itself when she passed her finger over the face of her brother; she remained, electric for two months. . Another instance of a similar kind is reported by Arago. In all these cases the patients are described as of sickly disposition, subject to nervous or hysterical attacks. In the Middle Ages they would have been burnt for being possessed with the devil, to-day they are tendered and petted as scientific wonders. Strange to say, the first account of an electric woman is to be found in a romance by the Brothers Go n court.