Experiment with static electricity by Jean-Antoine Nollet (1700-1770) French physicist and cleric. A gun barrel is suspended over the globe of an electrostaticc machine, a chain hanging from it touching the globe. The man standing on a block of rosin and holding a chain attached to the barrel will feel nothing but a second person, left, can draw sparks off him. Engraving from 'The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences' edited by TH Croker, Thomas Williams and Samuel Clark. (London, 1764).