Existing comment:
This 1770s engraving shows a static electric experiment in France. The charge from the hand-cracked generator passes through the white woman on the stool, Countess du Barry (who feels a mild sensation), to a glass Leyden jar held by an enslaved Black child, Zamor. He will sharply feel the spark that leaps from the rod to his finger.
Electrical researchers, including Franklin, used human subjects in experiments and demonstrations. His records are not clear but Franklin himself, his family, friends, indentured servants, and enslaved people in his household likely participated in his work. |