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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Letters, 'Of the electric property of the torpedo' from John Walsh to Benjamin Franklin

Reference number: AP/4/19

Date: July 1772 - July 1773

Description

Three letters comprising a paper by Walsh on the torpedo's electric properties, in which Walsh asserts that the torpedo or electric ray forms its circuit through the same conductors with electricity and by being intercepted by the same non-conductors.

Subject: Zoology / Marine Biology

These letters were published in Philosophical Transactions as a paper titled 'Of the electric property of the torpedo'.

Reference number
AP/4/19
Earliest possible date
July 1772 - July 1773
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
53 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

John Walsh

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Citation

John Walsh, Letters, 'Of the electric property of the torpedo' from John Walsh to Benjamin Franklin, July 1772 - July 1773, AP/4/19, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_4_19/letters-of-the-electric-property-of-the-torpedo-from-john-walsh-to-benjamin-franklin, accessed on 12 November 2025

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_4_19/letters-of-the-electric-property-of-the-torpedo-from-john-walsh-to-benjamin-franklin

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  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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