Zap!
I have a feeling the gods of political correctness would have never put up with Thomas Edison:
And then there was the time Thomas Alva Edison electrocuted an elephant. Intentionally.That anecdote is part of Woody West's longer review of Fleet Fire: Thomas Edison And The Pioneers Of The Electric Revolution by L.J. Davis. It looks like an interesting read.Edison's zapping of the elephant followed an associate's electrocution of a dog, then a calf and then a horse. The quadruped slaughter was intended by Edison to demonstrate the lethality of Alternating Current, which his competitor, the talented George Westinghouse, was using in his lighting systems; Edison was a proponent of less economically efficient Direct Current to which he had committed resources and reputation, and he was frantic to discredit Westinghouse.
[Posted at 20:40 CST on 06/12/03] [Link]