IRON CYLINDER BURST BY ELECTRICITY. gg^ 



In my former experiments I had observed, that, when the Strongest ef. 

 electric fluid was constantly directed to one point, the me- ^S^SmSSi 

 tallic decomposition sooner took place. Inconsequence I to one point. 

 took care to make the cylinder rest on its centre, raising 

 the metallic plate u little at a single point, and surrounding 

 this point with wax. The effect was so striking, that at the 

 70th discharge the opening was in the state represented at 

 fig. 1 and 2. 



Can we now question the burning of metals interiorly Metals maybe 

 by the passage of the electric fluid, which some philosophers k u ™ e . d !j y ? e 

 have long ago considered as endued with acid properties? 



Let my expeviments be repeated in vacuo by a simple intacuo. 

 stream of the fluid, and it will be found, that the oxided 

 and fuliginous products will be equal to those obtained in 

 atmospheric air. 



Let the experiment afterward be made in water, with Effects of th« . 



short wires in a small tube, and very long; one^ in another 6x P eriratnt m 



J ° water, 



tube; it will be found perhaps (but this requires farther 



examination) that the oxide precipitated at the place 

 where a large wire comes out, as those of small tubes 

 of silver, or of an alloy of gold and silver, will be less in 

 quantity than in the tube four or five feet long, the positive 

 wire of which is three fourths the length of the tube, and 

 the negative wire one fourth. My friends form the same 

 judgment in this respect. The oxided product was so co- 

 pious, after the continued action of the electric current for 

 five or six hours, that it covered the bottom to the extent of 

 more than ten lines toward the apparatus ; the black matter, 



struction of philosophical instruments, to saw the cylinder as the au- the cylinder, 

 thor requested. An interior view of the cylinder, when thus sawn 

 asunder, is given at fig. 2. All the part, from the outer crack a to the 

 centre, and a little beyond it, is torn j and in several places exhibits 

 the same appearances as a broken iron bar, in others laminae with a re- 

 semblance of crystallization, unless ym\ would rather consider them as 

 the effect of iron of a bad quality. The lower part of the cylinder, from 

 the bottom of the hole n, is equally torn. A portion of the torn part 

 appears to be oxided. The small detached pieces appear also to be 

 oxided. 



The author has since sent me three other cylindrical pieces, one of Others burst to 

 which has an opening of six lines. They have all been burst by re- lJie sara << *« aa ' 

 peated electrical discharges, but 1 have not sawn them asunder. J. C. ner ' 

 JDtlumithene. 



which 





