NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 117 



and the fish immediately rose, when the machine was again set in 

 motion, upon which the fish lay stiff on the surface of the water, and 

 was taken alongside of the ship. At this time we made use of the 

 four magnet machine. 



" We saw sperm, and other whales, and lowered our boats, but were 

 unsuccessful in getting fast to them, as they disappeared on our 

 approaching them ; while at all other times the weather was too bois- 

 terous to permit us to lower our boats. Thus we had but one chance 

 to try the experiment upon a whale, which was made with the four 

 magnet machine. The whale upon being struck made one dash onward, 

 then turned on his side and was rendered perfectly powerless. 

 Although I have as yet not been fortunate enough to test the invention 

 in more instances, I have the fullest confidence in the same, and doubt 

 not to be able to report the most astonishing results on my return from 

 the Arctic Seas, where I am now bound. 



THE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF FLAME. 



PROF. BUFF, of the University of Giessen, has recently published 

 an interesting paper on the electrical properties of flame. He has 

 come to the conclusion that gaseous bodies, which have been rendered 

 conductable by strong heating, are capable of exciting other conduc- 

 tors, solid as well as gaseous, electrically. 



Two small strips of platinum were introduced into a glass tube 

 closed at one end ; they were separated by an interval of a thin line 

 of air. The air within the tube could not be heated to a degree suffi- 

 cient to permit the electricity of two of DanielPs cells to pass through 

 it. When the glass became soft by heating, and both pieces of plati- 

 num were permitted to touch it, a strong deflection of the needle of 

 the galvanometer was the consequence. 



When the strips of platinum were exposed to the direct action of 

 the flame of a spirit lamp, the first notice of the passage of the elec- 

 tricity was obtained, when they were placed at about three inches 

 above its extreme point, and began to show signs of redness. The 

 deflection increased as the strips were lowered in the flame. When 

 the flame was strongest there was a permanent deflection of 70. The 

 flame current passed always from the hottest platinum strip through 

 the separating interval of gas to the other strip. When the metallic 

 wires or other conductors, connected at one end, are brought into con- 

 tact with highly heated gas, it formed an electric circuit. One 

 platinum wire was introduced into the obscure centre of the flame of 

 a lamp, and the other wire was brought near the outer surface of the 

 flame, a current of electricity immediately exhibited itself, which 

 passed through the flame from the inner to the exterior wire. By 

 properly connecting a platinum wire, which was dipped into the cen- 

 tre of the flame, with a condensing plate, the latter became charged 

 with negative electricity, and hence Prof. Buff concluded that positive 

 electricity is given off by the outer surface of the flame. 



