LESSONS IN ELECTRICITY 



33 1 



LESSONS IN ELECTRICITY. 1 



HOLIDAY LECTURES AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION". 

 By Prof. TYNDALL, F. E. S. 



IV. 



SECTION 17. History of the Leyden-Jar. The next discovery 

 which we have to master throws all former ones into the shade. 

 Jt was first announced in a letter addressed on the 4th of November, 

 1745, to Dr. Lieberkuhn, of Berlin, by Kleist, a clergyman of Cammin, 

 in Pomerania. By means of a cork, C, Fig. 23, he fixed a nail, iV~, in a 

 phial, G, into which he had poured a little mercury, spirits, or water, 

 W. On electrifying the nail he was able to pass from one room into 

 another with the phial in his hand and to ignite spirits of wine w r ith 

 it. " If," said he, " while it is electrifying I put my finger, or a piece 

 of gold which I hold in my hand, to the nail, I receive a shock which 

 stuns my arms and shoulders." 



In the following year Cuna3us, of Leyden, made substantially the 



Fig. 23. 



Fio. 24. 



same discovery. It caused great wonder and dread, which arose 

 chiefly from the excited imagination. Musschenbroek felt the shock, 

 and declared in a letter to a friend that he would not take a second 

 one for the crown of France. Bleeding at the nose, ardent fever, a 

 heaviness of head which endured for days, were all ascribed to the 

 shock. Boze wished that he might die of it, so that he might enjoy 

 the honour of having his death chronicled in the " Paris Academy of 

 Sciences." Kleist missed the explanation of the phenomenon ; while 



A course of six lectures, with simple experiments in factional electricity, before 

 juvenile audiences during the Christmas holidays. 



