290 Mr. Gassiot on the relation of Electrical 8; Chemical Actions 



tion, and then removed, p was found oppositely charged ; as 

 was also an insulated carrier ball, when similarly treated. 



13. The plate a of the electroscope (fig. 4) being retained 

 in connection with one end of the battery, a piece of very thin 

 mica was laid on it ; on this mica rested a wire W proceed- 

 ing from a single -leaf electroscope (fig. 5), the disc id) of which 

 was in connection with the earth by means of a wire; with 

 this arrangement the gold leaf was electrified by induction, 

 and struck against the disc {d) ; glass, lac and sulphur were 

 in turn substituted for the mica, and the same general effects 

 resulted. The same battery connection was maintained, the 

 electroscope (fig. 5) being disconnected. An insulated carrier 

 ball was successively applied to the plate a, and an unlimited 

 succession of charges could be carried and accumulated to 

 another electroscope : these charges were with equal facility 

 obtained when the direct connection between the battery and 

 the earth was broken ; the insulation of the battery was, how- 

 ever, comparatively imperfect ; and I shall therefore have oc- 

 casion to revert to some of these results which I afterwards 

 obtained less in degree, but equally definite in character, from 

 a portion of the battery detached for the purpose of more effi- 

 cient insulation ; for the present we need only allude to those 

 effects, which do not absolutely involve the perfect insulations 

 of the battery itself. When a Leyden jar, held in the hand, 

 was subjected to the action of one end of the battery, a charge 

 was readily accumulated, and, of course, still more favourably 

 by means of a mica battery. When the coatings of a Leyden 

 battery, consisting of twelve jars, with a surface of sixteen 

 feet, were connected with the respective ends of the series, the 

 accumulation of tension was considerable. 



14<. With the entire battery, the tension was so great, that 

 the leaves of a gold-leaf electroscope diverged when that in- 

 strument was placed within two or three inches of either end 

 of the battery, or over any of the terminal cells. Advantage 

 was taken of this to test, whether any effect of tension could 

 be observed when the circuit was completed ; but the instant 

 this was effected, the leaves of the electroscope as instantly 

 collapsed, nor could I detect, either by the aid of the con- 

 denser, or otherwise, the slightest trace of tension ; it, how- 

 ever, immediately reappeared when the circuit was again 

 broken. 



15. Thus far I have been examining the static effects of a 

 moderate amount of tension, similar in kind to those which 

 have been long familiar to the electrician, but modified so as 

 to produce inductive effects, differing in some degree from any 

 elsewhere recorded. My first experiment, after making every 



