106 Mr. R. Phillips on the connexion of the Electricity of 



was found to leave it negative ; and when the screen which 

 received the water was also connected with the electrometer, 

 no electrical effects were produced : this, however, at present 

 rests on only one experiment, in which the insulation was not 

 so good as I should have liked. 



80. The above method of electrical excitation has an im- 

 posing appearance of novelty ; but since the ordinary fric- 

 tional electricity of steam is produced by water rubbing 

 against the discharging passage (Faraday), the above experi- 

 ments must be regarded as a singular case in which the quan- 

 tity of water is infinite with regard to the quantity of steam. 



81. Steam was discharged from the brass jet as before (71, 

 72.), and the larger wire-gauze collector was held by means of 

 a tube-holder at distances varying from 6 to 12 inches from 

 the end of the brass jet. The pressure in the boiler was low, 

 and the steam was so slowly discharged from the jet that it 

 imparted no electricity to the screen. A stream of water was 

 now discharged from the platinum jet of the fountain through 

 the current of steam, generally in the same direction as the 

 steam was passing, so that the water might fall on the screen 

 which was connected with the single-leaf electrometer ; a ne- 

 gative charge was obtained. As the pressure which drove the 

 steam out was increased, so this negative charge increased in 

 intensity until the steam was about to become positive. In per- 

 forming these experiments, care was taken to adjust the plati- 

 num jet so that the electricity of the discharged water might be 

 little or nothing; otherwise a positive charge was obtained from 

 the water. The length of the column of water and its solidity 

 were greatly varied ; and it was thus found advantageous, in 

 order to have a strong negative effect, that the stream of water 

 should be rather compact as it issued from the jet, and that 

 the water should pass over a distance of 2 or 3 feet before it 

 entered the steam. The amount of electricity collected was 

 very variable under apparently similar circumstances, but it 

 was always negative. The state of the boiler was frequently 

 examined, and was always found to be positive. I also dis- 

 charged the steam through some other jets instead of the 

 above-mentioned brass one, but the results did not vary. 



82. This negative charge given to the screen was, I think, 

 only produced by the drops of water collecting negative elec- 

 tricity from the steam, much in the same way as the wire- 

 gauze did (72.). 



83. The steam-cloud, instead of being allowed freely to 

 escape, was received into a tin pipe. This pipe was 2*5 inches 

 diameter, and one end formed a right angle to the rest of 

 the pipe ; the greatest length of one limb of this pipe was 



