?08 Method of fitting vp Mr, Be Luc's Electric Column. 



by an electrometer, the leaves oF which dh'Tged when ex- 

 citetl amber was holden near it, attcr it liau received elec- 

 tricity from the inside, and converged when ejeclritied from 

 the outiiide of ihe buttle. From the usual effects oi Gal- 

 vanism the contrary might have been expected; that is, that 

 the zinc end oF the column would have produced 1\\q plus 

 state, and the silver end the minus. 



24th Oct. With three rods combined, a small brass 



ball suspended by silk between two bells, vibrated between 



them, causing them to ring : the bells were suspended from 



the ends of the apparatus. The next day, 2 3th Oct. (the 



Jubilee day), having fixed on glass pillars two bells, and 



hung by silk a brass ball from the upper part of a pi(;ce of 



wire, I placed the bells in connexion with the tuds of the 



combined apparatus, by means of bent wires laid on them : 



the apparatus and bells were left for near an hour, during 



which time the bells kept ringing, at times stopping for a 



$hort interval, then ringing again ; the clapper sometimes 



was seen to rest against one of them, then appeared to be 



disengaged by a person moving in the room. Whether the 



disengagement was always owing to some slight shaking of 



the table, or whether it was sometimes in consequence of 



the ball having acquired electricity, and then being repelled, 



I am not quite clear. It appears not improbable but that 



the weight oF the clapper may be so adapted to the power of 



the apparatus, as to cause small bells to continue ringing for 



several years without intermission j if so, we shall have a 



machine which bv those who do not consider the subject 



philosophically will be called a perpetual motion. How 



long the column will continue to produce the electric 



fluid cannot at present (or .perhaps ever) be determined. 



The principal difficulty to be overcome, in order to keep the 



clapper in continual motion throughout the different seasons 



of the year, appears to be the want oFa very accurate insula^ 



iion oF the apparatus ; For, if the glass tubes or the pillars 



which support them arc damp, the current of the electrici 



fluid will not pa?s along in the pro})er direction for the ex- 



perinyent. 



2^th Nov. Five rods, each of 500 series, were combined ; 

 with these, two small bells kept ringing on and oft for more 

 than four hours, part of which time I was not in the room, 

 so amnot tell how oFtcn they nii[}.bt ha^e stopped ; the ring- 

 ing sometimes began again evideiuly not from any shake, 

 but I imagine from the clapper having become electriiied, 

 and then beinji (as it i* usually called) repelled from the 

 jtiell against which it rested, I placed three rods of 500 



series 



