Electrical Phenomena of Certain Houses. 225 



0» the Electrical Phenomena of certain Houses. By Elias 

 LOOMIS, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy 

 in New York University. 



Within the past few years, several houses in the city of New 

 York have exhibited electrical phenomena in a very remarkable de- 

 gree. For months in succession they have emitted sparks of consi* 

 derable intensity, accompanied by a loud snap. A stranger on 

 entering one of these electrical houses, in attempting to shake hands 

 with the inmates, receives a shock which is quite noticeable and 

 somewhat unpleasant. Ladies in attempting to kiss each other are 

 saluted by a spark. A spark is perceived whenever the hand is 

 brought near to the knob of a door, the gilded frame of a mirror, 

 the gas pipes, or any metallic body, especially when this body com- 

 municates freely with the earth. In one house which I have had 

 an opportunity to examine, a child, in taking hold of the knob of a 

 door, received so severe a shock that it ran off in great fright. The 

 lady of the house, in approaching the speaking-tube to give orders 

 to the servants, received a very unpleasant shock in the mouth, and 

 was very much annoyed by the electricity, until she learned first to 

 touch the tube with her finger. In passing from one parlour to the 

 other, if she chanced to step upon the brass plate which served as a 

 slide for the folding doors, she received an unpleasant shock in the 

 foot. When she touched her finger to the chandelier (the room was 

 lighted with gas by a chandelier suspended from the ceiling) there 

 appeared a brilliant spark and a snap, as in the discharge of a Ley- 

 den jar of good size. In many houses the phenomena have been so 

 remarkable as to occasion general surprise and almost alarm. 



After a careful examination of several cases of this kind, I have 

 come to the conclusion that the electricity is excited by the friction 

 of the shoes of the inmates upon the carpets of the house. I have 

 proved, by direct experiment, that electricity is excited by the fric- 

 tion of leather upon woollen cloth. For this purpose I stood upon 

 an insulating stool, and spreading a small piece of carpeting upon a 

 table before me, rubbed a piece of leather vigorously upon it, and 

 then bringing the leather near the cup of a gold-leaf electrometer, 

 the leaves were repelled with great violence. The electricity of the 

 leather was of the resinous kind. Electricity, therefore, must ne- 

 cessarily be excited whenever a person walks with a shuffling mo- 

 tion across a carpet ; but it may be thought remarkable that the elec- 

 tricity should be intense enough to give a bright spark. In order 

 to produce this effect, there must be a combination of some favour- 

 able circumstances. 



1. The carpet, or at least its upper surface, must be entirely of 

 wool, and of a close exture, in order to furnish an abundance of 



VOL. L. NO. C— APRIL 1851. P 



