ON THE NATUEE OF THE ELECTRIC DIS- 

 CHARGE. THE ONE-FLUID AND THE TWO- 

 FLUID THEORIES. 



Francis E. Niphek. 



It is now nearly three years since the writer began a 

 search for some direct and tangible evidence which would 

 determine the direction of flow of the electric current in 

 a conductor. The phenomena revealed by the study of 

 radio-active bodies had shown that we have in the ft 

 particles an agent which fills the requirements of an 

 " electric fluid." The a particles are evidently incapable 

 of flowing through a conducting wire. But it did not 

 seem impossible that the a particles might be com- 

 posed of a nucleus and a similar fluid which might have 

 the properties of the positive fluid. 



In the present paper an attempt will be made to present 

 evidence with which all are familiar, and which has been 

 accumulating during many years, which seems important 

 in determining the nature of the current in a wire con- 

 ductor. Additional evidence will be presented which 

 seems to be inconsistent with the two-fluid theory. 



The results of Wheatstone's work on the velocity of an 

 electric disturbance are in harmony with either the one- 

 fluid or the two-fluid hypothesis. An examination of 

 Wheatstone's paper 1 revealed the fact that his drawings 

 of the rotating mirror show a device which is incapable 

 of a rotation of 800 times per second. The mirror is not 

 central on the shaft. The spark knob which permitted 

 the passage of the spark when the mirror was in the 

 proper position for observing the image of the spark 

 board was balanced by a similar knob on the opposite side 

 of the shaft. But in order that only one spark should 



Presented before The Academy of Science of St. Louis, Jan. 17, 1910. 

 1 Phil. Tr. R. Soc. 1834. 



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