410 OHM ON THE GALVANIC CIRCUIT. 



mine completely the figure F G H I in eveiy case, and also to 

 distinguish perfectly the mode of electrical separation in the 

 ring. All the peculiarities, hitherto considered separately, of 

 the ring composed of two heterogeneous parts, may be summed 

 up in the following manner : In a galvanic circuit consisting of 

 two heterogeneous prismatic parts, there takes place in regard to 

 its electrical state a sudden transition from the one part to the 

 other at each point of excitation, forming the tension there oc- 

 curring, and from one extremity of each point to the other a 

 gradual and uniform transition ; and the dips of these two trans- 

 itions are inversely 2}roportional to the products of the conducti- 

 bilities and sections of each part. 



Proceeding in this manner, we are able without much diffi- 

 culty to inquire into the electrical state of a ring composed of 

 three or more heterogeneous parts, and to arrive at the following 

 general law : In a galvanic circuit consisting of any indefinite 

 number of prismatic parts, there takes place in regard to its elec- 

 trical state at each place of excitation a sudden transition, from 

 one part to the other, forming the tension there prevailing, and 

 within each part a gradual and uniform transition from the one 

 extremity to the other ; and the dips of the various transitions 

 are inversely proportional to the products of the conductibilities 

 and sections of each part. From this law may easily be deduced 

 the entire figure of the separation for each particular case, as I 

 will now show by an example. 



Let A. B C D (fig. 3) be a ring composed of three heteroge- 

 neous parts, open at one of its places of excitation, and extended 

 in a straight line. The straight lines F G, H I, K L represent 

 by their position the mode of separation of the electricity in each 

 individual part of the ring, and the lines A F, B G, B H, CI, 

 C K, and D E drawn through A, B, C and D perpendicular to 

 A D such quantities that G H, K I and L M or D L — A F, 

 show by their length the magnitude of the tensions occurring 

 at the individual places of excitation. From the known magni-' 

 tude of these tensions, and from the given nature of the single 

 parts A B, B C, and C D, the figure of the electrical separation-^ 

 has to be entirely determined. 



If we draw straight lines parallel to AD, through the points- 

 F, H and K, meeting the line drawn through B, C and D per- 

 pendicular to A D, in the points F', H', K', then according to 

 what has akeady been demonstrated, the lines G F', I H' and 



I 



