420 OHM ON THE GALVANIC CIRCUIT. 



and by (w) the section of the same part, may also be written 

 thus : 



L ; W («;)• 



This expression leads to a more detailed knowledge of the 

 separation of the electricity in a galvanic circuit. For since 

 A and L designate values which remain identical for each part 

 of the same circuit, it is evident that the dips in the sepa- 

 rate homogeneous parts of a circuit are to one another in- 

 versely as the products of the conductibility, and the section of 

 the part. If consequently a part of the circuit surpasses all 

 others from the circumstance, that the product of its conduc- 

 tibility and its section is far smaller than in the others, it will 

 be the most adapted to reveal, by the magnitude of its dip, 

 the differences of the electric force at its various points. If its 

 actual length is, at the same time, not inferior to those of the 

 other parts, its reduced length will far surpass those of the 

 other parts ; and it is easily conceived that such a relation be- 

 tween the various parts can be brought about, that even its re- 

 duced length may remain far greater than the sum of the 

 reduced lengths of all the other parts. But in this case the 

 reduced length of this one part is nearly equal to the reduced 

 lengths of the entire circuit, so that we may substitute, 



without committing any great eiTor, , . '^ for L, if {t) represent 



the actual length of the said part, {y) its conductibility, and (w) 

 its section ; but then the dip of this part changes nearly into 



A 



[ly 



whence it follows that the difference of the electrical forces at 

 the extremities of this part is nearly equal to the sum of all the 

 tensions existing in the circuit. All the tensions seem, as it 

 were, to tend towards this one part, causing the electrical sepa- 

 ration to appear in it with otherwise unusual energy, when 

 all the tensions, or, at least, the greater part in number and 

 magnitude, are of the same kind. In this way the scarcely 

 perceptible gradation in the separation of the electricity, in 

 closed circuit, may be rendered distinctly evident, which, othei 

 wise, would not be the case without a condenser, on account o| 

 the weak intensity of galvanic forces. This remarkable pro 



