470 OHM ON THE GALVANIC CIRCUIT. 



equal to, or smaller than R. Masses attached anywhere to 

 the circuit will accordingly make the indications of the con- 

 denser approximate to its maximum in proportion as they are 

 greater, and a circuit touched at any place w ill constantly pro- 

 duce in the condenser the maximum of increase. 



The preceding determinations suppose that one plate of the 

 condenser remains constantly touched deductively. We will 

 nowr take into consideration the case w^here the two plates of 

 an insulated condenser are connected with various points of 

 a galvanic circuit. In the first place, it is evident that the two 

 plates of the condenser will assume the same difference of free 

 electricity which the various places of the circuit with which 

 they are in contact require unconditionally, from the peculiar 

 nature of galvanic actions. Consequently, if d represents the 

 difference of the electroscopic force at the two places of the cir- 

 cuit, and u the free electricity of one plate of the condenser, 

 then w + c? is the free electricity of the other plate, and every- 

 thing will depend on finding, from the known free electricities 

 existing in the plates of the condenser, those actually present in 

 them. If, for this purpose, we call A the actual intensity of 

 electricity in the plate, whose free electricity i^ u + d, then 

 K — u — d represents the portion retained in the same plate ; in 

 the same manner B — « designates the portion of electricity re- 

 tained in the plate, whose free electricity is u, when B represents 

 the actual intensity of the electricity in this plate. If now w^e 

 represent by n the relation between the electricity retained by 

 one plate, and the actual electricity of the other plate, the fol- 

 lowing two equations arise : 



A — M — r? + n B = 0, 

 B — u + «. A = 0, 

 from which the values A' and B result, as follows : 



. _d + u{\—n) ) 



B = 



{\ —n) —n d 



1 - /i^ 



But from the theory of the condenser, it is well known that 



a 1 . 



\—n= — , if TO Is the number of charges of the condenser; 



if, therefore, we substitute — for 1 — n- in the expressions foi 



