WITHDRAWN FROM THE ACTION OF GRAVITY. 637 



is considerable in proportion to the diameter, remains without 

 undergoing any perceptible alteration so long as the oil of which 

 it consists has sufficient rapidity of transference ; but when the 

 oil is no longer poured into the funnel, and consequently the 

 motion of transference is retarded, the cylinder is soon seen to 

 resolve itself rapidly into a series of spheres, which are per- 

 fectly equal in diameter, equally distributed, and with their 

 centres arranged upon the right line forming the axis of the 

 cylinder. 



To obtain perfect success, the elements of the experiment 

 should be in certain proportions. The orifice of the funnel 

 which I used was about 3 millims in diameter, and 11 centims. 

 in height. It rested upon the neck of a large bottle containing 

 the alcoholic mixture, and its orifice was plunged a few milli- 

 metres only beneath the surface of the liquid. Lastly, the length 

 of the cylinder of oil, or the distance between the orifice and 

 the lower mass, was nearly 20 centims. Under these circum- 

 stances, three spheres were constantly formed, the upper of 

 which remained adherent to the point of the funnel ; the latter 

 was theretore incomplete. We may add, that the excess of 

 alcohol contained in the mixture should neither be too great nor 

 too small ; the proper quantity is found by means of a few pre- 

 liminary trials. 



48. The constancy and regularity of the result of this experi- 

 ment complete then the proof that the phagnomena to which the 

 spontaneous rupture of equilibrium of an unstable liquid cylinder 

 gives rise, are governed by determinate laws. 



In this same experiment, the transformation ensues too 

 rapidly to allow of its phases being well observed ; but the phae- 

 nomena presented to us by larger and less elongated cylinders, 

 i. e. the formation of a dilatation and constriction in juxtaposition, 

 and equal or nearly so in length, the gradual increase in thick- 

 ness of the dilated portion and the simultaneous narrowing of 

 the constricted portion, &c., authorize us to conclude that in the 

 case of a cylinder the length of which is considerable in propor- 

 tion to the diameter, the following order of things takes place : — 

 The figure becomes at first so modified as to present a regular 

 and uniform succession of dilated portions, separated by con- 

 stricted portions of the same length as the former, or nearly so. 

 This alteration, the indications of which are very slight, gra- 

 dually becomes more and more marked, the constricted portions 



VOL,. V. PART XXI. 2 X 



