WITHDRAWN FROM THE ACTION OF GRAVITY. 659 



62. As stated at the conclusion of § 48, we have yet to de- 

 scribe a remarkable fact which always accompanies the end of 

 the phaenomenon of the transformation of a liquid cylinder into 

 isolated masses. 



In the transformation of large cylinders of oil, whether im- 

 perfect or exact (§ 44 to 46), when the constricted part is con- 

 siderably nan-owed, and the separation seems on the point of 

 occurring, the two masses are seen to flow back rapidly towards 

 the rings or the discs ; but they leave between them a cylindri- 

 cal line which still establishes, for a very short time, the con- 

 tinuity of the one with the other (tig. 28) ; this line then resolves 

 itself into partial masses. It generally divides into three parts, 

 the two extreme ones of which become lost in the two large 

 masses, the intermediate one forming a spherule, some millime- 

 tres in diameter, which remains isolated in the middle of the in- 

 terval which separates the large masses ; moreover, in each of 

 the intervals between this spherule and the two large masses, 

 another very much smaller spherule is seen, which indicates that 

 the separation of the parts of the above line is also effected by 

 attenuated lines ; fig. 29 (PI. VIII.) represents this ultimate state 

 of the liquid system. The same effects are produced when the 

 resolution of the thin and elongated cylinder of oil of § 47 into 

 spheres occurs ; only there is in one or the other of the intervals 

 between the spheres frequently a larger number of spherules ; 

 and besides, the formation of the principal line is less easily ob- 

 served, in consequence of the more rapid progress of the phae- 

 nomena. Lastly, in the case of our cylinders of mercury, the 

 resolution into spheres takes place also in too short a time to 

 allow of our perceiving the formation of the lines ; but we always 

 find, in several of the intervals between the spheres, one or two 

 very minute spherules, whence we may conclude that the separa- 

 tion is effected in the same manner*. 



* We cannot avoid recognizing an analogy between the phsenomenon of the 

 formation of liquid lines, and that of the formation of laminae. In fact, in the 

 experiment in § 23, for instance, the plane layer begins to be formed when the 

 two opposite concave surfaces are almost in contact with each other at their 

 summits; and in the resolution of a cylinder into spheres, the formation of the 

 lines commences when all the meridional sections of the figure almost touch 

 each other by the summits of their concave portions. 



When treating of the layers, we have considered their formation as indi- 

 cating a kind of tendency towards a particular state of equilibrium, which 

 results from the circumstance that in the case of the thin part of the liquid 

 svbtcm the ordinary law of pressures is modified. For the analogy between 

 the two orders of phaenomena to be complete, it would therefore be necessary 

 that excessively delicate liquid lines should connect thick masses, and should 



