WITHDRAWN FROM THE ACTION OF GRAVITY. 



667 



times presented itself, which consisted in the simultaneous for- 

 mation of two constrictions with an intermediate dilatation ; 

 this modification ceased when it had attained a very slightly 

 marked degree, and the figure appeared to remain in the same 

 state for a considerable period*; then one of the constrictions 

 became gradually more marked, whilst the other disappeared, 

 and the transformation afterwards went on in the usual manner. 

 As this peculiarity constituted an exception to the regular 

 course of the phaenomenon, I ceased to reckon as soon as it 

 showed itself, and I again re-established the cylindrical form. 

 The estimation of the time was only definitively continued in those 

 cases in which, after some persistence in the cylindrical form, a 

 single constriction only was produced. 



I repeated the experiment upon each of the two cylinders 

 twenty times, in order to obtain a mean result. As soon as one 

 transformation was completed, I reunited the two masses to 

 which it had given rise, and again formed the cylinderf, in order 

 to proceed to a new measure of the time. 



The number of seconds are given below ; each expresses the 

 time which elapsed from the moment of the transformation of 

 the cylinder to that of the rupture of the line. These periods 

 were determined by means of a watch, which beat the l^ths of a 

 second. 



Cylinder Cylinder 



1 5 millims. in diameter. 30 millims. in diameter. 



• We shall see, in the following series, to what this singular modification in 

 the figure is owing. 



f 'J'liis was effected by conducting the large mass towards the small one, by 

 means of the ring of which I spoke in the first note to paragraph 4G. But care 

 must be taken to prevent the ring, on separating from the liquid figure, from 



