J 26 Notice of some Recent 



plate presents a surface equal to that of the liquid, the 

 current proceeds from all parts of the surface with an equal 

 force ; but in the present instance, this does not happen, 

 and the electricity directs itself to the ■point where it can most 

 readily discharge itself. The facility in discharging depends 

 on the conductibility of the bodies which receive the dis- 

 charges and electric currents ; and in general, bodies con- 

 duct well in proportion as they are short and thick. In 

 the first case mentioned, where the conducting liquid 

 possesses uniform dimensions, we find that the current 

 passes from every part of the plate with an equal intensity, 

 because every part has a corresponding liquid stream, con- 

 ducting equally in relation to mass and length. When the 

 canal is narrower in the middle, this contraction carries 

 off from the lateral streams of fluid a part of their mass, 

 and renders their conducting power inferior. The contrary 

 takes place, when the canal is expanded in the middle ; a 

 new mass is added to the lateral streams of the liquid, and 

 increases their conductibility. In the case of the two plates 

 mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph, the streams 

 of the surrounding liquid mass unite with those which 

 establish the direct communication between the edges of 

 the two plates, and thus present a great number of ad- 

 ditional conductors for the electricity which arrives at these 

 edges, — conductors which are entirely absent in the central 

 parts. 



5th. If two piles, of equal tension, are charged with diffe- 

 rent strengths of liquid, the one to produce a current of 40°, 

 and the other of 5°, the strongest current will divide into 

 two streams, one of which, will circulate by itself, and the 

 other will unite with the feeblest current, and circulate 

 with it. When the poles of two piles, of equal tension, are 

 placed parallel, but in an opposite direction, there appear 

 to be three currents circulating, one for each pile, and a 

 third common to both. When the poles are placed parallel, 

 and in the same direction, the two piles are discharged in- 

 dependently ; and hence, it appears that two piles cannot 

 make part of the same circuit, unless the currents are 

 obliged to cross each other in the conducting liquid. 



Nobili terminates his paper with some theoretical views 

 in reference to the efficacy of doubling the surface of the 



