with electrified and with heated Liquids. 203 
T accordingly filled a metallic cup with cold water, and 
suspended it from a stand, pari in it a thermometer, 
and acapillary syphon, from which, the water dropped at 
the rate of three drops in two minutes. On placing an 
Argand lamp under the cup, the drops, in a short time, 
succeeded each other somewhat faster than before, and 
when the water reached the boiling point; they amounted 
to three in one minute, or rather more. The bore of this 
syphon was very small, and elliptical ; equal, perhaps, to a 
cylindrical one of 1-50th of an inch in diameter. J after- 
wards repeated the experiment, with a syphon having a 
much larger bore, about 1-18th of an inch in diameter, 
from which the water issued at the rate of 150 drops in a 
minute, when ihe thermometer stood in it at 60°, The 
cup was now suspended as before ovcr an Argand Jamp. 
As soon as the water became warm the drops fell much 
faster; at 110° of the thermometer they could scarcely 
be counted, and at 130° a constant stream was produced, 
which continued to increase in quantity, very slowly, till 
the water began to boil, when it ceased to increase. As 
the water cooled, the same phenomena took place in an 
inverse order. 
Whether the effect was produced by electricity or heat, 
when the large syphon was used, the appearances were very 
nearly the same. The only difference was, that the elec- 
trical fluid scattered the water as it issued from the syphony 
rather more than the heat did. 
I confess that I am at a loss what to deduce from these 
experiments, though they certainly seem to indicate a near 
connection between heat and electricity. 1 shouid be 
obliged to some of your correspondents for their thoughts 
on this subject, if they think the experiment worth notice. 
Is the electric fluid only a peculiar modification of heat? 
or, Is heat a modification of electricity ? . 
When the above experiment is effected by electricity, 
Does it act on the water in the form of heat, by rendering 
it more fluid?) And when the experiment is effected by 
heat, Does this cause the water to flow faster by rendering 
it more fluid ? 
I am aware that if the electrical fluid acts on the water 
in the form of heat, thus rendering it more fluid, no heat 
becomes sensible; and this circumstance seems to prove, 
that the heat and electricity produce the effect, above de- 
scribed, in different ways, Then, I would ask how the 
effect is produced? 
If, sir, the experiment which I have described is new, 
and 
