128 Account of soyne further Electrical Experiments. 



friction, and make it a continual circle by the intermedium of 

 the conductor, while the rotation of the apparatus lasts. 



For the first two experiments, it is only necessary to fix a 

 large copper wire with a well polished knob in the lower metal 

 of the conductor, which is supj)orted on the column of glass ; 

 and a second similar wire in that which supports the cushion on 

 the second column of glass. These copper wires in a perfect 

 state of insulation ought to bend on the side opposite to the 

 handle, in order that we may remove or bring close these 

 knobs to the distance proper for the experiments. For instance, 

 for the first experiment, which seems to prove that the best iso- 

 lated apparatus produces the same number of sparks, and at the 

 same degree of strength, as when the cushions communicate 

 with the floor, we bring the knobs to the distance at which we 

 obtain the strongest sparks. If we turn the cylinder for a whole 

 hour, neither the number nor strength of the sparks will be di- 

 minished ; and, as I have observed, it will be the same when we 

 communicate alternately with the cushion and the conductor. 



In the second experiment Mr. Lugt places a bottle on an in- 

 sulator: a crooked wire which communicates with the external 

 coating of the bottle, presents as in my experiment its knob be- 

 fore that of the interior coating, in order to obtain a detonation 

 at the time of each saturation. Present in the state of insula- 

 tion the knob of the copper wire which communicates with the 

 cushion, against the stalk of the exterior coating of the bottle, 

 and that of the conductor against that of the interior. If the 

 distance of the knobs is proper for obtaining the strongest de- 

 tonations, their force and their number will neither augment nor 

 diminish any thing in the insulation of all the apparatus, excejit 

 by making a communication alternately with the ground, either 

 by means of the cushion or the conductor: conse(|uently Mr. 

 Lugt concludes, the floor contributes nothing to the charge of 

 theLeyden phial; and the attraction which acts, is owing to the 

 disk, which tends to resume its e([uilibrium,and attracts towards 

 it the fluid excited- by friction. In a note Mr. Lugt compares 

 this circulatory action to the Voltaic pile. 



When I mentioned, in two of my letters to M. De la Metherie, 

 the experiments of the Leyden philosopher (and which were 

 published in tlie Dutch language in two small volumes in 1802 

 and 1803), I also admitted the theory of the two fluids: I en- 

 deavoured in consequence to make them bend to the two cur- 

 rents. Several subsequent experiments have made me abandon 

 this theory for that of Franklin modified. 



What gives me most pleasure is to find a confirmation by facts, 

 of the theory of elective attractions, and the tendency which all 



bodies 



