4 Suspension of Ball in a Jet of Steam. 
prodigious evolution of electricity which it is practicable to 
obtain by the agency of steam. 
Although it is perfectly clear that the electricity is excited 
in the discharging passage where the steam is exposed to vio- 
lent friction, yet as the mode of ejection which I have de- 
scribed is neither characterized by peculiar violence of fric- 
tion, nor by great extent of rubbing surface acted upon by 
the steam, I feel great difficulty in accounting for its extraor- 
dinary efficacy, upon the supposition that frictzon is the ex- 
clusive cause of the excitation. 
In the course of my experiments I have observed a very 
singular effect of a jet of steam, which, as far as I am aware, 
has never been noticed in any publication, and which I there- 
fore take this opportunity of mentioning, although it is quite 
unconnected with electricity. 
If a ball A, fig. 4, be immersed in a vertical jet of high- 
Fig. 4. 
pressure steam, the ball will remain suspended in the jet with- 
out any other support than it derives from the steam, and if it be 
pulled to one side by means of a string as shown in the figure, 
a very palpable force will be found requisite to draw it out of 
the jet. ‘The experiment may be varied, and rendered ex- 
