,'52 Mr. W. G. Armstrong on the Electricity of Efflimit Steam 



could no longer be obtained from the conductorheld in the 

 steam, but the negative electricity of the boiler continued to 

 produce sparks until the steam was entirely exhausted, or as 

 nearly so as possible. These results appear to indicatethat 

 a jet of high-pressure steam is not in reality much more elec- 

 trical than one of low-pressure steam, but merely that the 

 electricity of the high-pressure jet is more easily collected. 



The insulation of the boiler undoubtedly had the effect of 

 diminishing the positive electricity obtained from the steam, 

 but not to such an extent as might have been anticipated. 



A glass tube A (fig. 2), with a cock C affixed to it, having 

 been inserted in the boiler in the manner described in my last 

 letter, another glass tube B, about four feet long, was attached 

 to the cock, and supported at the end furthest from the boiler 

 by a glass rod fixed in the insulating stool. A small brass 

 cylinder D , having a number of pointed wires projecting 

 from one end into the inside, as shown in the section (fig. 3), 



Fig. 2. 



was then joined to the glass tube B, and to this cylinder was 

 added a third glass tube E,so as to extend the channel through 

 which the steam was to be conveyed. A wire with forked 

 points was affixed to the top of the tube E for the purpose of 

 collecting the electricity of the jet, and from this wire a pair 

 of pith-balls was suspended. Another pair of pith-balls was 

 in like manner suspended from a wire screwed into the brass 

 cylinder, all which arrangements will be clearly understood 



