332 



Mr. Armstrono- on the electrical Phccnometia 



Tlie accompanying figure represents the entire apparatus. 

 A A is a vertical section of the stove ; 

 B is the boiler ; C a graduated safety 

 valve ; D a copper pipe which pro- 

 ceeds out of the boiler through the 

 stuffing-box E, then enters the stove, 

 in which it is coiled three or four 

 times round the boiler a little above 

 the fuel, and finally terminates out- 

 side of the stove in the cock F, at 

 which the steam is discharged, after 

 being thoroughly dried in passing 

 through the pipe thus subjected to 

 the fire. This pipe is easily removed, 

 and instead of it I frequently inserted 

 in the boiler a simple glass tube with 

 a cock upon it. The fuel which I 

 used was coke. 



This apparatus, considering its diminutive size, proved ex- 

 ceedingly eftective. When the rate of evaporation was about 

 a gallon in an hour, and the pressure in the boiler 100 lbs. on 

 the square inch, I could charge a pint coated phial of very 

 thin glass in a couple of minutes, sufficiently to give a rather 

 smart shock. I found the best method of charging the phial 

 was simply to connect its knob with the boiler or the insu- 

 lated stove which contained it, for I could always collect elec- 

 tricity in much greater abundance from the evaporating vessel 

 than from the issuing steam. 



I confidently anticipated, that, in accordance with all former 

 experiments on the subject, the electricity of the evaporating 

 vessel would invariably be negative, and that of the effluent 

 steam uniformly positive; but I soon discovered, to my great 

 surprise, that under certain conditions, these electrical states 

 of the boiler and steam-cloud were reversed. 



Lest it should be suspected that my assertion of this ex- 

 traordinary fact is founded upon erroneous observation, I feel 

 it necessary to state, that I was most unwilling to believe that 

 ejected steam could, under any circumstances, evolve negative 

 electricity, inasmuch as its doing so was diametrically op- 

 posed to the theory which in a former paper I ventured to 

 advance in explanation of the electrical phtenomena of effluent 

 steam, and that 1 was only convinced of the reality of the 

 change, after making repeated trials and applying a variety 

 of tests, which gave the same result in every instance. 



I made numerous experiments to ascertain what the con- 

 ditions were under which the transmutation took place, and 

 am led to believe, from the following circumstances, that an 



