418 M. R. Kohlrausch's Theoi-y of the 



certain limit R, whicli it only reaches asymptotically. For the 

 same jar this R is a definite part of Q, so that we have R=jdQ. 

 Exactly the same part r, too, is prevented from sharing in the 

 discharge; but as soon as Q — r has been discharged, it imme- 

 diately begins to convert itself into disposable charge, and the 

 conversion, becoming slower and slower, advances towards a cer- 

 tain limit, where we have again a certain part ?•'=/>/-, which has 

 no electroscopic action, and cannot be dischai'ged. 



Instead of considering the part r of the chai-ge (which we have 

 called the concealed residue) as, according to the old hj^othesis, 

 placed in a kind of prison which it cannot leave, either person- 

 ally or with respect to its action, we are still free to assume 

 that it is placed underneath the coating, or, in other words, on 

 the surface of the glass, though subject to an influence formed 

 after, and indeed by the charge imparted to the plate. In order 

 to correspond to the phsenomeua, the magnitude of this new in- 

 fluence must be a function not only of Q, but also of the time; 

 for after imparting the charge to the jar, it must gradually 

 come into existence, increase to a limit dependent upon Q, and 

 finally, after withdrawing the disposable charge, gradually de- 

 crease. 



To the inquiry, what this something may be which can exert 

 an influence on the electricity, the only answer compatible with 

 the pi'esent state of science is, that this something must again be 

 electricity. As to where it resides, the fact that it continues 

 when both coatings are in connexion with the earth, suggests the 

 assumption that its residence is in the insulator, i. e. the glass 

 itself. Lastly, it may be asked, how is it possible that this some- 

 thing, this electricity within the glass, can detain positive elec- 

 tricity under the one coating, and negative under the other ? 

 We may reply, that the fact of opposite sides having opposite 

 actions shows that the glass has assumed a polarity; and finally, 

 if, for the sake of greater clearness, we regard similar conditions, 

 e.g. the magnetic moment, as represented by Gauss in his Inten- 

 sitas, &c., the indefinite notion will be immediately converted into 

 a definite one. 



The definition of magnetic moment, as given by Gauss on the 

 13th page of his celebrated memoir under the hypothesis of a 

 magnetic fluid, can be applied verbatim to the electric fluid of 

 every body, so that the explanations of most electrical phseno- 

 mena might be based upon the electric moment thus defined. 

 Clearly, however, a new expression would be thus unnecessarily 

 introduced for that which, under the terms electromotive force 

 and potential, has already received its name in science. This 

 expression would be particularly inappropriate for conductors, in 

 which the electric moment will be changed by every external in- 



