T II E 

 LONDON, EDINBURGH and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 



JUNE 1855. 



LVII. On the Action of Non-conducting Bodies in Electric Induc- 

 tion. By P. Riess*. 



ELECTRIC induction, that wonderful property which an 

 electrified body possesses of eliciting two electricities in 

 any body in its vicinity, has been the subject of many investiga- 

 tions which would have been quite superfluous had. the clear 

 insight into that phsenomenon, already obtained, been strictly 

 adhered to. According to the conclusion deduced from Frank- 

 lin's theory, and accepted without question by CEpinus, Coulomb 

 and Poisson, the body provided with two electricities does not act 

 differently from what it would do if it were possible to withdraw 

 the induction, and to electrify the induced body directly, and 

 in exactly the same manner, by means of a rubbed glass rod and 

 piece of sealing-wax. According to this view, every experiment in 

 which an induced and an inducing body are allowed to act upon 

 a third body, becomes a particular case of so complicated a nature 

 as to render its investigation apparently quite useless. If we 

 reflect that the determination of the electric distribution upon a 

 body subject to the simple induction of another electrified body 

 is a problem not yet solved, nor perhaps capable of general solu- 

 tion, it will be evident that to determine, according to general 

 laws, the influence of three different quantities of electricity, 

 whose distribution is unknown, upon any body, would be a fruit- 

 less undertaking. But, inasmuch as the true notions of induc- 

 tion have been departed from, it lias become necessary to Inves- 

 tigate particular cases of the above kind for the sole purpose of 

 bringing the results of experiment into harmony with the theory 

 above mentioned. Thus, a long time ago, I considered the sim- 



* From Poggendorft's Annalen, vol. xcii. p. 337. 

 Phil. Mag. S. 4. Vol. 9. No. Gl. June 1855. 2 D 



