122, Dr. Hare’s improved Deflagrator. {Aue., 
ing shoot is sometimes cylindrical, but more generally it is that. 
of.a knob connected with the main piece of charcoal by a slen- 
der neck, much resembling some stalagmites. It is always a 
clear addition to the /ength of the charcoal, which does not suffer 
any waste except on the parts daterally contiguous to the pro- 
jecting point. 
“ The charcoal of the negative pole in the mean time under- 
goes.a change precisely the reverse. Its point instantly disap- 
pears, anda crater-shaped cavity appears in its place ; it suffers 
a rapid diminution in tlie direction ofits length, and immediately 
under the projecting and increasing point of the positive pole ; 
but it is not diminished, or very little, on the parts laterally con- 
tiguous. If the point of the positive pole be moved over various 
parts of the contiguous negative charcoal, it produces a crater- 
shaped cavity over every place where it rests, for an instant. In 
every repetition of the experiment (and the repetitions have 
been numerous), this result has invariably occurred. Jt appears 
as if the matier at the point of the negative pole was actually 
ransferred do the positive, and that the accumulation there is pro- 
duced by a current flowing from the negative to the positive, or at 
* least by an attraction exerted in that direction, and not in the 
other. It does not appear easy to reconcile this fact with any 
electrical or igneous theory. 
“In order to ascertain whether the projection of the charcoal at 
the positive pole was caused by an actual transfer of carbon from 
the negative, a piece of metal was substituted for the charcoal 
at the negative pole, and when the two were brought into con- 
tact, the charcoal point of the positive pole remained unaltered 
in form, although a little shortened by the combustion. The 
experiments with the two charcoal points were varied by trans- 
ferring, that at the positive end (and on which a projection was 
already formed) to the opposite pole, and that at the negative, 
and in which a corresponding cavity appeared to the positive. 
“The result was that the cavity now placed at the positive pole 
disappeared, and was immediately seen at the negative ; while 
the projection now placed at the negative pole was transferred to 
the positive. These experiments. were several times repeated, 
and uniformly with the same result. They seem to leaye no 
doubt that there is a current fromthe negative to the positive pole, 
and that carbon is actually transferred by it in that direction ; * 
if transferred, it must probably be in the state of vapour, since it 
passes through the ignited arch of flame, which is formed when 
the points are withdrawn a little distance ; when it arrives at the 
positive pole, it there concretes ina fluid, or at least in a soft, or 
‘ pasty’ state. 
* Those who would contend for a current in the opposite direction would probably 
say, that the projecting point of the positive pole is formed from the carbon contiguous on 
the sides, and that the stream of heat burns the cavity in the opposite pole; in either 
way a current is proved. 
