20 ELECTRICAL STRUCTURE AND 



TH BANANA. 



This was really a small plantain, about 7 in. long. 

 After ten minutes' charge D = rapidly off-scale positive ; 

 five minutes later it was 190 mm. positive, and in twelve 

 minutes thirty-five seconds more had gone off-scale 

 negative, that is to say, had fallen 440 mm. It 

 did not, however, quite regain its original polarity until 

 it had been short-circuited through 5,000 ohms for a further 

 twenty minutes. Even so it discharged itself in twenty- 

 eight minutes as against forty -one minutes of the onion, 

 and this I attribute to its comparatively low absolute 

 insulation resistance. 



THE TURNIP. 



I took two examples of this vegetable. The first was 

 oval in shape, weighed 3 oz. 5 and had been kept in a dry 

 room for a week, both poles being dry and fibrous. The 

 second was an almost perfect sphere, 10| in. in circum- 

 ference, weighed 10 oz., and had been recently pulled. 

 The root was not dry, the foliage end white and exuding 

 moisture. No. 1 was charged for ten minutes as before, 

 when D = very rapid off-scale positive. Short-circuited 

 through 5,000 ohms it remained off-scale for thirty-two 

 minutes, and did not regain its former polarity for thirty- 

 three minutes more, showing a slow discharge, but one, 

 after allowing for higher insulation, not inharmonious with 

 the preceding data. Upon examination the right needle 

 was found to be blackened by electrolysis ; the left needle 

 having traces only. 



No. 2. Ten minutes' charge, as before. Immediate 

 D = very rapidly off-scale positive. In three minutes the 

 light returned to 250 mm. positive, and in six minutes 

 more had gone off-scale negative ; the vegetable recovering 



