ELECTRICITY. 337 



electricities of the opposite sides becomes at last 

 powerful enough to force a passage through the 

 glass. 



This remarkable phenomenon was first discovered 

 by Yon Kleist, Dean of the cathedral of Camin. 

 The account he gave of it is as follows : " When a 

 " nail, or a piece of thick brass wire, &c. is put 

 " into a small apothecaries' phial and electrified, 

 " remarkable effects follow; but the phial must be 

 c< vei y (\ V y or warm. I commonly rub it before- 

 " hand with a finger, on which I put some pounded 

 " chalk. If a little mercury, or a few drops of spirits 

 " of wine, be put into it, the experiment succeeds 

 " the better. As soon as this phial and nail are 

 " removed from the electrifying glass, or the prime 

 " conductor to which it hath been exposed, is 

 " taken away, it throws out a pencil of flame so 

 " long, that with this burning machine in my 

 " hand, I have taken above sixty steps, in walking 

 " about my room. When it is electrified strongly, 

 " I can take it into another room, and there fire 

 f spirits of wine with it. If, while it is electrity- 

 " ing, I put my finger, or a piece of gold which I 

 " hold in my hand, to the nail, I receive a shock 

 " which stuns my arms and shoulders." 



This description of the experiment was so im- 

 perfect, that it did not succeed with those to whom 

 he communicated it. 



A short time after, a similar experiment was 

 made at Leyden, which was attended with the 

 same effects. 



When Professor Muschenbroeckwas making some 

 electrical experiments with a phial filled with water, 

 Mr. Cuneus happened to hold the glass vessel in 

 one hand, the water of which had a communication 



vol. i. z 



