Er-ECTRicrrr. 343 



happen to be near him, prohibiting their touching, 

 or even coming too near, any part of the apparatus : 

 for if a mistake in performing other experiments 

 may be disagreeable, those in the discharge of a 

 large battery may be attended with dangerous 

 consequences. 



The charge of a large jar, or a battery, sent 

 through a piece of very slender wire, makes it 

 instantly red-hot, melts it, and if the fusion is com- 

 plete, reduces it into globules of different magni- 

 tudes. For this purpose, you need only make the 

 wire a part of the circuit; for instance, place it 

 between the wires of the universal discharger, 

 which will be described afterwards. The fine 

 turnings or shavings of steel, which may be had 

 at the philosophical instrument-maker's, are very 

 easily fused, even by a small shock. But a wire 

 of the fiftieth part of an inch, or upwards, requires 

 a considerable battery to fuse it. The force of a 

 battery may be estimated by the length of wire 

 which its discharge is able to fuse. 



Take two slips of common window-glass, about 

 three inches long, and half an inch broad; put a 

 small slip of gold, silver, or brass leaf between 

 them, leaving a little of the metallic leaf out of 

 the glasses at the two ends, and place the glass 

 slips between the boards of the press of the univer- 

 sal discharger; then by connecting the wires of 

 the discharger with the projecting extremities of 

 the metallic leafj send a charge of a battery through 

 it; the consequence is, that the glasses are gene- 

 rally shattered by it; but whether they are broken 

 or not, they will be found indelibly marked by the 

 metal, which is forced so far into the pores of the 

 glass, as not to be affected even by the menstrua 

 which otherwise are wont to dissolve it. 



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