42 RISEN BY PERSEVERANCE. 



Both coatings will, in consequence, be immediately restored 

 to their natural state. 



That this is the true explanation of the matter, Franklin 

 further demonstrated by a variety of ingenious experiments. 

 In the first place, he found that, if the outer coating was 

 cut off, by being insulated from every conducting body, the 

 inner coating could not be charged ; the electricity in the 

 outer coating had here no means of escape, and it was conse- 

 quently impossible to produce in that coating the requisite 

 negative electricity. On the other hand, if a good conductor 

 was brought within the striking distance from the outside 

 coating, while the process of charging was going on, the 

 expelled fluid might be seen passing away towards it in sparks, 

 in proportion as more was sent from the prime conductor 

 into the inside of the vessel. He observed also that, when 

 a phial was charged, a cork ball, suspended on silk, would 

 be attracted by the one coating when it had been repelled 

 by the other — an additional indication and proof of their 

 opposite states of electricity, as might be easily shown by an 

 analysis of the attractive and repulsive forces operating 

 between the two bodies in each case. 



But Frankhn did not rest contented with ascertaining the 

 principle of the Leyden phial. He made also a very happy 

 application of this principle, which afforded a still more 

 wonderful manifestation than had yet been obtained of the 

 powers of accumulated electricity. Considering the waste that 

 took place, in the common experiment, of the fluid expelled, 

 during the process of charging, from the exterior coating, he 

 conceived the idea of employing it to charge the inner surface 

 of a second jar, which he effected, of course, by the simple 

 expedient of drawing it ofl" by means of a metal rod communi- 



