134 ELEMENTS OF STATIC ELECTRICITY. 



escent at first, showing only a glow of light ; but, as 

 the electricity accumulates, there is a sudden outburst 

 from it, accompanied by phenomena of the most inter- 

 esting and varied character. 



A brush of light, of a faint white, or violet color, 

 darts across the intervening space, diverging towards 

 the center, and converging as it meets the brush from 

 the opposite electrode ; forming an elliptical figure, two 

 or three inches in diameter, extending from one elec- 

 trode to the other. Through the center of this brush 

 shoot out long tongues of red and violet light, curving 

 and branching in a variety of fantastic forms. Some- 

 times five or six of these appear at once, like fiery 

 serpents, hissing, spitting, and darting out their red 

 forked tongues. Sometimes the appearance is that of 

 a miniature tree, its main trunk branching off at various 

 angles and curves. Then, again, the brush disappears, 

 and we have a single, straight, violet colored stem, 

 about | of an inch long, which divides into a great 

 number of bright rays, radiating in straight lines from 

 the end of the stem, and forming a globe of white light, 

 about three inches in diameter : the whole resembling 

 a little bush of remarkably regular appearance, in 

 marked contrast with the curved and contorted phe- 

 nomena just described. 



Between this, and the short brush on the opposite 

 electrode, a dark space intervenes, into which the rays 

 pass and intermingle ; the brush from the electrode R 

 being largely in excess of the other, and showing far 

 greater energy ; but more fitful, coming at first in jets, 

 with a spitting sound, while the other is more constant, 

 with a steady, hissing sound. 



As explained on page 118, electric movement is from 



