CONDUCTION OF ELECTRICITY. 129 



touched. [The Lecturer stood upon the in- 

 sulating stool, and placed himself in connection 

 with the conductor of the machine.] Now, I am 

 electrified, I can feel my hair rising up as the 

 paper tassel did just now. Let us see whether 

 I can succeed in lighting gas by touching the 

 jet with my finger. [The Lecturer brought his 

 finger near a jet from which gas was issuing, 

 when after one or two attempts the spark which 

 came from his finger to the jet set fire to the 

 gas.] You now see how it is that this power of 

 electricity can be transferred from the matter in 

 which it is generated, and conducted along wires 

 and other bodies, and thus be made to serve new 

 purposes utterly unattainable by the powers we 

 have spoken of on previous days ; and you will 

 not now be at a loss to bring this power of elec- 

 tricity into comparison with those which we have 

 previously examined, and to-morrow we shall be 

 able to go further into the consideration of these 

 transferable powers. 



