EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 



ON THE 



ADHESION OF THE PARTICLES OF WATER TO 

 EACH OTHER. 



WE often see small bodies of a specific gravity 

 much exceeding that of water float upon the 

 surface of that fluid. Such, for example, are very small 

 grains of sand, fine filings of the metals, and even small 

 sewing-needles. 



So extraordinary a phenomenon has not failed to 

 excite the attention of philosophers. It formed a sub- 

 ject of discussion at the last sitting of the Class, and as 

 this remarkable fact is intimately connected with a sub- 

 ject of research upon which I have been long employed, 

 I shall here give an account of some experiments I have 

 made to elucidate the same, which have afforded results 

 of considerable interest. 



Suspecting that the presence of air adhering to these 

 small floating bodies, which is generally considered as 

 the cause of their supension, is not indispensably neces- 

 sary for the success of the experiment, I made the fol- 

 lowing experiments. 



Experiment No. i. Having half filled with water a 

 wine-glass one inch and a half in diameter at its edge, 

 I poured on the surface of the water a stratum of sul- 

 phuric ether, one inch and a half in thickness ; and 

 when the whole was perfectly still, I took a very small 



