HYDROSTATICS. 185 



experiments are those of Dr BREWSTER, made with 

 a tube in which the diameter of the bore was .0561 

 of an inch ; the ascent was .587, and the product of 

 the two, .0327 of a square inch, a quantity that 

 is constant, or the same for all capillary tubes. Dif- 

 ferent fluids ascend to different heights ; water as- 

 cends the highest of all. See Edinburgh Encyclo- 

 paedia, art. Capillary Attraction. 



b. It follows also from the above, that the weights of 

 the columns of water sustained in capillary tubes, 

 are as the diameters of those tubes. 



c. Though the rise of water above its natural level is 

 most manifest in small tubes, it appears, in a de- 

 gree, in all vessels whatsoever, by a ring of water 

 formed round the sides, with a concavity upwards. 



d. The height to which water rises in a capillary 

 tube, is not affected by the thickness of the glass. 



- 



272. Capillary suspension takes place, though 

 the tube be not immersed in water, providing a 

 drop of water adhere to the lower end. 



273. The surface of the water in a capillary 

 tube is concave upwards ; and if by taking the 

 tube out of the water, and inclining it, the fluid 

 be made to move along it, the concavity appears at 

 both ends of the column, and is the same in figure 

 and size whether the tube be held perpendicularly, 

 horizontally, or obliquely. 



2 * This 



