VOL. XXVI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 465 



wet on all their parts : therefore to make it more obvious, I put a small piece 

 of thin paper on each corner ; by which means, when laid the one on the other, 

 they became separated by such a distance, as is equal to the thickness of the 

 paper. In this manner I plunged one end into some strongly tinged liquor, 

 when immediately the water ran slowly and gradually, sometimes higher in one 

 part than in another, shooting itself very prettily into branches, and so would 

 continue, till it had arrived at its greatest height ; which would be according to 

 the distance the planes were placed asunder : for if two pieces of paper were 

 laid on each corner of the planes, the water would not ascend so high between 

 them, as when they were separated by only one. And then, if the planes were 

 at all declined, the water would still spread itself farther and farther, according 

 to the degree of declination. 



ExpER. II. Having seen the success of the former experiment in the open 

 air, I wished to try what would be the effect in vacuo. Accordingly I fixed the 

 two planes in such a manner to a brass wire, which passed through the cover 

 of a receiver, that I could make them descend at pleasure. In this manner I 

 conveyed them with a dish of tinged liquor, within the receiver; which being 

 placed on the pump, I proceeded to exhaust its contained air. That being 

 done, I plunged the planes (separated by pieces of thin paper as before) jnto 

 the water, where also it ascended between them ; only there appeared more 

 intervals, or spaces, between the branches of the ascending liquid, than in the 

 former experiment ; but when I admitted the air, those intervals vanished, and 

 an intire body of the liquid succeeded: yet the exact form of the upper parts 

 of it remained unaltered. 



ExPER. III. By these experiments I found, that neither the figure of the 

 vessel, nor the presence of the air, did anywise contribute to the production 

 of the appearance. To try therefore whether the quanity of matter would 

 help to resolve the mystery, I took two tubes of an equal bore, but of very 

 unequal substances, one of them being at least ten times the thickness of the 

 other; yet when I came to plunge them into the liquid, its ascent seemed to 

 be alike in both. In order therefore to endeavour to account for the phenome- 

 non, I would propose a magnet, that operates with equal vigour under similar 

 circumstances. Thus, 1st. A magnet of any form will attract iron; so by the 

 first experiment, the figure of the vessel seems no way to contribute to the 

 ascent of the water. 2d. The magnet is no ways lessened in its vigour of at- 

 tractioUj even in so thin a medium as a vacuum: so, by the second experiment, 

 the presence of the air is no ways necessary to assist in the ascent of the water, 

 in small tubes, or between the planes. 3dly. A magnet, as suppose one of a 

 pound weight, that will take up, or suspend a piece of iron of the like weight, 



VOL. V. 3 O 



