8 Quarterly German Magazine. 



"would immediately escape; but that is only, wlien it is dry, 

 as in damp air all bodies quickly lose all their electricity. 

 This is the reason, why in auditories, where so much humi- 

 dity is mixed with the air, in consequence of the number of 

 human beings collected together, and the quantity of burning 

 lights, it is so difficult to make electrical experiments. 



The electrical particles repel each other, through the 

 swiftness of their motion within the conducting substances,, 

 tiU they arrive at the surface, where they can proceed no- 

 further, in consequence of the air, which is a non-conductor. 

 Therefore all the electricity immanent in the conductor, col- 

 lects itself on the surface, and forms there a thin layer. 

 The greater the quantity of electricity accumulated in a body, 

 the thicker is the layer, and the stronger the power, with 

 which the repulsed particles strive to reach the exterior. This 

 is called electric tension. Is the tension very great, the elec- 

 tricity escapes, in spite of the resistance of the surrounding 

 air. Therefore every body can only be charged with electri- 

 city to a certain extent, which must depend on the nature of 

 tibe body, and that by which it is surrounded. 



If for example, a body charged with positive electricity 

 approaches another insulated conductor, then the free elec- 

 tricity of the former attracts the opposite state of electricity 

 in the latter and repulses that which is of a similar kind ta 

 its own. The ingredients of the neutral electricity of the 

 second body will, therefore, be decomposed through the in- 

 fluence of the electricity of the first body, the positive elec- 

 tricity accumulates ia the end which is averted from the first 

 body, and the negative in that, which is turned towards it. If 

 we remove the bodies from one another, then the decomposed 

 electricities of the second body unite again, and the body be- 



(180) 



