on the Wires of the Electric Telegraph. 27 
It might at first be supposed that the redundant electricity of 
the conductor would exhaust itself in giving off the first spark, 
and that a second discharge could not take place ; but it should 
be observed, that the wave of free electricity, in its passage, is 
constantly attracted to the wire by the portion of the uncharged 
conductor which immediately precedes its position at any time ; 
and hence but a part of the whole redundant electricity is given 
off at one place ; the velocity of transmission of the wave as it 
same path in rapid succession, or of a continuous discharge which 
has an appreciable duration ; and hence the wire of the telegraph 
18 capable of transmitting an immense quantity of the fluid thus 
distributed over a great length of the conductor, = 
The remarkable facts of the explosions of the electricity into 
the air, and of the poles being struck in interrupted succession, 
find a plausible explanation in another electrical principle which I 
have established, namely, in all cases of the disturbance of the 
equilibrium of the electrical plenum, which we must suppose to 
exist throughout all terrestrial space, the state of rest is attained 
by a series of diminishing oscillations. ‘Thus, in the discharge of 
a Leyden jar, I have shown that the phenomena exhibited can- 
not be explained by merely supposing the transfer of a quantity 
of fluid from the inner to the outer side of the jar; but in addi- 
tion to this we are obliged to admit the existence of several 
waves, backwards and forwards, until the equilibrium is attained. 
thus enhance the tendency of the fluid at these points to fly from 
the conductor. I do not say that the effects observed were actu- 
