DISCOUKSE OF W. B. TAYLOR. 245 



of detailing to l,im his own similar combination of two electro- 

 magnetic circuits, experimentally tried more than a year previously * 



andllJfi"- iTVr;"'''.''^'^ '■" '■"^^'8" travel, most pleasantly 

 and beneficially both for mind and body: the greater portion of the 

 time however being spent in London, in Paris, (ihere Henry 

 formed the acquaintance of Arago, Becquerel, De la Rive, Biof 

 Gay-Lussao, and other celebrities,) and in Edinburgh, where he also 

 found a galaxy of eminent and congenial minds "="80 



In September of the same year (1837) he attended the meeting 

 of the British Association, at Liverpool; where being invited f^ 

 speak, he made a brief communication on some electriil rj^h^ 

 m regard to the phenomenon known as the " lateral discharge •" -a 

 study to which he had been led by some remarks of Dr. Eoget on 

 the subject.^ "The result of the analysis was in accordance X Z 

 opinion of Biot- that the lateral discharge is due only to the escap^ 

 of the small quantity of redundant electricity which always exists 

 on one s„le or the other of a jar, and not to the whole di^harge '' 

 Hence we could increase or diminish thelateral action by any means 

 which affect the qu-tity of free electricity i- as by 4 Le::^ 

 of 1 e thickness of the glass, or by substituting for the small knob 

 of the jar a large ball. But the arrangement which produces the 

 greatest effect is that of a long fine copper wire insulate5,_pan.lld 

 to the horizon, and terminated at each end by a small ball. When 

 sparks are thrown on this from a globeof about a foot in diameter, 



InlToTi r •■?" *"*""''= beautifully luminous from one 



_ end to the o her, even ,f it be a hundred feet long : rays are given 

 off on all sides perpendicular to the axis of the wire :"-formine a 

 continuous electrical brush. It was also stated "that the same 

 quantity of electricity could be made to remain on the wire, if graT 

 ually communicated [by a point] ; but when thrown on in the form 

 of a spark it is dissipated as beforedescribed:"_as though possess- 

 mg a kind of momentum. When two or more wires are arranged 

 n. parallel lines (,n electrical connection), only the oute r sides of the 



Princeton. „he„ loaded »uV3vhlrt°;'''°''''"' ""' "•V'VMMly ,n„encl„l 

 . .mail piece or movable™ "rh.,^a,,|„£r', ""'^"V "^"""•"""S "Pward 



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