508 Mr Owen, On the Magnetic Deflexion of the Negative 



From this table it will be seen that the heating process 

 described above has brought Wire III. into a state wherein the 



Table VIII. 



negative discharge is very nearly wholly composed of a stream of 

 corpuscles. 



Summary and Discussion of Results. 



1. General result : — The current of negative electricity from 

 a hot platinum wire at low pressures is mainly carried by cor- 

 puscles ; the proportion of corpuscles to heavy particles is at 

 least four to one. 



2. From 10 to 20 per cent, of the discharge from an un- 

 cleaned wire newly set up and also from a wire which has been 

 cleaned by boiling in nitric acid is carried by heavy particles. 



3. By prolonged heating of the wire and frequently renewing 

 the air in the apparatus the wire can be brought to such a state 

 that the proportion of heavy particles in the discharge is only 

 about 5 per cent, even at very high temperatures. 



4. At low temperatures even for wires that have not been 

 subjected to prolonged heating the discharge is wholly carried by 

 corpuscles. The value of e/m for these corpuscles was found to 

 be 1-41 x 10 7 . 



5. The magnitude of the discharge after various treatments 

 of the wire suggests that the discharge is due primarily to the 

 ionisation of gases (probably hydrogen) occluded in the wire. 

 This confirms the result obtained by Dr H. A. Wilson. 



