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94 On the Generation of Statical Electricity. 
In completing a course of experiments with this object in view, 
results have been obtained in the excitation of statical electricity, 
deemed of sufficient value to merit attention. 'The invention of 
electrical machines being of such long standing, and the subject 
having received the attention of so many eminent persons, the wri- 
ter, with some hesitation, ventures to suggest ideas derived from 
his own observations. The improvements proposed, however, 
being few in number and of simple application, he has thought 
proper to state them, allowing each one who may feel interested, 
an opportunity of satisfying himself of their utility. 
Russers.—Commencing with the rubber of the machine, as 
the supposed principal source of failure, it was proposed to ascer- 
tain, first, its mode of action ; second, that substance which would 
be most efficient in its action. 
In regard to its mode of action, the questions which presented 
themselves, were—does it produce electricity by friction, by 
chemical action, or by friction and chemical action ? 
Assuming at first that the effect is produced by friction, its 
mode of action appears to be as follows. ‘The rubber touches the 
glass at any given moment with a certain number of its parts or 
points, and does not, therefore, come into contact with the re- 
mainder; the friction of these points generates the two electrici- 
ties,* of which the positive remains with the glass, and the nega- 
tive with the rubber. At the succeeding moment, the excited 
parts of the glass have passed opposite to those points of the rubber 
which do not touch; an inductive action then takes place—the 
positive electricity of the rubber is repelled, and the negative at- 
tracted, by the excited portions of the glass. If the negative elec- 
tricity produced by the first action, has remained with the rubber, 
it will then be in such excess at the points in question, as to force 
itself throngh the thin intervening stratum of air, and neutralize 
the corresponding positively excited points of glass. 
Hence to remove the negative electricity is of the first impor- 
tance; and the necessity of being freed from it was perceived in 
the earliest experiments. Should this be accomplished, however, 
as perfectly as possible, it is evident that a diminished similar ef- 
fect would necessarily take place, rendering neutral a quantity of 
electricity already excited. What has been observed of the situa- 
*It isnot intended to assume that electricity is one or more fluids, but the ordina- 
ry language is used fur convenience. 
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