Silk Manufacture. 237 



them. , Thus incited, their philosophic wearer proceeded to 

 make some further observations on the subject. He found, that 

 by merely drawing his hand several times backwards and forwards 

 over his leg while the stockings were upon it, he produced, in 

 great perfection, the following appearances. 



' On the stockings being taken off separately and held within a 

 certain distance of each other, both appeared to be highly excit- 

 ed, the white stocking vitreously, the black one resinously.* 

 While kept at a small distance from each other, they were so in- 

 flated that they ei hibited the entire shape of his leg; and if brought 

 somewhat nearer, would immediately rush together. The infla- 

 tion gradually subsided as they thus approached, and their attrac- 

 tion of extraneous objects diminished as their mutual attraction 

 increased, so that when they actually met, they became flat and 

 adhered together Hke so many folds of silk. On being again 

 separated, their electric powers did not seem to be at all impair- 

 ed, and they continued for a considerable time to afford a repeti- 

 tion of these appearances. If the two white stockings were held 

 in one hand, and the black ones in the other, they were thrown 

 into a strange agitation, owing to the attraction exercised between 

 those of difterent colors, and the repulsion between those of the 

 same color. This conflicting of attractions and repulsions caus- 

 ed the stockings to rush to each other from greater distances than 

 they would otherwise have done, and " afforded a very curious 

 spectacle." 



' If the stockings were allowed to meet, they adhered together 

 with considerable force. They required at one time a weight of 

 twelve ounces for their separation; and on another occasion, when 

 they were more highly electrified, they sustained, in a direction 

 parallel to their surface, as many as seventeen ounces, which was 

 twenty times the weight of the stockings. If one were placed 

 within the other, it required a weight equal to twenty ounces to 

 separate them, although half of this sufficed for the purpose if the 

 stockings were applied to each other externally. 



' The black stockings being newly dyed, and the white ones 

 first washed and then bleached by exposure to the vapor of sul- 

 phur, their mutual attraction was seen to be much increased. 

 Under these circumstances, if one was placed within the other 

 with their rough sides together, it required a force of three pounds 

 and three ounces to separate them. 



' With stockings of more substantial make, the cohesion was 

 found to be still stronger. A white stocking of this description 



*• Vitreous and resinous electricity used to be termed positive and negative. 



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