THE 



LONDON, EDINBURGH, ajsd DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[FIFTH SERIES.] 



SEPTEMBER 1882. 



XIX. On the Electricity of Flame. 

 By Julius Elster and "Hans G-eitel*. 



[Plate IT. figs. 1-4.] 



§ 1. Introduction. 



ON the electricity of flame there is already a long series of 

 memoirs ; but in many respects they contradict one 

 another, both in regard to the results and also to the views 

 advocated by the different authors as to the cause of flame- 

 electricity. As Holtzf has briefly given a very perspicuous 

 digest of all the memoirs which refer to the electrical beha- 

 viour of flames, a reiterated historical quotation of them in this 

 place may certainly be dispensed with. 



The origin of the electrical difference can be accounted for 

 by the following three causes: — ■ 



(1) The electricity of flame is caused by the process of 

 combustion as such (Pouilleti, Hankel§). 



(2) It arises from the flame behaving to the metals intro- 

 duced as electrodes like an electrolyte QIatteuceijj). To this 

 explanation, evidently, no other meaning can be attached than 

 that the different layers of the flame excite differently by con- 

 tact the wires immersed in them. For shortness, we will 



* Translated from. "Wiedemann's Annalen, 1882, no. 6, vol. xvi. pp. 193- 

 222. 



t Carl's Sep. xvii. pp. 269-294 (1881). 



% Ann. cle Chim. et de Fhys. sxxv. p. 404 (1827). 



§ Pogg. Ann.kaxi. p. 212 (1850). || Phil. Mag. 1654, viii. p. 309. 

 Phil Mag. S. 5. Vol. 14. No. 87. Sept. 1882. M 



