142 Mr. A. A. C. Swinton on 



formed without being transferred must, of course, be true if 

 bodies consist of particles with inertia but without elasticity, 

 and if the medium connecting them possess elasticity but 

 not inertia. Indeed, on these assumptions we may go farther 

 and say it cannot be transformed without being transferred 

 either from particles to medium, or from medium to particles. 

 If, however, either or both be assumed to have both pro- 

 perties, the proposition seems to me to be erroneous, and 

 certainly requires proof. 



In concluding the discussion of this subject Prof. Lodge 

 says: — '" All I have stated is that change of form is necessary 

 and universal whenever energy is transferred." If this is all 

 the statements under discussion are to be taken to mean they 

 may be admitted at once, on the assumption of contact-action. 

 But this version of the statements quoted above seems to me 

 to be a new statement altogether. For, expressed in terms of 

 energy, it says merely that when one body does work on 

 another through the exertion of contact-force the potential 

 energies of both bodies in general undergo change. 



Dalhousie College, Halifax, N.S., 

 Dec. 30th, 1892. 



XVII. Experiments with High Frequency Electric Discharges. 

 By A. A. Campbell IS wis ton*. 



THE writer has succeeded in passing through his body 

 from hand to hand sufficient electricity to bring the 

 filament of an ordinary 5-candle power 100-volt incandescent 

 lamp very nearly to full incandescence, or to bring the fila- 

 ment of a 32-candle power 100-volt lamp to full redness. 

 Practically no sensation was experienced. 



The apparatus employed consisted of a large "Apps" 

 induction-coil capable of giving 10-inch sparks, supplied with 

 current through the ordinary vibrating contact-breaker, and 

 a resistance consisting of eight 50-candle-power lamps in 

 parallel, from a 105-volt continuous-current supply. The 

 total energy in the primary, excluding what w T as lost in the 

 resistance and contact-breaker, was about 350 watts, or not far 

 off half an electric horse-power. To the positive and negative 

 terminals of the secondary of the induction-coil were connected 

 respectively the inside and outside coatings of three half- 

 gallon Leyden jars, connected in parallel. The disruptive 

 discharge of these jars across an air-gap of about a quarter of 

 an inch excited the primary of a simple form of high-fre- 

 quency coil similar to those employed by Mr. Tesla and 



* Communicated by the Author. 



