Passage of Electricity through Liquids, 



271 



wire, tliickly coated with wax, and were, besides, completely in- 

 sulated from one another. 







Deflection of elec- 







No. 



No. of 



elements. 



trometer. 



Mean. 



Diff. 











+e. 



-e. 







1. 



6 



243-2 



-256 



249-6 



12-8 



2. 



6 



242-5 



-258 



250-2 



15-5 



3. 



3 



114-7 



-132-5 



123-6 



17-8 



4. 



3 



122 



-123 



122-5 



1 



5. 



6 



252 



-247 



249-5 



-5 



The observations follow one another in the order in which 

 they were made. With observations 2 and 3 one of the pairs 

 of quadrants was connected with the ground (through the gas- 

 pipes of the house) ; with the others they were both completely 

 insulated. We see that the mean of the positive and negative 

 deflections, for the same electromotive force, is almost constant ; 

 and for half that force it has half the value, as the theory re« 

 quires; on the other hand, the difference of the positive and 

 negative deflections varies, being sometimes positive and some- 

 times negative, independently of the electromotive force. 



In another series of experiments with a new Grovels battery 

 of from 1 to 8 cells, the difference-potentials of the interpolar 

 wires were measured one after another. The pairs of quadrants 

 w^ere not in connexion with the ground. 



No. of 



Electrometer 



Diff. 



Defl. eorr. 



elements. 



+e. 



~e. 



to 1 elem. 



1. 



44 



- 43-5 



-0-5 



43-75 



2. 



87-2 



- 86-3 



-0-9 



43-37 



3. 



128-8 



-132-1 



-0-7 



44-15 



4. 



177 



-176-9 



-0-1 



44-24 



5. 



222 



-222-6 



+0-6 



44-46 



6. 



265-7 



-267 



1-3 



44-39 



7. 



308-7 



-311-3 



2-6 



44-29 



8. 



353-7 



-356 



2-3 



44-31 



Other experiments gave similar results. 



I confess that I am not able to explain these variations of 

 the positive and negative indications of the electrometer, which 

 appear to change continually — since neither the assumption of 

 an imperfect insulation of the pairs of quadrants, nor that of an 

 electromotive force of a variable magnitude, which might have 

 its origin in the earth, is sufficient to account for the pheno- 

 mena. 



