126 On the Propagation of Electric Waves through Wires. 



moving away from this position towards ft, sparks appeared, 

 became very brilliant ^at a distance of 1*5 metre from a, then 

 decreased again in intensity, they almost entirely vanished at 

 3 metres distance from a, and increased again until the end 

 of the tube was reached. We thus find our theory borne out 

 by fact. That we obtain a node at the closed end is clear, for 

 at the metallic contact between the central wire and the sur- 

 face of the tube the electric force between the two must 

 necessarily vanish. It is different when we cut the central 

 conductor at this point just near the end, and insert a gap of 

 several centimetres length. In this ease the wave will be 

 reflected in a phase opposite to that of the previous case, and 

 we should expect a ventral segment at a. As a matter of fact 

 we find brilliant sparks in the resonator in this case; and they 

 rapidly decrease in strength if we move from a towards /3 r 

 they almost entirely vanish at a distance of 1*5 metre, and 

 become brilliant again at a distance of 3 metres ; moreover 

 they give a second well-marked node at 4*5 metres distance, 

 that is 0*5 metre from the open end. The nodes and loops 

 which we have described are situated at fixed distances from 

 the closed end, and alter only with this distance ; they are, 

 however, quite independent of the occurrences outside the 

 tube, for example, of the nodes and loops formed there. The 

 phenomena occur in exactly the same way if we allow the 

 wave to travel through the apparatus in the direction from 

 the open to the closed end ; their interest is, however, smaller, 

 since the mode of transmission of the wave deviates from that 

 usually conceived, less in this case than in the one which has 

 just been under our consideration. If both ends of the tube 

 are left open with the central wire undivided, and stationary 

 waves with nodes and loops are now set up in the whole 

 system, there is always found, for every node outside the tube, 

 a corresponding node in the interior ; which proves that the 

 propagation takes place inside and outside with, at any rate 

 approximately, the same velocity. 



On looking over the experiments which we have described, 

 and the interpretation put upon them, as well as the explana- 

 tions of the physicists referred to in the introduction, a differ- 

 ence will be noticed between the views here put forward and 

 the usual theory. According to the latter, conductors are 

 represented as those bodies which alone take part in the pro- 

 pagation of electric disturbances ; non-conductors are the 

 bodies which oppose this propagation. According to our 

 view, on the contrary, all transmission of electrical disturb- 

 ances is brought about by non-conductors : conductors oppose 

 a great resistance to any rapid changes in this transmission. 

 One might almost be inclined to maintain that conductors 



