Prof, von Bezold's Researches on the Electrical Discharge. 4,7 



— relatively disappears. But if we consider that with alterna- 

 ting discharges the wire D is again immediately discharged, it 



Fig:. 5. 



follows that in such a process electricity first passes into the 

 extreme end of the wire D and is again immediately expelled — 

 that, in short, motions take place which are perfectly comparable 

 to a reflection. 



This consideration leads to an hypothesis on the peculiar 

 changes in magnitude which the dust-figures undergo with the 

 branchings described ; for if electrical waves are driven into a 

 wire, and after reflection at its end return the same way, the 

 progressing must interfere with the reflected waves and produce 

 phenomena which are analogous to those observed with organ- 

 pipes. The observations hitherto communicated exhibit this 

 analogy in a high degree ; and we may well venture to compare 

 the places in which maximum and minimum figures appear with 

 vibrating loops and nodes. 



The hypothesis that we have here to do with phenomena of 

 interference acquires probability from the circumstance that the 

 experiments only succeed satisfactorily with alternating dis- 

 charges, while with simple discharges differences in magnitude 

 of the various figures are observed, but not, by far, to the same 

 extent, 



§ 3. A slight modification was made of the above-described ex- 

 periments, which formed another starting-point for new inves- 

 tigations. If the end of the wire D (fig. 3) be again connected 

 with the first conductor A as represented in fig. 6, with a suitable 

 length of the wire, the figure can also be made to disappear. This 

 experiment formed really the starting-point for all those I have 

 previously mentioned ; yet I have deferred its description till now, 

 because it is not suited to facilitate the comprehension of the above 

 experiments. I thought at first I had met with an analogue 

 of Savart's interference-experiment for sound-waves, and supposed 

 the path of the current to be that represented by the dotted 



