the Light of Bodies in a State of Comb ujl ion. jyy 
other. The fluid in pafling through the interval which fepa- 
rates the wires is always luminous, if a force be ufed fuffi- 
ciently ftrong. I ffiould obferve, that the glafs tube, if not 
very thick, always breaks when this experiment lucceeds. To 
make the paflage of the fluid luminous in the acids, they muft 
be placed in capillary tubes, and two wires introduced, as in 
the preceding experiment, whole points lhall be very near each 
other. It is a well known fa£t, that the difcharge of a fmall 
Leyden phial in pafling over a ftrip of gold, fllver, or Dutch 
metal leaf, will appear very luminous. By conveying the con- 
tents of ajar, meafuringtwo gallons, over a ftrip of gold leaf 
one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and a yard long, I have 
frequently given the whole -a dazzling brightness. I cannot 
fay, that a much greater length might not have been made 
very fplendid, nor can I determine to what length the 
force of a battery might be made luminous in this manner. 
We may give this experiment a curious diverfity, by laying 
the gold or fllver leaf on a piece of glafs, and then placing the 
glafs in water ; for the whole gold leaf will appear moft bril- 
liantly luminous in the water by expofing it, thus circum- 
ftaneed, to the explofion of a battery. 
2. The difficulty of making any quantity of the electrical 
fluid luminous in any body increafes as the cqnduding power 
of that body increafes. 
exp. i, In order to -make the contents of a jar luminous- 
in boiling water, a much higher charge is neceftary than would 
be fufficient to make it luminous in cold water, which is uni-, 
verfally allowed to be the worft conductor. 
exp. ii. I have various reafons for believing the- acids to ' 
be very good condu&ors. if therefore into a tube, filled with , 
water, and circunaftanced as I have already deicribed, a few 
drops 
