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infulated ball was placed. N. B. The ball muft not 
be placed near the jar itfelf; for, in that fituation, I 
found, that, though it was very fmooth, and per- 
fectly fpherical, yet it could not be placed very 
near the outfide of the jar ftanding on the table, 
without contrafling negative electricity, in a very 
fmall fpace of time. 
Thefe experiments threw me back into my former 
ftate of perplexity, with refpeCt to the lateral fpark ; 
fince, when the two electricities of the circuit were 
exaCHy balanced, it was very little diminifhed, and 
yet the body that received it was not in the lead: 
fenfibly electrified. But, upon reflection, I con- 
cluded, that this lateral fpark muft be of the nature 
of an explofion, and confequently, that an eleCtric 
fpark muft enter, and pafs out again, within fo fhort 
a fpace of time, as not to be diftinguifhed, and leave 
no fenfible effeCt whatever : for though, in this cafe, 
part of the eleCtric matter natural to the body muft 
be repelled, to make room for the foreign electricity, 
its reftoration to its natural ftate was fo quick, that 
no other motion could correfpond to it. 
This hypothefis is favoured by the obfervation, 
that it is the very fame thing whether a body be in- 
troduced into a circuit, or placed near it, with 
refpeCt to contracting electricity ; that is, whether 
the eleCtric charge enter the body at one place, and 
go out at another, or whether it be received and 
emitted at the fame place. 
This lateral explofion is an effeCt fimilar to a 
partial circuit, in which, part of the eleCtric matter 
that forms the charge in an explofion, goes one way, 
while the reft of the charge goes another; the only 
difference 
