C J 3S 3 
EXPERIMENT II. 
I affixed, to the top of a glafs-ftand, a wire, 
three eighths ol an inch in diameter, terminated, 
at one end, by a ball, three quarters of an inch 
in diameter; and, at the other end, by a very (harp 
point, lee Fig. 2 . Round the middle of this wire, 
I hung a chain twelve inches long. I then charged 
a bottle containing one hundred lquare inches of 
coated furface, and, connedling the chain with the 
coating of the bottle, I brought the knob of it, 
very gently, towards the ball on the infulated 
wire, that 1 might obferve precifely, at what dis- 
tance it would be difcharged upon it ; which I 
found to happen conftantly, at the diftance of half 
an inch, with a loud and full explolion. Then, 
re-charging the bottle, 1 brought the knob, in the 
fame gradual manner, towards the point of the 
infulated wire, to try alio, at what diftance that 
would be ftruck ; but this, in many trials, never 
happened at all. The point, being approached in 
this gradual manner, always drew off the charge 
imperceptibly, leaving fcarce a fpark in the bottle.. 
EXPERIMENT III. 
I had now recourfe to the apparatus known, to 
eleftricians, by the name of the thunder-houfe 
which I thought a nearer refemblance of the ope- 
rations of nature, on thele occalions. Having con- 
nected a jar, containing five hundred and nine 
fquare inches of coated furface, with my prime 
COlli- 
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