129 
i88o.] 
On Water and Air. 
Fig. 12. 
a 
Fig. ii. 
a 
If 
silently it flows. [A steady stream of water was caused to 
descend from a tap into a cup filled with 
water, about 2 feet below.] You see that 
^ m beautiful stalk of water. The least agitation 
will break that vein, but at the present 
moment you have a continuous jet which 
enters the water below perfectly silent. I 
will now try the effect of sound. This vein 
of water is very sensitive indeed. It is very 
near the point at which it will resolve it- 
self into drops. Now I simply draw my 
fiddle-bow across a tuning-fork, and instantly 
you see that the vein shortens, — several 
swellings and contractions form out of it, 
and we cause the drops to be formed high up 
in the vein, and you hear them breaking and 
bubbling in the basin below. If I stop the 
sound the vein becomes steady once more. 
If I draw the bow again over the fork you 
see how the vibrations of the sound cause the 
vein to resolve itself into beautiful liquid 
spheres. We have a resolution of the vein 
into drops by means of these musical vibra- 
tions. Savart, as I have said, investigated 
these subjects, but some of these things were 
not noticed by him. 
The particular effect which I now wish to 
show you is a very beautiful one indeed, and 
which, I believe, we noticed here ourselves 
for the first time. We will allow a jet of 
water to issue from an iron nipple. Here 
we have our lamp, which will enable us to 
illuminate the jet as before. It requires very 
great care in order to cause the water to 
issue from the nipple with the proper velo- 
| city. [A jet of water was projected from the 
• ® iron nipple (Fig. 13) upwards at an angle of 
about 6o°, and fell over in the form of an arch, 
the further end of which became sprayed 
out as it approached the floor. The shadow 
of the jet was thrown upon the screen.] I 
will blow this organ-pipe near the jet, and 
you see that the broken portion of the jet is 
gathered up into a few small beautiful drops 
“-“x / * If I blow properly you see how the drops are 
gathered up altogether into one continuous line. [By vary- 
ing the conditions the jet maybe made to divide into two or 
91 
(Fig. 14). 
