from the Report of the Committee , 8 cc. 809 
oppofite end towards the ball, where, being faturated, it 
gives a fnap; the recoil of which fnap throws that end 
up, and the contrary end back towards the conductor, and 
fo on alternately, as long as the machine continues 
working. 
The event, however, is widely different when the fie- 
cond conductor, inftead of having a free ofcillation, is 
fcrewed down in one place, and at fuch a diftance from 
the prime conductor, as not to receive the eleCtric fluid 
till confiderably accumulated. For then the fharp point, 
previoufly oppofed to its other end, difcharges it, as was 
before obferved, not in a continued ftream and filently, 
but at intervals, and with a ftrong explofion. 
The laft of Mr. nairne’s experiments, and the only 
one yet unconfidered, is that of the fharp point, which, 
being fixed to a kind of inverted pendulum, ofcillated 
with great velocity under the prime conductor, without 
receiving any explofion. Now from this experiment I 
do not comprehend how any general conclufion can pof- 
fibly be drawn. It has been already fhewn, from the ac- 
knowledgement of Dr. franklin, and the experiments 
of Mr. henly and Mr. naip^ne, that electricity, accumu- 
lated to a certain degree, will explode upon a point. If, 
therefore, in any particular inftance it does not explode, 
what can we infer from it, but that the accumulation in 
¥o l, LXVIIL S H 
cverv 
