254  Papers  relative  to  an  Accident 
cufhions  of  both  machines  along  the  floor,  where  they 
were  joined  to  another  wire,  which  communicated  with 
the  well,  in  order  to  conduct  . the  fluid  more  readily  than 
the  baked  wood  admitted  of. 
The  whole  of  this  apparatus,  fo  contrived,  was  dif- 
pofed  in  the  great  room  of  the  Pantheon , by  the  favour 
of  the  proprietors,  who,  having  heard  that  a large  apart- 
ment was  wanted,  in  which  to  fhew  before  the  Board  of 
Ordnance  and  the  Royal  Society  thefe  experiments,  were 
pleafed  to  honour  me  with  a very  polite  letter,  offering 
the  ufe  of  that  elegant  building  for  the  purpofes  in- 
tended. 
exp.  i.  The  model,  with  a pointed  conductor  upon  it 
(which,  in  a degree  of  fharpnefs,  was  nearly  equal  to 
that  of  a common  darning  needle)  being  placed  directly 
under  the  nearer  end  of  the  great  cylinder,  fo  that  the 
diftance  between  the  point  of  the  conductor  and  cy- 
linder was  little  more  than  four  inches,  the  machine 
was  then  put  into  motion.  After  two  turns  of  the  wheel, 
or  thereabouts,  a fmall  ftream  of  light  appeared  at  a little 
interval,  between  the  top  of  the  longeft  thick  wire  which 
reprefented  the  bent  fpout,  and  its  little  ciftern  next  to 
the  gutter,  where  the  metallic  communication  was  pur- 
pofely  interrupted.  This  ftream  continued  to  be  vifible, 
y though 
