294  Papers  relative  to  an  Accident 
with  the  property  of  receiving  this  fluid  more  readily 
than  other  fubftances. 
exp.  XL.  When  the  great  cylinder,  with  the  wire  and 
brafs  drums,  were  charged  with  a very  fmall  quantity  of 
this  fluid,  by  the  wheel  being  turned  fomething  lcfs  than 
a quarter  round,  there  was,  the  moment  after,  a vifible 
explofion,  and  a fenfible  effect  perceived  at  the  remote 
end  of  the  wire.  When  half  a turn  was  given,  thefe 
effefts  were  greater;  and,  after  a whole  turn,  the  quantity 
of  the  fluid  accumulated  in  this  great  apparatus  was  in- 
creafed  confiderably. 
sixteenth  observation.  Now,  fomething  muft 
have  hindered  the  fluid  from  getting  out  of  the  cylinder 
and  wire  all  the  time  they  were  charging,  otherwife  we 
fhould  not  have  been  able  to  have  caufed  the  leaft  accu- 
mulation; for,  from  the  nature  of  this  fluid,  there  can- 
not be  any  accumulation  without  fome  refiftance  to  occa- 
fion  it.  And  whatever  the  nature  of  that  refiftance  may 
be,  experiments  fhew,  that  there  are  certain  bounds  pre- 
fcribed  to  its  power  of  afting,  and  which  in  particular 
circumftances  feem  to  be  very  eafily  furmounted. 
From  Sir  isaac  newton’s  obfervations^,  and  a great 
variety  of  experiments  made  fince  his  time,  we  col  left, 
that  this  principle  of  refiftance  is  probably  exerted  at,  or 
(c)  newton’s  Optics,  p.  240,  241,  and  372. 
very 
