new Experiments in Electricity , &c. 
21 
De/cription of the improved, atmofpherical electrometer. 
Fig. 2. is a geometrical reprefentation of my new at- 
mofpherical electrometer in its real fize. This initru- 
ment, the firit hint of which I received from my inge- 
nious friend thomas ronayne, Efq. after various 
trials, I brought to the prefent ftate of perfection as long 
ago as the year 1777 ; and immediately after feveral of 
them were made after my pattern by Mr. adams, philo- 
lofophical initrument maker in Fleet-ftreet. The great 
difficulty attending the conitruCtion of this initrument 
has long diffuaded my publiffiing any defcription of it; 
nor had I ever troubled the Royal Society with it if the 
obfervations of feveral of my friends, who have ufed it 
in England and abroad, joined to my own repeated ex- 
periments, had not indifputably confirmed its fuperiority 
over any other initrument of that kind. Its particular 
advantages are, 1. The fmallnefs of the fize. 2. Its being 
always ready for experiments, without fear of entangling 
the threads, or having an equivocal refult by the ilug- 
giffinefs of its motion. 3. Its being not diiturbed by the 
wind. 4. Its great fenfibility: and 5, its keeping the 
communicated electricity longer than any other electro- 
meter hitherto ufed. 
The 
