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XX. An Account of the FffeB of EleBricity in Jhortening 
Wires. By Mr. Edward Nairne, F. R. S. 
Read May 1 1, 17 So. 
T? VERY new fail in a fcience being an acquifition to 
— ' it, I beg leave to lay before this Society the follow- 
ing difcovery, which I made fome time ago, relative to 
electricity ftiortening wire by its paffage through it. The 
following experiment I hope will clearly illuftrate it. 
EXPERIMENT. 
I took a piece of hard-drawn iron wire, ten inches 
long, and one hundredth of an inch in diameter. This 
wire was held in a perpendicular pofition between two 
brafs pinchers, the upper one of which was connected 
with a glafs pillar, in order that the whole charge of an 
eledtrical battery might pafs only through the wire 
fattened between them. Thefe upper pinchers were 
moveable, for the fake of flackening the wire occa- 
fionally ; and, in the experiment, they were fixed with 
a fcrew, 
