ixii 
Of the Method oj re tide ring r :ery fenjille 
former to the latter; at lealt the quantity of electricity will 
remain as much the lame as the dampnefs of the air, &c. will 
permit, h he dec reale, therefore, of intenlity is owing to the 
increaled capacity of the plate, which now is not inlulated 
Johtiiry but conjugate. In proof of this propolition, if the 
plate he remow cl gradually farther and farther from the table, it 
v>ill be ton nd, that the electrometer riles again to its former 
Nation, namely to 60 , excepting the lots of that quantity of 
electricity, which during the experiment mull have been more 
or Ids imparted to the air, & c. 
38. 1 he reafon of this phenomenon is eafily derived from the 
a Chon ot eleCtric atmolpheres. The atmofphere of the metal 
plate, which tor the prelent I lhall iuppole to he electrified 
politively, acts upon the table or other conductor whatever to 
which it is prelented ; fo that the electric fluid of the table, 
agreeably to the known laws, retiring to the remoter parts of 
it, becomes more rare in thofe parts which are expofed to the 
metal plate, and this rarefaction becomes greater the nearer the 
eletlnfied metal plate is brought to the table. If the metal 
plate is electrified negatively, then the contrary effects muft 
take place. In fhort, the parts immerfed into the l'phere of 
aCtion of the electrified metal plate, contract a contrary electri- 
city, which accidental electricity, making in fome manner a 
compenfation for the real electricity of the metal plate, dimi- 
nilhes its intenlity, as is fhewn by the deprellion of the elec- 
trometer (§ 37.). 
39. The two following experiments will throw more light 
upon the reciprocal aCtion of the eleCtric atmolpheres. Firft, 
iuppofe two flat conductors, eleCtrified both politively or both 
negatively, to be prelented towards, and to be gradually 
brought near, each other : it will appear, by two annexed 
electrometers, that the nearer thofe two conductors come to 
each other, the more their intenlities will mcreale ; which, 
fhews, that either of the two conjugate conductors has a much 
Ids capacity now than when it was lingly infulated, and out 
of the influence of the other. This experiment explains the 
reafon why an eleCtrified conductor will fhew a greater intenlity 
when 
