the weakejl Natural or Artificial JLkclriclty % 
xxix 
V 
APPENDIX. 
IN § 28, I mentioned, that after various attempts I at laft 
Succeeded in obtaining undoubted figns of electricity from the 
fimple evaporation of water, and from various chemical efter- 
vefcences ; but as this is a fa& not lefs jnterefting than new, 
it feems proper to fubjoin in this place a faithful account of the 
experiments made for that purpofe. The fhft let of expen- 
ments were made at Paris, in company with Mr. lavoisier 
and Mr. de la place, two intelligent philo fophers and mem- 
bers of the Royal Academy of Sciences. After I had fhewn 
them my experiments with my condenfer, the\, as well as 
myfelf, began to entertain hopes of fucceeding in the experi- 
ments on the evaporation, &c. Accordingly Mr. lavoisier 
ordered a large condenfer with a marble plane to be made. The 
f rft experiment I attempted with this mitrument, in company 
with Mr. DE LA PLACE, proved unfuccefsful ; but the weather 
at that time was bad, the room was narrow and full of va- 
pours, and the apparatus was not quite in proper order. 
Mr. de la place and Mr. lavoisier repeated thofe expen- 
ments in the country, and then they were attended with fuc- 
cefs, which incited us to repeat and diverfify the experiments, 
by which means the dilcovery was compleated; having ob- 
tained unequivocal figns of electricity from the evaporation ot 
water, from the fimple combuition of coals, and from the 
effervefcence of iron filings in diluted vitriolic acid. This ob- 
fervation was made the 13th of April of the prelent year 1782, 
and the experiments were performed in the following manner. 
In an open garden a long metal plate was iniulated, which, 
hy means of a large iron wire, was made to communicate 
with the metal plate of the condenfei laid upon the piece o 
p 2 marble. 
