Bulletin of the Scientific Laboratories of Denison University. 
Vol. XI. Article XI. With Piate LXII. February, 1902. 
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE CAPILLARY 
ELECTROMETER. 
A. D. Cole. 
The Capillary Electrometer is an instrument whose merits 
are not generally appreciated either by teachers of physics or 
by those engaged in research. Though it is now nearly thirty 
years since the original form of the instrument was first de- 
scribed by Lippmann/ few laboratories contain one today. 
His paper gives a careful study of the capillary electrom- 
eter and the principles upon which its operation depends, but 
he failed to give it a convenient form for either laboratory or 
research purposes, a fact which perhaps explains the neglect it 
has received. Siemens ^ a little later describes a modification 
especially designed to replace the reflecting galvanometer for 
electrical measurements on shipboard, a use to which its indif- 
ference to mechanical vibrations well adapts it. Quincke,^ Gore 
and later Paschen^ have published careful studies of the instru- 
ment. Its merits have been emphasized and brought to the 
attention of certain classes of workers, especially by Ostwald 
in Germany and recently by Burch in England. Ostwald ® 
recommends it strongly for work in physical chemistry and 
Burch® shows its special value for physiologists and electrical 
engineers. 
My attention was directed to the capillary electrometer by 
^ Lippmann. Pogg. Annalen^ Vol. I49, p. 546 (1873). 
“ Siemens. Pogg. Ann., Vol. 151, p. 639 (1874). 
® Quincke. Pogg. Ann., Vol. 153. 
* Paschen. Wied. Ann., Vol. 39, p. 43 (1893). 
® Ostwald. Zeit. f. phys. Chem., Vol. i, p. 404 (1887). See also his book 
“ Hand-und-Hilfsbuch zur Ausfiihrung Physiko-chemischer Messungen " 
p. 242-249. 
® Burch. London Electrician, Vol. 37, p. 380, 401, 435, 473, 514, 532 (1896). 
