432 MR. HARRIS ON THE ELEMENTARY LAWS OF ELECTRICITY. 
likewise observe in columns B and C that the respective quantities are as 2:1 on 
each of the discs ; but the corresponding forces are not as 4:1, but nearly as 5 : 1 
throughout. 
16. Although these results may seem at first anomalous and unsatisfactory, thev 
are still such as would be likely to arise out of the peculiar nature of electrical action, 
and may I believe, on due reflection, be found in complete accordance with its gene- 
ral laws. It may be shown, for example, that the force of induction in electricity is 
not confined to a charged and neutral body, but operates more or less freely, even 
between bodies similarly charged. Now whatever be the precise nature of the induc- 
tive process, it is present in every species of electrical action, although under certain 
circumstances its tendency to attraction may not be apparent, or be of a negative 
character. 
Experiment D. — If, for example, two charged cylindrical conductors, A and B, 
fig. 17, have electroscopes, b b 1 , connected with their distant ends, then, on approxi- 
mating their near extremities a a', we shall observe a continual increase of force in 
the opposite ends b V which will continue up to a certain limit according to the 
quantity of electricity with which the conductors are charged, and whether equally 
or unequally. 
Now the inductive force of these cylinders on each other, as here evinced, may (in 
accordance with the doctrine of a single fluid, and merely pour fixer les iddes,) be sup- 
posed to repel the electricity resident at their near extremities a' a, and cause it to 
retire towards the distant ends b' b. If the conductors A and B at the instant of this 
process be free to move, then the resistance to the increased accumulation towards 
the extremities b b' is attended by a mutual recession of the bodies, and they seem to 
repel each other. We do not however, under any circumstances, obtain really the 
whole repulsive force of which the quantities of electricity at first collected in the 
near extremities a a' would seem to be susceptible, since the operation of the induc- 
tive influence may be associated with a displacement of some of the agency on which 
the repulsion depends, and by which the quantity in the repelling ends is more or 
less diminished. If, however, the bodies be equally and highly charged, there may, 
in certain cases, be so little displacement at some distances, in comparison with the 
whole quantity accumulated, that the decrease of the force from this cause is of no 
great value. Supposing, however, the charges unequal, then the resistance in one 
body is greatly decreased, and there may arise so great a change in its repelling ex- 
tremity, by the inductive influence, as to cause a very sensible diminution of the com- 
parative repulsive force exerted at a given distance between the two bodies. If the 
disproportion of the respective charges be very great, then not only could all the free 
electricity of one of them, A, become displaced in its proximate extremity a\ and so 
be actually reduced to a state of neutrality, but a further induction may arise, such 
as always occurs in the case of any other approximated neutral and charged surface, 
and which, although not so perfect as under the ordinary circumstances, owing to the 
