24 
REPORT —1847. 
difficulties arose in deducing accurate results, inasmuch as the proof-plsoecodlJK 
be conbidt-red as an element of the surface, and auy electrometer, aclinsoB thep- 
ciplc of repulsion, was liable to great uncertainty, and that hence dedectioosMtolk 
particular distribution of electricity on the surfaces of bodies were inconcliwt It 
might so happen that tlie distribution might be uniform, and yet a proof-plitt* 
away more highly charged from one point than from another. Theauitorofci 
attention to an experiment of the celebrated V'olla, who found that aadeewi 
>’ppo*®d more tjuietlj’on a tong rectajigular paralleiognuu than ant spa 
although the areas of the surfaces were the same. It was lobe regretted, on»««: 
of the received mathematical theory of electricity, that all our eaperimojtalfhlt:.! 
relative to the distribution of o charge on the surface of coodoclora rests 
nmenta with the proof-plane, or some other body brought into cuniact^iit* 
given conductor and subsequently removed from it, 'fhe author, byiiirra«4* 
of cxperimont, had shown that the intensity of a churginl surface cf aoTnctu* 
K • ^ when rulk'd up into the form of a cylinder, the quaDtily"oftte|> 
“*® ,same, and that the intensity of a circular area was thesaiotww 
o| the sphere into which vve might conceive it to be transformed. Ao elettrauw 
ependmg on the attractive forces exerted between a charged and neutral ph**'** 
ere cxhiniU'd to the Sretion, and was said to be susceptible of great aenntett 
measurements of this kind. The author supposes every case of electrical *w*tw 
o resorc itself into the conditions of the Levden experiment, am! 
CMC ot electrical charge obtained by the ojipositiou of ta’o conducting surfaa” 
mi interYning non-couductiug medium, and it Is wdl known that in the rlectm 
iY charge IS not dependent on the thickness of the coatings but on thrirtuu- 
l-io.* suppose a single body only in the nniverse, and to U fb®!" 
1*^ r . appears no reason from Experiment to suppose 
CHjiml distribution upon it, be the form what it mav | butifwcconceiwa-'^ssJ'^; 
tl.. »,.f“ •^hen the aclimi terincd'electrical induction arist* 
'r rollected back bvlbcBecoud body upon tiiefirst,»»1« 
resistance this induclion, hmvevcr small, would cause aarieffl* 
nie.liittl, Uo ifr however great; but if a resisting noa-cowlK'^ 
the intpri 'i between these bodies, then we have to consider tbeaetwnui, 
surfaces immediaklv a case of chaige between 
hSion greater in proportion to the 
In thi* wnt.* u, ‘^’sturbance of which the previously neutral bodyissi^'I'i^ 
other as consider any two conducting bodies when opposed to 
intermediate rJass of air, and th»e.«*““' 
a opposed to each other, one insulated and rhsrrrf f 
the lawa oftbn' « ^’ ^P^ricity, the other uninsulated and free, the determaii^ 
oul Fuhlem easy of soluti^.^ 
upon tiic ni>hpn« consideration of an hjqwthetical distribution of the 
nySem wriS^ennv condueturs connected with them; we had in &ctachg^ 
what^v'er IsmvZ ^ conside; the 
they arc finally reduced forces between the surfaces may be ®®“rei«da^ 
on the eneairement of onL*” opposite and similar 
actiun betwA^n positive and negative forces, by which w . ^ 
or rallicr onnont-d u'*^ ’*®®^nhlished. ITie attractive force between the^*'^ 
- ^he aqZrof *> “ ""“b^r of attracting points <!i«^^ 
tw>o poiiitH o o' wiMiin inversely; we can hence determine the 
«*ivo the wLdp V surface of each opposed hemisphere in which 
On the burface Tlic ®°^^®®t®d and to be the same as if derived from 
these will vary as the squares of the dlstanc^ 
»wareat rmints nf tK ' ’i ^ hirce at a unit of distance 
'*'g lormul/i was iriv^n k mterroediate air can become charged. ^ . 
Within the hemisphere author for determining the distance oflhep“““* 
__(a'+2ar)^— a 
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