98 
Annual Report of the 
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metal, and in its natural state, be brought near the charged globe. 
It will be readily seen what ought, according to the theory, to take 
place. The free electricity of the globe will repel the positive fluid 
of the cylinder to the far end and attract the negative fluid to the 
near end. Thus the two fluids, which being united in equal quan¬ 
tity throughout the cylinder, before neutralized each others action, 
are now separated and accumulated at the two ends, leaving near 
the centre a neutral point, or when the two fluids are in equal quan¬ 
tity, if the globe is of metal, it is plain that there will be a like dis¬ 
tribution of the two fluids in it. Thus b} r a series of actions and 
re-actions, this separation will go on in the two bodies till there is 
an equilibrium between the attractive and repulsive forces of the 
fluids accumulated at the two ends. 
If now another insulated cylinder be brought near the remote 
end of the first, the same disturbance will take place in its electric¬ 
ities, though not to the same degree. If the second cylinder be 
placed in contact with the first, the positive fluid accumulated at 
the remote end of the first will be driven farther from the globe, 
and more of the negative fluid drawn to the near end. Thus the 
effect will be greater as the length of the cjflinder is increased. If 
the remote end be connected by a conductor with the earth, the ef¬ 
fect will be greatest; for this will be equivalent to increasing the 
length of the cylinder indefinitely. 
All this is a logical deduction from the theory, and is fully con¬ 
firmed by experiment. 
You will now understand why bodies in their natural state are 
attracted by an electrified body. First, induction takes place; then 
the attraction between the unlike electricities acting at a shorter 
distance is greater than the repulsion between the like electricities; 
hence the bodies tend towards each other. 
This enables us also to understand the^cause of electrical dischar- 
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ges, giving rise to the phenomenon of the electric spark or light¬ 
ning. The attraction between the opposite electricities accumulat¬ 
ed by induction becomes so great that they rush together, ruptur¬ 
ing the intervening air with an explosive effect. 
It will be readily seen that the probability of an explosive dis¬ 
charge depends, (1) on the intensity of the charge in the electrified 
body; (2) its distance from the body on which it acts; (3) the con¬ 
ducting quality, not only of the body in which induction takes 
