lst at the same time it will
rise two, three or four inches up the machine wire, and dart off jets from
it into the air.

1596. If very clean uninsulated mercury be at the bottom of the fluid, and
the wire from the machine be terminated either by a ball or a point, and
also pass through a glass tube extending both above and below the surface
of the oil of turpentine, the currents can be better observed, and will be
seen to rush down the wire, proceeding directly from it towards the
mercury, and there, diverging in all directions, will ripple its surface
strongly, and mounting up at the sides of the vessel, will return to
re-enter upon their course.

1597. A drop of mercury being suspended from an amalgamated brass ball,
preserved its form almost unchanged in air (1581.); but when immersed in
the oil of turpentine it became very pointed, and even particles of the
metal could be spun out and carried off by the currents of the dielectric.
The form of the liquid metal was just like that of the syrup in air
(1584.), the point of the cone being quite as fine, though not so long. By
bringing a sharp uninsulated point towards it, it could also be effected in
the same manner as the syrup drop in air (1587.), though not so readily,
because of the density and limited quantity of the dielectric.

1598. If the mercury at the bottom of the fluid be connected with the
electrical machine, whilst a rod is held in the hand terminating in a ball
three quarters of an inch, less or more, in diameter, and the ball be
dipped into the electrified fluid, very striking appearances ensue. When
the ball is raised again so as to be at a level nearly out of the fluid,
large portions of the latter will seem to cling to it (fig. 138.). If it be
raised higher, a column of the oil of turpentine will still connect it with
that in the basin below (fig. 139.). If the machine be excited into more
powerful action, this will become more bulky, and may then also be raised
higher, assuming the form (fig. 140); and all the time that these effects
continue, currents and counter-currents, sometimes running very close
together, may be observed in the raised column of fluid.

1599. It is very difficult to decide by sight the direction of the currents
in such experiments as these. If particles of silk are introduced they
cling about the conductors; but using drops of water and mercury the course
of the fluid dielectric seems well indicated. Thus, if a drop of water