e economy of
the lamp or other device.

This plan of working has been resorted to on several occasions this
evening. So, for instance, when the incandescence of a button was
produced by grasping the bulb with the hand, the body of the
experimenter merely served to intensify the action. The bulb used was
similar to that illustrated in Fig. 19, and the coil was excited to a
small potential, not sufficient to bring the button to incandescence
when the bulb was hanging from the wire; and incidentally, in order to
perform the experiment in a more suitable manner, the button was taken
so large that a perceptible time had to elapse before, upon grasping
the bulb, it could be rendered incandescent. The contact with the bulb
was, of course, quite unnecessary. It is easy, by using a rather large
bulb with an exceedingly small electrode, to adjust the conditions so
that the latter is brought to bright incandescence by the mere
approach of the experimenter within a few feet of the bulb, and that
the incandescence subsides upon his receding.

[Illustration: FIG. 24.--BULB WITHOUT LEADING-IN WIRE, SHOWING EFFECT
OF PROJECTED MATTER.]

In another experiment, when phosphorescence was excited, a similar
bulb was used. Here again, originally, the potential was not
sufficient to excite phosphorescence until the action was
intensified--in this case, however, to present a different feature, by
touching the socket with a metallic object held in the hand. The
electrode in the bulb was a carbon button so large that it could not
be brought to incandescence, and thereby spoil the effect produced by
phosphorescence.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.--IMPROVED EXPERIMENTAL BULB.]

Again, in another of the early experiments, a bulb was used as
illustrated in Fig. 12. In this instance, by touching the bulb with
one or two fingers, one or two shadows of the stem inside were
projected against the glass, the touch of the finger producing the
same result as the application of an external negative electrode under
ordinary circumstances.

In all these experiments the action was intensified by augmenting the
capacity at the end of the lead connected to the terminal. As a rule,
it is not necessary to resort to such means, and would be quite
unnecessary with still higher frequencies; but when it _is_ desired,
the bulb, or tube, can be easily adapted to the purpose.

[Illustration: FIG. 26.--IMPROVED BULB WITH INTENSIFYING REFLECTOR.]

In Fig. 24, for examp