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108 March 6th 1844 [[line-vertical&wavy]] on the distribution of magneto elect, in passing through a quantity of water

In my paper on induction no4, I stated that when the ends of the conducting wire of the magneto electrical machine were dipped into water, the shock could be felt in the fingers when they were plunged into the water, provided they were not placed at right angles to the line joining the wires and not too far behind the end of one wire I have thought since that this method of experimenting with the fingers in water could be employed with some sucess in determining the spread of electricity as it is passing through an unperfect conductor like water.
For carrying this idea into practice, eight cups of Daniells battery were put in operation and connected with the magneto machine of Dr. Page. The [[wires?]] end, of the long wire were inserted into a basin of salt water, but with this, no effect was observable, the conduction of the liquid was so perfect that the current would not leave it to come up into the fingers. It would appear to follow the line of least resistance between the two poles of the apparatus.

[[image--circle with four holes like button; the two larger holes on the horizontal axis with two lines drawn away from the center in a horizontal fashion]] Next the same poles terminated by two large balls, were placed in a basin of about a foot in diameter of pump water._ When the finger and thumb of the same hand were placed at [[underlined]] a b [[/underlined]], so as to be directly at right angles between the centres of the balls, no shock was felt, but when the fingers were a little moved so that the line going through was not ^[[moved]] more than 5˚ or 10˚ degrees from the first portion, a slight sensation was perceived, the small distance through which the line was burned in this experiment was surprising.
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March [[strikeout]] Feby [[/strikeout]] 6th 1844 [[line-vertical&wavy]] Distribution of elect. in passing through a quantity of water    109

Next a tub 22 inches in internal diameter was partially filled with water, the depth of which was nine inches. The poles or wires from the same machine were passed through the interior of two glass tubes, and cemented in this position so that no water could touch them. The ends of these wires were left projecting and these were plunged to different depths into the water and placed at different distances, as the experiments were varied.

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The poles were terminated by two ball, and the two finger of the same hand were plunged into the water in the positions indicated by the letters a b c d and e ; and the shocks were found about equally strong in the four positions first designated,but it was rather stronger in the position represented by e, this however is probably due to the nearness of one of the fingers to the other pole.
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When the poles were terminated by two plates of copper about 4 inches long, and an inch and a half wide, and these placed perpendicularly in the water, and in the positions indicated by the figure + and -, no shock was felt when the fingers were placed parallel to the plate as at a, but when they were placed at right angles as at b, then a powerful shock was felt. From this, it would appear that the electricity is given off at right angles to the plate on all sides.
[[image]] When one pole was connected with a ball, the other communicated in a plate, the interior was as follows: a feeble, d + b nothing, e pretty strong, g strong, h strong.