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332 evidence, because I have thought on the one hand that the authority of Savart should not be doubted on slight grounds; and on the other, that if by accident it be placed in the wrong scale, the weight of evidence against it should be such as fully to establish the truth and prevent a repetition of the error by others.

52. It must be evident that the phenomena of collection at the centres or lines of greatest vibration are exhibited in their purest form at those places which are surrounded by nodal lines; and that where the centre or place of vibration is at or near to an edge, the effects must be very much modified by the manner in which the air is there agitated. It is this influence, which, in the square plates (6. 12) and other arrangements, prevents the clouds being at the very edge of the glass. They may be well illustrated by vibrating tin plates under water over a white bottom, and sprinkling dark-coloured sand or filings upon various parts of the plates.

On the peculiar Arrangement and Motions of the Heaps formed by Particles lying on vibrating Surfaces.

53. The peculiar manner in which the fine powder upon a vibrating surface is accumulated into little heaps, either hemispherical or merely rounded, and larger or smaller in size, has already been described (6. 28), as well also as the singular motion which they possess, as long as the plate continues in vibration. These heaps form on any part of the surface which is in a vibratory state, and not merely under the clouds produced at the centres of vibration, although the particles of the clouds always settle into similar heaps. They have a tendency, as heaps, to proceed to the nodal or quiescent lines, but are often swept away in powder by the currents already described (6). When on a place of rest, they do not acquire the involving motion. When two or more are near together or touch, they will frequently coalesce and form but one heap, which quickly acquires a rounded outline. When in their most perfect and final form, they are always round.

54-. The moving heaps formed by lycopodium on large stretched drawing-paper (28), are on so large a scale as to be very proper for critical examination. The phenomena can be exhibited also even by dry sand on such a membrane, the sand