Page:On Electric Touch and the Molecular Changes produced in Matter by Electric Waves.djvu/4

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I intend to treat the above subjects in some detail, and in the present paper will especially deal with the first five lines of investigation. These, it is hoped, will afford an explanation of some of the most perplexing anomalies. All the subjects mentioned above are more or less interdependent, but their treatment in one paper would make the subject very complicated. It would be easier to take a more generalised and complete view of the subject as a whole, after each of the above-mentioned inquiries has been separately considered. With reference to the flow of electricity through imperfect contacts, I need only mention here that the phenomenon seldom obeys Ohm's law. In many instances the phenomenon appears more allied to the discharge of electricity through a gaseous medium.

Mass Action and Molecular Action.

Of the attempts made to explain the action of contact-sensitiveness, Professor Lodge's theory of coherence has been the most suggestive. The coalescence of water and mercury drops in Lord Rayleigh's experiments, and Professor Lodge's observation of the welding of two metallic spheres by powerful oscillatory discharge in the neighbourhood, apparently lend much support to the theory of electric welding, which explains in a simple manner the diminution of contact-resistance of various metallic filings when subjected to strong electric variation.

On this theory it follows that all imperfect contacts should exhibit a diminution of resistance when subjected to electric radiation. In carrying out a systematic investigation of the contact-sensitiveness of metals, I, however, found that there are substances, of which potassium may be taken as a type, which exhibit an increase of resistance. Potassium is not a solitary instance; I have found a large number of elements exhibiting this action; the number of compounds which exhibits a similar action is also considerable. Other experiments will