Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 9.djvu/610

584 very much increased; in front of the spoon a little heap of liquid gathers, which subsides but slowly, and there is a depression behind which is as slowly filled up. It is evident that there is some difference between the interior constitutions of the treacle and the water; and that difference consists in this, that the particles of which the treacle is composed move among themselves with very much less facility than do those of the water. The fact, then, of one part of a liquid moving more or less easily among the other parts is that which distinguishes one from another in respect to their viscosity. In a very viscous body, like treacle, the parts move with difficulty; and in a non-viscous liquid, like water, they move with comparative ease. The fact which I wish to impress upon you this evening is, not that one kind of liquid differs from another; but that one part of a liquid may differ from another in respect of viscosity; and that as a general rule the surface is more or less viscous than the interior. I will now show you an experiment which will illustrate this fact in a very striking way. I have in a glass vessel a little magnet, which, when I bring near to it a large magnet, will easily and readily follow its motions. The vessel also contains a mixture of water and a substance called saponine. This saponine is extracted from the horse-chestnut, and is, as far as I know, chiefly interesting on account of the extraordinary effect it produces on water when mixed with it. In making the mixture, I have added only one part of saponine to sixty of water, and, to look at, it retains the properties of water; it is colorless; it has none of the viscosity of treacle. In fact, the saponine has next to no effect on the interior parts of the water, but it has a most extraordinary and marked effect on the surface; and that I will now try to illustrate. You now see upon the screen the image of the magnet, and the vessel at the bottom of which there is the mixture of saponine and water. The magnet is at present about an eighth of an inch above the liquid. I bring near the large magnet, and you see how easily it follows its motions. I will now pour in some of my mixture until the magnet lies upon the surface, and I then again bring the large magnet near it. It is now upon the surface of the mixture, and you can see some of the bubbles formed as I pour the liquid in. I bring the large magnet as near as it was at first and am moving it, but it produces no effect. I bring it nearer and nearer—still no effect. I bring it so near that you can see its shadow, and still the magnet remains absolutely motionless. On the surface of the liquid, then, we have found that the little magnet is totally insensible to the attractive force of this large one. You may say that the same would happen in the case of glycerine or treacle. It might; but now comes the extraordinary part of the experiment. I pour in some more saponine and water, until the little magnet lies a quarter of an inch below its surface; I then bring the large magnet near, and you see the result.

It moves almost as freely as in the air itself. Hence we have a