Page:Various Forces of Matter.djvu/141

Rh touched. [The Lecturer stood upon the insulating stool, and placed himself in connection with the conductor of the machine.] Now, I am electrified, I can feel my hair rising up as the paper tassel did just now. Let us see whether I can succeed in lighting gas by touching the jet with my finger. [The Lecturer brought his finger near a jet from which gas was issuing, when after one or two attempts the spark which came from his finger to the jet set fire to the gas.] You now see how it is that this power of electricity can be transferred from the matter in which it is generated, and conducted along wires and other bodies, and thus be made to serve new purposes utterly unattainable by the powers we have spoken of on previous days; and you will not now be at a loss to bring this power of electricity into comparison with those which we have previously examined, and to-morrow we shall be able to go further into the consideration of these transferable powers.