Page:Various Forces of Matter.djvu/178

166 light is essentially given by the carbons; you see that one is much more luminous than the other, and that is the end which principally forms the spark, the other does not shine so much, and there is a space between the two which, although not very luminous, is most important to the production of the light. Dr. Tyndall will help me in showing you that a blast of wind will blow out that light; the electric light can in fact be blown out easier than a candle. We have the power of getting our light where we please; if I cause the electricity to pass between carbon and mercury I get a most intense and beautiful light, most of it being given off from the portion of the mercury between the liquid and the solid pole. I can show you that the light is sometimes produced by the vapour between the two poles, better if I take silver than when I use mercury. Here is the carbon pole, there is the silver, and there is the beautiful green light which comes from the intervening portions. Now that light is more easily blown out than the common lamp, the slightest puff of wind being sufficient to extinguish it, as you will see if Dr. Tyndall breathes upon it.