leaf hanging between two bodies charged,one positively, and the other negatively. If the gold leaf becomes electrified it will incline towards the body whose electrification is opposite to its own. By increasing the electrification of the two bodies and the delicacy of the suspension, an exceedingly small electrification of the gold leaf may be detected.
When we come to describe electrometers and multipliers we shall find that there are still more delicate methods of' detecting electrification and of testing the accuracy of our theorems, but at present we shall suppose the testing to be made by connecting the hollow vessel with a gold leaf electroscope.
This method was used by Faraday in his very admirable demonstration of the laws of electrical phenomena[1].
34.] I. The total electrification of a body, or system of bodies, remains always the same, except in so far as it receives electrification from or gives electrification to other bodies.
In all electrical experiments the electrification of bodies is found to change, but it is always found that this change is due to want of perfect insulation, and that as the means of insulation are improved, the loss of electrification becomes less. We may therefore assert that the electrification of a body placed in a perfectly insulating medium would remain perfectly constant.
II. When one body electrifies another by conduction, the total electrification of the two bodies remains the same, that is, the one loses as much positive or gains as much negative electrification as the other gains of positive or loses of negative electrification.
For if the two bodies are enclosed in the hollow vessel, no change of the total electrification is observed.
III. When electrification is produced by friction, or by any other known method, equal quantities of positive and negative electrification are produced.
For the electrification of the whole system may be tested in the hollow vessel, or the process of electrification may be carried on within the vessel itself, and however intense the electrification of the parts of the system may be, the electrification of the whole, as indicated by the gold leaf electroscope, is invariably zero.
The electrification of a body is therefore a physical quantity capable of measurement, and two or more electrifications can be combined experimentally with a result of the same kind as when
- ↑ On Static Electrical Inductive Action.'Phil. Mag., 1843, or Exp. Res., vol. ii. p.249.
