Sir William Watson

“ Many Members of the Royal Society, as well as several other Persons of great iii Rank and Quality, have been repeated Witnesses of the Facts which are here laid before the World; particularly the present worthy President, Martin Folkes, Esq; whose extensive Abilities and great Knowledge in every Branch of useful Literature are exceeded only by his Candour and Zeal in promoting Science. The Advice and Assistance of this Gentleman, whose Friendship I shall always esteem as one of the greatest Happinesses of my Life, has been of great Moment in the Prosecution of these Discoveries. ”

“ Perfection in any Branch of Philosophy is to be attained but by slow Gradations. It is our Duty to be still going forward; the rest we must leave to the Direction of that Providence, which we know assuredly, has created nothing in vain. But I make no Scruple to assert, that notwithstanding the great Advances, which have been made in this v part of natural Philosophy within these few Years, many and great Properties remain still undiscover'd. Future Philosophers (some perhaps even of the present Age) may deduce from electrical Experiments, Uses extremely beneficial to Society in general. ”

“ Another Thing to be observ'd, is to endeavour to make the Flashes follow each other so fast, as that a Second may be visible before the First is extinguish'd. When you transmit the electrical Fire along a Sword or other Instrument, whose Point is sharp, it often appears as a Number of disseminated Sparks, like wet Gunpowder or Wild-fire; but if the Instrument has no Point, you generally perceive a pure bright Flame, like what is vulgarly call'd the Blue-ball, which gives the Appearance of Stars to fired Rockets. ”

“ From the Appearance of the Threads amongst which I rub the Tube, I can frequently judge, though the Spirit may be many Feet distant from them, whether or no it will fire; because when the Persons standing upon the Wax are made electrical enough to fire the Spirit, the Threads repel each other at their lower Parts, where they are not confin'd, to a considerable Distance, and this Distance is in Proportion as the Threads are made electrical. ”

“ If you break Camphor small and warm it in a Spoon, it is not melted by Heat like other Resins; but if that Heat were continued it would all prove volatile. To Camphor thus warm'd, the Finger of an electrified 38 Man, a Sword or such-like, will in snapping exert its Force upon the Spoon, and the circum-ambient Vapour of the Camphor will be fired thereby, and light up the whole Quantity exposed. The same Experiment succeeds by the repulsive Power of Electricity.
A Poker thoroughly ignited put into Spirit of Wine, or into the distilled Oil of Vegetables, produces no Flame in either ”

“ If A when electrified touches B, A loses almost all his Electricity at that Touch only, which is receiv'd by B and stopp'd by the electrical Cake; if A is immediately electrified again to the same Degree as before and touches B, the Snapping is less upon the Touch; and this Snapping, upon electrifying A, grows less and less, till B being impregnated with Electricity, though receiv'd at Intervals, the Snapping will no longer be sensible. ”

“ Non-electric Bodies made electrical, lose almost all that Electricity by coming either within 5 or near the Contact of Non-electrics not made electrical; it happens otherwise with Regard to Electrics per se, when excited by rubbing, patting, &c; because from the rubbed Tube I can sometimes procure five or six Flashes from different Parts, as though the Tube of two Foot long, instead of being one continued Cylinder, consisted of five or six separate Segments of Cylinders, each of which gave out its Electricity at a different Explosion. ”

“ In electrified Bodies, you see a perpetual Endeavour to get rid of their Electricity. 11 This induced me to make the following Experiment. I placed a Man upon a Cake of Wax, who held in one of his Hands a Spoon with the warm Spirits, and in the other a Poker with the Thread. I rubbed the Tube amongst the Thread, and electrified him as before. I then ordered a Person not electrified to bring his Finger near the Middle of the Spoon; upon which, the Flash from the Spoon and Spirit was violent enough to fire the Spirit. This Experiment I then repeated three Times. ”

“ But this does not happen, till the Electricity has fully impregnated the Non-electrics, which lie upon the Glass, which received Electricity is stopped by the Glass, and then these Non-electrics dart their Power directly through the upper Part of the Glass after the Manner of Originally-electrics. But if the thinnest Non-electric, even the finest Paper, as I before mentioned, is held in the 54 Hand of a Man at the smallest Distance over the Leaf-Gold, and the Electricity is not stopped, not the least Power will be exerted, and the Gold will lie still. ”

“ Suppose that either a Man standing upon a Cake of Wax, or a Sword suspended in silk Lines are electrified, and the Spirit, being brought near them, is fired, this is said to be perform'd by the attractive Power of Electricity. ”

“ The World, I hope, will not long be deprived of the Manner, by which these extraordinary Changes are produced, which as yet this Gentleman thinks proper to conceal. As Electricity has some Properties in common with Magnetism, as will be shewn in the Course of these Observations ”

“ Camphor is a vegetable Resin, and of Consequence an Electric per se. This Substance, notwithstanding its great Inflammability, will not take fire from the Finger of a Man or any other Body electrified, though made very warm and the Vapours arise therefrom in great Abundance. Because, neither Electric's per se excited, or electrified Bodies, exert their Force by snapping upon Electric's per se, though not excited. ”

“ For as red hot Iron, by Sir Isaac Newton's Scale of Heat, is fixed at 192 Degrees, and as the Ratio between Sir Isaac's Degrees and Fahrenheit's is as 34 to 180, it necessarily follows, that the Difference of Heat between the hot Iron and the cold Mixture is 1040 Degrees; and nevertheless this vast Difference makes no Alteration in the Appearance of the electrical Flame. We find likewise, that as the Fire, arising from the Refraction of the Rays of Light by a Lens, and brought to a Focus, is observed first at some small Distance from their Surfaces, to set on Fire combustible Substances ”

“ If a Number of Pieces of finely spun Glass cut to about an Inch in Length, little bits of fine Wire of the same Length of what Metal you 28 please, and small Cork Balls, are either put all together, or each by themselves, into a dry pewter Plate, or upon a Piece of polish'd Metal, they make in the following Manner a very odd and surprizing Appearance. Let a Man, standing upon electrical Cakes, hold this Plate in his Hand with the bits of Glass, Wire, &c. ”

“ Those who are not much acquainted with Chemical Philosophy, may think it very extraordinary, that from a Mixture of cold Substances, which both conjunctly and separately are uninflammable, this very inflammable Vapour should be produced. ”

“ This we see by putting Gunpowder into a Spoon with rectified Spirit, which, when lighted, will not fire the Powder, 'till by the Heat of the Spoon from the burning Spirit, the Sulphur is almost melted. Likewise, if you hold Gunpowder ground very fine in a Spoon over a lighted Candle, or any other Flame, as soon as the Spoon is hot enough to melt the Sulphur, you see a blue Flame, and instantly the Powder flashes off. ”

“ Desaguliers and others, having no other Conception of its Manner of acting than as Rays from a Center, which indeed is confirmed by several Experiments. One of which, very easy to be tried, is, that if a single downy Seed of Cotton Grass is dropped from a Man's Hand, and in its Fall comes within the Attraction of the rubbed Tube ”

“ So that there seems a fourth Ingredient necessary to make Gunpowder readily take Fire by Flame, and that such a one, as will heighten the Inflammability of the Sulphur. In common Cases the lighted Match or the little Portion of red hot Glass, which falls among the Powder, and is the Result of the Collision from the Flint and Steel, fires the Charcoal and Sulphur, and these the Nitre. ”