The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-06 00:00:00

ROYAL INSTITUri ON.

Yesterday Professor Faraday delivered the
fourth lecture of his course on electricity at the
Royal Institution. H.R. H. the Prince of Wales
occupied a chair in front of the I,cturo table, and
the Persian Ambassador, with three attendants,
and accompanied by au interpreter, was also pre-
sent. The property of electricity to which
Professor Faraday directed the attention of his
audience was induction, and its action on bodies
at a distance. He commenced by exhibiting, in
the first place, the instantaneous passage of
electricity through a long wire in which there
were interruptions near to the point of dis-
charge and at its termination near the outside of
the Leyden jar, at both of which spots the sparks
were visible at the same time. The velocity of
the transmission of electricity is so great that it
has been ascertained by Mr. Wheatstone it
would pass six times roulid the globe in a
second of time. The consideratien of the
action of the electric force through non-con-
ductors is, as Professor Faraday observed, even
more wonderful than its transmission through
metals, for through those non conductors el. c-
tricity passes instantaneously without c ,ntact.
The approach of an excited glass rod to an elec-
trometer is sufficient to prove this peculiar action
of the force, for the gold leaves expand w:,eti the
electric is at a distance from the instrument ; but
the effect becomes more remarkable when a solid
insulating body, such as a sheet of shell-lac,
is interposed between them: With that arrange-
ment of the apparatus the electrometer becomes as
readily affected as when there is no intervening body.
Induction takes place on all bodies, within
the sphere of electrical action, though in ordinary
circumstances it is not apparent. Thus, when the
hand is brought near an excited electric a quantity
of electricity is induced in it, which is not perceived
until an insulating substance, such as a strip of
paper, is brought near ; and then the hand
repels the paper, because both have electricity in-
duced in them of the same kind so long as they
remain within the range of the electrical action.
The fact that static electricity is retained in the
surface of bodies, and net in the interior, was
illustrated by a variety of experiments; the
most remarkable of which was performed with a
silk net with a small metal plate at the bottom
fastened round a ring to which a handle was
attached. When the net was electrified the out-
side manifested evident signs of electricity, but an
insulated ball applied to the inside brought away
no charge whatever. By a dexterous turn of
the handle the net was turned inside out, and
then the circumstances were reversed ; for the
part that had been inside became highly electri-
cal and the other side was free from electricity.
Several striking experiments were also shown to
illustrate the interesting fact, that bodies
on which electricity is induced exhibit the two
electricities, and that an
.insulated conductor,.
when brought near to an excited electrical. machine,
d tor
has the side nearest to the prime theou otheru
charged with negative electricity, and____
side with electricity of the positive kind. When an
insulated conductor is under electrical. influence,
its opposite side is in different electrical states,
and when removed to a distance from the machine
it loses all traces of electricity. If, however,
an insulated conductor be touched whilst under
the influence of induction, and be then removed,
the conductor remains charged. Professor Faraday
observed that the remaining lectures would be
principally devoted to further exemplifications of
the conditions of induction, which is the most im-
portant of all electrical properties, and without
which no electrical phenomena c(»1,1 occur.

THEI ..POICRING I.2TRAY BTA.NNESLEI WOOD.—The
unfortunate man, Winfield, who was shot by Draper, a
poacher, in the affray at Annesley Wood (the particulars
of which appeared in the Sun of Thursday last), lingered
until Monday night, when he expired from the effects of
the wound received in the encounter with the poachers.