Abstract
ON retiring to bed shortly after midnight on the 13th inst., I experienced a phenomenon which, though not of itself uncommon, was, I think, unusually developed. On pulling off a flannel vest which I wear next my skin, over my head, I became conscious of a strange sensation in the after, accompanied by a distinct crackling noise, and bright sparks which were plainly visible in the dimly lighted room. To make sure that I was not the subject of a delusion, I repeated the operation many times, in each case rubbing the flannel half-a-dozen times—not more—against my hair. Not only were the same phenomena observable every time, but also if, after removing the flannel I then approached my knuckles to that part of it which had been in contact with the hair, a whole volley of sparks passed between the flannel and each knuckle at a distance of not less than two inches. As often as I repeated the experiment, so often did the phenomena repeat themselves, until I at length retired to bed not altogether without apprehension, that I might awake in the night with the bed-clothes on fire, by reason of the discharge of some extra big spark between my hair and a convenient blanket. No such catastrophe, however, occurred, and on repeating the operations the next morning, I could not reproduce the phenomena. The next evening I again repeated the experiment, and this time by very violent rubbing could just get a faint discharge between the flannel and knuckles when almost in contact. On other nights since these I have not succeeded in getting any such effect, or at most a very feeble one. To what, then, am I to attribute the marked difference of the first night? Was it due to something peculiar in the condition of the hair, the air, or the flannel? Perhaps some of your readers can suggest. As regards the first of these I ought to state that it had, on the afternoon of the 13th, been subjected to the operations of cutting, shampooing, and brushing “by machinery,” at the hand, of the barber. That was, however, seven hours earlier in the day, and any electricity developed by the friction of the last operation ought to have been dissipated long before twelve o'clock—especially us the night was damp and misty.
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K., A. Electrical Phenomenon. Nature 27, 199 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/027199a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/027199a0
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