Whether the Force with Which Two Bodies Repel is as the Square of the Redundant Fluid, Tried by Straw Electrometers*.

386] If two bodies, A and B, placed near to each other, are both connected to the same overcharged Leyden jar, and the force with which this jar is electrified is varied, everything else remaining unaltered, the force with which A and B repel each other ought by the theory to be as the square of the quantity of redundant fluid in the jar, supposing the distance of the bodies A and B to remain unaltered. For the quantity of redundant fluid in A is directly as the quantity of redundant fluid in the jar, and therefore the force with which each particle of redundant fluid in B is repelled by A is also directly as the quantity of redundant fluid in the jar, and therefore as the number of particles of redundant fluid in B is also as the quantity of redundant fluid in the jar, the force with which B is repelled by A is as the square of the quantity of redundant fluid in the jar.