The machine is self-exciting under all conditions of atmosphere, owing probably to each plate being influenced by and influencing in turn its neighbor, hence there is the minimum surface for leakage. When excited, the direction of the current never changes; this circumstance is due, probably, to the circuit of the metallic sectors and the make and break contacts always being closed, while the combs and the external circuit are supplemental, and for external use only. The quantity of electricity is very large and the potential high. When suitably arranged, the length of spark produced is equal to nearly the radius of the disk. I have made them from 2 in. to 7 ft. in diameter, with equally satisfactory results. The diagram, Fig. 9, shows the distribution of the electricity upon the plate surfaces when the machine is fully excited. The inner circle of signs corresponds with the electricity upon the front surface of the disk. The two circles of signs between the two black rings refer to the electricity between the disks, while the outer circle of signs corresponds with the electricity upon the outer surface of the back disk. The diagram is the result of experiments which I cannot very well repeat here this evening, but in support of the distribution shown on the diagram, I will show you two disks at work made of a flexible material, which when driven in one direction close together at the top and the bottom, while in the horizontal diameter they are repelled. When driven in the reverse direction, the opposite action takes place. I have also experimented with the cylindrical form of the machine (see Fig. 10). The first of these I made in 1882, and it is before you. The cylinder gives inferior results to the simple disks, and is more complicated to adjust. You notice I neither use nor recommend vulcanite, and it is perhaps well to caution my hearers against the use of that material for the purpose, for it warps with age, and when left in the daylight it changes and becomes useless. [Illustration: Figs. 11 & 12.]