Davis's manual of magnetism : including galvanism, magnetism, electro-magnetism, electro-dynamics, magneto-electricity, and thermo-electricity (1854)
Davis, Daniel · Boston : Palmer and Hall · leaf 54
of heat; hence a larger wire of platinummay be ignited than of perhaps any other metal, asit is a poor conductor both of electricity and ofheat. A steel wire, when intensely heated in thisway, burns with beautiful scintillations. The shorterand finer the wire, within certain limits, the greateris… … fixed in a variety ofpositions, so thattheir extremities,holding the wire,may be at differentdistances apart. Afine wire, if not toolong, thus interposedin the course of apowerful current, is4^ <^ immediately fused or deflagrated. This instrument has been used todetermine the conducting power of…
