II. On the relative powers of various metallic substances as conductors of electricity

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Abstract
The relation between metallic bodies, as conductors of elec­tricity, has engaged the attention of those whose talents have, at various periods, enriched that branch of science; I enter therefore upon a further investigation of this interest­ing subject with much diffidence; but having, by an easy method, obtained a series of results, apparently calculated to advance our knowledge of it, I am led to hope that a short account of my inquiries may be honoured by the notice of the Royal Society. It has been long since observed by one of the most active contributors to the success of modern science, that the heat evolved by a metallic body, whilst transmitting an electrical charge, is in some inverse ratio to its conducting power—a principle generally admitted, not only as a reasonable deduc­tion, but also as being established by a great variety of facts; l have therefore sought to measure the relative degree of heat, so evolved, by various metallic substances in a gazeous medium such as air, and thus to discover their precise rela­tions as conductors of electricity.

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