I substituted the voltaic ignition of a platina wire for the disruptive discharge.
Instead of making the wires pass through water, they may be fixed to metallic caps well-luted to the necks of a glass globe.
Lastly, only two or three cells are required (one indeed might be sometimes sufficient), and the whole apparatus thus becomes portable and economical.
Not being able satisfactorily to overcome these difficulties, I abandoned it for the time, and made some experiments on another method of voltaic illumination, which appeared to me more applicable to lighting mines.
The helix form offers the advantages, that the cooling effect being lessened, a much longer wire can be ignited by the same battery; by this increased length of wire, the battery fuel is economized.
The light is perfectly constant, subject to no fluctuation or interruption, and the heat is not so excessive as to destroy the apparatus.
The spirals of the helix should be as nearly approximated as possible, as each aids by its heat that of its neighbour, or rather diminishes the cooling effect of the gaseous atmosphere.
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