I then told him of the attempt I had made with that design, but without success, telling him the method and materials made use of, as mentioned above.

He then proposed a silk line to support the line by which the electric virtue was to pass.

I told him it might do better upon account of its smallness; so that there would be less virtue carried from the line of communication.
"The first experiment was made in the matted gallery, July 2, 1729, about ten in the morning.

About four feet from the end of the gallery there was a cross line that was fixed by its ends to each side of the gallery by two nails; the middle part of the line was silk, the rest at each end pack-thread; then the line to which the ivory ball was hung and by which the electric virtue was to be conveyed to it from the tube, being eighty and one-half feet in length, was laid on the cross silk line, so that the ball hung about nine feet below it.

Then the other end of the line was by a loop suspended on the glass cane, and the leaf-brass held under the ball on a piece of white paper; when, the tube being rubbed, the ball attracted the leaf-brass, and kept it suspended on it for some time." This experiment succeeded so well that the string was lengthened until it was some two hundred and ninety-three feet long; and still the attractive force continued, apparently as strong as ever.