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Research In magneto-hydrodynamics and attempts at its application to power generation have been much stimulated, in the past two years, by a series of experiments carried out at Centre d'Études Nucléaires at Saclay. The authors of this work have prepared a summary of their principal findings, which centre on the important part played by negative ions in flames and by negative droplets in mercury vapour. It turns out that flames can be considered as gaseous semi-conductors. The use of isotopic tracer techniques in the study of flames and plasmas has also provided a powerful means of confirming the results of electrical measurements hitherto dependent on the use of probes. This method is rich in possibilities.
