a well-known vessel made of glass, used for various purposes.

Leyden PHIAL, is a phial of glass coated on both sides with tin-foil for a considerable way up the sides, of great use in electrical experiments. The discovery that electricity may be accumulated in an apparatus of this kind, was originally made in the year 1745 by Mr Von Kleist, dean of the cathedral in Comin. But this remarkable property was first satisfactorily observed at Leyden, with a bottle containing some water which served for the inside coating, and the accidental application of the hands on the outside served for another coating. Hence a bottle coated on both sides for the purpose of being charged with electricity, has received the name of Leyden phial, or otherwise electric jar. See Electricity, passim.