We report the detection of ionized intracluster gas in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae .
Pulsars in this cluster with a negative period derivative , which must lie in the distant half of the cluster , have significantly higher measured integrated electron column densities than the pulsars with a positive period derivative .
We derive the plasma density within the central few pc of the cluster using two different methods which yield consistent values .
Our best estimate of n _ { e } = 0.067 \pm 0.015 cm ^ { -3 } is about 100 times the free electron density of the ISM in the vicinity of 47 Tucanae , and the ionized gas is probably the dominant component of the intracluster medium .