09 CHEMICAL AFFINITY., « l£||| 



tonceirc it to be really so, bat that they are unwilling to an ultimate 

 add to the many vain speculations, which have bejBiji pro- ^^^{ter. 

 posed to account for it. What indeed has been denomi- 

 nated electrical attraction, of which Mr, Davy consjidera 

 chemical affinity to be a modification, is yet very generally 

 referred to the agency of a subtile, and essentially fluid 

 bbdy. Repulsion is almost universally attribntcd to th^ 

 action of such fluids. It is however to be remarked, that 

 we have no direct evidence of the existence of these fluids, 

 aa they have never been the objects of sense. They are 

 agents erected entirely by human ingenuity, for the purpose 

 of explaining phenomena, which in the pride of speculation 

 vre are ilnwilling to admit are inexplicable. The whole of 

 the modern doctrines, respecting light, caloric, and the 

 electric fluid, are hypothetical, and allow only of such indi* 

 rect evidence, as is derived from their capability of explain- 

 ing the chiss of phenomena, on account of which they were 

 assumed. That they do so to a certain extent cannot be 

 questioned. It must, however, be admitted by every one 

 who patiently investigates the subject, that there are pheno- 

 mena, connected with the temperature and electrical state 

 of bodies, which cannot satisfactorily be accounted for on 

 the generally received opinions : and although there is, at pre- 

 sent, no positive objection to the supposition, that light is 

 tl material substance; such may possibly arise in the pro* 

 gress of discovery. The hypothesis, therefore, which refe'rs 

 repulsion, or any modification of attraction, to subtile fluids, 

 although it need not altogether be rejected, should be re- 

 ceived with caution, and never made the basis of our general , 

 principles. 



In the present state of our knowledge, it would, perhaps. Attraction and 

 be most prudent to abstain from all speculations, concerning repuL'ion, 

 the cause of attraction and repulsion, and to consider them 

 both as properties of matter, prevailing under different cir- 

 cumstances. It is at least certain, that we have as unques- 

 tionable ^perrence of the partides of ponderable matter 

 repelling, as of their attracting each other. Now it can- Modified by 

 not be doubted, that attraction and repulsion are very much causes affect- 

 modified and affected, among other causes, by those which 

 modify Jk6d aifect tl>e electrical iiat< of bcdi«s. Indeed 

 C 2 bUtth 



