140 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



This peculiar form of force manifests itself in different kinds of inorganic 

 matter, under circumstances such as friction, change of temperature, magnetic 

 influence, and chemical action. 



It is also manifested in organized beings, not only under circumstances in 

 which they stand related to it as masses of mere matter, but more particularly 

 during the actions performed by their component textures and organs. 



Electrical science has been hitherto chiefly prosecuted in the region of inor- 

 ganic nature ; and although Volta opened up a boundless field of discovery 

 in the region of inorganic under the influence of organic electricity, the latter 

 still remains comparatively uncultivated. 



In the investigation of electrical force, as manifested in organic nature, the 

 peculiar economy of the organized being must be taken into account. Each 

 organized being, although dependent on certain external circumstances as the 

 conditions of its existence, is, nevertheless, a system per se. Irrespective of 

 those electrical conditions into which it may be thrown, through surrounding 

 bodies, or through the medium in which it lives, it undoubtedly contains more 

 or less numerous sources of electrical disturbance, in the numerous processes 

 and arrangements productive of currents, in the structures which collectively 

 constitute its organization. The organized being may be considered electrically 

 as a system of electrical currents, excited by electrical arrangements in the 

 disposition of its fluids, textures, and organs. 



So far as has yet been ascertained, these electrical currents, with the excep- 

 tion of those produced by the special batteries in the electrical fishes, are not 

 employed in the economy of the being. They are merely necessary conse- 

 quences of the organic process carried on by the different structures ; and 

 effect, by their arrangement, the distribution of the resulting electricity, and 

 the maintenance of the general electrical equilibrium of the organic system. 

 The detection and investigation of these organic electrical phenomena are, 

 however, important, not only for general electrical science, but also for^ the 

 elucidation of the organic processes themselves. Residual phenomena, as 

 such electrical disturbances must generally be considered in physiology, will, 

 when investigated, indicate the probable nature of the actions from which 

 they result. 



EXISTENCE OF AN ELECTRICAL AETHER THROUGH SPACE. 



Mr. G. J. Knox, in a letter to the editors of the London Philosophical 

 Magazine, says: In a paper, entitled "On the Direction and Mode of Propa- 

 gation of the Electrical Force traversing Interposed Media'-' (Philosophical 

 Magazine, 1840), I endeavored to prove, from the experiments of Sir H. Davy, 

 that an electric current consists in alternate states of induction and equi- 

 librium of the particles of the medium conveying the current, the intensity of 

 the current being proportional to the rapidity of change of induction and 

 equilibrium, and consequently that the mass of oscillating asther surrounding 

 the particles represents the quantity, while the rapidity of the oscillations 

 represents the intensity of an electric current. 



The Philosophical Magazine, No. 58, contains some very interesting experi- 

 ments, which were made by Mr. L. Clark, on the transmission of currents of 



