52 Influence of Atmospheric Electricity 



as important in the chemistry of life as in that of inorganic 

 matter ; — obvious, not only in the blood itself, but in the ma- 

 terials and processes by which it is formed, and in the secre- 

 tions and excretions derived from it, — this relation is one in 

 which we have peculiar and constant evidence of electrical 

 agency. The coagulable property of the blood, in whatever it 

 consists, is closely affected by the same cause, even when act- 

 ing through various intervening tissues. Though we have no 

 equal proof as to the globules, yet their definite form, size, and 

 other pecuHarities (necessary as it would seem to the existence 

 of each species), make it probable that they are liable to alter- 

 ation from an agent, which seems more than any other to de- 

 termine all definite combinations and changes in the material 

 world. 



The tenor and extent of the argument here must be rightly 

 understood. We have no proof of the action of atmospheric 

 electricity, in any of its ordinary states, upon the blood. But 

 the effects of lightning, and the influence of the same principle, 

 proved by experiment in other modes of application to this 

 fluid, warrant the belief that such action may exist ; and, if 

 existing, that it must be a frequent cause of disorder through- 

 out every part of the animal economy. We cannot trace dis- 

 eases with certainty to this source, but how rare are the in- 

 stances in which we can affirm their real causes ! The actual 

 void of knowledge justifies our seeking them through all the 

 new agencies which physical science may disclose ; and none is 

 more likely to afford successful results than that now before us. 



Two classes of facts, neither of them yet sufficiently examined, 

 are obviously very important to the inquiry. The first includes 

 the indications which diseases themselves may give, in their 

 progress, of alteration of electrical state in the body. The se- 

 cond involves the more general question as to the develop- 

 ment of electricity in the animal frame ; its natural variations 

 from age, sex, temperament, and connexion with particular 

 bodily functions ; and its manner [of relation to the electricity 

 of the air without. With the exception of some curious ob- 

 servations of Humboldt and Pfaff on the electrical state of 

 rheumatic patients, we have nothing that approaches to cer- 

 tainty on the former subject. On the latter we possess more 



