Inductioti in curved Lines- — in Fluids, Solids. 361 



introduction here, though it is a case of discharge, the dis- 

 charge is preceded by induction, and that induction must be 

 in curved lines. 



1231. As argument against the received theory of induc- 

 tion and in favour of that whicli I have ventured to put forth, 

 I cannot see how the preceding results can be avoided. The 

 effects are clearly inductive effects produced by electricity, 

 not in currents but in its statical state, and this induction is 

 exerted in lines of force which, though in many experiments 

 they may be straight, are here curved more or less according 

 to circumstances. 1 use the term line of inductive force merely 

 as a temporary conventional mode of expressing the direction 

 of the power in cases of induction ; and in the experiments with 

 the hemisphere (1224.), it is curious to see how, when certain 

 lines have terminated on the under surface and edge of the 

 metal, those which were before lateral to them expand and open 

 out from each other, some bending round and terminating their 

 action on the upper surface of the hemisphere, and others 

 meeting, as it were, above in their progress outwards, uniting 

 their forces to give an increased charge in the carrier ball, at 

 an increased distance from the source of power, and influencing 

 each other so as to cause a second flexure in the contrary di- 

 rection from the first one. All this appears to me to prove 

 that the whole action is one of contiguous particles, related to 

 each other, not merely in the lines which they may be con- 

 ceived to form through the dielectric, between the inductric 

 and the inducteous surfaces, but in other lateral directions 

 also. It is this which gives the effect equivalent to lateral re- 

 pulsion or expansion in the lines of force I have spoken of, and 

 enables induction to turn a corner (1304.). The power, in- 

 stead of being like that of gravity, which relates particles 

 together through straight lines, whatever other particles may 

 be between them, is more analogous to that of a series of 

 magnetic needles, or to the condition of the particles consi- 

 dered as forming the whole of a straight or a curved mag- 

 net. So that in whatever way I view it, and with great 

 suspicion of the influence of favourite notions over myself, I 

 cannot perceive how the ordinary theory of induction can be 

 a correct representation of that great natural principle of 

 electrical action. 



1232. I have had occasion in describing the precautions 

 necessary in the use of the inductive apparatus, to refer to 

 one founded on induction in curved lines (1203.); and after 

 the expei'iments already described, it will easily be seen how 

 great an influence the shell-lac stem may exert upon the 



