402 OHM ON THE GALVANIC CIRCUIT. 



this especial purpose, and at the same time as an introduction 

 to the subject itself, I give, as a forerunner of the compressed 

 mathematical investigation, a more free, but not on that account 

 less connected, general view of the process and its results. 



Three laws, of which the first expresses the mode of distribu- 

 tion of the electricity within one and the same body, the second 

 the mode of dispersion of the electricity in the surrounding 

 atmosphere, and the third the mode of appearance of the elec- 

 tricity at the place of contact of two heterogeneous bodies, 

 form the basis of the entire Mem-oir, and at the same time con- 

 tain evei-ything that does not lay claim to being completely 

 established. The two latter are purely experimental laws ; but 

 the first, from its nature, is, at least partly, theoretical. 



With regard to this first law, I have started from the suppo- 

 sition that the communication of the electricity from one par- 

 ticle takes place directly only to the one next to it, so that no 

 immediate transition from that particle to any other situate at 

 a greater distance occurs. The magnitude of the transition 

 between two adjacent particles, under otherwise exactly si- 

 milar circumstances, I have assumed as being proportional to 

 the difference of the electric forces existing in the two parti- 

 cles: just as, in the theory of heat, the transition of caloric be- 

 tween two particles is regarded as proportional to the dif- 

 ference of their temperatures. It will thus be seen that I have 

 deviated from the hitherto usual mode of considering molecular 

 actions introduced by Laplace ; and I trust that the path I 

 have struck into will recommend itself by its generality, sim- 

 plicity, and clearness, as well as by the light which it throws 

 upon the character of former methods. 



With respect to the dispersion of electricity in the atmosphere, 

 1 have retained the law deduced from experiments by Coulomb, 

 according to which, the loss of electricity, in a body suiTounded 

 by air, in a given time, is in proportion to the force of the 

 electricity, and to a coefficient dependent on the nature of the 

 atmosphere. A simple comparison of the circumstances under 

 which Coulomb performed his experiments, with those at pre- 

 sent known respecting the propagation of electricity, showed, 

 however, that in galvanic phaenomena the influence of the atmo- 

 sphere may almost always be disregarded. In Coulomb's expe- 

 riments, for instance, the electricity driven to the surface of the 



