OHM ON THE GALVANIC CIRCUIT. 405 



into action, and the equilibrium is consequently disturbed, the 

 electricity will, in its endeavour to re-establish itself, if its 

 mobility be solely confined to the extent of the ring, flow 

 off on both sides. If this tension were merely momentary, 

 the equilibrium would very soon be re-established ; but if the 

 tension is permanent, the equilibrium can never be restored ; 

 but the electricity, by virtue of its expansive force, which is 

 not sensibly restrained, produces in a space of time, the dura- 

 tion of which almost always escapes our senses, a state which 

 comes nearest to that of equilibrium, and consists in this ; 

 that by the constant transmission of the electricity, a percep- 

 tible change in the electric condition of the parts of the body 

 through which the current passes is nowhere produced. The 

 peculiarity of this state, also occun'ing frequently in the trans- 

 mission of light and heat, has its foundation in this ; that each 

 particle of the body situated in the circle of action receives in 

 each moment just so much of the transmitted electricity from 

 the one side as it gives off to the other, and therefore constantly 

 retains the same quantity. Now since by reason of the first 

 fundamental position the electrical transition only takes place 

 directly from the one particle to the other, and is, under other- 

 wise similar circumstances, determined according to its energy 

 by the electrical difference of the two particles, this state must 

 evidently indicate itself on the ring, uniformly excited in its 

 entire thickness, and similarly constituted in all its parts, by a 

 constant change of the electric condition, originating from the 

 point of excitation, proceeding uniformly through the whole ring, 

 and finally again returning to the place of excitation ; whilst at 

 this place itself, a sudden spring in the electric condition, con- 

 stituting the tension, is, as was previously stated, constantly per- 

 ceptible. In this simple separation or division of the electricity 

 bes the key to the most varied phaenomena. 



The mode of separation of the electricity has been completelv 

 determined by the preceding observation ; but the absolute force 

 of the electricity at the various parts of the ring still remains 

 uncertain. This property may be best conceived, by imagining 

 the ring, without its nature being altered, opened at the point 

 of excitation and extended in a straight line, and representing 

 the force of the electricity at each point by the length of a per- 

 pendicular line erected upon it ; that directed upwards may re- 

 present a positive electrical, but that downwards a negative 



