to account for the PhcBnomena of Electricity, 337 



equilibrium. This cannot take place through the glass: but 

 when the conuectiou is in;ule between the different state?, by a 

 prtjper substance, both are brought into equilibrium, with the 

 production of light, heat, and violent effects on the animal oeco- 

 iiomv, as in phoenomeiion 4. 



9." Since the equilibrium between two bodies my be disturbed, 

 and since friction is one of the c'auses that disturbs the equili- 

 brium, it is assumed that electrics, when rubbed, suffer an en- 

 largement of tiieir pores : that the excess enters the increased 

 capacity, and that when the attrition ceases, it is expelled by 

 the closing of tlie pores to their ordinary dimensions. 



The whole of the foregoing doctrines may be reduced to the 

 five following propositions, and in this order it is^ for con- 

 venience, proposed to examine them. 



1 . T!ie power producing electrical appearances is an elastic 

 inatter, siii generis. 



1. It attracts all matter, and is found equally distributed in 

 all matter of the same kind. To these two propositions are to 

 be referred the phuenonieaa of attraction, repulsion, and equili- 

 bria. 



-J. Certain substances called electrics are impermeable to the 

 electric fluid. 



4. The disturbance of the equilibrium may be effected by a 

 separation of the natural quantity into excess and diminution. 

 Tins mav happen in ditierent parts of the same body, or in dif- 

 ferent bodies. 



5. When this separation is effected by attrition between dif- 

 ferent bodies, one of which must be an electric, the pores of the 

 latter being opened, will receive the plus quantity, and will give 

 it out again when the pores close. To the latter three proposi- 

 tions are to be referred condejisation and excitation. 



1. With regard to the first proposition that electricity is 

 matter, it is a conclusion wliich any one who judges from iacts 

 would be induced to draw. It passes from one body to another 

 in a visible form. It produces such a concussion on the solid 

 matter of the air us to cause a loud explosion. It is well known 

 to perforate bodies which even offer considerable resistance : so 

 a quire of paper will be pierced with as much ease as it would 

 by a pistol ball. If passed through a tube of oil or water, it vviil 

 split the tul)c into minute fragments : and if the fluid had been 

 ink, it would have been dispersed with such force as not to sully 

 a sheet of paper placed underneath. That any material agent 

 affects these ap])earanccs has been called in (juestion Ijy Sir 

 \l. Davy. When folds of pajjcr are perforated by an electrical 

 discharge, there is a burr raised on both sides, and this Sir 

 H. Davy considers as an evidence that nothing passed through, 



Vol. 44. No. 199. Nov. 1814. Y a-H 



