180 Mr. W. Herapath on the Electric atid Magnetic 



rapath, delivered, in a lecture on that branch of science, before 

 the Society of Inquirers*, on the 19th of April 1824. A report 

 of this lecture was published in Felix Farley's Journal (a 

 leading newspaper of this city) ut the same time. In this re- 

 port Mr. Herapath observes, " that as a body possessed of 

 the electric and acted on by the magnetic fluids revolved 

 upon its axis, it was rendered extremely probable that the 

 earth's motion was occasioned by these fluids, the electric ge- 

 nerated within itself by the chemical changes constantly taking 

 place from the action of solar heat ; we have only to conceive 

 that there is a great preponderance of positive fluid at one 

 pole, and of negative at the other, to satisfy the conditions of 

 its ability to move." 



In his lecture he stated that he had been induced to form 

 this opinion in consequence of the following reasons : " A body 

 filled with the fluids given off by chemical action and by the 

 magnetic fluids, will revolve upon its axis, as exemplified by 

 Faraday's revolving magnet ; it will also, when thus filled, 

 revolve round a fixed body similarly circimistanc»;d, and its 

 distance from it will be regulated by the quantity of the fluids 

 it possesses: the fluids given off have the power of penetrating 

 space, as demonstrated by the galvanic stream passing in 

 vacuo. The motions of bodies revolving from the impulses 

 enumerated are either from west to east, or from east to west, 

 according to the nature of the fluids : thus, suppose a body 

 acted on by negative electricity and north magnetic fluid in 

 one direction, and by positive electricity and south magnetic 

 fluid in the opposite, it ought to revolve upon its axis. The 

 magnetic fluids are polarized in the earth ; and reasoning from 

 analogy, the electric should be so also; since we find that in 

 all bodies containing electricity the positive appears at one 

 end and the negative at the other : all the conditions, there- 

 fore, requisite for a body to move in an orbit round another, 

 as well as to revolve upon its own axis, appear to be pos- 

 sessed by the earth. As the electric and magnetic fluids are 

 the only iihilosophical agents which would produce rotary 

 motion, and as the earth possesses these fluids, it is not un- 

 philosophical, in the absence of demonstration, to conclude 

 that they are the cause of its motion." 



These quotations prove that Mr. Herapath entertained the 

 opinion that the electric and magnetic fluids were the cause 

 of the motion of the earth long before Mr. Sturgeon, or at 

 least that by priority of publication he is entitled to the ho- 



* I would licrc observe, that in this Society the members lecture to eacli 

 other on the different dr-partmcnts of science, &c., at their own cost re- 

 spectivcl.v. 



Hour 



