518 Sir G. C. Haughton oyi the Common Nature of 



nity for other bodies ; and if we fix upon a metallic and vi- 

 treous type, no two substances are more entitletl to be con- 

 sidered as the chiefs of their respective classes ; and it platinum 

 had not been known, gold would have taken its place ; when 

 those two precious bodies, gold and diamond, that have been 

 so long conjoined in the associations of mankind, would still 

 have maintained their rank. 



Such are the views I am led to entertain of universal mag- 

 netism, that is of magnetism, cohesion, adhesion, and vis- 

 cosity. And what is viscosity but the employment of a watery 

 vehicle, which is afterwards to disappear, partly through the 

 effects of heat, but mainly through its greater affinity for air and 

 other substances which are said to absorb it, if inwards, by 

 vessels, through what is called endosmosis, and if outwards, 

 exosmosis? This fluid helps to hold together gelatinous, albu- 

 minous and glutinous substances, in such a manner as to 

 bring all their particles into close connexion with themselves, 

 as well as with the bodies to which they are to be attached, 

 and thus by expelling air from between them all, brings every 

 portion into close contact, when, the fluid part having disap- 

 peared, the whole is converted by exsiccation into a concrete 

 mass through the power of the affinities of which we have 

 just had so many examples. In the same manner bodies like 

 lac, resin, pitch, &c., that only require the application of heat 

 to become liquid, are enabled to mould themselves to the in- 

 equalities of the bodies upon which they are dropped, and 

 thus making counter-impressions connect themselves with a 

 force proportioned to their surfaces, that is to say, of the col- 

 lection of points of which these are composed. What too is 

 the water that generally forms the vehicle in the former cases, 

 but a crystal or salt called ice (oxide of hydrogen) liquefied by 

 heat, and of such universal strength of affinity while fluid, as 

 to connect itself with nearly every body it touches, which it 

 is then said popularly to wet, and that too in a degree always 

 in proportion to the cjuantity of caloric it contains at the mo- 

 ment, those substances being excepted between which and it 

 there exists such a decided repugnance, that they exhibit a 

 repulsion that nothing can overcome, but the union of a third 

 body that neutralizes both, and which we see exemplified in 

 water, grease, and soap? Is it desired to strengthen the ad- 

 hesiveness of gelatinous and albuminous bodies ? we then have 

 recourse to a fluid still more powerful than water, to one that 

 has a still stronger affinity for these substances, and we sub- 

 stitute alcohol, the result being a compound of such tenacity 

 that it is considered as a cement ; and such is the affinity of 

 alcohol for other bodies that it is employed to clear away, or 



