Hare on. Electricity. 103 
PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, &c. | 
7 +, heaps . 
Art. XII.—An Essay on the Question, whether there be 
two Electrical Fluids, according to Du Faye, or one, ac- 
cording to Franklin. By Rosert Hare, M. D. Profes- 
sor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. 9» 
- By those who allege the existence of two electrical fluids, 
much stress has’ been laid on the fact, that light bodies, 
when negatively electrified, separate from each other no less, 
_ than when in the opposite state. The absence and»:pres- 
ence of a fluid, cannot, it is said, have the same effect of 
producing repulsion. ‘To this, it has been answered, that 
the separation of such light bodies is not the effect of repul- 
sion, but of an attraction between them ——— 
ing medium ; which must e ensue, whether they 
electrified minnie or plus: am either case, that diver- 
sity of electrical excitement between them and the sur- 
ding medium, arises, which is always productive of at= 
In support of this viewof the question, I propose to make 
a few Aneta In san pce seers with moveable 
Coatings, like the galvanometer of Mr. Pepys,* the diver- 
gence of the leaves is facilitated, in proportion as the coat- 
iNgs are approximated to them. In this case, “it must be 
admitted, that there is an attraction between the coatings 
and the leaves ; for, were repulsion — the leaves the 
: je. 2 
Cause of their divergence, the: approach the coatings 
Would not increase it. © “3 a 
ay, however. the repulsion be- 
More or less, in all cases, by the electric tension of the sur- 
rounding medium, the coatings may permit the electric fluid 
to recede through them with greater facility. ;-and thus les- 
sen the electric tension, in the direction im which they are 
‘Were this supposition to avail in the ease of an electro- 
er with two leaves, it cannot apply inthe case of an in- 
* See Tilloch’s Philosophical Magazine, vol. x- p- 38. 
