NOMOS. 27 



carrying it by conduction, the other by discharge. 

 More even appears to be carried by the air than by 

 the wire ; and we may speak, if we will, of the in- 

 sulating air as being a better conductor than the 

 conducting wire, under these circumstances. 



In a word, conduction and insulation are but ex- 

 tremes of the same process. The idea of current is 

 involved in both, a quick current in the one case, 

 a slow current in the other. In ordinary conductors, 

 such as metal, the current travels instantaneously ; 

 but if these conductors be hemmed around by insu- 

 lating substances, such as glass or air, time is re- 

 quired for the completion of the journey, and this 

 time is the period of the charge. Charge is the cur- 

 rent thus hemmed in, and travelling very slowly; 

 and tension is only another name for the same thing. 

 Discharge and conduction are practically one and the 

 same. All differences, indeed, are differences of 

 word, and not of fact ; and thus we find identity in 

 some of the different modes of electrical action, as 

 well as identity in the different kinds of electricity ; 

 and finding this, we are now the better able to pro- 

 ceed with our inquiry, and ask what is electricity ? 



What is electricity ? The first clue to the inter- 

 pretation of this mystery is found in the arguments 

 which show the identity of ordinary and 

 voltaic electricity; for the direct conse- ion 

 quence of this identification is to connect 

 electrical with chemical action. This tlon * 



