34 NOMOS. 



with what we may suppose concerning the metallic 

 parts, it acquires both signification and weight. 

 We may also arrive at the same conclusion from 

 the formation of ozone and nitric acid in the aerial 

 track of the circuit, for these substances could not 

 be formed without marked chemical action. 



In all parts of the circuit, then fluid, metallic, 

 and aerial there are more or less evident traces of 

 chemical action, and so far the connection between 

 electricity and chemical action is strengthened. But 

 many difficulties remain to be solved before we can 

 arrive at any conclusion on the subject, and one of 

 these is to be found in the theory of that state which 

 has been so repeatedly mentioned the current. 



What, then, is the current ? It has long been the 

 fashion to ascribe the phenomena of electricity to 

 certain attractive and repellent movements in an im- 

 ponderable agent or agents, and the term current 

 has been used to describe these movements; but 

 the researches of Dr. Faraday and others have gone 

 far to explode these opinions by showing that there 

 are certain definite movements of matter during elec- 

 trical action movements resulting from a certain 

 state called polarity. It is not easy to define this 

 term, but it is one borrowed from the phenomena of 

 magnetism. The idea involved in it is that the 

 opposite sides of atoms acquire opposite properties 

 during electrical action, identical with those which 

 belong to the two ends of a magnet. These sides 



