56 NOMOS. 



to those marked movements of attraction, quasi- 

 repulsion, and rotation, which are so very charac- 

 teristic of electricity. We have not yet spoken of 

 the light and heat associated with electricity. And 

 yet all these phenomena must be considered, before 

 we can furnish the answer to the question, what is 

 electricity ? 



The attractions and apparent repulsions of elec- 

 tricity are very mysterious phenomena, and it is not 

 easy to decide upon the best mode of 

 investigating them; but it is perhaps 

 tn6 ^ est to ^ em w ^ tn those which are 



to chemical exhibited when electrical currents are 

 passed in the same or in different direc- 

 tions through wires which are parallel to each other, 

 and moveable. 



Now, when currents are passed through wires 

 arranged in this manner, we find that the wires 

 approach each other when the currents pass in the 

 same direction, and recede from each other when the 

 currents pass in opposite directions. The wires 

 attract each other in the first instance; the wires 

 seem to repel each other in the second instance 

 seem to repel, for we shall find hereafter that it is not 

 quite so certain that the wires repel as that they 

 recede from each other. How, then, is this ? 



The reason why the wires attract each other would 

 seem to be found in the fact that the current is not 

 confined to the wire. Now that this is so, is evident. 

 In the ordinary coil-galvanometer the passage of a 



