CURRENTS IN CLOSED CIRCUITS. 



127 



CHAPTER XV. 



CIRCULATION OF ELECTRIC CURRENTS IN CLOSED 

 CIRCUITS. 



"INFINITE rectilinear progression in finite space 

 being impracticable, there is a necessity for 

 the recurrence of portions of the electric ether in 

 circles to. the same place. 



A periodical return of the heavenly bodies to 

 the same place is also the great law of Astronomy ; 

 and even the atmospheric ether moves in circles, 

 denoted cyclones. A similar recurrence of the 

 swiftly-moving electric ether to the same place, in 

 circuits about the earth and about magnets, is a 

 law of electro-dynamics. 



A remarkable circulation of electric currents is 

 manifest in the arrangement of conducting mole- 

 cules, or bodies, to form circuits by rings ; as when 

 the two ends of a horse-shoe magnet are 

 connected by an intervening armature 

 A, as represented in Fig. 44. 



In a closed circuit, the polarity dis- 

 appears ; for there are no longer any 

 ends, or poles, to the magnet. The ex- 

 ternal electro-magnetic attraction nearly 

 disappears from the two conjoined halves Fig 44< 



