85 



ith.-r, \\v will nnk'.' ;i few ([notations from well known v. 

 on the subject. 



Iir. Thos. Thomson, in his treatise on " Hc;it and Kleotricity'* 

 says :-- " Klectrie.ity is tin- property acquired by bodies, of attract- 

 in,,' and p-pelling light bodies, through tlic action of friction on 

 them." This is exactly the, property possessed by a in 

 Why then should two names l>e given to the same thing ? 



In another chapter the same writer says: "I shall now give 

 ount of the recently discovered facts, which have shown 

 the dependency of magnetism on electricity." 



Then follow a number of statements which in our view would 

 show the. reverse, for the names are merely transposed. Not" 

 withstanding all he. siys in his treatise regarding electricity, ho 

 has at last to confess, in speaking of the powers of attraction 

 and repulsion : " We are altogether ignorant of the cause of 

 these proper!' 



In Parker's K<-houl T.ook of Philosophy we read: "Elec- 

 tricity is the name given to an imponderable agent which 

 pervades the material world, and which is visible only in its 

 effects." Again, he has also to confess : " The nature of 

 electricity is unknown." 



Sir Wm. Thompson in " Good Words " 1807, says: "In 

 every kind of electric telegraph long or short, aerial >r 

 submarine, a signal is sent from either end, by causing flee- 

 to iI"W through an isolated metal wire." A very rapid 

 and singular kind of flowing it must be ; for he tells us that it 

 flows, at the speed of, "twelve time j around the globe in a second." 

 He has also to confess his want of knowledge, on the subject, 

 for he says: " It. may be regarded as probable that there is a 

 real electric fluid, and that this lluid really Hows through tho 



