ELECTRIC CLOCK. 63 



the Channel, forming a chord of communication 

 between England and France. The electricity 

 of low intensity produced by means of the gal- 

 vanic battery is now largely employed in mul- 

 tiplying casts of medallions and in overlaying 

 articles of various kinds with silver and gold. 

 A beautiful application of the same power, and 

 one which affords us a pleasing evidence of the 

 fact that electrical currents are constantly flying 

 through the solid crust beneath our feet, is 

 the Electrical clock. Mr. Bain has, by arrang- 

 ing plates in the earth, with connecting wires 

 attached to them, conveyed away sufficient 

 electricity from these currents to keep in 

 constant and regular motion a clock of peculiar 

 construction ; and he proposes to regulate all 

 the clocks in a large city by this means, so that 

 all should exhibit precisely the same time ! In 

 addition to the forces already enumerated, the 

 powers of Magnetism and of Gravity bear in a 

 particular manner importantly upon a variety 

 of the chemical phenomena of nature. Into 

 the consideration of these, however, we shall not 

 enter. 



Thus, standing on this point which commands 

 a view of the whole of the scene* before us, 

 we have found that a number of subtle princi- 

 ples or forces have been exhibited to us as con- 

 * See p. 24. 



