APPENDIX 267 



ELECTRICAL CONDITIONS OF THE EARTH 



IN the first section of this work I have said that in 

 countries free from magnetic and seismic disturbances and 

 in ordinary conditions of weather the earth is the negative 

 terminal of Nature's electrical system. That is a state- 

 ment of fact, but modernity has, in some of the large towns 

 of the world, introduced a new factor in a multiplicity of 

 electrical railways and "tubes," and this factor must be 

 considered in relation to the accepted theory that, as 

 compared with all other electrical tensions, the earth is 

 regarded as zero. 



In body-testing it is necessary that it should be, 

 approximately, so. There must always be a transfer 

 from a plus to a minus quantity when there is direct 

 conduction. If the transfer is made inductively then the 

 problem becomes one of tension and spark-gap. 



In electro-diagnosis and body-testing generally the 

 patient must be connected for some minutes with an 

 " earth " of low resistance in order to remove any possi- 

 bility of charge from a source of energy other than that of 

 the body itself, and if this is to be accomplished it follows 

 that the tension of the body must be plus and that of the 

 earth minus, otherwise there would be a transfer of elec- 

 tricity from the earth to the body instead of from the body 

 to the earth. 



In certain localities, and in abnormal conditions of 

 weather in other localities, the earth may become very 

 highly charged, and unless this is taken into account results 

 may be obtained in testing which will perplex the observer. 



