BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 39 



Nor will they either attract or repel each other, because the 

 attractive and repulsive forces operating between them are 

 exactly balanced, the two attractions of the electricity in the 

 first for the matter in the second, and of the electricity in the 

 second for the matter in the first, being opposed by the two 

 repulsions of the electricity in the first for the electricity in the 

 second, and of the matter in the first for the matter in the 

 second. They, therefore, produce no efiect upon each other 

 whatever. 



But let us next suppose that one of the bodies is an electric 

 which has been excited in the usual way by friction — a stick 

 of wax, or a glass cylinder, for example, which has been 

 rubbed with the hand, or a piece of dry silk. In this case, 

 the body in question has received an addition to its natural 

 quantity of electricity, which addition, accordingly, it will 

 most readily part with whenever it is brought into contact 

 with a conductor. But this is not all. Let us see how it 

 will act, according to the law that has been stated, upon the 

 other body, which we shall suppose to be in its natural state, 

 when they are brought near each other. First, from the 

 repulsive tendency of the electric particles, the extra electricity 

 in the excited body will drive away a portion of the electricity 

 of the other from its nearest end, which will thus become 

 negatively electrified, or will consist of more matter than is 

 necessary to balance its electricity. In this state of things, 

 what are the attractive and repulsive forces operating between 

 the two bodies, the one, be it remembered, having an excess 

 of electricity, and the other an excess of matter ? There are, 

 in fact, five attractive forces opposed by only four repulsive — 

 the former being those of the matter in the first body for the 

 electricity in the second, of the balanced electricity in the 



