LAUGEL'S PKOBLEMS OF NATURE AND LIFE. 345 



limited to the phenomena expressed by light and heat 

 only; or that its elasticity, tenuity, velocity. of wave- 

 motion, &c. remain unaltered, when coining into that 

 close atomic coalescence which all analogy tells us to 

 be the condition of most energetic physical action. 



If failing to bring direct proof of the presence of 

 ether in the subtle phenomena, let us see whether elec- 

 tricity may not fairly be invoked as its representative 

 and real substitute. What, in short, is there to forbid 

 the conception that electricity is the ether itself not 

 existing as when diffused through interplanetary and 

 stellar space, but from its embodiment with terrestrial 

 matter solid, fluid, or gaseous quickened into new 

 conditions ; acting or acted upon in all atomic changes ; 

 and in certain of these extricated in such quantity and 

 manner as to become a power in the hands of man ? 

 Can an agent such as we must suppose ether to 

 be lie dormant in the innermost interstices of matter, 

 while the smallest change of condition, even by 

 friction or the simple apposition of different bodies, 

 awakens another power within them into life and 

 energy? Is it probable or possible that two distinct 

 elements should co-exist in the same interstitial spaces, 

 with separate relations to the matter thus environing 

 them ? We put these points interrogatively, but they 

 are surely such as may sanction hypothesis, in default 

 of any more absolute answer to the question, ' What is 

 Electricity?' 



The velocity of the electric current in its close 

 approximation to that of the ether waves of light 

 may be admitted into the argument for identity. All 



