CHEMISTRY. 39 



of animals, and that life and all the vital functions are not 

 dependent upon it for their existence and action. Electricity 

 gives polarity to iron, and is supposed to be the cause of, or 

 identical with magnetism. 



The polarity of the earth is supposed to depend upon the 

 passage of electrical currents around it. Electricity is desig- 

 nated according to its different states, by the terms statical 

 and dynamical. Statical electricity treats of the properties of 

 the fluid at rest or in a state of equilibrium. Dynamical 

 electricity treats of the fluid in motion, or as it displays its 

 phenomena while under experiment. The upper regions of 

 the atmosphere are generally in a positive state; in cloudy 

 weather, the distribution of the fluid is disturbed, and this 

 gives rise to the phenomena of thunder and lightning. Gal- 

 vanism, as well as magnetism, is supposed to be identical 

 with, or a modification of, electricity. 



Electricity is developed in various ways, by different kinds 

 of apparatus which cannot be described in this place. All the 

 forms of electricity are applied to useful purposes, to con- 

 siderable extent, in the arts and sciences. It remains an 

 unsettled problem as yet, whether electricity in any form can 

 be made available to the growth of. vegetation : its efficacy, 

 also, in the healing art, is not as much relied upon as in 

 former years ; this, like all newly discovered remedial agents, 

 has had its day of glory, and has, probably, by means of 

 correct observation and careful experiment, fallen to about its 

 proper standard. 



NOTE. The term PVROGEX has been proposed instead of 

 Electricity : the term signifies generator of heat or fire. 



