36 Mechanical Philosophy. [Chap. I. 



])artiinilarly decomposifions, which have been hr- 

 tlierto considered as belonging to the province of 

 chemistry alone *. At the close of the century this 

 question was far from being satisfactorily solved. 

 But as the subject has excited so much attention 

 among philosophers, in every part of Europe, and 

 as new facts will probably be brought to light 

 every day, we may hope that the time is not very 

 distant, when a sufficient number of facts will be 

 arranged to form a consistent and satisfactory 

 theory, and when Galvanism will take its place 

 among the most dignified and useful of the 

 sciences f. 



SECTION III. 



MAGNETISM. 



This branch of philosophy, during the same pe- 

 riod, has been an object of less attention than elec- 

 tricity, and of fewer speculations j probably on ac- 

 count of the smaller range of its phenomena, and 

 its being less capable of popular exhibition. Still, 

 however, it has been considerably cultivated, and 

 has received some important improvements, since 

 the time of Dr. Gilbert, the great father of mag- 

 net ical philosophy. The number of facts concern- 

 ing this mysterious kind of attraction has been 

 greatly augmented. U he points in which it resem- 

 bles, and those in which it differs from electricity, 



' See Atfditiunal Notts — (JI). 



t l''<>r further infonnation on this fiubject, see the SupploJient 

 to tlic Encj/clf)pa;dia, art. Galvanism. See also GarneU'* AiumIs 

 of Philosophy lor 1 bOO. 



