HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



found it in a power of action at a distance impressed 

 on the electric fluid.' Lord Kelvin writes, ' Faraday, 

 without mathematics, divined the result of mathe- 

 matical investigation ; and what has proved of infinite 

 value to the mathematicians themselves, he has given 

 them an articulate language in which to express 

 their results. Indeed, the whole language of the 

 magnetic field and lines of force are Faraday's. It must 

 be said for the mathematicians that they greedily 

 accepted it, and have ever since been most zealous in 

 using it to the best advantage.' 



It was one of Helmholtz's mental qualities, that 

 he was never satisfied with an inadequate explanation. 

 He examined all the theories of electrical action 

 and found them insufficient. His studies were at 

 first of a critical nature, without experimental investi- 

 gation. He showed that certain consequences of 

 Weber's law were inconsistent with, or even contra- 

 dicted, the law of the conservation of energy, although, 

 on the other hand, they gave a satisfactory explana- 

 tion of many of the facts. Helmholtz demonstrated 

 that the law led to the idea of infinite speed, and 

 also implied that the centre of gravity of static 

 electricity was changeable. With Coulomb's state- 

 ment, that electric forces act through space similar to 

 gravitation, and follow substantially the same law, he 

 was more in accord. He accepted Neumann's notion 

 or law of potential with reservations. 



The special work of Helmholtz on electrodynamics 

 206 



