202 CHEMICAL ATTRACTION. 



for the other, and repulsion of its own particles ; 

 secondly, that all bodies which combine che- 

 mically, are in opposite states of electricity. 

 Finding that the atoms of oxygen, chlorine, 

 fluorine, iodine, and bromine, were attracted by 

 the positive pole of the voltaic battery, he in- 

 ferred that they were combined with negative 

 electricity : while all those bodies that were at- 

 tracted to the negative extremity of the battery, 

 were supposed to be electro-positive ; and that 

 in consequence of the attraction existing be- 

 tween such bodies, they rushed into a state of 

 chemical combination, when the two electrici- 

 ties assumed the form of light, or fire. (Phil. 

 Transactions for 1806.) 



It would be an irksome and endless task to 

 detail all the objections that might be urged 

 against this ingenious hypothesis. That it was 

 not understood by Sir H. Davy himself, is mani- 

 fest from the fact, that, in the same Lecture, he 

 asks the question, " May not the remote cause 

 of electrical energy be identical with chemical 

 affinity, and an essential property of matter?" 

 He also observes, in the Chemical Philosophy, 

 that " electricity seems to result from the general 

 powers and agencies of matter." How is it 

 possible to reconcile or comprehend such vague 

 and contradictory views ? 



Had not this distinguished chemist attached 

 himself in early life to the hypothesis, that " ca- 



