208 CHEMICAL ATTRACTION. 



branch of a tree. But if electricity be a self- 

 repulsive agent, it must have a still stronger 

 attraction for the particles of iron, or it could 

 not become a temporary bond of union between 

 them and that it is the true cause of magnetic 

 attraction in soft iron, is obvious from the fact, 

 that when it is withdrawn the attraction is de- 

 stroyed, and they fall asunder. 



At the same time, it is equally evident that 

 electricity is not the generic principle of action 

 in nature. If so, it ought to be everywhere 

 present under all circumstances ; but so far is 

 this from being the fact, that in its most co- 

 pious and concentrated form, (that of lightning,) 

 its manifestations are only occasional and mo- 

 mentary. Besides, if electricity were the pri- 

 mary moving power of matter, it ought to be 

 the cause of fluidity, evaporation, gasefaction, 

 and those expansions of the atmosphere on 

 which all its circulations depend. It is true 

 that when sufficiently concentrated, it produces 

 the same phenomena which are universally 

 ascribed to caloric that is, it raises the tem- 

 perature of bodies, converts solids into liquids, 

 vapours, and gases, ignites combustibles, and 

 produces the chemical union of bodies. 



If then there be any truth in the great fun- 

 damental axiom, that the same effects must be re- 

 ferred to the same cause, it is clear that electri- 

 city is only a modification of the omnipresent 



