THOUGHTS CONCERNING ELECTRICITY 



[From MS. N 10: probably an early draft of the theory.] 

 {See Table of Contends at the beginning of this volume. J 



195] Electricity seems to be owing to a certain elastic fluid inter- 

 spersed between the particles of bodies, and perhaps also surrounding the 

 bodies themselves in the form of an atmosphere. 



196] This fluid, if it surrounds bodies in the form of an atmosphere, 

 seems to extend only to an imperceptible distance from them*, but the 

 attractive and repulsive power of this fluid extends to very considerable 

 distances. 



197] That the attraction and repulsion of electricity extend to con- 

 siderable distances is evident, as corks are made to repel by an excited 

 tube held out at a great distance from them. That the electric atmospheres 

 themselves cannot extend to any perceptible distance, I think, appears 

 from hence, that if two electric conductors be placed ever so near together 

 so as not to touch, the electric fluid will not pass rapidly from one to the 

 other except by jumping in the form of sparks, whereas if their electric 

 atmospheres extended to such a distance as to be mixed with one another, 

 it should seem as if the electricity might flow quietly from one to the other 

 in like manner as it does through the pores of any conducting matter. 



But the following seems a stronger reason for supposing that these 

 atmospheres cannot extend to any perceptible distance from the body 

 they surround, for if they did it should seem that two flat bodies whenever 

 they were laid upon one another should always become electric thereby, 

 for in that case there is no room for the electric atmosphere to extend to 

 any sensible distance from those surfaces of the bodies which touch one 

 another, so that the electric fluid which before surrounded those surfaces 

 would be forced round to the opposite sides, which would thereby become 

 overcharged with electricity, and consequently appear electrical, which is 

 contrary to experience. 



198] Many Electricians seem to have thought that electrified bodies 

 were surrounded with atmospheres of electric matter extending to great 

 distances from them. The reasons which may have induced them to think 

 so may be first, that an electrified body affects other bodies at a con- 

 siderable distance. But this may, with much more probability, be supposed 



* There are several circumstances which shew that two bodies, however smooth 

 and strongly pressed together, do not actually touch each other. I imagine that 

 the distance to which the electric atmospheres, if there are any, extend must be 

 less than the smallest distance within which two bodies can be made to approach. 



