168 DR. FARADAY'S EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCHES IN ELECTRICITY. (SERIES XIII.) 



particle to particle ; and in this manner, in acetic acid or freezing water a crystal a 

 few inches or even a couple of feet in length will form in less than a second, but pro- 

 gressively and by a transmission of power from particle to particle. And, as far as I 

 remember, no case of polar action, or partaking of polar action, except the one under 

 discussion, can be found which does not act by contiguous particles*. It is appa- 

 rently of the nature of polar forces that such should be the case, for the one force 

 either finds or developes the contrary force near to it, and has, therefore, no occasion 

 to seek for it at a distance. 



1666. But leaving these hypothetical notions respecting the nature of the lateral 

 action out of sight, and returning to the direct effects, I think that the phenomena 

 examined and reasoning employed in this and the two preceding papers tend to con- 

 firm the view first taken (1164.), namely, that ordinary inductive action and the 

 effects dependent upon it, are due to an action of the contiguous particles of the 

 dielectric interposed between the charged surfaces or parts which constitute, as it 

 were, the terminations of the effect. The great point of distinction and power (if it 

 have any) in the theory is, the making the dielectric of essential and specific import- 

 ance, instead of leaving it as it were a mere accidental circumstance or the simple 

 representative of space, having no more influence over the phenomena than the space 

 occupied by it. I have still certain other results and views respecting the nature of 

 the electrical forces and excitation, which are connected with the present theory ; 

 and, unless upon further consideration they sink in my estimation, I shall very 

 shortly put them into form as another series of these electrical researches. 



* I mean by contiguous particles those which are next to each other, not that there is no space between 

 them. See (16] 6.). 



Royal Institution, 

 February \4th, 1838. 



