226 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



electrical attraction, magnetic attraction, contraction of solids, liquids and gases, 

 all these are simply manifestations of the same force under different conditions. 

 These are names by which we designate phenomena, or the causes of phenomena, 

 the names of forces, as force manifests itself in its tendency to bring things 

 together, and hold them together. We have not space here for the argument 

 by which the above conclusion is reached. The realm of physics abounds with 

 data which, when properly considered, make the conclusion irresistible. It is all 

 clear sailing with not a breaker in the pathway. Accepting the above as establish- 

 ed, the question arises: What causes this force? What is its origin? 



As we wait to learn, we reach another conclusion. There is in nature 

 another force, repulsion. A force equal in operation, equal in importance with 

 attraction. It is as everywhere present, it operates in as many varied conditions, 

 it is scarcely less powerful. These two forces are correlated. They pertain to 

 opposite conditions; what gives strength to the one, gives apparent weakness to the 

 other. They never destroy but in all cases they act against each other. Repul- 

 sion is seen in the expansion of gases, in the expansion of metals, in electrical 

 repulsion, in the repellent power of heat in all its manifestations. In the Sun 

 there is a repellent power co-ordinate with the attractive power. This drives 

 volatile matter from the comets, thus making their tails; this causes the diurnal 

 revolution of the planets. This gives to the several planets their several dis- 

 tances from the Sun. Thus all along the line, from the highest manifestation in 

 the heavens to the minutest exhibitions of earth, we have these two forces side 

 by side; the one as much a factor in the world of phenomena as the other. Ac- 

 cepting this also as established, the question arises : What causes this force ? 

 What is its origin ? 



As heat expands gases and metals, as it makes solids Hquid, and makes 

 liquids vapor, as it overcomes chemical affinities, as it dissipates magnetic power, 

 changes electrical conditions, and seems to be the great repellent factor in the 

 solar system, we cannot but inquire into the nature of heat, and ask, is it a factor 

 in gravitation ? Does it play a part here as it does in all other conditions of the 

 attractive force ? 



We are inclined to give this query an affirmative answer. But an affirma- 

 tive answer here requires an abandonment of the current theory of heat. For 

 all scientists are teaching us that heat is but a mode of motion. We are being 

 led to look at it as something real — and the most potent of all the realities in 

 nature. A survey of organic nature and its forces, the forces by which living 

 bodies are builded, and the surrender made in iheir dissolution, tended the more 

 to confirm this view and to demand a new hearing of the whole question as to 

 the nature of heat. 



As this investigation was made about nine years ago, I am not sure that I 

 can follow the lines of inquiry as they were followed then, but an important ques- 

 tion was, whence the heat of friction ? The conclusion reached was that it is 

 from electricity. Some of the reasons for this conclusion will appear as we ad- 

 vance. 



