Electriciti/ of Nature. 179 



Art. V. On the Electricity of Nature, and its Connection toitli 

 Magnetism and tmth the other grand Natural Phenomena. By 

 the Author of the " Domestic Gardener's Manual." 



Sir, 



On perusing the report of Mr. Ritchie's lecture upon " the 

 relation between electricity and magnetism," given at p. 128. 

 of the fourth number of the Journal of the Royal Institution^ 

 I was forcibly struck with the concluding remark, that " we 

 were fast approaching to the period when all the phenomena 

 of light, electricity, &c., would probably be referred to the 

 same great cause, merely acting in different ways." 



My attention was peculiarly excited by the quotation from 

 one of the lectures of the late Professor Playfair, alluding to 

 the probable discovery of the existence of one general prin- 

 ciple, which would be found to unite all the grand natural 

 phenomena, and to connect them with that of gravitation. I 

 could not but feel deeply interested by these concludino- 

 remarks of the lecturer, because they brought to my recol- 

 lection that, upon the memorable observation (not to style it 

 prediction) of Professor Playfair, above alluded to, I was led 

 to ground the electrical hypothesis by which I have endea- 

 voured to explain the various phenomena of vegetable life 

 and growth. It will be evident, on referring to the closing 

 paragraphs of the preface to the Domestic Gardener^s Manual, 

 p. 6., that I am correct in what I assert ; for I therein observe 

 that " the conjecture of this great man has, to a certain 

 extent, been verified; and that it may not be presumptuous to 

 conjecture that the great principle itself will ultimately be 

 referred to one grand and only source. I believe that the 

 source is already discovered and known, and that it only 

 requires the philosophic mind to divest itself of prejudices, 

 and to cease from pursuing shadows, since the substance 

 itself stands revealed to the view of all. If I succeed in ren- 

 dering this apparent, I shall enjoy the satisfaction of having 

 done something for the cause of science, by simplifying the 

 means of scientific research into the operations of that grand 

 principle, which I cannot but view as the source of, and prime 

 operative agent in, all the phenomena of the material world." 



The immediate object of this paper is to point out the prime 

 source of that fluid, or ethereal essence, misnamed electricity ; 

 and to afford evidence of its universal diffusion and general 

 agency. But, in order to render my meaning as clear and 

 free from ambiguity as possible, I shall premise that I con- 

 sider the electricity of nature to be distinct (in its effect, at 

 least) from the electricity in masses, as revealed and brought 



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