18 4 Electricity of Nature, 



and overpowering splendour," I cannot but suggest, first, that 

 much of the ethereal solar light is distributed interstitially 

 among the molecular particles of the substances that compose 

 our terraqueous globe; that this light is masked or hidden 

 till it becomes deranged by some disturbance of the mole- 

 cular particles ; but, when so deranged, it gives rise to the 

 several phenomena termed electrical, which result from fric- 

 tion, percussion, or disruption. Hence it may be concluded 

 that the attraction of cohesion has its origin in the ethereal 

 light that is dispersed throughout all material substances. 



Secondly, that whatever portion of light is not so distributed 

 may exert an energy more strictly chemical, in the decompo- 

 sition and reproduction of water, the oxidation of metals, the 

 developement of gaseous bodies, and the like. It is, as I con- 

 ceive, during the induction of these phenomena that the 

 electrising process is begun and perfected; and this, perhaps, 

 not only by a decomposition or modification of the matter of 

 solar light, but by its direct action upon the decomposable 

 matters within the earth's surface ; and from this electrising 

 process result the separation of the magnetic fluid, and the 

 developement of free electricity and heat. May not earth- 

 quakes, the eruption of volcanoes, and other stupendous 

 convulsions, be referred to chemical or voltaic decomposition 

 effected by the agency of absorbed light ? 



My ideas accord (partially, at least) with the suggestion of 

 Dr. Hutton, at the close of his article on electricity, in his 

 Mathematical Dictionary. " Perhaps," he observes, " we 

 may be allowed to extend our views, and consider the sun 

 as the fountain of the electric fluid, of the zodiacal light, 

 the tails of comets, the aurora borealis, lightning, and artifi- 

 cial electricity, and of its various and not dissimilar modifi- 

 cations." 



If I have succeeded in affording evidence of the actual 

 existence of one great principle of union, and have shown 

 that this principle is the sun, and therefore that it would be 

 futile to seek for any other, it will only be required to point 

 out the way in which that principle may farther act so as to 

 connect all the other great natural phenomena with that of 

 gravitation. The " attraction of gravitation " is a term that 

 is employed by every one who attempts to explain the cause 

 of the descent or fall of any body possessing solidity and 

 weight. Attraction infers the operation of an agent by which 

 bodies are induced to approach to, and come in contact with, 

 it. Electrified bodies induce an opposite electrical condition 

 in other bodies within the range of their influence; and the 

 two are then attracted, the one to the other, in obedience to 



