LECTURE I. 39 



tures which I have had the honor of deHver- 

 ing in this theatre, when speaking of the 

 ultimate fibres of the body, I observed that 

 they varied in the properties of rigidity, 

 phability, strength, and elasticity ; and that 

 such properties could not be considered 

 to be dependent on the quantity of matter 

 contained in the fibres, which would be 

 estimable by weight, to which such pro- 

 perties bear no proportionate relation ; and, 

 consequently, that these properties must 

 be attributed to certain powers of attrac- 

 tion and repulsion operating in various 

 modes and degrees, between the atoms of 

 which such fibres are composed. How- 

 ever minute the atoms may be which com- 

 pose those visible and tangible substances 

 we call matter, Sir Humphry Davy's ex- 

 periments shew, that each atom is sur- 

 rounded by electric substances possessing 

 powers of attraction and repulsion ; and 

 which substances are not only capable of 

 acting upon the integral parts of bodies, but 

 also upon the largest masses of matter. 

 These electric substances produce decom- 

 position and recombination, and by such 



D 4 



