432 Prof. Norton on Molecular Physics. 



rous facts, which go to show that the absorptive action of media 

 npon light and heat depends in a great degree upon the physical 

 constitution of the separate molecules, confirm this conclusion. 



The general phenomena and laws of reflexion, refraction, 

 polarization, diffraction, &c, should obtain upon this supposi- 

 tion no less than upon the conception that the phenomena are 

 to be referred to the interstitial aether. It remains to be seen 

 whether the theorems and formulae deduced by Fresnel and 

 other physicists from the undulatory theory of light, can be 

 shown to be substantially in accordance with this notion of 

 molecular actions. 



Note. — Objections to the theoretical views offered in the pre- 

 ceding pages will readily occur to the scientific reader ; but it 

 does not comport with the design of the present communication 

 to anticipate objections, or to attempt to enforce the general 

 conclusions deduced from the fundamental positions taken by 

 appeals to special facts. We must be content for the present to 

 rest our conclusions mainly upon general considerations. A 

 connected view of the whole ground to be surveyed is almost a 

 necessary preliminary to the many detailed investigations that 

 must be undertaken before the theory can be established on a 

 firm foundation. 



It will be perceived that the most characteristic feature of the 

 general theory under discussion is that it locates the source of 

 physical phenomena in the atmospheres of molecules, instead of 

 in the atoms or in the interstitial aether. In pursuing our de- 

 ductions into other departments of physics, other general con- 

 ceptions have been reached, some of which it may be advisable 

 to state here, as circumstances may delay somewhat the publi- 

 cation of the remainder of the article. 



1. An electric current (hydro-electric or thermo-electric) has 

 its origin in the opposite polarization of the adjacent sides of 

 contiguous molecules, developed by the play of the molecular 

 forces, under special circumstances, or by an inequality in the 

 action of the pulses of heat upon the atmospheres of the mole- 

 cules. The current consists of an actual flow of electric aether 

 from molecule to molecule, determined by a previous electric 

 polarization propagated from that which is the source of the 

 current. There are also conveyed, in the direction of the posi- 

 tive current, streams of impulses, both by the electric and uni- 

 versal aether, which, by a partial lateral dispersion, produce the 

 magnetic effects of the current. 



2. The mutual attractions or repulsions exerted between two 

 electric currents may be ascribed to a change in the tension of 

 the aether between the wires, produced by the lateral actions of 

 the currents. 



