174 M. E. Edlund on the Nature of Electricity . 



the same time that the external conductors to the room became 

 polarized^ so that there remained on external objects a charge of 

 negative opposing the positive on the sphere, and a charge of 

 positive opposing the negative on the external surface of the 

 room. By connecting the sphere to the earth, the sphere^s 

 charge and its opposing charge on surrounding objects neutralize 

 each other, leaving the room negative to a positive charge in the 

 earth, which, when touched together, neutralize each other. Or 

 if the sphere is touched to the room, the positive of the sphere 

 neutralizes the negative on the room, the negative and positive 

 charges in surrounding objects at the same time recombining 

 also. Or when the sphere was taken back into the room, the 

 negative returned to the inside of the room, the positive and 

 negative which were induced on external conductors by the 

 sphere and room when the sphere was external to the room 

 recombining. 



It is to be regretted that circumstances prevented me, as I 

 have stated, from performing a regular series of experiments 

 with the insulated room ; nevertheless, as the experiment re- 

 quires space and apparatus not always attainable, I have thought 

 that the experiments, even so far as they went, are worthy of 

 record, even if they do not carry the conviction which my argu- 

 ments have for so long failed to establish amongst the authors of 

 our text-books on electricity. 



XXIII. On the Nature of Electricity . By M. E. Edlund. 

 [Concluded from p. 100.] 

 Part IL 



IN the first part of this memoir we have endeavoured to show 

 that both electrostatic and electrodynamic phenomena can 

 be explained with the aid of the luminiferous aether. The same 

 basis of demonstration will serve to explain to us some of the 

 other principal properties of the galvanic current. 



4. Phenomena of galvanic induction. — A molecule m' is at rest 

 if it is equally repelled on all sides by the surrounding sether. 

 Suppose now that, from any cause whatever, the sether has been 

 compressed towards a point a in the vicinity of m'; the repulsion 

 exerted on this side upon m' will necessarily be greater than on 

 the others. In consequence, the molecule m\ not being able to 

 keep intact its state of equilibrium, will inevitably seek to move 

 away from the point a. It will be the same with all the mole- 

 cules within the sphere of action of the compressed sether. The 

 consequence will be a rarefaction of the aether in the vicinity of «. 

 The sether at a greater distance from a, the density of which has 

 therefore undergone no sensible modification, seeks now to bring 



