158 ON A SYSTEM OF NOTATION ADAPTED TO EXPLAINING 
directions ; and that they act at a ramet only by acting on 
e contiguous and intermediate parti another plac “4 
(N o. 1667) he says :—* The theory of ear alae set it forth 
* does not assume anything new as to the nature of the fee 
tric force or forces, but only as to their distribution. The effects 
in which a appear. The theory, though it professes to 
perform the important office of statin how th “ia are 
arranged, does not, as far as I can yet bai suppl ingle 
experiment which can be ssc a distinguishing test of 
the truth of any one of these various pea it humility 
when I thought I knew something about the matter; but the 
longer I live, and the more carefully I study the subject, the 
more ection Iam of my total ignorance of the nature of 
electri 
t 
the risk we run of pie ae oo much in them, and of attributing 
to them a higher value than our knowledge warrants. On this 
point Tyndall remarks:—“Tn our conceptions and reasonings 
The fluid fama is sometimes aad in a manner, ae may 
to inners conv erroneous impressions; as, for example, in 
pee fluid ba atirached and. ite: negative repelled. On 
hing the me late = free (repelled) electricity flows to 
the earth ons sae) the p pesca tes gm g handle 
ami : posi 
Laoag tricity is given off to a conductor, w 
M 
