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explain all, simply because we do not see any cause for the 
electrical condition of the sun — why the sun should be 
charged with negative electricity ? 
Should we have discovered that the sun was hot if we 
had waited to find out why it was hot. Surely it is sufficient 
to say that there is no proof that it is not electrical. We 
may go further than this, for if we may compare large bodies 
with small, then we may show a possible reason for its being- 
electrified. When two particles of different metals approach 
or recede from each other they become electrified with 
opposite electricities. May not the sun be approaching or 
leaving some other body of a different material. I do not 
suggest this as a probable explanation, but simply in answer 
to those who say that it is absurd to suppose the sun can 
be electrified. 
“ On the Electro-Dynamic effect, the induction of Statical 
Electricity causes in a moving body. The induction of the 
Sun a probable cause of Terrestrial Magnetism,” by Professor 
Osborne Reynolds, M.A. 
If an electrified body was placed near a moving conductor 
so as to induce an opposite charge in the moving body, this 
charge would move on the surface of the conductor so as to 
remain opposite the electrified body, whatever the motion 
might be. Suppose the moving conductor to be an endless 
metal band running past a body negatively charged, the 
positive charge would be on the surface of the band opposite 
to the negative body, and here it would remain whatever 
might be the velocity of the band. Now the effect of the 
motion of this negative electricity on the conductor would 
be the same as that of an electric current in the opposite 
direction to the motion of the band. 
If instead of a band the moving body consisted of a steel 
or iron top spinning near the charged body the effect of the 
electricity on the top would be the same as that of a current 
