518 The Source of Electric Energy . [September, 
As to the somewhat similar results of magnetic induction, 
we can only say that they display still another indication of 
this intimate connection between all molecules, and the 
effort of the molecules of each substance to hinder any 
change in their relations to each other, or to those of another 
substance. But the character of this resistance and the 
cause of its effects cannot be understood without a precise 
idea of the mode of magnetic motion. As to this we are 
still at a loss. The theory of Ampere, that magnetism is a 
result of closed eleCtric currents circulating in parallel direc- 
tions around the molecules, will not stand the test of our 
present knowledge of electricity. A continued eleCtric cur- 
rent is impossible without there be a continued yielding of 
energy. Static electricity is fixed in position in fixed condi- 
tions : it only moves or varies when the shape or extent of the 
surface, or its relation to other surfaces, is changed. And 
this movement is in no sense a temporary, much less a con- 
tinuous, circular current. Dynamic electricity is not a 
continuous, but a series of rapidly succeeding currents. For 
every increment of current there must be an increment of 
energy set free by some chemical or other agency. The idea 
of eleCtric currents circulating continuously around molecules 
is therefore entirely at variance with the known aCtion of 
electricity, and with the principle of the conservation of 
energy. 
It is possible, however, that there may be a continuous 
circular motion of another kind, for atoms may be rotating 
spheres, disks, or rings of ethereal substance, their central 
attraction being a result of this rotary motion, and their 
exterior attractions also a result of the same motion. In 
the latter case the attraction would be polar, being necessa- 
rily strongest in the line of the axis, and changing to repul- 
sion between two atoms whose rotation was in opposite 
directions. In a mass in which the atomic rotation was 
largely in one direction magnetic force would appear, and all 
its variations might result from the various relations of this 
condition between the atoms of separate masses. It is also 
possible that the influence of a vigorous rotary motion, like 
that which effectively, though not actually, exists in the 
induClive coil when conveying an eleCtric current, might, by 
its attraction, force the atoms of another mass to assume 
such positions that their rotation would agree with that of 
the current. In such a case magnetic energy would display 
itself. 
Reversely, the rotary energy of a magnet is resisted by the 
molecules of a coil into which it is introduced ; and this re- 
