On the Nature of Electrecety. 29 
The Academicians, witnesses of the experiment, appear to 
consider the proofs as unanswerable; M. Becquerel declares 
the fact to be established in a manner not to be contested; 
so writes the English electrician ; and I, desirous of having 
the statement confirmed, have consulted M. Becquerel 
whose declaration is positive. Notwithstanding that they 
adhered to the consequences of the experiment on the 
weight of electricity it was necessary for such high 
authorities as the Academicians named to arm themselves 
with doubt ; they could fall back upon their opinions, or 
upon antecedent inductions, or upon the character of the 
fact experimented upon; they might rest upon such reflec- 
tions, and inthe mean time continue to scrutinize particular 
branches of electricity. How could they be sure that the 
induction of electrical ponderability was true? &c.,” 
“Tt is true that the experiment which has been witnessed 
puts an end to the doctrine of Dufay, who first constructed 
the theory of two electricities; but that savant will still be 
glorious in the estimation of futurity for having preceded 
and installed Buffon. A true experiment made with care 
ought to be allowed the credit of arresting science running 
on in a false way ; one cannot deny the legitimacy of its 
despotic power to reopen all questions and to reform them ; 
but this experiment has passed through the two academies * 
the most celebrated in Europe entirely unacknowledged. 
And though I may not call upon the too great academic 
corporations to reconsider a decision, I may at least invoke 
persons who have taken no part in it to remain philo- 
sophically circumspect touching the experiment in question; 
particularly now that it is beginning to be held in estimation, 
and above all has the high recommendation of M. Becquerel.” 
This one step in the right direction directly indicates 
another of far greater importance to doctrinal electricity, 
namely, the limited nature of the electrical attraction. The 
argument by which it may be arrived at is a short one, and 
simply this: as the elements of matter have specific weights, 
and electricity is the cause of those weights, it follows that 
the elements of matter have specific quantities of electricity. 
Now, if we admit the electrical attraction to be definite, and 
trace the definite action in accordance with the simple re- 
quirements of mechanical philosophy, we shall immediately 
make intelligible the causes and natures of a diversity of 
* The experiment had been proposed for submission to the 
Royal Society and declined. 
