1876.] The Newly-Discovered Force . 187 
always affeCt even the galvanoscopic frog, the most delicate 
of all tests of electricity. 
On the different forms of calorimeter it has not been fully 
tried. I have convinced myself that, like electricity, it is 
resisted somewhat by platinum wire, and it is possible that 
in passing through platinum a portion of it may be con- 
verted into heat, as is the case with electricity ; and if so a 
delicate thermometer, the bulb of which is surrounded by 
platinum wire through which the force is passing, would be 
affeCted. The heating power might be tested by the thermo- 
electric pile and galvanometer, or by the differential eleCtro- 
calorimeter : experiments of this kind, however, whatever 
the results, would do but little toward solving the problem 
of the nature of the force. The odour of ozone, that is ob- 
served from the spark of dynamic electricity, I have not been 
able to obtain from this force. 
It appears, then, that the light, as seen in the spark, and 
the contraction of the frog, are the only evidences we have 
of the presence of this force in any conductor. It is changed 
into light, as is electricity, in passing from one metallic 
conductor to another. This spark has yet to be exhaustively 
studied by the microscope and spectroscope. It is possible 
that it may affeCt some of the chemical substances chemic- 
ally or thermically. 
Non-Polarity of the Force. 
The apparent non-polarity of the force appears in all its 
phenomena. Although, like light and heat, it may be capable 
of polarisation, yet, practically in the ordinary phenomena it 
is apolar, like those two forces, and as such it may be re- 
garded. The idea of a circuit is not suggested by anything 
that is done with the force. We draw it off from the con- 
ductor as we draw off water from a spout, gas from a pipe, 
or heat from a stove. It has no tendency like statical elec- 
tricity to distribute itself through the earth any more than 
any other conductor. When a direct passage to the earth 
or the walls of the room is established, by a gas-pipe, for 
example, it can still be drawn off from any branches of the pipe 
between the apparatus and the floor. It is captured by any 
good conductor, as metals or the human body, that is brought 
near to or in contact with a metal already conducting it. 
With all the known forms of electricity, however they 
may differ in their special phenomena, the faCt of polarity is 
inseparably associated ; and it is by virtue of its polarity 
that electricity accomplishes work. Take away from the 
