1876.] The Newly-Discovered Force. 19 7 
conformed to the laws of that form of electricity ; he did 
not perform, and did not attempt to perform, with these 
sparks any of the physical or physiological experiments here 
n recorded, nor did he claim to have discovered any new force 
or any new form of electricity. 
The coincidence in time between the publication of the 
abstract of Riess’s experiments and the announcement of 
the discovery of the new force is admitted, and if the series 
of experiments were identical there would perhaps be a just 
reason for raising the question of priority.* 
Practical Value of the Force. 
The practical value of this force it is yet too early to 
discuss. There is no evidence, as yet, that the spark can 
be seen after the force has traversed very long distances, 
beyond a quarter or half a mile. It is conceivable that it 
may yet be generated in sufficient quantity to send a spark 
through the outer wires of the Atlantic cable, and thus it 
may expedite ocean telegraphy ; but there is as yet no proof 
that it can be utilised in that way or do any important work 
whatsoever. 
Ii is entirely possible that it may produce important phy- 
siological effeCts, although such effects have not yet been 
demonstrated. If it be a radiant force, analogous to light 
and heat, it may, like those forces, affeCt the system radi- 
cally, without giving rise to any sensation. Light is im- 
portant, even indispensable for healthy life, yet its influence 
is never immediately or direCtly felt, save on the eye ; and 
heat of a moderate intensity the body may receive uncon- 
sciously. 
For the present, then, the question in regard to this 
force is primarily one of science, and it is to be studied by 
scientific more than by practical men, belonging rather to 
physicists and physiologists than to telegraphic engineers or 
physicians. 
Time and many experiments may be needed before we 
shall be enabled to so increase and control this force as to 
make it supersede or supplement any of the ordinary uses 
of electricity. The history of electricity shows that long 
intervals often occur between scientific discoveries and their 
practical applications. Thus galvanism was discovered 
thirteen years before the invention of the voltaic pile ; a 
number of years more passed before the pile was utilised in 
* The paper of Riess was published originally in “ Poggendorff ’s Annalen,” 
apd the abstrad referred to appeared in the “ Eledrical News,” Nov. 15, 1875. 
