158 
20°to 25°, or even 30°. If the fog grows sluggish, and continues round the 
exploring wire, the electricity soon fails; but if it continues to rise, and ano- 
Tbe principle is, that there are two distinct kinds of electricity, very different from one another; one 
of which I call vitreous, and the other resinous electricity. The first is that of glass, rock crystal, 
precious stones, hair of animals, wool, and many other bodies. “ The second is that of amber, copal, 
gum lac, silk, thread, paper, and a vast number of other substances.” 
tt qq ie characteristic of the two electricities is, that they repel themselves, and attract each other. 
Thus a body of the vitreous electricity repels all other bodies possessed of the vitreous; and, on the 
contrary, attracts all those of the resinous electricity. The resinous also, repels the resinous, and attracts 
the vitreous. From this principle, one may easily deduce the explanation of a great number of phe¬ 
nomena; and it is probable, that this truth will lead us to the discovery of many moie things. 
The difficulties attending the Franklinian System, respecting the impermeability of glass, in¬ 
duced Messrs. Eeles, Symner, Atwood, and others, to adopt the idea of Du Faye, of there being 
two distinct kinds of electricities; with this difference, F)u Faye supposed the electiicities existed 
naturally different in different bodies, while these gentlemen suppose, that the two electricities are 
always united, and only evince their power when separated; that when in union they counteract each 
other, so as in this state are perfectly tranquil. When they are divided, they each have uncontrolled 
their separate power; and their strong attractive nisus to unite, is the cause of every electrical ap¬ 
pearance. 
By thus regarding electricity as a compound of two distinct principles, which, when divided, will 
permeate glass, they thus attempt to explain the Leyden Phial. 
These two principles they term, after Du Faye, the vitreous and resinous electricity; and farther 
assume, that similar electricities repel each other, and contrary electricities attract. 
By the action of the rubber on the cylinder, the electricities of the rubber are decomposed; that the 
vitreous portion is separated and given to the cylinder, and takes back as much resinous electricity; 
the cylinder gives out the vitreous portion it has just received to the conductor, and receives back an 
adequate portion of resinous electricity; the conductor imparts this vitreous portion to the inside of 
the Leyden jar, and takes back its resinous portion; this additional vitreous portion repels the vitreous 
portion from the outside, while the resinous portion on the outside is attracted within. At this period 
there is no electricity on the outside, but what is uncombined; hence, with rapidity, will attract the 
opposite electricity, when it meets with no resistance. 
In general clouds shew the positive electricity, but in thunder storms there is a quick tran¬ 
sition from positive, or vitreous, to negative, or resinous, and this continues until the battling 
clouds appear to lose their resinous electricity, and the positive, or vitreous state is established. 
Such is the explanation of the thunder-storm by those who espouse the doctrine of two contrary 
electrics. Thus if we consider the clouds as one of the coating of the Leyden phial, the lower 
dense air, as the glass, or electric, and the earth as the other coating, we may contemplate the 
Leyden bottle upon a grand scale, producing thunder, lightning, earthquakes, and the aurora- 
borealis. fig* od, a, is a portion of the earth s surface; c the lower non-conducting part of the 
atmospheie, d the clouds; g the positive electricity of the clouds, met by the negative, q, of the 
eaith, n the explosion, z z the electric stream from the sun. When the air is very dry, and much 
saturated with electricity, it lesists the entrance of more; and hence the reason why thunder gene¬ 
rally follows such weather, and is more prevalent in summer than winter. When the air is moist, 
electricity finds an easy passage into the earth, without commotion; and hence the earth has been 
generally considered as the grand reservoir of it; and from that reservoir we pump it by electric 
machines and other frictions, being incapable by such means of exciting much from the air. When 
the rays of electricity, therefore, come the most directly on the earth, as in summer, a greater quan¬ 
tity may be poured on the dry air than it can conduct, and hence the clouds will be in a positive or 
abundant state, while the earth, comparatively, may be in a negative state; the consequence will be 
a violent effort to restore equality by a storm of thunder and lightning; and the air near the earth will 
be found positive and negative by fits, while the storm lasts. When the clouds are scattered at a 
istance from one another, the lightning is often seen darting from one to another, where the air is 
