The existence of two heterogeneous polar forces acting in opposite
directions, and necessarily connate and coexistent; yet capable of
reciprocal neutralization, agreeably to the authority of Farraday
and others: the polarity of matter in general, as displayed during
the crystallization and vegetation of salts: also as made evident
by Farraday’s late researches, and the experiments and observations
of Hunt: the very small proportion of the space in solids, as in
the instance of potassium and other metals, which are apparently
occupied by the ponderable atoms; while, agreeably to the researches
and speculations of Farraday, (rightly interpreted,) the residual
space must be replete with imponderable matter: the experiments
and inferences of Davy and others, tending to sanction the idea
that an imponderable ethereal fluid must pervade the creation: the
perfect identity of the polarizing effects, transiently created in
a wire by subjection to a galvanic discharge, with those produced
by the permanent polarizing power of a steel magnet: the utter
heterogeneousness of the powers of galvanic and frictional electricity,
as respects ability to produce sparks before contact, and likewise of
the polarities which they respectively produce: and superficiality
of electricity proper during discharge as well as when existing upon
insulated surfaces, as demonstrated by atmospheric electricity when
conveyed by telegraphic wires, agreeably to Henry; the sounds observed
severally by Page, Henry, and Mairran, as being consequent to making
and breaking a galvanic circuit through a conductor, or magnetizing or
demagnetizing by means of surrounding galvanized coils.
_Proofs of the existence of an enormous quantity of Imponderable Matter
in Metals._
29. It has been most sagaciously pointed out by Farraday that four
hundred and thirty atoms, which form a cube of potassium in the
metallic state, must occupy nearly six times as much space as the same
number of similar atoms fill, when existing in a cube of hydrated oxide
of potassium of the same size; which, beside seven hundred metallic
atoms, must hold seven hundred atoms of hydrogen and fourteen hundred
of oxygen—in all two thousand eight hundred atoms; whence it follows
that, in the metallic cube, there must be _room_ for six times as many
atoms as it actually holds.
30. With all due deference, I am of opinion that this distinguished
philosopher has not been consistent in assuming that, agreeably to the
Newtonian idea of ponderable atoms, the space in potassium not replete
with metal must be vacant; since, according to facts established by
his researches, or resulting therefrom, an enormous quantity both of
the causes of heat and of electricity exists in metals. Moreover,
agreeably to his recent speculations, those causes must consist of
material, independent, imponderable matter, occupying the whole of the
space in which their efficacy is perceptible. To the evolution of the
imponderable matter thus associated, the incandescence of a globule
of potassium on contact with water, may be ascribed, since it is the
consequence of the displacement of such matter by the elements of
water, which, in replacing it, converts the metal into the hydrated
oxide called caustic potash.
31. The existence both of the causes of electricity and heat in metals
is likewise confirmed by the fact that the inductive influence of a
magnet is sufficient to cause all the phenomena of heat, electrolysis,
and magnetism, as exemplified by the magneto-electric machine. The
existence of the cause of heat in metals is also evident from the
ignition of an iron rod when hammered, or the deflagration of wire by
the discharge of a Leyden battery.
32. The superiority of metals as electrical conductors may be the
consequence of the pre-eminent abundance of imponderable matter
entering into their composition, as above alluded to in the case of
potassium.
33. Graham, in his Elements, treating of electricity, alleges that the
“great discoveries of Farraday have completely altered the aspect of
this department of science, and suggests that all electrical phenomena
whatever involve the presence of matter.” Unless the distinguished
author from whom this quotation is made intended to restrict the
meaning of the word matter to ponderable matter, there was no novelty
in the idea that electrical phenomena involve the presence of matter,
since the hypotheses of Franklin and Dufay assume the existence of
one or more imponderable material fluids. But, on the other hand,
if the meaning of the word _matter_ is only to comprise that which
is ponderable, the allegation is inconsistent with the authority
cited. According to the researches of Farraday, there is an enormous
electrical power in metals, and, according to his speculations, such
powers must be considered as imponderable material principles,
pervading the space within which they prevail, independently of
any ponderable atom acting as a basis for material properties; the
existence of such atoms being represented as questionable.
_Electrical Phenomena attributed to Stationary, or Undulatory,
Polarization._
34. It having been shown that in electrical discharges there cannot
reasonably be any transfer of matter, so as to justify the idea
of their being effected either by one current or by two currents,
the only alternative seems to be that the phenomena are due to a
progressive affection of the conducting medium, analogous in its mode
of propagation to waves, as in the case of liquids, or the aërial or
ethereal undulations to which sound and light are ascribed. (1, 2, 3,
&c.)
35. The idea intended to be conveyed by the word wave, as applied in
common to the undulatory affections above mentioned, and that which
is conceived to be the cause of the phenomena usually ascribed to one
or more electrical currents, requires only that there should be a
state of matter, which, while it may be utterly different from either
of those which constitute the waves of water, light, or sound, may,
nevertheless, like either, pass successively from one portion of a mass
to another.
36. The affection thus designated may be reasonably distinguished from
other waves, as a _wave of polarization_, since the wire acts, so long
as subjected to the reiterated discharges of a voltaic series, as if it
were converted into innumerable small magnets, situated like tangents
to radii proceeding from its axis.
37. But if a polarizable medium be requisite to electrical discharges,
since they pass through a space when devoid of _ponderable_ matter,
there must be some _imponderable_ medium through which they can be
effected. Hence we have reason to infer that there is an imponderable
existing throughout all space, as well as within conductors, which is
more or less the medium of the opposite waves essential to electric
discharges. Quoting his own language, Davy’s experiments led him to
consider “that space, (meaning void space,) where there is not an
appreciable quantity of this matter, (meaning ponderable matter,) is
capable of exhibiting electrical phenomena:” also that such phenomena
“are produced by a highly subtile fluid or fluids.” Moreover, that
“it may be assumed, as in the hypothesis of Hooke, Euler, and
Huyghens, that an ethereal matter susceptible of electrical affections
fills all space.”
38. Agreeably to the suggestions above made, all ponderable matter
which is liable to be electrified _internally_ by electrical
discharges, may be considered as consisting of atoms composed of
imponderable ethereo-electric particles in a state of combination
with ponderable particles, analogous to that which has been supposed
to exist between such particles and caloric when causing expansion,
liquidity, or the aëriform state. Atoms, so constituted of ethereal
and ponderable particles, may be designated as ethereo-ponderable
atoms.[65]
39. A quiescent charge of frictional electricity, only affecting the
superficies of any ponderable mass with which it may be associated,
and having no influence upon the component ethereo-ponderable atoms
severally, is not to be ascribed to redundancies or deficiencies of
the ethereal matter, but to different states of polarization produced
in different sets of the particles of such matter existing about the
electrifiable bodies.[66] During the action of an electrical machine,
these particles are polarized by the opposite polarities transiently
induced in the surfaces subjected to friction; one set of particles
going with the electric, the other remaining with the rubber.
40. The particles thus oppositely polarized, severally divide their
appropriate polarities with other ethereal matter surrounding
the conductors, and this, when insulated, is retained until a
further polarization results from the same process. Thus are the
ethereo-electric atmospheres respectively surrounding the positive and
negative conductors oppositely polarized, and consequently charged
to the degree which the machine is competent to induce. Under these
circumstances, if a conducting rod be made to form between them a
communication, by touching each conductor with one of its ends, the
polarities of the ethereo-electric atmospheres by which they are
severally surrounded propagate themselves, by a wave-like process,
over and more or less through the rod, according to its nature and
dimensions, so as to meet intermediately, and thus produce reciprocal
neutralization.
41. When the oppositely polarizing waves, generated by friction, as
above described, are by means of a conducting communication transmitted
to the surface of a coated pane, the two different portions of the
electro-ether there existing are severally polarized in opposite ways,
one being endowed with the properties usually called vitreous, or
positive, the other with those usually called resinous, or negative. In
fact, the two polarized atmospheres thus created, may be conveniently
designated as the “_two electricities_,” and alluded to in the
language heretofore employed in treating of phenomena, agreeably to the
hypothesis which assumes the existence of heterogeneous fluids instead
of heterogeneous polarities.
42. Of course it will follow, that the oppositely polarized ethereal
atmospheres thus produced, one on each surface of the electric which
keeps them apart, must exercise toward each other an attraction
perfectly analogous to that which has been supposed to be exercised
by the imaginary heterogeneous electric fluids of Dufay. The
electro-ether[67] being elastic, a condensation over each of the
charged surfaces, proportionable to the attractive force must ensue;
while over the surface of an electrified conductor, the similarly
polarized atoms, not being attracted by those in an oppositely
polarized atmosphere beneath the surface, tend, by their reciprocally
repulsive reagency, to exist further apart than in a neutral state.
Hence, the electro-ether, as it exists over the surface of an
insulated conductor, is rendered rarer, while, as existing over the
surfaces of charged panes or Leyden jars, it must be in a state of
condensation.[68] And, consequently, while the space perceptibly
electrified by the charge of a conductor, for equal areas and charging
power, is much more extensive than the space in which the charge of a
coated pane is perceptible, the striking distance being likewise much
greater; yet upon any body, successively subjected to a discharge from
each, the effect will be more potent when produced by means of the pane.
_Ignition, Electrolysis, and Magnetism, Secondary Effects of Frictional
Discharges; or, in other words, of Polarizing Electro-ethereal Waves._
43. In proportion as a wire is small in comparison with the charge
which it may be made the means of neutralizing, the conducting power
seems to be more dependent on the sectional area,[69] and less upon the
extent of surface. The reciprocal repulsion of the similarly polarized
ethereal particles must tend always to make them seek the surface, but
at the same time their attraction for the ethereo-ponderable particles
composing the wire has the opposite effect, and tends to derange
these from their normal polar state of quiescence. Commensurate with
the extent in which this state is subverted, is the resulting heat,
electrolytic power, and electro-magnetic influence. The phenomena
last mentioned are, however, secondary effects consequent to the
participation of the ethereo-ponderable matter in the undulations
resulting from the statical discharge.
44. Such effects, making allowance for the extreme minuteness of the
time occupied by the process, are probably, in all cases, proportional
to the degree in which the ponderable matter is effected, up to the
point at which it is dissipated by deflagration; but the duration of
a statical discharge being almost infinitely minute for any length of
coil which can conveniently be subjected thereto, the electro-magnetic
and other effects of a statical discharge are not commensurate with the
intensity of the affection of the wire.
45. There is, in fact, this additional reason for the diversity between
the electro-magnetic power of a statical discharge, as compared with
that of the voltaic series: any wire which is of sufficient length and
tenuity to display the maximum power of deflagration by the former,
cannot serve for the same purpose in the case of the latter. Moreover,
the form of a helix closely wound, so that the coatings may touch,
which is that most favourable for the reiteration of the magnetic
influence of the circuit upon an iron rod, cannot be adopted in the
case of statical discharges of high intensity, since the proximity of
the circumvolutions would enable the ethereal waves, notwithstanding
the interposition of cotton or silk, to cross superficially from
one to the other, parallel to the axis of the included iron, instead
of pursuing the circuitous channel afforded by the helix with the
intensity requisite to the polarization of the ponderable atoms.
_The extreme Diversity, as respects striking Distance, between the
direct Effects of Frictional Electricity and those directly arising
from Galvanic Reaction._
46. The intensity of the excitement produced by different electrical
machines is estimated to be as the relative lengths of the sparks which
proceed from their prime conductors respectively. Admitting that the
relative intensity were merely as the length of the spark, not as the
square of that length, still there would be an infinite difference
between the intensity of a voltaic series and that of electrical
machines, if measured by this test. Large electrical machines, like
that at the Polytechnic Institution, London, give sparks at twenty
inches and more; while, agreeably to Gassiott’s experiments, a Groves’s
battery of 320 pairs, in full power, would not, before contact, give
a spark at _any distance, however minute_. It follows, that, as
respects the species of intensity which is indicated by length of
sparks, or striking distance, the difference between the electricity
of the most powerful voltaic series and electrical machines is not to
be represented by any degree of _disparity_; it proves that galvanism
proper and electricity proper are heterogeneous.
47. It should be recollected that the intensity of galvanic action in
a series of 320 pairs, excepting the loss from conduction, would be to
that of one pair as 320 to 1.[70] Of course, the striking distance of
a battery of one pair would be 320 times less than nothing: 320 below
zero.
48. We may infer that the undulatory polarization of ethereo-ponderable
matter is the primary, direct, and characteristic effect of galvanic
excitement, in its more energetic modifications. Yet, that by peculiar
care in securing insulation, as in the water batteries of Cross and
Gassiott, ethereal undulations may be produced, with the consequent
accumulation of ethereal polarity requisite to give sparks before
contact, agreeably to the experiments of those ingenious philosophers.
49. Hence it may be presumed that, during intense ethereo-ponderable
polarization, superficial ethereal waves may always be a secondary
effect, although the conducting power of the reagents, requisite to
the constitution of powerful galvanic batteries, is inconsistent with
that accumulation of ethereal polarity which constitutes a statical
spark-giving charge.
50. As all the members forming a voltaic series have to be discharged
in one circuit, the energy of the effort to discharge, and the velocity
of the consequent undulations must be, _cæteris paribus_, as the number
of members which co-operate to produce the discharge. Of course the
more active the ethereo-ponderable waves, the greater must be their
efficacy in producing ethereal waves of polarization, as a secondary
effect, agreeably to the suggestions above made, (49, 36.)
51. Hence, in a battery consisting of one galvanic pair excited
by reagents of great chemical energy and conducting power, the
electro-magnetic effects are pre-eminent; while De Luc’s electric
columns, consisting of several thousands of minute pairs, feeble as to
their chemical and conducting efficacy, are pre-eminent for statical
spark-giving power, (48.) This seems to be quite consistent; since, on
the one hand, the waves of polarization must be larger and slower as
the pairs are bigger and fewer; and, on the other hand, smaller and
more active as the pairs are more minute and more numerous.
_On the perfect similitude between the Polarity communicated to Iron
Filings by a Magnetized Steel Bar and a Galvanized Wire._
52. If by a sieve, or any other means, iron filings be duly strewed
over a paper, resting on a bar magnet, they will all become magnets, so
as to arrange themselves in rows like the links of a chain. Each of the
little magnets thus created will, at its outermost end, have a polarity
similar to that of the pole (of the magnet) with which it may be
affiliated. Of course the resulting ferruginous rows formed severally
by the two different poles of the bar will have polarities as opposite
as those of the said poles.
53. In an analogous mode, if two wires be made the media of a galvanic
discharge, iron filings, under their influence, will receive a magnetic
polarity, arranging themselves about each wire like so many tangents to
as many radii proceeding from its axis: those magnetized by one wire
reacting with such as are magnetized by the other.
54. The affections of the ferruginous particles during the continuance
of the current so called are precisely like those of the same particles
when under the influence of the bar magnet. The great discordancy is in
the fact that the influence of the magnet is permanent, while that of
the wire is indebted for existence to a series of oppositely polarizing
but transient impulses which proceed toward the middle of the circuit
from each side, so as to produce reciprocal neutralization by meeting
midway.
55. The effect upon the filings, as originally pointed out by Oersted,
is precisely such as would arise were the ponderable matter of the
wire, resolved by each impulse into innumerable little magnets,
situated so as to form tangents to as many radii proceeding from the
axis of the wire.
56. Independently of the filings, the wires react with each other as if
their constitution, during subjection to the discharge, were such as
above supposed. When the discharges through them concur in direction,
they attract, because the left side of one is next the right side of
the other, bringing the opposite poles of their little magnets into
proximity; but when the discharge is made in opposite directions, the
two right or the two left sides will be in proximity, and will, by the
consequent approximation of the similar poles of the little magnets, be
productive of repulsion.
57. From these last-mentioned facts and considerations, it must
be evident that, assuming that there is in a galvanized wire a
derangement of the poles of the constituent ethereo-ponderable
particles analogous to that permanently existing in magnetized steel,
involves no contradiction, no absurdity, nor any thing but what is
consistent with the researches and inferences of Davy, Farraday, and
other eminent investigators of the phenomena of nature.
_Process by which the Ethereo-ponderable Atoms within a Galvanic
Circuit are polarized by the Chemical Reaction._
58. In order that an ethereo-ponderable particle of oxygen in any
aqueous solution shall unite with an ethereo-ponderable particle
of zinc in a galvanic pair, there must be a partial revolution of
the whole row of ethereo-ponderable zinc atoms, with which the atom
assailed is catenated by the attractions between dissimilar poles; and
likewise there must be a series of decompositions and recompositions
between every atom of water existing in the circuit, an atom of
hydrogen being eliminated at one end, an atom of oxygen at the other.
The impulse must extend through the negative plate to the conductor,
by which it communicates with the zinc or electro-positive plate. When
the circuit is open, the power of combination exercised by the zinc
and oxygen is inadequate to produce this movement in the whole chain
of atoms, liquid and metallic; but as it is indifferent whether any
two atoms are united with each other, or with any other atoms of the
same kind, the chemical force easily causes them to exchange partners,
as it were, when the whole are made to form a circuitous row in due
contiguity.[71]
59. As we know that, during their union with oxygen, metals give out
an enormous quantity of heat and electricity, it is reasonable to
suppose that whenever an atom of oxygen and an atom of zinc jump into
union with each other, a wave is induced in the ethereo-ponderable
matter, and that this wave is sustained by the decompositions and
recompositions, by means of which an atom of hydrogen is evolved at
the negative plate, and probably enabled to assume the aeriform state.
There must, at the same time, be a communication of wave polarity by
contact of the negative plate with the connecting wire, by which the
positive wave in the wire is induced. Although the inherent polarities
of the atoms are not, agreeably to this view, the moving power in
galvanism, yet they facilitate, and in some cases induce, the exercise
of that power, by enabling it to act at a distance, when otherwise it
might be inefficient.
60. This, I conceive, is shown in the effect of platina sponge, upon
a mixture of the gaseous elements of water; also in Groves’s _gas_
battery, by means of which hydrogen and oxygen gas severally react
with water in syphons, so as to cause each other to condense, without
any communication beside that through the platina, and an electrolytic
decomposition and recomposition extending from one of the aqueous
surfaces in contact with one of the gases, to the other surface in
contact with the other gas.
_Difference between Electro-ethereal and Ethereo-ponderable
Polarization._
61. There are two species of electro-polarity which come under the head
of statical electricity. One of these Farraday illustrates by supposing
three bodies, A, B, and C, in proximity, but not in contact, when A,
being electrified, electrifies B, and B electrifies C by induction.
This, Farraday calls an _action_ of the particles of the bodies
concerned, whereas, by his own premises, it appears to me to be merely
a superficial affection of the masses or of a circumambient ethereal
matter. This species of polarization, to which the insulating power
of air is necessary, affects the superficies of a body only, being
displayed as well by a gilt globe of glass as a solid globe of metal.
No sensible change appears to be produced in the ponderable conducting
superficies by this inductive superficial electrification of masses;
and of course no magnetism.
62. When a small image, of which the scalp has been abundantly
furnished with long hair, is electrified, the hairy filaments extend
themselves and move apart, as if actuated by a repulsive power: also,
when iron filings are so managed as to obey the influence of the
poles of a powerful magnet, (51,) they arrange themselves in a manner
resembling that of the electrified hair. There is, moreover, this
additional analogy, that there is an attraction between two portions of
hair differently electrified, like that which arises between filings
differently magnetized. Yet the properties of the electrified hair
and magnetized filings are, in some respects, utterly dissimilar. A
conducting communication between differently electrified portions of
hair would entirely neutralize the respective electrical states; so
that all the electrical phenomena displayed by them would cease. Yet
such a communication made between the poles, exciting the filings,
by any non-magnetic conductor, does not in the slightest degree
lessen their polar affections and consequent power of reciprocal
influence. Upon the electrified hair, the proximity or the contact
of a steel magnet has no more effect than would result under like
circumstances from any other metallic mass similarly employed; but
by the approximation, and still more, the contact of such a magnet,
the affection of the filings may be enhanced, lessened, or nullified,
according to the mode of its employment. In the case of the hair the
affection is superficial, and the requisite charging power must be in
proportion to the extent of surface. In the case of the magnetized
ferruginous particles, it is the mass which is affected, and, _cæteris
paribus_, the more metal, the greater the capacity for magnetic
power. In the instance of the electrified hair, as in every other of
frictional excitement, the electrical power resides in imponderable
ethereo-electric atmospheres which adhere superficially to the masses,
being liable to be unequally distributed upon them in opposite states
of polarity, consequent to a superficial polarization of the exciting
or excited ponderable masses; but in the instance of bodies permanently
magnetic, or those rendered transiently magnetic by galvanic influence,
the ethereo-electric matter and the ponderable atoms are inferred to be
in a state of combination, forming ethereo-ponderable atoms, so that
both may become parties to the movements and affections of which the
positive and negative waves consist.
63. Thus an explanation is afforded of the hitherto mysterious
diversity of the powers of a gold-leaf electroscope and galvanoscopes,
although both are to a miraculous degree sensitive—the latter to the
most feeble galvanic discharge, the former to the slightest statical
excitement; yet neither is in the most minute degree affected by the
polarization which affects the other.
64. The charge which may exist in a coated pane affords another
exemplification of statical or electro-ethereal polarity. In this case,
according to Farraday, the particles of glass are thrown into a state
of electro-polarity, and are, in fact, partially affected as if they
belonged to a conductor; so that insulators and conductors differ only
in the possession in a high degree by the one of a susceptibility of
which the other is possessed to an extent barely perceptible. The facts
seem to me only to show that either an insulator or conductor may be
both affected by the same polarizing force, the transmission of which
the one facilitates, the other prevents. I am under the impression
that it is only by the disruptive process that electricity passes
through glass; of course involving a fracture. It gets through a pane
or jar, not by aid of the vitreous particles, but in despite of their
opposing coherence. The glass in such cases is not liable to be fused,
deflagrated, or dissipated, as conductors are. It is forced out of the
way of the electrical waves, being incapable of becoming a party to
them. Discharges will take place through a vacuity, rather than through
the thinnest leaf of mica. But if, as Farraday has alleged, from within
a glass flask hermetically sealed, an electrical charge has been found
to escape, after a long time, it proves only that glass is not a
perfect insulator, _not that perfect insulation and perfect conduction
are different extremes of the same property_. On the contrary, the one
is founded upon a constitution competent to the propagation within it
of the electro-polarizing waves, with miraculous facility, while the
other is founded either on an absolute incapacity, or comparatively an
infinitely small ability to be the medium of their conveyance. The one
extremely retards, the other excessively expedites, its passage through
a space otherwise void.[72]
_Competency of a Wire to convey a Galvanic Discharge is as its
sectional area, while statical discharges of frictional electricity,
preferring the surface, are promoted by its extension. Yet in
proportion as such discharges are heavy, the ability of a wire to
convey them and its magnetic energy become more dependent on its
sectional area, and less upon extent of surface._
65. Reference has been made to two modes of electrical conduction,
in one of which the efficacy is as the surface; in the other, as the
area of a section of the conductor. Although glass be substantially a
non-conductor, the power of the surface of glass when moistened or gilt
to discharge statical electricity is enormous. It has been generally
considered that, as a protection against lightning, the same weight of
metal employed as a pipe would be more efficacious than in the usual
solid form of a lightning rod: yet this law does not hold good with
respect to galvanic discharges, which are not expedited by a mere
extension of conducting surface. Independently of the augmentation
of conducting power, consequent to radiation and contact with the
air, the cooling influence of which, according to Davy, promotes
galvano-electric conduction, a metallic ribbon does not convey a
galvanic discharge better than a wire of similar weight and length.[73]
66. Agreeably to the considerations above stated, the sectional area
of a conductor remaining the same, in proportion as any _statical_
accumulation which it may discharge is greater, the effects are less
superficial; and the ethereo-ponderable atoms are affected more
analogously to those exposed to galvanic discharges. It is in this
way that the discharge of a Leyden jar imparts magnetic polarization.
Thus, on the one hand, the electro-ethereal matter being polarized
and greatly condensed, combines with and communicates polarization,
and consequently magnetism, to ethereo-ponderable bodies; while, on
the other hand, these, when polarized by galvanic reaction, and thus
rendered magnetic, communicate polarity to the electro-ether. Hence,
statical electricity, when produced by galvanism, and magnetism, when
produced by statical electricity, are secondary effects.
67. Where a wire is of such dimensions, in proportion to the charge,
as to be heated, ignited, or dispersed by statical electricity,
there seems to be a transitory concentration of the electric power,
which transforms the nature of the reaction, and an internal
wave of electro-ponderable polarization, similar to those of
galvano-electricity, is the consequence.
68. As above observed, (31,) the current produced by the
magneto-electric machine has all the attributes of the galvano-electric
current; yet this is altogether a secondary effect of the changes of
polarity in a keeper, acting upon a wire solely by dynamic induction.
But if, by mere external influence, the machine above mentioned can
produce within a circuit a current such as above described, is it
unreasonable to suppose that the common machine, when it acts upon
a circuit, may put into activity the matter existing therein, so as
to produce waves of polarization, having the power of those usually
ascribed to a galvano-electrical current?
69. It has been shown that both reason and the researches and
suggestions of Farraday warrant the inference that ponderable atoms,
in solids and liquids, may be considered as swimming in an enormous
quantity of condensed imponderable matter, in which all the particles,
whether ponderable or imponderable, are, in their natural state, held
in a certain relative position due to the reciprocal attraction of
their dissimilar poles. A galvano-electrified body differs from one in
its ordinary state, in having the relative position of the poles of
its ethereo-ponderable atoms so changed, that their inherent opposite
polarities not being productive of reciprocal neutralization, a
reaction with external bodies ensues.
70. In statical excitement the affection is superficial as respects
the ponderable bodies concerned, while in dynamic excitement the
polarities of the whole mass are deranged oppositely at opposite ends
of the electrified mass; so that the oppositely disturbing impulses,
proceeding from the poles of the disturbing apparatus, neutralize
each other intermediately. Supposing the ponderable as well as the
imponderable matter in a perfect conductor to be susceptible of the
polar arrangement, of which an electrified state is thus represented to
consist, non-conductors to be insusceptible of such polar derangement;
imperfect conductors may have a constitution intermediate between
metals and electrics.
71. When an electrical discharge is made through any space devoid
of air or other matter, it must then find its way solely by the
polarization of the rare imponderable matter existing therein; and
consequently its corruscations should be proportionably more diffuse,
which is actually found to be true; but when gaseous ethereo-ponderable
atoms intervene, as in wire, they enable competent waves to exist
within a narrower channel and to attain a greater intensity.
72. I consider all bodies as insulators which cause discharges through
them to be more difficult than through a vacuum, and which, by their
interposition within a circuit, can prevent that propagation of
the oppositely polarizing undulations which would otherwise ensue.
This furnishes a good mean of discrimination between insulators and
conductors, the criterion being that a discharge ensues more readily as
there is more of the one and less of the other in the way: that the one
leads the waves where they would not go, the other impedes their going
where they would proceed. Both in the case of disruptive discharge
through air, producing a spark, or of a deflagrating discharge through
wire, causing its explosion, there is a dispersion of intervening
ponderable particles; and yet there is this manifest discordancy, that
in one case the undulatory process of transfer is assisted, in the
other resisted. The waves follow the metallic filament with intense
attraction, while they strive to get out of the way of those formed
by the aeriform matter, as if repelled. Hence the term disruptive,
from _dirumpo_, to break through, was happily employed by Farraday to
designate spark discharges.
73. The zigzag form of the disruptive spark shows that there is a
tendency in the aeriform particles to turn the waves out of that
straight course, which, if unresisted or facilitated, they would
naturally pursue. On the one hand, the aerial filaments being
unsuitable for the conveyance of the electric waves, these are forced
by them out of the normal path—first in one direction, then in another;
while, on the other hand, the finest metallic filament furnishes
a channel for the electric waves, so favourable that this channel
is pursued, although the consequent polarization of the conducting
particles be so intense as to make them fly asunder with explosive
violence. Even when a bell-wire has been dissipated by lightning, it
has been found to facilitate and determine the path of the discharge.
74. The various forms of the electric spark, resulting from varying the
gas through which it may be made to pass, agreeably to the researches
of Farraday, is explained by the supposition that the peculiarities
of the spark is partially the consequence of the polarizability of
the gaseous atoms through which the discharge is made, and varies,
accordingly, in its appearance.
_Difference between Frictional Electricity and Galvanic does
not depend on the one being superior as to Quantity, the other
as to Intensity; but on the different Degrees in which the
Ethereo-ponderable Atoms of the Bodies affected are deranged from
their natural state of Neutralized Polarity._
75. I infer that all magneto-polar charges are attended by an affection
of ponderable particles; and that the reason why the most intense
statical charge does not affect a galvanometer is, that it is only
when appositely excited bodies are neutralized by the interposition of
a conductor as during a discharge, that ethereo-ponderable particles
are sufficiently polarized to enable them to act upon others in their
vicinity, so as to produce a polar affection the opposite of their
own. (54.58.) In this way dynamic induction is consistently explained,
by supposing that the waves of polarization, in passing along one
conductor, produce, _pari passu_, the opposite polarization in the
proximate part of any neighbouring conductor suitably constituted,
situated and arranged to allow it to form a part of a circuit.
76. It is only during the state of the incessant generation and
destruction of what has been called the two electricities, that the
circuit, which is the channel for the passage of the polarizing waves,
is endowed with electro-magnetic powers. It was, no doubt, in obedience
to a perception of this fact, that Oersted ascribed the magnetism of
a galvanized wire to a conflict of the electricities. Undoubtedly,
that state of a conductor in which, by being a part of an electrical
circuit, it becomes enabled to display electro-magnetic powers, is so
far a conflict of the two electricities, as the affections of matter,
which are denominated electrical, consist of two opposite polar
forces, proceeding, agreeably to the language of Farraday, in opposite
directions from each side of the source, and conflicting with each
other, so as to be productive of reciprocal annihilation.
77. That a corpuscular change in conductors is concomitant with their
subjection to, or emancipation from, a galvanic current, is proved by
an experiment of Henry’s, which he afforded me an opportunity on one
occasion of witnessing. I allude to the fact that sound is produced
whenever the circuit is suddenly made or suddenly ruptured. By I. P.
Marrian it has been observed that a similar result takes place during
the magnetization or demagnetization of iron rods, by the alternate
establishment or arrestation of galvanic discharges through wires
coiled about them so as to convert each into an electro-magnet. Mr.
Marrian represents the sound as resembling that produced by striking a
rod upon one of its ends.[74][75] Sounds from this source were observed
by Dr. Page in 1838. See Silliman’s Journal for that year, vol. xxxiii.
78. Thus it appears that there is an analogy between the state of
matter which involves permanent magnetism, and that which constitutes
a galvanic current, so far as this, that either by one or the other,
during either its access or cessation, an affection of the ponderable
particles concerned ensues, sufficient to produce sound.
79. Simultaneously with the production of sounds, as above stated,
by the opening or closing of the galvanic circuit through a metallic
rod or the coils of an electro-magnet, secondary waves are induced,
called secondary currents. It seems reasonable to ascribe these waves
to the same shifting of the poles, which produces the sonorific
undulations.[76]
80. Within the bodies of animals and vegetables, the electro-ether
may be supposed to exist as an atmosphere surrounding the
ethereo-ponderable atoms of which their organs are constituted, so as
to occupy all the space which is not replete with such atoms. Hence a
discharge of frictional electricity may indirectly polarize the whole
animal frame, by producing ethereo-ponderable polarization in the
constituent atoms of the fibres of the nerves and muscles. Probably
this polarization is produced more immediately in the ponderable solids
by a discharge from a voltaic series or a wire subjected to electro-or
magneto-dynamic induction. In the latter instances the shock is
reiterated so rapidly as to appear more enduring, while in the former
it is more startling and producible at an infinitely greater distance.
81. Agreeably to Farraday’s researches, (1485 to 1543,) there is
reason to suppose that in frictional spark discharges, the consequent
shock, light, and other peculiarities are in part owing to waves of
ethereo-ponderable polarization, indirectly produced in the intervening
gaseous matter.
_Of Ethereo-ponderable Deflagration._
82. It is well known that between two pieces of charcoal severally
attached, one to the negative, the other to the positive, pole of a
numerous and well-excited voltaic series, an arch of flame may be
produced by moving them apart after contact. This phenomenon evidently
depends upon the volatilization of the ponderable matter concerned;
since it cannot be produced before the carbon has been volatilized
by contact, nor by any body besides charcoal, this being the only
conductor which is sufficiently infusible, and yet duly volatilizable.
Metals, similarly treated, fuse at the point of contact and cohere.
On separation, after touching, a single spark ensues, which, without
repetition of contact, cannot be reproduced. Hence, it may be inferred
that the carbonaceous vapour is indispensable to this process, as
a medium for the ethereo-ponderable polarizing waves, being soon
consumed by the surrounding atmospheric oxygen. The excrescence upon
the negative charcoal, observed by Silliman, together with the opposite
appearance on the positive charcoal, may be owing to the lesser
affinity for oxygen on the negative side.[78]
83. There may be some resemblance imagined between this luminous
discharge between the poles, and that which has already been designated
as disruptive; but this flaming arch discharge does not break through
the air; it only usurps its place gradually, and then sustains this
usurpation. It differs from the other as to its cause, so far as
galvanic reaction differs from friction; moreover, it requires a
volatilizable, as well as a polarizable ponderable conducting substance
to enable its appropriate undulations to meet at a mean distance from
the solid polar terminations whence they respectively proceed.
84. The most appropriate designation of the phenomenon under
consideration is that of ethereo-ponderable undulatory deflagration.
Under this head we may not only place the flaming arch, but likewise
the active ignition and dissipation of fine wire or leaf metal, or when
attached to one pole, and made barely to touch the other.
85. In one of Farraday’s experiments, a circuit was completed by
subjecting platina points, severally proceeding from the poles of
a voltaic series, while very near to each other, to the flame of
a spirit lamp. This was ascribed by him to the rarefaction of the
air, but ought, as I think, to be attributed to the polarizable
ethereo-ponderable matter of the flame, performing the same office as
the volatilized carbon in the flaming arch, between charcoal points, to
which reference has been made.
_Summary._
From the facts and reasoning which have been above stated, it is
presumed that the following deductions may be considered as highly
probable, if not altogether susceptible of demonstration:
The theories of Franklin, Dufay, and Ampere are irreconcilable with
the premises on which they are founded, and with facts on all sides
admitted.
A charge of frictional electricity, or that species of electric
excitement which is produced by friction, is not due to any
accumulation, nor to any deficiency either of one or of two fluids,
but to the opposite polarities induced in imponderable ethereal
matter existing throughout space however otherwise void, and likewise
condensed more or less within ponderable bodies, so as to enter into
combination with their particles, forming atoms which may be designated
as ethereo-ponderable.
Frictional charges of electricity seek the surfaces of bodies to which
they may be imparted, without sensibly affecting the ethereo-ponderable
matter of which they consist.
When surfaces thus oppositely charged, or, in other words, having
about them oppositely polarized ethereal atmospheres, are made to
communicate, no current takes place, nor any transfer of the polarized
matter: yet any conductor, touching both atmospheres, furnishes
a channel through which the opposite polarities are reciprocally
neutralized by being communicated wave-like to an intermediate point.
Galvano-electric discharges are likewise effected by waves of opposite
polarization, without any flow of matter meriting to be called a
current.
But such waves are not propagated superficially through the purely
ethereal medium; they occur in masses formed both of the ethereal
and ponderable matter. If the generation of frictional electricity,
sufficient to influence the gold-leaf electrometer, indicate that there
are some purely ethereal waves caused by the galvano-electric reaction,
such waves arise from the inductive influence of those created in the
ethereo-ponderable matter.
When the intensity of a frictional discharge is increased beyond a
certain point, the wire remaining the same, its powers become enfeebled
or destroyed by ignition, and ultimately deflagration: if the diameter
of the wire be increased, the surface, proportionally augmented,
enables more of the ethereal waves to pass superficially, producing
proportionally less ethereo-ponderable undulation.
Magnetism, when stationary, as in magnetic needles and other permanent
magnets, appears to be owing to an enduring polarization of the
ethereo-ponderable atoms, like that transiently produced by a galvanic
discharge.
The magnetism transiently exhibited by a galvanized wire, is due to
oppositely polarizing impulses, severally proceeding wave-like to an
intermediate part of the circuit where reciprocal neutralization ensues.
When magnetism is produced by a frictional discharge operating upon a
conducting wire, it must be deemed a secondary effect, arising from the
polarizing influence of the ethereal waves upon the ethereo-ponderable
atoms of the wire.
Such waves pass superficially in preference; but when the wire
is comparatively small, the reaction between the waves and the
ethereo-ponderable atoms becomes sufficiently powerful to polarize
them, and thus render them competent, for an extremely minute period
of time, to produce all the affections of a galvano-electric current,
whether of ignition, of electrolysis, or magnetization. Thus, as the
ethereo-ponderable waves produce such as are purely ethereal, so purely
ethereal waves may produce such as are ethereo-ponderable.
The polarization of hair upon electrified scalps is supposed to be due
to a superficial association with the surrounding polarized ethereal
atoms, while that of iron filings, by a magnet or galvanized wire, is
conceived to arise from the influence of polarized ethereo-ponderable
atoms, consisting of ethereal and ponderable matter in a state of
combination.
Farradian discharges are as truly the effects of ethereo-ponderable
polarization as those from an electrified conductor, or coated surfaces
of glass are due to static ethereal polarization, (39, 40, 41.)[79]