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Show 84 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. Or mark how Oxygen 'vith Azote-Gas Plays round the globe in one aerial tnass, Or fused with Hydrogen in ceaseless flow CANTO Ill. Forms t]1 e W·Id e waves ' which foam and roll below. Next with illumined hands through prisms bright Pleased they untwist the sevenfold threads of light; Or, bent in pencils by the lens, convey To one bright point the silver hairs of Day. 20 Then mark how two electric streams conspire I To form the resinous and vitreous fire; How 0.1,'Ygen, I. 13. The atmosphere which surrounds us, is composed of twenty-seven parts of oxygen gas and seventy-thre~ of azote .0 r nitrogen gas, which are simply diffused together, but wh1ch, when combined, become nitrous acid. Water consists of eighty-six parts oxygen, and fourteen parts of hydrogen or inflammable air, in a state of combination. It is also probable, that much oxygen enters the composition of o·lass; as those materials which promote vitrification, 0 • . contain so much of it, as mini urn and manganese; and that glass IS hence a solid acid in tbe·temperature of our atmo~phere, as water is a fluid one. ' Two electric streams, 1. 21. .It is the opinion of some philosophers, that the electric ether consists of two kinds of fluids diffused together or combined; which are commonly known by the terms of positive and negative electricity, but are ~y these electricians called vitreous and resinous electricity. The electric shocks given by the torpedo CANTO III. PROGRESS OF THE !fiND. Beneath the waves the fierce Gymnotus arm,' And give Torpedo his benumbing charm; Or, through Galvanic chain-work as they pass Convert the kindling water into gas. How at the poles opposing Ethers dwell, Attract the quivering needle, or repel. Ifow Gravitation by in;mortal laws Surrounding matter to a centre draws· ' How Heat, pervading oceans, airs, and lands . ' With force uncheck'd the mighty mas8 expands; And last how horn in elemental strife Beam'd the first spark, 2nd lighten'd intd Life. 30 and_ by _the gymnotus, are supposed to be similar to those of the Gaivamc pde, as they are produced in water. Which water is decomposed by the -~alvanic pile and converted into oxygen and hydrogen gas; see Adchtwnal· Note XII. The magnetic ether may also be supposed to consist of two fluids one of whic_h attract~ ~he needle, and the other repels it; and, per~ h~ps, chem1cal affi.mt1es, and gravitation itself, may consist of two kinds of ether surrounding the particles of bodies, and may thence ~ttract at one distance and repel at another; as appears when two . Insulated electrised balls are approached to each other, or when two mall globules of mercury are pressed together. |