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Show 50 Additional Notes. ·ince their natural atmospheres are dissimilar as mentioned below ;· aml that this makes them more or less im. perfect conductors. 6. Those bodies which are perfect conductors, have probably neutral electric atmospheres gravitating round them consisting of an equal or saturated mixture of the two el~ctric ethers, wh~reas the atmospheres round the nonconducting bo(hes probably co~JSl s t of an unequal mixture of the electric ethers, as more of the vitreous one round glass, and more of tbe resinous one round resin; and, it is pro· bable, that these mixed atmospheres, which surround imperfect con .. ducting bodies, consist also of different proportions. of the vitreous and resinous ethers, according to their being more or less perfect conductors. These minute degrees of the difference of these electric atmospheres are evinced by Mr. Bennet's Doubler of Electricity, as. 'hown in his work, and are tenned by him Adhesive Electric Atmospheres, to distinguish them from those accumulated by art; thus the natwral adhesive electricity of silver is more of the vitreous kind compared with that of zinc, which consists of a greater proportion of the resinous; that is, in his. language, s.ilver is positive and zinc negative. This experiment I have successfu1ly repeated with Mr. Bennet's Doubler along with Mr. Swanwick. 1. Great accumulation or condensation of the separate electric ethers attract each other so stt·ongly, that they will break a passage threugh nonconducting bodies, as through a plate of glass, or of air, and will rend bodies which are less perfect conductors, and give out Light and heat Ji,ke the explosion of a train of gunpowder; whence, when a strong electric shock is passed through a quire of paper, a bur, or elevatiou of the sheet~ is seen on both sides of it occasioned by the explosion. Whence trees and stone walls are burst by lightning, and wires are fused, and inflammable bodies burnt, by the heat given out along with the f1ash of light, which cannot be explained by the mechanic theory. 8. When artificial or natural accumulations of these separate etl1er~ a~e very minute in quantity or intensity, they pass slowly and with d1fficulty from one body to another, and require tl1e best conductors for this purpose; whence many of the phrenomena of the torpedo or gymnotus, and of Galvanism. Thus after lJaving discharged a coated Cltemical Theory o/ Electricitu and Ma{)'n t" .:; 6 e zsm. 5 1 jar if the · · , 'll h 1communrcatH1g wire has been quickly withdrawn a secgnd sma s oc ( may be taken after th .· . . ' . t·cpeatedly two or three times. c puncrpal cltscharge, and this . Hence the charge of the Galvanic ile bein . v . . . tLty or intensity, wi II not readily pass ~hrou <>h gth:• ~r mm~te I m ;u~nha. nds, though it so easily passes through animal fles~ cu IC e o t le this combination of charcoal with water seems to consti;~ten~~:e~o:~ perfect conductor yet known. 9. As light is reflected from the surface of am·. b r . t li · 11 ror e1ore 1t ac ua y :ouches It, and as drops of water are repelled from cabbao-e ~eav~s Without touching them, and as oil lies on water without touclJmg lt,. an~l also as a fine needle may be made to lie on water without touchmg It, as. shown by Mr. Melville in the Literary Essays of Ed" ~ burgh_; there IS reason to believe, that the vitreous and resin~~s electnc ethers are repelled by, or will not pass through the s r. . of I · h ' u r aces g ass or r~sm, to w ich they are applied. But though neitller of these electnc ethers passes throtwh the surfaces of gl · 1 · • o ass or resm) yet t 1~1r ::ttractzve or repulsive powers pass throug-h them; as the attractLve or repulsive power of the magnet to iron passes throuo-h the. atmosphere, and all other bodies which exist between them. So an msulated cork-ball, when electrised either with vitreous or resinous e:her, repels another insulated cork-ball electrised with the same kmd ?f ethel~ througl1 half an inch of common air, though t11ese electnc atmospheres do not unite. , Whence it may be concluded, that the o·eneral attractive and repulsive ethers a~company the electric ethers ~s well as they accompany all other bodies; and that the electric ethers do not themselves ~ttract or repel through glass or resin, as they cannot pass through them, but strongly attract each other when they come into contact, rush together, and produce an explosion of the sudden liberation of heat and ligh t. III. Ejject if M,etallic Points. 1. When a pointed wire is presented by a person standing on the ground to an insulated condtlCtor, on which either vitreous or resinou~ |