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Show 74 .Additional Notes. tt vithout either of them being combined with any other ma-ma ers, ' . 1. · · 1 h" ten·a 1 excep t w1'th the ethers of heat and lJ_Oo 'ht, c tstmgUis 1es t Is ethereal explosion from that of most oth~r boc~Ies; and ~eems .to have been the cause, which prevented the mgenwus Dr. Frankhn, and others since his time, from ascribing the powerful effects of the electric battery, and of lightning in bursting t~ees, infla1~ing cot:1bu~tible materials, and fusing· metals, to chemical exploswn; which 1t resembles in every other circumstance, but in the manner of the previous condensation of the materials, so as violently to attract each other, and suddenly set at liberty the heat and light, with which one or both of them were combined. 3. This combination of vitreous and resinous electric ethers is ·. ao·ain destroyed or weakened by the attractions of other bodies; as they separate intirely, or exist in different proportions, forming atmospheres round conducting and nonconducting bodies; and in this they resemble other combinations of matters; as oxygen and azote, when united in the production of nitrous acid, are again separated by carbone; which attracts the oxygen more powerfully, than that attracts the azote, with which it is combined. This mode of again separating the combined electric ethers by pressing them, as they surround bodies in different proportions, into each other's atmospheres, as by the glass and cushion, has not been observed respecting· the decomposition of other bodies; when their minute particles are brought so near together as to decompose each other; which has thence probably contributed to prevent this decomposition of the two combined electric ethers from being ascribed to chemical laws; but, as far as we know, the attractive and repulsive atmospheres round the minute particles of bodies in chemi cal operations may act in a similar manner; as the attractive and repulsive atmospheres, which accompany the electric ethers surrounding· the larger masses of matter, and that hence both the electric and the chemical explosions are subject to the same laws, and also the decomposition again of those particles, which were combined in the act of explosion. 4. It is probable that this theory of electric and magnetic attractions Chemical Theury qf Electricity and jlfagnetism . 75 and repulsions, which so visibly exist in atmospheres round lar()'er masses of ~1atter, may be applied to explain the invisible attracti~ns and repulsiOns of the minute particles of bodies in chemical combinations and decompositions, and also to give a clear idea of the attractions of the great masses of matter, which form the gravitations of the umverse. :v-e are so accustomed to see bodies attract each other, when they ~rem absolute contact, as dew drops or particles of quicksilverformmg themselves into spheres, as water rising in capillary tubes, the solution of salts and sugar in water, and the cohesion with which all hard bodies are held together, that we are not surprised at the attractions of bodies in contact with each other, but ascribe them to a law affecting all matter. In similar manner when two bodies in apparent contact repel each other, as oil thrown on water; or when heat converts ice into water and water into steam; or when one hard body in motion pushes another hard body out of its place; we f.eel no surprise, as th ese events so perpetually occur to us, but ascribe them as well as the attractions of bodies in contact with each other, to a general law of nature. But when distant bodies appear to attract or repel each other, as we believe that nothing can act where it does not exist, we are struck with astonishment; wl1ich is owing to our not seeing the intermediate ethers, the existence of which is ascertained by the electric and magnetic facts above related. From the facts and observations above mentioned electricity and magnetism consist each of them of two ethers, as the vitreous and resinous electric ethers, and the arctic and antarctic magnetic ethers. But as neither of the electric ethers will pass through glass or resin; and as neither of the magnetic ethers will pass through any bodies except iron; and yet the attractive and repulsive powers accompanying alL these ethers permeate bodies of all kinds; it follows, that ethers more subtile than either the electric or magnetic ones attend those ethers forming atmospheres round 'them; as those electric and magnetic ethers themselves form atmospheres round other bodies. This secondary atmosphere of the electric one appears to consist |