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AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN
THE NATURE
or
ELECTRICITY,
AND
ITS INTENTION
IN THE ECONOMY OE THE UNIVERSE.
BY ROBERT SERUELL WOOD,
*%A
     PHILADELPHIA.
Printed by Charles F. Town, No. 9 South Tliird Street.
1844. 
\NS7Si
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t 
CONTENTS.
  Only two forces in Nature, due to Caloric and Electricity,—they
are antagonists, the latter causing in matter a disposition to cohere,
the former producing repulsion among its particles.   Every  atom
contains both of these imponderables in a free and latent  condition
—to these agents substances are indebted for their bulk and weight.
On the manifestation of dynamic changes in molecules or masses the
Sciences of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy are based. Electricity
maintains its own equilibrium by the following modes of distribution,
viz: by gravitation of matter, its decomposition and re-composition; by
conduction, convection, radiation,  and the discharge.  The impon-
derables originate all movements in every department of Nature.  Order
Heaven's first law. Vegetables  and animals exist in obedience to laws
imposed upon matter by the Creator.  As like has an attraction for its
like, so with respect to'some bodies, like begets its like—greater amount
of imponderables, in organic than  in  inorganic  bodies—their pro-
perties correspond and rise in  importance.  Growth of plants and
 animals attributed to the power of organized matter to attract similar
 materials, to alter and appropriate  them.  Electricity the cause of
 this attraction—is increased by  the change of form  which  living
 matter undergoes  in the  system.   Animal heat the result of the
 deposition of tissues or the change of blood from the  venous to the
 arterial consistence; animal innervation the result of the disintegration
 of tissues or the change of blood from  the arterial  to  the  venous
 character. The imponderables contribute to health  and disease in
 the animate part of Creation as they cause harmony and derange-
 ments in the inanimate. 
 
WHAT  IS  ELECTRICITY?
              PART   FIRST.

  Before opening this discussion let me prepare my
reader for the novelty of my views by bringing to his
recollection a subject of a kindred nature which has
undergone the ordeal of criticism usually allotted to
propositions which startle our prejudices.  The phe-
nomena of mind had been long studied before the time
of Gall and Spurzheim; certain facts connected with
mental operations had been received as positive truths,
and yet no system had been devised in accordance
with Nature until the science of Phrenology was dis-
closed with its simple demonstrations and undeniable
evidence.  Such is the predicament in which I  find
Electricity.   Facts abound  without number, but no
system, no  theory to connect  them together, and in-
dicate their intention in the economy of the Universe.
If the now  well-known phenomena of Electricity had
been  elicited  during the prosecution of experiments
instituted to  prove my  proposed  theory instead of
being quoted in its support at this late period, how
different would be the result on public opinion. Elec-
tricity has been associated so long with other indefi-
nite properties of matter  or regarded as a material
but imponderable fluid, that it will require an unusual 
6
 amount of evidence to overcome the force of educa-
 tion and habit; and yet, if my senses do not strangely
 mislead me, we have  been overlooking an explanation
 of its office from very proximity, while straining our
 eyes to discover it afar off and clothed in profound
 mystery.
   I at once proceed to assume certain principles, the
 value of which will  become more evident in the course
 of my argument.  It  is necessary to take this step in
 limine, unless I should enter upon a dry and elaborate
 detail of the  reasons which  have  prompted  me  to
 adopt them.
   I shall  endeavour to show that there are two primi-
 tive forces in Nature, due to Caloric and Electricity;
 all others being  mere modifications or concomitants
 of their action—these imponderables are  antagonist
 agents, and preserve the equilibrium of the Universe,
 the former giving to  matter a property of elasticity
 or a centrifugal direction,  the latter of gravitation or
 a centripetal tendency—in other words, Caloric is the
 cause of positive expansion and relative levity; Elec-
 tricity of  positive condensation and  relative weight.
   Every atom of simple or compound ponderable mat-
 ter contains a determinate quantity of these fluids, by
 which its  identity is maintained and most  important
 qualities defined.  This amount is constitutional and
 inalienable, whereas that  which is  subsequently at-
 tached  or combined with it is only essential for its
particular form or relation to  other atoms, and may
be assumed or given  up according to circumstances.
   Electricity then  exists in two  states,  latent  and
free, thus resembling Caloric:  it is not however really 
7
liberated from matter, but is in such a condition as to
be appreciable by our senses.   When combined with
Caloric it  constitutes Light, and  in this  connection
alone may become free.
   The  distance of one  planet  from another, or of a
planet from the sun,  or of one star from another star,
is regulated not by  the amount of matter, but of the
imponderables aforesaid  united with  the  masses.
Their motions are attributable  to  actual transfers of
the imponderables from one orb to another, thereby
causing local derangements or an excess of a force
in some section.
   The  disposition of Caloric and Electricity resident
within  our own sphere may have varied  at different
epochs  of the Earth's history:  we  may suppose them
to have been once diffused equably throughout its en-
tire  extent; and under these  circumstances  matter
may have been in a semi-fluid condition.  At that pe-
riod, a  square inch  taken from the most peripheral
strata would have contained as much homogeneous
matter and the same proportion of the imponderables
as one taken from the innermost. This state of things
is now  probably limited  to that part of our globe
which lies beneath what is called its crust.
  The changes alluded to have arisen not merely from
spontaneous causes  possibly originating  within the
Earth itself, but from the same which operates on its
grand movements, namely, the rays  of Solar light.
On separating from the Sun, a more exalted relation
of atoms was  substituted for  the homogeneous cha-
racter of its most superficial  strata, and combustion
ensued as a consequence of this arrangement. During 
8
 the transition the mass may have emitted a portion
 of its free imponderables in the shape of Light to dis-
 tant worlds, as the Sun is now doing in order to reG.cn
 its destined equilibrium of interna] forces.   The mo-
 tion of the  Moon is regulated  by the direct  rays of
 the Sun, also by those reflected from the Earth, just as
 the Earth is sensibly affected by rays from the Moon
 in a less degree.
  The dynamic nature of atoms  being different, al-
 though they might have exhibited a promiscuous in-
 tercourse under  particular  exigencies of  time  and
 place, they were ready, as I have before remarked, to
 accommodate themselves to a change of circumstances;
 those  for instance  which  contained  more constitu-
 tional Caloric than  Electricity would  be inclined  to
 separate from  the rest and  from  each  other, while
 those which contained more Electricity than  Caloric
 would take a contrary direction and keep together as
 close as possible.   For this purpose the former must
 have  surrendered to the latter a portion of their com-
 bined  Electricity,  and the latter  a portion of their
 combined or latent Caloric to the former: so that no
 sudden violence is contemplated by this hypothesis,
 but a gradual and mutual compromise whereby have'
 arisen the conditions necessary for the more compli-
 cated phenomena of Life.
  The present state of our Earth and  its relations to
 the  Sun require  that although atoms  have changed
 places, the equilibrium of forces is not lost; that the-
 oretically speaking,  the free  imponderables are  still
 equably diffused throughout  the sphere, whereas the
latent imponderables vary with the particular form and 
9
stratum of matter considered.  I have said theoreti-
cally  speaking, because  in  reality the variations of
Electricity are as unceasing as those of Caloric, and
to both must be attributed all the  movements with
which we are acquainted, whether animate or inani-
mate.
   Matter in the abstract is inert, its leading proper-
ties  essentially depending upon  the imponderables.
The inertia  so called of an  atom or  congeries of
atoms represents their more  constant and  quiescent
attitude with regard to other atoms, as  regulated by
their respective amounts of the imponderables.  Any
addition or substraction  might produce a change of
that relation and consequent movement; not necessa-
rily however, as may be thus shown.  The Earth is
attracted towards  the Sun and repelled from it by its
own inherent imponderable  forces, and  Solar light
being composed of both forces adds to  the amount,
but in an equal ratio; consequently, no change of dis-
tance results.  If the rays brought more Electricity
than Caloric, the attraction would be in proportion,
terrestrial weight  would  be  temporarily augmented,
and terrestrial inertia permanently altered:  if Caloric
prevailed, its repulsive agency would engender  compa-
rative levity, and the Earth would recede further from
the Sun.  The specific weight of a particular  section
of our  planet, as  contrasted with  another section,
causes it to move upon  its own  axis.   With us, the
inertia of bodies expresses a fact, viz: that the equili-
brium of forces being once  established, they would
remain so, but for  some disturbing cause.  The only
conceivable case in which a  perfect equilibrium could
      2 
10
 ever have existed was at the moment when the Earth
 first parted from its parent, the Sun, and presented a
 homogeneous mass of matter throughout.  Its present
 condition or equipoise of ponderable and impondera-
 ble elements is due to  derangements which may be
 referred partly, if not  principally, to their external re-
 lations.  Were these  removed or superseded,  the
 Earth would probably return from its quasi-arlificial
 to its primitive but not chaotic  state of Nature, as it
 originally obtained.  This is figurative language but
 serves  to convey a distinction, to which I attach some
 importance, between the more natural and the acquired
 dynamic constitution of the Earth, whether considered
 as a whole or in reference  to its parts.  It would be
 more correct to define weight as an impulse both elec-
 trical and thermal, appreciable by our  senses; since it
 is as easy to prove the upward as the downward ope-
 ration of electrical forces, without interfering with the
 general law upon  the subject.  Caloric may likewise
 operate in an apparently centripetal direction without
 really affecting its rule of action.
   The  above exposition of forces will, I hope, save
 me from  the imputation of holding the Phlogiston
 Theory—mine is essentially different in every particu-
 lar; since I acknowledge that the addition of matter
 however light to another portion of matter  necessa-
 rily increases not  only the amount of materials but
 also the absolute amount of Electricity, or of weight
in  the abstract.  It however may render the mass
really and specifically lighter  by increasing the  rela-
tive amount of Caloric, which more  than counterba-
lances the addition of Electricity by swelling the vo- 
11
lume.  Some will contend that all particles are of
equal weight, and  that it  is their number which ren-
ders one mass heavier than another of equal volume?
but it appears to me that if they differ in weight, it is
because the heavier contains more Electricity and less
Caloric than the  other; or, at least, that the cause is
owing to the relative proportions of the imponderables.
  It is self-evident that matter by some means retains
consistency in opposition to a force which tends con-
stantly to separate and disperse it.   Now, a positive
agent  has been discovered capable of explaining re-
pulsion, but none has been clearly assigned as the spe-
cific cause of attraction.  What is the office of Elec-
tricity ?  Can it be regarded  as matter, when  it pos"
sesses not a single attribute in common with it ?  Phi
losophers will say that it obeys some of the same laws,
but I propose to  show that  these very laws merely
prove the presence of the agent, and  that the attrac-
tion of aggregation and cohesion, chemical attraction,
magnetic and  electrical attraction, gravitation, &c,
may be explained  by its  interposition.   The  ad-
measurement of matter was once almost the exclusive
occupation of the Natural Philosopher; at the present
day, the knowledge of weight is the  grand object of
the Chemist.  To Gay Lussac belongs the merit of
pointing out a new relation of atoms; his theory, how-
ever merely contemplates the fact of their combining
in definite volumes, as well as definite weights.  We
may make allowance, it is true, for  pressure; we may
estimate the resultant volume of combining gases  or
vapour, but how far from complete our analysis of the
phenomena  presented, if latent Electricity is concern- 
12
 ed as well as Caloric in determining the form and
 specific gravity of matter.  The ascertainment of bulk
 and weight are familiarly associated in scholastic ex-
 ercises; but in the scientific enunciation of principles
 which should guide us, how little is it suspected that
 possibly Caloric  and Electricity, which  are as fami-
 liarly  associated in our  studies,  may be the actual
 causes of relative bulk and weight.   The balance or
 volumescope  may afford us a kind of evidence that
 cannot be disputed;  they settle many doubtful points,
 but as regards the ultimate constitution of matter, its
 dynamic qualities, its action and reaction, we obtain
 nothing definite.  The Chemist may separate minerals
 into their component elements, and he may combine
 them again; but to do  ev.n this he must  possess cer-
 tain conditions of the  barometer and thermometer: in
 other words, Caloric and Electricity are  1 equisite in
 such proportions as will facilitate  the proposed meta-
 morphoses.  Can he find such conditions of  the  im-
 ponderables for the synthesis of organic compounds 1
   Let us  suppose that each atom of matter is com-
 posed  of a specific radical, with properties modified
 by the presence of Caloric and Electricity, which from
 their  opposite qualities may hold  different  positions;
 Caloric residing, as it were, on one terminus of a sphe-
 roid molecule, and Electricity on the other.  A con-
 geries of  atoms in which Caloric  predominates over
 Electricity would  by their readiness to separate pos-
 sess a larger capacity  for free Caloric than for Elec-
tricity, and vice versa  the argument holds good with
 those in which Electricity prevails over its rival.   It
 is however so ordained, that by mutual  concessions 
13
such  atoms although very discordant may harmonize
together, and on these changes  the  sciences of Che-
mistry and Mechanical Philosophy are based.   Their
original constitution gives  them a tendency to return
to their more congenial form, but their actual capacity
for both,  and capability of combinations with each
other, enable them to hold communion together.
   Electricity may be  studied with  reference to the
modes in which it distributes itself or finds  its equili-
brium, viz:  by gravitation  of matter, its decomposi-
tion and  recomposition; by conduction, convection,
radiation, and the discharge. By the term gravitation
we may understand the phenomenon of matter ap-
proaching matter by a force proportionate to their re-
spective shares of Electricity.   The heaviest bodies
are those in which Electricity abounds in the greatest
deoree, so that the metals are most recommended for
   o   *
obtaining quantity.  The  Earth gravitates towards
the Sun by reason of this agent, and its rotation may
be thus explained.  The equable distribution of the
free  imponderables on the presenting surface is de-
ranged by the torrents of Light emanating from the
Sun;  the  polar inclinations and  declinations  being
amenable to the same influence.  The peripheral strata
possessing a larger capacity for the  calorific portion
of the rays than  those more remote, the balance is
lost;  and whilst repulsion is produced by the Caloric
accumulated on the presenting hemisphere, both the
diurnal and  semi-annual changes are enforced by the
relative excess of Electricity on the distal hemisphere,
which therefore is attracted by, and gravitates to-
wards, the Sun's orb.  The attraction exerted between 
14
 distant worlds is simple and  absolute, for the inter-
 vening space allows  the  imponderables full  scope for
 the exercise of their  functions;  but when this force is
 brought to bear upon particles or masses not regarded
 in space, but as forming a part of a connected system
 of contiguous  molecules, there arises  a necessity of
 submitting to  counteraction from  the particles  or
 masses within a certain  range—hence we  find that
 other laws must be studied, to explain other processes
 of electrical equilibrium.  One of the most interesting
 is the mode in which excess of matter dissolved  or
 suspended in air during  its expansion in summer is
 forced to find its level when the cause of its elevation
 no longer operates to the same  extent, and conse-
 quently there is an error loci to be remedied.  While
 the masses  are precipitating and collecting mid-air,
 they are enabled to detain much of the electrical rays
 which would otherwise reach the ground and be lost
 in  its wide  extent: they  are  surcharged with  a de-
 scending force, and whether cloud or meteor, make a
 violent effort to seek  a refuge from their now unnatu-
 ral height.   At a certain  distance however  from the
 surface they are stopped  perhaps  in their career,
 either by the compressed air below them, or by the
 attenuated gases which are confined and expanded  in
 their midst by the latent Caloric evolved.   The sud-
 den shock  causes the Electricity to  come to a  focus
 and to be discharged, the  cloud is dissipated either  in
 part or whole with explosion, and it descends in the
 form of rain, which aids  in conducting the electric
 fluid to the ground.   Here is an instance in which the
gravitation of matter  is aided by positive additions  of 
15
free Electricity; in which Electricity itself maintains
its own equilibrium when e situ either from  accident
or design, as in the usual experiments of the labora-
tory.   The Earth's crust is ever willing to receive it
into its bosom, being equally  ready to give up free
Caloric.  The atmosphere  presents reversed pheno-
mena, so that  while we must look to the solid crust
for the most obvious effects of interna] heat, we re-
cognize electrical disorders most prevalent in the air.
The Ocean seems to be neutral; in it both play their
part with  less chance for  exhibitions  of a marked
character.  And why is this ?   Because the air is  a
bad conductor of Electricity and the Earth's crust of
Caloric, whereas the Ocean may receive considerable
additions or subtractions without  very manifest dis-
turbance : such is the singular dynamic  constitution of
liquids and water in particular.  The rotation of the
Earth on its axis would be attended with accelerations
and retardations but for this power of the Ocean to
accommodate itself to the difference of absorption and
conduction of Light between solids and liquids.
   All substances in  changing their form give out or
receive one or other of the two imponderables men-
tioned—thus, when iron is heated, it  is  continually
absorbing free Caloric, until the point  is attained at
which the free Electricity present is unable to resist
the expanding force of the Caloric, and at  this con-
juncture  a definite portion of Caloric  combines with
the molecules which now become liquid.   I use the
term definite in a restricted sense, for the amount de-
pends upon varying circumstances, and the case therer
fore somewhat differs from  the definite  chemical com- 
16
 binations of Authors; but the relation  between the
 one given  out and the other absorbed  is constantly
 maintained and fixed  by definite laws.  Again:  were
 it possible to aerify the metal the same thing would
 occur.   When vapour escapes from the steam engine,
 the  boiler  if  isolated becomes charged: this arises
 probably from the sudden change of form which the
 vapour sustains, like the materials emitted from active
 volcanoes, which develope Electricity in  great abun-
 dance.   A salt  dissolved in water may rob the sol-
 vent of a portion of  its Caloric, but it at the same
 time parts with some of its own Electricity to balance
 accounts.  The intention of all such changes, whether
 chemical or  mechanical, is  to  produce as easily as
 possible a dynamic equilibrium, which  is the main ob-
ject of creation, and from which there  is  not a single
 departure.   If heterogeneous materials are brought
 into juxtaposition some kind of arrangement must be
 made between them: it may be slow and impercepti-
 ble, or rapid and violent; but action and  reaction su-
 pervene, as effects of a universal cause.  The electric
fluid may be conducted like Caloric from one atom
or congeries of atoms to another, or it may be con-
veyed by the same to  a resting place, as may best suit
the occasion.  I should here observe that, for  conve-
nience, I shall use the term temperament to express
for Electricity what temperature does for  Caloric, viz:
the imponderable in a free  state.   If, then, two dif-
ferent metals of the same temperament and tempera-
ture—in other words, at the same  barometrical  and
thermometrical point—be simultaneously exposed to
a change of circumstances* not  having the same ca- 
17
pacity for the imponderables and  being  in contact
they are differently affected; so that  if they be heated
or cooled or moved from  one medium into another,
their relation  to  each other and the medium will be
altered.   Thermo-electric  experiments prove that free
Caloric is capable of  disturbing Electricity as free
Electricity developes Caloric in the galvanic appara-
tus.  I would direct  especial attention to  the solidifi-
cation of a drop of water,  if it be placed on the junc-
tion of two differently conducting metals and exposed
to the voltaic current in a certain direction: on chang-
ing the poles, its ebullition  ensues.   This phenomenon
may arise from a difference of rapidity in the electri-
cal current causing a difference of temperature, since
analogous effects are derived from coils  and twists,
not to mention inequalities  and interruptions in the
connecting wire  of a voltaic series, which necessarily
impede or expedite the current at certain  intervals of
the circuit; but it may happen  that in  this  instance
the Electricity,  set  in motion  by Caloric,  combines
with the drop.   The  Glacial  Theory of  Professor
Agassiz is not weakened,  to say the least, by admit-
ting the  power of Electricity to solidify by its pre-
sence, as of Caloric  to do the same by its absence.
Let a  plate of copper and  another  of zinc  be im-
mersed in acidulated water; the zinc possessing a less
capacity  for Electricity than copper parts with a por-
tion of its free Electricity, which is  instantaneously
conducted from  one  to the other,  thus enabling  the
copper to resist more successfully oxydizement, while
the zinc is left less protected than before.   When the
fluid is in great abundance, its passage is inchoated by
       3 
18
 a condensation of the molecules constituting the con-
 ducting medium with  the  extrication of Caloric  to
 such an extent  as  to melt or burn the wire as a se-
 condary  result.  The  particles  of the  zinc surface,
 being separated by a loss  of Electricity as if by the
 addition of positive Caloric, are  enabled to unite with
 the oxygen  of  the water;  they become more nearly
 allied in  dynamic  constitution to  oxygen, under the
 circumstances, than is oxygen to hydrogen.   I am far
 from meaning to say that  the nearer substances ap-
 proximate in their imponderable relations the greater
 energy is evinced in  their reactions, but  that cceteris
paribus they will harmonize better together;  less che-
 mical violence is necessary for their combination, and
 less liability exists of explosion or divellent  affinities.
 The peculiarity of decomposition in the voltaic appa-
 ratus  consists in the happy mode of turning the free
 Electricity to account, instead of allowing it to pass
 away  unheeded as in  ordinary  cases  of  chemical
 union.  The copper acts as a catalytic agent, which,
 by its presence,  influences the result.  When cases of
double  elective  affinity occur and the excitement of
all the poles  is  neutralized, the  only effect worthy of
mention is, that equivalent  products are obtained in
each cell and a more natural relation  substituted be-
tween the conflicting materials.  In these  cases quan-
tity of Electricity is obtained, in others of a mecha-
nical  nature the fluid is notable  for its quality or in-
tensity.  How can we account  for the  influence  of
some  fluxes but by supposing that electrical conduc-
tion is no less important than that of  Caloric in che-
mical processes which are allied.  I can discover no 
19
difference between the Caloric imparted by conduction
to contiguous particles of tallow, which are decom-
posed and volatilized during the combustion of a can-
dle, and the gradual developement and conduction of
Electricity from particle to particle during fermenta-
tion or digestion.  Liebig ascribes  the  phenomenon
to motion produced by the ferment on matter  which
admits a similar metamorphosis of atoms, and the ex-
planation is in keeping with the modern  doctrine that
some bodies are  easily converted from  one form to
another by a mysterious change of polarization; but
it appears to me that  the  loss or gain of the electric
fluid will  suffice  for this  and  other chemical pheno-
mena of the same kind.
   When heterogenous materials are subjected to fric-
tion in bad conducting media they receive or give up
a portion of their free Electricity according to their
respective capacities.   This  is an  expedient on the
part of Nature  to counteract  sudden violence, to ar-
rest its  progress, and lastly, to attain  relief.  If  a
metal be rubbed  in the  open air or in vacuo, it de-
pends upon the electrical nature of the rubber whether
it obtain a surcharge  or deficiency of the fluid.  Un-
der ordinary circumstances the equilibrium would be
instantaneously restored;  but let us suppose that the
metal remain positively excited, the air in its neigh-
bourhood is induced negatively in order  to rob it gra-
dually of the excess:  let  the plate of metal be now
approximated to that  body which is more notably de-
ficient  by  reason of  previous attrition,  and if the
charge be sufficiently powerful and the distance not
too great  the fluid  concentrates  at some  point, and 
20
 by its accumulation constringes the intervening aerial
 particles so as to form a continuous line for its passage
 to the negative surface.   The forcible condensation
 of those particles causes the spark, which is different
 for different media.  When instead of air glass  is
 the electric employed, the fluid will sometimes select
 a convenient spot on which to exert its energies and
 procure a passage from one surface to the  other by
 constringing  a certain  number of molecules, which
 being elastic  subsequently recoil  and are dissipated
 like vapour.   Let it be observed that I use the terms
positive and positively induced differently; the former
 denoting simply a  redundancy of the electric fluid,
 which  must find its equilibrium somewhere sooner or
 later in conformity with laws which  cannot be  con-
 troverted :  but the latter is restricted to  media of a
 certain  kind, in which a peculiar method  of relief  is
 in request, such as I have  before  adverted  to.   If I
 might be allowed to speculate upon the actual process,
 I should hesitate between two probable modes.  There
 may be a common apex to two  pyramidal cones, in-
 duced  in an  electric; for instance, in the case of a
 cloud, the presenting surface is subtended by the base
 of a reversed aerial pyramid negatively induced, the
 apex of  which either reaches  or is  not  far  distant
 from the apex of another  aerial pyramid positively
induced,  and  resting on the ground which forms the
base of a reversed pyramidal space under  ground ne-
gatively induced.   This type admits of variation and
accounts for diverse appearances which lightning exhi-
bits when instead of one several spaces and surfaces
are concerned; so  that one apparent discharge  may 
21
be resolved into as many as the case requires.  The
other mode I would suggest is the rotatory movement
of pai tides, so that in the cloud itself a  tendency of
the kind  exists, which is sympathetically felt by  the
air between it and  the ground.  The direction of  the
intervening particles being centripetal, at  length a line
is formed sufficiently dense to conduct the fluid from
one surface  to  the other.  In the case of a charged
pane of glass, it is the difficulty of forming the pyra-
midal figure or rotatory movement of particles which
retains the fluid so tenaciously on its surface.
   I will here introduce for consideration some phe-
nomena which fortify the position I have assumed as
to the real nature of Electricity.  During the forma-
tion  of a thunder-cloud, when  the crisis is  near at
hand, there is  a stillness  and suffocating dryness of
the air, and at this  conjuncture drops  of water are
deposited very freely on the leaves of plants which
are negatively charged, and we may suppose a similar
condensation to occur in the direction of the positive
cloud.  It may be said that the  rarefaction of the air
renders it unable to hold up so much vapour, and  that
this  is really another expression of dew.  This ad-
mission is all I require  at present, for the accumula-
tion of such facts in connection with a deranged state
of the electrical fluid will be collateral evidence in
my favour.  I will venture further, and  ask  whether
the induction set up in this and other instances is not
an abortive or rather  a vain attempt  at chemical
combination; whether there is not sometimes a minor
degree of attraction exerted which falls short of its
proposed  object: the extraordinary power which po- 
22
 rous substances evince for fluids would  indicate  a
 kind of electrical induction or condensation akin to
 it.   Mr. Cross, by passing a small constant stream of
 Electricity  through water, detached  the calcareous
 and silicious particles dissolved in it, and  set in mo-
 tion  the vital machinery of some infusorial animal-
 cules.  Instances without  number might be adduced
 in which the condensing power of Electricity is appa-
 rent; such as the formation of crystals at the negative
 pole of the galvanic circuit; and the solidification of
 Glauber's salts on the admission of common air into
 a  bottle in which the  salt has been previously dis-
 solved  by  water heated and allowed to  cool.   Dr.
 Ure, I believe, attributes this last phenomenon to Elec-
 tricity, without however attaching any  definite idea
 to the function of that fluid as the antagonist of Ca-
 loric.
   Radiation is the last mode of distribution  and is of
 two kinds, simple and compound.  Pure  electrical ra-
 diation takes place when there isan excess of the fluid
which escapes diffusively by constringing the medium
 of its passage. Whether the concomitant light is pro-
duced by the condensation of gases or of solids the phe-
nomenon is identical; but their capacity for Caloric being
different, metals will  give out Caloric whereas gases
instantly reabsorb it, so that in the so-called vacua no
indications of Caloric appear. Glass or ice are better
electrics than water  or dense air, these again than
thin vapour or rarefied gases for obvious  reasons.
There is certainly more Caloric in rarefied  air than
in  air at the usual atmospheric tension, but,  notwith-
standing, the Caloric offers less resistance to electrical 
23
condensation in the one than in the other, because
there is a negative condition  of Electricity  in the
former which does not exist in  the latter.  A  perfect
vacuum I believe would be a  perfect nonconductor,
whereas compound radiation in which Electricity is
combined with Caloric passes  readily through a va-
cuum.  Through some media  Light passes without
much change except in intensity, by others it is almost
immediately reflected or absorbed with total  loss of
characteristic qualities.  Its reflection depends upon the
condition of the surface; its refraction or decomposi-
tion upon the physical and dynamical state of the sur-
face and mass.  Red rays give up most readily their
Caloric and are least refrangible, the violet yield their
Electricity and are most bent from the perpendicular :
thus further demonstrating the  tendency of one set to
converge, of another to diverge according to  their
dynamic constitution.  Light is  modified by substances
identical in  ponderable materials but dynamical dis-
similar.   The  appearance of carbon is proverbially
varied, and that of pure glass  is also remarkable for
the same diversity and other physical properties. The
most intense artificial light is produced on lime by the
oxy-hydrogen flame.  This alkaline  earth  is so com-
posed that when its temperature is raised by the com-
bustion of the gases, it rapidly seizes the vapour formed,
and both are dissipated with great  developement of
heat and electricity.  But how can either impondera-
ble pass off through such a bad conductor as lime ?
The only resource  is  radiation.  Vast mineral for-
ests of fuel lie buried in the bowels of the Earth; these
are treasures of Electricity as  well as Caloric.  We 
24
 do not usually receive more than half its worth by the
 use of coal in stoves: even the rays of light which reach
 us  from open  fires are by no means to  be considered
 as representing the extent to which Electricity is availa-
 ble.  As might be expected, the combination of gases
 does not produce  so much Light as when solids and
 gases are employed.
   Magnetism might be appropriately introduced here
 as  a branch of the subject, and a difficulty which must
 be  met.  I shall dismiss it summarily.  Let us suppose
 a force  such as that of  Solar Electricity to be  con-
 stantly operating on the  Earth a revolving mass, and
 we will add disadvantageously operating if not coun-
 teracted at all points.  Let us further suppose that this
 extraneous force comes in conflict with the permanent
 Electricity of the Earth, and that as  a general law one
 current always sets another in motion at right angles :
 that this second current manifests itself either  by the
 gyratory movement of the imponderable fluid itself, or
 by that of ponderable matter, and we have but to assume
 that certain materials possess a dynamic constitution
 which renders them particularly sensitive to electrical
 impressions, and Magnetism stands  out  in bold relief
 another expedient in the Economy of the Universe.
It is a collateral force  dependent and consequent  upon
 a prior force in action, and by its rotatory movement
tends or proposes  to neutralize a direct and positive
 interference whether  from abroad  or at home.  It
 silently but efficiently equalizes the derangement of equi-
librium in a manner inconsistent with the defined duties
of Caloric, and as  far  as  the  Earth  en masse is con-
cerned, from quarters  (North and  South) beyond the 
23
province of Caloric as an efficient  Antagonist in the
balance of power.  If artificial currents of Electricity
generate counter-currents of a magnetic character,
so it may be presumed that artificial or natural cur-
rents of ponderable matter will do  the same, whether
it be to remedy a thermal or electrical deficiency or
derangement.  According to theory we ought to find
some phenomena of magnetism in  the  human body,
and we hear of experiments by which needles are ren-
dered magnetic by their insertion near  the course of
the motor nerves.  It may appear frivolous to notice
the method  which  is  occasionally adopted  in the
West, when  the object is to discover a subterranean
spring or running water at no great depth.  The pro-
cess is extended to the pursuit of metallic veins, and
I need scarcely mention that it is  extremely  simple;
viz, to  balance a switch in  a certain manner until it
makes a revolution apparently accidental.  A priori
we might suppose that motion of any kind would im-
press its condition upon any sensitive or good-con-
ducting matter in its vicinity, and more especially
upon  matter which  is  equipoised  and liable  to be
swayed by the slightest influence of a dynamic kind.
It remains  to be proved whether more careful experi-
ments will  substantiate  the claim of these results to
philosophical truths.
   The laws then which govern the imponderables are
few and simple.   We may speculate upon individual
phenomena and  be foiled in our explanation, but we
may rest assured that the object which Natuie strives
to attain, is Order.
4 
26
             PART  SECOND.

  I have stated  that the essential requisite for de-
composition and recomposition is a want of harmony
between the imponderables present in contiguous par-
ticles of matter, whereby  mutual  concessions are
made, just as the phenomena of gravitation depend
upon a disturbed equilibrium between those Agents in
particles or masses, when a mere change of position
will answer the purpose of  an equilibrium.  An ag-
gregation  of identical or nearly similarly constituted
molecules  will occur,  as of isomorphous salts,  by a
natural adaptation and affinity without what may be
styled chemical reaction; that is, there is no need of
much if any compromise of Electricity on the part of
one, or of Caloric on the part of the other; but a me-
chanical [adhesion  takes  place corresponding with
their own inherent capacities for the  imponderables.
In chemical reactions a third party assists materially
the  process, and water is a very common medium in
which such opposite substances as gases and  solids
are enabled to act and react on each other with great
rapidity and success.   An acid will perhaps not com-
bine with  a base  for  which it is thought  to have  a
strong  affinity—Why ?  Because there is so wide  a
difference  between their imponderable  conditions as
to preclude a union.   Let water be now added  which
will allow the acid or base  to form a solution more in
accordance with the nature of the base or acid, and  a 
27
 salt is formed.  Oil will  not combine with litharge
 until water is added because the quasi-salts oleate and
 margarate of the oxide of glyceryl composing the oil
 possess too much latent Caloric to admit any recipro-
 cal action of a chemical nature in favour of a base so
 much at variance as the oxide of lead: but let this dif-
 ference be  somewhat reconciled  by  the presence of
 water which by uniting with the oxide of glyceryl ena-
 bles the fatty acids to take the metallic base. So the sol-
 uble chlorides  before they are dissolved first assume
 the middle state of chloro-hydrates, which condition
 is known to exist in such compounds as the chloro-
 hydrates of quinia, morphia, &c.  The oxide of ethyl
 or even the hydrate of the oxide may fail to dissolve
 an organic substance, but an aqueous  solution of the
 hydrate may be adequate for the purpose.  The oxide
 of an alkaline  metal is not so effectual a solvent as
 the hydrate of the same,  much less than an aqueous
 solution of  the hydrate.  In fact water or any liquid
 which admits miscibility to an  apparently  indefinite
 extent is  in the same category with what  is usually
 called free caloric: but, strictly speaking, there is a
 minor degree of chemical union  between  such sub-
 stances,  one more easily deranged  and less obvious
 and defined as  the combining q*ialkioc require a wider ;*/.*.*.>£ £;«
 range of time  and space for  their settlement.   To
 make these  calculations we  necessarily recur to the
 relation between the constitutional nature of the ma-
 terials in question  and  the  free imponderables  in
 which they  are immersed without reference to any
immediate connection between  the  materials them-
selves.  By these means I am enabled  to dispose of 
28
 Dalton's hypothesis with respect to aeriform fluids,
 they may appear to act as vacua to  each other, but a
 more extended view of the  subject might suggest an
 ultimate arrangement between their  particles  strictly
 coinciding with  the laws  of definite  proportions.
 Chlorine will not leave its connection with hydrogen
 in chlorohydric acid to combine with a metal such as
 zinc, but will readily embrace ammonium in a state of
 vapour; nor will it unite rapidly with iron unless mi-
 nutely pulverized.   If a stick of phosphorus and the
 flowers of sulphur  be placed in contact under a bell-
 glass, on removing the air  vapours of the negative
 sulphur  will combine  with  the  phosphorus   which
 offers  less resistance for reasons assigned.  Half a
 volume of oxygen will not unite with a whole volume
 of hydrogen under all circumstances: it depends upon
 the state of the barometer and thermometer, in other
 words, on the relative condensation or expansion of
 the gases; as when an electric spark is passed through
 the mixture; or a hot iron, whereby  the expansion of
 some particles condenses others;  or  when the  hydro-
 gen collects upon bright metallic surfaces as well as
 in the pores of certain bodies.  Oxygen will refuse to
 combine with zinc unless  the metal be positively calo-
 rified or negatively electrified; or unless the oxygen
 be compressed into the consistence of a liquid: their
 condition being  now  altered  combination  ensues.
 Nascent hydrogen  is known to be peculiarly  effica-
 cious in its reactions; but is it not  here a liquid or
 perhaps a solid ?   Does it still retain its  latent Elec-
tricity which enables it to effect what it could  not do
after exchanging its electricity for Caloric ? The pro- 
29
tosulphide of iron is formed whether the vapour of sul-
phur be presented to cold solid iron in a finely divided
state or whether the metal be white-hot at the weld-
ing point and the sulphur concrete.
  The mechanical admixture of fluid substances is re-
gulated by their dynamic qualifications, so  that even
gases are not exempt from the general rule.  The
presumed law of their equable expansion and contrac-
tion by equal increments or decrements  of heat  is I
admit in direct opposition to the doctrine which I have
propounded relating to the variable amount of consti-
tutional and acquired imponderables present in every
species of atom.  " If" says an accomplished Ameri-
can chemist, " gases expand or contract 1 -480th of the
volume they occupy at  the  freezing point  for every
alteration of temperature equal to  one degree, it is
obvious that a given volume of any gas at 32 deg.
will be expanded by  a volume equal to itself by hav-
ing its temperature raised 480 deg. but at this rate a
given volume of any gas at 32 deg. if cooled down to
480 deg. would  be contracted by a volume equal to
itself, that is, reduced to nothing."  Besides; the  vol-
ume of certain  gases does not decrease in the ratio
of the increase of force used to compress them: which
is an evidence in favour of their possessing a differ-
ent capacity for  Electricity, as the first objection  sets
the question at rest as far as Caloric is concerned.
   The idea of an equal ratio of force from equivalent
proportions of combining elements is an error I con-
ceive into which Liebig has fallen: for although the ne-
gative of this proposition has not been proved on my
part, neither has the affirmative on his—if my sugges- 
30
 tion as to the variable proportions of the imponderables
 be correct, neither Caloric nor Electricity will answer
 to the rule. Liebig states that 8 pounds of oxygen will
 produce the same effect as 35 \ pounds of chlorine—
 what effect ? 1 answer, the same amount of base will
 be neutralized.   Liebig cannot affirm  that the same
 amount of Caloric is supplied or Electricity put in mo-
 tion.   This would argue an identity of dynamic con-
 stituents which is disproved by the unequal volume,
 and weight of the materials; for if it be conceded that
 the free imponderables are equal, might not the com-
 bined  or constitutional imponderables differ ? The
 most that can be  averred is  that the same amount of
 Electricity  in motion  invariably liberates  identical
 amounts of substances which differ in volume and
 weight.  " The numbers"  says Liebig " representing
 chemical equivalents express very general ratios of
 effects corresponding for all bodies all the actions they
 are capable of producing.   If we should assume that
 the quantity of force is unequal in the case  of zinc
 with reference to its Caloric or Electricity  evolv-
 ed  by chemical  action, that for instance we had
 obtained double  or  triple  the amount in the gal-
 vanic  pile,  or that in  this  mode of  generating
 force  less  loss is sustained, we must  still recollect
 the equivalent of zinc  as   compared  with coal in
 order  to estimate  their relative economy.   By a
 certain  measure  of  Electricity  we produce a cor-
 responding  proportion of heat or of magnetic power.
 A given amount of affinity produces an equivalent of
 Electricity in the  same manner as on the other hand
we decompose equivalents of chemical compounds by 
31
a definite measure of  Electricity."  Again Liebig
states  that " in whatever way carbon may combine
with oxygen the act of  combination  is accompanied
by  the disengagement  of  heat.   It is indifferent
whether this combination takes place rapidly or slowly,
at a high or  low temperature, the  amount  of  heat
liberated is a constant quantity."   These conclusions
are Specious but not warranted by facts on which we
can rely:  their object is to place Caloric and Electri-
city in the  same category with  ponderable matter.
For my own part, I can discover no analogy between
them, but am ready to admit that both imponderables
are concerned, and am anxious to discover how far the
especial province of each may extend.
   A mathematical  illustration  will  perhaps render
 my views  on the ultimate constitution  of matter
 more intelligible.    A radical  atom  A  may con-
 tain one proportion of each imponderable: another
 and  different radical atom B one proportion of each
 or two proportions of each: again another C  three
 proportions of each,  or three hundred, nay three thou-
 sand.  But an atom of matter may possess  one pro-
 portion of Caloric  and two, three, or a thousand of
 Electricity; and we may vary the amount ad infinitum
 to represent its constitutional nature.  What still fur-
 ther burthens the calculation is the capacity of each
 for the free imponderables according to  their dynamic
 constitution;  so that an atom M containing fifty pro-
 portions of each imponderable necessary for its identi-
 fication, possesses a greater capacity for both in a free
 state than A  which contains only one  proportion of
 each.  P containing one proportion of Caloric and five. 
32
  of Electricity has a greater capacity for the latter than
  for the former, while X containing one proportion of
  Electricity and five of Caloric is the  reverse of P.  I
  need  not extend the exposition of this hypothesis; it
  is almost self-evident, and will account for the diversity
  of chemical reagents.   Two or more substances may
  contain the same elements in the same proportion and
 yet  possess different physical properties such as densi-
  ty, odour, taste, colour, refraction and polarization of
  light; so that by the addition or subtraction of either im-
 ponderable what are termed isomeric bodies may pre-
 sent diametrically opposite qualities.   But the term
 is obviously inappropriate, since  iron with a certain
 proportion of the imponderables will act like platinum
 as the positive plate of a voltaic series, and with ano-
 ther proportion may be a substitute for the zinc. They
 are not therefore isomerically constituted as far as the
 imponderables  are concerned.
   Great stress has  been  laid upon that  remarkable
 property of acids  by which they  characterize under
 different   circumstances of their  own formation  a
 monobasic  a  bibasic or  a tribasic  salt.   Phospho-
 rus  in union  with five equivalents  of oxygen  will
 form very different  salts according to  the  electrical
 and thermal state of the acid, as I am disposed to think;
but this  is  not more remarkable than  the  fact that
phosphorus  itself will  combine with  various  equiv-
alents of  oxygen under different dynamic conditions.
It appears that a  compound  substance  when once
formed retains  a character  of its  own, by which  it
regulates its conduct toward other bodies; that is  to
say, its equivalent number from that moment is com- 
33
paratively constant  and upon  the  proportion of its
combined imponderables will depend its capacity for
the same in a free state.  Phosphorus under the joint
influence of the imponderables in a certain amount will
take one or two or five equivalents of oxygen—or per-
haps it is the oxygen which in this case undergoes the
dynamic variation alluded to.   Are we sure that five
atoms of oxygen combine with one of phosphorus to
form phosphoric acid ?  May not one atom of oxygen
assume the volume and weight  corresponding to the
supposed equivalent number, so that in all chemical
combinations no more than one atom combines with
one atom, but that this atom may be modified by the
imponderables in such a way as to vary in  its physi-
cal qualities according to the dose?  Let oxygen  for
 example  represent an atom of matter uuited with a
 definite  amount of  the imponderables, by which it ac-
 quires a fixed weight and  volume—the law  may  be,
 that such an atom  can only combine chemically with
 doses of the imponderables equivalent  to its constitu-
 tional or dynamic  nature; it  may consequently be
 doubled  or tripled in volume and its weight  likewise
 affected in the same ratio.  But  I merely throw out
 these suggestions en passant..
    Electricity is  a  positive Agent  as is Caloric; the
 comparative absence of either  merely gives the other
 a temporary predominance of function. Atoms may
 assume the solid condition by a reduction of tempera-
 ture, but although  it may  be the withdrawal of  free
 Caloric which is the proximate cause of solidification,
 it is the presence of latent Electricity which is the pre-
 disposing cause.   Although" the absence of pressure 
31
or subtraction of Electricity may cause solids to be-
come fluids, yet it is the  positive agency of Caloric
which  expands the  particles.  Any one  of  the im-
ponderables may or may not displace its rival, so that
Caloric may be evolved under the influence of an  elec-
trical excess, as may  Electricity under the proepotency
of Caloric.  Let us suppose however a case in which
the one may be retained in spite of the other.  A fulmi-
nating powder is supposed to contain gaseous atoms
highly condensed by  means of Electricity; when it is
suddenly struck wijth a hammer,  the electric fluid  is
conducted away, and the  gases left to their own re-
sources expand explosively.
   Pressure like movement is of  two kinds, and ex-
presses a force in operation, whereas inertia as I  have
before remarked expresses its quiescence.  As a gene-
ral rule the diverging rays of thermal force represent
centrifugal pressure,  the converging rays of electrical
force represent  centripetal  pressure.   Particles are
affected laterally by the imponderables resident in con-
tiguous matter.   I contend  that if I press with my
hand forcibly upon a solid or a fluid, I am adding so
much Electricity at the expense of the materials  con-
stituting my body,  and  am unconsciously perhaps
changing the imponderable relation which subsists in
the earth upon which I stand.  A  bent glass tube in
which gases are reduced to fluids by their own expan-
sive  force or by reduction of temperature, as well as
the powerfully compressing machines of the early ex-
perimenters, illustrate the  same influence but in differ-
ent modes.  Liebig in his late  letters on Chemistry
uses  the following language.  *'Adhesion or hetero- 
35
geneous attraction has lately acquired by the discov-
ery of the solidification of carbonic acid gas a more
extended meaning and will account for the absorption
of gases by porous bodies and their condensation upon
solid surfaces.   It had never before been thought of,
says he,  that this  heterogeneous attraction was the
cause of change of state in matter, but it is now evi-
dent that a gas  adheres by the same force which con-
denses it  into a  liquid."   He  thus remains contented
with mere words to explain isolated facts without hav-
ing  realized the  existence of agents capable of origi-
nating such  phenomena.   I have given  my reasons
for  believing that matter may contain variable quanti-
ties of the imponderables even under  the same form?
so that it is not astonishing that metals should exhibit
different appearances and physical qualities when sol-
idified under different circumstances,  they may form
crystals  or amorphous masses  or a  dark  powder.
Their surfaces when polished reflect light and are in-
different conductors of Caloric and Electricity, whereas
striated  or  uneven  surfaces absorb  the same  with
avidity.  It has been considered strange that no arti-
ficial  pressure  can give platinum sponge  the same
 specific gravity as that which  results  from  fusion.
 The canse appears to me to be  the  obstinacy  with
 which the confined air adheres to the  metal, and the
 difficulty which it  finds in making its escape; or, the
 oxygen may partially combine with it. This I suspect
 is the case during  the congelation of ice by reduction
 of temperature  in the open air.   Could pure water be
 artificially solidified by compression I have very little
 doubt but that  its specific gravity would be material- 
36
ly altered.  As far as single crystals are concerned
there caii be no question about their combining every
qualification of extreme solidity and specific gravity :
it is only when the crystals are confused and interstices
left which contain a partial vacuum or vapour, that
we can explain  the anomaly of bodies  being  lighter
when solid than fluid, and floating on the same. Pure
alumina  is no longer thought to  be condensable  by
heat.
   It is so apparently simple a mode of explanation to
attribute a host of phenomena to the pressure of the
atmosphere that I almost hesitate to question so cher-
ished a principle of physics.  When a bullet  of lead
has been cut into halves which are afterwards made to
cohere by a slight manoeuvre,  there are apparently
three distinct causes of this result.  First, there is an at-
traction  between particles of an identical nature,  and
this  in proportion to their solidity:  secondly, the  sur-
faces are rendered uneven by the twist given them
in the hand,  but become fitted  to each other by an
adaptation of the inequalities produced:  and,  thirdly,
the air is said to press upon both pieces.  To me it
appears that the constitutional electricity of the atoms
operate in the first and second instances to keep the
particles and masses together, and that their free elec-
tricity, which likewise comes into  play, depends for
its amount upon the free electricity of the circumam-
bient air; so  that to whatever extent the latter be con-
densed or rarefied, to  that extent will free electricity
or a compressing power be added  or diminished in the
particles or congeries of particles experimented upon.
Besides, in proportion as free electricity is removed 
37
artificially from the  sphere of action will free caloric
be enabled to exert its authority; so that  for a time
the atoms composing the masses will measurably be
separated by it from each other, and  the  two pieces
themselves be less disposed to adhere.  When however
the attenuated air has conducted away the excess of
free caloric in the bullet, its atoms begin  to contract
again  within their  former limits.   It is obvious that
this experiment may be viewed in two aspects, and
suit two explanations of which but one can be rigidly
exact.  Most persons will insist upon the material
particles  themselves as  a cause of the phenomena,
others will incline with me to regard the particles inac-
tive, but  the imponderables associated  with them as
the agents.
   A solid body suspended from a height  and permit-
ted  to drop possesses not merely its  own inherent
share of latent and  free  electricity, but  so much addi-
tional free electricity as the strata of air through which
it falls will  surrender  by conduction, and its own ca-
pacity will  allow  it to accept on its passage.  This
may reconcile  the  problem of terresterial attraction
with atmospheric pressure, if my premises be correct;
for it matters not in what direction electrical or ther-
mal deficiencies  or excesses may offer; whether  up-
 wards  or downwards, horizontally or diagonally,  the
 imponderables operate, either by themselves  or  in
 connection with matter, in demanding a balance of
 power.   Hence all  matter under  similar circumstan-
 ces of position will eventually obtain an equal temper-
 ament, i  e, an adequate supply of electrical fluid; but
 this consummation  our senses do not realize any more
 than they appreciate a  like temperature  in bodies of 
38
 different capacity for  Caloric, and conducting power.
 A fundamental axiom  with me is the following—that
 change  as we may the relation of the imponderables
 to matter within areas of a certain extent, the princi-
 ple of compensation holds good, and the sum total of
 those agents in the said areas will always be the same,
 however misplaced naturally or artificially. The com-
 putation has reference to geographical as well as arith-
 metical  ratios; but due allowance must be made for
 the space considered, whether it be a theoretical ple-
 num abstracted from surrounding influences, or a part
 and parcel of the general mass as  it exists in nature.
 If we take  into consideration the amount of free cal-
 oric and electricity cotained in equal columns of mat-
 ter extending from the  level of the ocean to the upper-
 most bounds of  the atmosphere, we  shall find that
 there is precisely the same amount, although the mat-
 ter constituting these columns may be very diversified.
 Thus, one column may be composed entirely  of air,
 and will extend perhaps about fifty miles;  another
 may consist of a portion of solid matter as of a moun-
 tain, and the remainder of air; a third will contain
 several feet of water and the residue of air; a fourth,
 of thirty  inches of mercury, a very rarefied mercurial
 atmosphere, and the top of the barometical tube, sur-
 mounted by common air.  In each and all I contend
 there are equal amounts of the free imponderables,
 although very differently distributed; and there seems
 to be a constant effort on the  part of nature to restore
 to their  pristine  level  and condition the materials
 which have assumed this uneven and  heterogeneous
character: but on the other hand, as if to thwart her 
39
own apparent intention, the growth of vegetation, the
ingenuity of man and other animals, the internal  and
external commotion kept up between contending  ele-
ments  of matter as  well  as the continual  shifting
of the  free imponderables  or at least their influence
from one side of the globe to the other  causing its
diurnal and annual revolutions, all redound to beauty,
variety and a wholesome change on the face of the earth.
—Moreover  it may be a question, whether or not the
actual presence  of solids and liquids in the lower at-
mosphere as well as  the condensation of liquids and
gases  in the upper crust of the earth, do not realize
the gradual blending  of one department into the other
and the establishment of a general rule.   We find the
resistance  of the air  less than that of water or  iron
because  under the circumstances it more readily gives
up its Electricity than, they do;  the latter  having  a
greater  capacity for  the free,fluid and. far more of  it
combined with them.   I will venture further  and sug-
gest, that possibly as much solid matter is either evap-
orated suspended or dissolved as gaseous matter is
absorbed condensed  or combined; and that  as  much
positive  weight is  added  thereby to the atmosphere
as there is a loss of specific weight sustained  in the
crust by the addition of gases, the balance being held
by the ocean which keeps up a  communion between
both parties.  It is  difficult I confess to convey as
distinct  an  impression on the mind in favour of an
equal  distribution of Electricity as of Caloric in a hor-
izontal direction.  The thermometer indicates to us
the same temperature; but will the barometer  inform
 us of the  equable  temperament  in solids, liquids and 
40
 gases under similar circumstances ? Not so; because
 it cannot be so favourably applied.  Let us draw an
 imaginary zone of three feet thickness and three feet
 width extending around the earth in any parallel of the
 equator; and let this zone be supposed to be fifty feet
 below the level of the ocean.   Now  it may be, that
 this zone would include water, a portion of the Earth's
 crust, and atmospheric air in some  inland valley
 or artificial excavation.  1 argue, that  the  amount
 of pressure in this  zone  taken  collectively  would
 precisely answer  to the  quantity of a similar  zone
 in the same parallel of latitude on the other side of
 the equator, whether it consisted  of  water or  earth
 singly or combined., Like the supposed columns before
 considered the electrical fluid and matter would be dif-
 ferently  distributed, and consequently  the barometer
 if applicable, might be expected to indicate difference
 of pressure;  but in fact,  though the barometer ad-
 vises us  when electric changes are in  progress, what
 those  changes are deponent sayeth not, being itself
 subject to their influence.  If we rise high in air, the
 barometer will exhibit a loss in Caloric  and the ab-
 sorption  of free Electricity which the air is very wil-
 ling to give up: if we descend low in  the earth, the
 thermometer will also exhibit a similar phenomenon,
 viz, a loss of Electricity and the absorption of Caloric
 which the solid crust is very ready  to yield.  So  that
 no definite knowledge is attained further than the mere
 fact.   In the case of the supposed zone, if in any por-
 tion of it a plus condition  exists,  a minus, might be
 confidently assumed  in  another  quarter to preserve
the balance; and in localities where surfaces are more 
41
particularly exposed to these opposite  influences, de-
composition and recomposition would be likely to oc-
cur as well as other phenomena of an  electrical cha-
racter.   We must suppose that either valleys exist on
the surface of the crust sufficiently extensive to coun-
terpoise, if I may be excused the paradox, the eleva-
tions above the level of the ocean, or  that the diffe-
rence  must be made up by a temporary provision of
the free imponderables of which the barometer is un-
able to give us satisfactory intelligence; but the proof
of such a  gradual  return  to a general equilibrium is
afforded by the abrasion and disappearance of conti-
nents, although land may reappear above  water in
other regions by artificial means or volcanic action.
Some might add the  subsidence of the ocean  in the
polar latitudes, and the rise of the same under and
near the equator.  In the process of time a greater
proportion of water may be dissolved in air  as the
crust increases in depth and  the atmosphere extends
 its limits, in order to  keep pace with the march of
 events below.  Not that the atmosphere will be denser,
 but as more space will be  allotted with constant addi-
 tions of Caloric, more matter will be dissolved or held
 in suspension.  It is not the amount of matter but the
 relative quantity of Electricity  and Caloric which de-
 termines the specific gravity and specific heat of the
 atmosphere, which at remote periods of time may have
 been rather vaporous than aeriform, so that much of
 the iron found massive or stratified on the Earth's sur-
 face may have been held up in it as well as the Ocean,
 and  gradually or suddenly deposited by electrical and
 thermal  changes.  I may be asked why such metals
       5 
42
as iron  nickel cobalt manganese  &c. are found dis-
solved or suspended in air while the lighter metals are
not discovered.  I am disposed to think that the latter
do also  there exist in minute quantities; but it strikes
me that the peculiar nature of the alkalies and  alka-
line earths in which Caloric predominates, and that of
the heavier metals  in which Electricity is  in the
ascendant, would alike  render the presence of both
classes questionable.   Iron nickel &c. are nearly equi-
poised in dynamic constitution as  is water, but  more
highly charged than water with both the impondera-
bles, hence it happens  that great license of time and
place is allowed them.  I would be understood to mean
that during the formation of metallic concretions, the
alkaline metals would be  more likely consumed and
re-dissolved, so as not to form a part or parcel of fall-
ing meteors, whereas the magnetic metals mentioned,
although their more difficult solubility requires a wider
separation of their atoms, are enabled suddenly  to
converge towards the point in which there is a partial
electrical vacuum with greater chance of avoiding the
fate of their comrades the alkalies.  It has often sur-
prised me that  any Chemist  has  ventured to  assert
positively what is the actual constitution of the atmos-
phere: he may fearlessly aver what he has found, but
what he has not found may exist there notwithstand-
ing his  skill in analysis.   I would rather believe the
fact from seeing aerolites fall, and explain the presence
of solid matter in minute quantities by reason of the
vast amount of gases in which they are mixed or dis-
solved,  than rely upon the  puny efforts of experimen-
talists.  A square mile of hydrogen or at least that 
                        43

space in air might dissolve  or contain  an atom or
atoms of copper which might  defy our optic  nerves
however armed with  microscopic appliances,  or our
hands furnished with the most delicate tests.  At this
period of  advanced  Science we are  not so easily
startled or  confounded by the minuteness of Nature's
operations: the day has passed when the grand and
the imposing claimed almost universal homage.  Nor
are we confined in our explanations of phenomena to
single modes of action—because the pulverisation of
the subsoil or rock is the most obvious  mode of ac-
counting for the regeneration of the alkalies in  land
which has been exhausted, it is  no reason why in simi-
lar lands allowed to remain fallow and  exposed to the
vicissitudes of  the atmosphere  the soil may not gra-
dually receive  additions of the fixed as well as vola-
tile alkalies from the regions above as from the regions
below—why if saline incrustations  are found in va-
rious parts  of the Earth to coat the surface and  im-
pregnate its layers an occasional precipitation of said
matters may not co-operate with more frequent  sub-
limations or evaporations and consequent efflores-
cence.
   By hydrometers  or gravimeters  we may estimate
the comparative not the actual density of liquids and
solids;  so it is  with  the thermometer and  barometer
in reference to their  functions.  The air for instance
may  be plus Caloric and minus Electricity; the ther-
mometer will rise and  the barometer fall.   Again it
may be plus Electricity and  minus  Caloric, and the
reverse takes place.   Let there be minus Caloric and
minus Electricity, the thermometer now falls and the 
44
 barometer likewise: or plus Caloric and plus Electri-
 city, the thermometer rises as well as the  barometer.
 Such irregularities and sudden changes may produce
 certain forms of disease by the shock which they must
 make on  the nervous  system, independently of other
 causes which no doubt at such times would exist, as
 organic and inorganic effluvia.   For this reason if the
 atmosphere be minus Electricity with reference to  our
 bodies,  there is a  loss of Electricity on our part by
 conduction convection &c. which is manifested by low
 spirits and debility usually attributed to other causes
 which no doubt co-operate.  When  however the air
 seems tense clear  and comparatively dry as  is gene-
 rally the case in some parts of Italy,  where distant
 objects  are  distinctly reflected  and the vibrations of
 air rapidly reach the ear, the skin becomes easily elec-
 trified, and the fluid accumulates on its surface, so that
 the friction of flannel or silk will elicit sparks of light.
 It is not however solely the electrical tone of the at-
 mosphere but  its  material  condition which regu-
 lates the retention  or loss of the fluid generated within
 us: for it must constantly be borne in mind that any
 portion of matter whether gaseous  or solid is negative
 when it has less Electricity than its share as compared
with similar  portions  of matter,  other things being
equal.   If it  be admitted that during storms and tor-
 nadoes there is, according to Mr. Espy, a simultaneous
movement of aerial  currents towards a central point
 in which a partial vacuum exists, and that in such
 situations the  air has become rarefied and conse-
 quently rises in vertical columns, the theory may re-
 ceive  additional support by supposing not only posi- 
45
tive Caloric a cause  but more frequently a negative
condition of Electricitv.
  It is difficult perhaps to conceive how a particle or
mass of matter can contain opposite qualities such as
an inherent tendency to approach and fly from other
particles and masses:—but sueh forces  can  be rigor-
ously calculated, and by the admission of a new agent
in physics, or rather an agent with new qualifications,
satisfactorily accounted for.  Heat and cold are  cor-
relative terms denoting simply the presence or absence
of a required amount of free  Caloric: resistance or
non-resistance of bodies are so  likewise, and designate
the presence or absence of a certain amount of free
Electricity.  Levity results from  the relative propor-
tion of  those  agents in a combined or free state:
weight  results from the same  cause.   I thus explain
the weight of iridium  or of hydrogen, and the pecu-
liar character of iron nickel and cobalt which seem to
contain a large and nearly equal proportion of each.
Potassium sodium carbon silicon  and others would
evince a large  proportion of Electricity, but  a still
larger of Caloric, giving them in certain contingencies
hardness without corresponding weight.   Gold or the
other ductile and malleable  metals may have much
Caloric in their composition to which they are indebted
for  their properties and still more  Electricity which
gives them great weight.  But it is  needless to enter
into details while engaged in the consideration of great
principles.
  How then does the  philosophy of Mechanics stand
affected?  What  becomes of the lever of the wedge
of hydrostatic and hydraulic forces?  The power in 
46
  all depends upon the modifications of electrical deter-
  mination and energy; upon the rapidity of conduction
  concentration and the alternate or mutual  co-opera-
  tion of the imponderables.   Indeed all  movements
  whether animate or inanimate may be traced to these
  all pervading Spirits: and  as a case in point I shall
  briefly refer to  some  experiments made to establish
  the close  connection if not  identity of  the causes
 which  contribute to the effect.   A  bean during the
 season of germination  is known  to  be  influenced in
 the direction of its roots by gravity; and in proof of
 what this force  is, or rather in proof of the  fact that
 the same cause, whatever it is, operates in mechanical
 and vital movements, let the  bean be appended to a
 vertical wheel which is rotated rapidly and for a length
 of time.  The radicle instead of tending towards the
 centre of the earth or the axis of the wheel, now seeks
 the peripheral portion while the plumula points towards
 the axis.  The  conjoined effects  of  gravity and the
 apparently  centrifugal action  of Electricity may be
 further demonstrated by a horizontal wheel in motion,
 when the radicle grows  downwards and outwards.
 At different periods in the revolution  there is a differ-
 ent disposal of the electrical fluid: it  is not until the
 wheel has attained its greatest velocity that the maxi-
 mum  of force is found  to prevail.  At this  crisis, if
 the consistency of the peripheral portion be at all lia-
ble to  inequalities of action  or  electrical capacity,
 small sections may become detached with violence, and
will aid materially in carrying off the superfluous fluid,
or the whole may burst with like  effect.   The devia-
tion thus given to the electrical fluid is a circuitous 
47
and feasible route instead of a strait and impracticable
course towards attaining an equilibrium or correcting
a physical evil, if we may so regard it.  It also proves
that the sphere of electrical tension may be seemingly
independent for the time of the grand centre of the
Earth, or even of the still grander centre of the  Sun:
but at the same time while threatening to oppose Na-
ture's laws, it really obeys them and keeps within le-
gitimate bounds.   The  shifting of this imponderable
is shown by any falling body.  The whole weight may
 be concentrated  on the proximal point which strikes
 the ground, a corresponding loss of weight being sus-
 tained by the distal extremity.  I thus account for the
 facility with which direction is given to a body in mo-
 tion by a slight touch on  either extremity which may
 contain the  imponderables in excess or in defect: and
 I presume the tendency of many  solid bodies to burn
 in atmospheric air would  be much greater on the dis-
 tal than the proximal superficies in consequence of the
 greater resistance to the action of oxygen on one side
 than on the other: but as if to counteract this result
 a partial vacuum  is formed on the rear, whilst the air
 in advance  is condensed and proportionally energetic.
    There is an extraordinary property of liquids to feel
 impressions which are not perceptible in a like  degree
  by  solids and aeriform  fluids.   Liquids contain  the
  imponderables more  nearly balanced and in a compa-
  ratively greater amount  than other forms of matter,
  save that of  animal  and  vegetable textures.  A force
  applied to them is not conducted through and lost in
  the Earth,  as is the case with most solids by reason of
  their cohesive compactness, nor spent  as it were in 
48
vain, as through gases by reason of their elastic and
yielding  nature, but  it is  felt in every direction, and
with a  proportionate  intensity.  The increase and
diminution of volume in liquids is inconsiderable, but
this is amply compensated by an obstinacy of resist-
ance and endurance of effect.   The tides are a sub-
lime exemplification  of the  power which  water pos-
sesses to accommodate itself to  the imponderable re-
lations between our Earth and the Sun or Moon; and
the swollen waves of the Ocean speak a language
which may be understood when clouds  overshadow
the great deep as with a pall.  If pressure be  made
upon the  open end of a vessel filled with water, the
impression is transmitted through  every drop—the
distal layers  become negative and  expand the peri-
phery as  the proximal layers  are condensed and be-
come positive.
  Extremes are said  to meet and to neutralize each
other: it  is a  proverb equally applicable to every mo-
dification of force in  action;  teaching us the policy of
temperance in all  things,  and that  excesses whether
in the  physical  or moral world  like violent diseases
can only be reached by remedies as violent, and  thus
thwarted in their dangerous tendencies. 
49
              PART   THIRD.

  The felicitous relation  between solids liquids and
gases on the crustaceous surface of our globe as well
as the reactions between the free imponderables them-
selves which there necessarily  take  place  to  a far
greater extent than in any other portion, are calcula-
ted for a more complex arrangement between particles
of matter.  Hence appeared  the varieties of plants
and animals, which are enabled  to derive sustenance
from both mineralized and non-mineralized substances,
and  combine  within  themselves  the  requisites for
growth and reproduction.   As in  a block of marble
just taken from the quarry the  sculptured form of a
future figure is not as lawyers might  say in esse but
in posse, so we may conceive the germ of animated
beings  to  contain rudiments of what may under fa-
vourable circumstances be developed in full perfection.
The organs follow each other in succession as the im-
ponderable influences are exerted  upon matter pre-
viously organized.  The modern views  on Phytogeny
and Embryogeny require no more than this, that all
the epiphenomena  are effects of antecedent causes;
but they fail to pojnt out  how the forces operate or
what those forces  are, their direction and intention.
The  mystery of  the vital  force diminishes  if rightly
considered with reference to the  general laws imposed
upon matter  by the Creator  of the  Universe.  The 
50
laws themselves evince infinite wisdom, but their ap-
plication falls within  our scope of observation and
enquiry.  The wonder is, not  that things are as they
are, but that they should happen otherwise under ex-
isting circumstances.
  The  ingenious  reference of Man's  existence on
Earth his size and physical power to the relation which
subsists between the weights of their respective masses
has been lately advanced by Mathematicians and Phy-
siologists, and confirms me in my peculiar views: it is
another instance of what appears to me an approxi-
mative truth, but not being the whole truth is deficient
in the length and breadth of its import.  I  hazard no
opinion as to what conjuncture of events or what con-
currence of atoms first gave a  start to this or that ve-
getable or animal; it is sufficient to assume that such
a phenomenon  occurred.  There  is no necessity for
appealing to a special interposition of the Deity.  The
germ whether  considered the result  of a cause no
longer operating as a creative power, or the product
of ordinary fructification, possesses that inherent com-
plexity of ponderable and imponderable elements which
entitles it not  only to a  separate entity but  to the
privilege of reproducing its kind.   To borrow a che-
mical phrase, the equivalent number or dynamic con-
stitution of such a combination of atoms must be high,
notwithstanding which, it obeys the simple law regu-
lating all  matter, that " like has an attraction for its
like and," as regards some bodies,  " begets its like."
  In studying this department of Nature we shall find
that animate bodies comport with inanimate so far as
they are intended to fill  a place  correspondino* with 
51
their imponderable composition, and that they supply
along with liquids per se that space in creation which
would otherwise present too sudden a departure  from
one extreme to another.  This classification of objects
so different may seem  prima facie ridiculous, unless
we compare the case with another which is analogous.
2 bears the same relation to 2  that 2 millions do to 2
millions—they come within the same category of iso-
merism and isomorphism without partaking of those
particulars which might render them identical.  Thus
I regard  the  existence of vegetables and animals as
supplementary to  the  Ocean, and  forming  a part of
that grand division of compound  atoms which possess
a middle  capacity for the imponderables, and as ne-
cessarily  originating from an  adaptation of means to
a  proposed end—universal harmony.  The blood  is
not the life of animals, but, like the succus nutritivus
of vegetables, contributes to their vitality.  They have
water for their basis or solvent, and contain in a com-
plicated form representatives from the three natural
divisions of atoms, solids liquids and gases.  These
here meet on neutral ground, their peculiar character-
istics and wide differences jDeing temporarily suspended
for the purpose of building up new forms and  struc-
 tures with  sensibilities and faculties as varied.   The
 most ready and regular channel for the introduction
 of oxygen into the blood is through the lungs, but this
 gas is also condensed upon and  within the epidermis
 and  thence absorbed by combining with the oxide of
 iron while carbonic acid  is  liberated;  and  thus new
 life  is as it were imparted to the returning  blood with
 demonstrations of greater venous activity.   So like- 
52
   wise the oxygen of the air may fulfil to a certain ex-
   tent the same indication in the stomach, and wherever
   it finds  access.  In ruminating animals this is particu-
   larly necessary, for the paunch is frequently overloaded
   and fatigued with carbonaceous matters which require
   time and labour for their preparation.  I doubt how-
   ever whether nitrogen gains admittance in this way;
   the  conservative or tonic energies  of the organ, as
   well as the dynamic qualifications  of the gas itself
   would seem to prevent  its combination with the con-
   stituents of the blood.  Not even does hydrogen its
   most constant friend appear disposed to attract it;
   the  formation of  ammonia  being  uncongenial with
   the  progressive  changes of nutrition  in animals, but
   rather  like carbonic acid a product of retrograde  ac-
   tion.
     I am aware that when we find in the blood  or sap
   certain compounds ready formed, we have but to as-
   sume that  they are  attracted by  similar molecules
   already organized, and that they are then deposited
   in contact, or fill  perhaps a void left  by other  mole-
   cules which have been removed.  During the warmth
*   of spring  and summer there is, as far as Caloric is
   concerned, a quasi-positive state  in the vessels  of
   plants which enables  the sap to descend and precipi-
   tate fresh matter within and about  the relaxed parts.
   The same principle  holds  good in growing animals
   except  that at all  seasons more or less a proper exer-
   cise of the functions produces the state alluded to, by
   which their size is increased and consequent suscepti-
   bility of action.   In  fact, as I shall hereafter explain,
   there is a co-operation of causes diametrically oppo- 
53
site, since both imponderables play their appropriate
part in the vital drama.
  An animal tissue may absorb albumen whether of
vegetable or animal origin, and by a process within
the body this albumen may be converted into fibrin by
a very simple change of atoms, or it may be precipi-
tated as albumen and form an  organized part of the
animal frame.  But how is brain formed, a substance
so dissimilar from every thing absorbed per vias natu-
rales?  How is albumen formed originally in the ve-
getable ?   It may be said that even this is but a trifling
change from certain semi-organic compounds which
the higher order of vegetables can appropriate: but it
is definitely settled that they can create albumen from
inorganic substances, and that this is generally  the
 case.   What other opinion can we draw, but that both
 the animal and vegetable  possess a formative faculty
 in themselves, besides appropriating compounds which
 approximate them in constitution.   It may be added
 that the  energy of growth and perfection of structure
 may be enhanced by  artificial supplies of congeneric
 materials, but there undoubtedly exists the vis creatrix
 as well, and it is this force which is peculiar to each
 tissue  or combination of tissues and  organs.  It is
 well known  that mould acts as nutriment  to vegeta-
 bles, that they live upon themselves as do animals:
 that this humus, as  it is sometimes  called, hold a mid-
 dle rank like bile between organic and inorganic mat-
 ter—both substances being produced  or modified by
 the presence of acids and  alkalies which act as ve-
 hicles  for their absorption  when dissolved in water.
 Vegetative life does not entirely depend upon this re- 
54
source, but is greatly aided thereby; although en pas-
sant I may remark that humic acid consists of decayed
organic matter, as does choleic acid; that vegetable
mould  contains matters which have been rejected from
the economy as noxious or in excess—the same  may
be said of the products of the liver.   But while it is
admitted to be  a general rule that the semi-organic
compost arises from the decomposition or eremacausis
of organized tissues, it does not follow that none could
under any other circumstances have been formed.  The
probability is, that until a  considerable quantity had
been produced  by purely  chemical means, no very
marked progress had  been made in the  vegetable
world.   According to  the disposition of the  impon-
derables upon the Earth's  surface at  different epochs
has been the disposal of  inorganic and  organizable
matter: the latter has increased with the lapse of ages,
more especially by the munificent addition of impon-
derable elements derived from the Sun, the promoter
if not the giver of Life.  This opinion of the Sun was
entertained by the  Ancients, who pretended that the
vital spark had been stolen from Heaven by Prome-
theus.  We may conclude then that while vegetables
and  animals augment in  number, the materials for
their sustenance and propagation keep pace with them.
  The natural  tendency of a vital cell is to produce
other cells by its  own  inherent power, and  but for
causes  operating disadvantageously or distracting this
power, the bulk of the living being would be constantly
enlarging.   If I am correct in attributing  so much im-
portance to Caloric and Electricity in modifying the
character of organic and  inorganic  matter, it would 
55
not be stretching the argument too far to consider that
the organs of animals are strengthened by a proper
exercise of their functions; because the nervous fluid
concentrated therein attracts fresh matter to be depo-
sited:  but that if unduly worked they necessarily lose
their conservative energies and are either absorbed or
consumed.  It is when diminished resistance is offered
by a cell or tissue to the chemical influence of decom-
posing agents that carbonic acid and other effete mat-
ters are evolved from this source.  The  decay of the
aged  tree, the ripening of its fruit,  &c.  are attended
by the extrication of oxidized compounds, nitrOgenized
or not as the case may be.   An abraded surface which
absorbs  the oxygen of the  air  speedily engenders a
barrier to the further intrusion of the gas in excess by
a partial removal of tissue which leaves  the subjacent
layers firmer, more  animalized and more capable of
appropriating fresh matter from the blood: but if there
be an ulcer in a patient with a bad constitution, how-
ever much the oxygen may wear away exposed parts,
the Electricity locally developed is not sufficiently se-
conded by the  materials  of the circulating fluid to
counteract  corrosion, and there are no limits to de-
composition.
   The body of an adult supplied abundantly with food
may neither increase  nor diminish in weight  during
twenty-four hours, and moreover the quantity of oxy
 gen absorbed in that period must be  very considerable.
 The  explanation  I  would furnish  is, that these new
 materials  have been  partly used for the purpose of
 affording him nervous excitement;  in other words, of
 eliminating free Electricity.  Had however his physi- 
56
cal exertions been out of proportion to the amount of
the ingesta, the deficiency of Electricity required for
corporeal movements would have been made up at the
expense of some of his tissues, particularly his fat and
cellular substance, and he would have lost weight.   I
cannot too strongly insist, that as it is the presence of
latent  Electricity or the tone of a part  which offers
resistance to the action of oxygen and of the absor-
bents, and in conjunction with free Electricity attracts
fresh matter, so it is the want of a normal condition
or the absence of a proper share of free  and latent
Electricity which enables the oxygen to commit its
ravages; the effect being analogous to the solution of
the zinc plate in the voltaic trough while  the copper is
fortified by the transfer of free Electricity to  it from
the zinc.  When an organ  is paralysed  or but little
used, it diminishes in bulk and utility; the absorbents
prey upon some portions, and  chemical agents are en-
gaged in decomposing others for the sustenance of the
more efficient  members.   During sleep the voluntary
organs are in repose and very gradually recover their
size  if diminished by exercise on the previous day;
but the chief part of the  blood returns directly from
the capillary arteries into capillary veins which seem
to inosculate for the express purpose of facilitating the
current when  not required for nutrition  or function.
It is at night that the involuntary offices are inces-
santly  and almost exclusively exerted with  the effect
of strengthening the organs concerned, notwithstand-
ing diminished vigour in the circulation by an altered
state of the atmosphere and the absence of Solar rays.
   Let  my reader mark the difference which a muscle 
57
exhibits under different aspects.   When living and in
possession of its dynamic powers it is tough and un-
yielding ;  when removed from the body after, the ani-
mal has been butchered, the organ  still retains much
of its original tenacity and irritability but has lost that
which the motor ganglion of  the spinal  marrow and
the general  motor ganglion of the  brain could alone
impart by continuity of nervous  filaments.  As it is
now unsupported by foreign aid, it gradually succumbs
to dynamic  influences which surround it and are intent
upon its ruin.  Whilst thus imperceptibly parting with
its free Electricity  and  Caloric, it holds  its share of
the combined imponderables up to the moment when
it  is decomposed or at  least  metamorphosed in the
direction of decay.   As  long as the muscular fibre re-
tains its proteinized character, it is itself wholesome
meat, could  it be separated from foreign matter which
sooner undergoes the process x>f  disorganization and
by its intimate connection with  the fibres separates
them and renders  the flesh more acceptable to the
epicure or dyspeptic.   As. a  proof that  it is a sub-
sidiary force which renders the muscle  tough or the
blood firm and fibrinous, let us test the fluids and tis-
sues generally of animals which have been long driven
and at length fall dead  from exhaustion.  Their sub-
stance is materially altered, the muscles are flabby and
cannot be made to contract  by  irritation; the; blood
does not coagulate.   The carcase rapidly putrefies as
if it had been deprived of vitality by lightning which
in. its passage had  left a wreck of matter behind, or
as if a sedative poison had done its work.  The Che-
mistry of  Life is entirely at  fault; we almost cease to
recognize  its parting steps.
      7 
58
  A muscle may be excited by a local cause such as in-
flammation or irritation in the part itself;  it may be
excited by a similar condition in the  spinal ganglion
supplying it  with motor power;  again, it may be ex-
cited by  a similar condition of that part of the brain
which  produces voluntary movement. In all and each
the effect is attributable to chemical action whereby
compound materials are resolved into simpler combi-
nations either  in the circulation or by transformation
of tissues. The over-worked muscle or nervous gang-
lion becomes weaker and weaker not only by a decrease
of the circulating materials calculated  to evolve  free
electricity (particularly if food be not adequately pro-
vided,) but also by a  diminution of the organ  itself
which requires actual reparation of parts before  it
can regain its  wonted strenth. Impressions are made
on any of the  sentient surfaces of the  body;  among
these I include the nervous expansions of general sen-
sation, of tact, of smell, of audition, of vision, of taste,
and all those which form  the  periphery  of the brain
and, represent by their exercise the  will. They are all
I repeat  organs of special sensation, and are connec-
ted with ganglia which produce motion, in other words
generate electricity.  For this  purpose the gauglia
abound in arterial vessels not merely for nutritiou but
for an  especial function.  Those which respond to the
ordinary nerves of sensation are found in  the spinal
column: those which correspond  with  the  organs  of
mind and express volition are in the centre of the cere-
bral mass, viz, the thalami nervorum opticorum and
corpora striata, which are continuous with the ganglia 
59
of motion in the chord.  Liebig lays  most stress on
calorification, the summum bonum of some Medical
Practitioners: I would uphold the claims of Electricity
or electrification upon especial notice without dispar-
agement to Caloric wl^ich is concerned in chemico-vital
reactions and is indispensable for our comfort and pro-
tection. His " elements of respiration" par excellence
are my elements of innervation,, although the supply of
caloric during the conversion of albumen into fibrin
and other obvious changes in the blood occasioned by
the oxygen inhaled, is conceded to be  auxiliary with-
out detriment to my main proposition. But I may be
asked, do not animals  run about in  cold  weather  to
keep themselves warm, and are not children predispo-
sed to muscular exercise?, I answer, yes—they thereby
circulate more rapidly arterial  blood through the ex-
treme tissues; for by using the limbs more  venous
blood is propelled into the  left auricle of the heart and
lungs, which consequently are excited to increased
action. But, do not children crave abundant and whole-
some food, the appropriation of which enables them to
run about and prompts them to exercise by adding to
the substance of their muscles, and by stimulating the
same to action?  The stiffness of limbs and inaptitude
for exertion which is sometimes exhibited during a very  >
severe winter, I  may also add the sleep of vegetables
and the general torpor at that period, are  due to the
want of free Caloric  and Electricity such as the Sun
alone can impart in sufficient quantity. They are com-
pelled  to rely upon  their own resources, and if the
constitution of an animal  be weak and his alimenta-
> 
60
 tion inadequate, his health sensibly declines  for  the
 same reason that deaths are more frequent during the
 night. "The abstraction of heat" says Liebig " must
 be viewed as quite equivalent to a diminution of the
 vital energy. "  Why then, if it is the Sun's heat which
 is so potent  in invigorating our frames, may  not an
 artificial temperature produce the like effects during
 darkness? The pure cold of winter is not  disadvanta-
 geous to health, provided the rays of the Sun, compara-
 tively few and feeble though they be, are beaming upon
 our countenances, and the system has  been gradually
 prepared for the changes of season. There appear to be
 two sources of Electricity and Caloric in the body, inde-
 pendently of that which is common to all substances in
 the same circumstances of position on  the surface of
 the Earth's  crust. When matter is consolidated or
 rendered niore  consistent latent caloric is evolved and
 is taken up  to an equal degree in the adult by matter
 which is dissolved or removed  as effete: its disintegra-
 lion and solution liberates latent Electricity which is
 received by  fresh matter precipitated or  deposited in
 situ. In this way the tone and integrity of the  tissues
 are preserved. The second source is the chemical ac-
 tion  between the materials entering the  system but
not used directly for purposes of nutrition, and in this
way the imponderables are rendered free and avail-
able for the different  functions.  Adipose deposits in
hybernating animals do not seem to fulfil the intention
of keeping them warm during winter, except inasmuch
as fat is a bad conductor of heat. The  temperature
which these  animals do maintain above the surround- 
61
ing medium may be attributed to the first effect of oxy-
gen within the lungs or skin, and the gradual deposition
of matter within the most important working organs;
which matter is transfered  to them from others less
active in function and daily diminishing in size. Elec-
tricity  is wanted for the contractile movements of the
heart and arteries, and for reinforcing the functions of
the nervous  centres of involuntary motion. Fat pro-
vides this supply;  some might jocosely add, that  it
oils the machinery. Analogy would readily lead us to
infer that like the lard of our  candles it is eminently
fitted for combustion in the strict sense of the term;
but several questions may be raised on this every-day
process. Nothing can  be more  easily proved or un-
derstood than the fact that heat is directly produced
by the solidification or condensation of  particles, but
it is not quite so  evident that the oxidizement of all
bodies is attended with the  evolution of caloric as  a
primary or  direct result.  A'burning candle or coal
causes  light  to appear, and  this light is a compound
of calorific and electrical rays: but let us suppose that
the immediate product of chemical  combination  in
some cases is electricity, and that its  diverging rays
condense the medium of its passage with the evolution
of caloric; or let us suppose that other cases result in
 a compound of greater or of less capacity  for calo-
 ric; or that  it is the  rapidity of combination and
 secondary reactions which complicate the phenomena;
or lastly that both imponderables may be liberated one
from each of the combining elements.  If analogy is
dangerous in comparing the properties  and functions 
62
 of animals and vegetables, it is more so I suspect in
 comparing the chemico-vital  reactions  of life  with
 those of the inorganic kingdom.  The  philosopher of
 Giessen strains every point to find materials for respi-
 ration as if the grand object  were  to  support the
 function of the lungs instead of considering the func-
 tions of the lungs  as only one of those which tends to
 support innervation or animal life. Without doubt dam-
 age would ensue to that delicate organ by the action
 of oxygen upon it, if not duly filled with its normal  sup-
 ply of blood from the right ventricle: for this purpose
 a sensation of pain would be felt by the unresisting
 tissues which might be partially and temporarily relie-
 ved by a disintegration of the lining membrane, in other
 words, by a mucopurulent discharge. But the existence
 of a special sense for the necessity of aeration at once
 proves that a more important object than  that of self-
 protection is subserved by the lungs. During uterine
 life the mother's blood already  aerated and conveyed
 through the placenta suffices for the warmth  and the
 nervous excitation of  the  foetus, but the first organic
 movement in the germ is produced by the semen mas-
 culinum which imparts to  it a nervous character, be-
 sides a  general   power of  attracting its pabulum
 from the surrounding  tissues;  so that  the  incipient
 stage is not due to Caloric but to Electricity which is
 first alikein date and in importance.  When once
 the vital machinery is put in motion the two forces
operate alternately and are developed by composition
and decomposition of organic matter.  So wedded is
Liebig to the assumed  origin of animal heat and to 
63
the independent existence of a vital  force analogous
to other forces with which matter is endowed, that
while he distinctly enunciates  the cause of nervous
force and its strict relation with change of muscular
tissue, neither he nor his commentators unequivocal-
ly admit the identity of the nervous  and vital  force.
He appears to me to have had  a  glimpse of what I
consider the domain of Truth but  was  denied  the
satisfaction of entering therein. Some critics wished to
impute to him  the  charge of  confounding the  two
forces, but he disclaims the paternity of such  a sen-
timent. 
64
             PART  FOURTH.

  The gluten and albumen of seeds are analogous to
the pepsin which is formed in the  stomach; they are
not intended for the nutrition of the young shoots but
for  their stimulation.  By their decomposition Elec-
tricity is developed with the effect of enabling the new-
born  cells to attract metamorphose and fix the car-
bonaceous matter present, which process  necessarily
engenders Caloric.  Meanwhile the fecula is converted
into sugar and other soluble substances, apparently by
a loss of Electricity which it  sustains during the com-
motion.  It is only during the season of efflorescence
or fructification that azotized substances are available
for  purposes of nutrition:  aS  soon  as the young plant
has acquired sufficient  strength to  put out leaves, the
necessity no longer exists to the same extent for nitro-
gen or its compounds;  they are consequently expelled
in the secretions and excretions.  The oil and fecula
which is stored in the interior of many trees, like the
fat  of animals, is destined  by its absorption and ere-
macausis, when the occasion calls for it, to develope
free Electricity and thereby aid in keeping alive those
functions of the plant which by their suspension would
endanger its life: the same use is  made of even the
heart wood itself at later periods of its existence.
  It would be  strange if such a  disparity exists as
alleged between the aliment of vegetables and animals. 
65
Some contend that all vegetables feed exclusively upon
inorganic matter of the lowest description, viz, water
carbonic  acid ammonia and  various  mineral salts;
whereas all animals are said  to require the  highest
order of organized  matter.  My own  observations
lead me to believe that neither race subsists upon only
one class of aliments.  I cannot overlook the neces-
sity which superior  plants, exhibit during  their early
growth for  semi-organic  compounds, such as the fe-
cula o  oil of seeds;  or forget the facility with which
animals of the lowest grade  assimilate  crude  in-
organic matter.  Compost, whether an  original  pro-
duct or the wreck of former growths,  is as necessary
for the active support of the higher specimens of vege-
tables, as is animal fibrin and  gelatin for animals of
the most perfect kind.  I am aware that fibrin is re-
duced to the state of albumen before it is absorbed,
and it  may be  argued with propriety that humus is
reduced to the state  of carbonic acid—but there is too
great  a resemblance  between  the humates and  the
choleates or albuminates of the fixed and volatile alka-
lies and alkaline earths  to  reject  upon  speculative
grounds their identity of action upon living cells.  The
jnore refined genera cannot afford to waste their ener-
gies upon the assimilation of raw materials, but de-
pend for an adequate supply upon others who are the
operatives, and are far more  numerous  and indepen-
dent.   The noble forest  oak  could not maintain its
dignity and distinctive character, did hot its roots ab-
sorb food already prepared for its. wants.  So  is  it
with Man; he exacts  from other animals the nutritive
elements already disposed in  a form calculated to en-
        8 
66
rich and strengthen his body without the undue exer-
cise of his digestive faculties.   Cellular textures how-
ever may be supposed not merely to extract from the
blood the more serviceable plastic  materials, but ac-
tually to create compounds  of  proteine &c. which do
not previously  exist: herein acting the part originally
assigned by Nature to the whole tribe of cells, that of
generating new products or propagating their  kind.
As in structure so in function the two races of anima-
ted beings approach each other.  Are cells or fibrous
tissues in one  race capable of doing what is denied
the  other?  The former may become distended and
burst in the effort, but do not  the phenomena of life
justify us in believing the object one and  the  same?
and where the  nidus of an  organ is laid in common
cellular substance, the deposition of particles to en-
large or repair that  organ is  still more intelligible.
Aliment is taken into the system of the higher animals
in two ways: the more consistent and nutritive por-
tion by the  lacteals, afterwards still further prepared
by the mesenteric glands; the more foreign and liquid
by the veins, afterwards subjected to the action of the
liver.  This  latter viscus among its  other functions
seems to act as an outlet for an excess of venous cir-
culation or congestions of the more important viscera,
and also as a sentinel  for resisting  or questioning
liquid contributions from the alimentary canal.   The
contents of  the lacteals correspond with the contents
of the lymphatics; they are  metamorphosed tissues in
a state of solution: moreover  the mesenteric  glands
correspond with the lymphatic glands.  But as the
venous blood of the body requires to be altered in its 
67
1
composition before it can again be of essential service
to the organs, so the venous blood which forms the
portal circle requires a similar ordeal.  The lungs and
liver  are indispensably  necessary for this  purpose.
The nutrition of the small intestines is identical with
that of the rest of the body except that in addition to
the iron which acts  as a vehicle to the carbonic acid
of the disintegrated tissues there is a large surplus of
soda which takes the choleic acid there formed and
conveys it to the liver.  The same thing occurs in the
stomach;  the chlorohydric acid of |he hydrated chlo-
ride of sodium is there given up, and the soda helps
the  oxide of iron in carrying away the  decomposed
tissues.   Again; while the chlorine is engaged in  its
duty of dissolving inorganic matter in  the  stomach,
the  atmospheric oxygen  by uniting with the  pepsin
 pancreatic and salivary ingredients undertakes to sup-
 ply  Electricity, at the same time  that  it  robs any
 foreign animal or vegetable matter present of its nor-
 mal share of the electric fluid, with the effect of alter-
 ing  its composition and  partially dissolving it.   So
 that even in  the stomach we find traces of what is
 more apparent  in the small intestines, viz: a double
 mode of alimentation:  liquids  more  especially of an
 inorganic kind being taken up by the veins and carried
 to the  liver, semi-organic fluids  being also  taken up
 by the  membrane  of the  stomach and  fixed  by  the
 Electricity evolved in that viscus during the reactions
 before  alluded  to.   The probability however is  that
 the chyme is not sufficiently reduced for assimilation
 to any extent, when we consider that the vermicular
 motion is constantly tending to  disturb the process 
6$
and to urge the contents through the pylorus into the
bowels.
   The succus nutritivus reaches as far as practicable
all portions of the living mass whether animal  or ve-
getable by a common force which consists in an alter-
nate contraction and relaxation of the ultimate vessels
and cells.  This  elasticity in  some animals in syn-
chronous with,  and partly due to the action of  the
heart itself.   When for instance we pump  up water
from a well, it is  not  solely the  atmosphere, nor  the
force applied, nor the partial vacuum,  but  the elas-
ticity also in a  very small degree of the water itself
which aids in the  process of elevation.   Where there
is a positive there is also a negative, for a redundancy
here implies a deficiency there, in the  equilibrium of
matter.   So when the heart contracts, there  is pari
passu a dilatation of all the  capillaries and cells: this
negative condition being caused by the exertion which
the heart is called on  to make in self-defence.   But
during its diastole, the electrical  tension is  instantly
transferred to  the extreme  vessels, and  in  this way
there is a constant centrifugal and  centripetal  deter-
mination of Electricity; the contractility of the vessels
being partly due  to nerves, that of cellular  matter
solely to the irritability of organic cells.   The passage
of matter out from the system  leaves an abundance of
free Electricity available for the more firm and healthy
contraction of the tissues: the fixation of solids  and
evolution of Caloric expands  the tissues for the recep-
tion of the vitalizing current which is thus invited on-
wards.   The  doctrine of endosmose and exosmose
rests on the fact that gases and liquids are condensa- 
69
ble in solid porous substances so that slight causes
will  dislodge  them  with facility.  Thus when  the
spongeoles of roots ere saturated with moisture which
they have absorbed within their meshes, the escape of
gaseous excretions from the leaves produces a vacuum
which the semi-elastic  fluids in the  spongeoles  are
ready to fill.   In animals the initiatory act of absorp-
tion is strictly analogous, the condensation alluded to
being one of the methods devised by Nature to remedy
slight deviations from dynamic  equilibria.  The  cir-
culation and  organic metamorphoses vary in vegeta-
bles and cold-blooded animals at different seasons; in
the hot-blooded to a less extent;  but there is no reason
to believe that the separation of tissues even in these
last  is so universally extensive  as  supposed.  It is
enough for vegetative life that the solids and fluids be
subjected to so much change as will impart free Calo-
ric and Electricity to sustain the functions of the more
important viscera.
   The sum then of  my argument is that the final ob-
ject in vegetables and  animals  is the same, that of
building up their own  frame or propagating offsets.
The first movement  depends upon a temporary redun-
dancy of Electricity or Caloric  in matter already or-
ganized;  after this arises the necessity of fresh mate-
rials to sustain the dynamic movements, the introduc-
tion of which occurs in two ways.   I have claimed
an analogy between the leaves  or green epidermis of
plants and the lungs or skin of animals: also between
their roots  and  the alimentary canal, the soil being
their stomach and intestinal tube. Through the former
route gases and substances in the state of vapour find 
70
an  entrance, by the  latter channel liquids and  semi-
fluid solids  are welcomed.   This process, wonderful
as it appears when considered a vital mystery, is really
a more enlarged exhibition of ordinary phenomena.
The animal  cell will  not in general  appropriate  the
same matter as the vegetable cell because their impon-
derable nature does  not correspond—the relation of
parts is not identical in the two  races, and conse-
quently many of the  vegetable products  or excretions
do  not resemble  those  of  animals.  I have insisted
upon the  power  of matter to  attract  matter of  the
same nature, and to alter or assimilate matters which
admit of such change by a metamorphosis  of atoms
or a commutation of  the imponderables.   I might add
that although  products  somewhat  differing from  the
parent  cell or texture are also formed  locally in this
way, that other processes of a more general nature
may give  rise to a variety of compounds which  are
essential to the welfare of the two races. Indeed the
latter is the most probable  method of accounting for
the nervine  of animals, whereas the former perhaps
might  answer best for fibrin.   The nervous filaments
merely regarded as conductors of the imponderables
may give animals a superiority in this respect; but it
is evident from the formation of vegetable organs con-
generic with those of animals, that this system cannot
be the chief cause of peculiar deposits or  molecular ar-
rangements, but a principle common to both kingdoms.
Besides, the functions of animal life being more inces-
sant and  urgent, a greater loss of materials is  expe-
rienced by animals than vegetables.   In proportion to
the change of form will be  the available Electricity 
71
and power of attracting and assimilating their aliment,
as well  as  the amount of Caloric  liberated, both of
which are greatly in favour of animals.   I do not deny
that carbonic acid is a part of the natural food of ve-
getables, or choleic acid of animals, but I contend that
the substances most conducive to the welfare and per-
fection of the highest orders in both  kingdoms are
humus  and  proteinized matter; that the carbonic acid
which is condensed in the soil and dissolved in water
is the  most  abundant and necessary  supply of that
material.   During the day attraction of matter is pa-
 ramount in plants, and consequently organic transfor-
 mations are principally  in  one direction: new sub-
 stances are deposited with the  immediate extrication
 of oxygen  from the  superficial layers, but during the
 absence of the Sun any excess  of carbonic acid in the
 system more than can be used profitably, is restored
 to the atmosphere together with  other effete effluvia.
 The leaves epidermis and spongeoles give exit to nox-
 ious evacuations and superfluous matter, as do the
 lungs  skin large intestines and kidneys.
    Let us now examine the ultimate structure of ani-
 mals  and  vegetables.   We find  cells or compound
 particles  of matter  highly organized and from their
  constitutional nature more or less susceptible of trans-
 , mitting impressions.  There are no nerves in the cells
  of either race, but  as nervous filaments of sensation
  are conveniently disposed in animal textures so as to
  connect them with central ganglia of motion, there is
  an additional safeguard in the latter as well  as more
  exalted sensibilities.  The organic movements of ani-
  mals  belong to vegetables likewise, but there is a ner- 
72
 vous element which distinguishes the hand or tongue
 from the leaf or flower.   Even the fibre of muscles does
 not essentially differ from the vegetable fibre in organic
 movement; it is the nerve of motion which imparts to
 the former its peculiar activity and contractile power.
 The  liver or pancreas  independently of the nerves
 which supply their blood-vessels only represent a more
 highly organized mass of particles.   The lowest class
 of animals  are  properly called zoophytes  from  their
 borderiug on the two  races.  Animals again are di-
 vided into those which possess solely a sympathetic
 system of nerves which produces involuntary motion,
 and those which possess a voluntary system of nerves
 superadded.   This distinction perhaps is the broadest
 and most appropriate.
   Writers confess that they  are at a loss to account
 for the descent of the sap—the fact is that the cellular
 tubes, like the vessels in some of the lower order of ani-
 mals, determine a centripetal movement, their elasticity
 producing a vacuum which demands a supply of mat-
 ter. I do not pretend to decide whether the movement
 be  at long or short intervals; whether it depends upon
 variations of the barometer and thermometer, or up-
 on  a livelier sense inherent in vital tissues; but I ha-
 zard the conjecture that the mode of absorption is iden-
 tical in  both race-.  The  cells composing the spon-
 geoles or the leaves of plants have the power of as-
 similating carbonic acid or analogous compounds, and
 these  substances are deposited in situ as a part of the
 tissues themselves: from their new settlement they are
gradually removed by a transformation of atoms, and
received within the sap vessels.  Other materials enter 
73
 by imbibition and are forwarded by the tubes without
 further preparation in a manner analogous to venous
 suction.  I need not again refer to the intestinal fixa-
 tion of the chyme, at least its albuminous constituents;
 or to its subsequent change of character and passage
 through the chyliferous ducts, a change attributable
 to a loss of electricity which the newly-formed tissues
 sustain under varying circumstances. The soda derived
 from the bile and which originally  aided in rendering
 the  materials more soluble in  the intestines, a Tain
 returns  by the route  of the portal veins to the liver
 where  it is always ready to officiate.  So that the
 lacteals really afford  regular entrance to organized
 matter alone, the veins of the stomach  and bowels
 being the avenue for  other materials.  The spleen I
 regard as a place of  deposit for any iron which may
 exceed the wants of the system: it is here precipitated
 as an oxide in combination with an electro-negative
 animal matter which  I  shall call splenin as it differs
 somewhat  from  hsematosine.  When from any cause
 the heart's action is lessened, and the blood is thereby
 congested in the great  venous trunks,  the liver and
 spleen feel  the effects.   The indication is  to give an
 impetus to the heart, or a general diffusion of the con-
 gested blood  to  the extreme capillaries by natural or
 artificial means.  Now  as soon as the venous trunks
 connecting with the stomach the liver spleen &c. are
 engorged to a certain extent, the oppression produced
 by the stagnating fluids not only provokes a sympa-
thetic action of the heart and perhaps lights up a fever,
but the absorbents are also urged to go to work, and
take up the splenate of iron which being carried into the
      9 
74
 general circulation is decomposed in the lungs and skin:
 it acts as a tonic, and the prostration is further relieved
 by the oxygen which  enters  into a preliminary com-
 bination with the iron.   The same object may be at-
 tained in another way.   By nauseating the stomach,
 the vessels and ultimate cells of the liver are  relaxed
 and permitted to disgorge themselves, and any remains
 of inflammatory or irritative action is  transferred by
 the bile to the whole tract  of the alimentary canal.
 The bile is a natural  purge,  as  splenin is a natural
 tonic, or nervous electricity a natural stimulant.  Like
 the choleate of soda in the gall-bladder, the splenate of
 iron in the spleen or fat in the cellular substance are
 resources for supporting the functions of the body, not
 for its immediate nutrition or warmth.   The alkalies
 are evidently useful  as vehicles for  the  introduction
 and separation of disorganized matters: the alkaline
 earths  are deposited  with apparent design, but the
 metals proper can only contribute collaterally not di-
 rectly to the welfare of the body.   It is probable that
 manyazotized substances in  fruits leaves  and roots
 act the same part as splenic acid; that  by their means
 oxygen is absorbed by which organic movements and
 functional activity are promoted.   I  have designated
 the spleen as a reservoir for the blood when not active-
 ly engaged in nutrition or functional processes; I might
 point out other instances of a similar purpose.   The
 thyroid and thymus glands in children seem placed in
 connection with the lungs and trachea in order to di-
vert the current during uterine life, and  also to supply
the organs  mentioned with additional blood when in-
fantile wants are intimated by long and loud crying. 
75
The same object is fulfilled, although sometimes termi-
nating disastrously, in those who inhabit the gorges of
highlands;  Their dwellings are in very elevated val-
leys, and their avocations call them to great eminences.
Hence we see the necessity of a provision to enable them
to raise their voices and use their lungs in rarefied air;
goitres are the consequence, which are handed down as
heirlooms to these families isolated as they are from the
rest of the world and frequently intermarrying.  Can
we wonder that  so great a tendency of blood to such
unnatural excrescences should divert a wholesome ac-
tivity of function from the brain, and render the Cretan
no better than a turkey or a rooster with their gobling
and crowing propensities and with analogous append-
ages in the  neighbourhood of their larynx ?
   It would thus appear that the introduction of oxygen
into our lungs is not for the purpose of burning us up
piecemeal, as if it were rather a source of evil than of
good; for when in accordance with the wants of the
economy it  is  the  great agent  in  supporttng our
strength. In hot climates the inhabitants are very wisely
indisposed to much exertion, their  diet is scanty and
consists principally of fruits and rice; whereas in cold
regions the natives eat much animal food during their
long-continued fishing and hunting excursions: those
tribes however whose  fare is limited to train oil and
lichens in the extreme North are on a parallel with
those who near the Equator indulge in the meats and
luxuries of cooler latitudes; both  are alike the victims
of diseases which signalize inappropriate food.   It is
fortunate that the juicy fruits of intertropical repasts,
in comparison with  equal weights of the tallow and 
76
blubber of Arctic and Antarctic feasts, contain only 12
per cent of carbon as contrasted with 80 per cent of
the same element.   But after making allowance for
aqueous evaporation, of what use is the combustion of
carbonaceous fuel,  however little, in a climate the tem-
perature of which is above the normal heat of healthy
blood. It surely should not be considered a disad-
vantage to  breathe an atmosphere constituted of even
less oxygen in a square foot than is found in the East
or West Indies.  In  fact, the non-azotized food there
devoured and decomposed by the oxygen inhaled be-
comes a substitute  for the elements of the body itself
in producing the necessary vital contraction:  a small
proportion however of azotized principles is absolutely
requisite to replenish the exhausted state of the mus-
cular  and nervous systems under the  most favourable
circumstances of  temperance rest and comfort—in
such  a climate, where  but little energy of body or
mind  is expected from the natives, vegetable food con-
tributes a sufficiency. It is not a little remarkable
that gluten the nutritive element of the Cerealia is
most  abundant in farina grown between 35 and 45 deg.
North and South  latitude,  precisely in that district
of country where the race of men is most perfect, and
the equability and  amount of the free imponderables
most  favourable.
  Birds of long flight respire freely; their tempera-
ture  and temperament  are consequently above  the
usual  standard of other animals: fishes on the other
hand  appear to require the oxygen absorbed by water
not expressly for heating  their bodies but for giving
them  agility;  the aliment which they obtain contribu- 
77
ting but little to their bulk while it facilitates their
voluntary movements.   An  expanded chest is the best
point in a horse intended for hard labour.   The lungs
and liver of young animals  are greater in proportion
than those of adults: according to the extent of foliage
on  a tree will  be  the  formation and deposition of
woody fibre, and if proper food be supplied  the roots,
blossoms and fruit will correspond.   Power  resides
in an organ in proportion to its  size, its tone in pro-
portion to the imponderables  combined with it; the
manifestation of this power  depends upon the available
electricity generated by chemical action in the brain
or  the  organ's corresponding nervous centre.  The
ferruginous preparations  are known to confer benefit
not injury to debilitated patients  by adding to their
store of oxygen;  they do not support fever heat but
 subdue it by imparting tone and vigour to the consti-
tution, provided the alimentary canal still  retains its
 digestive and assimilating  faculties.   Whether inter-
mittents and other fevers of hot countries be  of vege-
 table or animal origin, whether they arise from organic
 or inorganic miasmata, or are purely dynamic;  whether
 cancers and certain affections  of  the  lungs  stomach
 and  bowels be traceable  to  animalcules or other
 malign cause generated within us or around us, it  is
 to the tone of the  solids and their power of resistance
 to which we must look for  salvation.  For  this reason
 chlorine  or iodine when absorbed or liberated from
 their combinations in the circulation are valuable con-
 diments and medicines for  removing such noxious in-
 gredients as may not be amenable  to the oxygen  of
 the air, and so  far they act as tonics and  alteratives: 
78
 an excess of either  or too rapid an  evolution might
 prove as fatal to the tissues as an overdose of oxygen;
 but the abuse does not detract from their therapeutical
 or conservative virtues.  This is the case when scurvy
 breaks out  in  a crew that has  fed too long and  too
 exclusively  upon salted provisions; the  solids  are
 broken down, and fresh vegetables or acid  fruits  are
 reputed the  best remedies.  During hot weather  the
 vegetable acids refresh  us  by becoming  absorbed
 with the subsequent production of carbonic acid: elec-
 tricity thereby  invigorates the languishing system not
 at the expense  of the living structures.  As they  are
 easily taken up by the veins, particularly after due de-
 pletion, and as  the living membrane of the small intes-
 tines  is too weak to digest and assimilate ordinary
 food,  the only alternative left is a recourse to artificial
 stimuli in order to save the solids and recruit the ner-
 vous  system.   But if these acids be used habitually in
 excess, the opposite  effect is  produced;  the stomach
 and bowels become deranged, and  free absorption of
 aliment prevented, at the same time that the vascular
 and nervous systems  are over-excited without addition-
al nutriment or the ability to sustain the action. The
neutral mixture or effervescing draught is serviceable
in miasmatic fevers;  first, they relax the extreme ves-
sels and tissues by a central determination  to  the
stomach, and afterwards they diffuse a wholesome ex-
citement  equably throughout  the body, so that  the
organs can execute their offices: this artificial  stimu-
lation reduces morbid irritations of particular organs
and allays the concomitant distress.   The extrication
of carbonic acid is not attended with increase of heat 
79
which would be aggravating the case, but is refrigerant
and gives tone to the stomach and system generally.
Sedatives or stimulants, refrigerants or sudorifics may
operate by their own inherent capacities for the dyn-
amic agents;  sothat in whatever other way the effects
alluded to may be produced, the reduction of compound
substances to  their simpler or simplest elements can-
not but affect  us  for weal  or woe.   If during the
chemico-vital  reactions nitrogren is set free within the
capillaries and extreme textures, or if antimony or lead
or mercury are reduced from their solutions, can we
wonder  that  tremendous if  not fatal  effects  some-
times ensue from their abuse, while a judicious appli-
cation of the  same might prove beneficial.  Like the
materials composing meteors, they have been taken
up under circumstances which perhaps no longer exist
—they are e  situ naturali, and by their precipitation
engross  much free electricity which  becomes latent
and withdrawn from active service.
   Non-nitrogenized food does not  provide so much
free Electricity as  nitrogenized compounds in which
carbon and hydrogen are condensed; and consequently
the former  is better  adapted for certain states  and
stages of disease which  could not tolerate  much ex-
citement of any function: but during  convalescence
nitrogenized food is especially indicated to give tone
to the nervous system and  to rebuild the dilapidated
frame.   Now both jellies and good wheaten bread are
recommended as precursors to meat in moderate quan-
tity with decided advantage.  Those aliments in which
sulphur phosphorus and  lime exist  offer the readiest
means of reparation for certain tissues of the body 
80
 most essential to health.   It is on account of the ni-
 trogen present in  many medicines that they are so
 eminently useful in aiding the natural efforts, for by
 their eremacausis (or perhaps metamorphosis) a genial
 flow of Electricity is every where diffused, and a tonic
 effect is very obvious.  Alcohol is serviceable in par-
 ticular exigencies as  a stimulant, when no fixed orga-
 nic lesion, as of the brain, would be likely to attract
 its especial influence.  The man who is addicted to
 the use of ardent spirits craves the indulgence of his
 appetite not for the warmth which the alcohol affords,
 this he can supply  by clothing and artificial  heat, but
 for the Electricity which is liberated first  in  his sto-
 mach to a small extent, and afterwards in the circula-
 tion.   If  alcoholic  beverages be taken  by a healthy
 person  moderately  and at proper seasons, during its
 decomposition in the blood nervous excitement resultSi
 and carbonic acid or some carbonaceous products are
 eliminated from the lungs &c. in a quantity corres-
 ponding with the draught and the elevation of spirits:
 but if the same amount be taken upon an empty sto-
 mach so as to  operate locally and prejudicially upon
 that viscus, particularly if the subject be very irritable
 or in bad  health, the local action prevails over a gene-
 ral tendency to excitement, and the spirits  are  de-
 pressed with corresponding diminution of carbon in
 the secretions or excretions.  There is a point beyond
 which  the introduction of stimulants or tonics is pre-
judicial.  As soon  as the brain loses its control over
 the voluntary functions, so that the Electricity deve-
 loped by the constituents of the blood instead of being
available for special purposes of the will is  engaged 
81
in fomenting local irritation upon the lining membrane
of the heart and arteries, there is necessarily a sense
of prostration or inability  to stand erect,  notwith-
standing a  fullness and frequency of the pulse.   A
current of  blood excited by ardent spirits rioting
through the veins is no more manageable than a mill-
stream which overflows its  banks during a freshet-—
there is force, but it is not applicable to  useful pur-
poses.  Besides, we must not forget that any form of
matter in which carbon enters, if the oxygen intro-
duced be insufficient to combine with it, depresses  the
system by its presence, as every thing  that  is not in
harmony with the wants or  the particular state of the
system is against it.   There can be  rio  neutrality in
such matters; Caloric and Electricity if they are  not
directly or indirectly useful  are directly or indirectly
injurious.   Water and organic elements in which oxy-
gen and hydrogen are in the proportion to form water
are not remarkable for their electro-positive  or nega-
tive qualities, but they become  indispensable for this
very evenness of character  which admits of such ex-
tensive but gradual application.  The  primary pro-
ducts however of all carbonaceous matters may pass
away without being entirely converted into  carbonic
acid and water;  for we find that, when oxygen is  de-
ficient, the  breath betrays  an  indiscreet  indulgence
in either solid or liquid food which but for this outlet
and others  as the liver kidneys skin and large intes-
tines would incommode rather than promote the due
performance of  the functions tof life*
  I have often reflected on the virtues ascribed by the
Russians and some Medical Practitioners in Germany
       10 
82
and the United States to the vapour bath.   That the
effect produced in disease is momentous no one will
deny; and it ought therefore, like many other reme-
dies,  to be cautiously administered, and with a full
knowledge of  its  possible  consequences.  But one
thing is  certain, that during a comparative state of
health, it tends  to maintain  the blood in its purity by
a free and perhaps vicarious purgation of any noxious
ingredients or an excess of materials in the circulation:
it also equalizes the nervous fluid and consequently
discusses any tendency to local determinations.  This
condition  of bienetre is co-extensive with the sentient
surfaces and textures of the body, and intoxicates as it
were the brain with an indescribable satisfaction which
terminates in as indescribable a  relaxation of mind
and body.  It is an artificial mode of raising  mode-
rately the pulse and the functions.   We must under
the circumstances conclude  that,  setting  aside any
direct influence of the imponderables according to the
temperature and temperament of baths in general, the
chemico-vital actions which supervene are mainly at
the expense of the materials composing the body, since
it is evident that no additional amount of oxygen  is
introduced, or an increase of diet tolerated in most
cases.   There  is rather a sortie of Disease than an
entree of Health—a relief from oppression which
tranquillizes  the feelings  rather  than a  gratuity of
strength and vigour imparted.  The  exhilaration con-
sequent upon the unnatural developement of Electricity
in the system should not be continued so far as to ren-
der the subsequent depression excessive, unless this
effect is  desired for particular purposes.   It  is only 
83
 when luxuriously or inordinately applied that even to-
 bacco or wine may be said to injure us, or any other
 moderate  enjoyment whether nutritive or  stimulant.
 A judicious  use of the bath gives a greater security
 against colds or inflammations: but when the relaxa-
 tion  is over-great there is of course less resistance
 offered to all depressing  agencies.  Of the two ex-
 tremes which one meets in Northern countries, an ex-
 cessive use of hot vapour baths or an excessive absti-
 nence from  every thing calculated to open the pores
 of the skin, in other words, excessive uncleanness, who
 would hesitate  to  make the  choice?  If the former
 produces premature debility and nervous complaints,
 the  latter produces typhus and a long list of putrid
 fevers to  be traced to sanguine impurities.
   The free Caloric of health  is due to the deposition
 of fresh solid materials  in nutrition, or the  greater
 consistency given  to the blood  by the formation  of
 fibrin; whereas free Electricity results from an opposite
 state of things, viz, the disintegration of tissues or the
 return of blood from arterial  to a venous condition.
 It is obvious that during childhood more matter is laid
 down than taken up; that the tissues are succulent,
 and animal heat exuberant—during old age more mat-
 ter is taken  up  than laid down; the tissues become
 stiff and more solidified while animal heat is at the
 minimum.   But during manhood both heat and physi-
 cal power is at the maximum.   The exaggerated heat
 in disease is more apparent than real; the sensibilities
of the nervous expansions and of their ganglia are
temporarily augmented by venous congestion  behind,
and an arterial determination in front; the vital move- 
84
ments may be quicker and in the earlier stage  more
laborious, but  the  general  tone  and nervous  power
diminishes as local  draughts are made upon its stock,
whether  for functional purposes as by  the  heart  in
fevers, or for the reparation of organic lesions during
the inflammatory process.  The  engorgement of the
great venous trunks connected with the vense cava?,
and a relaxation in the heart's accustomed energy ne-
cessarily cause  a regurgitation of the  venous blood
upon the nervous centres—they are thereby irritated
and goaded, more  particularly  the  cardiac plexus,  to
feverish action.  Their functions are whipped  up for
the occasion, to sink with greater rapidity, if the ob-
ject for which they were excited be not attained.
   " Ubi irritatio ibi fluxus" is an  old saying deduced
from observation and experience; but its  strict appli-
cation in Science must be modified in accordance with
improved means of diagnosis.  At the present day
" ubi irritatio ibi congestio" perhaps might answer  as
well; but in fact the term irritatio admits of too great
latitude.   A vital cell, tissue, or vessel, whether raised
or lowered beyond  the normal extent of its dynamic
habitudes, is  the recipient of a larger amount  of the
circulating fluid: for instance, let  the liver  be posi-
tively excited  by Electricity either  generated  in the
organ itself by matter absorbed from the alimentary
canal, or concentrated upon itjrom sympathetic rela-
tion with other organs or tissues, and there follows  an
increased action of the arterial capillaries with super-
abundance of red blood.  But let us suppose the liver
to be negatively affected in some way, and there arises
a  venous turgescence  or congestion a tergo which 
85
would obstinately remain until the malaise occasioned
by over-distension should at length  awaken the dor-
mant sensibility of the part and an  electrical  move-
ment in the sympathetic ganglion connected with it.
The synergies are now brought into requisition, and
the  heart at length responding to the call not only
helps to unload  the distressed viscus by pumping out
the contents and creating a diversion  in the dermoid
and other textures, but sends arterialized bloodto the
rescue of the  liver itself, so as to give new tone and
vigour to  the tissues and vessels engaged.  Should
however the effort fail, should the fluxus be incompe-
tent to do  good, it does harm by lighting up perhaps
active inflammation with various sequeke in addition
to the general fever.   The  object then of the physi-
cian in his recourse to venesection is two-fold—while
he recognizes the necessity of  reaction both general
and local, which is accomplished by the proper con-
dition and amount of the blood, he cautiously reduces,
either before or after the expected  crisis, its absolute
amount so far as it oppresses the heart and other vis-
cera : also while the absorbents are introducing a fresh
supply of watery serum, he dilutes  and qualifies still
further the current by cooling drinks to prevent  its
excessive action upon diseased or weakened tissues.
By the abstraction of blood the red globules are  not
allowed to concentrate their force upon any one par-
ticular part, but are diffused generally to the  evident
relief of any morbid  portion which could ill resist the
energy of  its accustomed share of oxygen, much less
a well-meant but  unfortunate  determination of the
same upon it.   A restricted diet of a mixed character 
86
does not add much to the volume of the circulation,
but offers sufficient  pabulum for the oxygen  inhaled
and the gradual restoration of the wasted frame with-
out detriment to the  living tissues themselves.   Puru-
lent secretion I regard as the result of a provisionary
vital movement in cellular membranes and tissues by
which  they are  saved from further  corrosion at the
expense  of  materials  which are  drawn from other
quarters, and concocted in a form suitable to  protect
the exposed,parts from the external air; whilst its com-
position is such as to divert and engross the super-
abundant Caloric and Electricity there engendered.
It may however be contemplated as a more rapid re-
jection of abortive cells by serous and mucous mem-
branes which are unable to assimilate the vast amount
of albuminous matter brought to them by the  excited
capillaries, and which the absorbents are unwilling to
take back by reason of vascular plethora.  As respects
internal abscesses the secretion continues while there
is an intermission of tonic rigidity in the surrounding
parts and system generally; so that  as  soon as reac-
tion  is restored,  the matter deposited is compressed
and in its turn presses upon the most yielding  portion
of the  walls,  where an external opening is effected for
its escape.   Inflammation like fever is a restorative
process, at least this  is its intention; for the increased
nervous action first set up is to support  if possible
further engorgement.   Local stimulants and bandages
are applied for a similar purpose—these would be po-
sitively deleterious during the height of the reaction,
but at  the incipient stage or at the  decline artificial
support is alike demanded. 
87
  The different organs of the brain increase in size and
energy by proper exercise: they acquire constant addi-
tions to their mass in accordance with the force and di-
rection given to the arterial current; but when abused
by voluntary or involuntary excess their vigour declines
owing to a gradual absorption of substance and  their
incapacity to appropriate fresh materials.   This is a
chronic departure from health; in acute cases, either the
chemico-vital reactions developed in the capillaries ex-
cite the organ or organs to derangement of function, or
the oxygen makes an attack upon the cerebral tissue it-
self.  Inflammation of the brain proper attended with
maniacal symptoms would be an exaggeration or mor-
bid manifestation of the process. I may here repeat that
the term oxidizement is by no means synonymous with
combustion, unless every chemico-vital movement of
oxygen be so regarded.   I can recognize nothing more
familiar or more strictly chemical in the disposition of
oxygen to destroy than to construct  certain forms of
matter.  Oxygen  is as often employed I presume in
the one case as in the other, and both phenomena are
determined by the accidental relation of the elements
at particular conjunctures.  We should remember that
it is not gaseous oxygen which operates in the changes
alluded to, but oxygen in an altered condition.   After
the combination of the atmospheric  oxygen with the
red corpuscles of the blood, it becomes liquid with the
evolution perhaps of slight sensible heat; even here it is
not the gas in its elastic state as just received through
the bronchia] tubes to which I refer, but that which has
already become condensed in the tissue of the air-cells.
During the conversion of the quasi-solid carbon of the 
88
 tissues  and blood into a solution of the  protocarbo-
nate of iron, the reverse of heat is more probable.
The consolidation of living structures  is the ne plus
ultra of formative power, and a change of consistency
in semi-organized matter may be distinctly traced both
towards the goal of Life and in an opposite direction.
   In persons of a lymphatic constitution the transfor-
mation of albumen into fibrin is but partially attained,
and  cellular substance  in  excess  distinguishes  them
from others in whom  the digestive and  respiratory
processes are more complete.  Those who possess the
nervous and sanguine systems large and well-balanced,
in short the essential requisites of health,  present the
most perfect developement of form and functional ac-
tivity.   The tissues of the 6ne are loose, those of the
other firm and elastic;  their diseases are also charac-
teristic, as are those of the purely sanguine and purely
nervous  constitutions in which  the  blood vessels or
the nerves predominate to an extent incompatible with
each other's rights and duties.   I have no where seen
a clear discrimination made between the  physiologi-
cal traits of the herbivorous class of animals and the
carnivorous.   The latter unquestionably exhibit more
of the nervous temperament, their sensations are more
acute and their movements more rapid; but exhaus-
tion  soon overtakes them from the draughts made
upon their own substance when adequate food is not
within their reach.   In herbivorous animals the sup-
ply of free nervous force is principally derived  from
an abundant ingestion of non-azotized food and depo-
sites of their own fat, which last longer and are more
serviceable for continued labour  and patient endu- 
89
 ranee.   Those  animals which consume a mixed diet
 present a mixed constitution and character.   The
 same rough distinction may be drawn  between diffe-
 rent classes of vegetables which,  I have no  doubt,
 owe their peculiar properties to peculiarities of diet,
 modified as in the case of animals  by climate which
 prompts  them  to select  their materia  alimentaria.
 The delicate  and sensitive flowering plants of inter-
 tropical latitudes as we find them in our gardens and
 hot-houses may be justly compared to the refined and
 high-toned specimens of mammalia which adorn the
 most civilized communities.
   The  inference to be deduced from late experiments
 with the gaseous voltaic battery is  this; that the oxi-
 dizement of a metallic  series may  increase but does
 not originate the current.   It depends upon the elec-
 trical capacity  of the newly-formed oxide, and its
 relation to other contiguous substances  whether any
 electricity or how much is set free.  If when oxygen
 combines with hydrogen to form water electricity is
 developed, that  portion at least which is available for
 the inductive state may not be a direct result of the
 combustion but  of the change of form: so respiration
 produces electricity when the carbonate of iron assumes
 the state of the  hydrated peroxide.   It is inconsistent
 with the laws  of animal life that gases such as hydro-
 gen, the olefiant, carbonic oxide, or even carbonic acid,
 should become free and allowed to circulate within us.
 I regard Liebig's hypothesis of the absorption of nitro-
gen from the stomach as one of the weakest points in
his argument; likewise the supposed entrance of the
sulphide of hydrogen from the lower bowels as totally
      11 
90
unfounded in fact.  Blood removed from the body and
no longer under the vital  influence may absorb free
gases or eliminate them ready-formed, but this is not
the question at issue.  Liebig's treatise in  the  main
demonstrates the probability of a radical difference
between organic and  inorganic metamorphoses and re-
actions; the former  being confined to changes  of no
violent character, but to the production of compounds
which still retain a  comparatively  high equivalent
number; whereas the latter are generally split up into
more elementary and less complicated relations.
   Such is Life and  such its manifestations—what is
Death but a gradual decay of the  organs and conse-
quent debility of their function.  In ordinary language
the digestive organs become less  succulent, and  ab-
sorption more difficult; the waste and supply no longer
correspond;  a  demand  is made  which cannot  be
answered: less free  caloric and electricity are conse-
quently developed by chemico-vital reactions—a flaw
perhaps now appears in the machinery,  and there is a
sudden pause in its movements.—
   Whether the operations of the mind are to be con-
sidered as functions of the brain analogous but supe-
rior to  those of  other organs, and whether  human
actions should  be  regarded as results of physical
organization, I  leave  my readers  to judge for them-
selves  according  to the  evidence presented to their
 senses, and the light which reason affords. 
 
 

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