applied to Statical Electricity. 18
I conceived the rotating matter to be the substance of certain cells, divided from each other by cell-walls composed of particles which are very small compared with the cells, and that it is by the motions of these particles, and their tangential action on the substance in the cells, that the rotation is communicated from one cell to another.
I have not attempted to explain this tangential action, but it is necessary to suppose, in order to account for the transmission of rotation from the exterior to the interior parts of each cell, that the substance in the cells possesses elasticity of figure, similar in kind, though different in degree, to that observed in solid bodies. The undulatory theory of light requires us to admit this kind of elasticity in the luminiferous medium, in order to account for transverse vibrations. We need not then be surprised if the magneto-electric medium possesses the same property.
According to our theory, the particles which form the partitions between the cells constitute the matter of electricity. The motion of these particles constitutes an electric current; the tangential force with which the particles are pressed by the matter of the cells is electromotive force, and the pressure of the particles on each other corresponds to the tension or potential of the electricity.
If we can now explain the condition of a body with respect to the surrounding medium when it is said to be "charged" with electricity, and account for the forces acting between electrified bodies, we shall have established a connexion between all the principal phenomena of electrical science.
We know by experiment that electric tension is the same thing, whether observed in statical or in current electricity; so that an electromotive force produced by magnetism may be made to charge a Leyden jar, as is done by the coil machine.
When a difference of tension exists in different parts of any body, the electricity passes, or tends to pass, from places of greater to places of smaller tension. If the body is a conductor, an actual passage of electricity takes place; and if the difference of tensions is kept up, the current continues to flow with a velocity proportional inversely to the resistance, or directly to the conductivity of the body.
The electric resistance has a very wide range of values, that of the metals being the smallest, and that of glass being so great that a charge of electricity has been preserved[1] in a glass vessel for years without penetrating the thickness of the glass.
Bodies which do not permit a current of electricity to flow through them are called insulators. But though electricity does
- ↑ By Professor W. Thomson.
