Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

APPENDIX. 441matter, dostitutc of all properties, and of tlic existence of wliicli we haveno oviileuce, besides that founded on the appearance and disa])pearanccof its alleged ingredients.0. ])iit iiowevcr plausibly the discharges consequent to making a conducting:coniniuuication from one electrified mass or surface to anothermass or surface in an opposite state, may be ascribed to accumulationscither of one or of two fluids, neither, according to one theory nor theother, is it possible to account satisfactorily for the stationary magnetismwith which steel may be endowed, nor the transitory magnetism, or powerof dynamic induction, acquired by wires transmitting galvanic discharges.10. For the most plausible effort which has been made for the purposeof reconciling the phenomena of electro-magnetism with the theory oftwo fluids, or with that of one fluid so far as these theories are convertible,we arc indebted to Ampere.11. According to the hypothesis advanced by this eminent philosopher,the difference between a magnetized and an electrified body is not attributableto any diversity in the imponderable matter to which their propertiesare respectively due, but to a difference in the actual state or distributionof that matter. Statical polarity is the consequence of the unequaldistribution of the two electric fluids whose existence he assumes ; whilemagnetical polarity is the consequence merely of the motion of those fluids,which, in magnets, are supposed to gyrate in opposite directions about eachparticle of the mass. These gyrations are conceived to take place only inplanes at right angles to the axis of the magnet ; so that, in a straightmagnet, the planes of the orbits must be parallel to each other.*12. The aggregate effect of all the minute vortices of the electricalfluids, in any one plane, bounded by the lateral surfaces of the magnet, isequivalent externally to one vortex, since, in either case, every electricparticle on that surface will so move as to describe tangents to a circledrawn about the axis of the magnet. When the electrical vortices of thepole of one magnet conflict in their direction with those of another, aswhen similar magnetic poles are approximated, repulsion ensues; but ifthe vortices are coincident in direction, as when dissimilar poles are near,attraction takes place. When a current through a galvanized wirej" concursin direction with the magnetic vortices, as above described, attractionensues; repulsion resulting when it does not so concur. Hence, themagnet, if movable, will strive to assume a position in which its electricalcurrents will not conflict with those of the wire on one side more than onthe other; also the wire, if movable, will strive so to arrange itself so asto produce the same result, which can arrive only when the needle is atright angles to the wire, and its sides consequently equidistant therefrom.13. Electric currents will produce magnetic vortices, and, reciprocally,magnetic vortices will produce electric currents. Hence the magnetismimparted to iron by galvanic spirals, and the Farradian currents producedby magnetized iron within spirals not galvanized.14. Ampere's theory has, in a high degree, the usual fault of substitutingone mystery for another ; but, on the other hand, it has, in an equally* The words gyration, vortex, and whirl arc considered as synonymous, and used indifferentlyto avoid monotony.f I consider a wire as galvanized, when it is made the medium of the discharge froma galvanic battery.