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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #52439 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52439)
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-Project Gutenberg's An Essay to Shew the Cause of Electricity, by John Freke
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: An Essay to Shew the Cause of Electricity
- and Why Some Things are Non-Electricable
-
-Author: John Freke
-
-Release Date: June 30, 2016 [EBook #52439]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY TO SHEW CAUSE OF ELECTRICITY ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
-http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
-generously made available by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- AN
-
- ESSAY
-
- TO SHEW THE
-
- CAUSE
-
- OF
-
- ELECTRICITY;
-
- AND
-
- Why Some Things are Non-Electricable.
-
- In which is also Consider’d
-
- Its Influence in the _Blasts_ on Human Bodies,
- in the _Blights_ on Trees, in the _Damps_ in
- Mines; and as it may affect the _Sensitive
- Plant_, &c.
-
- In a LETTER
- To Mr. WILLIAM WATSON, _F.R.S._
-
- By JOHN FREKE, Surgeon to _St. Bartholomew’s_
- Hospital, _London_, F.R.S.
-
- _Naturam expellas furcâ, tamen usque recurret._
-
- The SECOND EDITION: With an APPENDIX.
-
- _LONDON:_
- Printed for W. INNYS, in _Pater-noster Row_.
-
- MDCCXLVI.
- [Price One Shilling.]
-
-
-
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
-
- TO
-
- _MARTIN FOLKES_, Esq;
-
- PRESIDENT
-
- OF THE
-
- ROYAL SOCIETY.
-
-
- _SIR_,
-
-Those who have the Honour of your Acquaintance, and thence know your
-many excellent Qualifications, must applaud my Choice in dedicating this
-small Piece to you; whose Name, if there be any Merit in the
-Performance, will, before any other, add a Lustre to it. I am, with the
-highest Esteem,
-
- _Your most Obliged,
- Humble Servant_,
-
- JOHN FREKE.
-
-
-
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
-
- The PREFACE.
-
-
-_When I first enter’d on this Subject of _Electricity_, I intended only
-to put some Thoughts in Writing concerning it, that I might the more
-easily convey them to the Understandings of such as I hoped would be
-more likely than I should be to go farther with it. And as nobody,
-either here or abroad, had published any thing touching the Cause from
-which it was produc’d, I chose to shew the Beginning I had made to some
-Friends, whose Opinion concerning Natural Knowlege I had a great
-Reliance on. I told them, I thought my Difficulty would be to convey
-what I had to propound on this new Subject to them with the necessary
-Clearness, as my Intention was to observe the utmost Brevity in it._
-
-_After I had read it to them, they assured me that what I had written
-was perfectly intelligible; and that it gave them many new Ideas
-respecting this _Phænomenon_; and were very earnest with me to print it,
-for the sake of the Publick._
-
-_I was not, however, inclined to comply with their Requests, till I had
-shewn it to a Person who is most justly distinguish’d for his great
-Candor, and superlative Understanding in all Natural Knowlege; and he
-likewise having express’d his Wishes to see it in Print, I could not but
-look on his Desire as a Command._
-
-_If what I have here undertaken to shew should enlighten the Minds of
-any of my Readers, or if it should so far awaken the Attention of
-others, as to make them give better Reasons for the Operation of this
-Power of Electricity than I have done, I shall not account the Time ill
-spent, which I have employ’d on this interesting Subject: A Subject
-which can, with more Nobleness and Dignity employ the Mind of Man, than
-any I can think of relating to the sublunary Part of this World. For by
-it you may be acquainted with the immediate Officer of _God Almighty_,
-which he seems to send to all Things living. Nay, this Power, according
-to my Conception, seems to be the Cause, under _HIM_, both of Life and
-Death. And when it may be more fully understood, it may afford us Means
-whereby we may be better enabled to reason more intelligibly than now we
-can, concerning various Operations in Nature._
-
-_I am very sensible what Tribute a new Author is liable to pay to
-Criticks: I know it is too common to find much too large a Part of them
-inclin’d to look into a Book for its Faults, rather than for its Use;
-and are more ready to pull down, than they have Abilities to put any
-thing in its Place. But as I am not writing this for any Gain to myself,
-but the Pleasure of informing, if I can, the Minds of such as may be
-informed by it, I chuse rather to stand their Censure, than deny the
-Publick what may possibly be the Beginning of much Good._
-
-_It is very probable, that those who pretend to know every thing, will
-be so good as to say, if they like what I have advanc’d, that it squares
-exactly with what they thought before concerning it: And those who set
-up for Criticks will try their Hands at this Performance, and, if they
-can, will condemn it._
-
-_It would be a great Wonder, indeed, if this should escape the Censure
-of some, when the great Dr. _Harvey_ had his implacable Adversaries to
-his Account of the Circulation of the Blood; and even Sir _Isaac Newton_
-met with Opponents to several of his Theorys. What I have said opposes
-no one’s Scheme, that I know of; it offers no Sentiments which can hurt
-any Man._
-
-_I have advanc’d only Conjectures for the clearing those Truths I would
-establish; and if, after all, what appears reasonable to me should not
-appear so to others, I cannot help it: For it is impossible for all Men
-to see the same Thing in one and the same Light, even though they were
-Men of the best Erudition. I would hope, that what I have undertaken to
-shew, is what all sensible Men would be glad to have shewn._
-
-
-
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
-
- AN
-
- ESSAY
-
- To Shew
-
- From what CAUSES Electricity is
- Produced, _&c._
-
-
- _Kind Sir_,
-
-When I reflect on the great Ingenuity you have shewn, in your
-_Apparatus_ for the Improvement of the Knowlege of Electricity, and how
-industrious and kind you have been in communicating the many Experiments
-you have made to your Friends and Acquaintance relating thereto, I was
-in hopes, from you or some of them, an Essay would be made ere this, not
-only to go farther with these Experiments, but to give some tolerable
-Conjecture from whence this Fire, and astonishing Effect, is produced.
-
-I was going to give you my Thoughts concerning it, when I last saw you
-at _Child_’s Coffee-house; but, on Reflection, I chose rather to do it
-in Writing: For, in all Novelty, till the Relater is quite understood,
-Words are forgotten easily; but Things of this sort in Writing may again
-and again be consider’d.
-
-To begin then: In order to shew whence this electrical Fire and Force is
-produc’d, I will first endeavour to prove, that it arises not from any
-of the _Apparatus_ itself; not either from the glass Ball, nor the
-Leather, nor from the Tube, or Hand that rubs it: Because nothing we
-know of can send out of it a Quantity of Matter, but there must be less
-of that Matter remaining, after it has been so discharged; whereas it
-cannot be shewn, but that the Ball of Glass, after ever so many Times
-using, remains as fit for the same Use as at first.
-
-Having, from Probability, I think, shewn, that the Fire and Force, here
-treated of, come not from the _Apparatus_, it is natural for me to
-suppose they are produced from the Air they are mov’d in. And I believe
-this Notion will not appear trifling, when we consider, that the most
-ancient and ablest Philosophers have look’d upon the Animal and
-Vegetable World as actuated by Fire; and that they are nourish’d by
-Water, and what it contains. If this be allow’d, then the Air, which is
-esteem’d the _Pabulum Vitæ_, from its rubefying the Blood of all Animals
-in Respiration, seems to be universally impregnated with this Fire. And
-tho’ there is not enough of it so dispersed as to hurt the Animals in
-Respiration, yet I can suppose it as universally dispersed, as I can a
-small Quantity of any Liquor dropp’d in Water, which, when so dispersed,
-is of no Harm to a Patient, though a few Drops of it by themselves would
-have been certain Death. And yet, if you farther consider it so
-dispersed, you cannot consider one Particle of the Water without a
-Particle of the Medicine: Just so it may be with the Fire of this lower
-Region, or, what I chuse rather to call it, this _Flamma Vitalis_.
-
-I proceed now to consider, how this Fire, so dispersed, may be
-collected; and have given to it, in electrical Experiments, a Force
-equal to, and of the same Nature with, Lightning.
-
-To make this Conjecture the more easily apprehended, I will suppose,
-that the Nature of Fire is as similar to its Parts, and they have as
-great a Propensity to adhere to one another, as we find the different
-Arrangements in all natural Bodies have; as may be seen in Gems, in
-Water, and in the various _Strata_ of the Earth, and the like. Do but
-force or invite these fiery Particles to a closer Contact than they have
-been supposed to be in, when uniformly dispersed through all Nature, and
-they are Lightning, or a Fire of less Force, as more or less Parts of
-that Fire are got together.
-
-To illustrate this, wax a small Thread, or slide a Rope swiftly thro’
-your Fingers, and you are liable to burn them: Which probably arises
-from their grinding in, betwixt your Fingers and the Rope, so many more
-Particles of Fire than naturally come together when left to float in the
-Air.
-
-If this Reasoning be allow’d to be just (which it must be, till it is
-overturn’d by stronger Reasoning), then it follows, that the Air, which
-is violently ground or rubb’d betwixt your Hand and a glass Tube, or
-betwixt a glass Ball whirl’d briskly, and rubb’d with a Piece of
-Leather, as they are used in electrical Experiments, I say, the Air, so
-rubb’d, may leave behind it that Quantity of agitated Fire which causes
-Electricity.
-
-For, suppose the Ball or Tube inveloped with a Quantity of this Fire
-moving spirally round them, with the utmost Velocity; and it can no more
-depart from its Company than you find Sparks of Fire which fly from
-Steel on a Knife-grinder’s Wheel are liable to do. Every body almost can
-remember to have seen them adhere to the Wheel, and frequently pursue
-each other quite round it.
-
-Those who try these Experiments, find, that in moist Weather this Power
-is less attainable than in a more clear Day; and therefore some may be
-liable to attribute that to the _Apparatus_, which may be better
-accounted for by the watry Particles in the Air; which may be liable to
-hinder the lambent Flame, by me supposed to be universally scatter’d,
-from uniting, by the Friction before-mention’d.
-
-As I have mention’d Friction, I cannot help observing how
-unphilosophical and unmeaning it is, for any one to advance, that Fire
-is caused by Friction; when I think he may as well say, that Water is
-caused by Pumping.
-
-We know, that a Cart or Coach-Wheel, for Want of Grease, by Friction
-will be set on Fire; and Fire-Canes, rubbed together smartly, will take
-Fire; but neither of these, I believe, nor any thing else, will beget or
-generate the Element of Fire. They must either collect it out of the
-Air, or else it must be lodged within them, as we find it to be in Steel
-in an eminent Degree: For, if you drop the Filings of Steel through the
-Flame of a Candle, it sends out the most fierce Fire of any thing in
-Nature.
-
-The Reason to be given why a greater Quantity of Fire is produced from
-Steel-Filings, than from any other Thing, I take to be owing to a larger
-Share of that Element which is impacted in it from its being made out of
-Iron long impregnated with Fire.
-
-Many other Bodies have actual Fire impacted in them, as Flints, and many
-other hard Stones and Metals; but whenever you produce Fire from
-Steel-Filings, you find that Steel melted: So when Fire is produced from
-Stones, and the like, each Spark is Part of that Stone burnt to a
-_Calx_.
-
-Now, as I am endeavouring to shew to you the natural Cohesion of Fire,
-and the Propensity there is in it to extend itself, I shall offer to
-your Consideration a very familiar Instance to prove it; which is that
-of the Snuff of a Candle just blown out. You cannot but have observ’d at
-how great a Distance from the Snuff the Flame will descend down the
-Smoke, and light it.
-
-I shall further take the Liberty to observe to you another Proof of
-this; which, I think, will not only shew a Propensity in Fire to cohere,
-but will greatly strengthen my Conjecture, that this Fire, produced in
-Electricity, is extracted from that I have supposed to be universally
-dispersed.
-
-A Person, who liv’d in the Town of _Warham_ in _Dorsetshire_, in the
-Year 1703, informed me, that in the Night of the great Hurricane and
-high Wind, in the strongest Part of the Tempest, he saw from his Window,
-on the neighbouring Hills, great Bodies of Fire, swiftly passing over
-them on the Ground.—Now whence arose that Fire, if it came not from the
-Air impelling it into those Flakes? And its subsisting together in that
-Hurricane shews, I think, very plainly, that if its Cohesion had not
-been natural, the Wind would then have scatter’d it.
-
-Though I apprehend that the Four Elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and
-Air, may never have been increased or diminished, since the Great GOD of
-Order created them, yet I can also apprehend each of them unequally
-dispers’d in the Universe by various Causes and Events: And when this
-happens, those which were intended, when in their due Order, to make
-every thing happy and easy, in their disordered State will create
-nothing but Confusion.
-
-For Instance, the chief Use of Water seems intended, when descending in
-warm and gentle Showers, or flowing in kind and easy Streams, to chear
-and nourish all Kinds of Vegetation, as well in Trees and Plants, as in
-Herbs and Flowers: But suppose, by the Contrivance of Man, or by the
-Accidents of Nature, a large Quantity of it lodged on the Tops of high
-Hills, if it breaks its Bank, it will never stop, till it finds a
-natural resting Place; and in its Torrent it will overwhelm and destroy
-those Trees and Plants, with the Herbs and Flowers, it was intended to
-nourish.
-
-The like may be said of the Fire, which I have been supposing uniformly
-dispersed over the Creation; which, if its Properties are to invigorate
-all Nature, you must of course suppose its Power not to be controul’d;
-but that it passes through all the Animal, Mineral, and Vegetable
-Creation, whilst they stand in need of Life, or any Increase.
-
-But as I have been conjecturing what different Purposes Water in its
-disorder’d State may produce, so the same Consideration may be had
-concerning Fire in its disorder’d State: When too much of it is brought
-together, either by the Contrivance of Man, or by the Disorders in the
-other Elements; is it not reasonable to suppose, that it will, according
-to its natural Appointment, get about its Business, and break as soon as
-it can from its Confinement?
-
-A very learned and eminent Author, who is now living, says, “That all
-Life, whether it be vegetable, sensitive, or animal, is only a kindled
-Fire of Life in such a Variety of States: And every dead insensitive
-Thing is only so because its Fire is quenched.”
-
-It had been impossible that this wonderful _Phænomenon_ of Electricity
-should ever have been discover’d, if there had not been such Things as
-are non-electricable. For, as fast as this Fire had been driven on any
-thing, its next Neighbour would have carried it further: But, when it
-was most wonderfully found out, that any thing which was suspended in a
-silk Cord (that being a Non-electricable) was obliged to retain the
-Fire, which by electrical Force was driven on it; and when, moreover, it
-appeared, that any Person or Thing being placed on a Cake of Bees-wax
-(which also is a Non-electricable), it could no more part with its Fire,
-than when suspended in a silk Cord, I think it will become worth
-Inquiry, why they are not electricable.
-
-To prove this, I would reflect upon the Passage before-quoted: For from
-thence I think it must follow, that if Fire be the Cause of the Life and
-Increase in any thing, then, whatever ceases to be in a State of Life or
-Increase, can no longer be supposed to be capable of them; and therefore
-must be consider’d as a _Caput Mortuum_. Of this sort are Bees-wax and
-Silk, both being non-electricable.
-
-To pursue this kind of Reasoning concerning them: They are, in truth,
-the Excrements only from those Beings which once had Life in them; the
-Wax being the excrementitious Matter from Bees, which, when made, was to
-be capable of no further Increase or Addition to its Nature: For, as its
-primitive Use was only intended to make Combs or Cells to preserve the
-Honey through the different Changes of the Season, so if this Wax had
-been liable to Alterations from this Fire (as all Things which are
-endued with it are) then the Cells would not have remained so intire as
-the wonderful Architects left them.
-
-As concerning the Silk, I look on it as an excrementitious Matter also;
-designed by GOD Almighty (who makes nothing in vain) to become a
-_Capsula_ or Coffin to preserve the Insect in it safely, for such a
-Season as was intended it should remain there.
-
-All resinous Bodies are likewise non-electricable; which I think will
-tend rather to prove my Conjecture to be true than false: For, are there
-such Things as Pitch or Resin in _Nature_? Are they not made out of the
-Juice of Plants? Which Plants, whilst they remained in the Life of
-Nature, had nothing but their unalter’d Juice in them. Pitch and Resin
-became so by Art; and therefore no Time or Chance can give an Increase
-to their Quantity: From whence they may be supposed not to be in the
-Course of Nature.
-
-I am aware what Objection this is liable to; for, though it must be
-acknowleg’d that these Things are non-electricable, it may be asked, If
-they are not the most inflammable Things that can be imagined, and,
-consequently, susceptible of Fire; because Candles are made out of Wax,
-and Torches out of Pitch and Resin? To which I answer, That here it may
-be necessary to inquire, what occasions this Flame, which is produced
-either from the Candle or Torch? Can this Flame subsist one Moment,
-without the Passage of Air through it? I answer, No. Well then, as this
-Treatise is not intended merely to state Facts, but to account for the
-Nature of them, by the best Conjectures I can make, pray why does Air
-keep this Flame subsisting? If you will suppose, with me, that the Cause
-of all Heat, and the Appearance of all Fire in the World, is collected
-out of this universal Element of Fire; which, perhaps, will never
-increase nor diminish; it being dispersed where it is most invited; if
-therefore, I say, you will suppose with me, that this Air, which is full
-of a lambent Flame, when it has been invited by the Property supposed to
-be in it, that the biggest Body congregates the less; from these
-Considerations, I think it may be supposed, that the Flame of Fire is
-produced out of the Air, only; the Wax or Resin being a fatty
-sulphureous Matter, which, as Coals, may likewise be supposed to serve
-as a _Pabulum_, fitly adapted only to let this Element pass through it,
-for the Purposes here described.
-
-The more of the Air that passes through them, the quicker they burn; as
-when the Snuff of a Candle is taken off, which hindered the Quantity to
-pass thro’ it, it increases the Flame; though, before, the same
-Materials were employ’d. The same may be said of clearing the Ashes
-from, and stirring the Fire; which impeded the Quantity of Air from
-leaving its Fire behind, in its Passage through the Coals.
-
-If the Wax had any Inherency of Fire in its Nature, Why, if you turn a
-lighted Candle downwards, does the Wax extinguish the Flame? If this my
-Conjecture be difficultly conceiv’d, pray let me farther ask, Why does a
-Candle, which is lighted, and let down into a Mine where there is a
-Damp, go out? In a large Mine there is Space enough surely for a Candle
-to burn in, if there had been enough of that _Pabulum Vitæ_ left in the
-stagnated Air which occupy’d that large Cavern.
-
-Now, if you will suppose, with me, that this Air had been robb’d of its
-Fire, by its supporting and keeping alive such Things under-ground as
-its Business is to do every-where, and that Space was left full of
-stagnated Air, and therefore could not admit of fresh to enter, it
-became impossible for Fire, or any living Creature, to subsist there.
-
-The Cure of this Evil is performed in Mines by a Horse-Mill, which works
-large Bellows, that drive fresh Air down a Shaft made for that Purpose.
-
-I remember Dr. _Halley_ told me, that he once try’d the Experiment of
-making a factitious Damp; which he did, by exhausting the Air out of the
-Receiver of an Air-Pump, and then luting to a Stop-cock a Gun-barrel;
-the other End of which he put into a Charcoal-Fire, and with the Air,
-which pass’d thro’ the Fire, he fill’d the Receiver again; he told me
-that it instantly kill’d a Mouse he put into it, and many other Animals,
-just as Damps did: Now how will you account for this, if you suppose not
-that its Fire was extinguish’d, and carried from it another Way?
-
-Having thus far, I hope, prepared your Mind to understand what I
-apprehend the Element of Fire is, and what its Office seems to be, I
-will shew, if I can,
-
-First, Why, in Electricity, Fire proceeds from an electrical Body, so as
-to light into a Flame many different Compositions.
-
-Secondly, Why a Tube of Glass, when rubbed so as to be made electrical,
-will not only attract to it, but repel from it alternately, any light
-Body, as Leaf-Gold, Feathers, and the like: And also, why it will seem
-to send from it a Quantity of Wind, with a singing small Noise, if you
-hold it nigh to your Cheek and Ear.
-
-Thirdly, Why, when any unelectrify’d Body touches any thing electrify’d,
-the Electricity breaks off with a smart Crack, and a Spark of Fire.
-
-Fourthly, Why a Number of Men, who are joined together by holding any
-metallic Body betwixt them, if one of them touch a Piece of Iron
-electrify’d, the whole Company shall feel a violent Concussion, in
-proportion to the Largeness of the Body electrify’d.
-
-First, I will endeavour to shew, Why an electrify’d Body will kindle an
-_Alcohol_, or rectify’d Spirit of Wine, and many other compounded
-Liquors, into a Flame.
-
-After having attempted to prove to you, that the Cause of Electricity
-arises from the universal Fire scatter’d through all Nature, by its
-being rubb’d together in its Passage betwixt a glass Ball and a Piece of
-Leather, _&c._ I hope I shall make it appear, that it passes from
-thence, to the Body electrify’d, in a converging and diverging State;
-just as a _Lens_ converges and diverges the Rays of Light which pass
-through it: And that all Bodies electrify’d are shut up in a _Capsula_
-or Covering of this electric Matter, or lambent Flame, which not only
-passes over it about half an Inch thick, but pervades also every Part
-and Particle of Matter which constitutes that Body; which it may as
-easily do, if it consisted of many Tons Weight, as soon, and from the
-same Necessity, as it would do to one of an Inch Diameter: And that the
-electrify’d Body is intirely seal’d up at each Extremity.
-
-To shew this Fire in a converging State, you may observe, when a
-Gun-barrel, or any long Bar of Iron, is to be electrify’d, and it is in
-a State of Suspension on silk Cords, which are non-electricable, you may
-perceive the Fire issue from a Piece of iron Wire coming from the glass
-Ball, in a lambent Flame, which draws to a Point, and then diverges, and
-drives itself on, till the Gun-barrel, or Bar, is electrify’d.
-
-Its being a Gun-barrel can be no other Reason for its Preference in that
-Shape than in another; but I believe the Occasion of its being used here
-is, because the greatest Effect which has been shewn from Electricity,
-was sent from abroad; and that was caused by suspending a great Gun in a
-non-electricable silk Cord. The Gun seems to have been made use of here
-as being the greatest Quantity of Iron, and in the best Shape, they
-could get it for Suspension. And were a Person so suspended, if he held
-in his Hand a naked Sword, you might see such a lambent Flame passing
-from it, in a converging and diverging State, as before describ’d.
-
-I would further prove this converging Fire, from a late Experiment I
-have heard of, which is as follows: If you suspend an iron Ball by a
-large Piece of Wire, which descends from a Bar of Iron electrify’d, and
-then hold under it, in a Saucer, some small round Bubbles of Glass, near
-enough to be in Contact with the electrical _Vortex_, the glass Balls
-will follow each other round in the Saucer; and each of these Balls, if
-the Experiment be made in the dark, will appear to have a Spot of blue
-Flame at each End of them.
-
-Now, as, by the Contrivance of Man, here is more of this Fire crouded
-together, than was intended by the Author of all Uniformity, seeing, by
-its natural Cohesion, and the infinite Celerity it is spirally driven on
-with, it is no Wonder, in this confined State, if that, which, as Water
-unconfin’d, would be gentle and beneficent, should, with all the Power
-that belongs to it, break out at the first Door which is opened for its
-Passage from this tortur’d State.
-
-It is no Wonder, therefore, that all undisorder’d Nature should be
-equally electrify’d: For how is it possible to have it otherwise? since,
-if a Person stands on the Ground, and touches but the _Capsula_ before
-he touches the Body, the electric Fire starts through him into the
-Ground, as swift as Lightning, and thence into the universal lambent
-Flame, from whence it was taken.
-
-Lightning from hence may in some measure be accounted for; though I
-cannot so exactly tell what collects it together, as I can in this
-factitious Lightning here treated of, yet I can suppose, that the Cause
-of Lightning is produc’d from a great Quantity of this Fire before
-spoken of; which being driven together, and included in a limited State,
-or Covering of some Kind, when discharged from this Covering, it goes
-off in an Explosion, which is Thunder. The Lightning I need not
-describe, being intirely the same with Electricity; for it will kill
-without a Wound, and pass through every thing, as this seems to do.
-
-I am to shew, first, the Cause of its kindling a Flame in certain
-compounded Liquors; which, if what I have supposed be true, that it is
-by the means spoken of that this Fire is collected and driven on, as I
-have said, it is plain to be seen, that at the Finger’s End of a Person
-electrify’d, or at the End of a Sword, held as before described, being
-in a dark Room, a Flame issues from them: It is no Wonder then, that an
-inflammable Spirit, as is shewn, should take Fire from it.
-
-The second Thing I proposed to shew is, Why a Tube of Glass, rubb’d
-smartly in the Hand, so as to become electrical, repels Leaf-Gold,
-Feathers, and other small Bodies; and when they touch any less
-electrify’d Body, they shall return back again to the Tube, and so _vice
-versa_. Now, if what I have been saying be true, how can this
-_Phænomenon_ be otherwise? For, if that Piece of Leaf-Gold, _&c._ be
-electrify’d by the Touch of the Tube, then it has as full Power given to
-it as the electrify’d Body had to give to it: And when the Gold, _&c._
-touches any other Body, it imparts to it so much of its electrical
-Property as it had in itself: And then it may be consider’d in the same
-State it was in when first electrify’d: And so it will be repeatedly
-attracted to it, and be repell’d _toties quoties_.
-
-But it may be asked, What causes these attractive and repulsive
-Faculties? I answer, The Attraction of fiery Particles one to another:
-For, if all Nature be agitated by this Fire, all Things have it in the
-common Proportion, as it was intended they should stand in Nature. And
-therefore, as I have endeavoured to shew, that Electricity is occasioned
-by crouding on any thing more of this Fire and Force than naturally
-belonged to it; and as the Flame of a Candle must of Necessity send out
-of it at its Point an Overplus (without which there could be no
-Succession or free Motion in its Flame); so, for the same Reason, the
-Redundancy of what is crouded on may be consider’d as spending itself at
-each Extremity, that it may thereby reach itself out to any thing, and
-invite it to it; as I have shewn the Flame descending down the Smoak of
-a Candle just blown out to kindle it again, will do.
-
-As therefore there is a trite Proverb, passing universally, that _where
-there is Smoak there must be some Fire_, I will endeavour to prove, That
-no Heat, either from Animals, or from any other Cause, can be produced
-but from this supposed Fire I have been speaking of. For, now, suppose
-you see the Flame of a Candle circumscribed and limited in its Shape and
-Size, which it has according to its Snuff; this Thought may serve to
-illustrate what I mean by the _Capsula_, which I have supposed passing
-over the Surface of every Body when it is electrify’d, and seems to be a
-lambent Flame, being more or less thick, as from the _Apparatus_ more or
-less Fire has been collected and rubbed together on it, either from the
-Friction of a glass Tube, or the Globe: Now, as what I am about to shew,
-is, why this attractive Faculty is found in this Experiment, I would
-offer to your Consideration, Whether, when common People see the Flame
-of a Candle circumscrib’d, they think of any Fire which may proceed
-further than in the Flame of that Candle? Yet every body, on
-Recollection, knows, that the Flame will heat Parts at a great Distance
-to such a Degree, as, at length, to kindle them into a Fire. And tho’,
-till you touch the Flame, your Finger is not immediately burn’d, yet
-there are shewn to be Emanations of Fire at a Distance from its burning
-Quality. So here I beg Leave to consider the same Property in this Fire
-occasion’d by Electricity. For, till you touch this _Capsula_ of lambent
-Flame (which is commonly to be met with near a Quarter of to Half an
-Inch short of the Body to be electrify’d) no Effect is perceiv’d,
-because you have not enter’d into the _Vortex_ of this Whirlpool of
-Fire: Yet you may suppose that it sends out an Emanation of its Fire
-beyond it, as other Flames do; which, when it has first, by its Heat,
-(which I take to be Part of it) prepared small Things to be electrify’d,
-then they are more easily lick’d into the whole Power, and so become
-electrify’d. The Reason therefore, why the Gold, and other light
-Materials, (which I have supposed to have some of this Fire in them) are
-attracted, is, the Invitation they receive from the curling _Effluvia_
-to a closer Contact: And when it has received as much as the former can
-give it, its Invitation ceases, till it has parted with what it had to
-its Neighbour; and then it is again invited as before.
-
-I come now to consider the Violence of this Fire; which, passing thro’
-the Pores of the glass Tube, may, as the Sound of Organ-Pipes, which
-proceeds only from their differently modifying the Air, cause the
-various hissing Noises you hear when the Tube is held nigh the Ear, from
-the Electricity passing through the different shaped Pores of it.
-
-And furthermore the Wind may seem to arise, from the distant Parts of
-the electrical Force playing at some Space from the Tube; which thereby
-agitate and fan the ambient Air, so as to make it feel like Wind.
-
-The third Thing I proposed to shew, is, Why the electrical Power departs
-from one Thing to another by giving a smart Crack, and send-out a Spark,
-which will set on fire many very inflammable Liquors.
-
-Now, (as I have, I hope, demonstrated) when this Fire of Electricity is
-issuing out at a Point into an inflammable Spirit, it can be no Wonder,
-that the Spirit, which is known to be full of Fire, should unite its
-Fire to that of Electricity.
-
-As to the Crack it gives when this Fire passes away: As all Sounds are
-occasioned only by the Air’s being put into a different Modification, it
-is here natural to suppose, that as the Cracking of a Whip is caused by
-the smart Stroke at the Point of it on the Air, so, in this Case, the
-Air seems to be agitated in the same manner, by breaking the Continuity
-of it, whereby the like Sound is perceiv’d.
-
-The next Thing I propose to account for, is, Why a Company of
-unelectrify’d Persons, who are joined together by their holding each a
-Piece of iron Wire betwixt them, tho’ they are ever so many, do all
-receive a violent Blow or Concussion on their Bodies, when one of them
-touches a Piece of electrify’d Iron.—I think this Experiment may be
-carried so far, that, as it has been found already sufficient to kill
-Birds, and hurt many Persons very grievously, it may have Force enough
-given to it to kill a Man, as effectually as the Darting of Lightning
-can do.
-
-For if you consider, that you may as effectually electrify one Quantity
-of Iron as another, that it may be done to many Ton Weight as easily as
-to a small Piece, and that, when it departs into a Person, all the Power
-given to it, not only on its Surface, but intimately thro’ every Pore
-and Particle of it, darts like Lightning from the Point only it was
-touch’d in; then further think, that if this Repercussion, or infinite
-Recoil, from so large and solid a Body, be so great, when its Power is
-thus sent, what may it not do in its utmost Extent?
-
-Having now, I think, gone thro’ what I propos’d to shew, and given a
-Reason, as far as my Conjecture reaches, for every _Phænomenon_ which I
-have seen or heard of in Electricity, I think it may not be improper to
-endeavour to proceed a little farther with it, and consider its Power as
-it stands in Nature. For, since the Antients have ever supposed some
-uniform compulsive Power, which they called the _Anima Mundi_, and which
-by these electrical Experiments seems to be Fire, I will endeavour to
-shew, that, in the Dispersion of it in common Nature, you may observe
-that some Plants abound with it, from the great Vigour they discover,
-compar’d with others in their own Tribe. Some are so, as being of a more
-verdant Nature than others are. Now, from this Consideration, I will
-venture to give a Reason for that which has hitherto puzzled every body
-that has thought about it, which is, Why the Sensitive Plant shrinks;
-and, from a turgid and vivid Appearance, it immediately becomes languid,
-and hangs its Leaves, on the Touch of any other Body or Thing.
-
-Now, from this my Conjecture on Electricity, if you will suppose with
-me, that as all Things, which stand in the common Nature of this lower
-World, have this Fire equally dispersed, and have more or less of it
-only as they are in this or that Place, where more or less of it is
-offer’d to be received by them, or as they are in their own Natures more
-capable of receiving more of it than others are, (as I think has been
-shewn by the electrical Experiments before-mention’d) and then likewise
-suppose the Nature of the Sensitive Plant is to have more of this Fire
-in it than there is in any other Plant or Thing, and it must, by the
-Nature of it, when any of them touches it, impart a great deal of its
-Fire into that Thing by which it is touched; because that had less of it
-than was in the Sensitive Plant. Therefore, till the Sensitive Plant has
-had Time to recover its Vigour, by receiving from the Air more of this
-Fire, its Leaves and Branches hang in a languid State, from the great
-Loss of its Spirit and Fire.
-
-To illustrate this, if you set any small Tree in a Pot upon a Cake of
-Resin, and then electrify the Tree, even tho’ it were a Willow, it would
-grow extremely turgid, so as to erect its Leaves to the great Wonder of
-the Beholder; and the Moment you touch even but one of its Leaves, the
-whole Tree becomes as languid as the Sensitive Plant would be, if
-touched by any Body or Thing.—This I think seems to me to give as great
-a Proof of the Truth of my Conjecture as the Nature of the Thing can
-admit of, respecting the Sensitive Plant.
-
-As I am upon the Subject of Vegetation, it may not be improper to offer
-somewhat concerning the Direction of the _Farina fecundans_, which is
-found in Plants and Flowers, to the _Matrix_ of that, or of a
-neighbouring Plant or Flower.
-
-Now, if there was not some very attracting Influence to guide it, it
-would but seldom happen, I think, that they could come together by
-Chance.—If therefore you suppose, that both the _Matrix_ and the
-_Farina_ abound with more of this Fire than is in any other Part of the
-Plant, or Flower, this great Wonder is at an End: For, by the natural
-Attraction there might be in each, from the Fire supposed to be in them,
-they would fly together, and be closely connected, as they are
-constantly found to be in their proper Season.
-
-I have mention’d, that the _Farina_ of one Plant may impregnate the
-_Matrix_ of another as well as its own; because I have observed
-formerly, at Mr. _Fairchild_’s, a Gardener at _Hoxton_, a Mule-Flower,
-begotten betwixt a Pink and a Sweet-William.
-
-Having consider’d how this electrical Power may be supposed to affect
-Vegetation in its common Growth, I shall reflect a little further
-concerning it, as it may affect animal Life.
-
-We may observe universally, that Youth abounds with infinitely more
-Spirits than Age doth, as well in the Human Species as in the Brute
-Creation; as it is clearly seen in Children, compar’d to Adults; as also
-in Lambs, in Colts, in Kittens, and almost all other Young, they being
-much more vigorous than their Dams are generally seen to be. Now what
-Reflection I would make on this, is, That if Life in them, and in all
-Nature, be owing to the same Fire as causes Electricity, then, from
-thence may proceed the Danger of lodging old People with young Children;
-who, by long Experience, have been found to draw from young Children
-their natural Strength; the old People having in them a less Proportion
-of this Fire than young ones seem to have.
-
-Being about to shew the Evil as well as the Good arising from this
-supposed Fire, I will, in the next place, endeavour to demonstrate, the
-Cause of Blasts in Mankind; and also to give some Reason for the Blights
-on Trees, which I think may be occasioned by this Fire before spoken of.
-
-Having given some Account of the Fire which was seen in the high Wind,
-to corroborate that Truth, I think it proper to inform you, that I have
-been told, by very good Authority, that, in tempestuous Weather at Sea,
-great Flakes of Fire are frequently seen passing not only in the Air,
-but on the Water also: And having myself seen the Sea-Water, in the
-Night-time, appear to have a great Quantity of Fire issuing out of it,
-when the Surface thereof was disturbed by the Feathering of Oars, or by
-the Vessel or Boat passing swiftly through it, I asked a Sailor, At what
-Time that Appearance happened most frequently? He told me, It most
-generally happen’d after tempestuous Weather; or, as his Term was, dirty
-Weather at Sea.
-
-I think this will sufficiently shew the Existence of this Fire in the
-Air; and, if any Regard be had to what I think its Power and Use is in
-the World, that it will intrude itself and force its Way into any Thing
-where less of it is, and so join itself to it by being in a greater
-Quantity; as has been shewn by many electrical Experiments.
-
-You may suppose a Person sitting, as it is too frequently found they
-are, near a Door, or in a Window, when they are in a warm Temperature,
-and in Perspiration; if you believe that there can be any Probability in
-the Conjecture I have offer’d to your Consideration, is it not natural
-for any of this Fire, which passes as frequently through the Air in the
-Daytime (though unobserved) as when it is seen in the Night; I say, Why
-is it not natural for it to force its Entrance into any Person or Thing?
-especially as it comes then with the Assistance of the Stream of Air the
-Person sits in, and with which it is driven.
-
-In order to make this Mischief the more to be regarded, I will endeavour
-to shew the natural State of the Air itself.
-
-Many Writers about it chuse to divide it into two Sorts; the first is
-the pure _Æther_, which is supposed to be moving above our Atmosphere;
-the second is the common Air, which is supposed to be within our
-Atmosphere. I confess, the Feats attributed to the mighty Weight of our
-Atmosphere, in causing Siphons and Pumps, _&c._ to operate, I never
-could understand; but if I were to account for their Operations, as well
-as that of a Barometer, by the Elasticity of the Air, I think I could
-more easily and more naturally shew it.
-
-Notwithstanding what has been advanced concerning the _Æther_, which is
-believed to inhabit above our Atmosphere, I chuse rather to suppose,
-that the Air is an Element as well as Fire, and that the Difference in
-it is only betwixt heavy and foul Air, and clean and light Air. That
-which comes on the highest Mountains is clean, and free from our Fogs
-and Putrefactions, and, consequently, more elastic.
-
-As a Proof of this, I would recommend the following Experiment: Fill a
-Bladder with this clean Air; then press it with a Weight just sufficient
-to make it give way; and you will find, that, by reason of its
-Elasticity, it will yield much further, than if it were fill’d with the
-other Air, which is impregnated with foggy and aqueous Particles.
-
-Now if, as in a Barometer, the Quicksilver is suspended by the Air on
-the Top of the Tube, which was extracted or emerged out of the
-Quicksilver, by the Weight of the said Quicksilver, and as that Air in
-the Barometer cannot but have a Communication with the ambient Air, the
-Air within the Barometer must thence be affected, by its becoming less
-elastic also.
-
-But this is not so much to my present Purpose, as to consider the Air
-loaded not only with Vapours, but with poisonous _Effluvia_ from the
-Steams of various Minerals, as well as with the Salts of dead Insects
-and Animals, which, in the Season of Autumn, may probably occasion so
-many Agues, and putrid Fevers, as are met with.
-
-Now, if you further consider the Air as loaded with any or all of these
-Vapours and _Effluvia_, and demanding Entrance with the Authority of
-Fire, its Companion, is it any Wonder, that the Rheumatism, and many
-other bad Effects, which frequently happen, in unguarded Seasons, to
-Mankind, may be owing to the Cause here treated of?
-
-I remember that a Person, riding in an open Chaise, in an Easterly Wind,
-receiv’d a Stroke upon one of his _Scapula’s_, with as great Pain, and
-with the same kind of Sensation, as if he had been stuck with a Dagger.
-Upon which he instantly said to his Friend in the Chaise, He expected a
-violent Rheumatism from it. Which accordingly happen’d; for he was not
-able to quit his Bed for Three Weeks after.—I think this cannot be
-better accounted for, than to suppose it proceeded from a pointed Body
-of this kind of Fire, and the _Effluvia_ which accompanied it.
-
-If you will be pleased to reflect on the Air in this last described
-State, you need not expect, I think, to have much said concerning the
-Blights on Trees. It is true, somewhat may be consider’d with regard to
-the Insects frequently found on the blighted Leaves: But whether, when
-by the Blight the Leaves have been curl’d up, the Insects come there as
-to a proper _Nidus_, or whether they are brought in this Fire, which
-seems plainly to have burn’d the Leaves, I will not undertake to account
-for.
-
- _I am_, &c.
-
-
-
-
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-
-
-
-
- APPENDIX.
-
-
-The kind Reception this small Treatise has met with from the Public
-occasions the Printing this Second Edition of it.
-
-It is, I confess, some Satisfaction to me, that my publishing it is not
-without Part of the Effect I hoped for; having been told by many, who
-have read it, that it gave them very new and satisfactory Ideas.
-
-As to those who have read it, and say nothing of it, either from their
-Want of Apprehension, or their Fear of being obliged to alter their
-Sentiments concerning it, or from a worse Cause than either, I
-absolutely have no Concern about them.
-
-There are those, I confess, who merit with me the highest Esteem, who,
-having read it, object to some Things, as fearing I have not conceiv’d
-them rightly; but this they have done with the Temper of Gentlemen.
-These I think deserve to be set right; which I will therefore attempt to
-do in the following Manner:
-
-The First Objection they make is, That I have called Silk, Wax, _&c._
-which do not ordinarily convey the electrical Power to other Bodies,
-non-electricable, or non-electrical; when other Writers have long since
-agreed to call them Electrics _per se_.
-
-The Second Objection is, That what I have advanced, to prove that the
-Power of Electricity proceeds not from the _Apparatus_, but from the
-Air, seems to be overthrown; because, since I wrote my Book, there has
-been a new Experiment made, by placing the whole _Apparatus_ on Wax, and
-also the Persons concerned in the Experiment, and by that means the
-Power is intercepted.
-
-The Third Objection is, That so large a Quantity of Iron, as I have
-supposed to be electrify’d, will not give greater Force, when touch’d by
-a Person unelectrify’d, than a smaller one will.
-
-In Answer to the First Objection; I cannot think, that the Term Electric
-_per se_ is suited to any Material whatever; unless some One was found
-out which would attract to it, of its own accord, any other Material; as
-we find a Loadstone will do, when placed near any thing in its Reach:
-but, if you lay even Amber unrubb’d in Contact with Straws, or any other
-Things, they will not be attracted to it. So that Friction, it is plain,
-collects this Power to the Amber.
-
-The Term Electric _per se_ seems to me to be used by these Gentlemen for
-the same Purposes as the old Term of _Occult Quality_ was.
-
-As the Word Electricity arises from Amber, I need not instance in any
-other Material; nor need I give again my Reasons, why certain Things are
-non-electricable. But, for clearing One Point, in which I am not rightly
-apprehended; I have said, That if Fire be the Cause of Life and Increase
-in any thing which stands in a State of Nature, then, whatever ceases to
-be in a State of Life or Increase, must have its Fire withdrawn, and it
-becomes a _Caput Mortuum_.—I have been told, This is not true; for a
-dead Animal will be electrify’d.
-
-This I complain of, as not having been understood concerning it. This
-Animal, though kill’d, had once its animal Increase from Fire. Boards,
-when dry, have Fire in them; because the Fire, which invigorated the
-Tree they were saw’d out of, must naturally remain in them. The like may
-be said of a dead Animal; but Wax, Pitch, Resin, and the Tribe of
-Non-electricables, never had their Existence from Nature only; and
-therefore they are quite of a different Tribe. For what I say is, That
-whatever had once Fire in it is capable of being electrify’d. Those
-called Electrics _per se_, having no Fire in them, when, by Friction,
-Fire is collected on their Surfaces, it is either driven from thence
-into the Air, or into some Electricable, and so it joins with that Fire
-which naturally belongs to it.
-
-Sealing-wax is compounded of Non-electricables, and, if you rub it, will
-attract Things to it as Amber will: And I believe all other Things,
-which will not imbibe the Fire into them, when by Friction it is
-collected on their Surfaces, will dispose of it thence to their next
-Neighbour. Resin and Pitch, from their Tenacity, may difficultly be made
-to do it, and, yet have the Nature in them I am supposing them to have.
-
-There may be such artful Tricks play’d with this Power, as, to an
-undiscerning Eye, may make it seem to be changed; for Instance, If you
-wet a silk Cord (Water being electricable) it passes on the Water
-through the Cord, by the Cord’s only retaining the Water. Some Dye, with
-which Silk is dyed, if it be of a vegetable Nature, will convey this
-Power through the Silk, by the Contiguity of the Dye-Stuff: So that you
-see there may be no End of Experiments.
-
-I think it is a great Pity that the Word _Electricity_ should ever have
-been given to so wonderful _Phænomenon_, which might properly be
-consider’d as the First Principle in Nature. Perhaps the Word _Vivacity_
-might not have been an improper one; but it is now too late to think of
-changing a Name it has so long obtain’d.
-
-As I am going to answer the Second Objection, I own I have not employ’d
-myself in making Experiments in Electricity, chusing rather, if I could,
-to account for those which have been found out by others, than to spend
-much Time in making them myself: Though I pay great Respect to those,
-who, for Improvement of Knowlege, have been employ’d in them. As to
-those who get Money by shewing these Experiments, I do not pay so high a
-Regard to their Performances; because all, who shew any Arts to new
-Customers, for Profit, are bound to try all Means to gain Applause. I
-would endeavour to ascertain the Laws or Principle by which they are
-perform’d; which when done, a Thousand Tricks like Legerdemain may be
-performed by it, by him whose Time is little worth.
-
-In the Second Objection it is said, I am mistaken, when I advance, that
-the _Apparatus_ is not the Cause of Electricity, but that it is produced
-by the Air. To shew this, I am told, That if a Person is placed, and
-also the _Apparatus_, on Wax or Resin (which are non-electricable), no
-Fire or Force is produced from them: But if the Person employ’d in doing
-it touches the Wainscot or the Floor with a Walking-Stick, or the like,
-the Electricity flows as freely as if he stood on the Floor. From whence
-some Conjecture this Power comes from the Earth only; than which I think
-nothing can be more absurd: For, if you fetch it out of the Wainscot, or
-the Boards of the Floor, it must first be in them, and the Air could
-only be the Carrier of it to them. So that here the main Things, which I
-at first only conjectur’d, I think are fully proved; which are, That
-Electricity was not generated by the _Apparatus_, but only collected by
-it out of the Air.
-
-As to the Third Objection to a larger Quantity of electrify’d Iron not
-giving greater Force than a smaller, it should be observ’d, that in this
-Essay I have only conjectured what most probably is true: And as I
-profess not to have been engaged in making electrical Experiments, I
-must rely on those only who have made them: But, surely, if there may be
-too much Iron employ’d to be so affected, as I have imagined, there may
-also be too little; and therefore Time may yet shew, that such a
-Quantity of this Power may be so collected as to kill a Man; since but
-Yesterday I was informed, that a Person, who lives in the _Strand_, is
-now recovering from a Palsy, in which he lost his Speech, and other
-Intellects; which Mischief he received from this Force of Electricity.
-
-I hope what I have written on this Subject will not call on me, from the
-thinking Part of Mankind, any undue Reflection: I have nevertheless met
-with such an unmannerly Abuse from a Country Show-man, who published
-some Experiments, and owns he added the Preface to it, in order to write
-what I am sure no Gentleman would have written—If this Person be poor,
-and did it for Gain, I heartily pity him. He owns he was much
-affrighted, when he heard of my publishing this Piece, because of the
-hard Fate, he says, of his Booksellers; but, before he had read Two
-Pages, he likewise owns he recovered his Spirits, when he found I
-pretended to think for myself, and did not let Sir _Isaac Newton_ think
-for me, after he had been so long dead. I am well satisfy’d, had that
-Great Man been living, and had seen these electrical Experiments, he
-would not have bow’d low to this great Philosopher, for thus supporting
-his Character. His doing this would be as ridiculous as to see a Pygmy
-attempt to carry a Giant. I believe there are more Answers to Books
-written to pay a Landlady, or an Alehouse-Score, than from any other
-Cause; especially, if they think they answer one whose Character will
-call it into the World.—I know nothing of my Adversary’s Finances; but
-how rich soever he may have made himself by his Show, he seems to have
-the Blessing of never being liable to the Headach from his Thinking too
-intensely.
-
-
- _FINIS._
-
-
-
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Transcriber’s note:
-
-Width of em-dashes has been regularised.
-
-Page 8, ‘unphilophical’ changed to ‘unphilosophical,’ “how
-unphilosophical and unmeaning”
-
-Page 16, ‘mortuum’ changed to ‘Mortuum,’ “as a Caput Mortuum. Of”
-
-Page 27, ‘convergeing’ changed to ‘converging,’ “prove this converging
-Fire”
-
-Page 31, ‘wil’ changed to ‘will,’ “so it will be”
-
-Page 56, ‘whetever’ changed to ‘whatever,’ “then, whatever ceases to”
-
-Page 57, second ‘to’ struck, “ceases to be in”
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay to Shew the Cause of
-Electricity, by John Freke
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-<pre>
-
-Project Gutenberg's An Essay to Shew the Cause of Electricity, by John Freke
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: An Essay to Shew the Cause of Electricity
- and Why Some Things are Non-Electricable
-
-Author: John Freke
-
-Release Date: June 30, 2016 [EBook #52439]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY TO SHEW CAUSE OF ELECTRICITY ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
-http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
-generously made available by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<div>
- <h1 class='c000'><span class='small'>AN</span><br /> <br /><span class='xxlarge'>ESSAY</span><br /> <br /><span class='small'>TO SHEW THE</span><br /> <br /><span class='xxlarge'>CAUSE</span><br /> <br /><span class='small'>OF</span><br /> <br /><span class='xlarge'>ELECTRICITY;</span><br /> <br /><span class='small'>AND</span><br /> <br /><span class='small'>Why Some Things are Non-Electricable.</span></h1>
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c001'>
- <div>In which is also Consider’d</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='titlepage'>
-
-<p class='c002'>Its Influence in the <i>Blasts</i> on Human Bodies,
-in the <i>Blights</i> on Trees, in the <i>Damps</i> in
-Mines; and as it may affect the <i>Sensitive
-Plant</i>, &amp;c.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>In a <span class='sc'>Letter</span></div>
- <div>To Mr. <span class='sc'>William Watson</span>, <i>F.R.S.</i></div>
- <div class='c001'>By <span class='sc'>John Freke</span>, Surgeon to <i>St. Bartholomew’s</i></div>
- <div>Hospital, <i>London</i>, F.R.S.</div>
- <div class='c001'><i>Naturam expellas furcâ, tamen usque recurret.</i></div>
- <div class='c001'>The <span class='sc'>Second Edition</span>: With an APPENDIX.</div>
- <div class='c001'><i>LONDON:</i></div>
- <div>Printed for <span class='sc'>W. Innys</span>, in <i>Pater-noster Row</i>.</div>
- <div class='c001'>MDCCXLVI.</div>
- <div>[Price One Shilling.]</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c003' />
-</div>
-<div class='chapter'>
- <h2 class='c004'><span class='small'>TO</span><br /> <br /><i>MARTIN FOLKES</i>, Esq;<br /> <br />PRESIDENT<br /> <br /><span class='small'>OF THE</span><br /> <br />ROYAL SOCIETY.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c005'><i>SIR</i>,</p>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_0_6 c006'>Those who have the
-Honour of your Acquaintance,
-and thence
-know your many excellent
-Qualifications, must applaud
-my Choice in dedicating
-this small Piece to
-you; whose Name, if there
-be any Merit in the Performance,
-will, before any
-other, add a Lustre to it.
-I am, with the highest
-Esteem,</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-r'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><i>Your most Obliged,</i></div>
- <div class='line in2'><i>Humble Servant</i>,</div>
- </div>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line in8'><span class='sc'>John Freke</span>.</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c003' />
-</div>
-<div class='chapter'>
- <h2 class='c004'>The PREFACE.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_0_6 c007'><i>When I first enter’d on this Subject
-of </i>Electricity<i>, I intended
-only to put some Thoughts in Writing
-concerning it, that I might the more
-easily convey them to the Understandings
-of such as I hoped would be more
-likely than I should be to go farther
-with it. And as nobody, either here
-or abroad, had published any thing
-touching the Cause from which it was
-produc’d, I chose to shew the Beginning
-I had made to some Friends, whose
-Opinion concerning Natural Knowlege
-I had a great Reliance on. I told
-them, I thought my Difficulty would
-be to convey what I had to propound on
-this new Subject to them with the necessary
-Clearness, as my Intention was
-to observe the utmost Brevity in it.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><i>After I had read it to them, they
-assured me that what I had written
-was perfectly intelligible; and that it
-gave them many new Ideas respecting
-this </i>Phænomenon<i>; and were very
-earnest with me to print it, for the sake
-of the Publick.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><i>I was not, however, inclined to comply
-with their Requests, till I had
-shewn it to a Person who is most justly
-distinguish’d for his great Candor, and
-superlative Understanding in all Natural
-Knowlege; and he likewise having
-express’d his Wishes to see it in Print,
-I could not but look on his Desire as a
-Command.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><i>If what I have here undertaken to
-shew should enlighten the Minds of
-any of my Readers, or if it should so
-far awaken the Attention of others, as
-to make them give better Reasons for
-the Operation of this Power of Electricity
-than I have done, I shall not account
-the Time ill spent, which I have
-employ’d on this interesting Subject: A
-Subject which can, with more Nobleness
-and Dignity employ the Mind of Man,
-than any I can think of relating to the
-sublunary Part of this World. For
-by it you may be acquainted with the
-immediate Officer of </i>God Almighty<i>,
-which he seems to send to all Things
-living. Nay, this Power, according
-to my Conception, seems to be the Cause,
-under </i>HIM<i>, both of Life and Death.
-And when it may be more fully understood,
-it may afford us Means whereby
-we may be better enabled to reason
-more intelligibly than now we can, concerning
-various Operations in Nature.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><i>I am very sensible what Tribute a
-new Author is liable to pay to Criticks:
-I know it is too common to find
-much too large a Part of them inclin’d
-to look into a Book for its Faults, rather
-than for its Use; and are more
-ready to pull down, than they have Abilities
-to put any thing in its Place. But
-as I am not writing this for any Gain
-to myself, but the Pleasure of informing,
-if I can, the Minds of such as may
-be informed by it, I chuse rather to
-stand their Censure, than deny the Publick
-what may possibly be the Beginning
-of much Good.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><i>It is very probable, that those who
-pretend to know every thing, will be so
-good as to say, if they like what I have
-advanc’d, that it squares exactly with
-what they thought before concerning it:
-And those who set up for Criticks will
-try their Hands at this Performance,
-and, if they can, will condemn it.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><i>It would be a great Wonder, indeed,
-if this should escape the Censure of some,
-when the great Dr. </i>Harvey<i> had his
-implacable Adversaries to his Account
-of the Circulation of the Blood; and even
-Sir </i>Isaac Newton<i> met with Opponents
-to several of his Theorys. What I have
-said opposes no one’s Scheme, that I know
-of; it offers no Sentiments which can
-hurt any Man.</i></p>
-
-<p class='c006'><i>I have advanc’d only Conjectures for
-the clearing those Truths I would establish;
-and if, after all, what appears
-reasonable to me should not appear so
-to others, I cannot help it: For it is
-impossible for all Men to see the same
-Thing in one and the same Light, even
-though they were Men of the best Erudition.
-I would hope, that what I have
-undertaken to shew, is what all sensible
-Men would be glad to have shewn.</i></p>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c003' />
-</div>
-<div class='chapter'>
- <h2 class='c004'><span class='small'>AN</span><br /> <br /><span class='xxlarge'>ESSAY</span><br /> <br /><span class='small'>To Shew</span><br /> <br />From what CAUSES Electricity is<br />Produced, <i>&amp;c.</i></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c005'><i>Kind Sir</i>,</p>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_0_6 c006'>When I reflect on the great
-Ingenuity you have shewn,
-in your <i>Apparatus</i> for the Improvement
-of the Knowlege of Electricity,
-and how industrious and kind you
-have been in communicating the
-many Experiments you have made to
-your Friends and Acquaintance relating
-thereto, I was in hopes, from
-you or some of them, an Essay would
-be made ere this, not only to go farther
-with these Experiments, but to
-give some tolerable Conjecture from
-whence this Fire, and astonishing
-Effect, is produced.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I was going to give you my
-Thoughts concerning it, when I last
-saw you at <i>Child</i>’s Coffee-house; but,
-on Reflection, I chose rather to do it
-in Writing: For, in all Novelty, till
-the Relater is quite understood, Words
-are forgotten easily; but Things of
-this sort in Writing may again and
-again be consider’d.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To begin then: In order to shew
-whence this electrical Fire and Force
-is produc’d, I will first endeavour to
-prove, that it arises not from any of
-the <i>Apparatus</i> itself; not either from
-the glass Ball, nor the Leather, nor
-from the Tube, or Hand that rubs it:
-Because nothing we know of can send
-out of it a Quantity of Matter, but
-there must be less of that Matter remaining,
-after it has been so discharged; whereas
-it cannot be shewn,
-but that the Ball of Glass, after ever
-so many Times using, remains as fit
-for the same Use as at first.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Having, from Probability, I think,
-shewn, that the Fire and Force, here
-treated of, come not from the <i>Apparatus</i>,
-it is natural for me to suppose
-they are produced from the Air they are
-mov’d in. And I believe this Notion
-will not appear trifling, when we
-consider, that the most ancient and
-ablest Philosophers have look’d upon
-the Animal and Vegetable World as
-actuated by Fire; and that they are
-nourish’d by Water, and what it contains.
-If this be allow’d, then the
-Air, which is esteem’d the <i>Pabulum
-Vitæ</i>, from its rubefying the Blood of
-all Animals in Respiration, seems to
-be universally impregnated with this
-Fire. And tho’ there is not enough
-of it so dispersed as to hurt the Animals
-in Respiration, yet I can suppose
-it as universally dispersed, as I can a
-small Quantity of any Liquor dropp’d
-in Water, which, when so dispersed,
-is of no Harm to a Patient, though a
-few Drops of it by themselves would
-have been certain Death. And yet,
-if you farther consider it so dispersed,
-you cannot consider one Particle of
-the Water without a Particle of the
-Medicine: Just so it may be with the
-Fire of this lower Region, or, what I
-chuse rather to call it, this <i>Flamma
-Vitalis</i>.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I proceed now to consider, how
-this Fire, so dispersed, may be collected;
-and have given to it, in
-electrical Experiments, a Force equal
-to, and of the same Nature with,
-Lightning.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To make this Conjecture the more
-easily apprehended, I will suppose,
-that the Nature of Fire is as similar to
-its Parts, and they have as great a Propensity
-to adhere to one another, as
-we find the different Arrangements
-in all natural Bodies have; as may be
-seen in Gems, in Water, and in the various
-<i>Strata</i> of the Earth, and the
-like. Do but force or invite these fiery
-Particles to a closer Contact than they
-have been supposed to be in, when
-uniformly dispersed through all Nature,
-and they are Lightning, or a
-Fire of less Force, as more or less
-Parts of that Fire are got together.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To illustrate this, wax a small
-Thread, or slide a Rope swiftly thro’
-your Fingers, and you are liable to
-burn them: Which probably arises
-from their grinding in, betwixt your
-Fingers and the Rope, so many more
-Particles of Fire than naturally come
-together when left to float in the
-Air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>If this Reasoning be allow’d to be
-just (which it must be, till it is overturn’d
-by stronger Reasoning), then
-it follows, that the Air, which is
-violently ground or rubb’d betwixt
-your Hand and a glass Tube, or betwixt
-a glass Ball whirl’d briskly, and
-rubb’d with a Piece of Leather, as
-they are used in electrical Experiments,
-I say, the Air, so rubb’d, may
-leave behind it that Quantity of agitated
-Fire which causes Electricity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>For, suppose the Ball or Tube inveloped
-with a Quantity of this Fire
-moving spirally round them, with the
-utmost Velocity; and it can no more
-depart from its Company than you
-find Sparks of Fire which fly from
-Steel on a Knife-grinder’s Wheel are
-liable to do. Every body almost can remember
-to have seen them adhere to
-the Wheel, and frequently pursue
-each other quite round it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Those who try these Experiments,
-find, that in moist Weather this
-Power is less attainable than in a more
-clear Day; and therefore some may
-be liable to attribute that to the <i>Apparatus</i>,
-which may be better accounted
-for by the watry Particles in the Air;
-which may be liable to hinder the
-lambent Flame, by me supposed to be
-universally scatter’d, from uniting, by
-the Friction before-mention’d.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As I have mention’d Friction, I
-cannot help observing how unphilosophical
-and unmeaning it is, for any
-one to advance, that Fire is caused
-by Friction; when I think he may
-as well say, that Water is caused by
-Pumping.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>We know, that a Cart or Coach-Wheel,
-for Want of Grease, by Friction
-will be set on Fire; and Fire-Canes,
-rubbed together smartly, will
-take Fire; but neither of these, I believe,
-nor any thing else, will beget or generate
-the Element of Fire. They
-must either collect it out of the Air,
-or else it must be lodged within
-them, as we find it to be in Steel in
-an eminent Degree: For, if you drop
-the Filings of Steel through the Flame
-of a Candle, it sends out the most
-fierce Fire of any thing in Nature.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The Reason to be given why a
-greater Quantity of Fire is produced
-from Steel-Filings, than from any
-other Thing, I take to be owing to
-a larger Share of that Element which
-is impacted in it from its being made
-out of Iron long impregnated with
-Fire.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Many other Bodies have actual
-Fire impacted in them, as Flints, and
-many other hard Stones and Metals;
-but whenever you produce Fire from
-Steel-Filings, you find that Steel
-melted: So when Fire is produced
-from Stones, and the like, each Spark
-is Part of that Stone burnt to a <i>Calx</i>.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Now, as I am endeavouring to
-shew to you the natural Cohesion of
-Fire, and the Propensity there is in
-it to extend itself, I shall offer to
-your Consideration a very familiar
-Instance to prove it; which is that of
-the Snuff of a Candle just blown out.
-You cannot but have observ’d at how
-great a Distance from the Snuff the
-Flame will descend down the Smoke,
-and light it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I shall further take the Liberty to
-observe to you another Proof of this;
-which, I think, will not only shew a
-Propensity in Fire to cohere, but will
-greatly strengthen my Conjecture,
-that this Fire, produced in Electricity,
-is extracted from that I have supposed
-to be universally dispersed.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A Person, who liv’d in the Town
-of <i>Warham</i> in <i>Dorsetshire</i>, in the
-Year 1703, informed me, that in the
-Night of the great Hurricane and
-high Wind, in the strongest Part of
-the Tempest, he saw from his Window,
-on the neighbouring Hills, great
-Bodies of Fire, swiftly passing over
-them on the Ground.—Now whence
-arose that Fire, if it came not from
-the Air impelling it into those Flakes?
-And its subsisting together in that
-Hurricane shews, I think, very plainly,
-that if its Cohesion had not been natural,
-the Wind would then have scatter’d it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Though I apprehend that the Four
-Elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and
-Air, may never have been increased
-or diminished, since the Great <span class='sc'>God</span>
-of Order created them, yet I can
-also apprehend each of them unequally
-dispers’d in the Universe by
-various Causes and Events: And
-when this happens, those which were
-intended, when in their due Order,
-to make every thing happy and easy,
-in their disordered State will create
-nothing but Confusion.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>For Instance, the chief Use of
-Water seems intended, when descending
-in warm and gentle Showers, or
-flowing in kind and easy Streams, to
-chear and nourish all Kinds of Vegetation,
-as well in Trees and Plants, as in
-Herbs and Flowers: But suppose, by
-the Contrivance of Man, or by the
-Accidents of Nature, a large Quantity
-of it lodged on the Tops of high
-Hills, if it breaks its Bank, it will never
-stop, till it finds a natural resting
-Place; and in its Torrent it will overwhelm
-and destroy those Trees and
-Plants, with the Herbs and Flowers,
-it was intended to nourish.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The like may be said of the Fire,
-which I have been supposing uniformly
-dispersed over the Creation;
-which, if its Properties are to invigorate
-all Nature, you must of course
-suppose its Power not to be controul’d;
-but that it passes through
-all the Animal, Mineral, and Vegetable
-Creation, whilst they stand in
-need of Life, or any Increase.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>But as I have been conjecturing
-what different Purposes Water in its
-disorder’d State may produce, so the
-same Consideration may be had concerning
-Fire in its disorder’d State:
-When too much of it is brought together,
-either by the Contrivance of
-Man, or by the Disorders in the other
-Elements; is it not reasonable to suppose,
-that it will, according to its
-natural Appointment, get about its
-Business, and break as soon as it can
-from its Confinement?</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>A very learned and eminent Author,
-who is now living, says, “That
-all Life, whether it be vegetable, sensitive,
-or animal, is only a kindled
-Fire of Life in such a Variety of
-States: And every dead insensitive
-Thing is only so because its Fire is
-quenched.”</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It had been impossible that this wonderful
-<i>Phænomenon</i> of Electricity should
-ever have been discover’d, if there
-had not been such Things as are non-electricable.
-For, as fast as this Fire had
-been driven on any thing, its next
-Neighbour would have carried it further:
-But, when it was most wonderfully
-found out, that any thing
-which was suspended in a silk Cord
-(that being a Non-electricable) was
-obliged to retain the Fire, which by
-electrical Force was driven on it; and
-when, moreover, it appeared, that any
-Person or Thing being placed on a
-Cake of Bees-wax (which also is a
-Non-electricable), it could no more
-part with its Fire, than when suspended
-in a silk Cord, I think it will
-become worth Inquiry, why they are
-not electricable.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To prove this, I would reflect upon
-the Passage before-quoted: For from
-thence I think it must follow, that if
-Fire be the Cause of the Life and Increase
-in any thing, then, whatever
-ceases to be in a State of Life or Increase,
-can no longer be supposed to be
-capable of them; and therefore must
-be consider’d as a <i>Caput Mortuum</i>. Of
-this sort are Bees-wax and Silk, both
-being non-electricable.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To pursue this kind of Reasoning
-concerning them: They are, in
-truth, the Excrements only from
-those Beings which once had Life
-in them; the Wax being the excrementitious
-Matter from Bees,
-which, when made, was to be capable
-of no further Increase or Addition to
-its Nature: For, as its primitive Use
-was only intended to make Combs or
-Cells to preserve the Honey through
-the different Changes of the Season,
-so if this Wax had been liable to Alterations
-from this Fire (as all Things
-which are endued with it are) then
-the Cells would not have remained so
-intire as the wonderful Architects left
-them.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As concerning the Silk, I look on
-it as an excrementitious Matter also;
-designed by <span class='sc'>God</span> Almighty (who
-makes nothing in vain) to become a
-<i>Capsula</i> or Coffin to preserve the Insect
-in it safely, for such a Season
-as was intended it should remain
-there.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>All resinous Bodies are likewise
-non-electricable; which I think will
-tend rather to prove my Conjecture
-to be true than false: For, are there
-such Things as Pitch or Resin in
-<i>Nature</i>? Are they not made out of
-the Juice of Plants? Which Plants,
-whilst they remained in the Life of
-Nature, had nothing but their unalter’d
-Juice in them. Pitch and Resin
-became so by Art; and therefore no
-Time or Chance can give an Increase
-to their Quantity: From whence they
-may be supposed not to be in the
-Course of Nature.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I am aware what Objection this is
-liable to; for, though it must be
-acknowleg’d that these Things are
-non-electricable, it may be asked, If
-they are not the most inflammable
-Things that can be imagined, and, consequently,
-susceptible of Fire; because
-Candles are made out of Wax, and
-Torches out of Pitch and Resin?
-To which I answer, That here it may
-be necessary to inquire, what occasions
-this Flame, which is produced
-either from the Candle or Torch?
-Can this Flame subsist one Moment,
-without the Passage of Air through
-it? I answer, No. Well then, as this
-Treatise is not intended merely to
-state Facts, but to account for the
-Nature of them, by the best Conjectures
-I can make, pray why does Air
-keep this Flame subsisting? If you
-will suppose, with me, that the Cause
-of all Heat, and the Appearance of
-all Fire in the World, is collected out
-of this universal Element of Fire;
-which, perhaps, will never increase
-nor diminish; it being dispersed where
-it is most invited; if therefore, I say,
-you will suppose with me, that this
-Air, which is full of a lambent Flame,
-when it has been invited by the Property
-supposed to be in it, that the
-biggest Body congregates the less;
-from these Considerations, I think
-it may be supposed, that the Flame
-of Fire is produced out of the Air,
-only; the Wax or Resin being a fatty
-sulphureous Matter, which, as Coals,
-may likewise be supposed to serve as
-a <i>Pabulum</i>, fitly adapted only to
-let this Element pass through it, for
-the Purposes here described.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The more of the Air that passes
-through them, the quicker they burn;
-as when the Snuff of a Candle is taken
-off, which hindered the Quantity to
-pass thro’ it, it increases the Flame;
-though, before, the same Materials
-were employ’d. The same may be
-said of clearing the Ashes from, and
-stirring the Fire; which impeded the
-Quantity of Air from leaving its Fire
-behind, in its Passage through the
-Coals.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>If the Wax had any Inherency of
-Fire in its Nature, Why, if you turn a
-lighted Candle downwards, does the
-Wax extinguish the Flame? If this
-my Conjecture be difficultly conceiv’d,
-pray let me farther ask, Why does a
-Candle, which is lighted, and let
-down into a Mine where there is a
-Damp, go out? In a large Mine
-there is Space enough surely for a
-Candle to burn in, if there had been
-enough of that <i>Pabulum Vitæ</i> left in
-the stagnated Air which occupy’d
-that large Cavern.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Now, if you will suppose, with me,
-that this Air had been robb’d of its
-Fire, by its supporting and keeping
-alive such Things under-ground as its
-Business is to do every-where, and
-that Space was left full of stagnated
-Air, and therefore could not admit
-of fresh to enter, it became impossible
-for Fire, or any living Creature,
-to subsist there.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The Cure of this Evil is performed
-in Mines by a Horse-Mill, which
-works large Bellows, that drive fresh
-Air down a Shaft made for that Purpose.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I remember Dr. <i>Halley</i> told me,
-that he once try’d the Experiment of
-making a factitious Damp; which he
-did, by exhausting the Air out of the
-Receiver of an Air-Pump, and then
-luting to a Stop-cock a Gun-barrel;
-the other End of which he put into a
-Charcoal-Fire, and with the Air,
-which pass’d thro’ the Fire, he fill’d
-the Receiver again; he told me that
-it instantly kill’d a Mouse he put
-into it, and many other Animals, just
-as Damps did: Now how will you
-account for this, if you suppose not
-that its Fire was extinguish’d, and
-carried from it another Way?</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Having thus far, I hope, prepared
-your Mind to understand what I apprehend
-the Element of Fire is, and
-what its Office seems to be, I will
-shew, if I can,</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>First, Why, in Electricity, Fire proceeds
-from an electrical Body, so as to
-light into a Flame many different
-Compositions.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Secondly, Why a Tube of Glass,
-when rubbed so as to be made electrical,
-will not only attract to it, but
-repel from it alternately, any light
-Body, as Leaf-Gold, Feathers, and
-the like: And also, why it will seem
-to send from it a Quantity of Wind,
-with a singing small Noise, if you
-hold it nigh to your Cheek and Ear.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Thirdly, Why, when any unelectrify’d
-Body touches any thing electrify’d,
-the Electricity breaks off with a
-smart Crack, and a Spark of Fire.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Fourthly, Why a Number of Men,
-who are joined together by holding
-any metallic Body betwixt them, if
-one of them touch a Piece of Iron
-electrify’d, the whole Company shall
-feel a violent Concussion, in proportion
-to the Largeness of the Body
-electrify’d.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>First, I will endeavour to shew,
-Why an electrify’d Body will kindle
-an <i>Alcohol</i>, or rectify’d Spirit of Wine,
-and many other compounded Liquors,
-into a Flame.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>After having attempted to prove to
-you, that the Cause of Electricity
-arises from the universal Fire scatter’d
-through all Nature, by its being
-rubb’d together in its Passage betwixt
-a glass Ball and a Piece of Leather, <i>&amp;c.</i>
-I hope I shall make it appear, that it
-passes from thence, to the Body electrify’d,
-in a converging and diverging
-State; just as a <i>Lens</i> converges and
-diverges the Rays of Light which pass
-through it: And that all Bodies electrify’d
-are shut up in a <i>Capsula</i> or
-Covering of this electric Matter, or
-lambent Flame, which not only passes
-over it about half an Inch thick,
-but pervades also every Part and
-Particle of Matter which constitutes
-that Body; which it may as easily
-do, if it consisted of many Tons
-Weight, as soon, and from the same
-Necessity, as it would do to one of
-an Inch Diameter: And that the
-electrify’d Body is intirely seal’d up
-at each Extremity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To shew this Fire in a converging
-State, you may observe, when a Gun-barrel,
-or any long Bar of Iron, is to be
-electrify’d, and it is in a State of Suspension
-on silk Cords, which are non-electricable,
-you may perceive the Fire
-issue from a Piece of iron Wire coming
-from the glass Ball, in a lambent
-Flame, which draws to a Point, and
-then diverges, and drives itself on, till
-the Gun-barrel, or Bar, is electrify’d.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Its being a Gun-barrel can be no
-other Reason for its Preference in that
-Shape than in another; but I believe
-the Occasion of its being used here is,
-because the greatest Effect which has
-been shewn from Electricity, was sent
-from abroad; and that was caused
-by suspending a great Gun in a non-electricable
-silk Cord. The Gun seems
-to have been made use of here
-as being the greatest Quantity of
-Iron, and in the best Shape, they
-could get it for Suspension. And
-were a Person so suspended, if
-he held in his Hand a naked Sword,
-you might see such a lambent Flame
-passing from it, in a converging and
-diverging State, as before describ’d.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I would further prove this converging
-Fire, from a late Experiment I
-have heard of, which is as follows:
-If you suspend an iron Ball by a large
-Piece of Wire, which descends from
-a Bar of Iron electrify’d, and then
-hold under it, in a Saucer, some small
-round Bubbles of Glass, near enough
-to be in Contact with the electrical
-<i>Vortex</i>, the glass Balls will follow
-each other round in the Saucer; and
-each of these Balls, if the Experiment
-be made in the dark, will appear to
-have a Spot of blue Flame at each
-End of them.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Now, as, by the Contrivance of
-Man, here is more of this Fire crouded
-together, than was intended by the
-Author of all Uniformity, seeing, by
-its natural Cohesion, and the infinite
-Celerity it is spirally driven on with,
-it is no Wonder, in this confined State,
-if that, which, as Water unconfin’d,
-would be gentle and beneficent,
-should, with all the Power that belongs
-to it, break out at the first Door
-which is opened for its Passage from
-this tortur’d State.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is no Wonder, therefore, that all
-undisorder’d Nature should be equally
-electrify’d: For how is it possible to
-have it otherwise? since, if a Person
-stands on the Ground, and touches but
-the <i>Capsula</i> before he touches the Body,
-the electric Fire starts through him into
-the Ground, as swift as Lightning,
-and thence into the universal lambent
-Flame, from whence it was taken.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Lightning from hence may in some
-measure be accounted for; though I
-cannot so exactly tell what collects it
-together, as I can in this factitious
-Lightning here treated of, yet I can
-suppose, that the Cause of Lightning
-is produc’d from a great Quantity of
-this Fire before spoken of; which being
-driven together, and included in
-a limited State, or Covering of some
-Kind, when discharged from this Covering,
-it goes off in an Explosion,
-which is Thunder. The Lightning I
-need not describe, being intirely the
-same with Electricity; for it will kill
-without a Wound, and pass through
-every thing, as this seems to do.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I am to shew, first, the Cause of
-its kindling a Flame in certain compounded
-Liquors; which, if what I
-have supposed be true, that it is by
-the means spoken of that this Fire is
-collected and driven on, as I have said,
-it is plain to be seen, that at the Finger’s
-End of a Person electrify’d, or at
-the End of a Sword, held as before
-described, being in a dark Room, a
-Flame issues from them: It is no
-Wonder then, that an inflammable
-Spirit, as is shewn, should take Fire
-from it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The second Thing I proposed to
-shew is, Why a Tube of Glass, rubb’d
-smartly in the Hand, so as to become
-electrical, repels Leaf-Gold, Feathers,
-and other small Bodies; and when
-they touch any less electrify’d Body,
-they shall return back again to the
-Tube, and so <i>vice versa</i>. Now, if
-what I have been saying be true, how
-can this <i>Phænomenon</i> be otherwise?
-For, if that Piece of Leaf-Gold, <i>&amp;c.</i>
-be electrify’d by the Touch of the
-Tube, then it has as full Power given
-to it as the electrify’d Body had to
-give to it: And when the Gold, <i>&amp;c.</i>
-touches any other Body, it imparts to
-it so much of its electrical Property as
-it had in itself: And then it may be
-consider’d in the same State it was in
-when first electrify’d: And so it will
-be repeatedly attracted to it, and be
-repell’d <i>toties quoties</i>.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>But it may be asked, What causes
-these attractive and repulsive Faculties?
-I answer, The Attraction of fiery
-Particles one to another: For, if all
-Nature be agitated by this Fire, all
-Things have it in the common Proportion,
-as it was intended they
-should stand in Nature. And therefore,
-as I have endeavoured to shew,
-that Electricity is occasioned by
-crouding on any thing more of this
-Fire and Force than naturally belonged
-to it; and as the Flame of a
-Candle must of Necessity send out of
-it at its Point an Overplus (without
-which there could be no Succession or
-free Motion in its Flame); so, for the
-same Reason, the Redundancy of
-what is crouded on may be consider’d
-as spending itself at each Extremity,
-that it may thereby reach itself out to
-any thing, and invite it to it; as I
-have shewn the Flame descending
-down the Smoak of a Candle just
-blown out to kindle it again, will do.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As therefore there is a trite Proverb,
-passing universally, that <i>where there
-is Smoak there must be some Fire</i>, I will
-endeavour to prove, That no Heat,
-either from Animals, or from any
-other Cause, can be produced but
-from this supposed Fire I have been
-speaking of. For, now, suppose you
-see the Flame of a Candle circumscribed
-and limited in its Shape and
-Size, which it has according to its
-Snuff; this Thought may serve to illustrate
-what I mean by the <i>Capsula</i>,
-which I have supposed passing over
-the Surface of every Body when it is
-electrify’d, and seems to be a lambent
-Flame, being more or less thick, as
-from the <i>Apparatus</i> more or less Fire
-has been collected and rubbed together
-on it, either from the Friction of a
-glass Tube, or the Globe: Now, as
-what I am about to shew, is, why
-this attractive Faculty is found in this
-Experiment, I would offer to your
-Consideration, Whether, when common
-People see the Flame of a Candle
-circumscrib’d, they think of any
-Fire which may proceed further than
-in the Flame of that Candle? Yet
-every body, on Recollection, knows,
-that the Flame will heat Parts at a
-great Distance to such a Degree, as,
-at length, to kindle them into a Fire.
-And tho’, till you touch the Flame,
-your Finger is not immediately burn’d,
-yet there are shewn to be Emanations
-of Fire at a Distance from its burning
-Quality. So here I beg Leave to
-consider the same Property in this
-Fire occasion’d by Electricity. For,
-till you touch this <i>Capsula</i> of lambent
-Flame (which is commonly to be met
-with near a Quarter of to Half an
-Inch short of the Body to be electrify’d)
-no Effect is perceiv’d, because
-you have not enter’d into the <i>Vortex</i>
-of this Whirlpool of Fire: Yet you
-may suppose that it sends out an
-Emanation of its Fire beyond it, as
-other Flames do; which, when it
-has first, by its Heat, (which I
-take to be Part of it) prepared small
-Things to be electrify’d, then they are
-more easily lick’d into the whole Power,
-and so become electrify’d. The Reason
-therefore, why the Gold, and other light
-Materials, (which I have supposed to
-have some of this Fire in them) are
-attracted, is, the Invitation they receive
-from the curling <i>Effluvia</i> to a
-closer Contact: And when it has received
-as much as the former can
-give it, its Invitation ceases, till it has
-parted with what it had to its Neighbour;
-and then it is again invited as
-before.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I come now to consider the Violence
-of this Fire; which, passing
-thro’ the Pores of the glass Tube, may,
-as the Sound of Organ-Pipes, which
-proceeds only from their differently
-modifying the Air, cause the various
-hissing Noises you hear when the Tube
-is held nigh the Ear, from the Electricity
-passing through the different
-shaped Pores of it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>And furthermore the Wind may
-seem to arise, from the distant Parts
-of the electrical Force playing at
-some Space from the Tube; which
-thereby agitate and fan the ambient
-Air, so as to make it feel like Wind.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The third Thing I proposed to
-shew, is, Why the electrical Power
-departs from one Thing to another
-by giving a smart Crack, and send-out
-a Spark, which will set on fire
-many very inflammable Liquors.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Now, (as I have, I hope, demonstrated)
-when this Fire of Electricity
-is issuing out at a Point into
-an inflammable Spirit, it can be no
-Wonder, that the Spirit, which is
-known to be full of Fire, should unite
-its Fire to that of Electricity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As to the Crack it gives when this
-Fire passes away: As all Sounds are
-occasioned only by the Air’s being
-put into a different Modification, it
-is here natural to suppose, that as
-the Cracking of a Whip is caused by
-the smart Stroke at the Point of it on
-the Air, so, in this Case, the Air seems
-to be agitated in the same manner,
-by breaking the Continuity of it,
-whereby the like Sound is perceiv’d.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The next Thing I propose to account
-for, is, Why a Company of
-unelectrify’d Persons, who are joined
-together by their holding each a Piece
-of iron Wire betwixt them, tho’ they
-are ever so many, do all receive a
-violent Blow or Concussion on their
-Bodies, when one of them touches a
-Piece of electrify’d Iron.—I think
-this Experiment may be carried so far,
-that, as it has been found already sufficient
-to kill Birds, and hurt many
-Persons very grievously, it may have
-Force enough given to it to kill a
-Man, as effectually as the Darting of
-Lightning can do.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>For if you consider, that you may
-as effectually electrify one Quantity of
-Iron as another, that it may be done
-to many Ton Weight as easily as to a
-small Piece, and that, when it departs
-into a Person, all the Power given to
-it, not only on its Surface, but intimately
-thro’ every Pore and Particle
-of it, darts like Lightning from the
-Point only it was touch’d in; then
-further think, that if this Repercussion,
-or infinite Recoil, from so large
-and solid a Body, be so great, when
-its Power is thus sent, what may it
-not do in its utmost Extent?</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Having now, I think, gone thro’
-what I propos’d to shew, and given
-a Reason, as far as my Conjecture
-reaches, for every <i>Phænomenon</i> which
-I have seen or heard of in Electricity,
-I think it may not be improper to
-endeavour to proceed a little farther
-with it, and consider its Power as it
-stands in Nature. For, since the
-Antients have ever supposed some uniform
-compulsive Power, which they
-called the <i>Anima Mundi</i>, and which
-by these electrical Experiments seems
-to be Fire, I will endeavour to shew,
-that, in the Dispersion of it in common
-Nature, you may observe that
-some Plants abound with it, from the
-great Vigour they discover, compar’d
-with others in their own Tribe. Some
-are so, as being of a more verdant
-Nature than others are. Now, from
-this Consideration, I will venture to
-give a Reason for that which has
-hitherto puzzled every body that has
-thought about it, which is, Why the
-Sensitive Plant shrinks; and, from a
-turgid and vivid Appearance, it immediately
-becomes languid, and hangs
-its Leaves, on the Touch of any other
-Body or Thing.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Now, from this my Conjecture on
-Electricity, if you will suppose with
-me, that as all Things, which stand
-in the common Nature of this lower
-World, have this Fire equally dispersed,
-and have more or less of it
-only as they are in this or that Place,
-where more or less of it is offer’d to
-be received by them, or as they are
-in their own Natures more capable of
-receiving more of it than others are,
-(as I think has been shewn by the
-electrical Experiments before-mention’d)
-and then likewise suppose the
-Nature of the Sensitive Plant is to
-have more of this Fire in it than there
-is in any other Plant or Thing, and
-it must, by the Nature of it, when
-any of them touches it, impart a
-great deal of its Fire into that Thing
-by which it is touched; because that
-had less of it than was in the Sensitive
-Plant. Therefore, till the Sensitive
-Plant has had Time to recover its
-Vigour, by receiving from the Air
-more of this Fire, its Leaves and
-Branches hang in a languid State,
-from the great Loss of its Spirit and
-Fire.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>To illustrate this, if you set any
-small Tree in a Pot upon a Cake of
-Resin, and then electrify the Tree,
-even tho’ it were a Willow, it would
-grow extremely turgid, so as to erect
-its Leaves to the great Wonder of the
-Beholder; and the Moment you touch
-even but one of its Leaves, the whole
-Tree becomes as languid as the Sensitive
-Plant would be, if touched by
-any Body or Thing.—This I think
-seems to me to give as great a Proof
-of the Truth of my Conjecture as the
-Nature of the Thing can admit of,
-respecting the Sensitive Plant.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As I am upon the Subject of Vegetation,
-it may not be improper to
-offer somewhat concerning the Direction
-of the <i>Farina fecundans</i>, which
-is found in Plants and Flowers, to
-the <i>Matrix</i> of that, or of a neighbouring
-Plant or Flower.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Now, if there was not some very
-attracting Influence to guide it, it
-would but seldom happen, I think,
-that they could come together by
-Chance.—If therefore you suppose,
-that both the <i>Matrix</i> and the <i>Farina</i>
-abound with more of this Fire than is
-in any other Part of the Plant, or
-Flower, this great Wonder is at an
-End: For, by the natural Attraction
-there might be in each, from the Fire
-supposed to be in them, they would
-fly together, and be closely connected,
-as they are constantly found to be in
-their proper Season.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I have mention’d, that the <i>Farina</i>
-of one Plant may impregnate the
-<i>Matrix</i> of another as well as its own;
-because I have observed formerly, at
-Mr. <i>Fairchild</i>’s, a Gardener at <i>Hoxton</i>,
-a Mule-Flower, begotten betwixt
-a Pink and a Sweet-William.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Having consider’d how this electrical
-Power may be supposed to
-affect Vegetation in its common
-Growth, I shall reflect a little further
-concerning it, as it may affect animal
-Life.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>We may observe universally, that
-Youth abounds with infinitely more
-Spirits than Age doth, as well in the
-Human Species as in the Brute Creation;
-as it is clearly seen in Children,
-compar’d to Adults; as also in Lambs,
-in Colts, in Kittens, and almost all
-other Young, they being much more
-vigorous than their Dams are generally
-seen to be. Now what Reflection
-I would make on this, is, That
-if Life in them, and in all Nature,
-be owing to the same Fire as causes
-Electricity, then, from thence may
-proceed the Danger of lodging old
-People with young Children; who,
-by long Experience, have been found
-to draw from young Children their
-natural Strength; the old People having
-in them a less Proportion of this
-Fire than young ones seem to have.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Being about to shew the Evil as
-well as the Good arising from this
-supposed Fire, I will, in the next
-place, endeavour to demonstrate, the
-Cause of Blasts in Mankind; and
-also to give some Reason for the
-Blights on Trees, which I think may
-be occasioned by this Fire before
-spoken of.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Having given some Account of the
-Fire which was seen in the high Wind,
-to corroborate that Truth, I think it
-proper to inform you, that I have
-been told, by very good Authority,
-that, in tempestuous Weather at Sea,
-great Flakes of Fire are frequently
-seen passing not only in the Air, but
-on the Water also: And having
-myself seen the Sea-Water, in the
-Night-time, appear to have a great
-Quantity of Fire issuing out of it,
-when the Surface thereof was disturbed
-by the Feathering of Oars, or
-by the Vessel or Boat passing swiftly
-through it, I asked a Sailor, At what
-Time that Appearance happened most
-frequently? He told me, It most generally
-happen’d after tempestuous
-Weather; or, as his Term was, dirty
-Weather at Sea.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I think this will sufficiently shew
-the Existence of this Fire in the Air;
-and, if any Regard be had to what
-I think its Power and Use is in the
-World, that it will intrude itself
-and force its Way into any Thing
-where less of it is, and so join itself to
-it by being in a greater Quantity; as
-has been shewn by many electrical
-Experiments.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>You may suppose a Person sitting,
-as it is too frequently found they are,
-near a Door, or in a Window, when
-they are in a warm Temperature, and
-in Perspiration; if you believe that
-there can be any Probability in the
-Conjecture I have offer’d to your
-Consideration, is it not natural for
-any of this Fire, which passes as frequently
-through the Air in the Daytime
-(though unobserved) as when it
-is seen in the Night; I say, Why is
-it not natural for it to force its Entrance
-into any Person or Thing?
-especially as it comes then with
-the Assistance of the Stream of Air
-the Person sits in, and with which it
-is driven.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In order to make this Mischief the
-more to be regarded, I will endeavour
-to shew the natural State of the Air
-itself.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Many Writers about it chuse to divide
-it into two Sorts; the first is the
-pure <i>Æther</i>, which is supposed to be
-moving above our Atmosphere; the
-second is the common Air, which is
-supposed to be within our Atmosphere.
-I confess, the Feats attributed to the
-mighty Weight of our Atmosphere,
-in causing Siphons and Pumps, <i>&amp;c.</i>
-to operate, I never could understand;
-but if I were to account for their
-Operations, as well as that of a
-Barometer, by the Elasticity of the
-Air, I think I could more easily and
-more naturally shew it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Notwithstanding what has been advanced
-concerning the <i>Æther</i>, which
-is believed to inhabit above our Atmosphere,
-I chuse rather to suppose, that
-the Air is an Element as well as Fire,
-and that the Difference in it is only betwixt
-heavy and foul Air, and clean
-and light Air. That which comes
-on the highest Mountains is clean,
-and free from our Fogs and Putrefactions,
-and, consequently, more
-elastic.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As a Proof of this, I would recommend
-the following Experiment:
-Fill a Bladder with this clean Air;
-then press it with a Weight just sufficient
-to make it give way; and you
-will find, that, by reason of its Elasticity,
-it will yield much further, than
-if it were fill’d with the other Air,
-which is impregnated with foggy and
-aqueous Particles.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Now if, as in a Barometer, the Quicksilver
-is suspended by the Air on the
-Top of the Tube, which was extracted
-or emerged out of the Quicksilver,
-by the Weight of the said Quicksilver,
-and as that Air in the Barometer cannot
-but have a Communication with
-the ambient Air, the Air within
-the Barometer must thence be affected,
-by its becoming less elastic
-also.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>But this is not so much to my present
-Purpose, as to consider the Air
-loaded not only with Vapours, but
-with poisonous <i>Effluvia</i> from the
-Steams of various Minerals, as well as
-with the Salts of dead Insects and
-Animals, which, in the Season of
-Autumn, may probably occasion so
-many Agues, and putrid Fevers, as
-are met with.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Now, if you further consider the
-Air as loaded with any or all of
-these Vapours and <i>Effluvia</i>, and demanding
-Entrance with the Authority
-of Fire, its Companion, is it any Wonder,
-that the Rheumatism, and many
-other bad Effects, which frequently
-happen, in unguarded Seasons, to
-Mankind, may be owing to the Cause
-here treated of?</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I remember that a Person, riding
-in an open Chaise, in an Easterly
-Wind, receiv’d a Stroke upon one of
-his <i>Scapula’s</i>, with as great Pain, and
-with the same kind of Sensation, as if
-he had been stuck with a Dagger.
-Upon which he instantly said to his
-Friend in the Chaise, He expected a
-violent Rheumatism from it. Which
-accordingly happen’d; for he was not
-able to quit his Bed for Three Weeks
-after.—I think this cannot be better
-accounted for, than to suppose it proceeded
-from a pointed Body of this
-kind of Fire, and the <i>Effluvia</i> which
-accompanied it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>If you will be pleased to reflect on
-the Air in this last described State,
-you need not expect, I think, to
-have much said concerning the Blights
-on Trees. It is true, somewhat may
-be consider’d with regard to the
-Insects frequently found on the
-blighted Leaves: But whether, when
-by the Blight the Leaves have been
-curl’d up, the Insects come there as
-to a proper <i>Nidus</i>, or whether they are
-brought in this Fire, which seems
-plainly to have burn’d the Leaves, I
-will not undertake to account for.</p>
-
-<div class='lg-container-r'>
- <div class='linegroup'>
- <div class='group'>
- <div class='line'><i>I am</i>, &amp;c.</div>
- </div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c003' />
-</div>
-<div class='chapter'>
- <h2 class='c004'>APPENDIX.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class='drop-capa0_0_0_6 c007'>The kind Reception this small
-Treatise has met with from
-the Public occasions the Printing this
-Second Edition of it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>It is, I confess, some Satisfaction to
-me, that my publishing it is not without
-Part of the Effect I hoped for;
-having been told by many, who have
-read it, that it gave them very new
-and satisfactory Ideas.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As to those who have read it, and
-say nothing of it, either from their
-Want of Apprehension, or their Fear
-of being obliged to alter their Sentiments
-concerning it, or from a worse
-Cause than either, I absolutely have
-no Concern about them.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There are those, I confess, who merit
-with me the highest Esteem, who,
-having read it, object to some Things,
-as fearing I have not conceiv’d them
-rightly; but this they have done with
-the Temper of Gentlemen. These I
-think deserve to be set right; which
-I will therefore attempt to do in the
-following Manner:</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The First Objection they make is,
-That I have called Silk, Wax, <i>&amp;c.</i>
-which do not ordinarily convey the
-electrical Power to other Bodies, non-electricable,
-or non-electrical; when
-other Writers have long since agreed
-to call them Electrics <i>per se</i>.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The Second Objection is, That
-what I have advanced, to prove that
-the Power of Electricity proceeds not
-from the <i>Apparatus</i>, but from the Air,
-seems to be overthrown; because,
-since I wrote my Book, there has been
-a new Experiment made, by placing
-the whole <i>Apparatus</i> on Wax, and
-also the Persons concerned in the Experiment,
-and by that means the
-Power is intercepted.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The Third Objection is, That so
-large a Quantity of Iron, as I have
-supposed to be electrify’d, will not
-give greater Force, when touch’d by
-a Person unelectrify’d, than a smaller
-one will.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In Answer to the First Objection;
-I cannot think, that the Term Electric
-<i>per se</i> is suited to any Material
-whatever; unless some One was
-found out which would attract to it,
-of its own accord, any other Material;
-as we find a Loadstone will do, when
-placed near any thing in its Reach:
-but, if you lay even Amber unrubb’d
-in Contact with Straws, or any other
-Things, they will not be attracted to
-it. So that Friction, it is plain, collects
-this Power to the Amber.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>The Term Electric <i>per se</i> seems to
-me to be used by these Gentlemen for
-the same Purposes as the old Term of
-<i>Occult Quality</i> was.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As the Word Electricity arises from
-Amber, I need not instance in any
-other Material; nor need I give again
-my Reasons, why certain Things are
-non-electricable. But, for clearing
-One Point, in which I am not rightly
-apprehended; I have said, That if
-Fire be the Cause of Life and Increase
-in any thing which stands in a State
-of Nature, then, whatever ceases to
-be in a State of Life or Increase,
-must have its Fire withdrawn, and it
-becomes a <i>Caput Mortuum</i>.—I
-have been told, This is not true; for
-a dead Animal will be electrify’d.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>This I complain of, as not having
-been understood concerning it.
-This Animal, though kill’d, had once
-its animal Increase from Fire. Boards,
-when dry, have Fire in them; because
-the Fire, which invigorated the
-Tree they were saw’d out of, must
-naturally remain in them. The like
-may be said of a dead Animal; but
-Wax, Pitch, Resin, and the Tribe of
-Non-electricables, never had their Existence
-from Nature only; and therefore
-they are quite of a different Tribe.
-For what I say is, That whatever had
-once Fire in it is capable of being
-electrify’d. Those called Electrics
-<i>per se</i>, having no Fire in them, when,
-by Friction, Fire is collected on their
-Surfaces, it is either driven from thence
-into the Air, or into some Electricable,
-and so it joins with that Fire which
-naturally belongs to it.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>Sealing-wax is compounded of
-Non-electricables, and, if you rub it,
-will attract Things to it as Amber
-will: And I believe all other Things,
-which will not imbibe the Fire into
-them, when by Friction it is collected
-on their Surfaces, will dispose
-of it thence to their next Neighbour.
-Resin and Pitch, from their Tenacity,
-may difficultly be made to do it, and,
-yet have the Nature in them I am
-supposing them to have.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>There may be such artful Tricks
-play’d with this Power, as, to an
-undiscerning Eye, may make it seem
-to be changed; for Instance, If you
-wet a silk Cord (Water being electricable)
-it passes on the Water through
-the Cord, by the Cord’s only retaining
-the Water. Some Dye, with
-which Silk is dyed, if it be of a vegetable
-Nature, will convey this Power
-through the Silk, by the Contiguity
-of the Dye-Stuff: So that you see
-there may be no End of Experiments.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I think it is a great Pity that the
-Word <i>Electricity</i> should ever have
-been given to so wonderful <i>Phænomenon</i>,
-which might properly be consider’d
-as the First Principle in Nature.
-Perhaps the Word <i>Vivacity</i> might not
-have been an improper one; but it is
-now too late to think of changing a
-Name it has so long obtain’d.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As I am going to answer the Second
-Objection, I own I have not
-employ’d myself in making Experiments
-in Electricity, chusing rather,
-if I could, to account for those which
-have been found out by others, than
-to spend much Time in making them
-myself: Though I pay great Respect
-to those, who, for Improvement of
-Knowlege, have been employ’d in
-them. As to those who get Money
-by shewing these Experiments, I
-do not pay so high a Regard to their
-Performances; because all, who shew
-any Arts to new Customers, for Profit,
-are bound to try all Means to
-gain Applause. I would endeavour
-to ascertain the Laws or Principle by
-which they are perform’d; which
-when done, a Thousand Tricks like
-Legerdemain may be performed by
-it, by him whose Time is little worth.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>In the Second Objection it is said,
-I am mistaken, when I advance, that
-the <i>Apparatus</i> is not the Cause of
-Electricity, but that it is produced by
-the Air. To shew this, I am told,
-That if a Person is placed, and also
-the <i>Apparatus</i>, on Wax or Resin
-(which are non-electricable), no Fire
-or Force is produced from them: But
-if the Person employ’d in doing it
-touches the Wainscot or the Floor
-with a Walking-Stick, or the like,
-the Electricity flows as freely as if he
-stood on the Floor. From whence some
-Conjecture this Power comes from the
-Earth only; than which I think nothing
-can be more absurd: For, if you fetch
-it out of the Wainscot, or the Boards
-of the Floor, it must first be in them,
-and the Air could only be the Carrier
-of it to them. So that here the main
-Things, which I at first only conjectur’d,
-I think are fully proved; which
-are, That Electricity was not generated
-by the <i>Apparatus</i>, but only collected
-by it out of the Air.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>As to the Third Objection to a
-larger Quantity of electrify’d Iron not
-giving greater Force than a smaller,
-it should be observ’d, that in this
-Essay I have only conjectured what
-most probably is true: And as I profess
-not to have been engaged in making
-electrical Experiments, I must rely on
-those only who have made them:
-But, surely, if there may be too much
-Iron employ’d to be so affected, as I
-have imagined, there may also be too
-little; and therefore Time may yet
-shew, that such a Quantity of this
-Power may be so collected as to kill
-a Man; since but Yesterday I was
-informed, that a Person, who lives
-in the <i>Strand</i>, is now recovering from
-a Palsy, in which he lost his Speech,
-and other Intellects; which Mischief
-he received from this Force of Electricity.</p>
-
-<p class='c006'>I hope what I have written on this
-Subject will not call on me, from the
-thinking Part of Mankind, any undue
-Reflection: I have nevertheless
-met with such an unmannerly Abuse
-from a Country Show-man, who published
-some Experiments, and owns
-he added the Preface to it, in order
-to write what I am sure no Gentleman
-would have written—If this
-Person be poor, and did it for Gain,
-I heartily pity him. He owns he was
-much affrighted, when he heard of
-my publishing this Piece, because of
-the hard Fate, he says, of his Booksellers;
-but, before he had read Two
-Pages, he likewise owns he recovered
-his Spirits, when he found I pretended
-to think for myself, and did not let Sir
-<i>Isaac Newton</i> think for me, after he
-had been so long dead. I am well
-satisfy’d, had that Great Man been
-living, and had seen these electrical
-Experiments, he would not have
-bow’d low to this great Philosopher,
-for thus supporting his Character.
-His doing this would be as
-ridiculous as to see a Pygmy attempt
-to carry a Giant. I believe there are
-more Answers to Books written to pay
-a Landlady, or an Alehouse-Score,
-than from any other Cause; especially,
-if they think they answer one
-whose Character will call it into the
-World.—I know nothing of my
-Adversary’s Finances; but how rich
-soever he may have made himself by
-his Show, he seems to have the Blessing
-of never being liable to the Headach
-from his Thinking too intensely.</p>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
-<div class='nf-center c008'>
- <div><span class='large'><i>FINIS.</i></span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<div class='pbb'>
- <hr class='pb c003' />
-</div>
-
-<div class='nf-center-c1'>
- <div class='nf-center'>
- <div>Transcriber’s note:</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-
-<p class='c009'>Width of em-dashes has been regularised.</p>
-
-<p class='c009'>Page 8, ‘unphilophical’ changed to ‘unphilosophical,’ “how unphilosophical and unmeaning”</p>
-
-<p class='c009'>Page 16, ‘mortuum’ changed to ‘Mortuum,’ “as a Caput Mortuum. Of”</p>
-
-<p class='c009'>Page 27, ‘convergeing’ changed to ‘converging,’ “prove this converging Fire”</p>
-
-<p class='c009'>Page 31, ‘wil’ changed to ‘will,’ “so it will be”</p>
-
-<p class='c009'>Page 56, ‘whetever’ changed to ‘whatever,’ “then, whatever ceases to”</p>
-
-<p class='c009'>Page 57, second ‘to’ struck, “ceases to be in”</p>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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