CONVERSATION XXVII. INTRODUCTION. The early History of Electricity. TUTOR. If I rub pretty briskly with my hand this stick of sealing-wax, and then hold It near any small light substances, as little pieces of paper, the wax will attract them; that is, if the wax be held within an inch or more of the paper, they will jump up, and adhere to it. Charles. They do; and I think I have heard you call this the effects of electricity, but I do not know what electricity is. Tutor. It is the case with this part of science as with many others, we know it only by the effects which it produces. As I have not hitherto, in these conversations, attempted to bewilder your minds with useless theories, neither shall I, in the present case, attempt to say what the electrical fluid is: its action is well known; it seems diffused over every portion of matter with which we are acquainted, and, by the use of proper methods, it is as easily collected from surrounding bodies as water is taken from a river. James. I see no fluid attaching to the sealing-wax when you have rubbed it. Tutor. You do not see the air which you breathe, and with which you are surrounded, yet we have shown you* that it is a fluid, and may be taken from any vessel, as certainly, though not with so much ease, as water may be poured from this glass. With the exercise of a small degree of patience, you shall * See Vol. II. |