An Essay to Shew the Cause of Electricity

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.

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.