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 — Themes and Context

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.