A History of The Theories of Aether and Electricity

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DUBLIN
UNIVERSITY
PRESS
SERIES.
HISTORY
OF THE
THEORIES OF AETHER
FKOM THE AGE
THE
AND ELECTRICITY
TO THE CLOSE
OF
OF
DESCAKTES
NINETEENTH
CENTURY.
BY
E. T. WH1TTAKER,
Hon. Sc.D.
I.E.S.; (DubL};
Roy at Astronomer
ofIreland.
LONGMANS,
39
GREEN,
ROW,
BOMBAY,
AND
AND
LONDON,
CALCUTTA.
CO.,
PATERNOSTER
YORK,
NEW
HODGES,
FIGGIS,
"
CO., LTD., DUBLIN.
1910.
MM*
DUBLIN
PRINTED
AT
UHE
UNIVERSITY
PRESS,
BY
PONSONBY
AND
OIBRS.
THE EOUSE
author
desires Fellow
to
record
his
gratitude
to
Mr.
W. and
W.
to
BALL,
of Trinity
F.R.S.,
College, Cambridge,
Professor W.
McF.
ORR,
of the Royal
College of Science
have
for Ireland ; these friends have
read the proof-sheets, and
made
many
helpful suggestions and criticisms.
Thanks
DUBLIN,
are
'due
also
to
the BOARD
OF
TRINITY
made
COLLEGE,
for the
financial assistance
which
possible the
publication of the work.
236360
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEK
y
I.
THE
THE
THEORY
OF
THE
AETHER
IN
SEVENTEENTH
.
CENTURY.
Page
.
Matter
and aether,
.1
physical writings of Descartes, Early history of magnetism : Petrus
The
.....
Peregrinus,
Gilbert, Descartes,
least
Fermat
attacks
Descartes'
........
theory
of light : the principle of
time,
10 theory
:
Hooke's
undulat"ry
the advance
of
wave
-fronts,
.
11
overthrows Hooke's theory of colours, Conception of the aether in the writings of Newton, Newton's theories of the periodicity of homogeneous
fits of easy transmission,
"
Newton
.15
.
17
light, and
.
.
of
,20 .21 of
.22
"
The
velocity of light : Galileo, Roemer, Huygens' Traite de la lumiere : his theories of the propagation
.
waves,
and
of crystalline optics,
"
Newton his
shows
that rays
obtained
by double refraction have

theory,
.
.
sides :
.28
to objections
the undulatory
CHAPTER
ELECTRIC
AND
II.
PRIOR
MAGNETIC
SCIENCE,
THE
TO
THE
INTRODUCTION
OF
POTENTIALS.
.
electricalresearches of Gilbert : the theory of emanations, State of physical science in the first half of the eighteenth century, Gray discovers electric conduction : Desaguliers,
.
The
29
32
"
37
38
electric fluid, Du Fay distinguishes vitreous and resinous Xollet's effluent and affluent streams,
.......
The
electricity,
.
.
.39 .40
.
The
The
Leyden
phial,
.....
41
one-fluid theory : ideas of Watson and Franklin, Final overthrow by Aepinus of the doctrine of effluvia, Priestley discovers the law of electrostatic force,
.
42 48
.50
viii
Cavendish,
.
Contents.
Page
...
51
.
Michell discovers the law of magnetic The two-fluid theory : Coulomb, Limited
force,
.
.54 .56
mobility of the magnetic fluids, Poisson's mathematical theory of electrostatics,

.
.58
.
.59
:
The
equivalent surface- and volume-distributions Poisson's theory of magnetic induction, memoir,

.
.
of magnetism
. .
.64
Green's Nottingham
.65
CHAPTER
III. GALVANI
TO
GALVANISM,
Sulzer's discovery,
...
FROM
OHM.
.
.67
68
,
.
Galvanic phenomena, Rival hypotheses regarding the galvanic fluid, The voltaic pile,
.......
.......
.70
72
.
.
Nicholson
and Carlisle decompose
water
.....
voltaically,
75
Davy's chemical theory of the pile, Grothuss' chain,

.
.
76
.
.
.78
.79
.80
83
De
La Rive's hypothesis,
Berzelius' scheme of electro-chemistry, Early attempts to discover a connexion
between
electricity and
magnetism,
...
Oersted's experiment : his explanation of it, The law of Biot and Savart,
.
.85 .86
.
The researches of Ampere Seebeck's phenomenon,
on
.
electrodynamics,
.
87
.90
.
Davy's researches on conducting power, Ohm's theory : electroscopic force,

.
.94
.
. .
.95
CHAPTER
THE
Bradley
IV.
FROM
LUMINIFEBOUS
MEDIUM,
.
BRADLEY
.
TO
FRESNEL.
.
discovers aberration, John Bernoulli's model of the aether, Maupertuis and the principle of least action, Views of Euler, Courtivron, Melvill,
.99 100
102
....
....
104
Young
defends the undulatory thin plates,

...
theory, and
explains the colours of

...
105
. .
Laplace supplies
corpuscular theory of double refraction,
109
Contents.
proposes a dynamical theory of light in crystals, Researches of Malus on polarization,
ix
Page
Young
110 Ill
....
Recognition
of biaxal crystals, Fresnel successfully explains diffraction,

...
113 114 115 121
His theory of the relative motion of aether and matter, Young suggests the transversality of the vibrations of light, Fresnel discusses the dynamics of transverse vibrations,
.
.
123 125 ] 31 133
Fresnel's theory of the propagation of light in crystals, Hamilton predicts conical refraction,
.
" . .
Fresnel's theory of reflexion,
.....
CHAPTER
I,THE AETHER
Astronomical hypothesis. Navier and Cauchy
to objection
.
.
V.
ELASTIC SOLID.
:
.
AS
AN
the
elastic-solid theory
.
Stokes'
discover the equation of vibration of
an
solid, Poisson distinguishes condensational and distortional waves, Cauchy's firstand second theories of light iq,crystals,
Cauchy's firsttheory of reflexion,
.....
.137 elastic 139

.
141 143 145
His second theory of reflexion, The theory of reflexion of MacCullagh and Neumann, Green discovers the correct conditions at the boundaries,
.....
147
. .
148
151
Green's theory of reflexion : MacCullagh introduces a new

W.
to objections
it,
152 154
Thomson's
model
of
type of elastic solid, rotationally-elasticbody,
157
158 159 161
Cauchy's third theory of reflexion : the contractile aether, Later work of W. Thomson and others on the contractile aether,
.
Green's firstand second theories of light in crystals, Influence of Green,

.......
167
Researches
The
of Stokes on the relation of the direction of vibration of light to its plane of polarization, hypothesis of aeolotropic inertia,
.... .... .
168
171 173
of the plane of polarization of light by active bodies, MacCullagh's theory of natural rotatory power, MacCullagh's and Cauchy's theory of metallic reflexion,
.
.
Rotation
175 177
179
181
182
Extension
Lord
to metals, of the elastic -solid theory Rayleigh's
objection,
....
Cauchy's theory of dispersion, Boussinesq's elastic-solidtheory,
"
.
.....
185
Contents.
CHAPTEE
FARADAY.
Page
VI.
Discovery
of induced currents Self-induction,

.
:
.
lines of magnetic
.
.
force,
.
189
Identity of frictionaland voltaic electricity: Faraday's views

of electricity, Electro-chemistry,
.
on
.193 the
.
nature
.
"..
194
"
"
*.
197
201
Controversy
between
the adherents
.
of the chemical
.
and
.
contact
.
hypotheses,
"
The properties of dielectrics, Theory of dielectric polarization

.
206
:
.
Faraday,
.
W.
.
Thomson,
.
and
.211 213
.
Mossotti,
The connexion between magnetism and light, Airy's theory of magnetic rotatory polarization, Faraday's Thoughts on Ray -Vibrations, Researches of Faraday and Pliicker on diamagnetism,
.
.
"
214
217
218
..''-.
CHAPTER
THE
VII.
OF
THE
MATHEMATICAL
ELECTRICIANS
MIDDLE
OF
THE
NINETEENTH
CENTURY.
F. Neumann's theory
.
of induced
.
currents
.
.
the
.
electrodynamic
; .
.
potential, W. Weber's theory of electrons, law, Riemann's

.
222
...
.225 231
.
v-Proposals to modify the law of gravitation, Weber's theory of paramagnetism and diamagnetism
.
..
232 234 239

242
later theories,
Joule's law
energetics of the voltaic cell, Researches of Helmholtz on electrostaticand electrodynamic energy, W. Thomson distinguishes the circuitaland irrotational magnetic
:
....
vectors,
244
........
....
His theory of magnecrystallic action, His formula for the energy of a magnetic field, Extension of this formula to the case of fieldsproduced by currents,
.
245
.
247
249
Kirchhoff
identifies Ohm's
.
electroscopic force with

.
electrostatic
.
potential, The discharge of
/
.
251 253
254 261 263
Leyden
: jar
W.
Thomson's
theory,
The velocity of electricity and the propagation of telegraphic signals, Clausius' law of force between electriccharges : crucial experiments, Nature of the current, ......
The
thermo-electric researches of Peltier and W.
Thomson,
"
264
Contents.
CHAPTER
MAXWELL. VIII.
xi
Page
Gauss and Riemann on the propagation Analogies suggested by W. Thomson, Maxwell's hydrodynamical analogy, The vector potential,
......
of electricactions,
....
268 269
.....
271
273
. .
Linear and rotatory interpretations of magnetism, Maxwell's mechanical model of the electromagnetic Electric displacement,
......
274
field,
276
279
281 283
Similarity of electricvibrations to those of light, Connexion of refractive index and specific inductive capacity, Maxwell's memoir of 1864,
. .
.
.
...
propagation of electric disturbances in crystals and in metals, dispersion, Anomalous The

......
.284 288
291
.
Max well dispersion, -Sellmeier theory of Imperfections of the electromagnetic theory of light,
The
.
292 295
theory of L. Lorenz, Maxwell's theory of stress in the electric field, The pressure of radiation,
...... ......
The
297
.
300
303
Maxwell's
theory of the magnetic
rotation of light,
307
CHAPTER
MODELS
Analogies
Models in which
a
IX.
THE
OF
AETHER.
310 311
rotatory
in which magnetic Researches of W. Thomson,
character is attributed to magnetism, force is represented as a linear velocity,
Bjerknes, and
......
Leahy,
on
pulsating and 316

318
oscillating bodies, MacCullagh's quasi-elastic solid The Hall effect,

. .
as
a
.
model
of the electric medium,

. .
of Riemann Vortex-atoms,
Models
and Fitz Gerald,

.
.
.
.320 324
.326
The vortex-sponge theory of the aether Fitz Gerald, and Hicks,

,
.
researches
.
of W. Thomson,
.
.327
CHAPTER
THE
Helmholtz
and
X.
OF
FOLLOWERS
supply
MAXWELL.
electromagnetic theory of
H. A. Lorentz
.......
an
reflexion, Crucial experiments
337
and Schiller,
. . .
of Helmholtz
338
xii
Contents.
Page
.
Convection -currents : Rowland's experiments, The moving charged sphere : researches of J. J. Thomson, and Heaviside,
.
339
Fitz Gerald,
.
.
340 344 345
of rapidly -alternating currents, Fitz Gerald devises the magnetic radiator,
Conduction
....
....
Poynting's
Poynting
theorem,
.......
347
develop the theory of moving
.
.
and force,
J. J. Thomson
. .
lines of
.
.
349 352
353
in the electromagnetic field, New derivation of Maxwell's equations by Hertz, Hertz's assumptions and Weber's theory,
Mechanical
momentum
....
356
of Hertz on electric waves, The memoirs of Hertz and Heaviside bodies are in motion, Experiments
......
....
357
material 365
on
fields in which
The current
of dielectric convection,
.....
367
...
Kerr's magneto-optic phenomenon, Rowland's theory of magneto-optics, The rotation of the plane of polarization in naturally active bodies,
.
368 369
....
370
CHAPTER
XI. GASES,
FROM
CONDUCTION
IN
SOLUTIONS
AND
FARADAY
TO
J. J. THOMSON.
The
of Williamson and Clausius, Migration of the ions, The researches of Hittorf and Kohlrausch,
......
hypothesis
372
373
....
374
Polarization of electrodes, Electrocapillarity,
......
375
.
....
376 379
381
Single differences of potential, Helmholtz' theory of concentration-cells,

.
....
Arrhenius'
hypothesis,
...
...
383
.
The researches of Nernst, Earlier investigations of the discharge in rarefied gases, Faraday observes the dark space,
... .....
386 390 391
Researches
of Pliicker, Hittorf,
....
Goldstein, and
Varley,
.
on
the 393 394
cathode rays, Crookes and the fourth state of matter,
....
Objectionsand
alternatives
.......
to
the
charged-particle
theory
of 395
cathode rays, Giese's and Schuster's ionic theory of conduction in gases, J. J. Thomson measures the velocity of cathode rays,
397
.
400
Contents.
Discovery Further
Vitreous of X-rays
:
xiii
Page
.
.
hypotheses
regarding them,
on
401
404
researches of J. J. Thomson
cathode rays
the ratio m/e,

.
.
and resinous electricity, Determination of the ionic charge by J. J. Thomson, Becquerel's radiation : discovery of radio-active substances,
.
406
407
408
CHAPTER
THE
THEORY
OF
XII.
IN THE
AETHER
OF
THE
AND
ELECTRONS
CLOSING YEARS
NINETEENTH
near
CENTURY.
moving
bodies,
.
.
Stokes' theory of aethereal motion in which Astronomical phenomena
411 413 416

419
Crucial experiments Lorentz' theory of electrons, The current of dielectric convection

......
the velocity of light is involved, relating to the optics of moving bodies,
Rontgen's
.....
experiment,
426
electronic theory of dispersion, Deduction of Fresnel's formula from The
428
.
the theory of electrons, Experimental verification of Lorentz' hypothesis, Fitz Gerald's explanation of Michelson's experiment,
.
430 431 432
Lorentz' treatise of 1895, Expression of the potentials in terms

.
.
.
433
436
of the electronic charges,
Further
experiments on the relative motion Extension transformation : of Lorentz'
of earth and aether, Larmor discovers its

.
.
437
440
connexion with Fitz Gerald's hypothesis of contraction, Examination of the supposed primacy of the original variables fixity relative to the aether : the principle of relativity, The phenomenon of Zeeman,
.....
444 449
Connexion
The
of Zeeman's
effect with the magnetic

.....
rotation of light,
452
454
optical properties of metals,
The
electronic theory of metals, Thermionics,

........
.....
456
464
INDEX,
470
MEMOKANDUM
ON
NOTATION.
VECTORS
are
denoted by letters in clarendon type,
as
E.
The three components of a vector E are denoted by Ex, Ey, Ez ; and the magnitude of the vector is denoted by E, so that
The
vector product
.
of two
vectors
E and
H,
which
is denoted
-
are (EyHz E^H^ components whose E*HZ, EtHy EZHX EyHx}. Its direction is at right angles to the direction of E and H, and its magnitude is represented by twice the area of the triangle formed by them.
by
[E H],
-
is the
vector
scalar product denoted by (E H).

.
The
of E and H
is EXHX
EyEy
E^.
It is
OJ^j
(1 jjj
y
"
Jjj
The quantity
"
-f
-I-
"
is denoted by div E.
The vector whose
components
f
*t
"
are
J
"
y
.
"
*\
is denoted by
curl E.
a
If V denote 8F
*
scalar quantity, the vector whose
components
are
8F
-
9F\
-5T
1S
5T"
^7'
denoted b7 grad ^
The
symbol
are
is used 898
"
"
to
denote
the
vector
operator
whose
components
"
dx
dy
82
Differentiationwith respect to the time is frequently indicated by dot placed over the symbol of the variable which is differentiated.
THEORIES
OF AETHER
AND
ELECTRICITY.
CHAPTEK
THE
I.
THEORY
OF
THE
AETHER
IN
THE
SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY.
THE
tinually observation of the heavens, which has been pursued confrom the earliest ages, revealed to the ancients the regularity of the planetary motions, and gave rise to the research, building on conception of a universal order. Modern
this foundation,
has
shown
how
intimate
is the
are
connexion
between
same
bodies. the differentcelestial
kind of matter ; they are the vast spaces and across perpetual intercourse.
formed of the similar in origin and history ; they hold which divide them
They
Until the seventeenth century the only influence which was known to be capable of passing from star to star was that of light. Newton added to this the force of gravity ; and it is now vacuous across of communicating recognized that the power regions is possessed also by the electricand magnetic attractions. It is thus erroneous to regard the heavenly bodies as isolated incessant in vacant space; around and between is an them
and transformation of energy. To the vehicle of this has been given. activity the name aetlier for The aether is the solitary tenant of the universe, save that infinitesimalfraction of space which is occupied by ordinary conveyance
matter.
Hence
arises
problem
which
has
long
engaged
relation attention, and is not yet completely solved : What void subsists between the medium which fillsthe interstellar
and it?
the condensations of matter that
are
scattered throughout
'
$5
The ^Theory
ofthe -Aether
"
The history of this problem may be traced back continuously It firstemerged to the earlier half of the seventeenth century. clearly in that reconstruction of ideas regarding the physical effected by Eene Descartes. universe which was
of Joachim Descartes, he Counsellor to the Parliament of Brittany. As a young man followed the profession of arms, and served in the campaigns of
Descartes
was
born in 1596, the
son
of Nassau, and the Emperor ; but his twenty-fourth apparently not unlike year brought a profound mental crisis, those which have been recorded of many religious leaders ; and to the study of he resolved to devote himself thenceforward Maurice
philosophy. The age which preceded the birth of Descartes, and that in by events which greatly altered marked which he lived, were The discovery of the prevalent conceptions of the world. America, the circumnavigation of the globe by Drake, the overthrow Ptolemaic invention system of astronomy, and the of the of the telescope, all helped to loosen the old foundations and to
It was this that structure. plain the need for a new make Descartes set himself to erect. His aim was the most ambitious that can be conceived ; it was nothing less than to create from the beginning
knowledge. system of human Of such a system the basis must necessarily be metaphysical ; and this part of Descartes' work is that by which he is most But his effortswere widely known. also largely devoted to the
a
complete
mechanical explanation of nature, which indeed he regarded as one of the chief ends of Philosophy.* The general character of his writings may be illustrated by a comparison with those of his most celebrated contemporary, f clearly defined the end to be sought for, and laid down by which it was the method to be attained; then, recognizing that to discover all the laws of nature is a task beyond the
the Dioptrique and the present subject, in 1638, and the Principia Philosophiae at Amsterdam in 1644, six years before the death of its author. t The principalphilosophical works of Bacon were written about eighteen years before those of Descartes.
our
Bacon
Of
the works
were
Me'teores
M'hich bear on published at Leyden
Century. in the SeventeentJi

powers
work
of
one
man
or
one
of filling in the Descartes, on the other hand, desired to leave for his
successors
generation, he left to posterity the framework designed. which he had

as
little as possible
theory of the universe, worked It is,however, impossible out as far as possible in every detail. to derive such a theory inductively unless there are at hand
a
to do ; his was
data on which to base the induction ; sufficient observational not available in the age of Descartes, and as such data were from preconceived he was compelled to deduce phenomena fashion of the older philosophers. principles and causes, after the To the inherent weakness of this method may be traced the that at last brought his scheme to ruin. errors The contrast between the systems of Bacon and Descartes is republic and the empire of not unlike that between the Eoman Alexander. In the one case we have a career of aggrandizement in the other a growth of pursued with patience for centuries ; immense fungus-like rapidity, a speedy dissolution, and an The exerted by the disunited fragments. grandeur of Descartes' plan, and the boldness of its execution, stimulated scientificthought to a degree before unparalleled ;
influence
long
and
it
was
largely from
more
constructed those our own time. Descartes
later philosophers valid theories which have endured to
its ruins that
regarded the world as an immense machine, Give me operating by the motion and pressure of matter. matter and motion," he cried, and I will construct the universe." A peculiarity which distinguished his system from that which
"
"
of all forms afterwards sprang from its decay was the rejection municated of action at a distance ; he assumed that force cannot be comBy impact. by or this except actual pressure
assumption he was compelled to provide an explicit mechanism forces of nature in order to account for each of the known a difficult than that which lies before task evidently much more
"
those who
are
willing to admit
action
at
distance
as
an
ultimate property of matter. Since the sun interacts with

B
2
the planets, in sending them
The Theory
of the Aether
light and heat and influencing their motions, it followed from Descartes' principle that interplanetary space must be a plenum,, occupied by matter imperceptible to the touch but capable of serving as the vehicle of force and light. This conclusion in
turn
determined
the view which he adopted
on
important the all-
question of the nature of matter. Matter, in the Cartesian philosophy, is characterized not by impenetrability, or by any quality recognizable by the senses,,
but
extension ; extension constitutes matter, and matter constitutes space. The basis of all things is a primitive,, elementary, unique type of matter, boundless in extent and simply
by
infinitelydivisible. In the process of evolution of the universe three distinct forms of this matter have originated,corresponding
the matter respectively to the luminous of the sun, transparent matter the dense, of interplanetary space, and The firstis constituted by what opaque matter of the earth.
"
has been
scraped off the other particles of matter when they were rounded ; it moves with so much velocity that when it it to be meets other bodies the force of its agitation causes
broken and divided by them into a heap of small particles that are of such a figure as to fillexactly all the holes and small intersticeswhich they find around these bodies. The next type includes most
of the rest of matter ; its particles are spherical, on see the and are very small compared with the bodies we earth ; but nevertheless they have a finite magnitude, so that they can be divided into others yet smaller. There exists in
kinds of matter third type exemplified by some cannot be namely, those which, on account of their size and figure, I will endeavour to show that as the preceding. so easily moved
addition
a
"
all the bodies of the visible world are composed of these three forms of matter, as of three distinctelements ; in fact,that the sun
and the fixed stars are formed of the firstof these elements, the interplanetary spaces of the second, and the earth, with the planets and comets, of the third. For, seeing that the sun and
the fixed stars emit light,the heavens the planets, and the comets transmit it,and the earth, reflectit,it appears to me that there
in the Seventeenth Century.

is ground
for using these three qualities of luminosity, transparence, and opacity, in order to distinguish the three elements
is the centre of an subtlest kind of inatter.f
sun
of the visible world.* According to Descartes' theory, the immense

vortex
of the firstor The vehicle of light in interplanetary space is matter of the second kind or element, composed of a closely packed assemblage of globules whose
vortex-matter
formed
size is intermediate
between
The
that
of the
and that of ponderable
matter.
globules of
all the matter of the firstelement, are constantly straining away from the centres around which they turn, owing to the centrifugal force of the vortices so that the the second element, and
;J
globules pressed in contact with each other, and tend to move outwards, although they do not actually so move." It is the transmission of this pressure which constitutes light ; the
are
action of light therefore extends on all sides round the sun and fixed stars, and travels instantaneously to any distance.|j In to the perception of the the Dwptrique$ vision is compared
of his stick ; the transmission of pressure along the stick from the to the transmission of to the hand being analogous object to the eye by the second kind pressure from a luminous presence of which objects
a
blind
man
obtains by the
use
object
"
supposed the he due to the different ways
of matter. Descartes
diversities of colour and light to In in which the matter moves.**
"
the Meteores,^ the various colours are connected with different rotatory velocitiesof the globules, the particles winch rotate most rapidly giving the sensation of red, the slower ones of yellow, and the slowest of green and blue the order of colours being taken from the rainbow. The assertion of the dependence of colour
"
Principia, Part iii," 52.

on
t It is curious to speculate
had the spirality of nehulse heen theory of vortices.
the impression which would have been produced discovered hefore the overthrow of the Cartesian
Ibid., " 64. ||
IT Discours premier.
J Ibid.,
**
""55-59.
Principia, Part
" Ibid., " 63. iv, " 195. ft
Discours Huitieme.
6
on
The Theory
of the Aether
foreshadowing
periodic time is a curious great discoveries of Newton.

The
of
one
of the
general explanation of light on these principles was particular discussion of reflexion and amplified by a more refraction. The law of reflexion" that the angles of incidence
had been known to the Greeks ; but and refraction are equal the law of refraction that the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction are to each other in a ratio depending on the
"
"
published for the firsttime.* Descartes gave to have been under considerable ; but he seems 1591, d. 1626), Professor of obligations to Willebrord Snell (b. Mathematics at Leyden, who had discovered it experimentally
was media it as his own
"
now
(thoughnot
1621.
manuscript
in which Descartes gave it)about it in Snell did not publish his result, but communicated
to several persons, and
in the form
Huygens
affirms that this from
manuscript had been seen by Descartes. Descartes presents the law as a deduction
theory.
This, however,
he
rays meet when deflected or stopped in the same way impinging 011 a body a stone ; for
"
is able to do only ponderable bodies,

"
"
by the aid of analogy ;. liable to be they are
the motion of a ball or it is easy to believe that

as
the action or inclination to move, which I have said must be laws as to follow in this the same taken for light, ought motion."f Thus he replaces light,whose velocity of propagation he believes to be always infinite, by a whose velocity
projectile
varies from
one
then proved as Let a ball thrown
medium followsJ
to another.
:
"
The law of refraction is cloth CBE, so weak it and pass beyond, but
a
from
meet
at B
that the ball is able to break through with its resultant velocity reduced in say 1 : k.
some
definite proportion,,
the refracted ray times as long to
Then
if BI
be the
length
measured
take
on
equal to AB, describe BI as

*
will projectile
to
it took
describe AB.
But
the component
premier.
Dioptrique, Discount second. t Jbid., Discows % Ibid., Discotirs second.
be unaffected by the of velocity parallel to the cloth must BE impact; and therefore the of the refracted ray projection be k times as long as the BC of the incident must
projection
I
ray. So if i and have we
r
denote the angles of incidence and refraction,

"
BE
BC
the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction constant ratio ; this is the law of refraction.
or
are
in
in Desiring to include all known phenomena system, .his Descartes devoted some attention to a class of effects which destined to were at that time littlethought of, but which were
play a great part in the subsequent development of Physics. The ancients were acquainted with the curious properties (riXtKrpov) possessed by two minerals, amber and magnetic
iron
iron.
ore
(77\iOos
:
The Mayv?}r/e).
the latter has
former, the
when
rubbed,
attracts light bodies
power
of attracting
The
at
use
sea
tion of the magnet for the purpose of indicating direcdoes not seem to have been derived from classical
it
was
antiquity ; but Crusades.
certainly known
in
the
time
of the
was one magnetism of the few sciences which progressed during the Middle Ages ; for in the thirteenth century Petrus Peregrinus,* a native of Maricourt in Picardy,
Indeed,
made a discovery of fundamental importance. had been Taking a natural magnet or lodestone, which rounded into a globular form, he laid it on a needle, and marked
*
His Epistola
was
written in 1269.
8
the
The Theory
line along which
ofthe
Aether
the needle set itself. Then laying the lines in needle on other parts of the stone, he obtained more When the same the entire surface of the stone had been way. their general dispositionbecame evident; covered with such lines, they formed circles, which girdled the stone in exactly the same
way
two
as
meridians of longitude girdle the earth ; and there
were
points at opposite ends of the stone through which all the the Arctic as all the meridians pass through circlespassed, just
and Antarctic poles of the earth.* Struck by the analogy, Peregrinus proposed to call these two points the poles of the magnet : and he observed that the way in which magnets set themselves and attract each other depends solely on the position the seat of the magnetic power. of their poles, as if these were Such was the origin of those theories of poles and polarization which in later ages have played Philosophy.
so
great
part in Natural
The observations of Peregrinus were greatly extended not long before the tune of Descartes by William Gilberd or Gilbertf
(6.1540,
d.
1603).
Gilbert
was
born
at Colchester:
studying at Cambridge, he took up medical and had the honour of being appointed physician to Elizabeth. In 1600 he published a work* on Magnetism
after practice in London,
Queen
and
Electricity,with begins.
which
the
modern
history of both
subjects
Of Gilbert's electrical researches we shall speak later : in he made the capital discovery of the reason magnetism why
magnets set in definite orientations with respect to the earth ; which is,that the earth is itselfa great magnet, having one of its poles in high northern and the other in high southern
latitudes. Thus the property of the
compass
was
seen
to be
included in the general principle, that the north-seeking pole of

lineae hujusmodi in duo puncta concurrent sicut omnes oranes in duo concurrunt orbes meridian! polos mundi oppositos." form The in Colchester the t records is Gilberd. J Gulielmi Gilberti de Magnete, Magneticisque corporibus, et de magno magnete
tellure : London, in 1893.
1600.
*
"
Procul dubio
An
English translation by P. F. Mottelay
was
published

every
magnet
attracts
the south-seeking
pole of every other
magnet, and repels its north-seeking pole. Descartes attempted* to account for magnetic phenomena A vortex by his theory of vortices. was of fluid matter
postulated round each magnet, the matter of the vortex entering by one pole and leaving by the other : this matter was supposed iron and steel by virtue of a special resistance to its to act on motion afforded by the molecules of those substances. Crude though the Cartesian system was in this and many doubt that by presenting definite other features, there is no
and applying them to so wide conceptions of molecular activity, it stimulated the spirit of inquiry, and a range of phenomena, accurate theories that came after. prepared the way for the more
with great acceptance: the confusion which had resulted from the destruction of the old order was now, as it seemed, ended by a reconstruction of knowledge in a system Nor did its influence quickly at once credible and complete. In its own day it met
studied long after Newton had published his theory of gravitation ;f and in the middle of the eighteenth century Euler and two of the Bernoullis based
wane even
; for
at Cambridge
it was
the explanation of magnetism on the hypothesis of vertices.* Descartes' theory of light rapidly displaced the conceptions in the Middle The validity Ages. which had held sway however, explanation of refraction was, called in Pierre de Ferinat (b. 1601, question by his fellow-countryman d. 1665)," kept up was and a controversy ensued, which
of
his
by the Cartesians long after the death of their master.

*
Fermat
Principia, Part iv,
" 133
sqq.
after his recorded that, having returned to Cambridge " Mathematicks, ordination in 1693, he resumed his studies there, particularly the Philosophy Cartesian in Vogue with us at that Time. : was the and which alone has
Winston "f
But
"
long before I, with immense Pains, but with the utmost Zeal to the study of Sir Isaac Newton's i, p. 36. \Vhiston's Memoirs (1749),
not
it was
no
Assistance, set myself M-onderful Discoveries." in 1743, and

were
v.
J Their
memoirs
shared
prize of the French
Academy
lesprix de VAcad., printed in 1752 in the Heciieildes pieces qui ontremporte The Renati Descartes 1683. Epistolae, Pars Amstelodami, " tertia; to XLVI. correspondence is comprised in lettersxxix
tome
Fennat
10
The Theory
ofthe Aether
fundamental law, from which he eventually introduced a new the proposed to deduce the paths of rays of light. This was Least Time, enunciated* in the form, celebrated Principle
of
"
Nature
always
acts by the shortest
course."
From
it the law
readily be derived, since the path described by a point 011 the incident ray and a point on the dition reflected ray is the shortest possible consistent with the cont In order to obtain the of meeting the reflectingsurfaces.
of reflexion can light between
applied his "method of maxima and to find the path which would be described in the least minima to a point of the other. In time from a point of one medium
"
law of refraction,Fermat media is different," and
assumed
that
"
the resistance of the
1661 he arrived at the solution.* "The result of my work," he writes, has been the most extraordinary, the most unforeseen, and the happiest, that ever was ; for, after having performed all
"
equations, multiplications, antitheses, and other operations of my method, and having finallyfinished the problem, I have found that my principle gives exactly and precisely the same proportion for the refractions which Monsieur Descartes has His surprise was established." all the greater, as he had more slowly in dense than in rare media, supposed light to move
the
will be evident from the demonstration whereas Descartes had (as the contrary supposition. given above)been obliged to make Although Fermat's result was correct, and, indeed, of high permanent
were
derived which it was metaphysical rather than physical in character, and consequently little for framing were use the purpose of a of
interest, the principles from
explanation of light. Descartes' theory therefore mechanical held the fielduntil the publication in 1667" of the Micrographics
*
Chambre
result,for it had in the Ke"t"aA.cua rwv been affirmed (andattributed to Hero of Alexandria) OTTTIKUHT of which several editions were of Heliodorns of Larissa, a work published in the seventeenth, century. J Epist. XLIII, written at Toulouse Fermat, ii,p. 457 ; i, pp. 170, 173.
on
in August, 1657, to written at Toulouse Fermat de in ii, (Euvres (ed.1891), p. 354. ; reprinted new no t That reflected light follows the shortest path was
Epist.
XLII,
Monsieur
de
la
Jan. 1, 1662 ; reprinted in (Euvres de

P.R.S.,
" The
imprimatur
of Viscount Brouncker,
is dated Nov. 23, 1664.
in the Seventeenth Centnry.

1635, d. 1703), one of the founders of Eobert Hooke (b. Eoyal Society, and at one time its Secretary.
Hooke,
11
of the
both an observer and a theorist, made two who was our ; but present subject experimental discoveries which concern in both of these, as it appeared, he had been anticipated. The
the observation of the iridescent colours which are seen when light fallson a thin layer of air between two glass plates or lenses, or on a thin film of any transparent substance. These are generally known as the colours of thin plates," or
first* was
"
Newton's rings ; they had been previously observed by Boyle.f Hooke's second experimental discovery,^ made after the date of that light in air is not propagated exactly the Micrographia, was illumination within the in straight lines,but that there is some
"
"
This observation had geometrical shadow of an opaque body. been published in 1665 in. a posthumous work" of Francesco Maria Grimaldi (b. 1618, d. 1663), who had given to the phenomenon
the
name
diffraction.
on
Hooke's importance,
theoretical investigations
light
representing as they do the Cartesian system to the fully developed theory of undulations. He begins by attacking Descartes' proposition, that light is a
tendency
to motion
"
of great transition from the
were
There is," actual motion. he observes,1 but has the parts of it in 1 no less ; and this motion is exceeding quick." or motion more Moreover, since some bodies (e.g. the diamond when rubbed or rather than an luminous Body
" "
"
heated in the
considerable time without being is in motion is not permanently wasted away, it follows that whatever lost to the body, and therefore that the motion must
dark)shine
for
The amplitude of the luminous bodies vibrations must be exceedingly small, since some the diamond are (e.g. very hard, and so cannot yield or be of
a
to-and-fro
or
vibratory character.
again)
bend to any sensible extent.

*
Micrographia, p. 47.
Posthumous
t Boyle's Works
Works,
p. 186.
i, p. (ed.1772),
742.
% Hooke's
" Pkysico- Mathesis Micrographia, p. ||
de lumine, coloribits, et iride. Bologna,
1665 ; book i,prop. i.
55.
12
The Theory
Concluding, then, that the
ofthe
Aether
emission of light by
"
luminous
condition associated with the body is a rapid vibratory motion
of very small amplitude, Hooke next inquires how light travels The next thing we are to consider," he says, through space. is the way or manner of the trajection of this motion through
"
the interpos'd pellucid body to the eye easily granted First, that it must
"
And
here
it will be
body susceptibleand impartible of this motion that will deserve the name of a Transparent ; and be homogeneous, or of next, that the parts of such a body must
"
be
the
same
"
kind.
Thirdly, that the constitution and motion of the parts must be such that the appulse of the luminous body may be communicated or propagated through it to the greatest imaginable
distance in the least imaginable
time, though I
see
no
reason
to
affirm that it must be in an instant. Fourthly, that the motion is propagated every way through by director straight lines extended every an Homogeneous medium
"
way
"
like Eays from the centre of a Sphere. Fifthly, in an Homogeneous this motion medium every way with
is propagated
equal velocity, whence necessarily every pulse or vibration of the luminous body will generate a Sphere, which will continually increase, and grow bigger, just after the indefinitely manner as the waves or rings same (though
swifter)
on
surface of the water do swell into bigger circlesabout a point of it,where by the sinking of
the motion
was
and bigger Stone the a
begun, whence it necessarily follows, that all the parts of these Spheres undulated through an Homogeneous medium cut the Kays at right angles." fairly definite mechanical conception. It the as resembles that of Descartes in postulating a medium vehicle of light ; but according to the Cartesian hypothesis the disturbance is a statical pressure in this medium, while in Here
we
have
Hooke's theory it is a rapid vibratory motion of small amplitude. introduces, moreover, In the above extract Hooke the idea of
the
or locus wave-swrface,
at any instant of
disturbance gene-

rated
13
originally at a point, and affirms that it is a sphere, whose, centre is the point in question, and whose radii are the rays of light issuing from the point.
to produce a mechanical theory of Hooke's next effortwas Descartes. Because," he refraction,to replace that given by are to one not Homogeneous says, "all transparent mediums
"
another, therefore we will next examine how this pulse or motion will be propagated through differingly transparent mediums. And here, according to the most acute and excellent Philosopher
Des Cartes,I suppose the sine of the angle of inclination in the firstmedium to be to the sine of refraction in the second, as the density of the firstto the density of the second. By density, I
the density in respect of gravity refractions or transparency of mediums hold no

mean
not
(withwhich
the
but proportion),
in respect only to the trajeetion of the Kays of light,in which respect they only differ in this,that the one propagates the easily and weakly, the other more slowly, but pulse more
more
strongly.
But
as
for the pulses themselves, they

we
will
now
by the refraction acquire another property, which
shall
endeavour to explicate. "We will suppose, therefore,in the firstFigure, ACFD
to be
be two mathematical Kaysr physical Kay, or ABC and DEFto from a very remote point of a luminous body through trajected
14
Homogeneous
The
Theory
ofthe
Aether
LL, and DA, EB, FC, to be transparent medium therefore must small portions of the orbicular impulses which cut the Rays at right angles : these Rays meeting with the plain that yields an easier transitus to the of a medium surface NO
an
propagation of light, and falling obliquely on it,they will in the MM be refracted towards the perpendicular of the medium is more than easily trajected surface. And because this medium the former by a third, therefore the point 0 of the orbicular
time that pulse FG will be moved to If four spaces in the same F, the other end of it,is moved to three spaces, therefore the whole refracted pulse to H shall be oblique to the refracted Rays
GHK
and "/."
this is not in all respects successful, it represents decided advance on by the treatment of the same problem
Although
Descartes, which
determine
the
rested
on
mere
analogy.
Hooke
tries to
to the wave-front it meets what happens when interface between two duces media ; and for this end he intro-
principle that the side of the wave-front the interface will go forward in the second which first meets with the velocity proper to that medium, while the medium in the first medium other side of the wave-front which is still
correct
the
is still moving will be
with the old velocity : so that the wave-front deflected in the transition from one to the medium supposed by Hooke to He regarded natural or of disturbance, being constituted
other. This deflection of the wave-front was be the origin of the prismatic colours. white
light
by
a
as
the simplest type and
uniform pulse at right angles to the direction of propagation, and inferred that colour is generated in the by the distortion to which this disturbance is
simple
subjected
process of refraction. "The Ray,"* he says, is dispersed, split, and its Superficies by Refraction the a at of second medium, opened and from a line is opened into a diverging Superficies, and
so
"
obliquated, whereby
*
the appearances of Colours

Posthnmo/is Works, p. 82.
are
produced."
Hooke,

"
\5
but the says in another place,* is nothing disturbance of light by the communication of the pulse to other transparent mediums, that is by the refraction thereof." His
Colour/'he
"
precise hypothesis regarding the different colours wasf "that Blue is an impression on the Retina of an oblique and confus'd pulse
light, whose part precedes, and whose weakest is an impression on the Retina strongest follows. And, that red of an oblique and confus'd pulse of light, whose strongest part
of
follows." precedes, and whose weakest Hooke's theory of colour was completely overthrown, within a few years of its publication, by one of the earliest discoveries 1642, d. 1727). Newton, (b. who was elected of Isaac Xewton
a
of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1667, had in the to trybeginning obtained a triangular prism, of 1666 the celebrated Phaenomena therewith of Colours." For this Fellow
"
having darkened my chamber, and made a small hole purpose, to let in a convenient in my quantity of the window-shuts, Sun's light, I placed my Prisme at his entrance, that it might
"
at first a refracted to the opposite wall. It was very pleasing divertisement, to view the vivid and intense colours produced thereby ; but after a while applying myself to circumspectly, I became surprised to see consider them more
be thereby
them
oblong form, which, according to the received laws The of Refraction, I expected should have been circular" length of the coloured spectrum was in fact about five times as
in
an
great as its breadth. This puzzling fact he set himself to study ; and after more discovered the true explanation was experiments namely,
"
of rays of every variety of colour, and that the elongation of the spectrum is due to the differences in the refractive power of the glass for mixture these different rays. Amidst these thoughts," he tells us,+
"
that ordinary white light is really
"
was
forced from
*To
the Royal Society, February
15, 1671-2.
t Micrographia,
p. 64. Phil. Trans., Xo. 80, February
19, 1671-2.
16
Cambridge
The Theory
by the intervening
ofthe Aether
Plague
"
; this
was
his memoir was on the not presented subject Society until five years later. In it he propounds colour directly opposed
"are
in 1666, and to the Koyal

a
to that of Hooke.
"
theory of Colours," he says, Refractions,

or
not
derived Qualifications of light

Bodies
from
Reflections of natural
'tis generally believed), but (as

are
no
Original and connate properties,which in divers Rays Some Rays are disposed to exhibit a red colour and
some
a
divers. other
:
a green and no yellow and no other, some other, and so of the rest. Nor are there only Rays proper and particular to to all their intermediate the more eminent colours, but even
gradations. To the
"
same
degree of Refrangibility colour

ever
ever
belongs the
same
colour, and to the same degree of Refrangibility."

same
"
belongs the
The species of colour, and degree of Refrangibility proper to any particular sort of Rays, is not mutable by Refraction, nor by Reflection from natural bodies, nor by,any other cause, that I could yet observe. When any well parted from those of other obstinately retained
one
of Rays hath been kinds, it hath afterwards

sort
its colour, notwithstanding my endeavours to change it." The publication of the new theory gave rise to
utmost
an
acute
controversy. As might have been expected, Hooke was foremost degree of among the opponents, and led the attack with some it is remembered that at this time Newton asperity. When
was
at the outset of his

an
career,
while Hooke
was
an
older
man,
with
established reputation, such harshness appears particularl it is likely that the and ungenerous; unpleasant
which followed the announcement consequences of his first to do with the reluctance which great discovery had much Newton ever afterwards showed to publish his results to the
world. In the explain
the
course
more
found occasion to of the discussion Newton fully the views which he entertained regarding
nature
of light.
Hooke
charged him
with
holding
the
17
doctrine that light is a material substance. Now Newton had, as imaginative kind of a matter of fact,a great dislike of the more hypotheses ; he altogether renounced the attempt to construct the universe from its foundations after the fashion of Descartes, than a formulation of the laws and aspired to nothing more
His theory of directly govern the actual phenomena. is strictly an expression of the results gravitation, for example, hypothesis as to the cause of the of observation, and involves no
which
attraction which subsists between ponderable bodies ; and his desire in regard to optics was to present a theory free from own
of light. Accordingly, speculation as to the hidden mechanism in reply to Hooke's criticism,he protested* that his views on in no way bound up with any particular conception colour were
of the ultimate nature of optical processes. however, unable to carry Xewton was, his plan of of light into a coherent connecting together the phenomena to hypotheses. The and reasoned whole without having recourse hypothesis of Hooke, that light consists in vibrations of an
out
aether, he
rejected
for
reasons
which
cogent, and which indeed were One of these was a century.
perfectly not successfully refuted for over the incompetence of the wave-
at that time
were
theory to account for the rectilinear propagation of light, and its inability to embrace the facts discovered, as another was
"
we
shall presently correctly by Newton he

seems
and first interpreted himself of polarization. On the whole, to have favoured a scheme of which the following may
see,
"
by
Huygens,
be taken
as
summaryf:
"
elasticmedium or aether,which is capable of propagating vibrations in the same way as the

*Phil. Trans, vii, 1672, p. 5086. t Cf. Newton's memoir in Phil. Trans, vii, 1672 ; his memoir presented to the 1675, which is printed in Birch, iii,p. 247; his Royal Society in December, Opticks, especially Queries 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 29; the Scholium at the end of the Principia ; and a letterto Boyle, written in February, 1678-9, which is printed in Horsley's Newtoni Opera, p. 385. In the Principia, Book I., sectionxiv, the analogy between rays of light and does not commit himself to any streams of corpuscles is indicated ; but Newton theory of light based on this. C
All space is permeated by
an
18
air propagates
The Theory
ofthe
Aether
far greater
the vibrations of sound, but with
velocity. This aether pervades the pores of all material bodies, and is the cause of their cohesion ; its density varies from one body
to another, being greatest in the free interplanetary spaces.
It
is not necessarily contains aqueous

"
single uniform substance vapour, so the aether may

to
but
justas
air
contain
various of
aethereal
spirits," adapted
produce
the
phenomena
gravitation. The vibrations of the aether cannot, for the reasons already in be supposed to constitute light. themselves mentioned,
electricity,magnetism,
and
something of a different kind, propagated from lucid bodies. They, that will, may suppose it an aggregate of various peripatetic qualities. Others may it multitudes of unimaginable suppose small and swift
Light
is therefore taken to be
"
of various sizes, springing from shining bodies but yet without any after another; at great distances one sensible interval of time, and continually urged forward by a principle of motion, which in the beginning accelerates them,
corpuscles till the resistance of the aethereal medium that principle, much
water
are
after the
manner
equals the force of that bodies let fall in
accelerated tillthe resistance of the water equals the force of gravity. But they, that like not this, may suppose light any other corporeal emanation, or any impulse or motion
or aethereal spirit diffused through the of any other medium imagine proper for main body of aether, or what else they can To avoid dispute, and make this purpose. this hypothesis
here take his fancy ; only whatever general, let every man light be, I suppose it consists of rays differingfrom one another in contingent circumstances, as bigness, form, or vigour."*
light and aether are capable of mutual interaction; aether is in fact the intermediary between light and When a ray of light meets a stratum ponderable matter. of
In any
case,
aether
been
that through which it has lately passing, it is, in general, deflected from its rectilinear
or
denser
rarer
than
Royal Society,Dec. 9, 1675.

course
19
one
and
differences of density of the aether between
and another account on these principles for material medium the reflexion and refraction of light. The condensation or rarefaction of the aether due to a material body extends to
some
littledistance from
the surface of the body,
so
that the
inflexion due to it is really continuous, and not Newton this further explains diffraction,which
"
abrupt;
and took to be
only
new
kind
external aethers came at the opake
of refraction, caused, perhaps, by the beginning to grow rarer little before it a
in free spaces." Although the regular vibrations of Newton's aether were not to supposed to constitute light, its irregular turbulence seems have represented fairly closely his conception of heat. He
body, than
it
was
supposed
that
when
light is absorbed
by
material body,
vibrations are set up in the aether, and are recognizable as is always The the heat which generated in such cases. he conduction of heat from hot bodies to contiguous cold ones
conceived to be effected by vibrations of the aether propagated between them ; and he supposed that it is the violent agitation of aethereal motions which excites incandescent substances to
emit light. Assuming by
Newton that light is not
with
the vibrations of an aether, even vibrations may exist in close connexion with it, the most definite and easily conceived supposition is that rays of light are streams of corpuscles emitted by luminous bodies. Although
this
so of Descartes himself, it was thoroughly akin to his general scheme that the scientific men for the most part deeply of Newton's generation, who were was
stituted actually conthough such
not
the hypothesis
imbued
with the Cartesian philosophy, instinctively selected it from the wide choice of hypotheses which Newton had offered them ; and by later writers it was generally associated with Newton's name. drawn A curious argument in its favour was
from phenomenon which had then been known for nearly half a century : Vincenzo Cascariolo,a shoemaker of Bologna, had discovered, about 1630, that a substance, which afterwards
a
20
The Theory
ofthe
Aether
of Bologna stone or Bologna phosphorus, hasreceived the name the property of shining in the dark after it has been exposed for
some
time
to sunlight ; and
was
the
more
seemed
to be here involved
storage of light which easily explicable on the
The any other. evidence in it was this quarter, however, pointed the other way when found that phosphorescent substances do not necessarily emit
corpuscular
theory
than
on
the
same
kind
of light
as
that which
was
used to stimulate
them.
In accordance with his earliest discovery, Newton considered colour to be an inherent characteristic of light, and inferred be associated with some definite quality of the that it must corpuscles or aether-vibrations. The corpuscles corresponding bodies of to different colours would, he remarked, like sonorous different pitch, excite vibrations of different types in the if by any means those [aetheraether ; and of vibrations] from one another, the largest unequal bignesses be separated beget a Sensation of a Red colour, the least or shortest of a
"
deep Violet,and the intermediate ones, of intermediate colours ; that bodies, according to their several much after the manner
sizes,shapes, and motions, excite vibrations in the Air of various bignesses, which, according to those bignesses, make several Tones in Sound."*
This sentence is the first enunciation of the great principle light is essentiallyperiodic in its nature, and that homogeneous that differences of period correspond to differences of colour. The analogy with Sound is obvious ; and it may be remarked in passing that Newton's theory of periodic vibrations in an elastic medium,
which
he
developed! in connexion
with
the
explanation of Sound, would alone entitle him to a place among those who have exercised the greatest influence on the theory
of light, even latter
if he had
made
no
direct contribution to the
subject.
*
Phil. Trans, vii (1672), p. 5088. t Newton's Prmcipia, Book ii.,Props, xliii.-l.

Newton devoted
21
thin, plates, and phenomena

"
considerable attention to the colours of determined the empirical laws of the
with great accuracy. In order to explain them, he supposed that every ray of light, in its passage through any refracting surface, is put into a certain transient constitution or
which, in the progress of the ray, returns at equal intervals, and disposes the ray, at every return, to be easily transmitted through the next refracting surface, and, between
state,
""
interval easily reflected by it."* The between two consecutive dispositions to easy transmission, or he supposed to depend on the colour, being length of fit,"
the
returns,
to
be
regards transmission and reflexion at the two surfaces will depend on the relation which the length of fit bears to the thickness of the plate ; and on this basis he built up a theory of the colours of thin plates. It is evident that Newton's "length of fit"
corresponds
undulatory the
greatest for red light and least for violet. If then light falls on a thin plate, its fortunes as homogeneous
ray of
which in the theory is called the wave-length of the light ; but

in
some measure
to
the
quantity
.at
soon suppositions of easy transmission and reflexion were found inadequate to explain allNewton's experimental results least without making other and more complicated additional
"
assumptions. At the time of the publication of Hooke's Micrographia, and light Newton's theory of colours, it was whether not known is propagated instantaneously or not. An attempt to settle
men with stationed two lanterns at a considerable distance from each other ; one of the other uncovered his directed to observe when was them he perceived it. But light, and exhibit his own the moment was the interval of time required by the light for its journey too small to be perceived in this way ; and the discovery was
question previously by
the
experimentally
had had
been
made
many
years
Galileo,f who
Optic ks, Book

e
ii.,Prop.
12.
t Discorri
dimostrazioiti matemaliche,
p. 43 of the Elzevir edition of 1638.
22
The Theory
by
ofthe
Aether
It
ultimately made by Olof Roemer*
observed in 1675 1644, d. 1710)that the eclipses of the first (b.

an
astronomer.
was
satellitesof Jupiter were apparently affected by an unknown disturbing cause ; the time of the occurrence of the phenomenon was retarded when the earth and Jupiter, in the course of their orbital motions, happened to be most remote from each other, Eoemer and accelerated in the contrary case. explained this
by
that light requires a finite time for its prosupposing pagation from the satellite to the earth ; and by observations of he calculated the interval required for its passage from eclipses, the
sun
to the earth
(thelight-equation, as
it is
to called)
be
11 minutes,
Shortly after Roemer's discovery, the wave-theory of light by Christiaan Huygens was greatly improved and extended 1629, d. 1695). Huygens, living in (b. who at the time was
Paris, communicated his results in 1678 to Cassini, Eoemer, De la Hire, and the other physicists of the French Academy, and prepared a manuscript of considerable length on the
subject.
This he proposed to translate into Latin, and to publish in that language together with a treatise on the Optics of Telescopes ; but the work of translation making littleprogress, after a delay of twelve years, he decided to print the work on wave-theory in its original form. In 1690 it appeared at Ley den,J under de ce the title Traite de la lumiere ou sont expliquees les causes qui luy arrive dans la
et dans reflexion
la
Et refraction.
parti-
*Mem.
de 1'Acad.
was
x.
(1666-1699), p. 575.
too large ; and that Roemer's the value was half-century Delambre, astronomers of the succeeding reduced it to 7 minutes. by an investigation whose details appear to have been completely destroyed, published in 1817 the value 493 -2s, from a discussion of eclipses of Jupiter's
soon
t It
recognized
during the previous 150 years. Glasenapp, in an inaugural dissertation satellites between 1848 and published in 1875, discussed the eclipses of the first satellite 1870, and derived, by different assumptions, values between 496s and 501s, the
in 1909, derived 498'64S from his probable value being 500-88. Sampson, own readings of the Harvard Observations, and 498'79S from the Harvard readings, The inequalities of Jupiter's surface give with probable errors of about + 0'02". in exact determinations. difficulty rise to some
most
% Huygens
had by this time returned to Holland.

culierement dans C.ff.D.Z* The Vetrange
du refraction
23
cristal d'Islande. Par
truth of Hooke's hypothesis, that light is essentially a to be proved ]}ythe effects form of motion, seemed to Huygens observed with burning-glasses ; for in the combustion induced at the focus of the glass, the molecules of bodies are dissociated ; which, as he remarked, must be taken as a certain sign of motion, if,in conformity to the Cartesian philosophy, we seek the cause in purely mechanical actions. of all natural phenomena The question then arises as to whether the motion is that is supposed in Hooke's theory, or whether it as of a medium, in the as rather to that of a flightof arrows, decided that the former altercorpuscular theory. Huygens native is the only tenable one, since beams of light proceeding
may be compared
in directions inclined to each other do not other in any way.
interfere with
each
Moreover, it had light is transmitted
previously been
as
shown
by Torricellithat
as through readily through a vacuum inferred that the medium or aether air ; and from this Huygens in which the propagation takes place must penetrate all matter,
in all so-called vacua. and be present even The process of wave-propagation he discussed by aid of a principle which was nowf introduced for the firsttime, and has by his name. It may be stated since been generally known
wave-front,* or locus of disturbance, as it exists at a definite instant t0 : then each surface-element of the wave-front may be regarded as the source of a secondary wave, isotropic medium which in a homogeneous will be propagated
thus
:
Consider
outwards
the surface-element in the form of a sphere whose radius at any subsequent instant t is proportional to (t-t0) ; and the wave-front which represents the whole distur*
from
i.e. Cbristiaan Huygens
de Zuylichem.
The custom
of indicating names
by
not unusual in that age. t Traite de la lum., p. 17. I It maybe remarked that Huygens' " waves following Hooke, call " Huygens pulses ";
initialswas
"
are
really what modern
writers,
never
considered
true
wave-trains
having the property of periodicity.
24
The Theory
of the Aether
bance at the instant t is simply the envelope of the secondary waves which arise from the various surface elements of the original wave-front.* The introduction of this principle enabled Hooke succeed where and other contemporary had failed, in achieving the explanation of wave-theoristsf refraction and reflexion. His method was to combine his own
to
Huygens
principle with Hooke's device of following separately the fortunes it of the right-hand and left-hand sides of a wave-front when The actual explanareaches the interface between two media. tion for the case of reflexion is as follows :
"
Let AB place, AHC
represent the interface at which reflexion takes the incident wave-front at an instant "0, GMB the
position which the wave-front would occupy at a later instant t if the propagation were not interrupted by reflexion. Then by
"G
from A is at the instant principle the secondary wave t a sphere ENS of radius equal to AG : the disturbance from Ht after meeting the interface at K, will generate a secondary TV oi radius equal to KM, and similarly the secondary wave
wave
Huygens'
corresponding to any other element of the original waveThe for this justification
was
given long afterwards by Fresnel, Annales Pierre Ango, the latter of whom
de
chimie, xxi. t e.g. Ignace Gaston

a
work
on
Pardies and Optics at Paris'in 1682.
published

front
can
25
of these which constitutes the final wave-front, will be secondary waves, a plane BN, angle as which will be inclined to AB at the same envelope
be found.
It is obvious that the
AC.
on
This gives the law of reflexion. The law of refraction is established by similar reasoning, the supposition that the velocity of light depends on the
Since a ray which passes in which it is propagated. medium from air to glass is bent inwards towards the normal, it may be inferred that light travels more slowly in glass than in air. offered a physical explanation of the variation in to another, by supposing velocity of light from one medium that transparent bodies consist of hard particles which interact
Huygens
its elasticity. The aethereal matter, modifying opacity of metals he explained by an extension of the same idea, supposing that some of the particles of metals are hard with the
(these account
the luminous
for
and reflexion)
motion The second half of the Theorie de la lumiere is concerned with phenomenon which had been discovered a few years previously by a Danish Bartholin (b. 1625, philosopher, Erasmus
the rest soft : the latterdestroy by damping it.
sailor had brought from Iceland to Copenhagen a number of beautiful crystals which he had collected in the Bay Bartholin, into whose hands they passed, noticed* of Eoerford.
d.
1698). A
small object viewed through one of these crystals appeared double, and found the immediate cause of this in the fact that a ray of light entering the crystal gave rise in general
to the refracted rays. One of these rays was subject ordinary law of refraction,while the other, which was called the extraordinary ray, obeyed a different law, which Bartholin to two
that any
did not succeed in determining. The matter had arrived at this stage when it was taken up by Huygens. Since in his conception each ray of light corresponds to the propagation of a wave-front, the two rays in Iceland
spar must correspond
*
to two
different wave-fronts propagated

1669.
Ejcperimenta cristattiIslandici disdiaclastici :
26
The Theory
ofthe
Aether
difficulty ;
more
found no simultaneously. In this idea he " It is certain that a space occupied by

matter
as
one
than
he says : kind of
may permit the propagation of several kinds of waves, different in velocity; for this actually happens in air mixed waves are and lightwith aethereal matter, where sound-waves propagated together."
Accordingly he supposed
at any spot within
a
that
light-disturbance generated
crystal of Iceland spar spreads out in the
of a sphere and a spheroid wave-surface, composed having the origin of disturbance as centre. The spherical waveof
a
form
front corresponds to the ordinary ray, and the spheroid to the extraordinary ray ; and the direction in which the extraordinary
ray is refracted may in which the
be determined
by
spheroid takes ordinary construction is taken by the sphere. Thus, let the plane of the figure be at right angles to the intersection of the wave-front with the surface of the crystal ;
represent the trace of the incident wave-front ; and suppose that in unit time the disturbance from B reaches the In this unit-interval of time the disturbance interface at T.
geometrical construction, the place which in the
let AB
from A
and
will have
:
spheroid
spread out within the crystal into so the wave-front corresponding
sphere
to
the
ordinary ray will be the tangent-plane to the sphere through the line whose trace is T, while the wave-front corresponding to the extraordinary ray will be the tangent-plane to the
spheroid
through
the
same
line.
The
points
of contact

M will determine
the directions AN
27
of the two-
and
and A M
refracted rays* within the crystal. Huygens did not in the Thtoi-iede la lumiere attempt a detailed but communicated physical explanation of the spheroidal wave,
one
As letter to Papin,fwritten in December, 1690. to the kinds of matter contained in Iceland crystal," he says, I suppose one composed of small spheroids, and another which
later in
"
"
occupies the interspaces around these spheroids, and which serves to bind them together. Besides these, there is the matter of
aether permeating all the crystal,both between and within the mentioned ; for I suppose parcels of the two kinds of matter just
the littlespheroids, and the matter which occupies the intervals around them, to be composed of small fixed particles, finer amongst which are diffused in perpetual motion the still both There is now the no reason particles of the aether. why propaordinary ray in the crystal should not be due to waves gated in this aethereal matter. To account for the extraordinary refraction, I conceive another kind of waves, which have for vehicle both the aethereal matter and the two other kinds of matter constituting the crystal. Of these latter,I suppose that the matter
more
a little of the small spheroids transmits the waves quickly than the aethereal matter, while that around the
spheroids transmits
same
these
.
.
waves
.
little more
slowly than the
These same waves, aethereal matter. when they travel in the direction of the breadth of the spheroids, meet with more of the matter of the spheroids, or at least pass with less obstruction, and so are propagated a littlemore quickly in this sense than in the other ; thus the light-disturbance is propagated
as
a
spheroidal sheet." Huygens made another discoveryj of capital importance when

The
word
ray in the wave-theory
from
is always applied to the line which goes to a point on its the centre of a wave the origin of the disturbnnce) (i.e. surface, whatever may be the inclination of this line to the surface-element on it for of the this line has the optical properties of the "rays" which abuts; emission theory. t Huygens' (Envres, ed. 1905, x., p. 177.
+
T/ieorie de la lumiere,
p. 89.
28
Theory
ofthe Aether
experimenting with the Iceland crystal. He observed that the two rays which are obtained by the double refraction of a single
ray afterwards behave in a way different from ordinary light which has not experienced double refraction; and in particular, if one of these rays is incident on a second crystal of Iceland spar, it gives rise in
to only
one,
circumstances to two, and in others refracted ray. The behaviour of the ray at this
some
be altered by simply rotating the second second refraction can crystal about the direction of the ray as axis ; the ray undergoing the ordinary or extraordinary refraction according as the principal section of the crystal is in a certain direction or in the direction at right angles to this. The first stage in the explanation of Huygens' observation
in 1717 showed* that a ray who reached by Newton, obtained by double refraction differs from a ray of ordinary light in the same way that a long rod whose cross-section is a
was
rectangle differsfrom a long rod whose cross-section is a circle: in other words, the properties of a ray of ordinary light are the same with respect to all directions at right angles to its direction
of propagation, whereas a ray obtained by double refraction or must be supposed to have sides, properties related to special directions at right angles to its own direction. The refraction of such a ray at the surface of a crystal depends on the relation of its sides to the principal plane of the crystal. That a ray of light should possess such properties seemed to Newton f an insuperable to the hypothesis which
objection
On of light as analogous to waves of sound. regarded in the right : his are this point he was perfectly objections it was as valid against the wave-theory understood by his
waves
contemporaries
J,although
not against the theory
" which
was
put
forward
*
century later by Young
and Fresnel.
The
t Opticks, Query 28. second edition of Newton's Opticks, Query 26. in which the wave In which the oscillations direction in are the performed
are performed which the oscillations
advances.
" In
in which
in
direction at right angles to that
the
wave
advances.
29
CHAPTEE
ELECTRIC
II.
PRIOR
TO
THE
AND
MAGNETIC
SCIENCE OF
THE
INTRODUCTION
POTENTIALS.
THE
discoveries of Peregrinus and Gilbert, and the vortex-hypothesis by which Descartes had attempted to explain to the rank of a separate science them,* had raised magnetism
magnetic
The kindred science by the middle of the seventeenth century. was at that time in a less developed state ; but it of electricity
had been considerably advanced by Gilbert, whose researches in be noticed. this direction will now For two thousand years the attractive power of amber had
been regarded by at most one

mistaken,
as
or
virtue peculiar to that substance, or possessed two others. Gilbert provedf this view to be
are
effects showing that the same in quite a large class of bodies ; among
induced by friction
he mentioned
which
glass, sulphur, sealing-wax, and various precious stones. A force which was manifested by so many differentkinds of to need a name matter seemed of its own; and accordingly Gilbert gave retained. Between
many
such
to it the
name
which electric,
it has
ever
since
the magnetic and electric forces Gilbert remarked distinctions. The lodestone requires no stimulus of friction is needed to stir glass and sulphur into activity. as substances, whereas
attraction
a
lodestone attracts only magnetizable The electrifiedbodies attract everything.

The between paper,
or
two
a
bodies is not affected by linen cloth, or by immersing
magnetic interposing
sheet of the bodies in water j
whereas the electric attraction is readily destroyed by screens. Lastly, the magnetic force tends to arrange bodies in definite
*Cf. pp. 7-9.
t De
Magnete,
lib.ii., cap. 2.
30
Electric and Magnetic
Science
orientations ; while the electricforce merely tends to heap them together in shapeless clusters. facts appeared to Gilbert to indicate that electric due to something are phenomena of a material nature, which under the influence of friction is liberated from the glass or These
amber in which under ordinary circumstances it is imprisoned. In support of this view he adduced evidence from other quarters. Being a physician, he was well acquainted with the doctrine that the human moisture they mind;
"
body
phlegm,
contains various humours blood, choler, and melancholy,

were
or
"
kinds which,
of
as
predominated, and
when
supposed
to determine
the temper
of
observed that electrifiable bodies were to the almost all hard and transparent, and therefore (according formed by the consolidation of watery liquids, ideas of that time)
he concluded that the common menstruum of these liquids must be a particular kind of humour, to the possession of which the
he
electrical properties of bodies or might be supposed to warm

humour, and form which
an
would
referred. Friction otherwise excite or liberate the then issue from the body as an effluvium
were
to
be
around it. The effluvium must, he remarked, be very attenuated, for its emission cannot be detected by the senses.
atmosphere atmosphere of effluvia round every electrified body might indeed have been inferred, according to Gilbert's ideas, from the single fact of electric attraction. For of he believed that matter cannot act where if a body acts on all surrounding it is not ; and hence The
existence
an
appearing to touch them, something must have proceeded out of it unseen. The whole phenomenon appeared to him to be analogous to the attraction which is exercised by the earth on falling bodies.
without objects For in the latter case effluvium by which itself. he conceived of the atmospheric air as the to the earth draws all things downwards
itself of electrical emanations commended generally to such of the natural philosophers of the seventeenth interested in the were ; among whom century as were
Gilbert's theory
subject
prior to the Introduction ofthe Potentials.

numbered
who
as was.
31
Niccolo
Cabeo
(b.1585,
d.
an 1650),
Italian Jesuit
well Digby (b.1603, d.
bodies repel perhaps the firstto observe that electrified as attract ; the English royalist exile, Sir Kenelm
(b.1627, d.
1665);and 1691). There were,
the
celebrated however, some
Robert
Boyle
differences of
in which the effluviaacted on the small opinion as to the manner bodies and set them in motion towards the excited electric; Gilbert himself had supposed the emanations to have an inherent tendency
return
to reunion with the parent body ; Digby
likened their
vapour by cooling ; and other writers pictured the effluvia as forming vortices round the attracted bodies in the Cartesian fashion.
to the condensation
of
There
Newton's
"
well-known Opticks.*
is
allusion to Gilbert's hypothesis in

how
Let him also tell me,

so rare
an
electrick body
can
by friction
emit an exhalation its emission to cause
electrick body, and diameter is above two feet,and yet to be able to agitate and carry up leaf copper, or leaf gold, at a distance of above a foot " from the electrick body ?
and subtle,t and yet so potent, as by no sensible diminution of the weight of the to be expanded through a sphere, whose
surprising that the Newtonian blow to doctrine of gravitation should not have proved a severe the emanation theory of electricity ; but Gilbert's doctrine was
It is, perhaps, somewhat
firmly established as to be unshaken by the overthrow It was, of the analogy by which it had been originallyjustified. however, modified in one particular about the beginning of the
now
so
eighteenth
electrics
are
century.
not
In
order
to
account
for the
fact that
perceptibly wasted away by excitement, the to return earlier writers had supposed all the emanations had emitted them ; but the ultimately to the body which
corpuscular theory of light accustomed idea of emissions so subtle as to cause no
*
philosophers to the perceptible loss ; and
Query 22.
"
Subtlety," says Johnson,
"
which
in its original import
means
exility of
particles, is taken in its metaphorical meaning
for nicety of distinction."
32
after the time
Electric and Magnetic Science

of Newton
the doctrine of the return of theelectriceffluviagradually lost credit. died in 1727. Of the expositions of his philosophy Newton
at published in his lifetime by his followers, one which were least deserves to be noticed for the sake of the insight which it affords into the state of opinion regarding light,heat, and
half of the eighteenth century. This was electricityin the first the Physices elementa matlwmatica experimentis confirmata of 1688, d. 1742), Jacob s'Gravesande (b. Wilhelm published at
Ley den in 1720.
The Latin
edition
moreover, several times, and was, to have exercised English : it seems
afterwards reprinted translated into French and

a
was
considerable and,
on
the
whole, well-deserved influence on contemporary thought. of s'Gravesande supposed light to consist in the projection eye ; the motion being corpuscles from luminous bodies to [the by astronomical observations. Since very swift, as is shown bodies, e.g. the metals, become luminous when they- -are many heated, he inferred that every substance possesses a natural it is heated to store of corpuscles, which are expelled when incandescence ; conversely, corpuscles may become united to a material body ; as happens, for instance, when the body is exposed
fire. Moreover, since the heat thus acquired is the substance of the body, he readily conducted throughout concluded that corpuscles can penetrate all substances, however
to the rays of
a
hard and dense they be. Let us here recall the
ideas then
current
regarding the
the time of Boyle (1626-1691) it had been recognized generally that substances perceptible to or the senses may be either elements or compounds mixtures ; being chemical individuals, distinct from mere mixtures of elements. But the substances at that time accepted known as elements were very different from those which are now the compounds
nature of material bodies. From
Air and the calces* of the metals figured in the list, recognized were while almost all the chemical elements now by the
name.
prior to the Introduction

omitted from it ; because they were
some as
ojthe Potentials.
as
33
of them, such
oxygen
and
hydrogen,
yet undiscovered, and others, such as the believed to be compounds. metals, because they were Among the chemical elements, it became customary after
to include light-corpuscles.* That somethe time of Newton thing which is confessedly imponderable should ever have been
surprising. But admitted into this class may at firstsight seem that questions of ponderability counted it must be remembered for very little with the philosophers of the period. Threequarters of the eighteenth century had passed before Lavoisier doctrine that the total weight of enunciated the fundamental the substances concerned in a chemical after the reaction as before it. As soon
reaction is the
as
same
this principle came from the true to be universally applied, light parted company elements in the scheme of chemistry.
held at this consider the views which were time regarding the nature of heat. These are of interest for our set up present purpose, on account of the analogies which were
We
must
now
between
The
heat and electricity.
have been entertained various conceptions which according as concerning heat fallinto one or other of two classes, heat is represented as a mere condition producible in bodies, or distinct species of matter. The former view, which is that universally held at the present day, was advocated by the great
as
a
philosophers of the seventeenth century. Bacon maintained it in Organum : Calor," he wrote, the Novum est niotus expansivus, cohibitus, et nitens per partes minores."f Boyle+ affirmed that
" "
consists in a various, vehement, and intestine commotion of the Parts among themselves." Hooke" declared that Heat is a property of a body arising from the motion or agitationof its parts." And Newton|| asked : Do not the Nature
"
"
of Heat
"
"
"
Newton
himself
(Oplicks, p. 349)
be transmuted
ponderable matter
might
that light-corpuscles and suspected later, Boscovich into each other : much
(Theoria, pp. 215, 217) regarded the

the constitution of natural bodies. t Nov. Org., Lib. n., Aphor. xx.
matter
of light
as
principle
or
element in
and Cold.
" Micrographia,
p. 37.
J Mechanical Opticks. ||
D
Production
ofHeat
34
heated beyond a certain Degree, emit all fixed Bodies, when light and shine ; and is not this Emission performed by the suggested the vibrating Motion of their Parts ? and, moreover,
"
converse
light is absorbed by a of this, namely, that when material body, vibrations are set up which are perceived by the
as
senses
heat.
The
doctrine that heat

in Newton's
is
a
material substance
was
maintained
certain school of chemists. The Homberg most conspicuous member of the school was Wilhelm 1652, d. 1715) (b. of Paris, who* identifiedheat and light with the
lifetime by
sulphureous principle,which he supposed to be one of the primary in the interplanetary ingredients of all bodies, and to be present even it this view and that of Newton spaces. Between as if nothing but sharp opposition was to be might at firstseem expected, j- But a few years later the professed exponents of the Principia and the Opticks began to develop their system under the evident influence of Homberg's writings. This evolution
may easily be traced in s'Gravesande, whose starting-point is idea that heat bears to light a the admittedly Newtonian relation similar to that which a state of turmoil bears to regular
rectilinear motion ; whence, conceiving light as a projection of in hot he infers body a that the material particles corpuscles, in a state of agitation, which are and the light-corpusclesj
becomes
more
violent
as
the body
a
is more
intensely heated.
s'Gravesande thus holds On the one hand camps.
position between the two opposite he interprets heat as a mode of but he it on the other motion ; associates with the presence of he further identifieswith the a particular kind of matter, which matter of light. After this the materialistic hypothesis made
*
Mem.
del'Acad.,
1705, p. 88.
us of a curious conjecture ofNewtoa'i: "Is not the between light the of action strength and vigour and sulphureous bodies one reason bodies fire more take readily and burn more M-liy sulphureous vehemently than
" other bodies do? J I have thought it best to translate s'Gravesande's ignis by
t Though
it reminds
"
light-corpuscles."
This is, I think, fully

lineas rectas
by justified
intrat,
ex
such
motu
of his statements
in gttein fibris
as
Quando ignis
per
ideam
oculos nostros luminis excitat.
fundo oculi cont/tninicai
35
frankly advocated by another member rapid progress. It was Boerhaave* 1668, d. 1738), (6. of the Dutch school, Hermann Professor in chemistry was Somewhat
the University
of Leyden, whose translated into English in 1727.
treatise
on
later it was
rays from incandescent luminous effects by passing the rays through a plate of glass, which transmits the light, but absorbs the heat. After this discovery it was no longer possible to identify the matter of heat
with the corpuscles of light; and the former accepted as a distinct element, under the name
was
found that the heating effectsof the bodies may be separated from their
consequently In of caloric.^ the
the latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth
centuries}caloric
intersticesbetween
was
generally
conceived
as
occupying
"
idea an the particles of ponderable matter which fittedin well with the observation that bodies commonly less competent expand when they are absorbing heat, but which was freezing. to explain the fact"that water expands when
supposing the union between body and the caloric absorbed in the process of a so that the consequent melting to be of a chemical nature; changes in volume would be beyond the possibilityof prediction. As we have already remarked, the imponderability of heat
overcome
The
latter difficulty was
by
did not appear to the philosophers of the eighteenth century to for excluding it from the list of chemical be a sufficient reason elements ; and in any case there was considerable doubt as to
Some experimenters whether caloric was ponderable or not. believed that bodies were heavier when cold than when hot; heavier when hot than when cold. The others that they were
century
*
was
far advanced
followed Homberg
before Lavoisier and Eumford

in supposing the matter
finally
Boerhaave
of heat to be present ia
spaces. all so-called vacuous t Scheele in 1777 supposed caloric to be a compound of oxygen and phlogiston, and light to be oxygen combined with a greater proportion of phlogiston. Count Eumford 1753, (b. J In suite of the experiments of BenjaminThompson,
.d.
closing years of the eighteenth century. to re-establish the older conception of heat. -sufficed had This been known " since the time of Boyle.
D
2
1814),in
the
These
should
have
36
Science
of a body is without sensible proved that the temperature influence on its weight. Perhaps nothing in the history of natural philosophy is more amazing than the vicissitudes of the theory of heat. The true hypothesis, after having met with general acceptance throughout trious a century, and having been approved by a succession of illusdeliberately abandoned by their successors was men, in favour of developments,
a
conception grotesque
utterly false,and, in absurd.
some
of its
and
We
must
now
return to s'Gravesande's book.
The
of combustion he explained by assuming that when is sufficiently heated the light-corpuscles interact with
material particles,some
phenomena a body the
and carried away This view harmonizes with the theory of calcination which had been developed by Becher and his pupil Stahl at the end of theseventeenth century, according to which the metals were posed sup-
constituents being in consequence separated flame the as with corpuscles and smoke.
of their calces and an element phlogiston. The process of combustion, by which a metal is changed into itscalx, was interpreted as a decomposition, in which the phlogiston
separated from the metal and escaped into the atmosphere ; while the conversion of the calx into the metal was regarded as
a
to be composed
union with phlogiston.*
s'Gravesande attributed electriceffectsto vibrations induced in effluvia, which he supposed to be permanently attached to Glass," he asserted, contains in it,and such bodies as amber. has about its surface, a certain atmosphere, which is excited by Friction and put into a vibratory motion ; for it attracts and
" "
The correct idea of combustion had been advanced by Hooke. lution disso"The " he bodies," in inflammable Micrographia, is the asserts of performed by a in inherent is if like, and mixed with the air, that not the very same substance in is fixed But that this saltpetre." statement met which with, with littlefavour
the time, and the doctrine of the compound nature of metals survived in full In 1775 vigour until the discovery of oxygen by Priestley and Scheele in 1771-5. Lavoisier reaffirmed Hooke's principle that a metallic calx is not the metal minus and this idea, which carried with it the phlogiston, but the metal plus oxygen;
at
recognition of the elementary of the eighteenth century.
nature
of metals,
was
generally accepted by the end'
37
repels light Bodies. The smallest parts of the glass are agitated by the Attrition, and by reason their motion is of their elasticity, is communicated to the Atmosphere abovevibratory, which
exerts its action the mentioned : and therefore that Atmosphere further, the greater agitation the Parts of the Glass receive when a greater attrition is given to the glass."
himself translator of s'Gravesande's work was destined to play a considerable part in the history of electrical 1683, d. 1744)was an science. Jean Theophile Desaguliers (b. Englishman only by adoption. His father had been a Huguenot pastor, who, escaping from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, brought away the boy from La Kochelle, concealed, it is said, in a tub. The young Desaguliers was afterwards ordained,
so of Chandos who was chaplain to that Duke In this situation he formed ungratefully ridiculed by Pope. friendships with some of the natural philosophers of the capital, experimenter of others with Stephen Gray, an and amongst
The English
and
became
whom
littleis known*
beyond
the fact that he
was
pensioner
of the Charterhouse. In 1729 Gray communicated, a other Gentlemen and some

" "
as
he
says,fto
of
a
"
Dr. Desaguliers
discovery he had
showing
that the Electrick Vertue
lately made, Glass Tube may be
to any other Bodies so as to give them the same "conveyed Property of attracting and repelling light Bodies as the Tube does, when excited by rubbing : and that this attractive Vertue
might be carried to Bodies the Tube."

This
was
a
that
were
many
Feet distant from
result of the greatest importance, for previous workers had known of no other way of producing the attractive emanations than by rubbing the body concerned.* It was found
Those M*ho are interested in the literary history of the eighteenth century will on the death of Stephen Gray were recall the controversy as to whether the verses "Williams, whose name they bore, or by her patron Johnson. written hy Anna
*
| Phil. j Otto
Trans, xxxvii Guericke von
(1731), pp. 18, 227, 285, 1602, d. 1686)bad, as (b.
397.
a
conduction of electricityalong a Cf. Experimenta to have been followed up.
of fact, observed the linen thread ; but this experiment does not seem
matter
novamagdeburgica,
1672.
38
that only
were
a

o
Science
limited class of substances, among which the metals conspicuous, had the capacity of acting as channels for the
transport of the electricpower ; to these Desaguliers, who. continued the experiments after Gray's death in 1736, gavfc^the
name
or conductors. non-electrics After Gray's discovery it was
by rubbing ; and it became have an independent necessary to admit that these emanations body to another. existence, and can be transferred from one of the recognized, under the name one as fluidft electric of the substances of which the world is constituted. The imponderability of this fluid did not, for the
we
electric effluvia are bodies from which they are evoked
that the
longer possible to believe inseparably connected with the

no
Accordingly
find them
already mentioned, prevent its admission by the side of light and caloric into the listof chemical elements. The question was actively debated as to whether the electric fluid was an suspected, was element sui generis, or, as some
reasons
another manifestation of that principle whose operation is seen in the phenomena of heat. Those who held the latter view urged that the electric fluid and heat can both be induced by both induce combustion, and can both be transferred from one body to another by mere that contact ; and, moreover, the best conductors of heat are also in general the best conductors of electricity. On the other hand it was contended that the electrification of a body does not cause any appreciable rise in its temperature; experiment of Stephen Gray's and an
friction, can
brought to light a yet

made
two
more
oaken
cubes,
one
in 1729,. striking difference. Gray,J solid and the other hollow, and
electrifiedin the same way they produced he concluded that it was only exactly similar effects; whence Thus the surfaces which had taken part in the phenomena. showed that when
while heat is disseminated
the electricfluid resides at
*
throughout
or
near
the substance of a body, its surface. In the middle of

200, 209:
Phil. Trans, xli.
(1739), pp.
a
186,
193,
Dissertation
concerning
Electricity, 1742.
t The
Cartesians defined
fluid to be
continual agitation.
body whose minute parts Phil. Trans, xxxvii., p. 35.
are
in
39
the eighteenth century it was generally compared to an enveloping The a atmosphere. electricitywhich non-electric of great length (for string 800 or 900 feet long) example, a hempen
"
end to the other in a sphere of electrical a report of the French Effluvia" says Desaguliers in 1740 Around Academy in 1733 says body there is an electrified receives, runs
from
one
ând
"
:f
formed
which within
more
vortex
of exceedingly finematter
in
state of agitation,,
as
urges towards
its sphere than
a
the body
such
light substances
lie
is i"
mere
of activity. The existence of this vortex an ; for when electrifiedbody
conjecture
brought
close to the face it
causes
sensation
like that of
encountering a cobweb. "J The report from which this is quoted was prepared in connexion with the discoveries of Charles-Francois du Fay
(b.1698,
France.
d. Du
near
1739), superintendent
Fay" accounted
to
an
of gardens to the King of for the behaviour of gold leaf when
electrifiedglass tube by supposing that at firstthe vortex of the tube envelopes the gold-leaf, and so attracts it towards the tube. But when the gold-leaf contact occurs,
brought
acquires
vortex
the electric virtue, and so becomes surrounded by a The two vortices, striving to extend in of its own.
"
contrary senses, repel each other, and the vortex of the tube, It is being the stronger, drives away that of the gold-leaf. then
says du Fay,H certain/'

are
"
that bodies which
have
become
repelled by those which have rendered them electric; but are they repelled likewise by other electrified bodies of all kinds ? And do electrified bodies differfrom each
electric by contact
other in
no
respect
examination
should never hitherto has had the least idea."

*
? An their intensity of electrification to a discovery which I of this matter has led me one have foreseen, and of which I believe no
save
t This
century.
Phil. Trans, xli., p. 636. observation had been made
t Hist, de 1'Acad., 1733, p. 6.

first by Hawksbee
at the beginning
of the
" Mem.
503;
de 1'Acad. des Sciences, 1733, pp. 23, 73, 233, 457 ; 1734, pp. 341, 1737, p. 86 ; Phil. Trans, xxxviii. (1734), p. 258. de 1'Acad., 1733, p. 464.
Mem. ||
40
He
Science
had
near
found, in fact, that when gold-leaf which brought by contact with excited glass was electrified
" "
been
to
an
manifested between excited piece of copal,* an attraction was I had expected," he writes, quite the opposite effect, them.
since, according to my reasoning, the copal and gold-leaf, which both electrified, should have were other." repelled each he found that the gold-leaf, Proceeding with his experiments
repelled by glass, was attracted by all electrifiedresinous substances, and that when repelled by the latterit was attracted by the glass. We see, then," he continues,
when
electrifiedand
"
of a totally different nature electricities namely, that of transparent solids,such as glass, crystal, "c., and that of bituminous or resinous bodies, such as amber, copal, that there
are
"
two
"
sealing-wax, "c.
contracted
an
Each
of them
repels
same
bodies
as
electricityof the bodies which
nature
which its own,
have
attracts those whose

see even
electricityis of the contrary nature.

are
and We
that
not
themselves
electrics can
acquire either of these electricities, and that then their effects it are similar to those of the bodies which have communicated
to them."
kinds of electricitywhose existence was thus demonstrated, du Fay gave the names vitreous and resinous, by
the two which they have ever since been known. An interest in electricalexperiments
to have
To
spread from du Fay to other members of the Court circle of Louis XV ; of the Academy contain a and from 1745 onwards the Memoirs by the Abbe Jean-Antoine Nollet series of papers on the
seems
subject
1700, d. 1770), {". afterwards preceptor in natural philosophy

to the Koyal
Family.
the movement
"
Nollet attributed electric phenomena to in opposite directions of two currents of a fluid,
very subtle and inflammable," which he supposed to be present in all bodies under all circumstances.f When an electric is excited by friction, part of this fluid escapes from its pores, forming an stream; and this loss is repaired by an
effluent
A hard transparent
resin, used in the preparation of varnish.
t Cf. Nollet's lieeherchet, 1749, p. 245.
41
fluid entering the body from outside. stream of the same dtfiucnt Light bodies in the vicinity, being caught in one or other of
attracted or repelled from the excited electric. Nollet's theory was in great vogue for some time ; but six or seven across a years after its first publication, its author came
these streams,
are
purporting to be a French translation of a book printed originally in England, describing experiments said to have been at Philadelphia, in America, by one Benjamin Franklin. made
work "He
could not at first believe," AutobiograpJvy, that such a work

"
as
Franklin
tells us
in his
it must have his system. Afterwards, having
from America, and said been fabricated by his enemies at Paris to decry
came
existed such a person as doubted, he wrote and published a volume of letters, chiefly addressed to me, defending his theory, and denying the verity
of my experiments, and of the positions deduced from them." We must now trace the events which led up to the discovery which so perturbed Nollet.
been assured that there really Franklin at Philadelphia, which he had
In
1745
Pieter
van
Musschenbroek
(6.1692,
d.
1761),
attempted to find a method of preserving electric charges from the decay which was observed when the charged bodies were surrounded by air. With this purpose he tried the effectof surrounding a charged mass of water by an
envelope of
some
a
Professor at Leyden,
non-conductor,
e.g., glass.
In
one
of his
experiments,
from a gunwas suspended phial of water barrel by a wire let down a few inches into the water through the cork; and the gun-barrel, suspended on silk lines, was applied so near an excited glass globe that some metallic fringes
inserted into
the
gun-barrel
a
touched
Under
happened
these
circumstances
globe in motion. friend named Cimaeus, who

the hand, and touch the gunviolent shock ; and it became
one
or
to grasp the phial with
barrel with the other, received a evident that a method of accumulating electric power
*
intensifying the
had
was
been
discovered.*
independently in the
same
The
discovery
von
Kleist, Dean
made of Kumrain.
year by
Ewald
Georg
42

o
Science
as
a
Shortly after the discovery of the Leyden phial, by Nollet, had become known in England, named
apothecary that when
observer
arms
it
was
London
William named the experiment

"
Watson
1715, d. 1787)*noticed (6.

in this fashion the
is performed
no
feels the shock in " and breast ; whence
discharge there is a shortest

or
other parts of his body but his he inferred that in the act of transference of something which takes the
the phial.
some
best-conducting path between the gun-barrel and This idea of transference seemed to him to bear efflux; and hypothesis,
similarity to Nollet's doctrine of afflux and indeed be little doubt that the Abbe's there can
though
which
totally false in itself,furnished Watson,
some
of the ideas from
with the guidance of experiment, constructed In a to the Eoyal a Society correct theory. memoiirt)read in October, 1746, he propounded the doctrine that electrical actions are due to the presence of an electrical which aether/' in the charging or discharging of a Leyden jaris transferred, but The excitation of an electric, is not created or destroyed. according to this view, consists not in the evoking of anything from within the electric itselfwithout compensation, but in the accumulation of a surplus of electricalaether by the electric at the expense stock is accordingly other body, whose of some depleted. All bodies were supposed to possess a certain natural store, which could be drawn upon for this purpose.
"
"
I have
a
shewn,"
wrote
Watson,
"
that
electricity is the
very subtil and elastic fluid,occupying all bodies in contact with the terraqueous globe ; and that every-where, in degree of density ; and that its natural state, it is of the same effect of denominate electrics per sey. glass and other bodies, which we have the power, by certain known operations, of taking this fluid from one body, and conveying it to another, in a quantity sufficient to be
*
obvious
rose
to
all
our
senses;
and
that, under
was
Watson
afterwards
to
eminence It may
in the medical
profession, and
knighted.
t Phil. Trans, xliv., p. 718.

improved
Watson here he noted that it was who the phial by coating it nearly to the top, both inside and outside, with
tinfoil.
ofthe
Potentials.
43
certain circumstances, itwas possible to render the electricityin bodies more than it naturally is, and, by communirare some cating this to other bodies, to give them an additional quantity, dense." more and make their electricity In the same proposed, a year in which Watson's theory was from had lately arrived in America certain Dr. Spence, who Scotland, was electrical experiments. showing in Boston some who already at forty years of age was recognized as one of the leading citizens of the English 1706, colonies in America, BenjaminFranklin of Philadelphia (b. d. 1790). Spence's experiments were," writes Franklin,*
Among
his audience
was
man
"
"
imperfectly performed,
a
as
he
to
was
not
very expert ; but, being
on
quite subject
pleased me." Philadelphia received from

tube, with Collinson on
equally surprised and Soon of after this, the "Library Company" (an institution founded by Franklin himself)
new
me,
they
Mr. Peter Collinson of London In some account of its use. July llth, 1747,f Franklin
certain
a
a
present of a glass letter written to
made with this tube, and drawn from them.
described experiments deductions which he had
so that electricitycannot person A, standing on wax pass from him to the ground, rubs the tube, and if another person B, likewise standing on wax, passes his knuckle along near the glass so as to receive its electricity, then both A and B
If
one
will be capable of giving a spark to a third person C standing on the floor; that is, they will be electrified. If, however, A and B touch each other, either during or after the rubbing, they will not be electrified. This observation suggested to Franklin the that (unknown to him) had been propounded hypothesis
few
months
same
a
previously by Watson : namely, that electricityis an element in its normal present in a certain proportion in all matter condition ; so that, before the rubbing, each of the persons A, B, and C has an equal share. The effect of the rubbing is to
*
Franklin's Autobiography.
Experiments
and
t Franklin's New
Observations
on
Electricity, letterii.
44
transfer

some
Science
it is of A's electricity to the glass, whence Thus A has a deficiency and B a superfluity transferred to B.
; and of electricity
normal amount, If, however, A and
spark. flows between B are in contact, electricity them so as to re-establish the original equality, and neither is then electrified with reference to C.
Thus
if either of them approaches C, who the distribution will be equalized by
has the
a
only
created by rubbing the glass, but the rubber, so that the transferred to the glass from
electricity is not loses exactly
as
rubber
as the glass gains ; the, total much in any insulated system is invariable. This quantity of electricity as the principle conservation assertion is usually known
of
of
charge. electric The condition of A and B in the experiment can evidently be expressed by plus and minus signs : A having a deficiency B a superfluity + e of electricity. Franklin, at the e and
-
not acquainted of his own experiments, was with du Fay's discoveries ; but it is evident that the electric fluid of Franklin is identical with the vitreous electricityof du Fay, and that du Fay's resinous electricityis,in Franklin's commencement
theory, merely the deficiency of a stock of vitreous electricity supposed to be possessed naturally by all ponderable bodies. In Franklin's theory we are spared the necessity for admitting that two quasi-material bodies by their union annihilate each other, as vitreous and resinous electricitywere supposed to do. Some curiosity will naturally be feltas to the considerations
can
which
induced
Franklin
to attribute the positive character
to
to have vitreous rather than to resinous electricity. They seem been founded on a comparison of the brush discharges from the the two conductors electricities; when charged with
electricitywas
over
resinous, the discharge
was
"
the surface of the opposite conductor it." Again, if a Ley den jarwhose inner coating is electrified vitreously is discharged silently by a conductor, of whose pointed ends
one
observed to spread as if it flowed from
is
near
the knob
the point which
is near
and the other near the outer coating, the knob is seen in the dark to be illumi-

nated with
a
45
globule, while the point which is near the outer coating is illuminated with a pencil of rays; which suggested to Franklin that the electric fluid, going from the
star
or
inside to the outside of the issues from the latter. And
jar, enters
at the former point and

some cases
taper is blown of a wax discharging vitreous electricity,and discharging resinous electricity. But
yet again, in away from a
the flame is is
brass ball which towards one which

Franklin
remarks
that
the interpretation of these observations is somewhat
conjectural,
vitreous or resinous electricityis the actual and that whether electricfluid is not certainly known. Franklin held Regarding the physical nature of electricity, much
an
the
same
ideas
as
his contemporaries
"
; he pictured it as
elastic* fluid,consisting of permeate

ease common
it can
such
particles extremely subtile,since the densest metals, with matter, even
as not to receive any and freedom perceptible extent from the resistance." He departed, however, to some accustomed to ascribe conceptions of his predecessors, who were all electrical repulsions to the diffusion of effluvia from the
excited electric to the body acted on ; so that the tickling sensation which is experienced when a charged body is brought face was to the human near attributed to a direct action of the
doctrine, which, as we shall see, practically ended with Franklin, bears a suggestive resemblance introduced by to that which nearly a century later was Faraday ; both explained electrical phenomena ducing without introeffluvia
on
the skin.
This
action at
forms
an
distance, by supposing that something which essential part of the electrifiedsystem is present at
a
any electricaction takes place ; but in the older identified with the electric fluid theory this something was itself, view it is identifiedwith a state of while in the modern the spot where
stress in the aether.
In
the interval between
the fall of
one
a
school and distance was
the
rise of the other, the theory dominant. of the
of action at
The germs
last-mentioned
theory
may
be found
in
*i.c., repulsive of its own
particles.
46
Franklin's
Electricand Magnetic Science

own
writings. It originated in connexion with the a matter which is discussed explanation of the Ley den jar, in his third letter to Collinson, of date September 1st, 1747.
quantity of electricityis taken one side of the glass, by means of the coating it, and in contact an with equal quantity is communicated to the other side, by means of the other coating. The the
says,
a
In charging from away
he jar,
glass itself he supposes to fluid, so that the deficiency coexist with the redundancy sides
are
be
on
impermeable the
the
one
to
can
the
electric
side
so
on
other,
permanently long as the two
a conconnected with each other ; but when nexion is set up, the distribution of fluid is equalized through the body of the experimenter, who receives a shock.
not
of the jar to regard glass as Franklin was nevertheless well impenetrable to electriceffluvia, that the interposition of a glass plate between aware* an this theory
Compelled
by
body and the of its attraction does not shield electrified objects the latter from the attractive influence. He was thus driven to supposef that the surface of the glass which is nearest the
excited body is directly affected, and is able to exert an influence through the glass on the opposite surface ; the latter surface, which thus receives a kind of secondary or derived
excitement, is responsible for the electriceffects beyond it. This idea harmonized admirably with the phenomena now the jar ; for it was possible to hold that the excess
of of
electricityon
the inner face exercises
the substance of the glass, and so outer faces by driving away the electricityfrom it.J Franklin had thus arrived at what was really a theory of the particles of the electric fluid; action at a distance between and this he he Thus," able to support by other experiments. fountain, naturally dense and continual, writes," the stream of a will separate and spread in the form of when electrified,
was
"
repellent action through a deficiency on causes the
"
brush, every
*
drop
endeavouring
1750,
to recede from
t Hid., 1750,
every other
New
Experiments,
" 28.
" 34.
Ibid., 1750,
" 32.
" Letter
v.

drop.'
In
47
order
to
account
one
for
the
in oppositely charged bodies, electricityas compared

an
of which
attraction there is an
between
excess
with ordinary
matter,
and
of in the other
as compared with electricity,he of ordinary matter assumed that though the particles of electricalmatter do repel " ; so each other, they are strongly attracted by all other matter
excess
"
that
"
common
matter
is
as
kind of spunge to the electrical he assigned only to later on the when
fluid."
These repellent and attractive powers electric fluid; and actual (vitreous)
the
mutual repidsion of resinously electrifiedbodies became known As we shall see, to him,* it caused him considerable perplexity.f eventually removed In spite of his belief in the power distance, Franklin did not abandon "The
the difficultywas
by.Aepinus. of electricity to act at a the doctrine of effluvia.
form of the electricalatmosphere," he "is that of the says,} body it surrounds. This shape may be rendered visible in a still
air, by
raising
under spread itselfequally on all sides, covering and concealing the And body, this form it takes, because it is attracted by all parts of the surface of the body, though it cannot enter the substance
not
dry rosin dropt into a hot teaspoon the electrifiedbody, which will be attracted, and
a
smoke
from
already
remain
observed,
to electrical effluvia do not seem affect,or be affected by, the air ; since it is possible to breathe bodies ; and moreover freely in the neighbourhood of electrified
round however,
this attraction, it would replete. Without the body, but dissipate in the air." He that
current of dry
air does not
destroy
electric attractions and
repulsions." Kegarding
the suspected identity of electricity with the matter of heat, as to which Nollet had taken the affirmative Common fire,"he position, Franklin expressed no opinion.
"
He refers to it in his Paper read to the Royal Society, December lettersxxxvii and xxxviii, dated 1761 and 1762. Cf. t 1 New Experiment* , 1750, " 15.
*
18, 1755.
" Letter vii, 1751.
48
"
writes,*
is in all bodies, more fire. or less, as well as electrical be different modifications of the same Perhaps they may element ; or they may be different elements. The latter is by some suspected. If they are differentthings, yet they may and body." do subsist together in the same Franklin's work did not at first receive from European philosophers the attention which it deserved ; although Watson
generously endeavoured to make the colonial writer's merits known,f and inserted some of Franklin's lettersin one of his own papers communicated to the Eoyal Society. But an account of
Franklin's discoveries, which had been printed in England, into the hands of the naturalist Buffon, who was happened to fall impressed that he secured the issue of a French translaso much tion of the work ; and it was this publication which, as we have seen, gave such offence to Nollet. The success of a plan proposed by Franklin for drawing lightning from the clouds soon engaged public attention everywhere; and in a short time the triumph theory of electricity,as the hypothesis of of the
one-fluid
Watson
who
was
and Franklin is generally called,was complete. Collet, obdurate, "lived to see himself the last of his sect, B
"
Monsieur except disciple." J
of Paris, his
eleve and
immediate
The theory of effluviawas finally overthrown, and replaced by that of action at a distance, by the labours of one of
continental followers, Francis Ulrich Theodore Aepinus"(".1724, d. 1802). The doctrine that glass is impermeable to electricity,which had formed the basis of
Franklin's
Franklin's theory of the Ley den phial,was generalized by Aepinus|| and his co-worker Johann Karl Wilcke (5. 1732, d. 1796)
into the law that all non-conductors
*
are
impermeable
to the
Letter
v.
tPhil. Trans, xlvii,p. 202. Watson Cx_J theory of the impermeability of glass.
agreed with Nollet in
Franklin's rejecting
J Franklin's Autobiography. " This philosopher's surname

to
T. St. Petersburg, 1759.
alveivos F. V. ||
by
one
had been hellenized from its original form Hoeck of his ancestors, a distinguished theologian. Tentamen Thcoriae Elcctricitatis et Magnetismi : Aepinus
priorto the Introduction ofthe Potentials.

electricfluid. That
this applies
even
49
air they proved by in which, constructing a machine analogous to the Leyden jar, however, air took the place of glass as the medium between two oppositely charged surfaces. The success of this experiment
to
altogether the existence of electric effluvia surrounding charged bodies :* a position which he regarded as strengthened by Franklin's observation, that the electric field in the neighbourhood of an excited body is not destroyed when the air is blown away. The electric adjacent fluid must therefore be supposed not to extend beyond the excited bodies themselves. The experiment of Gray, to which already referred, showed that it does not penetrate far into their substance; and thus it became necessary to suppose that the electric fluid,in its state of rest, is confined
we
led Aepinus
to deny
have
to thin layers
on
the
surfaces of
the
excited bodies.
granted, the attractions and repulsions observed between the bodies compel us to believe that electricityacts the intervening air. at a distance across
vitreously charged bodies repel each other, the force between two particles of the electric fluid must (on
This being
Since two
Franklin's
repulsive : charged bodies, the
Aepinus one-fluid theory, which adopted) be 'an attraction between oppositely and since there is
electricityand ordinary be These matter must attractive. assumptions had been made, have seen, by Franklin; but in order to account for as we
the repulsion between two resinously charged bodies, Aepinus introduced a new supposition namely, that the particles of ordinary matter repel each other. This, at first, startled
"
force between
his contemporaries;
matter
but,
as
with which we are with its natural quantity of the electric fluid,and the forces due to the matter and fluid balance each other ; or perhaps, he
he pointed out, the "unelectrified" acquainted is really matter saturated
as
suggested,
forces might Assuming

*
these of equality between give, as a residual, the force of gravitation. that the attractiveand repellentforces increase as
a
slight want
"
This was also maint.iined about the Turin (b.1716, d. 1781;. of

E
same
time by Giacomo
BattistaBeet-aria
50

"v
Science
decreases, Aepinus
the distance between
the
acting charges
which had been applied his theory to explain a phenomenon or less indefinitely observed by many more previous writers, and Canton* specially studied a short time previously by John
1718, d. 1772)and (".

is brought
by Wilckef
"
into the neighbourhood portion of actually touching it, the remoter kind acquires an electric charge of the same
namely, that if a conductor of an excited body without

the
as
conductor
that of the
portion acquires a charge of the excited body, while the nearer This effect, as the induction of which is known opposite kind.
electric charges, had been explained by Canton himself and by in terms of the theory of electric effluvia. Aepinus Franklin} showed that it followed naturally from the theory of action at a distance,by taking into account the mobility of the electricfluid in conductors ; and by discussing different cases, so far as was
he laid the foundations at his command, possible with the means of the mathematical theory of electrostatics. Aepinus did not succeed in determining the law according to which the force between two electric charges varies with the
distance between
them ; and the honour of having firstaccomplished this belongs to Joseph Priestley (b. the 1733, d. 1804),
Priestley, discoverer of oxygen. who was a friend of Franklin's, had been informed by the latter that he had found cork balls to be wholly unaffected by the electricityof a metal cup within
which
held ; and Franklin desired Priestley to repeat 21st, 1766, and ascertain the fact. Accordingly, on December Priestley instituted experiments, which showed a that, when they
were
hollow metallic vessel is electrified, there is no charge on the inner the near and no electricforce in the air surface (except
opening),
"
inside. From
was
this he at once drew the correct conclusion,which May we not infer,"he says, "from published in 1767."
*Phil. Trans, xlviii (1753), p. 350. t Disputatio physica experimentalis de electricitatibus contrariis J In liis paper read to the Royal Society on Dec. 18th, 1755.
Rostock, 1757.
History and Present State of Electricity, with Original London, That 732. 1767: page ; electrical attraction follows the law of the inverse square had been suspected Daniel Bernoulli in 1760: Cf. -by Sochi's Experiments, Ada Helvetica, iv, p. 214.
"J.
Priestley, The
Experiments

this experiment the
same
51
that the attraction of electricityis to subject laws with that of gravitation, and is therefore according
distances ; since it is easily demonstrated the earth in the form of a shell,a body in the inside that were than another ? of it would not be attracted to one side more
to the squares of the
"
This
brilliant inference
seems
to have
been insufficiently
men of the day ; and, indeed, its author studied by the scientific appears to have hesitated to claim for it the authority of a complete and rigorous proof. Accordingly we find that the question
of the law of force was
not regarded
as
finallysettledfor eighteen
years afterwards.* By Franklin's law of the conservation of electriccharge, and Priestley'slaw of attraction between charged bodies, electricity was raised to the position of an exact science. It is impossible
to mention
the
names
without reflectingon both men there was
of these two friends in such a connexion the curious parallelism of their lives. In ness the same combination of intellectualbold-
and power with moral earnestness and public spirit. Both them carried on a long and tenacious struggle with the reactionary .of in influences which dominated the English Government reign of George III ; and both at last,when overpowered in .the the conflict, reluctantly exchanged their native flag for that of The names the United States of America. of both have been later generations, not more for their of scientificdiscoveries than for their services to the cause freedom. intellectual, and political religious,
held
in
honour
by
The most
in London
celebrated electricianof Priestley'scontemporaries was the Hon. Henry Cavendish (b. 1731, d. 1810),
indeed hereditary, for his was whose interest in the subject father,Lord Charles Cavendish, had assisted in Watson's experiments presented to the Koyal of 1747.f In 1771 Cavendish}
Society an
"
Attempt
to explain
some
by of Electricity,
*
means
of
an
of the principalphenomena elastic fluid." The hypothesis
1739, d. 1805),of Edinburgh, endeavoured to In 1769 Dr. John Robison (b. determine the law of force by direct experiment, and found it to be tbat of the
inverse 2'06th power of the distance. t Phil. Trans, xlv, p. 67 (1750).
E
2
J Phil. Trans.
Ixi, p. 584
(1771).
52
form adopted is that of the one-fluid theory, in much the same It was, as he tellsus, discovered independently, as that of Aepinus. acquainted with Aepinus' work although he became before the publication of his own paper.
"
this memoir Cavendish makes no assumption regarding the law of force between electric charges, except that it is less power of the distance than the cube inversely as some ; In
"
evidently inclines to believe in the law of the inverse likely,that if the electric square. Indeed, he shows it to be attraction or repulsion is inversely as the square of the distance, but he
"
almost all the redundant fluid in the body will be lodged close to the surface,and there pressed close together, and the rest of the body will be saturated"; which approximates closely to the
discovery made four years previously by Priestley. Cavendish did, as a matter of fact,rediscover the inverse square law shortly afterwards; but, indifferentto fame, he neglected to communicate of importance. The value of his researches was not realized until the middle of the nineteenth found in Cavendish's (LordKelvin) century, when William Thomson manuscripts the correct value for the ratio of the electric
to others this and much
other work
radius charges carried by a circular disk and a sphere of the same Thomson which had been placed in metallic connexion. urged to pass* in that the papers should be published ; which came 1879, a hundred years from the date of the great discoveries
It was then seen that Cavendish had they enshrined. in several of the ideas which will anticipated his successors presently be discussed amongst others, those of electrostatic
which
"
capacity and specific inductive capacity. In the published memoir of 1771 Cavendish worked out the hypothesis more of his fundamental completely consequences introduced the notion of than Aepinus ; and, in fact, virtually
tion electricpotential, though, in the absence of any definiteassumpimpossible to develop this idea as to the law of force, it was
to any
*
great extent.
of the
Hon.
Henry
The Electrical Researches
Cavendish, edited by
J. Clerk
Maxwell,
1879.

One
himself of the investigations with between was a comparison which
53
Cavendish
occupied
different materials
the conducting powers of for electrostatic discharges. The question
had been firstraised by Beccaria, who had shown* in 1753 that the circuit through which a discharge is passed contains when
tubes of water, the shock is more powerful when of the tubes is increased. Cavendish went much
more
"
the cross-section into the matter
thoroughly, and was able, in a memoir presented to the Eoyal Society in 1775,f to say : It appears from some experiments, of which I propose shortly to lay an account before
this Society, that iron wire conducts about 400 million times better than rain or distilledwater that is, the electricity meets
"
resistance in passing through a piece of iron wire 400,000,000 inches long than through a column of water of the diameter only one inch long. Sea- water, or a solution of same
with
no
more
part of salt in 30 of water, conducts 100 times, or a saturated solution of sea-saltabout 720 times, better than rain-water."
one
was of the experiments published in the volume edited in 1879. It appears from it that the method Cavendish of testing by which obtained these, results was simply that of physiological sensation; but the figures given
The
promised
account
in the comparison of iron and sea- water are remarkably While the theory of electricity being established on was
exact.
a
sure
foundation by the great investigators of the eighteenth century, less remarkable a development no was taking place in the kindred science of magnetism, to which our attention must now be directed. The law of attraction between magnets was earlier date than the corresponding law
an
investigated at for electrically

"
charged bodies. Newton, in the Principia"says : The power of gravity is of a different nature from the power of magnetism. For the magnetic attraction is not as the matter attracted. Some attracted more bodies not at all. The power
*
bodies
are
by the magnet, others less ; most of magnetism, in one and the same
e natural*, artificiale
G. B. Beccaria, DdV
ehttridsmo
Phil. Trans. Ixvi
(1776), p.
196.
Turin. 1753, p. 113. % Book iii,Prop, vi, cor. 5.
54
body, may
be increased and diminished ; and is sometimes far stronger,for the quantity of matter, than the power of gravity ; and in receding from the magnet, decreases not in the duplicate,
but almost in the triplicate proportion of the distance, as nearly from some as I could judge rude observations."
The edition of ihePrincipia which was published in 1742 by Thomas Le Seur and Francis Jacquier contains a note on this
corollary, in which the correct result is obtained that the is directive couple exercised on by another one magnet proportional to the inverse cube of the distance. The
\ poles was
first discoverer of the law of force between magnetic1 John Michell (b. 1724, d. 1793), at that time a young
College,Cambridge,* who in 1750 published Fellow of Queen's Magnets ; in ivhich is shown an easy A Treatise of Artificial them superior to the lest and expeditious method of making
natural
ones.
In this he
"
states
the
principles of magnetic
theory
"
as
: followsf
any Magnetism, is found, whether in the Magnet itself, or any piece of Iron, etc., excited by the Magnet, there are always found two Poles, which are generally called North and Wherever
South ; and the North Pole of one Magnet always attracts the South Pole, and repels the North Pole of another: and wee versa" This is of course adopted from Gilbert.
repels exactly equally, at equal distances,in every direction." This, it may be observed, overthrows the theory of vortices,with which it is irreconcilable. The Magnetical Attraction and Eepulsion are each other." This, obvious though it may seem
"
"Each
Pole
attracts
or
exactly equal to
to
us,
was
really
most important advance, for,as he remarks,

*
"
Most people, who
Michell had taken his degree only two years previously. Later in lifehe was Herschel ; it was on terms of friendship with Priestley, Cavendish, and William he who taught Herschel the art of grinding mirrors for telescopes. The plan of
determining the density of the earth, which was carried out by Cavendish in 1798, " Cavendish Experiment," due to Michell. was and is generally known as the
Michell
the firstinventor of the torsion-balance ; he also made many valuable In 1767 he became Rector of Thornhill, Yorks, contributions to Astronomy.
was
and lived there until his death.
t Loc. cit., p. 17.
-^
ofthe Potentials.
55
have mention'd any thing relating to this property of the Magnet, have agreed, not only that the Attraction and Repulsion of
Magnets
are
not equal to each other, but that also,they do not
rule of increase and decrease." observe the same The Attraction and Eepulsion of Magnets decreases, as the Squares of the distances from the respective poles increase."
"
This great discovery, which is the basis of the mathematical theory of Magnetism, was deduced partly from his own tions, observaand partly from those of previous investigators (e.g. Dr. Brook Taylor and P. Muschenbroek), who, as he observes, had made accurate experiments, but had failed to take into
account
all the considerations necessary for discussion of them.
sound
theoretical
After Michell the law of the inverse square was maintained better known by Tobias Mayer* of Gottingen (". 1723, d. 1762),
as
long in use ; and by Tables which were Heinrich Lambertf(b. Johann the celebrated mathematician, 1728, d. 1777).
the author of Lunar in promulgation of the one-fluid theory of electricity, the middle of the eighteenth century, naturally led to attempts to construct a similar theory of magnetism ; this was effected in
The
1759 by
which a falling short
in amount exceeding or The permanence of of the normal quantity. magnets was accounted for by supposing the fluidto be entangled displaced. The particles in their pores, so as to be with difficulty
of the fluid were assumed to repel each other, and to attract the factorily particles of iron and steel ; but, as Aepinus saw, in order to satisit was necessary to assume explain magnetic phenomena
AepinusJ, who supposed the magnetic fluidwas present
"poles "to
be places at
also
mutual
repulsion among
two
the material particles of the
magnet. Subsequently
imponderable
magnetic
:
fluids,to which
Noticed
in Gottinger
Gelehrter Anzeiger, 1760
Acad.
Petrop., 1768, and Mayer's V Acad. de Berlin, 1766, pp. 22, 49. "\-Histoirede to which reference has already been made. In Tentamen, the %
cf. Aepinus, Nov. Comm. Opera Inedita, herausg. von G. C. Lichtenberg.
56
the
the
names

boreal and austral were Brugmans Hollander Anton These fluids
were
assigned, were
to
postulated by (5.1732, d. 1789) and by

have properties of
Wilcke.
mutual
supposed
attraction and
repulsion similar to those possessed by
vitreous and resinous electricity. The writer who next claims our attention for his services both to magnetism and to electricity is the French physicist,
Charles Augustin
Coulomb*
was
1736, d. 1806). By (ft.

independently
invented
torsion-balance, which
aid of the by Michell
law and himself, he verified in 1785 Priestley's fundamental that the repulsive force between two small globes charged with kind of electricityis in the inverse ratio of the square the same
In the second memoir he distance of their centres. extended this law to the attraction of opposite electricities. Coulomb did not accept the one-fluid theory of Franklin, of the
Aepinus, and Cavendish, but preferred a rival hypothesis which My notion," had been proposed in 1759 by Kobert Symmer.f
"
said Symmer,
upon
one
do not depend is that the operations of electricity single positive power, according to the opinion generally
"
received; but upon two distinct, positive, and active powers, which, by contrasting,and, as it were, counteracting each other,
; and that, when a produce the various phenomena of electricity body is said to be positively electrified, it is not simply that it is possessed of a larger share of electric matter than in a natural
when it is said to be negatively electrified, of a less ; but that, in the former case, it is possessed of a larger portion of those active powers, and in the latter, of a larger of one
state ;
nor,
portion of the other ; while a body in its natural state remains from an equal ballance of those two powers within unelectrified, it."
Coulomb
developed
"
this idea
can
"
Whatever
be the
cause
he electricity,"
*
says,Jwe
explain
all the phenomena

appear
of by
Coulomb's First, Second, and Third Memoirs
in Memoires
de 1'Acad.,
1785 ; the Fourth in 1789.
in 1786, the Fifth in 1787, the Sixth in 1788, and the Seventh
t Phil. Trim*, li (1759), p. 371.
j Sixth
Memoir,
p. 561.
57
the parts of the supposing that there are two electric fluids, fluid repelling each other according to the inverse square same of the distance, and attracting the parts of the other fluid ^ inverse square law." The supposition according to the same
"
in accord with all those he adds, is moreover of two fluids," discoveries of modern chemists and physicists,which have made is destroyed known to us various pairs of gases whose elasticity by their admixture in certain proportions an effectwhich could
"
"
take place without something equivalent to a repulsion between the parts of the same gas, which is the cause of its attraction between the parts of different elasticity,and an gases, which accounts for the loss of elasticityon combination." J
not
According, then, to the two-fluid theory, the

contained in all matter can of an electric field, into
natural fluid be decomposed, under the influence
"
"
equal quantities of vitreous and if the matter be conducting, can then resinous electricity, which, fly to the surface of the body. The abeyance of the characteristic
in combination was when properties of the opposite electricities to the neutrality manifested by sometimes further compared
f
.
the compound of an acid and an alkali. The publication of Coulomb's views led to some controversy between the partisans of the one-fluidand two-fluid theories; the
latter was
stoutly generally adopted in France, but was in Van Marum in Volta. Holland by Italy by opposed and ^ The chief differencebetween the rival hypotheses is that, in the
soon
two-fluid theory, both the electricfluids are movable within the substance of a solid conductor ; while in the one-fluid theory the actual electricfluid is mobile, but the particlesof the conductor
are
mination fixed. The dispute could therefore be settledonly by a deterin discharges ; and of the actual motion of electricity
the reach of experiment. In his Fourth Memoir Coulomb showed
was
this
beyond
in that electricity equilibrium is confined to the surface of conductors, and does not penetrate to their interior substance ; and in the Sixth Memoir* he virtually establishes the result that the electric
*
Page 677.
58
force near
a

conductor
is proportional to the surface-density of
electrification. Since the overthrow
of the doctrine of electric effluviaby Aepinus, the aim of electricians had been to establish their science upon the foundation of a law of action at a distance, resembling that which had led to such triumphs in Celestial Mechanics. length When
the law first stated by
Priestley
was
at
decisively established by Coulomb, its simplicity and beauty gave rise to a general feeling of complete trust in it as
the best attainable conception of electrostatic phenomena. The result was that attention was almost exclusively focused on action-at-a-distance theories, until the time, long afterwards,,
when
Faraday
led
natural
philosophers
back
to
the
right'
path. Coulomb
rendered great services to magnetic theory. It was he who in 1777, by simple mechanical reasoning, completed the overthrow of the hypothesis of vortices.* He also, in the second of the Memoirs law, according to which
attract
or
already quoted,f confirmed Michell's the particles of the magnetic fluids
repel each other with forces proportional to the inverse square of the distance. Coulomb, however, went beyond
this, and
magnetic obtained
endeavoured to account fluids, unlike the two separately;

for
for
the fact that the two
a when two pieces, one containing its north and the other its south independent magnet pole, it is found that each piece is an so that it is impossible poles of its own, possessing two
be electric fluids, cannot into is broken magnet
to
or south pole in a state of isolation. obtain a north Coulomb this by netic explained supposing^ that the magfluids are permanently imprisoned within the molecules
of magnetic
one
bodies,
molecule
*
circumstances
Mem.
crossing from to the next ; each molecule therefore under all of the of the boreal as contains as much
so as
to
be incapable
of
presences par divers Savans, ix
(1780), p.
165.
t Mem
much
de 1'Acad., 1785,
p. 593.
Gauss
finally established the
law
by
more refined method. In his Seventh Memoir,
Mem,
de 1'Acad., 1789, p. 488.
59
austral fluid,and magnetization consists simply in a separation Such of the two fluids to opposite ends of each molecule. for the impossibility of hypothesis a evidently accounts separating the two fluids to opposite ends of a body of finite idea, here introduced for the first time, has size. The same
since
been
applied
with
success
in
other
departments
of
electrical philosophy. have In spite of the advances been which recounted, development the mathematical of electricand magnetic theory was scarcely begun at the close of the eighteenth century ; and
erroneous many Eeport* which
notions
was
were
presented
In a stillwidely entertained. in 1800, to the French Academy
it
was
assumed
on
that the mutual
electricity
the
surface
of
repulsion of the particles of body is balanced by the a
resistance of the surrounding air; and for long afterwards the electric force outside a charged conductor was confused with a supposed additional pressure in the atmosphere.
Electrostatical theory
quite
a
was,
however,
mature
state of development
a
suddenly advanced to by Simeon Denis Poisson

was
read to the French Academy in 1812.f As the opening sentences show, he accepted the conceptions of the two-fluid theory.
memoir
in 1781, d. 1840), (b.
which
The theory of electricitywhich is most he says, is that which attributes the

"
"
generally accepted,"
phenomena
to two
different fluids, which are contained in all material bodies. It is supposed that molecules of the same fluid repel each
other and attract the molecules of the other fluid ; these forces of attraction and repulsion obey the law of the inverse distance the attractive square of the distance ; and at the same it follows is equal to the repellent power; power whence
all the parts of a body contain equal quantities of the two fluids, the latter do not exert any influence on the fluids contained in neighbouring bodies, and consequently
that, when
no
electrical effects are

*
discernible.
This equal and uniform
On
Yolla's discoveries.
de Plnstitut, 1811, Part i., p. 1, Part ii.,p. 163.
t Mem.
60
Science
distributionof the two fluidsis called the natural state; when this state is disturbed in any body, the body is said to be electrified begin to take place. and the various phenomena of electricity bodies do not all behave in the same way with respect to the electric fluid: some, such as the metals, do it, but permit it to not appear to exert any influence on move they about freely in their substance ; for this reason "Material called conductors. Others, on the contrary very dry air, for example oppose the passage of the electricfluid in their interior, so that they can in prevent the fluid accumulated
are
"
"
conductors from being dissipated throughout
When
to
a
space." an excess cated of one of the electricfluidsis communimetallic body, this charge distributes itself over the
surface of the body, forming a layer whose thickness at any point depends on the shape of the surface. The resultant force due to the repulsion of all the particles of this surface-layer
must
vanish at any point in the interiorof the conductor, since otherwise the natural state existing there would be disturbed ; and Poisson showed that by aid of this principle it is possible in certain cases to determine the distribution of electricityin the surface-layer. For example, a well-known proposition of the theory of Attractions asserts that a hollow shell whose bounding surfaces are two similarly situated similar and ellipsoids exercises 110 attractive force at any point within the
interior hollow; and
it may
thence
be
inferred that, if
an
the electrifiedmetallic conductor has the form of an ellipsoid, charge will be distributed on it proportionally to the normal distance from the surface to an similar and similarly
adjacent
"
situated ellipsoid. Poisson went on to show that this result was by no means all that might with advantage be borrowed from the theory of Attractions. Lagrange, in a memoir on the motion of gravitating
bodies, had shown*

*
that the components
of the attractive force
The theorem was afterwards published, and ascribed by Legendre Attractions on the of Spheroids, which will memoir in be found the Mem. par divers Snvanx, published in 178o.
Mem. de Berlin, 1777.
a
to Laplace, in

at any point
can
61
be simply expressed as the derivates of the by function which is obtained adding together the masses of all the particles of an attracting system, each divided by its distance from the point; and Laplace had shown* that this function V satisfies the equation
Poisson himself showed in space free from attracting matter. later,in 1813,f that when the point (z, y, z) is within the substance of the attracting body, this equation of Laplace must be replaced by
VV
+
VV
p"
^
where
p denotes
w~~vr:
point.
the density of the attracting matter at the In the present memoir Poisson called attention to the
utilityof this function F in electrical investigations,remarking that its value over be the surface of any conductor must
constant.
The
known
a
that when
acting on a directed at right angles to the surface of the spheroid, and will be proportional to the thickness of the surface-layer of electricity at this place. Poisson suspected that this theorem might be
for conductors have which, as we
true
a the spheroidal form result had been already virtually given by seen, Laplace suggested to Poisson the following
for the attractions of spheroids show charged conductor is spheroidal, the repellent force small charged body immediately outside it will be
formulae
not
having
"
Coulomb
and
proof, applicable to the general case. immediately outside the conductor part
s
The
can
force at
be
point divided into a
part of the charged surface immediately to the point, and a part S due to the rest of adjacent inside the conthe surface. At a point close to this, but just ductor, the force stillact; but the forces will evidently due
to
the
Mem.
j^jpll de 1'Acad.,
t Bull, de la Soc.
in 1785), (published p. 113. Philomathique. iii. (1813,, p. 388.
1782
62
be reversed in direction. Since the resultant force at the latter point vanishes, we must have S=s ; so the resultant force at the exterior point is 2s. But s is proportional to the charge per
of the surface, as is seen by considering the unit area infiniteplate ; which establishesthe theorem. an
case
of
several conductors are in presence of each other, the on their surfaces may be determined distribution of electricity by the principle,which Poisson took as the basis of his work,
When
that at any point in the interior of any one of the conductors, the resultant force due to all the surface -layers must be zero. He discussed, in particular, one of the classical problems of electrostatics namely, that of determining the surface-density two charged conducting spheres placed at any distance from on
"
The solution depends on Double Gamma Functions in the general case ; when the two spheres are in contact, it Functions. Poisson gave a solution depends on ordinary Gamma each other.
which is equivalent to that in of definite integrals, Functions ; and after reducing his results to terms of Gamma numbers, compared them with Coulomb's experiments. Poisson passed The rapidity with which in a single memoir f to such recondite from the barest elements of the
in terms
subject
well excite admiration. is,no doubt, partly explained by the high state of development to which analysis had been advanced by the great
problems His success
as
those
just mentioned
may
of the eighteenth century ; but even mathematicians after allowance has been made for what is due to his predecessors, Poisson's investigationmust be accounted a splendid memorial his genius. uof Some years later Poisson turned his attention to magnetism ; in and, in a masterly paper* presented to the French Academy 1824, gave a remarkably complete theory of the subject. His starting-pointis Coulomb's doctrine of two imponderable magnetic fluids,arising from the decomposition of a neutral fluid, and confined in theirmovements
*
to the individualelements
Mem.
"le1'Acad.,
v,
p. 247.

of the magnetic body, element to the next
Suppose
so as
63
one
to be incapable of passing from
that
a
located at
or intensity,
of the positive magnetic fluid is of the magnetic point (x y, z); the components force exerted on unit magnetic pole, at a point
an
amount
(", "f, ") will evidently
be
-m-f-X -m~(-\ -m-(-)

where
r
denotes
a
((? xf
-
+ (Z Hence (n ?/)2 z)2j*.

-
if we
magnetic element in which equal quantities of the two magnetic fluids are displaced from each other parallel to_ the ic-axis,the components of the magnetic intensity at consider next
i|, 2) will (g,
be the negative respectively,of the function
derivates, with
respect to
"
ij,
"
does not involve (f, "j, "), may be of the element : it may be measured called the magnetic moment by the couple required to maintain the element in equilibrium at a definiteangular distance from the magnetic meridian.
where
the quantity A, which
If the displacement of the two fluidsfrom each other in the element is not parallel to the axis of xt it is easily seen that the expression corresponding to the last is
where
the vector
(A, B, C)
now
denotes
the magnetic
moment
of the element. Thus the magnetic
intensity at an -external point due to any magnetic body has the components
(", 77, ")
";
017
where
ex
oy
integrated throughout
the substance
of the magnetic body, and
64
where

the vector
Science
(A,B, C) or
as
I represents the magnetic
moment
per unit- volume, or, The function Fwas
it is generally called, the magnetization. by Green the magnetic afterwards named
potential. Poisson, by integrating by parts the preceding expression for the magnetic potential, obtained it in the form
\ fjp dS). [[(I

-
div I dx dy dz*
the surface $ of the magnetic body, and the second integral being taken throughout its volume. This formula shows that the magnetic intensity produced by the
integral being taken the first
over
be produced by a body in external space is the same as would fluid, consisting of a layer fictitious distribution of magnetic its surface, of surface-charge (I dS) per element dSy over
.-
div I throughout together with a volume-distribution of density its substance. These fictitious magnetizations are generally
-
known
as
Poisson's equivalent
and surfacea
volume-distributions
ofmagnetism.
Poisson,
moreover,
cavity excavated potential has a limiting value which of the cavity as the dimensions of the cavity tend to zero ; but that this is not true of the magnetic intensity, which in such a small cavity depends on the shape of the cavity. Taking the
cavity to be spherical, he showed within it is
perceived that at within the magnetic
point in a very small body, the magnetic is independent of the shape
that the magnetic
intensity
grad F
where
*
^-7rl,f
I denotes the magnetization at the place.
If the components ay, the quantity of a vector a are denoted by (ax, az), b, is a two the vectors scalar product of and and is denoted atkz called drbjc+ ayby -fby (a b).
.
'
The quantity
denoted
^"
fix
a.
dy
^
02
is called the divergence
of the vector
a,
and is
by
div
t The
vector
whose
components
are
"
"?",
-""
C"
dy
dz
is denoted by grad V. J "
65
This memoir also contains a discussion of the magnetism temporarily induced in soft iron and other magnetizable metals Poisson accounted for by the approach of a permanent magnet.
the properties of temporary magnets in their substance contain embedded
by
a
assuming
that they
great number of small spheres, which are perfect conductors for the magnetic fluids; so that the resultant magnetic intensity in the interior of one of He showed that such a sphere, these small spheres must be zero.
when
placed in
moment
field of magnetic
of amount
-.-
intensity F,* must

x
acquire
magnetic
the volume
of the sphere,
in order to counteract within the sphere the force F. Thus if kp denote the total volume of these spheres contained within a unit volume of the temporary magnet, the magnetization will be I, where
4-TrI
=
kp F,
and F denotes the magnetic intensity within a spherical cavity excavated in the body. This is Poisson s laiv induced magnetism.
of
It is known of temporary
that
some
substances acquire
magnetization than others when same circumstances : Poisson accounted for this by supposing that the quantity kp varies from one substance to another. But the
greater degree placed in the
experimental data show

very
mean near
unity, which
that for soft iron kp must have a value would obviously be impossible if kp is to
of spheres contained within a pretation region to the total volume of the region.f The physical interassigned by Poisson to his formulae must therefore be
the ratio of the volume
although rejected,
the formulae themselves retain their value.
Poisson's electrical and magiietical investigations were 1793, generalized and extended in 1828 by George Green* (b. the properties of the function already used by Lagrange, Laplace, and Poisson, which
treatment
on
d.
1841). Green's
*
is based
In the present work, vectors will generally be distinguished by heavy type. t This was advanced by Maxwell in " 430 of his Treatise. An attempt objection it was made by Betti : cf. p. 377 of his Lessons on the Potential. to overcome
J A.n
essay
on
and magnetism,
the application ofmathematical analysis to the theories ofelectricity Nottingham, 1828 : reprintedin The Mathematical Papers ofthe late F
George Green, p. 1.
66
Electric and Magnetic Science.
of all the electric or magnetic charges in the represents the sum divided by their respective distances from some field, given point : to this function Green gave the name potential,by which it has
always since been known.* is established the Near the beginning of the memoir integrals, celebrated formula connecting surface and volume generally called G-reerisTheorem, and of which which is now Poisson's result on the equivalent surface- and volume-distributions of magnetization is a particular application. By using
this theorem
to
investigate the
arrived at many interest. We need only mention, as an example of the power of his method, the following : Suppose that there is a hollow
"
Green
properties of the potential, beauty and results of remarkable
by two closed surfaces, and that a shell,bounded bodies are placed, some within and some of electrified number without it ; and let the inner surface and interior bodies be called the interior system, and the outer surface and exterior conducting
Then all the electrical botlies be called the exterior system. of the interior system, relative to attractions, phenomena if there were as no repulsions, and densities,will be the same
a perfect conductor, exterior system, and the inner surface were with the earth ; and all those of the put in communication did not as if the interior system exterior system will be the same
exist,and the outer surface

a
were
quantity
of electricity equal to the whole
perfect conductor, containing of that originally
contained in the shell itselfand in all the interior bodies. It will be evident that electrostatics had by this time in which further progress could attained a state of development be hoped for only in the mathematical superstructure, unless of experiment should unexpectedly bring to light phenomena
an
entirely new
to pause
character.
place
and
This will therefore be a convenient consider the rise of another branch of
electrical philosophy.
had spoken of the vis potentialis Euler in 1744 (De melhodis inveniendi .) be now possessed by an elastic body called the potential energy what would when bent.
"
"
CHAPTEE
GALVANISM, FROM
III.
GALVANI TO
OHM.
UNTIL
were
was
of the eighteenth century, electricians occupied solely with staticalelectricity. Their attention then turned in a different direction.
a
the last decade
In
work
entitled Recherches
sur
mentioned that, if two pieces of metal, the one be of lead and the other of silver, that their edges touch, and if together in such a manner joined
they be placed on the tongue, a taste is perceived similar to that of vitriolof iron," although neither of these metals applied It is not probable," separately gives any trace of such a taste.
"
"
agreables et cUsagrcables, which Johann Georg Sulzer (b. 1720, d.
was
Vorigine des sentiments published* in 1752,
had 1779)
a solution that this contact of the two metals causes of either of them, liberatingparticles which might affect the tongue : and we must therefore conclude that the contact sets
he says,
"
vibration in their particles, which, by affectingthe nerves of the tongue, produces the taste in question." This observation was not suspected to have any connexion up
a
tion with electricalphenomena, and it played no part in the incepof the next discovery, which indeed was suggested by a accident. Luigi Galvani, born at Bologna in 1737, occupied from 1775 onwards a chair of Anatomy in his native city. For many years before the event which made him famous he had been studying
to irritation the susceptibility ; and, having been "of -the nerves formerly a pupil of Beccaria, he was also interested in electrical One day in the latter part of the year 1780 he ' experiments.
mere
had,
on a
as
he tellsus,f
table, on
dissected and prepared distance from which, at some It happened by chance
"
frog,and laid it an the frog, was

one
electric machine.
*
that
of my
Mem.
t Aloysii Galvani, De
de 1'Acad. de Berlin, 1752, p. 356. itatis in Motu Viribus E 'lee trie
Mnsculari
Commentarii
Bononiensi, vii (1791), p. 363.

F
2
68
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
nerve
assistants touched
the inner crural

at
point of
were
"
scalpel ; whereupon
once
of the frog with the the muscles of the limbs
violently convulsed. Another of those who used to help me in electricalexperiments thought he had noticed that at this instant a spark was I myself was drawn from the conductor of the machine. at the
but when he totally different matter; drew my attention to this,I greatly desired to try it for myself,. and discover its hidden principle. So I, too, touched one or with the point of the scalpel, at the other of the crural nerves time occupied with
a same
time that
one
was phenomenon After this,Galvani conceived the idea of trying whether the of thunderstorms would induce muscular contractions electricity Having equally well with the electricity of the machine.
of those present drew a spark ; and the repeated exactly as before."*
same
with lightning, he wished," as he successfully experimented writes,! to try the effect of atmospheric electricity in calm for this was an observation I had made,, My reason weather.
" "
that frogs which had been suitably prepared for these experiments fastened, brass in by hooks the spinal marrow, to and the iron lattice round a certain hanging-garden at my house,,
exhibited sometimes
convulsions
even
not
only
during
thunderstorms,
but
I suspected the sky was when quite serene. these effects to be due to the changes which take place during the day in the electric state of the atmosphere ; and so, with
some
degree of confidence, I performed experiments to test the days I watched frogs point; and at different hours for many which I had disposed for the purpose ; but could not detect any
At length, weary of waiting in vain, motion in their muscles. driven into the spinal I pressed the brass hooks, which were marrow, against the iron lattice, in order to see whether contractions could be excited by varying the incidental circumstory which has often been repeated, but which rests on no evidence, the frog was one of a number which had been procured for th" sufficient Signora Galvani, who, being in poor health, had been recommended to take a soup,
*
According
to
made
of these animals
as
restorative.
f Loc. cit.,p. 377.
Galvanism,
stances
from
Galvani to Ohm.
69
of the experiment. often, but they did not seem

"
I observed contractions tolerably to bear any relation to the changes
in the electrical state of the atmosphere. However, at this time, when as yet I had
not
tried the
experiment
a
except in the open air, I

that
came
the contractions are electricity, which, having slowly entered the animal and accumulated in it, is suddenly discharged when in the hook comes theory with the iron lattice. For it is easy in experimenting to deceive ourselves, and to imagine we see the things we wish
contact
ing very near to adoptdue to atmospheric
to
see.
"
an
But I took the animal into a closed room, I pressed the hook iron-plate ; and when spinal
marrow
and placed it on fixed which was
against the plate, behold ! the same before. I tried other metals at contractions as spasmodic different hours on various days, in several places, and always
in the
more result, except that the contractions were After this I tried metals than with others. violent with some such as various bodies which are not conductors of electricity, glass, gums, resins,stones, and dry wood ; but nothing happened.
with
the
same
to suspect that somewhat surprising, and led me electricityis inherent in the animal itself. This suspicion was strengthened by the observation that a kind of circuit of subtle fluid(resembling nervous the electriccircuitwhich is manifested
This
was
in the Leyclen
is completed jarexperiment)
from
the
nerves
to
the muscles when the contractions are produced. For, while I with one hand held the prepared frog by the hook fixed in its spinal marrow, so that it stood with its feet
"
silver box, and with the other hand touched the lid of the box, or its sides, with any metallic body, I was surprised I to see the frog become strongly convulsed every time that
on a
applied this artifice."* Galvani thus ascertained that the limbs of the frog are whenever a connexion is made between the nerves
muscles by
a
convulsed
and
one
metallic
*This
arc,
generally formed
was
of
more
than
observation
made
in 1786.
70
Galvanism
"
from
Galvani to Ohm.
kind of metal ; and he advanced the hypothesis that the convulsions by fluid from are caused the transport of a peculiar the
'
nerves
to the muscles, the

names
arc
acting
as
and .Animal Galvani himself generally applied. considered it to be the same as the ordinary electric fluid, and, indeed, regarded the entire
as similar to the discharge of a Leyden jar. phenomenon *' The publication of Gralvani's views soon engaged the attention of the learned world, and gave rise to an animated controversy between those who supported Galvani's own view, those who
fluid the
Galvanism
conductor. To this Electricitywere soon
fluiddistinctfrom ordinary electricity, and a third school who altogetherrefused to attribute the effects to a supposed fluidcontained in the nervous system. The leader
a
believed galvanism to be
1745, d. 1827), of the last-named party was Alessandro Volta (b. Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Pavia, who
in 1792 put forward the view* that the stimulus in Galvani's experiment is derived essentiallyfrom the connexion of two
*
metals used in the experiments, being applied to the moist bodies of animals, can by themselves, and of their proper virtue,excite and dislodge the fluidfrom its state of rest ; so that the organs of the electric
a
different metals by
moist body.
"The
he inclined to combine this animal act only passively." At first theory of metallic stimulus with a certain degree of belief in
'3 such a fluidas Galvani had supposed; but after the end of 17!. he denied the existence of animal electricity altogether. From this standpoint Volta continued his experiments and worked out his theory. The following quotation from a lettert
which he wrote later to Gren, the editor of the Neucs Journal //. Physik, sets forth his view in a more developed form :
"
"The contact of differentconductors, particularlythe metallic, including pyrites and other minerals, as well as charcoal,which
f it is enough
I call dry conductors, or of the first with moist conductors, class, or conductors of the second class, agitates or disturbs the electric fluid, or gives it a certain impulse. Do : not ask in what manner
that it is a principle, and
a
general principle. This
*Phil. Trans., 1793, pp. 10, 27.
tPhil. Mag. iv (1799), pp. 59, 163, 306.
Galvanism
from
Galvani to Okm.
71
impulse, whether produced by attraction or any other force, is different or unlike, both in regard to the different metals and to or at least the different moist conductors ; so that the direction, the power, with which the electricfluid is impelled or excited, is differentwhen the conductor A is applied to the conductor B, or
to another
perfect circle of conductors, where either one of the second class is placed between two differentfrom each of the firstclass is other of the firstclass,or, contrariwise, one from each other, placed between two of the second class different an electricstream is occasioned by the predominating force either to the right or to the left a circulationof this fluid, which ceases
"
C.
In
only when the circle is broken, and which is renewed when the circle is again rendered complete." Another philosopher who, like Volta, denied the existence of
fluid peculiar to animals, but who took was view of the origin of the phenomenon,
a
somewhat
different
Giovanni Fabroni, of
having placed two plates of different metals in water, observed that one of them was partially oxidized when they were put in contact ; from which he rightly concluded that some chemical action is inseparably connected
Florence
1752, (b.
d.
1822), who,*
with galvanic effects. The feeble intensity of the phenomena of galvanism, which compared poorly with the striking displays obtained in electrostatics, for interest in was falling some them responsible off of towards the end of the eighteenth century ; and the last years of their illustriousdiscoverer were clouded by misfortune. Being by the armies attached to the old order which was overthrown Ke volution, he refused in 1798 to take the oath of allegiance to the newly constituted Cisalpine Eepublic, and was deposed from his professorial chair. A profound melancholy,
of the French
aggravated by poverty and disgrace ; and, unable to survive the loss of all he held dear, he died broken-hearted before the end of the year.f
Phil. Journal, 4to, iii.308 ; iv. 120 ; Journal de Physique, vi. 348. into operation t A decree of reinstatement had been granted, but had not come at the time of Galvani's death.
*
which
had
been
induced
by domestic bereavement,
was
72
Galvanism, Jrom Galvani to O/it/i.

Scarcely more
year after the death of Galvani, the sophers. science suddenly regained the eager attention of philodue to the discovery by This renewal of interest was
than
a
'
new
Volta, in the early spring of 1800, of a means of greatly increasing the intensity of the effects. Hitherto all attempts to magnify
the action by enlarging or multiplying the apparatus had ended in failure. If a long chain of differentmetals was used instead
no more violent. of only two, the convulsions of the frog were But Volta now showed* that if any number of couples, each disk disk in taken, contact, were and a copper consistingof a zinc
and if each couple was
separated from the next by a disk of moistened pasteboard (sothat the order was copper, zinc,pasteboard, the effectof the pile thus formed copper,zinc,pasteboard, "c.),
much greater than that of any galvanic apparatus previously " introduced. When the highest and lowest disks were simultaneously
was
felt; and a distinct shock was touched by the fingers, this could be repeated again and again, the pile apparently indefinite power of recuperation. It an possessing within itself
thus resembled power of automatically its state of tension after each explosion; re-establishing with, in fact, an inexhaustible charge, a perpetual action or impulsion on the electricfluid."
"
Leyden
jarendowed
with
Volta unhesitatingly pronounced the phenomena of the pile to be in their nature electrical. The circumstances of Galvani's original discovery had prepared the minds of philosophers for
this belief, which powerfully supported by the similarityof the physiological effects of the pile to those of the Leyden jar,
was
and by the observation that the galvanic influence was conducted which were already only by those bodies e.g. the metals
"
"
known
now
to be good conductors of static electricity. But Volta

a
convincing proof. Taking a disk of 'he held each by an insulating handle copper and one of zinc, and applied them to each other for an instant. After the disks brought into contact with a delihad been separated, they were
supplied
stillmore
I'hil. Trans., 1800, p. 403.
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
73
oate electroscope, which indicatedby the divergence of its straws that the disks were now electrified the zinc had, in fact, acquired
"
positiveand the copper a negative electriccharge.* Thus the mere contact of two differentmetals, such as those employed in
a
/
'
was the pile,
shown
for the production of effects to be sufficient

same
year (1800) theory of the action of the pile. Suppose put forward a definite first that a disk of zinc is laid on a disk of copper,which in turn The experiment just described fluid will be driven from the copper to shows that the electric the zinc. We may then, according to Volta, represent the state
rests
on
in character. undoubtedly electrical On the basis of this result Volta in the
an
insulating support.
J,and that of the of the copper by the number being arbitrarily taken as zinc by the number + J,the difference It zero. unity,and the sum being (onaccount of the insulation)
or
"
tension
"
will be seen that Volta's idea of tension was a mingling of guished two ideas, which in modern electrictheory are clearly distinfrom each other namely, electriccharge and electric
"
"
"
potential. Now let a disk of moistened pasteboard be laid on the zinc, and a disk of copper on this again. Since the uppermost copper is not in contact with the zinc, the contact-action does
them ; but since the moist pasteboard is a conductor, the copper will receive a charge from the zinc. Thus the states will now be represented by f for the lower
-
not take place between
copper,
zero
J for the
as
sum
zinc,and before.
\ for the
upper copper, giving
another zinc disk is placed on the top, the states 1 for the lower copper, 0 for the lower will be represented by zinc and upper copper, and + 1 for the upper zinc.
If,now,
In this way
numbers
*
it is evident that the difference between the indicating the tensions of the uppermost and lowest
Bennet
(b. 1750, d.
Abraham
1799)had previously shown (Xew
Experiments
in Electricity,1789, pp.
are
86-102) that many bodies, when separated after contact, bodies have differentattrac; he conceived that different tions oppositelyelectrified or capacities for electricity.
74
Galvanism
from Galvani
to
O/im.
disks in the pile will always be equal to the number of pairs of metallic disks contained in it. If the pile is insulated, the
of the numbers indicating the states of all the disks must be zero; but if the lowest disk is connected to earth, the tension of this disk will be zero, and the numbers indicatingthe
sum
states of all the other disks will be increased by amount,
the
same
The
their mutual differencesremaining unchanged. pile as a whole is thus similar to a Leyden
; jar
touches the uppermost the experimenter and lowest when disks,he receives the shock of its discharge, the intensity being proportional to the number of disks.
j.
The moist layers played that of conductors.* It was
is acidified, the pile is more solely to the superior conducting power of acids. Yolta fully understood and explained the impossibility of constructing a pile from disks of metal alone, without making
he showed in 1801, if disks of various metals are placed in contact in any order, the extreme state as if they touched each other metals will be in the same directly without the intervention of the others ; so that the
use
part in Volta's theory beyond found that when the moisture soon efficient;but this was attributed
no
of moist substances.
As
the metals whole is equivalent merely to a single pair. When are arranged in the order silver,copper, iron, tin, lead, zinc, each of them becomes positive with respect to that which
precedes it,and negative with respect to that which follows it ; but the moving force from the silver to the zinc is equal to the between sum of the moving forces of the metals comprehended
them in the series. When a connexion
time between maintained for some body, sensations pile by the human
was a
the extreme
were
disks of
experienced which seemed to indicate a continuous activity in the entire system. Yolta inferred that the electriccurrent
time
persists during the whole

*
that communication
by
con-
Volta had inclined,in his earlierexperiments on galvanism, to locate the seat Cf. his letter of power at the interfaces of the metals with the rnoistconductors. to Gren, Phil. Mag. iv (1799), p. 62.
Galvanism,
ductors exists all round
from
Gaivani to Ohm.
75
only when suspended This endless circulation or perpetual motion of the electric fluid," he says, "may seem paradoxical, and may prove inexplicable ; but it is none the less real,and we to can, so
"
that the current is is interrupted. this communication
the circuit, and
speak, touch and handle it." his discovery in Yolta announced Banks, dated from
was
letter to
Sir Joseph
Como,
March
20th, 1800.
Sir Joseph, who
the of the Eoyal Society, communicated Nicholson (b. to William founder of the 1753, d. news .1815), Journal which is generally known by his name, and his then President
friend
Anthony
Carlisle
(b.1768,
d.
1840), afterwards
On the 30th of the following month, distinguished surgeon. Nicholson and Carlisle set up the firstpile made in England. In the contact more repeating Volta's experiments, having made
secure
plate of the pile by placing a drop of water there, they noticed* a disengagement ducting of gas round the conthey followed up the wire at this point ; whereupon
at the upper
matter
by
introducing
tube of water,
into which
the wires
from the terminals of the pile were liberated at inflammable gas were wire became
plunged.
one
Bubbles
of
an
wire, while the other used, oxygen

at
oxidised ; when evolved

was
and hydrogen were This effect, which

of water
platinum wires were in a free state, one
nothing less than into its constituent gases,
each wire. position the electric decomwas
obtained
on
May
2nd, 1800.f Although

it had long been known that frictionalelectricity action,* the discovery of
It
was
is capable of inducing chemical Nicholson and Carlisle was of the first magnitude. Cruickshank, of Woolwich once extended by William
i's
at
1745, (b.
179 (1800) ; Phil. Mag. vii, 337 (1800). t It was obtained independently four months later l"y J. "W. Hitter. deW elettricismo,Bologna, 1758, p. 282)had reduced mercury J Beccaria (Lettere electricity; and and other metals from their oxides by discharges ot fractional inflammable gas from certain organic liquids in the Priestley had an
Journal iv, (4to),
same
way.
obtained Cavendish
in
1781
had
established the constitution of water
by
electricallyexploding hydrogen
and oxygen.
76
d.
Galvanism from Galvani

"
to
Ohm.
showed that solutions of metallic salts are also Hyde Wollaston by the current; and William decomposed 1766, d. 1828) (ft. seized on it as a testfof the identity of the
1800), who*
vy
electriccurrents of Volta with those obtained by the discharge of frictionalelectricity. He found that water could be decomposed by currents of either type, and inferred that alldifferences
could be explained by supposing that voltaic as commonly electricity obtained is less intense, but produced in much, larger quantity." Later in the same year (1801),
between them
"
Martin Pfaff
van
Mar
um
1773, (ft.
d.
1750, d. 1837) (ft. and Christian Heinrich 1852) arrived at the same conclusion by
Volta's plan of using the pile to carrying out on a large scale} V charge batteries of Leyden jars.
The
discovery
on
impression
of Nicholson and Carlisle made Davy (ft. the mind of Humphry 1778, d.
great
a 1829),
young Cornishman who about this time was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the E-oyal Institution in London. Davy at once
Voltaic piles,and in November, 1800," began to experiment vvitli showed that they give no current when the water between the
y pairs of plates is pure, and
that their power
great measure proportional to the power fluid substance between the double plates to oxydate he immediately zinc." This result, as perceived, did
of action is in of the conducting

the
not
"
harmonize
well with Volta's views on the source of electricity in the pile,but was, on the other hand, in agreement with Eabroni's idea that galvanic effectsare always accompanied by
chemical series of experiments he definitely the galvanic pile of Volta acts only when the concluded that conducting substance between the plates is capable of oxydating the zinc ; and that, in proportion as a greater quantity of action.
"
After
oxygen enters into combination with the zinc in a given time, so in proportion is the power of the pile to decompose water therefore reasonable and to give the shock greater. It seems
*
Nicholson's Journal
iv (1800), (4to), pp. 187,245:
Phil. Mag., vii (1800),
p. 337.
t Phil. Mag., 1801, p. 427. iv " Nicholson's Journal (4to),
J Phil. Mag.,
; Davy's (1800)
p. 161. xii (1802), Works, ii,p. 155.
Galvanism,
to conclude, though
from
Galvani (o Ohm.
77
with our present quantity of facts we are of operation, that the unable to explain the exact mode "/ oxydatioii of the zinc in the pile, and the chemical changes ^ are somehow the cause of the electrical connected with it, effects
it produces." designing many
This principle of oxidation guided Davy in new types of pile,with elements chosen from
the whole range of the known metals. Davy's chemical theory of the pile was supported by Wollaston* and by Nicholson,fthe latter of whom urged that the existence of pilesin which only one metal is used (with more is fatal to any theory which places the than one kind of fluid) seat of the activity in the contact of dissimilar metals.
afterwards proposed J a theory of the voltaic pile from both the "contact" which combines ideas drawn and Ho before that the chemical explanations. supposed circuit
"
"
Davy
zinc disks in each contiguous pair assume opposite electrostaticstates, in consequence of inherent "electrical energies" possessed by the metals; and when a
is closed,the copper and
"
wire, in charge as the opposite electricities the disannihilate each other, Davy compared of a Leyden jar. If the liquid (which
to the glass of
a
communication
is made
between
the extreme
disks by
Leyden
the current would cease the pile is composed
incapable of decomposition, after this discharge. But the liquid in

were jar)
of two
elements which
have
inherent
attractions for electrified metallic surfaces : hence arises from the disks the outermost chemical action, which removes layers of molecules, whose energy is exhausted, and exposes new energies of the copper and metallic surfaces. The electrical consequently again exerted, and the process of electromotion continues. Thus the contact of metals is the cause which disturbs the equilibrium, while the chemical changes continually restore the conditions under which the contact
zinc
are
be exerted. energy can In this and other memoirs
Davy
asserted that chemical
*Phil. Trans., 1801, p. 427. t Nicholson'*Journal, i ; Phil. Trans., 1807, p. 1.
(1802), p.
142.
78
Galvanism,
from
an
Galvani to Ohm.
"
J affinityis essentially of
electrical attractions," he same cause, acting in one

masses,
Chemical and electrical nature. by the declared,* "are produced

case
on
of matter; and the same of all the phenomena modifications,is the cause different voltaic combinations."
The
in the other on particles, property, under different
exhibited by
further elucidation of this matter came chiefly from researches on electro-chemical decomposition, which we must
consider. A phenomenon which had greatly surprised Nicholson and Carlisle in their early experiments was the appearance of the products of galvanic decomposition at places remote from
each other. The firstattempt to account for this was made in 1806 by Theodor von Grothussf (b. 1785, d. 1822) and by Davy,} who advanced a theory that the terminals at which water is decomposed have attractive and repellent powers ; that the pole issues has the property of attracting whence resinous electricity
now
hydrogen
the metals, and of repelling oxygen and acid substances, while the positive terminal has the power of attracting hydrogen forces are ; and that these oxygen and repelling and
energetic to destroy sufficiently affinity in the of chemical

terminals. diminish The with
force due the
or
suspend the usual operation

nearest
water-molecules to each terminal was

the
the
distance from
supposed to terminal. When the

by
its
molecule nearest one of the terminals has been decomposed the attractive and repellent forces of the terminal, one of constituents is liberated there, while the other constituent, virtue of electricalforces (theoxygen and hydrogen being
by
in
attacks the next molecule, which opposite electrical states), The surplus constituent from this attacks is then decomposed. Thus a chain of decompositions the next molecule, and so on. supposed to be set recompositions was molecules intervening between the terminals. and
*
up
among
the
Phil. Trans., 1826, p. 383. f Ann. de Cliim.,Iviii (1806), p. 54. lecture A Bukerian 1. for Trans., Phil. 1806, 1807, p. theory similar to that t
by Peter Mark Eoget (b.1779, d. 1869) of Grothuss and Davy was communicated in 1807 to the Philosophical Society of Manchester : cf. Roget's Galvanism, " 106.
Galvanism^
The hypothesis
from ^Galvani
to
Ohm.
79
by Aiiguste De
attacked in 1825 of Grothuss and Davy was 1801, d. 1873)of Geneva, on the La Kive* (6.
of its failure to explain what happens when different ground liquids are placed in series in the circuit. If,for example, a compartment, and solution of zinc sulphate is placed in one if the positive pole is placed in the solution of zinc sulphate, and the negative pole in the water, De La Rive found that oxide of zinc is developed round the
water
in another,
and
latter; although sulphate
decomposition
and
recomposition
of
zinc
could not take place in the water, which contained none of it. Accordingly, he supposed the constituents of the liquid to be bodily transported across decomposed the liquids, electricity. In the electrolysis current of electrified hydrogen was supposed to of water, one into hydrogen leave the positive pole, and become decomposed
in close union
with the moving
and
electricity at there liberated as
the
a
negative pole, the hydrogen in the same current gas. Another
being
way
carried electrifiedoxygen from the negative to the positive the chain of successive decompositions pole. In this scheme imagined by Grothuss does not take place, the only molecules being those decomposed to the poles.
adjacent
of the products of decomposition at the appearance separate poles could be explained either in Grothuss' fashion dissociations throughout by assuming the mass of liquid, or The
supposing particular dissociated atoms Perhaps to a travel considerable distances. preconceived in Nature deterred the workers of that time idea of economy
in De
La
Rive's by
from them
accepting the two
assumptions
separately would meet the case. that later researches have redundancy
is what she is, and not what
was one
we
together, when either of Yet it is to this apparent

pointed would
as
the truth.
Nature De
make
her.
opponents
La
Rive
of the most
thoroughgoing
in the case when of Volta's contact theory of the pile ; even two metals are in contact in air only, without the intervention
*
Annales
de Cnimie,
xxviii, 190.
80
of any
Galvanism,
liquid, he
from
Galvani to Ohm.
attributed the electric effect wholly to the chemical affinityof the air for the metals. During the long interval between the publication of the rival hypotheses of Grothuss and De La Bive, little real progress
was
made
with the special problems of the cell; but meanwhile developing in directions. was One other electric theory
our
of these, to which
attention will first be turned,
was
the
electro-chemical theory of the celebrated Jons Jacob Berzelius (b. 1779, d. 1848).
Berzelius founded
Swedish
chemist,
his theory,* which had been in one or two of its features anticipated by Davy,f on inferences drawn from Two bodies," he remarked, Volta's contact effects. which have affinityfor each other, and which have been brought into
" "
mutual
contact,
are
found
upon
electrical states. oxygen
That
which
separation to be in opposite has the greatest affinity for

the other
usually becomes
to him
positively electrified, and
negatively." This seemed from
to indicate that chemical affinity arises
the play of electric forces, which in turn spring from To be precise, electric charges within the atoms of matter. to possess two poles, which are the he supposed each atom
seat
and whose of opposite electrifications,

cause
electrostaticfieldis
the
of chemical affinity.
aid of this conception Berzelius drew a simple and vivid Two atoms, which are picture of chemical combination. about to unite, dispose themselves so that the positive pole of one By touches the negative pole of the other ; the electricities of these two poles then discharge each other, giving rise to the heat and
light which
the act of observed to accompany combination.! The disappearance of these leaves the compound molecule with the two remaining poles ; and it cannot be dissociated into its
are
constituent atoms
to the vanished
*
again until
some
means
poles their charges.
is found of restoring Such a means is afforded
of the Acad. of Stockholm, 1812 ; Nicholson's Journal of Nat. Phil., 38, 118, 159. 142, 153, 240, 319; xxxv, xxxiv (1813), t Pnil. Trans., 1807. J This idea was Davy's.
Memoirs
Galvanism,
from Gaivani
to Ohm.
81
by the action of the galvanic pile in electrolysis : the opposite invade the molecules of the electricities of the current to their original state of and restore the atoms electrolyte,
polarization. If, as Berzelius taught, all chemical compounds formed are by the mutual neutralization of pairs of atoms, it is evident / that they must have a binary character. Thus he conceived a salt to be compounded these to be compounded
in any compound only by another electropositivemember, and the electronegative by another member member also electronegative; only
so
oxide, and each of other constituents. Moreover, the electropositivemember would be replaceable
of two
of
an
acid and
an
that the
compound
overthrown Berzelius succeeded in bringing the most facts within the scope of his theory. Thus of polarized atoms requires
a
substitution of, e.g.,chlorine for hydrogen be impossible an inference which would by subsequent discoveries in chemistry.
"
in
was
"
curiously diverse the combination

the opposite is owing the
one are
motion
to
turn
poles to each other; and to this circumstance facilitywith which combination takes place when both two bodies is in the liquid state, or when
state ; and
of the in that
nearly impossibility, of bodies, between both an effecting of which are solid. union And again, since each polarized particle must have an electric the
extreme
difficulty, or
atmosphere,
and
as
as we
this atmosphere have

seen,
combination,
cannot
act
is the predisposing cause of it follows, that the particles
distances, proportioned to the intensity of their polarity ; and hence it is that bodies, which have affinityfor each other, always combine nearly on the instant when mixed in the liquid state, but less easily in the but
at
certain
to be possible under a and the union ceases know by the certain degree of dilatation of the gases ; as we of oxygen experiments and of Grothuss, that a mixture hydrogen in due to a certain proportions, when rarefied
gaseous
state,
degree, cannot be set on fireat any temperature whatever." j And again : Many bodies require an elevation of temperature to
"
82
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
enable them to act upon each other. It appears, therefore, the polarity of that heat possesses the property of augmenting these bodies." Berzelius accounted for Volta's electromotive series by at one pole of an atom to be somewhat assuming the electrification less than what would be required to or more somewhat
neutralize the charge at the other pole. possess
a
Thus each atom
certain net or residual charge, which might either sign ; and the order of the elements in Volta's series could be interpreted simply as the order in which they would stand when ranged according to the magnitude of this residual
would be of
charge.
As
overthrown Berzelius permitted himself to publish the nature of heat and electricity, which
us
shall by Faraday.
we
see,
this conception
was
afterwards
some
speculations on bring vividly before
the outlook of
an
nineteenth century. the electricities and caloric are matter or merely phenomena. If the title of matter is to be granted only to such things as
are
able thinker in the first quarter of the The great question, he says, is whether
ponderable, then these problematic entities are certainly the application of the term is, not matter ; but thus to narrow he believes, a mistake; and he inclines to the opinion that
caloric is truly matter, possessing chemical affinities without obeying the law of gravitation,and that light and all radiations This conclusion consist in modes of propagating such matter.
it easier to decide regarding electricity. From makes the relation which exists between caloric and the electricities," he remarks, "it is clear that what may be true with regard to the materiality of one must of them also be true with
"
regard to that of the other. There are, however, a quantity produced by electricitywhich do not admit of of phenomena time that electricity explanation without admitting at the same
is matter.
Electricity, for
the everything which covers conduct it. It, indeed, passes through conductors leaving any trace of its passage ; but it penetrates
often detaches surface of those bodies which without

non-con-
instance, very
Galvanism
ductors which
oppose
from
Galvani to Ohm.
and
83
a perforation makes description as would have been made precisely of the same by something which had need of place for its passage. We often observe this when electric jarsare broken by an overcharge,
its
course,
the electric shock is passed through a number of cards, etc. We may therefore, at least with some bility, probaimagine caloric and the electricitiesto be matter,
or
when
destitute of gravitation,but possessing affinityto gravitating bodies. When they are not confined by these affinities, they tend to place themselves in equilibrium in the universe. The
suns
destroy at every moment this equilibrium, and they send in the form of luminous rays towards the re-united electricities the surface of which the rays, being themselves as caloric; and this last in its
the planetary bodies, upon
arrested, manifest turn, during the time required to replace it in equilibrium in the universe, supports the chemical activity of organic and
inorganic nature." It was scarcely to be expected that anything so speculative Berzelius' electric conception of chemical combination as would be confirmed in all particulars by subsequent discovery ;
of fact,it did not as a coherent theory survive But some the lifetime of its author. of its ideas have them the conviction which lies at its persisted, and among and,
as
matter
foundation, that chemical affinities are,

electricalorigin. While the attention
in the last resort, of
for long directed to of chemists was the theory of Berzelius, the interest of electricians was diverted from it by a discovery of the first magnitude in a different region. land subsists between electricity relation of some and magnetism had been suspected by the philosophers of the based in part on some eighteenth century. The suspicion was That
a
curious effects produced by lightning, of a kind which may be illustratedby a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions
in 1735.*
A
tradesman
of Wakefield,
G
2
we
are
told,"having
put
*Phil. Trans, xxxix
p. 74. (1735),
84
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
of knives and forks in a large box, and up a great number having placed the box in the corner there of a large room,
happen'd
in July, 1731, the

corner
etc.,by which
sudden storm of the room
of thunder, lightning, damaged, the Box was
split,and a good many The being untouched.
knives and
owner
forks melted, the sheaths emptying the box upon a Counter
Nails lay, the Persons who took up the knives, that where some lay upon the Nails, observed that the knives took up the Nails." Lightning
thus
came
to
magnetizing steel ; and it was in 1751 to attempt to magnetize a sewing-needle by means of The the discharge of Leyden jars. attempt was indeed successful
; but,
as
credited with the power of doubtless this which led Franklin*
be
Van
Marum
whether the magnetism was More experiments followed.f In 1805 Jean Nicholas Pierre Hachette (b.1769, d. 1834)and Charles Bernard Desormes
doubtful afterwards showed, it was due directly to the current.
1777, d. 1862)attempted (b.
whether an insulated voltaic pile,freely suspended, is oriented by terrestrial magnetism ; bat without positive result. In 1807 Hans Christian Professor of Natural Philosophy in Oersted (". 1777, d. 1851),
to determine
announced his intention of examining the action of electricityon the magnetic needle ; but it was not for some realized. If one of his pupils is to be years that his hopes were
Copenhagen,
believed,* he
; he
"
was
man
could
not
of genius, but a very unhappy experimenter instruments. He manipulate must
of his auditors who had easy always have an assistant, or one the experiment." hands, .to arrange During a course of lectures which he delivered in the winter Electricity, Galvanism, and Magnetism," the on of 1819-20 idea occurred to him that the changes observed with the
"
during a thunderstorm might give the clue to compass-needle the effectof which he was in search ; and this led him to think that the experiment should be tried with the galvanic circuit
f In 1774 the Electoral Academy Letter vi from Franklin to Collinson. " Is a the there Bavaria real and physical analogy between question, proposed of " forces ? as the of a prize. electricand magnetic subject inBence Hansteen inserted Jones' Life Faraday letterfrom a Cf. ii, 395. 1
*
of
p.
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
any
85
effect is
closed instead of open, and produced on a passed through

magnetic
a
to inquire whether
an
needle when
neighbouring wire. At wire at right angles to the needle, but observed no result. After the end of a lecture in which this negative experiment had been shown, the idea occurred to him to place the wire parallel to the needle : on trying it,a pronounced deflexion was observed, and the relation between magnetism and the electric discovered. After confirmatory experiments with current was powerful apparatus, the public announcement in July, 1820 *
more
was
is electric current first he placed the
made
of the
Oersted
did not
determine
the quantitative laws

a
but contented himself with ;action, effect and

some
statement
of the qualitative
which recall the remarks on its cause, tions magnetic speculations of Descartes : indeed, Oersted's concepmay be regarded as linking those of the Cartesian school introduced subsequently by Faraday. To to those which were
"
the effect which
takes place in the conductor and in the surrounding

"
space," he
wrote,
"
of electricity? -conflict
The
magnetic particles of matter. while penetrable by the electric conflict,
of the electric conflict acts only on the All non-magnetic bodies appear
we
shall give the
name
magnetic
bodies,
or
resist the passage of this conflict rather their magnetic particles, be moved Hence they can by the impetus of the contending
powers. " It is sufficiently evident from the preceding facts that the conflict is not confined to the conductor, but dispersed "electric space. pretty widely in the circumjacent
that this the preceding facts we may likewise collect, conflict performs circles; for without this condition, it seems impossible that the one part of the uniting wire, when placed below when
*
"
From
pole, should drive it toward the east, and placed above it toward the west; for it is the nature of a
the magnetic
Schweigger's Journal fur Chemie und Physik, zxix (1820), p. 275 ; Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, xvi (1820), Ostwald's Klattiter der p. 273;
'
Nr. 63. Wi.ssenseha.ften,
86
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
an
circlethat the motions in opposite parts should have direction."
opposite1
Oersted's discovery
French Academy had
on
described at the meeting of the September llth, 1820, by an academician

was
(Arago) who
Several investigators abroad. in France repeated and extended his experiments ; and the firstprecise analysis of the effect was published by two of 1774, d. 1862) and Felix Savart these, Jean-Baptiste Biot (b.
just returned
from
of Sciences meeting of the Academy October 30th, 1820, announced* that the action experienced on by a pole of austral or boreal magnetism, when placed at any distance from a straight wire carrying a voltaic current, may be
1791, d. 1841), who, (b.
at
thus expressed : Draw from the pole a perpiendicular to the wire ; the force on the pole is at right angles to this line and ta the wire, and its intensity is proportional to the reciprocal of
"
further analysed, the soon result was attractive force being divided into constituents, each of which was particular element of the supposed to be due to some
the distance."
This
current ; in its
new
form
an
a
the law
may
a
magnetic
current
due to force i is flowing, at
element ds of
be stated thus : thecircuit, in which a
point whose vector distancefrom ds is r,,
is
(in suitableunits)
i
"
r3
|ds,r|t J
ids
or
curl
"
.+
magnetic fieldmay be produced as readily by an electriccurrent as by a magnet ; and, as Arago is capable of this, like any other magnetic field, soon
was
now
It
recognized that
showed,"
a
Annales de Chimie,
xv
(1820), p.
vectors,
222 ; Journal de Phys., xli,p. 51.
azby^ is a and b, and is denoted by the vector a*bz, axby called product of aybx) [a,b]. Its directionis at right angles to those of a and b, and itsmagnitude is represented by twice the area of the triangle formed by them.
f If
"
and b denote two

"
the vector
whose
components
are
(aybz
"
azb*
If
denotes any vector, the vector whose components

"
are
-""
^-z
-^,
^-*r
3%
-
9a*
-"
z-l
is
fo
ty " Annales
denoted by curl a.
-,
de Chimie,
xv
(1820), p. 93.
Galvanism,
inducing
from
Galvani to Ohm.
87
magnetization in iron. The question naturally suggested itselfas to whether the similarity of properties between currents still further, e.g. whether extended and magnets conductors carrying currents forces when ponderomotive whether
exert
conductors forces ponderomotive such

"
like magnets, experience placed in a magnetic field,and would consequently, like magnets,
would,
on
each
The firststep towards answering As," he said, by Oersted* himself. another

in motion
other. these inquiries

"
was
taken
body
cannot
put
being moved in its turn, when it possesses the requisite mobility, it is easy to foresee that the be moved by the magnet must ; and this he galvanic arc without
"
verified experimentally. The next step came from Andre Marie Ampere 1775, (b. d. 1836), September 18th, on who at the meeting of the Academy
exactly
a
week
after the that
news
of Oersted's first discovery had
arrived, showed
attract
each
other
parallel wires carrying currents direction, if the currents are in the same
two
and repel each other if the currents are in opposite directions. During the next three years Ampere continued to prosecute the researches thus inaugurated, and in 1825 published his collected results in one of the most celebrated memoirsf in the history of natural philosophy. Ampere introduces his work
by
proclaiming
himself
follower of that school which explained all physical phenomena in terms of equal and oppositely directed forces between pairs the attempt to seek more of particles ; and he renounces
fundamental, explanations speculative, though possibly more in terms of the motions of ultimate fluids and aethers. Nevertheless, he indicates two conceptions of this latter character, on
which such explanations might be founded. In the firstj he suggests that the ponderomotive
Schweigger's
forces
Journal fur Chem.
Annals
of Philosophy,
Phys., xxix (1820), p. 364 ; Thomson's 1'Acad., de Mem. t vi, p. 175. p. 375. xvi (1820),
u.
% facueil tFobservations
pp. 285, 370.
dynamiques, electro-
p. 215 ; and the memoir
just cited,
88
between
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
"
circuits carrying electric currents may be due to throughout reaction of the elastic fluid which extends space, whose vibrations produce the phenomena which is put in motion by electric currents."
"
the
all
of light," and This fluid or

results from
aether
can,
he says,
"
be
no
other than that which
the combination of the two electricities/' In the second conception,* Ampere suggests that the interspaces between the metallic molecules of a wire which fluid composed of the two electricities, not in the proportions which form the neutral fluid,but with an excess of that one of them which is opposite
carries a
current
may
be occupied by
to the electricitypeculiar to the molecules of the metal, and which consequently masks this latter electricity. In this interare molecular fluid the opposite electricities continually being dissociated and recombined ; a dissociation of the fluid within inter-molecular interval having taken place, the positive one
electricity thus produced unites with the negative electricity of the interval next to it in the direction of the current, while
electricityof the first interval unites with the positive electricityof the next interval in the other direction. Such interchanges, according to this hypothesis, constitute the
the negative electric current. Ampere's memoir
more
is,however,
speculative side of the subject. investigate thoroughly by experiment the ponderomotive

on
but littleoccupied with the His first aim was to forces
electric currents. When," he remarks,

"
"
M.
a
Oersted
magnet,
one
discovered
which
current
exercises
on
suspected the existence of a mutual not carrying currents ; but this was for
might action between

a
the action certainly have

two
circuits
;
necessary consequence
bar of soft iron also acts on there is no mutual action between

a
magnetized needle, although two bars of soft iron."

to the test of the
Ampere, laboratory,
currents
*
therefore, submitted and discovered
the matter
that
circuits carrying
on
electric that
exert
ponderomotive
forces
each other, and

pp. 297, 300, 371.
Recucil d'observations electro-dunamiques,
Galvanism,
from
Gaivani to Ohm.
89
forces are exerted on such currents by magnets. ponderomotive To the science which deals with the mutual action of currents he gave the name electro-dynamics ;* and he showed that the
action obeys the following laws : (1)The effect of a current is reversed when the current is reversed.
"
the direction of
effect of a current flowing in a circuit twisted into as if the circuit were smoothed out. small sinuosities is the same (3)The force exerted by a closed,circuit on an element of another circuit is at right angles to the latter.
(2)The
(4)The
when
force between
two
all linear dimensions
elements of circuits is unaffected increased proportionately, the are
current-strengths remaining unaltered. From these data, together with his assumption that the force between two elements of circuits acts along the line joining them, Ampere be made Let ds, ds' be the elements, r the line joining them, and i, i' the current-strengths. From (2) we see that the effectof ds on
"
obtained an expression of this force : the deduction may in the following way :
ds' is the vector
these
must
r
are
of the effects of dx, dy, dz on ds', where the three components of ds: so the required force
sum
"
be of the form
x
and
in ds ; scalar quantity which is linear and homogeneous it must in ds' ; so similarly be linear and homogeneous
a
using
we (1),
see
=
that the force must

.
be of the form
.
ill
| (ds ds') (r)+ (ds r)(ds'. (r)} 4" r) i/,

,
where
functions undetermined ""and i// From (4) it follows that when ds, ds',r are
same
denote
of
r.
all multiplied by that
the
number,
F is unaffected
this shows
4"(r)
=
and
f (r)
=
where
and B denote constants.

F
,
=
Thus
we
have
"(ds.r)(ds'. M(ds.ds') r)) + ;

-
"
"-
"
"
(
*.
r3
r6
Loc. cit.,p. 298.
90
Now, by
Galvanism
the (3),
from
Galvani to Ohm.
resolved part of F along ds' must vanish when integrated round the circuit s, i.e. it must be a complete differentialwhen dr is taken to be equal to ds. That is to-
say,
^(ds.ds')(r.ds') "(ds r)(ds'. r)2

.
/o-"3
.f\""
must
be
; complete differential
or
must
be
complete
differential ; and therefore

A
7 d'^
=
BiA
--5(dS'r)"
B
dr B
=
or
3^
~2^"
r*dT'
=
-
or
I A.
Thus finally we
F
=
have
x
Constant
ii'i
(ds ds') ||
-
-5
(ds r)(ds'. r)
.
This is Ampere's of
course
The
the multiplicative constant depends 1. on the units chosen, and may be taken to be weakness of Ampere's work evidently lies in the
:
-
formula
that the force is directed along the line joining thetwo elements : for in the analogous case of the action between two magnetic molecules, we know that the force is not directed
assumption
It is therefore of interest the molecules. along the line joining to find the form of F when this restriction is removed. For this purpose we observe that we can add to the expression
already found for F any term

.
of the form
.
.
0(r) (ds r)
where
ds',
r
denotes 0(r)
any arbitrary function of
; for since
this term
vanishes when
integrated round
the circuit s ; and it
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
as
91
it should.
contains ds and ds' linearly and homogeneously, We can also add any terms of the form
rf{r..(ds'.r).x(r)|,
denotes any arbitrary function of r, and d denotes where \(r] differentiation along the arc s, keeping ds' fixed (so that
dr
-
; ds)
.
this differentialmay
-
be written *
-
ds
(ds'. (ds'. ds) r) x(r) rx(r)

.
r (ds r)(ds'. r). x'(r)

.
In order that the law of Action and Eeaction may not be violated,we must combine this with the former additional term in ds and ds' : and to obtain an expression symmetrical so as
hence
we
see
finally that the general value
of F
is given by the
equation
F
=
-n'rjj|(ds.ds')-J(ds.r) (ds'r) (ds r) (ds ds')r x("-;

.
ds
x(r)
ds' +
+
x(r)
ix'(r)(ds.r)(ds'.
The simplest form of this expression is obtained by taking
when
we
obtain
"
"/
{(dsr)
.
ds' +
(ds'. r)ds
-
(ds ds')r}
.
.
The
vector
comparatively
simple expression
product
in brackets is the
three
vectors
ds, r,
part of the quaternion ds'.*
of the
any of these values of F we force exerted by the whole circuit s fact,from the last expression,
From
can on
find the ponderomotive the element ds' : it is,in
u'f1
*
[?-3((ds'.r).ds-(d
The simpler form of F given in the text is,if the term in da' be omitted, the form given by Grassmann, Ann. d. Phys. Ixiv (1845), p. 1. For further work on this cf. Tait, Proc. R. S. Edin. viii (1873), p. 220, and Korteweg, Journal
fiirMath,
subject xc (1881), p.
45.
92
Galvanism, from Galvani to Ohm.
or
[ds'. B],
where Now
this value of B is precisely the value found by Biot and Savart* for the"magnetic intensity at ds' due to the-current i in the circuits. Thus we see that the ponderomotive force on a
B]. current-element ds' in a magnetic fieldB is i' [ds'. Ampere developed to a considerable extent the theory of the equivalence of magnets with circuitscarrying currents;
electric current is equivalent, in its on magnetic effects, to a distribution of magnetism any surface terminated by the circuit,the axes of the magnetic and showed
that
an
molecules being everywhere normal to this surface :f such a magnetized surface is called a mayiwtic shell. He preferred,
I
however, to regard the current rather than the magnetic fluid as the fundamental entity, and considered magnetism to be
: each magnetic really an electrical phenomenon molecule owes its properties,according to this view, to the presence within it
of
small closed circuit in which perpetually flowing.

a
an
electric current
is
The
and
impression produced lasting. Writing half

"
by Ampere's
a
memoir
was
of it as The science." speaks

"
century afterwards, one of the most brilliant achievements in theory and experiment, whole," he says,
"
great Maxwell
ifit had leaped, full-grown and full-armed, from the brain of the Newton of electricity/ It is perfect in form and up in a formula unassailable in accuracy ; and it is summed
seems as
'
all the phenomena may be deduced, and which must always remain the cardinal formula of electrodynamics." Not long after the discovery by Oersted of the connexion
from
which
between galvanism and magnetism, a connexion was discovered In 1822 Thomas Johann Seebeck between galvanism and heat.|
*
See ante, p. 86.
t Loc. cit.,p. 367.
Galvanism,
1770, d. 1831), of (b.
can
from ^Galvani
to Ohm.
93
Berlin discovered* that
an
of
be set up in a circuit of metals, without by disturbing the liquid, merely any
electriccurrent the interposition
ring be formed extremities; to establish a soldered together at the two it is only necessary to heat the ring at one of these current To this new electric thermoclass of circuits the name junctions.
temperature.
Let
equilibrium of of copper and bismuth
was
It
was
given. found
that
the
metals
can
be
arranged
as
thermo-electric series,in the order of their power of generating currents when thus paired, and that this order is quite different Indeed antimony from Volta's order of electromotive potency. and bismuth, which
are each other in the latter series, at opposite extremities of the former. by The thermo-electric means are currents generated are
near
generally feeble :
and
the
mention
of this fact brings
us
to
the question, which was about this time engaging attention, of the efficacy of different voltaic arrangements. Comparisons of a rough kind had been instituted soon after French chemists Antoine the discovery of the pile. The
FranQois
Yauquelin
de
Fourcroy
(b.1763, d. 1777, d. 1857) foundf (b.

metallic produced number burning power
(b. 1755, 1829),and

in 1801,
d.
1809),Louis
Jacques
Mcolas
Thenard
Louis
on
disks
on
constituting the frame were the human
varying the size of the pile, that the sensations unaffected so long as the
but that the power 'of of disks remained the same; finely drawn wire was altered; and that the latter was proportional to the total surface of the disks
small number This was ones.
Ixxiii (1823), pp. 115,
were
distributed among employed, whether this were of small of large disks, or a large number
*
Abhandl.
d. Berlin Akad.
1, 133, 253.
1822-3
; Ann.
d. Phys.
430 ; vi
(1826), pp.
Volta had previously noticed that

temperatures appeared
to act like
were a
silver plate whose
ends
at
different
voltaic cell.
(".1777, d. 1861), performed by James Gumming experiments Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge, Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. ii (1823), p. 47, Annales de Chimie, xxxi Cesar Becquerel (b. 1788, d. 1878), and by Antoine
Further
p. (1826),
371.
t Ann.
de Chimie, xxxix
(1801), p.
103.
94
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
explained by supposing that small plates give a small quantity of the electric fluid with a high velocity, while large plates Shocks, greater velocity. give a larger quantity with no which
were
supposed
to
depend
alone, would
therefore not
the velocity of the fluid be intensified by increasing the size

on
of the plates. The effect of varying of the pile was 1753, d. 1803)observed* (b. have
a
the
conductors
terminals
narrow
well
as
when is evidently
opening the opening
also studied. that water contained in tubes which does not conduct voltaic currents so
is
more
the which connect Nicolas Grautherot
considerable.
that which
very similar to
a
This ment experiBeccaria had

electrostatic
half performed discharges.

As
we
century
previously! with
Cavendish
to
have
already
seen,
investigated
very
-completely the power discharges; their power

now
of
metals
conduct
electrostatic
was
examined
of
a
by
of conducting voltaic currents Davy.J His method was to connect

a
the
terminals
voltaic battery by
also
path
an
containing water
(which
it
decomposed), and
by
consisting of the metallic wire under length of the wire was less than a certain quantity, the water the lengths and measured ceased to be decomposed ; Davy
alternative path When the examination.
weights of wires of different materials and cross-sections under these limiting circumstances ; and, by comparing them, showed
that the conducting power of a wire formed of any one metal is inversely proportional to its length and directly proportional to its sectional area, but independent of the shape of the cross-
The section.!
currents
latter fact, as he remarked, the substance
showed
that voltaic and

not
the conductivities of various metals, and studied the effect of temperature : he found
pass through along its surface. Davy, in the same
of the conductor
memoir,
compared
Annales de China., xxxix (1801), p. 203. Phil. Trans., His results were 1821, p. 433. % Becquerel, Annales de Chiiuie, xxxii (1825), p. 423.
t See p. 53.
confirmed afterwards by
6 These results had been known
to Cavendish.
Galvanism
that the
"
from
Galvani to Ohm.
95
conductivity varied with the temperature, being inverse ratio as the temperature was higher." lower in some He also observed that the same magnetic power is exhibited
though it be formed circuit,even every part of the same of wires of different conducting powers pieced into a chain, directly as the quantity of seems the magnetism so that electricitywhich they transmit." by
"
which flows in a given voltaic circuit evidently depends not only on the conductors which form the circuit, but also on the driving-power of the battery. In order to form it was therefore necessary a complete theory of voltaic circuits,
The
current to
extend
Davy's
laws
by
taking
the
driving-power
into
account.
Ohm*
Ohm
This advance was 1787, d. 1854). (b.
effected in 1826 by Georg Simom
already carried out a considerable amount of had, on discovered the that and e.g., experimental work subject, if a number of voltaic cells are placed in series in a circuit,the is proportional to their number if the external current
if resistance is very large, but is independent of their number He now the external resistance is small. essayed the task results into a consistent theory. of combining all the known
For this purpose he adopted the idea of comparing the flow to the flow of heat along a wire, the of electricityin a current theory of which had been familiar to all physicists since the
had
publication of Fourier's Theorie analytique de la chcdeur in I have proceeded," he says, from the supposition that 1822. the communication of the electricityfrom one particle takes
"
"
immediate so that no place directly only to the one next to it, transition from that particle to any other situate at a greater distance occurs. The magnitude two of the flow between
adjacentparticles, under
I have assumed
*Ann.
otherwise
exactly similar circumstances,
to be proportional to the difference of
vi (1826), p. 459 ; vii, pp. 45,117; Die Galvanische Eette bearbeitet Berlin, Memoirs, : 1827 ; translated in Taylor's Scientific mathematisch Cf. 401. ii (1841), by in Kastner's Archiv Ohm p. also subsequent papers fur d. ges. Naturkhre, and Schweigger's Jahrbuch.
d. Phys.
96
"
Galvanism,
from
Galvani to Ohm.
as, in the the electricforces existing in the two particles ; just theory of heat, the flow of caloric between two particles is regarded as proportional to the difference of their temperatures."'
'*'
The comparison between the flow of electricityand the flow of heat suggested the propriety of introducing a quantity whose behaviour in electricalproblems should resemble that of in the theory of heat. The differences in the temperature
a
values of such
quantity
so
at two
points of
a
circuit would
provide what
was
much
needed, namely,
measure
of the
"driving-power"
points.
the acting on To carry out this idea, Ohm

" "
these electricity between recurred to Volta's theory
customary of the electrostatic condition of the open pile. It was to measure the tension of a pile by connecting one
and testing the other terminal by an " In order to investigate electroscope. Accordingly Ohm says : in the electric condition of a body A the changes which occur
terminal
to
earth
in
perfectly definite manner,
similar body moveable
under
circumstances, of invariable electrical condition, called the the electroscope is ; and the force with which electroscope This force is repelled or attracted by the body is determined. termed
"
the body is each time brought, into relation with a second
the electroscopic force of the body A" body A may also serve The same to determine
force
various parts of the same purpose take the body A of very small dimensions, so that when we bring it into contact with the part to be tested of any third body, it may from itssmallness be regarded as a substitute for this part : then its electroscopic force, measured in the way it happens to be different at the various described, will, when known the relative differences with regard to places, make between electricity Ohm assumed,
two
in
the electroscopic body. For this
these places."
as
was
customary
"
at that period, that when
they constantly maintain at placed in contact, difference between their electrothe point of contact the same scopic forces." He accordingly supposed that each voltaic cell metals
are
a
possesses
definite tension,
or
discontinuity of electroscopic
Galvanism, from Galvani to Ohm.
97
force,which is to be regarded as its contribution to the drivingforce of any circuitin which it may be placed. This assumption electroscopic confers a definite meaning on his use of the term
"
force
"
; the force in question is identical with the electrostatic
and his contemporaries did not correctly potential. But Ohm the relation of galvanic conceptions to the j understand electrostatic functions of Poisson. The electroscopic force generally identified with the thickness at the place tested ; while Ohm, of the electrical stratum not confined to the recognizing that electric currents are surface of the conductors, but penetrate their substance,
in the open pile
was
seems
a
to have thought of the electroscopic force at

as
place in
circuit
being
"
there electricity
and the supposed to be contained in it. Denoting, then, by S the current

a
relation which, temperature of
proportional to the volume-density of idea in which he was an confirmed by the in an the analogous case, exists between
body
volume-density
which flows in
a
of
heat
wire of of the electroscopicforces at conductivity y, when the difference the terminals is E, Ohm writes
From yE. is deduce the laws already given it to formula this easy Thus, if the area by Davy. of the cross-section of a wire
is Ay
such wires side by side construct If the quantity E is the same a wire of cross-section nA. for each, equal currents will flow in the wires ; and therefore the current in the compound wire will be ?i times that in
we can
n
by placing
the single wire ; so when the quantity E is unchanged, the is proportional to the cross-section; that is, the current
conductivity of a wire is directlyproportional to itscross-section, which is one of Davy's laws. In spite of the confusion which was attached to the idea of
years, electroscopic force, and which was not dispelled for some a the publication of Ohm's memoir marked great advance It was in electricalphilosophy. now clearly understood that the current
flowing in any
conductor
H
depends
only
on
the
98
Galvanism^
from
Galvani to Ohm.
conductivity inherent in the conductor and on another variable which bears to electricitythe same relation that temperature bears to heat ; and, moreover, it was realized that this latter variable is the link connecting the theory of currents with the older theory of electrostatics. These principles were a sufficient foundation for future progress; and much of the published in the second quarter of the century work which was
was
no
more
than
the natural development
of-the principles long to wait
laid down
by Ohm.*
It is painful to relate that the discoverer had before the merits
were of his great achievement officially recognized. Twenty- two years after the publication of the he was promoted to a university memoir on the galvanic circuit,
professorship; this he held for the five years which

until his death in 1854.
remained
confirmed experimentally by several investigators, among 1801, d. 1887) (Maassbestimwhom may be mentioned Gustav Theodor Feehner(i. die Kette, Galvanische Leipzig, 1831),and Charles Wheatstone iiber mungen Trans,, 1843, p. 303). 1802, d. 1875) (Phil. (b.
Ohm's
theory
was
CHAPTER
THE
IV.
FROM
BRADLEY
LUMINIFEROUS
MEDIUM,
TO
FRESNEL.
refrained from committing himself to any doctrine regarding the ultimate nature of light, the writers of the next generation interpreted his criticism of
ALTHOUGH
Newton,
as
we
have
seen,
as equivalent to an acceptance of the wave-theory As it happened, the chief optical corpuscular hypothesis. discovery of this period tended to support the latter theory,
the
by which it was Bradley James
first and
most
readily explained. that time
In 1728
(b. 1692,
"
d.
1762),at
Savilian
Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, sent to the Astronomer Account of a new discovered motion of the Royal (Halley) an Fix'd Stars."* In observing the star y in the head of the Dragon,
transit he had
across
found
that during the winter

was summer
of 1725-6 the
while during restored by a motion
the meridian the following
northwards.
continually more southerly, its original position was Such an effect could not be
explained as a result of parallax ; and eventually Bradley guessed it to be due to the gradual propagation of light.f Thus, let CA denote a ray of light,falling on the line BA ;
and suppose that the eye of the observer is travelling along BA, with a velocity which is to the velocity is to CA. Then the corpuscle of of light as BA
^
is discernible to the eye light, by which the object have been at C when the eye was at at A, would B. The tube of a telescope must therefore be pointed in the direction BC, in order to receive the rays
from
an
whose object
the direction CA. difference between of the

; and object
xxxv
light is really propagated in The angle BCA the measures

apparent positions
"
the real and
it is evident from (1728), p. 637.
the figure that the sine of
"Phil. Trans,
letter to Huygens of date 30th Dec., 1677, mentions a suspected the apparent position of a star, due to the motion of the earth at of right angles to the line of sight. Cf Correspondance de Huygens, viii, p. 53.
t Roemer, in
displacement
100
The
Medium, Lumini/erous
this angle is to the sine of the visible inclination of the object to the line in which the eye is moving, as the velocity of the eye is to the velocity of light. Observations such as Bradley's will
the ratio of the mean orbital light,or, as it is called,. velocity of the earth to the velocity of 'aberration; from itsvalue Bradley calculated that the constant therefore enable
us
to deduce
of
light is propagated from

12
the
sun
to the earth
in 8
minutes
a
seconds, which, as he remarked, "is as it were betwixt what had at different times been determined
eclipses of Jupiter's satellites."* With the exception of Bradley's
Mean
from the
primarily astronomical rather than century was decidedly barren, as regards both the experimental and the theoretical investigation of light ; in curious contrast But
discovery, which was optical, the eighteenth
to the brillianceof its record in respect of electricalresearches.
attention must be given to a suggestive study f of the 1710, d. 1790) aether, for which the younger John Bernoulli (b.
some
was
in 1736 awarded the prize of the French Academy. His to have been originally suggested by an ideas seem attempt};
*Struve
in 1845 found for the constant of aberration the value 20"'445, which This was superseded in 1883 by the value
lie afterwards corrected to 20"'463. 20"-492, determined by M. Nyren.
The observations of both Struve and Nyren in the the transit were prime vertical. The method now made with generally of differencesof meridian zenith distances used depends on the measurement der kon. (Talcott's method, as applied by F. Kiistner, Beobachtungs-Ergebnisse Sternwarte
zu
Berlin, Heft
3,
; 1888)
constant of aberration is 20"-523.
the value at present favoured for the Cf. Chandler, Ast. Journal, xxiii,pp. 1, 12
(1903).
terms
collective translatory motion of the solar system gives rise to aberrational: in the apparent places of the fixed stars ; but the principal term of this character does not vary with the time, and consequently is equivalent to a displacement. The second-order terms (i.e. those which constant permanent
The
involve the ordinary constant of aberration multiplied by the sun's velocity) in be is measurable quantities the case of stars near the Pole ; and the same might involve first-order terms (i.e. true of the variations in the those which the sun's due to by the the constant of circumstance velocity not multiplied
aberration)
in these terms, that the star's apparent R. A. and Declination, which occur but are affected by Precession, Nutation, and Aberration. not constant, Seeliger,Ast. Nach., cix., p. 273 (1884).
are
Cf.
t Printed in 1752, in the Recueil des pieces qui

tome
ont
iii.
Acta
remportes lesprix de V Acad.y. eniditorum, MDCCI, p. 19.
from Bradky
which
to Fresnel.
101
1667, d. 1748), his father, the elder John Bernoulli (b. had made in 1701 to connect the law of refraction with the forces. If two mechanical principle of the composition of forces whose ratio is ju maintain in equilibrium a opposed only in a given plane, it follows particle which is free to move from the triangle of forces that the directions of the forces must
obey the relation sin i
where
=
sin r, fj.
i and
the normals
denote the angles made by these directions with to the plane. This is the same equation as that
of refraction, and the elder Bernoulli theory of light might be based on it ; but
which
expresses the law

a
that conjectured
for the existence of he gave no satisfactory physical reason forces along the incident and refracted rays. This defect his
son
now
proceeded to
remove.
All space, according to the younger Bernoulli, is permeated by a fluid aether, containing an immense number of excessively small whirlpools. The elasticitywhich the aether appears to
possess, and in virtue of which it is able to transmit vibrations, is really due to the presence of these whirlpools ; for,owing to force, each whirlpool is continually striving to -centrifugal dilate,and so presses against the neighbouring whirlpools. It that Bernoulli is a thorough Cartesian in spirit; will be seen
not only does he
"even
action reject
at
distance, but he insists that
the elasticityof his aether shall be explicable in terms and motion.

"
of
matter
This aggregate of small vortices, or fine-grained turbulent to be called a century and a half later,* is motion," as it came interspersed with solid corpuscles, whose dimensions are small
their distances apart. These are pushed about -compared with by the whirlpools whenever the aether is disturbed, but never travel far from their original positions. A
source
of
light communicates
to
disturbance which condenses the nearest

*
its surroundings a whirlpools ; these by
Cf Lord Kelvin's vortex-sponge

.
aether, described laterin this work.
102
The
Medium Luminiferous
their condensation displace the contiguous corpuscles from their equilibrium position ; and these in turn produce condensations in the whirlpools next beyond them, so that vibrations are propagated in every direction from the luminous point. It is curious that Bernoulli speaks of these vibrations as longitudinal, and actually contrasts them with those of a stretched cord, when it is slightlydisplaced from its rectilinear form, which,
"
and then let go, performs transverse vibrations in right angles to the direction of the cord."
direction at When it is
to longitudinal vibrations, on that the objection remembered the score of polarization, had already been clearly stated by Newton, and that Bernoulli's aether closely resembles that
which Maxwell invented in 1861-2 for the express purpose securing transversality of vibration, one feels that perhaps
man ever
so
of
no
narrowly missed a great discovery. Bernoulli explained refraction by combining these ideas the pores of ponderable with those of his father. Within
bodies the whirlpools are compressed, so must vary in intensity from one medium
the centrifugal force to another. Thus a
corpuscle situated in the interface between two media is acted by a greater elastic force from one medium on than from the
triangle of forces to find theconditions of its equilibrium, the law of Snell and Descartes may be obtained.
other; and by
applying
the
'
long after this, the echoes of the old controversy between Descartes and Fermat about the law of refraction 1698,, were awakened* by Pierre Louis Moreau deMaupertuis (b.
d. 1759). that according to Descartes the remembered velocity of light is greatest in dense media, while according toFermat the propagation is swiftest in free aether. The arguments
It will be
Not
of the corpuscular theory convinced Maupertuis that on in the right ; but neverthis particular point Descartes was theless he wished to retain for science the beautiful method by which Fermat
had derived his result. This he

*Mem.
de 1'Acad., 1744, p. 417.
now
proposed
from
to do by modifying
Bradley to Fresnel.
103
principle so as to make it agree with the corpuscular theory; instead of assuming that light follows the quickest path, he supposed that the path described
Fermat's
"
is that by which the quantity of action is the least ; and this of the spaces action he defined to be proportional to the sum described, each multiplied by the velocity with which it is traversed.
"
Thus
instead of Fermat's expression tds dt

or
t denotes (where
time,
velocity,and ds
an
element of the
path)
Maupertuis
introduced
/vds
its minimum the quantity which is to assume value when the path of integration is the actual path of the light. Since
as
denotes the velocity according to the which corpuscular theory, is proportional to the reciprocal of Fermat's denotes the velocity according to the wave- theory, the v, which
v,
Maupertuis'
two expressions
are
of great refraction. interest from the point of view of dynamics ; for his suggestion was subsequently developed by himself and by Euler and Lagrange into a general principle which the whole covers
of range of Nature, so far as Nature is a dynamical system. The natural philosophers of the eighteenth century for the most part, like Maupertuis, accepted the corpuscular hypothesis ;
really equivalent, and lead to the Maupertuis' is, however, memoir
same
law
'but the wave-theory declared for it ; and
was
not
without
defenders.
Franklin*
celebrated mathematician Euler (b. 1707, d. 1783) ranged himself on the same
the
Leonhard
side. In
a
work entitled Nova Theoria Lucis et Colorum, published!while he was living under the patronage of Frederic the Great at Berlin, he insisted strongly on the resemblance between light
light is in the aether the same thing as sound and sound ; Newton's doctrine that colour depends air/' Accepting
*
"
in
on
tL.
Letter xxiii, written in 1752. Euleri Opuscula varii argumenti,
Berlin, 1746, p. 169.
104
The
Medium Luminiferous
wave-length, he in this memoir supposed the frequency greatest for red light,and least for violet ; but a few years later* he adopted the opposite opinion. light is his The chief novelty of Euler's writings on in which material bodies appear explanation of the manner coloured when viewed by white light ; and, in particular, of the
He way in which the colours of thin plates are produced. denied that such colours are due to a more copious reflexion of light of certain particular periods, and supposed that they represent vibrations generated within the body itselfunder the
stimulus of the incident light. A coloured surface, according to this hypothesis, contains large numbers of elastic molecules, which, when agitated, emit light of period depending only
plates Euler way ; the elasticresponse and free period explained in the same of the plate at any place would, he conceived, depend on its thickness at that place ; and in this way the dependence of the
on
their
own
structure.
The
colours of thin
colour
a
on
the thickness
was
accounted
to
for, the phenomena effects observed
as
whole
being analogous
sound.
to improve
well-known
in
experiments on An attempt direction was
made independently in the

writers
the corpuscular theory in another in 1752 by the Marquis de Courtivron,f and
following year
"
by
T. Melville These
suggested, as an explanation of the different refranthe differently colour'd rays gibilityof different colours, that
are
with projected
different velocitiesfrom the luminous
body
mediate the greatest, violet with the least,and the intercolours with intermediate degrees of velocity." On this supposition, as its authors pointed out, the amount of
the red with
aberration would be different for every different colour ; and the satellites of Jupiter would change colour,from white through
green to violet,through before their immersion
emersion
*
interval of more than half a minute into the planet's shadow ; while at the contrary succession of colours should be observed,
an
Mem.
del'Acad.de Berlin, 1752, p. 262.
t Courtivron's Traite cfoptique, 1752.
JPhil.Trans,
p. 262. xlviii(1753),
from Bradley
to FremeL
105
beginning with red and ending in white. The testimony of astronomers was soon given that such appearances are practical accordingly abandoned. The fortunes of the wave-theory began to brighten at the Thomas champion arose. end of the century, when a new Young, born at Milverton in Somersetshire in 1773, and trained to the practiceof medicine, began to write on optical theory in 1799. In his first paper* he remarked that,according'1 to the corpuscular theory, the velocity of emission of a
corpuscle must be the same in all cases, whether the projecting force be that of the feeblespark produced by the friction of two
not observed ; and the hypothesis
was
pebbles,or the intense heat of the sun itself a thing almost does not exist in the undulatory incredible. This difficulty
"
to be transmitted^ theory, since all disturbances are known fluidwith the same velocity. The reluctance through an elastic all space with an elastic which some philosophers feltto filling
with an argument which strangely foreshadows That a medium the electrictheory of light: resembling in many properties that which has been denominated ether does
fluidhe met
"
really exist, is undeniably proved by the phenomena of electricity.The rapid transmission of the electrical shock as shows that the electric medium is possessed of an elasticity
great as is necessary to be supposed for the propagation of light. Whether the electric ether is to be considered the same with the luminous ether, if such a fluidexists, may perhaps at some
future time be discovered by experiment : hitherto I have not been able to observe that the refractive power of a fluid
undergoes any change by electricity." Young then proceeds to show the superiorpower wave-theory
to
explain reflexion and refraction. to see why part of the light corpuscular theory it is difficult beam reflected ; should be reflected and another part of the same but in the undulatory theory there is no trouble,as is shown
of the^ In the
by analogy with the partialreflexionof sound from a cloud or denser stratum of air: is necessary than to Nothing more
"
_,
Phil. Tni"., 1800, p. 106.
106
suppose
The
Medium, JLuminiferous
all refracting media to retain, by their attraction, a, greater or less quantity of the luminous ether, so as to make itsdensity greater than that which it possesses in a vacuum, increasing its elasticity." This is precisely the without hypothesis adopted later by Fresnel and Green. In 1801 Young made a discovery of the first magnitude*
attempting to explain Newton's rings on the principles of Euler's hypothesis of induced the wave-theory. Eejecting vibrations,he assumed that the colours observed all exist in
when
the incident light,and showed that they could be derived from for the first time recognized it by a process which was now
in optical science. The idea of this process was not altogether new, for it had in his theory of the tides. It may been used by Newton
"
happen," he wrote, f that the tide may be propagated from the through different channels towards the same ocean port, and may pass in less time through some channels than through others, in which divided into two
case
or
"
the
same
generating
one
tide, being
thus
another, may produce by composition new types of tide." Newton applied thisprinciple to explain the anomalous tides at Batsha in Tonkin, which had previously been described by Halley.J
more
succeeding
illustration of the principle is evidently Suppose," he suggested by Newton's. says," a number of equal waves upon the surface of a stagnant of water to move
own
"
"
Young's
lake, with a certain constant velocity, and to enter a narrow channel leading out of the lake ; suppose then another similar to have excited another equal series of waves, cause which the same same arrive at channel, with the velocity,and at the
same
time with the first. Neither series of waves will destroy the other, but their effects will be combined ; if they enter the that the elevations of one series channel in such a manner
together produce a coincide with those of the other, they must series of greater joint elevations ; but if the elevations of one
*
Phil. Trans., 1802, pp. 12, 387. Phil. Trans, xiv (1684), p. 681.
t Principia, Book
in,
i,
Prop. 24.
p. 202.
" Young's
Works,
from Bradley
to Fremel.
107
series are so situated as to correspond to the depressions of the exactly fillup those depressions, and the other, they must Now I maintain surface of the water must remain smooth.
that similar effects take place whenever two portions of light are thus mixed ; and this I callthe general law of the interference of light."
light arrive to the whenever two portions of the same eye by differentroutes, either exactly or very nearly in the same direction,the light becomes most intense when the difference of
Thus, the routes is any multiple of a certain length, and least intense in the intermediate state of the interfering portions ; and this length is differentfor light of differentcolours."
"
Young's explanation of the colours of thin plates as seen by reflexion was, then, that the incident light gives rise to two of these beams has been which reach the eye : one reflectedat the firstsurface of the plate,and the other at the second surface ; and these two beams produce the colours by
beams their interference.
difficulty encountered in reconciling this theory with observation arose from the fact that the central spot in Newton's
One
is rings (where the thickness of the thin Him of air is zero) black and not white, as it would be if the interferingbeams were similar to each other in all respects. To account for thisYoung showed, by analogy with the impact of elasticbodies, that when light is reflected at the surface of a denser medium, its phase is retarded by half an undulation : so that the interfering
'
-"
beams
rings destroy each other. The correctness of this assumption he verifiedby substituting essence of sassafras(whose refractiveindex is intermediate between those for air in the space between the lenses ; of crown and flint
at the centre of Newton's
glass)
he anticipated, the centre of the ring-system was now Newton had long before observed that the rings are is optically more when the medium producing them
as
white.
~*
smaller dense.
theory, this definitelyproved that the wave-length of light is shorter in dense media, and therefore that its velocity is less.
Interpreted by Young's
108
The
The publication of Young's papers occasioned a fierce attack Review, from the pen of Henry him in the Edinburgh on Young Brougham, afterwards Lord Chancellor of England. replied in
a
pamphlet,
copy was sold ; and the time being achieved his theory, f
of which it is said* that only a single be no doubt that Brougham for there can
of object
discrediting the
wave-
turned his attention to the fringes of shadows. In the corpuscular explanation of these, it was supposed that the attractive forces which operate in refraction extend their
Young
now
the surfaces of bodies, and inflect such rays as pass close by. If this were the case, the amount of inflexion should obviously depend on the strength of the attractive forces, and consequently on the refractive indices
some
influence to
distance
from
of the bodies
proposition which had been refuted by the The cause experiments of s'Gravesande. of diffraction effects was thus wholly unknown, until Young, in the Bakerian lecture
"
that the principle of interference is concerned in their formation ; for when a hair is placed in the cone of rays diverging from a luminous point, the internal fringes (i.e. those
for
showed 1803,J
disappear when within the geometrical shadow) on one side of the hair is intercepted. His
conjecture
the light passing as to the
origin of the interfering rays was not so fortunate ; for he attributed the fringes outside the geometrical shadow to interference between the direct rays and rays reflected at the diffracting
edge ; and
narrow
supposed the internal fringes of the shadow of a to be due to the interference of rays inflected by object edges of the
success
the two
object.
many developments
of the wave-theory led Young more closely into its capacity for solving the chief outstanding problem of optics that of the behaviour of light in crystals. The beautiful construction for the extraof so to inquire
"
The
Peacock's
Lifeof Young.
fellow,"
wrote
t" Strange
found
gone
:
Macaulay,
himself sitting beside Brougham his spite immortal."

1804;
when half in the House
century afterwards he " his powers of Lords,
I Phil. Trans.,
Young's
Works, i, p. 179.
from Bradley ( to
ordinary ray given by Huygens and the degree of accuracy
FresneL
109
had lain neglected for a century ; it represented the with which
At Young's suggestion Wollaston* observations was unknown. investigated the matter experimentally, and showed that the his own between measurements and Huygens' rule agreement I think," he wrote, the result must be was remarkably close.
"
"
admitted
to
be highly
favourable
to the Huygeniaii
theory ;
time, and, although the existence of two refractions at the same in the same less substance, be not well accounted for, and still their interchange with each other, when a ray of light is made
to pass through
a
second
piece of spar situated transversely to
the first, yet the oblique refraction,when
considered alone, seems
nearly as well explained as any other optical phenomenon." Meanwhile the advocates of the corpuscular theory were not idle ; and in the next few years a succession of discoveries on their part, both theoretical and experimental, seemed likely to imperil the good position to which rival hypothesis. The
first of
Young
had
advanced
the
these
was
dynamical
explanation
of the
refraction of the extraordinary ray in crystals, which was published in 1808 by Laplace.f His method is an extension of that by which Maupertuis had accounted for the refraction of the ordinary ray, and which since Maupertuis' day had been so developed that it was now possible to apply it to problems of Laplace assumes that the crystalline all degrees of complexity. medium
as
acts
on
to modify
the light-corpuscles of the extraordinary ray so their velocity, in a ratio which depends on the
inclination of the extraordinary ray to the axis of the crystal : so that, in fact, the difference of the squares of the velocitiesof the ordinary and extraordinary rays is proportional to the square of the sine of the angle which the latter ray makes with the axis. The principle of least action then leads to a law of refraction identical with that found by Huygens' construction
*
Phil. Trans., 1802, p. 381. de PInst., 1809, p. 300: tMem.

la Soc. d'Arcueil, ii.
Journal de Physique, Jan., 1809;
Mem.
de
110
The
Medium, Luminiferous
with the spheroid ; justas Maupertuis' investigation led to a law of refraction for the ordinary ray identical with that found by Huygens' construction with the sphere. The law of refraction for the extraordinary ray may also be deduced from Fermat's principle of least time, provided that the velocity is taken inversely proportional to that assumed in the the velocity appropriate to principle of least action ; and
Fermat's principle agrees with that found by Huygens, being, in iact, proportional to the radius of the spheroid. These results are obvious extensions of those already obtained for ordinary refraction. Laplace's
promptly attacked by Young,* who pointed out the improbability of such a system of forces as would be required to impress the requisite change of velocity on the light-corpuscles. If the aim of controversial matter is to theory
was
convince
be world, Young's must contemporary paper counted unsuccessful ; but it permanently enriched science by proposing a dynamical foundation for double refraction on the
the
"
principles of the wave-theory. "be deduced upon the Huygenian
solution," he says, might principles,from the simplest

"
more easily compressible possible supposition, that of a medium in one direction than in any direction perpendicular to it,as if it consisted of an infinitenumber of parallel plates connected by
less elastic. Such a structure of the elementary atoms of the crystal may be understood by comparing them to a block of wood or of mica. Mr. Chladni found that
a
substance somewhat
the
obliquity of the fibres of a rod of Scotch fir reduced the velocity with which it transmitted sound in the proportion of 4 to 5. It is therefore obvious that a block of such wood
mere
-must
every impulse in spheroidal that is, oval undulations ;"and it may also be demonstrated, as we shall that the spheroid will be show at the conclusion of this article, transmit
"
"
consists either of plane and parallel strata, or of equidistant fibres, supposing both to be to be connected by a less highly elastic êxtremely thin, and
*
truly
ellipticalwhen
the
body
Quarterly Eeview, Nov., 1809 ; Young's
Works, i, p. 220.
from
Bradley to FremeL
case
111
oblate and in formal proof
in the former substance ; the spheroid being Young then proceeds the latter oblong." that
"an
to
every perpendicular section of a lamellar elastic substance in the form of an elliptic be regarded as This must the beginning of undulation." theory of light in crystals. It was the dynamical confirmed long afterwards by Brewster,* who found an isotropictransparent that compression in one direction causes solid to become doubly-refracting.
in
a
impulse
is propagated
through
striking way
not
Meanwhile,
proposed furnish confirm compete
as
in January,
1808,
the French
Academy
"
had
the physical prize in 1810, To a theory of double refraction, and to mathematical Among it by experiment." those who resolved to the
was
for subject
Etienne
Louis Malus
a (b.1775, d. 1812),
colonel
service with Napoleon's expedition of engineers who had seen While conducting experiments towards the end of to Egypt. 1808 in a house in the Kue des Enfers in Paris, Malus happened rhomb of Iceland spar the light of the setting sun of the Luxembourg, and was reflected from the window surprised to notice that the two images were of very different
to analyse with
a
intensities. Following which
up this observation, he found that light had been reflected from glass acquires thereby a modification had noticed in rays similar to that which Huygens
"
which have experienced double refraction, and which Newton had explained by supposing rays of light to have sides." This discovery appeared so important that without waiting for the prize
competition
he
communicated
it to
the
Academy
in
December,
"
published it in the following month.f I have that this singular disposition, said, which has hitherto been regarded as one of the peculiar effects
1808, and found," he
"
"
be completely impressed on the of double refraction, can luminous molecules by all transparent solids and liquids." For example, light reflected by the surface of water at an
*
Phil. Trans., 1815, p. 60. tNouveau Bulletin des Sciences, par la Soc. Philomatique. i
de la Soc. d'Arcueil, ii (1809).
(1809), p.
266;
Memoires
112
The
angle of 52"45' has all the characteristicsof one of the beams produced by the double refraction of Iceland spar, whose principal section is parallel to the plane which passes through reflected ray. If we receive this reflected ray on any doubly- refracting crystal, whose principal it will not be divided section is parallel to the plane of reflexion,
the incident ray and the
into two beams
ray of ordinary light would be, but will be refracted according to the ordinary law." After this Malus found that light which has been refracted
as a
at the surface of any transparent substance likewise possesses degree this property, to which he gave the name in some
which he finallysubmitted to the polarization. The memoir* Academy, and which contains a rich store of experimental and analytical work on double refraction, obtained the prize in 1810 ;
its immediate effect as regards the rival theories of the ultimate to encourage the adherents of the corpuscular nature of light was doctrine ; for it brought into greater prominence the phenomena
of polarization,of which the wave-theorists, stillmisled by the unable to give any account. analogy of light with sound, were The successful discoverer was elected to the Academy of Sciences,and became a member of the celebrated club of Arcueil.f
his health, which had broke down campaign, now
But
been
undermined
by the Egyptian
completely : and he died,at the age in the following year. of thirty-six, The polarizationof a reflectedray is in general incomplete
"
i.e.the ray displays only imperfectly the properties of light which has been polarized by double refraction ; but for one particular angle of incidence, which depends on the reflecting
body, the polarization of the reflected ray is complete. Malus measured with considerable accuracy the polarizing angles for
glass and water, and attempted to connect them with the other optical constants of these substances, the refractive indices and dispersive
*
powers,
a
but
without
success.
The
matter
was
Mem.
presentes
1'Inst.par divers Savans, ii (1811), p. 303.
Paris where Laplace and Berthollet had t So called from the village near the their country-houses, and where meetings took place. The club consisted of in France. men a dozen of the most celebrated scientific
from
Bradley to Fresnel.
113
1781, d. 1868), afterwards taken up by David Brewster (b. who in 1815* showed that there is complete polarization by reflexion
when
the reflected and
refracted rays satisfy the condition of
being at right angles to each other. Almost at the same time Brewster
made another discovery which profoundly affected the theory of double refraction. It had till then been believed that double refraction is always
of the type occurring in Iceland spar, to which Huygens' found this beliefto be construction is applicable. Brewster now
and showed that in a large class of crystals there are instead of one, double two axes, along which there is no refraction. Such crystals are called Uaxal, the simpler type to
erroneous,
with not satisfactorilyexplained ; for polarization no explanation of any kind was forthcoming ; the to require two different Huygenian construction appeared Diffraction difficulties.
was
which Iceland spar belongs being called uniaxal. The wave-theory at this time was stillencumbered
luminiferous media within doubly refracting bodies ; and universality of that construction had been impugned
the
by
Brewster's discovery of biaxal crystals. The upholders of the emission theory, emboldened by the success of Laplace's theory of double refraction,thought the time ripe for their finaltriumph ; and March, 1817, they proposed Diffraction prize for 1818.
as
step to this, in
as
the
of subject
the
Their expectation was disappointed ; afforded the first of a series of and the successful memoir by which, in the short space of seven reverses years, the Academy's
corpuscular theory The author was

son
was
completely overthrown. Augustin Fresnel (b. 1788, d.
the 1827),
of an Government
himself a civil engineer in the architect, and During the brief dominance service in Normandy.
of Napoleon after his escape from Elba in 1815, Fresnel fellinto trouble for having enlisted in the small army which attempted during a period of enforced to bar the exile's return ; and it was idleness following
on
his arrest that he

I
commenced
to study
"Phil. Trans., 1815, p. 125.
114
The
he propounded a theory was spoiled like Young's
on
diffraction. In his earliest memoir* which similar to that of Young, theory by
the assumption that the fringes depend however, reflected by the diffractingedge. Observing,
light
that the
blunt and sharp edges of a knife produce exactly the same fringes,he became dissatisfiedwith this attempt, and on July a to his 15th, 1816, presented to the Academy supplement
paper,f in which,
of the secondary
for
the
"
first time, diffraction-effects are
referred to their true

waves
cause
namely, the mutual interference emitted by those portions of the original
wave-front which have not been obstructed by the diffracting Fresnel's method screen. of calculation utilized the principles the effects due to and Young ; he summed of both Huygens
different portions of the same primary wave-front, with due regard to the differences of phase engendered in propagation.
The sketch presented to the Academy the next two years developed into an which It
was
in 1816
was
during
memoir,
exhaustive
submitted for the Academy's prize. happened that the earliest memoir, so which had been in the autumn of 1815, had been presented to the Academy Francois of which the reporter was referred to a Commission Arago
(".1786,
d.
; 1853)
Arago
was
so
much
impressed that
he
was
he sought the friendship of the author, of whom

strenuous
later a
champion.
A champion was indeed needed when the larger memoir was submitted ; for Laplace, Poisson, and Biot, who constituted a all referred, were of the Commission to which it was
majority
During the zealous supporters of the corpuscular theory. vindicated in a somewhat examination, however, Fresnel was He had calculated in the memoir the diffractioncurious way.
patterns of a straight edge, of by parallel sides,and of a narrow
a narrow
opaque body bounded by parallel opening bounded
edges, and had shown

*
that the results agreed excellently with

i (1816), (2), p 239
; (Euvres, i, p. 89.
Annales
de Chimie
t (Euvres, i, p. 129. p. 339 ; (Euvres, i, p. 247. I Mem. de 1'Acad., v (1826),
from Bradley
to FresneL
115
Poisson, when reading the manuhis experimental measures. script, be the to happened analysis could extended notice that to other cases, and in particular that it would indicate the existence of
a
some circular screen. further consequences should be tested experimentally ; this was found to confirm the new done, and the results were theory.
bright spot at the centre of the shadow He suggested to Fresnel that this and
of
The concordance of observation and calculation was so admirable in all cases where a comparison was possible that the prize was awarded to Fresnel without further hesitation.
diffractionwas on year in which the memoir submitted, Fresnel published an investigation* of the influence have already seen that of the earth's motion on light. We
In the
same
explained by its discoverer in terms of the how who firstshowedf corpuscular theory ; and it was Young be explained on Upon conit may the wave-hypothesis. sidering
aberration
was
" "
wrote,
the phenomena of the aberration of the stars," he disposed to believe that the luminiferous aether I am
pervades the substance of all material bodies with little or no resistance, as freely perhaps as the wind passes through a In fact,if we suppose the aether surrounding grove of trees."
the earth to be at rest and unaffected by the earth's motion, waves the lightwill not partake of the motion of the telescope , may suppose directed to the true place of the star, which we
and the image of the star will therefore be displaced from the central spider-line at the focus by a distance equal to that which the earth describes while the light is travelling through the telescope. This agrees with what is actually observed. But a host of further questions now suggest themselves. Suppose, for instance, that
a
slab of glass with
carried along by the motion of the earth, and it so that a ray of light coming from a certain star adjust it enters the glass : must the shall not be bent when be placed at right angles to the true direction of the .surface
*
plane face is it is desired to

a
Annales de Chimie, ix, p. 57
; (1818)
t Phil. Trans., 1804, p. 12; Young's

I 2
CEnvres, ii, p. 627. Works, i, p. 188.
116
star
as
The L
freed from
uminiferous
Medium,
aberration, or to its apparent direction as affected by aberration ? The question whether rays coming from the stars are refracted differently from rays originating
had been raised originally by Michell* ; and Kobison and Wilsonf had asserted that the focal length of an achromatic telescope should be increased when it is directed to a star towards which the earth is moving, owing
in terrestrialsources
to the change
in the relative velocity of light. AragoJsubmitted to test the the matter of experiment, and concluded that
any star behaves in all cases of reflexion situated in and refractionprecisely as it would if the star were the place which it appears to occupy in consequence of aberration,
the light coming from
at rest ; so that the apparent and the earth were refractionin a moving prism is equal to the absolute refraction in a fixed prism.
set out to provide a theory capable of explaining Arago's result. To this end he adopted Young's suggestion,
Fresnel
now
that the refractive powers of transparent bodies depend on the precise concentration of aether within them ; and made it more by assuming that the aethereal density in any body is proportional to the square of the refractive index. Thus, if c
the velocity of light in vacuo, and if c, denote its body at rest, so that /u is the velocity in a given material c/o{ refractive index, then the densities p and pl of the aether in
denote
interplanetary space and in the body connected by the relation

pi
=
respectively will be
n*Pa
Fresnel further assumed that, when of the aether within it is carried along
"
body is in motion, part namely, that part which
of its density over the density of aether constitutes tne excess in vacuo ; while the rest of the aether within the space occupied by the body is stationary. Thus the density of aether carried
Phil. Trans., 1784, p. 35. t Trans. E. S. Edin., i, Hist., p. 30. J Biot, Astron. Phys., 3rd ed., v, p. scarcely have been such experiment can
result.
*
364.
as
to
The accuracy of Arago's demonstrate absolutely his
ft,
from
-
Bradley to FresneL
-
117
l)/o, while a quantity of aether of along is (pi p) or (^ density p remains at rest. The velocity with which the centre forward in the of gravity of the aether within the body moves
direction of propagation is therefore
of the velocity of the body in where w denotes the component this direction. This is to be added to the velocity of propagation waves within the body ; so that in the moving of the light-
body the absolute velocity of light is
of the aether together, the aether entering the body within the body to move in front, and being immediately condensed, and issuing from it
years afterwards Stokes* put the same Suppose the whole slightly different form. Many
supposition in
behind, where
mass
it is immediately
rarefied. On
this assumption
a plane of area of aether must pass in unit time across unity, drawn anywhere within the body in a direction at right angles to the body's motion; and therefore the aether within the body has a driftvelocity relative to the body : so
pw
wp/pl
the velocity of light relative to the body will be Ci and wplp\, the absolute velocity of light in the moving body will be
-
v*
v*
or
ci +
"î
P
w,
as
before.
This
formula
H. Fizeau,f who
experimentally confirmed in 1851 by the displacement of interferencemeasured

was
fringes formed by light which moving

*
had
passed through
column
of
water.
p. 76. xxviii (1846) de Chimie, Ivii (1859), p. 385.
Phil. Mag.
E. W.
t Annales Morley, Am.
Also
by
A.
A.
Michelson
and
Journ. Science, xxxi (1886), p. 377.
118
The
same
The
performed
result may easily be deduced from an experiment by Hoek.* In this a beam of light was divided into
to pass of which was made through a tube of water AB and was then reflected at a mirror C, the lightbeing afterwards allowed to two
portions,
one
passing through the water : while the other portion of the bifurcated beam was path in the reverse made to describe the same passing through the water on its return order, i.e.
return
to A
without
,.
Hoek
between
the outward journey, On causing the two portions of the beam to interfere, difference of phase was found that no produced
from journey
C instead of on
them
when
the apparatus
was
oriented in the direction
motion. of the terrestrial Let w denote the velocity of the earth, supposed to be directed from the tube towards the mirror. Let c/n denote the + the velocity velocity of light in the water at rest, and C/A* "l" of light in the water when the tube. The magnitude
Let I denote the length of moving. of the distance BC does not affect
the experiment, so we may suppose it zero. The time taken by the firstportion of the beam
its journey is evidently
If
+ ^ C/fi
"
to perform
i
'
C +
while the time for the second portion of the beam

I
+
C
-
is
I
".
0 C/fJL
-
The equality of these expressions gives at once, when of higher orders than the firstin w/care neglected,
terms
Ou2 1) w\^\
-
which is FresneFs expression.!

*
180 Archives Neerl. iii,
(1868).
of light whether the slab is at of radiationwould be
amount
t Fresnel's law may also be deduced from the principlethat the

transmitted by a slab of transparent matter must be the same rest or in motion : otherwise the equilibrium of exchanges tiated. Cf. Larmor, Phil. Trans, clxxxv (1893), p, 775.
from
On
the
Bradley to Fresnel.
119
the basis of this formula, Fresnel proceeded to solve problem of refraction in moving bodies. Suppose that a
B0 is carried along by the earth's motion in vacuo, its prism AQ (70 face A(, C0 being at right angles to the direction of motion ; and
that light from rays experience
star is incident normally
on
this face.
The
refraction at incidence ; and we have only to pose consider the effectproduced by the second surface A""I"0. Supthat during an interval T of time the prism travels from
no
the position AQ C0 Bo to the position A" Ci B^ while the luminous disturbance at C0 travels to "h and the luminous disturbance at
A0 travels to D, Then
we
so
that Bv D is the emergent
wave-front.
have
-1
10
A0D
TC,
If
we
write
CiA\B\
by 81,we
=
of the wave-front
AiD
and have
cos
i,
denote
the total deviation
AJ)
TIC,
A"AQ
Si
TC
rw
cos
81,
120
The
Medium, Lumniiferous
in
w
"*"
and therefore (neglecting second-order terms

A
w/c]
COo
Ol"
sin A^B^D
-"
c
"
w
"
cos
~
81
" _ ~ "
c
"f-
w
"
sin
Ci
Ct-W-
ct
Ci
Denoting
by 8 the value of 81 when

sin
is zero,
we
have
(i-8)
sin i
d
we
Subtracting this equation from the preceding,
have
-Si sin "
w
_
the telescope by which the emergent wave-front B\ D is received is itself being carried forward by the earth's motion;
Now
and we must therefore apply the usual correction for aberration in order to find the apparent direction of the emergent ray. But this correction is w sin 8/c, and precisely counteracts the effect which has been calculated as due to the motion of the prism.
So finallywe
influence
on
that the motion of the earth has the refraction of light from the stars.
see
no
first-order
Fresnel inferred from his formula made with

a
that if observations
were
telescope filledwith water, the aberration would be was a result which unaffected by the presence of the water that the verified by Airy* in 1871. He showed, moreover,
"
apparent positions of terrestrialobjects, carried along with the ments observer, are not displaced by the earth's motion ; that experiin refraction and interference are not influenced by any to the source, motion which is common apparatus, and observer ;
and that light travels between given points of a moving material system by the path of least time. These predictions have also been confirmed by observation: Kespighifin 1861, and Hoek+ in 1868,
experimenting with a telescope filled with water and a terrestrial on the source of light, found that no produced effect was phenomena of reflexion and refraction by altering the orienta*
Proc. Roy. Soc., xx,
t Mem. Accad. p. 35. I Ast. Nach., Ixxiii,p. 193.
Sci. Bologna, ii,p. 279.
from Bradtey
tion of the apparatus
to
Fresnel.
121
motion.
E. Mascart*
relative to the direction of the earth's in 1872 discussed experimentally the
or question of the effect of motion of the source recipient of light in all its bearings, and showed that the light of the sun and
that derived from artificial are alike incapable of revealing sources by diffraction-phenomena the translatory motion of the earth. The greatest problem now confronting the investigators of light was to reconcile the facts of polarization with the principles Young had long been pondering over this, of the wave-theory.
but
had
hitherto been
baffled by it. In
1816
he received
visit from Arago, who told him of a new experimental result which he and Fresnel had lately obtained! namely, that two pencils of light, polarized in planes at right angles, do not
"
interfere with each other under circumstances in which ordinary light shows interference-phenomena, but always give by their
reunion the
same
intensity of light,whatever
be their difference
of path.
Arago
new
had not long left him when Young, reflectingon the experiment, discovered the long-sought key to the mystery :
it consisted in the very alternative which Bernoulli had rejected before, light are eighty years of supposing that the vibrations of
executed at right angles to the direction of propagation. Young's ideas were first embodied in a letter to dated Jan. 12, 1817.
Arago,J
"
he wrote, on the "I have been reflecting," possibilityof giving an imperfect explanation of the affection of light which constitutes polarization, without departing from
the genuine theory, that
doctrine of undulations.
It is
principle in this
homogeneous
"Ann.
all undulations are simply propagated through in concentric spherical surfaces like the mediums
i, p. 157. (2) in Annales 1819, published until
de Chimie,
; Fresnel's (Euvres,
de 1'Ecole Noemale,
not
t It was
i, p. 509.
of
a
tion of this result, Fresnel was able to give a complete explanain 1811, had that Arago discovered when viz. class of phenomena which lime light or is transmitted through thin plates of sulphate of mica, and polarized
means
By
are
colours afterwards analysed by a prism of Iceland spar, beautiful complementary ference, displayed. Young had shown that these effects are due essentially to interhut had not made clear the part played by polarization.
J Young's
JTorks, i.,p. 380.
122
The
retroundulations of sound, consisting simply in the direct and grade in direction the of the radius,, motions of the particles and rarefactions. And condensation with their concomitant
yet it is possible to explain in this theory a transverse vibration,, propagated also in the direction of the radius, and with equal velocity,the motions of the particles being in a certain constant direction with respect to that radius ; and this is a polarization"
In
an
September
article of the
on
"
same
Chromatics," which was written in to the year* for the supplement

"
Encyclopaedia Britannica, he says
:f
If
we
assume
as
mathematical
postulate, on the undulating theory, without attempting to demonstrate its physical foundation, that a transverse motion be propagated in a direct line,we may derive from this assumption a tolerable illustration of the subdivision of polarized light by reflexion in an oblique plane," by " supposing the polar may fare into two to be resolved motion constituents, which differently at reflexion. In a further letter to Arago, dated April 29th, 1818, Young
"
recurred to the
This letter was
of subject
a
to the undulations of
shown
vibrations,comparing light cord agitated by one of its extremities. saw by Arago to Fresnel, who at once
transverse
that it presented the true explanation of the non-interference of beams polarized in perpendicular planes, and that the latter
be made the basis of a proof of the correctness effectcould even of Young's hypothesis : for if the vibration of each beam be supposed resolved into three components, one along the ray and
it is obvious from the Aragothe other two at right angles to it, Fresnel experiment that the components in the direction of the vanish : in other words, that the vibrations which constitute light are executed in the wave-front. It must be remembered that the theory of the propagation
ray must
of
*
waves
in
an
elastic solid was

Young,
p. 391.
as
yet unknown,
t Young's
a
and light
was
Peacock's
Lifeof
Works, i., p. 279.

to
JThis analogy had been given by Hooke in But there seems Society on Feb. 15, 1671-2. no Young. by now the appreciated point advanced
communication
reason
to suppose
the Royal that Hook e-
from
Bradley to FresneL
123
still always interpreted by the analogy with the vibrations of as sound in air,for which the direction of vibration is the same therefore necessary to give some that of propagation. It was
for the justification
new
departure.
With
wonderful
insight
Fresnel indicated* the precise direction in which the theory of vibrations in ponderable bodies needed to be extended in order the geometers," he to allow of waves similar to those of light :
"
fluidshitherto who have discussed the vibrations of elastic have taken account of no accelerating forces except those arising from the difference of condensation or dilatation between consecutive
"
wrote,
also suppose the or power of resistingdistortion, such medium to possess a rigidity, by bodies, it be as is manifested all actual solid will capable of in the transverse vibration. The absence of longitudinal waves pointed out
we
layers." He
that if
aether he accounted for by supposing that the forces which oppose condensation are far more powerful than those which oppose distortion,and that the velocity with which condensations are propagated is so great compared with the speed of the oscillations of light,that a practical equilibrium of pressure is maintained perpetually. The nature of ordinary non-polarized light was next discussed. If then," Fresnel wrote,f the polarization of a ray of light
" "
consists in this,that all its vibrations are executed in the same direction, it results from any hypothesis on the generation of light-waves, that a ray emanating from a single centre of disturbance
instant.
changes,
will always be polarized in a definite plane at any But an instant afterwards, the direction of the motion and with it the plane of polarization ; and these
as
variations follow each other as quickly the vibrations of the luminous particle:
*Annales
so
the perturbations of if we could that even
de Chiinie, xvii (1821), had Young p. 180; (Eiwres, i, p. 629. " drawn It is difficult,"he says in his Lectures on already attention to this point. Natural Philosophy, i, "to 138, 1807, the lateral adhesion, or p. vol. compare ed. the force which resists the detrusion of the parts of a solid,with any form of direct
cohesion.
wholly
This force constitutes the rigidityor hardness of absent from liquids."
solid body, and
is
t Loc. cit, p. 185.
124
The
isolate the light of this particular particle from that of other luminous particles,we should doubtless not recognize in it any the effect proappearance of polarization. If we consider now duced that at each instant, at a definite point of the aether, the general resultant of all the there will have a determinate motions which commingle
we
see
by the union of all the waves different points of a luminous body,
which
emanate
from the
direction, but this direction will vary from one instant to the So direct light can be considered as the union, or more next. exactly as the rapid succession, of systems of waves polarized in all directions.
According
to this way
of looking at the matter,
the act of polarization consists not in creating these transverse them in two invariable directions, motions, but in decomposing
and
from each other ; for then, in separating the components each of them, the oscillatory motions take place always in the
.
same
plane." He
then
"
proceeded to consider the relation of the direction of Apply these ideas to vibration to the plane of polarization. double refraction, and regard a uniaxal crystal as an elastic
in which the accelerating force which results from medium the displacement of a row of molecules perpendicular to the is the same the axis, relative to contiguous rows, all round axis ; while the displacements parallel to the axis produce
accelerating forces of a different intensity, stronger if the The crystal is "repulsive," and weaker if it is "attractive." distinctive character of the rays which are ordinarily refracted
being that of propagating themselves with the same velocity in all directions, we must admit that their oscillatorymotions are executed at right angles to the plane drawn through these rays and which the axis of the crystal; for then the displacements they occasion, always taking place along directions
to the axis, will,by hypothesis, always
perpendicular
to
give rise
accelerating forces. But, with the conventional meaning which is attached to the expression 'plane, polarization, of the plane of polarization of the ordinary rays is the plane the
same
through
the
axis
thus, in
pencil
of polarized
light, the
from Bradley, to
oscillatory motion
Fresnel.
125
is executed at
right angles to the plane
of
polarization" This result afforded Fresnel a foothold in dealing with the problem which occupied the rest of his life: henceforth his aim to base the theory of light on the dynamical properties of was
the luminiferous medium. The first topic which
he attacked from this point of view Since was the propagation of light in crystalline bodies. Brewster's discovery that many crystals do not conform to the type
to which
Huygens'
some was
theory had
now,
to
by what
construction is applicable, the wave extent lost credit in this region. Fresnel, perhaps the most brilliantof all his efforts,*
not only reconquered to science.
but added the lost territory,
new
domain
He
had,
as
he tells us
are
himself,
two
never
believed the doctrine
that in crystals there

one waves.
different luminiferous media, to transmit the ordinary, and the other the extraordinary The alternative to which he inclined was that the two
velocitiesof propagation were equation, derivable in some
really the two roots of a quadratic way from the theory of a single aether. Could this equation be obtained, he was confident of finding the explanation, not only of double refraction,but also of the polarization by which it is always accompanied. The first step was to take the case of uniaxal crystals, which had been discussed by Huygens, and to see whether Huygens' depend
on, a
sphere and
a
spheroid could be replaced by,
or
made
to
Now
*His
single surface.f wave propagated in any direction through

on
uniaxal
Nov.
was on presented to the Academy but has not been published except in his collected works: ii,p. 261. It was followed by other papers in 1822; and the results were (Eitvres, finally collected in a memoir which was printed in 1827, Mem. de VAcad. vii,
first memoir
Double
Refraction
19th, 1821,
p. 45, (Euvres, ii,p. 479.
Fresnel's course to reconstruct of thought at this period, the has from Life help derived the present writer much prefixed to the (Euvres de in their biographers : Fresnel. Both Fresnel and Young were fortunate singularly Peacock's Life Young, and this notice of Fresnel, which was the last work of
t In attempting
of
Verdet,
are
excellent reading.
126
crystal
can
The
plane-polarized components ; one ordinary ray," is polarized in the principal of these, the section, and has a velocity vl9 which may be represented by the say, radius of Huygens' sphere
"
"
be resolved into two
Vi
"
";
extraordinary ray," is polarized in a plane while the other, the to the principal section,and has a wavevelocity v9, .atright angles which may be represented by the perpendicular drawn from the
centre of Huygens'
plane
of the
wave.
spheroid on the tangent-plane parallel to the If the spheroid be represented by the
equation
if +
"
z'"
x*
1to the
m, and if (I, plane of the
n) denote
wave, we
the direction-cosinesof the normal have therefore

=
the quantities these equations, are easily seen to be the lengths of the semi-axes of the ellipse in which the spheroid
4+ 62(?/3 z~)
arx=
But
+ ?"2/2. a*(m*+ n*) as 1/Vi and l/t?8, given by

v,~
is intersected by the plane

Ix
+
my
nz
0;
thus the construction in terms of Huygens' sphere and .and spheroid can be replaced by one which depends only on a single
surface, namely the spheroid
achieved this reduction, Fresnel guessed that the "?ase of biaxal crystals could be covered by substituting for the latter spheroid an ellipsoidwith three unequal axes say,
"
Having
xz
if
z*
=
_+"+_
If
I/Vi and l/^ denote
in .ellipse which
the lengths of the semi-axes of the this ellipsoidis intersected by the plane Ix 4 my + nz 0,
-
from Bradley
it is well known that
#1
to Fresnel.
127
v
and
vz are
the roots of the equation in
1
ti
tf
"2
1
,1 tf
"3
--0;
v-
and
accordingly
Fresnel
that conjectured
a
the
roots
of this
equation represent the velocities,in
plane-polarized
m, (I, n).
waves
whose
biaxal crystal,of the two in the direction are normals
thus arrived at his result by reasoning of a purely devised a dynamical scheme to geometrical character, he now suit it. Having The
vibrating medium
within
crystal he supposed
to be
to mutual forces ; ultimately constituted of particles subjected he showed that the elastic force of and on this assumption the system is disturbed must depend linearly restitution when
on
the displacement.
apparent between in actual elastic solids the forces of restitution depend the absolute displacement, but displacements. In any
on
In this first proposition a difference is Fresnel's and a true elastic-solid theory ; for
not
on
the strains, i.e., the relative
crystal there will exist three directions at right angles to each other, for which the force of restitution acts in line as the displacement : the directions which possess the same
this property
as
are
named
axes
of elasticity. Let
these be taken
and suppose that the elastic forces of restitution for l/"s 1/5], unit displacements in these three directions are l/c2, respectively. That the elasticityshould vary with the direction
axes,
of the molecular displacement seemed to Fresnel to suggest that the molecules of the material body either take part in the luminous vibration, or at any rate influence in some way the elasticityof the aether. A unit displacement in any arbitrary* direction (a, )3, 7) can be resolved into component displacements (cos cos a, cos /3, parallel to the
axes,
7)
and
each of these produces its
own
effect
128
independently
The
Medium Luminiferous
; so the components
COS
"l
a
of the force of restitution are

COS
"3
COS
)3
ft
direction This resultant force has not in general the same it ; but it may always the displacement as which produced into two other forces, one parallel and the other he decomposed
perpendicular to the direction of the former of these is evidently

COS2
fl
a
I
displacement ; and
the
COS2
"2
)3 {_
COS2
I
7 "_
"3
The surface
X2
"i
V*
"2 "3
will therefore have the property that the square of its radius in that vector in any direction is proportional to the component
direction of the elastic force due to a unit displacement in that direction : it is called the surface ofelasticity. Consider now a displacement along one of the axes of the section on which the surface of elasticityis intersected by the
It is easily seen that in this case the complane of the wave. ponent of the elasticforce at right angles to the displacement acts along the normal to the wave-front; and Fresnel assumes that it will be without influence on the propagation of the vibrations,on the ground of his fundamental hypothesis that the vibrations of light are performed solely in the wave-front. This
step is evidently open to criticism ; for in a dynamical theory everything should be deduced from the laws of motion without But granting his contention, it follows special assumptions.
displacement will retain its direction,and will be with a definite velocity. propagated as a plane-polarized wave Now, in order that a stretched cord may vibrate with
that such
a
its tension is varied, its length must be unchanged period, when increased proportionally to the square root of its tension ; and similarly the wave-length of a luminous vibration of given period is proportional to the square root of the elastic force
(perunit
from Bradley
displacement), which
to Fresnel.
129
urges the molecules of the medium parallel the velocity of propagation of a to the wave-front. Hence wave, measured at right angles to its front, is proportional to placement the square root of the component, along the direction of disof the elastic force per unit displacement ; and the
as we velocity of propagation of such a plane-polarized wave have considered is proportional to the radius vector of the surface of elasticityin the direction of displacement.
Moreover, any displacement in the given wave-front can be resolved into two, which are respectively parallel to the two
of the diametral section of the surface of elasticityby a plane parallelto this wave-front ; and it follows from what has
axes
displacements will be been said that each of these component propagated as an independent plane-polarized wave, the velocities of propagation being proportional to the axes of the section,* and therefore inversely proportional to the axes of the section of the inverse surface of this with respect to the origin,which is
the ellipsoid
*
+
"i
"
"2
*-i.
+
"3
this is precisely the result to which, as we have seen, Fresnel had been led by purely geometrical considerations ; and
But
his geometrical be regarded as could now conjecture substantiated by a study of the dynamics of the medium. It is easy to determine the wave-surface or locus at any t 1 instant of a disturbance originated at some previous "say, instant say," 0 at some particular point say,the origin.For
thus
"
"
"
"
this wave-surface will evidently be the envelope of plane waves 0 that is,it will be emitted from the origin at the instant t the envelope of planes
=
"
Ix
my
+
v
nz
0,
where the constants /, m, n, I2 + m* equation

*
are +
nz
connected 1,
by the identical
It is evident from this that the optic axes, or linesof singlewave-velocity, along which there is no double refraction, will be perpendicular to the two circularsections of the surface of elasticity. K
130
The
Medium, Lumimferous
"
and by the relation previously found

/2
m2
namely,
n~
By the usual procedure for determining envelopes, it may be fourth shown that the locus in question is the surface of the degree
xz_
_
_f
_fl_
It is a two-sheeted surface, which is called Fresnel's wave-surface* In as must evidently be the case from physical considerations.
for which uniaxal crystals, the sphere and the spheroid
*2
and
c3
are
equal, it degenerates into
r2
l/e",
=
^
It is to these two
fl
+ (tf Z2)
1.
the
construction
surfaces that tangent-planes are drawn in for the ordinary and given by Huygens
refracted rays in Iceland spar. As Fresnel applies to biaxal construction observed, exactly the same tuted crystals,when the two sheets of the wave-surface are substiextraordinary
"
sphere and spheroid. The theory which I have adopted," says Fresnel at the end
"
for Huygens'
of this memorable paper, and it, have from I have deduced all the
the simple constructions which
unknown solution of the velocitiesof the ordinary ray and of the extraordinary ray, and have studied their planes of polarization. Physicists who attentively the laws of nature will feel that such simplicity and
*
this remarkable character, that quantities are determined together by the We find at the same time the problem.
Another
MacCullagh,
is the following, which is due to construction for the wave-surface Coll. Works, p. 1. Let the ellipsoid
*ix~
62^" ~*~*3~~
plane through its centre, and on the perpendicular to that plane take lengths equal to the semi-axes of the section. The locus of these extremities is the wave-surface. be intersected hy
a
from Bradley
such close relations between
are
are
to FresneL
131
phenomenon which they
different elements of the conclusive in favour of the hypothesis on based."

the
was
The question as to the correctness of Fresnel's construction discussed for many years afterwards. A striking consequence pointed out in 1832 by William Kowan of it was
of Ireland, who that the surface defined by Fresnel's equation has remarked* four conical points, at each of which there is an infinitenumber
Hamilton
1805, (b.
d.
Royal 1865),
Astronomer
of tangent planes ; consequently, a single ray, proceeding from the crystal in the direction of one a point within of these points, must
be divided
rays, constituting a that there are four planes, each of which touches the waveof points, constituting a circleof surface in an infinite number contact : so that a corresponding ray incident externally should
emergence into an infinitenumber of conical surface. Hamilton also showed

on
be divided within the crystal into an infinitenumber

rays, again constituting conical surface. These singular and unexpected consequences
were
a
of refracted
shortly afterwards verified experimentally Lloyd,f and helped greatly to confirm beliefin Fresnel's theory. It should, however, be observed that conical refraction only
shows his form of the wave- surface to be correct in its general features, and is no test of its accuracy in all details. But it was shown experimentally by Stokes in 1872J Glazebrook in
of the theory by Humphrey
1879," and Hastings

and
Fresnel approximation;
in 1887,1 1that the construction of Huygens is certainly correct to a very high degree of
and Fresnel's final formulae have since been The dynamical substructure on regarded as unassailable. have seen, which he based them is,as we ; open to objection
*
Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., xvii (1833), p. 1. t Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., xvii (1833), p. 145. Strictlyspeaking, the bright from is oone to the singular ray : usually observed arises which rays adjacent however, be observed, its enfeeblement by dispersion into the the latter can, conical form causing it to appear dark. I Proc. R. S., xx, p. 443. " Phil. Trans., clxxi, p. 421.
Am. ||
Jour. Sci. (3), xxxv,
p. 60.
132
but,
as
The
reflect on the state of the is,not as he left it,the wonder rigorous dynamical theory, but that a
we
subject
Stokes observed*: "If as Fresnel found it,and

a
that he failed to give
single mind was capable of effectingso much." Double to his first memoir In a second supplement on 26th, 1821,-]November on Eefraction, presented to the Academy
Fresnel extended indicated the lines his theory might be which The molecular so as to take account of dispersion. the particlesof bodies," he wrote, may be separated
on
"
"
small, are certainly not altogether Such a coarseinsensible relatively to the length of a wave." would, as he foresaw, introduce into grainedness of the medium
the equations terms by which dispersion might be explained ; indeed, the theory of dispersion which was afterwards given by likely Cauchy was actually based on this principle. It seems
groups, or by intervals which, though
Fresnel that, towards the close of his life,
was
contemplating
which was never completed. great memoir on dispersion^ Fresnel had reason at firstto be pleased with the reception of his work on the optics of crystals : for in August, 1822, Laplace
spoke highly of it in public ; and when at the end of the year a became vacant, he was encouraged to hope seat in the Academy that the choice would fallon him. In this he was disappointed.".
Meanwhile his researches
were
January, 1823, the very month a theory in which reflexion and refraction] the Academy | are referred to the dynamical properties of the luminiferous media.
*Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1862, p. 254.
steadily continued ; and in he presented toof his rejection,
t (Euvres, ii,p. 438.
J Cf. the biography in (Euvres de Fresnel, i, p. xcvi. Tous ces memoires, " Writing to Young in the spring of 1823, he says : 1'Academie des Sciences, ne a pre'sentes coup sur coup que dernierement j'ai
"
m'en
C'est M. Dulong pas cependant otivert la porte. qui a ete nomine de dans la Vous voyez, la place vacante physique. section pour remplir Monsieur, que la theorie des ondulations ne m'a point porte honheur : mais cela
ont
.
ne
m'en une
degoute
pas
et
jeme
console de
ce
malheur
en
m*
occupant
d'optique
avec
time believed to be lost, but was ultimately found 1'Acad. de p. 393 : xi (1832), among the papers of Fourier, and printed in Mem. (Euvres, i, p. 767.
The ||
MSS-
nouvelle ardeur." for some was
from Bradley
As
in his previous
to FresneL
133
that the
investigations, he
assumes
vibrations which constitute light are executed at right angles to the plane of polarization. He adopts Young's principle,that differences in the inertia of reflexion and refraction are due to the aether his memoir the in different material bodies, and supposes (asin that the inertia is proportional to on Aberration)
inverse square of the velocity of propagation of light in The conditions which he proposes to satisfy at the the medium.
two media
are
that the displacements of the molecules, resolved parallel to this interface,shall be adjacent equal in the two media ; and that the energy of the reflected
interface between
and refracted incident wave.
waves
together shall be equal to that of the
assumptions the intensity of the reflected and in the following way : refracted light may be obtained in which the incident light is Consider first the case
On
these
"
polarized in the plane of incidence, so that the displacement is at right angles to the plane of incidence ; let the amplitude of the displacement at a given point of the interface be /
for the
incident
ray, g for the reflected ray, and
h for the
refracted ray. The quantities of energy propagated per second across unit incident, beams are reflected,and refracted cross-section of the proportional respectively to
denote the velocitiesof light,and pl}pz the densities of aether, in the two media ; and the cross-sections of the beams which meet the interface in unit area are where
cb
c2,
cos
i,
cos
i,
cos
respectively. The
gives
c,p! cos
principle of conservation of energy therefore
./2
c,/o!cos
gz
c2/o2cos
h~.
The equation of continuity of displacement at the interface is
h.
134
The
these
two
Eliminating li between
formulae
equations, and
using the
sin2 T sin2 i
we
Co2 C*
pi
'
p2
obtain the equation
Z.
g Thus
sm
_
(^ r) sin (i+ r)
~
the the light is polarized in the plane of reflexion, is amplitude of the reflectedwave when
Q-l
"
-T\
(ft
sin
x the \-. amplitude of the incident vibration. pj+ r)

r
-0*\
Fresnel
shows
in
similar way
that when
the
light is
polarized at right angles to the plane of reflexion, the ratio of is the amplitudes of the reflectedand incident waves
tan
tan
r) (i+ r)
-
(i
These
formulae
are
generally known
FresneTs tangent-law
respectively. discovered experimentally by Brewster
Fresnel' s sine-law and They had, however, been

as some
When
the incidence is perpendicular, so small, the ratio of the amplitudes becomes Limit
^ +
r
,
years previously. that i and r are very
or
where ju2 and //i denote the refractive indices of the media. This formula had been given previously by Young* and Poisson,f on the supposition that the elasticity of the aether is of the
same
kind
as
infinite: and thus 's law, that if a theoretical explanation is obtained for Brewster the incidence is such as to make the reflectedand refracted rays-
When
that of air in sound. 90", tan (i + r

=
r) becomes
Article Chromatics, Encycl. Britt. Suppl.
t Mem.
Inst. ii.(1817).
vi fro
Bradley to Fresnel.
135
perpendicular to each other, the reflected light will be wholly polarized in the plane of reflexion. Fre"nel's investigation can scarcely be called a dynamical theory in the strict sense, not defined. His method
known
as was
the qualities of the medium from backwards to work
are
the
in the hope of arriving at a mechanism properties of light, to which they could be attributed ; he succeeded in accounting
for the phenomena
few simple principles,but was not able to specify an aether which would in turn account for displacement " of Fresnel could not be these principles. The in an elastic solid of the usual type, since its a displacement of
a
"
in terms
normal component
two
is not continuous
across
the interface between
media.* The theory of ordinary reflexion was cussion completed by a disof the case in which light is reflectedtotally. This had formed the of some of Fresnel's experimental researches
subject
several years before; and in two papersf presented to the Academy in November, 1817, and January, 1818, he had shown that light polarized in any plane inclined to the plane of reflexion
is partly "depolarized" by total reflexion, and due to differences of phase which are introduced components
"
that this is
between the
polarized in and perpendicular to the plane of When the reflexion is total," he said, reflexion. rays the polarized in the plane of reflexion are reflected nearer
"
surface of the glass than those polarized at right angles to the same plane, so that there is a difference in the paths described."
deduced from the formulae of phase he now already obtained for ordinary reflexion. Considering light the ratio of the amplitudes of polarized in the plane of reflexion,
This change the reflectedand incident light is,as
we
have
seen,
sin (i
sin
r)
'
(i+ r)
when
*
the sine of the angle of incidence is greater than
/i2/jui
Fresnel's theory
force.
magnetic of reflexion can, however, he reconciled with the electrotheory of light, by identifying his "displacement" the with electric f (Euvres de Fresnel, i.,pp. 441, 487.
136
so
The
Medium. Luminiferous
be written in
that total reflexion takes place, this ratio may the form
where
6 denotes
real quantity defined by the equation

tan
cos
^
that the expression to mean amplitude of the reflectedlight is equal to that of the incident, differ in phase by an amount 0. The but that the two waves
Fresnel
interpreted
this
case
of light polarized at right angles to the plane of reflexion way, and the resulting formulae are may be treated in the same completely confirmed by experiment.
on reflexion had been months after the memoir presented, Fresnel was elected to a seat in the Academy ; and during the rest of his short lifehonours came to him both from
few
and abroad. In 1827 the Royal Society awarded him Young had confided the Rumford medal ; but Arago, to whom the mission of conveying the medal, found him dying ; and
France
eight days afterwards he breathed his last. By the genius of Young and Fresnel the wave-theory of light was established in a position which has since remained unquestioned ; and it seemed almost a work of supererogation when, in 1850, Foucault* and Fizeau,fcarrying out a plan long before imagined by Arago, directly measured the velocity of light in air and in water, and found that on the question so
long debated undulatory

*
the rival schools the adherents theory had been in the right.
xxx
between
of the
Comptes Rendus,
(1850), p.
551.
t Ibid., p. 562.
137
CHAPTER
AS AN
V.
THE
AETHER
ELASTIC
SOLID.
WHEN
and Fresnel put forward the view that the vibrations of light are performed at right angles to its direction time pointed out that this of propagation, they at the same
Young
be explained by making a new hypothesis ; namely, that regarding the nature of the luminiferous medium it possesses the power of resistingattempts to distort its shape.
peculiarity might It is by the possession of such a power that solid bodies are distinguished from fluids, which offer no resistance to distortion; the
idea of Young
and
the simple statement After the death of Fresnel this conception was developed in a brilliantseries of memoirs to which our attention must now be
directed.
therefore be expressed by that the aether behaves as an elastic solid. Fresnel
may
The elastic-solid theory meets with one obvious difficulty at how is it that the outset. If the aether has the qualitiesof a solid, the planets in their orbital motions are able to journey through it at immense speeds without encountering any perceptible firstsatisfactorilyanswered by was resistance ? This
Sir George
that such
Gabriel Stokes*
objection 1819, (b.
d.
1903), who
remarked
though so substances as pitch and shoemaker's wax, rigid as to be capable of elastic vibration, are yet sufficiently plastic to permit other bodies to pass slowly through them. The aether, he suggested, may have this combination of qualities in
so an
extreme
as
rapid
elasticsolid for vibrations those of light,but yielding like a fluid to the much
degree, behaving like an
slower progressive motions of the planets. Stokes's explanation harmonizes in a curious way with Fresnel's hypothesis that the velocity of longitudinal waves in
*
Trans. Camb.
Phil. Soc., viii,p. 287
(1845).
138
the
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
that of the
aether
transverse
is indefinitely great compared with waves ; for it is found by experiment
with
actual
substances that the ratio of the velocity of propagation of longitudinal waves increases to that of transverse waves becomes rapidly as the medium softer and more plastic.
In attempting vibrations of
more
an
parallel between light and the elastic substance, the investigator is compelled
a
to set forth
choice between alternatives. He may, for instance, suppose that the vibrations of the aether are executed either parallel to the plane of polarization of the light or at right angles to it ; and he may suppose that the different
than
once
to make
refractive powers of different media are due either to differences in the inertia of the aether within the media, or to differences in its power of resisting distortion, or to both these causes several distinct methods for avoiding the difficulties caused by the presence of longitudinal vibrations ; and as, alas ! we shall see, a further source of combined.
are,
There
moreover,
diversity is to be found in that liability to

man
It is therefore not theories is a long one. elastic-solid
is free.
from which no surprising that the list of

error
At
the
no
time
when
the
general method
covered, distransversality of light was had been developed for investigating
mathematically the properties of elastic bodies; but under the stimulus of Fresnel's discoveries, some of the best intellects of the age were The volume attracted to the
subject.
of Memoirs
of the Academy
which
a
crystal-optics contains also Henri Navier* (".1785, d.

Mechanics
motion
contains Fresnel's theory of by Claud Louis Marie memoir that time
1836),at
Professor of
in Paris, in which
a
for
time
given.
the correct equations of vibratory for the first particular type of elastic solid were ISTavier supposed the medium to be ultimately
an
of particles,which act on number them, and each other with forces directed along the lines joining depending on their distances apart ; and showed that if e denote constituted of
*
immense
Mem.
de
1'Acad. vii, p. 375.
The
memoir
was
presented
in 1821,
and
published in 1827.
The Aether
the
as
an
Elastic Solid.
139
displacement of the (vector) position is (x, y, z],and if p denote

the equation of motion is
3n grad div
constant
e
particle whose undisturbed the density of the medium,
p
n
"
curl curl
e,
ot
where power
denotes
which
measures
of resisting distortion, of the medium. properties of the body as the velocity of propagation
the rigidity, or All such elastic of

waves
in it must
evidently depend
on
the referees of one Louis Cauchy (b. one 1789, d. 1857),
Among
the ratio n/p. Navier's of papers
was
Augustine
the
century,* who, question, published in 1828f a discussion of it from an entirely different point of view. Instead of assuming, as Navier had nineteenth done, that the medium is an aggregate of point-centres of force, and thus involving himself in doubtful molecular hypotheses, he devised a method of directly studying the elasticproperties of matter in bulk, and by its means isotropic solid are determined
of the greatest analysts of becoming interested in the
of
an
showed that the vibrations by the equation
82e
p
"
[fc +
(1
4
-n\
"
grad div
curl curl
here
denotes,
", which
as
before, the constant
constant
is called the modulus
ofcompression^.
of rigidity; and the denotes
the ratio of a pressure to the cubical compression produced by it. Cauchy's equation evidently differs from Navier's in that
Hamilton's opinion, written in 1833, is worth repeating : " The principal theories of algebraical analysis (under which I include Calculi) require to he has done much already for this great object. entirely remodelled ; and Cauchy
but he does not seem to me to have nearly so logical a his talents and clearness are ; and both are in my Fourier, whom far to I place at the head of the French inferior judgment very School of Mathematical Philosophy, even above Lagrange and Laplace, though I Cauchy their talents above those of (Life Sir W. It. and Poisson." rank Poisson also has done much mind as Cauchy, great as
;
*
of
Hamilton,
ii,p.
58.)
iii,p. 160 (1828). t Cauchy, Exercices de Mathematiques This introduced later at a J notation was period, but is used here in order to
avoid subsequent changes.
140
two
The Aether
constants, k and
n,
as
an
Elastic Solid.
for The reason appear instead of one. this is that a body constituted from point-centres of force in Navier's fashion has its moduli of rigidity and compression connected by the relation*
Actual
bodies do not
necessarily obey this condition; e.g.
for india-rubber, k is much

be
no
larger than
;f and there
seems
to
the aether. rential In the same year PoissonJ succeeded in solving the diffeequation which had thus been shown to determine the wave-motions possible in an elastic solid. The solution, which
reason
why
we
should impose it on
is both simple and elegant, may be derived as follows : Let the displacement vector e be resolved into two components, of which one c is circuital,or satisfiesthe condition
"
div
0,
or satisfies the condition while the other b is irrotational,
curl b
The equation takes the form
0.
5 o
Vb
Tlj
"'
In order to construct a body whose elasticproperties are not limited by this Rankine (b. 1820, d. 1872)considered a conequation, William John Macquorn tinuous fluidin which a number of point-centres of force are : the fluid is situated supposed to be partiallycondensed round these centres, the elastic atmosphere of each nucleus being retained round itby attraction. An additional volume-elasticity due to the fluidis thus acquired ; and no relationbetween k and n is now necessary. Cf. Rankine's Miscellaneous Scientific Papers, pp. 81
Sir "William Thomson in (Lord Kelvin),
1889,
sqq. formed
Navier's condition by using pairs of dissimilar atoms. iii,p. 395. Cf. also Baltimore Lectures, pp. 123 sqq.
solid not obeying Cf. Thomson's Papers,
t It may, however, be that india-rubber and other bodies which objected fail to fulfil Navier's relation are not true solids. On this historic controversy, cf. Todhunter and Pearson's History ofElasticity, i, p. 496. J Mem. de 1'Acad., viii (1828), Poisson takes the equation in the p. 623. restricted form given by Navier ; but this does not affect the question of wavepropagation.
The Aether
The
terms
as
an
Elastic Solid.
those which involve
c
141
must
which
involve b and
be separately zero, since they represent respectively the irrotational and the circuitalparts of the equation. Thus, c satisfies. the pair of equations
02=
p T-Jvt
?iV2c,
div
0;
while b is to be determined
from
dt
A particularsolution of the equations for

cx
=
is easily seen
t
to be
A sin A
(2
-
/-),
\PJ
cy
sinXfz V
wave
/-),
\PJ
cz
0,
which
represents
transverse
plane
propagated with
It can be shown that the general solution of velocity ^/(n/p). as this, the differential equations for c is formed of such waves travellingin all directions,superposed on each other
A particular solution of the equations for b is
-t
E
V
p
which represents
longitudinal
wave
propagated with velocity
the general solution of the differential equation for b is formed by the superposition of such waves as this, travelling in all directions. Poisson thus discovered that the
are waves
in
an
elastic solid
transverse, and are propagated ; while those in b are longitudinal,and are with velocity (n/p)b
:
of two kinds
those in
c are
propagated with velocity {(k+$n)/p}%.The latter are* waves of dilatationand condensation, like sound-waves ; in the c-waves, is not dilated or condensed, but on the other hand, the medium
*
Cf
Stokes, "On
the Dynamical
Problem
of Diffraction," Camb.
Phil.
Trans., ix
(1849).
142
The Aether
manner
as
an
Elastic Solid.
a
only distorted in a constant density.*

The all been
consistent with the preservation of have
researches which
extended This, however,
concerned with the equations to the
mentioned hitherto have isotropic bodies. Cauchy in 1828f

case
been
he accomplished plan of conceiving an elastic body as a cluster of particles which attract each other with forces depending on their distances apart ; the aelotropy he accounted for by supposing the particles to be
of crystalline substances. only by reverting to Navier's
directions than in others. closely in some packed more The general equations thus obtained for the vibrations of an constants ; six of these depend elastic solid contain twenty-one
on
the initial stress,
so
that if the body

are
stress, only fifteen constants
is initiallywithout involved. If, retaining the

to be symmetrical
initial stress, the medium

respect
constants
to three
is supposed
with
mutually
orthogonal
reduce
to nine, and
planes, the twenty-one the equations which determine
the vibrations may
be written in the form*
dx\ and
two
2x
ty
dz
similar equations. The three constants G, H, I represent the stresses across planes parallel to the coordinate planes in the undisturbed state of the aether. "
It may easily be shown that any disturbance, in either isotropicor crystalline media, for which the direction of vibration of the molecules lies in the wave-front or surface of constant phase, must satisfy the equation
*
div
e
0,
denotes the displacement ; if,on the other hand, the direction of vibration where disturbance must satisfy of the molecules is perpendicular to the wave -front, the the equation curl
e
=
0.
These results were
proved by M. O'Brien, Trans. Camb. t Exercices de Math., iii(1828), p. 188.

are
Phil. Soc., 1842.
J These $
substantially equations tensions when

they
(68)on
are
page
208
of the third volume
of
are
the Exercices. G, H, I
are
positive, and
pressures when
they
negative.
The Aether
On
the basis of these
as
an
Elastic Solid.
1 43
equations, Cauchy out a worked theory of light,of which an instalment relating to crystal-optics in 1830.* Its characteristic was presented to the Academy be sketched. features will now By substitution in the equations
last given, it is found that when the wave-front of the vibration is parallel to the plane of yz, the velocity of propagation must be (h+ G)%if the vibration takes place parallel to the axis of y, and (g+ G)$if it takes place Similarly when the wave-front is parallel to the axis of z. parallel to the plane of zx, the velocity must be (h + H)% if the vibration is parallel to the axis of x, and (/+ H)^ if it is parallel fo the axis of z\ and when the wave-front is parallel to the plane of xy, the velocity must be (g+ /)*ifthe vibration isparallel
to the axis of
Now
and it is known
x,
(/ + /)*if it is parallel to
from experiment
the axis of y. that the velocity of
ray polarized parallel to one of the planes in question is the or the same, whether its direction of propagation is along one in that plane: so, if we assume that the other of the axes
constitute light are plane of polarization, we must have
vibrations which
executed
parallel to the
/+#=/+/,
or,
ff + I
g+G,
H=L
H=h+G;
This is the assumption made in the memoir of 1830 : the theory based on it is generally known Cauchy' s First Theory as the
;"("
equilibrium pressures G, H, /, being allequal, are taken to be zero. Tf, on the other hand, we make the alternative assumption that the vibrations of the aether are executed at right angles to
the plane of polarization, we
must
have
Mem.
de 1'Acad.,
x,
p. 293.
In the previous year (Mem. de 1'Acad., ix, p. 114)Cauchy had stated that the equations of elasticitylead in the case of uniaxal crystals to a wave-surface of which two sheets are a sphere and spheroid as in Huygens' theory.
of crystal-optics were (b.1798, obtained shortly afterwards hy Franz Ernst Neumann d. 1895) d. Phys. xxv No. : cf. Ann. Ostwald's 418, 76 as (1832), of p. reprinted Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften, with notes by A. Wangerin.
f The equations and results of Cauchy's
First Theory
independently
144
the theory
The Aether
based
:
as
an
Elastic Solid.
as
on
Second Theory
it
was
this supposition is known published in 1836.* imposes the
Caucliy's
condition that the section of two of the sheets of the wave-surface made by any one of the coordinate planes is to be formed of a circle and an as in Fresnel's theory ; this yields the three conditions ellipse,
In both theories, Cauchy
3"c
f(b+
+/) ;
3ca
g(c+
we
g) ;
Sab
h(a+
b+
Ji).
the
Thus
in the first theory " 0,
have
these together with 1=0,
equations
=
H=Q,
express the condition that the undisturbed state of the aether is unstressed ; and the aethereal vibrations are executed parallel to the plane of polarization. In the second theory we
which
have the three firstequations, together with
f-Q-h-I-g-H;
and the plane of polarization is interpreted to be the plane at right angles to the direction of vibration of the aether. Either of Cauchy's theories accounts tolerably well for the of crystal-optics; but the wave-surface (orrather the two sheets of it which correspond to nearly transverse is not exactly Fresnel's. In both theories the existence phenomena
waves)
of a third formidable
of nearly longitudinal vibrations, is a himself anticipated that the difficulty. Cauchy existence of these vibrations would ultimately be demonstrated that they might by experiment, and in one conjectured
wave,
formed
placef
A further calorific nature. theories is that the relations between be of

a
to objection
Cauchy's
do
not
the
constants
of any simple physical interpretation, being evidently assumed for the sole purpose of forcing the formulae degree of conformity with the results of experiment. into some
appear
to admit
And
further difficulties will appear when the properties which to compare
we are
proceed
subsequently
op tics with those which must aether in crystalorder to account for reflexion and refraction.
*
assigned to the be postulated in
Comptes Rendus, ii (1836), p. 341

de 1'Acad. xviii,p. 161.
Mem.
de 1'Acad. xviii (1839), p. 153.
f Mem.
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
145
To the latter problem Cauchy soon addressed himself, his investigationsbeing in fact published* in the same year (1830) as the first of his theories of crystal-optics. the outset of any work on refraction,it is necessary to for the existence of refractive indices,i.e. for the assign a cause body to another. variation in the velocity of light from one
At
Huygens,
suggested that transparent bodies consist of hard particleswhich interact with the aethereal matter,
as we seen,
have
modifying its elasticity- Cauchy in his earlierpapersf followed or less closely, this lead more assuming that the density p of the
in all media, but that its rigidityn varies aether is the same from one medium to another. Let the axis of x be taken at right angles to the surface of section separation of the media, and the axis of z parallel to the inter-
of this interface with the incident wave-front; and that the incident vibration is executed at right suppose, first, angles to the plane of incidence, so that it may be represented
.by
e~
=
/(
cos
-y
sin i
rL t
\
may
where i denotes the angle of incidence ; the reflected wave be represented by

ez
=
FX
V
cos
y sin i
\/
and the refracted wave

ez
=
by
fi I
"
cos
"
y sin
KLt\
n'
where
denotes the angle of refraction, and
the rigidityof
the second medium. To obtain the conditions satisfied at the reflectingsurface, Cauchy assumed (without that the x- and assigning reasons)
^/-components
*
of the stress
across
the #y-plane
are
equal
in
Bull, des Sciences Math.
t As will appear, his views
p. 6. xiv. (1830), on this subsequently changed. subject
146
the
The Aether
media
case
on
as
an
Elastic Solid.
either side the
interface. This implies in the
present
that the quantities tie* n and dx

"
dez
n
"
ty
:
are
to be continuous
across
the interface
.
so
we
have
cos
i'. (/'
-
1")
n' cos
; /',
+ sin i.(f'
F)
n'
sin r
f\.
Eliminating
/'" we
have
F'
_
sin sin
f
Now
(r i) (r+ i)
-
this is Fresnel's sine-law for the ratio of the intensity
it is known of the reflected ray to that of the incident ray ; and is polarized that the light to which it applies is that which Thus Cauchy was driven parallel to the plane of incidence. facts to the conclusion that, in order to satisfy the known
of reflexion and refraction, the vibrations of the aether must be supposed executed at right angles to the plane of polarization
of the light. The case of
in the plane of incidence found that Fresnel's was
vibration performed It he discussed in the same way.

tangent-law
normal
two
could be obtained by assuming that ex and the the interface have equal values in the pressure across
contiguous media. culties. The theory thus advanced was encumbered with many diffiIn the first place, the identification of the plane of polarization with the plane at right angles to the direction of
vibration was Cauchy had
were
contrary to the only theory of crystal-optics which In the second place, no reasons as yet published.
given for the choice of the conditions at the interface. Cauchy's motive in selecting these particular conditions was the fulfilment of Fresnel's sine-law and evidently to secure tangent-law;
but
the results
are
boundary-conditions, which were It is probable that the results of the theory of reflexion had now to do with the decision, which Cauchy made,* to much
*Comptes
Rendus, ii.(1836), p. 341.
inconsistent with the true given later by Green.
The Aether
the reject
as
an
Elastic Solid.
147
first theory of crystal-opticsin favour of the second. After 1836 he consistently adhered to the view that the vibrations
of the aether are performed at right angles to the plane of he made another attempt to frame a polarization. In that year based on the assumption just satisfactory theory of reflexion,* the following boundary-conditions: At mentioned, and on
"
two media
the (taking
axis of
normal
is to be continuous, and to the interface) is also to dex/dx
curl
very satisfactoryreasons assigned for the choice of the boundary- conditions ; and_as the continuity of e itself the interface is not included amongst the conditions across
cHosen, they are obviously open to criticism ; but they lead to Fresnel's sine- and tangent-equations, which correctly express f Cauchy remarks that in order to the actual behaviour of light.
be continuous. Again we find no
them justify
it is necessary to abandon the assumption earliertheory, that the density of the aether is the same material bodies. It may
of his in all
that neither in this nor in Cauchy's ance earlier theory of reflexion is any trouble caused by the appeartransverse is a longitudinal waves wave when of reflected, for the simple reason that he assumes the boundary-conditions to
be remarked
be only four in number ; and these can all be satisfied without for introducing but transverse vibrations. the necessity any
These features bring out the weakness of Cauchy's method of His to derive the properties was attacking the problem. object of light from a theory of the vibrations of elasticsolids. At the
outset he had already in his possession the differential equations
of the solid,which were the equations of Fresnel, which

of motion
*
to be his starting-point, and to be his goal. It only were

Meraoire
sur
Comptes Rendus, ii.(1836), p. 341

Math.,
"
la dispersion delalumiere
"
(Nouveaux exercices de
p. 1836),
203.
t These boundary -conditions of Cauchy's are, as a matter of fact,satisfiedby the electric force in the electro-magnetic theory of light. The continuity of the interface, ";urle is equivalent to the continuity of the magnetic vector across leads to the same and the continuity of equation as the continuity of
(tex/dx
the component of electric force in the direction of the intersection of the interface with the plane of incidence. L 2
] 48
remained which
are
The Aether
to supply
as
an
Elastic Solid.
at
an
the boundary-conditions
interface,
required in the discussion of reflexion, and the relations between the elastic constants of the solid,which are to have conrequired in the optics of crystals. Cauchy seems sidered from the purely analytical point of view. the question
Given certain differential equations, what supplementary conditions be to them in order to produce a given must adjoined The problem stated in this form when analytical result ?
than one solution ; and hence it is not surprising admits of more that within the space of ten years the great French mathematician produced two distinct theories of crystal-optics and three distinct theories of reflexion,*almost all yielding correct nearly correct final formulae, and yet mostly irreconcilable with each other, and involving incorrect boundary-conditions
or
and improbable relations between elasticconstants. Cauchy's theories, then, resemble Fresnel's in postulating do not exist, and for whose types of elastic solid which is offered. The properties no dynamical justification assumed
same
applies, though objection
in
less degree, to the original
was, refraction which of a theory of reflexion and discovered about this timef almost simultaneously by James MacCullagh (6.1809, d. 1847),of Trinity College, Dublin, 1798, d. 1895),of Konigsberg. To (b. and Franz Neumann
form
of having extended the laws but the principles of the of reflexion to crystalline media; theory were originally derived in connexion with the simpler
these authors
ease
is due the merit
of isotropic media, to which present be confined.

*
our
attention
will for the
One yet remains to be mentioned. f The outlinesof the theory were published by MacCullagh in Brit.Assoc. Rep. 1835 ; and his results were given in Phil. Mag. x (Jan.,1837), and in Proc. Royal Irish Acad. xviii. (Jan., 1837). Neumann's memoir was presented to the Berlin Academy
Ak.
aus
dem
towards the end of 1835, and published in 1837 in Abh. Berl. Jahre 1835, Math. Klasse, p. 1. So far as publication is concerned,
seem
but there are for reasons discovery believing that the priority of really rests with Neumann, who had before his a year to were Berlin they the at equations communicated arrived Academy.
the priority would
to
belong to MacCullagh;
The Aether
MacCullagh
and
as
an
Elastic Solid.
149
felt that the great objection its failure to provide for to FresnePs theory of reflexion was the continuity of the normal component of displacement at the
interface between
two
Neumann
in this component theory, since it would imply that the two
media ; it is obvious that a discontinuity could not exist in any true elastic-solid media do not remain it a fundamental condition
in contact.
Accordingly, they
made
that all three components continuous at the interface, and
tangent-law
can
be
reconciled
of the displacement must be found that the sine-law and with this condition only by
supposing that the aether- vibrations are parallel to the plane of In polarization : which supposition they accordingly adopted. place of the remaining three true boundary-conditions, however, they used only a single equation, derived by assuming that incident waves transverse give rise only to transverse reflected and that the conservation of energy holds and refracted waves,
for
these
"
i.e. that
the
masses
of
aether
put
in
motion,
multiplied by the squares of the amplitudes of vibration, are before and after incidence. This is, of course, the the same it device as had been used previously by Presnel; same
that the principle is unsound as applied to an ordinary elastic solid; for in such a body the refracted and reflected energy would in part be carried away by longitudinal waves.
must,
however,
be remarked
In order to obtain the sine and tangent laws, MacCullagh found it necessary to assume that the inertia and Neumann is everywhere the same, and of the luminiferous medium in behaviour different in that the differences of this medium substances are due to differences in its elasticity. The two laws may then be deduced in much the same way as in the
previous investigations of Fresnel and Cauchy. Although to insist on at the continuity of displacement interface was a decided advance, the theory of MacCullagh and the as Neumann superiority over yet much scarcely showed Indeed, theories of their predecessors. quasi-mechanical himself expressly disavowed any claim to regard MacCullagh
150
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
it had then been brought,
"
his theory, in the form to which
as
If we are asked," final explanation of the properties of light. be assigned for the hypotheses on can he wrote, what reasons far from being are which the preceding theory is founded, we
"
able to give a satisfactory answer. that, with the exception of the law than fortunate are nothing more
conjectures.
have
obliged to confess of vis viva, the hypotheses These

are
We
conjectures
led to elegant laws are very probably right, since they which are fully borne out by experiments ; but this is all we We can cannot assert respecting them. attempt to deduce of light, such principles are stillto be sought for. It is certain, indeed, by undulations, propagated, with that light is produced
them from first principles ; because, in the theory
highly elasticaether ; but the it constitution of this aether, and the laws of its connexion (if has any with the particles of bodies, are utterly connexion) transversal vibrations, through
a
unknown/' The needful
reformation of the elastic-solid theory of effected by Green, in a paper* read to the reflexion was Cambridge Philosophical Society in December, 1837. Green,
though
his superior in analyst, was for physical insight ; instead of designing boundary-equations the express purpose of yielding Fresnel's sine and tangent
inferior to Cauchy
as
an
formulae, he set to work
to determine the conditions which
are
actually satisfiedat the interfaces of real elasticsolids. These he obtained by means of general dynamical principles.
isotropic medium which is strained, the potential energy per unit volume due to the state of stress is
an
In
\tex
dey
(~- + ^} -4r-*~-4~~-4
n
where
denotes the displacement, and k and

Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc., 1838 ; Green's Math.
denote
the two
Papers, p. 245.
The Aether
as
an,
Elastic Solid.
151
elasticconstants already introduced; by substituting this value in the general variational equation of
"f"
\w 1* III'0
"t
+
*
**
******
TF*-|
the density), equation of motion
(wherep
deduced.
denotes the
may
be
But this method
does
more
than merely furnish the equation
of motion
pe
or,
=
-
/ (k
\
4
+
-
\
n
)grad
/
div
curl curl e ;
"
pe
-lk -n\ grad
div
e +
nVze,
which had already been obtained by Cauchy ; for it also yields the boundary-conditions which must be satisfied at the interface between two elastic media in contact ; these are, as might be
guessed by physical intuition,that the three components of the displacement* and the three components of stress across the interface are to be equal in the two media. If the axis of x
be taken normal
are
,
to the interface, the latter three quantities
2
--TI
dex
dive+
27i
"
dx
3ex\ fiez + ), and w(-Ji \to fa J

"
dey fdev + (^ dx \ty -"
The correct boundary-conditions being thus obtained, it was a simple matter to discuss the reflexion and refraction of an The incident wave by the procedure of Fresnel and Cauchy. result found by Green was that if the vibration of the aethereal molecules is executed at right angles to the plane of incidence, the intensity of the reflectedlight obeys Fresnel's sine-law, provided for all media, the rigidity n is assumed to be the same Since to another. but the inertia p to vary from one medium to be true for light polarized in the plane the sine-law is known of incidence, Green's conclusion confirmed
*
the hypotheses
geometrical.
of
These firstthree conditions
are
of
course
not dynamical but
152
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
at right angles to the
Fresnel, that the vibrations
are
executed
plane of polarization,and that the optical differences between media are due to the different densities of aether within them.
remained for Green to discuss the case in which the incident light is polarized at right angles to the plane of incidence, so that the motion of the aethereal particles is parallel to
now
It
the intersection of the plane of incidence with the front of the In this case it is impossible to satisfy all the six wave. boundary-conditions without assuming that longitudinal vibrations
generated by the act of reflexion. Taking the plane of incidence to be the plane of yz, and the interface to be the plane of xy, the incident wave may be represented by the
are
equations
6
=
lz
where, if i denote the angle of incidence, we
have
=
.
\n
/"cos
it
Mn
/" sin i.
There will be
transverse reflected wave,
and
transverse refracted
wave,
y);
where,
ez
"
f(t+
waves
1"
my),
since the velocity of transverse is
in the second
medium
v/W/oz,
we
can
determine
^ from the equation
^"f^."j
n
there will also be

8
ey
=
longitudinal reflected wave,

9
+
-f(t -\z
my);
ez
-f(t
\z
my),
The Aeiher
as
an
Elastic Solid.
153
where A is determined by the equation
and
longitudinalrefracted wave,
7\ ey
=
7\
JE
/(*
Aiz +
my);
ez
f(t
where AI is determined by
Substitutingthese values for the displacement in the boundaryconditions which

equations which
have been already formulated, we obtain the determine the intensities of the reflectedand
it appears that the amplitude of ; in particular, refracted waves is given by the equation the reflectedtransverse wave
AA
+
E
_
ljj"i m?
Ip2 I
(pi p2)2 + A!/?I) pz (\pz

-
Now
if the elastic constants of the media are such that the are velocitiesof propagation of the longitudinal waves of the the order of magnitude as those of the transverse waves, direction-cosinesof the longitudinal reflected and refractedrays
same
will in general have real values, and these rays will carry away some of the energy which is brought to the interface by the incident wavev-Gêen avoided this difficulty by adopting Fresnel's
suggestion that the resistanceof the aether to compression may V\ be very large in comparison with the resistance to distortion,\\ is actually the case as and with such substances as jelly
caoutchouc much the
:
in this case
the longitudinal waves
are
degraded in
when Making
way as the transverse refracted ray is degraded there is total reflexion,and so do not carry away energy.
same
this supposition,so
that k\ and "2

m
-
are
very large, the

we
A A: have the values "quantities and

AA
+
"/
1, and
have
lipi I
2
(PI p2f
-
154
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
of
Thus if BjA denote the modulus
"/A, we
have
p\
if"l This expression represents the ratio of the intensity of the It transverse reflected wave to that of the incident wave. does not agree with Fresnel's tangent- formula : and both on this we this theory of reflexion account and also because (as shall
see)
does not harmonize well with the elastic-solid theory of crystaloptics,it must be concluded that the vibrations of a Greenian solid do not furnish an exact parallel to the vibrations which
constitute light. The success of Green's investigation from the standpoint of dynamics, set off by its failure in the details last mentioned, stimulated MacCullagh to fresh exertions. At length he succeeded in placing his own theory, which had all along been free from was reproach so far as agreement with optical experiments
concerned,
sound dynamical basis ; thereby effecting that which had reconciliationof the theories of Light and Dynamics been the dream of every physicist since the days of Descartes.
on a
The
was
central feature of MacCullagh's presented to the Eoyal Irish Academy
investigation,* which
duction in 1839, is the intro-
from
type of elastic solid. He had, in fact,concluded of a new Green's results that it was impossible to explain optical
phenomena
by comparing the aether to an elastic satisfactorily resists compression and solid of the ordinary type, which distortion ; and he saw that the only hope of the situation was
to devise
which should be as strictlyconformable todynamical Green's elastic solid, and yet should have its properties specially designed to fulfilthe requirements of described. he now the theory of light. Such a medium
a
medium laws as
If
as
before
we
denote by
from
the vector
displacement
of
point of the medium

*
its equilibrium
position, it is well
Trans. Roy. Irish Acad. xxi. : MacCullagh's
Coll. Works, p. 145.
The Aether
known
as
an
Elastic Solid.
155
that the vector curl e denotes twice the rotation of the y, z)from part of the solid in the neighbourhood of the point (x, its equilibrium orientation. In an ordinary elastic solid, the potential energy of strain depends only on the change of size
and shape of the volume- elements ; on their compression and distortion, in fact. For MacCullagh's on new the medium, other hand, the potential energy depends only on the rotation supposed to be in a state of stress in its undisturbed condition, the potential energy per unit volume must be a quadratic function of the derivates of e ; so be formed that in an isotropic medium this quantity must
of the volume-elements. is not Since the medium
"f"
the only invariant which depends solely and is quadratic in the derivates, that is from
from
we
on
the rotation thus
; (curl e)2
may
write
to,
*~
The
case
to be determined, equation of motion is now of Green's aether, from the variational equation
as
in the
the result is
p"z
fi curl curl e.
It is evident from this equation that if div e is initially it will always be zero: zero we shall suppose this to be the case, so that no longitudinal waves exist at any time in the
medium.
One
of the greatest difficulties which
beset elastic-
solid theories is thus completely removed. The equation of motion may now be written
156
which shows
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
are
that transverse
waves
propagated with velocity
the variational equation we may also determine the boundary-conditions which must be satisfied at the interface between two media ; these are, that the three components of e
From
are
to be
continuous
components
continuous
of
across
interface, and that the two p curl e parallel to the interface are also to be it. One of these five conditions, namely, the
across
the
continuity of the normal the other four ; for if interface, the equation
component
we
of
e,
is really dependent
x
on
take the axis of gives
normal
to
the
of motion
a"? ~3^
+ (" curl e)*
l"*
curl
e)"/
'
the quantities p, (n curl and e)2, across the interface, the continuity of only independent boundary-conditions
and
as
are (/n curl e)y
c"2ex/dtz
continuous follows. Thus the theory
in MacCullagh's
the continuity of the tangential components of e and of It is easily seen that these are equivalent to the fj curl e.*
are
boundary-conditions the equation components this memoir

of 1837.
of
used in MacCullagh's earlier paper, namely, vis viva and the continuity of the three
"
of e : and thus the rotationally elastic aether of furnishes a dynamical foundation for the memoir
"
The extension to crystalline media is made by assuming the potential energy per unit volume to have, when referred to the principal axes, the form
\dz
dx
\c"x
tyJ
determine
the
where
A, B, C denote
three
constants
which
: it is readily seen that the optical behaviour of the medium wave-surface is Fresnel's, and that the plane of polarization
*
readily be interpreted in the electro-magnetic theory of light : e corresponds to the magnetic force, p curl e to the electricforce, displacement. and curl e to the electric
MacCullagh's
equations may
The Aether
contains
as
an
Elastic Solid.
is at
157
the
the
displacement,
and
right angles to doubt

by his
rotation. MacCullagh's
work
was
regarded
with
own
physicists, and and the succeeding generation of mathematical can scarcely be said to have been properly appreciated until attention to it forty years afterwards. But doubt that MacCullagh be no there can really solved the whose vibrations, calculated in problem of devising a medium accordance with the correct laws of dynamics, should have the
FitzGerald
drew
same
properties as the vibrations of light. felt in accepting the rotationally The hesitation which was from the want of any readily elastic aether arose mainly of a body endowed with such a property. conceived example This difficulty was
in 1889 by Sir William Thomson removed designed mechanical (Lord Kelvin), models possessed of who rotational elasticity. Suppose, for example,* that a structure is formed of spheres, each sphere being tetrahedron formed by its four nearest in the
centre
neighbours. to these four neighbours by rigid bars, which sphere be joined have spherical caps at their ends so as to slide freely on the
spheres. Such a structure would, for small deformations, behave like an incompressible perfect fluid. Now attach to each bar a flywheels, rotating with equal pair of gyroscopically-mounted and having their axes in the line and opposite angular velocities, of the bar : a bar thus equipped will require a couple to hold it at rest in any position inclined to its original position,and the structure
as
a
of the Let each
elasticity which was This particular representation is not perfect, since a system of forces would be required to hold the model in equilibrium if
whole will possess that kind first imagined by MacCullagh.
of quasi-
it
were
irrotationally distorted. another

Eendus,
Lord
Kelvin
subsequently
invented
*
structure
free from
:
t this defect.
and
Comptes
Sept. 16, 1889
Kelvin's Math,
Kelvin's
Phys.
Papers, iii,
p. 466.
tProc. Roy. iii, p. 468.
Soc. Edinb., Mar.
17, 1890:
Math,
and Phys. Papers,
158
The
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
a
yet a third theory of reflexion.* This appears to have owed its of Green's,f that the longitudinal wave origin to a remark namely, by supposing might be avoided in either of two ways
"
work of Green proved but to Cauchy, who MacCullagh
stimulus
not
only
to
now
(1839) published
its velocity to be indefinitelygreat or indefinitely small. Green curtly dismissed the latter alternative and adopted the former,
the ground that the equilibrium of the medium would be unstable if its compressibility were negative (asit must be if is to Cauchy, without the velocity of longitudinal waves
on
attempting
medium
to meet
Green's
vanish). took up the objection,

are
whose
elastic constants
k
+
connected 0,
study of a by the equation
"n
that the longitudinal vibrations have zero velocity; and showed that if the aethereal vibrations are supposed to be executed at
so
right angles to the plane of polarization, and if the rigidity is assumed in all media, a ray to be the same "of the aether which is reflected will obey the sine-law and tangent-law of
Fresnel.
The boundary-conditions
obtain this result were its derivate 3e/9#, where the axis of x is taken at right -of ditions angles to the interface.* These are not the true boundary-confor general elasticsolids; but in the particular case now discussion, where the rigidity is the same in the two
same
which he adopted in order to the continuity of the displacement e and
under
media, they yield the given by Green.

The
equations
as
the conditions correctly
aether of
some
or
worthy
of Cauchy's third theory of reflexion is well further study. It is generally known they as
names
.contractile
*
labile^ aether, the
being due
to William
Comptes
Rendus, ix, p. 676 (25 NOT.,

Papers, p. 246. Eendus, x, p. 347 (March2,
1839), and
p. 726
(2Dec., 1839). (1848) ; sxviii,p.

a
t Green's Math.
J Comptes (1849). Mem.
: 1840)
xxvii, p. 621
as
25
" Labile
-a
or
de 1'Acad., xxii (1848), pp. 17, 29. is term a neutral used of such equilibrium
that of
rigid body
oil
perfectly smooth horizontal plane.
The Aether
Thomson may
be
as
an
Elastic Solid.
159
It
who (LordKelvin), defined such

as as
an
discussed it long afterwards.*

of
elastic medium
com(negative) pressibil
wave
zero
the velocity of the longitudinal this implies that no work is required to be done
to make
in order to give the medium any small irrotational disturbance. foam free from air An example is furnished by homogeneous
and held from collapse by adhesion to a containing vessel Cauchy, as we have seen, did not attempt to refute Green's that objection Thomson
medium subject, If, then, the to be resolvable into coexistent wave-motions. velocity of propagation for each of the two kinds of wave-motion be stable,provided the medium is real,the equilibrium must either extends through vessel as its boundary.
be unstable ; but, as would remarked, every possible infinitesimal motion of the is,in the elementary dynamics of the proved
such
a
medium
boundless space
or
has
fixed containing
is supposed the rigidity of the luminiferous medium to have the same value in all bodies, the conditions to be satisfied at an interface reduce to the continuity of the displacement e,
When
of the tangential quantity Now

on an
components
e across
(k + ^n) div
we
and the interface.

a
of
curl
e,
of the scalar is incident
have
seen
that when
transverse
wave
waves
interface, it gives rise in general to reflected and refracted of both the transverse ajid the longitudinal species. In
case
the
of the contractile aether, for which the velocity of is very small, the ordinary propagation of the longitudinal waves that the directions of propagation of the reflected and refracted longitudinal waves longitudinal to the interface. The will be almost normal waves of will therefore contribute only to the component
construction
waves
for refracted
shows
displacement components : displacement

waves
"
to the interface, not to the tangential normal in other words, the only tangential components of verse at the interface are those due to the three trans-
the incident, reflected,and refracted. Moreover, do not contribute at all to curl e ; and, the longitudinal waves
*
Phil. Mag.
xxvi
(1888), p.
414.
160
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
conditions that the shall be continuous
therefore, in the
contractile aether, the of

e
tangential components interface are across an disturbance taken
and of n curl e satisfiedby the distortional part of the alone. The condition that the component
of e normal to the interface is to be continuous is not satisfied by the distortional part of the disturbance taken alone, but is satisfiedwhen the distortional and congressional parts are taken together.
by the longitudinal waves is energy carried away infinitesimal,as might be expected, since no work is required in Hence, with order to generate an irrotational displacement. this aether, the behaviour of the transverse waves at an interface may be specified without considering the irrotational part of the disturbance at all, by the conditions that the
conservation
The
of energy
is to
hold
are
components of e and of n curl e identify these transverse waves we the displacement of the light,and in all media* same
e
and that the tangential But if to be continuous.

with
light, assuming
that
is at right angles to the plane of polarization that the rigidity n is the assuming moreover
(thedifferencesbetween
media
depending
on
differences in the inertia
p),
of Fresnel's theory of light : in the labile aether must waves and tangent-law of Fresnel.
have exactly the assumptions whence it follows that transverse

we
obey in reflexion the sine-law
The great advantage of the labileaether is that it overcomes the difficulty about securing continuity of the normal component of displacement at an interface between two media : alone do not satisfy this condition of waves continuity ; but the total disturbance consisting of lightand irrotational disturbance taken together does satisfy it ; the light-waves taken
and this is ensured without allowing the irrotationaldisturbance to carry offany of the energy. f
This condition is in any R. T. Glazebrook : cf. Thomson,
*
case
necessary for stability, Phil. Mag. xxvi, p. 500. be compared

e
as
as
was
shown
by
f The labile-aethertheory of light may

the displacement theory, by interpreting displacement. electric
with the electro-magnetic the electric force, and pe as the
The Aether
William Thomson
as
an
Elastic Solid.
161
(Lord Kelvin, b. 1824, d. 1908), who
time attention to the labile aether, was at one much led to doubt the validity of this explanation of light* ; for when investigating the radiation of energy from a vibrating rigid infiniteelastic-solid aether, he found that globe embedded in an the irrotational waves in some cases would carry away a
devoted
if the aether were of the labile considerable part of the energy however, was removed by the observationf type. This difficulty,
that it is sufficientfor the fulfilment of Fresnel's laws if the in one of the two media is velocity of the irrotational waves
very small, without this idea, Thomson

matter
the aether concerned in light-waves, but liquids and

zero
Following up regard to the other medium. that in space void of ponderable assumed is practically incompressible by the forces
that in the space occupied by
,
so as to give solidsit has a negatiye_CQmpres^biIiljy in these bodies. velocity for longitudinal aether- waves
This
atoms
assumption
move
was
through
as
conception which,
scholastic axiom
the conception that material space without displacing the aether: a Thomson remarked, contradicts the old
on
based
differentportions of matter cannot occupy the same simultaneously space.JHe supposed the aether to be attracted and repelled by the atoms, and thereby to
that two
be condensed or rarefied. " The year 1839, which saw the publication of MacCullagh's dynamical theory of light and Cauchy's theory of the labile
aether,
was
on
Green
by also for the appearance of a memoir This really contains two distinct crystal-bptics.H
memorable
theories, which respectively resemble Cauchy's First and Second Theories : in one of them, the stresses in the undisturbed state
*
Baltimore
Lectures
(edition 1904), p.
214.
Ibid. (ed.1904),p. 411. Boscovich in the eighteenth century had taught the doctrine of i.e. that two substances may be in the same the mutual penetration of matter,
^ Michell and
same
place at the p. 392.
time without
excluding
each
other
cf. Priestley'sHistory
i.,
6 Cf. Baltimore Lectures
(ed. 1904), pp.

M
413-14,
|j
Cambridge
Phil. Trans., 1839 ; Green's Math.
Appendices A and E. Papers;?. 293.

463, and
162
of the aether
The Aether
are
as
an
Elastic Solid.
supposed to vanish, and the vibrations of the aether are supposed to be executed parallel to the plane of polarization of the light ; in the other theory, the initialstresses the aether- vibrations are at right angles to the plane of polarization. The two investigations Green's First and Second Theories of as are generally known
are
not
supposed
to vanish, and
crystal-optics. The foundations of both theories are, however, the same. Green first of all determined the potential energy of a strained involves 27 general case crystalline solid ; this in the most
constants,
or
21 if there is no the medium
initialstress.*
If,however,
as
is
here assumed,
possesses three planes
of symmetry
at right angles to each other, the number to. 12,

or
to 9 if there is
no
of constants reduces initial stress; if e denote the displacemen

may be written
the potential energy per unit volume
fo \2
+
1 ** ft)(I)(I $} (")
*
+ + +
("be \2
fr\f\i\
(ffo \2
/f)p \2
/a/,
fty*. 7 ty tz
9
3g,
4/1 "*" 2"/
+ sf3ey ;? sty
\dz
dx
The usual variational equation
[[f
For there
are
21 terms
in
homogeneous
function of the second degree in six
variables.
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
:
163
then yields the differential equations of motion, namely
8 /
+
"
dex
a"
dey
+
fe,\
+
a /
+
"
aex
a
"
a^
+
acVSaj
^ ty
g y
"
a^\
"
"
dzj
dx\
fa
ty
0 + y
],
fa)9
and two similar equations. These differfrom Cauchy's fundamental
greater generality: for Cauchy's medium built up of point-centres of force attracting each other according function of the distance ; and, as we have seen, there to some
are
equations in having was supposed to be
limitations in this method of construction, which render it incompetent to represent the most general type of elasticsolid. Cauchy's equations for crystalline media are, in fact,exactly analogous to the equations originally found by Navier for isotropic media, which contain only one elasticconstant instead of two. The number
the three which in the above equations still exceeds
of constants
are
required to specify the properties of a biaxal crystal : and Green now proceeds to consider how the may be reduced. The condition which he imposes for number this purpose is that for two of the three waves whose front is
parallel to a given plane, the vibration of the aethereal molecules : in other words, shall be accurately in the plane of the wave that two of the three waves shall be purely distortional,the
remaining
being consequently a normal vibration. condition gives five relations,*which may be written :
one
"
This
a.
"
b
=
JJK;
tf-M-2fc;
/'-j"-2/
where /z denotes
*
M-2"7;
new
constant, f
As Green showed, the hypothesis of transversality really involves the existence is it so that alone capable of giving 14 relationsbetween the of planes of symmetry, 21 constants : and 3 of the remaining 7 constants may be removed by change of
leaving only four. by Barre de Saint-Venant (b.1797, d. 1886), t It was afterwards shown Journal de Math., vii (1863), p. 399, that if the initialstresses be supposed to among the remaining nine constants vanish, the conditions which must be satisfied
axes,
164
Thus
.
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
may
the potential energy per unit volume

^
be written
d"
n^* 6r
"
ox
rrdey^. "L + Tde* -I ^~ oz

"
oy
i T ] Wx\ I1 Ur
Ur-
"y\
oe*
-L. +
Ur
At this point Green's two from each other. According

stresses G-,H, I
are
theories of crystal-optics diverge to the first theory, the initial
zero,
so
that
",
*"
/, *'" in ""/"#"*"/'
"
order that the wave-surface
may
be Fresnel's, are
the
following :
(34_/) (3c -/)=(/
/')*
(Za h) (3" h)
-
(h + A')
((3aThese reduce to Green's relations when the additional equation b c is assumed. Saint-Venant disputed the validity of Green's relations, asserting that they?are compatible only with isotropy. On this controversy cf. E. T. Glazebrook, Brit.
=
of
Assoc. Report, 1885, p. 171, and Karl Pearson Elasticity, ii," 147.
in Todhunter
and Pearson's History
The Aether
This
as
an
Elastic Solid.
165
expression contains the correct number of constants, namely, four: three of them represent the optical constants of a biaxal crystal,and one (namely, represents the square of
ju)
the velocity of propagation

that the two
of longitudinal
waves.
It is found
sheets of the wave-surface which correspond to the form a Fresnel's wave-surface, the third two distortionalwaves
being an sheet, which corresponds to the longitudinal wave, ellipsoid. The directions of polarization and the wave- velocities identical with those assigned by are of the distortional waves
Fresnel, provided it is assumed that the direction of vibration of the aether-particles is parallel to the plane of polarization ; but this last assumption is of course inconsistent with Green's theory of reflexion and refraction. In his Second Theory, Green, like Cauchy, used the condition that for the waves whose fronts are parallel to the coordinate polarizavelocity depends only on the plane of tion, and not on the direction of propagation. He thus obtained the equations already found by Cauchy planes, the
wave"
O-f-H-g-I-h.
also is Fresnel's, provided it is assumed that the vibrations of the aether are executed at right angles to the plane of polarization. The principle which underlies the Second Theories of Green
The wave-surface
in this
case
is that the aether in a crystal resembles an elastic solid which is unequally pressed or pulled in different directions by the unmoved This idea appealed strongly ponderable matter.
and Cauchy
afterwards developed it further,* arriving at the following interesting result : Let an incompressible solid,isotropic when unstrained, be such that its
who (Kelvin),
to W.
Thomson
long
"
potential energy per unit volume
is
P
where
*
q denotes its modulus

xv
of rigidity when
:
unstrained, and
116
:
Proc. R. S. Edin.
(1887), p. 21
Phil. Mag.
xxv
p. (1888)
Baltimore
Lectures
(ed.1904), pp. 228-259.
1 66
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
"*"
axes
j3*" 7*" denote
of strain are in a way defined by given values of a, (3, y, by forces applied to its surface, and if waves of distortion be superposed on this initialstrain, the transmission of these waves will follow exactly
the laws of Fresnel's theory of crystaloptics, the wave-surface
the proportions in which lines parallel to the altered ; then if the solid be initiallystrained
being
*
q in picturing the difficulty

manner
There
is
some
in which
the molecules of ponderable matter act upon the aether so as to Lord the initial strain required by this theory. produce
utilized* the suggestion to which we pervade referred, namely, that the aether may
matter
so as
Kelvin
have
already
of that its
the atoms
with them, and occupy space jointly interaction with them may consist in attractions and repulsions These exercised throughout the regions interior to the atoms.
to
forces may be supposed to be so large in comparison with those called into play in free aether that the resistance to compression and the aether may be (say) may be overcome, condensed
in the central region of an isolated atom, and rarefied in its outer parts. A crystal may be supposed to consist of a group of spherical atoms in which neighbouring spheres overlap each other ; in the central regions of the spheres the aether will be condensed, and within the lens-shaped regions of overlapping it will be stillmore rarefied than in the outer parts of a solitary
atom,
while in the interstices between the atoms its density will be unaffected. In consequence of these rarefactions and
condensations, the reaction of the aether on the atoms tends to draw inwards the outermost atoms of the group, which, however, will be maintained in position by repulsions between
the atoms
themselves;
and thus
we
can
account
for the pull

on
which, according to the present hypothesis, is exerted aether by the ponderable molecules of crystals.
*
the
Baltimore Lectures
1904), (ed. p.
253.
The Aether
Analysis
as
an
Elastic Solid.
167
similar to that of Cauchy's and Green's Second Theory of crystal-opticsmay be applied to explain the doubly refracting property which is possessed by strained glass ; but
in this the
case
the formulae
derived
are
found
to conflict with
The discordance led Kelvin to results of experiment. doubt the truth of the whole theory. "After earnest and hopeful consideration of the stress theory of double refraction
unable to see how it can give the true explanation either of the double refraction of natural crystals,or of double refraction induced in isotropic
am
during
fourteen
years," he said,*
"
solids by the directions."
application of unequal
pressures
in
different
It is impossible to avoid noticing throughout all Kelvin's was work evidences of the deep impression which made
upon him by the writings of Green. of Kelvin's friend and contemporary
The
same
Stokes;
may be said and, indeed, it
is
exaggeration to describe Green as the real founder of Cambridge that of natural philosophers, of which school Kelvin, Stokes, Lord Eayleigh, and Clerk Maxwell were the
no
"
"
most
illustrious members
century, and which is now Sir Joseph Larrnor. In order to understand the peculiar position occupied by Green, it is necessary to recall something of the history of mathematical studies at Cambridge.
The
in the latter half of the nineteenth led by Sir Joseph Thomson and
and history of the University. It is true that Cavendish and Young but they, after taking were educated at Cambridge; In the entire to London. courses, undergraduate removed lived period the only natural philosopher of distinction who reason Michell ; and for some was and taught at Cambridge which at this distance of time it is difficultto understand fully,Michell's researches seem to have attracted little or no and successors, attention among his collegiate contemporaries
*
elapsed between the death of Newton the scientificactivity of Green was the darkest in the century which
Baltimore Lectures
(ed. p. 1904),
258.
168
who
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
attributed to silently acquiesced when his discoveries were to perish entirely from Cambridge others, and allowed his name tradition. A
few
years
before
notable revival of University ; the fluxional symbolism, which since the time of from the continental schools, had isolated Cambridge Newton in favour of the differential notation, and the was abandoned
introduced analysts were great French and undoubtedly eagerly read. Green received his own early in but inspiration from this source ; clearness of physical works of the
published his first paper, a learning swept the over mathematical
Green
insight
masters
and
; and
a
conciseness
to this day
exposition he far excelled his the slight volume of his collected papers has is wanting to the voluminous charm which
of and Poisson. It
was
natural that such an example should powerfully influence the youthful intellects of Stokes who was an undergraduate when Green read his memoir double refraction to the Cambridge Philosophical Society" on
"
writings of Cauchy
and of William
Thomson
(Kelvin), who
came
into residence two
years afterwards.* in the great In spite of the advances which were made of the year 1839, the fundamental question as to memoirs whether the aether-particles vibrate parallel or at right angles
to the plane of polarization
was was
this problem Stokes showed that of Diffraction.f conceivable hypothesis regarding the aether, a thrown
on
More light still unanswered. ten years later by Stokes's investigation

on
almost any disturbance in
which the vibrations are executed at right angles to the plane be transmitted round the edge of an opaque of diffractionmust body with less diminution of intensity than a disturbance whose vibrations are executed parallel to that plane. It follows that when light,of which the vibrations are oblique to the plane of
in the year Thomson was took his degree (1845) that he bought, and read Green had delight, in the electrical memoir which published at Nottingham with 1828.
*It
f Trans. Camb.
ii, p. 243.
Phil. Soc., ix
(1849), p.
1.
Stokes's Math,
and Phys. Papers,
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
169
is so transmitted, the plane of vibration will be more diffraction, diffractionin the diffracted nearly at right angles to the plane of than in the incident light. Stokes himself performed experiments
using a grating in order to obtain strong light diffracted at a large angle, and found that when the plane of polarization of the incident light was oblique to the the plane of polarization of the diffracted plane of diffraction,
to test the matter,
nearly parallel to the plane of diffraction. This afterwards confirmed by L. Lorenz,* appeared result,which was to confirm decisively the hypothesis of Fresnel, that the vibrations
light was
more
of the aethereal particles
are
executed
at right angles to
the plane of polarization. Three years afterwards Stokes indicatedf a second line of conclusion. It had long been known proof leading to the same that the blue light of the sky, which is due to the scattering of direct rays by small particles or molecules in the the sun's is partly polarized. The polarization is most -atmosphere, from a part of the sky distant 90" marked when the light comes have been scattered in a from the sun, in which case it must direction perpendicular
on
to that of the direct sunlight incident the small particles ; and the polarization is in the plane
sun.
through the
on
If, then, the axis of y be taken parallel to the light incident a small particle at the origin,and the scattered light be
along the axis of x, this scattered light is found to be polarized in the plane xy. Considering the matter from the dynamical point of view, we may suppose the material particle inertia (compared to possess so much to the that it is
observed
aether)
practically at rest. Its motion relative to the aether, which is fore the cause of the disturbance it creates in the aether, will therebe in the
but in
same
line
the
opposite
the incident aethereal direction. The disturbance

as zero
vibration, be must
transversal, and must

*
therefore be
in
polar direction and (1861), p.

321.
Phil. Mag. d. Phj-s. exi (1860), p. 315. Stokes's Math, t Phil. Trans., 1852, p. 463.
Ann.
on
xxi
"f. the foot-note added
p. 361 oi the Math,
p. 267. and Phys. Papers, iii, Paper*. Phys. and
170
a
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solia.
in an equatorial direction,its amplitude being, in maximum fact, proportional to the sine of the polar distance. The polar be the line of the line must, by considerations of symmetry, incident vibration. Thus in the ^-direction can come
we
of the light scattered from that constituent of the incident

see
that
none
vibrates parallel to the o"axis ; so the light observed in this direction must consist of vibrations parallel to the 2-axis. But we have seen that the plane of polarization of the scattered light which light is the plane of xy ; and therefore the vibration is at right angles to the plane of polarization.*
The phenomena of diffractionand of polarization by scattering thus agreed in confirming the result arrived at in Fresnel's in accepting and Green's theory of reflexion. The chief difficulty it arose in connexion with the optics of crystals. As we have
seen,
Green and Cauchy
were
unable to reconcile the hypothesis
of aethereal vibrations at right angles to the plane of polarization at any rate so with the correct formulae of crystal-optics, long as the aether within crystals was supposed to be free from
initial stress.
seen.
In
for this can be readily underlying reason crystal,where the elasticityis differentin different
The
directions, the resistance to distortion depends solely on the orientation of the plane of distortion,which in the case of light
is the plane through the directions of propagation and vibration. Now it is known that for light propagated parallel to one of the
axes
of elasticity of a crystal, the velocity of propagation depends only on the plane of polarization of the light,being the
same
lying in that plane is the whichever of the two axes direction of propagation. Comparing these results,we see that the plane of polarization must be the plane of distortion,and therefore the vibrations of the aether-particlesmust parallel to the plane of polarization.f
The theory of polarization by small particles was Lord Rayleigh, Phil. Mag.
*
be executed
afterwards investigated by
xli(187l).
Fresnel's theory of crystal-optics, in which the aether-vibrations are at right angles to the plane of polarization,the velocity of propagation depends only on the direction of vibration, not on the plane through this and the direction of
fin
transmission.
The Aether
A
as
an
Elastic Solid.
171
way of escape from this conclusion suggested itself to What if the Stokes,* and later to Eankinet and Lord Kayleigh.J; aether in a crystal,instead of having its elasticitydifferent in
to have its rigidity invariable and its inertia different in different directions ? This would bring the
different directions, were
theory of crystal-op tics into complete agreement with Fresnel's in which the optical differences and Green's theory of reflexion, between media are attributed to differences of inertia of the contained within conceiving how aelotropy aether
them.
The
only
difficulty lies in
of inertia can exist; and all three this obstacle by pointing out that a solid writers overcame have its effective inertia in a fluid may which is immersed different in different directions. in water
moves
For instance,
much
more
readily in its own
coin immersed plane than in the

a
direction at right angles to this. Suppose then that twice the kinetic energy per unit volume of the aether within a crystal is represented by the expression
that the potential energy per unit volume has the same The aether is value as in space void of ordinary matter. assumed to be incompressible, so that div e is zero : the potential and
energy per unit volume
is therefore
__
dz dx
where
*
denotes
as
usual the rigidity.
Stokes, in a letter to Lord Rayleigh, inserted in his Memoir and Scientific Correspondence, ii,p. 99, explains that the idea presented itself to him while he was Motion Fluid in Trans. Camh. Phil. on the writing paper which appeared Soc., via (1843), He suggested the wave-surface to which this theory p. 105. leads in Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1862, p. 269. t Phil. Mag. (4), i (1851), p. 441.
Phil. Mag.
(4), p. xli (1871),
519.
1 72
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
is
dz
The variational equation of motion

2
pi
^r/
dex + pz
"%
dey + pz
"
dx dy $ez[
where p denotes an undetermined in p being introduced on account
function of (x, y, z): the term of the kinematical constraint 0.
expressed by the equation
div
The
equations of motion
are
which
result from
this variational
equation
"hw=-"+nV*e"
and two similar equations. hydrostatic pressure. Substituting
for
wave
a
""'"""'
It is evident that p resembles
in these equations the analytical expression we plane wave, readily find that the velocity F of the is connected with the direction-cosines (X,^t, of its
z/)
normal
by the equation
A2
r
u*
vz
+ n-ptV"
n-
=
'
n-
PIV*
pzV*
this is compared velocity and direction of a
When
with Fresnel's relation between the formula it is seen that the new wave,
differs from his only in having the reciprocal of the velocity in 1867 Stokes carried out a series place of the velocity. About
of experiments
was
most
which of the two theories connearly conformable to the facts : he found the structio of Huygens and Fresnel to be decidedly the more
in order to determine
correct, the difference between
construction
being
about
the results of it and 100 times the probable
the rival
error
of
observation.*
Proc. R. S., June, 1872. After these experiments Stokes gave itas his opinion Mag. xli (1871), (Phil. p. 521)that the true theory of crystal-optics was yet to be found. On the accuracy of Fresnel's construction cf. Glazebrook, Phil. Trans,
*
clxxi
(1879) p.
421, and Hastings, Am.
Journ. Sci. (3) xxxv
(1887) p.
60.
The Aether
The hypothesis that
as
an
Elastic Solid.
173
direction seemed based on it was compared when,

theory
in crystals the inertia depends on therefore to be discredited when the theory
in 1888, W.
with the results of observation. But Thomson (LordKelvin)revived Cauchy's
of the labile aether, the question naturally arose as to whether that theory could be extended so as to account for the by E. T. shown optical properties of crystals : and it was
Glazebrook* that the
correct
formulae
obtained when the Cauchy-Thomson is combined for the longitudinal wave
of crystal-optics ar" hypothesis of zero velocity

with the Stokes-Kankine-
Rayleigh hypothesis of aelotropic inertia. For on reference to the formulae which have been already given, it is obvious that the equation of motion of an aether having these properties must be
(pie*, pzey,p3O
-n
curl curl
e,
where e denotes the displacement, n the rigidity, and (plt p2, /o3) the inertia : and this equation leads by the usual analysis ta Fresnel's wave-surface. The displacement e of the aethereal particles is not, however, accurately in the wave-front, as in Fresnel's theory, but is at right angles to the direction of the ray, in the plane passing through the ray and the wavenormal, f Having
so
far
as
traced the progress of the elastic-solidtheory it is concerned with the propagation of light in
now
ordinary
isotropic media
were
and in crystals,we
attempts which
made
more
about
this time
consider the for the to account

must
optical properties of a found by It was

polarization of passed through
*
peculiar class of substances. in 181 IJ that the state Arago
a
a
beam
the beam of light is altered when plate of quartz along the optic axis. The
of is
p. 521 ; xxviii (1889), p. 110. xxvi (1888), be This t theory of crystal-opticsmay assimilated to the electro-magnetic theory by interpreting the elastic displacement e as electric force, and the vector
Phil. Mag.
(pifx, p^y, ptfz)as electric displacement.

+
Mem.
de 1'Institut, 1811, Part
I,
p. 115, sqq.
174
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
was studied shortly afterwards by Biot,* who phenomenon showed that the alteration consists in a rotation of the plane of polarization about the direction of propagation : the angle of rotation is proportional to the thickness of the plate and
inversely proportional to the square of the wave-length. In some specimens of quartz the rotation is from left to shown right, in others from right to left. This distinction was by Sir John (b. 1792, d. 1871) in 1820 to be Herschelf
associated with differences in the crystalline form of the relation to each specimens, the two types bearing the same right-handed and W. Thomsong FresnelJ and
other
as
a
left-handed
proposed denote the property of rotating the plane of polarization, exhibited by such bodies as quartz : the less appropriate term natural rotatory polarization is,however, generally used.|| liquid organic bodies, e.g.turpentine and sugar solutions,possess the natural rotatory property : we might be led to infer the presence of a helical structure in
Biot showed that many
the molecules of such substances ; and by the study of their chemical invariably of the "mirror-image" are
helix respectively. helical to the term
this inference is supported constitution; for they

or
"enantiomorphous"
type, in which one of the atoms linked to other atoms. The next advance in the showed
is (generally carbon)
asymmetrically
was subject
due
to
Fresnel,1[ who
that in naturally active bodies the velocity of gation propaof circularly polarized light is different according as the
polarization
is right-handed
or
left-handed.
From
this
property the rotation of the plane be immediately polarized ray may
of polarization of a planededuced ; for the plane-
polarized ray may be resolved into two rays circularly polarized in opposite senses, and these advance in phase by different
*
Mem.
x
de 1'Institut, 1812, Part
i,
p. 372;
(1819), p.
63.
p. 218, sqq. ; Annales de Chim., ix Phil. Soc. Trans, i, p. 43. tCamb.
(1818),
J Mem. de The term ||

by Faraday,
H Annales
1'Inst. vii,p. 73. 1904),p. 31. " Baltimore Lectures (ed. be to the property discovered rotatory may applied with propriety which will be discussed later. de Chim. xxviii
(1825), p. 147.
The Aether
amounts
as
an
Elastic Solid.
1 75
in passing through a given thickness of the substance-: into a pkne-polarized at any stage they may be recompoundecl ray, the azimuth of whose plane of polarization varies with the
ray of light incident on a crystal of quartz will in general bifurcate into two refracted will be rays, each of which will be ellipticallypolarized, i.e. plane-polarized components capable of resolution into two
a
length of path traversed. It is readily seen from this that
which
these
differin phase by refracted rays
definite amount. be
The by
may
determined
directions of Huygens' constructio
provided the wave-surface is supposed to consist of a sphere and spheroid which do not touch. The first attempt to frame a theory of naturally active
in 1836.* Suppose a plane by MacCullagh made wave of light to be propagated within a crystal of quartz. Let denote the coordinates of a vibrating molecule, when ?/, (#,
bodies
was
z)
the axis of and the
is taken at right angles to the plane of the of z Fand

at right
wave,
axis
crystal.
Using
Zto
to the axis of the angles denote the displacements parallel to
the
axes
assumed
of y and z respectively at any time t, MacCullagh that the differentialequations which determine Y and
__
""
**
w
where
/*
w
on
^'w
the natural rotatory which In order to avoid compliproperty of the crystal depends. cations arising from the ordinary crystalline properties of quartz,
a
denotes
constant
we
shall suppose
that the light is propagated
parallel to the
optic axis, so that we can take c, equal to c2. Assuming firstthat the beam is circularly polarized, let it be represented by
(y
f\
Y
*
sin
"
(Ix "),
-
" A
cos
"
(Ix t),
-
Trans. Royal Irish Acad., xvii. ; MacCullagh's
Coll. Works, p. 63.
176
*he ambiguous
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
as the circular sign being determined according ^ ri^ht-handed or left-handed. polarization. Substituting in ê have above differentialequations, we
or
Since
denotes I//
the velocity of propagation, it is evident that

a
the reciprocals of the velocitiesof propagation of and left-handed beam differby the quantity
right-handed
from which
it is easily shown
a
plane of polarization of length of path is
that the angle through which the plane-polarized beam rotates in unit
rV
neglect the variation of Ci with the period of the light, this expression satisfiesBiot's law that the angle of rotation in unit length of path is proportional to the inverse square of
we
If
the wave-length. MacCullagh's
investigation
can
be scarcely called
theory,
for it amounts
to only to a reduction of the phenomena on this mathematical, laws ; but it was empirical, though foundation that later workers built the theory which is now
accepted.*
later developments of this theory will be discussed in a subsequent hut here he made of an attempt which was made in 1856 by mention may chapter ; Carl Neumann, to provide a rational basis for MacCullagh's then a very young man, Neumann be derived from the that the equations. equations may showed hypothesis that the relativedisplacement of one aethereal particle with respect to
*
The
another acts
current acts
on
on
law as an element of the latter according to the same Die C. Neumann's Cf. to a the preface magnetic pole.
an
electric
Drehung
der Polarisationsebene des Lichtes, Halle, 1863.
The Aether
The
as
an
Elastic Solid.
177
great investigators who developed the theory of light after the death of Fresnel devoted considerable attention to Their researches in this the optical properties of metals.
be reviewed. direction must now The most striking properties of metals are the power of brilliantlyreflecting light at all angles of incidence, which is by the mirrors of reflecting telescopes,and the a train of waves to be extinguished before opacity, which causes it has proceeded many wave-lengths into a metallic medium.
so
well shown
appears probable from the fact that certain non- metallic bodies e.g.,aniline dyes which strongly absorb the rays in certain parts of the spectrum, reflect those rays with almost metallic brilliance.
" "
That
these two
attributes
are
connected
A third quality in which metals differfrom transparent bodies, and which, as we shall see, is again closely related to the other two, is in regard to the polarization of the light reflected from
them.
This Brewster*
firstnoticed by Malus ; and in 1830 Sir David a that plane-polarized light incident on showed
was
metallic surface remains polarized in the same plane after reflexion if its polarization is either parallel or perpendicular to the plane of reflexion,but that in other cases the reflected light is polarized elliptically.
suggested to the mathematicians a theory of metallic reflexion. For, as we have seen, plane-polarized elliptic polarization is obtained when light is totally reflected at the surface of a transparent body ;
was
It
this discovery of Brews ter's which
the effects of total reflexion and menon metallic reflexion led to the surmise that the latter phenohad Fresnel in treated the same way as might be treated and this analogy the former, namely, by introducing imaginary quantities into the formulae of ordinary reflexion. On these principles mathematical formulae were devised by MacCullaghf and Cauchy^
p. 376 : Trans. Roy. Irish (1836), p. 2 ; ii (1843), Acad., xviii (1837), p. 71 : MacCullagh's Coll. Works, pp. 58, 132, 230. J Comptes Rendus, vii (1838), pp. 553, 658, 961 ; xxvi p. 953 ; riii (1839),
between
*Phil. Trans., 1830. + Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., i
(1848), p.
86.
178
To
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
shall suppose the incident explain their method, we light to be polarized in the plane of incidence. According to in this Fresnel's sine-law, the amplitude of the light (polarized
way) reflected from
transparent
body is to the amplitude
of
the incident light in the ratio
sin (i
_
r)
r
sin
(i r)'
+
where
i denotes the angle of incidence and
is determined
from
the equation
sin i MacCullagh and Cauchy
ft sin
r.
assumed
that these equations hold good the refractive
also for reflexion at a metallic surface, provided index /* is replaced by a complex quantity
IJL
=
v(l *v/
"
"
1)
two
say,
constants characteristic
where
and
are
to be regarded
as
of the metal.
We
have therefore
-
tan i
"
tan
,.-,..
-
r
" "
(ju2 sin2 i)%

-
cos
"
i
"
--
jj
tan i
tan
+ (fj2 sin2 i)k

-
cos
If then
we
write
that equations defining U and v are obtained by equating separately the real and the imaginary parts of this equation, we have
so
~
Ue^
v Ue v\/
TT
"
l
-
cos
1
+
cos
and this may
be written in the form
where
-=.2
U*
U"
2U
cos2^
cos2*
2U
2U
v
cos cos
cos cos
i i
cos
-
tang
i sin
cos2*
U*
The Aether
The quantities J and
as
an
Elastic Solid.
interpreted in the
same
179
way
as
are
in Fresnel's theory of total reflexion: that is,we take J to the ratio of the intensities of the reflectedand incident mean
light, while
measures
the change
of phase
experienced
by
the light in reflexion. The case of light polarized at right angles to the plane of incidence may be treated in the same way.
When
to
v
(1 +
the incidence is perpendicular, U evidently reduces For silver at perpentan-1 K. and u reduces to K2)*,
"
dicular incidence almost all the light is reflected, so J is nearly unity : this requires cos v to be small, and K to be very large.
The extreme
case
in which
is indefinitely great but
indefinitely
small, so that the quasi-index of refraction is a pure imaginary, is generally known as the case of ideal silver. The physical significance of the two constants v and K was less distinctly indicated by Cauchy; in fact, as the or more and transparent bodies depends the constant K, it is evident that K must in some way measure the opacity of the substance. This will be more clearly seen
metals
we
so
difference between
on
if
inquire how
as
and
theory of light can be extended the elastic-solid to provide a physical basis for the formulae of MacCullagh The sine-formula of Fresnel, which was Cauchy.* the
investigation of metallic reflexion, is a starting-point of our consequence of Green's elastic-solidtheory : and the differences Green's results and those which we have derived arise solely from the complex value which we have assumed for yu. We have therefore to modify Green's theory in such a way as
between
to obtain
value for the index of refraction. Take the plane of incidence as plane of xy, and the metallic surface as plane of yz. If the light is polarized in the plane of
a
complex
incidence,
the
so
that the lightvector be
incident light may
is parallel to the axis of z, taken to be a function of the by
argument
ax
ct,
This
was
done by Lord Rayleigh, Phil. Mag. xliii (1872), p. 321. N

2
180
where
a
-
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
/p\l
=
-
b
-
/p\*
-
COS
I, c
sin
\n
\nj
here and
n
denotes the angle of incidence, p the inertiaof the aether,, its rigidity.
a
Let the reflected light be

OiX
function of the argument by

+
ct,
where, in order to must have the same

are
secure
continuity at the boundary, b and c values as before. Since Green's formulae

must
to be stillapplicable, we
have
where
sin i
ft
sin r,
but
/j. has
now
complex
value.
This-
equation may
Let the complex
be written value of /u,z
the real part being written pi/pin order to exhibit the analogy with Green's theory of transparent media : then we have
(as in Green's theory) equation of this kind must represent the condition to be satisfied in order that the
But
an
quantity
(a\x + by +
t/
\/ ct)
may satisfy the differential equation of motion of the aether ; from which we see that the equation of motion of the aether is probably of the form in the metallic medium
dzez
dez
This equation
of motion
differs from
that of
Greenian
The Aether
elastic solid by reason But this is evidently
as
an
Elastic Solid.
of the term
in
181
of the
a
"
occurrence
"
dez/dt.
like
a
:
representing something frictionaldissipation of the energy of luminous vibrations a dissipation which, in fact,occasions the opacity of the
viscous
term,
which expresses opacity in the equation of motion of the luminiferous medium appears as the origin of the peculiaritiesof metallic reflexion.* It is curious to notice how
metal.
Thus the term
closely this accords with the idea of Huygens, that metals are characterized by the presence of soft particles which damp the vibrations of light. difficulty attending this explanation of metallic reflexion,which was firstpointed out by We have seen Lord Rayleigh.f that for ideal silver ^ is real
There
is, however,
one
great
and p" negative ; and negative : and therefore A must be zero in the that is to say, the inertia of the luminiferous medium be negative. This seems to destroy entirely the metal must
of the theory physical intelligibility ideal silver.
The
as
applied to the
case
of
difficulty is
for many
years. we will suggest itself when consider the resemblance which has already been noticed between metals and those substances which
show "surface
not overcome and was The direction in which the true solution lies
a
deep-seated
one,
e.g. the aniline dyes. In the case of the latter substances, the light which is so copiously reflectedfrom them lieswithin a restricted part of the spectrum ; is not probable that the phenomenon and it therefore seems colour"
"
to be attributed to the existence of dissipative terms,
but that
it belongs rather to the same class of effects as dispersion, In fact, dispersion causes. and is to be referred to the same that the value of the refractive index of a substance with respect to any kind of light depends on the period of have only to suppose that the physical the light ; and we
means
causes
which
operate in dispersion
cause
the refractive index

when
It is easily seen
one
travels
absorption.
that the amplitude is reduced by the factor e-"* in the metal : K is generally called the wave-length 1"Loc. cit.
light
of coefficient
182
to become
The Aether
imaginary
as
an
Elastic Solid.
for certain kinds of light, in order to explain satisfactorilyboth the surface colours of the aniline dyes and the strong reflecting powers of the metals. Dispersion
was
the
subjectof
founders of the elastic-solidtheory. directed* to the possibility of constructing a attention was on theory of this phenomenon the basis of mathematical Fresnel's Hypothesis of Finite Impacts "f i.e. the assumption
"
"
by the several memoirs So early as 1830 Cauchy's
that the radius of action of one particle of the luminiferous its neighbours is so large as to be comparable with on medium to the wave-length of light. Cauchy supposed the medium in Navier's theory of elastic solids, of a system two of these of point-centres of force : the force between at (x+ A#, y + Ay, z + Az), y, //, and point-centres, m at (x,
be formed,
as
may
m
be denoted by
z), where m^/(r),
denotes the distance between

propagated
and p.
When
this medium
is disturbed by lightwaves
parallel to the z-axis, the displacement being parallel to the #"axis, the equation of motion of m is evidently
-
p) -rT"
of
m,
r.
where
" denotes the displacement

of p, and
("-i
the If)
ment displace-
(r + p)the
new
value of
value, and retaining only terms equation becomes
Substituting for p its of the first degree in A?, this
DT
dr
on z, we
Now, by Taylor's theorem, since " depends only
have
Substituting, and that summations remembering involve odd powers of Az must taken vanish when
*
which
over
all
Bull, des Sc. Math, xiv (1830), p. 9 Exevcwe* de Math., 1836.
"
Sur la dispersion de la lumiere,"
t Cf. p. 132.
The Aether
as
an
Elastic Solid.
m,
183
we
the point-centres within the sphere of influence of an equation of the form
obtain
fft
=
d'K
w
.
a"+Pw
oÊ
d'Z
+
y"
---'
denote constants. where a, )3, 7 Each successive term on the right-hand side of this equation involves an additional factor (A^)2/X8 as compared with the preceding term, where X denotes the wave-length of the light : so
. .
indefinitely if the radii of influence of the point-centres were small in comparison with the wave-length of the light, the
equation would reduce to
8^_
=
ar-
""*'
cP"
in one is the ordinary equation of wave-propagation which But if the medium is so dimension in non-dispersive media. coarse-grained that A is not large compared with the radii of
influence,
we
must
retain the higher derivates of
tuting ". Substi-
in the differentialequation with these higher derivates retained, have we
'2-irV
which shows that cb the velocity of the light in the medium, depends on the wave-length A ; as it should do in order to explain dispersion. Dispersion
is, then, according
to the view
of Fresnel and
consequence of the coarse-grainedness of the medium. Since the luminiferous medium found to be dispersive only was within material bodies, it seemed natural to suppose that in
a
Cauchy,
these bodies the aether is loaded by the molecules of matter, and that dispersion depends essentially on the ratio of the wave-length to the distance between material molecules.
adjacent
184
The Aether
one
as
an
Elastic Solid.
modification or another, held its ground by the facts of until forty years later it was overthrown anomalous dispersion.
This theory, in
The
more
distinction between definitely drawn

in 1841-2
in
aether and ponderable
matter
was
independently
which memoirs by F. E. Neumann*
were
published and Matthew

particles to
These O'Brien.f
authors supposed
the ponderable
remain sensibly at rest while the aether surges round them, and is acted on by them with forces which are proportional to its displacement. ThusJ the equation of motion of the aether becomes
rP"
~2 p ""
=
-
ot
(k + ^n) grad
a
div
curl curl
Ce,
where
C denotes depend.
constant
on
which
the phenomena propagated
persion of dis-
to the axis of
x,
For polarized plane this equation becomes
waves
parallel
92e
92e
"
fg^"5r*5
and substituting
where have
denotes the period and
the velocity of the light,we
G
-
772
an
T, r
4^3
'
equation which
expresses the dependence
of the velocity on
the period. The attempt

those of
an
rise of the
*
the properties of the aether by elastic solid lost some of its interest after the electromagnetic theory of light. But in 1867,
aus
to represent
Berlin Abhandlungen
dem
Jahre 1841, Zweiter Teil, p. 1
Berlin, 1843.
t Trans. Camb.
Phil. Soc. vii

28.
(1842), p. 397.
J O'Brien, loc. cit, "" 15,
The Aether
before
the
as
an
Elastic Solid.
had
185
electromagnetic
hypothesis in many
attracted much
attention, an elastic-solid theory to its predecessors was presented
respects preferable to the French Academy* by
Joseph
seen,
Boussinesq
1842). (b.
Until
this time,
as
we
have
parties,according different bodies to as they attributed the optical properties of to or variations in the inertia of the luminiferous medium, variations in its elastic properties. Boussinesq, taking up a
position apart from both these schools, assumed that the aether is exactly the same in all material bodies as in interplanetary space, in regard both to inertia and to rigidity,and that the
investigators had been divided into two
optical properties of matter
are
due to interaction between
the
or aether and the material particles,as had been imagined more less by Neumann and O'Brien. These material particles he supposed to be disseminated in the aether, in much the same
dust-particles floating in the air. If e denote the displacement at the point (x, y, aether, and e' the displacement of the ponderable
way
as
z) in
the
at the
same
place, the equation of motion

rfie
particles of the aether is

?P"'
*jp
(k+ ^l)g11"1 div
e +
^V2e
p,
jp,
(1)
the densities of the aether and matter respectively, and k and n denote as usual the elasticconstants of the aether. This differs from the ordinary Cauchy-Green
where
p and
pl denote
equation
which only in the presence of the term pi"*'/dP, To this represents the effect of the inertia of the matter.
must equation we adjoinanother expressing the connexion between the displacements of the matter and of the aether: if we assume that these are simply proportional to each
other
"
say,
e'
=
Ae,
313,
(2)
425
:
cf. also Comptes Rendus, Equations kindred to some of those of Boussinesq pp. 80, 139, 193. "cxvii(1893), Soc , xx (1889), Math. Lond. M-ere afterwards deduced by Karl Pearson, Proc.
*
Journal de Math.
(2)xiii (1868), pp.
p. 297, from the hypothesis that the strain-energy involves the velocities.
186
where
The Aether
the constant
our
as
an
Elastic Solid.
the nature
depends
on
of the ponderable
body
"
equation becomes
32e
(p + P1A) ^ ot
which
(k+ Jw) grad
div
e +
^V2e,
equation as is obtained in those older theories which suppose the inertia of the luminiferous So far there to another. to vary from one medium medium is essentially the
same
in Boussinesq's work. But we proceed to consider crystal-optics, dispersion, and when becomes of his method rotatory polarization, the advantage as a formula universally true evident: he retains equation (1) while equation (2) is varied at any rate for bodies at rest would
seem
to be nothing
very
new
"
"
to suit the circumstances
of the
case.
Thus
dispersion
can
be
explained if,instead of equation

e'
=
we (2),
-
take the relation
Ae
Z"V2e,
where
is a constant
:
which
measures
the dispersive power
of
the rotation of the plane of polarization of sugar be explained if we suppose that in these bodies solutions can is replaced by equation (2)
the substance
e'
=
AQ
B curl
e,
where
B is
constant
which
measures
the optical properties of crystals can is to be replaced by the equations that for them equation (2)
ex'
=
the rotatory power ; and be explained if we suppose
Atfx,
ey
Azeyt
ez'
A3e,
e' are
When
these values for the components

same
of
in equation (1), we evidently obtain the derived from the Stokes-Eankine-Eayleigh differentin differentdirections in
a
substituted formulae as were
hypothesis of inertia crystal; to which Boussinesq's
theory of crystal-opticsis practically equivalent. The optical properties of bodies in motion may for by modifying
equation
so (1),
be accounted that it takes the form a

-
a
+ Wx"
cv
a
+ Wy"+ W~
"
ay C
,,
ct
oy
ozj
The Aether
where w body is
as
an
Elastic Solid.
187
If the denotes the velocity of the ponderable body. an consider light ordinary isotropic one, and if we moving in propagated parallel to the axis of z, in a medium that direction, the lightvector
being parallel to the axis of x,
the equation reduces to
d'ex
O
'
"
d'ex
7b
^W(j6
' "
id
"
9V
"
C7t
O/2
Q]A. I -f-IV \ ^/
\(7"
î/v/ (72'/
6r i
substituting
",-/(*- FO,
where
medium for V the value
denotes the velocity of propagation of light in the estimated with reference to the fixed aether, we obtain
/
\p The
+
\k
pt
p
o\A
+
absolute velocity of light is therefore increased by the + to the motion of the medium ; amount piAw/(p piA) owing where ju denotes the and this may be written (/** 1)
-
wjfjc,
refractive index ; so that Boussinesq's theory leads to the same formula as had been given half a century previously by Fresnel.* It is Boussinesq's merit to have clearly asserted that all
space, both within and without ponderable bodies, is occupied both in inertia by one identical aether, the same everywhere and
present elasticity; and that all aethereal processes are to be reby two kinds of equations, of which one kind expresses the invariable equations of motion of the aether, while the other expresses
the
kind
and matter. Many revived in connexion years afterwards these ideas were with the electromagnetic theory, in the modern forms of which importance. they are indeed of fundamental
aether
*
interaction between
Cf. p. 115 sqq.
188
CHAPTEK
VI.
FAKADAY.
of the year 1812, Davy received a letter in Michael which the writer, a bookbinder's journeyman named Faraday, expressed a desire to escape from trade, and obtain TOWARDS
the end
employment enclosed he was

a
in
scientificlaboratory.
With
the letter
was
neatly written copy of notes which the young man had made of Davy's own twenty-one years of age public lectures. The great chemist replied courteously, and dent arranged an interview ; at which he learnt that his correspon"
"
had educated himself by reading the volumes which came Faraday into his hands for binding. two," were "There
the 'Encyclopaedia especially helped me, Britannica,' from which I gained my firstnotions of electricity, Conversations on Chemistry/which gave and Mrs. Marcet's
wrote
later, "that
'
me
my
foundation in that science." Already, before his application he had to Davy, a of chemical performed number
for himself a voltaic pile, with experiments, and had made bodies. which he had decomposed several compound At Davy's recommendation in the following Faraday was
spring appointed to a post in the laboratory of the Koyal Institution, which had been established at the close of the eighteenth century under the auspices of Count Rumford ; and here he remained for the whole of his active life, first as
assistant, then
as
director of the
of
a
laboratory, and
from
which
1833
was
onwards founded
the occupant for his benefit.

as
chair of chemistry
For many
years Faraday
was
directly under Davy's influence,
and was occupied chiefly in chemical investigations. But in 1821, when field of inquiry opened by Oersted's the new
Faraday.
discovery
189
an
Sketch
of
attracting attention, he wrote Magnetism* a as Electropreparation

was
Historical
he
for which
described by the writers he to have been the beginning was reviewing ; and this seems of is his fame due. to the researches chiefly which The memoir which stands firstin the published volumes of
carefully repeated
the experiments
Faraday's
Society
on
to the Royal communicated electrical workf was The 24th, 1831. November investigation was
of discovering analogies between the behaviour of electricity in motion in as observed currents, and the behaviour of electricityat rest on conductors. known to possess the power of induction Static electricity was
inspired,
as us,
" "
he tells
by the hope
bodies in its opposite electricalstate on neighbourhood ; was it not possible that electric currents might show a similar property ? The idea at firstwas that if in any made to flow, any circuit a current were circuit would
"
i.e., of causing
an
adjacent
be traversed by an induced current, which would persist exactly Faraday found that this was the inducing current. as long as
not
the
an
for
induced, but it lasted only instant, being in fact perceived only when the primary
case
current
was
indeed
current
was
started
or
stopped.
mere
It depended,
as
he
soon
convinced himself, not on the current, but on its variation. Faraday

now
existence of the inducing the laws of induction
set himself to determine
of currents, and
for this purpose devised a new way of representing the state of a magnetic field. Philosophers had been
long accustomed? to illustratemagnetic power by strewing iron filings on a sheet of paper, and observing the curves in which they dispose themselves when a magnet is brought underneath.
"Published
in Annals
of
Philosophy,
ii
(1821), pp.
195,
274;
iii (1822),
p. 107. t Experimental
*
Researches in Electricity, by Michael Faraday
practice goes back traced by Petrus Peregrinus

The
of lines of force. Among iron filings,Mem. de 1'Acad., 1717.

paper of 1821,
: 3 vols. least Niccolo far Cabeo as as at ; indeed the curves his globular lodestone (cf p. 8) were on projections eighteenth-century writers La Hire mentions the use of
.
Faraday
had referred to them in his electromagnetic
Exp. Res. ii,p. 127.
190
These
curves
Faraday.
suggested to Faraday* the idea of lines ofmagnetic or curves force, whose direction at every point coincides with intensity at that point; the the direction of the magnetic
iron filings arrange themselves on the so far as is possible to the paper resemble these curves subject condition of not leaving the plane of the paper.
curves
in which
the
these lines of magnetic force Faraday conceived all space to be filled. Every line of force is a closed curve, which its in some course passes through the magnet to which part of
With
it belongs, f
if any small closed curve be taken in space, form a the lines of force which intersect this curve must tubular surface returning into itself; such a surface is called a
Hence
magnitude}
tube of force we may derive information intensity, not only regarding the direction of the magnetic for the product of this but also regarding its magnitude; and the cross-section of any tube is constant along
From tiibeofforce.
a
of the tube." On the basis of this result, Faraday conceived the idea of partitioning all space into by tubes, each tube being such that this product compartments
the entire length
has the
simplicity, each of these tubes may be called a unit line of force ; the strength of the fieldis then indicated by the separation or concentration of
same
" "
definite value.
For
the unit lines of force,! I so that the number of them which intersect a unit area placed at right angles to their direction
firstdefined in Exp. Res., " 114 : "By I mean were magnetic curves, forces, hy however lines the the juxtaposition of poles, of magnetic modified by be depicted iron filings or those to a very small ; which magnetic which could
#They
a tangent." needle would t Exp. Res. iii, p. 405.
form
the substance of magnetized bodies we must in this connexion understand the magnetic intensity to be that experienced in a crevice whose sides are perpendicular to the lines of magnetization : in other words, we must take it to be
J Within
since Maxwell's time has been called the magnetic induction. " Exp. Res., " 3073. This theorem was first proved by the French geometer on Michel Chasles, in his memoir the attraction of an ellipsoidalsheet, Journal what de 1'Ecole Polyt. Ibid., ||
xv
(1837), p.
"The
266.
relative amount of force, or of lines of force, in a i.e.,by their number given space is indicated by their concentration or separation in that space."
"
3122.
"
Faraday.
measures
191
field at
any point that point.

at
the intensity of the magnetic
Faraday
"
I cannot
of lines of force. constantly thought in terms from again expressing refrain,"he wrote, in 1851,*
"
conviction of the truthfulness of the representation, which the idea of lines of force affords in regard to magnetic action.
my
All the points which are experimentally established in regard i.e. to that action all that is not hypothetical appear to be well and truly represented by it."f
"
"
Faraday
when
found that
the strength of an magnet is brought near He
circuit either is current altered, or when a adjacent to the circuit,or when the circuit itself magnet. the induction depends
current
or a
current
is induced in
is moved
saw
about in presence of another from the firstj that in all cases
on
the relative motion force in its vicinity.

was
of the circuit and the lines of magnetic The precise nature of this dependence
the he
same
of subject that found"
long-continued
the currents
further
experiments.
In
1832 the
circumstances
production of a definite electromotive force, independent of the nature of the wire, and dependent the intersections of the wire and the only on
the
the conducting powers that the induction consists in
produced by induction under in different wires are proportional to a of the wires result which showed
"
magnetic
the wire
curves.
forms
This electromotive force is produced whether or is closed circuit (sothat a current flows)
that electrictension open (so results). All that now to inquire in what way the remained was electromotive force depends on the relative motion of the wire to this inquiry is, in and the lines of force. The answer
*
Exp. Res.,
" 3174.
far from sharing of Faraday's most distinguished contemporaries were " " I I can hardly Sir George declare," Airy in 1855, that wrote this conviction.
" between who practically and numerically knows this agreement observation and the results of calculation based on action at a distance, "to hesitate instant in the choice between this simple and precise action, on the one hand, au Cf. and anything so vague and varying as lines of force, on the other hand."
t Some
imagine anyone
Bence
Jones's Life of Faraday,
Exp.
ii,p. 353. Res., " 116.
" Ibid., " 213.
192
Faraday's
own
Faraday.
directly or words,* that "whether the wire moves the lines of force, in one direction or another, it obliquely across sums of the forces represented by the lines it up the amount has crossed," so that the quantity of electricitythrown into a
"
is directly as the number of curves intersected."t The induced electromotive force is,in fact, simply proportional to
current
the number
of the unit lines of magnetic
force intersected by
the wire per second. This is the fundamental

currents.
principle
is undoubtedly of its discovery ; but for a right understanding of the progress of electrical theory at this period, it is necessary to remember that many years elapsed before all the conceptions involved in
Faraday
of entitled to the full honour
of
the
induction
Faraday's principle became clear and familiar to his contemporaries the problem of formulating ; and that in the meantime from the laws of induced currents was approached with success There were indeed many obstacles to the other points of view. by the mathematical direct appropriation of Faraday's work generation ; not being himself a mathematician, physicists of his own language ; unable to address them in their own lines of of representation by moving and his favourite mode force repelled analysts who had been trained in the school of
he
was
Laplace and Poisson. Moreover, the idea of electromotive force itself, which had been applied to currents a few years previously have seen, in Ohm's as we memoir, was, still involved in
obscurity and misapprehension. A curious question which arose out of Faraday's theory was which is rotated on its own axis whether a bar-magnet carries its lines of magnetic force in rotation with it. Faraday
himself believed that the lines of force do not rotate J: on this view a revolving magnet like the earth is to be regarded as
moving
through
at the
its own equator
lines of force, so that it must
become
charged
poles with electricityof opposite signs ; and if a wire not partaking in the earth's rotation were to have sliding contact with the earth at a pole and at the
and
Exp. Res.,
" 3082.
t Ibid., " 3115.
% Ibid., " 3090.
Faraday.
equator,
a
193
would steadily flow through it. Experiments made by Faraday himself ;* confirmatory of these views were but they do not strictly prove his hypothesis that the lines of
current
force remain at rest ; for it is easily seenf that, if they were to rotate, that part of the electromotive force which would be produced by. their rotation would be derivable from a potential,
and
so
would
produce
no
effectin closed circuitssuch
as
Faraday
used. Three years after the commencement led to induced currents he was on them by
an
an
of Faraday's researches important extension of
to him communicated observation which was had William Jenkin noticed that another worker. powerful source electricshock may be obtained with no more
by
an
of
electricitythan
single cell, provided the wire through which the current passes is long and coiled ; the shock being feltwhen Jenkin did not choose to investigate contact is broken. J As
a
the matter
further, Faraday
took it up, and
that showed"
the
powerful
the current, which was momentary observed when circuit was interrupted, was really an induced current governed laws as all other induced currents, but with this by the same flowed peculiarity,that the induced and inducing currents now circuit. In fact,the current in its steady state establishes in the surrounding region a magnetic field, whose lines of force are linked with the circuit; and the removal of
in the
same
the circuit is broken originates an these lines of force when induced current, which greatly reinforces the primary current before its finalextinction. To this phenomenon the name just has been given. of
self-induction
"Exp. Res.,
The circumstances attending the discovery of self-induction
"$218,
3109, "c.
t Cf. W.
p. 131. (1885),
experiment delicate electrometer.
d. Phys. lii(1841) ; S. Tolver Preston, Phil. Mag. xix In 1891 S. T. Preston, Phil. Mag. xxxi, p. 100, designed a crucial to test the question ; but it was not tried for want of a sufficiently
and published in the Amer.
a
Weber, Ann.
% A similarobservation had been made by Henry, Jour. Sci. xxii (1832), The spark at the p. 408.
rupture of had been by Pouillet often observed, e.g., circuit and Nobili. Exp. 1048. Res., " "
spirally-wound
1 94
a
Faraday.
the number of tions suggesHe remarked continually being laid before him. which were that although at different times a large number of
comment
on
occasioned
from
Faraday
authors Jenkin
"
had
was
him with their ideas, this case of presented in which any result had followed. the only one
are
The volunteers
serious embarrassments
generally to the
had shown the close connexion of magnetic with electricscience. But the connexion of the different branches of electric science with each other was stillnot altogether clear. Although Wollaston's
and Faraday
experienced philosopher."* The discoveries of Oersted, Ampere,
of 1801 had in effect proved the identity in kind the of the currents derived from frictionaland voltaic sources, no stillregarded as open thirty years question was
experiments
afterwards,f
satisfactory explanation frictional electricity appeared

whereas
being
forthcoming
to
of the fact that
voltaic electricity was self; applied himsubstance of bodies. To this question Faraday now and in 1833 he succeeded* in showing that every known effectof electricity physiological,magnetic, luminous, calorific,
"
surface-phenomenon, conducted within the interior
be
chemical, and mechanical
"
with the electricity which obtained from a voltaic battery. Henceforth two
was
may be obtained indifferently either is obtained by friction or with that

the identity of the
beyond
dispute.
however, has
Some
misapprehension,
writers as to the conclusions which may identification. What Faraday proved is that the process which goes on in a wire connecting the terminals of a voltaic cell is of the same nature as the process which for a short time goes on in
a
later existed among be drawn from this
wire by which
*
condenser is discharged.
ii,p. 45.
;
He
did not prove,
Bence Jones's Life Faraday, of

"
t Cf. John Davy, Phil. Trans., 1832, p. 259
W. Ritchie, ibid.,p. 279. Davy
power, suggested that the electrical according to the analogy of the solar ray," " be a but a combination not simple power, might of powers, which may occur
variously associated,and produce all the varietiesof electricity with which acquainted." J Exp. Jies.9Series iii.
we
are
Faraday.
195
and did not profess to have proved, that this process consists in from one the actual movement of a quasi-substance, electricity, plate of the condenser to the other, or of two quasi-substances,
in opposite directions. vitreous electricities, been pictured in this way by many of his and it has since been so predecessors, notably by Volta; : but from such assumptions pictured by most of his successors the resinous and The process had Faraday himself carefully abstained. to all theories,and is universally conceded, What is common is that the rate of increase in the total quantity of electrostatic is equal to the excess of the charge within any volume-element influx over the efflux of current from it. This statement may
be represented by the equation
|+divi
=
0,
(1)
where p denotes the volume-density of electrostatic charge, y, z) at the time t. Volta's and i the current, at the place (x, is really one way of interpreting this equation assumption
physically: it presents itself when with the equation
we
compare
equation
(1)
which is the equation of continuity for a fluid of density p and may identify the two equations by supposing i velocity v : we to be of the same physical nature as the product /"v; and
this is precisely what
is done
by
those who
accept Volta's
assumption. But other assumptions might be made which would equally For well furnish physical interpretations to equation (1). instance, ifwe suppose p to be the convergence of any vector of
which
*
i is the time-flux,* equation
is satisfied (1) automatically ;
In symbols,
div
8
=
-
where
denotes the vector in question.
02
196
we
Faraday.
ment. picture this vector as being of the nature of a displaceBy such an assumption we should avoid altogether the an as actual necessity for regarding the conduction-current flow of electric charges, or for speculating whether the drifting
can
charges anything
are
negative ; and there would be no longer surprising in the production of a null effect by the
positive
or
coalescence of electric charges of opposite signs. Faraday himself wished to leave the matter Perhaps avoid any definite assumption.* his views is afforded by a laboratory notejmanner the "After much consideration of
open, and to the best indication of of date 1837 :

"
in which
the
electricforces are arranged in the various phenomena generally,. I have come I to certain conclusions which will endeavour to note down without committing myself to any opinion as to the
to the nature If as of electricity,i.e., of the power. exist independently of matter, then I think that the electricity
cause
hypothesis of one fluid will not stand against that of two fluids. There are, I think, evidently what I may call two elements of power, of equal force and acting toward each other. But these
powers
more
be distinguished only by direction, and may be no separate than the north and south forces in the elements may
of a magnetic needle. They may be the polar points of the forces originallyplaced in the particles of matter." It may be remarked that since the rise of the mathematical
theory of electrostatics, the controversy between the supporters the two-fluid theories had become of the one-fluid and
The manifestly barren. analytical equations, in which largely centred, could be interpreted equally interest was now to be little either hypothesis; and there seemed well on mental experiprospect of discriminating between them by any new
discovery.
*"His
But
problem
does not lose its fascination
principal aim," said Helmholtz in the Faraday Lecture of 1881, to express in his new was conceptions only facts, with the least possible use of This was hypothetical substances and forces. really a progress in general
"
method, scientific
destined to purify
science from
the
last remains
of metaphysics."
t Bence Jones's LifeofForadny^ ii,p. 77.
Faraday.
"
197
I said once to Faraday," wrote because it appears insoluble. Stokes to his father-in-law in 1879, as I sat beside him at a
"
British Association
great step would be made we should be able to say of electricity that when tions. say of light, in saying that it consists of undulawhich we long way off that a He said to me he thought we were Faraday reverted to his next series of researches,! the firstto attract him as an which had been among subjects apprentice attending Davy's lectures : the voltaic pile,and the
relations of electricityto chemistry. decomposiIt was at this time generally supposed that the tion of a solution, through which an electric current is passed, is due primarily to attractive and repellent forces exercised on its molecules by the metallic terminals at which the current enters and leaves the solution. Such forces had been assumed both in the hypothesis of Grothuss and Davy, and in the rival hypothesis of De La Eive ;+ the chief difference between these
dinner, that I thought
yet."* For
being that whereas decompositions and supposed

only power
ones
Grothuss
and
Davy
recompositions
supposed a in the liquid, De
chain 'of La Rive the the
to the terminals to be the molecules adjacent decomposed, and attributed to their fragments
of travelling through
the liquid from
one
terminal to the
other. To test this doctrine of the influence of terminals, Faraday moistened a piece of paper in a saline solution,and supported
it in the
air
two
on
wax,
so
as
to
occupy
part of the interval
connected with an needle-points which were When the machine was worked, the current electricmachine. between was the needle-points by way of the conveyed moistened paper and the two air-intervals on either side of it;
between
went and under these circumstances it was found that the salt underdecomposition. Since in this case no metallic terminals of kind
were
.any
*
in contact
with the solution, it was
evident that
Correspondence, vol. i, p. 353. Stokes's Scientific
t Exp. Res.,
" 450 (1833).
" Cf. pp. 78-9.
198
Faraday.
all hypotheses which attributed decomposition to the action of the terminals were untenable. The ground being thus cleared by the demolition of previous
theories, Faraday
own. was one a
at liberty to construct
He
retained
doctrine, namely, that
theory of his of the ideas of Grothuss' and Davy's chain of decompositions and recombinations
a
takes place in the liquid ; but these molecular processes he attributed not to any action of the terminals, but to a power
possessed by the electric current course through the solution. If
itself,at
as
.
all places in its

we
an
example
consider
"
neighbouring
water, which
molecules
was
by
the
say of the compound decomat that time believed to be directly posed Faraday that before the current supposed
. .
"
A, B, C, D,
passage of the current the hydrogen of A would be in close union with the oxygen of A, and also in a less close relation with the oxygen atoms of B, C, D, : these latter relations being
.
to conjectured
be the
cause
an solids and fluids.* When liquid,the affinityof the hydrogen of A for the oxygen of B is strengthened, if A and B lie along the direction of the current ; of its bonds from the while the hydrogen of A withdraws some
of the attraction of aggregation in electriccurrent is sent through the
So combined. oxygen of A, with which it is at the moment long as the hydrogen and oxygen of A remain in association, the state thus induced is merely one of polarization ; but the molecule is unable to stand the strain thus imposed compound it,and the hydrogen and oxygen of A part company from on Thus decompositions take place, followed by each other. recombinations : with the result that after each exchange an associates itself with positive terminal, while a hydrogen
oxygen
atom
partner
atom
nearer
to the
a
associates with
to the negative terminal. partner nearer This theory explains why, in all ordinary cases, the evolved substances appear only at the terminals ; for the terminals are
the limiting surfaces of the decomposing substance ; and, except at them, every particle finds other particles having a contrary
*Exp. lies., "523.
Faraday.
tendency
numerous
199
It also explains why, in
with which it
cases,
can
combine.
of the
evolved substances are not retained by the terminals (an obvious difficultyin the way of : all theories which suppose the terminals to attract the atoms)
for the evolved drawn out by an substances
attraction.
v
the atoms
are
expelled from had
the liquid, not
Many
theories
of the perplexities which

were
harassed
the
older
regarded
at
once
removed
when
from Faraday's point of view. opposed

to chemical
the phenomena were Thus, mere mixtures

not
(as
compounds) are
separated into their
constituents by the electriccurrent ; although there would seem to be no reason polar attraction should why the Grothuss-Davy not operate as well on elements contained in mixtures as on elements contained in compounds.
In the latter part of the same Faraday took up year (1833) the at this time that he introduced the again.* It was
subject
which
terms
have
ever
phenomena of terminals by which the electric current passes into or out of the decomposing body he gave the name electrodes. The electrode of high potential, at which oxygen, chlorine, acids, "c., are
the
generally used to describe To the electro-chemical decomposition.
since been
evolved, he called the anode, and the electrode of low potential, at which metals, alkalis, and bases are evolved, the cathode. Those bodies which decomposed directly by the current are he named electrolytes ; the parts into which they are decomposed, ions ; the acid ions,which travel to the anode, he named anions ; and the metallic ions, which pass to the cathode, cations.
Faraday
which
now
proceeded
to test the truth of
supposition
he had published rather more than a year previously ,f and which indeed had apparently been suspected by Gay-Lussac and ThenardJ so early as 1811; namely, that the rate at which
an
electrolyte is decomposed
depends
the electric current
passing through size of the electrodes or the strength of the solution. Having
*
solely on the intensity of it,and not at all on the
Exp.
Res.,
" 661.
f /*'*., " 377 (Dec.1832).

sur faites
" Recherches physico-chimiqucs
la pile ; Paris, 1811, p. 12.
200
Faraday.
established the accuracy of this law,* he found by a comparison of any ion liberated by of different electrolytes that the mass a given quantity of electricity is proportional to its chemical
equivalent, i.e.to the amount
some
standard
so
mass
of
one
some
of it required to combine with If an element standard element.
of its atoms can hold in combination n atoms of hydrogen, the chemical equivalent of this element may be taken to be 1/n of its atomic weight ; and therefore
is %-valent, that
Faraday's
current
result may be expressed will liberate exactly one
by saying that
atom
of
the
electric in element
an
question in the time which of

"
it would
take to liberate n atoms
hydrogen.-)The quantitative law
the atoms
of matter
are
seemed in some
to
to indicate that Faraday:}:
with
electricalpowers, to which
or associated way endowed they owe their most striking
them their mutual chemical affinity." qualities, and amongst Looking at the facts of electrolytic decomposition from this point of view, he showed how natural it is to suppose that the electricitywhich passes through the electrolyte is the exact equivalent of that which is possessed by the atoms separated at the electrodes ; which implies that there is a certain absolute
quantity
matter.
of
the
electric power
associated with
each
atom
of
claims of this splendid speculation he advocated with The harmony," he wrote, " which it introduces conviction. into the associated theories of definite proportions and electrochemical
The
"
"
affinityis very great. According to it,the equivalent weights of bodies are simply those quantities of them which have naturally equal or contain equal quantities of electricity, which determines the electric powers ; it being the ELECTRICITY
equivalent number, because it determines the combining force. Or, if we adopt the atomic theory or phraseology, then the
*Exp. Res.,
"" 713-821.
the modern pass round the units, 96580 coulombs of electricitymust ion in liberate to to a the quotient of of grams equal number circuit order of each the atomic weight by the valency. " Ibid., " 869. J Exp. Res., " 852.
t In
Faraday.
of bodies which
are
201
atoms
equivalent to each other in their ordinary chemical action, have equal quantities of electricity But," he added, I must naturally associated with them. jealous of the term atom : for though it is very confess I am
"
"
difficultto form a easy to talk of atoms, it is very bodies compound of their nature, especially when
consideration." These discoveries and
clear idea
are
under in
ideas tended
to confirm
Faraday
preferring, among the rival theories of the voltaic cell,that one to which all his antecedents and connexions predisposed him. The controversy between the supporters of Volta's contact
hypothesis Davy
on
the
one
on
hand, and
and Wollaston
the chemical hypothesis of been carried on the other, had now
generation without any very decisive result. In Germany and Italy the contact explanation was generally accepted, under the influence of Christian Heiririch Pfaff, of Kiel (b.1773, for
a
d.
1852), and
Theodor Marianini
the younger men, of Gustav of Ohm, and, among Fechner (b.1801, d. 1887), of Leipzig,* and Stefano
1790, d. 1866), of Modena. (b.

was, as
Among
seen,
French
writers
De La Eive, of Geneva,
active in support of the chemical hypothesis; and this side in the dispute had always been favoured by the English philosophers. There is no doubt that when two different metals are put
we
have
difference of potential is set up between them without any apparent chemical action ; but while the contact party regarded this as a direct manifestation of a "contactin contact,
a
force
*
"
distinct in kind from

Christian Poggendorff
all other known
forces of nature,
1796, d. 1877), (b. of Berlin, for long the editor Physik, to leaned der the chemical side, but in 1838 of the Annalen originally became convinced of the truth of the contact theory, which he afterwards actively Jacobi (b. Moritz Hermann 1801, d. 1874), defended. of Dorpat, is also to be
Johaim
its advocates. mentioned among in 1834 : Faraday's first series of investigations on this were made subject Exp, "es., series viii. In 1836 De La Kive followed on the same side with his The views of Faraday and De La Eccherches sur la Cause de V Electr. Voltaique. Kiel, 1837, and Galvanistntts, criticizedby Pfaff, Revision der Lehre vom d. Phys., xlii (1837), by Fechner, Ann. p. 433 : translated p. 481, and xliii(1838),
Rive
were
Phil. Mag., xiii (1838), pp. 205, 367.

Exp, Jtes., series xvi and xvii.
Faraday
returned to the
question in 1840,
202
Faraday.
the chemical party explained it as a consequence of chemical affinity or incipient chemical action between the metals and There is also no doubt that the surrounding air or moisture.
the continued activity of a voltaic cell is always accompanied by chemical unions or decompositions ; but while the chemical
party asserted that these constitute the efficientsource of theas current, the contact party regarded them secondary actions, and attributed the continual circulation of electricity to the perpetual
tendency
of the
one
electromotive
force of contact
to
transfer charge from One of the most
substance
to another.
active supporters of the chemical theory the English physicists immediately among preceding Faraday Peter Mark Eoget (b. due twowas are 1779, d. 1869),to whom in its favour. In the first place, of the strongest arguments carefully distinguishing between the quantity of electricity put into circulation by
cell and the tension at which this electricity is furnished, he showed that the latter quantity depends on the
a
"* a fact which, when taken of the chemical action together with Faraday's discovery that the quantity of electricity put into circulation depends on the amount sumed, of chemicals con"
energy
"
places the origin of voltaic activity beyond all question. Koget's principle was afterwards verified by Faradayf and by De La EiveJ; the electricityof the voltaic pile is proportionate in its intensity to the intensity of the affinities concerned in
"
its production," said the former in 1834; while De La Kive in 1836, " The intensity of the currents developed in wrote combinations and in decompositions is exactly proportional to the degree of affinitywhich subsists between the atoms whose combination or separation has given rise to these currents."
absolute quantity of electricitywhich is thus developed, and made to circulate,will depend upon a variety of circumstances, such as the extent of the But afforded to its transmission, "c. surfaces in chemical action, the facilities its degree of intensity,or tension, as it is often termed, will be regulated by other
"
The
causes,
and more especially by Galvanism (1832), " 70.
the energy
of the chemical
action."
Roget's
t Exp. Res.,
"" 908,
909, 916, 988, 1958.
Annales
de Chim., Ixi
(1836), p.
38.
Faraday.
Not
203
arguresting here, however, Koget brought up another ment there could of far-reaching significance. If,"he wrote,* exist a power having the property ascribed to it by the [contact] hypothesis, namely, that of giving continual impulse to a fluid
"
"
in
one
constant
direction, without being exhausted
by its
own
action, it would differ essentially from all the other known All the powers and sources powers in nature. of motion, with
acquainted, when producing their are peculiar effects, expended in the same proportion as those effects are produced ; and hence arises the impossibility of obtaining by their agency a perpetual effect; or, in other words,
we are
the operation of which
But the electro-motive force ascribed by perpetual motion. Yolta to the metals when in contact is a force which, as long is allowed to the electricityit sets in motion, as a free course is never expended, and continues to be exerted with undia
minished power, in the production of a never-ceasing effect. Against the truth of such a supposition the probabilities are all but infinite." This principle, which is little less than the doctrine of
conservation of energy applied to a voltaic cell,was reasserted by Faraday. The process imagined by the contact school 'power -, like no other would," he wrote, "indeed be a creation of force in nature." In all known cases energy is not generated, but only transformed. There is no such thing in the world as
"
"a
pure
creation of force;
production
of power
without
corresponding exhaustion of something to supply it."f As time went on, each of the rival theories of the cell became The contact modified in the direction of the other.
party
admitted the importance of the surfaces at which the the chief metals are in contact with the liquid, where of course
action takes place ; and the chemical party confessed their inability to explain the state of tension which subsists before the circuit is closed,without introducing hypotheses just
chemical
as
uncertain
as
that of contact
*Roget's
force.
113.
Galvanism
"tExp.Res.,
" (1832), " 2071 (1840).
204
Faraday's
own
Faraday.
view that a plate of this point* was has placed in dilute sulphuric acid,
on
"
amalgamated zinc, when power so far to act, by
its attraction for the oxygen of the particles'incontact with it,as to place the similar forces already these and the other particles of oxygen and active between
the particles of hydrogen
peculiar state of time to tension or polarity, and probably also at the same throw those of its own particles which are in contact with the similar but opposed state. Whilst this state is it is relieved but when retained, no further change occurs: by completion of the circuit,in which case the forces determined
water
in the water, in
into
in opposite directions,with respect to the zinc and the electrolyte, found to are exactly competent neutralize each other, then a series of decompositions and recompositions takes place
amongst the particles of oxygen and hydrogen which constitute the water, between the place of contact with the platina and the place where the zinc is active : these intervening particles being evidently in close dependence upon other. The zinc forms a direct compound
and relation to each with those particles previously, in divided relation to both the oxide is removed by the acid, and a
renew
of oxygen which were, it and the hydrogen : fresh surface of zinc is presented to the water, to repeat the action."
These
and
further by the later adherents of the chemical theory, especially by Faraday's friend Christian Friedrich Schonbein,f of Basle (6. the discoverer 1799, d. 1868),
were
ideas
developed
of
ozone.
Schonbein
that when
assuming
definite by the hypothesis more made the circuit is open, the molecules of water
the zinc plate are electrically polarized, the oxygen side of each molecule being turned towards the zinc and being negatively charged, while the hydrogen side is turned away
to adjacent
from the zinc and is positively charged.

*
In
the third quarter
Exp.
""., " 949.
d. Phys., Ixxviii(1849), p. 289, translated Archives des sc. phys., xiii (1850), p. 192. Faraday and Schonbein for many years carried on a correspondence, has been edited by G. W. A. Kahlbaum which and F. V. Darbishire : London,
t Ann.
Williams
and Norgate.
Faraday.
of the nineteenth of
some
205
was
century, the general opinion

as
in favour
such
conception
this. Helmholtz*
grasp the molecular processes more that the different chemical elements have
powers
attempted tointimately by assuming different attractivethe vitreous and zinc have strong
(exerted only
at
small
for distances)
: thus electricities potassium and for attractions positive charges, while oxygen, chlorine, and bromine have strong attractions for negative electricity. This
resinous
original hypothesis in little else but in assuming two only electric fluids where Volta assumed It is evident that the contact difference of potential; one. Volta's metals may be at once explained by Helmholtz's, hypothesis, as it was by Volta's ; and the activity of the voltaic cell may be referred to the same principles : for the two ions
two
differs from
between
of which the liquid molecules are composed will also possess different attractive powers for the electricities, be and may supposed to be united respectively with vitreous and resinous, in the liquid,^ when two metals are immersed the circuit being open, the positive ions are attracted to the negative metal and the negative ions to the positive metal,, thereby causing a polarized arrangement of the liquid molecules charges.
Thus
the circuit is closed, the positively charged surface of the positive metal is dissolved into the fluid;, and as the atoms carry their charge with them, the positive be percharge on the immersed surface of this metal must petually
near
the metals.
When
renewed by a current flowing in the outer circuit. did not adhere to Davy'ss It will be seen that Helmholtz doctrine of the electricalnature of chemical affinity quite as, closely as Faraday, who preferred it in its most direct All the facts show us," he wrote,f form. and uncompromising be" "that that power called chemical affinity can commonly to a distance through the metals and certain communicated
simply
or
"
forms of carbon ; that the electric current is only another form ; that itspower is in proportion. of the forces of chemical affinity
In his celebrated memoir t Exp. Ties.," 918.
*
of 1847
on
the Conservation,
.o".Huergy.
206
Faraday.
to the chemical affinities producing it ; that when it is deficient in force it may be helped by calling in chemical aid, the want
in the former being made up by an equivalent of the latter; that, in other words, the forces termed chemical and affinity
one are and the same." electricity In the interval between Faraday's on
earlier and
same
later papers
important results on the the cell,some 1790, d. published by Frederic Daniell (b.
were subject Professor of 1845),
Chemistry
in King's
College, London.*
when a current is passed through a the ions which carry the current are and not the oxygen and hydrogen ions derived from the water ; between different mixed this follows since a current divides itself electrolytes according to the difficultyof decomposing each, and it is known that pure water can be electrolysed only with great difficulty. Daniell further showed that the ions arising from sulphate are not represented by Na20 and S03, but by Na and S04 ; and that in such a case as this, sulphuric acid is formed at the anode and soda at the cathode by secondary
that showed solution of a salt in water, those derived from the salt,
Daniell
(say) sodium
action, giving rise to the observed evolution of oxygen hydrogen respectively at these terminals.
and
The researches of Faraday on the decomposition of chemical placed between electrodes maintained at different compounds potentials led him in 1837 to reflect on the behaviour of such substances as oil of turpentine or sulphur, when placed in the
same
are
are
situation. These bodies do not conduct electricity, and faces of a condenser not decomposed ; but if the metallic maintained at a definite potential difference, and if the
is occupied by one them space between substances, it is found that the charge on
on
of these insulating either face depends
of the insulating substance. If for any particular insulator the charge has a value s times the value which it f air, the number would have if the intervening body were
the nature
be regarded may insulator exerts
as on
*
measure
of the
influence which
the
the
propagation
of electrostatic action
Phil. Trans., 1839, p. 97.
Faraday.
called by the insulator.* "capacity of
207
the inductive specific
through
it : it
was
Faraday
discovery of this property of insulating substances or it could be to whether dielectrics raised the question as harmonized with the old ideas of electrostatic action. Consider,
The for example, the force of attraction or repulsion between two charged bodies. So long as they are in air, small electricallythe force is proportional to the inverse square of the distance ; but
if the
"
changed
space
"
in which they are immersed be partly medium if a globe of sulphur be inserted in the intervening e.g.,
this law is no
affects the field. "entire The problem
longer valid : the change in the dielectric distribution of electric intensity throughout the
could be satisfactorilysolved only by forming : and such a a physical conception of the action of dielectrics put forward. conception Faraday now
original idea had been promulgated long before by his Davy, it will be remembered,f in his explanation master Davy. before chemical of the voltaic pile,had supposed that at first, decompositions take place, the liquid plays a part analogous to
The that of the glass in
a
Leyden
jar, and
that in this is involved
an
This hypothesis electric polarization of the liquid molecules.^ developed by Faraday. Keferring firstto his own now was work
on
he electrolysis, exactly the same
that asserted"
as
the behaviour of
dielectricis
which dielectric being, in fact,a body which is capable of sustaining the stress without suffering decomposition.
that of an electrolyte,up to the point at the electrolyte breaks down under the electric stress ; a
For," he argued,|| let the electrolyte be water, a plate of ice being coated with platina foilon its two surfaces,and these
" "
Exp. Res.,
Cavendish " 1252 (1837).

were
had discovered specific inductive capacity
long before, but his papers
still unpublished.
Davy's that
an
t Cf. p. 77. \ This is expressly stated in Div. i, " 7, where he lays it down
is "to
Elements
of
"
Chemical Philosophy
(1812),
essential
property of non-conductors"
receive electricalpolarities."
1343, 1621.
$ Exp. Res., ""1164, 1338, Exp. Res., " 1164. ||
208
Faraday.
the
two
coatings connected with any continued source electricalpowers, the ice will charge like a Leyden
of
arrangement,
induction, but no current will pass. presenting a case of common fall to a certain If the ice be liquefied,the induction will now degree, because a current can now pass ; but its passing is dependent
upon
a
peculiar molecular arrangement
consistent with the transfer of the elements As, therefore, in the electrolyticaction, opposite directions induction appeared to bethejfe" step,and decomposition the second
. . .
of the particles of the electrolyte in
of separating these steps from each other by giving the solid or fluidcondition to the electrolyte being in our hands) ;: in its nature as that through air, the same as the induction was
(the power
"c., produced by any of the ordinary means ; and as glass,wax, the whole effect in the electrolyte appeared to be an action of the particles thrown into a peculiar or polarized state, I was
glad to suspect that
common
induction itselfwas
in all cases
an a
action of contiguous particles, and distance (i.e., ordinary inductive
that electrical action at
never action)
occurred except
the influence of the intervening matter." Thus at the root of Faraday's conception of electrostatic induction lay this idea that the whole of the insulating medium
through
"
through which the action takes place is in a state of polarization similar to that which precedes decomposition in an electrolyte. be said to be bodies whose Insulators," he wrote,* may retain the polarized state, whilst conductors are particles can
"
those whose particles cannot be permanently The conception which he at this time
polarized."
polarization may
written
be reconstructed
from
entertained of the what he had already
concerning
or
electrolytes. He
supposedf that in the
unpolarized condition of a body, the molecules consist of atoms which are bound to each other by the forces of these forces being really electrical in their chemical affinity,
ordinary
nature ; and that the

*
same
forces
are
exerted, though
to
less
Exp.Res.,
must
" 1338.
not
t This
present to his mind.
be taken to be He declined
more as
than an idea which Faraday mentioned yet to formulate a definitehypothesis.
as
Faraday.
degree, between
thus producing field is set up, a forces ;
some
209
to
different molecules, an the phenomena of cohesion. When electric change takes place in the distributionof these
atoms
which
belong
are
strengthened about
and
the
some
are
weakened,
the
effect being symmetrical electric force.
direction of the applied
polarized condition acquired by a dielectricwhen placed in an electric field presents an evident analogy to the condition of magnetic polarization which is acquired by a mass fore there; and it was of soft iron when placed in a magnetic field
Such
should natural that in discussing the matter Faraday lines to introduce lines the force, similar of magnetic ofelectric force which he had employed so successfully in his previous
researches. A line of electricforce he defined to be a direction whose tangent at every point has the same electric intensity. The
curve
as
the
changes which take place in an electricfieldwhen the dielectricis varied may be very simply described in terms of lines of force. Thus if a mass of sulphur, or other substance of high specific inductive capacity, is introduced into the field,
the effectis W. Thomson
same as
if the lines of force tend to crowd into it : as (Kelvin) showed later, they are altered in the
the lines of flow of heat, in a case of steady conduction of heat, would be altered by introducing a body of greater conducting power for heat. By studying the figures of the lines of force in a great number of individual cases, Faraday
way
as
was
were
led to notice that they always dispose themselves as ifthey to a mutual repulsion, or as if the tubes of force
subject
had
an
inherent tendency to dilate.*
It is interesting to interpret by aid of these conceptions the law of Priestley and Coulomb regarding the attraction between
two oppositely-charged spheres.
intervening between
stresses, which
the
In Faraday's view, the medium spheres is the seat of a system of
be represented by an attraction or tension along the lines of electricforce at every point, together with a
may
Exp.
Res.,
"" 1224,
P
1297
(1837).
210
Faraday.
mutual repulsion of these lines,or pressure laterally. Where a line of force ends on one of the spheres, its tension is exercised on the sphere: in this way, every surface-element of each If the spheres were entirely sphere is pulled outwards. from each other's influence,the state of stress would be uniform round each sphere, and the pulls on its surface -elements would balance, giving no resultant force on the sphere. But removed the two spheres are brought into each other's presence, when more the unit lines of force become somewhat crowded together on the sides of the spheres which face than on the remote sides,
and thus the resultant pull on either sphere tends to draw it the spheres are at distances great toward the other. When compared with their radii,the attraction is nearly proportional
to the inverse square of the distance, which
is Priestley'slaw.
Faraday amplified* his theory In the following year (1838) of electrostaticinduction, by making further use of the analogy Fourteen years previously with the induction of magnetism.
Poisson
had imaginedf
an
admirable
model
of the
molecular
now accompany magnetization; and this was tion change by Faraday to the case of inducapplied with very little The particles of an insulating dielectric," in dielectrics.
processes which
"
he
suggested,J
"
whilst under
induction may
be compared
to
to a series of small magnetic needles, or, more correctly still, If the space round a series of small insulated conductors. filled with a mixture insulating of an charged globe were
dielectric,as
conductors, each other
as
oil of
so
air, and small globular shot, the latter being at a littledistance from to be insulated, then these would as in their
turpentine
or
condition and the
action exactly resemble
condition and action of the dielectric itself. If the globe were

would
I consider to be particles of the insulating charged, these little conductors

what
discharged, they all be polar ; if the globe were would all return to their normal state, to be polarized again upon the recharging of the globe/' That this explanation accounts for the phenomena of specific
*
Exp.
Res., Series xiv.
t Cf. p. 65.
J Exp.
Res.,
" 1679.
Faraday.
inductive capacity may be seen substantially a translation into
by what
211
is
follows, which electrostatical language
of
Poisson's theory of induced magnetism.* Let p denote volume-density of electric charge.

of Faraday's
"
"
For each
small shot
the integral
JJJ pdx
integrated throughout charge of the shot is the integral
the
:
dy dz,
zero
shot, will vanish, since the total but if r denote the vector (x, y,
r
z),
J/J p
dx dy dz
will not be zero, since it represents the electric polarization of the shot : if there are N shot per unit volume, the quantity
P
=
"!!!P
dx dy dz
If d will represent the total polarization per unit volume. denote the electricforce, and E the average value of d, P will be proportional to E, say
P
By
(" 1)E.
-
all the quantities concerned have to vary continuously and to vanish at infinity, we
+
integration by parts, assuming
p*
** dy ds y" z} * (x"
p ** dy dz"
where ^ denotes an arbitrary function, and the volume-integrals are taken throughout infinite space. This equation shows that the polar-distribution of electriccharge on the shot is equivalent to a volume- distribution throughout space, of density
P
=
-
"Iff*
div P. of electrostatics may

in
Now
the
fundamental
equation
suitable units be written, div d

*
=
p ;
W.
Thomson
"W. Thomson's
Arcb.
des
sc.
1845 ; and Dub. Matb. Journal, November, Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism, " 43 sqq. ; F. 0. Mossotti, della Soc. Ital. Modena, p. 193 ; Mem. vi (1847), phys. (Geneva)
Camb. (Kelvin),
p. 49. (2)xiv(1850),
212
and this gives
on
Faraday.
averaging div E
=
pi
jo,
of free electric charge,
where pi denotes the volume-density i.e. excluding that in the doublets ; or
div
or
(E + P)
Plt
div
(* E)
plt
as modified equation of electrostatics, in order to take into account the effectof the specificinductive
This is the fundamental
capacity ". The conception of action propagated step by step through a by the influence of contiguous particles had a firm hold medium
Faraday's mind, and was applied by him in almost every It appears to me part of physics. possible," he wrote in be 1838,* and even probable, that magnetic action may
on
" "
communicated particles,in a
to
manner
distance by the action of the intervening having a relation to the way in which
a
the inductive forces of static electricity are transferred to distance ; the intervening particles assuming for the time more
or
less of a peculiar condition, which (thoughwith a very imperfect idea)I have several times expressed by the term electro-tonic state."^ The same set of ideas sufficed to explain electric currents. Conduction, Faraday be an action of suggested,* might the forces developed in contiguous particles, dependent on
"
electrical excitement ; these forces bring the particles into a state of tension or polarity ;" and being in this state the contiguous particleshave a power or capability of communicating
these forces, one
to the other, by
which
they
are
lowered and
discharge
*
occurs."
Exp
Res.,
name
" 1729.
had been devised in 1831 to express the state of matter
to subject
f This
magneto-electric induction ; cf. Exp.^Res., J Exp. Res. iii, p. 513.
" 60.
induction in dielectrics. " As in electrostatic
Faraday.
213
After working strenuously for the ten years which followed the discovery of induced currents, Faraday found in 1841 that
affected ; and for four years he rested. A second period of brilliantdiscoveries began in 1845. had been made at different times by Many experiments
his health
was
investigators* with the purpose of discovering a and light. These had generally connexion between magnetism taken the form of attempts to magnetize bodies by exposure in particular ways to particular kinds of radiation ; and a
various
successful issue had been
more
than
once
reported, only to be
negatived on re-examination. first indicated by Sir John Herschel. The true path was After his discovery of the connexion between the outward form
of quartz crystals and their property of rotating the plane of that a rectilinear polarization of light, Herschel remarked electric current, deflecting a needle to right and left all round it,possesses a helicoidal dissymmetry similar to that displayed
by the crystals. conclude

that
a
"
Therefore," he wrote,f induction led
"
me
to
similar connexion exists, and must turn up or other, between the electric current and polarized somehow light, and that the plane of polarization would be deflected by
magneto-electricity." The nature of this connexion far back as 1834J had so who through
an
was
discovered by Faraday,
polarized light
transmitted
electrolytic solution during the passage of the current, in the hope of observing a change of polarization. This early attempt failed; but in September, 1845, he varied piece of heavy glass between the poles of an excited electro-magnet ; and found that the plane of polarization of a beam of light was rotated when the beam
the experiment
by placing
travelled through
the glass parallel to the lines of force of the
magnetic
*e.g.
field. "
Samuel by Mary
Hunter
Morichini, of Rome, in 1813, Quart. Journ. Sci. xix, p. 338; by Christie, of Cambridge, in 1825, Phil. Trans., 1826, p. 219 ; and Somerville in the same year, Phil. Trans., 1826, p. 132.
by
Res.,
t Sir. J. Herschel in Bence Jones's Life
lExp.
" 951.
of Faraday, p. \Ib., " 2152.
205.
214
Faraday.
In the year following Faraday's discovery, Airy* suggested way of representing the effectanalytically; as might have been
expected, this was by modifying the equations which had been for the case already introduced by MacCullagh of naturally active bodies. In Mac Cullagh's equations VZ |8^F=c2822r+
d^Y
sign with x, so that the rotation of the plane of polarization is always right-handed or always left-handed with respect to the direction of the beam. This is the case in naturally-active bodies ; but the rotation due the terms
change and 83F/8#3 83^/8#3
absolute direction whichever magnetic fieldis in the same way the light is travelling,so that the derivations with respect to x must be of even order. Airy proposed the equations
to
a
/82F
I
*-,
2 1
82F
"*N
a"
r^
*"\ /
dx*
where
p denotes
a
dt'
constant, proportional to the strength of the
magnetic fieldwhich is used to produce the effect. He remarked, however, that instead of taking as the additional 8 Y/dt and fj. p dZ/dt terms, it would be possible to take " 83^/8"3 or and /u 83 F/8^3,
or and ju83F/8^28^, im()3Z/dz?dt"
any other derivates in which
the
is odd with respect to t and even of differentiations with It may, in fact, be shown by the method respect to x. previously applied to Mac Cullagh's formulae that, if the equations
number
are
,
82F
8r+s^
8r+sF
where
(r+ s) is an
odd number,
*
the angle through
which
the
Phil. Mag.
xxviii
(1846)p. 469.
Faraday.
215
plane of polarization rotates in unit length of path is a numerical multiple of
where T denotes the period of the light. Now it was shown by Verdet* that the magnetic rotation is approximately proportional to the inverse square of the wave-length ; and hence we must
have
r
s=
3; of correctly representing
that the only equations Faraday's effect are either

so
capable
w
or
^dx-dt
dt*
W
'" _
dt
d'Z
W
The
"l
d'Z
~W~^'W
will appear later, in Maxwell's theory of rotatory polarization : the latter pair, which were suggested in 1868 by Boussinesq,ffollow from that physical theory of the phenomenon which is generally accepted at the
former pair arise, as
present time.* Airy's work
in the
same
on
way as of quartz ; it furnished only effect, without attempting
the magnetic MacCullagh's
rotation of light
was
limited
the rotatory power an analytical representation of the to justify the equations. The earliest
work
on
to have been endeavour to provide a physical theory seems made in 1858, in the inaugural dissertation of Carl Neumann,
*
Comptes
Rendus,
Ivi
t Journal de Math.,
(1863), p. 630. p. 430. xiii (1868),

as
Fand
Z being interpreted
components
of electric force.
216
of Halle.*
Faraday.
Neumann
assumed that every element of an electric current exerts force on the particles of the aether ; and in cular partithat this is true of the molecular currents which constitute
magnetization, although in this case the force vanishes except when the aethereal particleis already in motion. If e denote the displacement of the aethereal particle ra, the force in question
may be represented by the term
km
[ e. K]
magnetic
where
K denotes
the imposed
magneto-optic constant term is introduced into the equations of motion of the aether, they take the form which had been suggested by Airy ; whence hypothesis is seen to lead to the incorrect conclusion Neumann's
that the rotation is independent of the wave-length. The rotation of plane-polarized light depends, as Fresnel had shown,f on a difference between the velocitiesof propagation of into the right-handed and left-handed circularly polarized waves of which plane-polarized light may be resolved. In the case magnetic rotation, this difference was shown by Verdet to be proportional to the component of the magnetic force in the direction of propagation of the light; and CornuJ showed further that the mean of the velocities of the right-handed and leftis equal to the velocity of light in the medium handed waves
field,and k denotes a When this characteristic of the body.
magnetic field. From these data, by Fresnel's may be geometrical method, the wave- surface in the medium obtained; it is found to consist of two spheres (one relating
when
there is no
to the left-handed light), each right-handed and one identical with the spherical wave-surface of the unmagnetized medium, displaced from each other along the lines of magnetic to the
force."
The
*
discovery of the
connexion
between
magnetism
and
Explicare tentatur, ut lucisplanum polarisationis per vires el. vel quomodojiat, The results were 1858. mag. declinetur. Halis Saxonum, republished in a tract Die magnetische Drehung der Polarisationsebene des Lichtes. Halle, 1863.
t Cf. p. 174.
" Cornu,
Comptes
Rendus, xcix
J Comptes (1884), p. 1045.
Rendus, xcii (1881), p. 1368.
Faraday.
light gave interest to
a
217
short paper of a speculative character which Faraday published* in 1846, under the title Thoughts Kay- Vibrations." In this it is possible to trace the progress on
"
of Faraday's thought towards something like theory of light.
an
electro-magnetic
Considering first the nature of ponderable matter, he suggests that an ultimate atom may be nothing else than a field of force electric, magnetic, and gravitational surrounding a point"
"
centre ;
on
this view, which

an
Boscovich,
atom
would
as
is substantially that of Michell and definite size, but ought have no
rather to be conceived of throughout
completely the
penetrable, and extending molecule
of a chemical compound consist not of atoms would side by side, but of spheres of power mutually penetrated, and the centres even
all space ; and
"
coinciding."t
by lines of force, Faraday suggested that light and radiant heat might be transverse vibrations propagated along these lines of force. In this way he proposed to dismiss the aether," or rather to replace it by
"
All space being thus permeated
lines of force between centres, the centres together with their lines of force constituting the particles of material substances.
If the existence of a luminiferous aether were to be admitted, Faraday suggested that it might be the vehicle of magnetic force ; for,"he wrote in 1851,{"it is not at all unlikely that
"
if there be
an
may be regarded as the origin of the electro-magnetic theory of light. " At the time when the Thoughts on Eay were -Vibrations published, Faraday was everyevidently trying to comprehend thing in terms of lines of force ; his confidence in which had the conveyance
"
aether, it should have other of radiations." This sentence
uses
than
simply
by another discovery. A few weeks recently justified after the first observation of the magnetic rotation of light,he noticed " that a bar of the heavy glass which had been used in
*
been
Phil. Mag. (3), Res., iii, : Exp. p. 447. xxviii (1846) t Cf. Bence Jones's Life ofFaraday, ii,p. 178. J Exp. Res., $ 3075. " Phil. Trans., 1846, p. 21
Exp.
Res.,
" 2253.
218
Faraday.
between the poles of an this investigation, when suspended the line joining the poles : thus electro-magnet, set itselfacross
behaving
in the contrary way
to
substance, which
would
tend
bar of an ordinary magnetic to set itself along this line. A

a
simpler manifestation
or a
a cube obtained when sphere of the substance was used ; in such forms it showed from the stronger to the weaker places disposition to move
of the effect was
then seen of the magnetic field. The pointing of the bar was to be merely the resultant of the tendencies of each of its into the positions of weakest particles to move outwards
magnetic Many
action.
other
same was
display the
diamagnetic
"
glass were property ; in particular, bismuth.*

"
bodies
besides
heavy
found
The
name
to
explanation of the movements of the diamagnetic bodies might be offered in the supposition that magnetic induction caused in them a contrary that if state to that which it produced in magnetic matter ; i.e.
an a
given to them. Theoretically," remarked Faraday,
particle of each kind of matter were placed in the magnetic field,both would become magnetic, and each would have its axis parallel to the resultant of magnetic force passing through it ; but the particle of magnetic matter would have its north and south poles opposite, or facing toward the contrary poles of the inducing magnet, whereas with the diamagnetic particles
the
reverse
mation would result approxiin the one substance, recession in the other. Upon Ampere's theory, this view would be equivalent to the supposition would in iron and magnetics battery or parallel to those existing in the inducing magnet wire, so in bismuth, heavy glass, and diamagnetic bodies, the currents induced are in the contrary direction." that,
as
be the
case
; and hence
currents
are
induced
" hypothesis This explanation became generally known as the as similar of diamagnetic polarity ; it represents diamagnetism
"
The repulsion of bismuth in the magnetic fieldhad been previously observed Lugd. Bat., 1778. by A. Brugmans Magnetismus, in 1778; Antonii Brugmans
*
t Exp. Res., " 2429.
Faraday.
to ordinary induced magnetism
219
in all respects, except that the direction of the induced polarity is reversed. It was accepted by other investigators, notably by W. Weber, Pliicker, Eeich, afterwards displaced from the favour of and Tyndall ; but was
itsinventor by another conception, views on the nature hypothesis, Faraday supposed an ordinary magnetic or paramagnetic* body to be one which offers a specially easy passage
to lines of magnetic
agreeable to his peculiar of the magnetic field. In this second

more
force,
so
that they
tend
to crowd
into
it in preference to other bodies ; while he supposed a diamagnetic body to have a low degree of conducting power for the lines of force, so
"a
reasoned,fmedium
If, then," he that they tend to avoid it. having a certain conducting power occupy
"
or the magnetic field, and then a portion of another medium substance be placed in the field having a greater conducting power, the latter will tend to draw up towards the place of
greatest force, displacing the former." There is an electrostatic effect to which this is quite analogous ; a charged body attracts a body whose specificinductive capacity is greater than that of
and repels a body whose surrounding medium, specific inductive capacity is less; in either case the tendency is to afford the path of best conductance to the lines of force .J For time the advocates of the "polarity" some and the
theories of diarnagnetism carried on a controversy which, indeed, like the controversy between the adherents of the one-fluid and two-fluid theories of electricity, persisted hypotheses it had been the were shown that rival after mathematically
"
"
conduction
which
equivalent, and that no experiment would distinguish between them.

new
could be suggested
Meanwhile
discovered.
properties of magnetizable bodies were being In 1847 Julius Pliicker (b. 1801, d. 1868), Professor
of Natural repeating
*
Philosophy and
was
in
the
University
of
Bonn,
while
extending
Faraday's
magnetic
Res.,
experiments,
This term
"es.,
introduced by Faraday, Exp.
" 2790.
body in
a
t Exp.
" 2798.
magnetizable
non-
J The
uniform
mathematical theory of the motion of a field of force was discussed by "W. Thomson
in 1847. (Kelvin)
220
observed*
Faraday.
that certain uniaxal crystals, when placed between the two poles of a magnet, tend to set themselves so that the
optic axis has the equatorial position. At this time Faraday was continuing his researches ; and, while investigating the diamagnetic by the properties of bismuth, of anomalous in some way
occurrence
frequently embarrassed results. In 1848 he ascertained

was
that these form
were
connected
with
the
crystalline
a crystal of of the substance, and showedf that when bismuth is placed in a field of uniform magnetic force (so that it sets no tendency to motion arises from its diamagnetism)
itself so
as
to have
one
of its crystalline
axes
directed along
the lines of force.
At which
first he supposed this effect to be distinct from had been discovered shortly before by Pliicker.
"
that
"
The
results," he wrote,J are altogether very different from those produced by diamagnetic action. They are equally distinctfrom those discovered and described by Pliicker, in his beautiful
researches into the relation of the optic axis to magnetic action ; for there the force is equatorial, whereas here it is axial. So
form of force, or a new appear to present to us a new force,in the molecules of matter, which, for convenience sake, I will conventionally designate by a new crystallic word, as the magneforce." Later in the same year, however, he they
recognized^
that
"
the phaenomena
I have
given an The idea of the conduction of lines of magnetic force by different substances, by which Faraday had so successfully explained the phenomena of diamagnetism, he now applied to
"
"
discovered by Pliicker and those of which account have one common origin and cause."
If," he wrote,|| the study of the magnetic behaviour of crystals. "the idea of conduction be applied to these magnecrystallic to satisfy all that requires explanation in bodies, it would seem their special results. A magnecrystallic substance would then
"
be
one
which
in the crystallizedstate could conduct onwards,
or
Ann.
d. Phys. Ixxii
(1847), p.
315;
Taylor's
Memoirs, Scientific
v,
p. 353.
t Phil. Trans., 1849, p.
1 ; Exp. Res.,
" 2454.
Ibid., " 2837. ||
Exp.
Res.,
" 2469.
" Ibid., " 2605.
Faraday.
221
facilityin permit the exertion of the magnetic force with more direction than another ; and that direction would be the one in the magnetic field,the magnecrystallic axis. Hence, when
magnecrystallic axis would be urged into a position coincident force correspondent to that a with the magnetic axis, by difference, as if two different bodies were taken, when the just
one
with the greater conducting
power
displaces that which
is
weaker." This hypothesis
led Faraday
to
predict
"
another
such
a
as type of magnecrystallic effect, he wrote,* view were
correct/'
existence of If yet unobserved. it would appear to

"
the
ought to be less its magnecrystallic axis is parallel to the diamagnetic when magnetic axis than when it is perpendicular to it. In the two follow that
a
diamagnetic
body
like bismuth
positions it should be equivalent to two substances having different conducting powers for magnetism, and therefore if to to the differential balance present ought submitted
differential phaenomena."
This expectation
"
was
realized when in
to the test of experiment. f the matter was subjected The Experimental Researches series of Faraday's
Electricity
life
was
The closing period of his end in the year 1855. Court, in a house placed at quietly spent at Hampton
"
his disposal by the kindness of the
Queen
; and here
on
August
25th, 1867, he passed away. Among experimental philosophers Faraday

consent
discoveries
are
universal in which his the foremost place. The memoirs to be read with cease enshrined will never
holds by
admiration
delight; and future generations will preserve with an affection not less enduring the personal records and familiar letters, which recall the memory of his humble and
and
unselfish spirit.
*Exp.
Res.,
" 2839.
^ Ibid., " 2841.
222
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
CHAPTEK
VII.
THE
MATHEMATICAL
ELECTRICIANS NINETEENTH
OF CENTURY.
THE
MIDDLE
OF
THE
engaged in discovering the laws of induced currents in his own way, by use of the conception of lines of Franz Neumann force, his contemporary was attacking the
WHILE
Faraday
was
same
from a different point of view. Xeumann problem his model ; and in 1845 published as preferred to take Ampere a memoir,* in which the laws of induction of currents were deduced by the help of Ampere's analysis.
based his work the assumptions on which Neumann had been formulated, not long after Faraday's a rule which was original discovery, by Emil Lenz,f and which may be enunciated
Among
as
when induced field, the
follows
conducting circuit is moved in a magnetic flows in such a direction that the current
ponderomotive forces on it tend to oppose the motion. Let ds denote an element of the circuit which is in motion, taken in the direction of and let C ds denote the component, force exerted by the inducing of the ponderomotive current on d$, when the latter is carrying unit current ; so that from Ampere's theory. Then Lenz's the value of C is known
motion,
rule requires that the product of C into the strength of the induced current should be negative. Xeumann that assumed this is because it consists of a negative coefficient multiplying that is, he assumed the square of C\ the induced electromotive
force to be proportional to C.
be
He
further assumed
it to
proportional to the velocity v of the motion; and thus obtained for the electromotive force induced in ds the expression
-
ei-Cds,
where
denotes
constant
coefficient. By aid of this formula,
10 and 1845, p. 1 ; 1848, p. 1 ; reprinted as Xo. "Berlin Abhandlungen, No. 36 of Ostwald's Klassiker-, translated Journal de Math, xiii (1848), p. 113.
t Ann.
d. Phys. xxxi
(1834), p.
483.
Middle
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
223
in the earlier part* of the memoir, currents in various particular cases.

But
he calculated the induced
arrived at the formulae in this way, Neumann a which suggested a totally peculiarity in them noticedf In fact,on examining differentmethod of treating the subject. the expression for the current induced in a circuit which is in
having
motion
in the
current
field due
depends
to
magnet,
on
it appeared
that this
induced
motion in the value of a this function is no other than the potential of the ponderomotive forces which, according to Ampere's theory, act between the
the alteration caused by the that certain function ; and, moreover,
only
circuit,supposed traversed by unit current, and the magnet. his Accordingly, Neumann now proposed to reconstruct theory by taking this potential function as the foundation.
potential, and its connexion with Faraday's theory, will be understood from the following
The
nature
of
Neumann's
considerations : The potential energy of a magnetic molecule M in a field of magnetic intensity B is (B M) ; and therefore the potential energy of a current i flowing in a circuit s in this fieldis
"
by the circuit s ; as is seen on at once replacing the circuit by its equivalent magnetic shell S. If the fieldB be produced by a current i' flowing in a where
a
S denotes
diaphragm
bounded
circuit s',
we
have, by the formula of Biot and Savart,
*"'
curl
"
in making use of Ohm's law, remarked that Neumann, at this time) unaware of the identity of electroscopic force with electrostatic t " 9. potential.
was
"" 1-8. It may be (like everyone else
224
The Mathematical Electricians

potential energy of the two
dS
ofthe
currents
Hence, the mutual
is
which
hy Stokes's transformation
may
(ds.ds')
This of mechanical work expression represents the amount which must be performed against the electro-dynamic ponderomotive forces,in order to separate the two circuits to an infinite apart, when the current-strengths
are
distance
maintained
unaltered. The above
potential function has been the ponderomotive forces ; but it can induction
obtained by considering be now connected

currents.
Faraday's theory of with interpreting the expression
of
For
by
(B dS) If'
.
see that the potential function of lines of force, we of unit-lines of represents the product of i into the number magnetic force due to s't which pass through the gap formed by
in terms
the circuit s ; and since by Faraday's law the currents induced in s depend entirely on the variation in the number of these lines,it is evident that the potential function supplies all that is needed
This
was
for the analytical treatment Neumann's discovery.
of the induced currents.
The electromotive force induced in a circuit s by the motion of other circuits s', carrying currents i'tis thus proportional to the time-rate of variation of the potential
(ds.ds').
that if we denote by
a
so
the vector
Middle
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
225
which, of course, is a function of the position of the element ds from which r is measured, then the electromotive force induced
in any
which
circuit-element ds by any give rise to a is
alteration in the currents
(a.ds).
The induction of currents is therefore governed by the vector a ; has from as the vector-potential, this,which is generally known Neumann's
It may for (a
.
time onwards played a great part in electrical theory. be readily interpreted in terms of Faraday's conceptions ;
ds) represents
the total number
force which have passed across instant t. The vector-potential may in fact be regarded state* of Faraday's electrotonic analytical measure
of unit lines of magnetic the line-element ds prior to the

as
the
While
Neumann
was
of induced currents another investigator

: no project
the laws endeavouring to comprehend in an extended form of Ampere's theory,

was
less than
ambitious attempting a still more that of uniting electrodynamics into a
coherent whole with electrostatics. Wilhelm Weber (6. 1804, d. 1890) was
in the earlierpart of his scientific a friend and colleague of Gauss at Gottingen. career In 1837, however, he became involved in politicaltrouble. The
union of Hanover
with the British Empire, which had subsisted dynasty to the British since the accession of the Hanoverian throne, was in that year dissolved by the operation of the Salic law ; the Princess Victoria succeeded to the crown of England, The new and her uncle Ernest- Augustus to that of Hanover. the free pronounced reactionary, revoked time ; constitution which the Hanoverians had for some enjoyed and Weber, who took a prominent part in opposing this action,
was a
was
king, who
deprived of his professorship.
From
1843
to 1849, when
his principal theoretical researches in electricity were made, he occupied a chair in the University of Leipzig. The theory of Weber in its origin closely connected was with the work of another Leipzig professor, Fechner, who in 1845f introduced certain assumptions regarding the nature of
*
Cf. pp. 212, 272.
t Ann.
d. Phys. Lxiv
(1845), p. 337.
226
The Mathematical
Fechner
Electricians
ofthe
supposed every current to consist in a streaming of electric charges, the vitreous charges travelling direction, and the resinous charges, equal to them in in one
electric currents.
magnitude
and number, travelling in the opposite direction with equal velocity. He further supposed that like charges attract direction, each other when they are moving parallel to the same
while unlike charges attract when they are moving in opposite he succeeded in bringing directions. On these assumptions Faraday's induction effectsinto connexion with Ampere's laws of electrodynamics. In 1846 Weber,* adopting the same assumptions in the following way : analysed the phenomena
"
as
Fechner,
for the ponderomotive force between The formula of Ampere two elements ds, ds' of currents iti may be written
',
ds ds
r2
ds ds'
that X units of vitreous electricityare contained in unit length of the wire s, and are moving with velocity u ; and that an equal quantity of resinous electricity is moving
Suppose
now
with velocity
in the opposite direction ;
so
that
Let X', u',

current;
between
the corresponding quantities for the other and let the suffix ! be taken to refer to the action the positive charges in the two wires, the suffix2 to
denote
the action between the positive charge in s and the negative the negative charge in s, the suffix 3 to the action between charge in s and the positive charge in s', and the suffix 4 to the action between the negative charges in the two wires. Then have we
'dr\ dtji
"
dr
=
dr
"
"
ds
ds
,,
Elektrodynamische
Maassbestimmungen, English
Leipzig
Abhandl.,
1846
Ann.
d.
Phys. hcxiii (1848),p. 193:

v
translation in Taylor's Scientific Memoirs,
p. (1852),
489.
Middle of the Nineteenth Century.

and
227
fdzr\
__
u*zdzr +
__
2uu
df
"fo*
c?r dsds
--"?-, + u
"Fr ds*
-j-7-
"
By aid of these and the similar equations with the suffixes3, 3, 4, force may be transformed the equation for the ponderomotive
into the equation

d?r\
I
nt
f dV
A A' tl"rtst'
///z /,
///* /"
this is the equation which we should have obtained had we set out from the following assumptions : that the is the force between two current-elements ponderomotive
But
resultant of the force between the positive charge in ds and the positive charge in ds',of the force between the positive charge in ds and the negative charge in dst etc. ; and that any two distance apart
electrifiedparticles of charges e and e', whose is r, repel each other with a force of magnitude
*l"
Two such charges would, of
course,
electrostaticrepulsion, whose be where c denotes a
eec'/r2,
also exert on each other an magnitude in these units would constant* of the dimensions of a
So 3 x 1010 velocity, whose value is approximately cm./sec. that on these assumptions the total repellent force would be
ee'cz
f
"
rr
r*
The units which have been adopted in the above investigationdepend on the electrodynamic actions of currents ; i.e.they are such that two unit currents flowing in parallel circular circuits at a certain distance apart exert unit ponderomotive
force
The quantity of electricity conveyed in unit time by such a as the unit~eharge. This unit charge is not identical with the electrostatic unit charge, which is definedHqbe such that two unit charges at unit distance apart repel each other with unit poniieiQmotive force. Hence the
on
each other.
unit current
is adopted
necessity for introducing the factor
c.
228
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
was
This expression for the force between two electric charges taken by Weber as the basis of his theory. Weber's is the
"
firstof the electron-theories a name given to any theory which to the agency of electrodynamics attributes the phenomena electric charges, the forces on which depend not of moving only
on
the position of the charges
but (asin electrostatics),
also on their velocity. The latter feature of Weber's theory led its earliest critics to deny that his law of force could be reconciled with the They however, were, principle of conservation of energy.
mistaken this point, as considerations. The above
on
may
be
seen
from
the following
two
charges may
expression for the force between be written in the form
where
U denotes the expression

ee'c~
material particles at distance r apart, whose mechanical kinetic energy is T, and whose mechanical potential energy is F, and which carry charges e and e'. The equations
Consider
now
two
as of these particles will be exactly the same of a dynamical system for which equations of motion kinetic energy is
of motion
the the
ee'i*
and the potential energy is
To such
a
:
applied
system the principle of conservation of energy may the equation of energy is,in fact,
T
m
be
-rr
1
"
'
"
ee r
"
6e G"
2r
constant.
Middle
The first
ofthe Nineteenth
to Weber's
Century.
229
made objection
more
theory is thus disposed

now
of ; but another and

occurrence
serious
one
presents itself. The

-
that
of the negative sign with the term as if its mass charge behaves somewhat
implies ee'r^/Zr
were
that in certain circumstances is one

the
object
its velocity might This under the action of a force opposed to the motion. of the vulnerable points of Weber's theory, and has been of much criticism. In fact,* suppose that one charged
mass
negative, so increase indefinitely
particle of
are
is free to /z.
spread uniformly over insulator in which the particle is enclosed. conservation of energy is
and that the other charges the surface of a hollow spherical

move,
The
equation
of
V= ^(fi-ep)v*+
where
e
constant,
denotes the charge of the particle,v its velocity, V its potential energy with respect to the mechanical forces which act
on
it,and p denotes the quantity

-
cos-(v.r)dS,
the sphere, and where owhere the integration is taken over denotes the surface-density ; p is independent of the position of the electriccharge on the particle p within the sphere. If now then v2 and V the sphere is so great that ep is greate^-tbsciTT^ must increase and diminish together;which is evidently absurd. Leaving this unanswered, we proceed to show how
objection
law of force between for the induction of currents.
Weber's
electrons leads to the formulae
The mutual
energy of two
moving
charges is
~\
"r
r
~2cV'
* !
|_
"
L"v"r'Y' ~1'
*c
r
where
*
and
v'
denote the velocitiesof the charges ;
so
that the
;
This example was given by Helmholtz, Journal fur Math. Ixxv Phil. Mag. xliv (1872), p. 530.
(1873), p. 35
230
mutual
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
e, e
energy of two current-elements containing charges is respectively of each kind of electricity,
r3
If ds, ds'denote the lengths of the elements, and i,if the currents in them, we have ids 2ev, i'ds' 2"V ;
= =
so
the mutual
energy of two
nf
current-elements is
-(r.ds').(r.ds).
The mutual energy of ids with all the other currents is therefore
t(dt.a),
where
a
denotes
vector-potential
By reasoning similar to Neumann's, it may be shown that the electromotive force induced in ds by any alteration in the rest of the fieldis
-(ds.a);
and
thus
a
complete
theory
of induced
currents
may
be
constructed. The necessity for induced
currents
may
be
inferred by
general reasoning from the first principles of Weber's theory. When a circuits moves in the fielddue to currents, the velocity of the vitreous charges in s is, owing to the motion of s, not
equal and opposite to that of the resinous charges : this gives rise to a difference in the forces acting on the vitreous and resinous charges in s ; and hence the charges of opposite sign
in opposite directions. separate from each other and move The assumption that positive and negative charges move with equal and opposite velocities relative to the matter of
Middle
the conductor appear later, is
one
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
reasons
231
which will integral part
to which, for various
it. In fact, of Weber's if this condition were not satisfied, and if the law of force were Weber's, electric currents would exert forces on electrostatic by the following example. charges at rest*; as may be seen
may be taken ; but it is an objection theory, and cannot be excised from
closed circuit formed by arcs of two concentric circlesand the portions of the radii connecting their true, and if only one extremities; then, if Weber's law were
a
Let
current
flow in
in motion, the current would evidently force on a charge placed at the centre of exert an electrostatic the circles. It has been shown,f indeed, that the assumption of opposite electricities ties moving with equal and opposite velociin a circuit is almost inevitable in any theory of the type of Weber's, so long as the mutual action of two charges is
kind of electricitywere
assumed
The
to depend
only
on
their relative (asopposed to their of itskind; an alternative Eiemann 1826, d. 1866), (b.
at delivered^
motion. absolute)
law of Weber is not the only to it was suggested by Bernhard

course
one
in
in
of lectures which
were
Gottingen
death by
1861,
K.
were and which Hattendorff. Kiemann
published
proposed
as
after his
the
electrokinetic expression
energy of two
electrons
the (x, y, z)and e\xf, y\ z')
this differs from
the corresponding
only in that the substituted in place of the component of this velocity along Eventually, as will be seen later,the laws the radius vector.
*
expression given by Weber relative velocity of the two electrons is
p. 86:
first made by Clausius, Journal fur Math. Ixxxii (1877), This remark was Journal fur Math. the simple proof given above is due to Grassmann, Ixxxiii (1877), p. 57.
t H. Lorberg, Journal fur Math. Ixxxiv (1878), p. 305. J Schicere, Elektricitat und Magnetismus, nach den Vorlesungen
Hannover,
von
B. Riemann
1875, p. 326. Another alternative to Weber's law had been discovered by Gauss so far back as 1835, but was not published until after his death: cf. Gauss' Werke, v, p. 616.
232
of Riemann
The Mathematical
and Weber
were
Electricians
both
ofthe
in favour of
a
abandoned
third alternative. At the time, however,
Weber's
discovery
was
felt to be
great advance ; and indeed it had, perhaps, the greatest share in awakening mathematical physicists to a sense of the possibilities Beyond in latent the theory of electricity. this, its
influence
felt in general dynamics ; for Weber's electrokinetic energy, which resembled kinetic energy in some respects and potential energy in others, could not be precisely classified
was
under either head ; and its introduction, by helping to break down the distinction which had hitherto subsisted between the parts of the kinetic potential, prepared modern transformation-theory of dynamics.*
two
the way
for the
stimulated by the was the theory of gravitation. That gravitation work of Weber is propagated by the action of a medium, and consequently is a process requiring time for itsaccomplishment, had been an article Another
whose subject
was
development
of faith with many generations of physicists. Indeed, the dependence of the force on the distance between the attracting bodies seemed to suggest this idea ; for a propagation which is
truly instantaneous would, perhaps, be more naturally conceived kind of rigid connexion between the to be effected by some
bodies, which would be of the mutual distance.
more
likely to give
force independent
is abandoned, It is obvious that, if the simple law of Newton there is a wide field of rival hypotheses from which to choose its successor. The firstnotable attempt to discuss the question
was
made by Laplace. f by the impulsion

flows with
"
Laplace
on
fluid,"which
duced gravity to be prothe attracted body of a gravific definite velocity toward the centre
supposed
"
If the attracted body or planet of attraction say, the sun. is in motion, the velocity of the fluid relative to it will be compounded of the absolute velocity of the fluid and the reversed velocity of the planet, and
*
the force of gravity will

chapters ii,iii, xi.
Cf. "Whittaker, Analytical Dynamics,

Celeste, Livre
x,
t Meeanique
chap, vii, " 22.
Middle
in the
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
determined,
its magnitude
233
being
act
direction thus
This amounts to supposing unaltered by the planet's motion. to an that gravity is subject aberrational effect similar to that of light. It is easily seen that the modification observed in the case thus introduced into Newton's
by
additional perturbing to the orbit in the opposite
an
law may be represented force, directed along the tangent

sense
to the motion,
and
proportiona
of influence the distance from the sun. of considering the this force on the secular equation of the moon's motion, Laplace be at least a found that the velocity of the gravific fluid must By
to the planet's velocity and to the inverse square
hundred
million times greater than that of light. The assumptions made by Laplace are evidently in the highest degree questionable; but the generation immediately
to have found no way succeeding, overawed by his fame, seems Under the influence of Weber's ideas, of improving on them.
however, astronomers began to think of modifying Newton's law by^ adding a term involving the velocities of the bodies. Tisserand* in 1872 discussed the motion of the planets round the
same sun as on
the supposition that the law of gravitation is the Weber's law of electrodynamic action, so that the
force is jp
*
"/_^r
"."
n ix
"
nv^*
-?.r
i"r^"i"
where
denotes the constant
the planet, // the mass from the sun, and h the velocity of propagation of gravitation. The equations of motion be rigorously integrated by may the aid of ellipticfunctions!; but the simplest procedure is
to write
of of gravitation, ra the mass of the sun, r the distance of the planet
Comptes Rendus, Ixxv (1872), p. 760. Of. also Comptes Rendus, ex (1890), 313, t fiir Math. u. Phys., 1870, p. 69. p. and Holzmiiller, Zeitschrif t This had been done in an inaugural dissertation by Seegers, Gottingen, 1864.
234
The Mathematical
Electricians
of the
and, regarding F\ as a perturbing function, to find the variation Tisserand showed that the of the constants of ellipticmotion. perturbations of all the elements are zero or periodic, and quite
insensible,except that of the longitude of perihelion, which has If A be assumed equal to the velocity of light, a secular part. the effectwould be to rotate the major axis of the orbit of 14" in a century. Mercury in the direct sense
Now,
as
it happened,
discordance
between
theory
and
known to exist in regard to the motion of observation was Mercury's perihelion ; for Le Verrier had found that the attraction be to turn the the perihelion of planets might expected
527" in the direct
sense
actually observed was however, that only f
the motion whereas greater than this by 38". It is evident, is explained by Tisserand's of the excess
a
in
century,
adoption of "Weber's law;
and
it seemed
therefore
that this
suggestion would prove as unprofitable as Le Terrier's own hypothesis of an intra-mercurial planet. But it was found later* that f of the excess could be explained by substituting Eiemann's electrodynamic law for Weber's, and that a combination of the laws of Biemann
the amount
and Weber
would
give exactly
desired.f
on the publication of his memoir the law of force between electrons, Weber turned his attention to the question of diamagnetism, and developed Faraday's idea regarding the
After
explanation of diamagnetic phenomena currents induced in the diamagnetic
by the effectsof electric Weber remarked bodies.^
we that if, with Ampere, assume the existence of molecular circuits in which there is no ohmic resistance, so that currents flow without dissipation of energy, it is quite natural to can
suppose
*
that currents
would
be induced
ex
in these
545.
molecular
By Maurice Levy,
Comptes
Eendus,
(1890), p.
t The
see
consequences of adopting the electrodynamic law of Clausius (for which discussed by Oppenheim, Zur Frage der were Fortpflanzungslater) nach
1895.
geschwindigJceit der Gravitation, Wien,
346 ; Ann. d. Phys. Ixxiii (1848), p. 241 ; Memoirs, der K. Sachs. Ges. i translated Taylor's Scientific v, p. 477 ; Abhandl. Ann. d. Phys. Ixxxvii (1852), trans. Tyndall (1852), p. 483; p. 145; and Francis' Scientific Memoirs, 163. p.
I Leipzig Berichte, i (1847), p.
Middle
circuits if they he pointed out
were
ofthe Nineteenth Century.
235
confer upon diamagnetism.
situated in a varying magnetic field; and that such induced molecular currents would the substance the properties characteristic of
The difficulty with this hypothesis is to avoid explaining too to be that all much ; for, if it be accepted, the inference seems bodies,without exception, should be diamagnetic. Weber escaped from this conclusion by
supposing
that
in iron
and
other
molecular currents, magnetic substances there exist permanent their origin to induction, and which, under which do not owe
the influence of the impressed magnetic force,set themselves in definite orientations. Since a magnetic field tends to give such
becomes pre-existing current that its course opposed to that of the current which would be induced by the increase of the magnetic force,it follows that a substance stored with such pre-existing currents would display the phenomena The bodies ordinarily called paramagnetic of paramagnetism:
a a
t
direction to
are,
according
to
postulated between the natures of paramagnetism and diamagnetism accords with many facts which have been discovered subsequently. Thus in 1895 P. Curie showed* that the magnetic susceptibilityper grammemolecule is connected with the temperature by laws which are different for paramagnetic and diamagnetic bodies. For the former it varies in inverse proportion to the absolute rature, tempewhereas for diamagnetic bodies it is independent of the
paramagnetism The radical distinction which Weber
this hypothesis, those bodies in which the is strong enough to mask the diamagnetism.
temperature.
conclusions which followed from the work of Faraday and Weber were adverse to the hypothesis of magnetic fluids; for according to that hypothesis the induced polarity would be
in the
same
The
direction whether
due to
pre-existing molecular magnets, or magnetic fluids in the molecules.

*
"
change of orientation of to a fresh separation of Through the discovery of

289.
Annales
de Chimie
p. (7)v (1845),
236
The Mathematical
wrote
Electricians
in
ofthe
hypothesis of
diamagnetism,"
Weber*
1852,
"the
interior of bodies is corroborate and the hypothesis of magnetic fluids in the interior of bodies is refuted." The latter hypothesis is,moreover, unable for the phenomena by bodies which are to account shown electric molecular
currents
in the
the strongly magnetic, like iron : for it is found that when magnetizing force is gradually increased to a very large value, the magnetization induced in such bodies does not increase in This effect cannot proportion, but tends to a saturation value
be explained on the assumptions of Poisson,but is easilydeducible from those of Weber; for, according to Weber's theory, the magnetizing force merely orients existing magnets ; and when it has attained such a value that all of them are oriented in the direction,there is nothing further to be done, same
Weber's
some
in its original form is, however, open to If the elementary magnets are supposed to be objection. theory
free to orient themselves without encountering any resistance, it is evident that a very small magnetizing force would suffice to turn them all parallel to each other, and thus would produce
immediately the greatest possible intensity of induced magnetism. To overcome Weber assumed that every displacement this difficulty, molecular circuit is resisted by a couple, which tends to restore the circuit to its original orientation. This assumption fails,however, to account for the fact that iron which
of
a
has been
strong magnetic field does not return it is removed from the field, to its original condition when but retains a certain amount of residual magnetization.
placed in
a
Another
to
alternative
was
to
assume
frictional resistance
if such a by a finite
only magnetizing force ; and this inference is inconsistent with the degree of magnetization is induced by observation that some every force,however feeble.
the rotation of the magnetic resistance existed, it could be
molecules ; but
overcome
which has ultimately gained acceptance is that the orientation is resisted by couples which arise from the
The
hypothesis
Ann.
d. Phys.
lxxxvii(1852), p. 145
Tyndall and Francis' Sci. Mem.,
p. 163.
Middle
of the Nineteenth Century.
237
mutual
In the themselves. action of the molecular magnets arrange themselves so condition the molecules unmagnetized
"
as
to satisfy their mutual
thus
form
Hughes
complete in 1883 ; when wrote*
attraction by the shortest path, and closed circuit of attraction," as D. E.

an
is applied, these small circuits are
of the process a molecular magnet influence of the external force and the forces due to the joint other molecules. This hypothesis
external magnetizing force broken up ; and at any stage is in equilibrium under the
by Maxwell,t and has been may be since developed by J. A. Ewing;Jits consequences illustrated by the following simple example" :
was
suggested
"
magnetic molecules, each of magnetic moment fixed at a distance c apart. When m, centres are whose undisturbed, they dispose themselves in the position of stable equilibrium, in which let Now the line c.
to act
on
Consider two
they point in the same increasing magnetic an
direction along force H be made
direction at right angles to the line c. The magnets turn towards the direction of H ; and when H attains the value Sm/c3, they become perpendicular to the them in
a
c,
line
H is after which they remain in this position, when increased further. Thus they display the phenomena tion of inducforce, and initially proportional to the magnetizing of
saturation.
parallel to
If the magnetizing the line c, in the
be supposed to act direction in which the axes
force H
originally pointed, the magnets will remain at rest. But if H acts in the opposite direction, the equilibrium will be stable is less than H increases ; when only so long as H
ra/c3
beyond
this limit, the equilibrium becomes unstable, and the magnets turn over so as to point in the direction of H\ when H is gradually decreased to zero, they remain in their new tions, posithus illustratingthe phenomenon
*
of residual magnetism.
(1883), p. 178. f Treatise on Elect. $ May., " 443. I Phil. Mag. xxx (1890), p. 205 ; Magnetic
xxxv
Proc. Roy. Soc.
Induction in Iron atid other Metals,.
1891.
" E. G. Gallop, Messenger of Math, xxvii (1897), p. 6.
238
By
The Mathematical
taking
a
Electricians
ofthe
large number of such pairs of magnetic molecules, originally oriented in all directions, and at such distances that the pairs do not sensibly influence each other, we may behaviour under the influence of whose an external magnetic field will closely resemble the actual behaviour of ferromagnetic bodies.
construct
a
model
to rest order that the magnets in the model may come in their new positions after reversal, it will be necessary to kind of dissipative force that they experience some suppose
In
which
damps
the oscillations ; to this would
correspond
in
actual magnetic substances the electric currents which would be set up in the neighbouring mass the molecular when are magnets suddenly reversed ; in either case, the sudden
reversals are into heat.
attended
by
transformation
of magnetic
energy
The transformation of energy from one form to another is a first treated in a general fashion shortly which was subject It had long been before the middle of the nineteenth century. that the energy of motion and the energy of position of a dynamical system are convertible into each other, and that the amount the remains invariable when of their sum is self-contained. This principle of conservation of system dynamical energy had been extended to optics by Fresnel, who had assumed* interface by that the energy brought to an known
incident light is equal to the energy carried away from the interface by the reflected and refracted beams. A similar involved in Eoget's and Faraday's defencef of conception was the chemical theory of the voltaic cell; they argued that the work done by the current in the outer circuit must be provided at the expense of the chemical energy stored in the cell,and showed that the quantity of electricitysent round the circuit
is proportional to the quantity of chemicals consumed, while its tension is proportional to the strength of the chemical extended affinities concerned in the reaction. This theory was
*Cf. p. 133.
tCf. p. 203.
Middle
ofthe Nineteenth
Century.
239
and completed by James Prescott Joule, of Manchester, in 1841. Joule, who believed* that heat is producible from mechanical work and convertible into it, measuredf the amount of heat
a metallic wire, through which current strength was passed; he found the amount to be proportional to the resistance of the wire multiplied by
evolved
in unit of known
time
in
the square of the current- strength ;
or
(as follows
from Ohm's
multiplied by the difference of electric tensions at the extremities of the wire. The quantity of energy yielded up as heat in the outer circuit being thus known, it became possible to consider the
law) to
the current-strength
transference
wrote
of energy
"
in the circuit
as
"
whole.
When,"
or
Joule,
any
a
voltaic arrangement,
current
whether
simple
compound,
passes
an
electrolyte or generated in any time is proportional to the number of atoms which are electrolyzed in each cell of the circuit,multiplied by the virtual intensity of the battery : if a decomposing cell whether be in the circuit,the virtual intensity of the battery is reduced in proportion to its resistance to electrolyzation." In the same
year the significance of this by showing that the quantities of heat which are evolved by the combustion of the equivalents of bodies are proportional to the intensities of their
through any substance, of electricity not, the total voltaic heat which is
hejenhanced
affinitiesfor oxygen, as measured of a battery required to decompose

The theory of Koget
by
the electromotive
force
the oxide electrolytically. and Faraday, thus perfected by Joule,
enables us to trace quantitatively the transformations of energy in the voltaic cell and circuit. The primary source of energy is the chemical reaction : in a Daniell cell, ZnjZn SOJCu S04|Cu, for instance, it is the substitution of zinc for copper as the
partner of the sulphion. The strength of the chemical affinities concerned is in this case measured by the difference of the heats of formation of zinc sulphate and copper sulphate ; and it is
*Cf. p. 33. t Phil. Mag.
xix
xx
I Phil. Mag.
(1841), p. 260 p. 98 : (1841),
; Joule's
Papers i, p. 60. Scientific
cf. also Phil. Mag.
xxii
(1843), p. 204.
240
this which The amount
The Mathematical
determines the
Electricians
of the
electromotive force of the cell.* of energy which is changed from the chemical to the electricalform in a given interval of time is measured by
of the strength of the chemical affinityinto the in that time, or (whatis the quantity of chemicals decomposed by the product of the electromotive force of the same thing) the product cell into the quantity of electricitywhich is circulated. This be either dissipated as heat in conformity to energy may
Joule's law,
The
Hermann
was
otherwise utilized in the outer circuit. importance by of these principles was emphasized Helmholtz (b. 1821, d. 1894), in a memoir von which
or
fully noticed published in 1847, and which will be more (Lord Kelvin)in 1851f; the presently, and by W. Thomson
important subsequently received only one Helmholtz pointed modification, which is due to Helmholtz.:}: out that the electrical energy furnished by a voltaic cell need equations
have
be derived exclusively from the energy of the chemical reactions : for the cell may also operate by abstracting heatbodies, and converting this into energy from neighbouring
not
The extent to which this takes place is electrical energy. determined by a law which was discovered in 1855 by Thomson. " Thomson available energy," i.e., showed that if E denotes the
"
possible output of mechanical work, of a system T, then a fraction at the absolute temperature
TdE fidT of this work
*
maintained
is obtained, not at the expense

a
of the thermal
or
The heat of formation of
gramme-molecule
of formation of a gramme-molecule of CuSO* 46,000 divalent metals, calories per gramme- molecule corresponds to ane.m.f. of one volt ; so the e.m.f. of a Daniell cell should be 50/46 volts, which is nearly the
case.
of ZnS04 is greater than the heat by about 50,000 calories ; and with
t Kelvin's Math,
and Phys.
Papers, i, pp. 472, 490.

;
J Berlin Sitzungsber., 1882, pp. 22, 825
" Quart. Journ.

p. 297, eqn.
Math.,
April, 1855 ; Kelvin's
1883, p. 647. Math,
and
Phys.
Papers,
i,
(7).
Middle
241
of the
but at the expense chemical energy of the system itself, in the thermal energy of neighbouring bodies. Now
the voltaic cell, the principle of Eoget, Faraday, and expressed by the equation ^ A,
=
of Joule is
case
electrical energy, which is measured by the electromotive force of the cell,and where X denotes the heat of the chemical reaction which supplies this
where
denotes
the available
or
energy.
accordance with replace this equation by

\ F ^=X
In
Thomson's
principle,
we
must
4+
TdT' TdE
is the correct relation between the electromotive force of a cell and the energy of the chemical reactions which occur in it. In general the term A is much larger than the term which
in certain classes of cells e.g., concentrationthe whole of the electrical cells A is zero; in which case energy is procured at the expense of the thermal energy of
dEjdT
"
; but
"
the cells'surroundings. Helmholtz's memoir of 1847, to which reference has already been made, bore the title, On the Conservation of Force." It
"
originally read to the Physical Society of Berlin*; but though the younger physicists of the Society received it with of the older generation prevented enthusiasm, the prejudices
was
its acceptance for the Annalen

as a
der Physik ; and it was
eventually
separate treatise.f published it was In this memoir asserted* that the conservation
*
of
On July 23rd, 1847.

English Translation in Tyndall
"
t Berlin, G. A. Reimer.
Memoirs,
p. 114.
Francis'
Scientific
honorarium.
translation by
publisher, to Helmholtz's "great surprise," gave him an Cf. Hermann Helmholtz, by Leo Koenigsbeiger ; English von F. A. Welby.
The
had been partly anticipated by "W. R. Grove, in his lectures on Correlation delivered in 1843 and published in the of Physical Forces, which were " " Grove, after asserting that heat is in its nature, and 1846. purely dynamical " " forces be into transformed the that various physical may each other, remarked :
j Helmholtz
great problem which remains to be solved, in regard to the correlation forces, is the or their establishment of their equivalent of power, of physical
"
The
measurable
relation to
given standard." P.
242
energy is
a
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
universal principle of nature : that the kinetic and systems may be converted into potential energy of dynamical heat according to definite quantitative laws, as taught by
Kumford,
forms
Joule, and Eobert Mayer* ; and that any of these of energy may be converted into the chemical, electrostatic, latter Helmholtz The voltaic, and magnetic forms.
examined systematically. Consider first the energy of an electrostatic field. It will be convenient to suppose that the system has been formed by continually bringing from a very great distance infinitesimal
quantities of electricity,proportional to the quantities already present at the various points of the system ; so that the charge is always distributed proportionally to the final distribution.
Let typify the final charge at any point of space, and V the final potential at this point. Then at any stage of the process the charge and potential at this point will have the values \e
e
and A F, where A denotes a proper fraction. At this stage let charges ed\ be brought from a great distance and added to the charges \e. The work required for this is
the total work required in order to bring the system from infinitedispersion to its final state is
so
fi
or
reasoning similar to that used in the case of electrostatic distributions,it may be shown that the energy of a magnetic field, which is due to permanent magnets and which also contains bodies susceptible to magnetic induction, is
By
\
where
*
p0 denotes the
density of Poisson's equivalent magnetiza1814, (b.
d. 1878), who was in Heilbronn, a medical man heat asserted the equivalence of and work in 1842, Annal. d. Chemie, xlii,p. 233 ; his memoir, like that of Helmholtz, first declined by the editors of the was der Physik. An English Annalen was translation of one of Mayer's memoirs
Julius Robert Mayer
printed in Phil. Mag.
xxv
(1863), p.
493.
Middle
tion,for the permanent
ofthe Nineteenth
Century.
243
magnets only, and $ denotes the magnetic
applied the principle of energy to For instance, when a systems containing electric currents. magnet is moved in the vicinity of a current, the energy taken from the battery may be equated to the sum of that expended
moreover,
potential.* Helmholtz,
Joulian heat, and that communicated to the magnet by the electromagnetic force : and this equation shows that the current is not proportional to the electromotive force of the battery,
as
i.e. it reveals the existence of Faraday's magneto-electric induction. As, however, Helmholtz was at the time unacquaint
with the conception of the electrokinetic energy for the stored in connexion with a current, his equations were most part defective. But in the case of the mutual action of and a permanent magnet, he obtained the correct result that the time-integral of the induced electromotive force in the circuit is equal to the increase which takes
a
current
place in the potential of the magnet towards a current of a certain strength in the circuit. The correct theory of the energy of magnetic and electromagnetic fields is due mainly to W. Thomson (LordKelvin). researches on this subject commenced with one or two short investigations regarding the ponderomotive forces In 1847 he discussed t the which act on temporary magnets.
case
Thomson's
of a small iron sphere placed in a magnetic field, showing force represented by that it is acted on by a ponderomotive grad cR~,where c denotes a constant, and R denotes the magnetic
a
sphere must evidently tend to move towards the places where E' is greatest. The same analysis may be applied to explain why diamagnetic bodies tend to in Faraday's experiments, from the stronger to the as move, weaker parts of the field.
*
force of the field; such
We
to be continuous, suppose all transitions
so
as
to
avoid the necessityfor Papers
writing surface -integralsseparately. tCamb. p. 230; W. Thomson's and Dub. Matb. Journal, ii (1847), Electrostatics and Magnetism, 499; on p. cf. also Phil. Mag. xxxvii p. 241.
R
2
(1850),
24:4
Two
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
years later Thomson presented to the Koyal Society a memoir* in which the results of Poisson'a theory of magnetism derived from experimental data, without making were use of
the hypothesis
of magnetic
1850 by
second memoir,f to the fact previously noticed by

a
fluids; and this in which Thomson
was
followed in attention
drew
that Poisson,J
intensity at
magnetized is shape of the small cavity in which the exploring magnet distinguished two vectors ;" one of these, by placed. Thomson later writers generally denoted by B, represents the magnetic
intensity
at
a
point within
the magnetic body depends on the
point
situated in
small
crevice
in
the
the faces of the crevice are at right when angles to the direction of magnetization ; the vector B is always circuital. The other vector, generally denoted by H, represents
magnetized
body,
the magnetic
intensity in
narrow
to the direction of magnetization
tubular cavity tangential ; it is an irrotational vector.
magnetic potential tends at any point to a limit which is independent of the shape of the cavity in which the point is situated ; and the space-gradient of this limit is identical with
H.
The
called B the magnetic and H the electro-magnetic definition,"

"
force according to the magnetic force according to the polar definition ; but the names magnetic induction and magnetic force, proposed by Maxwell, have been generally used by later writers.
Thomson
"
"
which Faraday magnetic force,"and which he represented applied the term by lines of force, is not H, but B ; for the number of unit lines remarked
"
It may
be
that
the
vector
to
of force passing through and

not
on
any gap must the particular diaphragm
only on the gap, fillingup the gap, across
depend
which the flux is estimated ; and this can be the case only if the vector which is represented by the lines of force is a circuital
vector.
Papers on Elect, and Mag., Phil. Trans., 1851, p. 243 ; Thomson's t Phil. Trans., 1851, p. 269 ; Papers on Elect, and Nay., p. 382. I Of. p. 64.
p. 345.
" Loc. cit., " 78 of the original paper, and " 517 of the reprint^
Middle
Thomson
"
ofthe
a
Nineteenth Century.
245
terms into magnetic of new number indeed he did into every science in which he was as science interested. The ratio of the measure of the induced magnetization I,-, in a temporary magnet, to the magnetizing force H,
introduced
the susceptibility ; it is positive for paramagnetic and negative for diamagnetic bodies, and is connected with Poisson's constant kp* by the relation he named 3
=
t\jp
if
SFTv
where K denotes the susceptibility. By an easy extension of Poisson's analysis it is seen that the magnetic induction and magnetic force are connected by the equation
B
=
47rl,
: so
where I denotes the total intensity of magnetization denote the permanent magnetization, we have
B
=
if I0
47rl"+ 47rl,,,
+
)uH
:
47rI0,
where
//, denotes
(1 + 4")
//, was
called by
Thomson
the
permeability. In 1851 Thomson
his magnetic theory so as to include magnecrystallic phenomena. The mathematical foundations of the theory of magnecrystallic action had been laid by extended
discovery of the anticipation, long before the experimental in in a memoir phenomenon, read by Poisson to the Academy February, 1824. Poisson, as will be remembered, had supposed temporary
to be due to magnetism magnetic fluids," movable within the infinitely small of which he magnetic elements assumed magnetizable matter to be constituted. He had not overlooked the possibility that in crystals these magnetic
"
"
"
elements might
be non-spherical (e.g. cally and symmetriellipsoidal), that a portion of such arranged ; and had remarked crystal, when placed in a magnetic field, would act in a
manner
depending
on
its orientation.
*
The relations connecting
Cf. p. 65.
246
the induced
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
force H
he
magnetization I with the magnetizing had given in a form equivalent to
(Ix
Iy Iz
aHx a"Hx
b'ffy + c"ffz, + bHy + c'HZ) b"Hy

+
a'Hr
cHz.
',
. .
showed introduced by Poisson, are

a
Thomson
now*
that the nine coefficientsa, b' c" For not independent of each other.
.,
sphere composed of the magnecrystalline in a uniform fieldof force, would be acted
substance, if placed by a couple : and on

sphere, supposed of
the axis of x But this
the work
done
by
this couple when
the
unit volume, performs a complete may be easily shown to be
7rH(l
revolution round H^j IP)(- "" +
c).
work must since the system is restored to its primitive a, condition ; and hence ~b" and c must be equal. Similarly e" bf. By change of axes three more and a" coefficientsmay be
zero,
=
be
removed,
so
that the equations may

777" JC
~
be brought to the form

TT
Kl/Zx,
Iy
K-lJily,
1Z
TT Ka/Zz,
where
KI,
KZ,
K3
may
be called the principal magnetic
susceptibilities.
In the which,
as
same was
year
(1851)Thomson
investigated the energy
evident from Faraday's work on self-induction, He must be stored in connexion with every electric current. the value of a current in a showed that, in his own words, f
"
force, is the conductor, left without electromotive quantity of work that would be got by letting all the infinitely small currents into which it may be divided along the lines of
closed
come together from an infinitedistance, of the electricity is of infinitely small currents and make it up. Each of these in a circuit which is generally of finite length ; it is the course
motion
'
'
section of each partial conductor and the strength of the current in it that must be infinitelysmall."
*
Phil. Mag.
(4)i (1851), p. 177:

Electrostatics and
Papers
on
Electrostatics and
Magnetism,
p. 471. t Papers
on
Magnetism,
p. 446.
Middle
ofthe Nineteenth
energy
Century.
247
Discussing next the mutual permanent

at
magnet
the remarkable
due to the approach of a and a circuit carrying a current, he arrived there is no conclusion that in this case
electrokinetic energy which depends on the mutual action ; the of that due to the permanent magnets energy is simply the sum If a permanent is magnet and that due to the currents.
caused to approach a circuitcarrying a current, the electromotive force acting in the circuit is thereby temporarily increased ; the amount of energy dissipated as Joulian heat, and the speed of
are temporarily increased also. the chemical reactions in the cells, But the increase in the Joulian heat is exactly equal to the
increase in the energy
consumption of chemicals, together with the mechanical work done on the magnet by the it ; so that the balance of energy is perfect, operator who moves and none needs to be added to or taken from the electrokinetic It will now be evident why it was that Helmholtz into which he was led in other escaped in this case the errors by his neglect of electrokinetic energy ; for in this case cases
form. there
derived from
electrokinetic energy to neglect. Two years later,in 1853, Thomson* form to the gave a new and expression for the energy of a system of permanent
was no
temporary
We
magnets. have seen that the energy of such
system is represented
by
where p0 denotes the density of Poisson's equivalent magnetization for the permanent denotes the magnetic magnets, and "f"
potential, and where the integration may be extended over the div I0,f the whole of space. Substituting for pn its value be written in the form expression may
-
""
div Io dx dydz ;
*Proc.
Papers,
Glasgow
Phil. Soc. iii (1853), p. 281;
Kelvin's Math,
t Cf
.
and
Phys.
i, p. 521.
p. fi4.
248
or,
The Mathematical
Electricians
of the
integrating by parts,
dx (!", grad "")
.
dy dz,
or
dx (H I0)
.
dy dz.
Since
form
yu,H +
47rI0, this expression may
be written in the
-"
(H.
offJJJ
but the former of these integrals is equivalent to
"fff
(B
grad
"")
dx dydz,
or
""
div B dx dy dz, The energy of the
which vanishes, since B is a circuitalvector. field, therefore, reduces to

1
BIT,
integrated
form.* returned to the question of the memoir Thomson energy which is possessed by a circuit in virtue of an electric current circulating in it. As he remarked, the energy may
same
over
all space; which
is equivalent
to Thomson's
In the
be
of work which be done in and on the circuit in order to double the must circuit on itself while the current is sustained in it with that a constant show strength; for Faraday's experiments
determined
by
calculating the
amount
circuit doubled that the amount
on
itselfhas
strength, and L, which is depends only on the form of called the coefficient ofself-induction^ the circuit.
\Li*, where
of work i denotes the current
Thomson found stored energy. required may be expressed in the form

no
It may
*
be noticed that in the doubling process the inherent

was
The
form actually given by Thomson

"
"
\:-.*) Sir}}}
which reduces
permanent
to
fff(*E? lA
we
d-d
the above
over
when which
magnetism,
we
neglect that part of I2 which have no control.
is due to the
Middle
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
249
electrodynamic energy is being given up, and yet the operator is doing positive work. The explanation of this apparent paradox is being is that the energy derived from both these sources
used to save the energy which would otherwise be furnished by the battery, and which is expended in Joulian heat. Thomson next proceeded* to show that the energy which is stored in connexion with a circuit in which a current is flowing may be expressed
as a
of space, similar to
the whole volume-integral extended over he had already the integral by which
represented the energy of a system of permanent and temporary The theorem, as originally stated by its author, magnets. applied only to the case of a single circuit; but it may be
established for a system the following way :

"
formed
by any
number
of circuits in
If N8 denote the number of unit tubes of magnetic induction which are linked with the "h circuit, in which a current is is flowing, the electrokinetic energy of the system is JSJV,^; which may be written
|2/r, where
/r denotes the total current flowing

rth
through
the gap formed But if H denote
tion. unit tube of magnetic inducthe (vector) magnetic force, and H its
by the
numerical
along
current
that (l/4?r) JHds, integrated magnitude, it is known the total closed line of magnetic induction, measures
flowing
gap formed by the line. The being extended the summation jffds, energy is therefore (l/8?r)S tion over all the unit tubes of magnetic induction, and the integrabeing taken along them. But if dS denote the cross-section through
the
of
one
of these tubes,
we
have
BdS
numerical magnitude of the magnetic is (1 SBdS /Hds ; and as the tubes fillall space, we may 'Sir) 1 by ^dxdydz. Thus the energy takes the form replace 'S.dSjds BHdxdydz, (l/8?r) JJf
1, where B denotes the induction B : so the energy
where the integration is extended over the whole of space ; and since in the present case B pH, the energy may also be represented by (Il8v)ffffjjrdxdydz.
=
Nichols*
"
Cyclopaedia,
2nd
ed.,
1860, Papers
relations of; reprinted in Thomson's his Math, and Phys. Papers, p. 532.
" dynamical Magnetism, article Elect, and Mag., p. 447, and on
250
But
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
this is identical with the form which was obtained for field due to permanent It thus and temporary magnets.
that in
appears
all and
cases
the stored energy and

-'
of
electric currents
permanent
temporary
system of magnets is
dxdydz,
where the integration is extended over all space. It must, however, be remembered that this represents only is called the available energy ; and what in thermodynamics
" "
further be remembered that part even of this available energy may not be convertible into mechanical work within the limitations of the system : e.g.,the electrokinetic energy of a
it must
single closed perfectly conducting circuit cannot be converted into any other form so long as the circuit is absolutely rigid. All that we can say is that the changes in
current
flowing in
this stored electrokinetic energy correspond to the work furnished by the system in any change.
The above form suggests that the energy may not be localized buted in the substance of the circuits and magnets, but may be distrithe whole of space, an amount (pH2/Sir) of energy This conception was being contained in each unit volume. in whose theory it is of afterwards adopted by Maxwell,
over
fundamental While
importance. Thomson
was
energy stored in connexion with electric currents, the equations of flow of the 1824, being generalized by Gustav Kirchhoff (b. currents were
investigating the
d.
Kirchhoff* extended Ohm's theory of linear conduction to the case of conduction in three dimensions ; this difficulty by making use of the could be done without much
1848 analogy with the flow of heat, which had proved so useful to In Kirchhoff s memoir Ohm. a system is supposed to be formed of three-dimensional conductors, through which steady
currents
or
"
1887). In
At any point let V denote the tension a quantity the significance of which electroscopic force
are
flowing.
"
"
"
"
*Ann.d.
Phys. Ixxv (1848),p. 189:
Kirchhoff's Ges. AbhandL,
p. 33.
Middle
in electrostatics the
was
of tke Nineteenth Century.

not
425l
substance of any must satisfy Laplace's equation V- V=
Then, within yet correctly known. homogeneous conductor, the function V

0 ; while at the air-surface
of each conductor, the derivate of V taken along the normal At the interface between two conductors formed must vanish. of different materials, the function V has a discontinuity,
which
two
is measured
conductors ; shall be continuous
by the value of Volta's contact force for the the condition that the current and, moreover,
across
such
an
interface
requires that
Jed VfoN shall be continuous, where k denotes the ohmic specific conductivity of the conductor, and 3/3^ denotes differentiation
along the normal to the interface. The been mentioned sufficeto determine now in the system.
Kirchhoff
equations which have the flow of electricity
selves also showed that the currents distribute themin the conductors in such a way as to generate the least possible amount of Joulian heat ; as is easily seen, since the quantity of Joulian heat generated in unit time is
where k, as before, denotes the specific conductivity ; and this integral has a stationary value when V satisfies the equation
a /ar\
Kirchhoff next applied himself to establish harmony between That electrostatical conceptions and the theory of Ohm. theory had
had
been
been before the world for twenty years, and researches ; in verified by numerous experimental
now
particular, a careful investigation
was
made
"
at this time
(1848)
that
a
by Kudolph
Kohlrausch
(b. 1809, d. 1858), who

"
showed*
the difference of the electric

voltaic cell,measured
was
tensions
at the extremities of
electrostatically with
for different cells proportional

*Ann. d. Phys. Ixxv
the circuit open, to the electromotive force

220.
(1848), p.
252
measured
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
by the electrodynamic effects of the cell with the the circuit was closed, circuit closed ; and, further,* that when the difference of the tensions, measured electrostatically, at any
points of the outer circuit was proportional to the ohmic But in spite of all that had resistance existing between them.
two
been
scopic
done, it
force,"
was or
"
in
the
language
electroelectromotive force should be interpreted of theoretical electrostatics; it will be

"
stilluncertain
how
"
tension,"
or
"
that Ohm himself, perpetuating a confusion which remembered had originated with Volta, had identified electroscopic force that the with density of electric charge, and had assumed it is distributed electricity in a conductor is at rest when uniformly throughout the substance of the conductor. The uncertainty was finally removed in 1849 by Kirchhoff,f electroscopic force with the electrostatic by potential. That this identificationis correct may be seen the different expressions which have been obtained comparing for electric energy; Helmholtz's shows that the who
identified Ohm's
expression^
energy
of
unit charge
at
any place is proportional
to the
value of the electrostatic potential at that place ; while Joule's shows that the energy liberated by a unit charge in result" passing from one place in a circuit to another is proportional
to the difference of the electric tensions at the two places.
It
follows that tension and potential The work of Kirchhoff was
are
the
same
thing. by several other between electrostatics
followed
investigations which
and
belong to the borderland
One of the firstof these was the electrodynamics. study of the Leyden jardischarge. Early in the century Wollaston, in the course ments of his experion the decomposition of water, had observed that when
the decomposition the hydrogen is effected by
a
discharge of static electricity,
do not appear at separate electrodes ; but that at each electrode there is evolved a mixture of the and oxygen
Ann. d. Phys, Ixxviii (1849), p. 1. f Ib. Ixxviii (1849), 506 Kirchhoff's Get. Abhandl, ; p. p. 463. xxxvii (1850),
*
p. 49 ; Phil. Mag.
(3),
I Cf.
p. 242.
" Cf.
p. 239.
Middle
as
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
253
gases,
if the current
After
directions.
had passed through the water in both had noticed that the this F. Savary*
discharge of a Ley den jar magnetizes needles in alternating that " the electric motion during layers, and had conjectured the discharge consists of a series of oscillations." A similar remark Joseph
"
was
made in connexion with a similar observation by in 1842.f Henry 1799, d. 1878), (ft. of Washington,
require us to admit the existence direction,and then several reflex feeble than the forward, each more
"
he wrote, The phenomena," of a principal discharge in one
actions backward
and
is restored." Helmholtz had preceding, until equilibrium suggestion in his essay on the conservation repeated the same in 1853 W. Thomson J verified it, by of energy : and investigating the mathematical theory of the discharge, as
follows
:
"
i.e., Let C denote the capacity of the jar, the measure of the there is unit difference of potential between "the charge when
coatings ; let R denote the ohmic resistance of the discharging circuit, and L its coefficient of self-induction. Then if at any instant t the charge of the condenser be Q, and the dQ/dt; while Ohm's law, current in the wire be i, we have i
=
modified
equation
by
taking
self-induction into
account,
gives
the
Eliminating i, we
have
an
IFC " 4Z, the subsidence equation which shows that when of Q to zero is effected by oscillationsof period
27T
(1\LC
*
4Z
Annales
tProc. Am.
p. 540.
de Chiniie, xxxiv (1827), p. 5. Phil. Soc. ii (1842), p. 193.
J Phil. Mag.
(4)v
(1853), p.
400
Kelvin's Math,
and
Phys.
Papers
i,
254
This simple
The Mathematical
result may
Electricians
as
of the
of the
be regarded
the beginning
theory of electric oscillations. Thomson was at this time much of submarine the vexed insulated telegraphy; of the and
"
engaged thus he was
in the problems led to examine

"
velocity of electricity over long Various had workers wires and made cables. on this experiments subjectat different times, but with hopelessly discordant results. Their attempts had generally
question the interval of time between the of sparks at two spark-gaps in the same circuit, appearance between which a great length of wire intervened, but which brought near were each other in order that the discharges
taken
the form of measuring
might
be
seen
performed four miles was miles through
by Watson
series of experiments, in 1747-8,* the circuit Shooter's Hill at in length, two miles through wire and two
together.
In
one
the ground ; but the discharges appeared to be Watson that the whence concluded perfectly simultaneous; velocity of propagation of electric effects is too great to be measurable. In 1834
Philosophy
Charles Wheatstone,f Professor of Experimental in King's College, London, by examining in
revolving mirror sparks formed a,t the extremities of a circuit, found the velocity of electricityin a copper wire to be about one and a half times the velocity of light. In 1850 H. Fizeau and E. GounelleJ experimenting with the telegraph lines from Paris to Eouen and to Amiens, obtained a velocity about onethird that of light for the propagation of electricityin an iron
wire, and nearly two- thirds that of light for the propagation in a copper wire. The made that
*
explaining these discrepancies was by Faraday, who" early in 1854 showed experimentally submarine cable, formed of copper wire covered with
first step towards
Phil. Trans, xlv (1748), pp. 49, 491. t Phil. Trans., 1834, p. 583.
; Comptes Rendus, xxx (1850), p. 437. " Proc. Roy. Inst., Jan. 20, 1854: Phil. Mag-., June, 1854:
pp. 508, 521.
Exp.
Res. iii,
Middle
"
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
255
immense be assimilated exactly to an may gutta-percha, battery ; the glass of the jarsrepresents the guttaLeyden percha ; the internal coating is the surface of the copper wire," to the sea-water. It cgating corresponds while the outer
follows that in all calculations relating to the propagation of cables, the electrostatic electric disturbances along submarine capacity of the cable must
The
be taken into account.
theory of signalling by cable originated in a correspondence in 1854. In the case between Stokes and Thomson lines, the speed of signalling is so much of long submarine limited by the electrostatic factor that electro-magnetic induction
accordingly neglected in sensible effect; and it was the investigation. In view of other applications of the analysis; however, we shall suppose that the cable has a self-induction L
has
no
per unit length, and that E denotes the ohmic resistance, and C the capacity per unit length, Fthe electric potential at a distance x from one terminal, and i the current at this place. law, as modified for inductance, is expressed by the Ohm's equation
9^
-
-^-
dx
L Tdi dt
"
_". Ri ;
since the rate of accumulation of charge in unit length at # is di/dx, and since this increases the potential have we at the rate (l/C^difix,
moreover,
-
'dt
Eliminating i between
these two
dx
equations,
we
have
1 82F
which
is known
as
the equation
one
oftelegraphy*
Thomson,
in
obtained this equation i.e., with the term .cables,

*
of his letterst to Stokes in 1854, in the form which applies to Atlantic

in L
neglected.
In this form
it is
"We have neglected leakage, which is beside our present purpose. t Proc. Roy. Soc., May, 1855 : Kelvin's Math, and Phys. Papers, ii,p. 61.
256
the
heat
same
:
The Mathematical
as
Electricians
ofthe
of he
so a
used in
Fourier's equation for the linear propagation that the known solutions of Fourier's theory may interpretation. If we substitute new
v y
"
/,2""V
t/
i -j-\x
"
we
obtain
A,
=
"
J (1 + -v/^l)(nCR)l
and therefore
typical elementary
=
solution of the equation is

-
V
The
sin \2nt (nCR)^x}. e-(nCR^x
of this solution shows that if a regular harmonic variation of potential is applied at one end of a cable, the phase is proportional to the is propagated with a velocity which square root of the frequency of the oscillations: since therefore
form
propagated with different velocities, it is evident that no definite " velocity of transmission is to be expected for ordinary signals. If a potential is suddenly applied
are
"
the different harmonics
end of the cable, a certain time elapses before the current at the other end attains a definite percentage of its maximum easily be shown* that this retardation is value ; but it may
at
one
of the length of the cable, so that the apparent velocity of propagation would be less,the greater the length of cable used. proportional to the square of a telegraph line insulated in the air on poles is different from that of a cable ; for here the capacity is small, If in and it is necessary to take into account the inductance. The
case
the general equation of telegraphy V

we
=
we
write
enx^~l
+ Pl,
obtain the equation

R
f
(R*
n*
~
\i
2l
as
("L*CL) ;
the capacity is small, we may replace the quantity under the that a typical see radical by its second term : and thus we elementary solution of the equation is
F=
*
siu
n{x
once
(CL)-1* t};
This result, indeed, follows at
from the theory of dimensions.
Middle
257
this shows that any harmonic disturbance, and therefore any disturbance whatever, is propagated along the wire with propagation in an velocity (CL}~\ The difference between
aerial wire and propagation in an oceanic cable is,as Thomson remarked, similar to the difference between the propagation pressure through a long column of fluid in a tube when the tube is rigid (case of the aerial wire) and when it is elastic, so as to be capable of local distension (case of the of
an
impulsive
: cable, the distension corresponding to the effect of capacity) in the former case, as is well known, the impulse is propagated with a definite velocity, namely, the velocity of sound in the
fluid. The work in 1857 by
signallingalong cables was followed a celebrated investigation* of Kirchhoff's, on the propagation of electric disturbance along an aerial wire of
on
of Thomson
circular cross- section. Kirchhoff assumed that the electric charge is practically all resident on the surface of the wire, and that the current is
uniformly
current
was
distributed
the
same
over
as
its cross-section; his idea of the that of Fechner and Weber, namely,
that it consists of equal streams of vitreous and resinous tricity elecflowing in opposite directions. Denoting the electric potential by V, the charge per unit length of wire by e, the length of the wire by I,and the radius of its cross-section by a, he showed that Fis determined approximately by the equationf V
*
=
2e log
193, 251
:
(I/a).
Kirchhoff's Ges. Abhandl.,
p. iai ;
Ann.
d. Phys.
Phil. Mag.
pp. (1857), p. 393. xiii (1857),

c
t His method
of obtaining this equation

a
was
e
to calculateseparately the effectsof
on either side of the point considered, portion of the wire within denotes J, but large a length small compared e with where compared with o, He thus the the rest of the wire. obtained equation and (2)
the (1)
distance
the integrationis to be taken over all the length of the wire except the 2e : the equation given in the text was then derived by an, approximation ,. portion is open to some which, however, where
objection.
S
258
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
The next factor to be considered is the mutual induction of Assuming the current-elements in different parts of the wire. that the electromotive force induced in an element with Weber
ds due to another
element
ds' carrying
current
i' is derivable
from
vector-potential
"
,.3
Kirchhoff found for the vector-potential due to the entire wire

the approximate value
w
=
2i log
(//a),
the strength of the current ;* the vectorpotential being directed parallel to the wire. Ohm's law then where
i denotes
gives the equation
ldw
where
the specific conductivity of the material of the wire is composed; and finally the principle of which conservation of electricitygives the equation
k denotes
di
_
dx~ Denoting
equations,
_de ~di'
eliminating
1
e,
log
we
by (I/a)
have
y, and
i, w
from these four
82F
1 d*V
8F
as might have been expected, the equation of telegraphy. which is, is ignored, as we have seen is in certain When the term in 3 V/dt
cases
permissible, the equation becomes
82F
lF
This expression formula
was
derived in
similar way to that for F, by

ci'ds'
h
"
an
intermediate
2c
w
=
2i log "
--
cos
cos
where
6 and
Q' denote respectively the angles made
with
by ds and ds'.
Middle
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
259
disturbance is propagated along the which shows that the electric KirchhofF s procedure has, in fact, wire with the velocity c*
involved the calculation of the capacity and self-induction of the wire, and is thus able to supply the definitevalues of the quantities which were left undetermined in the general equation
of telegraphy. The velocity c, whose importance
was
thus demonstrated, has
already been noticed in connexion with Weber's law of force ; it is a factor of proportionality,which must be introduced when are described in terms of units which electrodynamic phenomena have been defined electrostatically or conversely when units
are used in the which have been defined electrodynamicallyj That the factor which description of electrostaticphenomena. be of the dimensions is introduced on such occasions must
,f
may (length/time),
electrostatic repulsion is a quantity of the same between electriccharges kind two definite lengths of as the electrodynamic repulsion between wire, carrying currents which may be specifiedby the amount of charge which travels past any point in unit time. Shortly before the publication of Kirchhoff s memoir,
be
easily
seen
for the
the
; and Kohlrausch" value of c had been determined by Weber their determination rested on a comparison of the measures of the as obtained by a method depending charge of a Leyden jar,
on
*
electrostatic attraction, and by
method
depending
on
the
he In referring to the original memoirs of Weber and Kirchhoff, it must in the present work is denoted by e, and remembered that the quantity which in free aether, was light by these writers denoted the velocity of which represents by
c/V'2.
Weber,
in fact, denoted by
force between must approach each other in order that the his formula, should vanish. It must that currents also be remembered consist of equal
accustomed
to
the relativevelocity with which two charges them, as calculated by

accepted the hypothesis
that those writers who
and opposite streams of vitreous and resinous write 2t to denote the current-strength. f i.e.,defining unit electric charge as that which exerts unit ponderomotive force on a conductor at unit distance which carries an equal charge ; and then
were electricity,
defining unit current as that which conveys unit charge in unit time. by means defining unit current of the ponderomotive force which it % i.e., an on the two currents flow in circuitsof specified exerts equal current, when form at a specifieddistance apart.
" Ann.
d. Phys. xcix
(1856), p.
10.
S 2
260
The Mathematical
Electricians
ofthe
jar.
magnetic effects of the current produced The resulting value was nearly
c
=
by discharging the
3*1
1010
cm./sec.;
ment, of measurewhich within the limits of the errors as the speed with which light travels in interplanetary thus space. The coincidence was noticed by Kirchhoff, who was the first to discover the important fact that the velocity with
was
the
same,
electric disturbance is propagated along a perfectlyconducting aerial wire is equal to the velocity of light. In a second memoir published in the same year, Kirchhoff*
which
an
extended the equations of propagation of electric disturbance to the case of three-dimensional conductors.
As in his earlier investigation,he divided the electromotive is the gradient force at any point into two parts, of which one of the electrostatic potential and the other is the derivate
with
respect
to
the
time
"/", (with sign reversed) of
vector-
potential a ; so that if i denote the current and k the specific conductivity, Ohm's law is expressed by the equation
i
=
(c2 grad "" a).

-
Kirchhoff
calculated the value of a by aid of Weber's formula for the inductive action of one current element on another; the result is
where
denotes the vector from the point
(x, at y, z),
which
is
y, z") of the conductor, at which measured, to any other point (x, the current is i'; and the integration is extended over the whole The remaining general equations are volume of the conductor.
the ordinary equation of the electrostaticpotential

+ V2""
4irp
(where p
denotes the density of electric and the equation charge),
of conservation of electricity
|
ot
*
div i
0.
Ges. AbhandL,
p. 154.
Ann.
d. Phys. cii (1857), p. 529
Middle
ofthe Nineteenth
Century.
261
It will be seen that Kirchhoff's electrical researches were The latter investigations, greatly influenced by those of Weber. however,
was
did not
as
unquestioned enjoy
to whether
still a question for the mutual Weber
authority ; for there the expressions given by

current
energy of two
the mutual energy of two electrons, were and Eiemann. rival formulae of Neumann
elements, and for to be preferred to the The

matter
was
examined
to series of memoirs* Helmholtz remarked which reference has already been made.f that, for two elements ds, ds',carrying currents i, i',the electroa
in 1870
by
Helmholtz,
in
dynamic
energy is
n'(ds.ds')
'
according to Neumann,
and
5-(r.ds)(r.ds'),
according
each
to Weber;
?V
and
that these expressions differ from
other only by the quantity

cos + (ds ds')
.
cos
(r ds)cos (r ds') ]
.
dzr
or ^^
dsds
since this vanishes when formulae give the two
currents.
integrated round
same
either circuit, the
A general formula and that of Weber is evidently
result when applied to entire including both that of Neumann
n'(ds .ds') +
"
ki^
..,
ffr ds ds
-j"-,
dsds,
where
k denotes
an
arbitrary
constant.^
form for
Helmholtz's
the law
*
a new result suggested to Clausius" of force between electrons ; namely, that
which
is
Journal fur Math.,
Ixxii
(1870), p.
Math.
57
Ixxv
(1873), p.
35:
Ixxviii (1874),
p. 273. + Cf. H. Lamb,
t Cf. p. 229.
Proc. Lond. Soc., xiv (1883), p. 301. Phil. 85 Mag., : x (1880), (1877), p. p. 255.
" Journal fiir Math. Ixxxii
262
The Mathematical Electricians

that two
ofthe
e, e',
obtained by supposing
velocitiesv,
v',
electrons of charges
and
possess electrokinetic energy of amount

eef
"
(v
-
.v')+ kee
d~r
,
.
dsds
-r"
=-" w
Subtracting from this the mutual electrostaticpotential energy, we which is ee'c'/r, may write the mutual kinetic potential of
the two electrons in the form
(xx +
where
ijy
zzf
+ c2)
kee'
" vv',
(x, y, z)
denote
the coordinates
of
e,
and
(X,y', z)
those of ef. The unknown
constant
closed circuits only are the expression for the kinetic potential becomes
ee'
"
k has clearly no influence so long as considered: if k be replaced by zero,
(xx +
yy
zz
c2),
will appear later,closely resembles the corresponding expression in the modern theory of electrons. which,
as
Clausius' formula has the great advantage it does not compel us to assume equal and
over
Weber's, that
opposite velocities for the vitreous and resinous charges in an electric current; on the other hand, Clausius' expression involves the absolute velocitiesof the electrons, while Weber's depends only on their relative motion; and therefore Clausius' theory requires the assumption of a fixed aether in space, to which the velocities
v
and V may be referred. When the behaviour of finiteelectricalsystems is predicted from the formulae of Weber, Eiemann, and Clausius, the three laws do not always lead to concordant results. For instance, if a circular current be rotated with constant angular velocity be a round its axis, according to Weber's law there would development stationary conductor in the neighbourhood ; whereas, according to Clausius' formula there would be no induction on a stationary body, but electrification of free electricityon
a
Middle
on
a
ofthe
body
Nineteenth Century.
turning
263
with the circuit as if rigidly connected with it. Again,* let a magnet be suspended within a hollow metallic body, and let the hollow body be suddenly charged or discharged; then, according to Clausius' would
appear
magnet is unaffected; but according to Weber's impulsive couple. theories it experiences an and Kiemann's And again, if an electrified disk be rotated in its own plane, under certain circumstances a steady current will be induced in
theory, the
law, but not circuit according to Weber's according to the other formulae. to Clausius' theory was An interesting brought
a
neighbouring
objection
"
forward in 1879
by Frohlichf
a
namely, that when
charge of
at rest
free electricity and
constant
electric current
are
relatively to each other, but partake together of the translatory motion of the earth in space, a force should act between them if It was, however, shown true. Clausius' law were by BuddeJ
that the circuit itself acquires
as a
result of the
same
electrostatic charge, partly the force on the action which causes
an
external conductor, and partly as a result of electrostatic induction by the charge on the external conductor ; and that the total force between the circuit and external conductor is thus reduced
We
to
zero."
seen
have
that the discrimination between
the different
laws of electrodynamic in an question whether
force is closely connected
electricity moving direction. moving in one

*
electric current there are in opposite directions, or only
with the two kinds of

one
kind
On the unitary hypothesis, that the

experiments, with
others,
were
The
two
following
d. Phys.
crudal
xxx
suggested
by
E.
Budde,
t Ann.
+
(1887), p. 100. d. Phys. ix (1880), p. 261.

d. Phys.
x
Ann.
Ann.
(1880), p.
553.
case of a charge and current moving side hy side was afterwards Gerald by Fitz Dub. Boy. Soc. i, Scient. Writings 1882 (Trans. ; examined of G. F. Fitz Gerald, p. Ill) without reference to Clausius' formula, from the
" This
The result obtained was the standpoint of Maxwell's theory. induced on the conductor carrying the current that the electricity force between the current and the external charge. ponderomotive
same
"
namely,
neutralizes the
264
current
The Mathematical
consists in
a
Electricians
one
ofthe
kind of electricitywith a definite velocity relative to the wire, it might be expected that a axis would generate a coil rotated rapidly about its own
transport of
that produced by the same coil to determine the matter were performed at rest. Experiments by A. Foppl* and by E. L. Nichols and W. S. Franklin,fbut with negative results. The latter investigators found that the magnetic velocity of electricitymust be such that the quantity conveyed the direction of past a specified point in a unit of time, when that in which the coil was travelling, did not the current was
field different from
differ from
moving
transferred when in opposite directions by
that
the current
as
and
one
much
as
coil were part in ten
the velocity of the wire was 9096 cm./sec. when million, even They considered that they would have been able to detect
even though of deflexion due to the motion of the coil, the velocity of the current had been considerably greater than a thousand million metres per second.
a
change
the decades in the middle of the century considerable made in the science of thermo-electricity, progress was have already described.J In Faraday's whose beginnings we
During
read"
"
laboratory note-book, " Surely the : obtained
under
converse
the
date
July
28th,
1836,
we
here indicated had the experiment already been made, although its author had arrived at it by a different train of ideas. In 1834 Jean Charles Peltier|| 1785, (b.
d.
antimony Unknown
experimentally. and bismuth."

to Faraday,
of thermo-electricity ought to be Pass current through a circuit of
1845)attempted
success
the task, which
was
with
passage of an that a current produces in

*
by Joule,1J of measuring electriccurrent through

a
afterwards performed the heat evolved by the

a
conductor. conductor
an
He
found
homogeneous
elevation
Ann.
Amer.
d. Phys. xxvii (1886), p. 410. Jour. Sci., xxxvii (1889), p. 103.

92, 93.
J Cf. pp. Annales II
"
Bence Jones's
Life of Faraday,
ii,p. 76.
de Ciiimie,Ivi (1834), p. 371.
If Cf. p. 239.
Middle
of temperature, which where
the
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
same same
265
is the
the cross-section is the thermal

"
in all parts of the conductor ; but he did not succeed in
quantitatively with the phenomena due chiefly to the was a failure which current strength of .the fixed on the rise of circumstance that his attention was temperature rather than on the amount of the heat evolved.
connecting
But incidentally the investigation led to

"
an
important discovery
namely, that when
current
was
passed in succession through
conductors made of dissimilarmetals, there was an evolution ; and that this depended on the direction of of heat at the junction
two
heated when the current was the current ; for if the junction flowed in one sense, it was cooled when the current flowed in the
is quite distinct This Peltier as it is called, opposite sense. effect, from the ordinary Joulian liberation of heat, in which the amount of energy set free in the thermal form is unaffected by
a
reversal of the current ; the Joulian effect is,in fact,proportional to the square of the current-strength, while the Peltier
effect is proportional to the current-strength directly. The Peltier heat which is absorbed from external sources when a from one metal current i flows for unit time through a junction B to another metal A
may
therefore be denoted by
The where T denotes the absolute temperature of the junction. function (T) is found to be expressible as the difference of
n^
two
parts, of which
on
one
depends
on we
the metal A
can
only, and the
other
the metal B only ; thus
write
was general theory of thermo-electric phenomena coveries constructed on the foundation of Seebeck's* and Peltier's disby W. Thomson.f Consider a circuit formed of two
a
In 1851
Cf. pp. 92, 93. t Proc. R.S. Edinb. iii (1851), p. 91 ; Phil. Mag. iii(1852), p. 529 : Kelvin's Math, and Phys. Paper*, i, p. 316. Cf. also Trans. R. S. Edinb. xxi (1854), p. 123, reprinted in Papers, i, p. 232 : and Phil. Trans., 1856, reprinted in Papers, ii,p. 189.
266
The Mathematical
one
Electricians
ofthe
a
metals, A and B, and let slightly higher temperature

of the other
be maintained at junction (T + $T) than the temperature
Seebeck had shown, a thermo-electric saw that such current will be set up in the circuit. Thomson a system might be regarded as a heat-engine, which absorbs a certain quantity of heat at the hot junction, and converts part As junction.
of this into electrical energy, liberating the rest in the form of heat at the cold junction. If the Joulian evolution of heat be neglected, the process is reversible,and must obey the second law of thermodynamics ; that is,the sum of the quantities of heat absorbed, each divided by the absolute temperature Thus we have which it is absorbed, must vanish.
at
T+ST
so
the Peltier effect
H^(T)
must
be directly proportional to
T. This result,however, as Thomson the absolute temperature well knew, was contradicted by the observations of Gumming, who had shown that when the temperature of the hot junction is gradually increased, the electromotive force rises to a maximum to value and then decreases. The contradiction led Thomson
predict the existence of

"
hitherto unrecognized
thermo-electric
phenomenon namely, a reversible absorption of heat at places in the circuit other than the junctions. Suppose that a current flows along a wire which is of the same metal throughout, but
varies in temperature from point to point. Thomson showed heat be liberated that must at some points and absorbed at others, so as either to accentuate or to diminish the differences
Suppose at the different points of the wire. of temperature that the heat absorbed from external sources unit when T to the electric charge passes from the absolute temperature temperature The
(T
$T)
in
metal A
now
is denoted
by
SA(T).ST.
thermodynamical
equation
takes the corrected form
SA(T)}
Middle
Since the metals A
ofthe Nineteenth
and B
are
Century.
267
quite independent, this gives
Thomson's This equation connects SA(T) with the Peltier effect. In 1870 P. G. Tait* found
"
specificheat of electricity"
experimentally that the specific heat of electricityin pure metals is proportional to the absolute We SA(T) aAT, where temperature. may therefore write
=
a A
denotes
constant
thermodynamical
characteristic of the equation then becomes
metal
A.
The
_d dT
or
\UA(T)) ( T
where TTA denotes another constant characteristic of the metal. The chief part of the Peltier effect arises from the term irAT.
By
the investigations which
have
been
described in the
present chapter, the theory of electric currents was considerably in directions. In ever, several all these researches, howadvanced fixed on the conductor carrying the current attention was
as was
the seat of the phenomenon.
In the following period, interest
centred not
so
much
on
on
as and currents, dielectric media

*
the
the conductors which carry charges processes which take place in the
them. .around
Proc. R. S. Edinb. vii (1870), Cf. also Batelli, Atti delia R. Ace. di p. 308. Torino, xxii (1886), p. 48, translated Phil. Mug. xxiv (1887), p. 295.
268
CHAPTEE
MAXWELL.
VIII.
SINCE the time of Descartes, natural philosophers have never in which electric and the manner ceased to speculate on magnetic influences are transmitted through space. About
the middle of the nineteenth century, speculation assumed definiteform, and issued in a rational theory.
a
those who thought much on Friedrich Gauss (b. 1777, d. 1855). In date March
19, 1845, Gauss
Among
remarked proposed to himself to supplement the known forces which act between electriccharges by other forces, such as would cause electricactions to be propagated between the charges with a
finite velocity. But
the matter was Karl letter* to Weber a of that he had long ago
he expressed himself as determined not to publish his researches until he should have devised a by which the transmission could be conceived to mechanism
be effected; and this he had not succeeded in doing. More than one attempt to realize Gauss's aspiration was In a fragmentary note,t which made by his pupil Eiemann. been written in 1853, but which was not published until after his death, Biemann proposed an aether whose elements should be endowed with the power of resisting
appears
to have
of MacCullagh's of resisting changes of orientation. The former property aether) he conceived to be the cause of gravitational and effects, and the latter to be the cause electrostatic of optical compression, and
also
the (like
elements
and
The theory thus outlined was phenomena. apparently not developed further by its author ; but in a short he investigation^ which was published posthumously in 1867,"
magnetic
Gauss' Werke,
v,
p. 629.
t Riemann's Werke, 2e Aufl., p. 526.
J Ann. d. Phys. cxxxi (1867), p. 237 ; Riemann's Phil. Mag. xxxiv (1867), 368. p. " It had been presented to the Gottingen Academy
withdrawn.
Werke, 2e Aufl., p. 288 ;
in 1858, but afterwards
Maxwell.
269
returned to the question of the process by which electricaction is propagated through space. In this memoir he proposed to for the electrostatic potential, replace Poisson's equation
namely,
by the equation
the changes of potential due to changing would be propagated outwards from the charges electrification This, so far as it goes, is in agreement with with a velocity c.
according to which
the view which is now accepted as correct ; but Kiemann's hypothesis was too slight to serve as the basis of a complete Success came vening theory. only when the properties of the intertaken into account. were medium In that power to which Gauss attached so much importance, of devising dynamical models and analogies for obscure physical has ever perhaps no one phenomena, excelled W. Thomson*; with Faraday, is due the credit of having and to him, jointly of his earliest papers, written at the age of seventeen,!Thomson the distribution of electrostatic force, in a region compared containing electrifiedconductors, with the distribution of the
one
initiated the theory
of the electric medium.
In
flow of heat in the

one an
case
infinite solid : the equipotential surfaces in correspond to the isothermal surfaces in the other,
an
and
*
electriccharge corresponds to
source
of
heat.J
As will appear from the present chapter, Maxwell had the same power in a " " has degree. It been hy Cambridge the cultivated always very marked school of natural philosophers. t Camb. Math. Journal, iii(Feb.1842), p. 71 ; reprinted in Thomson's Papers Also Camb. Electrostatics and Magnetism, "JH p. 1. and Dub. Math. Journal, Nov.,
1845 ; reprinted in Papers,
As
p. 15.
had been anticipated by Chasles, regards this comparison, Thomson Journal de 1'Ec. Polyt. xv (1837), that attraction accordp. 266, who had shown ing Newton's law gives rise to the same fields as the steady conduction of heat, to both depending on Laplace's equation v' V =" 0.
It will be remembered
and galvanic phenomena.
that Ohm
had used
an
analogy between thermal conduction
270
It may, perhaps,
as
Maxwell.
seem
as
if the value of such
this consisted merely
in the prospect
which
analogy it offered of
an
theories comparing, and thereby extending, the mathematical of heat and electricity. But to the physicist its chief interest lay rather in the idea that formulae which relate to the electric field, and which had heen deduced from laws of action at a shown to be identical with formulae relating to the theory of heat, which had been deduced from hypotheses of action between contiguous particles. distance,
were
the year after he had taken his degree as second Thomson investigated* the analogies wrangler at Cambridge with those of elasticity. For this purpose of electricphenomena
In 1846
" "
the equations of equilibrium of an incompressible elastic solid which is in a state of strain ; and showed that the distribution of the vector which represents the elastic displacement might be assimilated to the distribution of the electric force in
went
on
he examined
an
to
show,
This, however, as he electrostatic system. is not the only analogy which be may
perceived with the equations of elasticity ; for the elastic displacement may equally well be identified with a vector a, defined in terms of the magnetic induction B by the relation curl
The
vector
a a
=
B.
is equivalent to the vector-potential which Weber, had been used in the memoirs of Neumann, and Kirchhoff, on the induction of currents ; but Thomson arrived
different process, and without being at the time aware of the identification. to suggest a The results of Thomson's memoir seemed
at it independently
by
picture of the propagation of electric or magnetic force : might the same it not take place in somewhat way as changes in the elastic displacement These suggestions
are
transmitted
not at
through
an
were
the
time
elastic solid ? further pursued young

and Phys.
by
*
their author;
Camb.
but they
helped
to inspire another
:
and Dub. Papers, i, p. 76.
Math. Journ. ii (1847), p. 61
Thomson's
Math,
Maxwell.
Cambridge James
man
271
matter
a
to
take
up
the
few
years later.
Clerk
Maxwell,
born solved, was He Dumfriesshire.
by whom in 1831, the

was
the problem was eventually son of a landed proprietor in
educated at Edinburgh, and at Trinity in 1855 a College, Cambridge, of which society he became Fellow; and not long after his election to Fellowship, he
communicated
to the Cambridge
a
Philosophical Society the first mechanical conception of the
to form of his endeavours* electro-magnetic field.
Hereading Faraday's Experimental with a physical imagination searches',and, gifted as he was akin to Faraday's, he had been profoundly impressed by the
Maxwell
had
been
theory of lines of force.
At
the
same
time, he
was
trained
; and the distinguishing feature of almost all mathematician his researches was the union of the imaginative and the analytical faculties to produce results partaking of both
This first memoir may be regarded as an attempt to the ideas of Faraday with the mathematical analogies connect which had been devised by Thomson. Maxwell considered firstthe illustration of Faraday's lines
natures.
of force which is afforded by the lines of flow of a liquid. The lines of force represent the direction of a vector; and the inversely proportional magnitude of this vector is everywhere
to
the
This any
cross-section of a narrow relation between magnitude
tube
formed
by
such
lines.
circuital vector ; and
and direction is possessed by in particular by the vector which

a
represents the velocity at any point in incompressible. It is therefore
fluid,if the fluid be

to
possible
represent
the
induction B, which is the vector represented by magnetic Faraday's lines of magnetic force, as the velocity of an incompressible fluid. Such an analogy had been indicated some years previously by Faraday himself,fwho had suggested that dynamic along the lines of magnetic force there may be a
"
condition,"
*
analogous
Phil. Soc.
3269
to
x,
that
p. 27;
of
the
electric current,
and
Trans. Camb.
Maxwell's
Papers, i, p. 155. Scientific
t Exp. Res.,
"
(1852).
272
that, in fact,
currents."
"
Maxwell.
the
physical lines of
the
magnetic
force
are
The
comparison
with
applicable to electric as well as the vector which corresponds to the velocity of the this case in free aether, the electricforce E. fluid is, But when different
in the field, the electric force is not a circuital vector, and, therefore cannot be represented by lines of force ; in fact, the equation present dielectrics are
lines of flow of a liquid is to magnetic lines of force. In
div E
is now replaced by the equation
div(eE)
=
0,
the specific inductive capacity or dielectric at the place (x, constant y} z\ It is, however, evident from this equation that the vector cE is circuital; this vector, where
g
denotes
which
will be denoted
by D, bears to E
that which the magnetic induction B force H. It is the vector D which is represented by Faraday's in the hydrodynamical lines of electric force, and which
relation similar to bears to the magnetic

a
analogy corresponds to the velocity of the incompressible fluid. In comparing fluid motion with electric fieldsit is necessary to introduce sources and sinks into the fluid to correspond to the electriccharges ; for D is not circuitalat places where there, is free charge. The magnetic analogy is therefore somewhat the simpler. Maxwell discussed how In the latter half of his memoir Faraday's "electrotonic state" might be represented in mathematical he This problem solved by borrowing from symbols. Thomson's
in terms
investigation of 1847 the vector a, which of the magnetic induction by the equation curl a
=
is defined
B ;
if, with
equation
Maxwell,
we
call
the
electrotonic intensity, the.

"
is equivalent to the statement that the entire the boundary of any surface electrotonic intensity round force which pass, the number measures of lines of magnetic
Maxwell.
through
273
that surface." The electromotive force of induction at is d"/dt : as Maxwell the place (x, said, the electromotive y, z) is measured by the force on of a conductor any element
"
-
instantaneous
of change of the electrotonic intensity on From this it is evident that a is no other than that element." by Neumann, the vector-potential which had been employed Weber, and Kirchhoff, in the calculation of induced currents ;
rate
and
may take* for the electrotonic intensity due to a current ir flowing in a circuit s' the value which results from Neumann's theory, namely,
we
.,
=
t'
f*s'
}
It may, however, be remarked
that the equation

a
=
curl
B,
to determine a uniquely ; for we can taken alone, is insufficient choose a so as to satisfy this, and also to satisfy the equation
div
;//,
denotes any arbitrary scalar. There are, therefore, an where i// With the particular infinite number of possible functions a.
value of
a
which
has been adopted,

3
.,
=
-
we
have
dy'
-2r
+
-
div
dx'
-
8
+
"
f
^'
te
I'
.,
f dz
fy
)8,
.,
i'
dz
J,
"
*"
"
0;
so
the vector-potential a which we have chosen is circuital. In this memoir the physical importance of the operators curl and div first became evidentf ; for, in addition to those applications which have been mentioned,
*
Maxwell
showed
that
Cf
p. 224.
t These operators had, however, occurred frequently in the writings of Stokes

especially in his memoir
of 1849
on
the Dynamical
T
Theory
ofDiffraction.
274
Maxwell.
he connexion between the strength i of a current and the magnetic field H, to which it gives rise, may be represented by the equation
4?ri
=
curl H ;
"
this equation is equivalent to the statement that the entire magnetic intensity round the boundary of any surface measures the quantity of electric current which passes through that
surface." In the
was
same
published,
in which Maxwell's investigation year (1856) Thomson* pretation put forward an alternative interHe had
now come
of magnetism. from
a
to the conclusion,
study of the magnetic of light, that magnetism
rotation of the plane of polarization possesses

a
rotatory character;
of the and suggested that the resultant angular momentum thermal motions of a bodyf might be taken as the measure of The explanation," he wrote, the magnetic moment. of all
" "
phenomena inertia
of electromagnetic attraction electromagnetic induction, is to be looked

or
or
repulsion, or of for simply in the
the motions pressure of the matter of which this matter is or is not electricity, constitute heat. Whether it is a continuous fluid interpermeating the spaces whether
between whether
molecular
all matter ness consists in finite vortical or other relative motions of contiguous parts of a body: it is impossible to decide, and,
perhaps, in vain to speculate, in the present state of science." The two interpretations of magnetism, in which the linear and rotatory characters respectively are frequently in the subsequent history former
was
is itself molecularly grouped : or is continuous, and molecular heterogeneous-
nuclei, or
attributed to it,occur The of the
subject.
researches^
*Proc.
Helmholtz amplified in 1858, when published his on vortex motion ; for Helmholtz showed that if a
Roy. Soc. viii (1856), p. 150 ; xi (1861), p. 327, foot-note: Phil. Mag. Baltimore Lectures, 198; F. Appendix p. xiii (1857),
t This was written shortly before the kinetic theory of gases was by Clausius and Maxwell. + Journal fur Math. Iv (1858), p. 25; Helmholtz's Wiss. Abh.
developed
i, p. 101;
translated Phil. Mag.
p. 485. xxxiii (1867),
Harwell.
275
magnetic fieldproduced by electric currents is compared to the flow of an incompressible fluid,so that the magnetic vector is represented by the fluid velocity, then the electric currents
correspond to the vortex-filaments in the fluid. This analogy theorems in hydrodynamics ; and electricity correlates many for instance, the theorem that a re-entrant vortex-filament is
equivalent to surface bounded
a
distribution of doublets over any uniform by it, corresponds to Ampere's theorem of the
to
equivalence of electriccurrents and magnetic shells. had not attempted In his memoir of 1855, Maxwell
construct
a
"
mechanical model of electrodynamic actions, but By a careful study," had expressed his intention of doing so.
he wrote,*
of the laws of elastic solids, and of the motions of of forming a viscous fluids, I hope to discover a method mechanical conception of this electrotonic state adapted to general reasoning ; and in a foot-note he referred to the effort
" "
had already made in this direction. which Thomson elapsed, however, before anything further on the became published. In the meantime, Maxwell Natural Philosophy in King's College, London
"
Six years
was subject
Professor of a position in
which
he had opportunities of personal contact with Faraday, he had long reverenced. Faraday had now whom concluded living in retirement at the Experimental Researches, and was Court ; but his thoughts frequently recurred to the to solution. It great problem which he had brought so near appears from his note-book that in 1857f he was speculating Hampton whether
same
the velocity of propagation of magnetic action is of the order as that of light,and whether it is affected by the which the
susceptibility to induction of the bodies through action is transmitted.

The
answer
furnished in 1861-2, this question was fulfilled his promise of devising a mechanical when Maxwell conception of the electromagnetic field.*
to
Papers, i, p. 188. Scientific Life of Faraday ii,p. 379. I Phil. Mag. xxi (1861), pp. 161, 281, 338; Maxwell's Scientific Papers, i, p. 451.
*
Maxwell's
t Bence Jones's
xxiii
(1862), pp.
12, 85;
276
Maxwell.
In the interval since the publication of his previous memoir
Maxwell magnetism
had
become
convinced
by
Thomson's
is in its nature rotatory. "The electrolytes in fixed directions by the electric current, and the rotation of polarized light in fixed directions by magnetic force,
are,"
that arguments transference of
he
wrote,
me
"the
facts the consideration

as
a
of which
has
induced
to regard magnetism
and electric currents
of magnetism idea, that tubes of force tend to contract expand
of rotation, as phenomena of translation." This conception into he brought connexion with Faraday's
phenomenon
laterally. Such
tendency
longitudinally and be attributed may
to
to
that each tube of force centrifugal force, if it be assumed contains fluid which is in rotation about the axis of the tube. Accordingly Maxwell supposed that, in any magnetic field,the
whose vibrations constitute light is in rotation about medium the lines of magnetic force; each unit tube of force may for the present be pictured as an isolated vortex.
The energy of the motion per unit volume is proportional to /jH2, where /j. denotes the density of the medium, and H denotes the linear velocity at the circumference of each vortex. But,
as we
have
seen,*
Thomson
had
whether energy of any magnetic field, by electric currents, is
that the already shown produced by magnets or
where the integration is taken over all space, and where it denotes the magnetic permeability, and H the magnetic force. It was therefore natural to identify the density of the medium
at
any place with

But
permeability, and the circumferential velocity of the vortices with the magnetic force.
to objection
the magnetic
an
the proposed
analogy
now
presents
itself. Since two
neighbouring vortices rotate in the same direction, the particles in the circumference of one vortex must be moving in the opposite direction to the particles contiguous
*
Cf. pp. 248, 250.
Maxwell.
to them
277
in the circumference of the vortex ; and it adjacent be discontinuous. seems, therefore, as if the motion would Maxwell escaped from this difficultyby imitating a well-known it is desired that two wheels When arrangement. " idle wheel is inserted an sense, should revolve in the same between them so as to be in gear with both. The model of the duction arrived by the introelectromagnetic field to which Maxwell mechanical
"
greatly resembles that proposed by supposed a layer of particles, acting as idle wheels, to be interposed between each vortex and the next, and to rollwithout sliding on the vortices ; so that each vortex
the neighbouring vortices revolve in the same tends to make direction as itself. The particles were othersupposed to be not wise constrained, so that the velocity of the centre of any of the circumferential velocities of particle would be the mean the vortices between which it is placed. This condition yields the (insuitable units) analytical equation
47Ti where
=
of this device Bernoulli in 1736.* He
curl H,
the vector
^-component
denotes the flux of the particles,so that its ix denotes the quantity of particles transferred
i
in unit time On comparing
across
unit
area
perpendicular
to the ^-direction.
this equation with that which represents Oersted's discovery, it is seen that the flux i of the movable particles interposed between neighbouring vortices is the analogue of
model the relation between electric current and magnetic force is secured by a which is not of a dynamical, but of a purely kineconnexion matical character. The above equation simply expresses the
existence of certain
the electric current. It will be noticed that in Maxwell's
non-holonomic
constraints
within
the
the rotatory velocity of some of the cellular vortices is altered, the disturbance will be propagated from that part of the model to all other parts, by the mutual
system. If from
any
cause
Cf. p. 100.
278
Maxwell.
action of the particles and vortices. This action is determined, as Maxwell showed, hy the relation
fj$L
which
connects
curl E
on a
E, the
force exerted
unit
quantity
of
particles at any
place in consequence
of the tangential action
the rate of change of velocity of the neighbouring vortices. It will be observed that this equation is not kinematical but dynamical. On comparing it with the
of the vortices, with H,
electromagnetic equations
curl
a
=
/*H,
-
Induced
it is seen
electromotive force
a,
be interpreted electromagnetically as the induced electromotive force. Thus the motion of the particles constitutes an electric current, the tangential force with which
that E must pressed by the matter of the vortex-cells constitutes electromotive force, and the pressure of the particles on each other may be taken to correspond to the tension or potential of they
are
be extended so as to take account of electrostatics. For this purpose Maxwell of the phenomena assumed that the particles,when they are displaced from their
must next
the electricity. The mechanism
equilibrium
on
position in any direction, exert
tangential action
the elastic substance of the cells; and that this gives rise to a distortion of the cells, which in turn calls into play a
force arising from their elasticity,equal and opposite to the from the equilibrium force which urges the particles away the exciting force is removed, the cells recover position. When their form, and the electricityreturns to its former position.
in which the electric particles are of the medium, to represent an displaced in a definite direction, is assumed stitute electrostatic field. Such a displacement does not itself con-
The
state
because when it has attained a certain value it remains constant ; but the variations of displacement are to be regarded as currents, in the positive or negative direction
a
current,
according
as
the displacement
is increasing
or
diminishing.
Maxwell.
279
The conception of the electrostaticstate as a displacement not altogether of something from its equilibrium position was new, although it had not been previously presented in this
form.
Thomson,
as
we
have
an
to the displacement
in
likened the particles of a embedded in an insulating medium,* had supposed that to an there electrostaticfield, when the dielectric is
had compared electric force elastic solid ; and Faraday, who had ductors ponderable dielectric to small conseen,
subjected
is
each of the small of electric charge on The motion of these charges, when the field is conductors. from varied, is equivalent to an electric current ; and it was
a
displacement
this precedent that Maxwell of cardinal importance to be counted are
derived the principle, which became in his theory, that variations of displacement
as
currents.
idea, he altogether transformed

displacement
was
in adopting the it ; for Faraday's conception of
But
applicable only to ponderable dielectrics, and in fact introduced solely in order to explain why the was specific inductive capacity of such dielectrics is different from
that of free aether; whereas according to Maxwell displacement wherever there is electric force, whether there is
material
bodies
The
are
present or not. difference between
the
conceptions
in this respect may be When drawn from the theory of magnetism. a piece of iron is placed in a magnetic field,there is induced in it a magnetic distribution, say of intensity I ; this induced magnetization
Maxwell
of Faraday and illustrated by an analogy
exists only within the iron, being zero outside. The vector I may be compared
or
in the
to the
free aether
displacement, which according to Faraday dielectrics by an electric field; and the electric current
polarization is induced in
constituted
by the variation of this polarization is then analogous But the entity which was to dl/dt. the called by Maxwell electric displacement in the dielectric is analogous not to I,
but
to
the magnetic
induction B
the Maxwellian
displace-
Cf. p. 210.
280
merit-current
Maxwell.
and may therefore have a corresponds to d'B/dt, in free aether. value different from zero even It may be remarked in passing that the term displacement, thus introduced, and which has been retained in which was the later development of the theory, is perhaps not well chosen ; what in the early models of the aether was represented as an actual displacement, has in later investigations been of
as a
change of structure rather than elements of the aether. Maxwell supposed the electromotive' force acting on the electric particles to be connected with the displacement D which accompanies it,by
an
conceived of position in the
equation of the form
depends on the elastic which properties of the cells. The displacement-current D must now be inserted in the relation which connects the current with where
c, a
denotes
constant
the magnetic
force ; and thus
we
obtain the equation

=
curl H
where
sum
47rS,
is called the total current, is the of the convection-current i and the displacement-current the vector
S, which
D.
performing the operation div on both sides of this that the total current is a circuital vector. equation, it is seen In the model, the total current is represented by the total
motion of the rolling particles; and this is conditioned by the the rotations of the vortices in such a way as to impose kinematic relation div S
=
By
0.
of his system equations of motion of vortices and particles,Maxwell proceeded to determine the rate of propagation of disturbances through it. He considered
Having
obtained
the
in particular the case in which the substance represented is If, moreover, dielectric, is zero. so that the conduction-current
Maxwell.
the
constant
fi be
281
the
supposed
to
have
value
unity, the
equations may
be written
div H
c,2
0,
E, H.
curl H curl E
=
Eliminating E,
we
see*
that H satisfies the equations
jdivH
"""
0,
vector precisely the equations which the lightin which the velocity of propagation is c^ : in a medium satisfies it follows that disturbances are propagated through the model
But these
are
by
waves
which
are
similar to
waves
(and similarly
For
a
the
vector electric)
wave
of light, the magnetic being in the wave-front. parallel to the axis of

z,
plane-polarized
propagated
the equations reduce to

2y
x
'"' =
"Cl
Cl
2*^y
y
''
dz
we
dt'
have
~dz
dt'
dz
dt'
dz
whence
Ex
c\Sx
E
vectors
are
these equations show
that the electricand magnetic
at right angles to each other.
Cj.f
The question now arises as to the magnitude of the constant This may be determined by comparing different expressions
an
of an electrostatic field. The work done by electromotive force E in producing a displacement D is
for the energy
fD
E
o
dD
or
JED
per unit volume,
since E
assumed that the energy the dielectric,the amount

*
is proportional to D. But if it be of an electrostatic fieldis resident in
of energy per unit volume

we
may
be
For if a denote any
vector,
have identically div

a
V-a
-f grad
curl curl
0.
t For criticismson the procedure by which Maxwell determined the velocity of de J. Clerk propagation of disturbance, cf. P. Duhem, Les Theories Electriqv.es
Maxwell,
Paris, 1902.
282
Maxwell.
force required in calculated by considering the mechanical order to increase the distance between the plates of a condenser, The result to enlarge the field comprised between them. so as is that the energy per unit volume of the dielectric is
c
fE/2/87r,
denotes the specific inductive capacity of the dielectric where in terms of the and E' denotes the electric force, measured
electrostatic unit : if E denotes the electric force expressed in gation, terms of the electrodynamic units used in the present investihave E we cE', where c denotes the constant which*
=
occurs
The energy is therefore in transformations of this kind. Comparing this with the expression per unit volume. fcE2/87TC2 for the energy in terms of E and D, we have
D
and
therefore the
constant
Ci
has
the
value
ct*.
Thus
the
turbance result is obtained that the velocity of propagation of disin Maxwell's is ce~", where " denotes the medium specificinductive capacity and c denotes the velocity for which
Kohlrausch Now had foundf the value 3*1 x 1010 cm./sec. known, not only by this time the velocity of light was and Weber
from the astronomical observations of aberration and of Jupiter's In 1849 but also by direct terrestrialexperiments. satellites, Hippolyte
Louis
so
FizeauJhad
'
determined
it by
rotating
of light transmitted rapidly that a beam through the gap between two teeth and reflected back from a eclipsed by one mirror was of the teeth on its return journey. toothed wheel
The
velocity of light was calculated from the dimensions and angular velocity of the wheel and the distance of the mirror ; the result being 3*15
*
1010 cm.
/sec. "
A
in 1862 hy Leon Foucault employed Iv, pp. 501, 792) in from an this a ray ; origin 0 was reflected by a revolving mirror M to a fixed mirror, and so reflected back to J/, and again It is evident that the returning ray ?dO must be deviated by twice the to O. turns while the light passes from M to the fixed mirror angle through which M The back. value thus obtained by Foucault for the velocity of light was and
Cf. pp. 227, 259. | Comptes Rendus, xxix (1849), p. 90. on 1874 was this principle. A different " experimental method was
| Cf. p. 260. determination
made
by
Cornu
in
(Comptes Rendus,
Maxwell.
Maxwell
was
283
had been
impressed,
as
Kirchhoff
before him,
by the close agreement between the electric ratio c and the that the propagation velocity of light* ; and having demonstrated of electric disturbance resembles that of light,he did not hesitate to assert the identity of the two phenomena. "We
can
scarcely avoid the inference," he said, undulations of the

same
"
that light consists
which is the medium Thus was answered cause of electric and magnetic phenomena." the question which Priestley had asked almost exactly a hundred
in the transverse
years before :f "Is there any distinct from the aether ?

"
electric fluid sui generis at all,
ct
The presence of the dielectric constant e in the expression had obtained for the velocity of propaga-i, which Maxwell tion of electromagnetic disturbances, suggested a further test
of the identity of these disturbances with light: for the velocity is known to be inversely proportional to of light in a medium the refractive index of the medium, and therefore the refractive index should be, according to the theory, proportional to the square root of the specific inductive capacity. At the time,
however,
was
Maxwell
did
not
examine
whether
this relation
confirmed by experiment. In what has preceded, the magnetic

to have
supposed
2-98
x
the value unity.
has been permeability //, If this is not the case, the

Michelson
in 1882 in 187'.) (Ast.
1010
cm./sec. Subsequent
Ephemeris,
principle.
determinations by
by Newcomb
Papers
on
of the Amer.
same
was
i), and
depended ii) (ibid.,
shown afterwards by Lord Rayleigh (Nature,xxiv, p. 382, xxv, p. 52) the value obtained for the velocity of light and by Gibbs (Nature, xxxiii, p. 582), by the methods of Fizeau and Foucault represents the group-velocity, not the wavevelocity ; the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites also give the group-velocity, while the value deduced from the coefficientof aberration is the wavevelocity. In a non-
the As
dispersive medium,
agreement
methods
the group- velocity coincides with the wavevelocity ; and the light by two astronomical the the the of values of velocity of obtained in free to negative seems dispersion the possibility of any appreciable
aether. The velocity of light in dispersive media was directly investigated by Michelson in 1883-4, with results in accordance with theory. * He had "worked in the country, before seeing Weber's out the formulae result." Cf. Campbell and Garnett's Life Maxwell, p. 244.
of
f Priestley'sEistory, p. 488.
284
Maxwell.
velocity of propagation of disturbance may be shown, by the same analysis, to be ct~i^~i ; so that it is diminished when /u is in paramagnetic bodies. This inference greater than unity, i.e., had been anticipated by Faraday : " Nor is it likely,"he wrote,*
"
that the paramagnetic body oxygen can exist in the air and not retard the transmission of the magnetism." capacious as that of Maxwell should involve conceptions which his contemporaries understood with difficulty and accepted with reluctance. Of these the most difficult the principle and unacceptable was
a
so
It
was
inevitable that
theory
novel and
so
is always a circuitalvector ; or, as it is generally expressed, that all currents are closed." According to the older electricians, in charging a current which is employed
that the total current
"
condenser is not closed, but terminates at the coatings of the Maxwell, on the condenser, where charges are accumulating.
a
other hand, taught that the dielectric between the coatings is the seat of a process the displacement-current which is proportional to the rate of increase of the electric force in the
"
"
dielectric; and effectsas

a
continuation, dielectric, through the of the charging current, so that the latter may be regarded as flowing in a closed circuit. Another characteristic feature of Maxwell's theory is the for which, as we have seen, he was largely indebted
that this process produces the true current, and forms, so to speak,
same
a
magnetic
conception to Faraday
"
and Thomson
a
"
that magnetic
medium occupying electric energy is the energy of strain of the By this conception electromagnetic theory was
such
energy of
energy is the kinetic the whole of space, and that

same
medium. brought into
close parallelism with the elasticsolid theories of the aether, that it was bound to issue in an electromagnetic theory of light. Maxwell's
developed form presented in a more Theory of the Electromagnetic memoir entitled "A Dynamical Field," which was read to the Koyal Society in 1864 views
were
in
;f
Faraday's
laboratory note-book for 1857
of. Bence Jones's Lifeof Faraday,
ii, p. 380. t Phil. Trans, civ
(1865), p.
459
Maxwell's
Scient.Papers, i, p. 526
Maxwell.
285
displayed, stripped of in this the architecture of his system was the scaffolding by aid of which it had been firsterected.
for the most part the same As the equations employed were been set forth in the previous investigation, they need as had only be brieflyrecapitulated. The magnetic induction juH, being be expressed in terms of a vector-potential a circuitalvector, may
A by the equation
=
luiK
The
curl A.
D is connected with the volumeelectric displacement density p of free electric charge by the electrostaticequation
div D
p.
The principle of conservation of electricityyields the equation div

i
=
-
dp/dt,
where i denotes the conduction-current. The law of induction of currents namely, that the total electromotive force in any circuit is proportional to the rate of
"
decrease of the number of lines of magnetic pass through it may be written

" -
induction which
curl E
/LtH;
from which it follows that the electricforceE must in the form E A + grad
=
-
be expressible
i//,
where which
The quantities A and ;// minate deterin occur this equation are not as yet completely ; for the equation by which A is defined in terms of the denotes
some
scalar function.
magnetic induction specifiesonly the circuitalpart of A ; and as the irrotational part of A is thus indeterminate, it is evident
that
also must \p
be indeterminate.
a
Maxwell
decided the matter
by assuming*
A to be
circuitalvector ; thus
divA and therefore

*
0,
-
div E
This is the effectof the introduction of (F1,G', H'} in " 98 of the memoir " 616. cf. also Maxwell's Treitise on Electricity and Magnetism,
286
from which
Maxwell.
equation it is evident that
represents the electrostatic
potential. The principle which is peculiar to Maxwell's theory must be introduced. Currents of conduction are not the only now kind of currents ; even in the older theory of Faraday, Thomson,
and
are
Mossotti, it had
set
been
assumed
that
a
in motion dielectric is
in the particles of
an
electric charges dielectric when the
motion
electric field; and the predecessors of Maxwell would not have refused to admit that the Suppose, a current. sense of these charges is in some
to subjected
then, that
S denotes
generating a magnetic force round any curve which flows through the gap enclosed by the suitable units
curl H In order to determine
whose
S,
we
=
is capable of which field: since the integral of the magnetic is proportional to the electric current
the
total current
curve,
we
have in
4;rS.
may
consider the
with
case
of
condenser
electricity by a conduction-current i per unit-area of coating. If " o- denote the surface-density of electriccharge on the coatings, we have
coatings
are
supplied
d(r/dtt and
o-
D,
where D denotes the magnitude of the electric displacement D in the dielectricbetween the coatings ; so i D. But since the
=
total current be the

same
is to be circuital, its value in the dielectricmust as the value i which it has in the rest of the
circuit ; that is,the current in the dielectric has the value D. We shall assume that the current in dielectricsalways has this value, so that in the general equations be understood to be i + D.
The the total current
must
above equations, together with those which express the proportionality of E to D in insulators, and to i in conductors, constituted Maxwell's system for a field formed by isotropic bodies which
are
not
in motion.
When
the magnetic
field is
.due
entirely to currents
(including both
conduction-currents
Maxwell.
so that there is no displacement-currents),
287
magnetization,
and
we
have
V2A
=
-
curl curl A
-
curl H
47TS,
that the vector-potential is connected with the total current form as that which connects by an equation of the same the
so
scalar potential with the density of electric charge. To these inclined to attribute a physical significance ; potentials Maxwell he supposed to be analogous to a pressure subsisting in the
i//
mass
of particles in his model,
and A to be the
measure
of
functions are, however, of two electrotonic state. The merely analytical interest, and do not correspond to physical oppositely-charged conductors, placed entities. For let two close to each other, give rise to an electrostatic fieldthroughout
the
field the vector-potential A is everywhere zero, while the scalar potential $ has a definite value at every let these conductors discharge each other ; the point. Now
all space. In such
a
electrostatic force at any point of space remains unchanged of disturbance, until the point in question is reached by a wave from the conductors with the which is propagated outwards velocity of light, and which annihilates the field as it passes
over
is not reflected in the this order of events behaviour of Maxwell's functions and A ; for at the instant ;// annihilated, and A suddenly of discharge, ^ is everywhere
it.
But
acquires a finite value throughout all space. As the potentials do not possess any physical significance, it is desirable to remove This was them from the equations.
himself, who* in 1868- proposed afterwards done by Maxwell to base the electromagnetic theory of light solely on the equations
curl H
-
47rS, B,
curl E
together with the equations which in terms of H.

*
define S in terms
of E, and B
Phil. Trans, clviii(1868), p. 643
Maxwell's
Scient. Papers, ii,p. 125.
288
The memoir
Maxwell.
of 1864 contained an extension of the equations to the case of bodies in motion ; the consideration of which naturally revives the question as to whether the aether is in
through it. any degree carried along with a body which moves Maxwell did not formulate any express doctrine on this ; subject if it were to treat matter but his custom as was merely a
modification of
the
aether, distinguished
only
by
altered
as the magnetic permeability and values of such constants be the specific inductive capacity ; so that his theory may
that matter and aether move said to involve the assumption together. In deriving the equations which are applicable to bodies, he made use of Faraday's principle that the moving electromotive force induced in a body depends only on the
relative motion
whether
one
or
principle it may the electric force* in terms
of the body and the lines of magnetic force, the other is in motion absolutely. From this be inferred that the equation which determines of the potentials, in the
w,
+
case
of
body which
is moving
E
=
with velocity
is grad
[w /zH]
-
^.
Maxwell
in that the scalar quantity -fy this equation represented the electrostatic potential; but the researches of have indicated that it represents the sum other investigators-)-
thought
of the electrostatic potential and the quantity (A The electromagnetic theory of light was moreover
w).
extended
in this memoir
so
as
to account
crystals. For
this purpose
for the optical properties of Maxwell assumed that in crystals
the values of the coefficientsof electric and magnetic depend on direction, so that the equation
fjbK
=
induction
curl A
=
is replaced by
curl A ;
be here remarked that later writers have distinguished between the electricforce in a moving body and the electric force in the aether through which the body is moving, and that E in the present equation corresponds to the former
*
It may
of these vectors.
t Helmholtz, Journ. fiir Math., Ixxviii (1874), p. 309;

Mag.
xxv (5),
H. W.
Watson,
Phil.
p. 271. (1888),
Maxwell.
and similarly the equation
E
=
289
47rcO"/6
is replaced by
E
=
4;r
(c?D.xt c?Dy, cjDz\
The other equations are the same as in isotropic media ; so that the propagation of disturbance is readily seen to depend on the
equation
J?"ft.ffy, (/i HZHZ}

=
Ca2 (curl 5),,tf(cuilH}y, (curl curl [c,2
-#)*)"
if jui, ju2, A*3 are supposed equal to each other, this as the equation of motion of MacCullagh's equation is the same aether in crystallinemedia,* the magnetic force H corresponding Now,
to
MacCullagh's
immediately
elastic displacement ; and we may infer that Maxwell's electromagnetic
therefore
satisfactory theory of the propagation crystals,provided it is assumed that the magnetic permeability is (foroptical in all directions,and prothe same vided yield
a
equations of light in
purposes)
which the direction of the ray is at right angles to the magnetic vector and the electric force, and that the wave-front is the plane of the magnetic vector and the electric displacement.f proceeded to investigate the propagation of light in metals. The difference between metals and dielectrics, far as electricityis concerned, is that the former are conso ductors therefore natural to seek the cause of the optical properties of metals in their ohmic conductivity. This idea at once for the opacity of suggested a physical reason
was
the plane of polarization is identified with the plane It is readily shown that contains the magnetic vector.
After this Maxwell
; and it
namely, that within a metal the energy of the light vibrations is converted into Joulian heat in the same way as metals
"
the energy of ordinary electric currents.

et sqq. In f the memoir of 1864 Maxwell left open the choice between the above theory that in crystals the specific inductive and that which is obtained by assuming in all directions, while the magnetic is same the (foroptical rapacity
*
Cf. pp. 154
purposes)
be permeability is aeolotropic. In the latcer case the plane of polarization must identified with the plane which contains the electric displacement. Nine years later,in his Treatise ("794), Maxwell definitely adopted the former alternative. U
290
Maxwell.
The equations of the electromagnetic field in the metal may
be written curl H
-
47rS,
H,
i +
curl E
S
KE
denotes the ohmic conductivity ; whence the electric force satisfiesthe equation where
K
it is seen
that
=c2V2E.
the corresponding equation in the elastic-solidtheory* ; and, like it,furnishes a satisfactory general explanation of metallic reflexion. It is indeed correct
This is of the
same
form
as
in all details,so long as the period of the disturbance is not too i.e., so long as the lightwaves short considered belong to the infra-red region of the spectrum ; but if we attempt to extreme
"
apply the theory to the case of ordinary light,we are confronted by the difficultywhich Lord Eayleigh indicated in the elasticsolid theory,f and attends all attempts to explain the peculiar properties of metals by inserting a viscous term in the equation. The difficultyis that, in order to account for the
which
must properties of ideal silver, we suppose the coefficient of E negative that is,the dielectric constant of the metal must
"
be
would negative, which equilibrium in the metal.

was remarked,:}:
imply
The
instability of electrical problem, as we have already

its relation to the theory of
solved only when
dispersion At
in progress in the last-named subject.Since the time of Fresnel, theories of from the assumption dispersion had that the radii
were
rightly understood. this time important developments
was
proceeded!
of action of the particles of luminiferous media are so large to be comparable as with the wave-length of light. It was generally supposed that the aether is loaded by the molecules
*
Cf. p. iso.
Cf. also Rayleigh, Phil. Mag. (5) xii (1881),p. 81, Over de Theorie de Terugkaatsing, Arnhem, 1875.
and
t Cf. p. 181.
H. A. Lorentz,
+
Cf. p. 181.
" Cf.
p. 182.
Maxwell.
291
of dispersion and that the amount of ponderable matter, to the distance depends on the ratio of the wave-length however, between molecules. This hypothesis was,
adjacent
seen a
to be inadequate, when,
in 1862, F. P. Leroux*
found that
prism filledwith the vapour of iodine refracted the red rays to a greater degree than the blue rays; for in all theories which depend on the assumption of a coarse-grained lumini-
medium, the refractive index increases with the frequency of the light. persion to which the name Leroux's phenomenon, anomalous disby later investigators-)to be was shown given, was ferous the property of surface-colour." i.e., generally associated with incident light of some brilliantlyreflecting particular frequency. Such an association seemed to indicate that the dispersive
"
property of a substance is intimately connected with a certain frequency of vibration which is peculiar to that substance, and which, when it happens to fall within the limits of the visible spectrum, frequency
matter
in the surface-colour. This idea of a of vibration peculiar to each kind of ponderable is found in the writings of Stokes as far back as the
is apparent
year 1852 ;" when, Nothing seems more

"
remarked: natural than to suppose that the incident ments vibrations of the luminiferous aether produce vibratory movethe ultimate molecules of sensitive substances, among
"
discussing fluorescence, he
and that the molecules in turn, swinging on their own account, produce vibrations in the luminiferous aether, and thus cause the sensation of light. The periodic times of these vibrations the periods in which the molecules are disposed to swing, not upon the periodic time of the incident vibrations." The principle here introduced, of considering the molecules depend
on
as
systems which possess natural free periods, and which interact with the incident vibrations, lies at the basis of
*
dynamical
Iv (1862), In 1870 C. Christiansen(Ann. d. Phys. p. 126. a 479 ; cxliii, p. 250)observed cxli, p. similar effect in a solution of fuchsin. r Especially by Kundt, in a series of papers in the Annalen d. Phys., from
Comptes Rendus,
vol. cxlii (1871)onwards. j Phil. Trans., 1852, p. 463.
Stokes's Coll.Papers, iii., p. 267. U 2
292
Maxwell.
theories of dispersion. The earliest of these was all modern devised by Maxwell, who, in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos for 1869,* published the results of the following investigation :
"
may be constituted by of ponderable embedding systems which represent the atoms We may matter in a medium which represents the aether.
A
model
of
dispersive medium
of a single massive particle composed by springs from the interior face of supported symmetrically a massless spherical shell : if the shell be fixed, the particle will be capable of executing vibrations about the centre of the picture each
as atomj-
sphere, the effect of the springs being equivalent to a force on The the particle proportional to its distance from the centre. be supposed to occupy constituted may small spherical cavities in the aether, the outer shell of each atom being in contact with the aether at all points and partaking
atoms
thus
An immense of its motion. of atoms is supposed to number so that exist in each unit volume of the dispersive medium, the medium as a whole is fine-grained. that the potential energy per unit volume is
Suppose
of strain of free aether
where
so
"j
denotes
the displacement
and E
that the equation of wave-propagation

3*1 a2,,
=
elastic constant in free aether is
an
''a?
K"
where p denotes the aethereal density. Then if "r denote the mass of the atomic particles in unit + ") the total displacement of an atomic particle at volume, (TJ the attractive force, it is evident the place x at time t, and
"rp2"
that for the compound volume is
medium
the kinetic energy
per unit
Cambridge
(1899), p. 151.
Calendar, 1869 ; republished by Lord Kayleigh, Phil. Mag. xlviii t This illustrationis due to "W. Thomson.
Maxwell.
and the potential energy per unit volume
+
293
is
The
equations dynamics, are
of motion,
derived
by
the
process
usual
in
Consider the propagation, through the medium thus constituted, of vibrations whose frequency is n, and whose velocity of propagation in the medium is v ; so that r\ and " are harmonic
of n(t x/v). Substituting differentialequations, we obtain functions
-
these
values
in the
oil?2
Now,
has the value light in free aether; and
p/^7
1/c2, where
c/v
denotes the velocity of is the refractive index ju of the

c
medium may be written
for vibrations of frequency
n.
So the equation, which
determines
of any
the refractive index of the substance for vibrations The same formula was frequency n. independently similar considerations three years later by
obtained from W. Sellmeier *
If the oscillations are
the extreme equation
very slow, the incident light being in infra-red part of the spectrum, n is small, and the
ju2
=
gives approximately
: (p + a)jp
for such
tions, oscilla-
together as a each atomic particle and its shell move as if the aether were rigid body, so that the effect is the same simply loaded by the masses of the atomic particles,its rigidity remaining
*
unaltered.
d. Phys.
pp. 399, 520 : cxlvii oxlv (1872), Ann. d. Phys. cliv (1875), p. 582.
Ann.
(1872), pp.
386,
525.
Cf. also Helmholtz,
294
The
Maxwell.
dispersion of light within the limits of the visible is for most substances controlled by a natural spectrum frequency p which corresponds to a vibration beyond the violet
end of the visible spectrum : so that, n being smaller than p, we may expand the fraction in the formula of dispersion, and obtain the equation
(T
nz
n*
fJL2
(1
-+...
f"\
P*
P*
which resembles the formula of dispersion in Cauchy's theory* ; indeed, we may say that Cauchy's formula is the expansion of Maxwell's formula in a series which, as it converges only when has values within a limited range, fails to represent the outside that range. phenomena The theory as given above is defective in that it becomes
n
meaningless
the frequency n of the incident light is when equal to the frequency p of the free vibrations of the atoms. This defect may be remedied by supposing that the motion of
atomic particle relative to the shell in which it is contained by a dissipative force varying as the relative is opposed
an
velocity ; such from becoming
force suffices to prevent the forced vibration indefinitelygreat as the period of the incident light approaches the period of free vibration of the atoms ; its
a
introduction is
the fact that vibrations in this part of the spectrum suffer absorption in passing through the When the incident vibration is not in the same medium. region of the spectrum as the free vibration, the absorption is
not of much
by justified
importance, and may be neglected. It is shown by the spectroscope that the atomic systems which emit and absorb radiation in actual bodies possess more distinct free period. The theory already given may, than one
however,
in which the atoms have several natural frequencies of vibration ; we have only to suppose that the external massless rigid shell is connected by
to the extended-)case
readily be
springs to
*
an
interior massive
rigid shell, and that this again

Lectures.
Cf. p. 183.
developed by Lord Kelvin in the'Baltimore
was t This subject
Maxwell.
is connected The on. so
295
by springs to another massive shellinside it,and corresponding extension of the equation for the
refractive index is
where p^ p2,
denote the frequencies of the natural periods of vibration of the atom. sion The validity of the Maxwell- Sellmeier formula of disper.
. .
strikingly confirmed by experimental researches in In 1897 Rubens* the closing years of the nineteenth century. that the formula represents closely the refractive showed
was
indices of
respect 4,240 A.U. and 223,000 A.U. The constants in the formula being known from this comparison, it was possible to predict the dispersion for radiations of still lower frequency ; and it
was a
sylvin (potassium and rock-salt, with chloride) between to light and radiant heat of wave-lengths
that the square of the refractive index should have negative value (indicating complete lengths reflexion)for wave370,000 A.U. to 550,000 A.U. in the case of rock-salt,
case
found
for wave-lengths 450,000 670,000 A.U. in the ^to sylvin. This inference was verified experimentally following year.f and It may
seem
of
in
the
strange
that
Maxwell,
having
successfully
employed his electromagnetic theory to explain the propagation of light in isotropic media, in crystals, and in metals, should have omitted to apply it to the problem of reflexion and refraction.
This is all the more surprising, as the study of the optics of crystals had already revealed a close analogy between the electromagnetic theory and MacCullagh's elastic-solidtheory; and
in
order
to
explain
reflexion and
refraction
electro-
was necessary than to transcribe magnetically, nothing more MacCullagh's investigation of the same problem, interpreting e as (the time-flux of the displacement of MacCullagh's
aether)
the magnetic
*
force, and curl

Ann.
as
the electric displacement.

454.
As
d. Phys. Ix
and
p. (1897),
t Rubens
Aschkinass,
Ann.
d. Phys. Ixiv
(1898).
296
in MacCullagh's
Maxwell.
theory the difference between the contiguous
media is represented by a difference of their elastic constants, in the electromagnetic theory it may be represented by a so difference in their specific inductive capacities. From letter a
which
Maxwell
wrote
to Stokes
in 1864, and which
has been
preserved,* it appears that the problem of reflexion and tion refracwas engaging Maxwell's attention at the time when he was electromagnetic he was not able to satisfy himself regarding the conditions which should be satisfied at the interface between He seems to have been in doubt which of the rival the media. theories to take as a pattern ; and it is not unlikely elastic-solid
that
preparing field; but
his Eoyal
Society memoir
on
the
led astray by relying too much on the analogy between the electricdisplacement and an elasticdisplacement. t For in the elastic-solidtheory all three components placemen of the diswas
he
be continuous contiguous media ; but Maxwell

must
across
two
found that it was
impossible to
explain reflexion and electricdisplacement
refraction if all three components of the were the supposed to be continuous across
interface ; and, unwilling to give up the analogy which had hitherto guided him aright,yet unable to disprove^ the Greenian to have laid aside the conditions at bounding surfaces, he seems
light should dawn upon it. new problem until some This was not the only difficulty which beset the magnetic electroThe theoretical conclusion, that the specific theory. inductive capacity of a medium should be equal to the square of
its refractive index
not
as
yet displacement-currents,
*
with respect to waves substantiated by experiment;

on
of long period, and

the theory
was
of
was
which
everything else depended,
Correspondence, ii,pp. 25, 26. Stokes's Scientific be t It must remembered tbat Maxwell pictured tbe electricdisplacement as a " is "My theory of electrical forces," he \vrote, real displacement of a medium. into in insulating by that they are called play media slight electricdisplacements,
into a state of distortion, which, which put certain small portions of the medium being resisted by the elasticityof the medium, produces an electromotive force." Campbell and Garnett's Life Maxwell, p. 244.
of
| The letterto
a
time doubted
Stokes already mentioned appears to indicate that Maxwell the correctness of Green's conditions.
for
Maxwell.
unfavourably
297
received by the most distinguished of Maxwell's Helmholtz indeed ultimately accepted it,but contemporaries. seems never (Kelvin) only after many years ; and W. Thomson
to have
1888
thoroughly believed it to the end of his long life. In he referred to it as a "curious and ingenious, but not
to replace it by an wholly tenable hypothesis,"* and proposedf extension of the older potential theories. In 1896 he had some
to speculate that alterations of electrostaticforce inclination?
due to rapidly-changing electrificationare propagated by densatio conin the luminiferous aether. In 1904 he waves rotating about an axis at right angles to its length is equivalent to a lamp emitting light of period equal to the period of the rotation, but gave his final The so-called electromagnetic : judgment in the sentence||
"
"
that admittedg
bar-magnet
theory of light has not helped us hitherto." Thomson appears to have based his ideas of the propagation the case of electric disturbance on which had first become that of the transmission of signals along a wire. He clung to the older view that in such a disturbance the wire is the actual medium of transmission ; whereas in \ Maxwell's theory the function of the wire is merely to guide
"
familiar to him
the disturbance, which is resident in the surrounding dielectric. This opinion that conductors are the media of propagation of electricdisturbance was entertained also by Ludwig Lorenz
1829, (".
an
d.
1891), of Copenhagen,
who
independently developed
a
electromagnetic theory publication of Maxwell's
of lightH
few
years
after the
The which memoirs. procedure Lorenz followed was had suggested** in that which Kiemann 1858 dynamics namely, to modify the accepted formulae of electro"
by introducing terms
*
which, though too small to be
Nature, xxxviii (1888) t Brit.Assoc. Report, 1888, p. 567. p. 571. Cf. Bottouiley, in Nature, liii p. 268 ; Kelvin, ib.,p. 316 ; J. Willard (1896),
Lectures
Gibbs, ib., p. 509.
" Baltimore
H Oversiyt
(ed.1904), p.
376.
Ibid., ||
preface, p. 7.
det K. danske Vid. Selskaps Forhandliiiger, 1867, p. 26; Annul, over der Phys. cxxxi (1867), p. 243 ; Phil. Mag., xxxiv (1867), p. 287. ** Cf. p. 268. Riemann's memoir however, was, published only in the same
year
as (1867)
Lorenz's.
298
appreciable
Maxwell.
in ordinary laboratory experiments, would be capable of accounting for the propagation of electrical effects have seen through space with a finite velocity. We that in Neumann's theory the electric force E
was
determined
by the
equation
-a,
(1)
the
where
""
denotes
the
electrostatic potential defined by
equation
dx'dy'dz', 4"-{\\(p'lr)
p
being the density of electric charge at the point

a
(x, and y, z'),
where
denotes the vector-potential, defined by the equation
a={\[(i'lr)dx'dy'dz,
JJ J
i'
being the conduction-current specific inductive capacity and
at
(x', y\ z').We
suppose
the
to
the magnetic
permeability
be everywhere unity. Lorenz proposed to replace these by the equations
\\\{p(t-r/c)/r\dx'dy'dz',
{i'(t-r/c)/r}dx'dy'd3f'9
the change consists in replacing the values which p and i' have at the instant t by those which they have at the instant (t
-
r/c],
which is the instant at which velocity c must leave the place
disturbance
travelling with
(x', y, z)
the place (x,y, z) at the instant t. at any instant potentials at (x, y,
in order to arrive at Thus the values of the

t would,
z]
electric state if the potentials : as (x', y', z')at the previous instant (t r/c) were propagated outwards from the charges and currents with velocity c. The functions and a formed in this way are
-
Lorenz's
theory, depend
on
the
according to at the point
"f"
generally known
as
the retarded potentials.
Maxwell.
The by which equations and (f"
a
299
have been defined
are
equations
to the
equivalent
V2"/" $1*
-
4^, 47ri,
(2)
V2a
a/c2
(3)
while the equation of conservation of electricity, div

i +
0
=
gives
div
From equations
a
+
"f" 0.
may
(4)
we (2), (4), (1),
readily derive the equation
divE
47rcV;
+ E/c2
(I)
and from
we (1), (3), (4),
have
=
curl H
where H have we
or
47rt,
(II) (1)
curl
denotes the magnetic curl E

H.
force : while from
(Ill)
the fundamental are, however, (II), (III) equations (I), theory; and therefore the theory of equations of Maxwell's The
L. Lorenz
as
is practically equivalent the
to that of Maxwell,
so
far
propagation of electromagnetic disturbances through free aether. Lorenz himself, however, does not appear he postulated to have clearly perceived this ; for in his memoir
concerns
throughout space, and was of conducting matter consequently led to equations resembling those which Maxwell had given for the propagation of light in metals. Observing
that
the presence
represented periodic electric currents at right angles to the direction of propagation of the disturbance, he suggested that all luminous vibrations might be constituted
by electric currents, and hence that there was for maintaining the hypothesis of an reason
can
"
his equations
no
longer any
we
aether, since
to that space contains sufficient ponderable matter enable the disturbance to be propagated." Lorenz was unable to derive from his equations any explanation
admit
of the existence of refractive indices, and his theory lacks
300
the
Maxwell.
rich physical suggestiveness of Maxwell's ; the value of lies chiefly in the introduction of the retarded his memoir be remarked in passing that Lorenz's It may potentials. retarded and
potentials
are
a circuital vector, vector potentials ; is not, like Maxwell's, the electrostaticpotential, and Lorenz's "" on
identical with for Lorenz's a is not

not
Maxwell's
scalar
the positions occupied by the charges at certain previous instants. For some years no progress was made either with Maxwell's Maxwell had in 1865 theory or with Lorenz's. Meanwhile, but depends
resigned his chair at King's College, and had retired to his estate in Dumfriesshire, where he occupied himself in writing In 1871 he returned a connected account of electricaltheory.
to Cambridge
Professor of Experimental Physics; and two years later published his Treatise on Electricityand Magnetism. is comprehended In this celebrated work almost every
as
branch
of electric and magnetic theory; but the intention of to discuss the whole as far as possible from a the writer was single point of view, namely, that of Faraday; so that little
or
given of the hypotheses which had been propounded in the two preceding decades by the great German to disseminate electricians. So far as Maxwell's purpose was
no
account
was
fulfilled the ideas of Faraday, it was ; but the undoubtedly Treatise was less successful when considered as the exposition The doctrines peculiar to Maxwell views. of its author's own
"
the existence of displacement-currents, and of electromagnetic vibrations identical with light were not introduced in the first
"
'volume,
account
or
in the
was
first half of the
second
volume ; and
the
which
perhaps and was furnished in the original memoirs. however, Some were, matters Treatise than in Maxwell's
was
scarcely more given of them was less attractive, than that which
complete, had been
discussed
more
fully in the these
previous writings ; and among
the question of stress in the electromagnetic field. It will be remembered* that Faraday, when studying
*
the
Cf. p. 209.
Maxwell.
301
of lines of force in electrostatic fields,had noticed lines to repel each other, as an apparent tendency of adjacent inherently disposed to distend if each tube of force were
curvature
laterally ; and that in addition to this repellent or diverging force in the transverse direction,he supposed an attractive or contractile force to be exerted at right angles to it,that is to say, in the direction of the lines of force. Of the existence of these pressures and tensions Maxwell fully persuaded ; and he determined analytical expressions was The tension along the lines of suitable to represent them. force force must be supposed to maintain the ponderomotive on the lines of force the conductor which which acts on
by the force therefore be measured terminate ; and it may or of the conductor, i.e., which is exerted on unit area *E2/87rc2 The pressure at right angles to the lines of force must iDE.
then be determined
so as
to satisfy the condition that the aether
thin shell of aether included between two equipotential surfaces. The equilibrium of the, portion of this shell which is intercepted by a tube of forcerequires (as in the theory of the equilibrium of liquid films),
a
is to be in equilibrium. For this purpose, consider
that
due to the aboveunit area normal tensions on its two faces shall have thementioned + l//o2), value T(l/pi where pi and pz denote the principal radii
the
resultant
force per
of the shell at the place, and where T denotes, of curvature the lateral stress across unit length of the surface of the shell,, T being analogous to the surface-tension of a liquid film.
Now,
on
if t denote
the thickness
area
of force, D and E and vary inversely as the cross-section of the tube, so the total force on the second face will bear to that on the firstface the ratio
+ 1), + 1}(pz piptKpi
or
the second face by intercepted on the firstface the ratio by the fundamental property of tubes
cepted of the shell,the area interthe tube of force bears to the

+ t)/p!p2 + t) (pz (pi
"
approximately
302
Maxwell.
area
the resultant force per unit therefore

-
along the outward
normal
is
IDE
+ I//*), (l//t"i
and
so
we
have
T
=
-
IDE
t;
the pressure at right angles to the lines of force is |DE per that is, it is numerically equal to the tension along unit area
or
"
the lines of force. The principal stresses in the medium

it readily follows that the stress
across
being thus determined,

any plane, to which the
unit vector N is normal, is
(D.N)E-i(D-E)Nsimilar formula for the fields ; the ponderornotive forces on magnetized
Maxwell
obtained*
case
of magnetic
matter
and
on
conductors carrying currents may be accounted for by assuming the stress across the plane N" being a stress in the medium, represented by the vector
1(B.K).H-1(B.H).N.
This, like the corresponding electrostatic formula, represents tension across planes perpendicular to the lines of force,and planes parallel to them. pressure across be remarked that Maxwell It may made between stress in the material dielectric and
aether
:
;j
a
no
distinction
in the
stress
indeed,
so
long
as
it was
supposed
that material bodies
displaced carry the contained aether along with them, when distinction was possible. In the modifications of Maxwell's no developed many theory which were years afterwards by his followers,stresses corresponding to those introduced by Maxwell were assigned to the aether, as distinct from ponderable matter ; assumed that the only stresses set up in material and it was bodies by the electromagnetic field are produced indirectly: calculated by the methods of the theory of knowledge a forces of the ponderomotive elasticity, from exerted on the electriccharges connected with the bodies. they may be
*
Maxwell's
Treatise
on
Electricity and Magnetism,
" 643.
Maxwell.
Another
303
suggested by Maxwell's theory of stress remark is that he considered the question from the in the medium He determined the stress so that purely staticalpoint of view. it might produce the required forces on ponderable bodies, and
be self-equilibrating in free aether. magnetic phenomena
are
their nature, the stress or be illustrated by This may
if the electric and but are kinetic in not really statical, pressure need not be self-equilibrating.
But*
reference to the hydrodynamical models of the aether shortly to be described, in which perforated liquid : the ponderomotive in a moving solids are immersed forces exerted on the solids by the liquid correspond to those conductors carrying currents in a magnetic field, beyond the pressure and yet there is no stress in the medium of the liquid. which
act
on
the problems to which Maxwell applied his theory had engaged one was the which of stress in the medium generations of his predecessors. The adattention of many herents light in the eighteenth of the corpuscular theory of
Among
century believed that their hypothesis would be decisively confirmed if it could be shown that rays of light possess momentum : to determine the matter, several investigators directed powerful
delicately-suspended bodies, and looked for evidences of a pressure due to the impulse of the corpuscles. Such an experiment was performed in 1708 by Homberg,f who
beams
of light
on
imagined
that he actually obtained the effect in question ; but Mairan Fay in the middle of the century, having and Du repeated his operations, failed to confirm his conclusion.* The was afterwards taken up by Michell, who "some
subject
years ago," wrote the momentum
Priestley" in 1772, of light in M. Homberg

a
"
endeavoured
accurate
to ascertain
manner
much
more
than
those in which and M. Mairan had attempted it." He exposed a very thin and delicately-suspended copper plate
*
Cf. V.
Phil. Bjeiknes,
Mag.
ix
(1905), p.
491.
t Histoire de 1'Acad., 1708, p. 21.
% J. J.
(ie Mairan,
Traite de V A
urore
boreale, p. 370.
" History of
Vision, i, p. 387.
304
to the rays of the
a sun
Maxwell.
mirror, and observed not satisfiedthat the effect of the heating there seems to altogether excluded, but
"
concentrated
by
deflexion.
He
was
of the air had been be no doubt," in Priestley's opinion,
but that the motion above mentioned is to be ascribed to the impulse of the rays of light." by A. Bennet,* who directed A similar experiment was made the light from the focus of a large lens on writing-paper
"
delicately suspended
"
perceive any motion Perhaps," he concluded, sensible heat and light may not be of fine particles, caused by the influx or rectilinealprojections but by the vibrations made in the universally diffused caloric
"
exhausted receiver, but could not distinguishable from the effects of heat."
an
in
"
or
matter
of heat,
or
fluid of light."
Thus
him Young, f regarded the non-appearance in favour an as this experiment argument

"
"
Bennet, and after of lightrepulsion in of the undulatory
For," wrote Young, system of light. granting the utmost imaginable subtility of the corpuscles of light, their effects might naturally be expected to bear some proportion to the effects of the much which
states."
are
less rapid motions
so
very
of the electrical fluid, in their weakest easily perceptible, even
This attitude is all the more remarkable, because Euler many years before had expressed the opinion that light-pressure might be expected justas reasonably on the undulatory 'as on
the corpuscular hypothesis. sound "Just
as,"
he wrote,
"a
vehement
excites not only a vibratory motion in the particles of the air, but there is also observed a real movement of the small particles of dust which are suspended therein, it is not to be the vibratory motion set up by the light a similar effect." Euler causes not only inferred the existence a suggestion of Kepler's) (adopting of light-pressure, but even
that
doubted
but
accounted for the tails of comets by supposing of a comet, rays, impinging on the atmosphere it the more subtle of its particles.
*
that the solar drive off from
Phil. Trans., 1792, p. 81. J Histoire de /'Acad.
+ Ibid., 1802, p.
de Berlin, ii (1748), p. 117.
46.
Maxwell.
The
305
examined by Maxwell* from the point question was light ; which readily of view of the electromagnetic theory of for the existence of light-pressure. For furnishes reasons falls on a metallic reflecting surface at suppose that light The light may be regarded as constituted perpendicular incidence.
rapidly-alternating magnetic field; and this must induce electriccurrents in the surface layers of the metal. But in a magnetic fieldis acted on by a a metal carrying currents
of
a
force, which is at right angles to both the ponderomotive fore, magnetic force and the direction of the current, and is therein the present case, normal to the reflecting surface :
this ponderomotive
force is the light-pressure. Thus, according to Maxwell's theory, light-pressure is only an extended case of be in the laboratory. produced effectswhich may readily The deduced by of the light-pressure was magnitude Maxwell
seen
from his theory of stresses in the medium.

across
a
We
have is
that the stress
plane whose
unit-normal
is N
represented by the vector
(D N)
.
J (D E)
.
"
47T
wave
(B N)
.
(B H)
.
N.
O7T
Now,
is incident perpendicularly on a perfectly reflecting metallic sheet: this sheet must support its boundary in the the mechanical stress which exists at suppose that
a
plane
to the presence of the reflectedwave, D is zero at the surface ; and B is perpendicular to N, so (B N) vanishes.
aether. Thus
Owing
pressure of magnitude (l/8?r) (B H) normal to the surface : that is, the light-pressure is equal to the density of the aethereal energy in the region immediately
a
.
the
stress is
This was Maxwell's result. outside the metal. This conclusion has been reached on the assumption that the light is incident normally to the reflecting surface. If, on the other hand, the surface is placed in an enclosure completely surrounded by a radiating shell, so that radiation falls on it from all directions, it may be shown that the light-pressure is measured by one-third of the density of aethereal energy.
*
Maxwell's Treatise on Electricityand Magnetism,

X
" 792.
306
Maxwell.
A different way of inferring the necessity for light-pressure indicated in 1876 by A. Bartoli,* who showed that, when
was
radiant energy is transported from of a moving would be violated unless by the light.
means
cold body to a hot one by mirror, the second law of thermodynamics

a
a
pressure
were
exerted
on
the mirror
The
thermodynamical
ideas introduced into the
by subject
Bartoli have proved very fruitful. If a hollow vessel be at a definite temperature, the aether within the vessel must be full of radiation crossing from one side to the other : and hence the aether, when in radiative equilibrium with matter at a given is the seat of a definite quantity of energy per
temperature,
this energy per unit volume, and P the lightpressure on unit area of a surface exposed to the radiation, we may applyf the equation of available
unit volume. If U denote
energy!
U-TdF 1
~
dT Since, as
we
have
seen,
this equation gives
."
dU
dT'
and therefore U must be proportional to T*. From this it may be inferred that the intensity of emission of radiant energy by a body at temperature T is proportional to the fourth power of
the absolute temperature law which a experimentally by Stefan"in 1879.

"
was
first discovered
In the
year
in which
Maxwell's
treatise
was
published,
a
Sir William
pressure
*
Crookes|| obtained
accompanying
experimental evidence of the incidence of light; but this was
di
Bartoli, Sopra i movimenti prodotti dalla luce e dal calore e sopra il radiometro Firenze, 1876. Also Nuovo Cimento (3)xv (1884), p. 193 ; and Exner's Rep., xxi (1885), p. 198.
Crookes.
t Boltzmann, Ann. d. Phys. xxii Phys. xlvii (1892), p. 479. | Cf. p. 240.
Phil. Trans, clxiv ||
(1884), p.
31.
Cf. also B. Galitzine, Ann.

Ber. Ixxix
was
d.
" Wien.
(1879), p.
391.
(1874), p.
501.
The radiometer
discovered in 1875.
Maxwell.
found
to be due
to thermal
was
307
the existence of
soon a
; and effects
true light-pressure
not confirmed
1899.
Since then the
subject
experimentally* until has been considerably developed,
especiallyin regard to the part played by the pressure of radiation in cosmical physics. which received attention in Maxwell's Treatise was the influence of a magnetic fieldon the propagation have already that of light in material substances. We Another
matter
seenf
its origin in Thomson's the theory of magnetic in his memoir ; and Maxwell speculations on this phenomenon of 1861-2 had attempted by the help of that theory to arrive
at
some
vortices had
which
complete explanation of it. The more is given in the Treatise is based on the
investigation
same
general
to a magnetic assumptions, namely, that in a medium subjected field there exist concealed vortical motions, the axes of the vortices being in the direction of the lines of magnetic force ;
and
disturb of light passing through the medium the vortices,which thereupon react dynamically on the luminous
that
waves
motion, and so affectits velocity of propagation. interaction must now be The manner of this dynamical Maxwell more supposed that the magnetic closely examined. way as vortices are affected by the light-waves in the same vortex-filaments in a liquid would be affected by any other
coexisting motion in the liquid. The latter problem had been on vortexalready discussed in Helrnholtz'js great memoir motion ; adopting Helmholtz's results,Maxwell assumed for the
additional term
into the magnetic force by the placemen diswhere e denotes the of the vortices the value 9e/B0, displacement of the medium the light vector), (i.e. and the H denoting the + Hzd/dz, operator d/dOdenotes H^/dx + Hy'dj^y
introduced
imposed
turbing magnetic field. Thus the luminous motion, by disthe vortices,gives rise to an electric current in the
proportional to curl
medium,
*P.
Lebedew, Archives des Sciences Phys. et Nat. (4) p. 184. viii (1899), E. F. Nichols Phys. d. Phys. vi (1901), G. F. Hull, Rev. 433. p. and t Cf. p. 274. p. 315. p. 293 ; Astrophys. Jour., xvii (1903), xiii(1901),
Ann. X
2
308
Maxwell
Maxwell.
further assumed that the current thus produced in such a the luminous motion of the medium contains
a
interacts dynamically
manner
that
the
with kinetic energy
term
The
proportional to the scalar product of e and curl de/30. total kinetic energy of the medium therefore be may
written
\p"
where
Jcr (e
curl
9e/a0),
and
cr
p denotes the density
of the medium,
denotes
constant
to rotate the capacity of the medium the plane of polarization of light in a magnetic field. The equation of motion be derived as in the now may
which
measures
solid theories of light : it is elastic32
pe
%V2e
o-
r"
curl
e.
ot
cu
the light is transmitted in the direction of the lines of force, and the axis of x is taken parallel to this direction, When
the equation reduces to
and these equations, as we of Faraday's phenomenon.

It may be remarked
have
seen,*
furnish
an
explanation
that the term
(e J(T
in the kinetic energy may
curl
9e/80)
by partial integration be transformed
into
term
Jo(curie. 9e/90),t
together with surface-terms ;
-
or,
again, into
.
e 8e/80), (curl Jo-
together with
*
surface- terms.
These
different forms
all yield
Cf. p. 215.
:
f This form
p. 691
by Fitz Gerald six years later, Phil. Trans., 1880, Writings, p. 45. Fitz Gerald's Scientific
was
suggested
Maxwell.
the
309
but, owing to equation of motion for the medium; the differences in the surface-terms, they yield different conditions at the boundary of the medium, and consequently give
same
rise to different theories of reflexion. The assumptions involved in Maxwell's treatment of the such as might scarcely be rotation of light were magnetic in themselves ; but since the discussion as a whole justified
proceeded
were
from
sound in harmony
more
dynamical
with
principles, and
experimental
its sions conclufitted results, it was
to lead to the
devised which
by
perfect explanations which were afterwards At the time of Maxwell's death, his successors.
in 1879, before he had
happened
ninth year, much yet remained the other investigations with and
completed his fortyto be done both in this and in is associated; which his name
largely spent in the energies of the next generation were extending and refining that conception of electricaland optical origin is correctly indicated in its
name
whose phenomena Maxwell's Theory.
of
310
CHAPTEK
MODELS OF
THE
IX.
AETHER.
THE
and Maxwell to represent the early attempts of Thomson by mechanical models opened up a new field of electricmedium by its attracted as much research, to which investigators were
as
intrinsicfascination
by the importance
of the services which
it promised to render to electric theory. Of the models to which reference has already been made, some such as those described in Thomson's memoir* of 1847
"
attribute a linear character and Maxwell's memoirf of 1861-2 to electric force and electric current, and a rotatory character in to magnetism; others such as that devised by Maxwell
" "
1855Jand
afterwards amplified by Helmholtz" force as a linear and electric current

"
regard
as a
netic mag-
rotatory
This distinction furnishes a natural classification phenomenon. of models into two principal groups. Even within the limits of the former group diversity has already become apparent ; for in Maxwell's analogy of 1861-2, continuous vortical motion is supposed to be in progress about the lines of magnetic induction ; whereas in Thomson's analogy
a
the vector-potential
was
likened to the
displacement
in
an
elasticsolid,so that the magnetic induction at any point would be represented by the twist of an element of volume of the solid from its equilibrium position ; or, in symbols,
a
=
e,
e,
curl e,
where
denotes the vector-potential,E the electric force, B the magnetic induction, and e the elastic displacement.
a
original memoir concluded with a notice of his intention to resume the discussion in another communication His purpose was fulfilled only in 1890, when|| he showed tha
Thomson's
*
Cf. p. 270.
t Of. p. 276. % Cf. p. 271. Kelvin's Math, and Phys. Papers, iii, || p. 436.
" Cf.
p. 274.
Models
in his model
a
ofthe
Aether.
311
could be represented by a piece quality as the solid and embedded of endless,cord, of the same in it,if a tangential force were applied to the cord uniformly
linear current
the circuit. The forces so applied tangentially produce a the surrounding solid ; and the tangential drag on rotatory displacement thus caused is everywhere proportional
all round
to the magnetic
vector.
In order to represent the effect of varying permeability, Thomson the ordinary type of elastic solid, and abandoned
type; that is to say, replaced it by an aether of Mac Cullagh^s ideal incompressible substance, having no an rigidity of the but ordinary kind (i.e. elastic resistance to change of
shape),
capable of resisting absolute rotation

name
"
property to which
the
given. The rotation of the solid induction, and the coefficient of representing the magnetic gyrostatic rigidity being inversely proportional to the permeability,
gyrostatic rigidity was the normal continuous across We have seen
an
induction will be component of magnetic interface,as it should be.*
above that in models of this kind the electric force is represented by the translatory velocity of the medium. It might therefore be expected that a strong electric fieldwould
perceptibly affect the velocity of propagation of light ; and that is an argument against the this does not appear to be the case,f validity of the scheme.
We
now
turn
are
to the alternative conception, in which
phenomena
regarded as rotatory, and magnetic in symbols, represented by the linear velocity of the medium;
4-TrD
=
electric force is
curl
e,
e,
D denotes the electric displacement, H the magnetic where force, and e the displacement of the medium. In Maxwell's memoir of 1855, and in most of the succeeding writings for
inclined to believe (Papers, iii, p. I"5)that light might he correctly by the a represented vibratory motion of such solid. t Wilberforce, Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. xiv (1887), p. 170 ; Lodge, Phil. Trans,
*
Thomson
clxxxix
(1897), p.
149.
312
many
Models
years, attention
was
ofthe
Aether.
directed chiefly to magnetic fieldsof a steady, or at any rate non-oscillatory, character ; in such fields, is continuously the motion of the particles of the medium consequently natural to suppose the progressive ; and it was
to be fluid. medium himself, as Maxwell
we
have
seen,*
afterwards abandoned
represents magnetic to Ampere and all his
this conception
in favour
of that which
"
as rotatory. "According phenomena followers," he wrote in 1870,f electric currents are regarded a species of translation, and as magnetic force as depending on
rotation.
am
constrained
to agree
with
this view, because
the electric current is associated with electrolysis,and other instances of translation, while magnetism is assoundoubted ciated with But the the rotation of the plane of polarization of light." felt to be too valuable to be other analogy was discarded,
altogether
in 1858 Helmholtz especially when by showing that if magnetic induction is comextended itj pared to fluid velocity, then electric currents to correspond
vortex-filaments in the fluid. Two years afterwards Kirchhoff " developed it further. If the analogy has any dynamical (as distinguished from a merely kinematical) value, itis evident that the ponderomotive forces between metallic rings carrying electric forces between currents should be similar to the ponderomotive in an infinite incompressible they are immersed the same rings when fluid; the motion of the fluid being such that its
circulation through the aperture of each ring is proportional to the strength of the electric current in the corresponding ring. In order to decide the question, Kirchhoff attempted, and solved, the hydrodynamical problem of the motion of two thin, rigid rings in an incompressible frictionless fluid,the fluid motion
being irrotational; and found that the forces between

are
*
the rings
exert
on
numerically equal to those which
the rings would
Cf. p. 276. t Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. iii(1870), p. 224 ; Maxwell's J Cf. p. 274.
Sclent. Papers, ii,p. 263.

AbhandL,
p. 404.
" Journnl
fur Math.
Ixxi
also C. Neumann,
Leipzig Berichte, xliv
; Kirchhoff's Ge*amm. (1869) (1892), p. 86.
Cf.
Models
each
ofthe Aether.
electric currents
3 13
other if they
were
traversed by
portional pro-
to the circulations.
There is,however,
cases,
an
important
difference between
the two
who subsequently discussed by W. Thomson, which was In in to order represent several memoirs.* pursued the analogy the magnetic fieldby a conservative dynamical system, we shall that it is produced by a number of rings of perfectly conducting material, in which electric currents are circulating ; being free aether. Now any perfectly the surrounding medium
as an
suppose
conducting body acts magnetic force ; for,as
impenetrable
barrier to lines of
a
on zero
perfect conductor is placed in a magnetic field, electriccurrents are induced its surface in such a way as to make the total magnetic force
Maxwell
showed,f when
are
Lines of force the interior of the conductor.^ thus deflected by the body in the same way as the lines of
throughout
an
flow of
of the
same
incompressible fluid would be deflected by an obstacle form, or as the lines of flow of electriccurrent in a
uniform conducting mass would be deflectedby the introduction of a body of this form and of infiniteresistance. If, then, for
consider two perfectly conducting rings carrying currents, those lines of force which are initiallylinked with a lines ring cannot escape from their entanglement, and new
simplicitywe
cannot
become
involved
in it. This
implies that
the
total
the of lines of magnetic force which pass through aperture of each ring is invariable. If the coefficients of self induction denoted Z,, Z2, Z12, by the of and mutual rings are number the electrokinetic energy of the system may T + 2Z12^ + Z2 J (Z,*V
=
be represented by
v),
strengths of the currents; and the condition that the number of lines of force linked with each circuit is to be invariable gives the equations
where
i\,i" denote
the
Liii
Z12i2
Lziz
constant, constant.
Thomson's
Reprint
of Papers
Thomson
1872). % For
t Maxwell's
this
reason
Treatise
in Elect, and Mag., "" 573, 733, 751 on Elect, and Mag., " 654.
(1870-
"W.
called
perfect conductor
nn
ideal extreme
diamagnetic.
314
Models
ofthe
Aether.
It is evident that, when the system is considered from the point of view of general dynamics, the electric currents must be
regarded
as
and the quantities generalized velocities,

+ Z,2i2)and (L1i1
(Z12^+ L9i2)
as
momenta.
rings tending analogous hydrodynamical

to the magnetic
The electromagnetic ponderomotive force on the to increase any coordinate x is dT/dv. In the system, the fluid velocity corresponds
force: and therefore the circulation through taken round each ring (whichis defined to be the integral fvds, a path linked once with the corresponds kinematically to
ring)
the flux of fluid through each ring corresponds to the number of lines of magnetic force which the aperture of the ring. But in the hydropass through the electric current ; and dynamical
momenta
problem
the circulations play the part of generalized the rings play the kinetic energy may indeed
; while the fluxes of fluid through
part of generalized velocities. The be expressed in the form
where
KI,
"c2,
denote
the
circulations
(so that
proportional respectively to ^ and 4), and on the positions of the rings ; but this is the Hamiltonian (as form of the energy-function,* and opposed to the Lagrangian) force on the rings tending to increase the ponderomotive any
we
and "c2 are NI, Nn, N2, depend

KI
coordinate
see
is
dK/dx.
Since
dK/dx
is equal to
dT/dx,
forces on that the ponderomotive the rings in any position in the hydrodynamical system are equal, but opposite, forces on to the ponderomotive the rings in the electric system. The for the difference between
the two
reason
The rings cannot readily be understood. of magnetic force in the one system, but they can cut through the stream-lines in the other : consequently the flux of fluid through the rings is not invariable when the rings are moved, the
may cut through the lines
cases
invariants in the hydrodynamical

*
system
being the circulations.
Cf. Whittaker,
Analytical
Dynamics,
" 109.
Modds
If
a
ofthe Aethtr.
315
thin ring, for which the circulation is zero, is introduced into the fluid,it will experience no ponderomotive forces ; but
current is introduced into a ring initially carrying no forces, owing it will experience ponderomotive magnetic field, to the electriccurrents induced in it by its motion,
if
Imperfect though the analogy is,it is not without interest. A bar-magnet, being equivalent to a current circulating in a wire
it,may be compared (asW. Thomson remarked) in a perfect fluid, the fluid entering to a straight tube immersed at one end and flowing out by the other, so that the particles
wound
round
of fluid follow the lines of magnetic force. If two such tubes are presented with like ends to each other, they attract ; with The forces are thus diametrically unlike ends, they repeL opposite in direction to those of magnets ; but in other respects these tubes and between the laws of mutual action between
magnets
*
are
precisely the
same.*
The mathematical analysis in this ease isvery simple. A narrow rube through be flowing to is as a one source at end of the may regarded equivalent which water be tube and a sink at the other; and the problem may therefore reduced to the consideration of sinks in an unlimited fluid, If there are two sinks in sneh a fluid,
of strengths
where
r
m
and */, the Telocity-potential is
at/r+ m*//,
and of the fluid is
i"
denote distance from the sinks. The kinetic energy per unit
it is easily seen that the total I energy of the fluid,when the two sinks are at a dtBtance apart, exceeds the total cneigy when they are at an infinitedistance apart by an amount
thedensiryof the fluid; whence
0*i*ae*i*+^ld^"m^Mmt1to+k""l"m*at1i*"
small spheres
reduces
at once
*,
/, surrounding
to
the
sinks.
By Green's
where the integration is taken The integral taken over or "'.

hare
over
*'
and
"",
and
vanishe
of the fluidis therefore greater when
sinks of strengths
at,
at* are
at
3 16
Thomson,
moreover,
Models
ofthe Aether.
which
one
act between
investigated* the ponderomotive forces two solid bodies immersed in a fluid,when
of the bodies is constrained to perform small oscillations. If,for example, a small sphere immersed in an incompressible fluid is compelled to oscillate along the line which joins its
larger sphere, which is free, the free sphere will be attracted if it is denser than the fluid ; while if it is less dense than the fluid,it will be repelled or attracted
centre to that of
a
much
according as the ratio of its distance from the vibrator to its radius is greater or less than a certain quantity depending on the ratio of its density to the density of the fluid. Systems
were of this kind afterwards extensively investigated by C. A. Bjerknes.fBjerknesshowed that two spheres which immersed in an incompressible fluid, and which pulsate are
(i.e., change
in
mediation of square law, if the pulsations are concordant ; and exert on likewise by the inverse each other a repulsion, determined square
volume)regularly, exert on each an the fluid) attraction, determined
other (by the by the inverse
law, if the phases of the pulsations differ by half a is incompressible, period. It is necessary to suppose that the medium so that all pulsations are propagated instantaneously :
otherwise attractions would at distances greater than
change to repulsions and vice versa If the a quarter
wave-length.^
spheres, instead of pulsating, oscillate to and fro in straight lines about their mean positions, the forces between them are proportional in magnitude
and
the
same
in
are
direction, but
at infinite distance
mutual distance I than when sinks of the same apart by an amount lirpmm'/l.Since, in the
strengths
case
of the tubes, the quantities m correspond to the fluxes of fluid, this expression corresponds to the Lagrangian form of the kinetic energy ; and therefore the force tending to increase the coordinate "Whence it is seen that the like ends x of one (4ny" of the sinks is (3/9#)
ww'/Z).
of two
*
tubes attract, and the unlike ends repel, according to the inverse square la\\r. Phil. Mag. xli (1870), p. 427. d. Mathematik
von
t Repertorium
Konisberger
und
Zeuner
Gottinger Nachrichten,
1876, p. 245.
Comptes
Rendus,
Ixxxiv
(1876), p. 268. (1877), p. 1377.
Cf. Nature, xxiv (1881), p. 360. On the mathematical theory of the force between two pulsating spheres in J M. Hicks, Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. iii (1879), a fluid, cf. W. p. 276 ; iv (1880),
p. 29.
Models
ofthe
Aether.
two
3 17
in sign, to those which act between oriented along the directions of oscillation.* The results obtained by Bjerknes were
opposite A. H.
magnets
Leahyf
to
the
case
of two
being elastic medium ; the wave-length with the distance between the supposed large in comparison results are reversed, the spheres. For this system Bjerknes' law being now that of attraction in the case of unlike phases,
and of repulsion in the case of like phases : the intensity is as before proportional to the inverse square of the distance. The same author afterwards discussed \ the oscillations in an by the be produced elastic medium which may displacement, in the direction of the tangent to the crosssection, of
spheres of the disturbance
by extended pulsating in an
the
surfaces of tubes of small sectional area : finitely or tubes either forming closed curves, extending indein both directions. The direction and circumstances the
in general analogous to ordinary vortexare motion motions in an incompressible fluid; and it was shown by Leahy that, if the period of the oscillation be such that the waves
of the
produced are long compared with ordinary finite distances, the displacement due to the tangential disturbances is proportional
to the velocity due
to vortex-rings of the
same
form
as
the
tubular
oscillatory twists," as the tubular surfaces may be called,produces a displacement which is analogous to the magnetic force due to a current flowing in
surfaces. coincident with the tube ; the strength of the current being proportional to b'w sin pt, where b denotes the radius of
curve
One
of these
"
If the field sin pt its angular displacement. of vibration is explored by a rectilineal twist of the same period as that of the vibration, the twist will experience a force
the twist, and
t"
assumption that pressible gravitating particles resemhle slightly compressible spheres immersed in an incomintensity fluid : the spheres execute corresponds pulsations, whose perfect
on
A theory of gravitation has heen
hased
by
Korn
the
of the gravitating particles, and thus forces of the Newtonian Cf. Korn, Eine Theorie der Gravitation und them. produced between Etscheinungen, Berlin, 1898.
to
the
mass
kind
are
der elect.
t Trans. Camb.
Trans. Camb.
Phil. Soc. xiv Phil. Soc. xiv
p. 45. (1884), (1885), p. 188.
3 18
at
Models
ofthe Aether.
right angles to the plane containing the twist and the direction of the displacement which would exist if the twist be reprewere sented removed ; if the displacement of the medium by F sin pt, and the angular displacement of the twist
w
of the force is proportional to the sin pt, the magnitude and vector-product of V (inthe direction of the displacement) direction w (inthe of the axis of the twist). by model of magnetic action may evidently be constructed the basis of these results. A bar-magnet must be regarded vibrating tangentially, the direction of vibration being A
on as
A cylindrical body carrying parallel to the axis of the body. a current will have its surface also vibrating tangentially ; but in this case the direction of vibration will be perpendicular to body, on the the axis of the cylinder. A staticallyelectrified author's earlierwork, other hand, may, as follows from the same
be regarded as analogous to the normal direction. We

have
now
body whose
surface vibrates in
discussed models in which the magnetic force is represented as the velocity in a liquid, and others in which it is represented as the displacement in an elasticsolid. Some George Francis memoir, years before the date of Leahy's Fitz Gerald
between 1851, (b.
d.
1901)* had
instituted
comparison
magnetic force and the velocity in a quasi-elastic solid of the type first devised by MacCullagh.f An analogy is at once evident when it is noticed that the electromagnetic
equation
4?rD
=
curl H
is satisfiedidenticallyby the values

4?rD
H
=
curl
e,
e,
where
denotes
any
vector;
and
that,
on
substituting these
values in the other electromagnetic equation,

-
H, curl (4ircsD/e)
-
"
Phil. Trans., 1880, p. 691 Writings, p. 45.
October, 1878). Fitz Gerald's Scientific (presented
t Cf. p. 155.
Moaeh
we
ofthe Aether.
319
obtain the equation

ee
c2
curl curl
0,
which
other than the equation of motion of MacCullagh's aether,* the specific inductive capacity " corresponding to the constant of elasticity. In the reciprocal of MacCullagh's is no
analogy thus constituted, electric displacement corresponds to the twist of the elements of volume of the aether ; and electric charge must evidently be represented as an intrinsic rotational based on strain. Mechanical models of the electromagnetic field, FitzGerald's analogy, were
by K.
Keiff,J and
by
afterwards studied by A. Sommerfeld,f Sir J. Larmor." The last-named authorll
supposed
the electric charge to exist in the form of discrete electrons, for the creation of which he suggested the following A filament of aether, terminating at two ideal processIF :
"
nuclei, is supposed to be removed, and circulatory motion is imparted to the walls of the channel so formed, at each point a the medium of its length, so as to produce throughout
rotational strain. When channel is to be filled up
this has
been
made
the constraint is continuous with removed from the walls of the channel, the circulation imposed on them proceeds to undo itself, until this tendency is balanced by
the elasticresistance of the aether with has been filled up ; thus finally the system
again with its walls. When
accomplished, the aether, which is to be
which
assumes
the channel
a
state of
equilibrium in which
and
a
the nuclei, which
negative electron, are

in
correspond to a positive surrounded by intrinsic rotational
strain.
force is represented by the magnetic from velocity of an aether are not, however, secure objection. It is necessary to suppose that the aether is capable of flowing like a perfect fluid in irrotational motion (which would correwhich
*
Models
Cf. p. 155. t Ann. d. Phys. xlvi (1892), p. 139. I Reiff, Elasticitat und Elektricitdt, Freiburg, 1893. " Phil. Trans, clxxxv (1893), p. 719.
In ||
a supplement, of date August, 1894, to his above-cited memoir of 1893. H Phil. Trans, (1897), p. 810; cxc p. 210; Larmor, Aether clxxxv (1894), Matter (1900), p. 326. .and
320
spond
time
to
a
Models
steady magnetic
with the
ofthe Aether.
field), and that (which is power
it is at the
same
endowed
requisite for the
explanation of electric phenomena) of resisting the rotation of But when irrotathe aether moves any element of volume.*
tionally in the fashion which corresponds to a steady magnetic field, each element of volume acquires after a finite time a rotatory displacement from its original orientation, in consequence of the motion ; and it might therefore be expected that be called the quasi-elastic power of resisting rotation would into play
"
i.e., that
steady
magnetic
field would
develop
electric phenomena.f A further to all models in which magnetic force objection being in corresponds to velocity is that a strong magnetic field, such models represented by a steady drift of the aether, might be expected to influence the velocity of propagation of light. The existence of such an effectappears, however, to be disproved by the experiments of Sir Oliver Lodge ;J at any rate, unless it is assumed that the aether has an inertia at least of the same order of magnitude as that of ponderable matter, in which case
the motion might be too slow to be measurable. Again, the evidence in favour of the rotatory as opposed to has perhaps, on the the linear character of magnetic phenomena
whole, been
originally based his conclusion on the magnetic rotation of light. This brings us to the consideration of an experimental discovery. strengthened In 1879 E. H.
*
since Thomson
Hall," at that time

the
student at Baltimore,
a
Larmor
(loc. suggested cit.)

the
an
analogy of
liquid filledwith field.
magnetic
action of external magnetic molecules under to the mathematical conception of a perfect fluid It has often heen objected layers, so that that it contains no safeguard against slipping between adjacent for is the no justification there usual assumption that the motion of "i perfect fluid Larmor remarked that a rotational elasticity, is continuous. such as is attributed
to the medium
considered, furnishes precisely such a safeguard ; and that fluid cannot be imagined. property of this kind a continuous frictionless without some t Larmor proposed to avoid this by assuming that the rotation which is resisted by an element of volume of the aether is the vector sum of the series of differential above rotations which it has experienced. " Am. Jour. Math, ii, p. 287 ; Am. Mag. ix, p. 225, and x, p. 301. Trans, clxxxix J. Sci. xix, p. 200, and xx,
J Phil.
(1897), p.
149.
p. 161 ; Phil.
Models
ofthe
Aether.
321
repeating an experiment which had been previously suggested by H. A. Kowland, obtained a new action of a magnetic field A strip of gold leaf mounted on on electric currents. glass, forming part of an electric circuit through which a current
was
passing, the
was
placed
between
the
poles of
an
electromagnet,
plane of the strip being perpendicular to the lines of magnetic force. The two poles of a sensitive galvanometer in then placed were connexion with different parts of the found. When potential were strip,until two points at the same the magnetic fieldwas created or destroyed, a deflection of the observed, indicating a change in the galvanometer needle was
thus shown that relative potential of the two poles. It was the magnetic field produces in the strip of gold leaf a new electromotive force,at right angles to the primary electromotive force and to the magnetic of these forces.
From
force, and proportional to the product
therefore regard Hall's effect as an additional electromotive force generated by the action of the magnetic fieldon the current ; or alternatively
we
the physical point of view
may
we
modification of the ohmic resistance of the metal, such as would be produced if the molecules of the metal assumed a helicoidal structure about the lines of magnetic force. From the latter point of view, all that is needed is
may
as
a
regard it
to modify
Ohm's
law
S
=
"E k specificconductivity, and E form
(whereS denotes electriccurrent, so that it takes the electricforce)

S
=
KE
[E H]
.
where H denotes the imposed

constant
on
magnetic
force, and
h denotes
the magnitude which of Hall's phenomenon depends. It is a curious circumstance that the occurrence, in the case of magnetized bodies, of an additional term in Ohm's law, formed vector-product of E, had been expressly had notsuggested in Maxwell's Treatise*: although Maxwell indicated the possibilityof realizing it by Hall's experiment.
a
*
from
Elect, and Mag.,
" 303.
Cf. Hopkinson,
Y
Phil. Mag.
(1880), p.
430.
322
An
Models
ofthe
Aether.
interesting application of Hall's discovery was made in that it offered a the same year by Boltzmann,* who remarked prospect of determining the absolute velocity of the electric
carry the current in the strip. For if it is which or of electricity supposed that only one kind (vitreous resinous) is in motion, the force on one of the charges tending to drive it charges
side of the strip will be proportional to the vectorproduct of its velocity and the magnetic intensity. Assuming is a consequence that Hall's phenomenon of this tendency of
to
one
to charges to move velocity in question
side of the strip,it is evident that the be proportional to the magnitude of must the Hall electromotive force due to a unit magnetic field. On
one
the basis of this reasoning, A. von Ettingshausenf found for the two Daniell's cells through a gold strip or current sent by one
velocity of the order of 0*1 cm. per second. It is clear,however, that, if the current consists of both vitreous and resinous charges in motion in opposite directions,Boltzmann's argument fails; for the two kinds of electricitywould give opposite directions
a
to the current
In
the
in Hall's phenomenon. year following his discovery,
Hall}extended
his
a researches in another direction, by investigating whether magnetic fielddisturbs the distribution of equipotential lines in
observed."
velocities
dielectricwhich Such
is in
an
an
electric field; but
theoretical grounds;
are
was indeed,|| not effect, for when, in a material
effectcould be to be expected on
no
system,
is reversed, reversed, the motion understood that, in the application of this theorem to electrical theory, an electrostaticstate is to be regarded as one of rest,and
a
all the it being
current
as
phenomenon
of motion ; and if such
reversal be
Wien
Anz.,
1880, p. 12.
Phil. Mag.
ix
(1880), p.
307.
t Ann. d. Phys. xi 1 Am. Jour. Sci. xx " In 1885-6 E. van
(1880), pp. 432, 1044. (1880), p. 164.

Aubel, Bull, de 1'Acad. Roy. de Belgique
x, (3)
p. 609 ;
xii, p. 280, repeated the investigation in an result that a magnetic field has no influence dielectrics.
improved
on
form, and confirmed the the electrostaticpolarization of
H. ||
A. Lorentz, Arch. Neerl. xix
(1884), p.
123.
Models
in the
ofthe Aether.
323
performed
are
present system, the poles of the electromagnet no change takes exchanged, while in the dielectric
place. We
must
now
consider the bearing
the question as to linear phenomenon.*

must
of Hall's effect on is a rotatory or a magnetism whether be linear, electriccurrents If magnetism
be supposed to take be rotatory; and if Hall's phenomenon place in a horizontal strip of metal, the magnetic force being directed vertically upwards, and the primary current flowing
horizontally from north to south, the only geometrical entities involved are the vertical direction and a rotation in the eastand-west
vertical plane ; and these are indifferentwith respect to a rotation in the nor th-and- south vertical plane, so that there is nothing in the physical circumstances to of the system
in which direction the secondary current shall flow. is linear appears therefore The hypothesis that magnetism to be inconsistent with the existence of Hall's effect, f There
determine
considerations which may be urged on the other side. Hall's effect,like the magnetic rotation of light, takes place only in ponderable bodies, not in free aether ; and in one sense, sometimes in the other, its direction is sometimes
are,
some
however,
It may therefore be according to the nature of the substance. doubted whether these phenomena are not of a secondary character, and the argument based on them invalid. Moreover,
as
Fitz Gerald
a
the remarked,^
system of currents are to imagine making it difficult them could be produced. with
magnetic lines of force associated circuital and have no open ends,

how
alteration of rotation inside
Of the various attempts to represent electric and magnetic by the motions and strains of a continuous medium, phenomena none of those hitherto considered has been found free from
d. Phys. Iv (1895), p. 503. in favour hypothesis the Further t that it isthe electricphenomena of evidence which are linear is furnished by the fact that pyro-electric effects(the production of in by in occur Cf. electricpolarization acentric crystals,and only such.
*
Of. F. Kol"cek, Ann.
warming)
Encyklopiidie der rnrith.Wiss. iv (2), M. Abraham, p. 43. I Cf. Larmor, Phil. Trans, clxxxv, p. 780.
324
Before objection.*
Models
ofthe
Aether.
proceeding to consider models which are not constituted by a continuous medium, mention must be made of in his lecturesf Riea suggestion offered by Biemann of 1861.
mann a,
that the scalar-potential 0 and vector-potential law of force between electrons, corresponding to his own
remarked
satisfy the equation
0
an
div
0 ;
is satisfied also by the which, as we have seen, to indicate potentials of L. Lorenz.jThis appeared to Riemann that might represent the density of an aether, of which a
equation
"j"
this represents the velocity. It will be observed that on hypothesis the electricand magnetic forces correspond to second derivates of the displacement it a circumstance which makes difficultto assimilate the energy possessed by the somewhat
"
electromagnetic field to the energy of the model. We now must proceed to consider those models
than one the aether is represented as composed of more constituent : of these Maxwell's model of 1861-2, formed of vortices and rolling particles,may be taken as the type. Another
in which kind of
described in 1885 by Fitz Gerald"; device of the same class was this was constituted of a number of wheels, free to rotate on fixed fixed perpendicularly in a plane board ; the axes were axes
at the intersections of two
systems
each wheel indiarubber
was
geared to each Thus all the wheels band.
of perpendicular lines ; and of its four neighbours by an could rotate without they all had the same
any
straining of the system, provided of the wheels were revolving angular velocity; but if some faster than others, the indiarubber bands would become strained. It is evident that the wheels in this model play the same part as the vortices in Maxwell's model of 1861-2 : their rotation is
"Witte, Ueber den gegenwdrtigen Stand der Frage nach einer mechanischen Erkldrung der elektrischen Erscheinungen ; Berlin, 1906. t Edited after his death by K. Hattendorff, under the titleSchwere, Elektricitiit,
*
Cf. H.
und Magnetismus, I Cf. p. 299.
1875, p. 330.
1885;
" Scient. Proc. Koy. Dublin Soc.,

Seient. Writings, pp. 142, 157.
Phil. Mag.
June, 1885;
Fitz Gerald's
Models
ofthe
Aether.
325
^B
the analogue of magnetic force ; and a region in which the masses of the wheels are large corresponds to a region of high magnetic
of Fitz Gerald's model in which Maxwell's vortices were correspond to the medium zation, polariembedded ; and a strain on the bands represents dielectric the line joining the tight and slack sides of any band permeability.
The
indiarubber
bands
A body whose specific the direction of displacement. inductive capacity is large would be represented by a region in which is feeble. Lastly, the elasticity of the bands
being
conduction
on
may
be
represented
by
slipping of the
bands
is capable of transmitting vibrations analogous to those of light. For if any group of wheels be suddenly set in rotation, those in the neighbourhood will be prevented by
their inertia from
the wheels. Such a model
immediately
sharing
in the motion;
but
to the the rotation will be communicated adjacent it to transmit their wheels, which will neighbours; and so a The wave of motion will be propagated through the medium.
presently
is readily seen to be directed in constituting the wave i.e. The axes the vibration is transverse. the plane of the wave, of rotation of the wheels are at right angles to the direction motion
of propagation of the wave, and the direction of polarization of the bands is at right angles to both these directions. The elastic bands may be replaced by lines of governor balls :* if this be done, the energy of the system is entirely of
the kinetic type.f
of types different from the foregoing have been on suggested by the researches of Helmholtz and W. Thomson The earliestattempts in this direction,however, vortex-motion.
intended to illustratethe properties of ponderable matter A vortex existing in rather than of the luminiferous medium.
were
a
Models
perfect fluid preserves its individuality throughout allchanges,

*
Fitz Gerald's Scient. Writings, p. 271. t It is of course possibleto devise models of this class in which the rotation may be interpreted as having the electric instead of the magnetic character. Such a
model
was
proposed by Boltzinann, Vorlesungen iiber Maxwell's
Theorie, ii.
326
and cannot
Models
be destroyed ;
so
ofthe
Aetker.
suggested in 1867, the atoms of matter are constituted of vortex-rings in a be immediately perfect fluid, the conservation of matter may explained. The mutual interactions of atoms may be illustrated by the behaviour
other closely
are
that if, as Thomson*
of smoke-rings,
which
:
after approaching and
each
observed
to rebound
be referred to of matter may vortex-rings of free periods of vibration.f There are, however, to the hypothesis properties
the spectroscopic the possession by
objections
atoms.
It is not easy to understand
how
of vortexthe large density of
ponderable matter as compared with aether is to be explained ; and further, the virtual inertia of a vortex-ring increases as its energy increases ; whereas the inertia of a ponderable body is,
so
far
as
is known,
is, moreover,
"
It
now
"
seems
It unaffected by changes of temperature. doubtful whether vortex-atoms would be stable. in to me certain," wrote W. Thomson^(Kelvin)
that if any motion be given within a finite portion of infinite incompressible liquid, originally at rest, its fate is an necessarily dissipation to infinite distances with infinitelysmall 1905, the total kinetic energy remains years of failure to prove that the motion in the ordinary Helmholtz circular ring is stable, I came to the conclusion that it is essentially unstable, and that its fate must
velocities everywhere; After many constant.
while
be to become
dissipated
as
now
described."
is not the only way in which the theory of vortex-motion has been applied to the construction in 1880 by It was of models shown of the aether. The vortex-atom hypothesis
W.
Thomson" that in certain circumstances

a
exist in
*
state in which
of fluid can portions in rotational and irrotational

a
mass
Phil. Mag.
attempt
p. xxxiv(1867),
was
15;
Proc. R.S. Edinb. by J. J. Thomson,
t An
p. 427,
to
made
in 1883
vi, p. 94. Phil. Mag.
xv
(1883),
explain the phenomena of the electric discharge through gases in terms The electric field was of tho theory of vortex-atoms. supposed to consist in a distribution of velocity in the medium whose vortex-motion constituted the atoms the of the gas ; and Thomson effect of this fieldon the dissociation and considered
recoupling of vortex-rings. J Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinb.,
xxv
(1905), p.
565.
" Brit. Assoc.
Rep., 1880, p. 473.
Models
motion
mass
ofthe Aether.
so
327
a
are
finely mixed
together, having
that
on
large scale the
is homogeneous,
equal amount having such
an within any sensible volume in all directions. To a fluid of vortex-motion type of motion he gave the name vortex-sponge.
discussed the suitability of the TiveTyears later,Fitzgerald*"

vortex-sponge as a model of the aether. Since vorticity in a perfect fluid cannot be created or destroyed, the modification of the system which is to be analogous to an electric fieldmust polarized state of the vortex motion, and light must be represented by a communication of this polarized motion from to another. Many distinct types of one part of the medium
a
be
polarization may
readily be
imagined
for instance,
if the
turbulent motion were constituted of vortex-rings, these might be in motion parallel to definite lines or planes ; or if it were
constituted of long vortex filaments, the filaments might be bent spirally about axes parallel to a given direction. The energy of any polarized state of vortex-motion would be greater
that of the unpolarized state; so that if the motion of matter had the effect of reducing the polarization, there would Since the forces due be forces tending to produce that motion. than
small vortex from it, it seems
vary inversely as a high power of the distance probable that in the case of two infinite planes, separated by a region of polarized vortex-motion, the forces due to the polarization between the planes would depend
to
a
distance of the is characteristic of plane distributions a property which planes law. whose elements attract according to the Newtonian It is possible to conceive polarized forms of vortex- motion
on
the polarization, but

"
not
on
the mutual
is steady so far as the interior of the medium concerned, but which tend to yield up their energy in producing a property parallel to that of the motion of its boundary itself in equilibrium, tends to move aether, which, though
which
are
"
immersed objects In the

*
in it.
same
year Hicksf discussed the possibilityof transDublin Soc., 188o

+
"
Scient. Proc. Roy.
Wntings Scientific
of FitzGerakl,
p. 154.
Brit. Assoc.
Rep., 1885, p. 930.
328
Models
ofthe Aether.
through a medium consisting of an incompressible mitting waves fluid in which small vortex-rings are closely packed together. The wave-length of the disturbance was supposed large in comparison with the dimensions and mutual distances of the rings ;
and the translatory motion of the latter was
can pass over slow that very many waves much changed its position. Such a medium
supposed to be so any one before it has
fluid for larger motions. front might be either swinging oscillations of

act
as
a
would probably The vibration in the wavea
ring about
diameter,
vibrations of the ring, or apertural vibrations ; vibrations normal to the plane of the ring appear to be impossible. Hicks determined in each case the velocity
or
transverse
of translation, in terms
of the radius of the rings, the distance of the
of their planes, and their cyclic constant. The greatest advance in the vortex-sponge
aether
was
theory
made
in 1887, when
W.
Thomson*
equation of propagation of laminar as the equation of propagation of luminous sponge is the same in the The demonstration, which vibrations in the aether.
showed that the disturbances in a vortex-
scarcely be expected to be either very simple or very rigorous, is as follows : Let (u, v, w) denote the components of velocity,and p the in an incompressible fluid. Let pressure, at the point (x,y, circumstances
can
"
z)
the initialmotion be supposed to consist of a laminar motion grained 0, Oj, superposed on a homogeneous, isotropic,and fine{/(?/),
v0, (u'0t w0): so that at the origin of time the velocity is {/ (y)+ u'0, v0, wn\ : it is desired to find a function / (y, t)such that at any time t the velocity shall be \f(y, t)+ u', v, w), where u', v, w, are quantities of which
distribution
large space is zero. every average taken over a sufficiently Substituting these values of the components of velocity in the equation of motion
du
_
du
~
du
dy~
:
du
~
dp dx'
and Phys. Papers, iv,p. 308.
dt
*
dx
342
dz
Phil. Mug. xxiv
(1887), p.
Kelvin's Math,
Models
there results
ofthe Aether.
329
W
-
dp
-
"
dz
the #2-averages of both members. v, dp/dx have zero averages; du'/dt, du'/dx, takes the form
Take
now
dx
".
The
so
quantities
the equation
df(y*t)
-
dt
( \
[u,W
--
M
+ v
"
dx
dy
if the symbol A is used to indicate that the xz- average is to be Moreover, the incompressitaken of the quantity following. bility of the fluid is expressed by the equation
du'
+
dv
~
dw
+
=
'
whence
f\
A
***
t/*1'
^ \JWJ
aaT"1
When
this is added third pairs of terms
^+
9z
to the preceding
^-average of any infinitelygreat values of
of the second derivate dQ/dx vanishes

x
equation, the first and member vanish, since the

if
is finite for
; and the equation
thus becomes
a)
From
to remain that if the turbulent motion were (T/, continually isotropic as at the beginning,/ would constantly t) value /(y). In order to examine the deviation retain its critical
this it is seen
shall determine Ad done in the following way : Multiplying

from isotropy,
we
"
(u'v)/dt, which
the
u-
may
be
of motion
by
v, u'
respectively, and adding,
we
and ^-equations have
-.
'
fa
d
w
ty
(u'v)
dp
~
dx
,
(u'v) -Vdy
-
dp
dz dx ~V" -v^--uf^ty
330
Taking
Models
ofthe
Aether.
the ^-average of this, we observe that the firstterm of is zero, and the first disappears, since A v the first member
.
term
zero.
of the second by Denoting may be
disappears, since A member %RZ the average value of uz,
3
vz,
is (u'v]fix
or
w1,
so
that R
called the average velocity of the motion, the equation becomes
turbulent
Let p be written (jp' + where y denotes the value which p TO), The equations of motion immediately would have if/ were zero.
give
and
two
subtracting the forms which have cases, we

on
this equation takes in the
the turbulent motion is fine-grained, when f(ytt) is sensibly constant over ranges within which pass through all their values, may be written
which,
so
u't
that
v,
w
Moreover,
we
have
, ,
tyu'v) d(uv)
for positive and negative values of u, v, w are and therefore the value of the second member
is doubled by adding to itself what
we
equally probable ;
of this equation when for u', v, w
it becomes
substitute
u', -v,
of the above equation
which (as may be seen by inspection in V2^") does not change the value of p'.
-w,
Models
Comparing
of
of the Aether.
that which
331
the value
Q, we
this equation with have

'
determines
d^
or
substituting for
CT,
The
isotropy with respect to
and
gives the equation
8
,
a\ 8
^0-
-+
h"
^"
But by integration by parts

'
we
obtain the equation
U.v-ô=_
member
and
may
by the condition of incompressibility the second be written

A
.
V-2Vo, (d/ty) (tojty)

.
or
v0
V-ô (d/zdf)
.
so
we
have
On
account
of the isotropy, we
may
write
J for
and, therefore,
by this equation is very The equation is small, because of the smallness of df(y, t)/dy. therefore not restricted to the initialvalues of the two members,
The deviation from isotropy shown
332
for
we
Models
ofthe
Aether.
IP in may neglect an infinitesimaldeviation from (2/9) the firstfactor of the second member, in consideration of the smallness of the second factor. Hence for all values of t we
have the equation
which, in combination with
(1), yields the
result
the form
of this equation
shows
that laminar
disturbances
manner
as
are
propagated through the vortex-sponge in the same distortion in a homogeneous elastic solid.
waves
of
The question of the stabilityof the turbulent motion remained to have thought it seems undecided ; and at the time Thomson
likely that the motion would suffer diffusion. But two years later* he showed that stability was ensured at any rate when space is filled with a set of approximately straight hollow vortex
filaments. Fitz
Geraldf subsequently
determined
unit-volume in a turbulent liquid which Writing for brevity waves.

R* (2/9) the equations
are
-
the energy per is transmitting laminar
V\
f(y, t)
=
P,
and
(u'v) 7,
=
s?.--h
dt
If the quantity
dy' p-f
and
h-.y*^
"
ft
8y
jVP"2S
is integrated
the variations of the space, and integral with respect to time are determined, it is found that
throughout
JIM*
Proc. Roy. Irish Acad.
i (1889), (3) p. 340 Fitz Gerald's
; Kelvin's Math,
and Phys. Papers,
iv, p. 202.
t Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1899.
Writings, Scientific
p. 484.
Models
ofthe Aether.
333
Integrating the second term under the integral by parts, and be at infinity,or omitting the superficial terms (which may
wherever
energy enters the space under
have we consideration),
0fa***.JJJp(*+g
it appears that the quantity S, which is of the dimensions of energy, must be proportional to the energy per unit-volume a result which shows that there is a pronounced of the medium
Hence
"
similarity between the dynamics of a vortex- sponge and of Maxwell's elastic aether. A definite vortex-sponge model of the aether was described by Hicks in his Presidential Address to the mathematical
In this the small section of the British Association in 1895.* not motions whose function is to confer the quasi-rigidity were completely disposed systematically. The chaotic, but were supposed to be constituted of cubical elements of
a
was medium fluid,each containing
: rotational circulation complete in itself in any element, the motion close to the central vertical diameter of the element is vertically upwards : the fluid which is thus carried to the upper part of the element flows outwards over
the
top, down
the six
adjoining
the sides,and up the centre again. In each of elements the motion is similar to this, but in
The
the
reverse
direction.
confers on them the power may be propagated through solid ; but the rotations
motions motion
rotational motion in the elements of resisting distortion,so that waves the medium
are as
through
of the fluid,provided
are
effect on the velocities in the irrotational without the velocity of propagation
elastic irrotational
an
slow compared
with
of
distortionalvibrations. described four years later by different model was Fitz Gerald,f Since the distribution of velocity of a fluid in the
A
Brit. Assoc.
t Proc.
Rep., 1895, p. 595. Roy. Dublin Soc., December
12,
1899;
Fitz Gerald's
Scientific
Writings, p. 472.
334
neighbourhood
Models
ofthe
Aether.
distribuas the tion of a vortex filament is the same of magnetic force around a wire of identical form carrying an energy electric current, it is evident that the fluid has more it is the filament has the form of a helix than when when
so
straight ;
were
if space
were
filled with
all parallel to a given increase in the energy per unit volume the vortices when bent into a spiral form ; and this could be measured by were the square of a vector which may be supposed parallel say, E
" "
axes vortices, whose direction, there would be an
to this direction.
by parallel single spiral vortex is surrounded straight ones, the latter will not remain straight, but will be The transference bent by the action of their spiral neighbour.
If
now
a
disof spiralitymay be specified by a vector H, which will be tributed in circles round the spiral vortex ; its magnitude will is being lost by the depend on the rate at which spirality be taken such that its square is equal original spiral,and can The vectors E and H to the mean motion. energy of this new will then represent the electric and magnetic vectors; the vortex spirals representing tubes of electric force. Fitz Gerald's spirality is essentially similar to the laminar motion investigated by Lord Kelvin, since it involves a flow in the direction of the axis of the spiral,and such a flow cannot take place along the direction of a vortex filament without a
analogues have been devised for electroOne such, which was described in 1888 by statical systems. W. M. Hicks,* depends on the circumstance that if two bodies
in contact in an infinitefluid are separated from each other, and if there be a vortex filament which terminates on the bodies,
there will be formed
vortex
*
spiral deformation Other vortex
of
filament.
at the point where

one
filamentfstretching from
they separate a hollow to the other, with rotation
Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1888, p. 577. } A hollow vortex is a cyclic motion existing in a fluid without the presence of any actual rotational filaments. On the general theory cf. Hicks, Phil. Trans, p. 725 ; cxcii (1898), p. 161 ; clxxvi (1885), clxxv (1883), p. 33.
Models
ofthe
Aether.
335
equal and opposite to that of the original filament. As the bodies are moved apart, the hollow vortex may, through failure of smaller ones ; and if of stability, dissociate into a number be very large, they will ultimately take the resulting number The two sets of filaments position of stable equilibrium. filaments and their hollow companions will be "the original intermingled, and each will distribute itself according to the
up
a
"
same
law
as
the lines of force between
the two
bodies which
are
equally and oppositely electrified. Since the pressure inside a hollow vortex is zero, the portion of the surface on which it abuts experiences a diminution of pressure ; the two bodies are therefore attracted. Moreover, as the two bodies separate further, the distribution of the filaments being the
that of lines of electric force, the diminution fore at all distances, and thereof pressure for each line is the same law as the force between the two bodies follows the same
same as
the force between
two
be shown similar, the diminution
It may
bodies equally and oppositely electrified. that the effect of the original filaments is of pressure being half
as
large again
as
for the hollow vortices. If another surface were

themselves
on
brought
others, those of the filaments which

off and
into the presence of the it would break encounter each

part of
a
rearrange
so
that
broken
filament terminates
a
complete
account
and
qualitatively :
This analogy thus gives of electrostaticactions both quantitatively the electric charge on a body corresponds the
new
body.
of ends of filaments abutting on it, the sign number being determined by the direction of rotation of the filament as viewed from the body.
to the
magnetic field may be supposed to be produced by the motion of the vortex filaments through the stationary aether, the magnetic force being at right angles to the filament and to its direction of motion. Electrostatic and magnetic fieldsthus A correspond
to states of motion
no
there is
bodily
in the medium, in which, however, flow; for the two kinds of filament
produce
circulation in opposite directions.
336
Models
ofthe
Aether.
It is possible that hollow vortices are better adapted than ordinary vortex-filaments for the construction of models of the the opinion of Thomson (Kelvin) aether. Such, at any rate, was
in his later years.* The analytical difficulties are of the subject formidable, and progress is consequently slow ; but among the many mechanical schemes which have been devised to represent electricaland optical phenomena, than that which
*
none
possesses greater interest

a
pictures the aether

November
30,
as
vortex-sponge.
; Kelvin's
Proc. Roy.
Irish Acad.,
1889
Math,
and
Phys.
he wrote, "must he absolutely Papers, iv, p. 202. "Rotational vortex-cores," have nothing hut irrotational revolution and vacuous discarded ; and we must
cores."
337
CHAPTEE
OF
X.
THE
FOLLOWERS
MAXWELL.
notable imperfection in the electromagnetic theory the of light,as presented in Maxwell's original memoirs, was absence of any explanation of reflexion and refraction. Before the publication of Maxwell's Treatise, however, a method of
THE
most
supplying
principles
the
on
omission
was
indicated by Helmholtz.*
The
that the explanation depends are normal component of the electricdisplacement D, the tangential of the electric force E, and the magnetic vector B components which
the
H,
are
the interface at which the reflexion takes place; the optical difference between the contiguous bodies being represented by a difference in their
or
to be
continuous
across
dielectricconstants, and the electric vector being assumed to be at right angles to the plane of The analysis polarization.-)transcription of MacCullagh's theory of required is a mere
if the reflexion,|
respect
fi curl
to
the
derivate of MacCullagh's displacement time be interpreted as the magnetic
with
force,
ment. the electricforce, and curl e as the electric displaceThe mathematical details of the solution were not given by Helmholtz himself, but were supplied a few years later in
e as
the inaugural dissertation of H. A. Lorentz." In the years immediately following the
Maxwell's
*
Treatise, a certain amount

note.
publication of of evidence in favour of
Journal fur Math. Ixxii (1870), p. 68,
t Helmholtz
media
were
(loc. pointed cit.)

to be
to
out
a
suppose the magnetic vector at right angles to the plane of would polarization in order to obtain Fresnel's sine and tangent formulae of reflexion. I Cf. pp. 148, 149, 154-156.
assumed be necessary
due
to
that if the optical difference between the difference in their magnetic permeabilities, it
" Zeitschrift fiir Math.

terugkaatsing
on
en
u.
breking
van
Phys. xxii (1877), pp. 1, 205 : Over de theorie der het licht,Arnhem, Lorentz's work was 1875. based substantially unchanged
Z
Helmholtz's
are
equations, but remains
when
Maxwell's
formulae
substituted.
338
his theory
was
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
That
an
electric field is closely concerned with the propagation of light was strated demonin 1875, when Kerr* John that dielectrics showed to powerful electrostatic force acquire the property
furnished by experiment.
subjected
of double
refraction, their optical behaviour being similar to directed along the lines that of uniaxal crystals whose axes are of force.
Other researches undertaken at this time had a more direct bearing on the questions at issue between the hypothesis of
Maxwell and the older potential theories. In 1875-6 Helmholtzf to discriminate between the and his pupil Schiller^ attempted various doctrines and formulae relative to unclosed circuits by performing It was which
a
crucial experiment. agreed in all theories that into itself so force

on
as
a no
ring-shaped
poles, can
011
magnet,
exert
no
returns
to have
ponderomotive
currents. to
other magnets Helmholtz" had, however, shown
or
closed electric
in 1873 that according
the potential-theories such a magnet would exert a force on an unclosed current. The matter was ponderomotive tested by suspending a magnetized steel ring by a long fibre
in
placed a terminal of force could be observed a when the machine was put in action so as to produce a brush discharge from the terminal : from which it was inferred that
closed metallic case, near which Holtz machine. No ponderomotive
was
the potential-theories do not correctly represent the phenomena, displacement-currents at least when and convection
as
-currents
(such that of the electricitycarried by the electricallyrepelled are not taken into account. air from the terminal) The researches of Helmholtz and Schiller brought into
prominence
*
the question
1 (1875), (4) pp.
as
to
the effects produced

;
by
the
Phil. Mag.
337, 446 ; (5) viii (1879), pp. 85, 229
xiii(1882),
pp. 153, 248.

p. 87. \ The
t Monatsberichte d. Acad. d. Berlin/1875, p. 400. Ann. d. Phys., clviii(1876), Ann. d. Phys. t pp. 456, 537 ; clx (1877), p. 333. clix (1876),
by Helmholtz in Journal fiir Math. Ixxii (1870), valuable memoirs Ixxv Ixxviii 35 to which 57 273, ; ; p. (1873), (1874), p. p. reference has already been made, contain a full discussion of the various possibilitiesof the potentialtheories.
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
339
the convection been suggested 1838,
"a
translatory motion of electric charges. That of electricity is equivalent to a current had
long before by Faraday.*
"If," he wrote
in
baU
be electrifiedpositively in the middle of a room and be then moved in any direction,effects will be produced as if a current in the same direction had existed." To decide the matter
a
inspired by Helmholtz was experiment performed by H. A. Kowlandf in 1876. The electrifiedbody in Kowland's disk of ebonite, coated with gold leaf and disposition was a capable of turning rapidly round a vertical axis between two
new
fixed plates of glass, each gilt on one side. The gilt faces of the plates could be earthed, while the ebonite disk received electricity from a point placed near its edge ; each coating of
the disk thus formed with the plate nearest to it. An astatic needle was placed above the upper condenser-plate, nearly over the edge of the disk; and when the disk was rotated found to be produced. This experiment, field was a magnetic
a
condenser
which has since been repeated under improved conditions by H. Fender ", Kowland and Hutchinson,J and Eichenwald,|| shows
produced by the rotation of a convection-current charged disk,when the other ends of the lines of force are on an earthed stationary plate parallel to it,produces the same netic magthat the ordinary conduction-current flowing in a circuit which coincides with the path of the convection-current. When disks forming a two condenser are rotated together, the
an
"
"
fieldas
of the magnetic actions of each of magnetic action is the sum the disks separately. It appears, therefore,that electriccharges cling to the matter of a conductor and move with it,so far as Rowland's
is concerned. phenomenon The first examination of the matter from the point of view by J. J. Thomson,1[ in 1881.
of Maxwell's theory was undertaken If an electrostatically charged body is in motion, the change in
*
Exper.Re*.,
" 1644.
d. Phys. clviii (1876),
: v
t Monatsberichte
p. 487
:
d. Akad. d. Berlin, 1876, p. 211 : Ann. Annales de Chim. et de Phys. xii (1877) p. 119.
H Phil. Mag. Z
2
i Phil. Mag. xxvii (1889), p. 445. d. Phys. Ann. || xi (1901), p. 1.
\Ibid, ii (1901), p. 179

xi
(1903), p.
229.
34.
(1881), p.
340
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
the location of the charge must produce a continuous alteration ; or, of the electricfield at any point in the surrounding medium in the language of Maxwell's theory, there must be displacement-
It was to these displacement-currents in the medium. in his original investigation, attributed the that Thomson, The particular system charges. magnetic effects of moving
currents
which
he considered
was
that formed
the uniform over surface during the motion, and that the electric field in any if the sphere were as at position of the sphere is the same true so long as quantities of order are rest ; these assumptions
are (V/c)2
conductor, moving uniformly in a that the distribution of electricity remains
charged It was line. straight
by
spherical
assumed
and
neglected, where v denotes the velocity of light.
the velocity of the sphere
Thomson's
currents
method
the
was
to
determine
the
displacement-
space outside the sphere from the known values of the electric field,and then to calculate the vectorpotential due to these displacement-currents by means of the
in
formula
where
S' denotes
the displacement-current
then
at
The (x'y'zf).
magnetic
field was
determined
H
=
by the equation
curl A.
pointed out by Fitz Gerald, who, in a short but most valuable note,* published a few months afterwards, observed that the displacement-currents of Thomson
A defect in this investigation was
do not satisfy the circuital condition. This is most simply seen by considering the case in which the system consists of two parallel plates forming a condenser; if one of the plates is
fixed, and the other plate is moved towards it,the electric field is annihilated in the space over which the moving plate travels :
ment-current, this destruction of electric displacement constitutes a displacewhich, considered alone, is evidently not a closed
*
Proc. Roy. Dublin Soc., November,
1881 ; Fitz Gerald's
Writings, Scientific
p. 102.
The Followers
#/
Maxwell.
341
current.
removed
as
a
The defect,as Fitz Gerald showed, may be immediately is to be counted by assuming that a moving charge itself
:
current-element displacement- currents

Making
force due to
the total current, thus composed of the and the convection-current, is circuital.
this correction, Fitz Gerald

a
found
that the magnetic
sphere
of charge
"
moving
with velocity v along
0, the axis of z is curl (0, ev/r) a formula which shows that the displacement-currents have no resultant magnetic effect,since the term would be obtained from the convection-current
ev/r
alone. The expressions obtained by Thomson and Fitz Gerald correct only to the first order of the small quantity
effect of including terms of higher order was by Oliver Heaviside,* whose solution may following manner :
"
were
v/c. The
considered in 1889 be derived in the
Suppose
that
charged
system
z
is in motion
with uniform
consists of
velocity v the displacementforce, and

the
parallel to the axis of

cur
; the total current
rent
E/4?rc2 where
denotes
convection-current pv where p volume-density of electricity. So the equation which magnetic force with electric current may be written
the electric denotes the

connects
E/c2
=
curl H
4:irpv.
Eliminating
E between
this and the equation
curl E
and remembering
H,
we that H is here circuital,
have
H/c2
-
V2H
4?r curl pv.
If, therefore, a vector-potential a be defined by the equation
a/c3
-
V2a
4?rpv,
a
the magnetic force will be the curl of for a it is evident that the components
; and from
ax
the equation
are zero,
and
ay
and
that
az
is to be determined
-
from the equation

=
az/c~ V"az
*
4npv.
324.
Phil. Mag.
xxvii
(1889), p.
342
Now,
are
The Followers
of Maxwell.
axes
let (x, y, ") denote coordinates relative to

axes
az
which
parallel to the charged bodies ; then

have
a
(a;, y, z)
,
is
move and which with the function of (x, y, ") only ; so we
5 -IT
and the preceding equation
and
*'
"Vr
seen
is readily
to be equivalent to
where
"1 denotes (1
But v'/c2)'^.
this is simply
Poisson's
equation, with " substituted for z; so the solution may be transcribed from the known solution of Poisson's equation : it is
/L"V
the integrations being
are
dx' dy
d%i'
there
taken
over
all the space in which
moving
_rrr
charges ;
or
jJJ
consists of
ev
If the moving system 5 0, this gives

=
single charge
at the point
%(1
+ (a8 where sin2 0 It is readily seen
=
tf sin8 0/c")*
'
y2)/r2.
that the lines of magnetic
are
force due to the

are
on
moving
point-charge
circles whose
centres
the line of
motion, the magnitude
of the magnetic
ev
force being
(1
sin v2/c2)
The electricforce is radial, its magnitude
being
r2(l
-
v2sin2
0/c2)f
fact that the electric vector due to a moving pointcharge is everywhere radial led Heaviside to conclude that the same solution is applicable when the charge is distributed over
The
The Followers
a
ofMaxwell.
343
perfectly conducting sphere whose centre is at the point, the only chaftge being that E and H would now vanish inside the This inference was subsequently found* to be incorrect : sphere. distribution of electric charge on a moving sphere could in fact not be in equilibrium if the electric force were radial,since be balance to there would then the mechanical force nothing is equivalent to a exerted on the moving charge (which current)
a
by the magnetic field. The moving system which gives rise to field as a moving point-charge is not a sphere, but an the same oblate spheroid whose polar axis (whichis in the direction of bears motion)
The
to its equatorial axis the ratio
(1
: !.")" tf/c*)^
energy
greater when To determine
of the field surrounding a charged sphere is the sphere is in motion than when it is at rest.
only the integrate, throughout
the additional energy quantitatively (retaining lowest significant powers of have only to we v/c),
the space outside the sphere, the expression
H2/87r, which
volume
:
represents the electrokinetic energy per unit the result is ezv~/3a, where e denotes the charge, v the
velocity, and a the radius of the sphere. It is evident from this result that the work required to be done in order to communicate a given velocity to the sphere is greater when the sphere is charged than when it is uncharged ;
that is to say, the virtual
amount
mass
of the sphere
is increased by
an
2e2/3a, owing
as
to the presence of the charge.
This may
arising from the self-induction of the convectionIt the charge is set in motion. current which is formed when was and by W. Wien" that the inertia suggested by J. LarmorJ may ultimately prove to be of of ordinary ponderable matter
be regarded this nature, the atoms
"
being constituted of systems of electrons. ||
By G. F. C. Searle.
t Cf. Searle, Phil. Trans, clxxxvii (1896), p. 675, and Phil. Ma?. xliv (1897), On the theory of the moving sphere, cf. also J. J. Thomson, electrified p. 329.
in Elect, and Mag., p. 16; 0. Heaviside, Electrical Papers, ii, B. Morton, Phil. Mag, xli (1896), Electromag. 514; Theory, i, p. 269; W. p. p. 1. p. 488 ; A. Schuster, Phil. Mag. xliii(1897), Recent Researches
+
Phil. Trans, clxxxvi

afterwards
Experimental ||
was
v (1900), " Arch. Neerl (3) p. 96. is inertia of electrons purely electromagnetic evidence that the Gott. Nach., 1901, p. 143 ; 1902, p 291. furnished hy W. Kaufmann,
(1895), p. 697.
344
The Followers
of
Maxwell.
It may, however, be remarked that this view of th""rigin of is not altogether consistent with the principle^that the mass electron is an indivisibleentity. For the so-called self-induction
of the spherical electron is really the mutual induction of the convection-currents produced by the elements of electric charge
its surface ; and the calculation of this quantity presupposes the divisibility of the total charge into elements capable of acting severally in all respects as ordinary which
are
distributed
over
electric charges ;
property which appears scarcely consistent nature of the electron. with the supposed fundamental After the firstattempt of J. J. Thomson to determine the
fieldproduced by a moving electrified sphere, the mathematical development The theory proceeded of Maxwell's rapidly. functions problems which admit of solution in terms of known
are
naturally those in which the conducting surfaces involved have simple geometrical forms planes, spheres, and cylinders.* A result which was Lamb,f when obtained by Horace
"
spherical conductor, led found that if a spherical conductor is placed in a rapidly alternating field,the induced currents are almost entirely confined to a superficial layer ; and his result was shortly afterwards generalized by Oliver Heavia
investigating electrical motions in Lamb to interesting consequences.
be the form of a conductor that whatever stance. rapidly alternating currents do not penetrate far into its subfor this may be readily understood : it is " The reason who side,| showed that a perfect conductor virtually an application of the principle|| is impenetrable to magnetic lines of force. No perfect conductor is known to exist ; butU if the alternations of magnetic force to which
*
good
conductor
such
as
copper
is exposed
are
very
Cf., e.g., C. Niven, Phil. Trans, clxxii (1881), p. 307 ; H. Lamb, Phil. Trans, Thomson, 519 Proc. J. J. Lond. Math. Soc. xv (1884), ; (1883), p. clxxiv p. 197 : H. A. Rowland,
Phil. Mag. Soc. xvii (1886), p. 310; Heaviside, collected in his Electrical Papers.
t Loc. cit.
Proc. Lond. Math. p. 413 ; J. J. Thomson, xvii (1884), investigations of Oliver p. 520; and many xix (1888),
% Electrician,
Jan. 1885.
" The mathematical theory was given hy Lord Rayleigh, Phil. Mag. xxi. (18S6), Cf. Maxwell's Treatise, " 689. ||Cf. p. 313. p. 381. H As was firstremarked by Lord Rayleigh, Phil. Mag. p. 344. xiii (1882),
The Followers
rapid, the. conductor
of
Maxwell.
345
has not time (so to speak) to display field the impSfection of its conductivity, and the magnetic is therefore unable to extend far below the surface. be reached by different reasoning.* When the alternations of the current are very rapid, the ohmic to play a dominant part, and the ordinary resistance ceases equations connecting electromotive force, induction, and current The
same
conclusion may
equivalent to the conditions that the currents shall be so distributed as to make the electrokinetic or magnetic energy a Consider now the case minimum. of a single straight wire of circular cross-section. The magnetic energy in the space outside
are
whatever be the distribution of current in long as itis symmetrical about the the cross-section (so centre), it is flowing if as the same the current were since along the
the wire is the
same
central axis ;
the condition is that the magnetic energy in the wire shall be a minimum ; and this is obviously satisfied when the current is concentrated in the superficial layer, since
so
then the magnetic force is zero in the substance of the wire. In spite of the advances which were effected by Maxwell
his earliest followers in the theory of electric oscillations, the gulf between the classical electrodynamics and the theory
and
of light
was
not yet completely
bridged.
For
in all the
cases
considered in the former science, energy is merely exchanged between one body and another, remaining within the limits of a given system ; while in optics the energy travels freely through
space, unattached
a
complete by Fitz Gerald, who argued that if the unification which had been indicated by Maxwell is valid, it ought to be possible to generate radiant energy by purely electrical means; and in described methods by which this could be done. Fitz Gerald's system is what has since become known as the magnetic oscillator : it consists of a small circuit,in which
*
more
The firstdiscovery of material body. connexion between the two theories was made
to any
1883fhe
Of. J. Stefan, Wiener,
Situungsber. xcix
(1890), p.
319 ; Ann.
d. Phys. xli
(1890), p. 400.
t Trans. Roy. Dublin Soc. iii (1883) ; Fitz Gerald's Scient. Writings, p. 122.
346
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
the strength of the current is varied according to the simple periodic law. The circuit will be supposed to be ft circle of small area S, whose centre is the origin and whose plane is the
will be supposed plane of xy ; and the surrounding medium to be free aether. The current may be taken to be of strength A cos (2ni?/jF), so that the moment of the equivalent magnet is SA cos (2irt/T). in the older electrodynamics, the Now
moment vector-potential due to a magnetic molecule of (vector) M at the origin is (l/47r) curl (M/r), where r denotes distance
from
the
magnetic denotes
vector-potential due to Fitz Gerald's oscillatorwould therefore be (l/47r) curl K, where K
origin. The
parallel to the axis of z, and of magnitude SA cos (2-n-t/ T). The change which is involved in replacing (1/r) by those of the assumptions of the older electrodynamics
a
vector
equivalent* to retarding the potential ; so that the vector-potential a due to the oscillator is (l/47r) curl K where K is stilldirected parallel to the axis of z, and is of magnitude
case
Maxwell's
theory is in the present
SA
K
=
"
27T/
cos
"
r
"
[t
a, and the electric force E at any point of space is be magnetic force H is curl a : so that these quantities may calculated without difficulty. The electric energy per unit : volume is E2/8?rc2 performing the calculations, it is found that
The
the
value
of this quantity also averaged
averaged
over
over
period
a
of the
oscillation and radius r is
the surface of
sphere of
is radiated is evidently that which is proportional to the inverse square of the distance,! so the part of this which
Cf. pp. 298, 299. is neglected, is very small compared tThe to the term other term, which from it is be distances the retained, at great origin ; obtained if the what would effects of induction of the displacement-currents were neglected : i.e. it is the of the forced displacement-currents which are produced directly by the variation of the primary current, and which originate the radiating displacementenergy
currents.
*
The
The Followers
of Maxwell.
347
average value of the radiant energy of electric type at distance The r from the oscillator is 2iTzA*S2/3c*riT* per unit volume. radiant energy of magnetic type ma}' be calculated in a similar way, and is found to have the same value ; so the total radiant per unit volume; energy at distance r is 47r3^42/S^/3cVT4
and therefore the energy radiated in unit time is 16ir4tA'iS2/3cs is very high ; so that This is small, unless the frequency ordinary alternating currents Fitz Gerald, however,
method
would give in the same
no
tion. appreciable radiayear* indicated a

currents
by
which
sufficiently high employ

a
difficulty of frequency might be

the
obtaining
overcome: are
of
to
this
was,
the
condenser The Fitz Gerald
alternating currents is discharged.
which
produced
when
radiator constructed
closely akin to the radiator afterwards by Hertz : the only difference is that in Fitz Gerald's success
this principle is developed with such

on
arrangement
the
condenser
is used
merely
as
the
store
of
energy (its plates being so close together that the electrostatic field due to the charges is practically confined to the space between them),and the actual source of radiation is the field due to the circular loop of wire: alternating magnetic
while in Hertz's
arrangement
the
loop
of wire
is abolished,
distance apart, and the source the condenser plates are at some of radiation is the alternating electrostatic field due to their
charges. In the study of electricalradiation, valuable help is afforded by a general theorem on the transfer of energy in the electromagnetic
field, which We have Poynting.-)currents
was seen
an
discovered in 1884
by John
Henry
recognized that
of energy
that the older writers on electric electric current is associated with

one
the transport
which
from
place
the (e.g.
voltaic cell
to another (e.g. an maintains the current) electromotor which is worked by the current) ; but they supposed the energy to be conveyed by the current itself within the wire, in much
Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1883 ; FitzGerald's tPhil. Trans, clxxv (1884), p. 343.
*
Writings, p. Scientific
129.
348
the in
same
a
The Followers
as
of
Maxwell.
way
dynamical
whereas vehicle of energy is the dielectricmedium surrounding the wire. What Poynting achieved was to show that the flux of energy at any place might be expressed by a simple formula in terms of the electricand magnetic forces at the place. Denoting as usual by E the electric force,by D the electric displacement, by H the magnetic force, and by B the magnetic
pipe;
energy is carried by water flowing in Maxwell's theory, the storehouse and
induction, the energy stored in unit volume

l
of the medium
is*
ED
BH (1/8*)
so
in isotropic media the increase of this in unit time is (since D is proportional to E, and B is proportional to H)
ED
+
HB (1/4*)
or
(S
HB, i)+ (1/4*)

current,
where
denotes
or
conduction ;
of and i the current (invirtue of the fundamental electromagnetic
the
total
equations)
-
(E curl H) (E i)4. (1/4*)

.
.
(H (1/4*)
curl
E},
or
div [E H]. (E i) (1/4*)

-
Now
(E i) is
.
the amount
of electric energy
transformed
into
heat per unit volume per second; and therefore the quantity div [E H] must represent the deposit of energy in unit (1/4*) volume per second due to the streaming of energy; which
-
flux of energy is represented by the vector (1/4*) [E.HJ.f This is Poynting's theorem: that the flux shows that the energy at any place is represented by the vector-product divided by 4*.* electric and magnetic forces,
*
of
of the
Cf. pp. 248, 250, 282.

course
any circuitalvector may be added. II.M. Macdonald, Electric Waves, a form p. 72, propounded which differsfrom Poynting's by a non-circuital vector. Poynting's The in the theory of the vibrations of an theorem J of analogue isotropic elasticsolid may be easily obtained ; for from the equation of motion of
an
t Of
elastic solid,
p"
it follows that
"
(k + 4"/3) gnid div
"
curl curl
e,
+ tot* + i (* + $")(dive)"
in
(curl e)'}
=
div W,
The Followers
In the special wire carrying
are
a
ofMaxwell.
349
of the field which surrounds a straight continuous current, the lines of magnetic force
case
circles round the axis of the wire, while the lines of electric force are directed along the wire ; hence energy must be flowing
in the
wire.
as
in a direction at right angles to the axis of the medium A current in any conductor may therefore be regarded
a
consisting essentially of energy from the medium
convergence of electricand magnetic transupon the conductor, and its formation
there into other forms. This association of a current with motions at right angles to the wire in which it flows doubtless suggested to Poynting the conceptions of a memoir which he published* in the following electric current flowing in a straight wire is gradually increased in strength from zero, the surrounding space becomes filledwith lines of magnetic force, which have the form year. When
an
of circles round the axis of the wire. Poynting, adopting Faraday's idea of the physical reality of lines of force, assumed that these lines of force arrive at their places by moving outwards from the wire ; so that the magnetic fieldgrows by a continual
the wire of lines of force, which enlarge and spread out like the circular ripples from the place where a. The electromotive force which isstone is dropped into a pond.
emission
from
now associated with a changing magnetic field was attributed lines force, directly to the motion of the so that wherever of electromotive force is produced by change in the magnetic field,,
or
by motion
of matter
through
is equal to the number by unit length in unit time. introduced A similar conception was electric force.
where W
denotes
the field, the electric intensity of tubes of magnetic force intersected in regard
to lines of
It
was
assumed
that any change
in the total
the vector
-
div (k+ 4w/3)
e [curl e];
.
and
since the expression which is differentiated with respect to t represents the sum of the kinetic and potential energies per unit volume of the solid (savefor it is seen that W is the analogue of the terms which give only surface-integrals),
Poynting
*
vector.
Cf. L. Donati, Bologna
Mem.
(5)vii (1899), p.
633.
Phil. Trans, clxxvi
(1885), p. 277.
350
The Followers
curve
of
Maxwell.
electric induction through a tubes of force in or out across magnetomotive by motion or
is caused by the passage of the boundary ; so that whenever
force is produced of matter
by change in the electric field, through the field, the magnetomotive
force is proportional to the number of tubes of electric force intersected by unit length in unit time.
Poynting,
flows in
the wire
a
that when a steady current C assumed straight wire, C tubes of electric force close in upon in unit time, and are there dissolved, their energy
moreover, as
of each the amount of energy brought to the wire is \CE per unit length per unit time. This is, however, only half the energy actually transformed into heat in the wire : so Poynting further
appearing force, the
heat.
If E
denote
energy
the magnitude of the electric tube per unit length is \E, so
in per unit assumed that E tubes of magnetic force also move length per unit time, and finally disappear by contraction to infinitelysmall rings. This motion accounts for the existence is a closed of-the electric field; and since each tube (which contains
accounts
ring)
energy of amount for the remaining
the disappearance J(7,
\GE
units of energy
of the tubes dissipated in
the wire.
theory of moving tubes of force has been extensively Of the two kinds of tubes developed by Sir Joseph Thomson.* The magnetic and electric which had been introduced by Faraday resolved to discard the former and used by Poynting, Thomson distinct departure a only the latter. This was and employ
"
"
from
Faraday's
conceptions, in which,
as
we
have
seen,
great
significancewas attached to the physical reality of the magnetic his choice by inferences drawn lines ; but Thomson justified from the phenomena of electricconduction in liquids and gases.
indicate that subsequently, these phenomena static molecular structure is closely connected with tubes of electromore force perhaps much closely than with tubes of
As
will appear
"
magnetic
*
force ; and
Thomson
therefore
Thomson's
decided
to
regard
Phil. Mag.
Mag.
p. 149; xxxi (1891), (1893), chapter i.
Recent Researches in Elect, and
The Followers
of
Maxwell.
351
as the secondary effect, and to ascribe magnetic magnetism fields,not to the presence of magnetic tubes, but to the motion of electric tubes. In order to account for the fact that magnetic
any manifestation of electric force, he everywhere in space, assumed that tubes exist in great numbers either in the form of closed circuitsor else terminating on atoms, have a and that electricforce is only perceived when the tubes in another. In a greater tendency to lie in one direction than
fieldsmay
occur
without
steady magnetic field the positive and negative tubes might be in opposite directions with equal to be moving conceived
velocities. A beam of light might, from this point of view, be regarded simply as a group of tubes of force which are moving with the length. Such a velocity of light at right angles to their own
to the corpuscular to a return conception almost amounts definite directions pertheory ; but since the tubes have pendicul
to the direction of propagation,
there
would
now
be
no
difficulty in explaining
polarization.
all electricand magnetic mena phenoaccompanying to be ultimately kinetic energy was supposed by Thomson of the aether ; the electricpart of it being represented by rotation of the aether inside and about the tubes, and the magnetic part being the energy of the additional disturbance set up in the aether by the movement of the tubes. The inertia of this latter motion he regarded as the cause of induced electromotive
The energy
force.
There
was,
however,
one
phenomenon
of the electromagnetic
"
of these conceptions namely, is exerted by the field on a Now conductor carrying an electric current. any ponderomotive force consists in a transfer of mechanical momentum from the agent which the force to the body which exerts that the ponderoexperiences it ; and it occurred to Thomson motive forces of the electromagnetic fieldmight be explained if the moving tubes of force, which enter a conductor carrying a
current
field as yet unexplained in terms force which the ponderomotive
and
are
there dissolved,
were
supposed
to
possess
352
The Followers
momentum,
of Maxwell.
could be
mechanical
which
yielded
up
to
the
It is readily seen that such momentum be must conductor. directed at right angles to the tube and to the magnetic induction a result which suggests that the momentum stored in unit volume of the aether may be proportional to the vector"
product of the electricand magnetic For this reasons of a conjecture
vectors.
more
given.*
on
We
have already
seenf
definite kind may be forces that the ponderomotive
material bodies in the electromagnetic fieldmay be accounted for by Maxwell's supposition that across any plane in the aether whose unit normal is N, there is a stress represented by
PN
=
(D N)
.
J (D
.E)N
(B H)H (l/47r)
.
(I/Sir) (B.H) N.
So long
as
the fieldis steady
(i.e. electrostatic or magnetostatic)
the resultant of the stresses acting on any element of volume of the aether is zero, so that the element is in equilibrium. But longer the case. The the field is variable, this is no when
resultant stress
on
the aether contained within
surface S is
JJPN
integrated
over
dS this into div D

.
the surface
transforming
a
integral, the term
(D N)
.
E gives
term
volume(D V) E,
.
; and the d/dy, d/dz) where V denotes the vector operator (9/9a?, first of these terms vanishes, since D is a circuital vector; the term J (D E)N gives in the volume-integral a term
-
J grad (D E) ;
.
give similar results. and the magnetic terms So the resultant force on unit- volume of the aether is
(D V) E
.
(B V) E J grad (D E) + (l/4ir)
.
(I grad (B H), /Sir)

.
which
may
be written
H E [curl [curl D] + (l/47r)
.
B] ;
that the aether is a storehouse of mechanical momentum, in Elect, by Thomson Researches first J. was (Recent and Mag. advanced which ,T. Neerl. by H. Poincare, v developed Archives (2) (1893), afterwards p. 13),was Gott, Nach., 1902, p. 20. (1900), p. 252, and by M. Abraham,
*
The
hypothesis
tCf. p. 302.
The Followers
or,
ofMaxwell.
equations for dielectrics,
353
by virtue of the fundamental
[-B D] + [D B]
. .
or
(a/ft) [D B].
.
to adopt one of three alternatives: either to modify the theory so as to reduce to zero the resultant
us
This result compels
element of free aether ; this expedient has not met that the force in question with general favour ;* or to assume sets the aether in motion: this alternative was chosen by but is inconsistent with the theory of the aether Helmholtz,f force
on an
which was generally received in the closing years of the century; or lastly, with Thomson^ to accept the principle that the aether
is itselfthe vehicle of mechanical momentum, per unit volume. Maxwell's theory
of amount
[D B]
.
being developed in ways which could scarcely have been anticipated by itsauthor. But although tions every year added something to the superstructure, the foundahad laid them ; the doubtful as Maxwell remained much
was now
the introduction argument by which he had sought to justify of displacement- currents was all that was still offered in their defence. In 1884, however, the theory was on a established"
different basis
by
pupil
of
Helmholtz',
Heinrich
Hertz
1857, (b.
d.
1894).
The train of Hertz' ideas resembles that by which Ampere, hearing of Oersted's discovery of the magnetic fieldproduced on by electriccurrents, inferred that electric currents should exert forces on each other. Ampere ponderomotive argued that a current, being competent to originate a magnetic field, must be equivalent to a magnet in other respects ; and therefore that
currents, like magnets, should exhibit forces of mutual
attraction
and repulsion.
*
It was,
however, adopted by G. T. "Walker, Aberration and the Electromagnetic

Ann. d. Phys. liii(1894), p. 135. frictionless incompressible fluid.
Field, Camb., 1900.
t Berlin Sitzungsberichte, 1893, p. 649;

Helmholtz
+
supposed
the aether to behave
as
Loc. cit. p. 84: English version in Hertz's Miscellaneous " Ann. d. Phys. xxiii (1884), E. by Jones D. Papers, translated and G. A. Schott, p. 273.
2 A
354
Ampere's
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
reasoning rests on the assumption that the netic magfield produced by a current is in all respects of the same nature as that produced by a magnet ; in other words, that only land of magnetic force exists. This principle of the unity one
"
assertproposed to supplement by ing of magnetic force" Hertz now that the electric force generated by a changing magnetic fieldis identical in nature with the electric force due to electrostatic he called the "unity of charges; this second principle
electricforce." Suppose, then, that a system of electric currents According to the older i exists in otherwise space. empty theory, these currents give rise to a vector-potential a, equal to Pot i ;* and the magnetic force Ht is the curl of at : while the electric force E! at any point in the field,produced by the
,
ai. variation of the currents, is It is now assumed that the electric force indistinguishable from the electric force which
"
so
produced is would be set
up
by electrostatic charges, and

currents exerts
varying
therefore that the system of forces on electrostatic ponderomobive
charges ; the principle of action and reaction then requires that forces on a electrostatic charges should exert ponderomotive system of varying currents,
and
consequently
(again appealing
systems
to the principle of the unity of electric force) that two
of varying currents should exert on each other ponderomotive forces due to the variations. But justas Helmholtz,f by aid of the principle of conservation of energy, deduced the existence of an electromotive force of induction from the existence of the ponderomotive
forces between
so
electric currents
(Le. variable
from the existence of ponderomotive
electric systems), forces between variable
we may variable magnetic systems) systems of currents (i.e. infer that variations in the rate of change of a variable magnetic system give rise to induced magnetic forces in the surrounding
space.
The
analytical formulae
which
determine
these forces
Pot /3 is used to denote the solution of the equation
V'a + 47r"
0.
fCf. p. 243.
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
355
kind as in the electric case ; so that the will be of the same induced magnetic force H' is given by an equation of the form
where
denotes
some
constant,
and
bi, which
is analogous to
the vector-potential in the electric case, is a circuital vector whose curl is the electric force E! of the variable magnetic The value of bi is therefore (l/47r) curl Pot Et : so system.
we
have
H'
=
-
J-.
47TC" (jt~
|,
curl Pot
a,
This must
see
be added to Hi. Writing that H2 is the curl of a2, where
H2 for the
sum,
Hi
H',
we
a2. and the electric force E2 will then be This system is not, however, final; for we
-
must
now
perform
the process again with these improved values of the electric and magnetic forces and the vector-potential ; and so we obtain for the magnetic force the value curl a3, and for the electric force the value a3, where
-
1
=
r)z
-
1
ax
^*
-"
ax
Pot 4rrc2 fit*
"
"
Pot Pot
This process must again be repeated indefinitely; so finally we obtain for the magnetic force H the value curl a, and for the a, where electric force E the value
-
"}*"
-
Pot Pot Pot
a! +
(47TC2)3
2A2
356
It is evident equation
The Followers
that the quantity
of
a
Maxwell.
thus
defined satisfies the
or
v*a
-"
47ri.
c2
dt'
This equation may
be written
while the equations
curl
a,
E
=
-
give
curl E These
are,
H.
however,
the fundamental
interesting will That it is conclusive may readily be admitted. scarcely be tion claimed : for the argument of Helmholtz regarding the inducof currents is not altogether satisfactory; and Hertz, in following his master, is on no surer ground.
and In the
course
theory in the form given in his memoir That Hertz's deduction is ingenious
equations of 1868,*
of Maxwell's
of
on the discussion^
the contradiction between principles of the unity of electric and of magnetic force and Consider an electrostatically the electrodynamics of Weber. charged hollow sphere, in the interior of which is a wire
followed the assumptions, which E. AulingerJ brought to light a
validity of Hertz's publication of his paper,
According to Weber's theory, carrying a variable current. the sphere would exert a turning couple on the wire; but action would be exerted, according to Hertz's principles, no difference to either the no since charging the sphere makes electric or the magnetic force in its interior. The experiment
suggested would be a crucial test of the correctness of Weber's theory ; it has the advantage of requiring nothing but closed currents and electrostatic charges at rest ; but
thus the quantities to be observed would be
on
the
limits of
observational accuracy.
"Cf. p. 287. f Lorberg, Ann. Boltzmann,
ibid, xxix d.
Phys.
xxvii
(1886), p.
+
(1886), p. 598.
Ann.
666; p. 131. xxxi (1887), d. Phys. xxvii (1886), p. 119.
The Followers
After
ofMaxwell.
357
his attempt to justify the Maxwellian equations on theoreticalgrounds, Hertz turned his attention to the possibility His interest in the of verifying them by direct experiment. firstbeen aroused Berlin Academy proposed as
matter
had
some
a
years previously, when the prize subject To establish

"
relation between electromagnetic actions and the polarization of dielectrics." Helmholtz suggested to Hertz that he should attempt the solution ; but at the time he saw experimentally
a
no
of bringing phenomena of this kind within the limits of observation. From this time forward, however, the idea of electric
way oscillations was
continually present to his mind ; and in the spring of 1886 he noticed an effect* which formed the startingan point of his later researches. When open circuitwas formed
of
a
of so that the ends of the wire were separated only by connected by gap, and when this open circuit was any point of a circuit through which induction-coil was taking place, it
piece of copper wire, bent into the form
rectangle,
short airwire with
a a
an the spark -discharge of found that a spark was
explained passed in the air-gap of the open circuit. This was by supposing that the change of potential, which is propagated along the connecting wire from the induction-coil,reaches one
end of the open circuit before it reaches the other, so that a therefore spark passes between them; and the phenomenon was regarded as indicating a finitevelocity of propagation of
electric potential along wires.!
Ann. d. Phys. xxxi (1887), Hertz's Electric Waves, translated by p. 421. D. E. Jones, p. 29. to Hertz, the transmission of electric waves t Unknown along wires had been i (1870), Bezold, Miinchen Sitzungsbericlite, Wilhelm in by von 1870 observed
"* If," he wrote at the conclusion of a series p. 42. p. 113 ; Phil. Mag. xl (1870), be sent into a wire insulated at the end, they of experiments, "electrical waves The be this process in phenomena will which accompany reflected at that end. their origin to the interference of the alternating discharges appear to owe
advancing
"atne
"an and, electric discharge travels with the reflected waves," rapidity in wires of equal length, without reference to the materials of
and
which these wires The was
are
made."
subject
as
investigated by 0. J. Lodge
and A. P. Chattock at almost the

was
being carried out: mention Hertz's experiments were British Association in 1888. their researches at the meeting of the
same
time
made
of
358
Continuing
The Followers of Maxwell.
his experiments, Hertz* found that a spark when it could be induced in the open or secondary circuit even was not in metallic connexion with the primary circuitin which
preted the electricoscillations were generated; and he rightly interby showing that the secondary circuit the phenomenon was of such dimensions as to make the free period of electric oscillationsin it nearly equal to the period of the oscillations in the primary circuit ; the disturbance which passed from one circuit to the other by induction would consequently be greatly intensifiedin the secondary circuit by resonance.
The discovery that sparks may be produced in the air-gap provided it has the dimensions proper of a secondary circuit, for resonance, was of great importance : for it supplied a method
effectsin air at a distance from the primary of detecting electrical disturbance ; a suitable detector was in fact all that was needed in order to observe the propagation of electric waves in free
theory. To space, and thereby decisively test the Maxwellian this work Hertz now addressed himself.f The radiator or primary source of the disturbances studied by Hertz
same
may
be constructed
of two
sheets of metal
in the
plane, each sheet carrying a stiff wire which projects towards the other sheet and terminates in a knob ; the sheets to be excited by connecting them are to the terminals of an
induction coil. The sheets may be regarded as the two coatings of a modified Leyden jar, with air as the dielectric between
them
; the electric fieldis extended
narrow
of being confined to the in the ordinary Leyden the system shall lose
a
throughout the air,instead space between the coatings, as

a
jar. Such
disposition
ensures
that
large part of its energy
by radiation
at each oscillation.
*
Loc. cit. t Sir Oliver Lodge was in air in connexion

Phil. Mag.
about this time independently studying electricoscillations with the theory of lightning-conductors : cf. Lodge,
So long before as 1842, Joseph Henry, of p. 217. xxvi (1888), had noticed that the inductive effects of the Leyden jar discharge could be observed at considerable distances, and had even suggested a comparison " a spark from flint light." in case with the of and steel
Washington,
The Followers
As
in the
of
Maxwell.
from
359
one
jar discharge,*
the electricity surges
where sheet to the other, with a period proportional to (CL)l, 0 denotes the electrostatic capacity of the system formed by the two sheets, and L denotes the self-induction of the
as capacity and induction should be made the period small. The small as possible in order to make detector used by Hertz was that already described, namely, bent into an incompletely closed curve, a wire and of such
connexion.
The
dimensions
as
that its free period
of oscillation
resonance
was
the might
same
that of the primary
so that oscillation,
take
place. Towards induced Hertz

a
noticedf
the end of the year 1887, when studying the sparks in the resonating circuit by the primary disturbance, distinctly modified that the phenomena were
brought large mass insulating substance was of an when into the neighbourhood of the apparatus ; thus confirming the duced principle that the changing electric polarization which is proalternating electric force acts on a dielectric is capable of displaying electromagnetic effects. to Early in the following year (1888)Hertz determined
when
an
verify Maxwell's
actions For
theory
are
directly by
showing
that
magnetic electro-
propagated
this purpose
he
in air with a finite velocity .{ transmitted the disturbance from the
oscillatorby two different paths, viz.,through the air and along a wire ; and having exposed the detector to the joint influence of the two partial disturbances, he observed interference primary
between
them.
velocity of electricwaves by wires ; and the latter velocity he determined the distance between the nodes of stationary waves
and
In this way he found the ratio of the in air to their velocity when conducted
by observing in the wire,
calculating the period
velocity of propagation
of the primary oscillation. The in of electric disturbances in air was
Cf. p. 253.
d. Phys. xxxiv, p. 373. Electric Waves (English p. 95. edition), d. Phys. xxxiv (1888), Electric Waves (English p. 107. p. 551. edition)
t Ann.
J Ann.
360
this way
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
order as the shown to be finite and of the same velocity of light.* in air are Later in 1888 Hertzf showed that electric waves may thus reflected at the surface of a wall ; stationary waves
be produced, and interference may be obtained between in the same direction. and reflected beams travelling
The
direct
theoretical analysis of the disturbance emitted by a Hertzian radiator according to Maxwell's theory was given by
Hertz in the following

The
year.J
are
effects of the radiator
chiefly determined
by
the
free electric charges which, alternately appearing at the two sides,generate an electricfieldby their presence and a magnetic
field by their motion.
In each oscillation,as the charges on the poles of the radiator increase from zero, lines of electric force, having their ends on these poles, move outwards into the charges on the poles attain to issue outwards, and the their greatest values, the lines cease existing lines begin to retreat inwards towards the poles; but space. When
the surrounding
the outer lines of force contract in such a way that their upper distance from the and lower parts touch each other at some
portion of each of these lines thus radiator, and the remoter takes the form of a loop ; and when the rest of the line of force retreats inwards towards the radiator, this loop becomes
detached
way
move
*
and
is propagated
a
outwards
as
radiation.
In
this
the radiator emits

grow thinner and
series of whirl-rings, which as they wider; at a distance, the disturbance
Hertz's experiments gave

1010
cms.
electricwaves
2
x
found
to be
the value 45/28 for the ratio of the velocity of in air to the velocity of electric waves conducted by the wires, and per sec. for the latter velocity. These numbers were afterwards Poincare (Comptes Rendus, cxi (1890), open to p. 322)
objection:
showed that the period calculated by Hertz was V2 x the true period, which would make the velocity of propagation in air equal to that of light x v'2. Ernst Lecher (Wiener Berichte, May 8, 1890; Phil. Mag. xxx (1890), p. 128), experimenting
on
of electric vibrations in wires, found instead of value within two per cent, of the velocity of De La L. Rive light. E. Sarasin and des Sc. Phys. xxix (1893)) at Geneva (Archives finally proved that the velocitiesof propagation in air and along wires are equal.
the velocity of propagation Hertz's 2 x 1010 cms. per sec.,
a
t Ann. d. Phys. xxxiv (1888), p. 610.
Electric Waves
J Ibid., xxxvi (1889), p.
1.
Electric Waves
(English p. 124. edition), (English p. 137. edition),
The Followers
is approximately
a
ofMaxwell.
361
the opposite sides of the ring When one of these representing the two phases of the wave. tained rings has become detached from the radiator, the energy con-
plane
wave,
may subsequently be regarded as with it. To discuss the problem analytically*
travelling outwards
we
take the axis of
the radiator as axis of z, and the centre of the spark-gap as origin. The fieldmay be regarded as due to an electric doublet formed of a positive and an equal negative charge, displaced
from
moment
each
other
along
the
axis
of the
vibrator, and
of
Ae~p^
sin
(2irct/\),
the factor e~p^ being inserted to represent the damping. The simplest method of proceeding, which was suggested by Fitz Gerald,f is to form the retarded potentials "" and a of L. Lorenz.J These are determined in terms of the charges and
their velocitiesby the equations
I.
whence where
a"^, o.-s^,
that in the present
a
=
it is readily shown
case
4"
F
dF/dz,
,
0, (0,
.
Ae'KC-'P
=
2;r
"
sin
T
A*
(ct r).
-
The
electric and
E
magnetic
=
forces
are
then
H
determined
by the
equations
c2
grad
""
a,
curl
a.
It is found
that the electric force may be regarded as compounded of a force ""2, parallel to the axis of the vibrator and depending at any instant only on the distance from the vibrator, together with
*
force fa sin 0 acting in the meridian
plane
Cf. Karl Pearson and A. Lee, Phil. Trans, cxciii(1899), p. 165. Brit. Assoc. Rep., Leeds (1890), 755. p.
J Cf. p. 298. The use of retarded potentials was also recommended following year by Poincare, Comptes Rendus, p. 515. cxiii(1891),
in the
362
The Followers
of
Maxwell.
perpendicular to the radius from the centre, where $1 depends at the distance from the vibrator, and 0 any instant only on
denotes the angle which the radius makes with the axis of the oscillator. At points on the axis, and in the equatorial plane, the electric force is parallel to the axis. At a great distance from the oscillator, is 02 is small compared with 0,,so the wave force is directed along circles whose centres are on the axis of the radiator ; and itsmagnitude be represented in the form 03 sin 9, where 03 depends may is only on r and t ; at great distances from the radiator, c""3
purely transverse.
The
magnetic
approximately equal to 0,. If the activity of the oscillatorbe supposed to be continually maintained, so that there is no damping, we may replace p{ by zero, and may proceed as in the case of the magnetic oscillator*
to determine
outward of energy radiated. The mean flow of energy per unit time is found to be Jc3^2 (27T/X)4; from which it is seen that the rate of loss of energy by radiation
the amount
increases greatly as the wave-length decreases. The action of an electrical vibrator may be studied by the aid of mechanical models. In one of these, devised by Larmor,f
the aether is represented by

which
are
an
incompressible
elastic solid,in
cavities,corresponding to the conductors of the vibrator, filled with incompressible fluid of negligible inertia. The electric force is represented by the displacement of the here considered, are solid. For such rapid alternations as
two
and the perfect conductors; tangential components of electric force at their surfaces' are This condition may be satisfiedin the model by supposzero. ing the lining of each cavity to be of flexible sheet-metal, so as metallic
poles
as
the
behave
to be incapable of tangential displacement
; the normal
ment displace-
of the lining then
corresponds
to the surface-density of
electriccharge on the conductor. In order to obtain oscillationsin the solid resembling of

an
those
electric vibrator,
*
we
may
suppose
that the two
cavities
Cf. p. 346. 7 Proc. Camb.
Phil. Soc. vii (1891), p. 165.
The Followers
have the form
of Maxwell.
36li
of semicircular tubes forming the two halves tube is enlarged at each of of a complete circle. Each its ends, so as to present a front of considerable area to the corresponding front at the end of the other tube. Thus at each diameter of the circle there is a pair of opposing end of one fronts, which are separated from each other by a thin sheet of the elastic solid. The disturbance may be originated by forcing an excess of liquid into one of the enlarged ends of one of the cavities. This involves displacing the thin sheet of elastic solid, which
separates it from
thus causing a end behind this front. and
the opposing front of the other cavity, and corresponding deficiency of liquid in the enlarged liquid will then surge backwards its enlarged ends ; and, cavity between The
forwards
in each
to the elastic solid,vibrations the motion being communicated will be generated resembling those which are produced in the aether by a Hertzian oscillator.
In the latter part of the year 1888
the researches of Hertz*
yielded
waves
complete to light. It was oscillator which

was
more
evidence
shown
was
of the similarity of electric
from
a
an
that the part of the radiation transmitted through an opening in
straight line,with diffractioneffects. Of the other properties of light, polarization existed in the in which it original radiation, as was evident from the manner was produced ; and polarization in other directions was obtained
screen
propagated
in
by passing the the component

absorbed,
was
so
grating of parallelmetallic wires ; of the electric force parallel to the wires was that in the transmitted beam the electric vibration
waves
a
through
at right angles to the wires. This effectobviously resembled
the polarization of ordinary light by a plate of tourmaline. Refraction was by passing the radiation through obtained prisms of hard pitch.j*
Ann.
d. Phys.xxxvi
(1889), p.
769; Electric Waves
p. (Englished.),
172.
I
might xxvii
0. J. Lodge
and J. L. Ho ward in the same be refracted and concentrated hy means

48.
year showed that electricradiation of large lenses. Cf. Phil. Mag.
(1889), p.
364
The
The Followers
as
ofMaxwell.
the light-vector is in, or
at
old question
to whether
presented itself right angles to, the plane of polarization* now in a new aspect. The wave-front of an electric wave contains
two vectors, the electricand magnetic, which
are
at right angles
to each other.
Which
The
answer on
was
of these is in the plane of polarization ? furnished by Fitz Gerald and Trouton,f who
waves
found
no
reflectingHertzian
was
from
wall of masonry
that
reflexion
vibrator was is that the magnetic electric wave,
the obtained at the polarizing angle when in the plane of reflexion. The inference from this
and
is in the plane of polarization of the the electric vector is at right angles to the
vector
followed in plane of polarization. An interesting development 1890, when 0. Wiener^succeeded in photographing stationary waves were of light. The stationary waves obtained by the composition beam, and of
were
a
beam
incident
on on
a
a
photographed
mirror with the reflected thin film of transparent
collodion, placed close to the mirror and slightly inclined to it. If the beam used in such an experiment is plane-polarized, and is incident at an angle of 45", the stationary vector is evidently that perpendicular to the plane of incidence; but Wiener
that under these conditions the effect was obtained only the light was polarized in the plane of incidence ; so when that the chemical activity must be associated with the vector
found
perpendicular
vector.
to
the plane
of polarization
immediately
"
i.e., the
electric
In
1890
and
the
years
following
appeared
several memoirs
equations relating to the fundamental of Hertz, after the general electro-magnetic theory. presenting"
*
controversy regarding the results ; Rendus, cxii (1891), pp. 186, 325, 329, 365, 383, 456 ; and Ann. d. Phys. p. 177; xlviii(1893), p. 119. p. 154 ; xliii(1891), xli (1890), " Gott. Nach. 1890, p. 106; Aim. d. Phys. xl (1890), p. 577; Electric Waves Hertz form of the equations In 195. this the (English p. advocated memoir
a
Cf. pp. 168 et sqq. f Nature, xxxix (1889), p. 391. Ann. d. Phys. \ xl (1890), p. 203.
Cf.
Comptes
ed.),
had used in his paper of 1868 (cf. supra, p. 287)in preference which Maxwell the earlier form, which involved the scalar and vector potentials.
to
The Followers
content
ofMaxwell.
365
for bodies at rest, proceeded* to extend the equations to the case in which material bodies are in motion in the field. of Maxwell's theory and correct theory, as Hertz really comprehensive remarked, a distinction should be drawn between the quantities which specify the state of the aether at every point, and those
a
In
which specify the state of the ponderable matter entangled with it. This anticipation has been fulfilledby later investigators ;
but Hertz
complete
not considered that the time was like Maxwell, theory, and preferred,
"
ripe for such

to
assume
"
that
be can the state of the compound matter plus aether system it is as when specifiedin the same way when the matter moves the aether at rest ; or, as Hertz himself expressed it, that
"
contained within ponderable bodies moves with them." Maxwell's own hypothesis with regard to moving systemsf in to a the equation modification amounted merely
B
=
-
curl E,
represents the law that the electromotive force in a closed circuit is measured by the rate of decrease in the number of lines of magnetic induction which pass through the circuit. which
This law is true whether the circuit is at rest or in motion ; but in the latter case, the E in the equation must be taken to be the
electromotive
position stationary circuit whose coincides with that of the moving momentarily circuit; and force is [w B] generated in matter by since an electromotive its motion with velocity w in a magnetic fieldB, we see that E
.
force
in
is connected
ponderable
with the electromotive force E' in the moving body by the equation E' E + [w B],
=
.
so
that the equation of electromagnetic induction in the moving body is

B
*
=
-
curl E'
curl
[w B].
.
Ann.
d. Phys.
xli
(1890), p.
369 ; Electric Waves
(English p. ed.),
241.
dielectrichad been discussed propagation of light through a moving for Maxwell's basis on the previously, of equations moving bodies, by J. J. Thomson,
The Phil. Mag.
ix (1880), p. 284 ; Proc. Camb.
Phil. Soc.
(1885), p.
250.
tCf. p. 288.
366
Maxwell made
The Followers
no
of
Maxwell.
other
equations, which
D
=
electromagnetic therefore retained the customary forms

=
change
in
the
E'/47rc2,div D
impressed
0, by
4 47r(i D)
curl H,
of electric and last the modified magnetic phenomena, of these equations by force 4?r [D that a magnetic assuming w] is generated in a dielectric which moves with velocity w in an electric field; such
.
Hertz,
however,
the
duality
force would be the magnetic analogue of the electromotive force of induction. A term involving curl |D w] is then introduced into the last equation.
a
.
theory of Hertz resembles in many respects that of Heaviside,* who likewise insisted much on the duplex nature in consequence disposed of the electromagnetic field,and was
The
to accept
the term
moving
media.
involving curl [D Heaviside recognized
w]
more
in the equations of clearly than his
the force E', which predecessors the distinction between determines the flux D, and the force E, whose curl represents the electric current ; and, in conformity with his principle of duality, he made a the magnetic similar distinction between
force H', which
determines
"
the flux B, and
curl represents the Heaviside showed,

"
acted on by forces, or permanent these latter must be magnetization; included in E' and H', since they help to give rise to the fluxes D and B ; but they must not be included in E and H, since their
curls are have we
not electric
or
magnetic current." is of importance is the system when impressed forces," such as voltaic electromotive
the force H, whose This distinction, as
magnetic
E
+
e,
currents
so
that in general
E'
H'
h,
and h denote the impressed forces. Developing the theory by the aid of these conceptions, further modification. led to make a An imHeaviside was where
e
Heaviside's general theory Electrician, from 1885 onwards.
in a series of papers in the published His earlier work was republished in his Electrical Papers (2 vols., 1892), and his Electromagnetic Theory (2 vols., 1894). in Phil. Trans, clxxxiii be specially made Mention may of a memoir (1892),
*
was
p. 423.
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
367
pressed
forceis
best defined in terms
to the system ; thus, if e communicates force, the energy communicated to unit volume of the electromagnetic in unit time is e x the electric current. system be true, it is necessary to In order that this equation may
of the energy which it be an impressed electric
regard the electric current of the conduction-current,
in
moving medium displacement-current,

.
as
composed
current, and
also of the term curl [D w] whose have already noticed. This may be called the equation we the current convection. Thus the total current is ofdielectric
,
convectionpresence in
S where
pw
i +
pw
curl
[D w]
.
denotes
current
connecting
the conduction-current with magnetic force is
; and
the equation
curl (H'
-
h0)
=
4?rS,
where h0 denotes the impressed magnetic forces other than that induced by motion of the medium. We now must effected consider the advances which were during the period following the publication of Maxwell's Treatise in optics.
some
of the
special problems
of electricityand
accounted for the rotation of to a the plane of polarization of light in a medium subjected magnetic field K by adding to the kinetic energy of the aether, a term J"r (e curl 9e/90), which is represented by Jpe*, where
seen*
.
We
have
that Maxwell
cr
is
magneto-optic which
through
characteristic of the substance the light is transmitted, and d/dOstands for

constant
was
+ Kydldy+ K-d/dz. This theory Kxdl'dx
developed
further
in 1879 by Fitz
Gerald,f who
with the electromagnetic of the displacement e of the aethereal particles with the electric displacement ; the derivate of e with respect to the time then corresponds to the magnetic force. Being thus in possession of
a
it into closer connexion theory of light by identifying the curl
brought
definitely electromagnetic
*
theory of the magnetic
rotation of
Cf
p. 308.
t Phil. Trans., 1879, p. 691.
Fitz Gerald's Scient. Writings, p. 45.
368
The Followers
of
Maxwell.
it
so as
light,Fitz Gerald proceeded

of
a
to extend
to take account
closely related phenomenon.

that when
experimentally
In 1876 J. Kerr* had shown plane-polarized light is regularly
reflected from either pole of an iron electromagnet, the reflected ray has a component polarized in a plane at right angles to the ordinary reflected ray. Shortly after this discovery had been made of the known,
same
Fitz
term
had Geraldf
proposed
to explain it by
means
in the equations which accounts for the netic magrotation of light in transparent bodies. His argument was that if the incident plane-polarized ray be resolved into two rays circularly polarized in opposite senses, will have different values for these two intensities after reflexion will be the refractive index rays, and hence the
so
different;
that
on
re"
compounding
them, two plane-polarized rays will be obtained one polarized in the plane of incidence, and the other polarized at right angles to it. The analytical discussion of Kerr's phenomenon, which was
given by Fitz Gerald in his memoir of 1879, was based on these ideas ; the most were essential features of the phenomenon explained, but the investigation was in some respects imperfect.}
and fruitful conception was introduced in 1879-1880, H. A. Eowland" suggested a connexion between the when magnetic rotation of light and the phenomenon which had been discovered by his pupil Hall.|| Hall's effect may be regarded
*
Anew
Phil. Mag.
iii(1877), (5) p.
xxv
321.
; Fitz Gerald's Sclent. Writings, p. 9. Magnetism Light, on on the Action
t Proc. 11. S.
(1877), p. 447
Brit. Assoc.
remarks oj 1893 ; and his editorial comments in Fitz Gerald's Scientific Larmor traced to its source Writings. an inconsistency in the equations hy which had Gerald Fitz represented the boundary-conditions at an interface between the Kep.,
J Cf. Larmor's
in his Report
Fitz Gerald had indeed made the mistake, similar to that which was so often media. hy forgetting the light, that when theory of made earlier of writers on the elastic-solid is assumed to be incompressible, the condition of incompressibility must a medium be introduced into the variational equation of motion (as done supra, p. 172). was Larmor showed that when the terms this correction was (resembling made, new in terms in p, supra, p. 172) made inconsistency the their appearance; and the thus removed. equations was Amer. Jour. Math, ii,p. 354, iii, " p. 89;
Phil. Mag.
xi
p. (1881),
254.
Cf. ||
p. 321.
The Followers
of
Maxwell.
369
influence of a rotation of conduction-currents under the ; and ifitbe assumed that displacement-currents magnetic field in dielectricsare rotated in the same way, the Faraday effect
as a
Considering the matter from the evidently be explained. Hall effect may be represented by analytical point of view, the the addition of a term k [K S] to the electromotive force,
may
.
denotes the impressed magnetic force, and S denotes the current : so Kowland assumed that in dielectricsthere is an force, proportional to [K D],i.e. additional term in the electric increase of [K D]. Now it is proportional to the rate of
where
K
. .
force round a circuit is universally true that the total electric decrease of the total magnetic proportional to the rate of induction through the circuit: so the total magnetic induction
the circuit must contain a term proportional to the integral of [K D] taken round the circuit : and therefore the through
.
magnetic induction at any point must contain to curl [K D]. We may therefore write
.
term
proportional
B where
"r
curl
But
[K D],
.
denotes
constant.
if this be combined
with the
customary
electromagnetic equations
=
curl H
47rD,
curl E
B,
eE/47rc3,
and
as
a
all the vectors

we constant),
except B be eliminated obtain the equation

+
(K
being treated
V2B (c7/0
O/47r) curl
+ Kyd/dy+ Kzd/dz) ; and this is where 3/80stands for (Kxd/fa had given* for the identical with the equation which Maxwell It follows that the motion of the aether in magnetized media.
of Maxwell and of Eowland, differentthough they are analytical equations" at any physically,lead to the same rate so far as concerns propagation through a homogeneous
assumptions
medium. The connexions of Hall's phenomenon with the magnetic rotation of light, and with the reflexionof light from magnetized
*
Cf. p. 308.
2
370
metals,
were
The Followers
of Maxwell.
extensively studied* in the years following the but it was not until the memoir: publication of Kowland's modern theory of electrons had been developed that a satisfactory representation of the molecular
processes involved in magneto-
was attained. optic phenomena The allied phenomenon of rotary polarization in naturally investigated in 1892 by Goldhammer.f It active bodies was
Trans, clxxxii (1891), The theory of Basset (Phil. p. 371)was, like Rowland's, to dielectricmedia. An based on the idea of extending Hall's phenomenon tion objecto this theory was that the tangential component the electromotive force of was the interface between a magnetized and an unmagnetized not continuous across
*
Hi (1 this difficulty(Nature, 895),p. 618 ; ; but Basset subsequently overcame medium Math, Amer. Jour. liii(1895), 130; p. 60)" the effect analogous to xix (1897), p. Hall's being introduced into the equation connecting electric displacement with force, so that the equation took the form electric
E
=
D + ff [K D]. (47rc2/")
.
analytical by phenomenon substituting u expressions which index in formulae for the refractive the applicable to transparent complex quantity
represent Kerr's magneto-optic
Basset, in
1893
(Proc.Camb.
Phil. Soc.
viii, p.
68), derived
magnetized substances. have been investigated The magnetic rotation of light and Kerr's phenomenon p. 397 ; by J. J. Thomson, xi (1881), also by R. T. Glazebrook, Phil. Mag.
Ann. d. Phys. xlvi (1892), Researches, p. 482 : by D. A. Goldhammer, 1 345; (1893), p. p. 740; p. 772 : by P. Drude, p. 71 ; xlvii (1892), xlviii(1893), Ann. d. Phys. xlvi (1892), p. 353; xlviii (1893), p. 122; xlix (1893), p. 690;
Recent
lii(1894)) p. 496
1894
:
by C. H. Wind,
d. Phys.
Verslagen Kon.
Ivii
Akad. Amsterdam,
281
:
29th Sept.,
by
cxc
Reiff, Ann.
(1896), p.
by
J. G. Leathern, Phil.
Trans,
W.
p. 89; Trans. (1897), Voigt in many memoirs, and report presented
Phil. Soc. xvii (1898), p. 16: and by in his treatise, MagnetoElektro-optik. und Camb. in
1893
Larmor's
mentioned.
to the British Association
has
been
already
In most
metals
are
of the latertheoriesthe equations of propagation of light in magnetized derived from the two fundamental electromagnetic equations curl H
=
4?rS,
curl E
a
the total current

proportional
to
S being assumed
E,
a
to consist of
part
(the displacement-current)
to E,
part
(theconduction -current)proportional
and
part
of E and the magnetization. Various mechanical models of media in which magneto-optic take phenomena Lond. Math. Soc. (Proc. place have been devised at different times. W. Thomson displacement investigated waves the of along a stretched vi (1875)) propagation of
to the vector-product proportional
chain whose links contain rotating fly-wheels : cf also Larmor, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. xxi. (1890), p. 127 ; F. Hasenohrl, Wien Sitzungsberichte p. 423 ; xxiii (1891),
.
Phil. Mag. xlviii (1899), p. 236, p. 1015 ; W. Thomson (Kelvin), cvii, 2a (189S), and Baltimore Lectures ; and Fitz Gerald, Electrician, Aug. 4, 1899, Fitz Gerald's Writings, p. 481. i, pp. 205, 345. t Journal de Physique (3) Scientific
The Followers
ofMaxwell.
371
that in the elastic-solid theory of will be remembered* Boussinesq, the rotation of the plane of polarization of saccharine solutions had been represented by substituting the equation
e'
=
Ae
B curl
in place of the usual equation

e'
=
Ae.
proposed to represent rotatory power electromagnetic theory by substituting the equation
Goldhammer
now
in the
D (4ircVO
k curl D,
in place of the customary

E
equation
=
D : (4ircVO
the constant
k being
measure
of the substance concerned. usual.
of the natural rotatory power The remaining equations are as

-
curl H
47rD, have
+
curl E
Eliminating H and E,
=
we
fi (c2/") V2D
For
a
V2 (k/4w)
curl D.
x,
plane
wave
which
is propagated parallel to the axis of
this equation reduces to

k_
47T
k
47T
~"
'
and,
as
MacCullagh
competent In the closing years of the nineteenth century, the general form. But theory of aether and electricity assumed a new before discussing the memoirs
in which the
new
in 1836,f these equations are to represent the rotation of the plane of polarization.
shown
had
conception was unfolded, we shall consider the progress which had been made since the middle of the century in the study of conduction in liquid and gaseous media.
*Cf. p. 186.
2B2
tcf. p. 175.
372
CHAPTEE
XI.
CONDUCTION
IN
SOLUTIONS
J.
AND
GASES,
FROM
FARADAY
TO
J. THOMSON.
to which Grothuss and Davy had advanced* open to serious explain the decomposition of electrolytes was in more than one respect. Since the electric force
THE
hypothesis
objection
supposed first to dissociate the molecules of the electrolyte into ions, and afterwards to set them in motion toward the
was
electrodes, it would seem the electric force would

molecules and
reasonable to expect that doubling double both the dissociation of the
the velocity of the ions, and would therefore quadruple the electrolysis an inference which is not verified it might be expected, on Grothuss' by observation. Moreover
"
definite magnitude of electromotive force would be requisite for the dissociation,and that no electrolysis the electromotive force was below at all would take place when theory, that
some
this value, which again is contrary to experience. firstindicated,in A way of escape from these difficulties was
1850, by Alex.
Williamson,-)who suggested
and recombinations
liquids decompositions
that in compound of the molecules are
of the liquid, continually taking place throughout the whole mass quite independently of the application of an external electric is thus paired force. An atom of one element in the compound
with another atom of another element, with one and now and in the intervals between these alliances the atom may be made by regarded as entirely free. In 1857 this idea was
now
*
Cf. p. 78. f Phil. Mag.
xxxvii
(1850), p.
350 ; Liebig's Annulen
d. Chem.
u.
Pharni.
Ixxvii (1851) p. 37.
Conduction in Solutions and
Gase*, etc.
373
K. Clausius,* of Zurich, the basis of a theory of electrolysis. from the According to it, the electromotive force emanating
electrodes does not effect the dissociation of the electrolyte for the purpose into ions, since a degree of dissociation sufficient of the perpetual mutability of the molecules of the electrolyte. Clausius assumed that these ions in opposite electric conditions; the applied electric force are kind a therefore causes general drift of all the ions of one already exists in consequence
towards the anode, and of all the ions of the other kind towards These opposite motions of the two kinds of ions the cathode. constitute the galvanic current in the liquid. hypothesis were The merits of the Williamson-Clausius not fully recognized for many years ; but it became the foundation
of that theory of electrolysiswhich
was
generally accepted at
the end of the century. Meanwhile another attention. It had long

current
through
an
of electrolysis was receiving known been that the passage of a electrolytic solution is attended not only
aspect
the appearance at the of the products of decomposition electrodes, but also by changes of relative strength in different of a solution parts of the solution itself. Thus in the electrolysis of copper sulphate, with copper electrodes, in which copper is
the cathode, it is found the that the concentration of the solution diminishes near Some experiments on the anode. cathode, and increases near
by
dissolved off the anode and deposited
on
the
was
made by Faradayf in 1835 ; and in 1844 it further investigated by Frederic Daniell and W. A. Miller,J
were subject
who
not
explained it by asserting that the cation and anion have facility of the same (as had previously been supposed)
moving to their respective electrodes ; but that in many cases but little, the cation appears to move while the transport is effected chiefly by the anion.
*
d. Phys. ci (1857), p. 338 ; Phil. Mag. t Exper. Res. "" 525-53C.

Ann.
*
xv
(1858), p.
94.
Phil. Trans., 1844, p. 1.
Cf. also Pouillet, Comptes
Rendus
xx
(1845),
p. 1544.
374
This idea

was
Gases,
adopted by W. Hittorf, of Minister, who, in the on the years 1853 to 1859, published* a series of memoirs migration of the ions. Let the velocity of the anions in the
solution be to the velocity of the cations in the ratio v : u. Then it is easily seen that if (u + v) molecules of the electrolyte by the current, and yielded up as ions at the decomposed are
electrodes,v of these molecules will have been taken from the fluid on the side of the cathode, and u of them from the fluid By measuring the concentration of on the side of the anode.
the liquid round the electrodes after the passage of a current, Hittorf determined the ratio v/u in a large number of cases of
electrolysis.!
further a was advanced of ionic movements (I.1840, d. 1910), of Wurzburg. stage by F. W. KohlrauschJ Kohlrausch tivity showed that although the ohmic specific conducThe theory
solution diminishes indefinitely as the strength of the solution is reduced, yet the ratio k/m,where m denotes the number of of saltper unit volume, tends
a
k of
gramme-equivalents"
to
definite limit, when
limiting value may A may be expressed
the solution is indefinitely dilute. This be denoted by A. He further showed that

as
of two parts, one of which depends on the cation, but is independent of the nature of the anion; while the other depends on the anion, but not on the cation a fact which may be explained by supposing that, in the
sum
"
independently under very dilute solutions, the twos ions move the influence of the electric force. Let u and v denote the the velocities of the cation and anion respectively, when potential difference per cm. in the solution is unity : then the total current carried through a cube of unit volume is mE(u + v), where E denotes the electric charge carried by one gramme#
Ann.
d. Phys. Ixxxix 337, 513.
(1853), p. 177
; xcviii
p. (1856),
1 ; ciii(1858), p. 1 ;
cvi
(1859), pp.
t The
by Hittorf the transport, number of the anion. The chief results had been communicated J to the Academy of Gottingen in 1876 and 1877. " A gramme-equivalent means a muss of the salt whose weight in grammes
+ ratio v/(u
Ann
d. Phys.
v) was termed pp. 1, vi (1879),
145.
is the molecular
weight divided by the valency of the ions.
from
Faraday
to
J. J. Thomson.
=
= =
375
k equivalent of ion.* Thus mE (u + v) total current raA, by the method of E (u + The determination of A or v/u v). by the method Hittorf, and of (u + of Kohlrausch, made it
=
v)
possible to calculate the absolute velocities of drift of the ions

from experimental data. Meanwhile, important
advances with
a
being effected in connexion
in voltaic theory were different class of investigations.
Suppose
that two
mercury
of acidulated water, and that a to produce continuous decomposition of the water, is set up between Initially a the electrodes by an external agency. as it is called the polarizing current,f slight electric current
"
electrodes are placed in a solution difference of potential,insufficient
"
is observed; but after a short time it ceases; and after its cessation It is the state of the system is one of electricalequilibrium. evident that the polarizing current must in some way have set up in the cell an electromotive force equal and opposite to the external difference of potential ; and it is also evident that the seat of this electromotive force must be at the electrodes,which
are
now
An
two
said to be polarized. abrupt fall of electric potential at

as
an
interface between
and the solution in the present case, requires that there should be a field of electric force, of at the interface " considerable intensity, within a thin stratum media, such the mercury
its existence to the presence of electric charges. Since there is no electricfieldoutside the thin stratum, there must be as much vitreous as resinous electricitypresent ;
and
this must
owe
but the vitreous charges must

stratum,
preponderate
on
on
one
side of the
so
and
as
the resinous charges

a
the other side ;
that
the system
with
*
denser whole resembles the two coatings of a conthe intervening dielectric. In the case of the
coulombs. discovered by Hitter in 1803. phenomenon of voltaic polarization was to that of a Hitter explained it by comparing the action of the polarizing current in Volta 1805 is to a current put forward the which charge used condenser.
i.e. E is 96580
t The
alternative explanation, electromotive force.
that the
products
of decomposition
set
tip
reverse
376
Conduction
in
Solutions and
Gases,
polarized mercury cathode in acidulated water, there must be on the electrode itself a negative charge : the surface of this electrode in the polarized state may be supposed to be either
mercury,
or
mercury
the solution
adjacent
In covered with a layer of hydrogen. to the electrode, there must be an excess
of cations and a deficiency of anions, so as to constitute the be either other layer of the condenser : these cations may mercury cations dissolved from the electrode, or the hydrogen
cations of the'solution. It was shown in 1870 by Cromwell Fleetwood Varley* that a mercury cathode, thus polarized in acidulated water, shows a
tendency to adopt a definitesuperficialform, tension at the interface between the mercury

were
as
if the surface-
in
some was
way
more
dependent
on
and the solution the electric conditions. The in
matter
fully investigated
1873
by
young
French
thesis, physicist, then preparing for his inaugural In Lippmann's instrumental disposition, Gabriel Lippmann.f
mercury which is called a capillary electrometer, electrodes are in acidulated water : the anode HQ has a large immersed surface, cathode H has a variable surface S small in
wkile^the
When the external electromotive force is applied, comparison. it is easily seen that the fall of potential at the large electrode is only slightly affected,while the fallof potential at the small
practically electrode is altered by polarization by an amount found equal to the external electromotive force. Lippmann
that the constant of capillarityof the interface at the small electrode was a function of the external electromotive force,and the mercury therefore of the difference of potential between
and the electrolyte. Let V denote the external electromotive force: we may, "[" loss be to the zero, of generality,assume potential of without is V. The state of the system may so that the potential of H be varied by altering either V or assume that these /S; we
-
Phil. Trans, clxi (1871), p. 129. f Comptes Rendus Ixxvi (1873), p. 1407. Phil. Mag. xlvii Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. v (1875), p. 494, xii (1877), p. 265.
(1874), p.
281.
from
Faraday
to
Thomson.
377
independently, reversibly, and be performed alterations may isothermally, and that the state of the large electrode H,} is not which altered thereby. Let de denote the quantity of electricity
the state of the passes through the cell from 5"0 to H, when system is thus varied : then if E denote the available energy of the system, and y the surface-tension at H, we have dE
y being measured
=
ydS
Vde,
when no In order that equilibrium may
by the work required to increase the surface electricityflows through the circuit.
electrode and the solution when cathode is altered, it will be necessary not only that some hydrogen out of the solution and be cations should come deposited on the electrode, yielding up their charges, but also
that there should be changes in the clustering of the charged ions of hydrogen, mercury, and sulphion in the layer of the to the electrode. Each of these solution immediately adjacent circumstances necessitates a flow of electricity in the outer
be re-established between the the fall of potential at the
circuit: in the one case to neutralize the charges of the cations deposited, and in the other case to increase the surface-density of electric charge
sheet of the
the electrode, which forms the opposite Let Sf (V) denote the total quasi-condenser.
on
quantity
when Then
in the circuit the external electromotive force has attained the value V.
of electricity which has thus
flowed
evidently
so
dE=
{y+ Vf(V)\dS
be
an
VSf (V}dV.
differential, we
have
Since this expression must
exact
so
new
that
dy/dV
surface
is equal to that flux of electricityper unit of formed, which the surface in a will maintain
378
constant
Gases,
it is extended.
when condition (V being constant) Integrating the previous equation, we have
Lippmann
external electromotive force was until, when applied, the surface-tension increased at first, to about one the external electromotive force amounted volt, the surface-tension attained a maximum value, after which it
found
that when
the
diminished. of F,
so
He
found that
curve
F2 d-y/d
that the
which
sensibly independent represents the relation between

was
7 and F is a parabola.* The theory so far is more
of assumptions as to what actually takes place at the electrode : on this latter In question many conflicting views have been put forward. 1839, d. 1903), discussed 1878 Josiah Willard Gibbs,t of Yale (b.
or
less independent
the problem simply

an
on
the supposition
that the polarizing current
is
ordinary electrolytic conduction-current, which liberation of hydrogen from the ionic form at the a causes If this be so, the amount cathode. of electricitywhich passes be proportional to through the cell in any displacement must
the quantity of hydrogen in the displacement; so
the
amount
is yielded up to the electrode be proportional to that dy/dV must deposited per unit area of the of hydrogen which
electrode.:}:
different view of the physical conditions at the polarized who assumed that the ions electrode was taken by Helmholtz," A
of hydrogen which are brought to the cathode by the polarizing current do not give up their charges there, but remain in the
vicinity of the electrode, and form
one
face of
quasi-condenser
Lippman,
Coniptes Eendus,
Acad.
xcv
(1882), p.
686.
t Trans. Conn.
i, p. 55.
iii (1876-1878), pp. 108, 343;
Gibbs'
Papers, Scientific
J This is embodied in equation (690) of Gibbs' memoir. " Berlin Monatsber., 1881, p. 945 ; Wiss. Abh. i, p. 925 ; Ann. Cf. also Planck, Ann. d. Phys. xliv (1891), (1882), p. 385. p. 31.
d. Phys. xvi.
from
of which
Faraday
to
J.
Thomson.
379
the other face is the electrode itself.* If a denote the surface-density of electricityon either face of this quasiwe
condenser,
have, therefore,
de
=
-
d(Sa);
so
dyfd V.
is be
zero
zero
"
that when shows the surface-tension is a maximum equation
This
dyldV
"
must
i.e.,when ; that is to
difference of potential between the mercury and the electrolyte. The external electromotive force is then balanced entirely by the discontinuity of potential at
say, there
must
be
no
the
is suggested of ; and thus a method other electrode J7"0 measuring the latter discontinuity of potential. All previous
the of differences of potential had involved than one interface ; and it was not known employment of more how the measured difference of potential should be distributed
measurements
among
that the suggestion of a means of measuring single differencesof potential was a distinct advance, based was even though the hypotheses on which the method
so were
these interfaces ;
somewhat A further
insecure.
consequence
a
deduced
by
Helmholtz
from
this
second method of determining the difference of potential between mercury and an electrolyte. If a mercury surface is rapidly extending, and electricity is not rapidly
theory leads to
transferred through
in the double
the electrolyte,the electric surface-density layer must rapidly decrease, since the same
increasing an quantity of electricityis being distributed over be inferred that a rapidly extending it may Thus area. potential as mercury-surface in an electrolyte is at the same
the electrolyte. This conception
*
is realized in
the
dropping-electrode,in
at the surface of separation of conception of double layers of electricity by Helmholtz two bodies had been already applied to explain various other Volta the phenomena e.g., contact-difference of potential of two metals, fiictional
"
The
occurs or the transport of fluid which when electricendosmose," by liquids is a two an through current porous separated conducting passed electric d. Phys. barrier. Cf. Helmholtz, Berlin Monatsberichte, February 27, 1879 ;
and electricity,
*'
-Ann.
vii
(1879), p.
337
Helmholtz,
Wiss. Abh.
i, p. 855.
380
which
a
Gases ,
jetof mercury,
so
falling from
solution, is
the
adjusted
the
no
reservoir into an electrolytic it breaks into drops that when

a
jet
touches there the
conclusion drops and
is
Helmholtz's to solution. According difference of potential between the
electrolyte ; and therefore the difference of the electrolyte and a layer of mercury potential between underlying it in the same vessel is equal to the difference of this layer of mercury potential between and the mercury
in
the
upper
reservoir, which
difference is
measurable
quantity. It will be
that according to the theories both of Gibbs and of Helmholtz, and indeed according to all other theories on the d^ldV is zero for an electrode whose surface is subject,*
seen
d. Phys. xli (1890), p. 1. In this it is assumed that the electrolytic solution near the electrodes originally contains a salt of in When the external electromotive force is applied, a conducmercury solution. tion-current in hody the through the the passes electrolyte electrolyte, which of E.g., that of Warburg, Ann.
is carried by the acid and ions. Warburg hydrogen cathode the hydrogen ions react with the salt of mercury, the electrode. Thus a mercury, which is deposited on
supposed
reducing considerable change in concentration of the salt of mercury is caused at the cathode. At the anode, the acid ions carrying the current attack the mercury of the electrode, and thus
that at the it to metallic
increase the local concentration of the mercuric salt ; but on account of the size of the anode this increase is trivialand may be neglected. Warburg thus supposed that the electromotive force of the polarized cell is really that of a concentration cell, depending on the different concentrations of mercuric
mercuric
of salt at the electrodes. He found dy/dV to be equal to the amount by divided area the the salt at cathode per unit electroof cathode, chemical The equation previously obtained is thus equivalent of mercury.
presented in a new physical interpretation. Warburg connected the increase of the surface-tension with the fact that the centratio surface-tension between mercury and a solution always increases when the conleads to no His theory, of course, of the solution is diminished.
conclusion regarding the absolute potential difference between solution, as Helmholtz' does. Alan
"
the mercury
and the
Warburg The
electrode whose surface is rapidly increasing e.g., a dropping electrode so supposed that the surface-density of mercuric salt tends to zero,
"
dyldV is zero.
explanation of dropping electrodes favoured by Nernst, Beilage zu den is that the difference of potential corresponding to the Ann. d. Phys. Iviii(1896), between the the electrolyte is instantaneously and equilibrium mercury
from the solution in order to form the established ; but that ions are withdrawn double layer necessary for this, and that these ions are carried down with the drops
from
"
Faraday
to
J. J
Thomson.
381
dropping electrode; that is to say, a e.g., rapidly increasing an the difference of potential between mercury ordinary electrode and the electrolyte,when the surface-tension has its
maximum value, is equal to the difference of potential between a dropping-electrode and the same electrolyte. This result has been experimentally verified by various investigators, who have
that the applied electromotive force when the surfacetension has its maximum value in the capillary electrometer, is equal to the electromotive force of a cell having as electrodes a shown
large mercury electrode and a dropping electrode. belongs to the same Another period of memoir which has led to important developments, Helmholtz' career, and which
with a special class of voltaic cells. The most usual type of cell is that in which the positive electrode is composed of a different metal from the negative electrode, and the evolution of energy depends on the difference in the
was
concerned
of these metals for the liquids in the cell. chemical affinities But in the class of cells now considered* by Helmholtz, the
two
; of the same electrodes are composed metal (say, copper) is more consolution of copper sulphate) and the liquid (say, centrate in the neighbourhood in the of one electrode than
the cell is in operation, the neighbourhood of the other. When salt passes from the places of high concentration to the places of low concentration, so as to equalize its distribution; and this
by the flow of a current in the outer process is accompanied Such cells had been studied circuit between the electrodes. Moser a short time to experimentally by James
previously!
Helmholtz'
investigation.
The activity of the cell is due to the fact that the available energy of a solution depends on itsconcentration ; the molecules
of mercury, until the upper layer of the solution is so much The impoverishment double layer can no longer be formed.
impoverished
that the
the solution has actually been observed by (1898), p. 265 ; xxviii (1899), p. 257 ; xxxvi (1901), p. 664. * Berlin Monatsber., 1877, p. 713 ; Phil. Mag. (5)v (1878), p. 348;
p. 201. with additions in Ann. d. Phys. iii(1878), t Ann. d. Phys. iii(1878), 216. p.
of the upper layer of Palniaer, Zeitsch. Phys. Chem. xxv
reprinted
382
Conduction in Solutions and Gases ,

from
a
of salt, in passing
high
to
low
concentration,
are
as a compressed therefore capable of supplying energy, just gas its degree of compression is capable of supplying energy when To examine the matter quantitatively, let is reduced. V)
nf(nf
in the available energy of due to the dissolution of n gramme-molecules
denote the term
solution, which is of salt in a volume
depend also on V of pure solvent ; the function / will of course Then when dn gramme-molecules the temperature. of solvent are evaporated from the solution, the decrease in the available energy of the system is evidently equal to the available energy of dn gramme-molecules of liquid solvent, less the available energy of the vapour of the solvent, together of dn gramme-molecules
with
V) nf(n/
less
nf{n/(V-vdn)}
,
of
gramme-molecule available energy must be equal to the mechanical work supplied ifpl denote the to the external world, which is dn p" (v
-
one
where v denotes the volume of the liquid. But this decrease in
v),
vapour-pressure of the solution at the temperature of one gramme-molecule and v denote the volume We have therefore
dn
.
in question,
of vapour.
pi
(v' v)
-
"
available energy of dn
gramme-molecules
of
solvent vapour
+
available energy of dn liquid solvent
gramme-molecules
of
V) nf(n/
V-v nf {n/(
dn)\
.
Subtracting from this the equation have we

dn
.
obtained by making
zero,
(Pi p0)(v
-
V) v) nf(n/
=
V nf( n/(
dn)}
,
where pQ denotes the vapour-pressure temperature in question ; so that
of the pure solvent at the
(Pi-Po) ""' v)
-
(n'/V*)f(n/V)v.
that when a salt is dissolved in water, the vapour-pressure is lowered in proportion to the concentration the concentration is small : in of the salt at any rate when Now, it is known
"
from Faraday
fact, by the law of Kaoult,
to
J J.
.
Thomson.
383
equal to
is approximately (p0-pi)/po
nv/V
so
that the previous equation becomes
p. V(v'
-*/("/ F). -f.)

with
v',
Neglecting
in comparison
and
making
use
of the
equation of state of perfect gases
(namely,
ST. and R denotes the
pjt
where
T denotes the absolute temperature, have we constant of the equation of state), and therefore
Thus
in the
available energy
on dissolved salt,the term which the concentration is proportional to the logarithm of the concentration ; and hence, if in a concentration-cell one gramme-molecule of the salt
of one depends
gramme-molecule
of
passes from
high concentration
c2
at
one
electrode to
low
concentration GI at the other electrode, its available energy is thereby diminished by an amount proportional to log (c2/c,). The
energy which thus disappears is given up by the system in the form of electrical work; and therefore the electromotive force of the concentration-cell must be proportional to log (Cz/cJ. The
not
theory
at the
of time
their and sufficiently developed solutions

the
was vapour-pressure to enable Helmholtz
to determine
precisely
coefficient of
log
in (c2/Ci)
the
expression.* An important advance in the theory of solutions was effected Swedish physicist, Svante Arrhenius.f in 1887, by a young
formula given by Helmholtz was that the electromotive force of the cell is equal to b(l ri) v log (czjc\), where ci and c\ denote the concentrations of the solution denotes v the volume of one gramme the at electrodes, of vapour in equilibrium with the water at the temperature in question, n denotes the transport number for The
-
the cation
one
a
(Hittorfs and 1/w),
gramme-equivalent large number. Previous investigations, in t Zeitschrift fur phys. Chem. i (1887), p. 631. to some were extent foreshadowed, published in Bihang which the theory was Nos. 13 and 14. tillSvenska Vet. Ak. Forh. viii (1884),
b denotes q x the lowering of vapour- pressure when is dissolved in q grammes of salt of water, where q denotes
384
Interpreting
Gases,
in the the properties discovered by Kohlrausch* light of the ideas of Williamson and Clausius regarding the spontaneous dissociation of electrolytes,Arrhenius inferred that
in very dilute solutions the electrolyte is completely dissociated into ions, but that in more concentrated solutions the salt is less completely dissociated; and that as in all solutions the
transport of electricityin the solution is effected solely by the of ions, the equivalent conductivityf must be promovement portiona
to the fraction which
aid of these conceptions dissociation quantitatively, and

of electrolytes. Contemporary
By
expresses the degree of ionization. it became possible to estimate the

to construct
a
general
theory
physicists and chemists found it difficult at first to believe that a salt exists in dilute solution only in the form of ions, e.g. that the sodium and chlorine exist
in a solution of common salt. separately and independently But there is a certain amount of chemical evidence in favour For instance, the tests in chemical of Arrhenius' conception.
really tests for the ions ; iron in the form of a ferrocyanide, and chlorine in the form of a chlorate, do not respond to the characteristic tests for iron and chlorine respectively, analysis
are
which are really the tests for the iron and chlorine ions. The general acceptance of Arrhenius' views was hastened by the advocacy of Ostwald, who brought to light further
evidence in their favour. For instance, all permanganates in dilute solution show same the purple colour; and Ostwald considered their absorption-spectra to be identical ;J
this identity is easily accounted for on Arrhenius' theory, by supposing that the spectrum in question is that of the anion to blue colour the acid radicle. The corresponds which which when
*
in dilute solutions of copper salts, even in the same the strong solution is not blue, may way be is observed
Cf. p. 374. t I.e. the ohmic specific conductivity of the solution divided by the number
of salt per unit volume. of the spectra with higher dispersion does
not
of
gramme-equivalents J Examination
confirm
altogether
this conclusion.
from Faraday
to
Thomson.
385
.J.
ascribed to a blue copper cation. A striking instance of the kind is afforded by ferric sulphocyanide ; here the strong same ; but on solution shows a deep red colour, due to the salt itself dilution the colour disappears, the ions being colourless. If it be granted that ions can have any kind of permanent existence in a salt solution, it may be shown from thermo-
dynamical
increase
as
considerations that the degree of dissociation must the dilution increases, and that at infinite dilution be complete
there must
of of
dissociation. For the available energy dilute solution of volume V, containing "j gramme-molecules
substance, "/2 gramme-molecules of another, and so on, is (asmay be shown by an obvious extension of the reasoning already employed in connexion with
one
r
(T)+
RT^nr
concentration-cells)* log (UT! V) + the available energy
possessed by the solvent before the introduction of the solutes, where 0r (T) depends on T and on the nature of the rth solute, but not on V, and R denotes the constant which occurs in the the system is in of state of perfect gases. When equilibrium, the proportions of the reacting substances will be so adjustedthat the available energy has a stationary value for small virtual alterations Swj, "^, of the equation
......
proportions ; and therefore 0

-
SSnr
RT2$nr.log
."t"r(T)
case
(nrjV)
electrolyte in which the by the suffix disappearance of one molecule of salt (indicated ,) by the suffix and one anion gives rise to one cation (indicated
Applying
this to the
of
an
we the suffix 3), equation becomes
by (indicated
have
B^
"7^
2)
=
Sn*;
so
the
0
or
0,
(T) 02 (T) 03 (T) +

-
RT
log
(n, V/n.n,)RT,
-
function of T only.
Cf. pp. 382-383.

2
386
Since in
number
a
Gases,
of anions is equal to the neutral solution the number of cations, this equation may be written
nf
it shows
Fw-i x
function of T only ;
V is very large (so that the solution is very that when is very large compared n2 with n^ ; that is to say, the dilute), dissociation. salt tends towards a state of complete The ideas of Arrhenius contributed to the success of Walther Nernst* in perfecting Helmholtz' theory of concentration-cells, in a much definite more their mechanism
and representing fashion than had been done heretofore.
electrolytic solution let the drift-velocity of the cations under unit electric force be u, and that of the anions + be vt so that the fraction v} of the current is transported In
an
uj(u
by the cations, and the fraction concentration of the solution be

other, it follows from available energy that from
one
+ v) by v/(u
Cj
the anions.
c2
If the
at the
at
one
the formula
one
electrode,and previously found
for the
gramme
ion of cations, in moving
electrode to the other, is capable of yielding up an log (c2/c,) ion RT of energy; while one gramme amountf absorb the same of anions going in the opposite direction must
-
amount
one
ct
of energy.
The
gramme-molecule
to concentration
c{
total quantity of work furnished when of salt is transferred from concentration is therefore
passes in the circuit one of the salt is transferred is portiona when gramme-molecule proto the valency v of the ions, and the work furnished is proportional to the product of this charge and the electroquantity of electric charge which
ii (1888), fur phys. Chem. iv (1889), Berlin p. 613; p. 129; Ann. d. Phys. xlv (1892), Sitzungsberichte, 1889, p. 83 ; Cf. also p. 360. Max Planck, Ann. d. Phys. xxxix (1890), 161 561. ; p. xl (1890), p. *Zeitschr.
The
t The
correct law of dependence
of the available energy
on
the temperature
was
by this time known.
from
motive force E
Faraday
so
to
J J
.
Thomson.
we
387
have
of the cell;
E
-,
=
--
that in suitable units

c,
-
RTu-v.
log
v
-.
Ci
A typical concentration-cell to which this formula may be be constituted in the following way : Let a applied may quantity of zinc amalgam, in which the concentration of zinc is d, be in contact with a dilute solution of zinc sulphate, and
"
let this in turn be in contact with the two of concentration cz. When
by
a
quantity of zinc amalgam of amalgam

are
connected
masses
conducting wire outside the cell,an electriccurrent flows in the wire from the weak to the strong amalgam,* while zinc cations pass through the solution from the strong amalgam
to the weak.
The may
the current
electromotive force of such a cell,in which be supposed to be carried solely by cations, is RT.
"
c,
lo"
V
Not content with the derivation of the electromotive force from considerations of energy, Nernst proceeded to supply a definite mechanical conception of the process of conduction in
electrolytes. The impelled by the electric force associated with the gradient of potential in the electrolyte. But this is not the only force which acts on them ; for,since their
ions
are
available energy decreases as the concentration decreases, there must be a force assisting every process by which the concentration The be illustrated by the analogy is decreased. matter may
gas compressed in a cylinder fitted with a piston; the available energy of the gas decreases as its degree of compression decreases; and therefore that movement of the piston which of
a
tends to decrease the compression
"pressure"
were
of the gas
on
a
contained within
is assisted by a force the the piston. Similarly, if a solution cylinder fittedwith a piston which is
"
permeable
whole
*
to the pure solvent but not to the solute,and if the
were
immersed
in pure solvent, the available energy of

that this supposed
.current
It will hardly be necessary to remark is purely conventional.

2
direction of the
388
the system outwards
force
so

would
as
Gases,
be decreased if the piston were to move to admit more solvent into the solution; and of the piston would be assisted by pressure of the solution," as it is called.*
case
a
therefore this movement

"
the "osmotic
of a single electrolyte supposed to be perfectly dissociated ; its state will be supposed to be the same at all points of any plane at right angles to the axis of x.
Consider, then, the
denote the valency of the ions, and V the electricpotential at any point. Sincef the available energy of a given quantity of on the concentration a substance in very dilute solution depends in exactly the same way as the available energy of a given
Let
v
perfect gas depends on its density, it follows that the osmotic pressure p for each ion is determined in terms of by the equation of state the concentration and temperature quantity of
a
of perfect gases Mp where

mass
=
ETc, weight of the salt, and

c
denotes the molecular
the
of salt per unit volume. Consider the cations contained in a parallelepiped at the and whose length place x, whose cross-section is of unit area is dx. The mechanical force acting on them due to the electric
fieldis
and the mechanical force on them due to the osmotic pressure is dp/dx dx. If u denote the velocity of drift of the cations in a field of unit electric force, the total amount of charge which would be transferred by
-
d Vfdx (vc/M)
dx,
cations
in unit time under the influence of the d V/dx; so, under the (uvc/M) electric forces alone would be influence of both forces,it is
across
unit
area
ET _uvcidV_ M\dx
cv
dc\
dx)
a
Similarly, if
*
denote the velocity of drift of the anions in

Handlingar xxi No. (1886),
Cf van't Hoff, Svenska Vet.-Ak. fiirPhys. Chem. i (1887), p. 481.

.
17; Zeitschrift
t As follows from the expression obtained, supra, p. 383.
from
Faraday
to
jf J
.
Thomson.
across
area
389
unit
in
unit electric field,the charge transferred unit time by the anions is
vvcfdV^
M\dx
We
RT
cv
dc\
dx)
be denoted by i,
RT do
have therefore, if the total current

.
vc
dV
-u+M^-u-v"^Tdx"
or
dV
-
-T-
dx
Mdx
=
-"
u-v
^
RT
+
v
vc
dc
"
--
dx.
dx
on
(u+ v)vc
dx
The firstterm
the current
the right evidently represents the product of into the ohmic resistance of the parallelepiped dx,
represents the internal electromotive while the second term force of the parallelepiped. It follows that if r denote the have must specific resistance, we
u
Mjrvc,
in agreement with Kohlrausch's equation ;* while by integrating the expression for the internal electromotive force of the
parallelepiped dx, obtain for the electromotive force of a activity depends on the transference of electrolyte
we
c,
cell whose between the concentrations

u-v
--
and
cz,
the value
.
RT
+
v
v
fl
-
dc
dx
c, GI
T-
"te"
u-v
RT
"
or
u
+
log-,
v
in agreement with the result already obtained. It may be remarked that although the current arising from is kept at a constant temperature is a concentration cell which
capable of performing work, yet this work is provided, not by any diminution in the total internal energy of the cell,but by the abstraction of thermal energy from neighbouring bodies. This indeed
(as may
be
seen
by reference to W. Thomson's
*
general
Cf. P. 374.
390
equation system

of available
must energy)*
Gases,
the
case
whose available energy absolute temperature.

The
with any is exactly proportional to the
be
effected in the last quarter of the advances which were nineteenth century in regard to the conduction of electricity through liquids, considerable though these advances were, may
be regarded as the natural development of a theory which had It was long been before the world. otherwise with the kindred of the conduction of electricity through gases : for problem
of philosophers had studied the remarkable effects which are presented by the passage of a current through a rarefied gas, it was not until recent times although many
generations
that
discovered. was satisfactory theory of the phenomena Some of the electriciansof the earlier part of the eighteenth
a
century performed experiments in vacuous spaces ; in particular, Hauksbeef in 1705 observed a luminosity when glass is rubbed in rarefied air. But the first investigator of the continuous
discharge through
who, by
means
Tarefied gas
seems
to have
been
Watson,!
electricalmachine, sent a current through an exhausted glass tube three feet long and three inches in diameter. It was," he wrote, delightful spectacle, a most of
an
"
"
when
the
:
room
was
darkened,
to
see
the
passage brushes
observe not, as or pencils of rays an inch or two in length, but here the coruscations were of the whole length of the tube between
"
to be
able to
electricity in its in the open air, its
the plates, that is to say, thirty-two inches." Its appearance he described as being on different occasions of a bright silver hue," the most lively coruscations of resembling very much
"
" borealis," forming a continued arch of lambent and flame." His theoretical explanation was that the electricity is seen, without any preternatural force, pushing itselfon through
the
aurora
"
the
vacuum
by
its
own
elasticity,in order to maintain
the
Cf. p. 241. t Phil. Trans,
xxiv
(1705), p.
1709.
2165.
Fra.
Hauksbee,
Physico- Mechanical
Experiments,
London,
I Phil.
Trans, xlv
(1748), p.
93, xlvii (1752), p. 362.
from
Faraday
to
"
J J
.
Thomson.
391
a follows in the machine conception which equilibrium of Watson's one-fluid theory naturally from the combination with the prevalent doctrine of electricalatmospheres.*
"
put forward by Nollet, who in rarefied air at about the performed electrical experiments in them a striking confirmation same time as Watson,f and saw
different explanation
was
of his own According

with
of efflux and afflux of electric matter.J to Nollet, the particles of the effluent stream collide in the
hypothesis
which is moving of the affluent stream opposite direction ; and being thus violently shaken, are to the point of emitting light. those
excited
Almost
1838
discovered was elapsed before anything more spaces. But in regarding the discharge in vacuous Faraday, " while passing a current from the electrical
a
century
machine between the purple haze
two
or
brass rods in rarefied air, noticed that stream of light which proceeded from the
positive pole stopped short before it arrived at the negative itself covered with a continuous rod. The negative rod, which was thus separated from the purple column by glow, was
a
narrow name
the
space: to this, in honour of its discoverer, Faraday's dark space has generally been given by dark
subsequent writers. That vitreous and resinous electricitygive rise to different types of discharge had long been known; and indeed, as we
have
| it seen,)
was
the
study
of these
differences that
led
Franklin to identify the electricityof glass with the superfluity of fluid, and the electricityof amber with the deficiency of it. But
phenomena
more of this class are in general much complex from be supposed the appearance they than might which present at a first examination ; and the value of Faraday's
discovery of the simple and discharge, which further research.

*
the
negative glow and dark space lay chiefly in definite character of these features of the for indicated them as promising
subjects
Faraday
himself
sur
felt the
importance
of
Cf. ch. ii. t Cf. p. 40.
FElectricite, 1749, troisiemediscours. Cf. p. 44. || " Phil. Trans., 1838 ; Exper. Res. i, " 1526.
f Nollet, Recherches
392

"
Gases,
investigations in this direction.
with the different conditions of positive and negative discharge," he wrote,* will have a far greater influence on the philosophy of
"
The
results connected
electricalscience than we at present imagine." Twenty more years, however, passed before another notable full of promise should That a so made. advance was subject at any progress so slowly may appear strange ; but one reason rate is to be found in the incapacity of the air-pumps then in
use
to rarefy gases to the degree
The of the negative glow. to remove this difficulty;and it air-pump in 1855 did much in Geissler's was of Bonn, exhausted tubes that Julius Plticker,t studied the discharge three years later. Davy in 1821 J that by Sir Humphrey shown form of electric discharge one namely, the arc between carbon is brought to it. a near magnet poles is deflected when
required for effective study invention of Geissler's mercurial
It had
been
"
"
Pliicker
now
performed
discharge, and observed interesting of his results were behaviour of the negative glow
the negative electrode was of the negative light became
similar experiment with the vacuum a similar deflexion. But the most the obtained by examining in the magnetic field; when reduced to a single point, the whole concentrated
along the line of magnetic force passing through this point. In other words, the negative glow disposed itself as if it were constituted of flexible chains
of iron filings attached
at
one
end
to
the
cathode. Pliicker noticed that when small particles were the glass bulb.
that the magnetic
platinum
"
the cathode was of platinum, torn off it and deposited on the walls of It is most to imagine natural," he wrote,
"
light is formed
by the incandescence
of these
He
*
particles as they are torn from the negative electrode." likewise observed that during the discharge the walls of
Exper. Res.,
" 1523.
(1858), (1859),
| Ann. d. Phys. ciii(1858), pp. 88, 151 ; civ (1858), pp. 113, 622 ; cv Mag. Phil. 77. 67; p. p. cvii (1859), xvi (1858), pp. 119, 408; xviii pp. 1, 7. J Phil. Trans., 1821, p. 425.
from
the tube,
near
Faraday
to
J J.
.
Thomson.
393
the cathode, glowed with a phosphorescent light, altered when and remarked that the position of this light was This led to another discovery ; the magnetic fieldwas changed. for in 1869 Plucker's pupil, W. Hittorf,* having placed a solid point-cathode and the phosphorescent light,was cast. He rightly inferred surprised to find that a shadow was from this that the negative glow is formed of rays which
body between
proceed from the cathode in straight lines,and which cause phosphorescence when they strike the walls of the tube.
the
Hittorf's observation was amplified in 1876 by Eugen Goldstein,f who found that distinct shadows were cast, not the cathode was a only when single point, but also when it
formed
surface, provided the shadow-throwing was placed close to it. This clearly showed that the object for the first time introduced) are not cathode rays (a term now emitted indiscriminately in all directions,but that each portion
an
extended
of the cathode surface emits rays which are practically confined to a single direction ; and Goldstein found this direction to be normal to the surface. In this respect his discovery established
an
important
are
distinction between
the
manner
emitted from an electrode and emitted from an incandescent surface. The question as to the nature of the cathode rays attracted In the year much attention during the next two decades. rays following Hittorf's investigation, Cromwell
in which that in which
cathode light is
VarleyJ put forward

"
the hypothesis that the rays are composed of attenuated particles from the negative pole by electricity" ; of matter, projected and that it is in virtue of their negative charges that these particles are influenced by
some
During
*
" magnetic field. years following this, the properties of highly

a
Ann.
"1.Phys. cxxxvi
(1869), pp.
1, 197;
translated, Annales
de Cbimie, xvi
(1869), p. 487.
t Berlin Monatsberichte, 1876, p. 279. J Proc. Roy. Soc. xix (1871), p. 236.
" Priestley
of
in 1766 had
shown
that
current
of electri6ed air flows from the

or
points of hodies which are electrified either vitreously History Electricity, p. 591.
resinously
cf. Priestley's
394
Gases,
Crookes. investigated by Sir William rarefied gases were Influenced, doubtless, by the ideas which were developed in
connexion with his discovery of the radiometer, Crookes,* like Varley, proposed to regard the cathode rays as a molecular torrent : he supposed the molecules of the residual gas, coming into contact with the cathode, to acquire from it a resinous charge, and immediately
of the mutual repulsion exerted by similarly electrified bodies. Carrying the exhaustion to a higher degree, Crookes was enabled
to study
to fly off normally
to the surface, by
reason
between
appears the cathode and the cathode glow ; and to show that at has since been genethe highest rarefactions this dark space (which rally
under such circumstances
dark space which
known
by it. He
be
"
measure
tube is occupied suggested that the thickness of the dark space may length of free path of the molecules. of the mean
by his
name)enlarges until the whole
The
extra
velocity," he
"
wrote,
rebound
from
the excited negative
which the molecules pole keeps back the more with
slowly moving molecules which are advancing towards that pole. The conflict occurs at the boundary of the dark space, where the luminous margin bears witness to the energy of the
according glow bright because there are The fluorescence the former. of the tube
collisions.
Thus
to
Crookes
the dark
space is dark and the collisionsin the latter and not in

or
on the walls phosphorescence he attributed to the impact of the particles on
the glass. Crookes spoke of the cathode rays as an ultra-gaseous or fourth state " of matter. These expressions have led some
"
"
"
later writers to ascribe to him the enunciation or prediction of from a hypothesis regarding the nature of the particles
projected
the cathode, which arose some years afterwards, and which we shall presently describe ; but it is clear from Crookes' memoirs that he conceived the particles of the cathode rays to be ordinary gaseous molecules, carrying electric charges ; and
by
Phil. Trans, clxx (1879), p. 57. pp. 135, 641 ; Phil. Mag. vii (1879), t Phil. Mag. vii (1879), p. 57.
from
"
Faraday
"
to
J J
.
71wmson.
395
new
state of matter
the free path is so Crookes found
simply a state in which long that collisionsmay be disregarded.

he understood that two
pencils adjacent
of cathode
rays
appeared to repel each other. At the time this was regarded as a direct confirmation of the hypothesis that the rays are streams of electricallycharged particles; but it was shown the deflexion of the rays must be assigned to causes
later that
other than
mutual repulsion. How admirably the molecular- torrent theory accounts for the deviation of the cathode rays by a magnetic fieldwas shown by the calculations of Eduard Riecke in 1881.* If the axis of
z
be taken parallel to the magnetic

of
a
force Ht
e,
the equations
of
motion
are
particle of
=
mass
ra,
charge
=
-
and velocity
v, (u, w)
mdu/dt
evH,
mdvjdt
euH,
mdw/dt
0.
that the component of velocity of the particle parallel to the magnetic force is constant; the other
The last equation
shows
equations give
u
=
A sin
(eHt/m),
cos
(eHi/m),
on a
showing
that the
of projection
the path
angles to the magnetic force is a field the particles of the molecular
plane at right circle. Thus, in a magnetic torrent describe spiral paths
whose axes are the lines of magnetic force. But the hypothesis of Varley and Crookes was involved in difficulties. Taitf in 1880 remarked
before long
that if the
particles are moving with great velocities,the periods of the luminous vibrations received from them should be affected to a in accordance extent measurable with Doppler's principle.
Tait tried to obtain this effect, but without success. It may, however, be argued that if,as Crookes supposed, the particles become luminous they have collided with other only when
particles, and have thereby lost part of their velocity, the in question is not to be expected. phenomenon
*
Gott. Nach.,
2 February,
x
1881;
reprinted, Ann.
d. Phys. xiii (1881), p. 191.
t Proc. Roy.
Soc. Edinb.
(1880). p. 430.
396
Gases,
The alternative to the molecular-torrent theory is to suppose that the cathode radiation is a disturbance of the aether. This maintained by several physicists,* and notably by view was
Hertz,f who
experimentally
Varley's rejected
hypothesis
when
he
found
that the rays did not appear to produce any apparently not external electric or magnetic force, and were however, pointed electrostatic field. It was, affected by an
by Fitz Gerald* that external space is probably screened from the effects of the rays by other electric actions which
out
take place in the discharge tube. further urged against the It was
charged-particle theory that cathode rays are capable of passing through films of metal which are so thick as to be quite opaque to ordinary light ;" it seemed inconceivable that particles of matter should not be
stopped by
even
experiments on subject, J.-J. by Thomson,! was |who made
the thinnest gold-leaf. At the time of Hertz's an the attempt to obviate this difficulty
film when
bombarded
by
suggested that the metallic itself acquire the the rays might
property of emitting charged particles,so that the rays which were observed on the further side need not have passed through Thomson the film. It was who ultimately found the true
explanation ; but this depended introduction and ideas, whose traced. The in part on another development must order of be now
tendency,
electron-theory involved certain changes

*
which of Weber
was
now
in
the general, to abandon favour theory of Maxwell's

of electric charge.
in the conceptions
Ann. d. Phys. x (1880), p. 202; translated, Phil. Mag. Ann. Goldstein, Phys. E. d. 357. p. 249. (1880), p. xii (1881), t Ann. d. Phys. xix (1883), p. 782. November 5, 1896 Nature, Writings, p. 433. ; Fitz Gerald's Scientific J
E.g. E. Wiedemann,
of the rays had been noticed by Hittorf, and by penetrating power E. "Wiedemann and Ebert, Sitzber. d. phys.-med. Soc. zu Erlangen, llth December,
" The
thoroughly by Hertz, Ann. d. Phys. xlv (1892), p. 225 ; lii (1894), p. 28, and by Philipp Lenard, of Bonn, Ann. d. Phys. li (1894), 23, on a p. who conducted cathode rays which had passed out seriesof experiments of the discharge tube through a thin window of aluminium. Recent Researches, p. 126. J. J. Thomson, ||
1891.
It
was
investigated
more
from
"
Faraday
to
J J
.
Thomson.
were
397
attributed
In the theory of Weber,

to
electric phenomena
charges, which could of stationary or moving most readily be pictured as having a discrete and atom-like existence. The conception of displacement, on the other hand,
agency in theory, was more which lay at the root of the Maxwellian harmony with the representation of electricity as something nature; and as Maxwell's views met with of a continuous increasing acceptance, the atomistic hypothesis seemed to have entered
on
the
in 1881, pointed outf that it was Society of London thoroughly in accord with the ideas of Faraday,J on which If,"he said, we accept the founded. Maxwell's theory was hypothesis that the elementary substances are composed of
" "
advocacy Chemical
period of decay. Its revival was due largely to the who, in a lecture delivered to the of Helmholtz,*
a
avoid concluding that electricityalso,positive as well as negative, is divided into definite elementary portions which behave like atoms of electricity."
atoms,
we
cannot
the conduction of electricity is considered in the light of this hypothesis, it seems almost inevitable to conclude that the process is of much the same character in gases as in When electrolytes; and before long this view was actively maintained. It had indeed long been known that a compound gas might be decomposed by the electric discharge ; and that in some cases liberated at the electrodes in such a way as to suggest an analogy with electrolysis. The question had been studied in 1861 by Adolphe Perrot, who examined " the gases liberated by the passage of the electric spark through He found that while the product of this action was steam. the constituents
are
detonating mixture decided preponderance

a
of hydrogen of hydrogen
and
at
one
oxygen, there
was
pole and of oxygen
at the other.
analogy of gaseous conduction to electrolysis was of Berlin, in 1882, in order to explain applied by W. Giese,||
*
The
f Journ. Chem.
Cf. also G. Johnstone Stoney, Phil. Mag., May, Soc. xxxix (1881), p. 277.
de Chimie
1881.
\ Cf. p.
200.
" Annales Ann. d. ||
Phys.
Ixi, p. (3), pp. xvii (1882),
161.
1, 236, 519.
398
Gases ,
"
It is assumed," the conductivity of the hot gases of flames. before the application of he wrote, that in electrolytes,even or an present atoms external electromotive force, there are
"
atomic
the ions, as they are called which originate groups city when the molecules dissociate; hy these the passage of electrifor they are set in motion through the liquid is effected,
"
"
We by the electric field and carry their charges with them. extend this hypothesis by assuming that in gases shall now also the property of conductivity is due to the presence of ions.
Such
ions may
be supposed
to exist in small numbers

as
in all gases at the ordinary temperature and pressure ; and the temperature rises their numbers will increase."
Ideas similar to this were presented in a general theory of devised two years the discharge in rarefied gases, which was Schuster remarked later by Arthur Schuster, of Manchester.* that when hot liquids are maintained at a high potential, the
vapours which rise from them are found to be entirely free from electrification ; from which he inferred that a molecule surface in its rapid motion cannot carry striking an electrified
away
any
part of the charge, and
that
one
electricity to another in an communicate both molecules remain intact. Thus he
molecule cannot in which encounter led to the conclusion is necessary
was
that dissociation of the gaseous molecules
for the passage of electricitythrough gases. f Schuster advocated the charged-particle theory of cathode rays, and by extending and interpreting an experiment of
Hittorf He
was
able
to
adduce
strong
evidence
in its favour.
placed the positive and negative electrodes so close to each other that at very low pressures the Crookes' dark space In these extended from the cathode to beyond the anode.
circumstances it was found that the discharge from
point electrode always passed to the nearest dark Crookes' boundary of the space which, of
"
the positive of the inner

was
course,
in
Proc. Roy. Soc. xxxvii (1884), p. 317. an In t the case of elementary gas, this would imply dissociationof the molecule into two atoms chemically alike, but oppositely charged ; in electrolysis the
*
is into two .dissociation
chemically unlike ions.
Jrom
Faraday
to
J J
.
Thomson*
399
the opposite direction to the ijathode. Thus, in the neighbourhood flowing in two of the positive discharge, the current was places ; which could opposite directions at closely adjoining in one direction were unless the current scarcely happen
carried by particles moving virtue of their inertia. Continuing
against the
lines of force by
his researches, Schuster* showed in 1887 that be obtained in air between a steady electric current may electrodes whose difference of potential is but small, provided in the same is maintained independent current that an
continuous discharge produces in occurs the air such a condition that conduction with the smallest electromotive forces. This effect he explained by aid of the hypothesis previously advanced ; the ions produced
vessel ; that is to say,
a
by the main and, coming
discharge become under
diffused throughout
the influence of the auxiliary electrodes, drift so as to carry the latter.

A
the vessel, field set up by the

a
current
between
discovery related to this was made in the same year by in the course of the celebrated researches? which have Hertz,f
Happening to notice that the passage been already mentioned. of one spark is facilitatedby the passage of another spark in
its neighbourhood,
he followed up the observation, and found to be due to the agency of ultra-violet light the phenomenon It appeared in fact that the emitted by the latter spark.
an electric spark can which pass in air is light of very short wave-length is greatly increased when It was soon found"that the allowed to fall on the spark-gap.
distance
across
effective light is that which falls on the negative electrode Hallwachs||extended the discovery of the gap ; and Wilhelm
Proc. Roy. Soc. xlii (1887), p. 371. forces to cause are sufficient electromotive
*
Hittorf had discovered that very small discharge across a space through which
the cathode radiation is passing. t Berlin Ber., 1887, p. 487 ; Ann.
d. Phys. xxxi
(1887), p.
983 ; Electric Waves
(English p. ed.), Cf.p. 357. I
63.
" By E. Wiedemann and Ebert, Ann. d. Phys. Ann. d. Phys. p. 301. || xxxiii (1888),
xxxiii
(1888), p.
241.
400
by showing

that when
a
Gases,
sheet of metal is negatively electrified air is thrown and exposed to ultra-violet light, the adjacent into a state which permits the charge to leak rapidly away. Interest
was now
thoroughly
aroused
conductivity in gases ; and it was hope of divining the nature of the process lay in studying the If a firststep towards underdischarge at high rarefactions. standing the relations between aether and ponderable matter is
"
in the problem of generally felt that the best
to be made,"
the most
it seems said Lord Kelvin in 1893,* hopeful foundation for it is knowledge

"
to
me
that
derived from
on electricityin high vacuum." experiments Within the two following years considerable progress was by a rotating-mirror effected in this direction. J. J. Thomson,^
method, succeeded in measuring the velocity of the cathode rays, 1*9 x 107 finding it to be| ; a value so much smaller than cm./sec. that of the velocity of light that it was scarcely possible to conceive blow was
of the rays as vibrations of the aether. A dealt at the latter hypothesis when Jean
further
Perrin,"
received the rays in a metallic cylinder, found that the cylinder became charged with resinous electricity. When deviated by a magnet in such a way that they the rays were
having
could
no
longer enter
This appeared
charge.
longer acquired a the cylinder, it no to demonstrate that the rays transport

is
negative electricity. With cathode rays
was of radiation, which W. C. K6ntgen.ll The discovery
type closely connected another discovered in December, 1895, by
in
an
usual
accident : a photographic way, had been kept in a
originated plate which, protected in the

room
seems
to
have
carried on, was experiments were Experiments distinct markings.

*
in which vacuum-tube found on development to show
suggested
by
this showed
Proc. Roy.
Soc. liv
(1893), p.
same
389.
t Phil. Mag.
p. 358. xxxviii (1894),
" The value found by the
investigator in 1897
was
much
larger than this.
$ Cornptes Rendus, cxxi (1895), p. 1130. Physikal. Sitzungsber. der Wiirzburger ||

Ann. d. Phys. Ixiv
pp. 1, 12; (1898),
Gesellschaft, 1895 ; reprinted, -Medic. translated, Nature, liii p. 274. (1896),
Jrom
that
Faraday
to
J. J
Thomson.
401
radiation, capable of affecting sensitive plates and of causing fluorescence in certain substances, is emitted by tubes in which the electric discharge is passing; and that the radiation the place where the cathode rays strike the glass walls of the tube. The X-rays, as they were called by their discoverer, are propagated in straight lines, and can proceeds neither be refracted by any of the substances which refract light, nor deviated from -their course by a magnetic field; they are moreover able to pass with little absorption through many substances which are opaque to ordinary and ultra-violet light a property of which considerable use has been made in surgery.
"
from
The
nature
speculation.
represent the
the of the new radiation was of much subject Its discoverer suggested that it might prove to
long-sought-for longitudinal vibrations of the aether ; while other writers advocated the rival claims of aethereal vortices, infra-red light, and "sifted" cathode rays.
The hypothesis which subsequently obtained general acceptance first propounded by Schuster* in the month following the was
publication of Kontgen's researches.

transverse
It is,that the X-rays
are
vibrations of the aether, of exceedingly small wavelength. A suggestion which was put forward later in the year
by E. Wiechertf and
Sir George
to StokesJ
the effect that the
rays are pulses generated in the aether when the glass of the discharge tube is bombarded by the cathode particles,is not really distinct from Schuster's hypothesis ; for ordinary white
light likewise consists of pulses, as Gouy"had shown, and the essential feature which distinguishes the Eontgen pulses is that
the harmonic
vibrations into which

are
they
can
be
resolved by
Fourier's analysis
of very short period.
Nature, January
suggestion in a t Ann. d. Phys. lix
23, 1896, p. 268. Fitz Gerald independently made the same letter to O. J. Lodge, printed in the Electrician xxxvii, p. 372.
:
(1896), p. 321. Xature, September 3, 1896, p. 427 I Mem. Manchester Lit. " Phil. Soc. xli
Proc. Canib. Phil. Soc. ix
(1896), p.
215 ;
(1896-7).
D
$ Journ.
de Phys.
(1886), p. 354.
2
402
The
Conduction in Solutions and Gases,
rapidity of the vibrations explains the failure of all For in the formula attempts to refract the X-rays.
""
!-
"**
of the Maxwell-Sellmeier theory,* n denotes the frequency, and so is in this case extremely large ; whence we have
/*'
=
!,
i.e., the refractive index of all substances for the X-rays is unity. In fact,the vibrations alternate too rapidly to have an effect in refraction. on the sluggish systems which are concerned
Some
measured
years afterwards H. Haga and C. H. Wind,f having the diffraction-patternsproduced by X-rays, concluded
of the vibrations
that the wave-length

o
concerned
was
of the
order of
unit, that is about 1/6000 of the wavelength of the yellow light of sodium. One of the most important was properties of X-rays
one
Angstrom
discovered, shortly after the rays themselves had become known, by J. J. Thomson,]: who announced that when they pass through any substance, whether solid, liquid,or gaseous, they render it This he attributed, in accordance with the ionic conducting. theory of conduction, to a kind of electrolysis, the molecule of
"
the non-conductor Kb'ntgen rays."

The
being
split up,
or
nearly
split up, by the
in gases by this means was at once more investigated! closely. It was found that a gas which had acquired conducting power by exposure to X-rays lost this forced through a plug of glass-wool; whence quality when
conductivity produced
it
was
inferred that
the
structure
a
in virtue
gas conducts is of so coarse survive the passage through

*
character the fine pores of the plug.
the of which that it is unable to
The
Cf. p. 293. Acad., March 25th, 1899 (English t Proceedings of the Amsterdam edition, i, September 1902 27th, v, (English and p. 247). p. 420), edition, % Nature, February 27, 1896, p. 391. p. 392. " J. J. Thomson and E. Rutherford, Phil. Mag. xlii (1896),
from
conductivity
current
was was
Faraday
to
J. J.
Thomson.
an
403
electric for which
also found
to be destroyed when
"
passed through the gas a phenomenon be found in electrolysis. For if the ions were a parallel may from an electrolytic solution by the passage of removed
solution would cease sufficientelectricity had passed to
current,
the
to
remove
conduct
as
soon
as
them
all ; and
it
may be supposed that the conducting agents which are produced in a gas by exposure to X-rays are likewise abstracted from it when they are employed to transport charges.
be applied to explain another property The strength of the current of gases exposed to X-rays. through the gas depends both on the intensity of the radiation
The
same
idea may
the electromotive force ; but if the former factor be constant, and the electromotive force be increased, the current does not increase indefinitely,but tends to attain a certain
and also
on
"
saturation value. The existence of this saturation value is evidently due to the inability of the electromotive force to do more the ions as fast as they are produced by than to remove
"
the rays. Meanwhile
accumulating to show that other evidence was the conductivity produced in gases by X-rays is of the same nature as the conductivity of the gases from flames and from
the
path of a discharge, to which the theory of Giese and Schuster had already been applied. One proof of this identity was supplied by observations of the condensation of waterbefore by tion precipita-
It had been noticed long into clouds. vapour John Aitken* that gases rising from flames cause from a saturated of the aqueous vapour
E.
von
gas;
and
that gases through which an property. electric discharge has been passed possess the same by C. T. E. Wilson, % working in the It was now shown
Helmholtzf
had
found
Cavendish
gases which
*
Laboratory have
at Cambridge,
that the
same
is true
of
been
exposed
to X-rays.
The
explanation
Trans. R. S. Edinb. xxx (1880), p. 337. 1. t Ann. d. Phys. xxxii (1887), p. % Proc. Roy. Soc., March 19, 1896 ; Phil. Trans., 1897, p. 265.
2
T" 2
404
Gases,
the gas for the
furnished by the ionic theory is that in all three cases of condensation contains ions which act as centres
vapour. During
were
they from
the year which followed their discovery, the X-rays that at the end of that period so thoroughly examined were almost better understood than the cathode rays which they derived their origin. But the obscurity in had subject
at
which this dispelled.
been
so
long involved
was
now
to be
Lecturing
J. J. Thomson
the
Eoyal
Institution
on
April 30th, 1897,
a new suggestion to reconcile the advanced molecular- torrent hypothesis with Lenard's observations of the We see passage of cathode rays through material bodies. from Lenard's table," he said, that a cathode ray can travel
"
"
through
air at atmospheric pressure a distance of about half a fallsto centimetre before the brightness of the phosphorescence free path of the mean about half its original value. Now
the molecule of air at this pressure is about 10~5 cm., and if it would lose half its momentum molecule of air were
a
projected
in
space comparable with the suppose that it is not the same

a
mean
free path.
Even
if
we
molecule
that is carried, the

the
reduce effect of the obliquity of the collisions would in half a short multiple of that path. to momentum Lenard's experiments rays outside the tube, it follows on
"
Thus, from
the absorption of the the hypothesis that the

on
cathode rays
charged particles moving with high velocities be small compared that the size of the carriers must with the The assumption or dimensions of ordinary atoms molecules.*
are
of
an
state of matter
more
finely subdivided
than
a
the atom
of
element is a somewhat involve somewhat would so-called elements has been put
"
startling one
; but
hypothesis that
"
similar consequences of
some
viz. that the
compounds from forward
are
time
primordial element by various to time
chemists."
made similar suggestion was Gesellscb. in Konigsberg, Jan. 1897.
*
by E. Wiechert, Verhandl. d. physik.-ocon.
from
Thomson's
that
"
Faraday
tcr J. J
Thomson.
405
lecture drew
from
Fitz Gerald*
the suggestion
"
we
dealing with free electrons in these cathode rays remark the point of which will become more evident when to consider the direction in which the Maxwellian come
we are
"
theory
being developed at this time. Shortly afterwards Thomson himself published

was
an
accountf of
to the the only outstanding objections The chief of these was charged-particle theory were removed. Hertz' failure to deflect the cathode rays by an electrostatic
experiments
in which
the rays to travel between parallel plates of metal maintained at differentpotentials ; but Thomson now that in these circumstances the rays generate showed
field. Hertz
had
caused
ions in the rarefied gas, which settle on the plates, and annul the electric force in the intervening space. By carrying the exhaustion to a much higher degree, he removed this source of
confusion, and obtained the expected deflexion of the rays. The electrostatic and magnetic deflexions taken together
suffice to determine
to the charge which
the ratio of the

it carries.
rar
mass
of
cathode particle
of motion
For
the equation
of
the particle is
=
eE
.+
H], e[v.
denotes the vector from the origin to the position of the particle ; E and H denote the electric and magnetic forces ; e the charge, m the mass, and v the velocity of the particle.
where
r
observing the circumstances in which the force #E, due to the electric field, exactly balances the force e [v H], due to the
By
.
it is possible to determine v ; and it is readily magnetic field, from the above equation that a measurement seen of the deflexion in the magnetic field supplies a relation between v Thomson ; so both v and may be determined. and
m/e
m/e
found the value of m/e to be independent of the nature of the 10~7 (grammes/electromagnetic was units rarefied gas : itsamount
of of
only which charge), m/e for the hydrogen

*
is
about the thousandth part of the value in electrolysis. If the charge atom
t Phil. Mag.
xliv
Electrician, May
21, 1897.
(1897), p.
298.
406
were
an

supposed
to be of the
same
Gases,
as
order of magnitude
that
on
electrolytic ion, it would

mass was
be necessary
to conclude
that the
particle whose
is much thus measured smaller than the atom, and the might be entertained that it is the conjecture primordial unit composed.* The nature
or
corpuscle of which
all atoms
are
ultimately
resinously charged corpuscles which constitute cathode rays being thus far determined, it became of interest to inquire whether corresponding bodies existed carrying
of the
charges of vitreous electricity

"
provisional
answer
was
same
year.
More
than
question to which at any rate given by W. Wienf of Aachen in the had decade previously E. Goldstein^
a a
shown
that when
the cathode of
discharge-tube is perforated,
through the perradiation of a certain type passes outward foration into the part of the tube behind the cathode. To now this radiation he had given the name canal rays. Wien that the canal rays are formed of positively charged showed larger than particles, obtaining a value of m/e immensely Thomson had obtained for the cathode rays, and indeed of as the same the corresponding ratio in order of magnitude electrolysis. The disparity thus
the corpuscles of revealed between the positive ions of Goldstein's rays excited
cathode rays and great interest ; it seemed to offer a prospect of explaining the the relations of vitreous and of curious differences between These phenomena resinous electricity to ponderable matter.
had been studied by many previous investigators ; in particular in the Bakerian lecture of 1890, had remarked that Schuster," if the law of impact is different between the molecules of the
"
gas and the positive and negative ions respectively, it follows that the rate of diffusion of the two sets of ions will in general be different,"and had inferred from his theory of the discharge
*
W.
value of m/e for cathode rays was Ann. d. Phys. Ixi, p. 544. Kaufmaim,
The
determined
also in the
165;
same
year by
t Verh;"ndl. der physik. Ixv (1898), {".440.
Gesells.
zu
Berlin, xvi
(1897), p.
Ann.
d. Phys.
Berlin Sitzungsber., 1886, p. 691.
" Proc. R.S.
p. 526. xlvii (1890),
Jrom
that
"
Faraday
to
J J
.
Thomson.
407
the negative ions diffuse more rapidly." This inference was confirmed in 1898 by John Zeleny,* who showed that of the ions produced in air by exposure to X-rays, the positive
are
the ions of gases was a not known with certainty until 1898, when plan for determining it was successfully executed by J. J. Thomson.f
The principles on which this celebrated investigation was based are very ingenious. By measuring the current in a gas which is exposed to Rontgen rays and to a known motive electrosubjected force, it is possible to determine the value of the product
decidedly less mobile than the negative. The magnitude of the electric charge on
denotes the number of ions in unit volume of the gas, e the charge on an ion, and v the mean velocity of the positive and negative ions under the electromotive force. As
nev,
where
had
been
already
determined
so
determination might The
of ne ; be deduced. method
on
if
led to experiment could be found, the value of

the
a
e
,J
founded that when

aqueous
by Thomson to determine n was employed the discovery, to which we have already referred, X-rays pass through dust-free air, saturated with
as
nuclei around which the water condenses, so that a cloud is produced by such a degree of saturation as would ordinarily be incapable of producing condensation The size of the drops was ments calculated from measure-
vapour, the ions act
of the rate at which the cloud sank ; and, by comparing this estimate with the measurement of the mass of water deposited, the number of drops was determined, and hence the
of the gas in which the ions were in hydrogen produced, being approximately the same for being apparently in both cases as the same as in air, and of the nature the charge carried by the hydrogen ion in electrolysis. Since the publication of Thomson's papers his general for gaseous conclusions regarding the magnitudes of e and
n of ions. The number found to be independent
value of
consequently
deduced
was
m/e
*
+
Phil. Mag.
p. 120. xlvi (1898;, By E. Rutherford, Phil. Mag. xliv
t Phil. Mag.
xlvi
(1898), p.
528.
(1897), p. 422.
408
Gases,
It appears certain that ions have been abundantly confirmed. electric charge exists in discrete units, vitreous and resinous, Each 1*5 x 10~19 coulombs approximately. each of magnitude
ion, whether
in
an
electrolytic liquid
or
in
gas, carries
one
(oran
integral
number)of
or
these charges.
atoms
An
electrolytic ion
and
a
order of magnitude as that of the same But it is possible in many of an atom of matter. ways to produce in a gas negative ions which are not attached to atoms of matter ; for these the inertia is only about one- thousandth
mass
also contains one gaseous ion has a
more
of matter;
positive
for believing and there is reason is in its origin purely electrical.* The closing years of the nineteenth century saw the foundation of another branch of experimental science which is closely Rontgen related to the study of conduction in gases. When
of the inertia of an atom; that even this apparent mass
announced
power
his discovery
of the X-rays,
and
described
their
of exciting phosphorescence, a number to investigate this property more commenced particular,Henri

which uranium
was are
of other workers In completely.
Becquerel
emitted
resolved to examine the radiations by the phosphorescent double sulphate of
The result potassium after exposure to the sun. February 24th, to the French Academy on communicated
and
in photographic plate," he said, be wrapped two sheets of very thick black paper, such that the plate is not for a day. Outside the paper affected by exposure to the sun
1896.f
"
Let
"
quantity of the phosphorescent substance, and expose for several hours. When the whole to the sun the plate is developed, it displays a silhouette of the phosphorescent place
a are radiations which capable of passing through paper opaque to ordinary light,and
substance.
So
the
latter must
emit
of reducing salts of silver." At this time Becquerel supposed
the radiation to have been
excited by the exposure of the phosphorescent substance to the sun that it persisted for an ; but a week later he
announced^
Cf. p. 343. f Comptes Rendus, cxxii (1890), p. 420. 501. Ibid., 2nd, 1896), p. I cxxii (March
from
Faraday
to
J. J'.
Thomson.
409
indefinite time after the substance had been removed from the sunlight, and after the luminosity which properly constitutes had died away ; and he was thus led to conphosphorescence clude that the activity was spontaneous and found that those salts of uranium soon
" "
was
permanent. do which
It
not
the uranous salts, and the metal itself, e.g., all emit the rays ; and it became evident that what Becquerel had discovered was a radically new physical property, possessed by the element uranium in all its chemical compounds.
phosphoresce
Attempts substances. compounds;* Sklodowska
were
now
In
1898
made it was
and in the same Curie announced to the French Academy the highly new separation from the mineral pitchblende of two active elements, to which they gave the names of poloniumf and A host of workers was soon engaged in studying the radium.}: properties of the Becquerel rays. The discoverer himself had
this activity in other recognized in thorium and its year P. Curie and Madame
to
trace
shown" in 1896 that these rays, like the X- and cathode rays,
impart It was found in 1899 by gases. that the rays from uranium are not all of the same Kutherfordll kind, biit that at least two distinct types are present ; one of is readily absorbed ; these, to which he gave the name a-rays, conductivity
to
he named has a greater /3-radiation, which It was then shown by Giesel, Becquerel, and penetrating power. others, that part of the radiation is deflected by a magnetic field,1T
while
another,
Curieft and part is not.** After this Monsieur and Madame found that the deviable rays carry negative electric charges,
*
By
Schmidt, Rendus,
Ann.
d. Phys.,
Ixv
(1898), p.
175.
141 ; and
by
Ma.iame
Curie,
Comptes
p. 1101. cxxvi (1898),
% Ibid., cxxvii (1898), p. 1215. Phil. Mag. (5), || p. 109. " Ibid., cxxii (1896), xlvii (1899), p. 559. H Giesel, Ann. 834 d. Phys. Ixix (1899), (working with polonium); p. Becquerel, Comptes Rendus, ; (1899),p. 996 (working with radium) cxxix 113 Meyer andv. Schweidler, Phys. Zeitschr. i (1899), (workingwith polonium p.
cxxvii
t Comptes
Rendus,
(1898), p.
and
radium).
**
Bc-cquerel, Comptes
372.
Curie, ibid, exxx

Rendus,
cxxix (1900), p. 73.

cxxx
Rendus,
p. 1205); cx\x (1889),
(1900), pp.
206,
ft Comptes
(1900), p. 647.
410
Conduction in Solutions and Gases.

by
an
and Becquerel* succeeded in deviating them field. The deviable or j3thus rays were
nature
as
electrostatic
same
clearly of the
cathode rays ; and when measurements of the electric and magnetic deviations gave for the ratio m/e a value of the order 10~7, the identity of the /3-particles with the cathode-ray fully established. corpuscles was The subsequent history of the
of physics thus We created falls outside the limits of the present work. must now consider the progress which was achieved in the general theory of aether and electricity in the last decade of the
new
branch
nineteenth
century.
*
Comptes
Eendus,
c"xx
p. (1900),
809.
CHAPTEE
XII.
THE
THEORY
OF
AETHER
AND
ELECTRONS
IN CENTURY.
THE
CLOSING
YEARS
OF
THE
NINETEENTH
THE
of Maxwell* and of Hertzf to extend the theory in which ponderable of the electromagnetic field to the case bodies are in motion had been altogether successful. not
attempts
Neither writer had taken account
of any motion of the material particles relative to the aether entangled with them, so that in both investigations the moving bodies were regarded simply portions of the medium which fills all space, distinguished only by special values of the electric and sistent Such an assumption is evidently inconconstants. magnetic
as
homogeneous
with explained it was
had theory by which FresnelJ admirable the optical behaviour of moving transparent bodies ;
the
therefore not surprising that writers subsequent to Hertz by others to replace his equations should have proposed designed to agree with Fresnel's formulae. Before discussing
these, however,
it may
the
be well to review motion bodies, of

as
for and
to moving
against
briefly the evidence the aether in and adjacent

in the last decade
ponderable
it appeared
of the nineteenth The phenomena

on
century.
of aberration had
the assumption
by their motion. in 1845 by Stokes|| For suppose this is not the only possible explanation.
the motion of the earth communicates motion
that the aether But it was shown
been explained by Young" around bodies is unaffected

that that
to the neighbouring
as
portions of the aether ; this may

on
be regarded
the
vibratory
motion
which
the
superposed aethereal particles have

p. 115. 6.
Cf p. 288. Mag. xxvii Phil. ||
t Cf. p. 365.
(1845), p. 9 ; xxviii
I Cf. p. 116. $ Cf. 76; p. (1846), p. xxix (1846),
-412
The Theory
ofAether
and
Electrons in the
when transmitting light : the orientation of the wave-fronts of the light will consequently in general be altered ; and the direction in which a heavenly body is seen, being normal to the wavefronts will thereby be affected. But if the aethereal motion is irrotational, so that the elements of the aether do not rotate, it is easily seen that the direction of propagation of the light in space is unaffected ; the luminous disturbance is still propagated in straight lines from the star, while the normal to the wave-front this line of at any point deviates from denotes the u propagation by the small angle ujc, where component of the aethereal velocity at the point, resolved at right angles to the line of propagation, and c denotes the the velocity of light. If it be supposed that the aether near
earth is at rest relatively to the earth's surface, the star will the direction in which the appear to be displaced towards by the ratio of earth is moving, through an angle measured
the velocity of the earth to the velocity of light,multiplied by the sine of the angle between the direction of the earth's star. This is motion and the line joiningthe earth and
precisely the law of aberration. An to Stokes's theory has been
objection
several writers, amongst others by H. incompressible that the irrotational motion of an completely determinate velocity at its boundary supposed to have the same
pointed out by A. Lorentz.* This is, fluid is
the normal when component of the is given : so that if the aether were normal
component of velocity as
tangential component the earth, it would not have the same of velocity. It follows that no motion will in general exist which satisfiesStokes's conditions ; and the difficulty is not solved in any very satisfactoryfashion by either of the suggestions which, have been proposed to meet it. One of these is to suppose that the moving earth does generate a rotational disturbance, which, however, being radiated away with the velocity of light,does not affect the steadier irrotational motion ; the other, which was
*
Archives Neerl, xxi
(1896), p.
103.
Closing Years
advanced
"
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
the two
413-
conditions of Stokes's that the motion theory of the aether is to be namely, irrotational and that at the earth's surface its velocity is to be both be satisfied if the that of the earth as the same may
by Planck,*
is that
"
in accordance with to be compressible aether is supposed to gravity, so that round the earth it Boyle's law, and subject is compressed like the atmosphere ; the velocity of light being supposed independent of the condensation in Lorentz,f of the aether. to the defects of Stokes's
calling attention theory, proposed to combine the ideas of Stokes and Fresnel, by assuming that the aether near the earth is moving irrotationally but that (asin Stokes's theory),
at the surface of the earth
the
as that of ponderable aethereal velocity is not necessarily the same in Fresiiel'stheory) a matter, and that (as material body
imparts the fraction (ju2

-
l}/ju2 of its own

a
motion
case
to the aether
within
it. Fresnel's theory is
particular
of this
new
theory, being derived from it by supposing the velocity-potential to be zero. Aberration isby
the only astronomical phenomenon the velocity of propagation of light ; we have
no means was
which depends on indeed seent that this velocity
by originally determined observing the retardation of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. in 1879 that these eclipses by Maxwell" It was remarked
furnish, theoretically at least,
a
means
of determining
the
velocity of the solar system relative to the aether. For if the distance from the eclipsed satellite to the earth be divided by the observed of the eclipse, the quotient represents the velocity of propagation of light in this direction, from the velocity relative to the solar system; and this will differ of propagation of light relative to the aether by the component, in this direction, of the sun's velocity relative to the aether. By taking observations when
*
retardation in time
Jupiter is in different signs of the
i (1899), Of. Lorentz, Proc. Amsterdam Acad. (English p. 443. ed.), Zittinsgsversl.Kon. 103 AmsterAk. dam, : t Archives Neerl. xxi (1886), p. cf. also 1897-98,
p. 266.
J Cf.
p. 22.
"
Proc. R. S.
xxx
(1880), p.
108.
414
The Theory
ofAether
and Electrons in the

sun's
therefore be possible to determine the velocity relative to the aether, or at least that component which liesin the ecliptic. zodiac, it should The
other
same
of it
principles may
astronomical
be applied to the discussion of Thus the minimum phenomena. of a
variable star of the Algol type will be retarded or accelerated by an interval of time which isfound by dividing the projection of the radius from the sun to the earth on the direction from to the Algol variable by the velocity, relative to the the sun solar system, of propagation of light from the variable ; and thus the latter quantity may be deduced from observations of the retardation.* Another instance in which
an
the time taken
by light to
cross
orbit influences an observable quantity is afforded by the that of double stars. Savaryf long ago remarked astronomy the plane of the orbit of a double star is not at right when angles to the line of sight,an inequality in the apparent motion be caused by the circumstance that the light from the must Yvon VillarceauJ to make. remoter star has the longer journey showed that the effect might be represented by a constant alteration of the ellipticelements of the orbit (which alteration beyond is of course together with a periodic detection), inequality, which
statement
:
may
be completely
specified by the following
coordinates of one star relative to the other have the values which in the absence of this effect they would have at an earlier or later instant, differing from the actual time by the amount the apparent
m, m}
-
")iz
'
z c'
mz
of the stars, c the velocity where ml and m2 denote the masses of light, and z the actual distance of the two stars from each
found from observations of Algol, by velocity of light was Charlier, Of versigt af K. Vet.-Ak. Forhandl. xivi (1889), p. 523. t Conn, des Temps, 1830.
*
The
C. V. L.
J Additions
la Connaissance
des Temps,
1878
zu
an
improved
deduction
was
d. K. Ak. given by H. Seeliger, Sitzungsberichte
Miinchen,
xix
(1889), p.
19.
Closing Years
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
415
emitted, resolved along other at the time when the light was In the existing state of double-star astronomy, the line of sight. this effect would be masked by errors of observation.
the velocity of the source If, for instance, the velocity of light by which it is emitted. less than the velocity of were from a star occulted by the moon light reflected by the moon, then the apparent position of the
on
Villarceau also examined the that the velocity of light depends
consequences
of supposing
lunar disk would
than that advanced in its movement of the star, so that at emersion the star would first appear at distance outside the lunar disk, and at immersion the star some
be
more
on the interior of the disk at the instant of would be projected The amount by which the image of the star its disappearance.
could encroach
so
on
that of the disk
on
this account
could not be
to the extent of more as 0"'71 ; encroachment than much 1" has been observed, but is evidently to be attributed for the
most
of the finitevelocity of propagation of light which are of importance in astronomy, a leading place must be assigned to the principle enunciated in 1842 by Christian Doppler,* observer
that the motion
part to other causes. Among the consequences
of
source
modifies the period of The phenomenon received by him. of the pitch of a note when the source the the observer. In either case, perceived
where
v
of light relative to the disturbance which resembles
an
is
the depression
of sound is receding from
period
x
of the vibrations
by
the
observer is
(c+ v)/c
the natural period,
denotes the velocity of separation of the source and observer, and c denotes the velocity of propagation of the disturbance. If, e.g., the velocity of separation is equal to the orbital velocity of the earth, the D lines of sodium in the will be displaced towards the red, as spectrum of the source compared with lines derived from a terrestrialsodium flame, bs
The application about one-tenth of the distance between them. of this principle to the determination of the relative velocity of
*
Abhandl.
der K.
Hohm.
Ges. der Wissensch.
ii (1842), (5) p.
465.
416
stars
The Theory of Aether and Electrons in the

in the line of sight, which has proved of great service in suggested by Fizeau in 1848.*
astrophysical research, was from the astronomical observatory, we Passing now must examine the information which has been gained in the physical laboratory regarding the effect of the earth's motion on optical We have alreadyf referred to the investigations phenomena. by which the truth of Fresnel's formula An was tested. by of a different type was experiment suggested in 1852
that, unless the aether is carried along by the earth, the radiation emitted by a terrestrialsource should
FizeauJ who
remarked
have
different intensities in different directions.

shown
It
was,
ever, how-
would
long afterwards by Lorentz"that such an experiment not be expected on theoretical grounds to yield a positive
of radiant energy imparted to an absorbing result ; the amount body is independent of the earth's motion. A few years later Fizeau investigatedll another possible effect. If a beam of
obliquely through a glass plate, the azimuth of polarization is altered to an extent which depends, the refractive index of the glass. other things, on amongst Fizeau performed this experiment with sunlight, the light polarized light is sent
being sent through the glass in the direction of the terrestrial motion, and in the opposite direction ; the readings seemed to differin the two cases, but on account of experimental difficulties indecisive. the result was Some years later, the effect of the earth's motion on the rotation of the plane of polarization of light propagated along the axis of a quartz crystal was investigated by Mascart.^f The
negative, Mascart stating that the rotation could result was than the (l/40,000)th not have been altered by more part when the orientation of the apparatus was reversed from that of
*
was
apparatus for demonstrating the Doppler-Fizeau effect in the laboratory by Belopolsky, Astrophys. Journal constructed p. 15. xiii (1901), An
+ Ann. d. Phys. xcii (1854), t Of. pp. 117-120. p. 652. Acad. (English iv (1902) \ Proc. Amsterdam p. 678. edition), de Chim. Ann. d. Phys. cxiv (1861), 129; Ixviii Annales (1860), (3) p. ||
p. 554. H Annales
de 1'Ec. Norm.
i (1872), (2) p.
157.
Closing Years
the terrestrial motion
ofthe Nineteenth
to
Century.
417
afterwards confirmed alteration, if it existed, could part. In terrestrialmethods the ray is made to retrace
the opposite direction. This was by Lord Kayleigh,* who found that the
not
amount
to
(l/100,000)th
of determining the velocity of light its path, so that any velocity which the earth might possess with respect to the luminiferous medium would affect the time of the double passage only by an amount
proportional to the square of the constant of aberration.f In 1881, however, A. A. MichelsonJ remarked that the effect, though of the second order, should be manifested by a measurable for rays describing equal paths parallel and perpendicular respectively to the direction of He produced interference-fringes between the earth's motion. two pencils of light which had traversed paths perpendicular difference between
the
times
to each other ; but when
right angle, so displacement of the fringes could not be perceived. This result was regarded by Michelson himself as a vindication of Stokes's theory^ in which the aether in the neighbourhood of the dearth
is supposed
to be set in
the apparatus was rotated through a that the difference would be reversed, the expected
motion.
however, Lorentzj),
had only half the that the quantity to be measured value supposed by Michelson, and suggested that the negative tion result of the experiment might be explained by that combinashowed
of Fresnel's and Stokes's theories which was developed in his own memoirIF ; since, if the velocity of the aether near the
half the earth's velocity, the displacement (say) earth were Michelson's fringes would be insensible.
*
of
Phil. Mag.
constant
iv.
(1902), p.
215.
of aberration is the ratio of the earth's orbital velocity to the light ; cf. supra, p. 100. velocity of " Amer. Journ. Sci. xxii (1881), p. 20. His method was afterwards improved : Amer. Sci. xxxiv (1887), Journ. Morley, Michelson p. 333; Phil. Mag. and cf. p. 449. xxiv (1887), Cf. 411. p. "
t The
Xeerl. xxi also Hicks, Phil. Mag. U Cf. p. 413.

Arch. ||
On (1886), p. 103. iii(1902), p. 9.

2
the Micbelson-Morley
experiment
cf.
418
The Theory
of
Aether and Electrons in the
A sequel to the experiment of Michelson and Morley was performed in 1897, when Michelson* attempted to determine
by experiment
whether the relative motion of earth and aether varies with the vertical height above the terrestrial surface. No result, however, could be obtained to indicate that the
velocity of light depends on the distance from the centre of the earth ; and Michelson concluded that if there were no choice ""but between the theories of Fresnel and Stokes, it would be necessary to adopt the latter,and to suppose that the earth's
the aether exends to many thousand kilometres above its surface. By this time, however, as will subsequently appear, a different explanation was at hand.
on
influence
Meanwhile
the perplexity of the
was subject
increased by
experimental results which pointed in the opposite direction In 1892 Sir Oliver Lodgef observed the to that of Michelson. interference between
light,which
a
were
the two portions of a bifurcated beam of made to travel in opposite directions round
*
closed path in the space between two rapidly rotating steel disks. The observations showed that the velocity of light is
not affected by the motion
of
matter adjacent
to the extent
(l/200)th part
of the velocity of the matter.
Continuing
of his
investigations,Lodge}strongly magnetized the moving matter in this so that the light was (iron propagated experiment), across a moving magnetic field; and electrifiedit so that the
path of the beams
no
case
We
not
moving electrostatic field; but in was the velocity of the light appreciably affected. trace the steps by which theoretical physicists must now
a
lay in
only arrived at a solution of the apparent contradictions furnished by experiments with moving bodies, but so extended the domain of electrical science that it became necessary to
enlarge the boundaries of space and time to contain it. in which the new first memoir The conceptions in 1892. was published by H. A. Lorentzg
were
unfolded-j
*
The
Amer.
Journ. Sci.
Neerl.
t Phil. Trans, clxxxiv
" Archives
et sqq.
iii(1897), (4) p. 475. 727. J Ibid., clxxxix (1897), (1893), p. p. 149. xxv (1892), p. 363 : the theory is given in eh. iv, pp. 432
Closing Years
of Lorentz Clausius,* a theory
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
419
of Weber, Kiemann, and of electrons ; that is to say, all electrowere dynamical phenomena ascribed to the agency of moving supposed in a magnetic field to electric charges, which were theory
was,
like those
forces proportional to their velocities, and to communicate these forces to the ponderable matter with which they might be associated.t
experience In spite of the fact that the earlier theories of electrons had failed to fulfil the expectations of their authors, the due are assumption that all electric and magnetic phenomena
of individual electric charges was to which physicists were one at this time disposed to give a have seen,* favourable consideration ; for, as we evidence of
to the presence
or
motion
contributed by the study of the conduction of electricitythrough liquids and gases. Moreover, the discoveries of Hertz " had shown that a molecule the atomic
nature
of electricitywas
now
system resembling which is emitting light must contain some a Hertzian vibrator; and the essential process in a Hertzian vibrator is the oscillation of electricity to and fro. Lorentz
himself from
action |had supposed the interof his career! of ponderable matter with the electricfieldto be effected
the outset
by the agency of electric charges associated with the material

atoms.
by
*
The principal difference by which Lorentz is distinguished from

+
the theory
the
'
now
theories
advanced of Weber,
' electron-theory as if it were celebrated discovery (cfp. 407, connected with Sir Joseph Thomson's justly specially have But Thomson's discovery, equal charges. supra)that all negative electrons though undoubtedly of the greatest importance as a guide to the structure of the influence hut little hitherto has on exercised general electromagnetic universe, for this is that in theoreticalinvestigations it is customary The reason theory. to denote the changes of electrons by symbols, e\, e-z, ; and the equality or
Cf. pp. 226, 231, 262. Some writers have inclined to
use
the term
non-equality of these makes no differenceto the equations. To take an illustration difference in the general no from Celestial Mechanics, it would clearly make if masses theory the the the planetary of planets happened to be equations of all equal. * Cf. chapter xi. Cf. pp. 357-363. "
Verb. ||
d. Ak.
v.
Wetenschappen,
Amsterdam,
2 E
2
Deel xviii (1878).
420
Kiemann,
The Theory
and
ofAether
and
Electrons in the
own
earlier work, lies in the conception which is entertained of the propagation In the older writelectron to another. ings, of influence from one the electrons were assumed to be capable of acting on
on distance, with forces depending their distances, and velocities; in the present charges, mutual the other hand, the electrons were supposed to memoir, on in interact not directly with each other, but with the medium
Clausing, and
from
Lorentz'
each
other
at
To this medium were ascribed the properties characteristic of the aether in Maxwell's theory. differed from The only respect in which Lorentz' medium which they
were
embedded.
in regard to the effects of the motion of bodies. Impressed by the success of Fresnel's beautiful theory of the propagation of light in moving transparent substances,*
Maxwell's
was
Lorentz
designed
his equations
so
as
to
theory, and showed that this might be distinction between matter and aether, and assuming that a its motion to moving communicate ponderable body cannot to the aether which the aether which surrounds it, or even
is entangled in its own
accord with that done by drawing a
part of the aether be in motion relative to any other part. Such an aether can simply space endowed with certain dynamical properties. The general plan of Lorentz' investigation was to reduce all particles ;
so no
that
the complicated and fundamental
cases
case,
of electromagnetic action to one simple in which the field contains only free
aether with solitary electrons dispersed in it ; the theory which he adopted in this fundamental was a case combination of Clausius' theory aether. Suppose of electricitywith Maxwell's theory of the
that
(x, y, z)
and
e(x, y', z)
are
two
electrons.
In the theory of Clausius,f the kinetic potential of their mutual action is

ee'
"
(xx +
yy
ss'
; c2)
so
when
any
number
of electrons
are
present, the part of the

t Cf. p. 262.
*Cf. pp. 116 etxqq.
Closing Years
kinetic potential which be written Le
where
a
=
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
any
one
421
may
concerns
of them
"
say, e
"
(axx+
ayy
azz
c2""),
the
and
c"
"
denote
potential functions, defined by

c r r
f
equations
/
f
""
denoting
dxdy'dz,
"/"
\\\pdx'dy'dz' ;
the volume-density of electric charge, and v its all space. velocity, and the integration being taken over Clausius' assumption that electrons act We shall now
reject
a
instantaneously
that they act aether
on
at
distance, and replace it by the assumption each other only through the mediation of an
fills all space, and satisfiesMaxwell's equations. This modification may be effected in Clausius' theory without
which difficulty ; for,
as we
if the state of Maxwell's aether at any point is defined by the electric vector d and magnetic vector h,f these vectors may be expressed in terms
have
seen,*
of potentials
and
d
=
^
c"
by the equations grad
""
a,
curl
and the functions
and "" may in turn be expressed in terms the electric charges by the equations
a
a
-
of
dx'dy'dz', JTJ \((**)'lr\
|(J5)"dxdtfdsf, "/" J/J

=
the bars indicate that the values of (pvr)' and (p)' refer formulae Comparing instant to the these (t r/c). with those
where
-
given above for Clausius' potentials, we see that the only change in Clausius' theory is that of which it is necessary to make retarding the potentials in the way indicated by L. Lorenz.J
The
*
electric and
Cf. pp. 298, 299.
magnetic
forces,thus defined in terms
of the
the small letters d and case, concerned with Lorentz' fundamental free aether and isolated electrons.
t We
shall
use
h. in place of E and H, when MC are in which the system consists solely of
% Cf.
p. 298.
422
The Theory
motion
ofAether

Maxwellian
position and equations
of the charges, satisfy the div d div h curl d
47rc2/o,
0,
-
K,
curl h
The
+ d/c2
47r/ov.
theory of Lorentz is based on these four aethereal mines equations of Maxwell, together with the equation which deterforce on the ponderomotive a charged particle ; this,
which we shall now Clausius' theory.
The
derive, is the contribution
furnished
by
Lagrangian
equations of motion
of the electron
e are
^-0
fasimilar equations, where L denotes the total kinetic The otential due to all causes, electric and mechanical. force exerted on the electron by the electroponderomotive magnetic
and
two
field has for its ^-component
dx
or
dt\ dx
daz dx
fdax
e{ \dx
""
dav
+
" -
it H
"
dx*
d"t"\ c*"}
"
dax
'-
"
dxj
dt
which, since
reduces to
-
e I"
-^
or
edx
(yhz
-
so
that the force in question is ed

+
e
[v h].
.
This
was
Lorentz' expression for the ponderomotive
force
on
an
Closing Years
ofthe Nineteenth
Century.
423
electrified corpuscle of charge e moving with velocity v in a field defined by the electric force d and magnetic force h. In Lorentz' fundamental case, which has thus been examined,
account
has
been
taken
which from
the universe
only of the ultimate constituents of is supposed to be composed, namely, corpuscles We

must
now
and
these
the aether. the

more
see
how
to build up
are
complex
systems
which
directly
presented to our experience. The electromagnetic fieldin ponderable bodies, which to our senses appears in general to vary continuously, would present a different aspect if we able to discern molecular structure ; we should then perceive the individual electrons by which the field is produced, and the rapid fluctuations of electric and
were
magnetic "force between them. instruments by our represent which, with
As
it is, the values furnished
averages
to
though
they
molecular value of this kind by Lorentz supposed
appear small dimensions.* We

a
bar placed over that the phenomena
volumes large are us, compared shall denote an average the corresponding symbol.
of electrostaticcharge
taken
over
and of conduction-currents are due to the presence or motion of The part simple electrons such as have been considered above. of p arising from these is the measurable density of electrostatic by pi. If w denote the velocity of the ponderable matter, and if the velocity v of the electrons be written w + u, then the quantity pv, so far as it arises from electrons of this type, may be written ^ w + pu. The former of
charge ; this
we
shall denote
these terms
represents the convection-current, and
the latter
the conduction-current. Consider next the Faraday, Thomson, dielectric molecule
and
of dielectrics. Following Mossotti,fLorentz supposed that each

phenomena
contains
corpuscles charged vitreously and These in the absence of

an
also corpuscles charged resinously.

principles had J. Willard Gibbs in 1882-3
*
developed, by extent enunciated, and to some Journ. Sci. xxiii, pp. 262, 460, xxv, : Amer. p. 107 ; Papei-s, ii,pp. 182, 195, 211. Gibbs' Scientific
These been
t Cf. pp. 210, 211.
424
The Theory
ofAether
as

to neutralize each other's electric
external fieldare so arranged fields outside the molecule.
For
simplicity
we
may
suppose
that in each molecule only one corpuscle, of charge e, is capable of being displaced from its position ; it follows from what has been assumed that the other corpuscles in the molecule exert
e situated at the electrostatic action as a charge original position of this corpuscle. Thus if e is displaced to an
the
same
entire molecule becomes equivalent to an is measured by the- product of e electric doublet, whose moment and the displacement of e. The molecules in unit volume, taken position, the adjacent together, will in this way give rise to a (vector) electricmoment to the (vector) per unit volume, P, which may be compared
intensity of magnetization in Poisson's theory of magnetism.* As in that theory, we may replace the doublet -distribution P of the scalar quantity p by a volume-distribution of p, determined
by the equationf
p
=
-
div P.
This represents the part of jo due to the dielectric molecules. Moreover, the scalar quantity pwx has also a doublet-distribution, to which the same theorem may be applied ; the average value of the part of pwx, due to dielectricmolecules, is therefore determined by the equation
pwx
or
=
-
div
(W.J.?)
=
-
wx
div P
(P V) wx,
.
/ow
div P
(P V) w.
.
We
have
now
to find that part of

a
j"u which
of moment
=
is due to dielectric
p
we
molecules. For differentiation,
single doublet
have,
by
f JJ pM
where
dx dy dz
dp/dt,
the
the integration is taken
throughout
molecule;
so
that
/// PM
where
dxdydz
(FP), (d/dt)
throughout
a
the integration is taken
volume
V, which
*Cf. p. 64. t We assume
all transitionsgradual,
so
as
to avoid surface-distributions.
Closing Years
encloses
a
425
large number
measurable
with
pared of molecules, but which is small comquantities; and this equation may be
written
if P refers to differentiationat a fixed point of space (as which accompanies the moving body), opposed to a differentiation have we Now,
("/")*-?
and
so
(w.V)P,
w;
w
V (d/dt)
=
Fdiv
+
that
/ou
P P
(w V) P
.
div
+
P
.
curl
+
[P w]
.
div P
(P V) w,
.
and therefore
pu
pw
=
curl
[P w].
.
This equation determines
the part of f"v which arises from the of the aether thus become, when the
dielectricmolecules. The general equations
averaging process is performed,
div d
curl d curl h
In order
4"!r"?pi 4-Trc2 div P,

~ -
div h
0,
h,
convection-current
+
conduction-current
=-
d + 47r (1/c2)
curl
[P w]
.
to assimilate these to the

we
ordinary electromagnetic
equations,
must
evidently write
d
=
E, the electric force; D,
E + P (1/4-7TC2)
the electric induction ; the magnetic

vector.
H,
equations then longer any need to div D div H where

S
=
The
become
use
(writing p
-
for plt
as
there is
no
the
p,
subscript),
curl E curl H
=
H,
"'
+
4lrS'
+
conduction-current
convection-current
curl
[P w].
.
426
The
The
Theory
D
of
in S evidently represents the displacementthe term current of Maxwell ; and curl [P w] will be recognized as a modified form of the term curl [D which
term
. .
w],
was
be
into the equations by Hertz.* It will to reprethat Hertz this term remembered supposed sent force within a dielectric the generation of a magnetic
is in motion in
an
first introduced
which
electric field; and that
by Heaviside,f
adducing considerations relative to the energy, showed that the term ought to be regarded as part of the total current, and inferred from its existence that a dielectricwhich moves in an
electric fieldis the seat of an electric current, which produces a magnetic field in the surrounding space. The modification
introduced
consisted in replacing D by P in the dielectric does vector-product ; this implied that the moving
not carry along the aethereal displacement, which is represented by the term E/4?rc2 in D, but only carries along the charges
by Lorentz
which exist at opposite ends of the molecules of the ponderable dielectric, and which are represented by the term P. The part is of the total current represented by the term curl [P
.
w]
uncharged dielectric is in motion at right angles to the lines of force of a constant electrostatic field had been shown experimentally in 1888 by Rontgen.JHis experiment consisted in rotating a dielectric disk between the plates of a condenser ; a magnetic
fieldwas produced, equivalent to that which by the rotation of the fictitious charges
"
generally called the current of dielectric convection. That a magnetic field is produced an when
would
on
"
be produced the two faces of
which bear the same relation to the dielectric polarization that Poisson's equivalent surfacedensity of magnetism" bears to magnetic polarization. If U denote the difference of potential between the opposite coatings
the
dielectric, i.e.,charges
of the condenser, and * the specific inductive capacity of the dielectric, the surface on the coatings -density of electric charge
*
Cf. p. 366. I Ann. d. Phys.
t Cf. p. 367.
xxxv
(1888), p.
264
xl
(1890), p.
93.
" Cf. p. 64.
Closing Years
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
427
is proportional to " t"7, and the fictitiouscharge on the surfaces of the dielectricis proportional to + (a 1) U. It is evident
-
from
experiment*)
remains
to
-
is charged to a given condenser difference of potential, and is rotated in its own plane, the magnetic field produced is proportional to * if (asin Kowland's the coatings are rotated while the dielectric
this that
if
plane
at rest, but is in the opposite direction, and is proportional
(c 1) if (as in
Kontgen's
the experiment)
dielectric is
rotated while the coatings remain at rest. If the coatings and dielectricare rotated together, the magnetic action (being the a conclusion which sum of these) should be independent of f
"
was
verified later by Eichenwald.f have taken no account Hitherto we
equations form
of the ponderable body. in the usual so that they finally take the manner,:}:
of the possible magnetizatio This would modify the
div D
p,
(I)
div B
curl H
=
0,
47rS, B,
(II)
(III) (IV),
-curl.E
where
S denotes the total current
formed
of the displacement
current, the convection-current, the conduction-current,

current
and the
of dielectricconvection.
S =pv
+
Moreover,
since
d'/47rc2,
we
have
div S
div pv
div
v
div (ad/80 (l/4;rc2)
*Cf. p. 339.
performed he the similar character, e.g. observed magnetic field due to the changes in a nonin was dielectric a of polarization moved which homogeneous electric field.
other experiments of
a
t Ann.
d. Piiys. xi
(1903), p.
421
; xiii (1904), p. 919.
Eichenwald
is possible to construct a magnetic molecule being supposed

then
J It
purely
to
electronic theory of magnetization, a contain electrons in orbital revolution. It

the average
appears but B.
that the vector
which
represents
value of h. is not H,
428
which
The Theory
of Aether and Electrons in the

virtue of the principle of conservation
vanishes by electricity. Thus
of
div 8
or
0,
(V)
the total current
are
to (Y) circuital vector. Equations (I) the fundamental equations of Lorentz' theory of electrons. have now We to consider the relation by which the polarization
a
is
of dielectrics is determined. with
If the
dielectric is unit
moving
velocity moving
E'
w,
the
electric charge
with
=
force on ponderomotive it is (as in all theories)*
[w
].
(1)
with E', it is necessary to consider the motion of the corpuscles. Let e denote the charge and m the mass *?,") its displacement from its position of of a corpuscle, (",
In order to connect
77,") the restitutive force which equilibrium, k* (", retains it in the vicinity of this point ; then the equations of motion of the
corpuscle
are
=
ra" + A-2" eEx't the corpuscle is set in and similar equations in 17 and ". When
by light of frequency n passing through the medium, the displacements and forces will be periodic functions of nt
motion
"
say,
Substituting these values in the equations
of motion,
-
we
obtain
A(Jc* mnz)
-
-=
eE",
and therefore
? (kz tun*)
=
eE'x.
Thus, if N
denote the number of polarizable molecules per unit volume, the polarization is determined by the equation
*
=
Ne
case
TJ,?) JVVE7("2 m?i2). (g,

=
-
In the particular
in which
the dielectric is at rest, this
equatio^ gives
=
+ P (l/47rc2)E
+ Ne*E/(k2 (l/47rc2)E mw\

-
But,
as
we
have
D bears seen,f
to E
the ratio
tCf. p. 281.
where û2/47rc2,
*Cf. p. 365.
Closing Years
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
429
denotes the refractive index of the dielectric ; and therefore the refractive index is determined in terms of the frequency by the equation
-
mnz).
is equivalent to that which Maxwell and Sellmeier* had derived from the elastic-solidtheory. Though superficially different, the derivations are alike in their
This
formula
that the molecules essential feature, which is the assumption of the dielectric contain systems which possess free periods of vibration, and which respond to the oscillations of the The formula be derived on incident light. may electromagnetic principles without any explicit reference to electrons ; that the dielectricpolarization all that is necessary is to assume has
free period of vibration.f When the luminous vibrations
a
are
very slow,
so
so
that
is
small, theory
fjr
reduces to the dielectric constant of Lorentz leads to the expression

e
"=
ej ;
that the.
Cf. p. 293.
so
its physical assumptions and results are concerned, resembles that described above, was published in the same year Berl. Ber., Helmholtz, Ann 1093, by 1892, d. Phys. xlviii (1893), p. (1892)
t A theory of dispersion, which,
far
as
pp. 389,
to theory, the incident light is supposed in doublets in the the molecules electric which exist excite sympathetic vibrations however, derived in a different Helmholtz' bodies. were, transparent equations of
723.
In this,
as
in Lorentz'
from the Principle of Least Action. way from those of Lorentz, being deduced in is, Lorentz' as The final result theory, represented (when the effect of damping Helmholtz' theory was developed by the Maxwell-Sellmeier formula. is neglected) 82. further by Reiff, Ann. d. Phys. Iv (1895), p.
damping
so
dispersion given by Planck, Berl. Ber., 1902, p. 470, the .of the oscillations is assumed to be due to the loss of energy by radiation : of is required in order to express it. that no new constant Electrons (Leipzig, Lorentz, in his lectures on the Iheory p. 141, 1909),
In
a
theory
of
suggested that the dissipativeterm in the equations of motion of dielectricelectrons might be ascribed to the destruction of the regular vibrations of titêlectrons within a molecule by the collisionsof the molecule with other molecule interesting references to the ideas of Hertz on Some the elet.:t)magnetic found in Drude, by i Ann. d. Phys. (6) be a dispersion memoir will explanation of
p. (1900),
+
437.
Cf. p. 283.
430
The Theory
of
Aether and
Electrons in the
of the number
for the specificinductive capacity in terms

circumstances of the electrons.*
now
and
Eeturning
in which the dielectric is supposed to be in motion, the equation for the polarization may be
to the
case
written from this equation, Fresnel's formula for the velocity of light in dielectric may be deduced. For, let the axis of z be a moving taken parallel to the direction of motion of the dielectric, which is supposed to be also the direction of propagation of the light ; take the axis of x and, considering a plane -polarized wave, parallel to the electric vector, so that the magnetic vector be parallel to the axis of y. Then equation (III) must above becomes
equation the
case
(IV) becomes
in
B (assuming
equal to H,
as
is always
optics),
defines the electricinduction gives
+ P.; IV* (1/4**)**
The equation which
and equations
(1)and (2)give 4arc*Px (ft 1)(Ex wHy).

=
-
Eliminating Dx, Px, and Hy,
we
have
+
'
A" -iV~~?
,
or,
neglecting
w~/c2,
~dz*~
=
'
7 ~W
en
dtfc '*
Substituting
Ex
of light in the moving have we

*
that V denotes the velocity dielectricwith respect to the fixed aether

so
Cf. p. 211.
firstgiven as a result of the theory of electrons by Lorentz was in the last chapter of his memoir It was also p. 525. of 1892, Arch. Neeii. xxv, Larmor, by Phil. Trans., 821. given p. clxxxv (1894),
t This equation
Closing Years
or
ofthe Nineteenth
C
Century.
431
(neglecting
y
_
fjC "
-
1
^,
M"
which is the formula of Fresnel.* The hypothesis of Fresnel, that a ponderable body in motion carries with it the excess of with space free from aether which it contains as compared
matter,
is thus
seen
to
be transformed
the
in Lorentz'
theory
into the
supposition like so many dielectric,
polarized molecules of the small condensers, increase the dielectric to this augmentation of the constant, and that it is (so speak) One dielectric constant which travels with the moving matter. that
to Fresnel's theory, namely, that it required evident objection to be different for the relative velocity of aether and matter light of different colours,is thus removed ; for the theory of
Lorentz
only requires that the dielectric constant should have different values for light of different colours, and of this is provided by the theory of a satisfactory explanation dispersion. The correctness of Lorentz' hypothesis,
as
opposed to that of
was
Hertz
(in which
the whole of the contained aether
supposed to
was be transported with the moving body), afterwards confirmed In 1901 E. Blondlotf drove a current by various experiments.
at right angles to the lines of of air through a magnetic field, magnetic force. The air-current was made to pass between the faces of a condenser, which were connected by a wire, so as to be
potential. An electromotive force E' would be produced in the air by its motion in the magnetic field; and, according to the theory of Hertz, this should produce an E' (wheret denotes the (e/47rc2) electricinduction D of amount
at
the
same
specific inductive
capacity of the air, which is practically ; so that, according to Hertz, the faces of the condenser unity) should become charged. According to Lorentz' theory, on the other hand,
equation 47rc2D
*
=
the electric induction

E
+
is determined
by the
(e 1)E'
-
Cf. p. 117.
t Comptes
Rendus
p. 778. cxxxiii (1901),
432
where
zero
The Theory
of Aether

on a
E denotes the electric force
in the present
case.
charge at rest, which is Thus, according to Lorentz' theory,

-
the charges on the faces would have only (e l)/e of the values which they would have in Hertz' theory ; that is,they would be The result of Blondlot's experiment in was practically zero. favour of the theory of Lorentz. in An experiment of a similar character was performed In this, the space between the inner 1905 by H. A. Wilson.* and
outer
coatings of
cylindrical condenser When

at
a
was
filledwith
the dielectric ebonite.

are
charges are its axis in on
maintained induced on
a
them
coatings of such a condenser definite difference of potential, ; and if the condenser be rotated
the
lines of force are parallel to the to the axis, these charges will be altered, owing is produced in the dielectric additional polarization which molecules by their motion in the magnetic field. As before,
magnetic
field whose
the value of the additional charge according to the theory of Lorentz is (e l)/e times its value as calculated by the theory The result of Wilson's experiments was, like that of of Hertz.
-
Blondlot's, in favour of Lorentz. The theory with reconciliation of the electromagnetic Fresnel's law of the propagation of light in moving bodies was
But the theory of the motionless aether distinct advance. in its original form, hampered by one difficulty : it was, was incompetent to explain the negative result of the experiment
a
of
Michelson
and
Morley.f
The
adjustmentof
theory of
to
a
observation
remarkable for June Nature" 16th, 1892,JLodge In the issue of to him a new that Fitz Gerald had communicated mentioned
"
"
in this particular was hypothesis which must
achieved by means be introduced. now
the difficulty. This was, to suppose suggestion for overcoming that the dimensions of material bodies are slightly altered they are in motion relative to the aether. Five months when
afterwards,
this
hypothesis
of Fitz Gerald's
121.
was
adopted
165,
by
*Phii. Trans, cciv t Cf. p 417.
(1905), p.
J Nature,
xlvi
(1892), p.
Closing Years
Lorentz, in
a

to
a
433
gradually widening circle,until to be generally taken as the basis of all eventually it came theoretical investigations on the motion of ponderable bodies
after which through the aether. Let first see us it explains Michelson's result. On the supposition that the aether is motionless, one of the two portions into which the original beam of light is divided how
communication favour in it won
the Amsterdam
Academy;*
in a time less than the other by should accomplish its journey where w denotes the velocity of the earth, c the velocity ur*l/c?, This would be exactly of light,and I the length of each arm. compensated if the
arm
which
terrestrial motion
as w2//2c3;
were
is pointed in the direction of the shorter than the other by an amount linear dimensions
in of direction the of This is to unity.
be the case if the would bodies were moving always contracted in the ratio of (1 their motion
-
w'"/2c~)
Fitz Gerald's hypothesis of contraction. ratio w/c is only 30 km. /sec.
Since for the earth the
300,000 km./sec.'
is only the fraction w^jcone
hundred-millionth.
Several further contributions to the theory of electrons in a made in a short treatisef motionless aether were which was published by Lorentz in 1895. One of these related to the
result obtained some explanation of an experimental years des Th. Leipzig. by Des Coudres had Coudres,J of previously
the mutual inductance of coils in different circumstances inclination of their common axis to the direction of of the earth's motion, but had been unable to detect any effect
observed
the orientation. Lorentz now showed that this could be explained by considerations similar to those which
depending
on
Verslagen d. Kon.
Ak.
van
Wetenschappen,
1892-3,
p. 74
(November 26th
1892).
t Versuch
Eorpern,
von
Theorie Jer electrischenund optischen Erscheinungen in bewegten H. A. Lorentz ; Leiden, E. J. Brill. It was reprinted by Teubner,
einer
of Leipzig, in 1906. + Ann. d. Phys. xxxviii
(1889), p. 73.
2
434
Budde
The Theory
and
of

had
Fitz Gerald*
a
advanced
in
similar
case
conductor carrying
constant
a
the earth would exert rest in its vicinity,were
electric current and moving with force on electric charges at relative
it not that this force induces itself

a
on
the
surface of the conductor
compensating
electrostatic
charge, whose action annuls the expected effect. The most satisfactorymethod of discussing the influence of is to transform the terrestrialmotion on electrical phenomena
equations of the aether and electrons to axes moving with the earth. Taking the axis of x parallel to the direction of the earth's motion, and denoting the velocity of the earth by
w,
the fundamental
we
write
x
=
#1
wtt
2/1,
Zi,
so
that
(x-i, yit Zj)denote
with the earth. Lorentz by introducing in place of the variable t defined by the equation
t
=
moving coordinates referred to axes completed the change of coordinates

a
"local time"
tl}
tl +
m^/c2.
It is also necessary to introduce, in place of d and h, the electric and magnetic forces relative to the moving axes : these aret
d1 h1
=
=
d h
+
[w.h] (l/c2) [d.w];
and
in place of the velocity v of an electron referred to^the original fixed axes, we must introduce its velocity Vi relative to the moving axes, which is given by the equation
V,
=
W.
The
fundamental
equations
are
of the
aether
and
electrons,
referred to the original axes,

div d div h
=
47re2,
0,
F
=
curl d curl h d
+
.
h,
d + (1/c2)
[v h],
force
on a
where
a
F denotes the ponderomotive

*
particle carrying
unit charge.
Cf
.
p. 263.
t Cf. pp. 365, 366.
Closing Years
By
ofthe Nineteenth
from the
Century.
435
new
direct transformation
that, when
original to the
variables it is found
are wv/c*
quantities of order neglected, these equations take the form

=
and iv*/c*
divj d! divt H!
4?rc2p,
curla di
Sh^B^,
0,
F
=
curl, hi
d!
+
ddj/fy (1/c2)
[vlthj,
where
div, d, stands for
Since these have it follows that when

constant
the
same
form
as
the original equations,

on
terms
are
depending
the square
of the
neglected, all electrical phenomena be expressed with reference to axes moving with the earth may by the same equations as if the axes were at rest relative to the
aether.
of aberration
In the last chapter of the Versuch Lorentz discussed those as experimental results which were yet unexplained by the
theory of the motionless aether. That the terrestrial motion influence on the rotation of the plane of polarizaexerts no tion in quartz* might be explained by supposing that two
independent
effects,which are both due to the earth's motion, cancel each other; but Lorentz left the question undecided. Five years later Larmorf criticized this investigation, and
arrived at the conclusion that there should be no first-order effect; but LorentzJ afterwards maintained his position against Larmor's criticism.
the physical conceptions of Lorentz had from the beginning included that of atomic electric charges, the analytical equations had hitherto involved p, the volume-density of electric charge; that is, they had
been
Although
conformed
to the
hypothesis of a continuous distribution of electricityin space. It might hastily be supposed that in order to obtain an
*
Cf. p. 416. J Proc. Amsterdam
t Larmor, Aether and Matter, 1900.

Acad.
iv (1902), (English p. ed.),
2 F 2
669.
436
The Theory
ofAether
would be required analytical theory of electrons, nothing more than to modify the formulae by writing e (thecharge of an That this is not the case was in place of pdxdydz.
electron)
shown* a few years after the publication of the Versuch. Consider, for example, the formula for the scalar potential at any point in the aether,
where the bar indicates that the quantity underneath it is to have its retarded value,f This integral,in which the integration is extended over all before the integration elements of space, must be transformed
can
be taken to extend over elements of charge. Let moving de denote the sum of the electric charges which are accounted
the heading
dx'dy'dz in of the volume- element the above integral. This quantity de is not identical with ~p'dx'dy'dz'. For, to take the simplest case, suppose that it is
for under
required to compute the value of the potential-function for the origin at the time t, and that the charge is receding from the The charge which origin along the axis of x with velocity u. is to be ascribed to any position x is the charge which occupies that position at the instant t so that when the reckoning x/c; is made according to intervals of space, it is necessary to
-
not the electricitywhich at within a segment (x2 a?i) any one instant occupies that segment, but the electricitywhich at the instant (t xjc) (x* x\\ where x\ occupies a segment denotes the point from which the electricitystreams to xl in the
reckon
interval between evidently

"'i
-
the instants
We (t xz,'c) and (t x^/c).

-
have
%'\
or (%2 %i)/c,
-
xz
x\
(x2 #0 (1+ u/c).

-
For this case
we
should therefore have

?' dx'dy'dz'
+
I^
"
Xi
(l ^'dx'dy'dz'.
\
cj
549.
E.
Wiechert,
Arch.
Neerl.
(2) v
p. (1900),
Cf. also A. Lienard,
L' Eclairage elect, xvi t Cf. p. 298.
(1898), pp.
5, 53, 106.
Closing Years
In the general
case,
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
to replace
u
437
by the
it is only necessary
of velocity of the electriccharge in the direction of the radius vector from the point at which the potential is to be component
computed. is measured
and
This component may be written v cos (v where r r), positively from the point in question to the charge, denotes the velocity of the charge. Thus
.
cde'
{c+
v cos
}~p dx'dy'dz', (v r)
.
and therefore
f
+
de'
}cr (r.v)'
where the integration is extended over all the charges in the field,and the bars over the letters imply that the position of the charge considered is that which it occupied at the instant
t
-
r/c. In
the
same
way
the vector- potential may

r
be shown
to
have the value

vde'
cr
J
Meanwhile
(r
the unsettled problem of the relative motion of earth and aether was provoking a fresh series of experimental investigations. The most due to interesting of these was
Fitz Gerald,* who
shortly before his death

examine the
as
in February,
1901,
commenced charged
to
electrical condenser,
by a manifested phenomena it is carried through space in
On the assumption of the terrestrial motion. that a moving there will be charge develops a magnetic field, associated with the condenser a magnetic force at right angles
consequence
to
the lines of electric force and

magnetic
when
motion:
energy
must
direction of the therefore be stored in the

to
the
directhe plane of the condenser includes the tion of the drift; but when the plane of the condenser is at right angles to the terrestrial motion, the effects of the medium, opposite charges neutralize each other. Fitz Gerald's original idea was that, in order to supply the magnetic energy, there must be a mechanical drag on the condenser at the moment of
*
Fitz Gerald's Scientific Writings, p. 557.
438
The Theory
ofAether

be produced
were
charging, similar to that which would of a body at the surface of the earth greater. Moreover, it was
if the
mass
suddenly to become that the condenser, conjectured the so as to assume when freely suspended, would tend to move longitudinal orientation, which is that of maximum kinetic energy*
For
:
the
transverse
position would
therefore be
one
of
unstable equilibrium.
both effects a search in the experiments Trouton
:f
condenser was couple, fine wire, and charged.

a
made by Fitz Gerald's pupil designed to observe the turning in a vertical plane by a suspended
was
If the plane
noon
that of the meridian,
about
of the condenser were there should be no couple
tending to alter the orientation, because the drift of aether due to the earth's motion would be at right angles to this plane;
at any
other hour,
was
detected
the motion w/c,where w denotes the velocity of the earth ; so the magnetic energy of the system, which depends on the square of the force, would be ; and the couple, which depends on the derivate of order (w/c)'
The should act. extremely small ; for the magnetic be of order of the charges would
a
couple
effect to be force due to
of this with respect to the azimuth, would therefore be likewise of the second order in (w/c). No couple could be detected. As the energy of the magnetic to be no fieldmust be derived from some source, there seems
escape from the conclusion that the electrostatic energy of a of its condenser is diminished by the fraction (w/c)" when
the
charged
amount
condenser is moving with velocity w at right angles to its lines of electrostatic force. To explain this diminution, it is necessary to admit Fitz Gerald's hypothesis
of contraction. taken when
*
result of the experiment may be to indicate^ that the kinetic potential of the system, a as the Fitz Gerald contraction is taken into account
The
negative
Larmor,
in Fitz Gerald's
Papers, p Scientific
566.
t F. T. Trouton. Trans. Roy.

H. R. Noble,
Dub.
Soc., April, 1902;
F. T. Trouton
and
Phil. Trans, ccii (1903), p. 165. Cf. P. Langevin, Comptes Rendus, cxl (1905), p. 1171.
Closing Years
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
439
of the orientation of the plates with constraint, is independent respect to the direction of the terrestrialmotion.
It may be remarked that the existence of the couple, had it been observed, would have demonstrated the possibility of drawing on the energy of the earth's motion for purposes of
terrestrial utility.
The the
way
through of matter as it moves aether might conceivably be supposed to affect in some stance, for inthe optical properties of the moving matter; transparent substances might become doubly refracting.
designed Lord
no
Fitz Gerald contraction
Experiments by
1904t ; but
to
test
this
Eayieigh
in 1902,*
were supposition performed and by D. B. Brace in
double refraction comparable with the proportion (w/cf of the single refraction could be detected. The Fitz Gerald contraction of a material body cannot therefore be
of the
same
nature
as
the contraction which
would
be produced
in the body
be accompanied by such pressure, but must concomitant changes in the relations of the molecules to the aether that an isotropic substance does not lose its simply
by
refracting character. By this time, indeed, the hypothesis

originally had assumed obtained
a
no
new
of contraction, which direct connexion with electric theory, had had have we aspect. Lorentz, as
seen,J
by electric system moving applying a transformation to the fundamental equations of In the original form the aether. of this transformation, were quantities of higher order than the first in neglected.
the
equations
of
w/c
But
in 1900
Larmorg extended
the analysis
so
as
to include
small quantities of the second order, and thereby discovered a between the equations of transformation connexion remarkable
and
"
the
iv
equations
which
represent
Fitz Gerald's
con-
Phil. Mag.
t Phil. Mag.
+
(1902), p. 678. p. 317. vii (1904),

Acad. i (1899), (English ed.),
Cf. p. 434. Cf. also Lorentz, Proc. Amsterdam p. 427. " Larmor, Aether and Matter, p. 173.
440
The Theory
of

further still, and obtained is exact to all orders of the
traction.
After this Lorentz* went the transformation in a form which
consider it. small quantity w/c. In this form we shall now The fundamental equations of the aether are
div d div h
=
4irc*p,
curl d curl h
h,
0,
a
+ d/c2
47r/ov.
It is desired to find
x,
transformation
variables xlt y^ zly y, z, t, p, d, h, v, to new that the equations in terms of these new variables may form as the original equations, namely : the same divi dx
=
the variables th plt d,, hi, YI, such take
from
47rc2jOi,
curl, di
curlj hi
dh^d^,
d^
h!
0,
one
(1/c2) Bdj/9^
transformations
axes
as
Evidently that which
particular class of such

to rotations of the
is
corresponds
about the origin : these may

transformations
be described
of coordinates geneous the linear homotransform
the expression (x2 + if+ zz) These particular transformations

interest, since they do not change
of determinant unity which into itself.

are,
however,
of them consider the more linear homogeneous transformations the

+ (x-
the variable t. general class formed
of little But in place
of all those of determinant unity in

the expression
variables
y*
+
z
-
x,
y,
z,
ct,
which
we
transform
into c't")
have
itself :
shall show
that these transformations
the property
of transforming
the differential
equations into themselves. All transformations of this class may be obtained by the combination and repetition (with interchange of letters) of one two of them, in which of the variables" say, y and z" are unchanged.
*
The
equations of this typical transformation

Acad.
may
Proc.
Amsterdam
(English vi, ed.),

connect
p.
pi,
809.
vi,
Lorentz'
p,
v,
with which It should be added that the transformation in question had been applied to the equation of vibratory motions many years before by Voigt, Gott. Nach. 1887, p. 41.
completed in respect to the formulae Ann. d. Phys., xvii (1905), p. 891.
by
was work Einstein,
Closing Years
easily be
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
that
1
441
of the
derived
by
considering
x2
-
the
equation
rectangular hyperbola
(cty
=
(inthe
of
conjugate
plane of the variables x, ct) is unaltered when diameters are taken as new axes, and a
any pair
new
unit
of length is taken proportional to the length of either of these diameters. The equations of transformation are thus found to be
x
=
Xi
cosh
+
+
cti sinh
a,
y
z
y\y
z,,
ti cosh
a
(x}/c) sinh a,
The
where given
denotes
constant.
by
Lorentz*
may
simpler equations previously evidently be derived from these by
writing w/c for tanh a, and neglecting powers of w/c above the first. By an obvious extension of the equations given by Lorentz for the electric and magnetic forces, it is seen that the corresponding equations in the present transformation
=
are
dXlt
dyi cosh dzi cosh
a
hx
+
dy
dz
chzi sinh
a,
hy hz
hyi cosh
sinh a, (l/c)dzi
chv. sinh
a,
hzi cosh
(l/c)dyi sinh a.
between p and pl may be obtained in the connexion following way. It is assumed that if a charge e is attached to a particle which occupies the position (f, 77, J)at the instant ty charge will be attached to the corresponding point instant ti in the transformed at the corresponding i, 771}"\) (f system ; so that a charge e attached to an particle
an
The
equal
adjacent
(f A"
+
TI +
Arj,
%+ A")
a
at the instant t will give rise in the

e
derived system
to
charge
at the place
fi
at the instant
^\ +Âf ^-AT/4
+
%1
".
Ofrl
%l
Cf. P. 434.
442
The Theory
of Aether
and
Electrons in the
that is to say, at the place
(f
!
Af
-
cosh
a
a,
77, +
AT?,
"
A?)
at the instant
(^
sinh
Af/c).Thus
at the instant ^, this
charge will occupy
the position
a
.
(f
i
Af
cosh
sinh
Af 0^/e, 771 +
.
AT; + sinh
+
"1+ Af
sinh
Af vyi/c, A f a vai/c).
. . .
The charges corresponding to those in the original system which were at the instant t contained in a volume A| AT? A" will therefore in the derived system at the instant tl occupy a volume
cosh
a
sinh
vxjc
0 1
AS,
sinh
sinh
or,
0
1
.Vyjc
a
.
vzjc
a
.
(cosh
a
sinh
A? vxjc)
A"j
A".
Thus
if jOi denote
transformed
the volume-density system, we shall have

pi
a (cosh
of electric charge in the
sinh
vxjc)
p ;
this equation have moreover
expresses
the connexion
between dx
pi and p.
We
dx
~
fix
fix
($_
dt
dt
dt
vx,
=
tann
sech
vXl
a
,
cosh
c^sinha
and similarly
vyi
cosh
vXl
c~l
sinh
and
l
cosh
vXl
sinh
Closi?ig Years
When
of the Nineteenth
Century.
443
the original variables are by direct substitution replaced by the new variables in the differential equations, the latter
take the form
div! hi
0,
cur^ ht
that is to say, the fundamental equations of the aether retain to the their form unaltered, when the variables are subjected transformation which has been specified.
We
are
now
in with
transformation
the connexion of this position to show Fitz Gerald's hypothesis of contraction.
Suppose of
x
material particles are moving along the axis From the relation c tanh a. with velocity w
that two
-
vx. vx
=
tanh
sech
-
a
'
"
cosh
it follows that
vXl
vXi
c~l
sinh
is zero
for each of the particles,which

new
axes.
implies
and x\ denote their coordinates with respect to this latter system ; then the coordinates of one particle at the instant ti, referred to the original axes,
x
=
that they
are
at rest relative to the
Let
%i
will be given by the equations

a
Xi
cosh
ctl sinh
o,
"
t\ cosh
Xi
c~l
sinh
and the coordinates of the other particle will be given by

xf
-
x\ cosh
cti sinh
a,
tf
tl cosh
x\
c'1
sinh
so
that at time t the latter particle will have

x"
=
the coordinate
x",
where
of +
(t t')
-
x\ cosh
x"
ctl sinh
(x x\) sinh2
-
sech
a,
which
gives
"
(a?'i (1 w'/c2)^. Xi)

"
"
This equation shows that the in the system of measurement

axes,
distance between
the particles
furnished by the original
with
velocity w,
reference to which bears the ratio (1
w-/c'-)^
the particles were moving with : 1 to their distance in the
444
system
The Theory
of measurement
of

furnished by
the
transformed
axes,
with reference to which the particles are at rest. But according to FitzGerald's hypothesis of contraction, when a material body is in motion relative to the aether, in a direction parallel
axis of x, its dimensions parallel to this direction contract in precisely this ratio; so that the equation of the
to
the
of the coordinates x}) y^ zly which move with it, is unaltered. Thus the hypothesis of Fitz Gerald may be expressed
body, in terms
by
the
statement
of ponderable bodies are for which the fundamentalequations of the

are
the equations of the figures .that covariant with respect to those transformatio aether
covariant. The covariance holds with respect to all linear homogeneous transformations in the variables (x, y, z, t), of determinant
-
into + y2+ z~ unity, which transform the expression (x"2 c2f) itself. This group comprises an infinitenumber tions of transforma; so that there are an infinite number of sets of variables
can set (xr, resembling (x}) yltc,, ",), of which any one yr, zr, tr) be derived from any other set (.rs, by a transformation ys, zs, ts) include the must of the group ; among the sets we of course
original set of coordinates proceeded

on
(x, y,
z,
t). But
hitherto
we
have
the assumption
that the original set
(x, y, z, t)is
entitled to a primacy among all the other sets, since the axes (x,y, z)have been supposed to possess the special property of having no motion relative to the aether, and the time represented by the variable t has been understood to be a definite The other sets of variables (.rr, physical quantity. yr, sr, tr) have been regarded merely as symbols convenient for use in
problems
relating to moving to physical entities in the

now
bodies, but not

same
as
degree
as
corresponding (x, y, z, t). "We
must
inquire whether question amounts
this view is justified.

to asking whether
absolute position in space, or at any rate absolute fixity relative to the aether, is be brought within the bounds of human something which can knowledge.
It is well known that the science of dynamics,
as
The
founded
Closing Years
on
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
445
laws of motion, does not supply any criterion by for if which rest may be distinguished from uniform motion ; the laws of motion are applicable when the position of bodies Newton's
is referred to any particular set of axes, they will be equally applicable when position is referred to any other set of axes
which have a uniform motion of translation relative to these. The older theories of electrostatics,magnetism, and electrodynamics, which are based on the conception of action at a distance,
are
concerned
are
motions, and
relative configurations and therefore useless in the search for a basis of

only
with
absolute reckoning. But the existence of an aether, which is postulated in the at first sight to involve the undulatory theory of light,seems
conceptions of rest and motion
a
means
a
that
relative to it,and thus to afford of specifying absolute position. Suppose, for instance, disturbance is generated at any point in free aether;
this disturbance will spread outwards
in the form
of
sphere ;
and
will for all subsequent time occupy an unchanged position relative to the aether. In this way, or in many other ways, we might hope to determine, by the
centre
of this sphere
electrical
or
optical experiments,
the
velocity of the
earth
had been tried led as experiments Fitz Gerald* to suggest that the dimensions of material bodies the bodies are in motion relative undergo contraction when
to the aether.
as
we
relative to the aether. failure of such The
By
the transformation
came
have
seen,
this hypothesis
and Larmor, to be expressed in a new
of Lorentz
form ; namely
of the figure of the body, referred to a frame of reference moving with it,is always the but that frames of reference which are in motion relative to same, that the equation
each other are based on differentstandards of length and time. This way of regarding the matter brings into prominence the fundamental questions involved. Before speaking of lengths it is necessary to examine and velocities,
the nature
of systems
of measurement
of space and time.

*
Cf p. 432.
.
446
The Theory
ofAether
Of the events with which Natural Philosophy is concerned, definite location at some at some each is perceived to happen
definite moment.
to
When
material
has object
been
observed
certain position at a certain instant, the same may again be observed at a subsequent instant ; but it object is or is not in is impossible to determine whether the occupy
a
object
the same position,since there is no obvious means the identity of any location from one moment
The
of preserving
to
another.
finds it convenient to construct a physicist, however, framework of axes in space and time for the purpose of fitting his experiences into an orderly arrangement ; and the question at issue is whether experience furnishes the means of
determining
framework
or
completely
the
and
uniquely
by
absolute properties,
on
whether
selection inevitably rests
arbitrary choice and accidental circumstance. first be In attempting to answer this question, it may so to simplify as observed that the choice is always made as as the description of natural phenomena much possible ; time is so chosen that thus, the variable which is to measure in the interval between its increment any two consecutive is the same in the interval as its increment beats of a pendulum
consecutive beats. If the selection of the four variables (x, y, zy t)is well made, it should be possible to express the laws of nature by statements of a simple character,
between
any other two
that e.g.,
moves
body isolated from
through
the influence of external agents equal intervals of space in equal intervals of
time.
Accepting, then, the principle that the framework of axes is to be chosen so as to furnish the simplest possible expression to determine of importance of the natural laws, it becomes
entitled, by reason of the natural laws are of their primary importance, to receive the greatest consideration. indications point to the probability that the Now many
which various
"
in ponderable bodies forces of cohesion, of chemical union, and so forth Such an assumption are ultimately electric in their nature. types
are
of forces which
observed
"
Closing Years
would
have
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
447
the great advantage of explaining the contraction traction postulated by Fitz Gerald, since it would represent the conBut if this by the motion. as actually produced
be correct, the theory of electricity and aether is assumption theory of Natural Philosophy ; without doubt the fundamental
and
a
the framework
of space and
time
should
be chosen
view chiefly to the expression of electrical phenomena. most naturally be done by stipulating that the wavemay fronts of disturbances generated in free aether shall, in the system
centres
with This
of length and time adopted, be accounted spheres whose are at the origins of disturbance and whose radii are
proportional to the times elapsed since their initiation. Eeferred to axes of (#,y,z,") which satisfy these conditions, the fundamental the form which has been equations of the electric field assume taken as the basis of all our theoretical investigations. Imagine velocity w theorem framework
or now
c
distant star which

a
is moving
with
tanh
relative to this framework

shows
uniform (x, y, z, t). The
of transformation
that
there
(a?,, with respect y\,z\, t^,

moreover
to which
exists another the star is at rest,
the condition laid down regarding the is peculiarly fitted wave-surface is satisfied. This framework for the representation of the phenomena which happen on the and in which
star ; whose
inhabitants would
their system of space and time. body which is at rest dwell on a
therefore naturally adopt it as Beings, on the other hand, who

axes
(x, y, z, t)would
prefer to
use
with respect to the the latter system ; and from
the
point of view of the universe at large, either of these systems is as good as the other. The equations of motion of the aether are the same with respect to both sets of coordinates, and therefore neither could
confer
a
can
claim to possess the only property

"
which
primacy
namely,
an
absolute relation to the
aether.*
To
is the
*
sum
object
was
whose study up, we may say that the phenomena of Natural Philosophy take place each at a definite
first clearly expressed
This
by Einstein, Ann.
d. Phys.
xvii
(1905),
p. 891.
448
The
a
Theory
of
Aether a?id Electrons in the

; the whole
location at dimensional
axes
definite moment world
constituting
construct
a
fourset of
of space and
of space and time. To time is equivalent to

a
this projecting
four-
dimensional
a
world into
three-dimensional
world of time ; and infinite number of ways, each of which is distinguished from the others only by characteristics merely one-dimensional in an performed
world of space and this projection may be
arbitrary and accidental.* In order to represent natural phenomena without introducing the this contingent element, it would be necessary to abandon
three-dimensional customary operate in four dimensions. of coordinates, and to Analysis of this kind has been
system
devised, and has been applied to the theory of the aether ; belongs to the twentieth century, and but its development
consequently falls outside the scope of the present work. From what has been said, it will be evident that, in the investigation closing years of the nineteenth century, electrical in motion. The theory of was chiefly concerned with systems electrons
was,
however, applied with
success
and notably to the explanation of a new was an The last recorded observation of Faradayf attempt in in the period, or the state of polarization, to detect changes by a sodium flame, when the flame was of the light emitted field. No result was obtained; placed in a strong magnetic but the conviction that an effect of this nature remained to be
discovered
was
in other directions, experimental discovery.
felt by many
a
of his
successors.
TaitJ examined
magnetic fieldon the selective absorption of light ; impelled thereto, as he explained, by theoretical considerations. For from the phenomenon of magnetic rotation itmay be
the influence of
that rays circularly polarized in opposite inferred"
senses
are
different velocities in the magnetized medium propagated with have and therefore if only those rays are absorbed which
*
;
a
und Zeit. : Leipzig, 1909. t Bence Jones' Life ofFaraday, ii,p. 449. ix (1875), Edinb. R.S. p. 118. J Proc.
Cf. H. Minkowski,
Raum
"
Cf. pp. 174, 216.
Closing Years
ofthe Nineteenth
Century.
449'
certain definite wave-length in the medium, the period of the ray absorbed from a beam of circularly polarized white light when the polarization is right-handed will not be the same
as
when
it is left-handed.
"Thus,"
wrote
Tait, "what
was
originally a single dark absorption-line might line."
become
double
The effect anticipated under differentforms by Faraday and discovered, towards the end of 1896, by P. Zeeman.* Tait was Faraday's procedure, he placed a sodium flame Eepeating
between
the poles of an electromagnet, and observed a widening in D the spectrum when the magnetizing of the -lines applied. current was immediately was A theoretical explanation of the phenomenon
furnished to Zeeman supposed to be emitted within the sodium atoms.

of
mass
ra,
by Lorentz.f The
by electrons which If e denote the charge of an electron the ponderomotive force which acts on it by virtue
.
radiation i" describe orbits
of the external magnetic field is e [r K],where K denotes the magnetic force and r denotes the displacement of the electron from its position of equilibrium; and therefore, if the force which restrains the electron in its orbit be ", motion of the electron is the equation of
mi? -t- K2r

The motion
[f K].
.
of the electron may (as is shown in treatises on dynamics)be represented by the superposition of certain guishing whose distinparticular solutions called principal oscillations,
property is that they are periodic in the time. In order * for r, we to determine the principal oscillations, write Têntîs independent of the time, and where r0 denotes a vector which
: substitutdenotes the frequency of the principal oscillation ing in the equation, we have
(K- mn*)rc
-
en^/^~l [r, E].

"Wet. te Amsterdam
226.
v
Zittingsverslagen der Akad.

13, 99 ; Phil. Mag.
v.
(1896), pp.
181, 242 ;
vi
(1897), pp.
(5) p. xliii(1897),
2
t Phil. Mag. xliii (1897), p. 232.
450
The Theory
of
This equation may be satisfiedeither (1)if r0 is parallel to K, in which case it reduces to 0, K* mri*
-
so
that
in which
if r0 is at right angles to K, has the value Km"*, or (2) by squaring both sides of the equation we obtain case
the result
(V
mn*)z #tfK\
=
which gives for n the approximate values KW~* " el"/2m. When there is no external magnetic field,so that K is zero, the three values of n which have been obtained all reduce to
icw~V which
represents
the frequency
emitted light before the magnetic fieldis applied, this single frequency frequencies "cm~", "cm"i + eK/2m, icm'i
vibration of the fieldis applied. When the

of is replaced by the three
-
that is to say, the single line in the spectrum is replaced by three lines close in his earliestexperitogether. The apparatus used by Zeeman ments
eK/2m ;
was
not of sufficient power
to exhibit this triplication
distinctly, and
the effect was therefore described at first as a widening of the spectral lines.* have seen We above that the principal oscillation of the
electron corresponding to the frequency *cra~" is performed in a It will therefore direction parallel to the magnetic force K. give rise to radiation resembling that of a Hertzian vibrator,
and the electricvector of the radiation will be parallel to the lines of force of the external magnetic field. It follows that when the light received in the spectroscope is that which has
been emitted in a direction at right angles to the magnetic is represented by the middle line field, this constituent (which will appear polarized in a plane of the triplet in the spectrum) at right angles to the field; but when the light received in the spectroscope is that which has been emitted in the direction of the magnetic force, this constituent will be absent. We have also seen that the principal oscillations of the are electron corresponding to the frequencies Km-* "
eJ"/2m
Later observations, with more powerful primitive spectral line is frequently replaced by
apparatus,
more
have
shown
that
the
than three components.
Closing Years
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
45 1
performed in a plane at right angles to the magnetic field K. In order to determine the nature of these two principal oscillations,
observe that it is possible for the electron to describe circular orbit in 'this plane, if the radius of the orbit be
we
suitably chosen ; for in a circular motion the forces *2r and K] would be directed towards the centre of the circle; and .-e[r the radius so that it would therefore be necessary only to
.
adjust
of centripetal force required. Such a motion, being periodic,would be a principal oscillation. the Moreover, since the force e [r K] changes sign when in the circle is reversed, it is evident sense of the movement
these furnish the exact amount
.
that there
two
senses
are
two
such
[circular orbits,corresponding
the two
to the
in which
no
the electron may
circulate; these must,
therefore, be
other than
frequencies K.m~^ " el"/2m. When spectroscope is that which has been emitted in a direction at are seen the circles, right angles to the external magnetic field,
principal oscillations of the light received in the
edgewise, and the light appears polarized in a plane parallel to the field ; but when the light examined is that which has been emitted in a direction parallel to the external magnetic force,
to be seen of frequencies Km~i " eK/2m are ,the radiations All these theoretical in opposite senses. "circularlypolarized have been verifiedby observation. "conclusions found by Cornu* and by C. G-.W. Konigf that the It was more the one whose period is shorter refrangible component (i.e.,
has its circular vibration that of the original radiation) in the electromagnet. From in the same as the current sense this it may be inferred that the vibration must be due to a than resinously charged electron; for let the magnetizing current and the electron be supposed to circulate round the axis of z in the direction in which a right-handed screw must turn in order the positive direction of the axis of z ; then the magnetic force is directed positively along the axis of z, jand, in order that the force on the electron may be directed
to progress along
* *
Comptes Rendus,
Ann.
d. Phys.
(1897), p. 555. Ixii (1897), p. 240.

cxxv
2G2
452
The Theory
ofAether
z

the period),
inward to the axis of

on
as (so
to shorten the
charge
the electron must be negative. The value of e/mfor this negative electron may be determined by measurement of the separation between the components of the triplet in a magnetic field of known strength ; for, as we have
seen,
the difference of the frequencies of the outer components is The values of e/m thus determined agree well
eKjm.
with the estimations* of e/m for the corpuscles of cathode rays. discovered by Zeeman is closely related to The phenomenon the magnetic rotation of the plane of polarization of light. f by Both effectsmay be explained supposing that the molecules which possess of material bodies contain electric systems natural
system
with
a
periods of vibration, the simplest example of such a being an electron which is attracted to a fixed centre force proportional to the distance. Zeeman's effect
an
external magnetic fieldon the free of these electricsystems, while Faraday's effect oscillations represents the influence of the external magnetic fieldon the which forced oscillations the systems perform under the stimulus be analysed may of incident light. The latter phenomenon on these principles,the equation of motion of without difficulty
one
represents the influence of
of the electrons being

mr
taken
=
in the form
K2r
eE
e[r.H],
and e the charge of the electron,, where m denotes the mass r its distance from the centre of force, K2r the restitutive force, the electron E and H the electric and magnetic forces. When performs forced oscillations under frequency n, this equation becomes
the influence of light of
(K2-m?i2)r eE
=
e[r.H].
influence of the magnetic force on the motion of the with the influence of the electric electron is small compared force,i.e. the second term on the right is small compared with the firstterm ; so in the second term we may replace r by its
The
Cf. p. 405.
t Cf. pp. 213-216,
307-309, 367-370.
Closing Years
value
as
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
453
"equation
found from the firstterm, namely, thus becomes

r
=
The eE/(icz run*).

-
+
K2
-
mn*
(i'-wm1)1^'^'
per unit volume,
we
If P denote* the electricmoment"

P
=
have
ei
the number medium
of such systems in unit volume

;
of the
so
P must
be of the form
evidently represents the dielectric constant of the the magnetic medium, and o- is the coefficientwhich measures In the magneto-optic term we rotatory power. may replace H by K, the external magnetic force, since this is large compared
where
e
Thus
force of the luminous with the magnetic if D denote the electric induction, we have
D
=
vibrations.
+ "r [E K]. fE/47rc2

.
'Combining this with the usual electromagnetic equations,

curl H
=
47ri",
-
curl E
we
H,
have
-
curl curl E
+ *E/c2
4:r"r[E
K].
plane wave of light is propagated through the in the direction of the lines of magnetic force, and medium the axis of x is taken parallel to this direction, the equation
When
a
gives
(VEy
these equations, as we have are seen,f .and the rotation of the plane of polarization.
*Cf. p. 428.
competent
to explain
t Cf. p 215.
454
From
The Theory
the
occurrence
ofAether

-
may for light whose
nator of the factor (KT mw) in the denomiof the expression for the magneto-optic constant "r, it be inferred that the magnetic rotation will be very large
as a free period of period is nearly the same vibration of the electrons. A large rotation is in fact observed* when plane-polarized light, whose frequency differs but little
from the frequencies of the D-lines. is passed through sodium vapour in a direction parallel to the lines of magnetic force. The optical properties of metals may be explained, according to the theory of electrons, by a slight extension of the analysis
stances. applies to the propagation of light in transparent subIt is,in fact, only necessary to suppose that some of the electrons in metals are free instead of being bound to the
which
molecules : a supposition which may be embodied in the equations by assuming that an electricforce E gives rise to a polarization. P, where
E
=
aP
/3P+
7P ;
the term the term
in
represents the effect of the inertia of the electrons ;" in ]3 represents their ohmic drift ; and the term in y
a
represents the effect of the restitutive forces where these exist. This equation is to be combined with the customary electromagnetic equations
curl H
+ E/c2
47rP,
curl E
H.
In discussing the propagation of light through the metal, we may for convenience suppose that the beam is plane-polarized
*
The
Comptes
first observed by D. Macaluso was phenomenon and 0. M. Corbino,. Rendus, cxxvii (1898), The Rend. Lincei 548, (5) (1898), p. p. 293. vii(2)
theoretical explanation was supplied by AV. Voigt, Gott. Nach., 1898, p. 349, Ann. d. Phys. Ixvii (1899), Cf. also P. Zeeman, Proc. Amst. Acad. p. 345.
v
(1902), p.
41, and J. J. Hallo, Arch. N6erl.
x (1905), (2) p.
148.
Voigt also predicted that if plane-polarized light, of period nearly tbe same as that of the D radiation, were field, in a passed through sodium vapour magnetic in a direction perpendicular to the lines of magnetic force, the velocity of propagation would be found to depend on the orientation of the plane of polarization,
so
that the sodium
vapour
confirmed experimentally Ann. d. Phys. p. 355:
would behave as a uniaxal crystal. This prediction was by Voigt and Wiechert : cf Voigt, Gott. Nach., 1898, Ixvii. (1899), Cf. also A. Cotton, Cornpte* p. 345.
.
Rendus,
cxxviii (1899), p. 294, and J. Geest, Arch. Neerl.
x (1905), p. (2),
291.
Closing Years
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
455
and propagated parallel to the axis of 2, the electricvector beingThus the equations of motion reduce parallel to the axis of x.
to
"
-r
-=-^-
4n-
For Ex and P*
we
may
substitute exponential functions of
where
denotes the frequency of the light,and /* the quasi-index

:
of refraction of the metal
the equations then give at
once
"y
Writing
v
i) (_a?lt
-
pnS~î
that
y)
47TC2.
is inversely proportional to the velocity of light in the medium, and " denotes the coefficientof absorption, and equating separately the real and
(1
v/
1) for p, so
imaginary
parts of the equation,
we
obtain
4*0
(y- an*)
+ (y f?nz
aw2)2
the wave-length of the light is very large, the inertia represented by the constant a has but littleinfluence, and the When
reduce to those of Maxwell's original theory* of the mentally experipropagation of light in metals. The formulae were
equations H.
and
confirmed for this case by the researches of E. Hagen Kubensf with infra-red light ; a relation being thus
the ohmic conductivity of a metal established between .and its optical properties with respect to light of great wavelength. When,
more
*
vibrations are performed rapidly, the effect of the inertia becomes predominant; and
Ann.
however,
the
luminous
Cf. p. 290. t Berlin Sitzungsber., 1903, pp. 269, 410; Phil. Mag. vii (1904), p. 157.
d. Phys.
xi
(1903), p.
873 ;
456
The Theory
of
Aether and Electrons in 'the
If the constants
of the metal are such that, for a certain range is negative, it is evident of values of n, VZK is small, while v~ (I K2) that, for this range of values of n, v will be small and K large,
-
i.e.,the properties of the metal will approach those of ideal Finally, for indefinitelygreat values of n, V~K is small .silver.* is so that v tends to unity and K v2 (1 K2) nearly unity, .and to these conditions is realized in to zero : an approximation
-
the X-rays.f
In the last years of the nineteenth century, attempts were definite conceptions regarding the behaviour made to form more that the of electrons within metals. It will be remembered
had been proposed by WeberJ for "originaltheory of electrons the purpose of explaining the phenomena of electric currents in metallic wires. Weber, however, made but little progress
of metals ; for being concerned chiefly with magneto-electric induction and electromagnetic ponder omotive force, he scarcely brought the metal into the
towards
an
electric theory
discussion at all, except
in the assumption
that electrons of
opposite signs travel with equal and opposite velocities relative The more to its substance. comprehensive scheme of his half a century afterwards aimed at connecting in successors electricalproperties of metals, such as the conduction of currents according to Ohm's law, the thermo-electric effects of Seebeck, Peltier, and W. Thomson,
the galvano- magnetic effect of Hall, and other phenomena will be mentioned subsequently. The
a
unified theory all the known
which
later investigators, indeed, ranged beyond the group properties,and sought by aid of the theory of of purely electrical electrons to explain the conduction of heat. The principal ground
on
was which this extension was justified and obtained in 1853 by G. Wiedemann
*
an
experimental result K. FranzJ who found
Cf. p. 179.
t Models illustrating the selective reflexion and absorption of light by metallic

discussed by H. Lamb, Mem. and Proc. Manchester Lit. bodies and by gases were Phil. Soc. xlii(1898), p..11 ; Trans. p. 1 ; Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. xxxii (1900), .and 348. p. 'Camb. Phil. Soc. xviii (1900), + Cf. p. 226. " Ann. d. Phys. Ixxxix (1853), p. 497.
Closing Years
457
that at any temperature the ratio of the thermal conductivity the same of a body to its ohmic conductivity is approximately for all metals, and that the value of this ratio is proportional
In fact, the conductivity of a the absolute temperature. pure metal for heat is almost independent of the temperature;
to
while the electric conductivity varies in inverse proportion to the absolute temperature, so that a pure metal as it approaches
the absolute
the character of temperature tends to assume of a perfect conductor. That the two conductivities are closely related was shown to be highly probable by the experiments
zero
found to exhibit of Tait^ in which pieces of the same metal were variations in ohmic conductivity exactly parallel to variations in their thermal conductivity.
The attempt to explain the electricaland thermal properties by aid of the theory of electrons rests on the assumption "ofmetals less similar to in metals is more that conduction or
conduction
electrolytes; at any rate, that positive and stance negative charges drift in opposite directions through the subof the conductor under the influence of an electric remarked in 1888 by J. J. Thomson,* who must be regarded as the founder of the modern theory, that the differences which are perceived between metallic and electrolytic
was
in
field. It
conduction may be referred to special features in the two In do not affect their general resemblance. cases, which electrolytes the carriers are provided only by the salt,which
is dispersed throughout
of solvent ; whereas in metals it may be supposed that every molecule is capable of furnishing carriers. Thomson, therefore, proposed to regard the current in metals as a series of intermittent discharges,
a mass
large inert
caused by the rearrangement

systems
"
conception pictured conduction in electrolytes. This view would, as he showed, lead to a general explanation of the connexion between
thermal and electricalconductivities.
*
of the constituents of molecular similar to that by which Grothussf had
J. J. Thomson,
Applications
of Dynamics
to Physics
and
Chemistry,
1888,
p. 296.
Cf. also Giese, Ann.
d. Phys. xxxvii
(1889), p.
576.
t Cf. p. 78.
458
Most
The Theory
ofAether
of the later writers on metallic conduction have preferred Arrhenius* hypothesis to take the of rather than that of Grothuss as a the pattern ; and have therefore supposed interstices between of the metal to be at all In times swarming with electric charges in rapid motion. 1898 E. Eieckef effected an important advance by examining
the molecules
the consequences of the assumption that the average velocity of this random motion of the charges is nearly proportional to the P. DrudeJ in 1900 square root of the absolute temperature T. replaced this by the energy of each moving
more
definite assumption
that the kinetic
charge is equal to the average kinetic temperature energy of a molecule of a perfect gas at the same and may therefore be expressed in the form qT, where q denotes
,
universal constant. In the same that it would year J. J. Thomson " remarked accord with the conclusions drawn from the study of ionization
in gases to suppose that the vitreous and resinous charges play different parts in the process of conduction : the resinous be conceived of as carried by simple negative charges may
corpuscles
or
electrons, such
as
they may be supposed to move between the atoms of the metal. The vitreous charges, on the or less fixed in attachment other hand, may be regarded as more
to the metallic atoms.
constitute the cathode rays : about freely in the interstices
According
to this view the transport of
electricityis due almost entirely to the motion
of the negative
charges. An experiment lent

some
aluminium
a
which was performed at this time by Eiecke|| hypothesis. A cylinder of support to Thomson's inserted between two cylinders of copper in was
a
circuit, and
current
amount
*
of copper
passed for such a time that the deposited in an electrolytic arrangement

was
Cf. p. 384. t G-ott.Nach.,

1199;
1898, pp. 48, 137. ii.(1900), p. 835.
Ann.
d. Phys. Ixvi
pp. (1898),
353, 545,
i (1900), I Ann. d. Phys. (4) p. 566 ; iii (1900), p. 369 ; vii (1902), p. 687. " Rapports pres. au Congres de Physique, Paris, 1900, iii, p. 138. Phys. Zeitsch. iii 639.' || (1901), p.
Closing Years
would
each have
ofthe
to
over
Nineteenth Centwy.
a
459*
weight of
amounted
kilogramme.
The
of the three cylinders, however, showed no measurable duction change; from which it appeared unlikely that metallic conis accompanied by the transport of metallic ions.
The ideas of Thomson, Kiecke, and Drude were combined by Lorentz* in an investigation which, as it is the most complete will here be given It is supposed
as
the representative of all of them. that the atoms of the metal are fixed, and them
a
that in the interstices between
large number
of resinous-
electrons
are
electrons are fixed atoms
The mutual collisions of the in rapid motion. disregarded, so that their collisions with the
alone
analogous
come
regarded
as
consideration ; to collisions between moving under
these and
are
fixed
is electricity in the metal and supposed to take place in a direction parallel to the axis of is in the same xt so that the metal condition at all points of any plane perpendicular to this direction ; and the flow is
to be steady, so that the state of the system is supposed independent of the time. Consider a slab of thickness dx and of unit area ; and suppose that the number of electrons in this slab whose ^-components of of velocity lie between u and u + du, whose ^-components
elastic spheres. flow of The
heat
velocity lie between velocity lie between
v
w
and and
dv, and whose dw, is du dv dw.
^-components
of
/ (utv,
One
w,
x) dx
of these electrons, supposing it to escape collision, y, z) to (x + u dt, will in the interval of time dt travel from (x, its ^-component : and of velocity will at the y + vdt, z +
wdt)
e Edtjmîf ra and end of the interval be increased by an amount e denote its mass and charge, and E denotes the electric force. Suppose that the number of electrons lost to this group by
collisions in the interval dt is

*
dx du dv dw dt, and
that the
Amsterdam
Proceedings
(English pp. vii (1904-1905), edition)
438, 585, 684
460
The Theory
ofAether

same
number added to the group by collisionsin the b dx du dv dw dt. Then wê have
v, f (u, w,
interval is
x) + (b a) dt
"
f (u +
eE
v, dt/m,
w,
dt),
.and
therefore
7JT
^\
J?
r\ J?
"fi
-
"
"
of du
oT
u
"
"
dx
of distribution of velocities which Maxwell postulated for the molecules of a perfect gas at rest is expressed by the equation Now,
rz
the law
/=
where
a'3 TT~^
Ne"*,
of moving
corpuscles in unit volume, r denotes the resultant velocity of a corpuscle (sothat u* + v~ + r2 and a denotes a constant which specifiesthe w*), intensity of agitation,and consequently the temperature. -average It is assumed that the law of distribution of velocities the electrons in a metal is nearly of this form; but a among the number
=
denotes
be added in order to represent the general drifting of The simplest assumption the electrons parallel to the axis of x.
term
must
that
can
be made
regarding this term

u
x
is that it is of the form

r
function of
only ;
we
shall,therefore, write
a
/
The value of ^
NTT~*
now
a'3
"2
u^
(r).
from the equation
(r) may
b
-
be determined
"
eE'df +
~-
df
u
du
"-; dx
term
for
on
the left-hand side^the Maxwellian
give a zero result, since b is equal to a in Maxwell's depend solely on the term u-% (r) a must ; and ; thus b .system
would
-
Closing Years
an
cfthe^
Nineteenth Century.
46 T
in the manner examination of the circumstances of a collision, of the kinetic theory of gases, shows that (b a) must have the form ur^ (r)/l, where I denotes a constant which is closely
-
of the electrons. In the terms on the right-hand side of the equation, on the other hand, Maxwell's term gives a result different from zero; and in comparison with this we may neglect the terms which arise
related to the
mean
free path
from u\
(r). Thus
urv(r)
/
we
have d
leE
8\
--,
\m
lu
or
--,
fieNE
(N\
2M*
da)
.
and thus the law of distribution of velocitiesis determined. The electriccurrent i is determined by the equation
i
=
v, Jj'J uf (it, w) du
dv dw,
where
the integration is extended
components in f (u, v, have
w)
all possible values of the of velocity of the electrons. The Maxwellian term furnishes no contribution to this integral, so we
over
JJJ v?
du (r)
dv dw.
When
the integration is performed, this formula becomes
'
mu or
dx
m
dxf
da\
STT^W
/a2 dN
'~""Nl
The
2~e(N~fa'*adx)'
coefficientof i in this equation must evidently represent the ohmic specific resistance of the metal ; so if y denote the have specificconductivity, we 4/r N
Let the equation be next and B in contact at the
applied to the
.
case
same
temperature
of two metals T, forming an
462
The
Theory
ofAether
no
.(so
in which there is "open circuit that i and da/dxare

= "
conduction of heat or electricity zero).Integrating the equation

m
clN 2eNdx
a2
.across
the
junction of the
metals,
we
have
=
Discontinuity of potential at
or
junction
-^"
log
-"
which represents the average kinetic energy of an electron, is by Drude's assumption equal to q/T,where grdenotes have a universal constant, we
since
fma2,
Discontinuity of potential at This may

the
junction
=
^
O
2 q
-
N
T log
~-
"
""
J\ A
be interpreted
as
conthe difference of potential nected
with the Peltier* effect at the junction of two metals ; product of the difference of potential and the current
The Peltier the evolution of heat at the junction. discontinuity of potential is of the order of a thousandth of a volt, and must be distinguished from Volta's contact-difference
measures
larger, and which, as it of potential, which is generally much presumably depends on the relation of the metals to the medium in which they are immersed, is beyond the scope of the present investigation. Eeturning of energy equation
to the general equations,
we
x,
JFis parallel to the axis of
observe that the flux and is given by the

dv dw,
W
where
du v, \m HIurif(u, iv)
the integration is again extended
over
of the components have
of velocity ; performing
all possible values the integration,we
or,
substituting for E from the equation already found,

TT_
ma2
=
4ml
-
da
-r"r
Naz
e
*
871-2
Cf. p. 264.
-7-
"
dx
Closing Years
Consider
now
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
463
in which there is conduction of heat The flux of energy will in this without conduction of electricity. be given by the equation case the
case
W--***
where K denotes the thermal conductivity of the metal expressed in suitable units ; or 3ma da W K.-^" 2q -j-dx
=
-
that the conduction of heat in metals is If it be assumed be effected by motion of the electrons, this expression may with the preceding; thus we have compared
and
comparing
this with
we
the formula
have
already found
for the
electric conductivity,
7
an
'
shows that the ratio of the thermal to the which is the electricconductivity is of the form T x a constant
equation which
same
for all metals. This Wiedernann and Franz.
result accords
with
the
law
of
Moreover, the value of q is known from the kinetic theory of gases; and the value of e has been determined by J. J. Thomson* and his followers ; substituting these values in the formula for K/y, is obtained with the values of determined a fair agreement K/y experimentally. It was remarked by J. J. Thomson
that if,as is postulated contains a great number of free
in the above theory, a metal equilibrium electrons in temperature
with the atoms, the depend largely on the energy specific heat of the metal must required in order to raise the temperature of the electrons. Thomson considered that the observed specificheats of metals
are
smaller than is compatible

*
with
the theory, and
was
thus
Cf. p. 407.
464
The Theory
of
led to investigate* the consequences
of his original hypothesis^ regarding the motion of the electrons, which differsfrom the described in much the same one way as Grothuss' theory. of just Each electron was now electrolysis differs from Arrhenius'. supposed to be free only for a very short time, from the moment when it is liberated by the dissociationof an atom to the moment
The it collideswith, and is absorbed by, a different atom. conceived to be paired in doublets, one pole of each atoms were doublet being negatively, and the other positively, electrified. when external electric field the doublets orient themselves parallel to the electricforce, and the electrons from their negative poles give rise to a current which are ejected
Under
the influence of
an
in this direction. The electricconductivity of predominantly the metal may thus be calculated. In order to comprise the that the assumed conduction of heat in his theory, Thomson kinetic energy with which
an
electron leaves
an
atom
is proportiona
part of the metal is hotter than another, the temperature will be equalized by the interchange of corpuscles. This theory, like the other, leads
and Franz. rational explanation of the law of Wiedemann The theory of electrons in metals has received support It was known to from the study of another phenomenon.
to
a
to the absolute temperature
; so that if one
the philosophers
an
of the eighteenth
century
that the air
near
incandescent metal
"Let
acquires the power

a
of conducting
tricity. elec-
the end of "when poker," wrote Canton,J within three or four red-hot, be brought but for a moment inches of a small electrifiedbody, and its electricalpower will be almost, if not entirely,destroyed."
The
*
continued subject
to attract attention at intervals" ;
J. J. Thomson,
The Corpuscular Theory
ofMatter
London,
1907.
f Cf. p. 457. " Cf. E. Becquerel, Annales

Mag.
Edison xlvi
Phil. Trans, lii(1762), p. 457. 355 de Chimie xxxix (1853), ; Guthrie, Phil. p.
(1873),p.
A'nnaleri d. Phys.
showed carbon is hearted to incandescence in a rarefied gas. In recent years it has been found that ions are emitted when magnesia, or any of the oxides of the alkaline earth metals, is heated to a dull red heal. ;
,
by Elster and Geitel in the also various memoirs The is very noticeable, as onwards. phenomenon 12, 1884, p. 553), when filament of December a (Engineering,
254;
from
1882
Closing Years
and
as
465
to be better the process of conduction in gases came understood, the conductivity produced in the neighbourhood of
incandescent metals was attributed to the emission of electrically ment charged particlesby the metals. But it was not until the developof J. J. Thomson's theory of ionizationin gases that notable
In 1899, Thomson* determined the ratio made. of the resinously charged ions emitted of the charge to the mass by a hot filament of carbon in rarefied hydrogen, by observing
advances
were
their deflexion in
the ratio was
magnetic nearly the same
field. The
as
value obtained for that which he had found for
he concluded that the corpuscles of cathode rays ; whence the negative ions emitted by the hot carbon were negative electrons. The corresponding for the positive leak investigation-)-
from
hot bodies yielded the information that the mass of the positive ions is of the same order of magnitude as the mass of material There for believing are reasons that these ions are atoms.
produced from gas which layer of the metal.J

If,when
a
has been absorbed by the superficial
hot metal is emitting ions in a rarefiedgas, an the metal and a electromotive force be established between neighbouring electrode,either the positive or the negative ions
urged towards the electrode by the electricfield, and a current is thus transmitted through the intervening space. When the
are
metal is at a higher potential than the electrode,the current is carried by the vitreously charged ions : when the electrode is at the higher potential, by those with resinous charges. In the electromotive force is either case, it is found that when increased indefinitely, the current does not increase indefinitely likewise, but acquires a certain The saturation value.
"
"
obvious explanation of this is that the supply of ions available for carrying the current is limited.
*
Phil. Mag.
t J. J. Thomson,
p. 547. xlviii(1899), Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc.
xv
(1909), p.
64 ; 0. W.
Richardson,
Phil. Mag.
+
p. 740. xvi. (1908), Cf. Richardson, Phil. Trans, ccvii (1906), p. 1.

2
466
When
emitted
The Theory
of

of the metal is high, the ions it is found* that in these
the temperature
are
negative; and circumstances, when the surrounding gas is rarefied,the tion-curren saturais almost independent of the nature of the gas or of its pressure. The leak of resinous electricityfrom a metallic mainly
surface in temperature
by 0. W. may
therefore depend only on the rarefied gas must and on the nature of the metal ; and it was shown that the dependence on the temperature Richardsonf
a
an
be expressed by
equation of the form

b
where surface unit

are
i denotes
the
saturation-current
per
(whichis proportional to the T denotes the absolute time),
number temperature,
unit area of ions of emitted in
and A and
constants.!
In
for these phenomena, order to account Eichardson" had hypothesis been the which previously adopted proposed || for the explanation of metallic conductivity ; namely, that
a
metal
is to
comparatively interstices of which negative electrons are in rapid motion. Since the electrons do not all escape freely at the surface, he postulated a superficialdiscontinuity of potential, sufficientto
regarded as a sponge- like structure of large fixed positive ions and molecules, in the
be
Thus, let N denote the number of free restrain most of them. electrons in unit volume of the metal ; then in a parallelepiped height measured at right angles to the surface is dx, whose of electrons whose and whose base is of unit area, the number
*
Cf. J. A. McClelland, Proe. Camb.

On
p. 296.
the results obtained when
Phil. Trans, ccii (1903), p. 243; Phil. Trans, ccvii (1906), p. 1.
x (1899), p. 241; xi (1901), the gas is hydrogen, cf. H. A. Wilson, p. 247; and 0. W. Richardson, ccviii (1908),
Phil. Soc.
Phil. Trans, cci (1903), Phil. Soc. xi (1902), p. 286; p. 497. Cf. also H. A. Wilson, Phil. Trans, ccii (1903), p. 243. law applies to the emission from other bodies, e.g. heated J The same ions to the emission of positive a steady at any rate when alkaline earths, and in is been has a a definite at gas pressure. reached which state of emission p. 497. "Phil.Trans, cci (1903), Cf. pp. 457 et sqq. ||
fProc. Camb.
"
Closing Years
^-components
ofthe^
Nineteenth Century.
between
u
467
u
of velocity are
comprised
and
du is
^
* a"1 TT
m
JVe
"*
du dx,
an
where
| ma2
qT,
denoting the
mass
and q the universal Now, an electron whose ^-component of velocity is u will interval dt of time, provided arrive at the interface within an that at the beginning of this interval it is within a distance u dt
of electrons whose ^-components of velocity are comprised between u and u + du which in the interval dt is arrive at unit area of the interface
of the
electron, T the absolute temperature, constant previously introduced.

of
interface.
So the number
If the work which an electron must perform through the surface layer be denoted by
electrons
in order to escape the number "/", in unit time

of
emitted
by
unit
area
of
metal
is
therefore
c
**udu,
or
*""*"*
The current issuing from unit
20
area
of the hot metal is thus

30
JirWeae'^,
where
t
or
denotes the charge being of the form
on
an
electron. This expression,
measures ; and the comparison agrees with the experimental furnishes the value of the superficialdiscontinuity of potential which is implied in the existence of 0.*
A few years after the date of this investigation,a plan

found This discontinuity of potential was for 6-1 for platinum, and volts volts carbon.
*
was
to be 2*45 volts for sodium, 4-1
468
devised
The Theory
of
and successfully carried out* for determining experimentally the kinetic energy the ions after possessed by kinetic energy The mean emission. of both negative and found to be the same for various metals positive ions was
(platinum, gold, silver,etc.), and
to be directly proportional
to
the absolute temperature; and the distribution of velocities among the ions proved to be that expressed by Maxwell's law. The ions may therefore be regarded as kinetically equivalent
to the molecules of a gas whose
temperature
is the
same
as
that
of the metal. By the investigations which
been recorded, the hypothesis of atomic electric charges has been, to all appearances, decisively established. But all the parts of the theory of
have
electrons do not enjoyan equal degree of security; and in particular, it is possible that the future may bring important changes in the conception of the aether. The hope was
formerly entertained of discovering an aether by reference to ; but such a hope which motion might be estimated .absolutely has been destroyed by the researches which have sprung from Fitz Gerald's hypothesis of contraction; and in some recent writings it is possible to recognize a tendency to replace the classical aether by other conceptions, which, however, have been as yet but indistinctly outlined.
In any event, the close of the nineteenth century brought to end a well-marked era in the history of natural philosophy ;
an
selves, and this is true not only with respect to the discoveries thembut also in regard to the conditions of scientific tion organizaand endeavour, which in the last decades of that period The investigators who advanced became profoundly changed. from the time of Descartes the theories of aether and electricity, Kelvin, were, to that of Lord with very few exceptions, territory : from Dublin to the congregated within a narrow
provinces of Russia, and from Stockholm of Italy, may be circumscribed by a circle of no

western
*
to the north
more
than six
Richardson and F. C. Brown, Phil. Mag. xvi (1908), pp. 353, 890 ; F. C. Brown, Phil. Mag. xvii (1909), p. 649 p. 355 ; xviii (1909),
0. W.
Closing Years
hundred
ofthe
Nineteenth Century.
469
the whole of Kelvin's miles radius. But throughout long life,the domain of culture was rapidly extending : the learning of the Germanic and Latin peoples was carried to the
furthest regions of the earth : new universities and inquiries into the secrets of nature were
were
founded,
instituted in
Let this record close with the of the globe. anticipation that fellowship in the pursuit of knowledge will increase in the nations the spirit of generous emulation and
every quarter
mutual
respect.
INDEX
OF
AUTHORS
CITED.
Abraham, Aepinus,
M., 323, 352.

F. U. T., 47-52, 55.
Bottomley, J. T., 297. Boussinesq, J., 185-187, 215. Boyle, U., 11, 17, 31-33, Brace, D. B., 439.
35.
Airy, Sir G. B., 120, 191, 214, 215. Aitken, J., 403.
Ampere,
A. M., 87-92, 312.
Ango,
P., 24.
Bradley, J., 99, 100. Brewster, Sir D., Ill, 113, 134, 177. Brougham,
Brouncker, Brown,
Arago, F., 86, 114, 116, 121, 122, 136,
H., Lord, 108. Viscount, 10.

A., 56, 218.
173. Arrhenius, S., 383, 384. Aschkinass, E., 295.

Aubel, E.
van,
F. C., 467.
E., 263. de, 48.
Brugmans, Budde,
322.
Anlinger, E., 356.
Buffon, G. L. L., Comte
Bacon,
Sir F., Lord Verulam,
2, 3, 33.
Cabeo, N., 31, 189. Campbell,

L., 283, 296.
Banks, Sir J., 75. Bartholin, E., 25. Bartoli, A., 306. Basset, A. B., 370.
A., 267. liatelli,
Canton, J., 50, 464. Carlisle, Sir A., 75, 78. Cascariolo, V., 19, 20.
Cassini, G. D., 22.

Cauchy,
159,
Becearia, G. B., 49, 53, 67, 75.

Becher, J. J., 36.
A.
161,
LM
132, 139, 142-150,
158,
163,
165,
167, 170, 177-
Becquerel, A. C., 93, 94. Becquerel, E., 464. Bec4uerel, H., 408, 409, 410. Belopolsky, A., 416.
Bennet, A., 73, 304.
179, 182, 183, 294.

Cavendish,
Lord C., 51.
Cavendish,
Hon.
H.,
51-54,
75. 94,
167, 207. Chandler, S. C., 100.

Charlier, C. V. L., 190, 269.
101..
Bernoulli, D., 9, 50. Bernoulli, John
(theelder), 9, Bernoulli, John (theyounger),

102.
Chasles, M.
100-
190, 269.
Chattock, A. P., 357. Chladni, E. F. F., 110.
Berthollet, A., 112.
Christiansen, C., 291. Christie,S. H., 213.
Berzelius, J. J., 80-83. Betti, E., 65.

Bezold, W.
v.,
Clausius, R., 231, 234, 261-263,

373, 420-422. ColUnson, P., 43, 46. Corbino, 0. M., 454. Cornu, M. A., 216, 282, 451.
Cotton, A., 454.
274,
357.
Biot, J. B., 86, 114, 174. C. A., 316, 317. Bjerknes, V., 303. Bjeiknes,
Blondlot, R., 431, 432. Boerhaave, H., 35. Boltzmann,
Coulomb,
C. A., 56-59.
L., 206, 322, 325, 356.
Courtivron, G., Marquis

Crookes, Sir W.,
de, 104.
Boscovich, R. G., 33, 161, 217.
306, 394, 395,
472
Cruickshank, W., 75, 76. Gumming, J., 93, 266. Cunaeus, 41. Curie, P., 235, 409.
Curie, Mme. S., 409.
Index.
Foucault, L., 136, 282, 283. Fourcroy, A. F. de, 93. Fourier, J., Baron, 95, 132, 139, 256. Franklin, B., 41-51,84, 103. Franklin, W.
S., 264. Franz, R., 456, 457.
Daniell, F., 206, 373. Darbishire, F. V., 204. Davy, J., 194. Davy, SirH.,
Fresnel, A., 24, 28, 113-136,
148, 174.
Frohlich, I., 263.
76-78, 80, 94, 95, 188,
Galileo, G., 21. Galitzine, B., 306.

Gallop, E. G., 237, 238.
197, 372, 392. De La Hire, nee La Hire. Delambre, J. B. J., 22.

De la Eive, A., 79, 80.
Galvani, L., 67-71. Garnett, W., 283, 296.

Gauss, K. F., 58S 225-231, Gautherot, N., 94.
268, 269.
De la Rive, L., 197, 201, 202, 360.

Desaguliers, J. T., 37-39.
Descartes, R., 2-9, 38, 85.
Guy-Lussac,
L. J., 199.
Des Coudres, T., 433.

Desormes, C. B., 84. Digby, K., 31. Donati, L., 349. Doppler, C., 415.
Drude,
Geest, J., 454.
Geissler,H., 392.
Geitel, H., 464.
Gibbs, J. Willard, 283, 297, 378, 380,

423.
Du
P., 370, 429, 458, 459. Fay, C. F., 39, 40, 44, 303.
P., 281.
Giese, W., Gilberd
397, 398, 457. Giesel, F., 409.

or
Duhem,
Gilbert, W.,
von,
8, 29-31.
Dulong, P. L., 132. Ebert, 396, 399.

Edison, T., 464.
Glasenapp, S.
22.
Glazebrook, R. T., 131, 160, 164, 172, 173, 370. D. A., 370, 371. Goldstein, E., 393, 396, 406. Goldhammer,
Eichenwald, A., 339, 427. Einstein, A., 440, 447.

Elster, J., 464. Ettingshausen, A. Ewing,
v.,
Gounelle, E., 254.

322.
Gouy,
G., 401.
Euler, L., 9, 66, 103, 104, 304.
Grassnmnn,
H., 91, 231.
J. A., 237.
Gray, S., 37, 38, 49.

s'Gravesande, W. J., 32, 34, 36, 108. Green, G., 64-66, 150-154, 158, 161165, 167, 168, 170, 179, 296.
Fabroni, G., 71, 76. Faraday, M., 45, 58, 82, 85, 188-221,
244, 248, 254,
264,
269, 286,
275, 276, 279, 284,
271, 272, 288, 300,
Gren, F. A. C., 70, 74. Grimaldi, F. M., 11.

Grothuss, T., Freiherr Grove, Sir W. Guericke, 0.
v.,
339, 349, 350, 373, 391, 448.
78-81.
Fechner, G. T., 98, 201, 225, 226.
R., 241.
v.,
Fermat, P. de, 9, 10, 102, 103. Fitz Gerald, G. F., 157, '263, 308, 318, 319, 323, 324, 325, 327, 332, 333,
334, 340,
37-
Guthrie, F., 464.
341,
345-347,
361,
364, 432,
Hachette, J. N. P., 84. Haga, H., 402. Hagen, E., 455.

Hall, E. H., 320-323. Halley, E., 99, 106. Hallo, J. J., 454.
367, 368, 370, 396, 401,

433, 437, 438.
405,
Fi/eau, H. L., 117, 136, 254, 282, 283,

416.
Fiippl, A., 264.
Index.
Hallwachs, W., 399, 400. Hamilton, Sir W. R., 131, 139. Hansteen, C., 84. Hasenohrl, F., 370. Hastings, C. S., 131, 172. Hattendorf, K., 231. Hauksbee, F., 39, 390. Heaviside, 0., 341-344, 366, 367.
473
Koenigsberger, L., 241. Kohlrausch, F. W., 374.

Kohlrausch, R., 251, 252, 259. Kolacek, F., 323. Konig, C. G. W., 451. Korn, A, 317. Korteweg, D. J., 91. Kundt, A., 291. Kiistner,F., 100.
Heliodorus of Larissa, 10. Helmholtz, H. v., 196, 205, 229, 240243, 247, 253, 261, 274, 275, 288,
293,
Lagrange, J. L., 60, 103, 139. La Hire, P. de, 22, 189. Lamb,
297, 307, 312,
325, 337-339,
353, 357, 378-382, 386, 397, 429.
H., 261, 344, 456.
Helmholtz, R. v., 403. Henry, J., 193, 253, 358.
Lambert, J. H., 55. Langevin, P., 438. Laplace, P. S.,Marquis de, 60, 61, 109,
110, 112, 114, 132, 139, 232, 233.
Hero of Alexandria, 10. Herschel, Sir J., 174, 213. Herschel, Sir W., 54. Hertz, H., 347, 353-366, 396, 399, 405,
411, 429, 431, 432.
Larmor, Sir J., 118, 167, 319, 323, 343, 362, 363, 368, 370, 430, 435, 438,
439.
Hicks, W.
M., 316, 327, 328, 333-336,
Lavoisier, A. L., 33, 35, 36. Leahy, A. H., 317, 318. Leathern, J. G., 370. Lebedew, P., 307. Lecher, E., 360,
Lee, A., 361.
417. Hittorf, W.,

399.
374, 375, 393, 396, 398,
Hoek, M., 118, 120. Holzmiiller, G., 233. Homberg, W., 34, 35, 303. Hooke, R., 11-17, 33, 36, 122. Hopkinson, J., 321. Horsley, S., 17.
Howard,
Legendre, A.M., Lenz, E., 222.
60.
Lenard, P., 396, 404. Leroux, F. P., 291. Le Seur, T., 54.
Le Verrier, U. J. J., 234.
J. L., 363.
Hughes, D. E., 237. Hull, G. F., 307. Hutchinson, C. T., 339. C., 6, 17, 22-28, Huygens,
181. 99, 145,
Levy, M., 234. Lienard, H., 436. Lippmann, G., 375-378. Lloyd, H., 131. Lodge, Sir 0. J., 311, 320, 357, 358,
363, 401, 418, 432.
Jacobi, M. H., 201.

Jaequier, F., 54. Jenkin, W., 193, 194. Joule, J. P., 239, 240, 242. Kahlbaum,
Kaufmann,
Lorberg, H., 231, 356. Lorentz, H.

A., 290, 322, 459-463.
337, 412,
413, 416-449,
G. W.
W.,
Lorenz, L., 169, 297-300, 324, 361.

A., 204.
343, 406.
Kelvin,
see
Thomson,
W.
Kepler, J., 304. Kerr, J., 338, 368, 370. Kirchhoff, G., 250-252, 257-259, 260261, 312.
Macaluso, D., 454. Macaulay, Lord, 108. McClelland, J. A., 466. MacCullagh, J., 130, 148-150, 154-157, 175-179, 289, 295, 296. Macdonald, H. M., 348.
2
E. G. Kleist,
v.,
41.
474
Mairan, J. J. de, 303. Malus, E. L., Ill, 112, 177. Marcet, M., 188.
Index.
Palmaer, W.,
381.
Pardies, I. G., 24. Peacock, G., 108, 125.
Marianini, S., 201.

Mascart, E., 121, 416.
Maupertuis, P. L. M. de, 102, 103.
Pearson, K., 140, 164, 185, 361. Peltier,J. C., 264-267.

Pender, H., 339.
Maxwell, J. Clerk, 52, 65, 92, 102, 167,

190, 321, 413,
Peregrinus, P., 7, 8, 189.

Pen-in, J., 400.
215,
237,
250, 263,
268-313,
333, 337, 348, 460.
365, 397, 411,
Perrot, A., 397. Pfaff, C. H., 76, 201. Planck, M., 378, 386, 413, 429. Pliicker,J., 219, 220, 392, 393. Poggendorff, J. C., 201. Poincare, H., 352, 360, 361. Poisson, S. D., 59-65, 114, 115, 134r
139-141, 245, 246.
Mayer, Mayer,
Meyer,
E., 242. T., 55.
Melvill, T., 104. S., 409. Michel), J., 54, 55, 116, 161, 167, 217,
303.
Michelson, A. A., 117, 283, 417, 418. Miller, W. A., 373.
Pouillet, C. S. M., 193, 373. Poynting, J. H., 347-350.

Preston, S. T., 193.
Minkowski,
H., 448.
117, 417,418.
Morichini, D. P., 213. Morley, E. W., Morton, W. Moser, J., 381. Mossotti, F. 0., 211, 286.
Mottelay, P. F., 8. B., 343.
Priestley, J., 36, 50-54, 75, 161, 283,

303, 304, 393.
Eankine, W.
Musschenbroek,
P.
van,
41, 55.
J. M., 140, 171. Eaoult, F., 383. Eayleigh, J. W. Strutt, Lord, 167, 170r 171, 179, 181, 283, 290, 292, 344, 417, 439. Eeich, F., 219. Eeiff, E., 319, 370, 429. Eespighi, L., 120. Eichardson, 0. W., Eiemann,
465, 466, 467. Eiecke, E., 395, 458, 459.
Navier, C. L. M. H., 138-140. Nernst, W., Neumann, Neumann,

222--22S,
380, 386-389.
C., 176, 215, 216, 312.

F. E., 143, 148, 149, 184,
261.
Newcomb,
Newton,
S., 283.
Sir I., 9, 15-21,
28, 31-34,
B., 231, 234,

194.
261-263,
268,
269, 297, 324.
53, 106, 107.
Eitchie, W.,
Nichols, E. F., 307.
Eitter,J. W.,
Eoemer,
75, 375.
Nichols, E. L., 264. Nicholson, W.,

75, 77, 78.
Eobison, J., 51, 116. 0., 22, 99. Eoget, P. M., 78, 202, 203. Eontgen, W. C., 400, 401, 426, 427. Eowlaml, H. A., 321, 339, 344, 368,
369, 370, 427.
Niven, C., 344. Nobili, L., 193.

Noble, H. E., 438. Nollet, J. A., 40-42, 47, 48, 391.
Nyren, M., 100.
Eubens, H., 295, 455. Eumford, B. Thompson,

242.
Count, 35, 188,
O'Brien, M., 142, 184.

Oersted, H. C., 84-87.
Eutherford, E., 402, 407, 409.
Ohm,
G. S., 95-98,
201,.
Oppenheim,
S., 234.
384.
Ostwald, W.,
Sampson,
Saint-Venant, B. de, 163, 164. E.A., 22.
Index.
Sarasin,E., 360. Savart, F., 86.
Savary, F., 253, 414.
475
Todhunter, I., 140.

Torricelli,E., 23.
Trouton, F. T., 364, 438.

Tyndall, J., 219.
Scheele, K. W.,
Schiller,N., 338.
35, 36.
Schmidt, G. C., 409.
Schonbein, C. F., 204.

Schuster, A., 343, 398, 399, 401, 406.
Schweidler, E. v., 409. Searle, G. F. C., 343.

Seebeck, T. J., 92, 93, 265, 266. Seegers, 233.
Van Marum, M., 57, 76, 84. Van 't Hoff, J. H., 388. Varley, C. F., 376, 393. Vauquelin, L. N., 93. Verdet, E., 125, 215, 216. Villarceau,Y., 414, 415. Voigt, W., 370, 440, 454.
Volta, A., 57, 70-76, 195, 252, 375. Walker,
Wangerin,
Seeliger,H., 100, 414.

Sellmeier, W., 293, 295. Snell, W., 6.
G. T., 353.
A., 143.
Socin, A., 50.

Somerville, M., 213. Sommerfeld, Spence, 43.
A., 319.
Warburg,
E., 380.
42, 43,
Watson, Sir W.,

390, 391.
48, 51, 254,
Stahl, G. E., 36.

Stefan, J., 306, 345. Stokes, Sir G. G., 117, 131, 132,
141,
Watson,
H. W.,
W.,
288.
Weber,
193, 2J9,
225-236,
259,
137,
261-263,
268, 282, 283, 356, 456.
167-169,
171, 172, 197, 255,
Welby,
F. A., 241.
273, 291, 296, 401, 411, 412. Stoney, G. Johnstone, 397.

Struve, W.,
100.
Wheatstone, Whiston, W., Wiedemann,

Wiedemann, Wien, W.,
Sir C., 98, 254.

9.
Wiechert, E., 401, 404, 436, 454. E., 396, 399. G., 456, 457.
343, 406.
Sulzer, J. G., 67.
Symmer,
R., 56.
Tait, P. G., 91, 457. Talcott, 100.

Taylor, B., 35.
267, 395,
448,
449,
Wiener,
0., 364.
Wilberforce, L. R., 311. Wilcke, J. K., 48, 50, 56. Williams, A., 37. Williamson, Wilson,
A., 372, 373.
Thenard, L. J., 93, 199. Thomson,

343, 400,
Sir J. J., 167, 326, 339, 340,

350-353,
419,
C. T. R., 403.
344,
365,
370,
396, 459,
Wilson, H. A., 432, 466. Wilson, P., 116. Wind,
402-407,
W.
457, 458,
463, 464, 465.
C. H., 370, 402.

H., 76, 77, 109, 252.
Thomson,
140,
52, (LordKelvin),
165-168,
101,
Witte, H., 324. Wollaston, W. Young,
173, 174, 209, 211, 219, 240-250, 253-257, 269, 270, 274-276, 279, 265-267,
284, 286,
292, 294,
157-161,
297, 310,
326,
311,
105-111, 115, 121-123, -28, 125, 132, 134, 136, 167, 304.
T.,
313, 315, 316, 336, 370, 400.
325,
328-332,
Zeeman,
P., 449, 450, 451.
Tisserand, F., 233, 234.
Zeleny, J., 407.
Printed by PoNSONBY
" GIBBS, University Press, Dublin.
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A History of The Theories of Aether and Electricity

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A History of The Theories of Aether and Electricity

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2012-10-04 16:53:10 UTC

506d4d28d4517 178.148.208.123 Serbia

CO., LTD., DUBLIN.

for Ireland ; these friends have

read the proof-sheets, and

helpful suggestions and criticisms.

publication of the work.

physical writings of Descartes, Early history of magnetism : Petrus

of light : the principle of

by double refraction have

mobility of the magnetic fluids, Poisson's mathematical theory of electrostatics,

equivalent surface- and volume-distributions Poisson's theory of magnetic induction, memoir,

and Carlisle decompose

Davy's chemical theory of the pile, Grothuss' chain,

Berzelius' scheme of electro-chemistry, Early attempts to discover a connexion

The researches of Ampere Seebeck's phenomenon,

Davy's researches on conducting power, Ohm's theory : electroscopic force,

defends the undulatory thin plates,

explains the colours of

corpuscular theory of double refraction,

of biaxal crystals, Fresnel successfully explains diffraction,

113 114 115 121

123 125 ] 31 133

Fresnel's theory of reflexion,

discover the equation of vibration of

.137 elastic 139

141 143 145

Green's theory of reflexion : MacCullagh introduces a new

type of elastic solid, rotationally-elasticbody,

Green's firstand second theories of light in crystals, Influence of Green,

to metals, of the elastic -solid theory Rayleigh's

Cauchy's theory of dispersion, Boussinesq's elastic-solidtheory,

of induced currents Self-induction,

Identity of frictionaland voltaic electricity: Faraday's views

The properties of dielectrics, Theory of dielectric polarization

potential, W. Weber's theory of electrons, law, Riemann's

232 234 239

electroscopic force with

potential, The discharge of

thermo-electric researches of Peltier and W.

propagation of electric disturbances in crystals and in metals, dispersion, Anomalous The

theory of the magnetic

in which magnetic Researches of W. Thomson,

character is attributed to magnetism, force is represented as a linear velocity,

pulsating and 316

oscillating bodies, MacCullagh's quasi-elastic solid The Hall effect,

of the electric medium,

and Fitz Gerald,

The vortex-sponge theory of the aether Fitz Gerald, and Hicks,

reflexion, Crucial experiments

340 344 345

of rapidly -alternating currents, Fitz Gerald devises the magnetic radiator,

Polarization of electrodes, Electrocapillarity,

Single differences of potential, Helmholtz' theory of concentration-cells,

386 390 391

the 393 394

cathode rays, Crookes and the fourth state of matter,

the ratio m/e,

Stokes' theory of aethereal motion in which Astronomical phenomena

411 413 416

Crucial experiments Lorentz' theory of electrons, The current of dielectric convection

the velocity of light is involved, relating to the optics of moving bodies,

electronic theory of dispersion, Deduction of Fresnel's formula from The

430 431 432

Lorentz' treatise of 1895, Expression of the potentials in terms