es of the substance and then a
lowering of the forces by the separation, advance in opposite directions,
and recombination of the elements of the molecules, these being, as it
were, the halves of the originally polarized conductors or particles.

1349. These views of the decomposition of electrolytes and the consequent
effect of discharge, which, as to the particular case, are the same with
those of Grotthuss (481.) and Davy (482.), though they differ from those of
Biot (487.), De la Rive (490.), and others, seem to me to be fully in
accordance not merely with the theory I have given of induction generally
(1165.), but with all the known _facts_ of common induction, conduction,
and electrolytic discharge; and in that respect help to confirm in my mind
the truth of the theory set forth. The new mode of discharge which
electrolyzation presents must surely be an evidence of the _action of
contiguous particles_; and as this appears to depend directly upon a
previous inductive state, which is the same with common induction, it
greatly strengthens the argument which refers induction in all cases to an
action of contiguous particles also (1295, &c.).

1350. As an illustration of the condition of the polarized particles in a
dielectric under induction, I may describe an experiment. Put into a glass
vessel some clear rectified oil of turpentine, and introduce two wires
passing through glass tubes where they coincide with the surface of the
fluid, and terminating either in balls or points. Cut some very clean dry
white silk into small particles, and put these also into the liquid: then
electrify one of the wires by an ordinary machine and discharge by the
other. The silk will immediately gather from all parts of the liquid, and
form a band of particles reaching from wire to wire, and if touched by a
glass rod will show considerable tenacity; yet the moment the supply of
electricity ceases, the band will fall away and disappear by the dispersion
of its parts. The _conduction_ by the silk is in this case very small; and
after the best examination I could give to the effects, the impression on
my mind is, that the adhesion of the whole is due to the polarity which
each filament acquires, exactly as the particles of iron between the poles
of a horse-shoe magnet are held together in one mass by a similar
disposition of forces. The particles of silk therefore represent to me the
condition of the molecules of the dielectric itself, which