ferent directions: in the current and
the magnet it takes up the condition of tangential forces; and in magnets
and their particles produces poles. Since the experiments have been made
which have persuaded me that the polar forces of electricity, as in
induction and electrolytic action (1298. 1343.), show effects at a distance
only by means of the polarized contiguous and intervening particles, I have
been led to expect that _all polar forces_ act in the same general manner;
and the other kinds of phenomena which one can bring to bear upon the
subject seem fitted to strengthen that expectation. Thus in
crystallizations the effect is transmitted from particle to particle; and
in this manner, in acetic acid or freezing water a crystal a few inches or
even a couple of feet in length will form in less than a second, but
progressively and by a transmission of power from particle to particle.
And, as far as I remember, no case of polar action, or partaking of polar
action, except the one under discussion, can be found which does not act by
contiguous particles[A]. It is apparently of the nature of polar forces
that such should be the case, for the one force either finds or developed
the contrary force near to it, and has, therefore, no occasion to seek for
it at a distance.

[A] I mean by contiguous particles those which are next to each other,
not that there is _no_ space between them. See (1616.).

1666. But leaving these hypothetical notions respecting the nature of the
lateral action out of sight, and returning to the direct effects, I think
that the phenomena examined and reasoning employed in this and the two
preceding papers tend to confirm the view first taken (1464.), namely, that
ordinary inductive action and the effects dependent upon it are due to an
action of the contiguous particles of the dielectric interposed between the
charged surfaces or parts which constitute, as it were, the terminations of
the effect. The great point of distinction and power (if it have any) in
the theory is, the making the dielectric of essential and specific
importance, instead of leaving it as it were a mere accidental circumstance
or the simple representative of space, having no more influence over the
phenomena than the space occupied by it. I have still certain other results
and views respecting the nature of the electrical forces and excitation,
which are connected with the present theory; and, unless upon further
consideratio