Royal Institution | 13, Dec. 1836.
My dear Sir,
I cannot refrain from writing to you. I have just received a short memoire from Sig Mossotti1 of Turin on the forces which govern matter2[.] Have you seen it. I have been exceedingly struck with it & hope it is correct in its mathematical part of which I am no judge. It relates essentially to electricity and deduces all the phenomena of gravitation from it & it is this which makes the interest to me for his view jumps in with my notion which I think I mentioned to you that Universal Gravitation is a mere residual phenomenon of Electrical attraction & repulsion[.]
He first proceeds to shew that Poissons investigations3 do nothing as to the settlement of the question whether there be one or two fluids of Electricity[.] He then goes on to shew that the supposed difficulty of allowing that matter (according to the theory of Aepinus4 & Cavendish5) has repulsive powers which are inversely as the square of the distance and also attractive powers in the same ratio does not in reality exist. But that on the assumption of one electric fluid having repulsive powers inversely as the square of the distance - of matter also having repulsive powers in the same ratio whilst the attraction of matter & electricity for each other is in the same ratio but with this addition that the repulsive power of the particles of matter for each other is a little less than the repulsive power of electricity or than the mutual attraction of electri‑city & matter - then all the phenomena of gravitation - those of statical electri‑city and likewise that condition of the particles of bodies by which they are (though not in contact) prevented from approaching each other or receding from each other - flow as natural consequences - the electrical phenomena being as fully explained as they are in Poissons theory[.]
What I want to ask you is your opinion of this paper & of the correctness of the mathematical reasoning. I dare say you have had copies of it sent to Cambridge but if not let me know how I can convey mine to you or let me know that you wish to see it & I will find means of sending it. But I cannot give
it to you[.]
Ever Dear Sir | Most Truly Yours | M. Faraday
Address: Revd Wm. Whewell | &c &c &c | Trinity College | Cambridge
CAVENDISH, Henry (1771): “An Attempt to explain some of the principal Phaenomena of Electricity by Means of an elastic Fluid”, Phil. Trans., 61: 584-677.
MOSSOTTI, Ottaviano Fabrizio (1836): Sur les forces qui régissent la constitution intérieure des corps, Turin.
POISSON, Siméon-Denis (1811): “Mémoire Sur la Distribution de l'Electricité à la surface des Corps conducteurs”, Mém. Inst., 1-92, 163-274.
Please cite as “Faraday0954,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday0954