John Freke - An Essay to Shew the Cause of Electricity

SIR ,

Those who have the Honour of your Acquaintance, and thence know your many excellent Qualifications, must applaud my Choice in dedicating this small Piece to you; whose Name, if there be any Merit in the Performance, will, before any other, add a Lustre to it. I am, with the highest Esteem,

When I first enter’d on this Subject of Electricity , I intended only to put some Thoughts in Writing concerning it, that I might the more easily convey them to the Understandings of such as I hoped would be more likely than I should be to go farther with it. And as nobody, either here or abroad, had published any thing touching the Cause from which it was produc’d, I chose to shew the Beginning I had made to some Friends, whose Opinion concerning Natural Knowlege I had a great Reliance on. I told them, I thought my Difficulty would be to convey what I had to propound on this new Subject to them with the necessary Clearness, as my Intention was to observe the utmost Brevity in it.

After I had read it to them, they assured me that what I had written was perfectly intelligible; and that it gave them many new Ideas respecting this Phænomenon ; and were very earnest with me to print it, for the sake of the Publick.

I was not, however, inclined to comply with their Requests, till I had shewn it to a Person who is most justly distinguish’d for his great Candor, and superlative Understanding in all Natural Knowlege; and he likewise having express’d his Wishes to see it in Print, I could not but look on his Desire as a Command.

If what I have here undertaken to shew should enlighten the Minds of any of my Readers, or if it should so far awaken the Attention of others, as to make them give better Reasons for the Operation of this Power of Electricity than I have done, I shall not account the Time ill spent, which I have employ’d on this interesting Subject: A Subject which can, with more Nobleness and Dignity employ the Mind of Man, than any I can think of relating to the sublunary Part of this World. For by it you may be acquainted with the immediate Officer of God Almighty , which he seems to send to all Things living. Nay, this Power, according to my Conception, seems to be the Cause, under HIM , both of Life and Death. And when it may be more fully understood, it may afford us Means whereby we may be better enabled to reason more intelligibly than now we can, concerning various Operations in Nature.

I am very sensible what Tribute a new Author is liable to pay to Criticks: I know it is too common to find much too large a Part of them inclin’d to look into a Book for its Faults, rather than for its Use; and are more ready to pull down, than they have Abilities to put any thing in its Place. But as I am not writing this for any Gain to myself, but the Pleasure of informing, if I can, the Minds of such as may be informed by it, I chuse rather to stand their Censure, than deny the Publick what may possibly be the Beginning of much Good.

It is very probable, that those who pretend to know every thing, will be so good as to say, if they like what I have advanc’d, that it squares exactly with what they thought before concerning it: And those who set up for Criticks will try their Hands at this Performance, and, if they can, will condemn it.

It would be a great Wonder, indeed, if this should escape the Censure of some, when the great Dr. Harvey had his implacable Adversaries to his Account of the Circulation of the Blood; and even Sir Isaac Newton met with Opponents to several of his Theorys. What I have said opposes no one’s Scheme, that I know of; it offers no Sentiments which can hurt any Man.

I have advanc’d only Conjectures for the clearing those Truths I would establish; and if, after all, what appears reasonable to me should not appear so to others, I cannot help it: For it is impossible for all Men to see the same Thing in one and the same Light, even though they were Men of the best Erudition. I would hope, that what I have undertaken to shew, is what all sensible Men would be glad to have shewn.

Kind Sir ,

When I reflect on the great Ingenuity you have shewn, in your Apparatus for the Improvement of the Knowlege of Electricity, and how industrious and kind you have been in communicating the many Experiments you have made to your Friends and Acquaintance relating thereto, I was in hopes, from you or some of them, an Essay would be made ere this, not only to go farther with these Experiments, but to give some tolerable Conjecture from whence this Fire, and astonishing Effect, is produced.

I was going to give you my Thoughts concerning it, when I last saw you at Child ’s Coffee-house; but, on Reflection, I chose rather to do it in Writing: For, in all Novelty, till the Relater is quite understood, Words are forgotten easily; but Things of this sort in Writing may again and again be consider’d.

To begin then: In order to shew whence this electrical Fire and Force is produc’d, I will first endeavour to prove, that it arises not from any of the Apparatus itself; not either from the glass Ball, nor the Leather, nor from the Tube, or Hand that rubs it: Because nothing we know of can send out of it a Quantity of Matter, but there must be less of that Matter remaining, after it has been so discharged; whereas it cannot be shewn, but that the Ball of Glass, after ever so many Times using, remains as fit for the same Use as at first.

Having, from Probability, I think, shewn, that the Fire and Force, here treated of, come not from the Apparatus , it is natural for me to suppose they are produced from the Air they are mov’d in. And I believe this Notion will not appear trifling, when we consider, that the most ancient and ablest Philosophers have look’d upon the Animal and Vegetable World as actuated by Fire; and that they are nourish’d by Water, and what it contains. If this be allow’d, then the Air, which is esteem’d the Pabulum Vitæ , from its rubefying the Blood of all Animals in Respiration, seems to be universally impregnated with this Fire. And tho’ there is not enough of it so dispersed as to hurt the Animals in Respiration, yet I can suppose it as universally dispersed, as I can a small Quantity of any Liquor dropp’d in Water, which, when so dispersed, is of no Harm to a Patient, though a few Drops of it by themselves would have been certain Death. And yet, if you farther consider it so dispersed, you cannot consider one Particle of the Water without a Particle of the Medicine: Just so it may be with the Fire of this lower Region, or, what I chuse rather to call it, this Flamma Vitalis .

I proceed now to consider, how this Fire, so dispersed, may be collected; and have given to it, in electrical Experiments, a Force equal to, and of the same Nature with, Lightning.

To make this Conjecture the more easily apprehended, I will suppose, that the Nature of Fire is as similar to its Parts, and they have as great a Propensity to adhere to one another, as we find the different Arrangements in all natural Bodies have; as may be seen in Gems, in Water, and in the various Strata of the Earth, and the like. Do but force or invite these fiery Particles to a closer Contact than they have been supposed to be in, when uniformly dispersed through all Nature, and they are Lightning, or a Fire of less Force, as more or less Parts of that Fire are got together.

To illustrate this, wax a small Thread, or slide a Rope swiftly thro’ your Fingers, and you are liable to burn them: Which probably arises from their grinding in, betwixt your Fingers and the Rope, so many more Particles of Fire than naturally come together when left to float in the Air.