Page:On the various forces of nature and their relations to each other.djvu/127

Rh To-day we come to a kind of attraction even more curious than the last, namely, the attraction which we find to be of a double nature—of a curious and dual nature. And I want first of all to make the nature of this doubleness clear to you. Bodies are sometimes endowed with a wonderful attraction, which is not found in them in their ordinary state. For instance, here is a piece of shell-lac, having the attraction of gravitation, having the attraction of cohesion; and if I set fire to it, it would have the attraction of chemical affinity to the oxygen in the atmosphere. Now, all these powers we find in it as if they were parts of its substance; but there is another property which I will try and make evident by means of this ball, this bubble of air [a light india-rubber ball, inflated and suspended by a thread]. There is no attraction between this ball and this shell-lac at present: there may be a little wind in the room slightly moving the ball about, but there is no attraction. But if I rub the shell-lac with a piece of flannel [rubbing the shell-lac, and then holding it near the ball], look at the attraction which has arisen out of the shell-lac, simply by this