Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/247

 attraction in the pores of the partition, and to the attraction which exists between the particles of the fluids. The force of attraction, varying with different fluids, seeks equilibrium, and attains it by diffusion.

The fact that attraction, chemical affinity, atomicity, capillarity, cohesion, and osmosis are but the derived and modified forces of gravity suggests the unity of all forces. The undefined perception of the close relation of all forces has led to the frequent assertion of their unity. This class of forces, being derived from gravity, has its unity in gravity.

There is yet a class of forces, comprehending electricity and its derivative activities, that has not been considered. Those of the ultra-materialistic school, in their attempt to explain what electricity is, regard it as a "condition" of the grosser forms of matter. The electrification of the amber or the glass tube obtained by friction, so far as any explanation is offered, is said to be due to the condition of the amber or of the glass. The assumption that electricity is only a condition of gross matter not only fails to account for and to explain its phenomena, but it is so foreign to reason that no definite conception of the subject