Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-07-17
WHAT is ELEcTRICITY?
Prof. "A. E. DoIbear Agrees That There Is
No Such Thing.

Prof. "a. e. Dolbear Agrees That There Is
No Such Thing.
People who have an id ca that electric
ity,;is an entity, rather than a form or
expression of energy, VIII be interested
in statement in regard to it from a
gentleman of such high scientific attain
ments as Prof. A. E. Dolbear, of Tufts
College. In tie Jlast iss!ie of Practical
electricity, Prof. Dolbear has e short
commentary on THAT subject He says
that in that interesting book on s'Modern
Views of Electricity" by Prof. o. j.
Lodge there is made the suggestive
statement that, atSer all the Inquiries
have been made as to what is electrici-
ty, the answer may haye to be: There is
no. such thing. The words electric"
and rehabilitation may be retained,
he says, but the word ''electricity'' may
have to go, simply because it does not
stand for reality:
1t may obe difficult for one who looks
at the phenomena, rather than to the
relations involved in thesphenomena. to
imagine that electricity is. not some sort
of an e1sSity, and may be described, if
one knew how, as one would describe
any other something. 1t would certain
ly be curious if it should turn out that
the reason no. answer has been forth
coming to the question: OWhatois cleo
tricity? lis that there is no such thing,
and the question is an improper one; as
if oneo should ask: What is odor, or
brightness, or zero?
Historically there are several parallel
cases A hundred years Or more ago.
heat phenomena were attributed to
phlogiSton OF to ca1oric-each supposed
to be an entity of some sort The latter
term is still retained for convenience:
but. it haso ceased to have any signifi-
canoe 2 something that gives origin
to heat phenomena. When it was
discovered that such phenomena
were due to atomic and molecular vibra-
tions, or what is now often called a
mode of notion both the above
words ceased to have any meaning: in
other words there was no such thing as
phlOgiston or caloric. Assain, light was
once thought to be an emit .ty: now we
know that light is a sensat ton, and
does not exist independent Of othe eye.
What was treated as light is now called
radiant energy or ''ether waves. ,"
Though the term eight" is retained it
has lost the significance it had when it
Was supposed to be created something.
The Psychologists for a very long
tine explained the phenomena exhib-
ite1 by living things, both vegetable
and animal, as due to ''vital force''-
son. thing supposed to be utterly unlike
and not necessarily related to the other
force in IMMATURE, a force that could con-
troll the others in living organiza ton.
Now that has been altogether aban-
donesd. No biologist of any repute now
believes in vital force,' and the ques-
| ton, What is life? which has baff1ed
every one in his attempt to define it,
now turns out to be an improper ques-
| ton, as it is reducible to complicated
molecular motions and not to an entity
AS magnetism is known to be due to
| the position Of molecules; as chemism
may be explained as due to ether press
ure. it really seems as if all along the
| line of knowledge of the physical uni
verse, what have been called forces as
peculiar something's, having individual
lty rs matter has, have no existence at
! all and that matter and ether and mo-
tons of one sort or another are all fact
| ors in phenomena. Lodges statement,
the'l, has degree of probability added
| to it by the antecedents lin the history
| of physics.