vain. In the same way, without going out of the domain of electricity, we find that the theory of two fluids and the single fluid theory equally account in a satisfactory manner for all the laws of electro-statics. All these facts are easily explained, thanks to the properties of the Lagrange equations.
It is easy now to understand Maxwell's fundamental idea. To demonstrate the possibility of a mechanical explanation of electricity we need not trouble to find the explanation itself; we need only know the expression of the two functions T and U, which are the two parts of energy, and to form with these two functions Lagrange's equations, and then to compare these equations with the experimental laws.
How shall we choose from all the possible explanations one in which the help of experiment will be wanting? The day will perhaps come when physicists will no longer concern themselves with questions which are inaccessible to positive methods, and will leave them to the metaphysicians. That day has not yet come; man does not so easily resign himself to remaining for ever ignorant of the causes of things. Our choice cannot be therefore any longer guided by considerations in which personal appreciation plays too large a part. There are, however, solutions which all will reject because of their fantastic nature, and others which all will prefer because of their simplicity. As far as magnetism and electricity are concerned,
