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munication of the electricity from one particle takes place directly only to the one next to it, so that no immediate transition from that particle to any other situate at a greater distance occurs. The magnitude of the transition between two adjacent particles under otherwise exactly similar circumstances, I have assumed as being proportional to the difference of their temperatures.
With respect to the dispersion of electricity in the atmosphere, I have retained the law deduced from experiments by Coulomb, according to which, the loss of electricity, in a body surrounded by air, in a given time, is in proportion to the force of the electricity, and to a co-efficient dependent on the nature of the atmosphere.
A simple comparison of the circumstances under which Coulomb performed his experiments, with those at present known respecting the propagation of electricity, showed, however, that in galvanic phenomena, the influence of the atmosphere may generally be disregarded. In Coulomb's experiments, for instance, the
