"Let it be granted, lst. That electricity consists of parts, or particles, of a spherical form; that the whole of the terrestrial electricity is attracted at all distances by and around the particles of terrestrial common matter, they also being of a spherical form; and that the quantity of electricity attracted by each common particle is definite and unalterable. 2ndly. That each particle of common matter attracts each of the electrical particles which constitute its equivalent with a force which varies in some inverse ratio of the distances. 3rdly. That each particle of common matter attracts any portion of its electrical equivalent that may have been removed to an abnormal distance from it with a force which varies as the squares of the numbers of electrical particles contained in that portion."