To prove that this is the method by which, in electricity, bodies are forced towards the glass globe, I shall bring an experiment or two from Mr. _Hauksbee_; and as these experiments prove to a certainty, that this is the manner of the _attraction_ in _electricity_, it will give us little room to doubt, but that the _attraction_ of the _earth_ is performed in the same manner. Mr. _Hauksbee_ observed, that the _electrical effluvia_ were not only perceiveable by sight; but also, if the hand was held near the tube, seemed to make such sort of strokes upon the skin, as a number of fine limber hairs pushing against it might be supposed to do: and in order to find whether the electrical _attraction_ was regular and uniform, he made the following curious experiment, shewing that all bodies, not too heavy, are _forced_ (or, as is commonly supposed, _attracted_) to a cylindrical glass, equally all round, if these bodies are, as _they term it_, within the sphere of its activity. This experiment seemed to affect Mr. _Hauksbee_ so much, that (speaking of electricity) he says, “it affords us a sort of _representation_ of the _great phænomena_ of the _universe_.” Page 53. [Illustration] “For, says he, having observed (in electricity) that light bodies, placed near any part of the rubbed cylinder, seemed to be equally attracted, I contrived a semicircle of wire, which I could fasten at a constant distance, making it encompass the upper semi-cylindrical surface of the glass, at 4 or 5 inches distance. This wire had several pieces of woollen threads fastened to it at pretty near equal distances. The length of them was such, that being extended in a direction towards the center of that imaginary circle, on the surface of the glass, in the plane of which the wire was placed; they would then reach within an inch of the circumference of that circle: but if left to their own liberty, they hung in that parallel portion represented, fig. 1. The cylinder was placed with its axis parallel to the horizon; and in this posture, it was turned swiftly round; and then by the rapid motion and agitation of the surrounding air, the threads were placed into such portions, as are expressed fig. 2. viz. they were all lifted up and bent upwards from the axis of the cylinder.