"Air," said SIR LYON PLAYFAIR, "is the most familiar of substances; the first with which an infant becomes acquainted on entrance into the world, and in death, the last to be given up; yet, strange to say, its nature and constitution have only become partially understood within the past century, and even now scientific knowledge can only be regarded as on the threshold of the subject." The novelty and the assurance of the concluding lines of the above quotation would, at a comparatively recent date, have excited in the reader a great astonishment. We had supposed that the constituents, and the functions of our atmosphere were very well understood, that little, if anything, could be learned by further investigation. Yet the revelations which are now being made show the assertion of SIR LYON PLAYFAIR to be almost prophetic. The vito-magnetic, the most important ingredient, has scarcely been referred to in any formula of its constitution. This constituent as previously stated, forms the bulk of the atmosphere, and upon _it_ depends the principal performance of its varied functions. More vital than oxygen, without it life could not be sustained for an hour. _Have we been Mistaken?_ The experiments of M. PASTEUR have demonstrated that oxygen and light are not essentials of life, as he developed life in the dark, in an atmosphere of carbonic acid. _New Light._ More recent discoveries verify the presence of this comparatively unappreciated constituent. The process of induction has ever been a great mystery in electrical science. Magnetic currents are known to act upon bodies in close proximity without the intervention of a spark, and to indue such bodies with magnetic force. This action, called induction, has been supposed to be limited to short distances. This we believe to be erroneous. In order that the inductive process take place, it is only necessary to suppose some impulse to be superinduced upon some pervading medium. This medium we recognize in the static vito-magnetic constituent of the atmosphere. Magnetic or electrical induction is therefore nature's effort towards an equilibrium. Newly-discovered phenomena show that this process is carried on even at considerable distances. To Prof. LOOMIS of New Haven, Conn., we are indebted for experiments which illustrate this fact. These experiments show that magnetic communications may be made through ten miles of space without the intervention of visible means of conduction. The employment of wires is rendered unnecessary by reason of the presence of the vito-magnetic fluid which operates in restoring the disturbed equilibrium. Magnetic _currents_ are therefore not essential to this phenomenon.