We can perceive this effect of free rotation in a limited space in all classes of iron and steel, being far greater in soft Swedish iron than in hard iron or steel. A similar phenomenon takes place if we magnetize a rod held vertically in the direction of earth's magnetism. It then gives greater polarity than if magnetized east or west, and if magnetized in a contrary sense to earth's magnetism, it is very feebly magnetized, or, if the rod is perfectly soft, it becomes neutral after strong magnetization. This property of comparative freedom, and the rotation of its center of action, can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. One remarkable example of it consists in the telephone. All those who are thoroughly acquainted with electro-magnetism, and know that it requires measurable time to charge an electro-magnet to saturation (about one-fifteenth of a second for those employed in telegraphy), were surprised that the telephone could follow the slightest change of timbre, requiring almost innumerable changes of force per second. I believe the free rotation I have spoken of through a limited range explains its remarkable sensitiveness and rapidity of action, and, according to this view, it would also explain why loud sounding telephones can never repeat all the delicacy of timbre that is easily done with those only requiring a force comprised in the critical limits of its free rotation. This property, I have found, has a distinct critical value for each class of iron, and I propose soon to publish researches upon the molecular construction of steel and iron, in which I have made use of this very property as a guide to the quality of the iron itself. The elastic rotation (in a limited space) of a molecule differs entirely from that known as mechanical elasticity. In perfectly soft iron we have feeble _mechanical_ elasticity, while in tempered steel we have that elasticity at its maximum. The contrary takes place as regards _molecular_ elasticity. In tempered steel the molecules are extremely rigid, and in soft iron its molecular elasticity is at its maximum. Its free motion differs entirely from that given it by torsion or stress. We may assume that a molecule is surrounded by continuous ether, more of the nature of a jelly than of that of a gas; in such a medium a molecule might freely vibrate through small arcs, but a rotation extending beyond its critical limit would involve a much greater expenditure of force.