ABSTRACT
In Germany at that time the laws of electromagnetism were deduced by most physicists from the hypothesis of W. Weber, who sought to trace back electric and magnetic phenomena to a modification of Newton’s assumption of direct forces acting at a distance and in a straight line. Magnetized molecules were regarded as the axes of circular electric currents, in accordance with an analogy between their external effects previously discovered by Ampere. The agreement between the various theories and the facts that have been observed in the case of completely closed circuits is easily intelligible. Between the electricity accumulated at the end and the electricity of the same kind surging against it, there is a force of repulsion; and an exceedingly short time suffices for this force to attain such a magnitude that it completely checks the flow of electricity. True inertia should be proportional only to quantity of the electricity in motion, and independent of the position of the conductor.
