ELEMENTS OF MODERN CHEMISTRY (CLASSIC REPRINT)

Excerpt from Elements of Modern ChemistryIn the forests, the leaves which fall and remain upon the moist soil are slowly consumed and disappear in the course of seasons.All of these changes, these phenomena, take place daily be fore our eyes, and are familiar to all of us. On comparison, striking differences are discovered between them. Some are but passing, and do not affect the proper nature of the body. They are the results of forces which act at sensible distances, and which leave the body in its primitive state as soon as their action has ceased. A piece of soft iron is attracted by the magnet before contact is established, and when under the mag netic influence, is capable of attracting other soft iron in its turn