And here follows one of those expressions which characterize the
conceptions of Faraday in regard to force generally:--'It appears to
me impossible to conceive of the results in any other way than by a
mutual reaction of the magnetic force, and the force of the
particles of the crystals upon each other.' He proves that the
action of the force, though thus molecular, is an action at a
distance; he shows that a bismuth crystal can cause a freely
suspended magnetic needle to set parallel to its magne-crystallic
axis. Few living men are aware of the difficulty of obtaining
results like this, or of the delicacy necessary to their attainment.
'But though it thus takes up the character of a force acting at a
distance, still it is due to that power of the particles which makes
them cohere in regular order and gives the mass its crystalline
aggregation, which we call at other times the attraction of
aggregation, and so often speak of as acting at insensible distances.'
Thus he broods over this new force, and looks at it from all
possible points of inspection. Experiment follows experiment,
as thought follows thought. He will not relinquish the subject as
long as a hope exists of throwing more light upon it. He knows full
well the anomalous nature of the conclusion to which his experiments
lead him. But experiment to him is final, and he will not shrink
from the conclusion. 'This force,' he says, 'appears to me to be
very strange and striking in its character. It is not polar, for
there is no attraction or repulsion.' And then, as if startled by
his own utterance, he asks--'What is the nature of the mechanical
force which turns the crystal round, and makes it affect a magnet?'...
'I do not remember,' he continues 'heretofore such a case of force
as the present one, where a body is brought into position only,
without attraction or repulsion.'