[10] When Maxwell's theory was constructed, the electron had not yet been discovered, and so the dipolarity of the atom was unknown. An atom was regarded just as a "blob." Electricity in a conductor was regarded as a thin material fluid Maxwell's equations are in fact hydrodynamic equations. So the founders regarded the detection of induced motion in the electric fluid as induced translation, not induced precession. They had no idea of "spins" of particles of the fluid, nor of gyro precession of those particles. Instead, q was regarded just as a "piece of electric fluid," similar to a cubic centimeter of fluid.

---