Text: The electrotonic state was Faraday's name for the supposed condition of materials in a magnetic field. Faraday reasoned that since a current flowed in a wire not only when a magnet was moved towards it, but also when the magnet was removed from its proximity, the presence of a magnet must invisibly strain or energise the wire into some 'peculiar electrical condition of matter'. He subsequently dispensed with the notion, but both Faraday and Maxwell admitted that the idea of magnets inducing some kind of strain in their surroundings was of great importance. See Faraday (1839) pp. 16, 342, 550 and Maxwell Treatise vol. 2 pp. 173-4.

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