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 Makers of Electricity 
 
 BY 
 
 BROTHKR POTAMIAN, F.S.C, D.Sc, I^nd. 
 
 PROFESSOR OP PHYSICS IN MANHATTAN COI,I.EGB, N. Y. 
 
 JAMES J. WAI.SH, M. D., Ph.D., I.I..D. 
 
 DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF NERVOUS DISEASES AND OF THE HISTORY 
 OF MEDICINE AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOOIv OF MEDI- 
 CINE ; PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOI^OGICAI. PSYCHOLOGY 
 AT THE CATHEDRAI, COI,I,EGE, NEW YORK 
 
 FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 1909 
 
 THE CAIHlK.NE B. O'CONNOR LIBRARV 
 WESTON OBSERVATORY 
 
 
 
5/4- 
 
 Copyright, 1909, 
 
 I^ORDHAM University Prbss> 
 
 New York. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRAR 
 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MA 021 67 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This volume represents an effort in the direction of 
 what may be called the biographical history of elec- 
 tricity. The controlling idea in its preparation was to 
 provide brief yet reasonably complete sketches of the 
 lives of the great pioneer workers in electricity, the 
 ground-breaking investigators who went distinctly be- 
 yond the bounds of what was known before their time, 
 not merely to add a fringe of information to previous 
 knowledge, but to make it easy for succeeding genera- 
 tions to reach conclusions in electrical science that would 
 have been quite impossible until their revealing work 
 was done. The lives of these men are not only interest- 
 ing as scientific history, but especially as human docu- 
 ments, showing the sort of men who are likely to make 
 great advances in science and, above all, demonstrating 
 what the outlook of such original thinkers was on all the 
 great problems of the world around us. 
 
 In recent times, many people have come to accept the 
 impression that modern science leads to such an ex- 
 clusive occupation with things material, that scientists 
 almost inevitably lose sight of the deeper significance of 
 the world of mystery in which humanity finds itself 
 placed on this planet. The lives of these great pioneers 
 in electricity, however, do not lend the slightest evidence 
 in confirmation of any such impression. They were all 
 of them firm believers in the existence of Providence, of 
 a Creator, of man's responsibility for his acts to that 
 
iv PREFACE 
 
 Creator, and of a hereafter of reward and punishment 
 where the sanction of responsibility shall be fulfilled. 
 Besides, they were men characterized by some of the 
 best qualities in human nature. Their fellows liked 
 them for their unselfishness, for their readiness to help 
 others, for their devotedness to their work and to their 
 duties as teachers, citizens and patriots. Almost with- 
 out exception, they were as far above the average of 
 mankind in their personal ethics as they were in their 
 intellectual qualities. 
 
 The lives of such men, who were inspiring forces in 
 their day, are as illuminating as they are instructive and 
 encouraging. Perhaps never more than now do we need 
 such inspiration and illumination to lift life to a higher 
 plane of purpose and accomplishment, than that to which 
 it is so prone to sink when material interests attract 
 almost exclusive attention. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. Peregrinus and Columbus 1 
 
 II. Norman and Gilbert 29 
 
 III. Franklin and some contemporaries ... 68 
 
 IV. Galvani, discoverer of animal electricity . 133 
 V. Volta, the founder of electrical science . . 162; 
 
 VI. Coulomb 188 
 
 VII. Hans Christian Oersted 205 
 
 VIII. Andre Marie Ampere 232 
 
 IX. Ohm, the founder of mathematical elec- 
 tricity 258 
 
 X. Faraday 299 
 
 XL Clerk Maxwell 334 
 
 XII. Lord Kelvin 361 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Page 
 
 The double pivoted needle of Petrus Peregrinus 19 
 
 First pivoted compass, Peregrinus, 1269 ... 17 
 
 Magnetic Declination at New York 21 
 
 *' San Francisco .... 21 
 
 in London, in 1580 and 1907 23 
 
 First dip-circle, invented by Norman in 1576 . . 29 
 
 Norman's illustration of magnetic dip . ... 31 
 
 Gilbert's orb of virtue, 1600 32 
 
 Behavior of compass-needle on a terrella or 
 
 spherical lodestone 44 
 
 Gilbert's "versorium" or electroscope .... 69 
 
 Gordon's electric chimes, 1745 75 
 
 Modern form of Ley den jar, with movable coatings 87 
 
 Three coated panes in series 89 
 
 ' ' panes in parallel 89 
 
 " jars in parallel 90 
 
 " jars in cascade 90 
 
 Discharge by alternate contacts 94 
 
 Tassel of long threads or light strips of- paper . . 101 
 
 Procopius Divisch (1696-1765) 108 
 
 The Divisch lightning conductor (1754) . . . Ill 
 
 Set of pointed rods 112 
 
 Galvani (portrait) opposite page . . . . . . 133 
 
 Volta " " " 162 
 
 Oersted " " " 205 
 
 Ampere " " " 232 
 
 Faraday " " " 299 
 
 Clerk Maxwell (portrait) opposite page .... 334 
 
 Lord Kelvin " " " . . . . 361 
 
MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Peregrinus and Columbus. 
 
 The ancients laid down the laws of literary form in 
 prose as well as in verse, and bequeathed to posterity 
 works which still serve as models of excellence. Their 
 poets and historians continue to be read for the sake of 
 the narrative and beauty of the style ; their philosophers 
 for breadth and depth of thought ; and their orators 
 for judicious analysis and impassioned eloquence. 
 
 In the exact sciences, too, the ancients were conspicu- 
 ous leaders by reason of the number and magnitude of 
 the discoveries which they made. You have only to- 
 think of Euclid and his "Elements," of Apollonius and 
 his Conies, of Eratosthenes and his determination of 
 the earth's circumference, of Archimedes and his men- 
 suration of the sphere, and of the inscription on Plato's 
 Academy, Let none ignorant of geometry enter my door, 
 to realize the fondness of the Greek mind for abstract 
 truth and its suppleness and ingenuity in mathematical 
 investigation. 
 
 But the sciences of observation did not advance with 
 equal pace ; nor was this to be expected, as time is an 
 essential element in experimentation and in the collec- 
 
 (1) 
 
2 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 tion of data, both of which are necessary for the framing 
 of theories in explanation of natural phenomena. 
 
 The slowness of advance is well seen in the develop- 
 ment of the twin subjects of electricity and magnetism. 
 As to the lodestone ,with which we are concerned at pres- 
 ent, the attractive property was the only one known to 
 ancient philosophy for a period of six hundred years, 
 from the time of Thales to the age of the Caesars, when 
 Lucretius wrote on the nature of things in Latin verse. 
 
 Lucretius records the scant nagnetic knowledge of 
 his predecessors and then proceeds to unfold a theory 
 of his own to account for the phenomena of the wonder- 
 working stone. Book VL of "De Natura Rerum" 
 contains his speculations anent the magnet, together 
 with certain observations which show that the poet was 
 not only a thinker, but somewhat of an experimenter as 
 well. Thus he recognizes magnetic repulsion when he 
 says: **It happens, too, at times that the substance of 
 the iron recedes from the stone as if accustomed to start 
 back from it, and by turns to follow it." 
 
 This recognition of the repelling property of the 
 lodestone is immediately followed by the description of 
 an experiment which is frequently referred to in works 
 on magnetic philosophy. It reads: "Thus have I seen 
 raspings of iron, lying in brazen vessels, thrown into 
 agitation and start up when the magnet was moved be- 
 neath " ; or metrically. 
 
 And oft in brazen vessels may we mark 
 Ringlets of Samothrace, or fragments fine 
 Struck from the valid iron bounding high 
 When close below, the magnet points its powers. 
 
 This experiment, seen and recorded by Lucretius, is 
 of special interest to the student of magnetic history 
 
PEHEGRINUS AND COLUMBUS Z 
 
 because of the use which is made of iron filings and also 
 because it has led certain writers to credit the poet with 
 a knowledge of what is known to-day by the various 
 names of magnetic figures, magnetic curves, magnetic 
 spectrum. We do not, however, share this view, because 
 we see no adequate resemblance between the positions 
 assumed by the bristling particles of iron in the one 
 case, as described by the Roman poet, and the continu- 
 ous symmetrical curves of our laboratories in the other. 
 If Lucretius noticed such curves in his brazen vessels, 
 he does not say so ; nor does the meagre description of 
 magnetic phenomena given in Book. VI. warrant us in 
 assuming that he did. 
 
 The use of iron filings to map out the entire field of 
 force that surrounds a magnet was unknown to classi- 
 cal antiquity ; it was not known to Peregrinus or Roger 
 Bacon in the thirteenth century or even to Gilbert in 
 the sixteenth. The credit for reviving the use of filings 
 and employing them to show the direction of the result- 
 ant force at any point in the neighborhood of a magnet, 
 belongs to Cabeo, an Italian Jesuit, who described and 
 illustrated it in his "Philosophia Ma^netica," pubHshed 
 at Ferrara in the year 1629. On page 316 of that cele- 
 brated work will be found a figure, the first of the 
 kind, showing the position taken by the filings when 
 plentifully sifted over a lodestone : thick tufts at the 
 polar ends with curved lines in the other parts of the 
 field. 
 
 The Samothracian rings mentioned in the passage 
 quoted above were light, hollow rings of iron which, 
 for the amusement of the crowd, the jugglers of the 
 times held suspended one from the other by the power 
 of a lodestone. 
 
4 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Writing of the lodestone, Lucretius says : 
 
 Its viewless, potent virtues men surprise, 
 
 Its strange effects, they view with wondering eyes, 
 
 When without aid of hinges, Hnks or springs 
 
 A pendent chain we hold of steely rings. 
 
 Dropt from the stone— the stone the binding source— 
 
 Ring cleaves to ring and owns magnetic force ; 
 
 Those held above, the ones below maintain ; 
 
 Circle 'neath circle downward draws in vain 
 
 Whilst free in air disports the oscillating chain. 
 
 Though the Roman poet was acquainted with two of 
 the leading properties of the lodestone, viz. , attraction 
 and repulsion, there is nothing in the lines quoted above 
 or in any other lines of his great didactic poem to indi- 
 cate that he was aware of the remarkable difference 
 which there is between one end of a lodestone and the 
 other. The polarity of the magnet, as we term it, was 
 unknown to him and remained unknown for a period 
 of 1200 years. 
 
 During that long period nothing of importance was 
 added to the magnetic lore of the world. True, a few 
 fables were dug out of the tomes of ancient writers 
 which gained credence and popularity, partly by reason 
 of the fondness of the human mind for the marvelous, 
 and partly also by reason of the reputation of the au- 
 thors who stood sponsors for them. 
 
 Pliny (23-79 A. D.) devotes several pages of his 
 " Natural History " to the nature and geographical dis- 
 tribution of various kinds of lodestones, one of which 
 was said to repel iron just as the normal lodestone 
 attracts it. Needless to say that the mineral kingdom 
 does not hold such a stone, although Pliny calls it 
 theamedes and says that it was found in Ethiopia. 
 
 Pliny is responsible for another myth which found 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 5 
 
 favor with subsequent writers for a long time, when he 
 says that a certain architect intended to place a mass of 
 magnetite in the vault of an Alexandrian temple for the 
 purpose of holding an iron statue of Queen Arsinoe sus- 
 pended in mid-air. Of like fabulous character is the 
 oft-repeated story about Mahomet, that an iron sarco- 
 phagus containing his remains was suspended by means 
 of the lodestone between the roof of the temple at 
 Mecca and the ground. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Mahomet died at Medina and was 
 buried there in the ordinary manner, so that the story 
 as currently told of the suspension of his coffin in the 
 "Holy City" of Mecca, contains a twofold error, one 
 of place and the other of position. By a recent (1908) 
 imperial irade of the Sultan of Turkey, the tomb is lit 
 up by electric light in a manner that is considered 
 worthy of the ''Prophet of Islam." 
 
 Four centuries after Pliny, Claudian, the last of the 
 Latin poets as he is styled, wrote an idyl of fifty-seven 
 lines on the magnet, which contains nothing but poetic 
 generalities. St. Ambrose (340-397) and Palladius (368- 
 430), writing on the Brahmans of India, tell how certain 
 magnetic mountains were said to draw iron nails from 
 passings ships and how wooden pegs were substituted 
 for nails in vessels going to Taprobane, the modern 
 Ceylon. St. Augustine (354-430) records in his "De 
 Civitate Dei" the wonder which he felt in seeing 
 scraps of iron contained in a silver dish follow every 
 movement of a lodestone held underneath. 
 
 With time, the legendary literature of the magnet 
 became abundant and in some respects amusing. Thus 
 we read of the "flesh " magnet endowed with the ex- 
 traordinary power of adhering to the skin and even of 
 
6 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 drawing the heart out of a man; the "gold" magnet 
 which would attract particles of the precious metal from 
 an admixture of sand; the "white " magnet used as a 
 philter ; magnetic unguents of various kinds, one of 
 which, when smeared over a bald head, would make the 
 hair grow ; magnetic plasters for the relief of headache ; 
 magnetic applications to ease toothaches and dispel 
 melancholy ; magnetic nostrums to cure the dropsy, to 
 quell disputes and even reconcile husband and wife. No 
 less fictitious was the pernicious effect on the lodestone 
 attributed in the early days of the mariner's compass to 
 onions and garlic ; and yet, so deeply rooted was the be- 
 lief in this figment that sailors, while steering by the 
 compass, were forbidden the use of these vegetables 
 lest by their breath they might intoxicate the * * index of 
 the pole " and turn it away from its true pointing. 
 More reasonable than this prohibition was the maritime 
 legislation of certain northern countries for the protec- 
 tion of the lodestone on shipboard. According to this 
 penal code, a sailor found guilty of tampering with the 
 lodestone used for stroking the needles, was to have 
 the guilty hand held to a mast of the ship by a dagger 
 thrust through it until, by tearing the flesh away, he 
 wrenched himself free. 
 
 It was only at the time of the Crusades that people 
 in Europe began to recognize the directive property of 
 the magnet, in virtue of which a freely suspended com- 
 pass-needle takes up a definite position relatively to the 
 north-and-south line, property which is serviceable to 
 the traveler on land and supremely useful to the nav- 
 igator on sea. 
 
 It is commonly said that the compass wa? introduced 
 into Europe by the returning Crusaders, who heard of 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 7 
 
 it from their Mussulman foes. These, in turn, derived 
 their knowledge from the Chinese, who are credited 
 with its use on sea as far back as the third century of 
 our era.^ 
 
 Among the earliest references to the sailing compass 
 is that of the trouvere Guyot de Provins,^ who wrote, 
 about the year 1208, a satirical poem of three thousand 
 lines, in which the following passage occurs : 
 
 The mariners employ an art which cannot deceive. 
 
 An ugly stone and brown. 
 
 To which iron joins itself willingly 
 
 They have ; after applying a needle to it, 
 
 They lay the latter on a straw 
 
 And put it simply in the water 
 
 Where the straw makes it float. 
 
 Then the point turns direct 
 
 To the star with such certainty 
 
 That no man will ever doubt it, 
 
 Nor will it ever go wrong. 
 
 When the sea is dark and hazy, 
 
 That one sees neither star nor moon, 
 
 Then they put a light by the needle 
 
 And have no fear of losing their way. 
 
 The point turns towards the star ; 
 
 And the mariners are taught 
 
 To follow the right way. 
 
 It is an art which cannot fail. 
 
 The author was a caustic and fearless critic, who 
 lashed with equal freedom the clergy and laity, nobles 
 and princes, and even the reigning pontiff himself, all 
 of whom should be for their subjects, according to the 
 satirist, what the pole-star is for mariners— a beacon 
 to guide them over the stormy sea of life. 
 
 Guyot traveled extensively in his early years, but 
 
 1 See Klaproth, "Lettre a M. le Baron A. de Humbolt sur I'lnvention de la 
 Boussole," 1834 ; also Encyc. Brit., article Compass. 
 
 2 Provins, town 57 miles southeast of Paris. 
 
8 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 later in life retired from a world which he despised, and 
 ended his days in the peaceful seclusion of the Bene- 
 dictine Abbey of Cluny. 
 
 An interesting reference, of a similar nature to that 
 of the minstrel Guyot, is found in the Spanish code of 
 laws known as Las Siete Partidas of Alfonso el Sabio, 
 begun in 1250 and completed in 1257. It says : 
 
 ' ' And even as mariners guide themselves in the dark 
 night by the needle, which is their connecting medium 
 between the lodestone and the star, and thus shows 
 them where they go alike in bad seasons as in good ; so 
 those who are to give counsel to the king ought always 
 to guide themselves by justice, which is the connecting 
 medium between God and the world, at all times to give 
 their guerdon to the good and their punishment to the 
 wicked, to each according to his deserts.^ 
 
 It will be necessary to give a few more extracts from 
 writers of the first half of the thirteenth century in 
 order to show how little was known about the magnet 
 and how crude were the early appliances used in 
 navigation when Peregrinus appeared on the scene. 
 
 Cardinal Jacques de Vitry, who lived in the East for 
 some years, wrote his "History of the Orient" between 
 the years 1215 and 1220, in which he says : 
 
 " An iron needle after touching the lodestone, turns 
 towards the north star, so that such a needle is neces- 
 sary for those who navigate the seas." 
 
 This passage of the celebrated Cardinal seems to 
 indicate that even then the compass was widely known 
 and commonly used in navigation. 
 
 Neckam (1157-1217), the Augustinian Abbot of Ciren-, 
 cester, wrote in his " Utensilibus " : 
 
 iSouthey, "Omniana," Vol. I., p. 213, ed. 1812. 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS & 
 
 "Among the stores of a ship, there must.be a needle 
 mounted on a dart which will oscillate and turn until the 
 point looks to the north ; the sailors will thus know how 
 to direct their course when the pole-star is concealed 
 through the troubled state of the atmosphere." 
 
 This passage is of historical value, as it contains what 
 is probably the earliest known reference to a mounted 
 or pivoted compass. Prior to the introduction of this 
 mode of suspension, the needle was floated on a straw, 
 in a reed, on a piece of cork or a strip of wood, all of 
 which modes of flotation, when taken in conjunction 
 with the unsteadiness of the vessel in troubled waters, 
 must have made observation difficult and unsatisfactory. 
 
 Brunetto Latini (1230-1294) makes a passing refer- 
 ence to the new magnetic knowledge in his "Livres 
 douTresor," which he wrote in 1260, during his exile in 
 Paris. 
 
 ''The sailors navigate the seas," he says, "guided 
 by the two stars called tramontanes ; and each of the 
 two parts of the lodestone directs the end of the needle 
 that has touched it to the particular star to which that 
 part of the stone itself turns." 
 
 Though a statesman, orator and philosopher of ability, 
 the preceptor of Dante in Florence and guest of Friar 
 Bacon in Oxford, Brunetto has not got the philosophy 
 of the needle quite right in this passage ; for the part 
 that has been touched by the north end of a lodestone 
 will acquire south polarity and will not, therefore, turn 
 towards the same "tramontane" as the end of the stone 
 by which it was touched. 
 
 Dante himself admitted the occult influence on the 
 compass-needle that emanates from the pole-star when, 
 he wrote : 
 
10 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 "Out of the heart of one of the new lights 
 There came a voice that, needle to the star, 
 Made me appear in turning thitherward. 
 
 Paradise, XIL, 28-30. 
 
 The next writer on the compass is Raymond Lully 
 (1236-1315), who was noted for his versatility, volum- 
 inous writings and extensive travels as well as for the 
 zeal which he displayed in converting the African 
 Moors. Lully writes in his "De Contemplatione " : 
 * ' As the needle after touching the lodestone, turns to 
 the north, so the mariners' needle directs them over the 
 sea." 
 
 This brings us to the last of our ante-Peregrinian 
 writers who make definite allusions to the use of the 
 compass for navigation purposes, viz., Roger Bacon, one 
 of the glories of the thirteenth century as he would be 
 of the twentieth. It was at the request of his patron, 
 Pope Clement IV. , that Bacon wrote his "Opus Majus, " a 
 work in which he treats of all the sciences and in which 
 he advocates the experimental method as the right one 
 for the study of natural phenomena and the only one 
 that will serve to extend the boundaries of human knowl- 
 edge. In a section on the magnet, a clear distinction is 
 drawn between the physical properties of the two ends 
 of a lodestone ; for " iron which has been touched by a 
 lodestone," he says, " follows the end by which it has 
 been touched and turns away from the other. " Besides 
 being a recognition of magnetic polarity, this is equiva- 
 lent to saying that unlike poles attract while like poles 
 repel each other. Bacon further remarks, by way of 
 corroboration, thatif a strip of iron be floated in a basin, 
 the end that was touched by the lodestone will follow 
 the stone, while the other end will flee from it as a lamb 
 from the wolf. There is, however, an earlier recogni- 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 11 
 
 iion known of the polarity of the lodestone ; for Abbot 
 Neckam, fifty years before, called attention to the dual 
 nature of the physical action of the lodestone, attracting 
 in one part (say) by sympathy and repelling at the other 
 by antipathy. It was the common belief in Bacon's 
 time and for centuries after, that the compass-needle 
 was directed by the pole-star, often called the sailor's 
 star ; but Bacon himself did not think so, preferring to 
 believe with Peregrinus, that it was controlled not by 
 any one star or by any one constellation, but by the 
 entire celestial sphere. Other contemporaries of his 
 sought the cause of the directive property not in the 
 heavens at all, but in the earth itself, attributing it to 
 hypothetical mines of iron which, naturally enough, 
 they located in regions situated near the pole. Pere- 
 grinus records this opinion, which he criticises and re- 
 jects, saying in Chapter X. that persons who hold such 
 a doctrine ' * are ignorant of the fact that in many dif- 
 ferent parts of the globe the lodestone is found ; from 
 which it would follow that the needle should turn in 
 different directions, according to the locality, which is 
 contrary to experience." A little further on he gives 
 his own view, saying : ** It is evident from the foregoing 
 chapters that we must conclude that not only from the 
 north pole (of the world), but also from the south pole 
 rather than from the veins of mines, virtue flows into 
 the poles of the lodestone." 
 
 Observations had to accumulate and much experimen- 
 tation had to be done before it was finally established 
 that the cause of the directive property of the magnet 
 is not to be sought in the remote star depths at all, but 
 in the earth itself, the whole terrestrial globe acting as 
 a colossal magnet, partly in virtue of magnetic ore 
 
12 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 lying near the surface and partly also in virtue oi elec- 
 trical currents, due to solar heat, circulating in the crust 
 of the earth. 
 
 Of the early years of Pierre le Pelerin (Petrus Pere- 
 grinus), nothing is known save that he was born of 
 wealthy parents in Maricourt, a village of Picardy in 
 Northern France. From his academic title of Magister, 
 we infer that he received the best instruction available 
 at the time, probably in the University of Paris, which 
 was then in the height of its fame. His reputation for 
 mathematical learning and mechanical skill crossed the 
 Channel and reached Friar Bacon in the University of 
 Oxford. In his " Opus Tertium," the Franciscan Friar 
 records the esteem in which he held his Picard friend, 
 saying: "I know of only one person who deserves 
 praise for his work in experimental philosophy, because 
 he does not care for the discourses of men or their 
 wordy warfare, but quietly and diligently pursues the 
 works of wisdom. Therefore it is that what others 
 grope after blindly, as bats in the evening twilight, this 
 man contemplates in all their brilliancy because he is 
 master of experiment." 
 
 Continuing the appraisal of his Gallic friend's achieve- 
 ments, he says : "He knows all natural sciences, 
 whether pertaining to medicine and alchemy or to mat- 
 ters celestial and terrestrial. He has worked diligently 
 in the smelting of ores and also in the working of min- 
 erals ; he is thoroughly acquainted with all sorts of arms 
 and implements used in military service and in hunting, 
 besides which he is skilled in agriculture and also in the 
 measurement of lands. It is impossible to write a use- 
 ful or correct treatise on experimental philosophy without 
 mentioning this man's name. Moreover, he pursues- 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 13 
 
 knowledge for its own sake ; for if he wished to obtain 
 royal favor, he could easily find sovereigns to honor and 
 enrich him." 
 
 This is at once a beautiful tribute to the work and 
 character of Peregrinus and an emphatic recognition of 
 the paramount importance of laboratory methods for the 
 advancement of learning. It is evident from such tes- 
 timony, coming as it does from an eminent member of 
 the brotherhood of science, that the world had not to 
 wait for the advent of Chancellor Bacon or f o!* the pub- 
 lication of his Novum Organum in 1620, to learn how to 
 undertake and carry out a scientific research to- a reli- 
 able issue. Call the method what you will, inductive, 
 deductive or both, the method advocated by the Fran- 
 ciscan friar of the thirteenth century was the one 
 .followed at all times from Archimedes to Peregrinus 
 and from Peregrinus to Gilbert, none of whom knew 
 anything of Lord Bacon's pompous phrases and lofty 
 commendation of the inductive method of inquiry for 
 the advancement of physical knowledge. Be it said in 
 passing, that Bacon, eminent as he undoubtedly was in 
 the realm of the higher philosophy, was, nevertheless, 
 neither a mathematician nor a man of science ; he never 
 put to a practical test the rules which he laid down with 
 such certitude and expectancy for the guidance of phys- 
 ical inquiry. Moreover, there is not a single discovery 
 in science made during the three centuries that have 
 elapsed since the promulgation of the Baconian doctrine 
 that can be ascribed to it ; it has been steadily ignored 
 by men renowned in the world for their scientific 
 achievements and has been absolutely barren of results. 
 
 Peregrinus, on the other hand, does not stop to enum- 
 erate opinions, he does not even quote Aristotle ; but he 
 
14 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 experiments, observes, reasons and draws conclusions, 
 which he puts to the further test of experiment before 
 finally accepting them. Then and then only does he. 
 rise from the order of the physicist to that of the 
 philosopher, from correlating facts and phenomena to 
 the discovery of the laws which govern them and the 
 causes that produce them. Furthermore, he was in no 
 hurry to let the world know that he was grinding lode- 
 stones one day and pivoting compass-needles the next ; 
 what he fered for supremely was to discover facts, new 
 phenomena, new methods. Peregrinus was not an es- 
 sayist, nor was he a man of mere book-learning. He 
 was a clear-headed thinker, a close and resourceful 
 worker, a man who preferred facts to phrases and ob- 
 servation to speculation. 
 
 At one period of his life. Master Peter applied his in- 
 genuity to the solution of a problem in practical optics; 
 involving the construction of a burning-mirror of large 
 dimensions somewhat after the manner of Archimedes ; 
 but though he spent three years on the enterprise and a 
 correspondingly large sum of money, we are not told by 
 Friar Bacon, who mentions the fact, what measure of 
 success was achieved. Bacon, however, avails himself 
 of the occasion to insinuate a possible cause of failure; 
 for he says that nothing is difficult of accomplishment 
 to his friend unless it be for want of means. 
 
 Centuries later, the French naturalist Buffon took up 
 the same optical problem, with a view to showing that 
 the feat attributed to Archimedes during the siege of 
 Syracuse by the Romans was not impossible of accom- 
 plishment. For this purpose, he used 168 small mirrors 
 in the construction of a large concave reflector, with 
 which he ignited wood at a distance of 150 feet and 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 15 
 
 succeeded in melting lead at a distance of 140 feet. As 
 this was done in the winter time in Paris, it was con- 
 cluded that it would have been quite possible to set a 
 Roman trireme on fire from a safe distance by the con- 
 centrated energy of a Sicilian sun. 
 
 If Peregrinus was alert in mind, he appears to have 
 been very active in body. Prompted, no doubt, by the 
 higher motives of Christian faith and perhaps a little, 
 too, by his fondness for travel and adventure, he took 
 the cross in early life and joined one of the crusading 
 expeditions of the time. That he went to the land of 
 the paynim, we have no direct evidence ; but we infer 
 the fact from the title of Peregrinus or Pilgrim, by 
 which he is known, his full name being Pierre le Pelerin 
 de Maricourt, or, in the Latinized form, Petrus Pere- 
 grinus de Maricourt. 
 
 In 1269, we find him engaged in a military expedition 
 undertaken by Charles Duke of Anjou, for the purpose 
 of bringing back to his allegiance as King of the Two 
 Sicilies the revolted city of Lucera in Southern Italy. 
 He served in what might be called the engineering 
 corps of the army, and was engaged in fortifying the 
 camp and constructing engines of defense and attack. 
 UnUke his companions in arms, Peregrinus does not 
 allow himself to be wholly absorbed with military duties, 
 nor does he waste his leisure hours in frivolous amuse- 
 ments ; his mind is on higher things ; he is engrossed 
 with a problem in practical mechanics which required 
 him to devise a piece of mechanism that would keep an 
 armillary sphere in motion for a time. 
 
 In outlining the necessary mechanism, as he conceived 
 it, he was gradually led to consider the general and more 
 fascinating problem of perpetual motion itself, with the 
 
16 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 result that he waxed somewhat enthusiastic when he 
 thought that he saw the possibihty of constructing an 
 ever-turning wheel in which the motive power would be 
 magnetic attraction, the attraction of a lodestone for a 
 number of iron teeth arranged at equal distances on the 
 periphery of a wheel. The device looked well on paper, 
 beyond which stage it was not carried, perhaps for 
 want of leisure, or more probably for want of the neces- 
 sary material and tools. Had Peregrinus been able to 
 test his theoretical views on the magnetic motor by 
 actual experiment, the delusive character of perpetual 
 motion would have been recognized at an early epoch in 
 the world's history, and much time and money spared 
 for more profitable investment. 
 
 This very wheel, which was designed in the trenches 
 before Lucera in 1269, was probably the cause of the 
 withering rebuke which Justin Huntly McCarthy ad- 
 ministers in his "History of the French Revolution," 
 Vol. L, p. 256, where he says : **In the long record of 
 rascaldom from Peregrinus to Bamfylde Moore Carew, 
 no single rascal stands forward with such magnificent 
 effrontery, such majestic impudence, such astonishing 
 success as Caghostro." To say the least, this is a very 
 serious slip of the pen on the part of the Irish historian 
 of the French Revolution, in which a scientific pioneer 
 of the first rank and a patriot of exalted type is mis- 
 taken for a charlatan of the deepest dye. 
 
 Although Peregrinus puts the burden of constructing 
 his wheel on others, he does not appear to have consid- 
 ered it a vain conceit ; for, in the beginning of the last 
 chapter of the " Epistola " he says : "In this chapter, 
 I will make known to you the construction of a wheel 
 which, in a remarkable manner, moves continuously." 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 17 
 
 He is writing from Southern Italy to his friend Siger 
 (Syger, Sygerus), at home in Picardy; and that this 
 friend may the better comprehend the mechanism of the 
 wheel, he proceeds to describe in a systematic manner the 
 various properties of the lodestone, all of which he had 
 investigated and many of which he had discovered. 
 The "Epistola" of Peregrinus is, therefore, the first 
 treatise on the magnet ever written ; it stands as the 
 first great landmark in magnetic philosophy. 
 
 The work is divided into two parts— the 
 first contains ten chapters and the latter 
 three. " At your request, " he says to his 
 friend, "I will make known to you in 
 an unpolished narrative the undoubted 
 though hidden virtue of the lodestone, 
 concerning which philosophers, up to the 
 Fig. 1 present time, give us no information. Out 
 
 The double pivoted 
 
 nee<M« of Petrus of aiieCtlOn for yOU, I will write m sim- 
 per egrmus, A. D., ./ 7 
 
 1269 pie style about things entirely unknown 
 
 to the ordinary individual." 
 
 After this declaration as to the original character of 
 his work Peregrinus proceeds : ' ' You must know that 
 whoever wishes to experiment should be acquainted 
 with the nature of things ; he must also be skilled in 
 manipulation, in order that by means of this stone, he 
 may produce those marvelous results." 
 
 The titles of the chapters will give an idea of the 
 comprehensive character of the magnetic work accom- 
 plished by the author and, at the same time, will serve 
 to show how much was known about the lodestone in 
 the thirteenth century. 
 
18 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 PART I. 
 Chap. I. Purpose of this work. 
 
 II. Qualifications of the experimenter. 
 
 III. Characteristics of a good lodestone. 
 
 IV. How to distinguish the poles of a lodestone. 
 
 V. How to tell which pole is north and which south. 
 VI. How one lodestone attracts another. 
 VII. How iron touched by a lodestone turns towards the 
 
 poles of the world. 
 VIII. How a lodestone attracts iron. 
 IX. Why the north pole of one lodestone attracts the south 
 pole of another, and vice versa. 
 X. An inquiry into the natural virtue of the lodestone. 
 
 PART II. 
 Chap. I. Construction of an instrument for measuring the azi- 
 muth of the sun, the moon or any star when in 
 the horizon. 
 II. Construction of a better instrument for the same pur- 
 pose. 
 III. The art of making a wheel of perpetual motion. 
 
 An attentive reading of the thirteen chapters of this 
 treatise of 3,500 words will show that : 
 
 (1) Peregrinus assigns a definite position to what he 
 calls the poles of a lodestone and gives practical direc- 
 tions for determining which is north and which south. 
 
 (2) He establishes the two fundamental laws of mag- 
 netism, that like poles repel and unlike poles attract 
 each other. 
 
 (3) He demonstrates by experiment that every frag- 
 ment of a lodestone is a complete magnet, and shows 
 how the fragments should be put together in order to 
 reproduce the polarity of the unbroken stone. 
 
 (4) He shows how a pole of a lodestone may neutral- 
 ize a weaker one of the same name and even reverse 
 its polarity. 
 
 (5) He pivots a magnetized needle and surrounds 
 it with a circle divided into 360 degrees. 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 19 
 
 This brief summary shows the great advance made 
 by the author on what was known about the lodestone 
 before his time. Most of the sahent facts in magnetism 
 are clearly described and some of their applications 
 pointed out. So thorough and complete was this appre- 
 hension and explanation of magnetic phenomena that 
 nothing of importance was added to it for the next 
 three hundred years. 
 
 Fig. 2 
 First pivoted compass, Peregrinus, 1269 
 
 In the compass which Peregrinus devised for use in 
 navigation, a light magnetic needle was thrust through 
 a slender vertical axis made of wood, which axis also 
 carried a pointer of brass or silver at right angles to 
 the needle. According to the belief of the time, the 
 magnetic needle gave the north and south points of the 
 horizon, while the brass pointer determined the east and 
 west points. This compass, double pivoted be it no- 
 ticed, was provided with a graduated circle and a 
 movable arm, having a pair of upright pins at its 
 extremities, which movable arm enabled the navigator 
 to determine the magnetic bearing of the sun, moon or 
 any star at the time of rising or setting. "By means 
 of this instrument," the author says in Chap, II., "you 
 can direct your course towards cities and islands and 
 any other place wherever you may wish to go, by land 
 or by sea, provided you know the latitude and longitude 
 of the place which you want to reach." 
 
20 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 The invention of the compass has been attributed to 
 one Flavio Gioja, a seafaring man of Amalfi, a flourish- 
 ing maritime town in Southern Italy. If we admit that 
 Gioja was a real and not a fictitious person, we cannot, 
 however, admit the claim which is made by his country- 
 men, when they say that he gave to the mariner the 
 use of the compass in the year 1302 ; for we have seen 
 that Peregrinus distinctly states that his compass, de- 
 scribed in 1269, could be relied upon for guidance by the 
 traveler on land as well as by the voyager on sea. 
 
 To Gioja may belong the merit of having simplified and 
 improved the compass. It is likely that he suspended 
 the needle on one pivot instead of the two used by 
 Peregrinus, and that he added the compass-card with 
 its thirty-two divisions, attaching it to the needle itself, 
 thereby adding materially to the practical character of 
 the compass as a nautical instrument. 
 
 On the other hand, a claim has been made for Pere- 
 grinus which cannot be admitted. It was put forward 
 by his itinerant countryman Thevenot, in the seven- 
 teenth century, to the effect that the author of the 
 "Epistola" was acquainted with magnetic declination, 
 in virtue of which a freely suspended magnet does not 
 point north and south, but cuts the geographical me- 
 ridian at a definite angle. 
 
 Writing in 1681, Thevenot says in his "Recueil de 
 Voyages" that: "It was a matter of general belief 
 down to the present day, that the declination of the 
 magnetic needle was first observed sometime in the 
 beginning of the last (16th) century. I have found, 
 however, that there was a declination of five degrees in 
 the year 1269, having found it recorded in a manuscript 
 with the title "Epistola Petri Adsigerii," etc. 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 
 
 21 
 
 The title of the manuscript seen by Thevenot is not, 
 however, as he gives it above, but ''Epistola Petri ad 
 Sygerium, " etc. , which is quite a different reading. 
 
 There are twenty-eight manuscript copies of the 
 *' Epistola " known to exist ; and only one of them, that 
 of the University of Leyden, contains the passage allud- 
 ed to by Thevenot. This manuscript was the object of 
 careful study and critical examination by Wenckebach 
 (1865) and other competent scholars, who pronounced 
 it a spurious addition made some time in the early part 
 of the 16th century.^ 
 
 In the time of Peregrinus, it is probable that the dec- 
 lination did not exceed three degrees in Paris or on the 
 shores of the Mediterranean, a quantity so small that it 
 would have been difficult of detection ; and, if detected, 
 would have been attributed either to errors in the con- 
 struction of the instrument used or to inaccuracy on the 
 part of the observer. This is what happened to Colum- 
 bus when, on his return to Spain, having reported the 
 many and definite observations on the variation of the 
 
 compass which he had made on 
 his outward voyage, he was told 
 by the learned ones of the day 
 that he was in error and not the 
 needle, because the latter was 
 everywhere true to the pole. 
 
 This oft-stated and widely- 
 believed fidehty of the needle to 
 the pole is not, however, founded 
 on fact ; it is the exception, the 
 rare exception, not the rule, 
 despite the couplet of the poet : 
 
 JUaglielic dpclniflticn 
 
 
 Uajnetii" (iedinahon 
 al Sanfn 
 
 -1907 
 
 Fig. 3 
 
 1 Annali di Matematica pura ed applicata. Rome, 1865. 
 
 THE CATHZR NE B. O'CONNOR LIBRARY 
 
 ViESTDN 03S-RVAT0RY 
 
 WESTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02193 
 
22 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Th' obedient steel with living instinct moves 
 And veers for ever to the pole it loves ; 
 
 or this other, 
 
 So turns the faithful needle to the pole, 
 Though mountains rise between and oceans roll. 
 
 That the magnet does not turn to the pole of the 
 world is common knowledge to-day, when the High 
 School tyro will tell you that in New York it points 9° 
 west of north, while in San Francisco it points 15° east 
 of north. If he happens to be well up, he may refer 
 to the position of the agonic line on the globe along 
 which the needle stands true to the pole, while all 
 places to the east of that line in our hemisphere have 
 westerly declination and those to the west have easterly 
 declination. Indeed, magnetic charts show places 
 where the needle points east and west instead of north 
 and south, and others where the north-seeking end 
 points directly south. Such varying and conflicting 
 behavior of the compass-needle serves to show the ir- 
 regular manner in which the earth's magnetism is dis- 
 tributed and also the intensity of distributing forces 
 which exist at certain places. 
 
 It is one of the gems in the crown of Columbus, that 
 he observed, measured and recorded this strange be- 
 havior of the magnetic needle in his narrative of the 
 voyage. True, he did not notice it until he was far out 
 on the trackless ocean. A week had elapsed since he 
 left the lordly Teneriffe, and a few days since the 
 mountainous outline of Gomera had disappeared from 
 sight. The memorable night was that of September 13th, 
 1492. There was no mistaking it ; the needle of the 
 Santa Maria pointed a little west of north instead of due 
 north. Some days later, on September 17th, the pilots. 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 
 
 23 
 
 having taken the sun's amplitude, reported that the 
 variation had reached a whole point of the compass, the 
 alarming amount of 11 degrees. 
 
 The surprise and anxiety 
 which Columbus manifested on 
 those occasions may be taken as 
 indications that the phenomenon 
 was new to him. As a matter 
 of fact, however, his needles 
 were not true even at the out- 
 set of the voyage from the port 
 of Palos, where, though no one 
 was aware of it, they pointed 
 about 3° east of north. This 
 |n^neiKD«imai.on\Lonao«J58o.d.!5fl7 angle diminished from day to 
 Fig. 4 day as the Admiral kept the 
 
 prow of his caravel directed to the west, until it van- 
 ished altogether, after which the needles veered to -the 
 west, and kept moving westward for a time as the flag- 
 ship proceeded on her voyage. 
 
 Columbus thus determined a place on the Atlantic 
 in which the magnetic meridian coincided with the 
 geographical and in which the needle stood true to the 
 pole. Six years later, in 1498, Sebastian Cabot found 
 another place on the same ocean, a little further north, 
 in which the compass lay exactly in the north-and- 
 south line. These two observations, one by Columbus 
 and the other by Cabot, sufficed to determine the posi- 
 tion of the agonic line, or line of no variation, for that 
 locality and epoch. 
 
 The Columbian line acquired at once considerable im- 
 portance, in the geographical and the political world, 
 because of the proposal that was made to discard the 
 
24 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Island of Ferro and take it for the prime meridian from 
 which longitude would be reckoned east and west, and 
 also because it was selected by Pope Alexander VI. to 
 serve as a line of reference in settling the rival claims 
 of the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile with regard to 
 their respective discoveries. It was decided that all re- 
 cently discovered lands lying to the east of that line 
 should belong to Portugal ; and those to the west, to 
 Castile. 
 
 The line of no variation, like all other isomagnetic 
 lines, has shifted its position with time, so that it runs 
 to-day considerably to the west of the place assigned to 
 it by Columbus in 1492 and by the Papal Bull of the 
 following year. 
 
 Columbus did not speak of the disquieting observa- 
 tion which he made on the night of the 13th of Septem- 
 ber ; he thought of it, and wondered greatly what might 
 be the cause of such an unexpected and untoward phe- 
 nomenon. His silence on the matter did not avail, for 
 the keen-eyed sailors noticed the westerly deflection of 
 the needle when, after a few days, it became quite 
 apparent. They grew alarmed, believing that the laws 
 of nature were changing as they advanced farther and 
 farther into the unknown. It was a trying moment for 
 the Admiral, but his ingenuity and tactfulness rose to 
 the occasion. He told his seamen that the needle did 
 not point to the cynosure or last star in the tail of the 
 Little Bear, as commonly supposed, but to a fixed point 
 in the celestial sphere at which there was no star, add- 
 ing that the "cynosure" itself, the Polaris of our days, 
 was not stationary, but had a rotational movement of its, 
 own like all other heavenly bodies. 
 
 We do not know what Columbus thought of his explan- 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 25^ 
 
 ation, born of the stress of the moment, but the esteem 
 in which he was held by pilots and sailors alike for his 
 knowledge of astronomy and cosmography led them to 
 accept it. Their fears were allayed, a mutiny was 
 averted and a successful termination to their voyage 
 rendered possible. 
 
 Captains of ocean-liners would give to-day a different 
 answer to a passenger who might consult them about 
 the splinter of steel which serves to guide their fleet 
 vessels in darkest nights, through howling tempests and 
 over billowy seas. The mysterious influence that con- 
 trols it, they would say, comes neither from Polaris nor 
 the pole of the world, nor from the heavens above, but 
 from the earth beneath. 
 
 Such an explanation was not thought of until it was< 
 clearly shown a hundred years later that this globe of 
 ours acts like a colossal lodestone, controlling every mag- 
 net in our laboratories and observatories, and every 
 needle on board the merchantmen and fighting-monsters 
 that plough our seas and oceans. 
 
 Without any intuition of modern theory, Columbus- 
 made two discoveries in terrestrial magnetism, as we 
 have seen, each of fundamental importance, whether 
 considered from the view-point of pure science or that 
 of practical navigation, viz., (a) that the needle is not 
 true to the pole and (b) that the angular displacement 
 of the needle from true orientation, the variation of the 
 compass, as it is called in nautical parlance, differs with 
 the place of the observer. These two discoveries as well 
 as the location of a place of no variation on the Atlantic 
 Ocean entitle Columbus to a prominent place among the 
 founders of the science of terrestrial magnetism. 
 
 Later observers discovered that even for a given place 
 
26 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 this element of magnetic declination has not a constant 
 value, but undergoes changes which complete their 
 cycle, some in a day, others in a year, and others again 
 in centuries. The last or secular change in the direction 
 of the magnetic needle was discovered by Gellibrand, of 
 London, in 1634 (pubhshed in 1635) ; the annual, by 
 Cassini, at Paris, 1782-1791 ; and the diurnal, by Gra- 
 ham, of London, in 1722. 
 
 The first observation of magnetic declination on land 
 appears to have been made about the year 1510 by 
 George Hartmann (1489-1564), Vicar of the Church of 
 St. Sebald in Nuremberg, who found it to be 6° east in 
 Rome, where he was Hving at the time. Hartmann's 
 observation of the declination in Rome and also in 
 Nuremberg, where the needle pointed 10° east of north, 
 will be found in a letter which he wrote in 1544 to Duke 
 Albert of Prussia and which remained unpublished until 
 the year 1831. 
 
 Returning to the treatise of Peregrinus on the magnet, 
 it should be said that for several centuries the twenty- 
 eight manuscript copies lay undisturbed on the dusty 
 shelves of city and university libraries. In 1562, four 
 years after the appearance of the first printed edition 
 (Augsburg, 1558), Taisnier, a Belgian writer on mag- 
 netics, who is also described as poet-laureate and Doctor 
 " utriusque juris, " was among the earliest to discover 
 the "Epistola," from which he copied extensively in his 
 little quarto on the magnet and its effects, thus showing 
 that there were literary pirates in those days. It was 
 also well known to Gilbert, to Cabeo and Kircher ; but 
 despite the references of these writers, the "Epistola" 
 remained practically unknown until Cavallo, of London, 
 called attention to the Leyden manuscript in the third 
 
PEREGRINUS AND COLUMBUS 27 
 
 edition of his ''Treatise on Magnetism,"^ 1800, by giv- 
 ing part of the text and accompanying it with a 
 translation. 
 
 Later, in 1838, Libri, historian of the mathematical 
 sciences in Italy, gave excerpts from the Paris codex 
 with translation ; but the scholar who contributed most 
 of all to make the work of Peregrinus known is the 
 Italian Barnabite, Timoteo Bertelli, who published in 
 1868 a critical study of the various manuscripts of the 
 letter, principally those which he found in Rome and in 
 Florence, adding copious notes of historic, bibliographic 
 and scientific value. Father Bertelli was Professor of 
 Physics in the Collegio della Querela, in Florence, where 
 he took an active interest in Italian seismology besides 
 carrying on investigations in meteorology, telegraphy 
 and electricity. Born in Bologna in 1826, he died in 
 Florence in March, 1905. 
 
 The following list of manuscript copies of the " Epis- 
 tola" is taken from a scholarly paper by Professor 
 Silvanus P. Thompson, of London, which appeared in 
 the "Proceedings of the British Academy " for 1906 :— 
 
 The Bodleian Library seven 
 
 Vatican four 
 
 British. Museum one 
 
 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris two 
 
 Biblioteca Riccardiana, Florence one 
 
 Trinity College, Dublin one 
 
 Conville and Caius, Cambridge one 
 
 The University of Leyden one 
 
 Geneva one 
 
 Turin one 
 
 Erfurt three 
 
 Vienna three 
 
 S. P. Thompson two 
 
 1 Also in Rees Encyclopedia, article Compass. 
 
28 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 The first printed edition of the "Epistola " was pre- 
 pared for the press in 1558 by Achilles Gasser, a man 
 well versed in the science and philosophy of his day ; 
 another edition, which will probably be considered the 
 textus receptus, is that which was prepared and pub- 
 lished by Bertelh in 1868. 
 
 No complete translation in any language of this his- 
 torical work on magnetism was made until 1902, when 
 Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, of London, published his 
 ' ' Epistle of Peter Peregrinus of Maricourt to Sygerus 
 of Foncaucourt, soldier, concerning the Magnet. " Un- 
 fortunately, this translation was printed for private 
 circulation and limited to 250 copies. Two years later, 
 1904, Brother Arnold, F. S. C, presented a memoir on 
 Peregrinus, including a translation of the **Epistola," 
 for the M. Sc. degree of Manhattan College, New York 
 City, which translation was published some months later 
 by the McGraw Publishing Company, New York. These 
 are the only complete translations of the ** Letter" of 
 Peregrinus on the Magnet which have yet appeared. 
 
 Brother Potamian. 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 
 
 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Norman and Gilbert. 
 
 We have seen that in the thirteenth century the 
 directive property of the lodestone was recognized by 
 Peregrinus and used by him in his pivoted compass ; 
 and that in the fifteenth, Columbus discovered magnetic 
 declination on sea as well as its variation with place. 
 
 The next cardinal fact in terrestrial magnetism, mag- 
 netic dip, was discovered in 1576 by Robert Norman, a 
 icompass-maker of Limehouse, London. Norman pos- 
 sessed many of the fine qualities of mind, hand and 
 disposition that are indispensable in the make-up of the 
 original investigator. In pivoting his compass-needles, 
 he soon noticed that, however care- 
 fully they were balanced before being 
 magnetized, they did not remain hori- 
 zontal after magnetization, the north- 
 seeking end always going down 
 through a small angle. He next had 
 the happy idea of swinging a needle on 
 a horizontal axis, so that it might be 
 free to move up and down in a verti- 
 cal plane, with the result that the 
 north-seeking end again went down 
 through a constant but much greater 
 Fig. 5. . angle. 
 iirent^byNoSnini576 Like decHnation, the first discovered 
 
30 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 of the three magnetic elements, the dip was found to 
 vary with place on the earth's surface, being 0° at the 
 magnetic equator and 90° at either pole. It was with a 
 Norman dip-circle, greatly improved, that Ross in 1831 
 found the north magnetic pole of the earth to be in Boothia 
 Fehx in latitude 70° 5'. 3 N., and longitude 96° 45'. 8 W. ; 
 and it was with a similar instrument that Amundsen 
 recently studied the magnetic conditions of that Arctic 
 region, the exact location of the pole itself being finally 
 determined by an earth-inductor or spinning coil of the 
 latest make. Though the results of his observations 
 have not yet been made public, it is generally known 
 that they indicate a spot for the magnetic pole close to 
 that found by Sir James Ross. It is not expected, how-' 
 ever, that the location of the pole by the Norwegian 
 Commander shall exactly coincide with that of the 
 English Captain, because the magnetic pole is believed 
 to have nomadic tendencies of its own like our geo- 
 graphical pole, only much more pronounced in magni- 
 tude. After moving westward for some time at the 
 rate of a mile per year, it retraced its steps and is now 
 back again in the vicinity of its starting place. 
 
 Besides his dip-circle, Norman also devised a simple 
 and very apt illustration of magnetic inclination. Thrust- 
 ing a steel needle through a round piece of cork, he 
 pared the latter down until the system, consisting of 
 the needle and the cork, sank to a certain depth in a 
 glass vessel containing water, and there took up a hor- 
 izontal position. The needle was next removed from 
 the water and magnetized with great care, so as not to 
 disturb its position in the cork. When placed again in 
 the water, the needle sank to its former depth and' 
 settled down at an angle of 71° to the horizon. 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 31 
 
 The same illustration shows another experiment 
 which Norman made in order to determine whether 
 the earth exerts a force of translation on a magnet, in 
 virtue of which the magnet would tend to move bodily 
 toward the pole. For this purpose, he floated a mag- 
 netized piece of steel wire on the surface of the water 
 and noticed that, wherever placed, 
 it merely swung round into the 
 magnetic meridian without show- 
 ing any tendency to move north- 
 ward or southward toward the 
 rim of the vessel. Hartmann, who 
 observed the declination of the 
 needle on land as stated on p. 26, 
 appears also to have been the first %M 
 
 to notice magnetic inclination. Hav- 
 ing balanced a steel needle with 
 great precision, he found that, af- ^''» » » '^^ ^^ 
 ter magnetization, it did not remain fig. e 
 
 Norman's illustration of 
 
 horizontal, the north-seekmg end magnetic dip 
 
 invariably dipping through an angle of 9°. The small- 
 ness of the angle in this experiment was due to the fact 
 that the needle used by the Nuremberg Vicar could move 
 only in a horizontal plane, whereas Norman's was free 
 to move in a vertical circle. Had Hartmann used such a 
 device, he would have obtained more than 60° for the dip 
 instead of the 9° which he records. 
 
 As already remarked, the letter in which Hartmann 
 consigns these capital observations was written in 1544, 
 but was not published until the third decade of the 
 nineteenth century, so that Norman has clearly the full 
 merit of independent discovery. 
 
 In the directions which Norman gives for making 
 
32 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 observations of dip, he states explicitly that the instru- 
 ment must be adjusted "duley according to the varia- 
 tion of the place," which means that the plane of the 
 circle must be turned into what was called after his 
 time "the magnetic meridian." 
 
 The discovery of magnetic dip led Norman to discard 
 the view generally held in his time, which placed the 
 controlling influence of the compass-needle in far-off 
 celestial space; for he says that the poynt respective 
 which the magnet indicates, but to which it is not bodily 
 drawn, is not in the heavens above, but in the earth 
 itself. His words are : ' ' And by the declining of the 
 needle is also proved that the poynt respective is rather 
 in the earth than in the heavens, as some have im- 
 agined ; and the greatest reason why they so thought, 
 as I judge, was because they were never acquainted 
 with this declining in the needle." 
 
 Here we have a radical departure from the scientific 
 creed of the time, a notable advance in scientific theory, 
 an entirely new philosophy founded by Norman, the 
 compass-maker, and greatly developed twenty-four 
 
 years later by his fel- 
 low-citizen, Gilbert, the 
 physician. 
 Norman made another 
 remark of great impor- 
 tance in the new phil- 
 osophy, the justness of 
 which was appreciated 
 by Gilbert, his contem- 
 porary, but more so by 
 Faraday and Clerk 
 Gilbert's orb of virtue, iQoo Maxwell, two centur- 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 33 
 
 ies later. It refers to the space surrounding a magnet, 
 natural or artificial, which cubical space Gilbert, follow- 
 ing Norman, called an orb of virtue. That the influence 
 or " effluvium" of the magnet extends throughout the 
 entire space may readily be seen by carrying a compass- 
 needle round a magnet from point to point, far away 
 as well as close by. The phrase "orb of virtue," or 
 sphere of magnetic influence, appears to describe the 
 actual magnetic condition of the space in question more 
 pertinently than our modem equivalent of "magnetic 
 field." 
 
 The words of Norman are very remarkable: "I am 
 of opinion that if this vertue could by anie means be 
 made visible to the eie of man, it would be found in a 
 sphericall forme, extending round about the stone in 
 great compasse and the dead bodie of the stone in the 
 middle thereof . " The lines which immediately follow 
 this statement, pregnant with significance, show the 
 deep religious feeling of the author. They read : "and 
 this I have partly proved and made visible to be seene 
 in some manner, and God sparing mee life, I will herein 
 make further experience and that not curiouslie but in 
 the f eare of God as neere as He shall give me grace and 
 meane to annexe the same unto a booke of navigation 
 which I have had long in hand."— Chap. VIII. 
 
 It is evident from the pages of the Newe Attractive 
 (1581) that Norman was animated with the right spirit 
 of inquiry, which is calm, deliberate and judicious, 
 which leads to the discovery of facts, to their coordina- 
 tion and experimental illustration before explanations 
 are thought of and long before new theories are pro- 
 pounded. The style in which this little treatise is 
 written has a charm of its own, mainly by reason of its 
 
34 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 quaintness. At the end of his address to the candid 
 reader, which, after the manner of the times, was 
 somewhat belabored and rhetorical in character, Nor- 
 man breaks away from common inadequate prose ; and, 
 ^ving wings to his imagination, writes a lyric on the 
 magnet which is the first metrical composition in Eng- 
 lish that we have on such a subject. It reads :— 
 
 THE MAGNES OR LOADSTONE'S CHALLENGE. 
 
 Give place ye glittering sparks, 
 ye glimmering Diamonds bright, 
 
 Ye Rubies red, and Saphires brave 
 wherein ye most delight. 
 
 In breefe, yee stones inricht, 
 
 and burnisht all with golde, 
 Set forth in Lapidaries shops, 
 
 for Jewells to be sold. 
 
 ^ Give place, give place I say, 
 
 your beau tie, gleame and glee. 
 Is all the vertue for the which, 
 accepted so you bee. 
 
 Magnes, the Loadstone I, 
 
 your painted sheath defie. 
 Without my help in Indian seas, 
 
 the best of you might lie. 
 
 I guide the Pilot's course, 
 
 his helping hand I am, 
 The Mariner delights in me, 
 
 so doth the Marchant man. 
 
 My vertue lies unknowne, 
 
 my secrets hidden are, 
 By me, the Court and Commonweale, 
 
 are pleasured very farre. 
 
 No ship could sail on Seas, 
 
 her course to run aright, 
 Nor Compass shew the ready way 
 
 were Magnes not of might. 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 35 
 
 Blush, then, and blemish all, 
 
 bequeath to mee thats due, 
 Your seats in golde, your price in plate, 
 
 which Jewellers do renue. 
 
 Its I, its I alone, 
 
 whom you usurp upon, 
 Magnes my name, the L,oadstone cal'd, 
 
 the prince of stones alone. 
 
 If this you can deny, 
 
 then seem to make reply, 
 And let the painfull sea-man judge, 
 
 the which of us doth lie. 
 
 The; Mariner's Judgement. 
 
 The lyoadstone is the stone, 
 
 the onely stone alone, 
 Deserving praise above the rest 
 
 whose vertues are unknown. 
 
 The Marchant's Verdict. 
 
 The Diamonds bright, the Saphires brave, 
 
 Are stones that bear the name, 
 but flatter not, and tell the troath, 
 
 Magnes deserves the same. 
 (Edition of 1720.) 
 
 Norman's Newe Attractive was well known to Gilbert, 
 as were also the Epistola of Peregrinus, the Magiae 
 Naturalis of Porta, and indeed all books treating of the 
 lodestone, the magnet, or the compass-needle. His 
 own work De Magnete, published in the year 1600, is a 
 compendium of the world's knowledge of magnetism 
 and electricity at the time. In its pages, he not only 
 discusses the opinions of others, but describes discov- 
 eries of his own made during the twenty years which 
 he ardently devoted to the pursuit of experimental 
 science, crowning his investigations with theories in 
 electricity and magnetism as became a true philosopher. 
 
36 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Impressed by the originality of Gilbert's treatise, the 
 practical ingenuity and philosophic acumen displayed 
 throughout, Hallam wrote in his Introduction to the 
 Literature of Europe : ' ' Gilbert not only collected all 
 the knowledge which others had possessed on the sub- 
 ject, but became at once the father of experimental 
 philosophy in this island ; and, by a singular felicity and 
 acuteness of genius, the founder of theories which have 
 been received after the lapse of ages and are almost 
 universally received into the creed of science." 
 
 At a period when natural science was taught in the 
 schools of Europe mainly from text-books, we find 
 Gilbert proclaiming by example and advocacy the para- 
 mount value of experiment for the advancement of 
 learning. He was unsparing in his denunciation of the 
 superficiality and verbosity of mere bookmen, and had 
 no patience with writers who treated their subjects 
 " esoterically, reconditely and mystically." For him, 
 the laboratory method was the only one that could 
 secure fruitful results and contribute effectively to" 
 the advancement learning. 
 
 It is true that men of unusual ability and strong 
 character strove before his time to adjust the claims of 
 authority in matters scientific. While respectful of the 
 teachings of recognized leaders, they were not, however, 
 awed into acquiescence by an academical "magister 
 dixit. " On the contrary, they wanted to test with their 
 eyes in order to judge with reason ; believing in the 
 importance of experiment, they sought to acquire a 
 knowledge of nature from nature herself. 
 
 Such were Albert the Great and Friar Bacon. Albert 
 did not bow obsequiously to the authority of Aristotle 
 or any of his Arabian commentators ; he investigated 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 87 
 
 for himself and became, for his age, a distinguished 
 botanist, physiologist and mineralogist. 
 
 The Franciscan monk of Ilchester has left us in his 
 Opus Majus a lasting memorial of his practical genius. 
 In the section entitled ''Scientia Experimentahs, " he 
 affirms that "Without experiment, nothing can be 
 adequately known. An argument proves theoretically, 
 but does not give the certitude necessary to remove all 
 doubt, nor will the mind repose in the clear view of 
 truth, unless it find it by way of experiment." And in 
 his Opits Tertium : ' ' The strongest arguments prove 
 nothing, so long as the conclusions are not verified by 
 experience. Experimental science is the queen of sci- 
 ences and the goal of all speculation." 
 
 No one, even in our own times, wrote more strongly 
 in favor of the practical method than did this follower 
 of St. Francis in the thirteenth century. Being con- 
 vinced that there can be no conflict between scientific 
 and revealed truths, he became an irrepressible advo- 
 cate for observation and experiment in the study of the 
 phenomena and forces of nature. 
 
 The example of Peregrinus, of Albert and Friar 
 Bacon, not to mention others like Vincent of Beauvais, 
 the Dominican encyclopedist, was, however, not suffi- 
 cient to wean students from the easy-going routine of 
 book-learning. A few centuries had to elapse before 
 the weaning was effectively begun ; and the man Vv^ho 
 contributed in a marked degree to this result was Gil- 
 bert the Philosopher of Colchester (1544-1603). 
 
 Having received the elements of his education in the 
 Grammar School of Colchester, his native town, Gilbert 
 entered St. John's College, Cambridge, from which 
 university he took his B. A. degree in 1560, M. A . in 
 
38 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 1564 and M. D. in 1569. In all, he appears to have 
 been connected with the University for a period of 
 eleven or twelve years, as student. Fellow, and exam- 
 iner. 
 
 On leaving Cambridge, Gilbert traveled for four years 
 on the Continent, principally in Italy, visiting medical 
 schools and studying methods of treatment under the 
 leading physicians and surgeons of the day as well as 
 discussing scientific theory with the leaders of thought. 
 On his return to England in 1573, he practised medi- 
 cine in London "with great applause and success." 
 He was elected President of the Royal College of Phy- 
 sicians in 1599, and appointed Physician to Queen Eliza- 
 beth in 1601 and to her successor, James I,, in 1603. 
 
 On one occasion, he hears that Baptista Porta, whom 
 he calls "a philosopher of no ordinary note," said that 
 a piece of iron rubbed with a diamond turns to the 
 north. He suspects this to be heresy. So, forthwith 
 he proceeds to test the statement by experiment. He 
 was not dazzled by the reputation of Baptista Porta ; he 
 respected Porta, but respected truth even more. He 
 tells us that he experimented with seventy diamonds in 
 presence of many witnesses, employing a number of 
 iron bars and pieces of wire, manipulating them with 
 the greatest care while they floated on corks ; and con- 
 cludes his long and exhaustive research by plaintively 
 saying : "Yet never was it granted me to see the effect 
 mentioned by Porta." 
 
 Though it led to a negative result, this probing in- 
 quiry was a masterpiece of experimental work. 
 
 Gilbert incidentally regrets that the men of his time 
 "are deplorably ignorant with respect to natural 
 things," and the only way he sees to remedy this is to 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 39 
 
 make them "quit the sort of learning that comes only 
 from books and that rests only on vain arguments and 
 conjectures," for he shrewdly remarks that ** even men 
 of acute intelligence without actual knowledge of facts 
 and in the absence of experiment easily fall into error." 
 
 Acting on this intimate conviction, he labored for 
 twenty years over the theories and experiments which 
 he sets forth in his great work on the magnet. "There 
 is naught in these books," he tells us, "that has not 
 been investigated, and again and again done and re- 
 peated under our eyes." He begs any one that should 
 feel disposed to challenge his results to repeat the 
 experiments for himself "carefully, skilfully and deftly, 
 but not heedlessly and bunglingly." 
 
 It has been said that we are indebted to Sir Francis 
 Bacon, Queen Elizabeth's Chancellor, for the inductive 
 method of studying the phenomena of nature. Bacon's 
 merit lies in the fact that he not only minutely analyzed 
 the method, pointing out its uses and abuses, but also 
 that he showed it to be the only one by which we can 
 attain an accurate knowledge of the physical world 
 around us. His sententious eulogy went forth to the 
 world of scholars invested with all the importance, 
 authority and dignity which the high position and 
 worldwide fame of the philosophic Chancellor could give 
 it. But while Bacon thought and wrote in his study, 
 Gilbert labored and toiled in his workshop. By his pen, 
 Bacon made a profound impression on the philosophic 
 mind of his age ; by his researches, Gilbert explored 
 two provinces of nature and added them to the domain 
 of science. Bacon was a theorist, Gilbert an investi- 
 gator. For twenty years he shunned the glare of 
 society and the throbbing excitement of public life ; he 
 
40 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 wrenched himself away from all but the strictest ex- 
 igencies of his profession, in order to devote himself 
 undistractedly to the pursuit of science. And all this 
 forty years before the appearance of Bacon's Novum 
 Organum, the very work which contains the philoso- 
 pher's "large thoughts and lofty phrases " on the value 
 of experiment as a means for the advancement of 
 learning. During that long period Gilbert haunted Col- 
 chester, where he delved into the secrets of nature and 
 prepared the materials for his great work on the mag- 
 net. The publication of this Latin treatise made him 
 known in the universities at home and especially abroad : 
 he was appreciated by all the great physicists and 
 mathematicians of his age ; by such men as Sir Kenelm 
 Digby; by William Barlowe, a great "magneticall" 
 man ; by Kepler, the astronomer, who adopted and de- 
 fended his views; by Galileo himself, who said: *'I 
 extremely admire and envy the author of De Magnete.'* 
 
 The science of magnetism owes more to Gilbert than 
 to any other man, Peregrinus (1269) excepted. He 
 repeated for himself the numerous and ingenious ex- 
 periments of the medieval philosopher, and added much 
 of his own which he discovered during the long period 
 of a life devoted to the diligent exploration of this 
 domain in the world of natural knowledge. 
 
 The ancients spoke of the lodestone as the Magnesian 
 stone, from its being found in abundance in the vicinity 
 of Magnesia, a city of Asia Minor. In his Latin treatise 
 of 254 (small) folio pages, Gilbert uses the adjective 
 form of the term, but never the noun " Magnetismus " 
 itself. Our English term magnetism appears for the, 
 first time on page 2 of Archdeacon Barlowe 's "Magnet- 
 icall Advertisements," published in 1616; while the 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 41 
 
 surprising compound, " electro-magnetismos, " is the 
 title of a chapter in Father Kircher's "Magnes, sive de 
 Arte Magnetica," printed in the year 1641. 
 
 Gilbert showed that a great number of bodies could 
 be electrified ; but maintained that those only could ex- 
 hibit magnetic properties which contain iron. He sat- 
 isfies himself of this by rubbing with a lodestone such 
 substances as wood, gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, 
 glass, etc., and then floating them on corks, quaintly 
 adding that they show "no poles, because the energy 
 of the lodestone has no entrance into their interior." 
 
 To-day we know that nickel and cobalt behave like 
 iron, whilst antimony, bismuth, copper, silver and gold 
 are susceptible of being influenced by powerful electro- 
 magnets, showing what has been termed diamagnetic 
 phenomena. Even liquids and gases, in Faraday's 
 classical experiments, yielded to the influence of his 
 great magnet ; and Professor Dewar, in the same Royal 
 Institution, exposed some of his liquid air and liquid 
 oxygen to the influence of Faraday's electromagnet and 
 found them to be strongly attracted, thus behaving like 
 the paramagnetic bodies, iron, nickel and cobalt. 
 
 Gilbert observes in all his magnets two points, one 
 near each end, in which the force, or, as he terms it, 
 "the supreme attractional power," is concentrated. 
 Like Peregrinus, he calls these points the poles of the 
 magnet, and the line joining them its magnetic axis. 
 With the aid of his steel versorium, he recognizes that 
 similar poles are mutually hostile, whilst opposite poles 
 seize and hold each other in friendly embrace. He also 
 satisfies himself that the energy of magnets resides not 
 only in their extremities, but that it permeates "their 
 inmost parts, being entire in the whole and entire in 
 
42 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 «ach part." This is exactly what Peregrinus said in 
 1269 and what we say to-day ; it is nothing else than 
 the molecular theory proposed by Weber, extended 
 by Ewing and universally accepted. 
 
 At any rate, Gilbert is quite certain that whatever 
 magnetism may be, it is not, like electricity, a material, 
 ponderable substance. He ascertained this by weigh- 
 ing in the most accurate scales of a goldsmith a rod of 
 iron before and after it had been rubbed with the lode- 
 stone, and then observing that the weight is precisely 
 the same in both cases, being ' ' neither less nor more. ' ' 
 
 Without referring to the prior discovery of Norman, 
 whom he calls "a skilled navigator and ingenious artif- 
 icer," Gilbert satisfies himself that not only the mag- 
 net, but all the space surrounding it, possesses magnetic 
 properties; for the magnet "sends its force abroad 
 in all directions, according to its energy and quality." 
 This region of influence Norman called a sphere of 
 "vertue," and Gilbert an ''orbis virtutis," which is the 
 Latin equivalent ; we call it a "magnetic field," or field 
 of force, which is less expressive and less appropriate. 
 With wonderful intuition, Gilbert sees this space filled 
 with lines of magnetic virtue passing out radially from 
 his spherical lodestone, which lines he calls "rays of 
 magnetic force." 
 
 Clerk Maxwell was so fascinated with this beautiful 
 concept that he made it the work of his life to study 
 the field of force due to electrified bodies, to magnets 
 and to conductors conveying currents ; his powerful in-, 
 tellect visualized those lines and gave them accurate 
 mathematical expression in the great treatise on elec- 
 tricity and magnetism which he gave to the world in 
 1873. 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 43 
 
 Gilbert observes that the lodestone may be spherical 
 or oblong ; "whatever the shape, imperfect or irregular, 
 'verticity is present ; there are poles," and the lodestones 
 "have the selfsame way of turning to the poles of the 
 world." He knows that a compass-needle is not drawn 
 bodily towards the pole, and does not hesitate in this 
 instance to give credit to his countryman, Robert Nor- 
 man, for having clearly stated this fact and aptly de- 
 monstrated it. Following Norman, he floats a needle 
 in a vessel by means of a piece of cork, and notices that 
 on whatever part of the surface of the water it may 
 be placed, the needle settles down after a few swings 
 invariably in the same direction. His words are: "It 
 revolves on its iron center and is not borne towards 
 the rim of the vessel. " 
 
 Gilbert knew nothing about the mechanical couple 
 that came into play, but he knew the fact ; and, with 
 the instinct of the philosopher, tested it in a variety of 
 ways. 
 
 We explain the orientation of the compass-needle by 
 saying that it is acted upon by a pair of equal and op- 
 l)Osite forces due to the influence of the terrestrial mag- 
 netic poles on each end of the needle and by showing 
 that such a couple can produce rotation, but not trans- 
 lation. 
 
 We find Gilbert working not only with steel needles 
 and iron bars, but also with rings of iron. He strokes 
 them with a natural magnet and feels certain that he 
 Tias magnetized them. He assures us that "one of the 
 poles will be at the point rubbed and the other will be 
 at the opposite side." To show that the ring is really 
 magnetized, he cuts it across, opens it out, and finds 
 that the ends exhibit polar properties. 
 
44 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 A favorite piece of apparatus with Gilbert, as with 
 Peregrinus, was a lodestone ground down into globular 
 form. He called it a terrella, a miniature earth, and 
 used it extensively for reproducing the phenomena de- 
 scribed by magnetizers, trav- 
 elers and navigators. He 
 breaks up terrellas, in order 
 to examine the magnetic 
 condition of their inner parts. 
 There is not a doubtful ut- 
 terance in his description of 
 what he finds ; he speaks 
 clearly and emphatically. 
 " If magnetic bodies be 
 divided, or in any way broken 
 up, each several part hath a 
 north and a south end " ; i. e. , 
 each part will be a complete 
 magnet. 
 We find him also comparing magnets by what is 
 known to us as the ''magnetometer method." He 
 brings the magnetized bars in turn near a compass- 
 needle and concludes that the magnet or the lodestone 
 which is able to make the needle go round is the best 
 and strongest. He also seeks to compare magnets by a 
 process of weighing, similar to what is called, in labor- 
 atory parlance, the "test-nail" method. He also in- 
 quires into the effect of heat upon his magnets, and 
 finds that 'a lodestone subjected to any great heat loses 
 some of its energy.' He applies a red-hot iron to a 
 compass-needle and notices that it 'stands still, not 
 turning to the iron.' He thrusts a magnetized bar into 
 the fire until it is red-hot and shows that it has lost all 
 
 Fig. 8 
 
 Behavior of compass- needle on a terrella 
 
 or spherical lodestone 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 45 
 
 magnetic power. He does not stop at this remarkable 
 discovery, for he proceeds to let his red-hot bars cool 
 while lying in various positions, and finds : (1) that the 
 bar will acquire magnetic properties if it lie in the 
 magnetic meridian ; and (2) that it will acquire none if 
 it lie east and west. These effects he rightly attributes 
 to the inductive action of the earth. 
 
 Gilbert marks these and other experiments with 
 marginal asterisks ; small stars denoting minor and large 
 ones important discoveries of his. There are in all 21 
 large and 178 small asterisks, as well as 84 illustrations 
 in De Magnete. This implies a vast amount of original 
 work, and forms no small contribution to the founda- 
 tions of electric and magnetic science. 
 
 Gilbert clearly realized the phenomena and laws of 
 [magnetic induction. He tells us that * ' as soon as a bar 
 of iron comes within the lodestone's sphere of influence, 
 though it be at some distance from the lodestone itself, 
 the iron changes instantly and has its form renewed ; it 
 was before dormant and inert ; but now is quick and 
 active." He hangs a nail from a lodestone; a second 
 nail from the first, a third from the second and so on — 
 a well-known experiment, made every day for elemen- 
 tary classes. Nor is this all, for he interposes between 
 the lodestone and his iron nail, thick boards, walls of 
 pottery and marble, and even metals, and he finds that 
 there is naught so solid as to do away with its force or 
 to check it, save a plate of iron. All that can be added 
 to this pregnant observation is that the plate of iron 
 must be very thick in order to carry all the lines of 
 force due to the magnet, and thus completely screen 
 the space beyond. 
 
 But Gilbert is astonishing when he goes on to make 
 
46 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 thick boxes of gold, glass and marble ; and, suspending 
 his needle within them, declares with excusable enthu- 
 siasm that, regardless of the box which imprisons the 
 magnet, it turns to its predestined points of north and 
 south. He even constructs a box of iron, places hi& 
 magnet within, observes its behavior, and concludes 
 that it turns north and south, and would do so were 
 "it shut up in iron vaults sufficiently roomy." In this, 
 he was in error, for experiments show that if the sides 
 of the box are thin, the needle will experience the 
 directive force of the earth ; but if they are sufficiently 
 thick— thick as the walls of an ordinary safe— the in- 
 side of such a box will be completely screened ; none of 
 the earth's magnetic lines will get into it so that the 
 needle will remain indifferently in any position in which 
 it is placed. Some years ago, the physical laboratory 
 of St. John's College, Oxford, was screened from the 
 obtrusive lines of neighboring dynamos by building two 
 brick walls parallel to each other and eight inches apart 
 and filling in the space with scrap iron. A delicate 
 magnetometer showed that such a structure allowed no 
 leakage of lines of force through it, but offered an im- 
 penetrable barrier to the magnetic influence of the work- 
 ing dynamos. 
 
 Gilbert's greatest discovery is that the earth itself 
 acts as a vast globular magnet having its magnetic 
 poles, axis and equator. The pole which is in our hemi- 
 sphere, he variously calls north, boreal or arctic. Whilst 
 that in the other hemisphere he calls south, austral or 
 antarctic. He sought to explain the magnetic condition 
 of our globe by the presence, especially in its innermost 
 parts, of what he calls true, terrene matter, homogen- 
 eous in structure and endowed with magnetic properties, 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 4T 
 
 SO that every separate fragment exhibits the whole force 
 of magnetic matter. He is quite aware that his theory- 
 is a grand generahzation ; and admits that it is "a new 
 and till now unheard-of view," and so confident is he in 
 its worth that he is not afraid to say that "it will stand 
 as firm as aught that ever was produced in philosophy, 
 backed by ingenious argumentation or buttressed by 
 mathematical demonstration." 
 
 In developing his theory of terrestrial magnetism, 
 Gilbert fell into certain errors, chiefly for want of data,, 
 but partly also by reason of his adherence to the view 
 that the earth exactly resembled his terrella in its mag- 
 netic action. Accordingly, he believed that the mag- 
 netic poles of the earth were diametrically opposite each 
 other and that they coincided with the poles of rotation, 
 whence it followed that the magnetic meridian every- 
 where coincided with the geographical, and that the 
 magnet, unless influenced by local disturbances, stood 
 true to the pole. 
 
 It was, however, well known from the thrilling ex- 
 perience of Columbus and the constant report of trav- 
 elers that this was not the case. Gilbert himself says 
 that at the time of writing, in the year 1600, the needle 
 pointed lli° east of north in London ; but what he did 
 not know and could not have known was that this east- 
 erly deviation was decreasing from year to year, to van- 
 ish altogether in 1657, after which the needle began to 
 decline to the west. 
 
 This magnetic declination sorely perplexed Gilbert, as 
 it did not fit in with his theory. Yet an explanation 
 was needed ; and as the earth must be considered a nor- 
 mal and well-behaved magnet, though of cosmical size,, 
 Gilbert turns the difficulty by saying that this variation' 
 
48 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 is nothing else than "a sort of perturbation of the 
 directive force" caused by inequaHties in the earth's 
 surface by continents and mountain masses : " Since the 
 earth's surface is diversified by elevations of land and 
 depths of seas, great continental lands, oceans and seas 
 differing in every way while the power that produces 
 all magnetic movements comes from the constant mag- 
 netic earth-substance which is strongest in the most 
 massive continent and not where the surface is water 
 or fluid or unsettled, it follows that toward a massive 
 body of land or continent rising to some height in any 
 meridian, there is a measurable magnetic leaning from 
 the true pole toward the east or the west." 
 
 So convinced is Gilbert of the true and satisfactory 
 character of his explanation that he goes on to say that, 
 * ' In northern regions, the compass varies because of the 
 northern eminences ; in southern regions, because of 
 southern eminences. On the equator, if the eminences 
 on both sides were equal, there would be no variation." 
 In a later chapter of Book IV., he adds that, **in the 
 heart of great continents there is no variation ; so, too, 
 in the midst of great seas." 
 
 As continents and mountain-chains are among the 
 permanent features of our planet, Gilbert concluded 
 that the misdirection of the needle was likewise per- 
 manent or constant at any given place, a conclusion 
 which observations made after Gilbert's time showed to 
 be incorrect. Gilbert writes : " As the needle hath ever 
 inclined toward the east or toward the west, so even 
 now does the arc of variation continue to be the same 
 in whatever place or region, be it sea or continent ; so, 
 too, will it be forever unchanging." 
 
 This we know to be untrue, and Gilbert, too, could 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 49 
 
 have known as much had he brought the experimental 
 method, which he used with such consummate skill and 
 fruitful results in other departments of his favorite 
 studies, to bear on this particular element of terrestrial 
 magnetism. He labored with incredible ardor and per- 
 sistence for twenty years in his workshops at Colchester 
 over the experiments in electricity, magnetism and ter- 
 restrial magnetism which he embodies and discusses in 
 his original and epoch-making book, De Magnete, pub- 
 lished in the year 1600 ; a period of twenty years was 
 long enough for such a careful observer as he was to de- 
 tect the slow change in magnetic declination discovered 
 by his friend Gellibrand in 1634, published by him in 1635, 
 and known to-day as the "secular variation." It is 
 true the quantity to be measured was small ; but what 
 is surprising is that such an industrious and resourceful 
 experimenter as Gilbert was does not record in his pages 
 any observations of his own on declination or dip, ele- 
 ments of primary importance in magnetic theory. 
 
 Shortly after the voyage of Columbus it was thought 
 that the longitude of a place could be found from its 
 magnetic declination. Gilbert, however, did not think 
 so, and accordingly scores those who championed that 
 view. "Porta," he says, "is deluded by a vain hope 
 and a baseless theory"; Livius Sanutus "sorely tor- 
 tures himself and his readers with like vanities"; and 
 even the researches of Stevin, the great Flemish mathe- 
 matician, on the cause of variation in the southern 
 regions of the earth are "utterly vain and absurd." 
 
 With regard to dip, Gilbert erroneously held that for 
 any given latitude it had a constant value. He was so 
 charmed with this constancy that he proposed it as a 
 means of determining latitude. There is no diffidence 
 
50 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 in his mind about the matter ; he is sure that with his 
 " inclinatorium " or dip-circle, together with accompany- 
 ing tables, calculated for him by Briggs, of logarithmic 
 fame, an observer can find his latitude "in any part of 
 the world without the aid of the sun, planets or fixed 
 stars in foggy weather as well as in darkness." 
 
 After such a statement, it is no wonder that he waxes 
 warm over the capabilities of his instrument and allows 
 himself to exclaim : ''We can see how far from idle is 
 magnetic philosophy ; on the contrary, how delightful it 
 is, how beneficial, how divine ! Seamen tossed by the 
 waves and vexed with incessant storms while they can- 
 not learn even from the heavenly luminaries aught as 
 to where on earth they are, may with the greatest ease 
 gain comfort from an insignificant instrument and 
 ascertain the latitude of the place where they happen 
 to be." 
 
 Gilbert dwells at length on the inductive action of the 
 earth. He hammers heated bars of iron on his anvil 
 and then allows them to cool while lying in the 
 magnetic meridian. He notes that they become mag- 
 netized, and does not fail to point out the polarity of 
 each end. He likewise attributes to the influence of 
 the earth the magnetic condition acquired by iron bars 
 that have for a long time lain fixed in the north-and- 
 south position and ingenuously adds : ''for great is the 
 effect of long-continued direction of a body towards the 
 poles." To the same cause, 'he attributes the magnet- 
 ization of iron crosses attached to steeples, towers, etc. , 
 and does not hesitate to say that the foot of the cross 
 always acquires north-seeking polarity. 
 
 In a similar manner, every vertical piece of iron, like 
 railings, lamp-posts, and fire-irons, becomes a magnet 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 51 
 
 under the inductive action of the earth. In the case of 
 our modern ships, the magnetization of every plate and 
 vertical post, intensified by the hammering during con- 
 struction, converts the whole vessel into a magnetic 
 magazine, the resulting complex "field" rendering the 
 adjustment of the compasses somewhat difficult and 
 unreliable. The unreliable character of the adjustment 
 arises mainly from the changing magnetism of the shipi 
 with change of place in the earth's magnetic field, the 
 effect increasing slightly from the magnetic equator to 
 the poles. 
 
 With luminous insight into the phenomena of terres- 
 trial magnetism, Gilbert observes that in the neighbor- 
 hood of the poles, a compass-needle, tending as it does 
 to dip greatly, must in consequence experience only a 
 feeble directive power. To which he adds that "at the 
 poles there is no direction," meaning, no doubt, that a 
 compass-needle would remain in any horizontal position 
 in which it might be placed when in the vicinity of the 
 magnetic pole. 
 
 This is precisely the experience of all Arctic explorers, 
 who find that their compasses become less and less ac- 
 tive as they sail northward, the reason being that the 
 horizontal component of the earth's magnetic force, 
 which alone controls the movements of the compass- 
 needle, decreases as the ship advances and vanishes 
 altogether at the magnetic pole. When once a high 
 latitude is reached, captains do not depend upon their 
 compasses for their bearings, but have recourse to as- 
 tronomical observations. In his account of magnetic 
 work carried on in the neighborhood of the magnetic 
 pole, Amundsen says : "At Prescott Island the com- 
 pass, which for some time had been somewhat sluggish, 
 
52 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 refused entirely to act, and we could as well have used 
 a stick to steer by." 
 
 As a physician, Gilbert valued iron for its medicinal 
 properties, but denounced quacks and wandering 
 mountebanks who practised "the vilest imposture for 
 lucre's sake," using powdered lodestone for the cure of 
 wounds and disorders. "Headaches," he said, "are 
 no more cured by application of a lodestone than by 
 putting on an iron helmet or a steel hat "; and again : 
 "To give it in a draught to dropsical persons is either 
 an error of the ancients or an impudent tale of their 
 copyists." Elsewhere he condemns prescriptions of 
 lodestone as "an evil and deadly advice" and as "an 
 abominable imposture. ' ' 
 
 In the sixth and last book of De Magnete, Gilbert sets 
 forth his views on such astronomical subjects as the 
 figure of the earth, its suspension in space, rotation on 
 its axis and revolution around the sun. 
 
 As to the figure of our planet, the primitive view 
 widely credited in early times was that the earth is a 
 flat, uneven mass floating in a boundless ocean. The 
 Hindoos, however, did not accept the flatland doctrine, 
 but taught that the earth was a convex mass which 
 rested on the back of a triad of elephants having for 
 their support the carapace of a gigantic tortoise. Of 
 course, they did not say how the complaisant chelonian 
 contrived to maintain his wonderful state of equil- 
 ibrium under the superincumbent mass. 
 
 Aristotle (384-322, B. C. ) taught that the earth, fixed 
 in the center of the universe, is not flat as a disk, but 
 round as an orange, giving as proofs (1) the grad- 
 ual disappearance of a ship standing out to sea and (2) 
 the form of the shadow cast by the earth in lunar 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 53 
 
 eclipses, to which others added (3) the change in the 
 altitude of circumpolar stars readily noticeable in trav- 
 eling north or south. Aristarchus of Samos (310-250), 
 one of the great astronomers of antiquity, went further, 
 not fearing to teach that the earth is spherical in form, 
 that it turns on its axis daily and revolves annually 
 around the sun. Such orthodox teaching did not, how- 
 ever, commend itself to people generally, as they did 
 not exactly like the idea of being whisked round with 
 their houses and cities at a dangerous speed, preferring 
 to explain celestial phenomena by the rotation of the 
 vast celestial sphere, with all the starry host, round a 
 flat, immovable earth. For them such a system of cos- 
 mography recommended itself by its simplicity and 
 reasonableness as well as by the sense of stability, rest 
 and comfort which it brought along with it. 
 
 Ptolemy, who flourished at Alexandria about 150 A. 
 D. and whose name is associated with a system of the 
 world, also held that the earth is spherical in form, giv- 
 ing at the same time some very ingenious proofs of his 
 belief. St. Augustine, in the fourth century, was not 
 opposed to the doctrine of a round earth, though he felt 
 the religious difficulty arising from the existence of 
 the antipodes, which difficulty reached its acute stage 
 four hundred years later. 
 
 It is well to remember that the Church did not condemn 
 the existence of an antipodean world ; what it did con- 
 demn was the teaching of Virgilius, Bishop of Salzburg, 
 to the effect that this world, lying under the equator, was 
 inhabited by a race of men not descended from Adam. 
 Virgilius also taught that the antipodes had a sun and 
 moon different from ours, an astronomical opinion for 
 which he was never molested by ecclesiastical authority. 
 
54 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Boethius, the worthy representative of the natural 
 and the higher philosophy of the sixth century, wrote 
 of the earth as globe-like in form, but small in compari- 
 son with the heavens. Isidore of Seville, in the sev- 
 enth century, *' the most learned man of his age," and 
 the encyclopedic Bede, in the eighth, rejected the theory 
 of a flat, discoidal earth and returned to the spherical 
 form of the early Greek astronomers. But again, 
 centuries had to elapse before people could be brought 
 to tolerate views of the world that seemed so directly 
 opposed to the daily testimony of their senses. 
 
 The strong, conclusive arguments which alone estab- 
 lish this theory on a firm basis were, however, not 
 known to Copernicus and could not have been known in 
 an age that preceded the invention of the telescope and 
 in which the astronomer had to be the constructor of 
 his own crude wooden instruments. The wonder is that 
 Copernicus did such excellent observational work on the 
 banks of the Vistula with the rough appliances at his 
 disposal. The arguments which he put forward and 
 urged with consummate skill for the acceptance of his 
 revolutionary theory were its general simplicity and 
 probability. Of proofs clear and decisive, he gave 
 none ; yet, while he was working on his epoch-making 
 treatise, begun in 1507 and published in 1543 with dedi- 
 cation to Pope Paul III., a direct proof of the earth's 
 spherical form was given by the return (1528) from the 
 Philippines along an eastern route of one of Magellan's 
 ships, which had reached those distant isles after cross- 
 ing the western ocean, wliich the Portuguese navigator 
 called the "Pacific," from the tranquility of its waters. 
 For a direct proof of the earth's annual motion, the 
 world had to wait two hundred years more, until Bradley 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 55 
 
 discovered the " aberration of light " in 1729 ; and for a 
 direct demonstration of its diurnal motion until Foucault 
 made his pendulum experiment in the Pantheon, in 
 1851. 
 
 We cannot let Gilbert's reference to a "weightless 
 earth" pass without a few remarks to justify our 
 approval of the statement: 
 
 The idea connoted by the term weight is the pull 
 which the earth exerts on the mass of a body; thus, 
 when we say that an iron ball weighs six pounds, we 
 mean that the earth pulls it downwards with a force 
 equal to the weight of six pounds. That the weight of 
 a given lump of matter is not a constant but a depend- 
 ent quantity may be seen from a number of considera- 
 tions. Its weight in vacuo, for instance, is different 
 from its weight in air, and this latter differs considerably 
 from its weight in water or in oil. Again, if we take 
 our experimental ball down the shaft of a mine, the 
 spring-balance used to measure the pull of the earth on 
 it will not record six pounds but something less ; and 
 the further we descend, the less will the spring-balance 
 be found to register. At a depth of two thousand miles 
 below the surface, the ball would be found to have lost 
 half its weight ; and at a depth of four thousand, all its 
 weight. At the earth's center a "box of weights" 
 would still be called a "box of weights," though neither 
 the box itself nor its enclosed standards singly or col- 
 lectively would have any weight whatever. It has been 
 shown experimentally that two masses weigh slightly 
 less when placed one above the other than when placed 
 side by side, because in the latter case their common 
 mass-center is measurably nearer to the center of the 
 earth. Every mother knows that when a boy is sent 
 
56 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 to buy a pound of candy, it is the mass of the sweet 
 stuff that makes him happy, and not its weight, for this 
 acts more Hke an incumbrance while he is bringing it 
 home. Of course, weight is every day used, and cor- 
 rectly, as a measure of mass, for every student of 
 mechanics writes without the least hesitation, 
 
 W=Mg. 
 by which he simply means that the weight of a body is 
 directly proportional to its mass (M), which is constant 
 wherever the body may be taken, and to the intensity 
 of gravity (g), which varies slightly with geographical 
 position. As both scale-pans of an ordinary balance 
 are equally affected by the local value of g, it follows 
 that equilibrium is established only when the two masses 
 —that of the body and that of the standards— are them- 
 selves equal : hence weighing is in reality only a process 
 of comparing masses, ^. e., a process of "massing." 
 
 If we bring our experimental ball to the top of a hill 
 or to the summit of a mountain or aloft in a balloon, we 
 find the pull on the registering spring growing less and 
 less as we go higher and higher, from which we natur- 
 ally conclude that if we could go far enough out into 
 circumterrestrial space, say, towards the moon, the 
 ball would lose its weight entirely ; it would cease to 
 stretch the spring of the measuring balance, its weight 
 vanishing at a definite, calculable distance from the 
 earth's center. If carried beyond that point the ball 
 would come under the moon's preponderating attraction 
 and would begin to depress anew the index of the bal- 
 ance until at the surface of our satellite it would be 
 found to weigh exactly one pound. If transferred to 
 the planet Mars the ball would weigh two pounds, and 
 if to the surface of the giant planet Jupiter, sixteen 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 57 
 
 pounds. But while its weight thus changes continually, 
 its mass or quantity of matter, the stuff of which it is 
 made, remains constant all the while, being equally un- 
 affected by such variables as motion, position or even 
 temperature. 
 
 Returning from celestial space to our more congenial 
 terrestrial surroundings, we find a similar inconstancy 
 in the weight of the ball as we travel from the equator 
 toward either pole, the weight being least at the equa- 
 tor and slightly greater at either end of our axis of 
 rotation. This change is fully accounted for by the 
 spheroidal figure of the earth and its motion of rota- 
 tion, in virtue of which, while going from the equator 
 toward the pole, our distance from the center of 
 attraction undergoes a slight diminution, as does also 
 the component of the local centrifugal force, which is in 
 opposition to gravity. 
 
 From all this, it will be seen that the weight of a 
 body is more of the nature of an accidental rather than 
 an essential property of matter, whereas its mass is a 
 necessary and unvarying property. Hence we speak 
 with propriety of the conservation of mass just as we 
 speak with equal propriety of the conservation of en- 
 ergy ; but we may never speak or write of the conser- 
 vation of weight. The mass of our iron ball is precisely 
 the same away from the surface of the earth as it is 
 anywhere on the surface, whether a thousand miles 
 below the surface or a thousand miles above it ; and the 
 same it would be found in any part of the solar system 
 or of the starry universe to which it might be taken. 
 
 Since weight is nothing else than the pull which the 
 earth exerts on a body, it follows that, big and massive 
 as our planet is, it must, nevertheless, be weightless ; 
 
58 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 for it cannot with any degree of propriety be said to 
 pull itself. It is incapable of producing even an infin- 
 itesimal change in the position of its mass-center, or 
 center of gravity, as this centroid is sometimes called. 
 The earth attracts itself with no force whatever ; but is 
 attracted and governed in its annual movement by the 
 sun, the central controlling body of our system, while 
 the moon and planets play only the part of petty 
 disturbers. 
 
 It would, however, be right to speak of the weight of 
 the earth relatively to the sun ; for the sun attracts the 
 mass of our planet with a certain definite force, readily 
 <;alculable from the familiar formula for central force, 
 viz., mv^/r., in which m is the mass of the earth, v its 
 orbital velocity and r its distance from the sun. Sup- 
 plying the numbers, the weight of the earth relatively 
 to the sun, comes out to be 
 
 3,000000,000000,000000 or 3X10^^ tons weight, 
 or, in words, three million million million tons weight. 
 
 It may here be noted that the velocity v of the earth 
 in its orbit is a varying quantity, depending on distance 
 from the sun. As this distance is least in December 
 and greatest in June, it follows that the earth is heavier 
 relatively to the sun in winter than it is in summer. 
 
 The mass of the earth, on the other hand, is not a 
 relative and variable quantity, but a constant and inde- 
 pendent one, which would not be affected either by the 
 sudden annihilation of all the other members of the 
 solar system or by the instantaneous or successive addi- 
 tion of a thousand orbs. Mass being the product of 
 volume by density, that of the earth is 6000,000000,- 
 000000,000000 or GXlO^i tons mass, which reads six 
 thousand million million million tons mass. 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 59 
 
 The number which expresses the mass of the earth 
 is thus very different from that which represents its 
 weight relatively to the sun. It is obvious that the lat- 
 ter would be a much greater quantity if our planet were 
 transferred to the orbit of Venus and very much less if 
 transferred to that of far-off Jupiter, but the number 
 which expresses its mass would remain precisely the 
 same in both cases, viz., the value given above. 
 
 In elaborating his theory of magnetism, and especially 
 his magnetic theory of the earth, Gilbert made exten- 
 sive use of lodestone-globes, which he called * ' terrellas, " 
 i. e., miniature models of the earth. In pursuing his 
 searching inquiry, he was gradually led from these 
 "terrellas" to his great induction that the earth itself 
 is a colossal, globe-like magnet. Following Norman, 
 "the ingenious artificer," of Limehouse, London, he 
 also showed that the entire cubical space which sur- 
 rounds a lodestone is an "orb of virtue," or region of 
 influence, from which he inferred that the earth itself 
 must have its "orb of virtue," or magnetic field, ex- 
 tending outward to a very great distance. 
 
 Gilbert does not, for a moment, think that this theory 
 of terrestrial magnetism, the first ever given to the 
 world, is a wild speculation. Far from it ; he is con- 
 vinced that "it will stand as firm as aught that ever 
 was produced in philosophy, backed by ingenious argu- 
 mentation or buttressed by mathematical demonstra- 
 tion." 
 
 If the earth has a magnetic field, he argued, why not 
 the moon, the planets and the sun itself, "the mover 
 and inciter of the universe"? Given these planetary 
 magnetic fields, Gilbert seems to have no difficulty in 
 finding out the forces necessary to account for the cru- 
 
60 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 cial difficulties of the Copernican doctrine. Nor is the 
 medium absent that is needed for the mutual action of 
 magnetic globes, for we are assured that it is none 
 other than the universal ether, which, he says *'is 
 without resistance." 
 
 Gilbert disposes of the cosmographic puzzle of the 
 "suspension " of the earth in space by saying, and say- 
 ing justly, that the earth "has no heaviness of its own, " 
 and, therefore, "does not stray away into every region 
 of the sky." To emphasize the statement, he contin- 
 ues : ' ' The earth, in its own place, is in no wise heavy, 
 nor does it need any balancing"; and again, "The 
 whole earth itself has no weight." "By the wonder- 
 ful wisdom of the Creator," he elsewhere says, "forces 
 were implanted in the earth that the globe itself might 
 with steadfastness take direction." 
 
 Gilbert holds that the daily rotation of the earth on 
 its axis is also caused, and maintained with strict uni- 
 formity, by the same prevalent system of magnetic 
 forces, for "lest the earth should in divers ways perish 
 and be destroyed, she rotates in virtue of her magnetic 
 energy, and such also are the movements of the rest 
 of the planets." 
 
 Just how this magnetic energy acts to produce the 
 rotatory motion of a massive globe Gilbert does not say. 
 Nor was he able to solve such a magnetic riddle, for there 
 was nothing in his philosophy to explain how a lode- 
 stone-globe in free space should ever become a perpetual 
 magnetic motor. Oddly enough he disagrees with Per- 
 egrinus, who maintained in his Epistola, 1269, that a 
 terrella, or spherical lodestone, poised in the meridian, 
 would turn on its axis regularly every 24 hours. He- 
 naively says : ' ' We have never chanced to see this ;, 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 61 
 
 nay, we doubt if there is such a movement." Continu- 
 ing, he brings out his chnching argument : ' ' This daily 
 rotation seems to some philosophers wonderful and in- 
 credible because of the ingrained belief that the mighty 
 mass of earth makes an orbital movement in 24 hours ; 
 it were more incredible that the moon should in the 
 space of 24 hours traverse her orbit or complete her 
 course ; more incredible that the sun and Mars should 
 do so ; still more that Jupiter and Saturn ; more than 
 wonderful would be the velocity of the fixed stars and 
 firmament." 
 
 Here he finds himself obliged to berate Ptolemy for 
 being "over-timid and scrupulous in apprehending a 
 break up of this nether world were the earth to move 
 in a circle. Why does he not apprehend universal ruin, 
 dissolution, confusion, conflagration and stupendous cel- 
 estial and super-celestial calamities from a motion (that 
 of the starry sphere) which surpasses all imagination, 
 all dreams and fables and poetic license, a motion inef- 
 fable and inconceivable?" 
 
 Gilbert is not clear and emphatic on the other doctrine 
 of Copernicus, the revolution of the earth and planets 
 around the sun. He does, however, say that each of 
 the moving globes *'has circular motion either in a 
 great circular orbit or on its own axis, or in both ways." 
 Again : "The earth by some great necessity, even by a 
 virtue innate, evident and conspicuous, is turned circu- 
 larly about the sun. ' ' Elsewhere he affirms that the moon 
 circles round the earth " by a magnetic compact of both. ' * 
 He returns to this point in his De Mundo Nostra, saying, 
 * ' The force which emanates from the moon reaches to 
 the earth ; and, in like manner, the magnetic virtue of 
 the earth pervades the region of the moon." 
 
62 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 We have here an implied interaction between two' 
 magnetic fields, rather a clever idea for a magnetician 
 of the sixteenth century. In one case, the reaction is 
 between the field of the earth and that of the moon, 
 compelling the latter to rotate round its primary once 
 every month ; and the second, between the field of the 
 earth and that of the sun, compelling our planet to re- 
 volve round the center of our system once every year. 
 
 Though an inefficient cause of the annual motion of 
 our planet, this interaction of two magnetic fields had, 
 nevertheless, something in common with the idea of the 
 mutual action of material particles postulated in the 
 Newtonian theory of universal gravitation. 
 
 This magnetic assumption by which Gilbert sought 
 to defend the theory of the universe propounded by 
 Copernicus was a very vulnerable point in his astronom- 
 ical armor which was promptly detected and fiercely 
 assailed by a galaxy of continental writers ; all of them 
 churchmen, physicists and astronomers of note. They 
 accepted Gilbert's electric and magnetic discoveries and 
 warmed up to his experimental method ; they did not 
 discard his theory of terrestrial magnetism, but rejected 
 and scoffed at the use which he made of it to justify 
 the heliocentric theory. They poked fun at the English 
 philosopher for his magnetic hypothesis of planetary 
 rotation and revolution, and succeeded in discrediting 
 the Copernican doctrine. Error prevailed for a time, 
 but Newton's Principia, published in 1687, gave the 
 Ptolemaic system the coup de grace. Gilbert's hypoth- 
 esis of the interaction of planetary magnetic fields gave 
 way to universal gravitation, and Copernicanism was^ 
 finally triumphant. 
 
 Throughout the pages of Gilbert's treatise, he shows 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT , 63^ 
 
 himself remarkably chary in bestowing praise, but sur- 
 prisingly vigorous in denunciation. St. Thomas is an 
 instance of the former, for it is said that he gets at the 
 nature of the lodestone fairly well ; and it is admitted 
 that "with his godlike and perspicacious mind, he 
 would have developed many a point had he been ac- 
 quainted with magnetic experiments." Taisnier, the 
 Belgian, is an example of the latter, whose plagiarism 
 from Peregrinus wrings from our indignant author 
 such withering words as "May the gods damn all 
 such sham, pilfered, distorted works, which so muddle 
 the minds of students ! " 
 
 Besides his treatise on the magnet, Gilbert is the 
 author of an extensive work entitled, "De Mundo 
 Nostro Sublunari," in which he defends the modern 
 system of the universe propounded by Copernicus and 
 gives his views on important cosmical problems. This 
 work was published after the author's death, first at 
 Stettin in 1628, and again at Amsterdam in 1651. 
 
 Chancellor Bacon was well acquainted with this treatise 
 of our philosopher ; indeed he had in his collection the 
 only two manuscript copies ever made, one in Latin and 
 the other in English, a very singular and significant 
 fact in view of the Chancellor's attitude toward Gilbert. 
 Putting it crudely, one would like to know how he ob- 
 tained possession of the manuscripts and what was his 
 motive in keeping them hidden away from the philoso- 
 phers of the day. "It is considered surprising," writes 
 Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, "that Bacon, who had the 
 manuscripts in his possession and held them for years 
 unpublished, should have written severe strictures upon 
 their dead author and his methods, while at the very 
 same time posing as the discoverer of the inductive 
 
64 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 method in science, a method which Gilberd (Gilbert) 
 had practised for years before." ^ 
 
 That Bacon was no admirer of Gilbert's physical and 
 cosmical theories the following passages will show. In 
 the " Novum Organum " the Chancellor wrote: ''His 
 philosophy is an instance of extravagant speculation 
 founded on insufficient data " ; again, "As the alchemists 
 made a philosophy out of a few experiments of the fur- 
 nace, Gilbert, our countryman, hath made a philosophy 
 out of the lodestone" (''The Advancement of Learn- 
 ing ") ; lastly, " Gilbert hath attempted a general system 
 on the magnet, endeavoring to build a ship out of 
 materials not sufficient to make the rowing-pins of a 
 boat " ( " De Augmentis Scientiarum " ) . 
 
 One is tempted to ask how this strange disregard 
 which Bacon entertained for the scientific views of the 
 greatest natural philosopher of his age and country 
 came to exist? Was it due to a feeling of jealousy that 
 could not brook a rival in the domain of the higher 
 philosophy, or was it because Bacon, the anti-Coperni- 
 can, wanted to write down Gilbert, the defender of 
 the heliocentric theory, in the British Isles? 
 
 When reading Bacon's depreciatory remarks we have 
 to remember that his mathematical and physical outfit 
 was very limited even for the age in which he lived ; 
 from which it is safe to infer that he was but little 
 qualified to pass judgment on the value of the electric 
 and magnetic work accomplished in the workshops at 
 Colchester or on the theories to which they gave rise. 
 
 Bacon deserves praise for denouncing the prevalent 
 system of natural philosophy which was mainly author- 
 itative, speculative and syllogistic instead of experi- 
 
 1 "Souvenir of Gilberd's Tercentenary," p. 6. 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 65 
 
 mental, deductive and inductive, but he was inconsistent 
 and forgetful of his own principles when he belittled 
 the greatest living enemy of mere book-learning, and 
 the most earnest advocate, by word and example, of 
 the laboratory methods for the advancement of learn- 
 ing. 
 
 To avoid misapprehension, it should be here stated 
 that Bacon was not always censorious in his treatment 
 of his illustrious fellow-citizen, for in several places 
 he writes approvingly of the electric and magnetic 
 experiments contained in De Magnets, which he calls 
 in his Advancement of Learning, '*a painfull {i. e., 
 painstaking) experimentall booke." In other places he 
 draws so freely on Gilbert without acknowledgment as 
 to come dangerously near the suspicion of plagiarism. 
 
 Gilbert died, probably of the plague, in the sixtieth 
 year of his age, on December 10th, 1603, and was buried 
 in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church, Colchester, 
 where a mural tablet records in Latin the chief facts 
 of his life. 
 
 Dr. Fuller in his ''Worthies of England " (1662) de- 
 scribes Gilbert as tall of stature and cheerful of ** com- 
 plexion," a happiness, he quaintly remarks, not ordin- 
 arily found in so hard a student and retired a person.'* 
 Concluding his appreciation of the philosopher. Fuller 
 writes : "Mahomet's tomb at Mecha^ is said strangely 
 to hang up, attracted by some invisible loadstone ; but 
 the memory of this Doctor will never fall to the ground, 
 which his incomparable book De Magnete will support 
 to eternity." 
 
 Animated by a similar spirit of national pride, Dryden 
 wrote 
 
 1 See maghetic myths, pasre 5. 
 
66 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Gilbert shall live till loadstones cease to draw. 
 Or British fleets the boundless ocean awe. 
 
 We shall close these remarks by Hallam's estimate of 
 Gilbert as a scientific pioneer, contained in his Intro- 
 duction to the Literature of Europe. "The year 1600," 
 he says, "was the first in which England produced a 
 remarkable work in physical science ; but this was one 
 sufficient to raise a lasting reputation for its author. 
 Gilbert, a physician, in his Latin treatise on the magnet, 
 not only collected all the knowledge which others had 
 possessed on the subject, but became at once the father 
 of experimental philosophy in this island ; and, by a 
 singular felicity and acuteness of genius, the founder 
 of theories which have been revived after a lapse of 
 ages and are almost universally received into the creed 
 of science." 
 
 For well-nigh three hundred years, De Magnete re- 
 mained untranslated, being read only by the scholarly 
 few. The first translation was made by P. Fleury Mot- 
 telay, of New York, and published by Messrs. Wiley 
 and Sons in the year 1893. Mr. Mottelay has given 
 much attention to the bibliography of the twin sciences 
 of electricity and magnetism, as the foot-notes which 
 he has added to the translation abundantly prove. 
 
 A second translation appeared in the tercentenary year, 
 1900, and was the work of the members of the Gilbert 
 Club, London, among whom were Dr. Joseph Larmor 
 and Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson. It is a page-for-page 
 translation with facsimile illustrations, initial letters 
 and tail-pieces. 
 
 As one would infer from the numerous references 
 contained in De Magnete, Gilbert had a considerable 
 collection of valuable books, classical and modern, bear- 
 
NORMAN AND GILBERT 67 
 
 ing on the subject of his life-work ; but these, as well 
 as his terrellas, globes, minerals and instruments, per- 
 ished in the great fire of London, 1666, with the build- 
 ings of the College of Physicians, in which they were 
 located. 
 
 A portrait of Gilbert was preserved in the Bodleian 
 Library, Oxford, for many years ; but has long since 
 disappeared from its walls. On the occasion of the 
 three hundredth anniversary (1903) of Gilbert's death, 
 a fine painting representing the Doctor in the act of 
 showing some of his electrical experiments to Queen 
 Elizabeth and her court (including Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 Sir Francis Drake and Cecil, Lord Burleigh, famous Sec- 
 retary of State), was presented to the Mayor of Col- 
 chester by the London Institute of Electrical Engineers. 
 A replica of the painting was sent to the St. Louis Ex- 
 position, 1904, where it formed one of the attractions of 
 the Electricity Building. 
 
 The house in which Gilbert was born (1544) still stands 
 in Holy Trinity Street, Colchester, where it is frequently 
 visited by persons interested in the history of electric 
 and magnetic science. 
 
 Brother Potamian. 
 
68 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Franklin and Some Contemporaries. 
 
 As already seen, the writers of Greece and Rome knew 
 little about the lodestone ; we have now to add that the 
 knowledge of electricity which they possessed was of the 
 same elementary character. They knew that certain 
 resinous substances, such as amber and jet had, when 
 rubbed, the property of attracting straws, feathers, dry 
 leaves and other light bodies ; beyond this, their phil- 
 osophy did not go. The Middle Ages added little to the 
 subject, as the Schoolmen were occupied with questions 
 of a higher order. The Saxon Heptarchy came and 
 went, Alcuin taught in the schools of Charlemagne, 
 Cardinal Langton compelled a landless and worthless 
 king to sign Magna Charta, universities were founded 
 with Papal sanction in Italy, France, Germany, England 
 and Scotland, Copernicus wrote his treatise on the 
 revolution of heavenly bodies and dedicated it to Pope 
 Paul III., Tycho Brahe made his famous astronomical 
 observations at Uranienborg and befriended at Prague 
 the penniless Kepler, and Columbus gave a New World 
 to Castile and Leon— all this before the man appeared 
 who, using amber as guide, discovered a new world of 
 phenomena, of thought and philosophy. This man 
 was no other that Gilbert, whose discoveries in mag- 
 netism were described in an earlier chapter. The 
 trunk line of his work was magnetism ; electricity was 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 69 
 
 only a siding. One was the main subject of a life-long 
 quest while the other was only a digression. It was a 
 digression in which the qualities of the native-born 
 investigator are seen at their very best : alertness and 
 earnestness, resourcefulness and perseverance, all re- 
 warded by a rich harvest of valuable results. It is 
 refreshing and inspiring to read the Second Book of 
 Gilbert's treatise, De Magnete, in which are recorded in 
 quick succession the twenty important discoveries which 
 he made in his new field of labor. 
 
 At the very outset, he found it necessary to invent a 
 recording instrument to 
 test the electrification 
 produced by rubbing a 
 great variety of sub- 
 stances. This he appro- 
 priately called a verso- fig. 9 
 Hum; we would call it ^''^''''' "^^'<^^^" ^' electroscope 
 an electroscope. ' ' Make to yourself, ' ' he says, ' ' a rotat- 
 ing needle of any sort of metal three or four fingers 
 long and pretty light and poised on a sharp point." 
 He then briskly rubs and brings near his versorium glass, 
 sulphur, opal, diamond, sapphire, carbuncle, rock-crystal, 
 seahng-wax, alum, resin, etc., and finds that all these 
 attract his suspended needle, and not only the needle, 
 but everything else. His words are remarkable : "All 
 things are drawn to electrics. " Here is a great advance 
 on the amber and jet, the only two bodies previously 
 known as having the power to attract ''straws, chaff 
 and twigs," the usual test-substances of the ancients. 
 Pursuing his investigations, he finds numerous bodies 
 which perplex him, because when rubbed they do not 
 affect his electroscope. Among these, he enumerates : 
 
70 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 bone, ivory, marble, flint, silver, copper, gold, iron, 
 even the lodestone itself. The former class he called 
 electrica, electrics ; the latter was termed anelectrica, 
 non-electrics. 
 
 To Gilbert we, therefore, are indebted for the terms 
 electric and electrical, which he took from the Greek 
 name for amber instead of succinic and succinical, their 
 Latin equivalents. The noun electricity was a coinage of 
 a later period, due probably to Sir Thomas Browne, in 
 whose Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 1646, it occurs in the 
 singular number on page 51 and in the plural on page 
 79. It may interest the reader to be here retold that 
 we owe the chemical term affinity to Albertus Magnus, 
 barometer to Boyle, gas to van Helmont, magnetism to 
 Barlowe, magnetic inclination to Bond, electric circuit 
 to Watson, electric potential to Green, galvanometer to 
 Gumming, electro-magnetism to Kircher, electromagnet 
 to Sturgeon, and telephone to Wheatstone. 
 
 Gilbert was perplexed by the anomalous behavior of 
 his non-electrics. He toiled and labored hard to find out 
 the cause. He undertook a long, abstract, philosophical 
 discussion on the nature of bodies which, from its very 
 subtlety, failed to reveal the cause of his perplexing 
 anomaly. Gilbert failed to discover the distinction 
 between conductors and insulators ; and, as a conse- 
 quence, never found out that similarly electrified bodies 
 repel each other. Had he but suspended an excited 
 stick of sealing-wax, what a promised land of electrical 
 wonders would have unfolded itself to his vision and 
 what a harvest of results such a reaper would have 
 gathered in! From solids, Gilbert proceeds to examine 
 the behavior of liquids, and finds that they, too, are 
 susceptible of electrical influence. He notices that a 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 71 
 
 piece of rubbed amber when brought near a drop of 
 water deforms it, drawing it out into a conical shape. 
 He even experiments with smoke, concluding that the 
 small carbon particles are attracted by an electrified 
 body. Some years ago, Sir Oliver Lodge, extending this 
 observation, proposed to lay the poisonous dust floating 
 about in the atmosphere of lead works by means of 
 large electrostatic machines. He even hinted in his 
 Royal Institution lecture that they might be useful in 
 dissipating mists and fogs, and recommended that a 
 trial be made on some of our ocean-steamers. 
 
 Gilbert next tries heat as an agent to produce electri- 
 fication. He takes a red-hot coal and finds that it has 
 no effect on his electroscope ; he heats a mass of iron 
 up to whiteness and finds that it, too, exerts no electrical 
 effect. He tries a flame, a candle, a burning torch, and 
 concludes that all bodies are attracted by electrics save 
 those that are afire or flaming, or extremely rarefied. 
 He then reverses the experiment, bringing near an ex- 
 cited body the flame of a lamp, and ingenuously states 
 that the body no longer attracts the pivoted needle. 
 He thus discovered the neutralizing effect of flames, 
 and supplied us with the readiest means that we have 
 to-day for discharging non-conductors. 
 
 He goes a step further ; for we find him exposing 
 some of his electrics to the action of the sun's rays in 
 order to see whether they acquired a charge ; but all his 
 results were negative. He then concentrates the rays 
 of the sun by means of lenses, evidently expecting 
 some electrical effect ; but finding none, concludes with 
 a vein of pathos that the sun imparts no power, but 
 dissipates and spoils the electric effluvium. 
 
 Professor Righi has shown that a clean metallic plate 
 
72 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 acquires a positive charge when exposed to the ultra- 
 violet radiation from any artificial source of light, but 
 that it does not when exposed to solar rays. The 
 absence of electrical effects in the latter case is attrib- 
 uted to the absorptive action of the atmosphere on the 
 shorter waves of the solar beam. 
 
 Of course Gilbert permits himself some speculation as 
 to the nature of the agent with which he was dealing. 
 He thought of it, reasoned about it, pursued it in every 
 way ; and came to the conclusion that it must be some- 
 thing extremely tenuous indeed, but yet substantial, 
 ponderable, material. "As air is the effluvium of the 
 earth," he says, "so electrified bodies have an efflu- 
 vium of their own, which they emit when stimulated 
 or excited"; and again: "It is probable that amber 
 exhales something peculiar that attracts the bodies 
 themselves." 
 
 These views are quite in line with the electronic the- 
 ory of electricity in vogue to-day, which invests that 
 elusive entity with an atomic structure. It is held that 
 the tiny particles or electrons that are shot out from 
 the cathode terminal of a vacuum tube with astounding 
 velocity are none other than particles of negative elec- 
 tricity, pure and simple. They have mass and inertia, 
 both of which properties are held to be entirely elec- 
 trical, though quite analogous to the mass and inertia 
 of ordinary, ponderable matter. 
 
 History shows that scientific theories have their periods 
 of infancy, maturity and decay. When they have 
 served their purpose, like the scaffolding of a building, 
 they are removed from sight and stored away, say, in a 
 limbo of discarded philosophy, for use of the historian 
 of science or of the metaphysician writing on the nature 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES IZ 
 
 of human knowledge. Such was the fate of Gilbert's 
 ** effluvium" theory of electricity, of the fluid theories 
 of Dufay and Franklin, and the ether-strain theory 
 of recent years. "Each physical hypothesis," says 
 Prof. Fleming, "serves as a lamp to conduct us a cer- 
 tain stage in the journey. It illumines a limited portion 
 of the path, throwing light before and behind for 
 some distance ; but it has to be discarded and exchanged 
 at intervals because it has become exhausted and be- 
 cause its work is done." 
 
 It is a little surprising that the phenomenon of electri- 
 cal repulsion should have escaped the attention of one 
 so skilled in experimentation as Gilbert. Yet such 
 was the case ; and Gilbert even went so far as to deny its 
 very existence, saying, "Electrics attract objects of 
 every kind; they never repel." This error reminds 
 one of Gilbert's own saying that "Men of acute intel- 
 ligence, without actual knowledge of facts, and in the 
 absence of experiment, easily slip and err. ' ' Just twenty- 
 nine years after Gilbert had penned this aphorism, 
 there appeared in Ferrara an extensive work on electric 
 and magnetic philosophy, by the Jesuit Cabeo, in which 
 this electrical repulsion was recognized and described. 
 Having rubbed one of his electrics, Cabeo noticed that 
 it attracted grains of dust at first and afterward re- 
 pelled them suddenly and violently. In the case of 
 threads, hairs or filaments of any kind, he observed that 
 they quivered a little before being flung away like 
 sawdust. This self-repelling property of electricity, 
 described in the year 1629, opened up a new field of 
 inquiry, which was actively explored by a number of 
 brilliant electricians in England and on the Continent. 
 
 This was especially the case after the building of the 
 
74 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 first frictional machine by Otto von Guericke in 1672. 
 The burgomaster of Magdeburg had already acquired 
 European fame by the original and sensational experi- 
 ments on atmospheric pressure which he made in pres- 
 ence of the Emperor and his nobles in solemn diet 
 assembled (1651). Von Guericke seems to have been 
 of a mind with Gilbert concerning writers on natural 
 science who treat their subjects * ' esoterically, miracle- 
 mongeringly, abstrusely, reconditely, mystically ";forhe 
 affirms that " oratory, elegance of diction or skill in dis- 
 putation avails nothing in the field of natural science." 
 
 Von Guericke 's machine consisted of a ball of sul- 
 phur, with the hand of the operator or assistant as rub- 
 ber. Some years later, the sulphur ball was replaced 
 by Newton (some say Hauksbee) by a glass globe, 
 which, in turn, was exchanged for a glass cylinder by 
 Gordon, a Scotch Benedictine, who was Professor of 
 natural philosophy in the University of Erfurt. In 1755, 
 Martin de Planta, of Sus, in Switzerland, constructed a 
 plate-machine which was subsequently improved by 
 Ramsden of London. The frictional machine, as it was 
 rightly called, has been superseded by the influence 
 machine, a type of static generator which is at once 
 efficient, reliable and easy of operation. The best known 
 form for laboratory use is that of Wimshurst (1832-1903), 
 of London. 
 
 Andrew Gordon, the Scotch Benedictine to whom ref- 
 erence has just been made, was a man of an inventive 
 turn of mind. Besides, the cylindrical electric machine 
 which he constructed, he devised several ingenious 
 pieces of electrical apparatus, among which are the 
 electric chimes usually ascribed to Franklin. They are 
 fully described in his Versuch einer Erkldrung derElec- 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 75 
 
 tricitat, published in 1745. On page 38, he says that 
 he was led to try an electrical method of ringing bells ; 
 and then adds : "For this purpose I placed two small 
 wine-glasses near each other, one of which stood on an 
 electrified board, while the other, placed at a distance of 
 an inch from it, was connected with the ground. Between 
 the two, I suspended a little clapper by a silk thread, 
 which clapper was attracted by the 
 electrified glass and then repelled to 
 the grounded one, giving rise to a sound 
 as it struck each glass. As the clapper 
 adhered somewhat to the glasses, the * ^ 
 effect on the whole was not agreeable. 
 I, therefore, substituted two small me- p^^ ^^ 
 
 tallic gongs suspended one from an ^Sellws^*^ 
 electrified conductor and the other from a grounded rod, 
 the gongs being on the same level and one inch apart. 
 When the clapper was lowered and adjusted, it moved 
 at once to the electrified bell, from which it was driven 
 over to the other, and kept on moving to and fro, strik- 
 ing the bell each time with pleasing effect until the 
 electrified bell lost its charge." In the illustration, a 
 is connected with the electrified conductor ; b is the insu- 
 lated clapper ; c the grounded gong. 
 
 Gordon's book was published in Erfurt in 1745, while 
 the year 1752 is that in which Franklin applied the 
 chimes to his experimental rod to apprise him of the 
 approach of an electric storm, an application which was 
 original and quite in keeping with the practical turn of 
 mind that characterized our journeyman-printer, phil- 
 osopher and statesman. Unquestionably, Franklin had 
 all the ingenuity and constructive ability needed to 
 make such an appliance ; but there is no evidence that 
 
76 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 he actually invented it. Though Franklin neither claimed 
 nor disclaimed the chimes as his own, all his admirers 
 would have preferred less reticence on his part when 
 the discoveries and inventions of contemporary workers 
 in the electrical field were concerned. He had attained 
 sufficient eminence to permit him to look appreciatingly 
 and encouragingly on the efforts of others. 
 
 Gordon also invented a toy electric motor in which 
 rotation was effected by the reaction of electrified air- 
 particles escaping from a number of sharp points. One 
 of these motors consisted of a star of light rays cut from 
 a sheet of tin and pivoted at the center, with the ends 
 of the rays slightly bent aside and all in the same 
 direction. When electrified, Gordon noticed that the 
 star required no extraneous help to set it in motion. It 
 was a self-starting electric-motor. In the dark, the 
 points were tipped with light, and as they revolved 
 traced out a luminous circle which "could neither be 
 blown out nor decreased." 
 
 The reader will recognize in this description taken 
 from Gordon's Versuch, page 45, the electric whirl of 
 the lecture-table ; Gordon's name is never associated 
 with it, but that of Hamilton (Hamilton's "fly" or 
 Hamilton's "mill") sometimes is! 
 
 This irrepressible monk seems to have been one of 
 the earliest electrocutors, for it is said that many an 
 innocent chaffinch fell victim to discharges from his 
 machine ; and we would be disposed to think of him as 
 a wizard on learning that he ignited spirits by using an 
 electrified stream of water, to the astonishment and 
 mystification of the spectators. 
 
 Abbe Menon was kinder to the feathered tribe than 
 his black-cowled brother of Erfurt ; he did not subject 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 11 
 
 them to a powerful discharge, but rather to a gentle 
 electrification for the purpose of determining what 
 physical or physiological effect the agent would have on 
 the animal system. The Abbe found that cats, pigeons, 
 sparrows and chaffinches lost weight by being electrified 
 for five or six hours at a time, from which he concluded 
 that electricity augments the slow, continuous perspira- 
 tion of animals. The same was found to take place 
 with the human body itself. The reader will remember 
 that Stephen Gray in 1730 suspended a boy by means of 
 silken cords for the purpose of electrification; Abbe 
 NoUet did the same, and doubtless his friend Abbe 
 Menon adopted a similar mode of insulation for com- 
 placent electrical subjects. An easier mode of operat- 
 ing would have been to make the child stand on a cake 
 of resin, the insulating property of which had been 
 discovered by Stephen Gray. 
 
 About this time, 1746, Franklin appears on the scene, 
 and though he devoted but nine years (1746-1755) of his 
 life to the study of electricity, he made discoveries in 
 that fascinating branch of human knowledge that will 
 hand his name down the centuries. 
 
 Franklin's life is interesting and instructive on ac- 
 count of the difficulties which he met and overcame, for 
 his strength of will, tenacity of purpose, the philosophy 
 which he followed, his devotedness to science, and the 
 success which he achieved. 
 
 Our philosopher's moral code comprised the thirteen 
 virtues of temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugal- 
 ity, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, 
 tranquility, chastity and humility. To each of these 
 virtues Franklin attached a precept which makes edi- 
 fying reading even at the present day : temperance, eat 
 
78 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 not to dullness, drink not to elation ; silence, speak not 
 but what may benefit others or yourself, avoid trifling 
 conversation ; order, let all your things have their 
 places, let each part of your business have its time ; reso- 
 lution, resolve to perform what you ought, perform with- 
 out fail what you resolve ; frugality, make no expense, 
 but do good to others or yourself, i. e. , waste nothing ; 
 industry, lose no time, be always employed in something 
 useful, cut off all unnecessary actions ; sincerity, use no 
 hurtful deceit, think innocently and justly, and if you 
 speak, speak accordingly ; justice, wrong no one by 
 doing injury or omitting the benefits that are your 
 duty ; moderation, avoid extremes, forbear resenting 
 injuries so much as you think they deserve ; cleanliness, 
 tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes or habitation ; 
 tranquility, be not disturbed by trifles or accidents 
 common or unavoidable ; chastity (no remark) ; humility, 
 imitate Jesus. 
 
 This last virtue seems to have given Franklin very 
 much concern ; for he admits that he had the appear- 
 ance of humility, and immediately adds that in reality 
 there is no passion of the human breast so hard to sub- 
 due as pride. He is shrewd enough to say that ' * even 
 if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I 
 should probably be proud of my humility." Like many 
 another, the virtue which gave him the most trouble 
 was order, and this never became conspicuously appar- 
 ent at any time of his long life. 
 
 In his endeavors after the higher life, he seems to 
 have been animated with the earnest spirit of the 
 ascetic who binds himself to strive after perfection as 
 laid down in the maxims and counsels of the Gospel.' 
 It is not without surprise and perhaps a feeling too of 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 79 
 
 self-condemnation, that we read the means which he 
 adopted to reach a high moral standard. Taking for 
 granted that he had a true appreciation of right and 
 wrong, he did not see why he should not always act 
 according to the dictates of conscience. To improve 
 himself morally and advance in the higher life, he 
 adopted a means that should have proved effective. 
 Taking the first of the thirteen fundamental virtues, 
 he applied himself to its acquisition for a whole week 
 together, after which he took the second, then the 
 third, and so on with the rest. He thought that by 
 making daily acts of the virtue, it would become 
 habitual with him at the end of the week. When the 
 last of the thirteen virtues had received its share of 
 attention, he returned to the first one on the list and 
 proceeded round the cycle again. Being a man of pur- 
 pose and tenacity, he completed the circle of his chosen 
 virtues four times a year; subsequently he extended 
 the time of individual practise so as to take a whole 
 year for the course ; and later on, he devoted several 
 years to the completion of his list. 
 
 As an aid in this work of self-betterment, Franklin 
 examined himself daily, registering his failures in a 
 little book which was ruled for the purpose, a column 
 being allowed for each day and a line for each of the 
 thirteen virtues. He naively tells us the result of this 
 exercise of daily introspection in these words : "I am 
 surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I 
 had imagined ; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them 
 diminish." 
 
 The evening examination of conscience was always 
 concluded by the following prayer written by Franklin 
 himself: "0 powerful Goodness! bountiful Father F 
 
so MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 merciful Guide ! increase in me that wisdom which dis- 
 covers my truest interest. Stren^hen my resolutions 
 to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my 
 kind offices to Thy other children as the only return in 
 my power for Thy continual favors to me." 
 
 An extensive reader, Franklin found in Thomson's 
 poems some lines that appealed to him very strongly 
 by the beauty of the sentiment expressed. He called 
 them "a little prayer," which he recited from time to 
 time: 
 
 "Father of light and hfe. Thou Lord Supreme, 
 Oh, teach me what is good ; teach me Thyself. 
 Save me from folly, vanity and vice ; 
 From every low pursuit ; and fill my soul 
 With knowledge, conscious peace and virtue pure ; 
 Sacred, substantial, never-failing bliss ! " 
 
 His was a praiseworthy attempt at emancipating 
 himself from the thraldom of passion and raising him- 
 self to the high plane of perfection required by the 
 Master when He said "Follow Me." Doubtless, as 
 time wore on, he must have felt as many before and 
 since, that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. 
 
 In his autobiography, Franklin attributes his success 
 in business not only to his self-control, uniformity of 
 conduct, philosophical indifference to slight or pique, 
 but also to his habits of frugality, the result in part of 
 ihis early training. "My original habits of frugality 
 continuing," he says, "and my father having fre- 
 quently repeated a proverb of Solomon, 'Seest thou a 
 man diligent in his business ? he shall stand before 
 kings, ' I from thence considered industry as a means of 
 obtaining wealth and distinction, which encouraged me, 
 tho' I did not think that I should ever literally stand be- 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 81 
 
 fore kings, which, however, has since happened." Our 
 aged philosopher proceeds to tell us of his good fortune 
 with a little bit of pardonable vanity, to which, by the 
 way, he was never a great stranger, despite his philos- 
 ophy, acquired virtue, and staid character. Referring 
 to the kings of the earth, he informs us that he "stood 
 before five, and even had the honor of sitting down 
 with one to dinner." 
 
 An important event in Franklin's life was the found- 
 ing by him of the first public library in the country in 
 the year 1732. Though but twenty-six years of age, he 
 seems to have been as well aware as any of the mil- 
 lionaire philanthropists of to-day, of the good that may 
 be accomplished among common people by providing 
 them with suitable reading matter. He watched with 
 eagerness the progress of his experiment and was 
 pleased with the success that crowned it. He observes 
 that such libraries "tend to improve the conversation of 
 Americans and to make common tradesmen and farmers 
 as intelligent (well-informed ?) as most gentlemen from 
 other countries." 
 
 Peter Collinson, Fellow of the Royal Society of 
 London, who had dealings with some Philadelphia 
 merchants, was led to take an active interest in the 
 library. This he did by sending over a number of books 
 and papers relating to electricity together with an 
 "electrical tube" with instructions for its use. 
 
 These literary and scientific contributions sent from 
 London from time to time, excited much interest among 
 the charter members of the Library Company, and 
 principally that of Franklin himself. He had heard 
 something of the new order of phenomena which was 
 just then engaging the attention of European physicists. 
 
82 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 In the summer of 1746, while on a visit to Boston, his 
 native place, he assisted at a lecture on electricity by a 
 certain Dr. Spence, a Scotchman, who sought to illustrate 
 the properties of electrified bodies by such experiments 
 as could be made with glass tubes and suitable rubbers, 
 the rudimentary apparatus available at the time. Frank- 
 lin was impressed by what he saw and heard, even 
 though he indulged in a little destructive criticism when 
 he said that the experiments were "imperfectly made," 
 because the lecturer was ''not very expert." When 
 Franklin wrote those words, he knew by repeated and 
 painful experience the difficulty of getting satisfactory 
 results from rubbing glass tubes or rotating glass globes, 
 owing to the provoking attraction which plain, untreated 
 glass has for moisture. Knowing this, he might have^ 
 been less severe in his strictures on his friend, the 
 peripatetic electrician. 
 
 It is evident, however, that the experiments which he 
 witnessed surprised and pleased him, for, having shortly 
 afterward received some electrical tubes together with 
 a paper of instructions, from his London friend, Peter 
 Collinson, he set to work for himself without delay. 
 We may well say of him that what his right hand found 
 to do, he did calmly, but with all his might. A twelve- 
 month had not elapsed before he wrote : "I never was 
 engaged in any study that so totally engrossed my 
 attention and time as this has lately done ; for, what 
 with making experiments when I can be alone and re- 
 peating them to my friends and acquaintance who, from 
 the novelty of the thing, come continually in crowds to 
 see them, I have had httle leisure for anything else." 
 (1747.) 
 
 Here we see the calm, persistent character of the 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 83 
 
 philosopher united with the affabihty and communica- 
 tiveness of the gentleman. 
 
 For the sake of encouraging others as well, perhaps, 
 as through a sense of personal relief, Franklin had a 
 number of long tubes of large bore blown at the local 
 glass-house, which tubes he distributed to his friends 
 that they, too, might engage in research work. In this 
 way, rubbing and rubbing of an energetic kind became 
 quite an occupation in the Franklin circle. Kinnersley, 
 whose name still survives in works on static electricity 
 in connection with an electric "thermometer" which 
 he devised, was among the band of ardent workers who 
 ungrudgingly acknowledged Franklin's superior acu- 
 men, comprehensive grasp of detail and wondrous insight 
 into the mechanism of the new phenomena. If we say 
 that Franklin was not a genius, it is only for the pur- 
 pose of adding that even in those early electrical studies 
 he displayed an uncommon amount of the unlimited 
 capacity for taking pains which is said to be associated 
 with that brilliant gift. He tested all his results with 
 great care and in a variety of ways before accepting 
 any of them as final; and considered his explanations of 
 them provisional, being ever ready to modify them or 
 give them up altogether if shown to conflict with the 
 simple workings of nature. 
 
 As early as 1733, the refined and tactful Dufay, in 
 France, showed by numerous experiments on woods, 
 stones, books, oranges and metals that all solid bodies 
 were susceptible of electrification. This was a notable 
 advance which swept away Gilbert's classification of 
 bodies into electrics and non-electrics. The French 
 physicist soon drew from his observations the conclusion 
 that electrification produced by friction is of two kinds. 
 
84 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 to which he applied the terms vitreous and resinous, the 
 former being developed when glass is rubbed with silk 
 and the latter when amber or common sealing-wax is 
 rubbed with flannel. He noticed, too, that silk strings 
 repelled each other when both were touched either with 
 excited glass or sealing-wax ; but that they attracted 
 each other when touched one with glass and the other 
 with sealing-wax. From these observations, he deduced 
 the electrostatic laws, that similarly electrified bodies 
 attract while dissimilarly electrified bodies repel each 
 other. 
 
 The law of distance was discovered later by Coulomb, 
 who, in 1785, showed that the law of repulsion as well as 
 of attraction between two electrified particles varies in- 
 versely as the square of the distance. In the year 1750, 
 the law of the inverse square for magnets was stated by 
 John Michell, who expressed it by saying that the "at- 
 traction and repulsion decrease as the square of the 
 distance from the respective poles increases." Michell 
 was fourth wrangler of his year (1748-9), Fellow of 
 Queen's College, Cambridge, and inventor of the torsion 
 balance, which, however, he did not live to use ; but 
 which, in the hands of Cavendish, yielded important 
 results on the mean density of the earth. Coulomb proba- 
 bly re-invented the "balance " and applied the practi- 
 cal, laboratory instrument which he made it, to the study 
 of the quantitative laws of electricity and magnetism. 
 
 To observe and correlate phenomena is the special 
 work of the physicist ; to speculate on ultimate causes is 
 the privilege of the philosopher. Duf ay was both. The 
 theory which he offered was a simple one, even if 
 untrue to nature. It was a good working hypothesis 
 for the time being. 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 85 
 
 According to this theory, there are two distinct, inde- 
 pendent electrical fluids mutually attractive but self- 
 repelling. With that postulate, Duf ay was able to offer 
 a plausible explanation of a great many phenomena 
 that puzzled the electricians of the time. 
 
 Franklin, however, held a different view ; rejecting 
 the dual nature of electricity, he propounded his one- 
 fluid theory, which was found equally capable of ex- 1 
 plaining electrical phenomena. A body having an 
 excess of the fluid was said to be positively charged, 
 while one with a deficit was said to be negatively 
 charged. The sign plus was used in one case and the 
 sign minus in the other ; and just as two algebraical 
 quantities of equal magnitude but opposite sign give 
 zero when added together, so a conductor to which 
 equal quantities of positive and negative electricity 
 would be given would be in the neutral state. The 
 Franklinian theory was welcomed in England, Germany 
 and Italy, but it met with opposition in France from the 
 brilliant Abbe NoUet and the followers of Dufay. 
 
 Each of the rival theories affords a mental conception 
 of the forces in play and also a consistent explanation 
 of the resulting phenomena. Their simplicity, and, at 
 the same time, the comprehensiveness of explanation 
 which they afford, will continue to give them a place in 
 our text-books for many years to come. 
 
 Efforts are being made to apply the electronic theory 
 to the various phenomena of electrostatics, the electron 
 being the smallest particle of electricity that can have 
 separate, individual existence. It is many times smaller 
 than the hydrogen atom, the smallest of chemical 
 atoms, and it possesses all the properties of negative elec- 
 tricity. By the loss of one or more electrons, a body 
 
86 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 becomes positively electrified, whereas by the acquisi- 
 tion of one or more electrons it becomes negatively elec- 
 trified. The electron at rest gives rise to the phenomena 
 of electrostatics ; in motion, it gives rise to electrical 
 currents, electromagnetism and electric radiation. 
 
 We do not know what led Franklin to call positive 
 the electrification of glass when rubbed with silk, and 
 negative that of sealing-wax when rubbed with flannel. 
 If he meant to imply that positive is the more impor- 
 tant of the two, he erred, for many reasons can be 
 given to show the preponderating influence of negative 
 electricity ; but it is too late now to change the termin- 
 ology. 
 
 If asked to point out differences between the physical 
 effects of positive and negative electrification, we would 
 refer to the positive brush, which is finer and much 
 more developed than the negative ; to the Wimshurst 
 machine, with its positive brushes on one side and nega- 
 tive "beads" on the other; to the positive charge ac- 
 quired by a clean plate of zinc when exposed to ultra- 
 violet light ; to the ordinary vacuum tube in which 
 there is a violet glow at the cathode end or negative ter- 
 minal ; to Crookes's tubes. X-ray tubes and other high 
 vacuum tubes, in which electrified particles, Kelvin's 
 molecular torrent, are shot out from the negative elec- 
 trode with great velocity; and to arc-lamps using a 
 direct current in which the plus carbon is hollowed out 
 crater-like, has the higher temperature and wastes away 
 twice as fast as the negative. 
 
 The year 1746 is an annus mirabilis in the history of 
 electricity, for it was in the January of that year that an 
 attempt to electrify water by Musschenbroek, of Ley- 
 den, led to the discovery of the principle of the elec- 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 
 
 87 
 
 trostatic condenser. Whatever may be thought of the 
 claim for priority put forward in favor of Dean von 
 Kleist, of Cammin in Pomerania, or of Cunaeus, of Ley- 
 den, it is certain that the discovery became known 
 throughout Europe by the starthng announcement and 
 sensational description given of it by Musschenbroek, a 
 renowned professor of a renowned university. He was 
 not only surprised but terror-stricken by the effect of 
 the electric energy which he had unconsciously stored up 
 in his little phial ; for after telling his French friend 
 Reaumur, the physicist, that he felt the commotion in 
 his arms, shoulders and chest, he added that he would 
 not take another shock for the whole kingdom of France ! 
 a resolution destined to be broken, like so many others 
 before and since. 
 
 Very different was the sentiment of Bose, Professor 
 of Physics in the University of Wittenberg, who is cred- 
 ited with saying that he would like to die 
 by the electric shock, that he might live 
 in the memoirs of the French Academy 
 of Sciences. 
 
 The Ley den jar became at once the 
 scientific curiosity and universal topic 
 of discussion of the time ; and not only 
 was it the curiosity, but also the crux 
 of the day, puzzling investigators, per- 
 plexing philosophers and giving rise to 
 animated controversies. The mystery 
 was soon dispelled, however, when 
 Franklin began in 1747 his searching 
 inquiry into the electric conditions of ^t^^ 
 each element of the jar. Nothing es- Modem & of Leyden 
 caped his subtle mind and nothing was j^^^^^* movable coat- 
 
88 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 left undone by his deft hand. The evidence of experi- 
 ment and the logic of facts carried at last conviction 
 even with Londoners and Parisians, who were wont to 
 look upon Americans as mere colonists, who had neither 
 time nor opportunity for scientific pursuits, being obliged 
 to hew their way through virgin forests or drive the 
 roving Indian back from their frontiers into the wilds 
 of the West. The theory of the Ley den jar given by 
 Franklin 160 years ago has stood the test of time. It 
 has met with universal acceptance ; and, despite our 
 manifold advances, but little of permanent value has 
 been added to it. 
 
 It is very interesting to follow the main lines of this 
 magnificent research. Franklin electrifies, in the usual 
 way, water contained in a small flask, complaisantly 
 taking the shock on completing the circuit. To find 
 where the charge resides, whether in the hand of the 
 operator, as some said, or in the water, as others main- 
 tained, he again electrifies the water and pours it into 
 another flask, which fails, however, to give a shock, 
 thus showing that the charge had not been carried over 
 with the water. Convinced that the charge was still 
 somewhere in the first phial, he carefully poured water 
 into it again ; and found, to his intense satisfaction, that 
 it was capable of giving an excellent shock. It was now 
 clear to him that the energy of the charge was either in 
 the hand of the experimenter or in the glass itself, or 
 in both. To determine this nice point, he proceeds to 
 construct a "jar'* which could easily be taken to pieces. 
 For this purpose, he selected a pane of glass ; and, lay- 
 ing it on the extended hand, placed a sheet of lead on 
 its upper surface. The leaden plate was then electri- 
 fied ; and when touched with the finger, a spark was 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 
 
 seen and a shock felt. By the addition of another plate 
 to the lower surface, the shocking power of this simple 
 condenser was increased. In this efficient form he had 
 a readily dissectible condenser, which allowed him to 
 throw off and replace the coatings at will, and thereby 
 to prove beyond cavil that the seat of the stored-up elec- 
 tric energy is not in the conductors, but in the glass 
 itself. This was a discovery of the first magnitude and 
 one destined to associate the name of Franklin with 
 those of the most eminent electricians down the age&. 
 Fig. 11 shows the modern form of the jar with movable 
 coatings. 
 
 In the "fulminating" pane, as it came to be called, 
 we have one of the eleven elements of FVanklin's his- 
 toric battery of 1748. It is interesting to notice that he 
 
 ^ 
 
 Fig. 12 
 Three coated panes in series 
 
 Pig. 13 
 Three panes in parallel 
 
 was accustomed to connect his "panes " in series while 
 charging (Fig. 12), but that he preferred to join similar 
 coatings together, that is, to couple them in "parallel" 
 (Fig. 13), for powerful discharges. Fig. 14 shows three 
 jars in "parallel." 
 
 Later on, he arranged Leyden jars so that the inside 
 coating of one could be hooked to the outside coating of 
 another, the first of the series hanging down from the 
 prime conductor of the machine, while the last one was 
 grounded. * ' What is driven out of the tail of the first, " 
 
^0 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 he quaintly says, "serves to charge the second; what 
 is driven out of the second serves to charge the third, 
 and so on. " This has become known as the " cascade " 
 method of charging a battery, owing to the flow of elec- 
 tricity from one jar to the next (Fig. 15). Electricians, 
 however, have discarded the picturesque "cascade " for 
 the prosaic term of "series" or "tandem" arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 Franklin also noticed that a phial cannot be charged 
 while standing on wax or on glass, or even while hang- 
 
 o- 
 
 A _A 
 
 xvs, 
 
 Fig. 14 
 Three jars in parallel 
 
 Fig. 15 
 Three jars in cascade 
 
 ing from the prime conductor, unless communication be 
 formed between its outer coating and the floor, the rea- 
 son given being that "the jar will not suffer a charging 
 unless as much fire can go out of it one way as is thrown 
 in by the other." (1748.) 
 
 Following his very ingenious Philadelphia friend and 
 co-worker, Kinnersley, he varies the mode of charging 
 by electrifying the outside of the jar and grounding the 
 inner coating; for "the phial will be electrified as 
 strongly if held by the hook and the coating applied to 
 the globe as when held by the coating and the hook 
 applied to the globe. ' ' ( 1748. ) 
 
 The globe here referred to is the glass globe of Frank- 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 91 
 
 lin's frictional machine of American make, which, when 
 rotated, was electrified positively by contact with the 
 hand or with a leather rubber. Frankhn also used a 
 sulphur ball or "brimstone" globe, and observed that 
 the electrification produced on it differed in kind from 
 that developed on the glass globe. (1752. ) 
 
 It may here be stated that the first to use a leather 
 ciishion as a substitute for the hand in the frictional 
 machine, was Winkler, of Leipzig (1745); the efficiency 
 of the rubber was increased by Canton, of London, who 
 covered it with an amalgam of tin and mercury (1762). 
 Bose, of Wittenberg, had previously added the prime- 
 conductor, which greatly augmented the electrical ca- 
 pacity and output of the machine. 
 
 In 1750 Franklin imitated the effect of lightning on 
 the compasses of a ship by the action of a jar discharge 
 on an unmagnetized steel needle. "By electricity," he 
 says, "we have frequently given polarity to needles and 
 reversed it at pleasure." 
 
 Similar experiments are made to-day in every lec- 
 ture-course on static electricity ; but the experimenter, 
 when wise, does not announce beforehand which end of 
 the needle will be north and which south, as he is just 
 as likely to be wrong as right, the uncertainty being 
 due to the fact that the discharge of a Leyden jar is 
 not a current of electricity in one direction, but rather 
 a few sudden rushes or rapid surgings of electricity to 
 and fro ; in other words, it is oscillatory in character 
 instead of being continuous in one direction. 
 
 Franklin did not know this ; although he made a very 
 pertinent remark in 1749 when he likened the mechan- 
 ical condition of the glass of a charged jar to that of a 
 bent rod or a stretched spring. "So, a straight spring," 
 
92 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 he says, "when forcibly bent must, to restore itself, 
 contract that side which in the bending was extended, 
 and extend that side which was contracted." Franklin 
 knew, of course, that the bent rod, when released, would 
 swing to and fro a few times before settling down to 
 its state of rest ; but he failed to see the analogy be- 
 tween it and the strained glass of the charged Leyden 
 jar. 
 
 It is to Joseph Henry (1799-1878), the Faraday of 
 America, that we owe the recognition and statement of 
 the oscillatory character of the discharge from Leyden 
 jars and condensers generally. He discovered and pub- 
 lished this cardinal fact in 1842. His words deserve 
 recording. ''The discharge, whatever maybe its na- 
 ture, is not correctly represented (employing for sim- 
 plicity the theory of Franklin) by the single transfer of 
 an imponderable fluid from one side of the jar to the 
 other ; the phenomenon requires us to admit the existence 
 of a principal discharge in one direction and then several 
 reflex actions backward and forward, each more feeble 
 than the preceding, until equilibrium is attained.*'^ The 
 italics are Prof. Henry's. 
 
 It is precisely this oscillatory character of the spark- 
 discharge that enables us to send out trains of electric 
 waves into the all-pervading ether, and thus to com- 
 municate, by ''wireless," with remote stations. 
 
 Having conclusively proved that the energy of a 
 charged condenser resides in the dielectric, Franklin 
 next tries to find whether "the electric matter" in the 
 case of conductors is limited to the surface or whether 
 it penetrates to an appreciable depth. To ascertain this, 
 he insulates a silver fruit-can and brings a charged ball,. 
 
 1 Scientific Writings of Joseph Henry, Vol. I., p. 201. 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 93 
 
 held by a silk thread, into contact with the outer sur- 
 face. On testing after removal, he found that the ball 
 retained some of its charge, whilst it lost all if allowed to 
 touch the bottom of the vessel. Surprised at this unex- 
 pected difference, he repeated the experiment again and 
 again, only to find the ball every time without a trace 
 of charge after contact with the interior of the vessel. 
 This perplexed and puzzled him. ' ' The fact is singular, ' ' 
 he says, "and you require the reason? I do not know 
 it. I find a frank acknowledgment of one's ignorance 
 is not only the easiest way to get rid of a difficulty, but 
 the likeliest way to obtain information, and therefore I 
 practice it. I think it an honest policy. Those who 
 affect to be thought to know everything, often remain 
 long ignorant of many things that others could and 
 would instruct them in, if they appeared less conceited." 
 
 This was in 1755. Cavendish in 1773 and Coulomb in 
 1788 independently attacked the same problem ; and hav- 
 ing proved by their classic experiments that a static 
 charge is limited to the surface of conductors, it was 
 but a step to infer that such a distribution of electricity 
 implies that the law of force between two elements of 
 charge, or between two point-charges, is the law of the 
 inverse square of the distance. 
 
 It will also be remembered that Faraday, not knowing 
 what had been accomplished eighty years before in 
 Philadelphia, used for one of his best-known experi- 
 ments an ice-pail, into which he lowered an electrified 
 ball for the purpose of showing the exact equality of 
 the induced and the inducing charge. The similarity of 
 apparatus and mode of procedure are remarkable. 
 
 In pursuing his work, Franklin placed a charged jar 
 on a cake of wax and other insulating materials, and drew 
 
94 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 sparks from it by touching successively the knob and?' 
 the outer coating, repeating the process a great number 
 of times to his infinite dehght. He next attached a 
 brass rod to the outside, bending it and bringing the 
 other end close to the knob (Fig. 16) connected with the 
 inner coating. Between these two he suspended a leaden 
 ball by a silk thread and found, as he expected, that^it 
 
 1 played to and fro between the terminals for 
 
 a considerable time. Observe that we have 
 • here a definite mass maintained in a state 
 of reciprocating motion by a series of elec- 
 tric attractions and repulsions. We have 
 in fact an electro-motor, closely resembling 
 
 Disrfiargeby ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ chimes of Gordon, the 
 alternate contacts Benedictine, 1745 ; a mere toy, if you will, 
 but still a remarkable invention. We repeat the same 
 experiment to-day only with a little more harmony, by 
 substituting for the knobs two little bells, which emit 
 a soft, musical note when struck by the interhanging 
 clapper. 
 
 This experiment has further significance, for, like Gor- 
 don's chimes, it is an instance of the conveyance of elec- 
 tricity from one point of space to another by means of a 
 material carrier, a mode of transfer which has since 
 been called "electric convection," the full meaning 
 of which was not revealed until Rowland (1848-1901), 
 made his famous experiment of 1876 in the laboratory 
 of the University of Berlin with a highly-charged, 
 rapidly-revolving, ebonite disc. It was apropos of this 
 experiment that the illustrious Clerk Maxwell, of the 
 University of Cambridge, wrote to his friend, Professor 
 Tait, of Edinburgh, saying that : 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 95 
 
 ** The mounted disc of ebonite 
 
 Had whirled before, but whirled in vain ; 
 Rowland of Troy, that doughty knight, 
 
 Convection currents did obtain, 
 In such a disc, of power to v/heedle 
 From its loved north, the needle." 
 
 We may here say that Franklin was no stranger to 
 the work done by the electrical pioneers of the Old 
 World, his diligent London friend, Peter Collinson, 
 keeping him advised by means of letters, books and 
 pamphlets, in which inspiration and practical hints must 
 have been found. He certainly was well acquainted 
 with the achievements of Dr. Watson and Dr. Bevis, of 
 London, as well as with the theories and experiments of 
 Dufay and Abbe Nollet in Paris. It is germane to the 
 subject to say that Dr. Bevis used mercury and iron fil- 
 ings for the inner coating of his jars, as well as sheet 
 lead for both. He also experimented with coated panes 
 of glass instead of jars. About this, Franklin wrote to 
 Collinson: *' I perceive by the ingenious Mr. Watson's 
 last book, lately received, that Dr. Bevis had used, 
 before we had, panes of glass to give a shock ; though 
 till that book came to hand, I thought to have communi- 
 cated it to you as a novelty. " (1748. ) 
 
 Franklin gave way to a little pleasant humor when, in 
 1748, he proposed to wind up the "electrical season " by 
 a banquet a la Lucullus, to be given to a few of his 
 friends and fellow-workers, not in a sumptuously decor- 
 ated hall, hut al fresco, on the banks of the Schuylkill. 
 "A turkey is to be killed for our dinner by the electri- 
 cal shock, " he wrote, ' ' and roasted by the electrical jack 
 before a fire kindled by the electrical bottle, when the 
 healths of all the famous electricians in England, 
 H©lland, France and Germany are to be drunk in electri- 
 
96 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 fied bumpers under the discharge of guns fired from the 
 electrical battery." 
 
 It is hardly to be supposed that such an elaborate 
 program was carried out. Indeed the difficulty of 
 preparing the apparatus and getting it ready for action 
 on the banks of a river were formidable enough to say 
 the least. Franklin, however, had a Leyden battery 
 capable of doing considerable electrocution, for with two 
 jars of six gallons capacity each, he knocked six men to 
 the ground ; the same two jars sufficed to kill a hen out- 
 right, whereas it required five, he tells us, to kill a 
 turkey weighing ten pounds. 
 
 The "electrical bumper" was a wine-glass containing 
 an allowance, let us say, of some favorite brand and 
 charged in the usual way. On approaching the lips the 
 two coatings would be brought within striking-distance 
 and a spark would take place, if not to the delight of the 
 performer, at least to the amusement of the on-lookers. 
 It was subsequently remarked that guests whose upper 
 lip was adorned with a moustache could quaff the nectar 
 with impunity, as every bristle would play the part of a 
 filiform lightning-rod and prevent the apprehended, dis- 
 ruptive discharge ! 
 
 Not quite so humorous was his suggestion of a ham- 
 mock to be used by timid people during an electric 
 storm: "A hammock or swinging-bed, suspended by 
 isilk cords equally distant from the walls on every side, 
 and from the ceiling and floor above and below, affords 
 the safest situation a person can have in any room 
 whatever ; and which, indeed, may be deemed quite free 
 from danger of any stroke of Hghtning. " (1767. ) 
 
 In his experiments on puncturing bodies by the spark- 
 discharge, Franklin does not fail to notice the double 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 97 
 
 burr produced when paper is used.^ His words are : 
 "When a hole is struck through pasteboard by the 
 electrified jar, if the surfaces of the pasteboard are not 
 confined or compressed, there will be a bur raised all 
 round the hole on both sides the pasteboard, for the bur 
 round the outside of the hole is the effect of the explo- 
 sion every way from the centre of the stream and not an 
 effect of direction." (1753.) The spelling is Frank- 
 lin's unreformed. 
 
 The to-and-fro nature of the discharge was thought, 
 at a time, to account satisfactorily for the burr raised on 
 each side of the pasteboard ; but Trowbridge, of Har- 
 vard, has shown that even a unidirectional discharge, 
 such as can be obtained by inserting a wet string or any 
 high resistance in the circuit, would produce a double 
 burr, from which we infer, confirming Franklin, that 
 this effect of the discharge is caused by the sudden 
 expansion of air within the paper itself. 
 
 By the year 1749, Franklin had reached the conclusion 
 that the lightning of the skies is identical with that of 
 our laboratories, basing his belief on the following an- 
 alogies which he enumerates in the notes or "minutes " 
 which he kept of his experiments: "The electric fluid 
 agrees with Hghtning in these particulars : (1) Giving 
 light ; (2) color of the light ; (3) crooked direction ; (4) 
 swift motion ; (5) being conducted by metals ; (6) crack 
 or noise in exploding; (7) rending bodies it passes 
 through ; (8) destroying animals ; (9) melting metals ; 
 (10) firing inflammable substances ; and (11) sulphurous 
 smell." 
 
 But although he felt the full force of the analogical 
 argument, Franklin knew that the matter could not be 
 
 1 Frequently referred to as LuUin's experiment. 
 
98 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 finally settled without an appeal to experiment ; and ac- 
 cordingly he adds: "The electric fluid is attracted by 
 points ; we do not know whether this property is in 
 lightning. But since they agree in all the particulars 
 wherein we can already compare them, is it not proba- 
 ble that they agree likewise in this? Let the experi- 
 ment be made." (1749.) 
 
 In writing to Collinson in July, 1750, he tells his Lon- 
 don friend how the experiment may be made: "On 
 the top of some high tower or steeple, place a kind of 
 sentry-box— big enough to contain a man— and an 
 electrical stand. From the middle of the stand let an 
 iron rod rise and pass, bending out of the door, and then 
 upright 20 or 30 feet, pointed very sharp at the end. If 
 the electrical stand be kept clean and dry, a man stand- 
 ing on it, when such clouds are passing low, might be 
 electrified and afford sparks, the rod drawing fire to him 
 from the cloud. " 
 
 Collinson brought some of Franklin's letters to the 
 notice of fellow-members of the Royal Society with a 
 view to their insertion in the Philosphical Transactions 
 of that learned body ; but even his epoch-making letter 
 to Dr. Mitchell, of London, on the identity of lightning 
 and electricity, was dismissed with derisive laughter. 
 The Royal Society made amends in due time for their 
 contemptuous treatment of the American philosopher by 
 electing him member of the Society and by awarding 
 him the Copley medal in 1753. 
 
 Disappointed as he was, Collinson collected Franklin's^ 
 letters and published them under the title of New Ex- 
 periments and Observations on Electricity made at 
 Philadelphia in America. The pamphlet appeared in 
 1751, and was immediately translated into French by M. 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 99 
 
 d' Alibard at the request of the great naturalist Count de 
 Buffon. 
 
 The experiments described in the pamphlet, and 
 especially that of the pointed conductor, were taken up 
 in Paris with great enthusiasm by de Buffon himself, by 
 d'Alibard, a botanist of distinction, and by de Lor, a 
 professor of physics. Following out the instructions 
 given by Franklin, they were all able to report success : 
 d'Alibard on May 10th, de Lor on May 18th, and de 
 Buffon on May 19th, 1752. 
 
 De Buffon erected his rod on the tower of his chateau 
 at Montbar ; de Lor, over his house in Paris, and d'Ali- 
 bard, at his country seat at Marly, a little town eighteen 
 miles from Paris. D'Alibard was not at home on the 
 eventful afternoon of May 10th ; but before leaving 
 Marly, he had drilled a certain Coiffier in what he 
 should do in case an electric storm came on during his 
 absence. Though a hardy and resolute old soldier and 
 proud of the confidence placed in him, Coiffier grew al- 
 armed at the long and noisy discharges which he drew 
 from the insulated rod on the afternoon of May 10th. 
 While the storm was still at its height he sent for the 
 Prior of the place, Raulet by name, who hastened to the 
 spot, followed by many of his parishioners. After wit- 
 nessing a number of brilliant and stunning discharges, 
 the priest drew up an account of the incident and 
 sent it, at once, by Coiffier himself to d' Alibard, who 
 was then in Paris. Without delay d' Alibard prepared a 
 memoir on the subject which he communicated to the 
 Academie des Sciences three days later, viz. : on May 
 13th. In the concluding paragraph, the polished acade- 
 mician pays a graceful tribute to the philosopher of the 
 Western World : 
 
100 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 " It follows from all the experiments and observations 
 contained in the present paper, and more especially 
 from the recent experiment at Marly-la-ville, that the 
 matter of lightning is, beyond doubt, the same as that 
 of electricity ; it has become a reality, and I believe that 
 the more we realize what he (Franklin) has pubhshed 
 on electricity, the more will we acknowledge the great 
 debt which physical science owes him." 
 
 We may, in passing, correct the error of those who 
 credit French physicists with having originated the idea 
 of the pointed conductor. Such writers should read the 
 words of d'Alibard in the beginning of his memoir, 
 where he says: "En suivant la route que M. Franklin 
 nous a tracee, j'ai obtenu une satisfaction complete" ; 
 that is, ' ' In following the way traced out by Franklin, 
 I have met with complete success." To Franklin, there- 
 fore, belongs the idea of the pointed rod of 1750, which 
 became the lightning conductor of subsequent years ; 
 to the Parisian savants belongs the great distinction of 
 having been the first to make the experiment and ver- 
 ify the Franklinian view of the identity of the lightning 
 of our skies with the electricity of our laboratories. 
 
 Franklin had precise ideas on the action of his pointed 
 conductors, clearly recognizing their twofold function : 
 (1) that of preventing a dangerous rise of potential by 
 disarming the cloud ; and (2) that of conveying the dis- 
 charge to earth, if struck. In some of his letters, he 
 complains of people who concentrate their attention on 
 the preventive function, forgetting the other entirely. 
 "Wherever my opinion is examined in Europe," he 
 wrote in 1755, " nothing is considered but the probabil- 
 ity of these rods preventing a stroke, which is only a 
 part of the use I proposed for them ; and the other part, 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 101 
 
 their conducting a stroke which they may happen not 
 to prevent, seems to be totally forgotten, though of 
 equal importance and advantage." 
 
 A favorite illustration of Franklin's showing the dis- 
 charging power of points, consisted in insulating a can- 
 non ball against which rested a pellet of cork, hung by 
 a silk thread. On electrifying the ball, the cork flies 
 off and remains suspended at a distance, falling back at 
 once, as soon as a needle is brought near the ball. (1747. ) 
 He also used tassels consisting of 
 fifteen or twenty long threads (Fig. 
 17), and even cotton-fleece, the fila- 
 ments of which stand out when elec- 
 trified, but come together when a 
 pointed rod is held underneath. He 
 also noticed that the filaments do not 
 Fig. 17 collapse when the point of the rod is 
 
 Tassel of long threads or ■% • ^ 
 
 light strips of paper covered With a small ball. ( 1762. ) 
 Franklin's views on lightning-rods met with some 
 opposition in France from the brilliant Abbe Nollet, and 
 in England from Dr. Benjamin Wilson. The latter was 
 mainly instrumental in bringing about the famous con- 
 troversy of "Points vs. Knobs." In 1772, a committee 
 was appointed by the Royal Society to consider the best 
 means of protecting the powder-magazines at Purfleet 
 from lightning. On the committee with Dr. Wilson 
 were Henry Cavendish, the distinguished chemist and 
 physicist, and Sir John Pringle, President of the Royal 
 Society. The report favored sharp conductors against 
 blunt ones advocated by Dr. Wilson. Five years later, 
 in 1777, the question was again brought up, and again 
 the new committee decided in favor of pointed termi- 
 nals, convinced "that the experiments and reasons 
 
102 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 made and alleged to the contrary by Mr. Wilson were 
 inconclusive." 
 
 Dr. Wilson, being a man of influence, succeeded in 
 having his views taken up by the Board of Ordnance. 
 It has been remarked that this controversy would never 
 have attracted attention but for the fact that the dis- 
 coverer of the effect of points was Franklin. He was 
 an American and the dispute with the colonies was then 
 at its height. The war of the Revolution had begun, 
 and the British forces had already met with serious re- 
 verses. No patriot could, therefore, admit any good in 
 points. George III. took sides, decreed that the points 
 on the royal conductors at Kew should be covered with 
 balls, and ordered Sir John Pringle to support Dr. Wil- 
 son. Sir John gave the dignified answer: "Sire, I 
 cannot reverse the laws and operations of nature " ; to 
 which the King, incensed that so incompetent a man 
 should hold such an important office, replied: ''Then, 
 Sir John, perhaps you had better resign," which Sir 
 John did. 
 
 A wit of the time put the matter epigrammatically 
 
 when he wrote : 
 
 ''While you, great George, for knowledge hunt 
 And sharp conductors change to blunt. 
 
 The nation's out of joint ; 
 Franklin a wiser course pursues. 
 And all your thunder useless views 
 
 By keeping to the point." 
 
 It was in connection with this heated controversy that 
 Frankhn wrote the following admirable words : 
 
 "I have never entered into any controversy in defence 
 of my philosophical opinions. I leave them to take 
 their chance in the world. If they are right, truth and 
 experience will support them ; if wrong, they ought to 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 103 
 
 be refuted and rejected. The King's changing his 
 pointed conductors for hlunt ones is, therefore, a matter 
 of small importance to me." 
 
 It was not until September, 1752, that Franklin raised 
 a rod over his own house. This experimental conductor 
 was made of iron fitted with a sharp steel point and 
 rising seven or eight feet above the roof, the other end 
 being buried five feet in the ground. In order to avoid 
 useless personal displacement, Franklin, the economist 
 of time, made an automatic annunciator similar to that 
 devised by Gordon in 1745, and described by Watson in 
 his Sequel, 1746, to apprize him of the advent of a good 
 thunder-gust. Instead of making the rod of one con- 
 tinuous length, it was divided on the staircase, opposite 
 his chamber door, the ends being drawn apart to a hori- 
 zontal distance of a few inches. Screwing a pair of tiny 
 gongs to the ends, he suspended between them a brass 
 ball, held by a silk thread, to act as clapper. Whenever 
 a thundercloud came hovering by, the bells began to 
 ring, thereby summoning the philosopher to his "labor- 
 atory " on the staircase. 
 
 Franklin's rod, erected over his house in the summer 
 of 1752, was evidently intended by him for experimental 
 rather than protective purposes. There is no doubt 
 whatever in his mind about the use of such pointed con- 
 ductors for the protection of buildings and ships against 
 the destructive effects of lightning. He expressly says, 
 in an article printed in Poor Richard's Almanack for 
 1753, that " It has pleased God in His infinite goodness 
 to mankind, to discover to them the means of securing 
 their habitations and other buildings from mischief by 
 thunder and lightning. The method is this : provide a 
 small iron rod (it may be made of the rod-iron used by 
 
104 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 the nailers), but of such a length, that one end bein^ 
 8 ft. or 4 ft. in the moist ground, the other may be 
 6 ft. or 8 ft. above the highest part of the building. 
 To the upper end of the rod fasten about a foot of brass 
 wire, the size of a common knitting needle, sharpened 
 to a fine point ; the rod may be secured to the house by 
 a few small staples. If the house or barn be long, there 
 may be a rod and point at each end, and a middling wire 
 along the ridge from one to the other. A house thus 
 furnished will not be damaged by lightning, it being at- 
 tracted by the points and passing through the metal into 
 the ground without hurting anything. Vessels also, 
 having a sharp-pointed rod fixed on the top of their 
 masts, with a wire from the foot of the rod reaching 
 down round one of the shrouds to the water, will not be 
 hurt by lightning." 
 
 It is well known, as Dr. Rotch, Director of the Blue 
 Hill Observatory, recently pointed out, that the matter 
 for these almanacs was prepared by Franklin himself 
 under the pen-name of Richard Saunders. As the above 
 passage appeared in the almanac for 1753, it is obvious 
 that it must have been ready sometime toward the end of 
 1752. Furthermore, we know that it was actually in 
 the hands of the printer in the middle of October of that 
 year, for the Pennsylvania Gazette of Oct. 19th says that 
 the almanac was then in press and that it would be on 
 sale shortly. Whence it follows that the year 1752 is 
 the year of the invention of the lightning rod, and not 
 1753 or 1754 as often stated. 
 
 The instructions given by Franklin include all the es- 
 sentials necessary for the erection of a lightning con- 
 ductor. It may be made of iron or copper, flat or round, 
 but must make good "sky" and good "earth." The 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 105- 
 
 former condition is secured by screwing to the top of 
 the rod either copper or platinum terminals ending in 
 sharp points ; and the latter, by burying the lower end 
 deep in moist soil. Between "sky" and "earth" the 
 rod must be continuous. 
 
 The function of the rod is twofold, as Franklin well 
 recognized, preventive and preservative. It prevents 
 the stroke, under ordinary conditions, by the action of 
 the points, which send off copious streams of air and 
 dust particles electrified oppositely to that of the cloud. 
 Even at a distance, the dangerous potential of the cloud 
 is reduced by these convection currents and the stroke 
 ordinarily averted. It is clear that ten points are 
 more efficacious than one, and fifty more than five. 
 Hence the number of points which we see distributed 
 over the higher and more conspicuous parts of a build- 
 ing, all of which are carefully connected with the light- 
 ning conductor. 
 
 However well a building may theoretically be pro- 
 tected, conditions will occasionally arise when the rod 
 will inevitably be struck ; its preservative function then 
 comes into play, by which it carries the energy of the 
 disruptive discharge safely to earth. 
 
 The experience of more than a century shows that 
 the lightning-rod affords protection in the great majority 
 of cases ; but it would be at least a mild exaggeration to 
 say that it never failed, even when properly constructed. 
 
 At first, the erection of lightning-rods was opposed in 
 the New World as well as in the Old : some based their 
 opposition to the novelty on religious grounds, saying 
 that, as lightning and thunder are tokens of divine 
 wrath, it would be impious to interfere in any way with 
 their manifestations. This objection was met by saying 
 
106 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 that for a parity of reason we should avoid protecting 
 ourselves against the inclemencies of the weather. 
 
 Others opposed the use of the rods on the score that 
 they invited or attracted the flash, which was answered 
 by saying that they attract lightning as much as a rain- 
 pipe attracts a shower, and no more. 
 
 The death of Professor Richmann, of the University 
 of St. Petersburg, also tended to retard the adoption of 
 the rod for the protection of buildings ; but the invalid- 
 ity of that objection became apparent when the circum- 
 stances of the accident became known. Richmann 's 
 conductor was like d'Alibard's (1751), an experimental 
 rod, and as such was insulated at the lower end. It 
 was, therefore, not a lightning-rod at all, inasmuch as 
 it was not grounded. On August 6th, 1753, during a 
 violent electric storm, Richmann happened to be close 
 to his exploring rod observing the indications of a 
 roughly-made electrometer, when a sharp thunder-clap 
 was heard, and at the same instant a ball of fire was 
 seen by Richmann's assistant to dart from the appar- 
 atus and strike the head of the unfortunate Professor, 
 who fell over on a near-by chest and expired instantly. 
 His assistant was stunned for a while. On regaining 
 consciousness, he ran to the aid of the Professor ; but it 
 was too late, the body was lifeless. 
 
 In recording this tragic event, Priestley, the historian 
 of electricity, says that, "It is not given to every elec- 
 trician to die in so glorious a manner as the justly 
 envied Richmann. ' * 
 
 For one, we do not "envy" Professor Richmann 's 
 fate, and we think that the phrase "tragic manner" 
 would better suit the circumstances of his death than 
 the "glorious manner" of Dr. Priestley. 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 107 
 
 Risks of a similar character were taken by Franklin 
 in Philadelphia, de Romas in Bordeaux, and d'Alibard's 
 representative at Marly,. when experimenting with kites 
 and insulated rods ; they took their lives in their hands, 
 though they may not have thought so. 
 
 A few years ago, Sir William Preece said that a man 
 might with impunity "clasp a copper rod an inch in 
 diameter, the bottom of which is well connected with 
 moist earth, while the top of it receives a violent flash 
 of lightning ; the conductor might even be surrounded 
 by gunpowder in the heaviest storm without risk or 
 danger." 
 
 It is not on record that the English electrician ever 
 clasped a lightning conductor or even stood in close 
 proximity to one during an electric storm. The above 
 statement was as sensational as it was unwise and fool- 
 hardy. The neighborhood of a rod during a storm is a 
 zone of danger, owing to the electrical surgings which 
 are set up in it, and, as such, is to be avoided. 
 
 The death of Richmann caused quite a sensation 
 throughout Europe, and naturally the lightning-rod came 
 in for severe condemnation. Among the memoirs to 
 which the fatality gave rise was one written in the heart 
 of Moravia and addressed to the celebrated Euler, 
 Director of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin. The 
 writer was a monk of the Premonstratensian Order, 
 whose field of labor was at Prenditz. 
 
 In the year 1754, this country priest made experi- 
 ments with lightning conductors on a scale that tran- 
 scended anything done in Paris, London or Philadelphia. 
 The accompanying illustrations show the conductor 
 which Divisch (also Diwisch) raised at Prenditz (also 
 Prenditz) in the summer of that year to demonstrate 
 
108 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 publicly the efficacy of such apparatus in breaking up 
 thunder-clouds and neutralizing the destructive energy 
 pent up in their electric charges. Prenditz, it would 
 appear, suffered severely from electric storms ; and it 
 was mainly for the safety of the locality that the good 
 priest devoted himself with earnestness to the study of 
 electrical phenomena. 
 
 As such a man deserves to live in the memory of 
 posterity, we have sought out the leading facts of his 
 career mainly from Father Alphons Zak, of Pernegg, 
 in Lower Austria, a distinguished writer of the Order 
 to which Divisch belonged, and have woven such details 
 as we obtained from him and others into the simple 
 narrative that follows. 
 
 Procopius Divisch 
 (Prokop Diwisch) was 
 born on Aug. 1st, 1696, 
 at Helkowitz-Senften- 
 berg in Bohemia. He 
 spent his youth at 
 Znaim, where he stud- 
 ied the humanities and 
 philosophy at the Col- 
 lege conducted by the 
 Jesuit fathers in that 
 Moravian city. In 1719, 
 when in his twenty- 
 third year, he decided 
 
 to quit the common ^i«- ^^- P^-o^opius Divisch (1696-1765) 
 
 ways of the world in order to lead the higher life in the 
 Premonstratensian Order at Kloster-Bruck. At the 
 ripe age of 30, Divisch was ordained priest, in 1726, 
 after which he taught philosophy and theology ta 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 109 
 
 classes of young aspirants to the ecclesiastical state. 
 In 1733 he went to the University of Salzburg and won 
 his double Doctorate in theology and philosophy. Three 
 years later, in 1736, he was appointed parish priest of 
 Prenditz, a small Moravian town on the road to Auster- 
 litz, since of Napoleonic fame. Here he remained for 
 five years, returning in 1741 to Bruck as Prior of the 
 Kloster or monastery situated there. At the end of 
 the Seven Years' War of the Austrian succession, he 
 quitted Bruck, in 1745, for his parish at Prenditz, where 
 he spent the last twenty years of his life in the pastoral 
 ministrations of his sacred office and in electrical ex- 
 perimentation, of which he was very fond. 
 
 The curative property of the new agent was heralded 
 throughout Europe about this time in terms of un- 
 measured praise. Some of Divisch's ailing parishioners, 
 believing him to be an expert in electrical manipulation, 
 applied to him for a little alleviation of their woes. 
 The good-hearted priest did not turn them away, but 
 thought it desirable to treat them to the therapeutic 
 effect of such sparks as he could get from his home- 
 made frictional machine. The results were various, 
 depending probably on the confidence and imagination 
 of the patient. Several remarkable cures seem to have 
 been effected either by the electric spark or by the 
 persuasive powers of the operator, or by both combined, 
 with the result that people far and wide were divided 
 in their opinion of the Pastor of Prenditz. Some phys- 
 icians said that he was interfering with their practice, 
 and even clergymen found fault with him for indulging 
 in work which they thought unsuited to the cloth. A 
 general impression, too, seems to have prevailed that 
 his electrical experiments, especially those with his 
 
110 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 lightning conductor, were likely to prove harmful in. 
 more ways than one. 
 
 On the other hand, Divisch had admirers in high, 
 places, among whom were the Emperor Francis I. of Ger- 
 many and his imperial consort, Maria Theresa. Having 
 been invited to Vienna, Divisch repaired to the Austrian 
 capital, where, with the aid of Father Franz, another 
 electrical devotee, he gave a demonstration of the won- 
 derful capability of the new form of energy before the 
 grandees of the empire. 
 
 When he came to the electrical property of points, he 
 showed their discharging power in a very original way, 
 one which must have made his assistant uneasy for a 
 while. At times, the machine worked by Father Franz 
 gave excellent results ; at others, it failed to generate. 
 It was noticed by the critical few that when the machine 
 failed, Divisch was close by ; while when it worked 
 normally, he was at some distance away. After a 
 number of such alternations of success and failure 
 which sorely perplexed the assistant, himself a man of 
 renown in Vienna, Divisch explained the occurrence by 
 saying, with a merry twinkle in his eye, that the failure 
 of the machine to generate when he was close to it,, 
 apparently seeking out the cause of the breakdown, was 
 due to a number of pin-like conductors which he had 
 concealed for the purpose in his peruke and which 
 neutralized the charge on the rotating generator ! 
 
 The identity of the lightning of our skies with the 
 artificial electricity of our laboratories was suspected 
 by many before the middle of the eighteenth century. 
 Englishmen like Hauksbee, Hall, Gray, Freke, Martin 
 and Watson ; Germans like Bose and Winkler, and 
 Frenchmen like Abbe Nollet, had already published. 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 111 
 
 their suspicions and conjectures anent the matter. 
 Franklin, too, had indicated twelve points of analogy 
 between the two, in 1749, in his letter to Collinson, of 
 London. Though he felt the force of the analogical 
 agreement, he also felt that the matter could not be 
 definitely settled without an appeal to experiment. Ac- 
 cordingly, he added : "The electric fluid is attracted by 
 points ; we do not know whether this property is in 
 lightning. But since they agree in all the particulars 
 wherein we can already compare them, is it not prob- 
 able that they agree likewise in this? Let the experi- 
 ment be made." 
 
 The experiment was 
 made by Franklin him- 
 self by means of his kite 
 two years later, in the 
 summer of 1752, and also 
 by the lightning-rod 
 which he erected over his 
 own house in the autumn 
 of the same year. Doubt- 
 less Divisch heard of the 
 marvelous effects ob- 
 tained from d'Alibard's 
 insulated conductor at 
 Marly ; at any rate, he 
 erected in an open space 
 at some little distance 
 from his rectory at Prenditz, a lightning conductor 130 
 feet in height. As will be seen from the illustration, 
 it bristled with points, for the Bohemian wizard argued 
 rightly that five points would be more efficient than 
 one, and 50 more efficacious than five. The weird-looking 
 
 Fig. 19 Fig. 20 
 
 The Divisch lightning conductor (1754) 
 
112 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 structure destined to ward off the lightning of heaven 
 had no less than 325 well-distributed points. Lodge 
 says in his Lightning Conductors: "Points to the sky- 
 are recognized as correct ; only I wish to advocate more 
 of them, any number of them, like barbed wire along 
 ridges and eaves. If you want to neutralize a thunder- 
 bolt, three points are not as effective as 3000." This 
 was written in 1892 ; nearly 140 years before that date, 
 we find a simple parish priest of an obscure village in 
 Moravia using precisely such a multiple system of short, 
 
 pointed conductors for the pro- 
 tection of life and property. 
 This lightning conductor or 
 meteorological machine, as Div- 
 FiG 21 isch called it, was erected by 
 
 Set of pointed rods j^.^ ^^ Preuditz OU Juue 15th, 
 
 1754. On the top of the rod will be seen three light 
 vanes, which were added in the interest of the feathered 
 race in order to prevent incautious members from in-^ 
 curring the risk of electrocution by alighting on the 
 apparatus during a storm. The wind whirled the vanes 
 round like the cups of an anemometer, and thus kept 
 the birds away from the zone of danger. 
 
 Several trials came to the electrical Pastor, and from 
 quarters least expected. It happened in the second 
 year after the erection of the apparatus that the sum- 
 mer was unusually dry, in consequence of which the 
 crops failed almost completely. The farmers of the 
 neighborhood were always suspicious of the strange- 
 looking mast of Prenditz ; and, be it said, that they were 
 more than diffident about the propriety of interfering 
 with the forces of nature even under the plea of protec- 
 tion, forgetting that they took great care to protect 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 113 
 
 themselves against heat and cold, rain, snow and hail. 
 The country ladies, no doubt, used parasols for one kind 
 of protection; and the gentry, umbrellas for another. 
 Anyhow, the people of Prenditz and the good folk 
 around did not like the lofty mast, with its outstretched 
 arms and bristling rows of suspicious-looking iron points 
 connected to the ground by means of four long, heavy 
 chains. For the nonce, they deemed their Pastor a 
 queer fellow, who thought that he could avert the anger 
 of heaven by the oddest kind of a machine which they 
 ever laid their eyes on. It was argued in the coun- 
 cils of the hamlets that, whatever advantages Divisch 
 claimed for his "machine," they were all of a negative 
 character. It 'prevented the lightning stroke, he said ; 
 that might be, but they did not see the prevention. 
 What they did see and keenly realize was the failure of 
 their crops. That affected them very closely ; and if, as 
 they supposed, the apparatus of Prenditz had anything 
 to do with it, the sooner they got rid of the machine the 
 better. Divisch, it must be said, was hked by his 
 people ; but despite his popularity, the men of violence 
 carried the day and the machine was doomed. Popular 
 passion, excited by personal interest, got the better of 
 the consideration due to the Pastor. On an appointed 
 day, a band of bellicose farmers came down on the 
 village and wrecked the apparatus which had cost the 
 priest so much thought and manual labor and on which, 
 knowingly and justly, he relied for the protection of the 
 homesteads of his rustic flock. 
 
 This recalls a similar incident of mob violence which 
 occurred at St. Omer in the north of France, where a 
 manufacturer of that quaint old town, who had been in 
 America and seen the usefulness of lightning conductors, 
 
114 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 proceeded to erect one over his own house. Hardly was 
 it completed before the populace gathered together ; and, 
 when passion was sufficiently aroused by inflammatory 
 remarks of the demagogues, the house was attacked 
 and the conductor torn down. The manufacturer com- 
 plained of the inaction of the "gardiens de la paix" 
 and appealed to the courts to uphold his right to protect 
 his home against lightning. He entrusted his case to a 
 young, brilliant lawyer, as yet unknown to fame, but 
 one destined to achieve unenviable notoriety during the 
 revolutionary period. This, the first defender of the 
 lightning-rod in a court of justice, was Robespierre. 
 
 The news of the untoward event soon reached the 
 ears of the Premonstratensian's superiors at Kloster- 
 Bruck ; and, as they very wisely considered that the 
 duty of a country priest is primarily to attend to the 
 spiritual welfare of his people, rather than to invent 
 machines for their protection against the bolts of heaven, 
 they advised him to yield to the prejudice of his people 
 and not reconstruct the objectionable apparatus. 
 
 Father Divisch accepted the friendly advice of his su- 
 periors and obeyed like a good Premonstratensian monk. 
 The remains of the shattered ''meteorological machine " 
 were sent to the abbey at Bruck, where they could be 
 seen for many years afterward. As a consequence of 
 this act of vandalism, Divisch gave up experimenting 
 with lightning-rods and with electricity itself. The 
 villagers were satisfied, but the world at large lost the 
 benefit that might accrue from the researches on atmos- 
 pheric electricity which Divisch would have carried on 
 during the remaining nineteen years of his life. 
 
 In giving up electricity, the disappointed priest turned 
 his attention, first, to acoustics and then, practical man 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 115 
 
 as he was, to the construction of musical instruments^ 
 It was not long before his genius brought out an 
 orchestrion of wind and stringed instruments which was 
 played like an organ with hands and feet, and which 
 was capable of 130 different combinations. Prince 
 Henry of Prussia offered a considerable sum of money 
 for the invention, but Divisch died while the prelimin- 
 aries of sale were arranging, and negotiations were 
 broken off. The instrument remained for many years 
 in the abbey at Bruck, where it was in daily use for the 
 canonical office. 
 
 It is a curious coincidence that Franklin was also 
 interested in musical instruments. He is credited with 
 having devised an improved form of glass harmonica, 
 one of which he presented to Queen Marie Antoinette. 
 
 Despite the bitter experience of Divisch, the intro- 
 duction of lightning conductors into Italy was warmly 
 advocated some years later by Padre Toaldo (1719-1797), 
 an admirer and correspondent of Franklin. It was 
 through his influence and personal activity that the 
 magnificent thirteenth-century Cathedral of Siena was 
 protected with lightning conductors after having been 
 repeatedly struck during the centuries and seriously 
 damaged. Toaldo published in 1774 his celebrated work 
 on the protection of public edifices and private buildings 
 against lightning; it contributed greatly to reassure 
 public opinion on the value of ''Franklinian rods," as 
 the conductors were commonly called. 
 
 It is a matter of regret that Franklin used the words 
 "the electric fluid is attracted by the points" in the 
 passage quoted above, inasmuch as in the popular mind 
 such "attraction" courts rather than averts danger. 
 As already said, the rod no more "attracts" light- 
 
116 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 ning than a rain-pipe attracts a downpour. Franklin 
 knew very well the twofold function of his rods, the 
 preventive, by which they tend to ward off the stroke 
 by gradually and silently neutralizing the excessive 
 energy of the cloud ; and the other, the 'preservative, by 
 which they convey the discharge safely to earth when 
 struck. He even complains of people who concentrate 
 their attention on the preventive function, forgetting 
 the other entirely, adding that, "Wherever my opinion 
 is examined in Europe, nothing is considered but the 
 probability of these rods preventing a stroke, which is 
 only a part of the use which I proposed for them ; and 
 the other part, their conducting a stroke which they 
 may happen not to prevent, seems to be totally for- 
 gotten, though of equal importance and advantage." 
 (1755.) 
 
 At a time, it was customary to make the rods rise to 
 a considerable height above the building, in the belief 
 that the diameter of the circle of protection was four 
 times the height of the rod. Such a rule was an arbi- 
 trary one which facts soon showed to be unreliable and 
 unsafe. It is now recognized that there is no such thing 
 as a definite area of protection. 
 
 Were this a literary chapter, we would point out that 
 either of the expressions "electric" storm or "light- 
 ning" storm is preferable to thunder-storm, because 
 electricity or lightning is the active agent or principal 
 feature of the impressive phenomenon. No one thinks 
 of calling a hailstorm by the descriptive term of patter- 
 storm ; yet that would be just as logical and appropriate 
 an appellative in one case as thunder-storm is in the 
 other. 
 
 Thunder-tube is certainly a startling misnomer applied 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 117 
 
 to the long, narrow, glazed tubes formed in siliceous 
 materials by the fervid heat of the flash, but not in any 
 way by the sound-waves produced by the crash. Thun- 
 der-holt does not mean, despite the common opinion, a 
 white-hot mass that accompanies the discharge ; it is 
 purely and simply the flash itself. A glowing mass that 
 happens to come down in the track of the discharge is a 
 meteorite, a body of cosmic not terrestrial origin, a visitor 
 from space that chose the rarefied path of the flash for 
 its descent to earth. 
 
 Again, there are no thunder-clouds in nature, only 
 electric clouds or lightning clouds ; nor is there ever 
 thunder in the air save when the lightning breaks from 
 cloud to cloud, or leaps from cloud to earth, or strikes 
 from earth to cloud. But though thunder is only occa- 
 sionally in the air, electricity always is. We have a 
 normal electrical field in all seasons, times and places. 
 
 Though it is the lightning that kills and not the thun- 
 der, we would not, however, object to the following in- 
 scription which we found on a tombstone : 
 
 " Here lies (so and so), oh ! what a wonder. 
 She was killed outright by a peal of thunder," 
 
 because the suddenness of the peal may have given the 
 aged lady a shock from which her failing heart was 
 unable to recover. 
 
 We are well aware that such criticism of technical 
 terms in popular use will have no reform effect what- 
 ever ; because as long as people will say "the sun rises " 
 and "the stars set," they will continue to speak of 
 thunder-clouds and thunder-storms, thunder-tubes and 
 thunder-bolts. Though containing an element of error, 
 these expressions have the sanction of the centuries ; 
 and so, they have come to stay. 
 
118 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Returning to Divisch, that worthy priest and pioneer 
 electrician died at Prenditz in his sixty-ninth year, on 
 Dec. 21st, 1765, and was buried in the little churchyard 
 where he had blessed many a grave during the twenty- 
 five years of his ministration. A simple inscription marks 
 the place of his interment, but a monument will soon be 
 erected to his memory which will tell the passerby where 
 sleeps the Premonstratensian pioneer of the lightning- 
 rod. 
 
 About three months before the erection of his rod, 
 i. e., in June, 1752, the idea occurred to Franklin that 
 he could approach the region of clouds just as well by 
 means of a common kite. Here are his words anent 
 the novel and famous experiment with the "lightning 
 kite": 
 
 ''Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the 
 arms so long as to reach to the four corners of a large 
 thin silk handkerchief when extended ; tie the corners 
 of the handkerchief to the extremities of the cross, 
 so you have the body of a kite, which, being properly 
 accommodated with a tail, loop and string, will rise in 
 the air, like those made of paper ; but this, being of 
 silk, is fitter to bear the wet and wind of a thunder-gust 
 without tearing. To the top of the upright stick is to 
 be fixed a very sharp-pointed wire, rising a foot or two 
 above the wood. In the end of the twine, next the 
 hand, is to be held a silk ribbon, and where the silk and 
 cord join a key may be fastened. This kite is to be 
 raised when a thunder-gust appears to be coming on, 
 and the person who holds the string must stand within 
 a door or window, or under some cover, so that the silk 
 ribbon may not be wet ; and care must be taken that 
 the twine does not touch the frame of the door or win- 
 dow. As soon as any of the thunder-clouds come over 
 the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire 
 from them, and the kite with all the twine will be elec- 
 trified, and the loose filaments of the twine will stand 
 out every way and be attracted by an approaching fin- 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 119 
 
 ger. And when the rain has wetted the kite, so that 
 it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it 
 stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of 
 your knuckle. At this key the phial may be charged, 
 and from electric fire thus obtained spirits may be kin- 
 dled and all the other electric experiments be performed 
 which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass 
 globe or tube, and thereby the sameness of the electric 
 matter with that of lightning completely demonstrated. "^ 
 
 Here we have the electric kite and manner of using it 
 fully described without, however, any direct statement 
 that the author himself actually experimented with it, 
 although he does say that the experiment was success- 
 fully carried out. This is strictly true, but it may be 
 safely contended that the precautions enumerated, the 
 observation about the fibres of the cord, its improved 
 conductivity when wetted by the rain and the like, all 
 'bespeak a knowledge of practical conditions that could 
 be obtained only by way of experiment. 
 
 But if Franklin is not outspoken on the matter, some 
 of his contemporaries are. Here is the kite incident as 
 related in the Continuation of the Life of Dr. Franklin, 
 by Dr. Stuber, a Philadelphian and intimate friend of 
 the Franklins : 
 
 "While Franklin was waiting for the erection of a 
 spire, it occurred to him that he might have more ready 
 access to the region of clouds by means of a common 
 kite. He prepared one by fastening two cross-sticks 
 to a silk handkerchief, which would not suffer so much 
 from the rain as paper. To the upright stick was af- 
 fixed an iron point. The string was, as usual, of hemp, 
 except the lower end, which was silk. Where the 
 hempen string terminated, a key was fastened. With 
 this apparatus, on the appearance of a thunder-gust 
 
 1 Every schoolboy knows that the electricity which passed down the kite-string 
 was not drawn from the clouds, but was due to their inductive action on the pointed 
 conductor attached to the kite. Kant calls Franklin the " Modern Prometheus." 
 
120 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 approaching, he went out into the commons, accom- 
 panied by his son, to whom alone he communicated his 
 intentions, well knowing the ridicule which, too gener- 
 ally for the interest of science, awaits unsuccessful ex- 
 periments in philosophy. He placed himself under a 
 shed to avoid the rain. His kite was raised. A thunder- 
 cloud passed over it. No sign of electricity appeared. 
 He almost despaired of success, when suddenly he ob- 
 served the loose fibres of his string move toward an 
 erect position. He now presented his knuckle to the 
 key and received a strong spark. Repeated sparks were 
 drawn from the key, the phial was charged, a shock 
 given, and all the experiments made which are usually 
 performed with electricity." 
 
 This testimony of a man who enjoyed the unlimited 
 confidence of Frankhn has a very matter-of-fact ring 
 about it ; there is not a note of uncertainty, not a word 
 indicating doubt that his friend and neighbor went out 
 to the fields accompanied by his robust son, carrying 
 along with them a queer assortment of electrical imped- 
 imenta. This son, William by name, was twenty-two 
 years of age at the time ; and as he died in 1813, eleven 
 years after the publication of Dr. Stuber's biographical 
 sketch, he had ample time to contradict the kite story 
 if instead of being a fact it were a mere romance. Nor 
 is this all, for Dr. Stuber's narrative, given above, 
 appears textually in the "Memoirs of the Life and 
 Writings of Benjamin Franklin," edited by his grandson 
 William Temple Franklin. The Doctor, be it remarked, 
 was very fond of his grandson, whose ' ' faithful service 
 and filial attachment" he warmly commends in several 
 of his letters, and whose regard for the memory of the 
 statesman led him to undertake the task of preparing 
 his works for publication. On page 211, Vol. I., he tells 
 us that "As Dr. Franklin mentioned his electrical dis- 
 coveries only in a very transient way, and as they are 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 121 
 
 of a most important and interesting nature, it has been 
 thought that a short disgression on the subject would 
 be excusable and not void of entertainment. For this 
 purpose the following account of the same, including 
 the first experiment of the lightning kite, as given by 
 Dr. Stuber, is here given." 
 
 In these concluding lines we have the testimony of 
 Franklin's grandson to the authenticity of the "light- 
 ning kite" story. Moreover, the account as given by 
 Stuber evidently meets with his cordial approval, since 
 he transcribes it verbatim ; and, as if to invest the quo- 
 tations with unimpeachable authority, he tells us in the 
 preface, p. viii., that "they deserve entire dependence 
 because of the accuracy of the information imparted." 
 
 A word now from Priestley, also one of Franklin's 
 intimate friends. In his History of Electricity, fourth 
 edition, p. 171, he says that "Dr. Franklin, astonishing 
 as it must have appeared, continued actually to bring 
 lightning from the heavens by means of an electrical 
 kite which he raised when a storm of thunder was per- 
 ceived to be coming on." Then follows a description 
 taken almost word for word from Dr. Stuber, whom he 
 styles "the best authority on the subject." 
 
 If, perchance, the above testimony should not be 
 deemed conclusive and final, all lingering doubt must be 
 removed by Franklin's own words, for in his Auto- 
 biography, after briefly referring to the experiments 
 made in France with pointed conductors, he adds: "I 
 will not swell this narrative with an account of that 
 capital experiment (the pointed conductor), nor of the 
 infinite pleasure which I received on the success of a 
 similar one I made soon after with a kite at Philadel- 
 phia, as both are to be found in histories of electricity." 
 
122 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Here, at last, we have Franklin's own word for it, 
 that he made the kite experiment, and that he made it 
 "soon after'* the demonstration of his electrical dis- 
 coveries which M. de Lor gave, by request, before 
 Louis XV. and his court. 
 
 The "lightning kite" is, therefore, not a myth, as 
 some have ventured to think, having been fully de- 
 scribed by Franklin in his letter to Peter Collinson, 
 dated October 19th, 1752, and having been made by him 
 some time in June of the same year. 
 
 We have now to see whether Franklin was antici- 
 pated in the idea of the kite or in its use for electrical 
 purposes. There are some who hold that he was 
 anticipated by M. de Romas as to the idea, but not 
 the actual experiment ; while others credit the French 
 magistrate with both. Let us examine the evidence 
 which there is for these opinions. 
 
 M. de Romas lived in Nerac, a small town some 
 seventy-five miles south of Bordeaux. He was a mem- 
 ber of the bar ; and at the time of the Franklinian furor 
 in Europe was a judge of the district court. He took 
 an interest in scientific matters quite unusual for men 
 of his profession, proceeding, as soon as he had read of 
 the efficiency of pointed conductors, to study their be- 
 havior for himself. His experiments met with surpris- 
 ing success, and were as much admired by the local 
 savants as they were dreaded by the common folk. 
 Letters containing his observations were regularly sent to 
 the Academy of Bordeaux, where they were read with 
 lively interest on account of their character and novelty. 
 From the published Actes of that body we learn that 
 the first kite used by de Romas was raised by him on 
 May 14th, 1753. Disappointment, however, attended 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 123 
 
 this attempt, no electrical manifestation being observed, 
 although rain fell and wetted the hempen cord. The 
 magistrate of Nerac attributed his failure to the resist- 
 ance of the string; and, like a good electrician, sur- 
 prisingly good for the time, determined to improve its 
 conductivity by wrapping a fine copper wire round its 
 entire length. When this long and tedious operation 
 was completed, he went out again to the fields on a 
 stormy day, when, assisted by two of his friends, he 
 raised the kite and soon got torrents of sparks from the 
 wire-wound cord. This was on June 7th, 1753. The 
 experiment was repeated from time to time, both for 
 his own satisfaction and that of his assistants as well 
 as for the entertainment of his ever-growing class of 
 admiring spectators. Kites 7i ft. long and 3 ft. wide 
 were raised 400 and even 550 ft. above ground when 
 flashes nine feet long and an inch thick were drawn, so 
 the account says, with the report of a pistol. The effect 
 must have been truly spectacular. The kite was held 
 by a silk ribbon fastened to the end of the hempen cord. 
 
 It is then a matter of history vouched for by the 
 Actes of the Academy of Bordeaux that May 14th, 1753, 
 is the day on which the first use of a kite for electrical 
 purposes was made in France ; on the other hand, it is 
 to be remembered that Franklin flew his "lightning 
 kite " in June, 1752, almost a year earlier. As far, 
 then, as the fact is concerned, the Philadelphia philoso- 
 pher was not anticipated by the Justice of Nerac. 
 
 From facts let us pass to writings. Franklin's letter 
 to Collinson, in which he describes the electric kite, is 
 dated October 19th, 1752, while that of M. de Romas, on 
 which the claim for priority is founded, was addressed 
 by him to the Academy of Bordeaux on July 12th, 1752, 
 
124 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 three months earlier. After a lengthy and interesting- 
 account of his experiments with pointed conductors, he 
 concludes his communication as follows : 
 
 "C'est la, Monsieur, ce qu* il y a de plus important, 
 car j'auraisbien d'autres particularites a vous communi- 
 quer ; maisma lettre, devenue d'une excessive longueur, 
 m'avertit de finir. Je me reserve de mettre au jour la 
 derniere (quoiquelle nesoit qu'un jeu d'enfant) lorsque 
 je me serai assure de la reussite par Texperience que je 
 me propose d'en faire et que je ne negHgerai pas." 
 
 In English this would read : ** Such, Sir, are the more 
 important points which I have to communicate, and ixy 
 which many others might be added, were it not for the 
 excessive length of this letter, which warns me that it 
 is time to bring it to a close. I will, however, give 
 publicity to the last one of all (though it is only a child's 
 plaything) as soon as I shall have assured myself of its 
 success by an experiment which I have devised and 
 which I shall not fail to make." 
 
 The words in brackets— " though it is only a child's 
 plaything"— are all important, for it is on them and on 
 them alone that the claim for priority has been put forth 
 and maintained. It will be seen that the word kite (ceTf- 
 volant), does not occur in the letter, so that there can 
 be no absolute certainty as to the nature of the jeu d^ en- 
 fant which the author had in mind, though it is very 
 likely that the kite was meant. In his Memoire sur les 
 moyens de se garantir de lafoudre dan^ les ynaisons, he 
 says, after describing some experiments that he had 
 made with pointed rods : "Neanmoins tou jours plein du 
 desir d'augmenter le volume du feu electricque, il fallut 
 chercher le moyen pour y parvenir. En consequence, je 
 me plongeai dans de nouvelles meditations. Enfin une 
 
FRANKLIJSr AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 125 
 
 demi-heure apres, tout au plus, le cerf- volant des enf ants 
 se presenta tout a coup a mon esprit, et il me tardait de 
 la mettre a I'epreuve. Par malheur, je n'en avals pas 
 le temps." In English: "Being anxious to augment 
 the quantity of electric fire, I began to think of some 
 means to effect my purpose, and soon became quite ab- 
 sorbed with the subject. Not more than half an hour 
 elapsed before the idea of the kite suddenly occurred to 
 me, and I longed for an opportunity to try it ; but unfor- 
 tunately I had not sufficient leisure at the time." The 
 work in which this passage occurs was published at Bor- 
 deaux in 1776, shortly after the death of the author. De 
 Romas always maintained that he did not borrow the idea 
 of the kite from anyone, but that it occurred to him while 
 pursuing his experiments with pointed conductors. 
 
 It must be admitted that de Romas could not have 
 been acquainted with Franklin's performance of June, 
 1752, when he sent to the Bordeaux Academy his letter 
 of July 12th, of the same year, for we cannot suppose 
 that in an age of sailing vessels such news would cross 
 the Atlantic and reach an obscure provincial town in the 
 southwest of France in the space of a month. On the 
 other hand, it is equally improbable that a vague allu- 
 sion to the electrical use of a kite made at Nerac on July 
 12th, by a man entirely unknown to fame as was de 
 Romas, should be talked of on the banks of the Schuyl- 
 kill before October 19th, the date of Franklin's memor- 
 able letter to Collinson. Moreover, the "jeu d' enfant'* 
 allusion as well as the very use of the kite by de Romas 
 failed so completely to attract the attention of scientific 
 men of his own country that he frequently and bitterly 
 complained down to the end of his life, in 1776, of their 
 persistent neglect of his claims to recognition. 
 
126 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 From all this, we conclude : 
 
 (a) That Franklin's " lightning kite " is not a myth,, 
 the experiment having been made by him in June, 1752, 
 and fully described by him in a memorable letter written 
 to Peter Collinson, of London, dated October 19th of the 
 same year : 
 
 (b) That de Romas independently had the idea of 
 using a kite for electrical purposes as early as July 12th, 
 1752 ; but that he did not carry out his idea until May 
 14th, 1753 ; and, furthermore, that he did not succeed in 
 getting any electrical manifestations until June 7th, 
 1753, his success then being due, at least in part, to the 
 clever idea which he had of entwining the cord with a 
 fine copper wire. Therefore, suum cuique. 
 
 In conclusion, we would say that the cardinal and 
 enduring achievements of Franklin are : 
 
 (1) His rejection of the two-fluid theory of electricity 
 and substitution of the one-fluid theory ; (2) his coinage 
 of the appropriate terms positive and negative, to denote 
 an excess or a deficit of the common electric fluid ; (3) 
 his explanation of the Ley den jar, and, notably, his 
 recognition of the paramount role played by the glass or 
 dielectric ; (4) his experimental demonstration of the 
 identity of lightning and electricity ; and (5) his inven- 
 tion of the lightning conductor for the protection of life 
 and property, together with his clear statement of its 
 preventive and protective functions. 
 
 If Franklin was well acquainted with electrical phe- 
 nomena, it is safe to say that his knowledge of human 
 nature was wider and deeper still. This appears con- 
 tinually in his Autobiography, in his political writings, 
 in business transactions and diplomatic relations. 
 
 On one occasion, while his re-election as clerk of the 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 127 
 
 General Assembly was pending, a certain member made 
 a long speech against him. Franklin listened witli 
 calm, dignified composure ; and after his election, instead 
 of resenting the opposition of the offending member, he 
 determined that it would be better to disarm his antag- 
 onism and win his friendship. For this purpose he 
 sent the assemblyman a courteously- worded request for 
 the loan of a very scarce book which was in his library. 
 The book was sent to Franklin, who returned it within 
 a week with a note of thanks, which had the desired 
 effect. Commenting on the event, our philosopher says 
 that ''it is more profitable to remove than to resent 
 inimical proceedings." 
 
 Some of Franklin's views on general political economy 
 are tersely set forth in the following passage : "There 
 seem, in fine, to be but three ways for a nation to ac- 
 quire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did in 
 plundering their conquered neighbor ; this is robbery. 
 The second is by commerce, which is generally cheating. 
 The third is by agriculture, the only honest way wherein 
 man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the 
 ground, in a kind of continual miracle wrought by the 
 hand of God in his favour, as a reward for his innocent 
 life and virtuous industry." 
 
 Franklin asserts his religious convictions in many 
 passages of his "Autobiography" as well as on many 
 occasions of his public life. Shocked by "Tom " Paine's 
 views of fundamental religious truths, he says : "I 
 have read your manuscript with some attention. By 
 the argument which it contains against a particu- 
 lar Providence, though you allow a general Prov- 
 idence, you strike at the foundation of all religion. 
 For, without the belief of a Providence that takes 
 
128 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 -cognizance of, guards and guides, and may favour par- 
 ticular persons, there is no motive to worship a Deity, 
 to fear His displeasure, or to pray for His protection. 
 I will not enter into any discussion of your principles, 
 though you seem to desire it. At present, I shall only 
 give you my opinion that, though your reasonings are 
 very subtile and may prevail with some readers, you 
 will not succeed so as to change the general sentiments 
 of mankind on that subject ; and the consequence of 
 printing this piece will be a great deal of odium drawn 
 upon yourself, mischief to you, and no benefit to others. 
 He that spits against the wind, spits in his own face." 
 This aphorism recalls the ripe wisdom contained in 
 many of the sayings of "Poor Richard," for Franklin 
 v/as a deep thinker, shrewd observer and quaint expos- 
 itor of his own philosophy. Continuing, he fleeces 
 Paine in the following noble words : "But were you to 
 succeed, do you imagine any good would be done by it? 
 You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life 
 without the assistance afforded by religion ; you having 
 a clear perception of the advantages of virtue and the 
 disadvantages of vice, and possessing strength of reso- 
 lution sufficient to enable you to resist common tempta- 
 tions. But think how great a portion of mankind 
 consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of 
 inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who 
 have need of the motives of religion to restrain them 
 from vice, to support them to virtue, and retain them 
 in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is 
 the great point for its security. And perhaps you are 
 indebted to her originally, that is, to your religious edu- 
 cation for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly 
 value yourself. You might easily display your excellent 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 129 
 
 talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and 
 thereby obtain a rank with our most distinguished 
 authors. For among us, it is not necessary, as among 
 the Hottentots, that a youth, to be raised into the com- 
 pany of men, should prove his manhood by beating his 
 mother." 
 
 Franklin concludes this magnificent expression of his 
 religious faith by the solemn warning : "I would advise 
 you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but 
 to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person ; 
 whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortifi- 
 cation by the enemies it may raise against you, and per- 
 haps a good deal of regret and repentance. If men are 
 so wicked with religion, what would they be without it?" 
 
 Franklin's belief in the cardinal doctrine of the res- 
 urrection of the body is well expressed in the epitaph 
 which he wrote for himself in 1728, when in his twenty- 
 second year. It reads 
 
 The Body 
 
 Of 
 
 Benjamin Franklin 
 
 Printer, 
 
 (Like the cover of an old book 
 
 Its contents torn out 
 
 And stript of its lettering and gilding) 
 
 Lies here, food for worms. 
 
 But the work shall not be lost 
 
 For it will (as he believed) appear once more 
 
 In a new and more elegant edition 
 
 Revised and corrected 
 
 By 
 
 The Author. 
 
130 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 However, when the statesman and philosopher was 
 laid at rest beside his wife in the Cemetery of Christ 
 Church, Philadelphia, in 1790, the marble slab which 
 marked the grave bore no other inscription than Frank- 
 lin's name and the date of his death. 
 
 Appreciating the great loss which the country sus- 
 tained by the death of Franklin, Congress ordered a 
 general mourning for one month throughout the four- 
 teen States of the Union ; and the French National As- 
 sembly decreed three days of public mourning at the 
 instance of Mirabeau, who said in his address that "The 
 genius that gave freedom to America and scattered tor- 
 rents of light upon Europe, has returned to the bosom 
 of the Divinity. Antiquity would have erected altars 
 to that mortal who for the advantage of the human 
 race, embracing both heaven and earth in his vast mind, 
 knew how to subdue both thunder and tyranny." 
 
 The fugitive apprentice boy of 1723 turned out to be 
 one of the most esteemed and eminent Americans of his 
 day. Of an even temper and well-balanced mind, he was 
 plain in dress, simple in manner, easy of approach and 
 friendly to all. The success which he achieved during 
 his long career of eighty-five years, shows what may be 
 done by seizing the opportunities which come to every 
 one, by concentration of mind, application to duty and 
 tenacity of purpose. He attained distinction in science, 
 in letters, in diplomacy ; he stood for good government 
 and true liberty. His name is a household one in his 
 own country, where monuments, institutions and cities 
 will bear it down to posterity. 
 
FRANKLIN AND SOME CONTEMPORARIES 131 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 The Lightning Kite. 
 
 Fully described by Franklin in a letter to Peter 
 Collinson, of London, dated October 19th, 1752. 
 
 Stuberin his ** Continuation of the Life of Dr. Frank- 
 lin, ' ' and Priestley in his ' ' History of Electricity, ' ' affirm 
 that Franklin made the experiment in June, 1752. 
 
 Franklin's son, William, never denied the story, al- 
 though he figured in it as an active character. 
 
 William Temple Franklin, who prepared for publica- 
 tion his grandfather's works, gives the kite story almost 
 verbatim from Stuber. 
 
 Finally, Franklin himself states that he made the ex- 
 periment: Memoirs, Vol. L, p. 164. 
 
 Franklin and de Romas. 
 
 June, 1752 : Franklin raises his kite in a field near 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 July 12, 1752 : Letter of de Romas to the Academy of 
 Bordeaux, in which a probable reference is made to the 
 kite as unjeu d' enfant. 
 
 October 19th, 1752 : Franklin describes the "lightning 
 kite " in a letter to Peter Collinson, of London. 
 
 May 14th, 1753 : First use by de Romas of the electric 
 kite in the fields around Nerac ; no result. 
 
 June 7th, 1753 : First success by de Romas with his 
 electric kite. 
 
 Pointed Conductor. 
 
 Suggested by Franklin in letter to Peter Collinson, of 
 London, dated July 29th, 1750. 
 
 D'Alibard, following Franklin's instructions, gets tor- 
 rents of discharges from his iron rod 40 feet high at 
 Marly, May 10th, 1752. 
 
132 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 De Lor gets good results from his conductor 99 feet 
 high, erected over his house in Paris, May 18th, 1752. 
 De Buffon succeeds with his rod on May 19th, 1752. 
 
 FrankHn erected the first rod over his house in Phila- 
 delphia in September, 1752. It was made of iron with a 
 sharp steel point rising seven or eight feet above the 
 roof, the other end being sunk five feet in the ground. 
 Franklin charged a Leyden jar from his rod in April, 
 1753. Professor Richmann, of St. Petersburg, was killed 
 by a flash from his apparatus on August 6th, 1753. 
 
 Brother Potamian. 
 
ALOISIO GALVANI 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 133 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Galvani, Discoverer of Animal Electricity. 
 
 It is a well-known fact, often commented on in the 
 history of medicine, that Harvey, the discoverer of the 
 circulation of the blood, did not give the details of his 
 discovery to the public for some twenty years after he 
 had first reached it. The reason for his delay was two- 
 fold. With the characteristic patience of a real in- 
 vestigator in science, Harvey wanted to work out the 
 details of his discovery for himself before giving it to 
 the public, and wished to be sure of all he would have 
 to say about it before committing it to print. He had 
 not, as had indeed none of the really great discoverers 
 in science, that intense desire for publicity which causes 
 smaller men to rush into print with their embryonic 
 discoveries, or oftener, their supposed discoveries, the 
 moment they get their first distant glimpse of a new 
 truth or see some mirage of a distant scientific principle, 
 perhaps already well known, in their heated imagina- 
 tions. Small men squabble about priority in small dis- 
 coveries, and rush headlong into print, lest some one 
 should anticipate their wonderful observation. The 
 example of Harvey can scarcely be commended too 
 highly, for if followed, it would save the world of 
 science a lot of bother and obviate the necessity of tak- 
 ing back many things that have been proclaimed in the 
 name of science. Fortunately, it has been the rule 
 
134 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 among genuine students of science, not because of any- 
 deliberate imitation of their great predecessors, but 
 because of modest assurance of the worth of their work 
 and honest desire to perfect it before giving it to the 
 world. 
 
 Luigi, or, as he preferred to be known himself, 
 Aloysio Galvani, for the young prince of the house of 
 Gonzaga whose canonization made him St. Aloysius was 
 his patron in baptism and a favorite in life, presents an 
 interesting exemplification of this characteristic trait of 
 the really great discoverer in science, to wait calmly and 
 work faithfully for thorough confirmation of his views 
 before publishing them. His admirable patience in 
 reaching the real significance of his discovery before 
 proclaiming the results of his investigations is only a 
 typical illustration of the modest thorough scientist that 
 he was. It used to be said that Galvani's discovery of 
 the twitchings of the frog's legs, which led him to give 
 himself to serious investigations into animal electricity, 
 was made more or less by accident in 1786. His views 
 on the subject of animal electricity were not formally 
 published until the appearance of his treatise, De Viribus 
 Electricitatis in Motu Musculari Commentarius, in the 
 eighth volume of the Memoirs of the Institute of Science 
 of Bologna, published in 1791. This would seem to 
 indicate that only five years elapsed between his orig- 
 inal observation and the publication of his views. Even 
 this interval may seem long enough to our modern 
 notions of at least supposed rapidity of scientific pro- 
 gress, but we know now, from documents in the 
 possession of the Institute of Science at Bologna, that, 
 twenty years previous to the publication of this 
 commentary, Galvani was deeply interested in the 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 135 
 
 action of electricity upon the muscles of frogs, and was 
 diligently and fruitfully occupied during his spare time 
 with investigations upon this subject. 
 
 When, in Makers of Modern Medicine,^ I called spec- 
 ial attention to the fact that practically all of the great- 
 est discoverers in medicine had made their cardinal 
 discovery, or at least the far-reaching observation that 
 opened up for them the special career in investiga- 
 tion that was to make them famous, before they were 
 thirty-five, one of my critics doubted the assertion and 
 suggested the case of Galvani as a distinct exception. 
 Ordinarily, it is presumed that his discovery of the 
 twitchings of frogs' legs under the influence of electric- 
 ity was made in 1786, when he was in his forty-ninth 
 year. As a matter of fact, however, his first observa- 
 tions were made and his attention attracted to the im- 
 portance of the subject when he was scarcely more than 
 thirty. His career is indeed a striking example of the 
 earliness in life at which a great man's work is likely 
 to come to him, and yet illustrates very aptly the pa- 
 tience with which he devotes himself to it, without 
 seeking the idle reputation to be derived from imme- 
 diate announcement, if he really has the true spirit of 
 the scientific investigator. 
 
 Galvani began original work of a high order very 
 early in his medical career. His graduation thesis on 
 the human skeleton treated especially of the formation 
 and development of bone, and attracted no little atten- 
 tion. It is noteworthy because of the breadth of view 
 in it, for it touches on the various questions relative 
 to osteology, from the standpoint of physics and 
 chemistry, as well as medicine and surgery. It was 
 
 1 Fordham Univeisity Press, 1906. 
 
136 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 sufficient to obtain for its author the place of lecturer 
 in anatomy in the University of Bologna, besides the 
 post of director of the teaching of anatomy in the In- 
 stitute of Sciences, a subsidiary institution. Here, from 
 the very beginning, Galvani's course was popular. He 
 was not, as we note elsewhere, a fluent talker, but he 
 was one 6t the first who introduced experimental 
 demonstrations of his subject into his lectures, and this 
 made his teaching very attractive and drew crowds to 
 his university courses. 
 
 Galvani's work as an anatomist, however, was done 
 much more in comparative anatomy than in the study 
 of the human being. He selected birds for the special 
 subject of his first investigations in the field, and his 
 monograph on the kidneys of birds attracted wide- 
 spread attention among the scientists of Europe. As 
 the farthest removed from man of the beings that are 
 warm-blooded, these creatures have always attracted 
 particular attention, and, quite apart from any interest 
 in evolution, were the subject of special investigation. 
 Owing to the facility with which they can be studied in 
 embryonic stages in the hatching egg, most of the 
 peculiarities of their structure and development are 
 very well known now. The kidneys of the bird are 
 especially interesting, because they represent a different 
 phase of development from that of human beings. Gal- 
 vani had selected, then, one of the cardinal or turning- 
 point subjects in comparative anatomy. As he pointed 
 out very clearly, the kidneys of birds differ very much 
 among themselves, and the intense muscular action of 
 this creature makes a large amount of excretory material, 
 that must be disposed of, and consequently demands 
 much more active kidney function than occurs in most 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 137 
 
 other classes of animals. Galvani studied every feature 
 —the vessels, the nerves, the canals— and almost nec- 
 essarily pointed out many new points or added hitherto 
 unknown details. 
 
 He next devoted himself to the study of the ear of 
 the bird. This might seem to be of little special inter- 
 est, since hearing is not one of the most characteristic 
 qualities of the winged species. It so happens, how- 
 ever, that the semi-circular canals which are closely 
 connected with the auditory apparatus in all animals 
 are extremely large in birds. As a consequence of this, 
 the avian auditory structures assume an importance in 
 comparative anatomy quite like that of the kidneys in 
 the same species. After Galvani had completed his 
 studies, he found that he had been anticipated by an- 
 other great Italian anatomist of the time, Antonio 
 Scarpa (of Scarpa's triangle in human anatomy), who 
 afterwards became the Chief Surgeon to Napoleon. 
 Galvani abandoned the idea of publishing his book then, 
 but published a short article, in which he added much 
 to Scarpa's details and conclusions. His additions were 
 particularly with regard to the semi-circular canals, 
 which are probably the organ of direction, the necessity 
 for which, in this species, for the purpose of flying, is 
 so easy to understand. He also described with great 
 care the single ossicle or small bone, which replaces the 
 chain of little bones that exist in mammal ears, and 
 pointed out that the shape of this bone and its append- 
 ages enabled it to fulfil, though single, all the functions 
 of the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup bones in 
 human beings. 
 
 Galvani's careful study of the semi-circular canals of 
 various species of birds can perhaps be better appre- 
 
138 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 ciated from the fact that he made it a point to measure 
 their size exactly, as compared to the semi-circular 
 canals of most other creatures. He found that the 
 semi-circular canals of the hawk, for instance, were 
 larger than the corresponding structures in man or even 
 in the cow or the horse. As these latter animals are 
 many hundred times larger than the largest birds, the 
 special significance of the canals in birds becomes mani- 
 fest. In certain of the birds, as he pointed out, these 
 structures are not semi-circles, nor indeed of circular 
 form at all, but take on much more the shape of an 
 ellipse, and, indeed, sometimes the arc of curvature of 
 the ellipse is quite acute. He seems to have had no 
 hint, however, of the function that we have in modern 
 times assigned to these structures, that of presiding 
 over direction and equilibrium, and discusses in his 
 rather vigorous Latin what the physiological significance 
 of them may be as regards hearing. He thinks that 
 they add something to the acuity of hearing, and would 
 seem to imply that in birds flying rapidly through the 
 air, there was the necessity for a more perfect hearing 
 apparatus than among other creatures, and that this 
 was the reason for the huge development of their semi- 
 circular canals. 
 
 At this time the science of comparative anatomy was 
 just beginning to attract widespread attention. John 
 Hunter, in London, was doing a great work in this line, 
 which placed him in the front rank of contributors to 
 biology and collectors of important facts in all the sci- 
 ences allied to anatomy and physiology. Galvani's 
 work on birds, then, made him a pioneer in the biologi- 
 cal sciences that were to attract so much attention 
 during the nineteenth century. His experimental work 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 139 
 
 in comparative anatomy, strange as it might seem, 
 and apparently not to be expected, led him into the do- 
 main of electricity, through the observation of certain 
 phenomena of animal electricity and the effects of elec- 
 trical currents on animals. 
 
 Like so many other great discoveries in science, 
 Galvani's first attraction to his subject of animal elec- 
 tricity is often said to have been the result of a happy 
 accident. Of course it is easy to talk of accidents in 
 these cases. Archimedes and his bath ; the fall of the 
 apple for Newton ; Laennec's observation of the boys 
 tapping on a log in the courtyard of the Louvre and 
 the ready conduction of sound, from which he got his 
 idea for the invention of the stethoscope ; Lord Kelvin's 
 eye-glass falling and showing him how a weightless 
 arm for his electrometer might be obtained in a beam of 
 light,— may all be called happy accidents if you will. 
 Without the inventive scientific genius ready to take 
 advantage of them, however, these accidents would not 
 have been raised to the higher plane of important in- 
 cidents in the history of science. These phenomena 
 had probably occurred under men's eyes hundreds of 
 times before, but there was no great mind ready to 
 receive the seeds of thought suggested, nor to follow 
 out the conclusions so obviously indicated. Galvani's 
 observation of the twitching of the muscles of the frog 
 under the influence of electricity, may be called one of 
 the happy accidents of scientific development, but it 
 was Galvani's own genius that made the accident happy. 
 
 There are two stories told as to the method of the 
 first observation in this matter. Both of them make 
 his wife an important factor in the discovery. Accord- 
 ing to a popular but less authentic form of the history, 
 
140 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Galvani was engaged in preparing some frogs' legs as 
 a special dainty for his wife, who was ill and liked this 
 delicacy very much. He thought so much of her that 
 he was doing this himself, in the hope that she would 
 be thus more readily tempted to eat them. While so 
 engaged, he exposed the large nerve of the animal's 
 hind legs, and at the same time split the skin covering 
 the muscles. In doing this he touched the nerve muscle 
 preparation, as this has come to be called, with the scal- 
 pel and the forceps simultaneously, with the result that 
 twitchings occurred. While seeking the cause of these 
 twitchings, the idea of animal electricity came to him. 
 
 The other form of the story is told a little later in 
 Galvani 's own words in the analysis of his monograph 
 on animal electricity. He does not mention his wife in 
 it, but there is a tradition that she was present in the 
 laboratory when the phenomenon of the twitching of the 
 frog's legs was first noticed, and indeed that it was she 
 who called his attention to the curious occurrence. 
 
 She was a woman of well-developed intellect, and her as- 
 sociation with her father and also with her husband made 
 her well-acquainted with the anatomy and physiology 
 of the day. She realized that what had occurred was 
 quite out of the ordinary. She is even said to have 
 suggested their possible connection with the presence 
 and action of the electric apparatus. Husband and 
 wife, then, together, by means of a series of observa- 
 tions determined that, whenever the apparatus was not 
 in use the phenomenon of the convulsive movements of 
 the frog's legs did not take place, notwithstanding irri- 
 tation by the scalpel. Whenever the electric apparatus 
 was working, however, then the phenomenon in ques- 
 tion always took place. According to either form of 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 141 
 
 the story, if we accept the traditions in the matter, Ma- 
 dame Galvani had an important part in the discovery. 
 
 Galvani's most important contribution to science is 
 undoubtedly his De Viribus Electricitatis in Motu Mus- 
 culari Commentarius— Commentary on the Forces of 
 Electricity in Their Relation to Muscular Motion. Like 
 many another epoch-making contribution to science, it 
 is not a large work, but in his collected works in the edition 
 of 1841, occupies altogether sixty-four pages, of scarcely 
 more than two hundred and fifty words to the page. 
 There are probably not more than fifteen thousand 
 words in it altogether. It was published originally in 
 the eighth volume of the Memoirs of the Institute of 
 Science at Bologna, in 1791, but a reprint of it, with 
 some modifications, was issued at Modena in the follow- 
 ing year. This Modenese edition, published by the 
 Societa Typographica, was annotated by Professor 
 Giovanni Aldini, who also wrote an accompanying dis- 
 sertation, De Animalis Electricae Theoriae Ortu Atque 
 Incrementis, On the Rise and Development of the 
 Theory of Animal Electricity. In this volume was also 
 published a letter from Galvani to Professor Carminati, 
 in Italian, on the Seat of Animal Electricity. These 
 two editions are the sources to which we must turn for 
 whatever Galvani tried to make known with regard to 
 animal electricity. 
 
 This little volume consists of four parts : the first of 
 which is devoted to a consideration of the effects of ar- 
 tificial electricity on muscular motion ; the second is on 
 the effect of atmospheric electricity on muscular motion ; 
 the third is on the effect of animal electricity on mus- 
 cular motion ; and the fourth consists of a series of 
 -^conjectures and some conclusions from his observations. 
 
142 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 The arrangement of the work, as can readily be under- 
 stood from this, is thoroughly scientific. Galvani pro- 
 ceeds from what was best known and most evident to 
 what he knew less about, trying to enlarge the bounds 
 of knowledge and then suggesting the conclusions that 
 might be drawn from his work and offering a number of 
 hints as to the possible significance of many of the 
 phenomena that might form suggestive material for 
 further experimentation along this same line. In spite 
 of the f orbiddingness of the Latin to a modern scientist, 
 as a rule, the little work is well worthy of study because 
 of its eminently scientific method and the excellent 
 evidence it affords of the way serious students of sci- 
 ence approached a scientific thesis before the beginning 
 of the nineteenth century. 
 
 The first paragraph of this dissertation is of such 
 fundamental significance, because it represents the pri- 
 mal work done in animal electricity, that it has seemed 
 to me worth while presenting entire. The original 
 Latin from which the translation is made, and from 
 which a good idea of Galvani's Latin style may be ob- 
 tained, is given in a note.^ 
 
 1 Ranam dissecui, atque praeparavi ut in fig. 2 Tab. V. eamque in tabula, omnia 
 mihi alia proponens, in qua erat mechina electrica fig. 1, collocavi ab ejus conductore 
 penitus sejunctam, atque baud brevi intervallo dissitam; dum scalpelli cuspidem unus 
 ex iis, qui mihi operam dabant, cruralibus hujus ranae internis nervis DD casu vel 
 leviter admoveret, continue omnes artuum musculi ita contrahi visi sunt, ut in vehe- 
 mentiores incidisse tonicas convulsiones viderentur. Eorum vero alter, qui nobis 
 electricitatem tentantibus praesto erat, animadvertere sibi visus est, rem contingere 
 dum ex conductere machinae scintilla extorqueretur fig. 1 B. Rei novitatem ille ad- 
 miratus de eadem statim me alia omnino molientem ac mecum ipso cogitantem 
 admonuit. His ego incredibili cum studio, et cupiditate incensus idem experiundi, 
 et quod occultum in re esset in lucem pro f erendi admovi propterea et ipse scai: 
 pelli cuspidem uni vel alteri crurali nervo, quo tempore unus aliquis ex iis, qui aderant, 
 scintillam eliceret. Phoenomenon eadem omnino ratione contigit; vehement^ nimi- 
 rum contractiones in singulos artum musculos, perinde ac si tetano praeparatum ani- 
 mal -esset eorreptum, eodem ipso temporis momento inducebantur, quo scintillae 
 extorquerentur. 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 143 
 
 " I had dissected a frog and had prepared it, as in 
 Figure 2 of the fifth plate (in which is shown a nerve 
 muscle preparation) , and had placed it upon a table on 
 which there was an electric machine, while I set about 
 doing certain other things. The frog was entirely 
 separated from the conductor of the machine, and 
 indeed was at no small distance away from it. While 
 one of those who were assisting me touched lightly and 
 by chance the point of his scalpel to the internal crural 
 nerves of the frog, suddenly all the muscles of its limbs 
 were seen to be so contracted that they seemed to have 
 fallen into tonic convulsions. Another of my assistants, 
 who was making ready to take up certain experiments 
 in electricity with me, seemed to notice that this hap- 
 pened only at the moment when a spark came from the 
 conductor of the machine. He was struck with the 
 novelty of the phenomenon, and immediately spoke to 
 me about it, for I was at the moment occupied with 
 other things and mentally preoccupied. I was at once 
 tempted to repeat the experiment, so as to make clear 
 whatever might be obscure in it. For this purpose I 
 took up the scalpel and moved its point close to one or 
 the other of the crural nerves of the frog, while at the 
 same time one of my assistants elicited sparks from the 
 electric machine. The phenomenon happened exactly 
 as before. Strong contractions took place in every 
 muscle of the limb, and at the very moment when the 
 sparks appeared, the animal was seized as it were with 
 tetanus." 
 
 Galvani then explains in detail how he made observa- 
 tions on control frogs at moments when there were no 
 electric sparks, and decided that the contact with the 
 scalpel was only effective in producing twitchings when 
 
144 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 there was a simultaneous electric spark. He noted, 
 also, that occasionally the contractions did not occur, in 
 spite of the fulfilment of the conditions mentioned. He 
 traced this to fatigne. He then proceeded to vary the 
 experiment in many ways, decreasing the size of the 
 scalpel, increasing and decreasing the size of the electric 
 machine and varying the method of preparation of the 
 frog, so as to decide just what the significance of the 
 phenomenon was. In a general way, it may be said 
 that this study shows Galvani as one of the most care- 
 ful of experimentalists, though he has often been de- 
 clared to be a theorizer, rather than an observer. 
 
 A very interesting anticipation of Galvani 's original 
 experiment, made long before his time by a great 
 naturalist, the story of which serves to show that 
 discoveries made before their time, that is, before people 
 are ready to follow them up, fail to attract attention, has 
 been called to my attention by Brother Potamian. In 
 the second volume of the Dutch Naturalist Swammer- 
 dam's Works, page 839, is to be found the following 
 passage:^ "Another experiment that is at once very 
 curious and suggestive can be made if one separates the 
 
 1 For the sake of those who might care to see how the great Dutch naturalist 
 expressed these curious scientific notions in Latin, the original text seems worth 
 while giving. 
 
 "Jucundissimum porro juxta ac utilissimum experimentum aliud institui potest, 
 si quidam e maximis Musculis de Ranae Femore separetur, atque una cum adhaerente 
 suo Nervo ita praeparetur, ut hie illaesus permaneat. Quodsi enim, hoc peracto, 
 utrumaue Musculi hujus Tendinem a, a manibus prehenderis, Nenrumque ejus pro- 
 pendentem forsicula aliove quodam instrument© de in irritaveris b ; pristinum, quern 
 amiserat, motum suum mox recuperabit Musculus. Videbis hinc ilico eum contrahi, ■ 
 binasque manus, quae Tendines ejus adtinent, ad se mutuo veluti adducere : prout 
 olim jam. anno 1658, Blustrissimo Duci Hetrusco, cummaxime regnanti, demonstravi; 
 quum Is immerito sane favore ad me invisere non dedignaretur. Hoc ipsum vero ex- 
 perimentum eodem in Musculo tarn crebro & diu reiterari potest, donee ulla Nervi 
 pars illaesa f uerit : ut ideo toties sic ad pristinam contractionem suam lacessere 
 Musculum valeamus, quoties nobis libuerit." 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 145 
 
 largest of the muscles of the thigh of the frog and so 
 prepares it with its adherent nerve as to leave it unhurt. 
 If after this has been done you take the tendons of this 
 muscle, one in each hand, and irritate the hanging nerve 
 by a little forceps or other instrument, the muscle will 
 recover the formal motion which it had lost. You will 
 see at once that it contracts and that there will be an 
 effort as it were to bring together the two hands which 
 hold its tendons. This I demonstrated, in the year 1658, 
 to the illustrious Duke of Tuscany then reigning, when 
 he was at the moment in a state of mind that prompted 
 him not to favor me. This same experiment can be 
 repeated with the same muscle as often and for as long 
 a time as any portion of the nerve remains uninjured, so 
 that we may, therefore, irritate the muscle to its former 
 contraction as often as we wish." 
 
 As a foundation classic in electricity, Galvani's De 
 Viribus Electricitatis deserves more detailed analysis. 
 The first part of the monograph is taken up with 
 experiments of many kinds, with what may be called 
 artificial sources of electricity— the electric machine, the 
 Leyden jar, and other modes of electrical development. 
 The second part treats of the effects of atmospheric 
 electricity upon muscular motion, by which expression 
 Galvani means lightning, though he also observed vari- 
 ous electrical manifestations in the muscles of his frogs 
 when there was no actual lightning but only darkening 
 of the heavens, without actual passage of the current 
 flash from one cloud to another or from the clouds to the 
 earth. In this matter, Galvani displayed quite as much 
 courage as patient observation. He knew the fate of 
 Richmann, the Russian scientist, who had been struck 
 dead by a lightning-bolt while making experiments not 
 
146 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 very different, yet he dared to place a lightning con- 
 ductor on the highest point of his house, and to this 
 conductor he attached a wire, which ran down to his 
 laboratory. During a storm, he suspended on this 
 metallic circuit, by means of their sciatic nerves, frogs' 
 legs and the legs of other animals prepared for the pur- 
 pose. To the feet of the animals he attached another 
 wire sufficiently long to reach down to the bottom of a 
 well, thus grounding the circuit. 
 
 Not satisfied with this study of the influence of 
 lightning and large electrical disturbances in the air 
 on the preparation of the frog as he had made it, Gal- 
 vani set about discovering whether even the slight 
 differences in electrical potential which occur during 
 the day in atmospheric electricity might not give rise, 
 even in fair weather, to certain contractions of the 
 frog's muscles. He made his observations for many 
 days at many different hours and under varying con- 
 ditions of light and shade, of heat and cold, with- 
 out finding anything. There were occasional contrac- 
 tions, but they bore no definite relation to variations 
 in the atmosphere, or the electric state of the at- 
 mosphere. Galvani satisfied himself of this very 
 thoroughly, and with a patience and diligence worthy 
 of emulation by a Fellow at a modern university work- 
 ing on a foundation for the determination of a partic- 
 ular question. 
 
 The third part of the work is the most important as well 
 as the longest, and contains the ideas which are original 
 with Galvani, but which met most opposition in his 
 time and have only been properly appreciated in recent 
 years. Galvani came to the conclusion that there is 
 such a thing as animal electricity. This led to a 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 147 
 
 famous controversy with Volta, in which their con- 
 temporaries judged that Galvani had the worst of it; 
 but, as so often happens, their successors a century- 
 later would judge that Galvani's views were more in 
 accord with what we know at the present time. Criti- 
 cism is always easier than scientific advance, and in a 
 controversy it is usually the man who writes most for- 
 cibly, rather than the one- who thinks most deeply, who 
 secures the assent of readers. This makes controversy 
 in matters of science always unfortunate, for it does 
 much more to retard than to help scientific progress. 
 
 Galvani insists, at the end of this chapter on animal 
 electricity, that what he writes is entirely the result of 
 experiment, and that he has tried in every way to make 
 his experiments from a thoroughly critical standpoint. 
 Those who repeat his observations will find this to be 
 true, though he confesses that there are times when 
 conditions not well understood seem to hinder the re- 
 sults that he usually obtained. 
 
 The fourth part of his commentary is taken up with 
 certain conjectures, as he calls them, and some conclu- 
 sions from his work. In this he suggests the use of 
 electricity for the cure of certain nervous diseases, and 
 especially for the treatment of the various forms of 
 paralysis. The use of electricity for these cases had 
 been previously suggested, and Bertholinus had told 
 the story of patients who were utterly unable to move 
 and who had recovered after having been in the neigh- 
 borhood where a lightning-bolt had struck. To the 
 minds of physicians of that time, this must have seemed 
 proof positive of the curative value of lightning, and, 
 therefore, of electricity, for paralytic conditions. The 
 remedy was heroic, if not indeed positively risky, but its 
 
148 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 good effect could not be doubted. Unfortunately, as is 
 always true in medical matters, the real question at 
 issue in these cases is not so much the value of the 
 remedy as the propriety of the diagnosis. Paralysis, 
 in the sense of inability to use one or more limbs, may 
 be due to many causes. There are a number of forms 
 of functional or hysterical palsy, that is, of incapacity 
 to use certain groups of muscles not dependent on any 
 organic lesion, but upon some curious state of the ner- 
 vous system which may pass away entirely, and which, 
 indeed, seem to be dependent on the patient's state of 
 mind. A number of so-called paralytic patients were 
 cured by the earthquake in San Francisco ; some are made 
 to do the apparently impossible every year ; they get up 
 and walk because of the shock due to a fire or burglars. 
 We know now that the electrical status of the individual 
 is very carefully protected from disturbance by external 
 electrical forces. What Galvani began has borne fruit in 
 diagnosis more than treatment, so that his prophecy has 
 been amply fulfilled. "The application of this method 
 may throw light on the subject and experience may help 
 us to understand it." 
 
 Among his conclusions, Galvani hints that electricity 
 may not only proceed from the clouds during electrical 
 disturbances, but also may proceed from the earth it- 
 self, and that living beings may be affected by this. 
 He suggests, therefore, that plants and animals may 
 be influenced in their growth and in their health by 
 such electrical changes. He adds the suggestion that 
 there may be some intimate connection between electri- 
 cal phenomena and earthquakes, and suggests that, in 
 countries where earthquakes are frequent, observations 
 should be made by means of frogs' limbs in order to see 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 149 
 
 whether there may not be some definite change in the 
 electrical conditions of the atmosphere before and dur- 
 ing the earthquake. He seems to have had some idea 
 that the curious feelings which at times come before 
 an earthquake to human beings, though they seem 
 even more noticeable in animals, may be due to this 
 change in atmospheric electricity.^ 
 
 We are rather prone to think that news of scientific 
 discoveries traveled slowly in Europe in the eighteenth 
 century. There is abundant evidence of the contrary in 
 these sketches of electricians, and Galvani's case is one 
 of the most striking. How much attention Galvani's 
 discovery attracted and how soon definite details of it 
 spread to the other end of Europe may be judged from 
 the fact that, in 1793, Mr. Richard Fowler published 
 a small book at Edinburgh bearing the title, Experi- 
 ments and Observations Relative to the Influence Lately 
 Discovered by M. Galvani, and commonly called Animal 
 Electricity. 2 This little book, which may be seen at 
 the Surgeons General Library, Washington, and in the 
 Library of the American Institute of Electrical Engi- 
 neers, New York, details a large number of experi- 
 ments that Fowler had made during the preceding year 
 or more, so that Galvani's work must have reached 
 
 1 With Galvani's attention to medical electricity, it is not surprising that for sev- 
 eral years, beginning with 1873, an Italian medical journal called II Galvani, with the 
 sub-title Giornale di Elettro-Idro-ed Aero Terapia, was published at Milan. Its direc- 
 tors were the brothers Themistocles and Ulysses Santopadre. Those who think that 
 an exaggeration of claims for electrical influence on various diseases is of comparatively 
 recent date, will do well to consult that journal. The prophylaxis of yellow-fever is 
 suggested by means of static electricity. The cause of yellow-fever is declared to be 
 a disturbance of the electro-magnetic conditions of the body. Everything, from 
 skin diseases to uterine inertia, chloroform asphyxia, aphasia, and the various forms 
 of paralysis, and Basedow's disease, are described as cured by electrical treatment. 
 So does science become the nursing mother of quackery. 
 
 2 Edinburgh, 1793. 
 
150 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 him within a few months after its pubHcation. Fowler 
 mentions the fact that Galvani had been occupied many- 
 years before this in the study of electric fishes, especially 
 the torpedo, the gymnotus dectricus and silurus electri- 
 cits. He also mentions a curious observation of Cotugno, 
 who, a few years before, had received a shock from a 
 mouse while dissecting the little animal, which makes 
 it clear that imagination played a role in helping to the 
 introduction of the newer ideas with regard to animal 
 electricity.^ 
 
 But before his discovery was to attract so much at- 
 tention, Galvani had to work it out, and this is the 
 merit of the man. 
 
 It is almost needless to say, these experiments upon 
 frogs were not accomplished in a few days or a few 
 weeks. Galvani had his duties as Professor of Anatomy 
 to attend to besides the obligations imposed upon him as 
 a busy practitioner of medicine and surgery. At that 
 time, it was not nearly so much the custom as it is at the 
 present, to use frogs for experiments, with the idea 
 that conclusions might be obtained of value for the bio- 
 logical sciences generally, and especially for medicine. 
 There has always been such an undercurrent of feeling, 
 that such experiments have been more or less a beating 
 of the air. Galvani found this opposition not only to 
 his views with regard to animal electricity as enunciated 
 after experimental demonstration, but also met with no 
 little ridicule because of the supposed waste of time at 
 occupations that could not be expected to lead to any 
 
 1 In 1795, one of the theses presented for the Fellowship of the Royal College of 
 Surgeons of Edinburgh was on the subject of Galvanism, or at least on Galvani's 
 work, by Francis Barker, who signs himself Hibernicus, an evidence of the fact that 
 Irishmen often went to Edinburgh for their scientific training. This thesis serves 
 to show that Galvani's work was already attracting the attention even of the most 
 distant of Western Universities. 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 151 
 
 practical results. It was the custom of scientific men 
 to laugh somewhat scornfully at his patient persistence 
 in studying out every detail of electrical action on the 
 frog, and one of the supposedly prominent scientists of 
 the time even dubbed him ''the frog dancing master." 
 This did not, however, deter Galvani from his work, 
 though some of the bitter things must have proved cut- 
 ting enough, and might have discouraged a smaller 
 man, less confident of the scientific value of the work 
 that he was doing. 
 
 His relations with his patients— for during all of his 
 career he continued to practice, especially surgery and 
 obstetrics— were of the friendliest character. While 
 his distinction as a professor at the University gave 
 him many opportunities for practice among the rich, he 
 was always ready and willing to help the poor, and, in- 
 deed, seemed to feel more at home among poor patients 
 than in the society of the wealthy and the noble. Even 
 toward the end of his life, when the loss of many 
 friends, and especially his wife, made him retire within 
 himself much more than before, he continued to exercise 
 his professional skill for the benefit of the poor, though 
 he often refused to take cases that might have proved 
 sources of considerable gain to him. Early in life, 
 when he was very busy between his professorial work 
 and his practice, he remarked more than once, on re- 
 fusing to take the cases of wealthy patients, that they 
 had the money with which to obtain other physicians, 
 while the poor did not, and he would prefer to keep 
 some time for his services to them. When ailing and 
 miserable toward the end of his life, he still continued 
 his practice, and was especially ready to spend his time 
 with the poor. He was dying himself, as one of his 
 
152 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 biographers says, when he got up from a sick bed to 
 see a dying woman who sent for him. 
 
 He was one of the most popular professors that the 
 University of Bologna ever had. He was not, in the 
 ordinary sense of the word, an orator, but he was a 
 born teacher. The source of the enthusiasm which he 
 aroused in his hearers was undoubtedly his own love 
 for teaching and the power it gave him to express even 
 intricate problems in simple, straightforward language. 
 More than any of his colleagues, he understood that 
 experiments and demonstrations must be the real 
 groundwork of the teaching of science. Accordingly, 
 very few of his lectures were given without the aid of 
 these material helps to attract attention. Besides, he 
 was known to be one who delighted to answer questions, 
 and was perfectly frank about the limitations of his 
 knowledge whenever there was no real answer to be 
 given to a question that had been proposed. Though 
 an original discoverer of the first rank, he was ex- 
 tremely modest, particularly when talking about the 
 details of his discoveries or subjects relating to them. 
 
 Galvani was not a good talker, though he seems to 
 have been a good teacher. He had little of that facility 
 which wins friends easily and enables a man to shine 
 with a borrowed lustre of knowledge, often enough 
 quite superficial. What he said was almost sure to have 
 a very serious meaning. While there is no doubt that 
 Galvani was a genius, in the sense that he was one of 
 the precious few who take the step across the boundary 
 of the unknown and make a path along which it is easy 
 for others to follow in reaching hitherto trackless 
 regions in human speculation, he also had what is un- 
 doubtedly the main element in talent, for he was pos- 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 153 
 
 sessed to a high degree of the faculty for hard work. 
 For this he regulated the hours of his labor very care- 
 fully. Only thus could he have accomplished what he 
 did. It must not be forgotten that he was teaching 
 anatomy and obstetrics at the University of Bologna, 
 and, surprising as it may seem, doing both these tasks 
 well. He was besides accomplishing good work in com- 
 parative anatomy and physiology by original investiga- 
 tions of a high order. In spite of all this, which would 
 seem occupation enough and more for any one man, he 
 was able to keep up a rather demanding practice. 
 
 He did not have many friends, but those whom he 
 admitted to his intimacy were bound to him with the 
 proverbial hoops of steel. With two men in Bologna he 
 spent most of his leisure. They were Dr. Julio Csesare 
 ,Cingari, a distinguished physician of the city, and the 
 well-known astronomer who held the chair of astronomy 
 at the University, Francisco Sacchetti. With these he 
 passed many a pleasant hour, and week after week they 
 met at one another's houses to discuss scientific ques- 
 tions and the lighter topics of the day. Galvani was 
 thoroughly respected by all the members of the Faculty 
 at Bologna, though he did not seek many friendships, and 
 indeed probably would have more or less resented the 
 intrusions of acquaintances, because of the time that it 
 would take from him. He was a very retiring man, 
 caring not at all for social things, and least of all for 
 that personal fame which has been so well defined as 
 the being known by those whom one does not know. 
 His happiness in life came to him from his work and 
 from his domestic relations. His wife was one of those 
 marvelous women, rarer than they should be, one is 
 tempted to say, who are enough interested in their hus- 
 
154 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 band's intellectual work to add to the zest of discovery 
 in the discussion of it with them, and who yet realize 
 that it is by minimizing the little worries of life that 
 they can best help their husbands. 
 
 A very interesting phase of the Italian University life 
 of that time is revealed in two important incidents of 
 Galvani's university career. One of his professors— 
 one, by the way, for whom he seems to have had a great 
 deal of respect, and to whose lectures he devoted much 
 attention, was Laura Caterina Maria Bassi, the dis- 
 tinguished woman Professor of Philosophy at the Uni- 
 versity of Bologna, about the middle of the eighteenth 
 century. It is doubtless to her teaching that Galvani 
 owes some of his thorough-going conservatism in philo- 
 sophic speculation, a conservatism that was of great 
 service to him later on in life, in the midst of the ultra- 
 radical principles which became fashionable just before 
 and during the French Revolution. Madame Bassi 
 seems to have had her influence on him for good not only 
 during his student career, but also later in life, for she 
 was the wife of a prominent physician in Bologna, and 
 Galvani was often in social contact with her during her 
 years of connection with the University. 
 
 As might, perhaps, be expected, seeing that his own 
 happy domestic life showed him that an educated 
 woman might be the center of intellectual influence, 
 Galvani seems to have had no spirit of opposition to 
 even the highest education for women. This is very 
 well illustrated by the first formal lecture in his course 
 on anatomy at the University, which had for its subject 
 the models for the teaching of anatomy that had been 
 made by Madame Manzolini.^ In the early part of the 
 
 1 It is interesting to note that the two successful inventions for lessening- the 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 155 
 
 eighteenth century, Madame Manzolini had been the 
 Professor of Anatomy at the University of Bologna, and 
 in order to make the teaching of this difficult subject 
 easier and more definite, she modeled with great care 
 and delicate attention to every detail, so that they imi- 
 tated actual dissections of the human body very closely, 
 a set of wax figures, which replaced the human body fois 
 demonstration purposes, at least at the beginning of the 
 anatomical course. 
 
 Galvani, in taking up the work of lecturer in anat- 
 omy, appreciated how much such a set of models would 
 serve to make the introduction to anatomical study 
 easy, yet at the same time without diminishing its exact- 
 ness, and accordingly introduced his students to Madame 
 ManzoHni's set of models in his very first lecture. At 
 the time, not a few of the teachers of anatomy at the 
 Italian universities were inclined to consider the use of 
 these models as rather an effeminate proceeding. Gal- 
 vani's lack of prejudice in the matter shows the readiness 
 of the man to accept the best, wherever he found it, 
 without regard to persons or feelings. 
 
 Galvani's personal character was very pleasant, yet 
 rather grave and serious. His panegyrist. Professor 
 Giuseppe Venturoli, in the eulogium of Galvani, deliv- 
 ered in the Public Academy of the Institute of Bologna 
 (1802) within five years after Galvani's death, says that 
 Galvani was far from that coldness or lack of interest 
 which sometimes characterizes scientists in their social 
 relations, and which, as he naively says, is sometimes 
 
 necessity for deterrent dissecting work are due to women— Professor Manzolini and 
 her wax models, and AlessandraGiliani, the assistant of Mondino, Father of Dissection, 
 (d. 1320), who knew how "to fill the veins with various colored fluids which would 
 harden, and paint these same vessels and color them so naturally that they brought 
 iHiIondino great fame and credit." (Old Chronicler.) 
 
156 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 praised and sometimes blamed by those who write about 
 them. Another side of Galvani's character is more 
 interesting. He was ready to do all in his power for the 
 poor. He conducted his obstetrical clinic particularly 
 with a liberal benevolence and charity that deserve to 
 be mentioned. When it is considered how much time 
 his teaching and his charity took from him, it is rather 
 surprising to find that he had enough left to enable him 
 to devote himself with so much success to the difficult 
 tasks he set himself in research and to the time-taking 
 labors of controversy, which occupied many years after 
 the announcement of his discoveries. 
 
 The most striking proof of the thorough conscientious- 
 ness with which he faced the duties of life is to be 
 found in his conduct after the establishment of the 
 so-called Cis-Alpine Republic in Italy. This was a gov- 
 ernment established merely by force of arms, maintained 
 through French influence, without the consent of the 
 people, and a plain usurpation of the rights of the pre- 
 vious government. Galvani considered himself bound in 
 duty to the authority under which he had lived all his 
 previous life and to which he had sworn fealty. When 
 the University of Bologna was reorganized under the 
 new government, the first requirement of all those who 
 were made professors was that they should take the 
 oath of allegiance to the new government. This he 
 refused to do. His motives can be readily understood, 
 and though practically all the other professors of the 
 University had taken the oath, he did not consider that 
 this freed him from his conscientious obligations in the 
 matter. 
 
 Accordingly he was dropped from the roll of pro- 
 fessors and deprived of the never very large salary 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 157 
 
 which he had obtained from this chair. On this sum he 
 had practically depended for his existence, and he began 
 to suffer from want. While he had been a successful 
 practitioner of medicine, especially of surgery, he had 
 always been very liberal, and had spent large sums of 
 money in demonstrations for his lectures and personal 
 experimentation and in materials for the museums of 
 the University. He began to suffer from actual want, 
 and friends had to come to his assistance. He refused, 
 however, to give up his scruples in the matter and 
 accept the professorship which was still open to him. 
 Finally, at the end of two years, influence was brought to 
 bear on the new government, and Galvani was allowed 
 to accept his chair in the University without taking 
 the oath of allegiance. This tribute came too late, how- 
 ever, and within a short time after his restoration to his 
 professorship he died. 
 
 Galvani's conduct in this affair is the key-note to his 
 character and conduct through life. For him duty was 
 the paramount word, and success meant the accomplish- 
 ment of duty. For getting on in the world and mate- 
 rial rewards he had no use unless they came as the 
 consequence of duty fulfilled. His action in the matter 
 of the University professorship has of course been much 
 discussed by his biographers. 
 
 His eulogist. Professor Venturoli, whom we have 
 already quoted, and whose eulogium is to be found in 
 the complete edition of Galvani's works issued at Bol- 
 ogna in 1841,^ has much to say with regard to Galvani's 
 religious sentiments. 
 
 1 Opere Edite ed Inedite del Prof essore Luigi Galvani Raccolte e Pubblicate Per 
 Cura Dell'Accademia Delle Scienze Dell'Instituto Di Bologna, Bologna Tipografia Di 
 ^Emilio Dall'OImo. MDCCCXLI. 
 
158 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 He says : ' * The great founder in electricity was deeply 
 religious, and his piety clothed a heart that was not less 
 affectionate and sensitive to affection than it was in- 
 trepid and courageous. When called upon to take the 
 civic oath in a formula involved in ambiguous words, he 
 did not believe that he ought, on so serious an occasion, 
 to permit himself anything but the clear and precise ex- 
 pression of his sentiments, full as they were of honesty 
 and rectitude. Refusing to take advantage of the sug- 
 gestion that he should modify the oath by some decliara- 
 tion apart from the prescribed formula, though it might 
 still be generally understood that he had taken the 
 oath, he refused constantly to commit himself to any 
 such subterfuge. It is not our duty here to ask whether 
 his conclusion was correct or not. He followed the 
 voice of his conscience, which ever must be the standard 
 of duty, and it certainly would have been a fault to have 
 deviated from it. It is sad to think that this great man, 
 deprived of his position, saw himself, for an instant at 
 least, exposed to the danger of ending his career, deprived 
 of the recompense which he so richly deserved and to 
 which his past services to the State and the University 
 had given him so just a title. This is all the more sad 
 when we realize that the vicissitudes of his delicate 
 health, much more than his age, now rendered such rec- 
 ompense doubly necessary. It is a gracious thing to- 
 recall, however, the noble firmness with v/hich he main- 
 tained himself against so serious a blow. His courage 
 is all the more admirable as one can see how absolutely 
 without affectation it is. He was not ostentatious in his 
 goodness, and did not permit himself to be cast down 
 by the unfortunate conditions, but constantly preserved 
 in the midst of adverse fortune that modest, imperturb- 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ELECTRICITY 159" 
 
 able and dignified conduct which had always charac- 
 terized him in the midst of his prosperity and his 
 glory." 
 
 That his action in this matter was very properly 
 appreciated by his contemporaries, and that the moral 
 influence of his example was not lost, can be realized 
 from the expressions used by Alibert, the Secretary- 
 General of the Medical Society of Emulation, in the 
 historical address on Galvani which he delivered before 
 that society in Paris in 1801 : 
 
 "Galvani constantly refused to take the civil oath 
 demanded by the decrees of the Cis- Alpine Republic. 
 Who can blame him for having followed the voice of his 
 conscience— that sacred, interior voice which alone pre- 
 scribes the duties of man and which has preceded all 
 human laws? Who could not praise him for having 
 sacrificed all such exemplary resignation, all the emolu- 
 ments of his professorship, rather than violate the 
 solemn engagements made under religious sanction?" 
 
 In the same panegyric there is a very curiously inter- 
 esting passage with regard to Galvani's habit of fre- 
 quently closing his lectures by calling attention to the 
 complexity yet the purposefulness of natural things, 
 and the inevitable conclusion that they must have been 
 created with a definite purpose by a Supreme Being 
 possessed of intelligence. At the time that Alibert wrote 
 his memoir, it was the fashion to consider, at least in 
 France, that Christianity was a thing of the past, and 
 that while theism might remain, that would be all that 
 could be expected to survive the crumbling effect of the 
 emancipation of man. 
 
 He says : "We have seen already what was Galvani' & 
 zeal and his love for the religion which he professed.. 
 
160 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 We may add that, in his public demonstrations, he 
 never finished his lectures without exhorting his pupils 
 to a renewal of their faith, by leading them always back 
 to the idea of the eternal Providence which develops, 
 preserves and causes life to flow among so many dif- 
 ferent kinds of things. I write now," he continues, 
 * ' in the age of reason,- of tolerance and of light. Must 
 I then defend Galvani in the eyes of posterity for one 
 of the most beautiful sentiments that can spring from 
 the nature of man? No ; and they are but little initiated 
 in the saner mechanism of philosophy who refuse to 
 recognize the truths established on evidence so strong 
 and so authentic. Breves haustus in philosophia ad 
 atheismum ducunt, longiores autem reducunt ad Deum— 
 Small draughts of philosophy lead to atheism, but 
 longer draughts bring one back to God"— (which may 
 be better translated, perhaps, for English readers by 
 Pope's well known lines, ** A little learning [in philos- 
 ophy] is a dangerous thing ; drink deep or touch not the 
 Pierian spring" ). 
 
 Galvani has been honored by his fellow-citizens of 
 Bologna as one of their greatest townsmen, and by the 
 University as one of her worthiest sons. In 1804, a 
 medal was struck in his honor, on the reverse of which, 
 surrounding a figure of the genius of science, were the 
 two legends : ' ' Mors mihi vita, " " Death is life for me, ' ' 
 and " Spiritus intus alit," "The spirit works within," 
 which were favorite expressions of the great scientist 
 while living, and are lively symbols of the spirit which 
 animated him. In 1814, a monument was erected to 
 him in the courtyard of the University of Bologna. It 
 is surmounted by his bust, made by the most distin- 
 guished Bolognian sculptor of the time, De Maria. On 
 
GALVANI AND ANIMAL ^LECTmCITY 161 
 
 the pedestal there are two figures in bas-rehef , executed 
 by the same sculptor, which represent religion and 
 philosophy, the inspiring genius of Galvani's life. 
 
 Before he died, he asked, as had his favorite poet 
 Dante, whose Divina Commedia had been one of the 
 pleasures of life and above all one of the consolations of 
 his times of adversity, to be buried in the humble habit 
 of a member of the Third Order of St. Francis. He is 
 said to have valued his fellowship with the sons of the 
 " poor little man of Assisi" more than the many hon- 
 orary fellowships of various kinds which had been con- 
 ferred upon him by scientific societies all over Europe. 
 With him passed away one of the great pioneers of 
 modern science and one of the most lovable men in all 
 the history of science. His death took place just before 
 the close of the eighteen century, Dec. 4, 1798, but his 
 work was destined to be one of the harbingers of a 
 great period of electrical development. 
 
162 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 VoLTA THE Founder of Electrical Science. 
 
 Up to the end of the eighteenth century, discoverers 
 in electrical science had usually been students of science 
 in other departments, whose attention to electricity had 
 been attracted, in passing as it were. Occasionally, 
 indeed, they had been only interested amateurs, inquis- 
 itive as to the curious phenomena of magnetism. It 
 is surprising how many of these pioneers in electricity 
 were clergymen, though that fact is seldom realized. 
 It can be seen very readily in my chapter on Clergymen 
 Pioneers in Electricity, in Catholic Churchmen in Sci-^ 
 ence (Second Series, Dolphin Press, Phila., 1909). With 
 Volta's career, however, was initiated the story of the 
 electrical scientists who devoted themselves almost ex- 
 clusively to this department of physics, though more or 
 less necessarily paying some attention to related sub- 
 jects. Volta's discovery of a practical instrument for 
 measuring electricity, as well as of comparatively sim- 
 ple apparatus producing a continuous current, changed 
 the whole face of the science of electricity. After 
 these inventions, regular work could be readily done in 
 the investigation of problems in the science of electric- 
 ity without discouragement or inadequate instruments, 
 discontinuous electrical phenomena, disturbances of ex- 
 periments by the weather, and other conditions which 
 had been hitherto so unfavorable to electrical experi- 
 
ALESSANDRO VOLTA 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 163 
 
 mentation. Volta's invention of the pile, or battery, 
 so deservedly called after him, caused electrical science 
 to take on an entirely new aspect, and the modern de- 
 velopment of electricity was assured. It has been well 
 said that no other invention, not even the steam-engine, 
 meant so much for the transformation of modern life as 
 this new apparatus for the production of a continuous 
 electric current. 
 
 The man who worked this revolution in electrical 
 science was no mere inventor who, by a happy chance, 
 brought together practical factors that had been well 
 known before but had never been combined. He was 
 one of the greatest scientists of a period particularly rich 
 in examples of original scientific genius of a high order. 
 Before his death, he came to be acknowledged by the 
 scientific world of his time as one of the greatest leaders 
 of thought, not alone in electricity, but in all depart- 
 ments of the physical sciences. His life forms for this 
 reason an important chapter in the history of science 
 and scientific development. 
 
 Like most of the distinguished scientific discoverers 
 of the last two centuries, Alessandro Volta was born in 
 very humble circumstances. His father was a member 
 of the Italian nobility, but had wasted his patrimony so 
 completely that the family was in extreme poverty 
 when the distinguished son was born, on the eighteenth 
 of February, 1745. This poverty was so complete that 
 Volta said of it, later in life : "My father owned noth- 
 ing except a small dwelling worth about fourteen thou- 
 sand lire ; and as he left behind him seventeen thousand 
 lire of debt, I was actually poorer than poor." A good 
 idea of the circumstances in which Volta' s childhood 
 was passed may be gathered from the fact that he could 
 
164 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 not even secure copy-books for his first school exercises 
 except through the kindness of friends. 
 
 Volta had shown signs of genius from early boyhood, 
 and yet had been discouragingly slow in his intellectual 
 development as a child. In fact, it was feared that he 
 was congenitally lacking in intelligence to a great degree. 
 It is said that he was more than four years old before 
 he ever uttered a word. This does not mean before he 
 learned to talk connectedly, but before he could utter 
 even such familiar expressions as ' ' father, " " mother, ' ' 
 and the like. He was considered to be dumb; and, as is 
 not infrequently the mistaken notion with regard to 
 children dumb for any reason, he was thought to be 
 almost an idiot. The first word he ever uttered is said 
 to have been a vigorous '*No! " which was heard when 
 one of his relatives insisted on his doing something that 
 he did not wish to do. At the age of seven, however, 
 he had so far overcome all difficulties of speech as to be 
 looked upon as a very bright child. Owing to this late, 
 unexpected development, his parents seem to have re- 
 garded him as a sort of living miracle, and felt certain 
 that he was destined to accomplish great things. His 
 father said of him later, "We had a jewel in the house 
 and did not know it." 
 
 Fortunately for Volta, one of his uncles was archdea- 
 con of the Cathedral, and another was one of the canons. 
 These relatives helped him to obtain an education, the 
 way being made especially easy by the fact that at this 
 time all the Jesuit Colleges subsisted on foundations 
 and collected no fees from any of their students; so 
 that all that was necessary for his uncles to do for him 
 was to contribute to his expenses outside of college. 
 According to tradition, the Jesuits not only helped Volta 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 165 
 
 in his education, but assisted him in obtaining his books 
 and even in his hving expenses while at their college. 
 At the age of about sixteen, his education was complete, 
 even including a year of philosophy. This is probably 
 an indication of his talent as a student ; though it was 
 not an unusual thing in the southern countries for stu- 
 dents to graduate at sixteen, or even younger, after a 
 course equivalent to that now required for the bachelor's 
 degree in arts. 
 
 We have gotten far away from this early gradua- 
 tion, although it is still sometimes possible in Italian 
 universities ; and one of the brightest men I ever knew 
 wa& an Italian who had graduated with a degree equiva- 
 lent to our A. B. before he was sixteen. When Volta 
 graduated, however, such early completion of the un- 
 dergraduate course was not at all unusual in Italy, 
 and boys of thirteen and fourteen, almost as a rule, 
 entered the undergraduate department to complete their 
 course for a degree at seventeen or eighteen. One 
 of our greatest physicians in this country, Benjamin 
 Rush, was only seventeen when he completed his college 
 course, and such examples were not at all rare. Indeed, 
 the possibility for these men to devote themselves 
 much earlier than is possible now to their serious 
 life-work, yet with the development of mind which 
 comes from a University course in the arts, was 
 probably a distinct help to the success of their scientific 
 careers. One is tempted to think that possibly such 
 justification of earlier graduation, as we find among the 
 distinguished scientists of a century ago, might make us 
 reflect deeply before lending ourselves to what Herbert 
 Spencer thought a phase of evolution, the lengthen- 
 ing of childhood, for it is just possible that the earlier 
 
166 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 recognition of manhood may mean more for individ- 
 ual development. Of course, geniuses are exceptions to 
 rule, and an argument founded on their careers may 
 mean very little for the generality of students. 
 
 Like many another of the great scientists, Volta was 
 not that constant source of satisfaction to his teachers 
 while at school that might possibly be expected. He 
 had little interest in the conventional elementary educa- 
 tion of the time, he was frequently distracted during 
 school hours, and even as a mere boy often asked ques- 
 tions with regard to natural phenomena that were puz- 
 zlers to his masters, and sometimes complained of their 
 lack of knowledge. He fortunately outgrew this prig- 
 gishness, for in later childhood he seems to have been 
 one of those talented children who learn rapidly and who 
 are impatient at being kept back while their slower 
 fellow-pupils are having drilled into them what came 
 so easy to readier talents. 
 
 In his classical studies, however, Volta was deeply 
 interested. He was especially enthusiastic over poetry, 
 and at school devoted the spare time that his readiness 
 of acquisition left him to the reading of Virgil and Tasso. 
 These favorite authors became so familiar to him that 
 he could repeat much of them by heart, and even in old 
 age could cap verses from them better than any of his 
 friends, even those all of whose lives had been devoted 
 exclusively to literary occupations. During his walks, 
 when an old man, he often entertained himself by re- 
 peating long passages from the classic Latin and Italian 
 poets. 
 
 Even at this time, Volta's interest in the physical 
 sciences was very marked. There is still extant a Latin 
 poem of about five hundred verses, in which he sets 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 167 
 
 forth the observations of Priestley, the discoverer of 
 oxygen, vsrhom it used to be the custom to call the 
 Father of Modern Chemistry. This poem shows his 
 thorough familiarity with the work of the great English 
 investigator. Volta's model was Lucretius. Lest it 
 should be a source of surprise that an Italian scientist 
 had recourse to Latin for even a poetic account of scien- 
 tific discoveries, it may be well to recall that Latin was 
 still the universal language of science at that time, and 
 Volta's great contemporary in electricity, Galvani, wrote 
 his original monograph on animal electricity in that 
 language, and even the Father of Pathology wrote his 
 first great treatise, De Causis et Sedibus Morborum, 
 in that tongue. As to his adoption of verse as a vehicle 
 for scientific writing, it must not be forgotten that, at 
 the time when Volta was writing his poem, another 
 distinguished writer on scientific subjects, Erasmus 
 Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin of the last 
 generation, was composing his * ' Zoonomia ; or. Animal 
 Biography," in English verse. Didactic verse was 
 quite the fashion of the time, and some of it, even when 
 it came from acknowledged poets, had not more poetry 
 than Volta' s effusion. 
 
 As if to make up for his lack of linguistic faculty 
 when young, Volta seems to have had a special gift for 
 languages when he grew older. Before the age of 
 twenty, he knew French as well as his mother tongue, 
 read German and English fluently, and Low Dutch and 
 Spanish were not beyond his comprehension. Besides 
 his verses in Latin he wrote poetry also in French and 
 Italian, always with cleverness at least, and at times 
 with true poetic feeling. 
 
 While attending the Jesuit school, he expressed, it is 
 
168 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 said, a desire to enter the Order. As his father, how- 
 ever, had been with the Jesuits for eleven years and 
 had then given up his studies, his family feared a rep- 
 etition of such an experience ; and so his clergymen 
 uncles took him away from the school and sent hini for 
 a while to the Seminary at Benzi. After a time Volta 
 abandoned the idea of becoming a priest, but would not 
 consent to follow the wishes of the family council 
 further, at least not to the extent of becoming a law- 
 yer. Though he studied law for a time, he constantly 
 wandered away to the reading of books on the natural 
 sciences and to the study of natural objects. Finally 
 he was allowed to give up law to devote himself ex- 
 clusively to science. 
 
 Fortunately, one of the canons of the Cathedral of 
 Como, a former fellow-student of his and a man of con- 
 siderable means, was also interested in the natural 
 sciences, and obtained the books and instruments 
 necessary to enable Volta and himself to continue their 
 studies. Father Gattoni seems to have realized at once 
 the possibilities for great advances in science that lay 
 in Volta' s wonderful powers of observation, and en- 
 couraged him in every way. As a consequence, some 
 of the important experiments that laid the foundation 
 of the modern science of electricity and proved the be- 
 ginning of Volta's world-wide reputation were carried 
 on in Gattoni's rooms. 
 
 As a young man, Volta was so completely devoted to 
 scientific investigations that there could be no doubt of 
 the bent of his genius for original work of a high order. 
 His power of concentration of attention on a subject 
 was supreme. Biographers emphasize that there was 
 no time, much less inclination, for the levities that so 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 169 
 
 often appeal to the growing youth. He was almost toa 
 staid and preoccupied with his work for his own health 
 and the comfort of his friends. When he became inter- 
 ested in a series of experiments, he often forgot the 
 flight of time, and was known to miss meals, and inad- 
 ventently to put off going to bed— apparently quite un- 
 conscious of his physical necessities. This intense concen- 
 tration of mind had its disadvantages. One of his friends 
 complained playfully that he made a rather disagreeable 
 traveling companion on account of his tendency to be- 
 come abstracted; and on occasions this friend was deeply 
 mortified to see Volta, when in company, take out a 
 pocket-handkerchief that had been used for some pur- 
 pose in the laboratory— which showed unmistakable 
 signs of its previous employment as a cleansing agent 
 for dirty instruments or hands, though its possessor was 
 evidently unconscious of its appearance. More than 
 once, too, his handkerchief proved, when taken out for 
 its natural uses, to be as preoccupied as its owner : speci- 
 mens of rocks or natural curiosities that he had gathered 
 and inadvertently allowed to remain in his pocket came 
 with it. 
 
 All during his life he retained an unusual faculty for 
 concentrating his attention, which at times amounted to 
 complete abstraction from his surroundings. It is related 
 that, one cold morning his students at the University of 
 Pavia found him in his shirt sleeves, so intent on arrang- 
 ing the experiments that were to illustrate his morning 
 lecture that he was unconscious of the time, and even 
 did not notice their coming into the room until they had 
 been for some time in their seats and he had finally 
 completed the arrangement for the demonstrations. He 
 was constantly occupied with problems in natural science^ 
 
170 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 looking for the explanation of phenomena that he did not 
 understand as well as gathering new data by observation 
 and experiment. He was gifted with the supremely- 
 inquisitive spirit, in the scientific sense of the epithet, 
 and could not be satisfied with accepting things as he 
 found them without knowing the reasons for them. 
 
 Volta furnishes another excellent illustration of how 
 soon genius gets at its life-work. We have his own 
 authority for the fact that he had come to certain con- 
 clusions with regard to the explanation of electrical phe- 
 nomena, which, when he was only nineteen years of age, 
 he set forth in a letter to the Abbe Nollet, who was then 
 one of the best known experimenters and writers on elec- 
 trical phenomena in Europe. Though so young, Volta 
 had tried to simplify Franklin's theory of electricity by 
 assuming that there was an action only between a (sup- 
 posed) electrical substance and matter. It is curious to 
 see how much he anticipated what was to be the think- 
 ing for more than a century after his time and practically 
 down to the present day. He considers that all bodies, in 
 their normal state, contain electricity in such proportion 
 that electrical equilibrium is established within them. 
 Electrical phenomena, then, are due to disturbances of 
 this equilibrium. Such disturbances may be produced 
 by physical means, as by friction or by chemical means, 
 and even atmospheric electricity may be explained in 
 the former way. 
 
 Volta's first formal paper on electricity, bearing the 
 title De Vi Attractiva Ignis Electrici, was published in 
 1769, when he was twenty-four years of age. His 
 second paper, Novus Ac Simplicissimtis, Electricorum 
 Tentaminum Apparatus— "^e^w and Very Simple. Ap- 
 paratus for Electrical Tests, shows that Volta was get- 
 
VOLT A THE FOUNDER 171 
 
 •ting beyond the stage of theorizing about electricity into 
 the experimental work, which was to form the founda- 
 tion of his contributions to electrical science. It is not 
 surprising, then, that when he was just past thirty, in 
 1775, he was able to announce to Priestley his invention 
 of the electrophorus. Priestley is usually thought of 
 as one of the founders of modern chemistry, but he was 
 known to his own generation, especially at this time, as 
 the writer of a very interesting and complete history of 
 electricity. It is characteristic of Volta's careful ways, 
 that the reason for his letter to Priestley was in order 
 to obtain information from him as to what extent this 
 invention, which Volta knew, as far as he was con- 
 cerned, to be original with himself, was novel in the 
 domain of electrical advance.^ 
 
 With the intense interest in his work that we have 
 noted, it is not surprising to find Volta's investigations 
 proving fruitful. His active inventive genius stood 
 him in good stead in enabling him to demonstrate prin- 
 ciples by working instruments. The electrophorus is 
 but one of the instruments that show the very practical 
 character of the man. He was especially taken with the 
 idea of securing some method of measuring electricity. 
 Among other things, he invented the condensing elec- 
 troscope, in which, instead of the ribbons of gold leaf now 
 employed, he used straws. With this instrument he was 
 able to demonstrate the presence of minute quantities 
 of electricity developed under circumstances in which 
 ordinarily the occurrence of any such phenomena would 
 be unsuspected. These two instruments, the electro- 
 scope and the electrophorus, lifted the, department of 
 
 1 Wilcke, a Swedish investigator of electric phenomena, constructed in 1762 two 
 ^machines involving- the principle of the electrophorus. — (Bkother Potamian.) 
 
172 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 electricity out of the realm of theory into that of accu- 
 rate scientific demonstration, and made the electrical 
 departments of the physical laboratories of the time 
 much more interesting and important than they had 
 been before. 
 
 Though so early occupied with electricity, Volta did 
 not confine himself to this subject, nor even to the wider 
 field of physics, and that he did not hesitate, in his 
 scientific inquisitiveness, to follow clues even in chemis- 
 try, is well illustrated by his first step in the investiga- 
 tion of gases. His attention being called to bubbles 
 breaking on the surface of Lake Maggiore while on a 
 fishing excursion, he set about finding their source, and 
 noted that whenever the bottom of the lake near the 
 shore was stirred somewhat a number of bubbles arose, 
 and that the gas thus set free was inflammable. He 
 constructed an electrical pistol in which gases thus set 
 free were exploded by a spark from the electrophorus. 
 About the same time, on the principle of the electrical 
 pistol, he invented the eudiometer, an apparatus by 
 means of which the oxygen content of air could be 
 determined. 
 
 With regard to these inventions, Arago calls attention 
 to a special quality that is peculiar to all of Volta's 
 work. "There is not a single one of the discoveries of 
 Prof essor Volta, " says the distinguished French scien- 
 tist, "which can be said to be the result of chance. 
 Every instrument with which he has enriched science 
 existed in principle in his imagination before an artisan 
 began to put it into a material shape." 
 
 After these inventions and his previous work, it is not 
 surprising that in 1774 Volta was offered the professor- 
 ship of experimental physics in the College of Como. 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 173 
 
 Here he labored for five years, until he received a call, 
 in 1779, to the professorship of physics at the University 
 of Pavia, where he was destined to remain in an active 
 teaching capacity for a period of forty years. 
 
 Volta began his life-work as professor of physics at 
 Pavia by extending his observations on gases. He was 
 the first to demonstrate the expansion of gases under 
 heat, especially as regards their increased expansibility 
 at higher temperatures. Many observers had been at 
 work on this problem before his time, but there were 
 serious discrepancies in the results reported. Volta was 
 the first to point out the reasons for the apparent incon- 
 sistencies of previous investigators' findings ; and from 
 his observations alone some valuable data might have 
 been obtained for the establishment of what has since 
 become known as the "law of Charles." 
 
 At this time, his knowledge of English enabled him to 
 follow English discoveries closely, and he seems to have 
 paid particular attention to the work of Cavendish and 
 Priestley. Not long after Cavendish's description of 
 the method of obtaining pure hydrogen, Volta made a 
 series of observations on the relations of spongy platinum 
 to this gas, and pointed out the spontaneous ignition 
 that takes place when the two substances are brought 
 together. This experiment is the basis of what has 
 since been known as the hydrogen lamp, called, from 
 the German observer who first made it a practical 
 instrument, Dobereiner's lamp. 
 
 After seven years of teaching, Volta was given the 
 opportunity to visit various parts of Europe, and took 
 advantage of the occasion to meet most of the celebrated 
 men of science. His linguistic faculty stood him in 
 good stead during this sabbatical year, and his travel 
 
174 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 aided him in completing a thorough acquaintanceship 
 with European languages as well as with scientists. His 
 practical character led him, during his trip, to note the 
 growth of the potato and its uses in various European 
 countries, and he brought the plant home with him to 
 Italy in order to introduce it among the farmers. He 
 succeeded in making his countrymen realize its value, 
 and the introduction of the potato is one of the reasons 
 for which Italians have always looked up to him as a 
 benefactor of his native land. How modern this makes 
 a vegetable we are inclined to think of as having been 
 always an important food resource of the race ! 
 
 About the middle of the third quarter of the eight- 
 eenth century, by one of the fortunate accidents that 
 happen, however, only to genius, Galvani, at the time 
 Professor of anatomy in Bologna, had been led to make 
 the observation that if a frog, so prepared that its hind 
 leg is attached to the trunk only by means of the sciatic 
 nerve, happens to be touched by a metal instrument in 
 such a way as to put nerve and muscle in connection 
 with each other through the metal instrument, a very 
 curious phenomenon is observed, the muscles of the 
 almost severed leg becoming spasmodically contracted 
 and then relaxed whenever the contacts were made and 
 broken. Galvani noted the phenomenon first in connec- 
 tion with an electric machine, and looked for an explan- 
 ation of it in electricity, thinking that there was an 
 analogy between it and the discharge of the Leyden jar. 
 After several years of careful observation, he published 
 a monograph on the subject, which at once attracted 
 attention all over Europe. 
 
 Volta was very much interested in Galvani 's work, 
 and took up the development of it from the physical 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 175 
 
 side. At first he agreed with the explanation offered 
 by Galvani, who considered that his experiment demon- 
 strated the presence of electricity in animal bodies, 
 and who proposed to introduce the term ' ' animal elec- 
 tricity." After careful investigation, however, Galvani 's 
 assertion that animal electricity existed in a form en- 
 tirely independent of any external electricity, though 
 it had been accepted by most of the distinguished men 
 of science of the time, seemed to Volta without ex- 
 perimental verification. For many years his most 
 determined efforts were used to demonstrate that the 
 muscle twitchings observed were not due to the presence 
 of animal electricity (galvanism as it had come to be 
 called), but to the fact that the metals touching the 
 different portions of the moist nerve muscle preparation 
 really set up minute currents of ordinary electricity. 
 
 Some of the experiments which he devised for this 
 purpose were extremely ingenious, and show how 
 thoroughly empirical were his methods and how modern 
 his scientific spirit. In the course of his experiments 
 he found that a difference in the metals of which the 
 arc was composed, when used for the purpose of elicit- 
 ing the so-called animal electricity, made a great differ- 
 ence in the electrical phenomena observed and in the 
 amount of muscle twitchings obtained. In one brilliant 
 series of experiments, moreover, he showed that, even 
 when the metallic portions touching nerve and muscle 
 were identical, there might still be distinct electrical 
 phenomena, if only an artificial difference in tempera- 
 ture of the end of the metallic arc were produced. 
 Volta was even able to demonstrate that such minute 
 physical differences as the filing of one end of the 
 
176 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 metallic arc used might give rise to small currents of 
 electricity. 
 
 In the midst of these experiments, he came to the 
 realization that two portions of metal of different kinds, 
 separated by a moist non-conducting material, might 
 be made to produce a constant current of electricity for 
 some time. More than this, however, he found that 
 4iscs of metal of different kinds might be piled on top 
 of one another with intervening discs of moist cloth, 
 and so produce proportionately stronger currents as 
 more and more of the metal plates were employed. 
 This was the origin of the voltaic pile, as it has been 
 called— the first battery for the production at will of 
 regular currents of electricity of definite strength.^ 
 
 While engaged at this he succeeded in demonstrating 
 what has come to be known as Volta's basic experiment ; 
 namely, that two plates of metal of different kinds 
 become electrically excited merely by contact. This 
 was practically the beginning of the great advance in 
 applied electricity which ushered in our modern elec- 
 trical era. It seems a simple matter now, looking back 
 over the century that has elapsed since then, to have 
 taken the successive steps that Volta did for the con- 
 struction of his electrical pile and for the demonstration 
 of the principle of contact electricity. Groping, as he 
 
 1 Brother Potamian has called my attention to the fact that Volta's work on the 
 origin of electricity from two different metals when, though connected, they were yet 
 separated by some moist mediimi, was curiously anticipated by an observation de- 
 scribed by Sulzer, in a book called Nouvelle Theorie des Plaisirs, 1767. In this he states 
 that, if a silver and a lead coin, placed one above and the other under the tongue, be 
 brought in contact a sour taste develops, which he considers to be due to vibrations 
 set up by the contact of the two metals. He seems also to have had a flash of light 
 before the eyes, so that all the elements necessary for the discovery of the voltaic 
 pile were in his hands, and indeed he was making what has since become one of the 
 classical experiments, by which certain physiological effects of the electric current 
 are demonstrated. 
 
VOLT A THE FOUNDER 177 
 
 was, in the dark, however, it took him three years to 
 make the progress that we have described in a few 
 words. How great his discoveries appeared, even to 
 the most distinguished of his scientific contemporaries, 
 can best be judged from an expression of one of the 
 greatest of French electrical scientists, Arago, who 
 declared "Volta's pile the most wonderful instrument 
 that has ever come from the hand of man, not exclud- 
 ing even the telescope or the steam-engine." 
 
 An excellent description of just how Volta made his 
 electric pile and what he was able to accomplish with 
 it experimentally in the laboratory, is to be found in 
 the numbers for January and February, 1900, of the 
 Stimmen aus Maria-Laach— a literary and scientific 
 periodical published by the German Jesuits. This ar- 
 ticle on Alessandro Volta, by Father Kneller, S. J. , was 
 written shortly after the celebration of the hundredth 
 anniversary of Volta' s invention of the electric pile, 
 when there had just been a fresh sorting over of Volta's 
 documents, and contains a very full set of references 
 to the biographical material for Volta' s life. Father 
 Kneller says : 
 
 "Before this, no one thought for a moment of any 
 possibility of the practical application of electricity. 
 But all at once the whole situation changed. After 
 eight years of observation and experiment, Volta ac- 
 complished one day, at the beginning of 1800, in his 
 laboratory at Como, the construction of an instrument 
 which was to revolutionize the study and the practical 
 applications of electricity. He made a pile composed of a 
 large number of equal-sized copper and zinc discs. On 
 each copper disc he placed one of zinc, and then on this 
 a moistened piece of cloth, and continued the series of 
 
178 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 alternate discs and cloths in this order until he had a 
 rather high column. This was an apparatus as simple 
 as possible and from which no one but Volta could 
 possibly have promised any results. The inventor, 
 however, knew what he was about. 
 
 ' ' As soon as he had connected the upper and lower 
 metal plates by means of a wire, there began to flow 
 from the zinc to the copper a secret something, which 
 by the application of the ends of the wire to muscles 
 caused them to twitch ; which appeared before the eye 
 as light; applied to the tongue, gave a sensation of 
 taste ; caused a thin wire to glow and even to burn be- 
 tween carbon points ; produced a blinding light ; de- 
 composed water into its constituents ; dissolved hitherto 
 unknown metals out of salts and earth ; made iron 
 magnetic ; directed the magnetic needle out of its path ; 
 inclosed wire coils caused new electric currents to be 
 set up ; to say nothing of the awful spectacle which 
 occurred when, under the influence of the electric 
 current, the bodies of executed criminals again gave 
 movements of the limbs, their thoraxes really heaved 
 and sank as if they really breathed, and even a dead 
 grasshopper was caused to spring and apparently to 
 sing again. 
 
 ' ' Only now, after the discovery of this new kind of 
 electricity— which did not work merely by jerks, but 
 flowed in a constant stream from pole to pole— only 
 now was this mighty natural agent won to the service 
 of man. Volta is, therefore, above all others, the one 
 who broke ground not only for an immense amount of 
 new knowledge in physics, chemistry and physiology, 
 but who also made possible rapid progress in practical 
 electricity, in telegraphy, in electric motors and power 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 179 
 
 machines, in electroplating and the marvelous results in 
 electro-galvanism which constitute our most wonderful 
 mechanical effects at the present time." 
 
 Soon after Volta's discovery of the electric pile, or 
 voltaic pile, as it was called in his honor, his reputation 
 spread throughout Europe. At the beginning of 1800, 
 he sent a detailed description of the voltaic pile to the 
 Royal Society of London. During the year 1801 the 
 scientific journals all over Europe were filled with dis- 
 cussions of his discovery. 
 
 The French Academy of Sciences invited him to Paris 
 in order to demonstrate his discoveries to the members 
 of that body. Volta was now looking forward to some 
 peaceful years of study, and, so far as he was personally 
 concerned, would surely have refused the invitation. 
 Circumstances were such, however, that it became a 
 civic duty for him to proceed to Paris. 
 
 At this time Napoleon was First Consul, and the 
 Italian cities wished to propitiate his favor as far as 
 possible. It was considered a wise thing by the city to 
 send a special delegation to Paris, and, as they knew 
 Napoleon was deeply interested in scientific discoveries 
 that promised practical results, the name of Volta was 
 suggested as one of the official delegates. As an 
 associate. Professor Brugnatelli, who had made some 
 important investigations in chemistry, and who was 
 later to be an extender of the practical application of 
 Volta' s discoveries by the invention of the first method 
 of electroplating, was the other member of the delega- 
 tion. It is a curious reflection on the facilities for 
 travel at the time, that it took twenty-six days for the 
 delegates to reach Paris from Pavia. 
 
 Shortly after their arrival in Paris, the travelers 
 
180 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 were formally introduced to the members of the French 
 Institute, and a number of sessions of the Academy- 
 were held, at which Volta's discoveries were discussed. 
 Volta read a communication on the identity of electric- 
 ity and galvanism. Napoleon, as First Consul, was 
 present at these sessions in the robe of an Academician, 
 and was not only an interested listener, but occasion- 
 ally, by pertinent questions, drew out significant details 
 of former experiments and Volta's own theories with 
 regard to the nature of the phenomena observed. At 
 the end of the first meeting, at which Volta took a 
 prominent part, Napoleon spent several hours with him 
 talking about the prospects of electricity. 
 
 In his letters to his brothers and to his wife at this 
 time, Volta expressed his pleasure at finding how much 
 attention his discoveries were attracting all over Europe. 
 *As he said himself, Germany, France and England were 
 full of them, and all the distinguished scientists were 
 eager to do him honor. In France, he was chosen one 
 of the eight foreign members of the Institute, and was 
 made Knight Commander of the Legion of Honor and of 
 the Order of the Iron Crown. Napoleon selected him as 
 one of the first members of the Italian Academy, which 
 he was then in course of establishing, and conferred on 
 him the honor of Senator and Count of the Kingdom of 
 Italy. The French Academy, after having heard Volta's 
 own description of his experiments and discoveries, con- 
 trary to its usual custom, voted to him by acclamation 
 its gold medal. More important still, Bonaparte made 
 him a present of 6000 lire, and conferred upon him an 
 annual income of 3000 lire from the public purse. It is 
 an index of Volta's feeling as a faithful son of the 
 Church, that as this income was allotted to him from the 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 181 
 
 revenues of the bishopric of Adria, he would consent to 
 receive it only after Napoleon's decree had been con- 
 firmed by the Pope. 
 
 Volta had been for nearly twenty years in the Uni- 
 versity of Pavia before he finally found for himself a 
 wife. He was then past forty-nine years of age. His 
 wife was the youngest daughter of Count Ludovico Per- 
 egrini. She had six sisters, one of whom became a nun, 
 and all the others were married before Volta sought the 
 hand of the youngest. Writing to a friend, he says, 
 
 that her sisters had distinguished themselves so much 
 by piety, prudence, good sense and practical economy in 
 their households as well as by the most admirable quali- 
 ties of heart and mind, that he considered himself very 
 fortunate in obtaining a branch from the family tree ; 
 and he took her in preference to others that had been 
 offered to him, even though they were possessed of 
 greater physical beauty, more exalted piety and a larger 
 dowry." The marriage seems to have been a very happy 
 one, notwithstanding the considerable disparity of ages 
 and the very matter-of-fact spirit with which it was 
 entered into by one of the parties at least. 
 
 The charming intimacy of his domestic life may be 
 judged from some of his letters to his wife when he 
 was traveling. She was always his confidante with 
 regard to new things in science that he saw, and espe- 
 cially as regards the kindly reception which he met with 
 from scientists and the readiness with which they 
 accepted his views. At first, so many of his ideas were 
 new, that it is not surprising that they were looked at 
 somewhat askance by contemporary scientists. When, 
 on his journeys through France, he noticed the trend of 
 opinion setting in favor of his views in electricity, he 
 
182 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 took pains to tell his wife, and apparently found his 
 greatest pleasure in having her share the joy of his 
 triumph. 
 
 One of the severest blows that he suffered was the 
 untimely death of his eldest son, Flaminio, in 1814. 
 ''This loss," he wrote to one of his nephews not long 
 after, " strikes me so much to heart that I do not think 
 I shall ever have another happy day." The relations 
 between himself and his children were all of the kindliest 
 nature ; and the character of the man comes out perhaps 
 even more clearly in the traditions that are still extant 
 with regard to the devotion of his servants to him, and 
 especially his body-servant, Polonio. Volta was always 
 a simple and unpretentious person, notwithstanding the 
 fact that scientific and even political honors had been 
 heaped upon him toward the end of his life. It was 
 rather difficult, for instance, to get him to change his 
 old clothes for new ones. This feat was usually accom- 
 plished by Polonio, who, when he thought the time had 
 arrived for his master to put on the newer clothes, 
 would engage him in some scientific explanation of a 
 morning ; then handing him the new garments, Volta 
 would put them on, and would be wearing them for 
 some time before he noticed it. The old servant was 
 then generally able to persuade him that it was time to 
 make the change. Toward the end of his career, Volta 
 led a retired life in a country house not far from his na- 
 tive city of Como. Foreigners often came to see or even 
 have the privilege of a few words with the distinguished 
 scientist who was regarded as the patriarch of electrical 
 science. To Volta, the being on exhibition was always 
 an unpleasant function. He did not care to be lionized, 
 and frequently refused to allow himself even to be seen 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 183 
 
 unless his visitors had a scientific motive. On such 
 occasions, the only chance of the visitors was to secure 
 the good will of Polonio. He would engage his unsus- 
 pecting master in a discussion of clouds or wind, or 
 some appearance in the heavens, or something in the 
 leaves of the neighboring trees, and would then bring 
 him to the portico, that he might see the supposed 
 phenomenon. This would give occasion for the visitors 
 to get at least a glimpse of the scientist, who usually- 
 failed to suspect the real purpose for which he had been 
 tempted out of doors. 
 
 While thus living in the country, Volta's piety became 
 a sort of proverb among the country people. Every 
 morning at an early hour, in company with his servant, 
 he could be seen with bowed head making his way to 
 the church. Here he heard mass, and usually the office 
 of the day, in which all the canons of the cathedral took 
 part. He had a special place on the epistle side of the 
 altar, not far from the organ. His favorite method of 
 prayer was the rosary. He was not infrequently held 
 up to the people by the parish priest as a model of 
 devotion. Whenever he was in the country, every even- 
 ing saw him taking his walk towards the church. On 
 these occasions, he was usually accompanied by members 
 of his family, and they entered the church for an 
 evening visit to the blessed sacrament. 
 
 His behavior toward those who lived in the vicin- 
 ity of his country place endeared him to all the peas- 
 antry. He was not only liberal in giving alms, but 
 made it a point to visit frequently the houses of the 
 poor and help them as much as possible by counsel and 
 suggestion. His scientific knowledge was at command 
 for their benefit, and he was often able to tell them how 
 
184 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 to avoid many dangers. He gave them definite ideas 
 with regard to the importance of cleanliness and the 
 necessity of cooking their food very carefully so as to 
 prevent diseases occasioned by badly cooked material. 
 He also taught them to distinguish between the whole- 
 some and the spurred rye, from which their polenta was 
 prepared, in order to escape the dreaded pellagra, the 
 disease so common in Italy, which comes from the use 
 of diseased grain. 
 
 He endeared himself so much to the people of the 
 countryside that they invented a special name for him, 
 which proclaimed the tenderness of their liking for 
 the man. They knew how much he was honored for 
 his wonderful discoveries in electricity, and many of 
 them had even seen some of the (to them at least) 
 inexplicable phenomena that he could produce at will by 
 means of various electrical contrivances. At first they 
 called him a "magician"; but as this word has, par- 
 ticularly for the Italian peasantry, a suspicion of evil in 
 it, they added the adjective "beneficent," and he was 
 generally known as U mago henefico. 
 
 His interest in these gentle, kindly people may be 
 appreciated from the fact that he knew practically all 
 of his country neighbors by name, and, as a rule, he 
 was familiar also with the conditions of their families 
 and their household affairs. Not infrequently he would 
 stop and talk to them about such things, and this favor 
 was always considered as a precious mark of his neigh- 
 borly courtesy by the peasantry. 
 
 Such was the simplicity of the man whose name is 
 undoubtedly one of the greatest in the history of science. 
 The great beginnings of the chapter on applied elec- 
 tricity are all his. There was nothing he touched in his 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 185- 
 
 work that he did not illuminate. His was typically the 
 mind of the genius, ever reaching out beyond the 
 boundaries of the known— an abundant source of lead- 
 ing and light for others. Far from being a doubter in 
 matters religious, his scientific greatness seemed only to 
 make him readier to submit to what are sometimes 
 spoken of as the shackles of faith, though to him belief 
 appealed as a completion of knowledge of things beyond 
 the domain of sense or the ordinary powers of intel- 
 lectual acquisition. Like Pasteur, a century later, the 
 more he knew, the more ready was he to believe and the 
 more satisfying he found his faith. This is a very dif- 
 ferent picture of the great scientific mind from that or- 
 dinarily presented as characteristic of scientific thinkers. 
 But Volta is not an exception ; rather does he represent 
 the rule, so far as the very great scientists are con- 
 cerned ; for it is only the second-rate minds, those 
 destined to follow but not to lead, in science, who have 
 so constantly proclaimed the opposition of science to 
 faith. 
 
 Volta' s well-known confession of faith declares his 
 state of mind with regard to religion better than any 
 words of a biographer, and it is a striking commentary 
 on the impression that has in some inexplicable way 
 gained wide acceptance, that a man cannot be a great 
 scientist and a firm believer in religion. A distin- 
 guished professor of psychology at one of the large 
 American universities said not long since, that a scientist 
 must keep his science and religion apart, or there will be 
 serious consequences for his religion, Volta' s opinion in 
 this matter is worth remembering. Having heard it said 
 that, though he continued to practice his religion, this 
 was more because he did not want to offend friends^ 
 
186 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 that he did not care to scandalize his neighbors, and did 
 not want the poor folk around him to be led by his ex- 
 ample into giving up what he knew to be their most 
 fruitful source of consolation in the trials of life, while 
 in the full exercise of his intellectual faculties, Volta 
 deliberately wrote out his confession of faith so that all 
 the world of his own and the after time might know it. 
 "If some of my faults and negligences may have by 
 chance given occasion to some one to suspect me of infi- 
 delity, I am ready, as some reparation for this and for 
 any other good purpose, to declare to such a one and to 
 every other person and on every occasion and under all 
 circumstances that I have always held, and hold now, 
 the Holy Catholic Religion as the only true and infalli- 
 ble one, thanking without end the good God for having 
 gifted me with such a faith, in which I firmly propose 
 to live and die, in the lively hope of attaining eternal life. 
 I recognize my faith as a gift of God, a supernatural 
 faith. I have not, on this account, however, neglected 
 to use all human means that could confirm me more and 
 more in it and that might drive away any doubt which 
 could arise to tempt me in matters of faith. I have 
 studied my faith with attention as to its foundations, 
 reading for this purpose books of apologetics as well 
 as those written with a contrary purpose, and trying 
 to appreciate the arguments pro and contra. I have 
 tried to realize from what sources spring the strongest 
 arguments which render faith most credible to natural 
 reason and such as cannot fail to make every well-bal- 
 anced mind which has not been perverted by vice or 
 passion embrace it and love it. May this protest of 
 mine, which I have deliberately drawn up and which I 
 leave to posterity, subscribed with my own hand and 
 
VOLTA THE FOUNDER 187 
 
 which shows to all and everyone that I do not blush at 
 the Gospel— may it, as I have said, produce some good 
 fruit. —Signed at Milan, Jan. 6th, 1815, AlessandroVolta. " 
 
 When Volta wrote this, he was just approaching his 
 sixtieth year and was in the full maturity of his powers. 
 He lived for twelve years after this, looked up to as one 
 of the great thinkers of Europe and as one of the most 
 important men of Italy of this time. Far from being 
 in his dotage, then, he was at the moment surely, if 
 ever, in the best position to know his own mind with 
 regard to his faith and his relations to the Creator. 
 
 There is a famous picture of Volta, by Magaud, in 
 Marseilles. It chronicles the fact that Volta had be- 
 come a Count, a Senator and a Member of the French 
 Institute, so appointed by Napoleon, and that he is in 
 some sense therefore a Frenchman. Magaud has painted 
 him standing, with his electric apparatus on one side 
 and the Scriptures on the other. Near him is placed his 
 friend Sylvio PeUico, whose little book, "My Ten Years' 
 Imprisonment, ' ' has endeared him to thousands of readers 
 all over the world. Pellico had doubted the presence of 
 Providence in the world and the existence of a here- 
 after. In the midst of his doubts, he turned to Volta. 
 "In thy old age, Volta!" said Pelhco, "the hand 
 of Providence placed in thy pathway a young man gone 
 astray. Oh ! thou, said I to the ancient seer, who hast 
 plunged deeper than others into the secrets of the Crea- 
 tor, teach me the road that will lead me to the light." 
 And the old man made answer : "I too have doubted, 
 but I have sought. The great scandal of my youth was 
 to behold the teachers of those days lay hold of science 
 to combat religion. Forme to-day I see only God every- 
 where." 
 
188 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Coulomb. 
 
 Great discoverers in science must usually be satisfied' 
 with having their names attached to some one phase of 
 scientific development, be it an instrument, a law, a 
 unit of measurement, a process of investigation or some 
 phenomenon which they first observed. The originality 
 of Coulomb's genius will be better appreciated, since 
 besides having a unit of electricity named after him, 
 there is also a law in electro-magnetics and a torsion- 
 balance that will always be associated with his name. 
 Few men have been more ingenious in their ability to 
 put complex ideas into practical shape and give them 
 simple mechanical expression by instrumental methods. 
 While his name is to be forever associated with the 
 science of electrostatics, he was profoundly interested 
 in other departments of physics, and for him to be 
 interested always meant that he would illuminate 
 previous knowledge by practical hints and suggestions 
 and carry the conclusions of his predecessors a little 
 farther into science than they had ever gone before. 
 His was typically an experimental genius, and he must be 
 considered one of the men of whom not more than half 
 a dozen are born in a century, who are, in Kipling's 
 strong term, " masterless " ; who do not need to be 
 taught, but who find for themselves a path into the 
 domain of the unknown. 
 
COULOMB 189 
 
 Coulomb investigated the fundamental law in electric- 
 ity and magnetism, that attractions and repulsions are 
 inversely as the square of the distances, and showed 
 that it held accurately for point-charges and point- 
 poles. He demonstrated that these interesting phe- 
 nomena were not chance manifestations of irregular 
 forces, but that they represented a definite mode of 
 action of force, thus setting this department of knowl- 
 edge on a scientific basis. While in practical signifi- 
 cance Ohm's Law, discovered nearly a half century 
 later, is of much more import, Coulomb's discoveries 
 are fundamental in character and, coming in the very 
 beginnings of modern electrical science, did much to 
 guide the infant science in the ways it should follow. 
 The establishing of this law contributed very largely to 
 the rapid development of the twin sciences of electricity 
 and magnetism. It is experimental observation that 
 means most for a rising science; and, in fact, that 
 Coulomb should have been the pioneer in it stamps him 
 as possessed not only of great originality, but also of 
 the power of independent thinking, which is perhaps 
 the most precious quality for the man of science. 
 
 The French investigator succeeded in demonstrating 
 liis law by two distinct methods which are still used for 
 illustration purposes in our physical laboratories. In 
 the first, he employed the torsion-balance devised by 
 Michell, and re-invented by himself, an instrument of 
 exact measurement which, in his hands, yielded as in- 
 valuable results as it did in those of Faraday half a 
 century later. The instrument depends on the principle 
 first established by Coulomb himself, that when a wire 
 is twisted, the angle of torsion is directly proportional 
 to the force of torsion. In the application of this prin- 
 
190 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 ciple, a fine wire is suspended in a glass case, on the 
 sides of which there is a graduated scale to measure the 
 degree of repulsion between two like poles of a magnet 
 or between similarly electrified bodies. 
 
 In his second research on the law of the inverse 
 square, Coulomb used what is known as the method of 
 oscillations. A magnetic needle swinging under the 
 influence of the earth's magnetism is known to act like 
 a pendulum, and as such obeys the laws of pendular 
 motion. In applying this method, Coulomb caused the 
 magnetic needle to oscillate, first, under the influence 
 of the earth's magnetism alone and then under the com- 
 bined influence of the earth and the magnet placed at 
 varying distances from the needle. The most interest- 
 ing feature of this work is the manner in which Coulomb 
 succeeded in eliminating the important factor of the 
 earth's magnetism from the problem. It is so simple- 
 and ingenious that it commands the admiration of inves- 
 tigators, who employ it in their laboratory work even 
 to the present day. 
 
 It is clear, then, that the International Committee 
 which selected the term coulomb for the electro- 
 magnetic unit of electrical quantity gave honor where 
 it was eminently due. Coulomb stands out as a man 
 of precision and accuracy, whose methods of exact 
 measurement revolutionized the rising science, and 
 whose researches and discoveries in physics and 
 mechanics furnish ample justification for giving him a 
 place among the makers of electricity. He was one of 
 the gifted men whose original works ushered in so 
 gloriously the nineteenth century, and who laid the 
 deep and firm foundations on which the last three 
 
COULOMB 191 
 
 generations have built up the magnificent temple of 
 electrical science. 
 
 Charles Augustin de Coulomb was born at Angouleme, 
 June 14th, 1736. His ancestors for several generations 
 had been magistrates, and were looked upon as repre- 
 sentatives of the country nobility. He made his uni- 
 versity studies in Paris, and while still young, entered 
 the army. From the very beginning, however, his 
 genius for mathematics was recognized, and he was 
 employed in the capacity of military engineer. To 
 Americans, it will be interesting to know that his first 
 engineering project was undertaken at Martinique, 
 where he constructed Fort Bourbon. His sterling char- 
 acter and remarkable ability secured him rapid advance- 
 ment in the service. In spite of the fact that the 
 climate did not agree with him, he remained for three 
 years on the island, because he would not employ the 
 political influence that might have secured his recall, 
 since he thought it his duty to serve his country in an 
 important colonial post. Nearly all his comrades per- 
 ished by fever. It is the irony of fate that after his 
 return to France a change in the ministry deprived him 
 of the just recompense of his devotion to country, and 
 he did not receive the special extraordinary promotion 
 which he had earned in this special detail. 
 
 During a short stay that he made at Paris after his 
 return, he sought the society of men of science as far as 
 possible, and succeeded in getting in touch with all that 
 was most promising in scientific progress at the time. 
 He was already known rather favorably by many of the 
 scientific men of the capital because of the paper on 
 The Statics of Vaults, a monograph on static problems 
 in architecture, which he presented to the Academy of 
 
192 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Sciences in 1779. His next military assignment was to 
 Rochefort. Here he composed his monograph on "The 
 Theory of Simple Machines," which carried off the 
 double prize that had been offered by the Academy of 
 Sciences for the solution of problems connected with 
 this important question. This attracted the attention 
 not only of the scientific world, but also of his mihtary 
 superiors. As a result, he was sent successively to 
 Cherburg and to the Isle of Aix, to direct engineering 
 works, and accomplished the tasks involved with suc- 
 cess. 
 
 Two years later, when he was about forty-five years 
 of age, he was elected member of the Academy of Sci- 
 ences by a unanimous vote. He was a man of great 
 personal magnetism, and all those who came in contact 
 with him learned to like him for his straightforward 
 character and for the absolute righteousness of his life. 
 Few men have made firmer friends than Coulomb, as 
 few have ever shown more unselfish devotion to duty 
 and to conscience than he, though under circumstances 
 that were neither spectacular nor theatrical. It was 
 harder to face the deadly climate of Martinique than it 
 would have been to take one's place at the head of a 
 forlorn hope in an outburst of enthusiastic courage ; and 
 Coulomb was to have other trials of quite as deterrent 
 a nature, and was to meet them with the same imper- 
 turbed sense of duty. 
 
 Graft is sometimes supposed to be temptation peculiar 
 only to our own times, but the opportunities for it have 
 always been present in such work as Coulomb had to 
 oversee, and the army engineer of all ages has had to 
 stand or fall before it. It was proposed, about this 
 time, to build a system of government canals in Britt- 
 
COULOMB 193 
 
 any. Such a canal-system would, as is easy to under- 
 stand, cost an enormous sum of money and give mag- 
 nificent opportunities for speculation of various kinds. 
 No small objection had been made to the project, on the 
 score that it would not confer all the benefits on the 
 region that were claimed for it, and Coulomb was com- 
 missioned by the Minister of Marine to determine the 
 question of the advisability of constructing the canals, 
 and of the probable effect which they would have on the 
 commerce of the country. 
 
 After careful investigation, he came to the conclusion 
 that the advantages which were expected to accrue 
 from the project would not compensate for the enor- 
 mous expense that would be entailed. This decision 
 aroused the angry protest of a strong political faction, 
 who expected to reap wealth and personal advantages 
 of many kinds from the scheme, and who protested bit- 
 terly against Coulomb's report. He was able to support 
 his conclusions in the matter, however, with such un- 
 answerable mathematical and engineering arguments, 
 that his opinion prevailed and the project was given up. 
 
 As a consequence, instead of the opportunity to serve 
 a political party with every avenue to preferment and, 
 above all, to wealth open for him, he found himself, for 
 the time being, deprived even of the opportunity to 
 devote himself further to his favorite occupations in 
 military engineering. The excuse given for this inter- 
 ruption in his career, for there has always been an 
 excuse for such action, was that proper representations 
 for permission to make the report had not been made to 
 the Minister of Marine ; and instead of commendation, 
 •Coulomb received what was practically a reprimand. 
 
 Wounded by this injustice, which was manifestly due 
 
194 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 to the fact that his honest report had displeased those 
 who expected to reap personal benefit from the canal 
 project, and disgusted wit^i a service in which such 
 things were possible, Coulomb sent in his resignation. 
 The Minister of Marine realized that the acceptance 
 of the proffered resignation would surely expose the 
 ministry at least to suspicion as to the reasons why 
 Coulomb's report was not accepted with good grace. 
 Permission to retire from the service was refused, as 
 this would insure his silence. He was ordered back to 
 Brittany to continue his work there, possibly with the 
 idea that this unfavorable experience would be sufficient 
 of itself to make him understand what was expected of 
 him and render him a little more complacent to the 
 wishes of those in authority. If any such ideas were 
 entertained, they were destined to grievous disappoint- 
 ment. Coulomb was not of those who, seeing duty 
 plainly, refuse to follow it because some personal ad- 
 vantage or disadvantage intervenes. Selfish reasons 
 did not appeal to his character nor obscure the issues. 
 He went back to Brittany, ready to express his firm 
 opinion in the matter and with integrity of soul un- 
 touched. The consequence was that the provincial 
 authorities, recognizing their true interests, acknowl- 
 edged the error they had come near falling into, and 
 now wished to reward the engineer handsomely for his 
 unswerving devotion to duty. Coulomb as promptly 
 refused a reward for doing his duty as he had ignored 
 even the appearance of a bribe to avoid it. Only after 
 considerable pressure was he prevailed upon to accept 
 the best timepiece they could procure, on which the 
 arms of the province were engraved. It had what was 
 quite rare in those days, a second's hand, and he con- 
 
COULOMB 195 
 
 stantly made use of this in all his experimental work 
 thereafter. A French biographer says that, never was 
 a souvenir better chosen nor more suitably employed. 
 Coulomb's merits were recognized by the government 
 authorities not long after, and he was made superin- 
 tendent of the fountains of France. A few years later, 
 he was promoted to the position of Curator of Plans 
 and Relief Maps of the Military Staff of France, and 
 was chosen as one of the commission of the French 
 Academy of Sciences who went to England in order to 
 study hospital conditions there. At this time, he was 
 at the acme of his career. His grade was that of Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel of Engineers, a position much higher in 
 the foreign armies at that time than would be the post 
 with the corresponding title in our army. He had been 
 made a Chevalier of St. Louis, and it looked as though 
 a brilliant future were opening out before him. Each 
 year, for a decade, had seen the publication of one or 
 more memoirs on important subjects, nearly every one 
 of which contained some original material of the highest 
 value, destined not only to add to Coulomb's reputation, 
 but to furnish basic information for the further devel- 
 opment of science. 
 
 In 1789, however, the Revolution broke out, and there 
 was an end to all Coulomb's opportunities for work. He 
 was utterly out of sympathy with the movement, the 
 worst consequences of which he foresaw from the begin- 
 ning, and he at once handed in his resignation of the 
 various positions that he occupied under the government. 
 He went into almost absolute retirement, devoting him- 
 self to the education of his children. During this time, 
 however, he did not cease to cultivate science, inasmuch 
 as he gave the finishing touch to various papers whicli 
 
196 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 he had previously outlined. Unfortunately, however, his 
 departure from Paris made it impossible for him to 
 continue his investigations in electricity for want of ap- 
 paratus, and so there is a ten years' interruption in his 
 life of scientific activity and of original work. Besides, 
 it cannot be surprising that he should not have had the 
 heart to go on with his work under the awful social 
 conditions that prevailed. Many of his friends lost their 
 lives during the stormy period of the Revolution ; most 
 of the others were banished or were in hiding. His be- 
 loved country had gone into an unfortunate eclipse, as 
 he could not help but consider it ; most of the nations 
 of the earth were indeed in league against her, and the 
 end was not yet in sight. It would be too much to ex- 
 pect of human nature that it should devote itself to 
 abstruse problems in science at moments of such dis- 
 turbance as this, and so some of the possibilities of 
 Coulomb's original genius were lost to science during 
 that calamitous period. 
 
 Like many of the great discoveries of science, Cou- 
 lomb's most important work was done in the course of 
 other investigations, and came by what might be called 
 a happy accident. He had been investigating the quali- 
 ties of wire of various kinds, especially with regard to 
 their elasticity, so as to be able to determine the limits 
 of their use in various engineering projects. When he 
 discovered that the elasticity of torsion of a wire was a 
 constant property, he proceeded to utilize it in the cal- 
 culation of such delicate phenomena as those of elec- 
 tric and magnetic forces. The first instrument for this 
 purpose that he constructed consisted simply of a long 
 magnetized needle suspended horizontally by a fine 
 wire. Supposing this needle to be at rest, if one moves 
 
COULOMB 197 
 
 it away from the magnetic meridian by a certain num- 
 ber of degrees, the twisted wire will have a definite 
 tendency to untwist and to bring back the needle to its 
 original position by a series of oscillations whose fre- 
 quency can be readily observed. 
 
 For such observations, it is possible to obtain the value 
 of the force acting on the needle and causing it to move 
 to and fro at a given rate. This was the underlying 
 idea which received very simple expression in the in- 
 genious instrument which Coulomb devised and called a 
 torsion-balance. With it, he set about determining the 
 law which governs the mutual action of magnets and 
 of electrified bodies with regard to distance, and found it 
 to be the same as that which Newton found to hold for 
 bodies distributed throughout the universe, that is, that 
 attraction and repulsion vary inversely as the square of 
 the distance. He also proved, with the aid of his tor- 
 sion-balance, that the forces of attraction and repulsion 
 vary as the product of the strength of the poles in one 
 case and as the product of the electric charges in the 
 other. These were the important discoveries of Cou- 
 lomb's life ; they served to earn for him the right to 
 have his name given to the unit of electrical quantity, 
 the coulomb. 
 
 Coulomb did not stop here, however, but proceeded to 
 apply his laws to various other phenomena. He proved 
 that electricity distributes itself entirely over the surface 
 of a body without penetrating the mass of the con- 
 ductor, and he showed by calculation that this result 
 was a necessary consequence of the law of repulsion. 
 
 A list of the papers which he published on electricity 
 and magnetism, the titles of which, with French accur- 
 acy of expression, furnish an excellent idea of their con- 
 
198 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 tents, shows the thoroughly progressive and scientific 
 spirit of the man, and how well he proceeded from the 
 known to the less known, always widening the bounds 
 of knowledge. Suffice it to say here that the observa- 
 tions of Coulomb were not only original, but that they 
 concerned some of the most difficult questions in elec- 
 tricity, and that he was clearing the ground for others 
 in such a way as to make future work and quantitative 
 measurements in electricity reliable and comparatively 
 easy. It is because of this pioneer work that Coulomb 
 deserves so much praise. It was not long before Cou- 
 lomb's observations were confirmed by others, and then 
 the beginnings of the modern development of elec- 
 tricity became manifest, owing not a little to the 
 researches and inventions, the genius and ingenuity of 
 this French military engineer. 
 
 Some phases of electrical development attributed to 
 others really belong to Coulomb. A typical example of 
 this detraction from his merit is the attribution to Biot 
 of the solution of the problem of the complete discharge 
 of an electrified sphere by means of two hollow hemi- 
 spheres. This experiment is fully described by Cou- 
 lomb, and he even emphasizes the fact that the ex- 
 ternal discharging bodies need not necessarily be of the 
 same shape as the charged sphere. Some of what 
 Coulomb accepted as principles in electricity have proved 
 in the course of time, not to be the realities that he 
 thought them ; but the progress that has led to such 
 contradictions of his opinions has been mainly rendered 
 possible by his own discoveries. The fable of the eagle 
 stricken by the arrow containing some of its own feath- 
 ers, is so old that one might think that, when the 
 progress of a science due to a scientist brings men be- 
 
COULOMB 199 
 
 yond the position he occupied, they would not blame him 
 for backwardness. This is, however, one of the curious 
 critical methods in the history of science that has most 
 frequently to be deprecated by the historian who is 
 tracing origins and developments. 
 
 Coulomb's papers, with the exception of his memoir 
 on "Problems in Statics Applied to Architecture," his 
 ' * Researches on the Methods of executing Works under 
 Water without the Necessity of Pumping," his "Theory 
 of Simple Machines," and his researches "On Wind- 
 mills," which form separate monographs, were all pub- 
 lished together in a single volume by the French Physi- 
 cal Society in 1884. ^ 
 
 This volume contains, besides his investigations on 
 the best way of making magnetic needles, his theoretic 
 and experimental investigations on the force of torsion 
 and on the elasticity of metallic threads, which were 
 undertaken in order to enable him to make his electric 
 torsion-balance something more than mere guess-work. 
 All the other papers are concerned directly with elec- 
 tricity or magnetism, and show how actively, nearly a 
 hundred and twenty-five years ago, a great mind was 
 engaged with problems in electricity which we are apt 
 to consider as belonging more properly to our own time. 
 The list of papers published in these memoirs, arranged 
 in chronological order, gives a good idea of the devel- 
 opment of electrical science in Coulomb's own mind. 
 There is a logical as well as a chronological order to be 
 observed in them. 
 
 In 1785, when he was just approaching his fiftieth 
 
 1 Collection de Memoires relatifs a La Physique Publics Par la Societe Frangaise 
 de Physique. Tome I. , Memoires de Coulomb. Paris, Gauthier-Villars, Imprimeur- 
 Libraire Du Bureau des Longitudes, de L'lScole Polytechnique, Qua! des Ausnistins, 
 56, 1884. 
 
200 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 year, there were three subjects with regard to which 
 Coulomb's experimental observations enabled him to set 
 down some definite principles. The first of these was 
 the construction and use of an electric balance, founded 
 on the property which wires have of exhibiting a torque 
 proportional to the angle of torsion. The second was 
 the determination of the laws, according to which the 
 magnetic and electric "fluids," as Coulomb and investi- 
 gators in electricity called them at that time, act both 
 as regards repulsion and attraction. The third was the 
 determination of the quantity of electricity which an 
 insulated body loses in a given time from contact with 
 air more or less moist. 
 
 In 1786, he published a paper in which he demon- 
 strated what he considered the principal properties of 
 the electric fluid. These are, that this fluid does not 
 spread itself on a substance by any chemical affinity 
 or any elective attraction, but that it distributes itself 
 over various bodies that are placed in contact, entirely 
 in accordance with their shape ; and also that in elec- 
 trical conductors, the charge is limited to the surface of 
 the conductor and does not penetrate to any appreciable 
 depth. 
 
 In 1787, his only paper was on the manner in which 
 the electrical fluid divides itself between two conducting 
 bodies placed in contact, and on the distribution of this- 
 fluid over the different parts of the surface of these 
 bodies. He continued his investigations into this sub- 
 ject in 1788, and also succeeded in determining the 
 density of the electricity at different points on the sur- 
 face of conducting bodies. 
 
 In 1789, he began to work more particularly on mag- 
 netism. His first paper on the subject was published! 
 
COULOMB 201- 
 
 that year. Unfortunately, as we have said, the Revo- 
 lution interrupted his scientific investigations at this 
 point, and for the next eleven years we have nothing 
 from his pen. As a nobleman, he was compelled to 
 leave Paris, and this not only put him out of touch with 
 scientific work generally, but deprived him of the oppor- 
 tunities of using such apparatus as was necessary to 
 carry on his experiments. That he acted prudently in 
 leaving Paris, the careers of other scientists amply 
 prove. Lavoisier continued to carry on his chemical 
 investigations during the stormy times of the Revolution, 
 but his stay in the capital eventually cost him his life. 
 Abbe Hauy, the father of crystallography, ^ who, because 
 of his contributions to the science of pyro-electricity, is of 
 special interest to us, continued to work at his crystals 
 throughout even the Reign of Terror. When thrown into 
 prison, he asked and obtained permission to have his 
 crystals with him. His friends saved him from Lavoi- 
 sier's fate, but not without an effort, as his life was 
 seriously endangered. 
 
 It is easy to understand, however, that a member of 
 the nobility like Coulomb, whose life had been spent in 
 military affairs, should not be able to devote himself 
 seriously to scientific matters while his country was in 
 such a turmoil. 
 
 In 1801, he resumed his investigations once more, but 
 now they are concerned more particularly with mag- 
 netism. The first was a theoretical and practical de- 
 termination of the forces which hold different magnetic 
 needles, magnetized to saturation, in the magnetic 
 meridian. This was followed, in the same year, by a 
 paper which, like its predecessor, was published among: 
 
 1 Catholic Churchmen in Science, the Dolphin Press, Philadelphia, 1906. 
 
202 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 the memoirs of the Institute of France, which had re- 
 placed the Royal Academy of Sciences, to which body 
 many of Coulomb's papers of the former time had been 
 presented, and in whose publications they originally 
 appeared. This second paper detailed his experiments 
 on the determination of the force of cohesion of fluids 
 and the law of resistance in them, when the movements 
 were very slow. 
 
 When the French Institute was organized under 
 Napoleon in 1801, Coulomb was named among its first 
 members. It is believed that he was even chosen to 
 occupy a place in the first government of the state, but 
 a man more interested in politics obtained the place, 
 a fortunate circumstance for science. Coulomb was 
 named, however, one of the inspectors of public instruc- 
 tion, then the highest place in the education department, 
 and he did much to restore to France the educational 
 system that had been destroyed during the Revolution. 
 In this rather trying work he was noted for the kindli- 
 ness yet firmness of his character, while his absolute 
 fairness and sense of justice were recognized on all 
 sides. 
 
 Unfortunately Coulomb was not long spared to con- 
 tinue his work. He took up his experimental and 
 mathematical investigations, on his return to the capital, 
 with great enthusiasm, but his health had been under- 
 mined and his work had been rudely interrupted. After 
 1801, no further paper by him appears to have been pub- 
 lished until 1806. This gave the result of different 
 methods employed in order to produce in blades and 
 bars of steel the greatest degree of magnetism. For 
 some time preceding this, in spite of increasing ill- 
 health, he had continued his experiments on the in- 
 
COULOMB 203 
 
 iiuence of temperature on the magnetism, of steel. 
 His work on this subject was not destined to be com- 
 pleted, for not long after passing his seventieth year, 
 in June of this year, his health gave way completely, 
 and he died August 23d, 1806. His final observations 
 were gathered by Biot, carefully preserved, and assigned 
 a place in the volume of Coulomb's Memoirs, issued by 
 the French Physical Society. 
 
 Personally, Coulomb was noted for great seriousness 
 of character, though with this was mingled a gentleness 
 -of disposition that made for him some cordial friend- 
 ships among his scientific contemporaries. He had but 
 few friends, but those who were admitted to his inti- 
 macy made up by the depth of their affection for the 
 smallness of their number. Even those who had occa- 
 sion to meet him but once or twice, carried away from 
 their meeting an affectionate remembrance of his kind- 
 liness and courtesy and readiness to help wherever he 
 could be of service. He was extremely happy in his 
 family relations, and this proved to be a ^reat source of 
 •consolation to him during the years when the progress 
 of the French Revolution took him away from science 
 and made him almost despair of his country. 
 
 It is not surprising that Biot, the great French physi- 
 cist, in writing of Coulomb in his Melanges Scientifiques 
 et Litteraires, Vol. HI. (Paris, 1858), should have held 
 Coulomb up as a model of the simple, earnest, helpful 
 life and as a man of the most exemplary character. He 
 says: "Coulomb lived among the men of his time in 
 patience and charity. He was distinguished among 
 them mainly by his separation from their passions and 
 their errors, and he always maintained himself calm, 
 firm and dignified in se totus teres atque rotundus, as 
 
204 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Horace says, a complete, perfect and well-rounded char- 
 acter." Few men have deserved so noble a eulogy as 
 this, written nearly fifty years after his death, by one 
 who had known Coulomb himself and his contemporaries 
 well ; it has none of the exaggeration of a funeral pan- 
 egyric, and is evidently founded on details of knowledge 
 with regard to the great electrician which had become a 
 tradition among French scientists, and which Biot has 
 forever crystallized into the history of science by his 
 emphatic expression. 
 
 One could scarcely wish for a better epitaph than 
 Biot's summing up of Coulomb's personal character: 
 "All those who knew Coulomb know how the gravity 
 of his character was tempered by the sweetness of his 
 disposition, and those who had the happiness to meet 
 him at their entrance into a scientific career have kept 
 the most tender remembrance of his gentle good-heart- 
 edness." 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 205 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Hans Christian Oersted. 
 
 Whatever may be thought of the value of controversy 
 in other departments of knowledge, it has certainly 
 proved useful in the progress of experimental science. 
 Witness the animated and prolonged discussion which 
 took place between Volta and Galvani, and which led to 
 enduring results for the welfare of mankind. Wishing 
 to prove the correctness of his theory of electrification 
 by contact against Galvani's animal electricity, Volta 
 devoted himself unremittingly to experimentation until, 
 in the century year 1800, his brilliant work culminated 
 in the invention of the "pile " or electric battery which 
 bears his name. 
 
 A suspicion had been growing for many years in the 
 minds of physicists, that there must be some degree of 
 relationship, probably an intimate one, between mag- 
 netism and electricity, between magnetic and electric 
 forces. In the year 1785, van Swinden, a celebrated 
 Dutch physicist, published a work on electricity in 
 which he described and commented upon a number of 
 analogies which he had observed between the two 
 orders of phenomena ; but, voluminous as was the work, 
 it threw no light on the nature of the suspected rela- 
 tionship. 
 
 It was well known, in the case of houses and ships 
 struck by lightning, that knives, forks and other articles 
 
206 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 made of steel were often found to be permanently mag- 
 netized. Following up this pregnant observation, ex- 
 perimenters often sought to impart magnetic properties 
 to steel needles by Leyden-jar discharges, but with 
 indifferent success. Sometimes there would be a trace 
 of magnetism left and sometimes none. In no case was 
 it possible to say beforehand which end of the knitting- 
 needle would have north polarity and which south. 
 
 Though we are better equipped to-day for research 
 work than were our predecessors in the electrical field 
 fifty years ago, we are still unable to predict the polar- 
 ity that will result in a bar of iron from a given con- 
 denser discharge. The uncertainty arises from the 
 fact disclosed by Joseph Henry in 1842 and well known 
 to-day that, under ordinary cicumstances, all such dis- 
 charges consist of a rush of electricity to and fro, that 
 is, they give rise to an oscillatory current of exceedingly 
 short duration. Were it otherwise, that is, were the 
 discharge unidirectional, the needle would always be 
 magnetized to a degree of intensity proportional to the 
 energy released ; and it would be possible in every case 
 to foretell with certainty the resulting polarity which 
 the needle would acquire. 
 
 With the advent of the voltaic battery, a generator 
 which supplies a steady flow of current in one direction, 
 the interesting problem of relationship between electric 
 and magnetic forces was again attacked ; and this time 
 with considerable success. 
 
 Probably the earliest investigator afield was Romag- 
 nosi, an Italian physician residing in Trent (Tyrol), 
 who, in the year 1802, published in the "Gazetta" of 
 his town an account of an experiment which he had 
 made, and which showed that he was working on prom- 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 207 
 
 ising lines. What he did was this : having connected 
 one end of a silver chain to a voltaic pile, and having 
 carried the chain through a glass tube for the purpose 
 of insulation, he presented the free end, terminating in 
 a knob, to a compass-needle, also insulated. At first, 
 the needle was attracted ; and, after contact, repelled. 
 Whatever Romagnosi thought of his experiment and its 
 theoretical bearing, the attraction and subsequent re- 
 pulsion of the compass-needle which he said he observed 
 were electrostatic and not electromagnetic effects. The 
 Italian physician was indeed on the verge of a great 
 discovery; but he halted in his course and lost his 
 opportunity. 
 
 Mojon, Professor of chemistry in Genoa, was a little 
 more fortunate, though he, too, failed to improve his 
 opportunities. In 1804, he sought to magnetize steel 
 needles by placing them for a period of twenty days in 
 circuit with a battery of one hundred elements of the 
 crown-of-cups type, and had the satisfaction of finding^ 
 ithem permanently magnetized when withdrawn from 
 the circuit. Unlike the electrostatic effect of his fellow- 
 countryman Romagnosi, this was unquestionably an 
 electromagnetic effect, the first link in the long chain 
 connecting electricity with magnetism. 
 
 That this result attracted wide attention at the time, 
 as it well deserved, is evident from the notice given by 
 Izarn in his "Manuel du Galvanisme," and by Aldini 
 in his "Essai Theorique et experimental sur le Galvan- 
 isme," both of which were published in Paris in the 
 same year, 1804. 
 
 Though the manuals of Izarn and Aldini served to 
 give a fresh impetus to the quest of the relationship be- 
 tween electricity and magnetism, it was not, however, 
 
-208 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 until the year 1820 that the cardinal discovery was made 
 by one philosopher and the intimate relationship re- 
 vealed by another. Then all Europe rang with the 
 names of Oersted, the fortunate discoverer of the 
 " magnetic effect " of the electric current, and Ampere, 
 whose masterly analysis disclosed the nature of the 
 long-sought-for connection. In the delight of the hour, 
 men called Oersted the Columbus, and Ampere the New- 
 ton, of electricity. 
 
 Though a philosopher of a high order and lecturer of 
 interest and brilliancy, Oersted was, nevertheless, a poor 
 experimentalist. He was fine in the abstract, awkward 
 in the concrete. Often did he call for the assistance of 
 a student to perform an experiment for the class under 
 his direction. Hansteen, who is celebrated for his very 
 fine work in terrestrial magnetism, often had this privi- 
 lege, for he was clear of mind and deft of hand. Writ- 
 ing to Faraday, he said : ** Oersted was a man of gen- 
 ious, but very unsuccessful as a demonstrator, for he 
 could not manipulate instruments." 
 
 In seeking for some evidence of a physical interaction 
 between electricity and magnetism, Oersted on one oc- 
 casion, placed a wire conveying a current vertically across 
 a compass-needle ; and, on obtaining no result, seemed 
 greatly disappointed. He evidently expected the needle 
 to respond in some way to the energy of the current ; 
 and so it would have responded had he placed the wire 
 in any other position than the particular one which he 
 selected. The Danish philosopher now hesitates ; and 
 for lack of coolness, patience and resourcefulness, runs 
 the risk of losing the crowning glory of his life. He is 
 disappointed at his failure ; and for the nonce, contents 
 himself with brooding over it. 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 209 
 
 On another occasion, having a stronger battery at his 
 disposal, he determined to try the experiment again, 
 in the hope that the greater energy at his command 
 
 would provoke 
 
 the magnet to 
 
 A — -^ respond. This 
 
 time, he stret- 
 
 N— nmillll^^ fr ched the wire 
 
 ** ' over and par- 
 
 allel to the 
 compass nee- 
 
 The magnetic effect of an electric current. Oersted, 1820 ,, , . 
 
 die, when, to 
 his intense delight, the magnet turned aside as soon 
 as the circuit was closed. The result was pronounced 
 and instantaneous. The Professor, an enthusiast by 
 nature, waxed warm over his good fortune, and well 
 might he do so, as the discovery which he had just 
 made was destined to revolutionize existing modes 
 of transmitting intelligence to distant parts and bring 
 remotest countries into direct and immediate relation 
 with one another. 
 
 That Oersted fell into ecstasy over his success was 
 but natural, though it is not stated that he exhibited his 
 enthusiasm by the performance of any unusual feat. 
 When Lavoisier made a discovery, he was wont to take 
 hold of his assistant and go dancing around with him 
 for sheer joy. After making a certain successful exper- 
 iment in his laboratory, Gay-Lussac gave vent to his 
 feelings by dancing round the room, and clapping his 
 hands the while. It is related that, when Davy saw the 
 first globules of potassium burst through the crust of 
 potash and take fire, his delight knew no bounds. He 
 also took to dancing, and some time had to elapse before 
 
210 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 he was sufficiently composed to continue his work. Even 
 the cool and self-possessed Faraday occasionally waxed 
 warm on seeing his efforts crowned with success. It is 
 said that, when he got a wire conveying a current to re- 
 volve round the pole of a magnet, he rubbed his hands 
 vigorously and danced around the table, his face beaming 
 with delight : ''There they go, there they go ; we have 
 succeeded at last," he said. He then gleefully proposed 
 to cease work for the day and spend the evening at 
 Astley's seeing the feats of well-trained horses ! 
 
 Having realized that his experiment was one of funda- 
 mental importance in physical theory, our philosopher 
 proceeds to repeat it under varying conditions. He 
 places the wire conveying the current in front of the 
 needle, behind it, under it, across it ; he reverses the 
 current in each case, and notices the direction in which 
 the needle turns. Though he states results very clearly, 
 he gives no general rule whereby the direction of the] 
 deflection may be foretold from that of the current. A 
 memoria technica to meet all cases that may occur was 
 needed, and was promptly supplied by Ampere, who, 
 with a flash of genius, devised the rule of the little swim- 
 mer. Others have been added since, such as the cork- 
 screw rule and the rule involving the outspread right 
 hand ; but the swimmer appeals in a manner quite its 
 own to the fancy of the youthful student. It pleases 
 while it instructs ; it is ingenious while yet remarkably 
 simple. 
 
 It has been said that the Philosopher of Copenhagen 
 was led by mere accident to the experiment which will 
 hand his name down the ages ; but inasmuch as he was 
 looking, during thirteen years, for a result analogous to 
 the one which he obtained, it is only right to give him 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 211 
 
 full credit for the success which he achieved. It has 
 been well remarked, that the seeds of great discoveries 
 are constantly floating around us, but take root only in 
 minds well prepared to receive them. Accidents of the 
 Oersted type happen only to men who deserve them, as 
 was the case with Musschenbroek and Galvani in the 
 eighteenth century, and with Roentgen in the nineteenth. 
 The electrification of a flask of water, the twitching 
 of frogs' legs in response to electric sparks, and the 
 blackening of a sensitive screen by a distant, shielded 
 Crookes's tube, led to the electrostatic condenser in the 
 first case, to "galvanism" in the second, and to the 
 photography of the invisible in the third. 
 
 Writing of Oersted's discovery, Faraday said that 
 ' * It burst open the gates of a domain in science, dark 
 till then, and filled it with a flood of light." 
 
 The discovery of 1820 was hailed throughout Europe by 
 an extraordinary outburst of enthusiasm. Oersted was 
 complimented and congratulated on all sides. Honors 
 were showered upon him : the Royal Society of London 
 awarded him the Copley medal ; the French Academy 
 of Sciences gave him its gold medal for the physico- 
 mathematical sciences ; Prussia conferred upon him the 
 Ordre pour le Merite, and his own country made him a 
 Knight of the Daneborg. 
 
 Oersted lost no time in preparing a memoir on the 
 subject of his work, a copy of which was sent to the 
 learned societies and most renowned philosophers of 
 Europe. The memoir, which was written in Latin and 
 dated July 21st, 1820, consisted of four quarto pages with 
 the title "Experiments on the effect of the electric con- 
 flict on the magnetic needle." 
 ,' A perusal of this paper brings home the conviction 
 
212 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Magnetic field surrounding a conductor carrying: a 
 current 
 
 that Oersted realized fairly well the forces which came 
 into play in his experiment ; for in one place, he speaks 
 of the effect as due to a transverse force emanating 
 from the conductor 
 conveying the cur- 
 rent, and again as 
 a conflict acting in 
 a revolving manner 
 around the wire. A 
 complete statement 
 of the nature of the 
 mechanical force ex- 
 erted by a conductor 
 conveying a current on a magnetic needle was given 
 almost immediately by Ampere, a master analyst and 
 accomplished experimentalist. 
 
 It will stand for all time in the history of science, 
 that in less than two months after the publication of 
 Oersted's memoir, Ampere succeeded in showing the 
 mechanical effect in magnitude and direction of an ele- 
 ment of current not only on the magnetic needle itself, 
 but also on a similar element of an adjacent conductor 
 conveying a current, thereby founding a new science in 
 the department of physics, the science of electro- 
 dynamics. 
 
 Oersted does not appear to have given thought to the 
 practical possibilities of his discovery. While appreciat- 
 ing the utilitarian in science, he evidently preferred the 
 pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. In a discourse 
 which he delivered in 1814 before the University of 
 Copenhagen, he put himself on record when he said 
 that "The real laborer in the scientific field chooses 
 knowledge as his highest aim." 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 
 
 213 
 
 So said Plato ages before, and so said Archimedes, 
 who held that it was undesirable for a philosopher to 
 seek to apply the discoveries of science to any practical 
 
 tend. The screw which he invented, his 
 catapults and burning mirrors, show, how- 
 ever, that when necessary the Syracusan 
 mathematician could come down from the 
 serene heights of investigation to the pro- 
 saic arena of application. 
 
 Before Oersted spoke of "the real labor- 
 er," Thomas Young had affirmed that 
 "Those who possess the genuine spirit of 
 scientific investigation are content to pro- 
 ceed in their researches without inquiring 
 at every step what they gain by their newly 
 discovered lights, and to what practical pur- 
 poses they are applicable." 
 
 Young's most illustrious successor in the 
 Royal Institution, Michael Faraday, devoted 
 himself calmly but unflinchingly to research 
 Fig. 24 work, in the conviction that no discovery, 
 whirf suS-ound- however remote in its nature, from the sub- 
 thrfugh which ject of daily observation, could with reason 
 passing be declared wholly inapplicable to the bene- 
 
 fit of mankind. After discovering in 1831 that elec- 
 tric currents could be produced by the relative motion 
 of magnets and coils of wire, a discovery which is the 
 basis of all the electric engineering of our day, Fara- 
 day constructed several experimental machines embody- 
 ing this principle, and then turned away abruptly from 
 the work, saying, "I had rather been desirous of 
 discovering new facts and new relations dependent on 
 magneto-electric induction than of exalting the force 
 
214 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 of those already obtained, being assured that the latter 
 would find their full development hereafter. " 
 
 Our own Joseph Henry, whose sterling merit is 
 universally recognized, beautifully said in this connec- 
 tion : "He who loves truth for its own sake feels that 
 its highest claims are lowered by being continually 
 summoned to the bar of immediate and palpable utility. " 
 
 Oersted seems to have shared the opinion largely held 
 by the scientific men of his day, that electricity is 
 mainly a magnetic phenomenon. Ampere, for one, did 
 not think so, as is evident from the beautiful theory 
 which he devised to explain the magnetism of a bar by 
 minute electric currents flowing round each individual 
 molecule of the iron. To the French physicist, magnet- 
 ism was purely an electrical phenomenon. 
 
 Though propounded 
 more than eighty years 
 ago, this theory is still in 
 harmony with all facts 
 and phenomena in the do- 
 main of magnetism known 
 to-day. It is important to 
 remember, when thinking fig. 25 
 
 of this physical theory, Ampere's molecular currents 
 
 that the Amperian currents in question are confined 
 to the molecule, and that they do not flow from one 
 molecule to another. Critics have urged against the 
 theory that the molecules must be heated by the 
 circulation of these elementary currents, to which 
 objection it has been replied that, as we know nothing 
 of the nature of the molecule, we cannot say that it 
 offers any resistance to the current ; and, therefore, we 
 cannot affirm that there is any development of heat 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 215 
 
 due to the circulation of these elementary currents. 
 
 It is to Ampere's credit that he was also the first to 
 propose a practical application of Oersted's discovery, 
 an application that was nothing less than the electric 
 telegraph itself. He suggested that the deflection of 
 the magnetic needle could be used for the transmission 
 of signals from one place to another by means of as 
 many needles and circuits as there are letters in the 
 alphabet. If Ampere had only recalled the optical and 
 mechanical telegraphs in use in his day, such as the 
 swinging of lanterns by night and wigwagging of flags 
 and the movements of semaphores by day, he might 
 have reduced his twenty-four circuits to one, using the 
 two elements, viz. , motion of the needle to the right and 
 motion to the left, to make up the entire alphabet. 
 Morse substituted the dot and the dash for these deflec- 
 tions, and thus rendered the reception of messages 
 automatic and permanent. 
 
 In connection with this proposal to use a magnetic 
 needle for the transmission of intelligence, the reader 
 will no doubt recall the lover's telegraph, so beautifully 
 described by Addison in the "Spectator" for Decem- 
 ber 6th, 1711; but ingeniously conceived as it was, this 
 magnetic telegraph was purely and simply a creation of 
 the imagination. 
 
 This canny conceit has been attributed to Cardinal 
 Bembo, the elegant scholar and private secretary to 
 Pope Leo X. ; but it was his friend Porta, the versatile 
 philosopher, who made it widely known by the vivid 
 description which he gave of it in his celebrated 
 work on "Natural Magic," published at Naples in 1558. 
 
 This sympathetic telegraph consisted, we are told, 
 of a magnetic needle poised in the center of a dial- 
 
216 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 plate, with the letters of the alphabet written around 
 it. The two fortunate individuals privileged to hold 
 wireless correspondence with each other having agreed 
 as to the day and the hour, proceed to the room in 
 which the wonderful instrument is kept, where, as 
 soon as one of them turns the needle of his transmitter 
 to a letter, the distant needle turns at once in sympathy 
 to the same letter on its dial ! 
 
 Such is the power of magnetic sympathy, that the in- 
 struments will work successfully though hills, forests, 
 lakes or mountains intervene ! Porta has it : " To a 
 friend at a distance shut up in prison, we may relate 
 our minds ; which, I do not doubt, may be done by 
 means of compasses having the alphabet written around 
 them." 
 
 This sympathetic magnetic telegraph figures exten- 
 sively in the scientific literature of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries : some believed in the figment, 
 others condemned it. Addison described it in elegant 
 prose, and Akenside in beautiful verse. Perhaps the 
 
 most famous composition 
 on the subject is a short 
 Latin poem, written, after 
 the style and vein of Lu- 
 cretius, in 1617 by Fami- 
 anus Strada, an Italian 
 Jesuit. A few years af- 
 ter its publication in the 
 author' s ' ' Prolusiones, ' ' a 
 metrical translation was 
 made by Hakewill and in- 
 FiG.26 serted on page 285 of 
 
 The ' sympathetic telegraph " from Cabeo's , . , < . -, . t\ i 
 
 Philosophia Magnetica. 1Q29 hlS ApolOgie, Or DeCla- 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 217 
 
 ration of the Power and Providence of God," 1630. 
 Owing to the interest that attaches to this celebrated 
 composition and the difficulty of getting HakewilFs 
 " Apologie," we append his version of the poem. 
 
 The Loade above all other stones hath this strange prop- 
 erty 
 If sundry steels thereto or needles you apply, 
 Such force and motion thence they draw that they in- 
 cline 
 To turn them to the Bear, which near the Pole doth 
 
 shine. 
 Nay, more, as many steels as touch that virtuous stone 
 In strange and wondrous sort conspiring all in one 
 Together move themselves and situate together : 
 As if one of those steels at Rome be stirred, the other 
 The self-same way will stir though they far distant be. 
 And all through Nature's force and secret sympathy ; 
 Well then if you of aught would fain advise your friend 
 That dwells far off, to whom no letter you can send ; 
 A large smooth round table make, write down the criss- 
 cross row 
 In order on the verge thereof, and then bestow 
 The needle in the midst which touch' d the Loade that so 
 What note soe'er you list, it straight may turn unto. 
 Then frame another orb in all respects like this 
 Describe the edge and lay the steel thereon likewise, 
 The steel which from the self -same Magnes motion drew ; 
 This orb send with thy friend what time he bids adieu. 
 But on the days agree at first, when you do mean to 
 
 prove 
 If the steel stir, and to what letter it doth move. 
 This done, if with thy friend thou closely wouldst ad- 
 vise, 
 Who in a country off far distant from thee lies. 
 Take thou the orb and steel which on the orb was set 
 The crisscross on the edge thou seest in order writ. 
 What notes will frame thy words, to them direct thy 
 
 steel 
 And it sometimes to this, sometimes to that note wheel 
 Turning it round about so often till you find 
 You have compounded all the meaning of your mind. 
 
218 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Thy friend that dwells far off, strange ! doth plainly 
 
 see 
 The steel so stir though it by no man stirred be, 
 Running now here, now there : he conscious of the plot 
 As the steel-guide pursues, and reads from note to note. 
 Then gathering into words those notes, he clearly sees 
 What's needful to be done, the needle truchman is. 
 Now, when the steel doth cease its motion ; if thy friend 
 Think it convenient answer back to send. 
 The same course he may take ; and, with his needle 
 
 write 
 Touching the several notes which so he list indite. 
 Would God, men would be pleased to put this course in 
 
 use. 
 Their letters would arrive more speedy and more sure, 
 No rivers would them stop nor thieves them intercept ; 
 Princes with their own hands, their business might effect. 
 We scribes, from black sea 'scaped, at length with hearty 
 
 wills 
 At th' altar of the Loade would consecrate our quills. 
 
 Another translation of the poem was made by Dr. 
 Samuel Ward and published at the end of his "Wonders 
 of the Loadstone," 1640. 
 
 Ampere's suggestion, 
 made, as we have seen, 
 in the year 1820, was not 
 the first proposal to use 
 electricity for telegraphic 
 purposes. Already, in 
 1753, a writer in The Scots 
 Magazine, signing him- 
 self C. M. (Charles Mor- 
 rison, of Greenock, accord- 
 ing to Sir David Brewster, 
 and Charles Marshall, of 
 Paisley, according to Lati- 
 mer Clark), outlined a method involving the use of fric- 
 
 FlG. 27 
 
 The "sympathetic telegraph " from 
 
 Turner's Ars Notoria, 1657 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 219 
 
 tional electricity ; and Lesage, of Geneva, constructed a 
 short experimental line, in 1774, consisting of twenty-four 
 wires and a pith-ball electroscope. But the man who 
 attained the greatest success in the employment of static 
 electricity for this purpose was Ronalds, of London, who, 
 in 1816, erected a single-wire line eight miles long in his 
 gardens at Hammersmith, with a pair of pith-balls and 
 a rotating disc for receiving instrument. 
 
 When well satisfied that his system was practicable 
 and reliable, Ronalds wrote to the head of the intel- 
 ligence department in London urging the adoption of 
 his invention for the public service ; but he was 
 promptly brought to realize the scant encouragement so 
 often extended to inventors by persons in high places, 
 that responsible official politely informing him "that 
 telegraphs of all kinds are wholly unnecessary, " and that 
 no other than the mechanical one in daily use would be 
 adopted. 
 
 When penning these words, the representative of the 
 British government must have forgotten the experience 
 of 1812, when the result of the battle of Salamanca was 
 semaphored from Plymouth to London, on which occa- 
 sion a fog cut off the message after the transmission of 
 the first two words, "WeUington defeated," the re- 
 mainder of the despatch, "the French at Salamanca," 
 reaching the capital only on the following morning ! 
 
 A rapid sketch of the life of our philosopher, whose 
 discovery of the magnetic effect of the voltaic current in 
 1820 led to the invention of the electric telegraph, can- 
 not be without interest. 
 
 Hans Christian Oersted was bom on August 14th, 1777, 
 in the little town of Rudkjobing, in the island of Lange- 
 land, Denmark. Being the son of poor parents, his 
 
220 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 early years were spent in very narrow circumstances. 
 He and his younger brother were mainly indebted 
 to their own efforts for whatever instruction they 
 received in the rudiments of learning. The town in 
 which they lived being small, offered few opportunities 
 for education, even if the family exchequer had been 
 such as to permit the boys to take advantage of them. 
 There was a German wigmaker in the place, however, 
 who was a little more advanced in knowledge than the 
 generality of the townspeople. He and his wife liked 
 the Oersted boys, who were very frequently to be found 
 in the wigmaker' s shop. The good housewife taught 
 them to read, while the artist himself taught them a 
 little German. Hans Christian advanced so rapidly in 
 his studies that he acquired a reputation for precocious- 
 ness, which, with the usual prejudice against bright 
 children, made the neighbors shake their heads pro- 
 phetically and say : ' ' The child will not live ; he is too 
 bright to last long." 
 
 Hans Christian learned the elements of arithmetic 
 from an old school-book which he picked up by chance ; 
 and no sooner had he advanced a little, than he set. 
 about instructing his brother. Very probably, the teacher 
 benefited quite as much by this process of instruction 
 as the pupil. Adversity is a good school for the for- 
 mation of character as well as for the acquisition of 
 knowledge. It is evident, from the lives of such men 
 as Oersted, Faraday, Kepler, Ohm, and others who were 
 brought up in the lap of poverty, that it is not so much 
 educational opportunity that is needed for the develop- 
 ment of mind which we call education, as the earnest 
 determination and the abiding desire to have it. Even 
 boyhood creates its own opportunities for education 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 221 
 
 despite intervening obstacles, if it has only a decided 
 eagerness, a pronounced thirst for knowledge. 
 
 About the time that the young Oersteds entered their 
 teens, their father secured the services of a private 
 teacher to give them some instruction in the rudi- 
 ments of Latin and Greek. This accidental precep- 
 tor was only a wandering student who happened to be 
 in the place at the time ; but the boys, in their eager- 
 ness to learn, derived more benefit from his lessons 
 than many boys of their age often do nowadays from 
 the help and encouragement of a carefully selected and 
 academically equipped tutor. 
 
 At the age of twelve, Oersted senior was taken into 
 his father's apothecary-shop in quality of assistant, a 
 position which seemed destined to put an end to all 
 opportunities for further advancement in the path of 
 learning. When a boy goes into a drug-store in an 
 official capacity, his future career is usually settled ; he 
 is a druggist to the end. His new avocation, however, 
 proved to be the beginning of new intellectual activities 
 for Oersted. The chemical side of his work became a 
 source of new information to him, and also a stimulus to 
 learn all that he could of chemistry and kindred sub- 
 jects. Science became a hobby with the young apothe- 
 cary, and everything relating to it appealed to him. 
 What Hans learned, he as usual imparted to his brother, 
 who was already becoming interested in other depart- 
 ments of learning, especially the law. 
 
 The desire of the boys to advance grew with their 
 stock of knowledge. Accordingly, when, in 1794, Hans 
 was only seventeen years of age and his brother sixteen, 
 they both matriculated at the University of Copenhagen. 
 Their father was able to help them but little, so that 
 
222 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 they were obliged to live quietly and sparingly, a con-- 
 dition distinctly favorable to consecutive and efficient 
 study. They became so successful in their pursuits that 
 they soon began to attract attention. Having passed 
 creditable examinations, they were recommended for 
 pecuniary assistance from an educational fund estab- 
 lished by the government for the purpose. Even then, 
 as receipts were hardly equal to expenses, they sought 
 to increase their little revenue by giving private lessons 
 in their leisure hours. Here we have a striking exam- 
 ple of what may be accomplished by men who work 
 their way through College in the teeth of adverse cir- 
 cumstances ; in these two brothers, we have proof of the 
 truth that it is the student's mind, his willingness and 
 determination to work, that count in education more 
 than the golden opportunities that may fall to his lot. 
 
 In the year 1799, Oersted prepared a thesis on "The 
 Architectonics of Natural Metaphysics," which won 
 for him his Doctorate in Philosophy. Though the young 
 Doctor did not hesitate to discuss metaphysical problems 
 and even to disagree with Kant at a time when most 
 Teutonic minds were deeply under the influence of the 
 philosopher of Konigsberg, his chief interests, however, 
 centered in the experimental sciences, in physics and 
 chemistry. 
 
 In spite of his devotedness to science. Oersted allowed 
 himself, by way of distraction, an occasional excursion 
 into the field of literature. A great literary and artistic 
 movement was making itself felt in the northern part 
 of Europe at the time. The aesthetic awakening of the 
 Teutonic nations had come after three centuries of 
 religious and political unrest, ill adapted to intellectual 
 development. Lessing and Winkelmann, Goethe and. 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 22S 
 
 Schiller, the two Schlegels and Klopstock as well as the 
 young poets, Uhland and Koerner, were either already 
 at work or were about to enter on their distinguished ca- 
 reers, and the neighboring Scandinavian nations were 
 beginning to be seriously affected by the movement 
 which was going on among their brethren. In the 
 third year of his university course, Oersted entered 
 the lists as a competitor for literary honors on the ques- 
 tion, ** What are the Limits of Prose and Poetry? " and 
 had the satisfaction of winning the gold medal offered 
 for the contest. In spite of this episode, indicative of 
 devotedness to the muses, Oersted passed a brilliant 
 pharmaceutical examination ; and in the following year 
 succeeded in capturing another prize, this time for a 
 medical essay. 
 
 After such a period of preparation, it might be ex- 
 pected that a brilliant career would open up for Oersted ; 
 but, unfortunately, he could not afford to wait for slow 
 academic rewards, as it was absolutely necessary for 
 him to set about earning his Hvelihood. For this pur- 
 pose, shortly after graduation, he accepted the position 
 of manager of a drug-store. As the salary attached to 
 the office was rather slender, he increased his resources 
 by giving lectures in the evening on the familiar sub- 
 jects of chemistry, natural philosophy and metaphysics. 
 
 About this time, the wanderlust, or passion for travel, 
 took possession of our young philosopher ; and under its 
 influence, he resolved to see for himself what men 
 of scientific avocations were doing in France and in 
 Germany. His own pinched circumstances would not 
 allow him to undertake such a journey ; but he was for- 
 tunate enough to win a stipendium cappelianum which 
 allowed him to travel at the expense of the government 
 
224 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 for a period of five years, though he used it only for 
 three. If ever pecuniary aid was productive of endur- 
 ing results, it was so in this case. 
 
 In 1801, at the age of twenty-four, Oersted set out 
 from Copenhagen on his grand tour, determined to 
 make it a scientific as well as sentimental journey. In 
 Germany, which he first visited, he met Klaproth, the 
 orientalist ; Werner, the mineralogist ; Olbers the as- 
 tronomer; the philosophers Fichte, Schelling and the 
 two Schlegels ; and above all, the young and brilliant 
 physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter, who discussed with him 
 the theory of the wonderful "pile" invented by Volta 
 in the previous year, 1800. 
 
 In Paris, Oersted spent about fifteen months, during 
 which time he was in habitual relations with many of 
 the savants who were just then reflecting great lustre 
 on French science. To mention but a few : there was 
 Cuvier, the leading naturalist of his age ; Abbe Haiiy, 
 crystallographer of world-wide reputation ; Biot, the 
 brilliant expounder of physics ; Charles, the discoverer 
 of the law which bears his name ; Berthollet, the asso- 
 ciate of Monge the mathematician, and Lavoisier, the 
 chemist. 
 
 On his return to the Danish capital in 1804, Oersted 
 delivered courses of lectures on electricity and mag- 
 netism, light and heat, before numerous and cultured 
 audiences ; and such was the success which he achieved 
 that he was appointed, at the age of twenty-nine, to the 
 chair of physics in the University of Copenhagen. 
 
 For nearly forty-five years he was destined to occupy 
 this academical position, so that his connection with 
 that seat of learning rounded out the full period of half 
 :a century. 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 225 
 
 While sedulously occupied with the duties of his 
 chair and the pursuit of his favorite scientific subjects, 
 Oersted was not unmindful of his civic and altruistic 
 obligations. He frequently gave popular scientific lec- 
 tures, which were open to women as well as to men. 
 He helped in the organization of a bureau through 
 which lectures would be given in various parts of the 
 country, and thus became a pioneer in what we call 
 to-day the university extension movement. When dem- 
 ocratic ideas began to be discussed in Denmark after 
 the French Revolution of 1830, Oersted was one of those 
 who took part in the onward movement for the bet- 
 terment of the people. In 1835, he cooperated in the 
 foundation of the Society for the Freedom of the Press; 
 and when Christian VHI. ascended the throne, he ad- 
 dressed the new monarch in a speech of liberal tendency, 
 hailing him because of the interest which he took in the 
 advancement of science and in the uplift of the masses. 
 
 An idea of the position accorded to Oersted by his 
 colleagues in the world of science may be gathered from 
 an address made by Sir John Herschel at the closing 
 session of the Southampton meeting of the British As- 
 sociation in 1836, in which the distinguished astronomer 
 said : "In science, there is but one direction which the 
 needle will take when pointed towards the European 
 continent, and that is towards my esteemed friend. 
 Professor Oersted. To look at his cool manner, who 
 would think that he wielded such an intense power, cap- 
 able of altering the whole state of science, and almost 
 the knowledge of the world? He has at this meeting 
 developed some of those recondite and remarkable forces 
 of nature which he was the first to discover, and which 
 went almost to the extent of obliging us to alter our 
 
226 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 views on the most ordinary laws of energy and motion. 
 He elaborated his ideas with slowness and certainty, 
 bringing them forward only after a long lapse of time. 
 How often did I wish to Heaven that we could trample 
 down, and strike forever to earth, the hasty generaliza- 
 tions which mark the present age, and bring up another 
 and safer system of investigation, such as that which 
 marked the inquiries of our friend? It was in deep 
 recesses, as it were, of a cell, that a faint idea first oc- 
 curred to Oersted. He waited long and calmly for the 
 dawn which at length broke upon him, altering the 
 whole relations of science and life. The electric tele- 
 graph and other wonders of modern science were but 
 mere effervescences from the surface of this deep, re- 
 condite discovery of his. If we were to characterize, by 
 any figure, the usefulness of Oersted to science, we 
 would regard him as a fertilizing shower descending 
 from heaven, which brought forth a new crop, delight- 
 ful to the eye and pleasing to the heart." 
 
 It may be noticed that in Oersted's day early special- 
 ization was fortunately unknown. His education was 
 broad and his intellectual activities broader still. Quite 
 as interesting as many of his scientific researches are 
 some of his contributions to philosophy and some of his 
 views on the significance of the material universe. 
 Oersted, a man of the world with a wide range of 
 interests and a philosopher who lived at high intellec- 
 tual altitudes, was one of the all-round men in the 
 history of thought who took active part in science, in 
 literature, in politics and in social problems. He had 
 the opportunity of meeting many of the renowned 
 scientists and philosophers of the century, and had been 
 very closely in touch with some of them. He was a 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 227 
 
 regular attendant at scientific congresses, in which he 
 distinguished himself by the leading part which he took 
 in their deliberations. His opinions, therefore, on the 
 great problems of life, religious, moral, social and 
 political, challenge our respect even where they do not 
 compel our approval. Our Danish philosopher deserves, 
 then, to stand as the spokesman of his generation of 
 savants on the great questions that concern man's 
 relations to his fellow-men, to an all-wise Providence 
 and to an enduring hereafter. His opinions on these 
 matters are all the more interesting because they are 
 in open contradiction with what is sometimes thought to 
 be the views of scientists on such subjects. 
 
 One of the passages of his paper on "All Existence, 
 a Dominion of Reason," contains some surprising antic- 
 ipations of ideas that created a great stir in the intel- 
 lectual world some fifty years ago. In 1846, that is, 
 thirteen years before the publication of t)arwin's ' ' Origin 
 of Species," Oersted discussed evolution and suggested 
 explanations that are generally considered to have been 
 forced from apologists when compelled to take up the 
 work of reconciling Christian doctrines with scientific 
 conclusions. 
 
 Writing in the middle 'forties, he said: "If we are 
 now thoroughly convinced that everything in the ma- 
 terial world is produced from similar particles of matter, 
 by the same forces and in obedience to the same laws, 
 we must allow that the planets have been formed ac- 
 cording to the same laws as our own earth. They have 
 been in process of development during immeasurable 
 periods of time, and have undergone numerous trans- 
 formations which have aleo influenced the vegetable and 
 animal kingdoms of those remote periods. The lower 
 
228 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 forms of life advanced by gradual stages to higher and 
 more complex states of organization, till at length (in a 
 comparatively recent period) a self-conscious being was 
 evolved, the crowning work of this long-continued pro- 
 cess of development. Accordingly, we must allow a 
 similar order of organic development to take place on 
 the other planets of our solar family. There may be 
 some which have not as yet attained the same degree of 
 development that we have reached ; but everywhere 
 throughout the universe, creatures endowed with reason 
 appear in due time, just as man appeared on our own 
 globe. Their understanding is intimately connected 
 with the organs of sense which they possess ; therefore, 
 the nature of their mental faculties cannot be essen- 
 tially different from our own. That I may avoid even 
 the appearance of materialism, I must direct attention 
 to the conciliatory principle, that the natural environ- 
 ment from which man springs must be recognized as 
 the work of the eternal, creative Spirit. In other words, 
 our conception of the universe is incomplete, if not com- 
 prehended as a constant and continuous work of the 
 eternally creating Spirit." 
 
 Thus far Oersted ; let us here recall what Lord Kelvin, 
 the representative scientist of his day, quoted with 
 approval on a memorable occasion from the Danish 
 scientist with regard to the basic truths of science, 
 philosophy and religion. "It will not be foreign to our 
 purpose if, called upon by the solemnities of this day, 
 we endeavor to establish our conviction of the harmony 
 that subsists between religion and science, by showing 
 how the man of science must look upon his pursuits, if 
 he understands them rightly, as an exercise of religion. 
 
 ** If my purpose here was merely to show that science 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 229 
 
 necessarily engenders piety, I should appeal to the great 
 truth everywhere recognized, that the essence of all 
 religion consists in love toward God. The conclusion 
 would then be easy, that love of Him from whom all 
 truth proceeds must create the desire to acknowledge 
 truth in all her patjis ; but as we desire here to recog- 
 nize science herself as a religious duty, it will be req- 
 uisite for us to penetrate deeper into its nature. It is 
 obvious, therefore, that the searching eye of man, 
 whether he regards his own inward being or the crea- 
 tion surrounding him, is always led to the Eternal 
 Source of all things. In all inquiry, the ultimate aim is 
 to discover that which really exists and to contemplate 
 it in its pure light apart from all that deceives the 
 careless observer by only a seeming existence. The 
 philosopher will then comprehend what, amidst cease- 
 less change, is the Constant and Uncreated, which is 
 hidden behind unnumbered creations, the bond of union 
 which keeps things together in spite of their manifold 
 divisions and separations. He must soon acknowledge 
 that the independent can only be the constant and the 
 constant the independent, and that true unity is in- 
 separable from either of these. And thus it is in the 
 nature of thought that it finds no quiet resting place, no 
 pause, except in the invariable, eternal, uncaused, all- 
 causing, all-comprehensive Omniscience. 
 
 "But, if this one-sided view does not satisfy him, if he 
 seeks to examine the world with the eye of experience, 
 he perceives that all those things of whose reality the 
 multitude feels most assured never have an enduring 
 existence, but are always on the road between birth and 
 death. If he now properly comprehends the whole 
 array of nature, he perceives that it is not merely an 
 
230 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 idea or an abstract notion, as it is called ; but that rea- 
 son and the power to which everything is indebted for 
 its essential nature are only the revelation of a self- 
 sustained Being. How can he, when he sees this, be 
 otherwise animated than by the deepest feeling of hu- 
 mility, of devotion and of love? If anyone has learned a 
 different lesson from his observation of nature, it could 
 only be because he lost his way amidst the dispersion 
 and variety of creation and had not looked upwards to 
 the eternal unity of truth." 
 
 As already said, Oersted lived to celebrate the fif- 
 tieth year of his connection with his university. This 
 was in November, 1850, on which occasion his friends, 
 pupils and the public generally united together in honor- 
 ing him as a professor whose warm and animated lec- 
 tures enraptured audiences ; as a leader in the scientific 
 advance of the times ; and as a Christian to whom na- 
 ture was but a manifestation of the Deity's combined 
 wisdom and creative power. 
 
 The aged scientist, much touched by this popular de- 
 monstration as well as by the tokens of esteem given him 
 by the King, spoke of this jubilee celebration as the 
 happiest day of his life. The reader will recall another 
 great man, great in the world of politics and great on 
 the field of battle, who said that the happiest day of his 
 life was that of his first communion. 
 
 A few months after celebrating his golden jubilee, 
 Oersted passed away, after a short illness, on March 
 9th, 1851, deeply mourned by all. 
 
 Oersted was eminent as a scholar and equally em- 
 inent as a man ; lenient in his judgment of others, he 
 was strict with regard to himself ; simple in his ways 
 and frugal in living, he was benevolent to others, being 
 
HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED 231 
 
 always ready to give a helping hand wherever needed. 
 To such a man may well be applied these beautiful 
 words with which Priestley begins his "History of 
 Electricity " : "A life spent in the contemplation of the 
 productions of divine power, wisdom and goodness, 
 would be a life of devotion. The more we see of the 
 wonderful structure of the world and of the laws of 
 nature, the more clearly do we comprehend their ad- 
 mirable uses to make all percipient creation happy, a sen- 
 timent which cannot but fill the heart with unbounded 
 love, gratitude and joy." 
 
 A statue to the memory of Oersted was unveiled in 
 Copenhagen on September 25th, 1876, in presence of 
 the King of Denmark, the King of Greece, the Danish 
 Crown Prince and members of the Royal family, as well 
 as numerous high officials, representatives of learned 
 societies and a vast body of students and people assem- 
 bled together to do honor to a man who was distin- 
 guished alike by his scientific attainments and philo- 
 sophical acumen, and who, during his long life, never 
 faltered in his devotedness to the welfare of his coun- 
 try as he never weakened in his defense of the great 
 truths of religion. 
 
 Brother Potamian. 
 
232 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Andre Marie Ampere. 
 
 Few men of the nineteenth century are so interesting 
 as Andre Marie Ampere, who is, as we have seen, 
 deservedly spoken of as the founder of the science 
 of electro-dynamics. Extremely precocious as a boy, sa 
 that, like his immediate predecessor in discovery, Oer-^ 
 sted the Dane, his rapid intellectual development drew 
 down upon him ominous expressions from those who 
 knew him, he more than fulfilled the highest promise of 
 his early years. His was no one-sided genius. He was 
 interested in everything, and his memory was as reten- 
 tive as his intellect was comprehensive. He grew up, 
 indeed, to be a young man of the widest possible in- 
 terests. Literature never failed to have its attraction 
 for him, though science was his favorite study and 
 mathematics his hobby. The mathematical mind is com- 
 monly supposed to run in very precise grooves, yet 
 Ampere was always a speculator, and his speculations 
 were most suggestive for his contemporaries and subse- 
 quent generations. Indeed, his mathematics, far from 
 being a hindrance to his penetrating outlook upon the 
 hazier confines of science, rather seemed to help the 
 penetrations it gave. While he was so great a scientist 
 that Arago, so little likely to exaggerate his French 
 contemporary's merit, has said of Ampere's discovery 
 identifying magnetism and electricity, that "the vast 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 233: 
 
 field of physical science perhaps never presented so 
 brilliant a discovery, conceived, verified, and completed 
 with such rapidity," his friends knew this great scien- 
 tist as one of the kindliest and most genial of men, 
 noted for his simplicity, his persuasive sympathy and 
 his tender regard for all those with whom he was 
 brought into intimate relations. 
 
 The commonly accepted formula for a great scientist, 
 that he is a man wrapt up in himself and his work, 
 enmeshed so completely in the scientific speculations 
 that occupy him that he has little or no time for great 
 humanitarian interests, so that his human sympathies 
 are likely to atrophy, is entirely contradicted by the life 
 of Ampere. He was no narrow specialist, and, indeed, 
 it may be said that not a single one of these great dis- 
 coverers in electricity whom we are considering in this 
 volume was of the type that is sometimes accepted as 
 indicative of scientific genius and originality. After 
 reading their lives, one is prone to have the feeling that 
 men who lack that wider sympathy which, in the famous 
 words of the old Latin poet, makes everything human 
 of interest to them, are not of the mental calibre to 
 make supreme discoveries, even though they may suc- 
 ceed in creating a large amount of interest in their 
 scientific speculations in their own generation. It is the 
 all-round man who does supreme original work of en- 
 during quality. 
 
 Andr6 Marie Ampere was born at Lyons, January 22d, 
 1775. His father, Jean Jacques Ampere, was a small 
 merchant who made a comfortable living for his family, 
 but no more. His father and mother were both well 
 informed for their class and time, and were well es- 
 teemed by their neighbors. His mother especially was 
 
234 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 known for an unalterable sweetness of character and 
 charitable beneficence which sought out every possible 
 occasion for its exercise. She was universally beloved 
 by those who knew her, and the charm of Ampere's 
 manner, which made for him a friend of every acquaint- 
 ance, was undoubtedly a manifestation of the same 
 family strain. 
 
 Shortly after the birth of their son, the parents gave 
 up business and retired on a little property situated in 
 the country not far from Lyons. It was in this little 
 village, without any school-teacher and with only home 
 instruction, that the genius of the future savant, who 
 was to be one of the distinguished scientific men of the 
 nineteenth century, began to show itself. For Ampere 
 was not only a genius, but, what is so often thought to 
 be an almost absolute preclusion of any serious achieve- 
 ment later in life, a precocious genius. The first mar- 
 velous faculty that began to develop in him was an 
 uncontrollable tendency to arithmetical expression. Be- 
 fore he knew how to make figures, he had invented 
 for himself a method of doing even rather complicated 
 problems in arithmetic by the aid of a number of peb- 
 bles or peas. During an illness that overtook him as a 
 child, his mother, anxious because of the possible evil 
 effects upon his health of mental work, took his pebbles 
 away from him. He supplied their place, however, 
 during the leisure hours of his convalescence, when time 
 hung heavy on his child hands, by bread crumbs. He 
 craved food, but, according to the "starving" medical 
 regime of the time, he was allowed only a single biscuit 
 in three days. It required no little self-sacrifice on his 
 part, then, to supply himself with counters from this 
 scanty supply, and his persistence, in spite of hunger, 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 235 
 
 evidently indicates that this mathematical tendency was 
 stronger than his appetite for food. This is all the more 
 surprising, since children are usually scarcely more than 
 little animals in the matter of eating, and commonly 
 satisfy their physical cravings without an after-thought 
 of any kind. 
 
 Ampere learned to read when but very young, and 
 then began to devour all the books which came to 
 hand. Usually, the precocious taste for reading spe- 
 cializes on some particular subject ; but everything was 
 grist that came to the child Ampere's mental mill, and 
 it was all ground up ; and, strangest of all, much of it 
 was assimilated. Travel, history, poetry, occupied him 
 quite as much as romance ; and, amazing as it may 
 , appear, even philosophy was not disdained while he 
 was still under ten years of age. It seems amusing to 
 read the declaration of the French biographer, that if 
 this boy of ten had any special predilection in litera- 
 ture, it was for Homer, Lucan, Tasso, Fenelon, Corneille 
 , and Voltaire, yet it must be taken seriously. 
 
 When he was about fifteen, this omnivorous intel- 
 lectual genius came across a French encyclopedia in 
 twenty foHo volumes. This seemed to him a veritable 
 Golconda of endless riches of information. Each of the 
 volumes had its turn. The second was begun as soon 
 as the first was finished, and the reading of the third 
 followed, and so on, until every one of the volumes had 
 been completely read. References to other volumes 
 might be looked up occasionally, but this did not dis- 
 tract him into taking other portions of the works out of 
 alphabetical order. Surprising as it must seem, most of 
 this heterogeneous mass of information, far from being 
 forgotten at once, was deeply engraved on his wonder- 
 
236 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 ful memory. More than once in after-life, when many- 
 years had passed, it was a surprise to his friends to find 
 how much information Ampere had amassed on some 
 abstruse and unfamiliar subject, and how readily he 
 was able to pour forth details of information that 
 seemed quite out of his line. He would then confess 
 that the encyclopedia article on the subject, read so 
 many years before, was still fresh in his mind, or at 
 least that its information was so stored away as to be 
 readily available. We have heard much of Gladstone's 
 memory in more recent years ; but that seems to have 
 been nothing compared to this wonderful faculty which 
 recalled for Ampere, even as an old man, the unrelated 
 details of every encyclopedia article that had passed 
 under his eyes half a century before, when he was a 
 boy of ten to fourteen. 
 
 The modest family library soon proved utterly insuf- 
 ficient to occupy the mind of this young, enthusiastic 
 student ; and his father, sympathetic to his ardent 
 curiosity, took him to Lyons from time to time, where 
 he might have the opportunity to consult volumes of 
 various kinds that might catch his fancy. At this 
 time, his old mathematical tendency reasserted itself. 
 He wished to learn something about the higher mathe- 
 matics. He found in a library in Lyons the works of 
 Bernoulli and of Euler. When the delicate-looking 
 boy, whom the librarian considered little more than a 
 child, put in his request to the town library for these 
 serious mathematical works, the old gentleman said to 
 him: "The works of BernoulH and Euler! What are 
 you thinking of, my little friend ? These works figure 
 among the most diflScult writings that ever came from 
 the mind of man." "I hope to be able to understand 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 237 
 
 them," replied the boy. "I suppose you know," said 
 the Hbrarian, ** that they are written in Latin." This 
 was a disagreeable surprise for young Ampere. As 
 yet he had not studied Latin. He went home, resolved, 
 however, to remove this hindrance to his study of the 
 higher mathematics. At the end of the month, owing 
 to his assiduity, the obstacle had entirely disappeared ; 
 and though he could read only mathematical Latin and 
 had later to study the language from another stand- 
 point, in order to understand the classics, he was now 
 able to pursue the study of mathematics in Latin to his 
 heart's content. 
 
 The even tenor of the boy's life, deeply engaged as 
 he was in studies of every description, was destined to 
 be very seriously disturbed. When he was but four- 
 teen, in 1789, the Revolution came, with its glorious 
 promise and then its awful consummation. Ampere's 
 father was seriously alarmed at the revolutionary course 
 things were taking in France, and had the fatal inspir- 
 ation to leave his country home and betake himself to 
 the city of Lyons. For a time, he occupied a position 
 as magistrate. After the siege of Lyons, the revolu- 
 tionary tribunal established there took up the project of 
 making the Lyonnese patriotic, as they called it, by 
 properly punishing the citizens for their failure to sym- 
 pathize at first with the revolutionary government, and 
 soon a series of horrible massacres began. New victims 
 were claimed every day, and Ampere's father was one 
 of those who had to suffer. The real reason for his 
 condemnation was that he had accepted a position 
 under the old government, though the pretext stated 
 on the warrant for his arrest was that he was an 
 aristocrat. This is the only evidence we have that the 
 
238 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Ampere family was in any way connected with the- 
 nobility. The day on which he was sentenced to die, 
 Jean Jacques Ampere wrote to his wife a letter of 
 sublime simplicity, in which his Christian resignation 
 of spirit, his lofty courage, yet thoroughly practical 
 commonsense, are manifest. He warned his wife to say 
 nothing about his fate to their daughter Josephine, 
 though he hoped that his son would be better able to 
 stand the blow, and perhaps prove a consolation to his 
 mother. 
 
 The news proved almost too much for the young; 
 Ampere, and for a time his reason was despaired of. 
 All his faculties seemed to be shocked for the moment 
 into insensibility. Biographers tell us that he wandered 
 around, building httle piles of sand, gazing idly at the 
 stars or vacantly into space, wearing scarcely any of the 
 expression of a rational being. His friends could har- 
 bor only the worst possible expectations for him, and 
 even his physical health suffered so much that it seemed 
 he would not long survive. One day, by chance, Rous- 
 seau's "Letters on Botany" fell into his hands. They 
 caught his attention, and he became interested in their 
 charming narrative style, and as a result, his reason- 
 awoke once more. He began to study botany in the 
 field, and soon acquired a taste for the reading of 
 Linnaeus. At the same time, classic poetry, especially 
 such as contained descriptions of nature, once more^ 
 appealed to him, and so he took up his classical studies. 
 He varied the reading of the poets with dissections of 
 flowers, and yet succeeded in following both sets of 
 studies so attentively that, forty years afterward, he 
 was still perfectly capable of taking up the technical' 
 description of the plants that he had then studied, and 
 
ANDR^ MARIE AMP]^EE 23& 
 
 while acting as a university inspector, he composed 150 
 Latin verses during his horseback rides from one inspec- 
 tion district to another, without ever having to consult 
 a gradus or a dictionary for the quantities, yet without 
 making a single mistake. His memory for subjects 
 once learned, was almost literally infallible. 
 
 Something of his love for nature can be appreciated 
 from an incident of his early manhood, which is not 
 without its amusing side. Ampere was very near- 
 sighted, and had been able to read books all his life only 
 by holding them very close to his eyes. This makes it 
 all the more difficult to understand how he succeeded in 
 reading so much. His near-sightedness was so marked 
 that he had no idea of beauties of scenery beyond him, 
 and was often rather put out at the enthusiastic descrip- 
 tion of scenes through which he passed en diligence, 
 when his fellow-travelers spoke of the beauties of the 
 scenes around them. Ampere, like most people who do 
 not share, or at least appreciate, the enthusiasm of 
 others for beautiful things around them, was in this 
 mood, mainly because he was not able to see them in 
 the way that others did, and, therefore, could not have 
 the same pleasure in them. This lack in himself was 
 unconscious, of course, as in all other cases, and, far from 
 lessening, rather emphasized the tendency to be impa- 
 tient with others, and rather made him more ready 
 to think how foolish they were to go into ecstasies over 
 something that to him was so insignificant. 
 
 One day, while Ampere was making the journey along 
 the Saone into Lyons, it happened that there sat beside 
 him on the stage-coach a young man who suffered from 
 near-sightedness very nearly in the same degree as 
 Ampere himself, but whose myopia had been corrected 
 
'240 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 by means of properly fitting glasses. These glasses 
 were just exactly what Ampere needed in order to cor- 
 rect his vision completely. The young fellows became 
 interested in each other, and, during the course of their 
 conversation, his companion suggested to Ampere, see- 
 ing how near-sighted he was, that he should try his 
 glasses. He put them on, and at once nature presented 
 herself to him under an entirely different aspect. The 
 vision was so unexpected, that the description which he 
 had so often heard from his fellow-travelers, but could 
 not appreciate, now recurred to him, and he could not 
 help exclaiming in raptures, "Oh! what a smiling coun- 
 try ! What picturesque, graceful hills ! How the rich, 
 warm tones are harmoniously blended in the wonderful 
 union of sky and mountain vista ! " All of these now 
 spoke emphatically to his delicate sensibility, and a new 
 world was literally revealed to him. Ampere was so 
 overcome by this unexpected sight, which gave him so 
 much pleasure, that he burst into tears from depth of 
 emotion, and could not satisfy himself with looking at 
 all the beauties of nature that had been hidden from him 
 for so long. Ever after, natural scenery was one of the 
 greatest pleasures that he had in life, and the beauties 
 of nature, near or distant, meant more to him than any 
 other gratification of the senses. 
 
 In spite of the fact that Ampere had devoted con- 
 siderable attention to acoustics as a young man, and 
 had studied the ways in which the waves of air by 
 which sounds are formed and propagated, he had 
 absolutely no ear for music, and was as tone-deaf as he 
 had been blind before his discovery with regard to the 
 glasses. Musical notes constituted a mathematical 
 problem for Ampere, but nothing more. This continued 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 241 
 
 to be the case until about thirty years of age. Then, 
 one day, he attended a musical soiree, at which the 
 principal portions of the program were taken from 
 Gliick. It is easy to understand that this master of 
 harmony possessed no charms for a tone-deaf young 
 man. He became uneasy during the course of the 
 musical program, and his uneasiness became manifest 
 to others. After the selections of the German composer 
 were finished, however, some simple but charming 
 melodies were unexpectedly introduced, and Ampere 
 suddenly found himself transported into a new world. 
 If we are to believe his biographers, once more his 
 emotion was expressed by an abundance of tears, which 
 Ampere seems to have had at command and to have 
 been quite as ready to give way to in pubHc as any of 
 Homer's heroes of the olden time. Blind until he was 
 nearly twenty, he used to say of himself, he had been 
 deaf until he was thirty. In spite of his failure to re- 
 spond in youth, once it had been awakened to apprecia- 
 tion, his soul vibrated profoundly to all the beauties of 
 color and sound, and, later in life, they gave rise in 
 him to depths of emotion which calmer individuals of 
 less delicate sensibilities could scarcely understand, much 
 less sympathize with. 
 
 Between his two supreme experiences in vision and 
 sound, there had come to Ampere another and even 
 profounder emotion. He tells the story himself, in 
 words that probably express his feelings better than 
 any possible description of his biographer could do, and 
 that show us how wonderfully sensitive his soul was to 
 emotion of all kinds. He had just completed his twenty- 
 first year when he fell head over heels in love. Though 
 he wrote very little, as a rule, he has left us a rather 
 
242 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 detailed description in diaries, evidently kept for the 
 purpose, of the state of his feelings at this time. These 
 bear the title, " Amorum," the story of his love. On 
 the first page these words occur : * ' One day as I was tak- 
 ing an evening walk, just after the setting of the sun, 
 making my way along a little brook," then there is a 
 hiatus, and he was evidently quite unable to express all 
 that he felt. It seems that he was gathering botanical 
 specimens, wearing an excellent set of spectacles ever 
 since his adventure on the stage-coach had shown him 
 the need of them, when he suddenly perceived at some 
 distance two young and charming girls who were gath- 
 ering flowers in the field. He looked at one of them, and 
 he knew that his fate was sealed. Up to that time, as 
 he says, the idea of marriage had never 9ccurred to 
 him. One might think that the idea would occur very 
 gently at first, then grow little by little ; but that was 
 not Ampere's way. He wanted to marry her that very 
 day. He did not know her name ; he did not know her 
 family ; he had never even heard her voice, but he 
 knew that she was the destined one. 
 
 Fortunately for the young lady and himself, she had 
 very sensible parents. They demanded how he would 
 be able to support a wife. Ampere was quite willing to 
 do anything that they should suggest. His father had 
 left enough to support the family, but not enough to 
 enable him to support a wife in an independent home ; 
 and until he had some occupation, the parents of his 
 bride-to-be refused to listen to his representations. 
 For a time, he consented to be a salesman in a silk store 
 in Lyons, in order to have some occupation which 
 might eventually give him enough money to enable him 
 to marry. Fortunately, however, he was diverted from 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 243 
 
 a commercial vocation which might thus have absorbed 
 a great scientist, and arrangements were made which 
 permitted him to continue his intellectual life, yet have 
 the woman of his choice. She was destined to make life 
 happier far for him than is the usual lot of man, and he 
 was ever ready to acknowledge how much she meant 
 for his happiness. 
 
 With literature, poetry, love and settling down in life 
 to occupy him, it is hard to think of Ampere as a young 
 man doing great work in science, but he did ; and his 
 work deservedly attracted attention even from his very 
 early years. It was in pure mathematics, perhaps, 
 above all other branches, that Ampere attracted the 
 attention of his generation. Ordinary questions he did 
 not care for. Problems which the fruitless efforts of 
 twenty centuries had pronounced insoluble attracted 
 him at once. Even the squaring of the circle claimed 
 his attention for a while, though he got well beyond it 
 even before his boyhood passed away. There is a 
 manuscript note from the Secretary of the Academy of 
 Lyons, which shows that on July 8th, 1788, Ampere, 
 then not quite thirteen years of age, addressed to that 
 learned body a paper on the "Squaring of the Circle.'* 
 Later, during the same year, he submitted an analogous 
 memoir, entitled, "The Rectification of an Arc of a 
 Circle, less than a Semi-circumference." 
 
 Arago says that he was tempted to suppress this story 
 of Ampere's coquetting with so dangerous a problem, 
 for Ampere rather flattered himself that he had almost 
 solved it. It was only after Arago recalled how many 
 geniuses in mathematics had occupied themselves with 
 this same problem, that he saw his way clearly not to 
 share the scruples of those who might think this in- 
 
244 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 cident a reflection on Ampere's mathematical genius. 
 After all, Anaxagoras, Hippocrates, Archimedes and 
 Apollonius, among the ancients, and among the moderns, 
 Willebrod Snell, Huyghens, Gregory, Wallis, and finally 
 Newton, the mathematician of the heavens, occupied 
 themselves seriously with this very problem. Arago 
 even notes that some men, by their speculations on the 
 squaring of the circle, were led to distinguished dis- 
 coveries, and mentions the name of Father Gregoire de 
 Saint- Vincent, the distinguished Flemish mathematician 
 of the Society of Jesus, to whom, as a direct result of 
 his studies in attempted circle-squaring, we owe the 
 discovery of the properties of hyperbolic space, limited 
 by the curve and its asymptotes, as well as the expan- 
 sion of log (i+x) in ascending powers of x. Mon- 
 tucla, the historian of mathematics, writing of Pere 
 Saint- Vincent, said that, "No one ever squared the 
 circle with so much ability or with so much success." 
 There was, however, a fallacy in his magnificent work 
 which was pointed out by the celebrated Huyghens. 
 
 Shortly after the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
 Ampere, as one of his French biographers rather char- 
 acteristically declares, redeemed whatever of mathe- 
 matical sinning there might have been, in indulging in 
 fond dalliance with the squaring of the circle, by a series 
 of mathematical papers, each of which was in itself a 
 distinct advance on previous knowledge, and at the 
 same time, definite evidence of his mathematical ability. 
 The first paper, published in 1801, was a contribution to 
 solid geometry, bearing the title, "On Oblique Polyhe- 
 drons." His next paper, written in 1803, though not 
 published until 1808, was a treatise on the advantages 
 to be derived in the theory of curves from due consid- 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 2Ab 
 
 eration of the osculatir.:: parabola. Another treatise, 
 written about the same time, had for title, "Investi- 
 gations on the Application of the General Formulae of 
 the Calculus of Variations to Problems in Mechanics." 
 This concerned problems which had interested and, in 
 Kiost cases, proved too hard of solution even for such 
 men as Galileo, Jacques Bernoulli, Leibnitz, Huyghens 
 and Jean Bernoulli. Arago's expression with regard to 
 this work is : " The treatise of Ampere contains, in fact, 
 new and very remarkable properties of the catenary 
 (la chainette) and its development. " He adds : ' ' There 
 is no small merit in discovering hiatuses in subjects ex- 
 plored by such men as Leibnitz, Huyghens and the two 
 Bernoullis. I must not forget to add that the analysis 
 of our associate unites elegance with simplicity." 
 
 It is not surprising, after such marks of mathematical 
 genius, that Ampere was appointed to the chair of 
 mathematics at the Ecole Polytechnique, where he came 
 to be looked upon as one of the most distinguished of 
 French mathematicians. In 1813, he became a candi- 
 date for the position left vacant by the death of the 
 famous Lagrange ; and at this time, presented to the 
 Academy general considerations on the integration of 
 partial differential equations of the first and the second 
 order. After his election to the Academy, Ampere con- 
 tinued to present important papers at its various ses- 
 sions. Among these, three are especially noteworthy : 
 one was a demonstration of Pere Mariotte's law (known 
 to English students as Boyle's law) ; another bore the 
 title, " Demonstration of a new Theory from which can 
 be deduced all the Laws of Refraction, ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary " ; a third was a memoir on the "Determination 
 of the curved surfaces of Luminous Waves in a medium 
 
246 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 whose Elasticity differs in each of the three dimen- 
 sions." 
 
 In his eulogy of Ampere, which, together with his 
 article in the ''Dictionnaire Universelle de Biographie, " 
 we have followed rather closely, Arago calls particular 
 attention to the fact that in Paris, Ampere moved in 
 two intellectual circles quite widely separated in their 
 interests and sympathies. Among the first group, were 
 the members of the old "Institute " and professors and 
 examiners of the Ecole Polytechnique and professors of 
 the College de France. In the other, were the men 
 whose names have since become widely known as stu- 
 dents of pyschology, of whom Cabanis may be taken as 
 the representative. Ampere had as great a passion for 
 pyschology, and was as ready to devote himself to 
 fathoming and analyzing the mysteries of the mind, as 
 he was to work out a problem in advanced mathematics, 
 or throw light on difficult questions in the physical 
 sciences. These two sets of interests are seldom united 
 in the same man, though occasionally they are found. 
 At the end of the nineteenth century, we had the spec- 
 tacle of very distinguished men of science in physics, and 
 even in biology— Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, 
 Professor Charles Richet, Professor Lombroso and even 
 Mr. Alfred Russell Wallace— interested in psychic and 
 spiritualistic manifestations of many kinds as well as in 
 natural science ; and, inasmuch as they did so, they 
 would have found Ampere a brother spirit. Ampere 
 indeed dived rather deeply into what would be called, 
 somewhat slightingly, perhaps, in our generation, meta- 
 physical speculation. At one time, he contemplated the 
 publication of a book which was to be called "An 
 Introduction to Philosophy." He had made elaborate 
 
ANDR^ MARIE AMPERE 2A1 
 
 theories with regard to many metaphysical questions, 
 and had written articles on "The Theory of Relations," 
 "The History of Existence," " Subjective and Objective 
 Knowledge" and "Absolute Morahty." Arago calls 
 attention to the fact that Napoleon's famous anathema 
 against ideology, far from discouraging Ampere, rather 
 seemed to stimulate him in his studies, and he declared 
 that it would surely contribute to the propagation of 
 this kind of speculation, rather than to its suppression. 
 It was simply another case of Napoleon overreaching 
 himself, though this was in the domain of ideas and not 
 in the realm of politics, where his fate was to reach him 
 some time later. 
 
 How deeply interested Ampere became in metaphysics 
 will perhaps be best appreciated from the fact that, for 
 progress in metaphysics, exercise in disputation is 
 needed, and had been the custom in the old medieval 
 universities. Ampere once made an arrangement to 
 travel from Paris to Lyons and stay there for some 
 time, provided a definite promise was made that at least 
 four afternoons a week should be devoted to discussions 
 on ideology. The journey to Lyons, a distance of two 
 hundred and fifty miles, was no easy undertaking in 
 those days. The Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Ex- 
 press now whirls one down to the capital of the silk dis- 
 trict in a night; but in Ampere's time, it took many days, 
 and the journey was by no means without inconveniences, 
 which were likely to be so troublesome that a prolonged 
 rest was needed after it was over. Ampere seems quite 
 to have exhausted the interest of his friends in Lyons, 
 who found his metaphysical speculations too high for 
 them, though they themselves were specializing in the 
 subject and would be glad to tempt him into discussions 
 
248 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 of the exact sciences ; but in lyrical strain he apostro- 
 phizes psychological studies : ' * How can I abandon the 
 country, the flowers and running waters for the arid 
 streets of the city ! How give up streams and groves 
 for deserts scorched by the rays of a mathematical sun, 
 which, diffusing over all surrounding objects the most 
 brilliant light, withers and dries them down to the very 
 roots ! How much more agreeable to wander under 
 flitting shades, where truth seems to flee before us to 
 incite us to pursue, than walk in straight paths where 
 the eye embraces all at a glance !" 
 
 Had Ampere been less successful as a mathematician 
 or an investigator of physical science, these expressions' 
 would seem little short of ridiculous. As it is, they 
 provide food for thought. Ampere seemed to realize 
 that, for the intellectual man, the only satisfaction was 
 not in successful research so much as in application of 
 mind to what promised results. As in everything else, 
 it was the chase, and not the capture, that counted. 
 Seldom has this idea been apphed to intellectual things 
 with so much force as it seems to have appealed to 
 Ampere, and one is reminded of Malebranche's famous 
 expression, "If I had truth in my hand, I would be 
 tempted to let it go for the pleasure of recapturing it.'* 
 
 The principal source of Ampere's fame, however, for 
 future generations, was to be in his researches in the 
 science of electro-dynamics. The name of this science 
 will ever be inseparably linked with that of Ampere, its 
 founder. It was for that reason, of course, that the 
 International Congress of Electricians decided to give his 
 name to the unit of current strength, so that it has now 
 become a household word, and will continue so for ages 
 to come. In spite of the resemblances, much more than 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 2A9 
 
 superficial, between magnetism and electricity, the iden- 
 tification of these two with each other seemed as yet 
 very distant. It is curiously interesting, however, to 
 note that Ampere himself, in a program of his course, 
 printed in 1802, announced that the "professor will 
 demonstrate that electrical and magnetic phenomena 
 must be attributed to two different fluids which act in- 
 dependently of each other." Ampere's fame was to be 
 founded on the direct contradiction of this proposition, 
 which he proposed and triumphantly defended by a 
 marvelous, series of experimental illustrations eighteen 
 years later.' In the meantime, the discovery of another 
 distinguished scientist, doing his work many hundreds 
 of miles away, was to prove the stimulus to Ampere's 
 constructive imagination, so as to enable him to fill out 
 many obscure points of knowledge with regard to mag- 
 netism and electricity. 
 
 This suggestive discovery was that of Oersted, the 
 sketch of whose life and work immediately precedes 
 this. Oersted demonstrated that a current of electricity 
 will affect a magnetic needle. This epoch-making dis- 
 covery reached Paris by way of Switzerland. The 
 experiment was repeated before the French Academy 
 of Sciences by a member of the Academy of Geneva, on 
 September 11th, 1820. The date has some importance 
 in the history of science, for just seven days later, on 
 the 18th of September, Ampere presented, at the ses- 
 sion of the Academy of Sciences, a still more important 
 fact, to which he had been led by the consideration of 
 Oersted's discovery while testing it by way of control 
 experiment. This brilliant discovery of Ampere, Arago 
 summed up in these words : " Two parallel conducting 
 wires attract each other when the current traverses them 
 
250 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 in the same direction. On the contrary, they repel 
 each other when the current flows in opposite directions. 
 The phenomenon described by Oersted was called, very 
 appropriately, electromagnetic, whilst the phenomena 
 described by Ampere, in which the magnet played no 
 part, received at his suggestion the general name of 
 electro-dynamics, which has since been applied to them. " 
 
 At first it was said that these phenomena were nothing 
 more than manifestations of the ordinary attractive and 
 repelling power of the two forms of electricity which 
 had been so carefully studied, especially in France, dur- 
 ing the eighteenth century. Ampere at once disposed 
 of any such idea as this, however, by pointing out that 
 bodies similarly electrified repel each other, whilst those 
 that are in opposite electrical states attract each other. 
 In the case of conductors conveying currents, there is 
 attraction when these are in the same direction, and 
 repulsion when they flow in the opposite direction. This 
 reasoning absolutely precluded all possibility of further 
 doubt in the matter, and this particular form of objec- 
 tion to Ampere's discoveries was dropped at once. 
 
 Having satisfactorily disposed of other objections. 
 Ampere was content neither to rest quietly in his dis- 
 covery nor merely to develop various experimental phases 
 of it which would be extremely interesting and popu- 
 larly attractive, but which at the same time might mean 
 very little for science. With his mathematical mind, Am- 
 pere resolved to work out a mathematical theory which 
 would embrace not only all the phenomena of magnetism 
 then known, but also the complete theory of the science 
 of electro-dynamics. Needless to say, such a problem was 
 extremely diflficult. Arago has compared it to Newton's 
 .solution of the problem of gravitation by mathematics. 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPMe 251 
 
 Considering the comparatively small amount of data 
 that Ampere had at his command, this problem might 
 very well be compared to that which Leverrier took up 
 with so much success, when he set about discovering by 
 calculation only the planet Neptune, as yet unknown, 
 which was disturbing the movements of Uranus. 
 
 It might be thought that these discoveries of Ampere 
 would be welcomed with great enthusiasm. As a matter 
 of fact, however, new discoveries that are really novel 
 always have, as almost their surest index, the fact that 
 contemporaries refuse to accept them. The more versed 
 a man is in the science in which the discovery comes, the 
 more likely is he to delay his acceptance of the novelty. 
 This is not so surprising, since, as a rule, new discoveries 
 are nearly always very simple expressions of great truths 
 that seem obvious once they are accepted, yet have never 
 been thought of. They mean, therefore, that men who 
 consider themselves distinguished in a particular science 
 have missed some easily discoverable phenomenon or its 
 full significance, and so, to accept a new discovery in 
 their department of learning men must confess their 
 own lack of foresight. 
 
 It may be pointed out that the same thing happened 
 with regard to Ohm, only it was much more serious. 
 Years of Ohm's life were wasted because of the refusal 
 of his contemporaries to accept his "law" at his valu- 
 ation. Arago, in his life of Ampere, recalls that when 
 Fresnel discovered the transverse character of waves of 
 light, his observations created the same doubts and un- 
 certainty in the same individuals who a few years later 
 refused to accept Ampere's conclusions. Arago puts it, 
 that as he was ambitious of a high place in the world of 
 
252 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 ideas, he should have expected to find his adversaries 
 precisely those already occupying the highest places. 
 
 Ampere never looked on himself as a mere specialist 
 in physical science, however, and it is extremely inter- 
 esting to know that he dared to take sides in a discus- 
 sion between Cuvier and Geoffroy- Saint -Hilaire, with 
 regard to the unity of structure in organized beings. 
 While the purely physical scientists mostly sat mute 
 during the discussion, Ampere took an active share in it, 
 and ventured to subject himself to what perhaps, above 
 all things, a Frenchman dreads, the ridicule of his col- 
 leagues. Arago thought that he held his own very well 
 in this discussion, which involved some of the ideas that 
 were afterwards to be the subject of profound study and 
 prolonged investigation later in the nineteenth century, 
 because of the announcement of the theory of evolution. 
 
 After his discoveries in electricity Ampere came to be 
 acknowledged as one of the greatest of living scientists, 
 and was honored as such by most of the distinguished 
 scientific societies of Europe. His work was not con- 
 fined to electricity alone, however, and late in life he 
 prepared what has been well called a remarkable work 
 on the classification of the sciences. This showed that, 
 far from being a mere electrical specialist or even a 
 profound thinker in physics, he understood better prob- 
 ably than any man of his time the interrelations of the 
 sciences to one another. He was a broad-minded, pro- 
 found thinker in the highest sense of the words, and in 
 many things seems to have had almost an intuition of 
 the intimate processes of nature ; a sharer in secrets as 
 yet unrevealed, though he was at the same time an 
 untiring experimenter, eminently successful, as is so 
 evident in his electrical researches, in arranging experi- 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMPERE 253 
 
 ments so as to compel answers to the questions which 
 iie put to nature. 
 
 In the midst of all this preoccupation of mind with 
 science and all the scientific problems that were working 
 in men's minds in his time, from the constitution of 
 matter to the nature of life, above all engaged in 
 experimental work, he was a deeply religious man in 
 Ms opinions and practices. He had indeed the simple 
 piety of a child. During the awful period of the French 
 Revolution, he had some doubts with regard to religious 
 truths ; but once these were dispelled, he became one of 
 the most faithful practical Catholics of his generation. 
 He seldom passed a day without finding his way into a 
 (Church, and his favorite form of prayer was the rosary, 
 
 Frederick Ozanam tells the story of how he himself, 
 overtaken by misgivings with regard to faith, and 
 roaming almost aimlessly through the streets of Paris 
 trying to think out solutions for his doubts, and the 
 problems that would so insistently present themselves 
 respecting the intellectual foundations of Christianity, 
 finally wandered one day into a church, and found 
 Ampere there in an obscure corner, telling his beads. 
 Ozanam himself was moved to do the same thing, for 
 Ampere was then looked upon as one of the greatest 
 living scientists of France. Under the magic touch of 
 an example like this and the quiet influence of prayer, 
 Ozanam's doubts vanished, never to return. 
 
 Saint-Beuve, whose testimony in a matter like this 
 would surely be unsuspected of any tendency to make 
 Ampere more Catholic than he was, in his introduction 
 to Ampere's essay on the Philosophy of the Sciences 
 {Paris, 1843), says: 
 
 ^'The rehgious struggles and doubts of his earlier life 
 
254 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 had ceased. What disturbed him now lay in less exalted 
 regions. Years ago, his interior conflicts, his instinctive 
 yearning for the Eternal, and a lively correspondence 
 with his old friend, Father Barrett, combined with the 
 general tendency of the time of the Restoration, had 
 led him back to that faith and devotion which he 
 
 expressed so strikingly in 1803 During the years 
 
 which followed, up to the time of his death, we were 
 filled with wonder and admiration at the way in which, 
 without effort, he united religion and science ; faith and 
 confidence in the intellectual possibilities of man with 
 adoring submission to the revealed word of God." 
 
 Ozanam, to whose thoroughly practical Christianity 
 while he was professor of Foreign Literatures at the 
 University of Paris we owe the foundation of the Con- 
 ferences of St. Vincent de Paul, which so long antici- 
 pated the "settlement work" of the modern time and 
 have done so much for the poor in large cities ever since, 
 was very close to Ampere, lived with him indeed for a 
 while, said that, no matter where conversations with 
 him began, they always led up to God. The great 
 French scientist and philosopher used to take his broad 
 forehead between his hands after he had been discuss- 
 ing some specially deep question of science or philosophy 
 and say : "How great is God, Ozanam ! How great is 
 God and how little is our knowledge ! " Of course this 
 has been the expression of most profound thinkers at 
 all times. St. Augustine's famous vision of the angel 
 standing by the sea emptying it out with a teaspoon, 
 which has been rendered so living for most of us by Bot- 
 ticelli's great picture, is but an earlier example of the 
 same thing. One of Ampere's greatest contemporaries, 
 Laplace, re-echoed the same sentiment, perhaps in less 
 
ANDR^ MARIE AMPERE 255; 
 
 striking terms, when he declared that what we know is 
 but little, while what we do not know is infinite. 
 
 For anyone who desires to study the beautiful Chris- 
 tian simplicity of a truly great soul, there is no better 
 human document than the "Journal and Correspondence 
 of Ampere," published some years after his death. He 
 himself wrote out the love story of his life ; and it is 
 perhaps one of the most charming of narratives, cer- 
 tainly the most delightful autobiographic story of this 
 kind that has ever been told. It is human to the very 
 core, and it shows a wonderfully sympathetic character 
 in a great man, whose work was destined a few years 
 later to revolutionize physics and to found the practical 
 science of electro-dynamics. 
 
 When Ampere's death was impending, it was sug- 
 gested that a chapter of the "Imitation of Christ" 
 should be read to him ; but he said, no ! declaring that 
 he preferred to be left alone for a while, as he knew the 
 "Imitation" by heart and would repeat those chapters 
 in which he found most consolation. With the prof ound- 
 est sentiments of piety and confidence in Providence, 
 he passed away June 10th, 1836, at Marseilles. 
 
 With all his solid piety, this man was not so distant 
 from ordinary worldly affairs as not to take a lively 
 interest in all that was happening around him and, 
 above all, all that concerned the welfare of men. He 
 was especially enthusiastic for the freedom of the South 
 American Republics, eagerly following the course of 
 Bolivar and Canaris, and rejoicing at the success of 
 their efforts. South American patriots visiting Paris 
 found a warm welcome at his hands, and also introduc- 
 tions that made life pleasant for them at the French 
 capital. His house was always open to them, and no 
 
256 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 service that he performed for them seemed too much. 
 
 Ampere was beloved by his family and his friends ; 
 he was perhaps the best liked man among his circle of 
 acquaintances in Paris because of the charming genial- 
 ity of his character and his manifold interests. He was 
 kind, above all, to rising young men in the intellectual 
 world around him, and was looked up to by many of 
 them as almost a second father. His charity towards the 
 poor was proverbial, and this side of his personality 
 and career deserves to be studied quite as much as 
 what he was able to accomplish for science. The 
 beauty of his character was rooted deeply in the religion 
 that he professed, and in our day, when it has come to 
 be the custom for so many to think that science and 
 faith are inalterably opposed, the lesson of this life, so 
 deeply imbued with both of these great human interests, 
 deserves to be studied. Ozanam, who knew him best, 
 has brought out this extremely interesting union of 
 intellectual quahties, in a passage that serves very 
 well to sum up the meaning of Ampere's life. 
 
 "In addition to his scientific achievements," says 
 Ozanam, " this brilliant genius has other claims upon 
 our admiration and affection. He was our brother in 
 the faith. It was religion which guided the labors of 
 his mind and illuminated his contemplations ; he judged 
 all things, science itself, by the exalted standard of 
 
 religion This venerable head which was crowned by 
 
 achievements and honors, bowed without reserve before 
 the mysteries of faith, down even below the line which 
 the Church has marked for us. He prayed before the 
 same altars before which Descartes and Pascal had 
 knelt ; beside the poor widow and the small child who 
 Jtnay have been less humble in mind than he was. No- 
 
ANDRE MARIE AMP^JRE 257 
 
 body observed the regulations of the Church more 
 conscientiously, regulations which are so hard on nature 
 and yet so sweet in the habit. Above all things, how- 
 ever, it is beautiful to see what sublime things Chris- 
 tianity wrought in his great soul ; this admirable 
 simplicity, the unassumingness of a mind that recog- 
 nized everything except its own genius ; this high 
 rectitude in matters of science, now so rare, seeking 
 nothing but the truth and never rewards and distinc- 
 tion ; the pleasant and ungrudging amiability ; and last- 
 ly, the kindness with which he met everyone, especially 
 young people. I can say that those who know onljr the 
 intelligence of the man, know only the less perfect part. 
 If he thought much, he loved more." 
 
258 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Ohm, the Founder of Mathematical Electricity. 
 
 Lord Kelvin, himself one of the greatest of the 
 electrical scientists of the nineteenth century, in com- 
 menting some years ago on Ohm's law, said that it was 
 such an extremely simple expression of a great truth in 
 electricity, that its significance is probably not confined 
 to that department of physical phenomena, but that it 
 is a law of nature in some much broader way. Re-echo- 
 ing- this expression of his colleague. Professor George 
 Chrystal, of Edinburgh, in his article on electricity in 
 the Encyclopedia Britannica (IX. edition), says that 
 Ohm's law "must now be allowed to rank with the law 
 of gravitation and the elementary laws of statical elec- 
 tricity as a law of nature in the strictest sense." In a 
 word, to these leaders and teachers in physical science 
 of the generation after his, though within a compara- 
 tively short time after Ohm's death, there has come the 
 complete realization of the absolutely fundamental 
 character of the discovery made by George Simon Ohm, 
 when he promulgated the principle that a current of 
 electricity is to be measured by the electromotive force, 
 divided by the resistance in the circuit. The very 
 simplicity of this expression is its supreme title to 
 represent a great discovery in natural science. It is 
 the men who reach such absolutely simple formulae for 
 great fundamental truths that humanity has come, and 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 259 
 
 rightly, to consider as representing its greatest men in 
 science. 
 
 Like most of the distinguished discoverers in science 
 who have displayed marked originality, Ohm came 
 from what is usually called the lower classes, his ances- 
 tors having had to work for their living for as long as 
 the history of the family can be traced. His father 
 was a locksmith, and succeeded his father at the trade. 
 The head of the family for many generations had been 
 engaged at this handicraft. The first of them of whom 
 there is any definite record was Ohm's great-grand- 
 father, Wilhelm Ohm, who was a locksmith at Wester- 
 holt, not far from Miinster, in Westphalia. Wilhelm 
 Ohm's son, Johann Vincent, the grandfather of the great 
 electrician, during his years as a journeyman locksmith 
 had spent some time in France, and subsequently set- 
 tled down in Kadolzburg, a small suburb of Erlangen, in 
 Bavaria. In 1764, he obtained the position of locksmith 
 to the University of Erlangen, and became a citizen of 
 that municipality. Both of his sons followed the trade 
 of their father. 
 
 The elder of these, Johann Wolfgang, worked at his 
 trade as a journeyman in a number of the small cities 
 of Germany, and only after ten years of absence in 
 what, because of the independent condition of the States 
 now known as the German Empire, were then consid- 
 ered foreign parts, did he wander back to his native 
 place. On his return he received the mastership in his 
 craft, and shortly after, about 1786, married a young 
 woman named Beck. George Simon Ohm, the electrical 
 scientist, was the first child of this marriage, and was 
 born March 16th, 1789. A second son, born three years 
 later, also became distinguished in after-life for his 
 
260 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 mathematical ability. This younger brother, after 
 having filled a number of teaching positions in various 
 German educational institutions, was called as professor 
 of mathematics to Berlin, where he died in 1862. 
 
 While their father, Johann Wolfgang Ohm, followed 
 his trade of locksmith for a living, like many another 
 handicraftsman, he had many mental interests which 
 he cultivated in leisure hours, and doubtless dwelt on 
 while his hands were occupied with the mere routine 
 work of his trade. It is curiously interesting to find 
 that he devoted himself, during the hours he could spare 
 from his occupation, to two such diverse intellectual oc- 
 cupations as mathematics and Kant's philosophy ; but 
 they had no newspapers in those days, and a man, even 
 of the artisan class, had some time for serious mental 
 occupation. It might be thought, under these circum- 
 stances, that he would be but the most passing of 
 amateurs in either of these subjects, and have a very 
 superficial knowledge of them. This probably was true 
 for his philosophy fad, for there are not many who have 
 ever thought themselves more than amateurs in Kant- 
 ism, and even Kant himself, I believe, thought that only 
 one scholar ever really understood his system, and 
 subsequently said he had some doubts even about that 
 one ; but in mathematics, the elder Ohm seems to have 
 attained noteworthy success. 
 
 Hofrath Langsdorff, who was the professor of mathe- 
 matics at Erlangen during the last decade of the eight- 
 eenth century, and who was called to Heidelberg in 1804, 
 a fact that would seem quite enough to set beyond all 
 question that his opinion in this matter may be taken 
 as that of a competent judge, declared that the elder 
 Ohm's mathematical knowledge was far above the ordin- 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 261 
 
 ary, and that he knew much more than the elements even 
 of the higher mathematics. Under these circumstances, 
 it is not surprising that the father should have tried to 
 encourage in both his boys a taste for mathematics, nor 
 that he should have taken their mathematical instruc- 
 tion into his own hands and succeeded in making excel- 
 lent mathematicians of them, even in their early years. 
 He was so successful in this, indeed, that Langsdorff, 
 after a five-hour examination of the brothers when they 
 were respectively 12 and 15, did not hesitate to declare 
 that the Erlangen locksmith's family was likely to be 
 remembered as containing a pair of brothers who, for 
 success in mathematics, might rival the famous Ber- 
 noulli brothers, so well known at that time. 
 
 This might be thought only a bit of neighborly praise, 
 meant to warm a father's heart, yet it seems indeed to 
 have been given quite seriously. Certainly the event jus- 
 tified the prophecy. It is not surprising that, with such a 
 forecast to encourage him, the father should have been 
 ready to make every sacrifice to enable both his sons to 
 prepare for the university. 
 
 He continued his instruction of them, then, in mathe- 
 matics, though he insisted at the same time that they 
 should continue to keep up their occupation of lock- 
 smiths. In spite of his enthusiasm for mathematics, the 
 old gentleman seems to have cherished no illusions with 
 regard to the likelihood of pure mathematics ever serv- 
 ing them as a lucrative means of livelihood. It was a 
 very satisfying intellectual interest, but a good trade 
 was much more apt to prove their constant and sub- 
 stantial standby, unless, of course, the boys should ac- 
 tually prove to be the geniuses foretold. He seems to 
 have realized to the full, Coleridge's idea that, like the 
 
262 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 literary man, the mathematician should have some other 
 occupation, though he might not go to the extent of fol- 
 lowing Oliver Wendell Holmes' well-known addition to 
 Coleridge's formula, that he should, as far as possible, 
 confine himself to the other occupation. The boys were 
 given the opportunity to attend the gymnasium of 
 Erlangen, and seem to have had excellent success in 
 their general studies besides mathematics.^ 
 
 In 1805, when George, the subject of our sketch, was 
 sixteen years of age, he was graduated from the gym- 
 nasium and was ready for the university. On May 3d, 
 1805, he took his matriculation examination before the 
 faculty of Erlangen, electing the course of mathematics, 
 physics and philosophy. Later in life he told his friends 
 that it was his deep love for the mathematics of these 
 studies, and his persuasion that in them the student was 
 brought in contact with the most important factors for 
 absolute intellectual cultivation, that tempted him to 
 take them up. To this he did not hesitate to add that 
 
 1 Ohm's brother, Martin Ohm, deserves a passing word, because his life is char- 
 acteristically diif erent in certain ways and because, above all, it represents academic 
 success, while Ohm's was almost an academic failure. He finally received the pro- 
 fessorship in mathematics at Berlin, and came to be considered as one of the greatest 
 professors of the subject in Europe. Their careers form typical examples of the fact, 
 often notable in history, that talent finds a ready welcome in the academic world, 
 while genius is often neglected, and indeed may be, and often is, the target for bitter 
 opposition. The younger Ohm's writings are mainly with regard to mathematics, but 
 nearly always from some general rather than special standpoint, and very often with 
 regard to the educational side of the subject. His first book was on Analytic and 
 Higher Geometry in their Elements. He then wrote class text-books of mathematics 
 and mechanics. One of his works. The Spirit of Mathematical Analysis and its Re- 
 lation to a Logical System, because of its value as an educational document attracted 
 widespread attention. This book, translated by Ellis into English, was published in 
 London in 1845. One of Martin Ohm's earlier books should be of special interest to 
 educators because of its subject. Its rather lengthy title is, "An Attempt to For- 
 mulate a Short, Fundamental, Clear Method to Enable Those without a Taste for 
 Mathematics to Learn the Mathematics Necessary for the Higher and Technical 
 Schools." 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 263 
 
 ^:here seemed to him to be some call of a higher voice, 
 as if he had a vocation to dedicate himself to the culti- 
 vation and extension of these important subjects. 
 
 He had been but some two years at the university, 
 when for a time his studies had to be interrupted, partly 
 for lack of means to pursue them, but partly because 
 to his father, at least, the university course was not 
 the source of such satisfaction as he had anticipated 
 from his son's ability in mathematics. While Ohm took 
 his studies seriously, he was not by any means a mere 
 "grind," and, indeed, the reputation which he acquired 
 at the university for many of the qualities which make 
 for a student's popularity among his fellows, was not 
 such as would be likely to appeal to a very serious- 
 minded father. Ohm had acquired the fame of being 
 one of the best dancers in the university; he was a bril- 
 liant billiard player and an unrivalled skater ; all of 
 v\rhich indicates that as a young man he had the physi- 
 cal development and acuteness of sense so necessary to 
 enable him to gain prestige in all these sports. 
 
 His father, in spite of his desire for his son's univer- 
 sity career, was quite willing, then, at the end of Sep- 
 tember, 1808, to have him take up a position as teacher 
 of mathematics in the school kept by Pastor Zehnder, 
 in the Canton Berne, in Switzerland. His very youth- 
 ful appearance (he was only 18 years of age at the time, 
 quite boyish looking and not even large for his years) 
 caused the head of this institution no little surprise when 
 he came with letters of introduction showing that he 
 was to be the new teacher in mathematics. He could 
 scarcely believe his eyes for a time. Within a few 
 months, however, he was convinced of the ability and 
 the capacity for work of his new addition to the faculty, 
 
264 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 who seems to have given, from the very beginning, 
 excellent satisfaction in his rather important position. 
 
 Ohm remained there some three years and a half and 
 then moved to Neunberg, where, independent of any 
 educational institution, he set himself up as a private 
 tutor in mathematics. His reason for so doing, as he 
 himself tells, was that he wished to devote himself to 
 the study of pure mathematics more than was possible 
 in a regular teaching position. For this same reason 
 also he refused a number of offers of positions as teacher 
 of mathematics, which would ordinarily be considered 
 quite flattering to a young man of only 21. Another 
 reason for refusing these offers was that he wished to 
 perfect himself in French, and he had an excellent 
 opportunity afforded him for conversation in this lan- 
 guage in the conditions in which he was placed in 
 Neunberg. This last may seem an unusual reason, but 
 it is characteristic of Ohm's determination always to 
 add to his power of understanding and expression. 
 
 Most young men in Ohm's circumstances are so occu- 
 pied with the thought of immediate success in life, that 
 every possible abbreviation of their studies which will 
 bring them nearer the opportunity to make their own 
 living is likely to be heartily welcomed. Ohm, however, 
 realized that his own intellectual development was more 
 important, especially at this time, even than getting on 
 in the world ; and for this reason his life has an added 
 interest, not only for students themselves, but especi- 
 ally for those who have the best interests of students 
 at heart and wish to be able to cite examples of how a 
 little delay in getting at one's actual life-work, or, still 
 more, at a remunerative occupation, may serve the very 
 useful purpose of preparing a man so much the better 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 265 
 
 to bring out his best intellectual possibilities when he 
 does settle down to his work. 
 
 At Easter, 1811, Ohm returned to Erlangen, after 
 having spent nearly two years perfecting himself in 
 mathematics. He then finished his studies at the uni- 
 versity, which seems not to have had the rule of re- 
 quiring attendance for a definite period before coming 
 up for its degree, but permitted him to take the exam- 
 inations for the doctorate of philosophy on the strength 
 of the work he had done, and gave him his degree on 
 the 25th of October of the same year. With the draw- 
 ing tighter of the bands of red tape in educational insti- 
 tutions in more recent years. Ohm would have found it 
 difficult to get his degree thus readily, though it was the 
 university rather than the graduate who was eventually 
 to be honored by it. After this, he became privat- 
 docent in mathematics at the university, and taught for 
 three semesters. He met with marked success and 
 became very popular with the students. After a year 
 and a half, however, he gave up his university position 
 to accept the professorship of mathematics at the Real- 
 schule of Bamberg. 
 
 While Ohm was here, the spirit of young Germany 
 awoke at the news of Napoleon's unfortunate Moscow 
 campaign, in which his good fortune seemed to have 
 definitely abandoned the great Emperor of the French. 
 Most of the students of the universities of Germany 
 were deeply aroused by it, and those who know Kor- 
 ner's and Uhland's songs will have some idea of the 
 depth of patriotic feeling that was stirred in thousands 
 of young German hearts, who thought that now the 
 opportunity for the fatherland to throw off the hated 
 foreign yoke forever, had come at last. Ohm debated 
 
266 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 with himself whether he should volunteer with the 
 crowds of young men who were so bravely giving up 
 everything, that the fatherland might be free. Two 
 things deterred him. If he went as. a soldier, the ma- 
 terial assistance he was able to give his father, and 
 which, as the old man was now advancing in years and 
 had spent most of his little savings upon his sons, was 
 needed, would have to be given up. The other motive 
 that kept him at home was, according to his German 
 biographer in the Allegmeine Deutsche Biographie, 
 which we have been following for most of these details, 
 because he felt that what he might be able to accom- 
 plish in other fields besides those of battle would even- 
 tually prove more beneficial for his fatherland, and 
 indeed for the whole of humanity, than anything he 
 could do as a soldier, even with the patriotic motive to 
 help his country to throw off the yoke of the foreign 
 usurper, which had proven so hard to bear. As we 
 have already seen, it was a characteristic trait of Ohm 
 all through life, that he cherished the idea, which 
 acquired almost the force of a premonition, that he was 
 destined for great things. 
 
 Ohm continued his work as a teacher, then, instead of 
 volunteering for the army ; but, as might be expected, 
 found the monotonous work of drilling young students 
 in mathematics extremely unsatisfactory after a time. 
 At the end of a year and a half of service at Bamberg, 
 he asked for a change in the conditions of his teaching 
 position. Instead of this, he received a transfer to the 
 Bamberg pro-gymnasium, where he was to teach Latin 
 until a regular teacher was appointed. In spite of his 
 representations that the teaching position offered him 
 was utterly at variance with his talents and his inclina- 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 267 
 
 tions, he was compelled to accept this occupation for a 
 time, though after some delay there came the assurance 
 that, just as soon as possible, he would be assigned to a 
 position as teacher of mathematics. 
 
 In spite of his unfortunate circumstances, which 
 would ordinarily be thought quite enough to keep him 
 from serious work until he was settled in a position 
 more suited to his tastes, he devoted himself to the 
 writing of his first book during this time, and it was 
 published by Enke, in Erlangen, in the spring of 1817. 
 Its title was, ' ' Outlines of the Study of Geometry as a 
 Means of Intellectual Culture. " It comprised nearly two 
 hundred pages, and gives the best possible insight into 
 the ability and intelligence of the author, then a young 
 man of only twenty-eight. As a sort of appendix, he 
 gives a short sketch of his father, evidently introduced, 
 not quite so much for the purpose of filially confessing 
 his obligations to the old locksmith mathematician, nor 
 with the idea of repaying some of his immeasurable 
 debt for all the opportunities which the sacrifices of 
 paternal affection had brought into the life of his sons, as 
 to emphasize the excellent educational influence which 
 his father's mathematical training had had upon his 
 boys, and thus prove his thesis as to the value of math- 
 ematical studies in education. Few filial tributes were 
 ever more deserved or given more convincingly or with 
 less suggestion of the conventional attitude of son to 
 father. 
 
 Now that mathematics has come to occupy probably 
 even a less prominent place in education than it did in 
 Ohm's time, though the burden of his complaint with 
 regard to educational methods was that geometry was 
 :not used as a daily developmental subject as much as it 
 
268 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 should be, it may be interesting to recall some of the 
 reasons which he advanced for urging its greater em- 
 ployment as an instrument for mental training. He 
 thought that rational geometry should occupy a place 
 of honor among our means of education. Its quality as 
 a mode of pure reasoning, though so closely related to 
 the senses, made easy the transition from sensation to 
 thought, which is such an important element in educa- 
 tion ; while its eminently simple character, though com- 
 bined with definite demands upon the constructive 
 faculties, made it appropriate in a high degree for the 
 education of the young out of the field of merely imita* 
 tive use of the intellect, into that of independent think- 
 ing and following out of ideas. "Geometry," says 
 Ohm, "when properly taught, not with the fruitless 
 drilling usually employed in teaching it, but in such 
 ways as to secure deep personal attention, must take 
 rank above all other branches of education, in enabling 
 the student to break down the barrier which separates 
 mere understanding from personal investigation. It 
 forces a man whose thoughts were, up to this time, 
 only the repetition of others' thoughts, to think for him- 
 self and to light for himself in his own mind the torches 
 which enable him to see things clearly for himself, and 
 not merely in the dimness of the half light that is thrown 
 on them by the explanations of others." 
 
 Geometrical methods always had a special fascination 
 for Ohm, and practically all of his books and writings 
 bear the impress of that close dependence of all parts 
 on one another, that absolutely logical connection so 
 characteristic of geometric accuracy of thought. His 
 was the sort of mind likely to be benefited by mathe- 
 matical training. Such minds are, however, compara- 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 269 
 
 tively few, for most men are not rational in any sense 
 of the word, that would make them dependent on 
 logical reasoning. Perhaps it is as well that they are 
 not, for many of those lacking in logic or mathematical 
 accuracy of thought and absoluteness of conclusion, 
 still continue to accomplish much in the world of thought 
 and do much valuable planning for the complexities of 
 human affairs, where strict logic will not always solve 
 the intricate yet incomplete problems that present 
 themselves in human relations, where, indeed, individ- 
 ual unknown factors often make any but an approximate 
 solution impossible. 
 
 The opinions of the critics as to Ohm's ' ' Outlines of 
 Geometry " were, as might be easily anticipated, not all 
 flattering, since only a few of the critics were able to 
 place themselves on the ideal standpoint of mathemati- 
 cal subjectivity from which he had written his book. 
 King Frederick William III., of Prussia, is said to have 
 read it with much interest, however, and the royal 
 pleasure doubtless drew attention to Ohm's work, and 
 may have contributed to the fact that, shortly after its 
 publication, in September, 1817, Ohm was invited by 
 the Royal Consistory of Cologne to take the position of 
 head professor of mathematics and physics in the 
 gymnasium of that city. This post was not only honor- 
 able, it was also highly remunerative, at least from the 
 standpoint of teachers' wages as they were at that time, 
 and Ohm eagerly accepted the position. 
 
 Lamont, who was the director of the Royal Observa- 
 tory at Munich, has written a memorial of Ohm which 
 contains much valuable information. The body of it is 
 an address delivered at a meeting of the Faculty of the 
 University of Munich in honor of Thaddeus Siber and 
 
270 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 George Simon Ohm, but its value has been much en- 
 hanced by notes added before publication. Siber was a 
 Benedictine who was professor in the philosophical 
 department at Munich, and died the same year as Ohm. 
 Lamont says that he received his information as to 
 intimate details of Ohm's life from his brother, Prof. 
 Martin Ohm, of Berlin. His sketch is, therefore, abso- 
 lutely authoritative. Lamont says with regard to this 
 period of teaching at Cologne: " Ohm's first position 
 of importance, in any way worthy of his talents, was 
 the professorship of mathematics at the large Jesuit 
 gymnasium in Cologne, in 1817, where the special gift 
 that he possessed, of making the study of mathematics 
 not only comprehensible but attractive to boys, brought 
 him success and recognition." 
 
 For nearly ten years Ohm had the opportunity to put 
 into practice in this Jesuit gymnasium of the Rhineland, 
 the principles which he had so much at heart, for he was. 
 apparently given the full freedom of his department of 
 teaching. He succeeded so well that he received wide 
 and hearty recognition for his work. The mathemati- 
 cal studies of the Cologne gymnasium stood higher than 
 had ever been the case before, and this was all Ohm's 
 work. In the years before his teaching in the Rhenish 
 city, those who were distinguished in mathematics at 
 the University of Bonn had not come, as a rule, from 
 Cologne, but from other places ; but now nearly all the 
 mathematical prize-takers of Bonn came from among 
 Ohm's students, and the best of the candidates for 
 teaching positions in physics and mathematics had also, 
 as a rule, had the advantages of his training. 
 
 Among the best of his scholars at this time was the 
 afterwards well-known mathematician, Lejeune-Dir- 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 271 
 
 ichlet, who taught in Berlin with Jacobi and Steiner and 
 succeeded Gauss in Gottingen. Another of his most 
 distinguished pupils was the astronomer Heis, who oc- 
 cupied a modest position at the Munster Academy, but 
 whose merits were above the post which he occupied, 
 and who was distinguished for the excellency of his. 
 original work and his ability as a mathematician. One 
 very interesting fact with regard to Ohm's teaching, 
 was that he was successful in catching and holding the 
 interest not only of those of his students who were 
 later to specialize in mathematics, but also of those who 
 took up mathematics only as a subject for mental de- 
 velopment, that was to be applied to other purposes 
 later in life, and who found Ohm's teaching of the 
 greatest possible service. Among these, the well-known 
 German literary man, Jacob Venedey, of Cologne, has 
 expressed his affection and gratitude for his old teacher 
 in a very striking way in his sketch of the cathedral at 
 Cologne, written in the banishment that came to so 
 many vigorous German thinkers after the failure of the 
 revolution of '48. In sending a copy of this to Ohm, 
 Venedey says : "Honored Sir:— It will perhaps be a 
 source of wonder to you that a student who apparently 
 learned so little from you and your colleagues that he 
 must now earn his bread by writing, should continue 
 to cherish for you the liveliest gratitude. It is not the 
 fault of mathematics that only the dimmest recollection 
 of them remains with me. I shall never forget the 
 personality of my professor, however, nor his ways and 
 methods of teaching. I frequently recount your way 
 with us boys, and I have the liveliest remembrance of 
 your influence as a teacher. There are seldom weeks, 
 there never is a month, when I fail to recall you. Thi& 
 
272 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 is no mere compliment that I am paying to you, since I 
 know you too well to think that flattery would mean 
 anything to you, as it would be unworthy of you, and 
 I for my part am not one of those who like to bandy 
 compliments. I have often wished to meet you again, 
 and a hundred times I thought that I saw you because 
 some one at a distance had something that recalled you. 
 I may say to you that you accomplished something for 
 me in those days of teaching that I would not have been 
 able to accomplish for myself. I can only think of you, 
 then, with the highest feelings of reverence approaching 
 what might well be called love. It will be a happy day, 
 indeed, for me if I am ever in a position to make an 
 hour of existence happier for you in any way." 
 
 While Ohm so zealously continued his instruction in 
 both the upper classes of the gymnasium, he never lost 
 from sight that higher aim of original research and 
 investigation to which his genius disposed him. 
 
 His choice of a subject for original investigation wav- 
 ered for a long time between mathematics and physics, 
 but, as he himself declared, his experience having 
 shown him that authority was prone to play a large role 
 in mathematics, while the field was more open for 
 personal research and observation in physics, he resolved 
 to take up that department for his special studies, con- 
 soled by the idea that physics cannot be properly pur- 
 sued without mathematics. Looking around to select a 
 subject that would serve as a striking preface to his 
 work in this department, though resolved at the same 
 time to avoid one where he would be without rivalry, he 
 found it all ready to his hand in what one of his con- 
 temporaries called the enigmatic phenomena of the 
 galvanic current. This was to prove a fortunate selec- 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 273 
 
 tion, indeed, both for himself and the opportunity- 
 afforded his genius as well as for the science of elec- 
 tricity itself. 
 
 He then began a series of investigations, always ex- 
 perimental in character, and with the mathematical ex- 
 planations of the phenomena observed carefully worked 
 out. Accounts of these studies appeared from time to 
 time in the year-book for Chemistry and Physics, issued 
 by Schweigger. After some ten years, these were col- 
 lected together, or at least the principal portions of 
 them, and published in the second half of the year-book 
 for the year 1826. The apparatus for his experiments 
 was fortunately at command in the gymnasium at 
 Cologne, but without his mechanical skill, obtained from 
 his experience as a locksmith when a boy, it would have 
 been impossible so to vary his experiments and modify 
 his instruments as to bring out many of the phenomena 
 that he succeeded in demonstrating. Nearly all of the 
 great discoverers in science have been handy men pos- 
 sessed of mechanical skill, and this is as true for medi- 
 cine, as I have shown in "Makers of Modern Medi- 
 cine,"^ though it might perhaps not be expected, as it is 
 here in electricity, where it seems very natural. 
 
 Ohm felt, in 1826, that he had succeeded in exhaust- 
 ing nearly all that he could learn for himself, and as he 
 wished to have opportunities for further study, and 
 especially for further reading, he asked for an academic 
 furlough that would carry him over the next year. The 
 work that he had already accomplished was beginning 
 to be appreciated, and after discussion of the papers 
 that he had published up to that time, the requested 
 furlough was promptly granted ; and in a letter in which 
 
 1 Fordham University Press, 1907. 
 
274 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 the school authorities praised his school work as well 
 as his original investigations, they allowed him to take 
 the sabbatic year for the furtherance of science on one- 
 half the usual salary, though with the condition also 
 that more would be allowed to him in case this seemed 
 necessary and the conditions justified it. 
 
 This furlough was perhaps the most important event 
 in Ohm's life. He employed it in bringing to a focus 
 the ideas with regard to electricity which had been 
 gradually worked out in his mind during the past ten 
 years. In May, 1827, within six months after the be- 
 ginning of his exclusive devotion to the subject. Ohm's 
 article on the mathematics of the galvanic current 
 appeared. It proved a scientific achievement of the 
 first rank, that was to be epoch-making in the domain 
 of electricity. It settled the conditions under which 
 electrical tension exists in various bodies, and made 
 it clear that there is a fundamental law of electrical 
 conduction which could be expressed by an easy, simple 
 formula. 
 
 Ohm's preface to his little book, that was to work 
 such a revolution in electricity and was to remain for all 
 time one of the classics in this department of science, is 
 typical of the man in many ways. Its modesty could not 
 very well be exceeded. Its simplicity constitutes in itself 
 an appeal to the reader's interest. I know nothing in 
 the literature of the history of science quite like it in 
 these regards, unless it be the preface of Auenbrugger's 
 little book on percussion, in which he laid the foundation 
 of modern clinical diagnosis.^ The two men have many 
 more qualities in common than the authorship of modest 
 prefaces to their books. Both of them were geniuses. 
 
 1 Makers of Modem Medicine, Fordham University Press, New York, 1907. 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 275 
 
 whose names the af tertime will not willingly let die, and 
 both of them accomplished their work apart from the 
 stream of university life in their time, and met with a 
 like fate in the neglect, for some time at least, by their 
 distinguished colleagues of the important discoveries 
 that they had made. Ohm's preface deserves to be 
 quoted because of its classic quality : 
 
 "I herewith present to the public a theory of galvanic 
 electricity as a special part of electrical science in gen- 
 eral, and shall successively, as time, inclination and 
 means permit, arrange more such portions together into 
 a whole, if this first essay shall in some degree repay 
 the sacrifice it has cost me. The circumstances in 
 which I have hitherto been placed have not been suit- 
 able either to encourage me in the pursuit of novelties 
 or to enable me to become acquainted with works relat- 
 ing to the same department of literature throughout 
 its whole extent. I have, therefore, chosen for my 
 first attempt a department of science in which I have 
 the least to apprehend competition. 
 
 "May the well-disposed reader accept whatever I 
 have accomplished with the same love for science as 
 that with which it is sent forth !— The Author, Berlin, 
 May 1st, 1827." 
 
 In his preface to the American edition of the 
 " Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically, " ^ Mr. 
 Thomas D. Lockwood, vice-president of the American 
 Institute of Electrical Engineers, said of this master- 
 piece of Ohm's: "A sufficient reason for repubhshing 
 an English translation of the wonderful book of Profes- 
 sor G. S. Ohm is the difficulty with which the only 
 
 1 New York, Van NoBtrand Company, 1891. 
 
276 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 previous translation (that of Taylor's Scientific Memoirs) 
 is procurable. 
 
 "Besides this, however, the intrinsic value of the 
 book is so great that it should be read by all electricians 
 who care for more than superficial knowledge. 
 
 "It is most remarkable to note, at this time, how 
 completely Ohm stated his famous law that the electro- 
 motive force divided by the resistance is equal to the 
 strength of the current." 
 
 With regard to the book as a whole, Mr. Lockwood 
 says, after suggesting certain anticipations of Ohm's 
 ideas which had been made in the preceding century : 
 "Ohm's work stands alone, and, reading it at the pres- 
 ent time, one is filled with wonder at the prescience, 
 respect for his patience and prophetic soul, and admira- 
 tion of the immensity and variety of ground covered by 
 his little book, which is indeed his best monument." 
 
 Like many another great discovery in physical science, 
 Ohm's work failed to receive the immediate appreciation 
 which it deserved. It cannot be said, however, that it 
 failed to attract attention. It would be easier, indeed, 
 to forgive the scientists of the day if this were true. 
 Not long after its appearance, abstracts from it were 
 made by Fechner in Leipzig, by Pfaff in Erlangen, 
 and Poggendorff in Berlin, which showed that these 
 scientists understood very clearly the significance and 
 comprehended the wide application of Ohm's law as 
 claimed by its author. From these men there was no 
 question of hostile criticism. Professor Pohl, of the 
 University of Berlin, however, in the Berlin ' ' Year-book 
 of Scientific Criticism," did not hesitate to express his 
 utter disagreement, and declared that Ohm's work was 
 fallacious and should be rejected. Other writers of the 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 277 
 
 time treated Ohm's article more or less indifferently, as 
 a merely conventional contribution to science. 
 
 Professor Pohl's opinion was taken to represent the 
 conclusions of the faculty of the University of Berlin, 
 especially noted for mathematical ability. This was to 
 prove a serious hindrance to Ohm in the university 
 career which he had planned for himself. At Berlin 
 they had the ear of the Minister of Education, and it 
 was not long before Ohm felt that the criticisms of his 
 work were making themselves felt in a direction un- 
 favorable to him. Not long after the appearance of his 
 book, there came a disagreement between Ohm and the 
 educational authorities. Ohm felt that this was due to 
 failure to recognize the significance of his work, and 
 that under the circumstances he could not hope for the 
 appreciation that would provide him with the oppor- 
 tunities he deserved. He insisted on sending in his 
 resignation as a teacher. Nothing could change his 
 determination in the matter, not even the pleas of his 
 former scholars, and his resignation had to be accepted. 
 
 Ohm had hoped for a teaching position in a univer- 
 sity. The Minister of Education declared that, while his 
 work as a teacher had been accomplished with careful 
 industry and diligence and conscientious attention to 
 duty, the ministry regretted that, in spite of thorough 
 appreciation of him and admiration for his excellent 
 work as a scientist, they could not find for him a posi- 
 tion outside of the gymnasium. How utterly trivial the 
 conventional expressions sound, now that we know that 
 they brought about for the time being the interruption 
 of one of the most brilliant scientific careers in Europe. 
 Of course, the geese cannot be expected to appreciate 
 the swans, and it was not the minister's fault, but that 
 
278 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 of some of Ohm's own colleagties. The next six years 
 of his life, the precious years between 38 and 44, Ohm 
 had to give up the idea of teaching in a university, and 
 devote himself to some private tutoring in Berlin, with 
 a stipend of about three hundred dollars a year, miser- 
 able enough, yet sufficient, as would appear, for Ohm's 
 simple mode of life. This he owed to the kindness of 
 Gen. Radowitz, who employed him to teach mathematics 
 in a military school in Berlin. 
 
 At the end of this time, when he was nearly 45 years 
 of age, his unfortunate situation attracted the attention 
 of King Ludwig I., of Bavaria, who offered him the 
 chair of professor of physics at the Polytechnic School 
 in Nuremberg, which had recently by royal rescript 
 been raised to the status of a Royal Institute, with the 
 same rank in educational circles as a lyceum for the 
 study of humanities. Here Ohm's duties were shortly 
 to be multiplied. He became the inspector of scientific 
 instruction, after having occupied for some time the 
 professorship of mathematics, and later became the 
 rector of the Polytechnic School, a position which he 
 held for some ten years, fulfilling its duties with the 
 greatest conscientiousness and fidelity. 
 
 Ohm continued his work at Nuremberg for more than 
 fifteen years. During this time, he succeeded in making 
 his mark in every one of the departments of physics. 
 He is usually considered as owing his reputation as an 
 experimental and mathematical scientist to his re- 
 searches in electricity. As a matter of fact, every 
 branch of physics was illuminated by his work, and 
 perhaps nothing shows the original genius of the man 
 better than the fact that everything which he took up 
 revealed new scientific aspects in his hands. The only 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 279 
 
 wonder is that he should have remained so long in 
 a subordinate position in the educational world at Nu- 
 remberg, and received his appointment as university 
 professor of physics at Munich only in 1849. 
 
 In the midst of the administrative educational work 
 that came to him at Nuremberg, Ohm did not neglect 
 original investigation, but somehow succeeded in find- 
 ing time for experiment and study. Having made a 
 cardinal discovery in electricity, of the value of which 
 surely no one was more aware than himself, Ohm 
 might have been expected, as soon as his new post 
 gave him the opportunity, to devote himself quite ex- 
 clusively to this department of science. Instead, he 
 turned for a time to the related subjects of sound, heat 
 and light, devoting himself especially to their mathe- 
 matics. He did this, as he said himself, to complete for 
 his own satisfaction his knowledge of the scientific 
 foundations of the imponderables, as heat, light and 
 electricity were then called, but also because he wished, 
 for the sake of his students, to get closely in touch 
 with what had been accomplished by recent investi- 
 gators in physics. 
 
 It is almost a universal rule in science, that no matter 
 how distinguished an investigator may be, he makes 
 but one cardinal discovery. Ohm, however, was des- 
 tined, after having brilliantly illuminated electricity by 
 the discovery of a great law, to throw nearly as bright 
 a light on the domain of acoustics ; and there is a 
 law in this department of physics which is deservedly 
 called by his name, though it is often associated with 
 that of Helmholtz. Helmholtz himself was always 
 most emphatic in his insistence on Ohm's priority in 
 
280 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 the matter, and constantly speaks of the law in ques- 
 tion by Ohm's name. 
 
 Perhaps no better evidence of the breadth of Ohm's 
 interest in science, his supreme faculty for experimen- 
 tation, or the originality of his investigating genius, 
 can be found than the fact that he thus discovered, 
 by experimental and mathematical methods, the solu- 
 tion to important problems in two such distinct depart- 
 ments of physical science as electricity and acoustics. 
 Before his time, the question of electrical resistance 
 was absolutely insoluble. The problem in acoustics 
 was not less obscure, as may be judged from the fact 
 that, though some of the best physicists and mathema- 
 ticians of Europe during the eighteenth century— and 
 there were giants in those days, among others, Brook 
 Taylor in England, D'Alembert in France, Johann 
 Bernoulli and Euler in Germany, and finally, Daniel 
 Bernoulli— had devoted themselves to its solution, it 
 remained nevertheless unsolved. Here, as in electric- 
 ity, the simplicity of the solution which Ohm found 
 shows how direct were his methods of thinking and 
 how thorough his modes of investigation. Perhaps 
 the most striking feature of Ohm's work in acoustics, 
 and, above all, his solution of an important problem in 
 music, is the fact that he himself, unlike most of his 
 German compatriots, had no ear for music and no liking 
 for it. 
 
 In his address delivered at the public meeting of the 
 Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences at Munich, in 
 March, 1889, the hundredth anniversary of the birth 
 of Ohm, Eugene Lommel, in discussing the scientific 
 work of Ohm, said : "Inasmuch as his law in acoustics 
 furnished the clearest insight into the hitherto incom- 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM ■ 281 
 
 prehensible nature of musical tones, it dominates the 
 acoustics of to-day no less completely than Ohm's law 
 of the electric current dominates the science of elec- 
 tricity."^ This law concerns the resolution of tones 
 into their constituents. The ideas laid down by Ohm 
 were almost absolutely novel. They were so new that 
 none of the workers in acoustics could think that Ohm 
 had made a great discovery. His law states that the 
 human ear perceives only pendulum-like vibration as a 
 simple tone. Every other periodic motion it resolves 
 into a collection of pendulum-like vibrations, which it 
 then hears in the sound as a series of single tones, 
 fundamentals and overtones. Ohm arrived at this law 
 from mathematical considerations, making use of Four- 
 ier's series ; for its experimental verification he was 
 compelled to use the well-cultivated ear of a friend, 
 inasmuch as he was himself, as we have said, quite 
 devoid of musical appreciation. 
 
 Ohm's results were too distant from the accustomed 
 ideas of investigators of sound at that time to be ac- 
 cepted by them. Seebeck, who was one of the most 
 prominent scientists of the time in acoustics, did not 
 hesitate to criticise severely, just as Pohl had made 
 little of Ohm' s law of the electric current. While, 
 however, foreigners were to teach German scientists the 
 value of the advance that their great colleague in elec- 
 tricity had made, the privilege of pointing out the sig- 
 nificance of his work in sound was to be a compatriot's 
 good fortune. It was nearly a score of years, however, 
 before this vindication was to take place. Then Helm- 
 holtz, a decade after Ohm's death, furnished the experi- 
 
 1 Published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institute for the year 
 
 1891, Washington, 1893. 
 
282 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 mental means which enabled even the unskilled ear to 
 resolve a sound into its simple partial tones, and revolu- 
 tionized the theory of music by his classic work, ''The 
 Science of the Perception of Sound," which is based en- 
 tirely on Ohm's law of acoustics. 
 
 Ohm, in the appendix to his work, "The Galvanic Cir- 
 cuit treated mathematically, " dared to suggest certain 
 speculations with regard to the ultimate structure of 
 matter. He said: "There are properties of space-filling 
 matter which we are accustomed to look upon as belong- 
 ing to it. There are other properties which heretofore 
 we have been inclined to look upon as accidents or 
 guests of matter, which abide with it from time to 
 time. For these properties man has thought out causes, 
 if not foreign, at least extrinsic, and they pass as imma- 
 terial independent phases of nature under the names 
 light, heat, electricity, etc. It must be possible so to 
 conceive the structure of physical bodies that, along 
 with the properties of the first class, at the same time 
 and necessarily those of the second shall be given." 
 
 It is all the more interesting to come upon Ohm's 
 speculations on this subject of the ultimate constitution 
 of matter, because within a few years of his time, Pas- 
 teur, then only a comparatively young man, had also 
 been taken with the idea of getting at the constitution 
 of matter by his observations upon dissymmetry, which 
 he abandoned after a time, however, because he found 
 other and more practical subjects to devote himself to, 
 though he never gave up the thought that he might 
 some time return to them and perhaps discover the 
 underlying principles of matter from observations in this 
 subject. It was not until the last five years of his life, 
 when Ohm was already past sixty, that he was to enjoy 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 283 
 
 the satisfaction of an ambition which he had cher- 
 ished from his earhest years as a teacher, and which, 
 in spite of untoward circumstances, had been a pre- 
 cious stimulus in his work. For some twenty years 
 he had hoped some time to be able to devote himself 
 to the investigation of the physical constitution of 
 matter. Unfortunately, when the opportunity came, the 
 manifold duties of his teaching position prevented the 
 completion of his great work, and doubtless robbed his 
 generation and ours of a precious heritage in the mathe- 
 matics of the structure of matter, which would doubtless 
 have been of the greatest possible value. 
 
 It is of course Mle to speculate as to what he might have 
 accomplished if left to his original investigation. The 
 problem which he now took up was much more difficult 
 than any of his preceding tasks. It would have seemed, 
 however, quite as hopeless to those who lived before 
 Ohm's laws, to look for a single complete law of the re- 
 sistance of the electrical current in the circuit or of 
 the overtones in music, as it is to us to think of a simple 
 mathematical formula for atomic relations. What Ohm 
 accomplished in these other cases by his wonderful 
 power of eliminating all the unnecessary factors in the 
 problem, would surely have helped him here. The main 
 power of genius, after all, is its faculty of eliminating 
 the superfluous, which always obscures the real question 
 at issue to such a degree for ordinary minds, that they 
 are utterly unable to see even the possibility of a simple 
 solution of it. Art has been defined as the elimination 
 of the superfluous ; discovery in science might well be 
 defined in the same terms. Under the circumstances, 
 we cannot help regretting that Ohm was not allowed 
 the time and the opportunity to work out the thoughts 
 
284 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 with which he was engaged. It would have been even 
 more satisfactory if the precious years of his ripe mid- 
 dle age had not been wasted in trivial, conventional 
 tasks, so that he might have been permitted to devote 
 his academic leisure, sooner than was actually the case, 
 to the problem which had been so constantly in mind 
 since he made his great generalization in the laws of 
 electricity. 
 
 Unfortunately, most of Ohm's time had now to be 
 taken up with his teaching duties. Only for his self- 
 sacrifice in the matter, his success as a teacher would 
 doubtless have been less marked. Science itself must 
 have suffered, however, from this pre-occupation of 
 mind with a round of conventional duties, since Ohm 
 could no longer devote his time to original research. In 
 the meantime, his great discovery was coming to its 
 own. During these ten years since the publication of 
 his book, a number of distinguished physicists in every 
 country— Poggendorff, and especially Fechner, in Ger- 
 many, Jacobi and Lenz in Russia, Henry in America, 
 Rosenkoeld in Sweden, and De Heer in Holland— took 
 up the problems of the current strength of electricity 
 as set forth in Ohm's law, and confirmed his conclusion 
 by their investigations along similar lines. The French 
 physicist and member of the Academy of Sciences, 
 Pouillet, applied Ohm's ideas to thermo-electricity and 
 pyro-electricity, employing his terms and bringing his 
 work to the notice of foreigners generally, so that a 
 translation of Ohm's work was made into English. 
 
 Ohm's work at once attracted the attention that it 
 deserved in England. The Royal Society conferred 
 on him the Copley Medal, which had been founded 
 as a reward for important discoveries in the domain. 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 285 
 
 of natural knowledge. Before Ohm's time only one 
 other German scientist, Carl Friedrich Gauss, of Got- 
 tingen, had ever been thus honored. The words em- 
 ployed by the Royal Society in conferring this distinc- 
 tion showed how thoroughly the representatives of Eng- 
 lish science appreciated Ohm's work. They said that 
 lie had set forth the laws of the electric current very 
 clearly, and thus accomplished the solution of a problem 
 which was as important in the realm of applied science 
 as it had hitherto been in the schools. Recognition 
 now became the rule, and Ohm had the satisfaction of 
 having all his colleagues in the physical sciences ac- 
 knowledge the significance of his work. 
 
 Ohm's recognition, then, came from foreigners first, 
 and only afterwards from his fellow-countrymen. Im- 
 mediate appreciation might have meant much for him, 
 and even this tardy recognition gave him renewed 
 courage and new strength to go on with his work. 
 He gave effective expression at once to his gratitude 
 and to the stimulus that had been afforded him by the 
 dedication to the Royal Society of London of the great 
 work, " Contributions to molecular Physics," which he 
 planned. 
 
 The year after he received the Copley Medal, he was 
 made a Foreign Associate of the Royal Society of 
 England, and from this time on his discoveries began to 
 find their way into text-books as fundamental doctrines 
 in the science of electricity. German and foreign sci- 
 entific bodies followed the English example so happily 
 set for them, and began to give him their recognition 
 as a physicist of the first rank. Ohm's further obser- 
 vations were, for a time, not accepted so readily as 
 his first law. The reason for this was that Ohm was so 
 
286 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 far ahead of his times that there was not as yet in exist- 
 ence a suitable electroscope to test their truth. Finally, 
 the invention of an exact electrometer by Dellman, and 
 its application by Professor Kohlrausch, of Marburg, 
 made the experimental confirmation of all his work 
 quite as significant as for his law. 
 
 It is a striking reflection on Ohm's career, though not 
 very encouraging for the discoverer in science, to real- 
 ize that some important discoveries, which thus proved 
 eventually quite as epoch-making as his law, had lain 
 for practically ten years neglected, and their mag- 
 nificently endowed author had been allowed to eke 
 out a rather difficult existence in teaching, not in the 
 important department of science in which he was so 
 great a master, but in certain conventional phases of 
 mathematics which might very well have been taught 
 by almost anyone who knew the elements of higher 
 mathematics. Ohm's case is not a solitary phenomenon 
 in the history of science, however, but rather follows 
 the rule, that a genuine novelty is seldom welcomed by 
 the leaders of science at any given moment ; but, on the 
 contrary, rather decried, and its discoverer always 
 frigidly put in his proper place by those who resent his 
 audacity in presuming to teach them something new in 
 their own science. 
 
 Having thus illuminated electricity and acoustics. 
 Ohm turned his attention to the department of optics. 
 His power to simplify difficulties and get at the heart of 
 obscure problems is illustrated by his contribution to 
 this subject, made while he was professor of physics 
 in the University of Munich. Optics had early engaged 
 his attention, and in 1840 he published a paper in Pog- 
 gendorff's Annalen, bearing the title, "A Description 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 2ST 
 
 of some simple and easily managed Arrangements for 
 making the Experiment of the Interference of Light." 
 With his usual faculty for simplifying things, he showed 
 that the interference prisms which were made so care- 
 fully by the French could be constructed from common 
 plate-glass. He was indeed able to demonstrate that a 
 simple strip from the edge of a piece of such glass could 
 be used for this purpose. 
 
 He pursued this absorbing subject until 1852-53, and 
 then set himself the difficult task of developing a gen- 
 eral theory of these phenomena of interference which 
 are so rich in form and color. The problem was indeed 
 alluring, but some of the best minds in nineteenth 
 century science in Europe had been engaged at it, with- 
 out bringing much order out of the chaos, and it would 
 have looked quite unpromising to anyone but Ohm, to 
 whom, the greater the difficulty of a subject, the more 
 the attraction it possessed. With his wonderful power 
 of synthesis and his capacity to discover a clue to the 
 way through a maze of difficulties. Ohm succeeded in 
 finding a formula of great simplicity and beauty and 
 which covered all the individual colors. It was only 
 after he had reached his conclusions and was actually 
 publishing his results, that the German scientist found 
 that he had been anticipated by Professor Langberg, of 
 Christiania, in Norway, with regard to the principal 
 points of his investigation, though not as to all its de- 
 tails. Professor Langberg^ had published his article in 
 the Norwegian Magazine for Natural Sciences in 1841, 
 
 iln the address on the scientific work of George Simon Ohm, published by the 
 Smithsonian Institute in 1891, this name is translated Sangberg. In the article by 
 Baurenf«nd, in the AUegmeine Deutsche Biographic, the name is spelled Langberg. 
 The form of the old German L may have suggested the letter S, or it may hare 
 8lipi>ed in as a typographical error. 
 
288 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 and an abstract of it had appeared the following year 
 in the first complementary volume (Erganzungsband) 
 of Poggendorff' s Annalen. 
 
 Of this publication by Professor Langberg, Ohm had 
 known absolutely nothing. He had even gone to some 
 pains to find out, before undertaking his own investi- 
 gation, whether anything had been published on the 
 matter. At the sessions of the German Naturalists' 
 Association, held in 1852, he had called the attention of 
 many prominent physicists and mineralogists who were 
 present at that meeting to the colored concentric ellipses 
 which occur in connection with certain crystals used in 
 the investigation of polarization. He asked whether 
 these had ever been seen before, or whether anything 
 had been written about them. All of those whom he 
 consulted declared that they had not observed them, 
 and that, so far as they knew, nothing had been 
 pubHshed with regard to them. Accordingly, Ohm pro- 
 ceeded with his work, only to find, after its formal 
 publication, that he had been almost entirely antici- 
 pated and that the merit of original discovery belonged 
 to his Norwegian colleague. 
 
 When his attention was called to the publication, 
 Ohm was perfectly ready to acknowledge the priority 
 of Professor Langberg' s claim and to give him all 
 the credit that belonged to his discovery. At the 
 beginning of the second part of his article, he said : 
 
 "I know not whether I should consider it lucky or 
 unlucky that the extremely meritorious work of Lang- 
 berg should have entirely escaped me and should have 
 been lost to general recollection. Certain it is that, if 
 I had had any knowledge of it before, my present 
 investigations, which were occasioned by this elliptical 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 289 
 
 system, would not have been made and I would have 
 been spared a deal of work. In that case, however, a 
 number of other and scarcely less important scientific 
 principles would have remained hidden for the time 
 being at least. Under the circumstances, the profound 
 truth of the old proverb, * Man proposes, but God dis- 
 poses,' has been brought home to me again. What 
 originally set me investigating this subject now proves 
 to be without interest for science, since the problem has 
 been solved before. On the other hand, a number of 
 things of which I had no hint at all at the beginning of 
 my researches, have come to take its place and com- 
 pensate for it." 
 
 Perhaps nothing will show better than this. Ohm's 
 disposition toward that Providence which overrules 
 everything, and somehow, out of the mixture of good 
 and evil in life, accomplishes things that make for the 
 great purpose of creation. His eminently inquiring 
 attitude towards science, which had on three occasions 
 led him to tackle problems that had puzzled the greatest 
 of experimental scientists, has been shown. He must 
 have been, above all things, a man of a scientific turn 
 of mind, in the sense that he was not ready to accept 
 what had previously been accepted even by distin- 
 guished authorities in science, but was ready to look for 
 new clews that would lead him to simpler explanations 
 than any that had been offered before. In spite of this 
 inquiring disposition, so eminently appropriate to the 
 scientist, and constituting the basis of his success as 
 an experimenter and scientific synthesist, he seems to 
 have no doubts about the old explanation of the creation 
 nor the all-wise directing power of a Divine Providence. 
 This is all the more interesting, because already 
 
290 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 the materialistic view of things, which claims ta 
 know nothing except what can be learned from the 
 matter around us, had begun to make its way in Europe, 
 especially in scientific circles, but Ohm remained un- 
 touched by it. 
 
 Another example of this same state of mind in Ohm 
 is to be found in the preface to his last great work, his 
 contribution to molecular physics, in which he hoped 
 to sum up all that he could discover and demonstrate 
 mathematically with regard to the constitution of matter. 
 He knew that he was taking up a work that would 
 require many years and much laborious occupation of 
 mind. He realized, too, that his duties as professor of 
 physics and mathematics as well as the directorship of 
 the museum and the consultancy to the department of 
 telegraphs, left him comparatively little time for the 
 work. He foresaw that he might not be able to finish 
 it, yet hoped against hope that he would. In the pref- 
 ace to the first volume, he declared that he would devote 
 himself to it at every possible opportunity, and that he 
 hoped that God wotdd spare him to complete it. This 
 simplicity of confidence in the Almighty is indeed a 
 striking characteristic of the man. 
 
 The work which Ohm began thus with such humble 
 trust in God, was to contain his conclusions concerning 
 the nature, size, form and mode of action of the atom, 
 with the idea of being able to deduce, by the aid of 
 analytical mechanics, all the phenomena of matter. Un- 
 fortunately, he was spared only to write the first, an in- 
 troductory volume which bears the title, "Elements of 
 the analytical geometry of space on a system of oblique 
 co-ordinates." This did not touch, as he confesses, the 
 ultimate problem he had in mind. The second volume 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 291 
 
 was to have contained the dynamics of the structures 
 of bodies, and a third and fourth were to be devoted to 
 the physical investigation of the atom and its relation 
 to other atoms and matter in general. 
 
 Ohm devoted himself, however, with too much ardor 
 to his duties as teacher, to allow himself to give the 
 time to his own work that would have enabled him to fin- 
 ish it. Among other things that he did for his students 
 was to complete a text-book of physics. He confesses 
 that he had always felt an aversion to working at a 
 text-book, and yet was impelled to take up the task be- 
 cause he felt that in electricity, in sound and in optics, 
 the only way in which his students would get his ideas, 
 many of which were the result of his own work, was to 
 have a text-book by himself, and he felt bound in duty 
 to do this for them, as he had accepted the position of 
 instructor. He succeeded in completing the book very 
 rapidly by lithographing his lectures immediately after 
 delivery and distributing copies to his classes. 
 
 It is almost needless to say that the work was, in its 
 way, thoroughly original. It was accomplished with 
 the ease with which he was always able to do things ; 
 but, unfortunately, the strain of the work told on him 
 at his years much more than when, as a younger man, 
 he was able to work without fatigue. He acknowledges, 
 at the close of the preface, that the task has been too 
 great, and that he should not have undertaken its ac- 
 complishment, and especially not in the hasty way in 
 which it was done. This preface was dated Easter, 
 1854. Within a few months. Ohm's strength began to 
 fail, and the end was not long in coming. 
 
 According to the translation of the address of Lom- 
 mel as it appeared in the Annual Report of the Smith- 
 
292 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 sonian Institute for 1851, Ohm died as the result of 
 repeated attacks of epilepsy, on July 6th, 1854. The 
 date is correct ; the mode of death, however, is surely 
 reported under a misunderstanding. The physician 
 who hears of epilepsy is prone at once to inquire as to 
 its origin, and to wonder how long the patient had been 
 suffering from it. There are no reports of previous 
 attacks of epilepsy, and the sudden development of 
 genuine epilepsy in fatal form at the age of 65 is quite 
 unlikely. 
 
 His German biographer, Bauernfeind, who is quoted 
 by Lommel as one of the authorities for the details of 
 Ohm's life, and who was a pupil and intimate friend, 
 gives quite a different account. Up to the very last 
 day of his life. Ohm continued his lectures. His duties 
 as professor appealed to his conscience as no others. 
 On Thursday, July 6th, 1854, he delivered his last lecture. 
 That night at ten o'clock he died. The cause of his 
 death was given as a repeated apopleptic stroke. It is 
 evidently because of the occurrence of more apopleptic 
 seizures than one, that the assertion of epilepsy was 
 introduced unto the account of his death. 
 
 For some days before his death, Ohm had been very 
 weak, but had continued to fulfil every duty. To us in 
 the modern time, it may seem surprising that there 
 should be lectures in a university in July ; but the sec- 
 ond semester of the university year in Germany is not 
 supposed to come to a close until the first of August, 
 when the summer vacation begins, and lectures are 
 continued until well on into July. The manner of Ohm's 
 death, as told by his biographer friend, at once corrects 
 the idea of epilepsy, and also shows that his passing 
 came without any of the preliminary suffering that 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 293 
 
 makes death a real misfortune. A half hour before his 
 death, he had been entertaining some friends with 
 lively recollections of the events of his early life in Col- 
 ogne and Treves. He had been quite gay in the stories 
 that he told, and almost boyishly happy in the recollec- 
 tions of those early days. For one for whom duty had 
 meant so much in life, and who had always tried so faith- 
 fully to fulfil it, no happier call to higher things could 
 possibly be imagined than that which came to Ohm. 
 
 On the following Sunday he was followed to the grave 
 by numbers of friends, by all his colleagues and by most 
 of the students of the Munich University. The univer- 
 sity felt that it had suffered a great loss, and no signs 
 of its grief were felt to be too much. Ohm was buried 
 in the old Munich graveyard, where his bones still rest, 
 beneath the simple memorial not unworthy of the mod- 
 est scientist who did his work patiently and quietly, yet 
 with never-failing persistency ; who cared not for the 
 applause of the multitude, and accomplished so much 
 quite independently of any of the ordinary helps from 
 others and from great educational institutions that are 
 often supposed to be almost indispensably necessary 
 for the accomplishment of original scientific work. 
 
 Ohm's personal appearance will be of interest to 
 many of those to whom his discoveries have made him 
 appeal as one of the great original thinkers in modern 
 science. He was almost small in stature, even below 
 middle height ; and those who remember Virchow, may 
 get something of an idea of his appearance when told 
 that those who saw Ohm and knew Virchow, considered 
 that there was a certain reminder of each other in the 
 two men. According to his intimate friend and biog- 
 rapher, he had a very expressive face, with a high, 
 
294 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 somewhat doubled forehead. His eyes were deep and 
 full of intelligence. His mouth, very sharply defined, 
 betrayed, at the first glance, at once the earnest thinker 
 and the pleasant man of friendly disposition. He was 
 always restful and never seemed to be distracted. He 
 talked but little, but his conversation was always in- 
 teresting, and, except when he was in some particularly 
 serious mood, was always likely to have a vein of light 
 humor in it. He did not hesitate to introduce a sparkle 
 of wit now and then into his lectures, and especially knew 
 how gently to make fun of mistakes made by his pupils, 
 yet in such a way as not to hurt their feelings, but to 
 make them realize the necessity for more careful thought 
 before giving answers, and for appreciating principles 
 before speculating on them. He was particularly care- 
 ful not to do anything that would offend his students 
 in any way, and it is to this care that the success of his 
 method of teaching has been especially attributed. 
 
 His habits of life were from the beginning of his 
 career simple, and they continued to be so until the end. 
 He was never married, and he himself attributed this 
 to the unfavorable condition of his material resources at 
 the beginning of his career as a teacher, and the fact 
 that the improvement in these did not really come until 
 he was well past fifty years of age. He once confessed 
 to a friend that he missed those modest pleasures of 
 family life which do so much to give courage and 
 strength for the greater as well as the lesser sufferings 
 of life. Most of his years of teaching he spent in 
 boarding houses. Only after his appointment to the 
 professorship at Munich was he able to have a dwelling 
 for himself, which was presided over by a near relative. 
 
 Ohm is remembered as a teacher rather than as an 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 295 
 
 educational administrator. His pupils recall him as one 
 who was able to be eminently suggestive, while at the 
 same time he succeeded in making it easy to acquire the 
 details of information. The didactic lecture, as a method 
 of teaching, did not appeal to him, and his success was 
 due to the application of quite other methods. He 
 realized how much personal influence meant, and the 
 peculiarity of his system of teaching was an almost 
 uninterrupted lively personal intercourse with his pupils. 
 Demonstrations and exercises at the board always oc- 
 cupied the first half of his two-hour lesson, and only the 
 other half was devoted to the setting forth of new 
 matter. In this way. Ohm succeeded not only in in- 
 fluencing each student according to his personal endow- 
 ments, but he also began the training of future teachers 
 by giving them a living example of what their work 
 should be. 
 
 The success of Ohm as a teacher was recognized on 
 all sides. His attitude towards his scholars was very dif- 
 ferent from that which was assumed by many teachers. 
 Instead of being a mere conveyer of scientific informa- 
 tion, he was himself "a high priest of science," as one 
 of his pupils declared, supplying precious inspiration, 
 and not merely pointing out the limits of lessons and 
 finding out whether they were known, but making work 
 productively interesting, while neglecting none of the 
 details. His pupils became distinguished engineers, 
 and as this is the period in which the state railroads 
 were being built, there was plenty of opportunity for 
 them to apply the instruction they had received. Not 
 only were the reports of the Royal Commission of 
 Inspection repeated evidence of Ohm's success as a 
 teacher, but the technical schools which were under the 
 
296 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 care of Ohm's disciples soon came to be recognized as 
 far above the average, and as representing not only the 
 successful teaching of technics on his part, but also the 
 influence that his example as a teacher had in forming 
 others to carry on the work. 
 
 How much Ohm was beloved by those who knew him 
 best can be properly appreciated from the following pas- 
 sage from the panegyric delivered in Munich in 1855, 
 not long after his death, by Professor Lamont, who 
 had know him intimately: "Nature," he said, "con- 
 ferred upon Ohm goodness of heart and unselfishness to* 
 an unusual degree. These precious qualities formed the 
 groundwork of all his intercourse with his fellows. De- 
 spite the underlying strength of his character, which 
 kept him faithfully at work during all his career, when- 
 ever there was question of merely personal advantage 
 to himself, he preferred to yield to pressure from with- 
 out, rather than rouse himself to resistance, and he thus 
 avoided all bitterness in life. The unfortunate events 
 which forced him, during the early part of his career,, 
 from an advantageous position back into private life, 
 did not produce any misanthropic feelings in him, and 
 when later a brilliant recognition gave him that rank in 
 the world of science which by right belonged to him, his 
 simplicity of conduct was not in any way modified, nor 
 was the modesty of his disposition at all altered." In a 
 word. Ohm was one of those rare geniuses whose mag- 
 nanimity placed him above the vicissitudes of fortune. 
 His power to do original work was not disturbed by the 
 opposition which a really new discoverer invariably 
 meets, but his unfailing equanimity was just as little 
 exalted into conceit and pretentiousness by the praise 
 
GEORGE SIMON OHM 297 
 
 which so justly came to him once the real significance of 
 his scientific work dawned upon the world. 
 
 With the realization of all that Ohm's work meant in 
 the department of electricity, it is easy to understand 
 how his name deserves a place in the science for all time. 
 In order permanently to honor his memory, the Inter- 
 national Congress of Electricians, which met at Paris in 
 1881, confirmed the action of the British Association of 
 1861, by giving the name ohm to the unit of electrical re- 
 sistance. This is an ideal monument to the great worker. 
 It is as simple and modest a reward as even he would 
 have wished, expressing as it does, the gratitude of 
 succeeding generations of scientists for all time. 
 
298 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Faraday. 
 
 The maxim current among European scientists, that 
 it is well to wait before accepting any scientific discovery 
 to see what will be said about it on the other side of the 
 Rhine, throws a rather curious sidelight on the supposed 
 absoluteness of scientific knowledge. Gallic enthusiasm 
 or German subtlety may evolve plausible theories that 
 look like scientific discoveries, but the destructive criti- 
 cism of the neighbor nation usually saves the scientific 
 world from deception. Not infrequently, the English- 
 speaking scientists held the balance between these rivals 
 in the intellectual world, and their adhesion to either 
 party or side of a question secured its dominance. When 
 all three, Germans and French and English, are agreed 
 as to the value of a scientific discovery, then it may be 
 looked upon as having some of the absoluteness, or at 
 least possesses for the moment the finality of scientific 
 truth. If this triple agreement be taken as the criterion 
 of the significance of a great scientist's work, then must 
 Michael Faraday be considered as without doubt one of 
 the greatest scientists of our time, and probably the 
 greatest experimental scientist that the world has 
 known. 
 
 Dubois Reymond, in Berlin, declared Faraday ''the 
 greatest experimentalist of all times, and the greatest 
 physical discoverer that ever lived." Professor Mar- 
 tius said before the Academy of Sciences at Munich, 
 
MICHAEL FARADAY 
 
FARADAY 299 
 
 "Deservedly has Faraday been called the greatest ex- 
 perimenter of his epoch, and that the greatest epoch of 
 scientific experimentation down to our time." Dumas, 
 the French chemist, in the panegyric delivered before the 
 French Academy of Sciences, declared that Faraday was 
 "the greatest scientific scholar that the Academy ever 
 possessed." In order to give a picture of what he had 
 .accomplished in electricity, added Dumas, one would 
 have to write a complete treatise on that subject. 
 " There is nothing in this department of science that 
 Faraday has not investigated completely or very materi- 
 ally modified. Much of this chapter of our modern sci- 
 •ence is his creation and belongs undeniably to him." 
 Beside these testimonies from French and German sci- 
 entific contemporaries must be placed Tyndall's appre- 
 ciation, which sets forth his brother scientist's merits. 
 "Take him all in all," he said, "it must be admitted, I 
 think, that Michael Faraday was the greatest experi- 
 ;mental scientist that the world has ever seen." 
 
 Nor did these magnificent appreciations of Faraday 
 fcease when the enthusiasm for his memory, immediately 
 after his death, had faded somewhat into sober realiza- 
 tion of his merits. When Dumas summed up Faraday 
 in the first Faraday lecture of the English Chemical 
 Society, he said: "Faraday was a type of the most 
 fortunate and the most accomplished of the learned men 
 of our age. His hand, in the execution of his concep- 
 tions, kept pace with his mind in designing them ; he 
 never wanted boldness when he undertook an experi- 
 ment, never lacked resources to insure success, and was 
 full of discretion when interpreting results. His hardi- 
 hood, which never halted once he had undertaken a 
 task, and his wariness, which felt its way carefully in 
 
300 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 adopting a received conclusion, will ever serve as models- 
 for the experimentalist." 
 
 It is evident that the life of Faraday should be of 
 supreme interest for a generation that is mainly inter- 
 ested in experimental science, and it so happens that 
 his career contains many other sources of interest ; 
 for Faraday was a self-made man, who owed very little 
 to anyone but himself and his own genius. Besides, he 
 was a deep thinker with regard to all the problems of 
 human life as well as those of science, and while he was 
 a genial, kindly friend to those near him, the charm- 
 ing associate whom scientific intimates always wel- 
 comed, he had no illusions with regard to life being the^ 
 end of all things, but looked confidently to the hereafter, 
 and shaped his life here from that point of view. 
 
 Michael Faraday was born at Newington Butts, now 
 called Stoke Newington, an outskirt of London, in Sur- 
 rey, September 22d, 1791. His father was a journey- 
 man blacksmith whose health was not very good, and 
 as a consequence, the family suffered not a little from 
 poverty. Both his parents were noted for their good 
 habits, industrious lives and deep religious feelings. 
 In spite of their poverty, as is much oftener the case 
 than is sometimes thought, their children were brought 
 up very carefully and had a precious training in 
 high principles. Like most of his great colleagues in 
 scientific discovery, Faraday had to begin to earn his. 
 livelihood early in life. Of educational opportunities he 
 had practically none. He learned to read and write, 
 and probably had a certain slight training in doing sim- 
 ple sums in arithmetic, but that was the extent of his 
 formal teaching, and much of that he got at home. He 
 had to help in the support of his family, and so it seemed 
 
FARADAY 301 
 
 fortunate that not far away from his home there was 
 a bookstore and bindery, the owner of which became 
 interested in the Faradays and took Michael as an errand 
 boy when he was scarcely thirteen years of age. 
 
 It was here that the future scientist began his educa- 
 tion for himself and, strange as it may seem, laid the 
 deep foundation of his knowledge of science. For the 
 first year he carried newspapers around to the custom- 
 ers, and did his work so faithfully that at the end of this 
 time the bookbinder offered to take him as an appren- 
 tice to the trade, without the usual premium which used 
 to be rather strictly required for teaching boys their 
 trades at that time. Faraday accepted this offer, but 
 proved to be interested much more than in the out- 
 sides of the books he bound. Whatever of leisure there 
 ivas he took advantage of to read a number of works on 
 experimental science that happened to be in the shop. 
 Luckily for him, some of these were classics. As an 
 introduction to chemistry, he had Mrs. Marcet's "Con- 
 versations on Chemistry" and Robert Boyle's "Notes 
 about the Producibleness of chimicall Principles." He 
 was even more interested in electricity than in chemis- 
 try, however, and Lyons' "Experiments on Electric- 
 ity " and the article on electricity in the Encyclopedia 
 Britannica, whetted his interest and made the boy wish 
 for more of such information. There probably could not 
 he a better proof of the fact that, a man who really has 
 intellectual interests will find the material with which 
 to satisfy them, in spite of untoward circumstances, 
 than this boyish experience of Faraday. 
 
 It is a curious anticipation of Faraday's after-career 
 that he at once began to demonstrate by personal ex- 
 periment some of the statements that he found in the 
 
302 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 books. He procured a stock of chemicals as far as his 
 meagre salary would allow, and constructed a practical 
 electrical machine, though he had nothing better than a 
 large glass bottle to serve as a cylinder for it. When 
 not yet fourteen, he noticed an advertisement of a set 
 of lectures on natural philosophy. He was at once 
 taken with the idea of going to them, but the price of 
 admission, one shilling, seemed to place them entirely 
 beyond him. His elder brother, who followed his 
 father's trade of blacksmith, had more money than he, 
 and, when properly cajoled, was persuaded to provide 
 the necessary shillings, and so Faraday got to the lec- 
 tures. Elder brothers do not often have to lend shillings 
 to their juniors for admission to scientific lectures now 
 any more than in Faraday's time, so that the incident 
 seems worth noting. 
 
 In attendance at these lectures, Faraday not only 
 learned much that was new to him in science, but met 
 a number of earnest fellow-students and formed some 
 life-long friendships. He took copious notes, and after- 
 wards wrote them out in a fine, legible hand, making 
 excellent drawings in perspective of the apparatus em- 
 ployed in the experiments. His notes were so extensive 
 that Faraday bound them himself, in four volumes, with 
 an index. These volumes are still preserved in the 
 library of the Royal Institution as one of the precious 
 treasures among its Faraday relics. ^ The whole story 
 of these early years of Faraday's life is a series of 
 illustrations of how a young man without the necessary 
 
 iSome of the books bound by Faraday at this time are still preserved in the 
 library of the Royal Institution, together with his notes on various courses of lec- 
 tures, some of which are mentioned more particularly later on in this sketch, as they 
 were also bound by himi. Among the manuscripts in the collection are letters from 
 many of the important scientific scientists of Europe. 
 
FARADAY 303: 
 
 opportunities for his favorite studies can make them 
 for himself. Everything seemed to be against his 
 acquiring a thorough knowledge of science, yet he 
 succeeded in creating for himself the equivalent of a 
 good scientific course out of his meagre chances to hear 
 lectures and read books on his favorite subject in the 
 intervals of a busy life as book-seller and book-binder. 
 
 Things did not always continue to run along as pleas- 
 antly in life for young Faraday as while he was working 
 for his book-binder friend as an apprentice. With the 
 conclusion of his apprenticeship he became a journey- 
 man book-binder, and his first employer proved to be a 
 hard task-master. It did not matter how much work 
 Faraday did or how well, it never quite satisfied this 
 French emigre, until it is no wonder that Faraday 
 looked for another occupation. For a time, he had the 
 congenial occupation of acting as amanuensis for Sir 
 Humphry Davy, who, while working on a new violent 
 explosive, probably chloride of hydrogen, met with an 
 accident which prevented him from using his eyes for 
 some time. This occupation, pleasant and even alluring 
 as it was, lasted only for a few days, however. It had 
 the fortunate result of suggesting to Faraday to apply 
 to Sir Humphry Davy in person for a position not 
 long after, and it eventually brought him the position of 
 assistant at the Royal Institution. 
 
 His anxiety to secure this post had been increased by 
 the growing realization that a business life was not to 
 his hking. It seemed to him a waste of time, or worse, 
 for a man to give himself up to the making of money. 
 Even thus young he had the ambition to add to the 
 knowledge possessed by mankind, and the insatiable 
 desire to increase the opportunities of others to learn 
 
304 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 whatever they were interested in. Accordingly, he set 
 about finding the chance to devote himself entirely to 
 science. 
 
 In writing years after to Dr. Paris, he says : ' ' My 
 desire to escape from trade, which I thought vicious and 
 selfish, and to enter into the service of science, which I 
 imagined made its pursuers amiable and liberal, induced 
 me at last to take the bold and simple step of writing to 
 Sir Humphry Davy, expressing my wishes, and a hope 
 that, if an opportunity came in his way, he should favor 
 my views ; and at the same time I sent the notes I had 
 taken of his lectures." Davy called, not long after, on 
 one of his friends, who was at the time honorary in- 
 spector of the models and apparatus at the Royal Insti- 
 tution, and with the letter before him asked : "Here is 
 a letter from a young man named Faraday ; he has been 
 attending my lectures and wants me to give him em- 
 ployment at the Royal Institution. What can I do?" 
 ** Do? " replied the inspector ; "put him to wash bottles. 
 If he is good for anything, he will do it directly ; if 
 he refuses, he is good for nothing. " " No, no, ' ' replied 
 Davy, ' ' we must try him with something better than 
 that." 
 
 Davy wrote a kind reply, and arranged for an in- 
 terview with young Faraday. In this, however, he 
 candidly advised him to stick to his business, telling 
 him very plainly that "science was a harsh mistress, 
 and, from a pecuniary point of view, but poorly rewarded 
 those who devoted themselves to her service." He ap- 
 parently put an end to all further consideration of the 
 subject by promising Faraday the book-binding work 
 ■of the Institution, and his own besides. 
 
 Faraday was not satisfied to go back to the book-shop, 
 
FARADAY 305 
 
 even with all this kindly patronage, but there was noth- 
 ing else for it, and so for a time he continued at his 
 duties and spent his spare moments reading science and 
 his evenings at scientific lectures, or in remaking the 
 experiments he had seen and others suggested by them, 
 and above all in rewriting the notes that he had taken. 
 There is no livelier picture in all the history of science, 
 of how a man will, in spite of all obstacles, get the 
 things he cares for, if he really cares for them, than 
 that of Faraday thus teaching himself science in the 
 face of what seems almost insurmountable discourage- 
 ment. Fortunately, not long after he had been thus 
 forcibly called to the attention of Sir Humphry Davy, 
 the former assistant in the laboratory of the Royal 
 Institution not only neglected his duties, but became a 
 source of considerable annoyance. His misfortune 
 proved Faraday's opportunity. He was offered the post. 
 The salary was only twenty-five shillings a week, but 
 he accepted it very willingly. One might think that at 
 last his scientific career was opened for him, but his 
 new post was no sinecure. The labors required from 
 him, indeed, were so manifold that it is somewhat 
 surprising that he found any time for his own improve- 
 ment. His duties as set forth in writing were : 
 
 "To attend and assist the lecturers and professors 
 preparing for and during lectures. Where any instru- 
 ments or apparatus may be required, to attend to their 
 careful removal from the model room and laboratory to 
 the lecture room, and to clean and replace them after 
 being used, reporting to the managers such accidents as 
 shall require repair, a constant diary being kept by him 
 for that purpose. That in one day in each week he be 
 employed in keeping clean the models in the reposi- 
 tory, and that all the instnmients in the glass cases be 
 cleaned and dusted at least once within a month." 
 
306 • MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 The previous assistant had complained of the amount 
 of work that was required of him. It is easy to see 
 that his duties were rather exacting and time-taking. 
 Faraday did not confine himself to them, though he did 
 perform them with great assiduity. His interest in 
 experimental chemistry was soon noted, and he was al- 
 lowed to take his share in the experiments going on in 
 the laboratory. Some of his first work was the extrac- 
 tion of sugar from beet-root ; but he was soon to have 
 abundant experience of the deterring side of chemistry. 
 Not long after he began his work in the laboratory, he 
 had to manufacture some bisulphide of carbon, one of 
 the most nauseating of compounds. He found it dis- 
 gusting enough as an experience, but the study of it 
 brought its compensation. 
 
 , It was much more than foul odors that Faraday had 
 to encounter, for Davy was still occupying himself with 
 the study of the explosives, in the investigation of which 
 he had been injured the previous year. Faraday suf- 
 fered from four or five explosions during the course of 
 the first month or two of his employment. Indeed, the 
 substance with which they were experimenting proved 
 so unreliable in this regard that, after a second rather 
 serious injury to Davy, further study of it was given up. 
 
 Once Faraday had secured his post at the Royal In- 
 stitution, his life-work was before him, and he became 
 deeply engaged in scientific speculations, investigations 
 and experiments of all kinds. The young man who 
 had found and made opportunities when they were so 
 distant and difficult, now made use of all that were 
 so ready at hand. He did not confine himself to his 
 laboratory work, however, but seems always to have 
 felt that the contact of minds engaged along the same 
 
FARADAY 307 
 
 lines was the best possible way to be stimulated to 
 knowledge. He applied and was admitted as member 
 of the Philosophical Society of London, an association of 
 some two score of men occupied with many things dur- 
 ing the day, but interested in science, so far as they 
 could get the books and the opportunities for its study. 
 They met every Wednesday evening and discussed 
 various subjects in science or, as they called it then, in 
 philosophy, and they seem to have occupied themselves 
 with many questions in the social as well as the natural 
 sciences. These men, most of whom were older than 
 Faraday, soon came to look up to him because of the 
 depth and increasing breadth of his knowledge, and we 
 have some emphatic expressions of their admiration for 
 him. 
 
 Faraday's earliest successful scientific investigation 
 was accomplished in chemistry. This might have been 
 expected, from the fact that he began his work with 
 Sir Humphry Davy, whose principal scientific investi- 
 gations had been concerned with chemistry. His own 
 great scientific work was to be done in electricity. Even 
 in the brief time that he devoted to chemistry, however, 
 he succeeded in making some discoveries of deep sig- 
 nificance. For instance, in his special study of chlorine, 
 he demonstrated the existence of the two chlorides of 
 carbon which had not hitherto been obtained. Above 
 all, he impressed his personality upon methods in chem- 
 istry. He was the first to realize how much technics 
 were to mean in the modern advancement of science, 
 and he made methodic chemistry, in distinction from 
 practical chemistry, the object of very special study. 
 His work on Chemical Manipulation did more to train 
 successful students of chemistry and to make good 
 
308 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 investigators in this department of science than any- 
 other single work in his generation. It has continued 
 to be of interest down even to our own time, and is well 
 worthy of consultation by all those who are interested 
 in chemistry as a science, and especially in original 
 research in that subject. 
 
 It was with regard to gases, however, that Faraday's 
 most striking chemical work was done. He succeeded in 
 liquefying several gases, and was the first to make clear 
 that all matter could probably exist in each of the three 
 different states— solid, liquid and gaseous— according as 
 the proper conditions for each particular state were pres- 
 ent. One might almost have expected that the serious 
 dangers incurred in his early days in the Royal Institu- 
 tion, when his chief, Sir Humphry Davy, suffered so 
 severely and he himself was more than once involved, 
 might have deterred him from further investigation 
 along similar lines ; but Faraday's ardor for scientific 
 investigation overcame any hesitancy there might have 
 been. The effect of gases upon human beings proved 
 as attractive to Faraday as it had been to Davy. His 
 experiments upon chlorine threatened to prove seriously 
 injurious to his throat, and he was warned of the danger 
 that he was running in the effort to determine whether 
 such gases were respirable and what their effects upon 
 human beings were. The warning was disregarded, 
 however, though he exercised somewhat more care in 
 subsequent observations. His experiments in the res- 
 piration of gases finally led him to a discovery of cardi- 
 nal importance in the very practical field of anaesthesia. 
 Sir Humphry Davy, just at the beginning of the nine- 
 teenth century, had made a series of interesting ex- 
 periments on nitrous oxide gas, the so-called "laughing 
 
FARADAY 309 
 
 gas," and had pointed out very definitely its anaesthetic 
 properties. While suffering from toothache he had 
 inhaled the gas, and had experienced prompt allevia- 
 tion of the pain. He described in detail these curious 
 effects, and suggested that there might be a place for 
 nitrous oxide in surgery, at least for minor operations. 
 The words he employed with regard to this subject show 
 that the idea of anaesthesia, as we now understand it, 
 had come to him very definitely. Not quite a score of 
 years later, Faraday, recalling the experiments of Davy 
 with nitrous oxide, studied sulphuric ether, and showed 
 that the inhalation of the vapor of this substance pro- 
 duced anaesthetic effects very similar to those of nitrous 
 oxide gas, but with the possibility of prolonging them 
 much more easily and apparently with less danger than 
 would be the case with the latter. In every history 
 of anaesthesia, these two sets of experiments at the 
 Royal Institution must be set down as foundation-stones, 
 and Faraday's name particularly must be hailed as one 
 of the initiators of a supremely beneficent advance in 
 modern surgery. 
 
 Faraday had given up business to devote himself to 
 science, and he was not to be seduced from the purpose 
 of making his life unselfish and doing things, not for 
 money, but for the good of science and his own satis- 
 faction. As a practical chemist, he soon had many 
 opportunities to increase his salary by making analyses 
 for industrial purposes. During one year, the amount 
 of work thus offered him was paid for so well that it 
 formed an addition of some £500 sterling to his salary. 
 It took away precious time, however, that he might 
 otherwise devote to original work. As soon as Faraday 
 realized this possibility of interference with his scientific 
 
310 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 investigations, he cut it off, quite content to live on the 
 modest salary of his position at the Royal Institution. 
 His action in the matter would remind one very much 
 of Pasteur, in the latter half of the century, when asked 
 by the Empress Eugenie, to whom he had been just 
 exhibiting his discoveries in fermentation, whether he 
 would not apply these to actual manufacture and so 
 make a fortune for himself in brewing. Pasteur repHed 
 that he thought it unworthy of a French scientist to 
 devote his time to money-making, with all the world of 
 science open before him.^ 
 
 With a conscientious patriotism, however, that was 
 typical of the man and his ways, there was one excep- 
 tion to this rule of not taking outside work that Faraday 
 made. In a letter to Lord Auckland, long afterward, he 
 says : " I have given up for the last ten years or more, 
 all professional occupation and voluntarily resigned a 
 large income, that I might pursue in some degree my 
 own objects of research. But in doing this I have al- 
 ways, as a good subject, held myself ready to assist the 
 government if still in my power, but not for pay ; for, 
 except in one instance (and then only for the sake of the 
 person joined with me), I refused to take it. I have had 
 the honor and pleasure of application, and that very 
 recently, from the Admiralty, the Ordnance, the Home 
 Office, the Woods and Forests and other departments, 
 all of which I have replied to and will reply to as long 
 as strength is left me." 
 
 As we have said, Faraday's principal work was ac- 
 complished in the domain of electricity. His supreme 
 discovery, and, indeed, the most important practical 
 discovery in the whole realm of electricity, was that 
 
 1 Makers of Modern Medicine, Fordham University Press, N. Y., 1907. 
 
FARADAY 311 
 
 of the induction effect of a current of electricity on a 
 neighboring circuit. This was accomplished by experi- 
 mental work of the highest order. Toward the end of 
 1824, when he was about thirty-three, he came to the 
 definite conclusion that an electric current might be ob- 
 tained by the motion of a magnet. His mind had been 
 prepared for such a conclusion by Oersted's significant 
 discovery in July, 1820, that an electric current acts 
 somewhat like a magnet when the wire through which 
 it flows is free to move. This discovery, definitely 
 connecting electricity and magnetism, had been elabor- 
 ated to an important degree by Ampere, and its sphere 
 of application broadened by Wollaston. The curious 
 though not unusual result in such cases, that it is not 
 those who are in immediate touch with a great discoverer 
 who develop or even apply his work, was illustrated by 
 the fact that Ampere, the Frenchman, took up Oersted's 
 discovery first, while Wollaston, working in England, 
 had been the next one to follow successfully in the path 
 thus opened up. It takes genius to go even a slight 
 step farther into the unknown ; the trained talent of 
 disciples does not suffice. It was now Faraday, though 
 not under Wollaston 's influence, who was to continue 
 successfully these labors. 
 
 In spite of his persuasion that a magnet would pro- 
 duce by induction an electric current, and the further 
 step that a current in one wire could induce a current 
 in another, experiments during seven years had brought 
 him very little nearer the actual demonstration of this 
 important principle. Those who think that great dis- 
 coveries are made by accident and almost fall into the 
 laps of their makers, as the apple upon Newton, should 
 recall these seven years of unsuccessful labor on the 
 
312 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 part of Faraday. Finally, in 1831, he obtained the first 
 definite evidence that an electric current can induce 
 another in a different circuit. The discovery meant so 
 much for him, that he hesitated to believe in his own 
 success. Nearly a month after this first demonstration 
 for himself, he wrote to his friend Phillips : "I am 
 busy just now again on electro-magnetism, and think I 
 have got hold of a good thing, but can't ^ay. It may 
 be a weed instead of a fish that, after all my labor, I 
 may at last pull up." 
 
 He had long suspected, as we have said, that induction 
 should occur, and he had tried currents of different 
 strength, but without result. One day he noticed that, 
 though he could not produce a permanent induced cur- 
 rent, whenever the primary current started or stopped, 
 there was a movement of the galvanometer connected 
 with the secondary circuit, though the galvanometer 
 remained at zero so long as the primary current flowed 
 steadily. From this he proceeded to the demonstration 
 that a bar magnet suddenly thrust into a helix of copper 
 wire produced the same effect on the galvanometer, and 
 evidently induced a transient current. When the mag- 
 net was withdrawn, the galvanometer needle swung 
 in the opposite direction, showing another current, so 
 that electrical currents were evidently induced by the 
 relative motions of a magnet and a conductor. He 
 continued his experiments in many different forms, and 
 in the short space of a little more than a week, once 
 the first definite hint was obtained, succeeded in so 
 completely finding out the phenomena of electro-mag- 
 netic induction that scarcely more than practical appli- 
 cations in this subject were left for his successors. 
 
 Faraday's explanation of the induction of currents in 
 
FARADAY 31S 
 
 the secondary circuit was probably quite as important a 
 contribution to science as the series of experiments by 
 which he demonstrated the occurrence of induced cur- 
 rents. His mind was not of the order that would accept 
 action at a distance ; that is, without some conducting 
 medium through which the action took place. The old 
 aphorism of the scholastics, ''actio in distans repugnat'* 
 —action at a distance, that is, without a medium inter- 
 vening, is absurd— would have appealed to him as a 
 basic truth. The explanation that he outlined for in- 
 duced currents was based on the lines of magnetic 
 force, which he had so often delineated by means of 
 iron filings. It was a favorite occupation of his, at mo- 
 ments of comparative leisure, to make varied pictures 
 in iron filings of magnetic fields as they were exhibited 
 under the influence of different combinations of mag- 
 nets. He strewed iron filings over "gum paper," and 
 then when the filings had arranged themselves in certain 
 definite lines, he threw a jet of steam on the paper, which 
 melted the gum and fixed the filings in position. He ex- 
 plained electrical action as the transmission of force 
 along such lines as these, and he thought the whole 
 electric field was filled with them. 
 
 Probably the best summary of Faraday's work on in- 
 duction and its significance has been given us by Clerk 
 Maxwell, in his article on Faraday, in the ninth edi- 
 tion of the Encyclopedia Britannica. There is no doubt 
 but that Maxwell, above all men of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, was in a position to judge of the meaning of 
 Faraday's work. He was not the sort of a man to say 
 things in a panegyric mood, and his article on Faraday 
 is indeed a model of well-considered judgment and 
 critical illumination. Summing up the significance not 
 
314 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 only of Faraday's great discovery of induction, but also 
 his theory in explanation of that discovery, he does not 
 hesitate to say that his (Faraday's) opinion is the 
 nearest approach to truth that has been advanced in this 
 much-discussed subject. 
 
 ' ' After nearly half a century of labor of this kind, we 
 may say that, though the practical applications of Fara- 
 day's great discovery have increased and are increasing 
 in number and value every year, no exception to the 
 statement of these laws as given by Faraday has been 
 discovered ; no new law has been added to them ; and 
 Faraday's original statement remains to this day the 
 only one which asserts no more than can be verified by 
 experiment, and the only one by which the theory of 
 the phenomena can be expressed in a manner which is 
 actually and numerically accurate, and at the same time 
 within the range of elementary methods of exposition." 
 
 With what eminent care and absolute truth Faraday's 
 conclusions were reached may be judged from some 
 further expressions of Clerk Maxwell's in the article just 
 quoted, with regard to the attitude of certain mathe- 
 maticians toward Faraday's work. In this matter, 
 Clerk Maxwell, in talking on a theme that he had made 
 especially his own, and in which his opinion must carry 
 the greatest possible weight, said : 
 
 "Up to the present time, the mathematicians who 
 have rejected Faraday's method of stating his law as 
 unworthy of the precision of their science, have never 
 succeeded in devising any essentially different formula 
 which shall fully express the phenomena, without intro- 
 ducing the hypotheses about the mutual action of things 
 which have no physical existence, such as elements of 
 
FARADAY 315 
 
 currents, which flow out of nothing, then along the 
 wire, and finally sink into nothing again." 
 
 Faraday's results were described in papers afterwards 
 incorporated in his first series of "Experimental Re- 
 ;searches," which were read before the Royal Society, 
 November 24th, 1841. These papers probably contain 
 the best possible proof of Faraday's genius as an experi- 
 mentalist and a leader in scientific observation. Within 
 a few months after his first successful experiment, he 
 had succeeded in bringing to perfection the whole doc- 
 trine of induction by currents and magnets, had laid 
 down the fundamental ideas which were to constitute the 
 formal basis of electro-magnetism for all time. Perhaps 
 no better idea of the importance of the discovery thus 
 made by Faraday can be given than will be found in Clerk 
 Maxwell's compendious paragraph on this subject, in 
 his sketch of Faraday, in the Encyclopedia Britannica. 
 It may be said that no one in all the nineteenth century 
 was more capable of appreciating properly the value of 
 Faraday's work than this great electrical mathematician, 
 who laid the firm foundation of mathematical electric- 
 ity during the latter part of the nineteenth century. 
 Clerk Maxwell says : 
 
 "This was of course a great triumph, and nobody 
 appreciated this fact better than Faraday himself, who 
 had been working at its problems for many years. One 
 of the first problems that he had set himself in his note- 
 book as a young man, was * to convert magnetism into 
 electricity, ' and this he had now done. Within a month 
 of the time that his first successful experiment was 
 formed, he succeeded in obtaining induction currents by 
 means of the earth's magnetism. Within a year he took 
 the further immense step of obtaining a spark from the 
 
316 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 induced current. This would ordinarily have seemed 
 quite impossible, since sparks occur only if the electro- 
 motive force is very high, and it was very low in his 
 induced currents. He found, however, that if the 
 circuit of wire in which a current was flowing is broken 
 while the current is passing, a httle bridge of metallic 
 vapor is formed, across which the spark leaps. The 
 difficulty with the experiment was to break the circuit 
 during the extremely short period while the current is 
 flowing. Faraday succeeded in doing this, and as a 
 result obtained the first germ of the electric light. 
 When he demonstrated this experiment by a very 
 ingenious apparatus at the meeting of the British 
 Association at Oxford, all were deeply interested, yet 
 probably no one, even the most sanguine of the scientists 
 present, thought for a moment that they saw the be- 
 ginning of a far-reaching revolution of all the lighting 
 of the world." 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting of Faraday's discoveries, 
 from the scientific standpoint, because they throw so 
 much light on the problems of all the related phenomena 
 of magnetism, heat, light, even electricity, were those 
 in which a ray of polarized light was used as a means 
 of investigating the condition of transparent bodies 
 when acted on by electric and magnetic forces. Faraday 
 himself, when he was just thirty years of age, made a 
 note in his commonplace laboratory book, in which all 
 his observations were carefully detailed, that serves to 
 show how much this subject had begun to interest him 
 thus early in his career. He mentions that he had 
 polarized a ray of lamp-light by reflection, and had 
 made various experiments to ascertain whether any 
 depolarizing action was exerted on it by water placed 
 
FARADAY 317 
 
 between the poles of a voltaic battery in a glass cistern, 
 or by various fluids which were decomposed by the 
 voltaic action during the course of the experiment. 
 Besides water, the fluids used were weak solutions of 
 sulphate of soda and strong sulphuric acid. None of 
 them had any effect on the polarized light, either dur- 
 ing the passage of the voltaic current or when this was 
 shut off. No particular arrangement of particles in 
 reference to polarized light could be found from these 
 observations. 
 
 Such a note, with utter failure for conclusion, is 
 ■common enough in Faraday's note-book. He was never 
 •discouraged, however, by failure at the beginning. 
 Once a subject has been taken up seriously, it is almost 
 inevitable that further observations with regard to it will 
 be found during the course of the year. Because he 
 had asked one question of nature and had not obtained 
 a satisfactory answer, was never a reason why he 
 should not ask further questions along the same line ; 
 and, above all, why he should not ask the same ques- 
 tion in another way. After having tried a continuous 
 current, Faraday next experimented on the effect of 
 making and breaking the circuit. He did not expect 
 very much from this, but he hoped that under circum- 
 stances when no decomposition would ensue as the 
 effect of the current, he might find some indication 
 of the polarization. It was nearly twenty-five years 
 before Faraday succeeded in solving the problem that he 
 had thus set himself as a young man, and nearly twenty 
 years more were to pass before he made the relation 
 between magnetism and light the subject of his very 
 last experimental work. Nothing discouraged him. 
 When he had resolved to investigate something, he 
 
318 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 continued to make his experiments over and over again 
 in different ways, until finally he got an answer to his. 
 question and a solution to the problem. 
 
 Indeed, his perseverance in anything that he under- 
 took was a striking characteristic of the man and one 
 of the most important elements in his success in life. 
 His tenacity of purpose showed itself equally in little 
 as in great things. Arranging some apparatus one 
 day with a philosophical instrument-maker, he let fall 
 on the floor a small piece of glass. He made several 
 ineffectual attempts to pick it up. ' ' Never mind, " said 
 his companion, " it is not worth the trouble." " Well, 
 but, Murray, I don't like to be beaten by something 
 that I have once tried to do." 
 
 Faraday was sure that there was some very definite 
 relation between electricity and light. His experiments, 
 however, did not enable him to demonstrate this until 
 nearly fifteen years after his successful experiment on 
 induction. In September, 1845, he placed a piece of 
 heavy glass made of silico-borate of lead in the field of 
 a magnet, and found that, when a beam of polarized 
 light was transmitted through the glass in the direction 
 of the lines of force, there was a rotation of the plane 
 of polarization. Later experiments showed him that all 
 transparent solids and liquids were capable of producing^ 
 this rotation in greater or less degree. When no mag- 
 net was used and the transparent substance was placed 
 within a coil of wire through which an electric current 
 was flowing, similar effects were produced. This was 
 the demonstration of a definite relation between light 
 and electricity. Later, Faraday found that magnets 
 had a directive action upon the glass. He then made 
 experiments upon gases, and found that they too ex- 
 
FARADAY 319 
 
 hibited magnetic phenomena, and that, indeed, the 
 diurnal variations of the compass-needle were due to 
 the sun's heat diminishing the magnetic permeability 
 of the oxygen of the air. Further experiments with 
 gases showed him that nitrogen was absolutely neutral 
 in its reaction. 
 
 It might have been expected, from Faraday's early 
 interest in chemistry, that when he turned to electricity 
 and made discoveries in that field of research, he would 
 naturally take up the problem of tracing the laws and 
 demonstrating the relationships of the points of contact 
 of the two great sciences. After his completion, then, 
 of the subject of induction, Faraday devoted himself to 
 the experimental proof of the identity of frictional and 
 voltaic electricity, and to showing that chemistry and 
 physics have a common ground. His inductive electrical 
 machine could deflect a magnet and decompose iodide 
 of potash. With his tendency to measure things, he 
 determined that the amount of electricity required 
 to decompose a grain of water was equal to 800,000 
 charges of his large battery of Ley den jars. On the 
 other hand, the current from a frictional machine de- 
 flected the needle of his galvonometer in the same way 
 as the induced current of electricity, so that all the 
 elements of the proof of the identity of the two forms 
 of phenomena were now in his hands. 
 
 That he should have proceeded to the demonstration 
 of the laws of electrolysis, was the next most natural 
 result. He showed that the amount of any compound 
 decomposed by the electric current is exactly proportional 
 to the whole quantity of electricity which has passed 
 through the electrolyte. Different substances are var- 
 iously refractory to dissolution under the influence of 
 
.^20 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 the electric current, but each one always acts in the 
 same way and requires the same amount of current. 
 Substances that are closely related to one another chem- 
 ically, are also related to one another in the amount of 
 electricity required to bring about decomposition of 
 their various compounds. He showed, of course, that 
 there are differences of electrical relationship that make 
 the results produced in the decomposition of various 
 compounds very different. Polarization, for instance, 
 sets in to a much greater degree in the decomposition 
 of some substances than of others. One consequence is 
 that the resistance to the passage of the electric current 
 differs markedly, and the opposing electromotive force 
 will stop the current or hamper its effects in many 
 cases, so that, until after actual experiment, the quan- 
 titative effect of the passage of the electric current 
 through a solution cannot be determined. 
 
 Faraday's opinions as to the significance of electricity 
 in the animal economy are very interesting because of 
 his profound knowledge of electrical phenomena and 
 their place in nature. It is all the more interesting be- 
 cause it is so simple, and most scientists would be apt 
 to say that its very simplicity is a very taking argument 
 for its truth. "As living creatures produce heat, and a 
 heat certainly identical with that of our hearths, why 
 should they not produce electricity also, and an electric- 
 ity in like manner identical with that of our machines? 
 Like heat, like chemical action, electricity is an imple- 
 ment of life, and nothing more." 
 
 While Faraday often occupied himself with subjects 
 connected with matter and force that are likely to 
 remain mysteries for long after his time, and often had 
 thoughts to express with regard to the nature of atoms 
 
FARADAY 321 
 
 and of imponderable agents, whatever he had to say 
 about these subjects was not vague and speculative, 
 but, on the contrary, was concrete and usually of such a 
 practical character as to add something new to our 
 knowledge of them. Few men have ever succeeded in 
 getting closer to the mysteries that underlie natural 
 phenomena than Faraday ; yet no one was ever less 
 carried away into vague theoretic speculations with 
 regard to them, nor tempted to think that because he 
 knew much more than most other men with regard 
 to complex natural problems, that therefore he knew 
 enough to be able to solve the mysteries that existed all 
 around him. He had none at all of what would ordi- 
 narily be called pride of intellect, but, on the con- 
 trary, had the humility of the true scientist. Knowing 
 so much only made him realize more poignantly how 
 much he was ignorant of. With regard to his specula- 
 tions on matter and force and the imponderables, Helm- 
 holtz, the great German physicist, once summed up 
 Faraday's contributions very succinctly in a way to 
 show the practical nature of Faraday's intellect. He 
 said: 
 
 "It is these things that Faraday in his mature works 
 ever seeks to purify more and more from everything 
 that is theoretical and is not the direct and simple 
 expression of the fact. For instance, he contended 
 against the action of forces at a distance, and the 
 adoption of two electrical and two magnetic fluids, as 
 well as all hypotheses contrary to the law of the con- 
 servation of force, which he early foresaw, though he 
 misunderstood it in its scientific expression. And it is 
 just in this direction that he exercised the most unmis- 
 
322 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 takable influence, first of all, on the English physicist^ 
 and then on the physicists of all the world." 
 
 Inventors and promoters of useful inventions, fre- 
 quently benefited by the advice of Faraday or by his 
 general help. A remarkable instance of this was told 
 by Mr. Cyrus W. Field. At the commencement of his 
 great enterprise, when he wished to unite the Old and 
 the New World by the telegraphic cable, he sought the 
 advice of the great electrician, and Faraday told him 
 that he doubted the possibility of getting a message 
 across the Atlantic. Mr. Field saw that this fatal ob- 
 jection must be settled at once, and begged Faraday 
 to make the necessary experiments, offering to pay him 
 properly for his services. The philosopher, however, 
 declined all remuneration, but worked away at the 
 question, and presently reported to Mr. Field : "It can 
 be done ; but you will not get an instantaneous mes- 
 sage." "How long will it take?" was the inquiry. 
 "Oh! perhaps a second." "Well, that's quick enough 
 for me," was the conclusion of the American ; and the 
 enterprise was proceeded with. 
 
 Faraday was far from being a mere laboratory stu- 
 dent ; he was much more even than a great teacher of 
 physics. He was a magnificent popular lecturer, and 
 did an incalculable amount to bring physics to the atten- 
 tion and the serious interest of his generation. A con- 
 temporary has described one of his lectures at the Royal 
 . Institution in such a way as to give us some idea, even 
 at this distant date, of Faraday's power over his audi- 
 ience, of his own wonderful interest in the subject and 
 his marvelous ability to communicate that interest to 
 others. It was of the very nature of the man that he 
 should not be cold and formal, for he was not a man of 
 
F*ARADAY 323 
 
 the head alone, but, above all, a man whose heart and 
 affections were greatly developed, and he had powers 
 of enthusiasm that placed him high among the artistic 
 spirits of mankind. Our American poet, Stedman, once 
 declared that the intellectual quality of the poet, the 
 creator in the realm of thought, and of the scientist, the 
 original worker in the domain of science, differed but 
 little from one another, and must be considered as col- 
 lateral expressions of the same form of intellectual 
 genius. With this in mind, his contemporary's enthu- 
 siastic description of his lectures will not seem over- 
 drawn. 
 
 "It was an irresistible eloquence, which compelled 
 attention and insisted upon sympathy. It waked the 
 young from their visions, and the old from their dreams. 
 There was a gleaming in his eyes which no painter 
 could copy, and which no poet could describe. Their 
 radiance seemed to send a strange light into the very 
 heart of his congregation ; and when he spoke, it was 
 felt that the stir of his voice and the fervor of his words 
 could belong only to the owner of those kindling eyes. 
 His thought was rapid, and made itself a way in new 
 phrases, if it found none ready made, as the mountain- 
 eer cuts steps in the most hazardous ascent with his 
 own axe. His enthusiasm sometimes carried him to the 
 point of ecstasy." 
 
 Faraday's habit of testing opinions by experiment, 
 and the frequent disillusions which he encountered with 
 regard to things of which he thought he knew some- 
 thing definite, served to make him extremely careful as 
 regards expressions of opinion. Some of his thoughts 
 on this subject are worth while recalling because they 
 remain perennially true, and anyone in any generation 
 
324 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 will find that, as his experience grows, he gets more 
 and more into this Faraday mood of doubting his own 
 opinion and listening with more readiness to that of 
 others. As a rule, this is said not to be true of those 
 who are in advancing years, but the greater minds 
 among the older men do not get set in their ways. 
 Flourens might have said that because of constant 
 exercise the connective tissue in the brains of such men 
 does not form to the same extent as in others, and does 
 not make them case-hardened. As a consequence, they 
 retain far on in years their sympathy for others' opin- 
 ions and their openness of mind. Comparatively, they 
 are so few, however, that this expression of Faraday's 
 becomes a striking commentary on his large-mindedness. 
 
 "For proper self-education, it is necessary that a man 
 examine himself, and that not carelessly either. ... A 
 first result of this habit of mind will be an internal 
 conviction of ignorance in many things respecting which 
 his neighbors are taught, and that his opinions and 
 conclusions on such matters ought to be advanced with 
 reservation. A mind so disciplined will be open to 
 correction upon good grounds in all things, even in those 
 it is best acquainted with, and should familiarize itself 
 with the idea of such being the case." 
 
 Perhaps it is even more interesting, because more 
 humanly sympathetic, to find that Faraday distrusted 
 his opinions of people even more than his opinions of 
 things, and that he himself tried to be very slow to 
 take offence at what was said to him, and counselled 
 greatest discretion' to others in judging of the signif- 
 icance of supposed slights. 
 
 ' ' Let me, as an old man who ought by this time to 
 have profited by experience, say that when I was 
 
FARADAY 325 
 
 younger, I found I often misinterpreted the intentions 
 of people, and found that they did not mean what at 
 the time I supposed they meant ; and further, that, as a 
 general rule, it was better to be a little dull of appre- 
 hension when phrases seemed to imply pique and quick 
 in perception, when, on the contrary, they seemed to 
 imply kindly feeling. The real truth never fails ulti- 
 mately to appear, and opposing parties, if wrong, are 
 sooner convinced when replied to forbearingly than 
 when overwhelmed." 
 
 Few lives have been happier than that of Faraday. 
 He gave up the ordinary ambition of men to make what 
 is called a successful career of money-making, and 
 constantly guarded himself from slipping back, as so 
 many do, to the ruin of their original purpose. He 
 lived a long life in peace, occupied with work that he 
 liked above all things, and surely serves as the best 
 illustration of the maxim : ' ' Blessed is the man who 
 has found his work." Work is said to be one of the 
 primal curses laid upon man ; but if, when the Creator 
 would ban it turns to blessing in the way that work has 
 done, then may one well ask what will His blessings 
 prove. Faraday even had what is rarer in life than 
 happiness, the consciousness of his happiness. Usually 
 it is so elusive that it escapes reflection. At the close 
 of his career, when he wrote, in 1861, to the managers 
 of the Royal Institution resigning most of his duties, 
 he expressed this feeling very beautifully, and at the 
 same time so simply and clearly as to make his letter of 
 resignation a precious bit of literature. 
 
 "I entered the Royal Institution in March, 1813, 
 nearly forty-nine years ago, and, with the exception of 
 a comparatively short period, during which I was abroad 
 
326 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 on the continent with Sir H. Davy, I have been with 
 you ever since. During that time I have been most 
 happy in your kindness, and in the fostering care which 
 the Royal Institution has bestowed upon me. Thank 
 God, first, for all His gifts ! I have next to thank you 
 and your predecessors for the unswerving encourage- 
 ment and support which you have given me during that 
 period. My hf e has been a happy one, and all I desired. 
 During its progress, I have tried to make a fitting return 
 for it to the Royal Institution, and through it to science. 
 But the progress of years (now amounting in number 
 to three-score and ten) having brought forth, first, the 
 period of development, and then that of maturity, has 
 ultimately produced for me that of gentle decay. This 
 has taken place in such a manner as to make the even- 
 ing of life a blessing ; for, while increasing physical 
 weakness occurs, a full share of health, free from pain, 
 is granted with it ; and while memory and certain other 
 faculties of the mind diminish, my good spirits and 
 cheerfulness do not diminish with them." 
 
 For nearly five years after he had given up to a great 
 degree his work at the Royal Institution, he faced 
 death, not with the equanimity of the stoic, but with 
 the peaceful happiness of the believer in Providence 
 and a hereafter. Even the loss of his memory, dear as 
 it must have been to a man who had spent all his life in 
 storing it with the great facts of science, does not seem 
 seriously to have disturbed him. He realized the neces- 
 sity for patience, and took the lesson of its necessity to 
 heart, so that there was no difficulty in it. Once when 
 calling on his friend, the distinguished scientist. Barlow, 
 who had for a lifetime almost worked beside him at the 
 Royal Institution, but who was now suffering from 
 
FARADAY 327 
 
 paralysis, he said: "Barlow, you and I are waiting; 
 that is what we have to do now ; and we must try to do 
 it patiently. '* When the full realization that his powers 
 were leaving him first came to him, he wrote to his 
 niece what he thought ought to be the feelings of the 
 believer in Providence toward death, and his letter 
 shows how thoroughly he had imbibed the great lessons 
 of Christianity, and how much of consolation his faith 
 was to him in this darkest hour before the dawn of that 
 other life, in which he had as implicit confidence as in 
 any of the great scientific principles that he had demon- 
 strated by experiment. He wrote : 
 
 " I cannot think that death has, to the Christian, any- 
 thing in it that should make it a rare, or other than a 
 constant thought. Out of the thought of death comes 
 the view of the life beyond the grave, as out of the 
 view of sin (that true and real view which the Holy 
 Spirit alone can give to man) comes the glorious Hope. 
 .... My worldly faculties are slipping away day by 
 day. Happy is it for all of us, that the true good lies 
 not in them. As they ebb, may they leave us as little 
 children, trusting in the Father of Mercies and accept- 
 ing His unspeakable gift. ' ' And when the dark shadow 
 was creeping over him, he wrote to the Comte de Paris : 
 "I bow before Him who is the Lord of all, and hope to 
 be kept waiting patiently for His time and mode of re- 
 leasing me, according to His divine word and the great 
 and precious promises whereby His people are made 
 partakers of the divine nature." 
 
 Probably the feature of the careers of Darwin and 
 Spencer which are saddest for their adherents, and 
 which made those who refused to be recognized as 
 -among their followers appreciate their one-sidedness, is 
 
328 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 the confession by both of them, that they had lost their 
 interest in poetry and even in hterature of all kinds, 
 and toward the end of their lives particularly lost en- 
 tirely their appreciation of things artistic. As might 
 be expected from what we know of Faraday, this was 
 not at all the case with him ; but, on the contrary, down 
 to the end of his life, he retained all his youthful ad- 
 miration for the poets. His niece tells the story of 
 hearing him often read poetry, and of how much he 
 used to be affected by his favorite poems. In one of 
 her letters she says : 
 
 "But of all things, I used to like to hear him read 
 'Childe Harold'; and never shall I forget the way in 
 which he read the description of the storm on Lake 
 Leman. He took great pleasure in Bryon, and Cole- 
 ridge's 'Hymn to Mont Blanc' delighted him. When 
 anything touched his feelings as he read— and it hap- 
 pened not infrequently— he would show it not only in 
 his voice, but by tears in his eyes also." 
 
 As a young man, he was so completely taken up with 
 the scientific studies that he could not think that he 
 would ever find time for the ordinary interests of life. 
 Especially was this true with regard to the question of 
 marriage. He felt that he would never marry, and he 
 seems rather to have pitied those, the weakness of 
 whose nature pushed them on to assume many duties in 
 life and look for merely selfish happiness. It was as a 
 very young man that he wrote : 
 
 "Whatis't that comes in false, deceitful guise, 
 Making dull fools of those that 'fore were wise? 
 
 'TisLove." 
 
 When the time came, however, he altered this opinion.- 
 
FARADAY 32& 
 
 Among the elders of the Church which he attended 
 in London was a Mr. Barnard, a silversmith. Faraday 
 occasionally spent an evening at his house, and inci- 
 dentally met his daughter Sarah. He had not met her 
 many times before his ideas as to what love might mean 
 in life were completely changed, and not long after 
 making her acquaintance he wrote her a letter, in 
 which he recants and asks her to be more than a friend. 
 His letter is rather interesting as love letters go. 
 
 "You know me as well or better than I do myself. 
 You know my former prejudices and my present 
 thoughts ; you know my weaknesses, my vanity, my 
 whole mind ; you have converted me from one erroneous 
 way ; let me hope that you will attempt to correct what 
 
 others are wrong Again and again I attempt to 
 
 say what I feel, but I cannot. Let me, however, claim 
 not to be the selfish being that wishes to bend his affec- 
 tions for his own sake only. In whatever way I can 
 best minister to your happiness, either by assiduity or 
 by absence, it shall be done. Do not injure me by 
 withdrawing your friendship, or punish me for aiming 
 to be more than a friend by making me less ; and if you 
 cannot grant me more, leave me what I possess but 
 hear me." 
 
 In spite of the sincere feeling of this letter, the lady^ 
 hesitated. For a time she left London, apparently in 
 order to give herself a breathing spell from the ardor 
 of his suit. In spite of his deep interest in science, 
 Faraday followed her to the seacoast, and after they 
 had wandered together for several days at Margate and 
 Dover, where Shakespeare's Cliff was an especial haunt 
 of theirs, the lady relented. Faraday returned to Lon- 
 don bubbling over with happiness. He was not quite 
 
330 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 thirty when they were married, and at the time his 
 salary did not amount to more than a thousand dollars a 
 year. It was distinctly not a marriage of reason. 
 
 Most of the happiness of his life came to him from 
 his marriage. Many years afterward, he called it "An 
 event which, more than any other, contributed to my 
 happiness and healthful state of mind." With years, 
 this feeling only deepened and strengthened. In the 
 midst of his scientific triumphs, his first thought was 
 always of her. When his attendance at scientific con- 
 gresses took him away from her, his letters were fre- 
 quent, and always expressive of his longing to be with 
 her. One of his biographers has said "that doubtless 
 at any time between their marriage and his final ill- 
 ness, he might have written to her as he did from Bir- 
 mingham, at the time of the meeting of the British 
 Association there." 
 
 " After all, there is no pleasure like the tranquil pleas- 
 ure of home ; and here, the moment I leave the table, I 
 wish I were with you in quiet. Oh! what happiness 
 is ours ! My runs into the world in this way only serve 
 to make me esteem that happiness the more." 
 
 Faraday had probably lost more illusions than most 
 men, and came to the true appreciation of things as 
 they are. In spite of his life-long study, he had no 
 illusions with regard to the education of the intellect 
 merely, or the possession of superior intellectual 
 faculties as moral factors. His keen observation of 
 men had made any such mistake as that impossible. 
 On the other hand, he had often noted that the ignor- 
 ant, or at least those lacking education, were very ad- 
 mirable in conduct and in principle, and so we have his 
 suggestive testimony : 
 
FARADAY 331 
 
 "I should be glad to think that high mental powers 
 insured something like a high moral sense, but have 
 often been grieved to see the contrary ; as also, on the 
 other hand, my spirit has been cheered by observing in 
 some lowly and uninstructed creature such a healthful 
 and honorable and dignified mind as made one in love 
 with human nature. When that which is good mentally 
 and morally meet in one being, that that being is more 
 fitted to work out and manifest the glory of God in the 
 creation, I fully admit." 
 
 Faraday's very definite expression of what he con- 
 , siders must be the position of the man of science with 
 regard to a hereafter and the existence of God, is worth 
 while recalling here, because it was such a modest yet 
 forceful presentation of the attitude of mind that every 
 thinking modern scientist must occupy in this matter, 
 the attitude which all of Faraday's great fellow- workers 
 in the domain of electricity also occupy. It is indeed 
 the position that has been assumed by all the great 
 scientists who bowed humbly to faith, though so many 
 lesser lights have found this apparently impossible. At 
 a lecture given in 1854 at the Royal Institution, Faraday 
 said : "High as man is placed above the creatures 
 around him, there is a higher and far more exalted 
 position within his view ; and the ways are infinite in 
 which he occupies his thoughts about the fears, or 
 hopes, or expectations of a future life. I believe that 
 the truth of that future cannot be brought to his knowl- 
 edge by any exertion of his mental powers, however 
 exalted they may be ; that it is made known to him by 
 other teaching than his own, and is received through 
 simple belief of the testimony given .... Yet even in 
 «earthly matters, I believe that ' the invisible things of 
 
332 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,, 
 being understood by the things that are made, even 
 His eternal power and godhead ' ; and I have never seen 
 anything incompatible between those things of man 
 which can be known by the spirit of man which is within 
 him, and those higher things concerning his future 
 which he cannot know by that spirit." 
 
 Elsewhere he had said : * ' When I consider the mul- 
 titude of associate forces which are diffused through 
 nature ; when I think of that calm and tranquil balanc- 
 ing of their energies which enables elements, most 
 powerful in themselves, most destructive to the world's 
 creatures and economy, to dwell associated together and 
 be made subservient to the wants of creation, I rise 
 from the contemplation more than ever impressed with 
 the wisdom, the beneficence, and grandeur beyond our 
 language to express, of the Great Disposer of all ! " 
 
 Dr. Gladstone, in his Life of Faraday, which we have 
 so often put into requisition, has given in one striking 
 paragraph a description of the passing of Faraday, that 
 in its simplicity is worthy of the great man whom it so 
 well represents. It is so different from what is ordin- 
 arily supposed to be the attitude of the scientist towards 
 death, that when by contrast we recall that Faraday is 
 acknowledged to be the greatest experimental scientist 
 of the nineteenth century, the man of his generation 
 most honored by scientific societies at home and abroad 
 —his honorary memberships numbered nearly one hun- 
 dred—it must be considered as a very curious contradic- 
 tion of what is the usual impression in this matter : 
 ' ' When his faculties were fading fast, he would sit long 
 at the western window, watching the glories of the sun- 
 set ; and one day, when his wife drew his attention to a 
 
FARADAY 333 
 
 ^beautiful rainbow that then spanned the sky, he looked 
 beyond the falling shower and the many-colored arch 
 and observed, * He hath set His testimony in the heav- 
 ens. ' On August 25th, 1867, quietly, almost impercep- 
 tibly, came the release. There was a philosopher less on 
 earth, and a saint more in heaven." 
 
 When we come to the end of the life of this greatest 
 of experimentalists, the most striking remembrance is 
 that of the supreme original genius of this great dis- 
 coverer in electricity, whose work was such a stimulus 
 to others, whose conclusions were to prove the basis for 
 so much of the work of his contemporaries and his suc- 
 '<jessors in electrical investigation, and whose place in 
 the world of science is assured beside such men as 
 Newton and Kepler and Harvey and the other great 
 pioneers in science. There is no doubt at all, however, 
 that our heartiest feelings are aroused by the picture of 
 the wonderfully rounded existence of the great scientist, 
 his pervasive humanity, his largeness of soul and sym- 
 pathy, his understanding of men in their ways through 
 his own complete knowledge of himself, that is so strik- 
 ingly displayed. We feel sure that Faraday himself 
 would have cared less for his fame as a great scientist 
 than for the summary of his life which has been given 
 us by his friend, Bence Jones, who said : ' ' His was a 
 life-long strife, to seek and say that which he thought 
 was true and to do that which he thought was kind." 
 
334 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Clerk Maxwell. 
 
 Natural science in every department developed very 
 wonderfully from its experimental side during the first 
 half of the nineteenth century. Facts and observations 
 accumulated to such an amount that, shortly after the 
 middle of the century, there was felt the need of a 
 great mathematical genius to bring the results of experi- 
 ment into their proper places in the great body of 
 applied and theoretic science. Nearly always such a 
 demand meets with adequate response in its own due 
 time. Clerk Maxwell came at this most opportune mo- 
 ment for science. No (mathematical problem was too 
 abstruse or difficult for him, and whatever he took up 
 seriously he always illuminated, and usually solved its 
 problems as completely as can be hoped for in the 
 present state of scientific knowledge. It was particu- 
 larly in electricity that his mathematical faculty proved 
 of the greatest value, and that he found the abundant 
 opportunities of which he knew so well how to take 
 advantage. 
 
 Clerk Maxwell's theory of electricity, as developed in; 
 his classic treatise on "Electricity and Magnetism," is 
 well called by Prof. Peter Guthrie Tait, ' ' One of the most 
 splendid monuments ever raised by the genius of a 
 single individual." This book became the guide and 
 companion of more physical scientists during the nine- 
 teenth century than perhaps any other written in that 
 
••<».vv>i ^,s%»< 
 
 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 335 
 
 period. It was not alone in England or in English- 
 speaking countries that it was accepted as an authority 
 and constantly referred to, but everywhere throughout 
 the world of science. Not to know it, was to argue 
 that a man knew nothing of the prof ounder truths of 
 electrical science and was only a seeker after superficial 
 information. Clerk Maxwell was known and esteemed 
 by all the great physical scientists of the world. His 
 name is less widely known than that of most of the 
 great discoverers in electricity, because mathematical 
 achievement always has less popular attraction ; but 
 he deserves to be known by all who are interested in 
 science, not only because of his magnificent contribu- 
 tions to mathematical electricity, but quite as much for 
 qualities of heart and mind that stamp him as one 
 of the very great men of the century so rapidly receding 
 from us. 
 
 Clerk Maxwell, as he is usually called, because he 
 was the representative of a younger branch of the well- 
 known Scottish family of Clerk of Penicuik, was born 
 in Edinburgh, June 13th, 1831. As with nearly every 
 other person who reaches distinction in after-life, there 
 are stories told of his precociousness which probably 
 have more meaning in this case than in most others, 
 since they exhibit real traits that were characteristic of 
 the man. As a child, it is said that he was never satis- 
 fied until he had found out for himself everything that 
 he could about anything that attracted his attention. 
 He wanted to know where the streams of water came 
 from, where and whence all the pipes ran, and the 
 course of bell-wires and the like. His frequently re- 
 peated question was, "What's the go o' that." If an 
 attempt were made to put him ofl^ with some indefinite 
 
336 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 answer, then he would insist, "But what's the partic- 
 ular go of it." This was probably the most prominent 
 trait in his after-life. General explanations of phenom- 
 ena that satisfied other men never satisfied him. He 
 was a nature student from the beginning, and even as a 
 boy he devised all sorts of ingenious mechanical contriv- 
 ances. Pet animals were his special delight, but for 
 experimental purposes always, and his selection of pets 
 would probably have startled some people. 
 
 He received his early education at the Edinburgh 
 Academy, and his university education at the University 
 of Edinburgh, where he graduated in 1850. His liking 
 for mathematics, which had already been very strongly 
 exhibited, led him, at the age of nineteen, to go to 
 Cambridge. Here, for a term or two, he was a student 
 at Peterhouse, but afterwards found a more sympa- 
 thetic place for his mathematical tastes at Trinity. He 
 took his degree at Cambridge in 1854, though only with 
 the rank of second wrangler, Routh being senior. In 
 the more serious and more exacting examination for the 
 Smith's Prize, he was declared equal with the senior 
 wrangler. His mathematical talents had developed very 
 early, and it is not surprising that the rest of his life 
 should have been devoted mainly to the teaching of math- 
 ematics and in investigations connected with applied 
 mathematics. It was not success at the university that 
 determined his career, for he had shown his marvelous 
 mathematical ability much earlier than that, and ha(J 
 given some astonishing examples of his power to treat 
 complex scientific problems in mathematical journals. 
 
 Indeed, his original contributions to the higher math- 
 ematics began before he was fifteen years of age. 
 He was a striking example of the fact that a great 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 337 
 
 genius usually finds his work very early in life, and 
 usually accomplishes something significant in it, at once 
 the harbinger and the token of the future, before 
 he is twenty-five. While Clerk Maxwell was at the 
 Edinburgh Academy, Professor J. D. B. Forbes, in 1836, 
 communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh a short 
 paper by his youthful student on ' 'A Mechanical Method 
 of Tracing Oval Curves " (Cartesian Ovals). 
 
 In spite of the prejudice that exists with regard to 
 precocious genius and the distinct feeling that it is not 
 likely to prove an enduring quality, Clerk Maxwell con- 
 tinued to do excellent original work all through his teens. 
 When he was but eighteen, he contributed two impor- 
 tant papers to the transactions of the Royal Society of 
 Edinburgh. One of these was on "The Theory of Roll- 
 ing Curves," and the other on ''The Equilibrium of 
 Elastic Solids." These are now remembered, not only 
 because of Clerk Maxwell's subsequent distinguished 
 career, but because of their distinct value as contribu- 
 tions to science. Both of them demonstrate not only his 
 ability to work out subtle mathematical problems at this 
 very early age, but show the possession by him of a 
 power of investigation for original work that stamps 
 them as well worthy of consideration in themselves, 
 quite apart from the repute of their author or the suc- 
 cessful accomplishments of his subsequent life. 
 
 With regard to one of those Edinburgh papers of 
 Clerk Maxwell's eighteenth year, Prof. Guthrie Tait 
 said "that in it he laid the foundation of one of the 
 singular discoveries of his later life, the temporary 
 double refraction produced in viscous liquid by sheer- 
 ing stress." After his magnificent mathematical train- 
 ing at Cambridge, it is not surprising that this academic 
 
338 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 career of great original work should be continued by- 
 contributions to science of ever-increasing importance. 
 Immediately after his graduation, he read to the Cam- 
 bridge Philosophical Society one of the few purely math- 
 ematical papers that he ever published. This had for its 
 title, ' ' On the Transformation of Surfaces by Bending. ' ' 
 Expert mathematicians who read the paper, realized 
 at once that there was a new genius in the field of 
 mathematics. During the same year, the young Scotch 
 mathematician took the first step in that series of 
 electrical investigations which was to occupy so much of 
 his attention in after-life, and which was to prove the 
 source of his greatest inspirations. This consisted of 
 the publication of an elaborate paper on Faraday's * * lines 
 of force." 
 
 While we think of Maxwell as a mathematical physi- 
 cist, it must not be forgotten that he was also one of the 
 leading experimental scientists of that great epoch, the 
 nineteenth century. Only a man who was himself a 
 great experimenter could have properly appreciated and 
 developed, from the mathematical standpoint, the works 
 of such men as Cavendish and Faraday. From his 
 early years. Maxwell displayed a distinct fondness for 
 experimentation, and this even extended to experiments 
 upon himself. In many ways this trait of his would re- 
 mind us of Johann Miiller, the great father of modern 
 German medicine.^ Like Muller, there was danger also 
 of Maxwell's experiments on himself getting him into 
 trouble. For instance, at one time his love of experi- 
 ment led him to try sleeping in the evening and getting 
 up to work at midnight, so as to have the long, silent 
 
 1 See life of Johann Miiller, in Makers of Modern Medicine, Fordham University 
 Press. N. Y.. 1906. 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 339 
 
 hours of the night to himself. In the sketch of his 
 life by Dr. Garnett,^ a letter from one of his friends 
 is quoted with regard to this nocturnal habit, which is 
 amusing as well as interesting. The friend wrote : 
 
 "From 2 to 2:30 a. m. he took exercise by running 
 along the upper corridor, down the stairs, along the 
 lower corridor, then up the stairs, and so on until the in- 
 habitants of the rooms along his track got up and laid 
 perdus behind their sporting doors, to have shots at him 
 with boots, hair-brushes, etc., as he passed." His love 
 of fun, his sharp wit, his extensive knowledge, and, 
 above all, his complete unselfishness, rendered him a 
 universal favorite, in spite of the temporary inconven- 
 iences which his experiments may have occasionally 
 caused to his fellow-students. 
 
 In 1857, Clerk Maxwell received the Adams Prize for 
 his essay on **The Stability of the Motion of Saturn's 
 Rings." He shows very clearly that these annular ap- 
 pendages consist of a large number of small masses. 
 This work would seem to be very distant from any- 
 thing that Maxwell had attempted before, and would 
 indeed seem to the superficial observer, at least, to 
 be quite out of his sphere. It was the mathematics 
 of it that attracted him, and the fact that the problem 
 was difficult, indeed, one of the most difficult at that 
 time before astronomers, only added zest to his resolve 
 to fathom it. All his life, mathematics continued to be 
 his favorite form of work, and his power to express the 
 most complex physical phenomena in mathematical 
 formulae gave him a reputation throughout Europe un- 
 surpassed by anyone of his generation. The more a 
 problem seemed incapable of direct statement in math- 
 
 ^ Heroed of Science Physicists, N. Y., Young & Co., 1885. 
 
340 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 ematical terms, provided it represented a great occur- 
 rence in nature, the more Maxwell was attracted to it ; 
 and the training of these early years in thus setting 
 mathematics to the solution of physical relations, was 
 to serve him in good stead when he came to try his 
 hand at demonstrating the meaning of electricity in 
 mathematical terms. 
 
 Just before this, in 1856, Maxwell, though only twenty- 
 five years of age, was offered the chair of natural his- 
 tory, which included most of the physical sciences, at 
 Marischal College, Abderdeen, With the attention that 
 his mathematical papers attracted, it is not surprising 
 that after four years of teaching experience he was 
 invited to King's College, London. He held his new 
 position for eight years, and then his health required 
 him to retire to his estate in Kirkcudbrightshire. After 
 three years of retirement, his English Alma Mater de- 
 manded his services, and the temptation to get back 
 to an academic career was so great that he could not 
 resist it. He became, in 1871, Professor of experimen- 
 tal physics at Cambridge. To him, more than to anyone 
 else, is due the magnificent development of the physi- 
 cal sciences which took place at Cambridge during the 
 last quarter of the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, 
 he was not destined to live to enjoy the fruits of his 
 labor in organizing the scientific side of the university, 
 but it was under his direction that the plans of the 
 Cavendish Laboratory were prepared, and he super- 
 intended every step of the progress of the building. 
 It was under his careful management, too, that the 
 purchase of the very valuable collection of apparatus, 
 with which it was equipped by the Duke of Devonshire, 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 341 
 
 Was made, and Maxwell's work here counts for much 
 in the history of English science. 
 
 He died in 1879, when only forty-eight years of age, 
 but he had deeply impressed himself upon the science 
 of the nineteenth century. For quite one-half of his 
 scant half-century span of life he had occupied a prom- 
 inent place in England, and after the age of thirty-five 
 had come to be generally recognized as one of the lead- 
 ing physical scientists of the world. His career is, as 
 we have said, a striking illustration of how early in life 
 a man's real work is likely to come to him, and how 
 Httle success in original investigation is dependent on 
 that development of mind which is supposed to be due 
 only to long years of application to a particular branch 
 of study. Manifestly it is the original genius that 
 counts for most, and not any training that it receives, 
 except such as comes from its own maturing powers. 
 Environment, if unfavorable, does not hamper it much, 
 nor keep it from reaching the proper terminus of its 
 destiny; and poor health only serves to prevent the 
 exercise of its full powers, but does not eclipse the 
 manifestation of its capacity. 
 
 Clerk Maxwell's important contribution to science 
 was the demonstration that electro-magnetic effects 
 travel through space in the form of transverse waves 
 similar to those of light and having the same velocity. 
 We have become so familiar with the ideas contained in 
 this explanation, that they seem almost obvious now. 
 They came, however, as a great surprise to Clerk Max- 
 well's generation, and at first seemed to be merely a 
 theoretic expression of a mathematical formula. Not 
 long afterwards, however. Maxwell's explanation was 
 corroborated by Hertz, who showed that these waves 
 
342 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 were propagated just as waves of light are, and that 
 they exhibit the phenomena of reflection, refraction and 
 polarization. Hertz went on from his demonstration of 
 the actuality of Maxwell's mathematical theory to the 
 demonstration of further electrical waves. These Hertz- 
 ian waves, as they were called, were a startling discov- 
 ery, but remained only a scientific curiosity until they 
 were taken advantage of for wireless telegraphy, when 
 a new era of applied electrical science began. 
 
 How his success in this was accomplished will be 
 best understood from Prof. Guthrie Tait's account of 
 Maxwell's devotion to electricity as a life-work. He 
 says: 
 
 "But the great work of his life was devoted to 
 electricity. He began by reading with the most pro- 
 found admiration and attention the whole of Faraday's 
 extraordinary self -revelations, and proceeded to translate 
 the ideas of that master into the succinct and expressive 
 notation of the mathematicians. A considerable part 
 of this translation was accomplished during his career 
 as an undergraduate in Cambridge. The writer had 
 the opportunity of perusing the MS. on Faraday's lines 
 of force, in a form little different from the final one, a 
 year before Maxwell took his degree. His great object, 
 as it was also the great object of Faraday, was to over- 
 turn the idea of action at a distance. The splendid re- 
 searches of Poisson and Gauss had shown how to 
 reduce all the phenomena of statical electricity to mere 
 attractions and repulsions exerted at a distance by par- 
 ticles of an imponderable on one another. Sir W. 
 Thomson had, in 1846, shown that a totally different 
 assumption, based upon other analogies, led (by its 
 own special mathematical methods) to precisely the 
 same results. He treated the resultant electric force at 
 any point as an analogous flux of heat from the sources 
 distributed, in the same manner as the supposed electric 
 particles. This paper of Thomson's, whose ideas Max- 
 well afterwards developed in an extraordinary manner. 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 343 
 
 seems to have given the first hint that there are at 
 least two perfectly distinct methods of arriving at the 
 known formulse of statical electricity. The step to 
 magnetic phenomena was comparatively simple ; but it 
 was otherwise as regards electromagnetic phenomena, 
 where cm-rent electricity is essentially involved. An 
 exceedingly ingenious, but highly artificial, theory had 
 been devised by Weber, which was found capable of 
 explaining all the phenomena investigated by Ampere 
 as well as the induction currents of Faraday. But this 
 was based upon the assumption of a distance-action 
 between electric particles, whose intensity depended 
 upon their relative motion as well as on their position. 
 This was, of course, more repugnant to Maxwell's mind 
 than the statical distance-action developed by Poisson. 
 The first paper of Maxwell's in which an attempt at an 
 admissible physical theory of electromagnetism was 
 made, was communicated to the Royal Society in 1867. 
 But the theory in a fully developed form, first appeared 
 in his great treatise on Electricity and Magnetism 
 (1878). Availing himself of the admirable generalized 
 coordinate system of Lagrange, Maxwell has shown 
 how to reduce all electric and magnetic phenomena to 
 stresses and motions of a material medium, and as one 
 preliminary, but excessively severe, test of the truth of 
 this theory has shown that, if the electromagnetic me- 
 dium be that which is required for the explanation of 
 the phenomena of Hght, the velocity of light in vacuo 
 should be numerically the same as the ratio of the elec- 
 tromagnetic and electrostatic units. We do not as yet 
 certainly know either of these quantities very exactly, 
 but the mean values of the best determination of each 
 separately agree with one another more closely than do 
 the various values of either. There seems to be no longer 
 any possibility of doubt that Maxwell has taken the 
 first grand step towards the discovery of the true nature 
 of electrical phenomena. Had he done nothing but this, 
 his fame would have been secure for all time. But, 
 striking as it is, this forms only one small part of the 
 contents of his truly marvelous work." 
 
 Maxwell's prediction as to the propagation of electric 
 waves has received its full confirmation, as we have 
 
344 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 said, in the brilliant experiments of Hertz, and in the 
 subsequent application of the Hertzian waves to wire- 
 less telegraphy in our own time. It was not by mere 
 chance that this development of Maxwell's thinking 
 came. Hertz himself declared, in the introduction to 
 his collected papers, that he owed the suggestion of 
 his work to Faraday and Maxwell, and above all to 
 Maxwell's speculations as to the nature of electricity 
 and its relations to light. Hertz said : 
 
 The hypothesis that light is an electric phenomenon 
 is thus made highly probable. To give a strict proof 
 of this hypothesis would logically require experiments 
 upon hght itself. There is an obvious comparison be- 
 tween the experiments and the theory, in connection 
 with which they were really undertaken. Since 1861, 
 science has been in possession of a theory which Max- 
 well constructed upon Faraday's views, and which we 
 therefore call the Faraday-Maxwell theory. This theory 
 affirms the occurrence of the class of phenomena here 
 discovered, just as positively as the remaining electric 
 theories are compelled to deny it. From the outset. 
 Maxwell's theory excelled all others in its elaboration 
 and in the abundance of relations between the various 
 phenomena which it included." 
 
 How much Maxwell's work was appreciated across 
 the channel, may be realized from what Poincare said : 
 "So sure did the results of his (Maxwell's) theory 
 appear as worked out for the deepest problems, that a 
 feeling of distrust and suspicion is likely to be mingled 
 with our admiration for his magnificent work. It is 
 only after prolonged study and at the cost of many 
 efforts that this feeling is dissipated." 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 345 
 
 Maxwell's explanation of electricity is that it is a 
 strain or stress in the ether, that it is a condition or 
 mode, and not a substance. One distin^ished foreign 
 contemporary who had read Maxwell's books with the 
 greatest interest, declared that he could not be quite 
 satisfied, since nowhere did he find what a charge of 
 electricity is, though he seemed to find satisfactory 
 information with regard to everything else. Maxwell 
 realized, however, the limitations of his speculation very 
 well, and hesitated, above all, to bind his mathematical 
 conclusions to statements that might prove eventually 
 only surmises founded on insufficient information from 
 the standpoint of observation. Even when he gave his 
 explanation, he did not insist on it as absolute, but, as 
 pointed out by Poincare, discussed it only as a possi- 
 bility. The French scientist said : ' ' Maxwell does not 
 give a mechanical explanation of electricity and mag- 
 netism ; he is only concerned to show that such an ex- 
 planation is possible." 
 
 Maxwell thoroughly believed in having a hobby as 
 well as his regular work, and during the time while he 
 was devoting himself to the mathematical explanation 
 of electricity he turned for recreation to certain prob- 
 lems in physics, in physiology and psychology, relating 
 to color. He worked almost as great a revolution in our 
 knowledge of color-vision as in any other subject that 
 he took up. Principal Garnett has condensed so well 
 what Clerk Maxwell accomplished in the matter of color- 
 vision, in his sketch of him in "The Heroes of Sci- 
 ence,"^ that I prefer to quote his explanation. He 
 says : 
 
 1 Heroes of Science Physicists, by Wm. Garnett, M. A., D. C. L. London Society 
 for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Northtunberland Ave., Charing Cross, W. C^ 
 New York, E. and J. B. Young. 
 
346 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 ** It has been stated that Thomas Young propounded a 
 theory of color-vision which assumes that there exists 
 three separate color sensations, corresponding to red, 
 green and violet, each having its ovt^n special organs, 
 the excitement of which causes the perception of the 
 corresponding color, other colors being due to the ex- 
 citement of two or more of these simple sensations in 
 different proportions. Maxwell adopted blue instead of 
 violet for the third sensation, and showed that, if a 
 particular red, green, and blue were selected and placed 
 at the angular points of an equilateral triangle, the 
 colors formed by mixing them being arranged as in 
 Young's diagram, all the shades of the spectrum would 
 be ranged along the sides of this triangle, the center 
 being neutral grey. For the mixing of colored lights, 
 he at first employed the color top ; but instead of paint- 
 ing circles with colored sectors, the angles of which 
 could not be changed, he used circular discs of colored 
 paper slit along one radius. Any number of such 
 discs can be combined so that each shows a sector at 
 the top, and the angle of each sector can be varied 
 at will by sliding the corresponding disc between the 
 others. Maxwell used discs of two different sizes, the 
 small discs being placed above the larger on the same 
 pivot, so that one set forked a central circle and the 
 other set a ring surrounding it. He found that, with 
 discs of five different colors, of which one might be 
 white and another black, it was always possible to com- 
 bine them so that the inner circle and the outer ring 
 exactly matched. From this he showed that there could 
 be only three conditions to be satisfied in the eye, for 
 two conditions were necessitated by the nature of the 
 top, since the smaller sectors must exactly fill the circle 
 and so must the larger. Maxwell's experiments, there- 
 fore, confirmed, in general. Young's theory. They 
 showed, however, that the relative delicacy of the sev- 
 eral color sensations is different in different eyes, for 
 the arrangement which produced an exact match in the 
 case of one observer, had to be modified for another ; 
 but this difference of delicacy proved to be very con- 
 spicuous in color-blind persons, for in most of the cases 
 of color-blindness examined by Maxwell the red sensa- 
 tion was completely absent, so that only two conditions 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 347 
 
 were required by color-blind eyes, and a match could 
 therefore always be made in such cases with four discs 
 only. Holmgren has since discovered cases of color- 
 blindness in which the violet sensation is absent. He 
 agrees with Young in making the third sensation cor- 
 respond to violet rather than blue. Maxwell explained 
 the fact that persons color-blind to the red divide colors 
 into blues and yellows, by the consideration that, al- 
 though yellow is a complex sensation corresponding to 
 a mixture of red and green, yet in nature, yellow tints 
 are so much brighter than greens, that they excite the 
 green sensation more than green objects themselves can 
 do ; and hence greens and yellows are called yellow by 
 such color-blind persons, though their perception of 
 yellow is really the same as perception of green by 
 normal eyes. Later on, by a combination of adjustable 
 slits, prisms, and lenses arranged in a ' color box, ' Max- 
 well succeeded in mixing, in any desired proportions, 
 the light from any three portions of the spectrum, so 
 that he could deal with pure spectral colors instead of 
 the complex combinations of differently colored lights 
 afforded by colored papers. From these experiments, it 
 appears that no ray of the solar spectrum can affect one 
 color sensation alone, so that there are no colors in 
 nature so pure as to correspond to the pure simple sen- 
 sations, and the colors occupying the angular points of 
 Maxwell's diagram affect all three color sensations, 
 though they influence two of them to a much smaller 
 extent than the third. A particular color in the spec- 
 trum corresponds to light which, according to the undu- 
 latory theory, physically consists of waves, all of the 
 same period ; but it may affect all three of the color sen- 
 sations of a normal eye, though in different proportions. 
 Thus yellow-light of a given wave-length affects the red 
 and green sensations considerably and the blue (or 
 violet) slightly, and the same effect may be produced by 
 various mixtures of red or orange and green." 
 
 For his researches on the perception of color, the 
 Royal Society awarded Clerk Maxwell the Rumford 
 Medal in 1860. 
 
348 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Besides this more or less theoretic work, however. 
 Maxwell made some interesting and important discov- 
 eries and inventions in optics. For instance, he noted 
 the great differences that exist in the eyes of dark and 
 fair complexions to different colors when the light falls 
 upon the center of the yellow spot, the so-called fovea 
 centralis, or central pit of the retina. His researches 
 with regard to this led him to the discovery that this 
 portion of the retina is largely lacking in sensibility to 
 blue light. He was able to demonstrate this by his 
 experiment of looking through a glass vessel containing 
 a solution of chrome alum, when the central portion of 
 the field of vision appears of a light red color for the 
 first second or two. He was also the inventor of an in- 
 genious optical apparatus, a real image stereoscope. A 
 still more important discovery was that of the double 
 refraction which is produced for the time in viscous 
 liquids when they are stirred and their motion is not as- 
 yet stopped. Maxwell showed that Canada balsam, for 
 instance, when stirred, acquired a distinct power of 
 double refraction, which it retained so long as the 
 stress in the fluid produced by stirring remained. 
 
 Other departments of physics were not neglected. 
 For instance, one of his greatest investigations was that 
 on the kinetic theory of gases. Geniuses had been 
 working before him on this line, for, as pointed out by 
 Professor Tait, this theory owed its origin to Daniel 
 Bernoulli, the greatest mathematician of the eighteenth 
 century, and had been developed by the successful 
 labors of Herapath, Joule and, above all, of Clausius. 
 The work of these men put the general accuracy of the 
 theory beyond all doubt and led to its very general 
 acceptance, yet the details of it needed to be elaborated 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 349 
 
 l)ef ore it could become definitely scientific. Its greatest 
 developments are due to Maxwell, and in this field 
 Maxwell appeared as an experimenter on the laws of 
 gaseous friction as well as a mathematician. His work 
 with regard to color had showed his ingenuity as an 
 experimentalist, and this is still further illustrated by 
 his carefully arranged experiments on gases. Indeed, 
 his work in this line makes it very clear that nothing 
 was too difficult for him, and that anything that he 
 turned his hand to in the field of science he was sure to 
 accomplish with eminent success. 
 
 It was not only his scientific monographs, however, 
 that indicate how great a scientist Clerk Maxwell was, 
 but his text-books, even those of more or less elemen- 
 tary character, which he wrote bring out this same idea. 
 He wrote, for instance, an admirable text-book on the 
 theory of heat, which went through many editions. 
 Students of the subject, even those who were not far 
 advanced, found it clear and easier of study than many 
 a less exhaustive work. He also wrote an elementary 
 treatise on matter and motion, which has gone through 
 several editions. One might think that so small a work 
 would scarcely interest him enough to tempt him to put 
 forth his powers at their best, and that at most it would 
 be a conventional condensation of previous knowledge. 
 Prof. Tait, who surely must be taken as a good judge in 
 the matter, says that "even this, like his other and 
 larger works, is full of valuable material worthy of the 
 most attentive perusal not of students alone, but of the 
 very foremost scientific men." 
 
 One of the characteristic traits of Maxwell was his 
 desire to impart information to others. This extended 
 not only to his academic relations, but, above all, to the 
 
350 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 working classes, who might have few opportunities for 
 the obtaining of the information that was so interesting 
 with regard to natural subjects. Everywhere that he 
 held an academic post in his life, he gave lectures to the 
 workmen. He was an extremely interesting talker, and 
 one of his friends said of him : * ' I do believe there is 
 not a single subject on which he cannot talk, and talk 
 well, too, displaying always the most curious and out-of- 
 the-way information." One of his private tutors said 
 of him : " It is not possible for Maxwell to think incor- 
 rectly on physical subjects." It is easy to understand, 
 then, how much his lectures to the working people at 
 Aberdeen, at Edinburgh, and at Kings College, London, 
 as well as at Cambridge, meant for them. If men like 
 Maxwell would take up the popularization of science 
 generally, then there would be much less opprobrium 
 attached to the expression popular science than there 
 has been only too often in the past, and is even at 
 present. 
 
 Just as Maxwell set himself to the solution of the 
 most difficult problems in physics, so he did not hesitate 
 to give himself also to the discussion of problems in 
 ethics. Here his power of penetration, the rigid logic 
 of his mind, and his power to follow out conclusions to 
 their ultimate significance, were quite as manifest as 
 any scientific writing. It is almost the rule to find that 
 scientists either ignore the great problems of man's 
 place in nature and his destiny, or treat them very 
 superficially. Agnosticism had become the fad of the 
 moment, and was just beginning to make itself felt as 
 a fashion in thinking when Clerk Maxwell was doing his 
 great work. Maxwell was not an agnostic in science, 
 and because he could not solve all the problems that. 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 351 
 
 came to him with regard to electricity and the consti- 
 tution of matter, this did not keep him from setting 
 himself to the task of seeing what should be his thoughts 
 with regard to these subjects. He had none of the ag- 
 nostic's feelings with regard to them, that since we 
 cannot know all about them definitely and absolutely, 
 therefore it is not worth while studying them at all. 
 Had Maxwell been tempted to any such line of thought, 
 we would have missed some of the most helpful scien- 
 tific speculations and suggestions that have ever been 
 made. 
 
 No one knew better than Maxwell, that his specu- 
 lations on matter and electricity were theories, and that 
 what he was offering to science were not definite ex- 
 planations, but possible hypotheses. He has emphasized 
 this himself over and over again. This inability of the 
 human intellect at the present moment to solve all the 
 questions that its inquiring spirit can evoke, did not 
 keep him from investigating and following up his in- 
 vestigations by mathematical deductions and mechanical 
 suggestions just as far as possible. He had the same 
 attitude of mind toward the great problems of man's 
 relation to his fellow-man, to the universe, and to a 
 hereafter. While he felt that he could not solve the 
 problems entirely, he felt also that his reasoning was 
 quite sufficient to enable him to get a little nearer to 
 the heart mystery of them and to understand some- 
 thing of their significance. In his later years, the 
 question of the existence of pain and suffering in the 
 world had, because of Darwin's attitude towards them 
 and his declaration that since he was unable to under- 
 stand them they carried him away from the thought of a 
 beneficent Creator, attracted much attention. We have 
 
352 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 an essay of Clerk Maxwell's, then, on "Aspects of 
 Pain," in which he discusses particularly pain as discip- 
 line. It is, of course, the old story, that men rise on 
 stepping-stones of their dead selves, and that the suc- 
 cessive deaths of self represent a triumphant progress, 
 but it comes with a new vigor from this great scientist. 
 We all know that it is the man who has suffered who is 
 able to do things, and we are all well aware that the man 
 who has lived in comfort all his life is almost sure to be 
 lacking in character when a great crisis comes upon 
 him. Indeed, as Clerk Maxwell re-states it, this is 
 such a commonplace that one wonders why the problem 
 of pain should have seemed so hard to understand. 
 
 There is an essay of his, also, on "Science and Free 
 Will," which seems to deserve special notice. He has 
 no illusions with regard to determinism. He is perfectly 
 sure that he is free and that the great majority of men 
 around him do or do not things as they choose. He 
 points out that science makes for determinism only if 
 one takes a very narrow view of it. Free will is not 
 only compatible with scientific thinking, but it rep- 
 resents what would be expected as a culmination of the 
 significance of life. In a word. Clerk Maxwell wrote 
 ras suggestively with regard to the great problems of 
 human life as with regard to the physical nature around 
 him that claimed so much of his interest. He was a 
 true natural philosopher, and his interests were not 
 limited merely to the lower orders of beings. 
 
 Because of the supreme power of Clerk Maxwell's 
 mind to seek out the very heart of difficulties, the con- 
 clusions which he reached with regard to the existence 
 of matter and the causes for the ultimate qualities which 
 it exhibits, have an enduring interest. Mathematics is 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 353 
 
 sometimes said to lead minds into scepticism. Cardinal 
 Newman even thought that the mathematical cast of 
 mind was the farthest removed from that which might be 
 expected to accept things confidently on faith. Clerk 
 Maxwell's intellect was eminently mathematical ; yet, far 
 from sending him over into the camp of the agnostics, 
 his tendency to get at the ultimate reasons for things 
 seemed almost to push him to conclusions with regard to 
 the origin of matter, and especially its ultimate constit- 
 uents, not ordinarily supposed to be scientific. A pas- 
 sage like the following, for instance, which may be found 
 in his book on "The Theory of Heat," London, 1872, 
 page 312, brings out this tendency very well : 
 
 ' ' But if we suppose the molecules to be made at all, 
 or if we suppose them to consist of something previously 
 made, why should we expect any irregularity to exist 
 among them? If they are, as we believe, the only ma- 
 terial things which still remain in the precise condition in 
 which they first began to exist, why should we not 
 rather look for some indication of that spirit of order, 
 our scientific confidence in which is never shaken by the 
 difficulty which we experience in tracing it in the com- 
 plex arrangements of visible things, and of which our 
 moral estimation is shown in all our attempts to think 
 and speak the truth, and to ascertain the exact princi- 
 ples of distributive justice? " 
 
 The argument from design for creation is often said 
 in our day to have lost its weight. For Clerk Maxwell, 
 however, this was evidently not the case. On the con- 
 trary, he seemed to find in the detailed knowledge of the 
 ultimate constituents of matter which had come in recent 
 years, additional proofs of the great design which per- 
 meates nature. He had come to the conclusion that not 
 
354 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 only were the groups of atoms which make up living 
 things so ordered as to produce definite results, because 
 there was a great purpose and, above all, a great De- 
 signer behind nature, but he also reached the position that 
 the separate atoms of matter were so ordered with regard 
 to one another, and in that ordering were so closely re- 
 lated to corresponding qualities in higher beings, that 
 only the presence of a great design in nature could pos- 
 sibly account for all these wonderful attributes, which 
 were to be found even in the smallest portions of mat- 
 ter. He said in his article on the atom, in the ninth, 
 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica : 
 
 ''What I thought of was not so much that uniformity 
 of result which is due to uniformity in the process of 
 formation, as a uniformity intended and accomplished 
 by the same wisdom and power of which uniformity, 
 accuracy, symmetry, consistency, and continuity of plan 
 are as important attributes as the contrivance of the 
 special utility of each individual thing." 
 
 Here is the old argument for the existence of God, 
 from the design exhibited in the universe, rehabilitated 
 by its application to the minutest portions of matter, 
 whose qualities demand such an explanation quite as 
 much as the highest adaptations of nature. 
 
 Perhaps the most striking expression of all with re- 
 gard to the atoms that Clerk Maxwell permitted himself, 
 is that in which he finds the type of what is best in man, 
 in every minute portion of the universe, planted there 
 by the Creator just as surely as they are in His high- 
 est beings, because they represent the most precious 
 qualities of His own nature as they are reflected in the 
 creation that He called into existence. 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 355 
 
 "They (the atoms) continue this day as they were 
 created, perfect in number and measure and weight, and 
 from the ineffaceable characters impressed on them we 
 may learn that those aspirations, after accuracy in 
 measurement, truth in statement, and justice in action, 
 which we reckon among our noblest attributes as men, 
 are ours because they are essential constituents of the 
 image of Him Who in the beginning created not only the 
 heaven and the earth, but the materials of which heaven 
 and earth consist." 
 
 A very interesting side of Maxwell's life is that which 
 shows his continued interest in literature, and even his 
 occasional dippings into poetry. Though he reached 
 distinction in mathematics and physics so early in his 
 career, he yet found time to indulge a liking for the 
 classics, and we even find some rather good translations 
 of Horace's odes from his pen. The translation of a part 
 of the Ajax of Sophocles from the Greek is a striking 
 testimony to the breadth of Maxwell's intellectual inter- 
 ests. All during life, however, he permitted himself 
 occasionally the luxury of fitting words into verse forms, 
 and sometimes with a success that deserves much more 
 than passing interest. It is very probable that the fol- 
 lowing verses, for instance, which are the first and last 
 stanzas of a poem on the formula for being happy in life 
 and were meant to be sung (or at least so he would hint) 
 to the tune of "II segreto per esser felice," will strike 
 many a sympathetic chord in the modern time. 
 
 There are some folks that say 
 They have found out a way 
 
 To be healthy and wealthy and wise '.— 
 " Let your thoughts be but few. 
 Do as other folks do. 
 
 And never be caught by surprise. 
 
356 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Let your motto be follow the fashion, 
 
 But let other people alone ; 
 Do not love them nor hate them nor care for 
 their fate, 
 
 But keep a lookout for your own. 
 Then what though the world may run riot, 
 
 Still playing at catch who catch can. 
 You may just eat your dinner in quiet 
 
 And live Hke a sensible man. " 
 
 In Nature I read quite a different creed, 
 
 There everything lives in the rest ; 
 Each feels the same force 
 As it moves in its course, 
 
 And all by one blessing are blest. 
 The end that we live for is single, 
 
 But we labor not therefor alone ; 
 For together we feel how by wheel within wheel 
 
 We are helped by a force not our own. 
 So we flee not the world and its dangers, 
 
 For He that has made it is wise ; 
 He knows we are pilgrims and strangers, 
 
 And He will enlighten our eyes. 
 
 There probably was not a more nicely logical or more 
 accurately reasoning intellect among all our nineteenth 
 century scientists than that of the great mathematical 
 electrician. He had none of the one-sidedness of the 
 merely experimental scientist, nor, on the other hand, 
 the narrowness of the exclusively speculative philoso- 
 pher. With a power of analysis that was seldom equaled 
 during the century, he had a power of synthesis that 
 probably surpassed any of his contemporaries in any 
 part of Europe. His ideas with regard to matter and its 
 ultimate constitution are most suggestive. His sugges- 
 tion of a strain in the ether as an explanation of elec- 
 tricity, thus enabling scientists to get away from the 
 curious theories of the foretime which had required them 
 to accept "action at a distance, " that is, without any 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 357 
 
 connecting medium, shows his power of following out 
 abstruse ideas to definite practical conclusions. His re- 
 ligious life, then, will be a surprise to those who think 
 that science leads men away from religion. 
 
 In the life of Clerk Maxwell, written by Campbell and 
 Garnett,^ there is a passage from his friend and some- 
 time pastor, Guillemard, in which the details of his re- 
 ligious life are given so fully as scarcely to require any 
 further gleaning of information in this regard. 
 
 "He was a constant, regular attendant at church, and 
 seldom, if ever, failed to join in our monthly late cele- 
 bration of Holy Communion, and he was a generous 
 contributor to all our parish charitable institutions. 
 But his illness drew out the whole heart and soul and 
 spirit of the man ; his firm and undoubting faith in the 
 Incarnation and all its results ; in the full sufficing of 
 atonement ; in the works of the Holy Spirit. He had 
 gauged and fathomed all the schemes and systems of 
 philosophy, and had found them utterly empty and un- 
 satisfying— ' unworkable ' was his own word about them 
 —and he turned with simple faith to the Gospel of the 
 Saviour." 
 
 His faith was not disturbed at the near approach of 
 death, but, on the contrary, seemed strengthened. His 
 biographers tell the story of some of the expressions 
 used to his friends during these last days, which furnish 
 manifest proof of this. Some of these passages are so 
 characteristic and so striking that they deserve to be in 
 the note-book of those to whom the modern idea that 
 science is opposed to religion or faith may sometimes 
 
 1 The Life of James Clerk Maxwell, with a selection from his correspondence and 
 occasional writings, and a sketch of his contributions to science. Lewis Campbell 
 and William Garnett. London, 1882. 
 
358 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 have been a source of worry, or at least an occasion for 
 ar^ment. Here is a typical one of these passages : 
 
 **Mr. Colin Mackenzie has repeated to us two sayings 
 of his during those last days, which may be repeated 
 here : ' Old chap, I have read up many queer religions ; 
 there is nothing like the old thing, after all ; and I have 
 looked into most philosophical systems, and I have seen 
 that none will work without a God.' " 
 - It must not be imagined, because Clerk Maxwell was 
 a deeply religious man, that, therefore, he was frigid 
 or formal or extremely serious, or inclined to be puri- 
 tanic with regard to the pleasures of life, or a fanatic in 
 the matter of taking all the good-natured fun there 
 might be in anything that turned up. He was far from 
 over-serious, or what has been called, though not quite 
 properly, ascetic ; but, on the contrary, was often, in- 
 deed usually, the soul of the party with which he was at 
 the moment. He had none at all of the self -centered 
 interest of the narrow-minded, but had many friends, 
 and was liked by all his acquaintances. His friends were 
 enthusiastic about his kindness of heart and the thorough 
 congeniality of his disposition. On this point, the 
 sketch of him in the National Dictionary of Biography 
 gives a charming picture : 
 
 "As a man, Maxwell was loved and honored by all 
 who knew him ; to his pupils, he was the kindest and 
 most sympathetic of teachers ; to his friends, he was the 
 most charming of companions, brimful of fun, the life 
 and soul of a Red Lion dinner at the British Association 
 meetings ; but in due season brave and thoughtful, with 
 keen interest in problems that lay outside the domain 
 of his own work, and throughout his life a stern foe to 
 
CLERK MAXWELL 359 
 
 all that was superficial or untrue. On religious ques- 
 tions, his beliefs were strong and deeply rooted." 
 
 It may be added to this, that his religion had nothing 
 of the merely formal about it, nor was it perfunctory. 
 It entered into most of the details of his life, and the 
 fact that, every day as the head of the house he led 
 evening prayers for the family, was only a token of the 
 deep hold which religion had upon his life. When his 
 last illness came, though he knew that his end was not 
 far off, and at his age sometimes the approach of death 
 hampers religious faith because it does seem that longer 
 life might be afforded to one who has been so faithful in 
 his realization of the obligations of life. Clerk Maxwell's 
 piety increased rather than diminished. A favorite ex- 
 pression of his during his last days was the verselet from 
 Richard Baxter, which one would be apt to think of as 
 frequently repeated by some feminine devotee rather 
 than by the greatest mathematical scientist of the nine- 
 teenth century : 
 
 "Lord, it belongs not to my care. 
 Whether I die or live ; 
 To love and serve Thee is my share. 
 And that Thy grace must give. " 
 
 A friend who knew him intimately says : "In private 
 life. Clerk Maxwell was one of the most lovable of men, a 
 sincere and unostentatious Christian. Though perfectly 
 free from any trace of envy or ill-will, he yet showed on 
 fit occasions his contempt for that pseudo-science which 
 seeks for the applause of the ignorant by professing to 
 reduce the whole system of the universe to a fortuitous 
 sequence of uncaused events. ' ' 
 
 In these phases of his intellectual life, the greatest of 
 the mathematical electricians of the nineteenth century 
 
360 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 deserves to be taken as the type of the man of science, 
 rather than the many mediocre intelligences whose 
 minds were not large enough apparently for the two sets 
 of truths— those of the moral as well as of the physical 
 order. 
 
--, ,„,^. 
 
 X 
 
 
 LORD KELVIN 
 
LORD KELVIN 361 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Lord Kelvin. 
 
 Few men lived to witness so many remarkable dis- 
 coveries in science and so many applications of the same 
 to the welfare of the race as did the man whose name 
 stands at the head of this chapter. When William 
 Thomson, the future Lord Kelvin, first saw the light of 
 day, the voltaic pile was in a rudimentary and ineffi- 
 cient form. It is true that water had been decomposed 
 by the current from a pile in 1800, ^ that the magnetic 
 effect of the current had been discovered in 1820, and 
 the possibility of a practical form of an electric tele- 
 graph suggested in the same year ; but Ohm's law was 
 still one of nature's secrets, electromagnetic induction 
 was undiscovered, and the doctrine of energy but ill 
 understood. Light, electricity and magnetism were re- 
 garded as distinct forces, and heat was thought to be a 
 material substance, to which the name caloric was as- 
 signed. What Young, Fresnel and Ampere were in the 
 early years of the nineteenth century ; what Faraday, 
 Regnault and Joseph Henry were some time later, Kel- 
 vin became in the 'fifties, a leader in the intellectual and 
 scientific life of the time, a leader destined to extend 
 the frontiers of knowledge, to establish an accurate sys- 
 tem of electrical measurement, and to enrich the world 
 with instruments of marvelous ingenuity and precision. 
 
 1 Water was decomposed in 1789 by Van Troostwijk and Cuthberson, by means of 
 sparks from an electrical machine. Prof. Ostwald considers this the first instance o£ 
 the decomposition of a chemical compound by electricity. 
 
362 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 William Thomson, born in Belfast in 1824, received 
 his early training in the Royal Academic Institute of 
 that city. When eight years of age, he left his native 
 land, exchanging the shores of Antrim for the banks of 
 the Clyde. His father, James Thomson, a mathema- 
 tician of note, having been appointed to the chair of 
 mathematics in the University of Glasgow (founded in 
 1451), proceeded early in the summer of 1832 to the 
 commercial metropolis of Scotland, accompanied by his 
 two sons William and James, both of whom were des- 
 tined to add lustre to the family name. 
 
 After a period of preparatory study, the two brothers, 
 who were ten and eleven years of age, respectively, 
 matriculated at the university. With the iron-clad regu- 
 lations that govern admission to American colleges and 
 universities, these boys would at best have been ad- 
 mitted to one of our high schools, and kept there until 
 they reached the maturity required by the age limit. 
 Ey the time young William attained that limit, he had 
 already finished his work at the university, and cap- 
 tured the first prizes in mathematics, astronomy and 
 natural philosophy. He was then only sixteen years of 
 age, small of stature, but a giant in intellect ; brilliant, 
 versatile, and with a passion for work. It was his good 
 fortune, also, to come under the influence of a great 
 teacher, in the person of Prof. Nichol. "I have to 
 thank what I heard in the natural philosophy class," he 
 said in 1903, *' for all I did in connection with submarine 
 cables. The knowledge of Fourier was my start in the 
 theory of signaling through submarine cables, which 
 occupied a large part of my after-life. The inspiring 
 character of Dr. Nicholas personality and his bright 
 
LORD KELVIN 363 
 
 enthusiasm live still in my mental picture of those old 
 days." 
 
 Having heard Fourier's treatise on the mathematical 
 theory of heat spoken of one day as a remarkable and 
 inspiring work, young Thomson astonished the Profes- 
 sor when, at the end of the lecture, he addressed Dr. 
 Nichol with the query, " Do you think that I could read 
 it?" To which the Professor smilingly replied : "Well, 
 the mathematical part is very difficult." Many a stu- 
 dent would have left Fourier alone for the nonce, after 
 listening to a statement so little calculated to excite 
 courage or awaken interest : but Thomson was not an 
 ordinary student ; and, however forbidding the answer 
 which he received, he was determined all the same to 
 handle the volume and seek its inspiration. Without 
 delay, he got the book from the university library, and 
 grew so delighted with the new ideas of the French 
 mathematician about sine-expansions and cosine-expan- 
 sions, that in the space of two weeks he had ' ' turned 
 over all the pages " of the book, as he modestly put it. 
 
 In the summer of 1840, he accompanied his father and 
 his brother on a tour through Germany, partly to see 
 the country and partly also, to acquire a practical knowl- 
 edge of the language. In both these objects, he was 
 somewhat hindered by his fondness for mathematical 
 studies, which led him to include in his impedimenta for 
 the trip a copy of Fourier's Theorie analytique de la 
 ChaleuT. Most students out on a summer's vacation, 
 especially in foreign parts, would doubtless have pre- 
 ferred to give their minds rest and congenial distrac- 
 tion rather than keep on reading and pondering over 
 abstract mathematical concepts. Our young tourist, on 
 the other hand, seems to have thought of little else than 
 
364 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 of Fourier's "mathematical poem," as Clerk Maxwell 
 called the work, a * ' poem ' * that continued to have a 
 charm for him all through life. It is a noteworthy fact 
 that Thomson continually returned to the ideas and 
 methods of this suggestive treatise on the flow of heat, 
 and that he applied them with great success to problems 
 in thermal conductivity, in electricity and in submarine 
 telegraphy. 
 
 Shortly after returning home, Thomson was sent to 
 the University of Cambridge, where he entered St. 
 Peter's College, commonly called Peterhouse, one of the 
 oldest colleges of the university, its foundation dating 
 back to the year 1284. Though he, no doubt, followed 
 in a general way the directions given him by William 
 Hopkins, "the best of private tutors," and kept in view 
 the requirements of the honors examination, called the 
 "Mathematical Tripos," for which he intended to pre- 
 sent himself at the end of his course, he found his studies 
 somewhat routinal and uninspiring. Original work was 
 more to his taste than conventional subjects ; his tutor, 
 however, thought mainly of placing this brilliant pupil 
 at the head of the wranglers, and hailing him the senior 
 wrangler of the year, for which purpose, the beaten track 
 must be followed, the standard works read, favorite prob- 
 lems worked out, short-cuts conned and rapidity of out- 
 put exercised. Stokes, of Pembroke, had been senior 
 wrangler in 1841 ; Cayley, of Trinity, in 1842 ; and 
 Adams, of John's, in 1843 ; why not Thomson, of Peter- 
 house, in 1845, argued Hopkins, who had the distinction 
 of being second wrangler of the previous year? 
 
 But when the ordeal was over and the work of all 
 candidates appraised, Thomson's name was second on 
 the list, with Parkinson, of John's, at the top. Hopkins 
 
• LORD KELVIN 365 
 
 was disappointed, as he had a right to be, for it was 
 thought by many and said by some that Parkinson was 
 not fit to sharpen Thomson's pencils. At the examin- 
 ation for the Smith's prizes, which immediately followed, 
 and which was generally regarded as a higher honor 
 and a better test of original ability, the order was re- 
 versed, and Thomson's star blazed out with the bril- 
 liancy of the first magnitude. 
 
 We have here an instructive instance of the failure of 
 an examination to place rightly the most gifted man ; 
 that of Sylvester, in 1837, and Clerk Maxwell, in 1854, 
 both of whom were second wranglers, are equally so. 
 Examinations, however, seldom fail in justly rating 
 candidates when originality is not a necessary qualifi- 
 cation, but only a sound knowledge and liberal interpre- 
 tation of the subjects laid down in the syllabus ; a 
 good memory and rapidity of writing will do the rest. 
 
 Thomson committed the fatal mistake in the tripos 
 examination of devoting too much time to a particular 
 question in which he was deeply interested. It was a 
 curious coincidence that the solution which Parkinson 
 sent in to the same question was almost identical with 
 that of his rival for mathematical honors. On being 
 -questioned about the matter by the Moderators, Parkin- 
 son said that he had read the solution some time before 
 in the Cambridge Mathematical Journal; Thomson's 
 ■explanation was that the solution given in the Journal 
 was his ! As he had not memorized the details, he was 
 obliged of course to work the problem out de novo. 
 
 Parkinson in later years wrote a treatise on elemen- 
 tary mechanics that has long since made way for others ; 
 Thomson, on the other hand, published in collaboration 
 with Tait a Treatise on Natural Philosophy for advanced 
 
366 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 students, which became at once the accepted stand- 
 ard. Throughout this treatise, the view is emphasized 
 that physics deals with realities more than with theories, 
 with mutual relations more than with their mathemat- 
 ical expression. Helmholtz thought so highly of this, 
 work that he translated it into German, saying in his. 
 preface : "William Thomson, one of the most penetrat- 
 ing and ingenious thinkers, deserves the thanks of the 
 scientific world, in that he takes us into the workshop 
 of his thoughts and unravels the guiding threads which 
 have helped him to master and set in order the most re- 
 sisting and confused material." And again : "Follow- 
 ing the example given by Faraday, he avoids as far as 
 possible hypotheses about unknown subjects, and en- 
 deavors to express by his mathematical treatment of 
 problems simply the law of observable phenomena." 
 
 We are not to think of Thomson, the undergraduate, 
 as of one who gave himself up, mind and body, to his 
 favorite studies ; he knew how to combine, in some 
 measure, the dtdce with the utile, for he was fond of 
 music, and so proficient in the art that he was elected 
 President of the Musical Society. He also took a prac- 
 tical interest in aquatic sports, and on the Cam he could 
 ply his sculls with the best of the men. Indeed, he was 
 fond of the water all through life, his Lalla Rookh 
 being well known on the Clyde and in the Solent. 
 Expert in the navigation of his yacht, he liked to be 
 out on the deep, caressed by wind and buffeted by 
 wave, on which occasions he usually studied, pencil in 
 hand, problems connected with navigation and hydro- 
 dynamics. 
 
 Thomson was never without his note-book. Even in" 
 his journeys to London, when he usually took the night, 
 
LORD KELVIN 367 
 
 train to save time, his mind was active, and the green- 
 book was in frequent requisition to receive thoughts 
 that occurred realtive to problems that engaged his 
 attention. Unlike many mortals, he was able to sleep 
 soundly on those night trips, although in the early days 
 he had none of the luxuries of traveling which we con- 
 sider indispensable to our comfort. 
 
 Helmholtz records that, being on the Lalla Rookh on 
 one occasion, Thomson "carried the freedom of in- 
 tercourse so far that he always had a mathematical 
 note-book with Jiim ; and as soon as an idea occurred to 
 him, he began to reckon right in the midst of com- 
 pany." This reminds us of the answer which Newton 
 gave to a friend who asked him how he accomplished so. 
 much. " By constantly thinking of it," was the brief 
 reply. Concentration of the faculties is necessary for 
 all good work ; a distracted mind never achieved any- 
 thing of value in philosophy, in science, in religious wor- 
 ship. Concentration is like a convex lens, which brings 
 rays to a focus ; whereas distraction is like a concave 
 lens, which breaks them up into a number of divergent 
 and scattered elements. 
 
 On leaving Cambridge in 1845, Thomson proceeded to 
 London, and was warmly received by Faraday, then of 
 world-wide reputation. He next went to Paris, where, 
 in the laboratory of Regnault, he devoted himself to 
 original research, under the direction of that great and 
 accurate physicist who was then carrying out his 
 classic work on the thermal constants of bodies. 
 
 The year 1846 marks an epoch in Thomson's life ; for, 
 in that year, he was chosen to succeed Nichol, his 
 friend and master, in the chair of natural philosophy in 
 the University of Glasgow. Though only in his twenty- 
 
368 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 second year, he chose for the subject of his inaugural 
 address the age of the earth, a subject which continued 
 to have a Hfe-long interest for him because of its very- 
 fascination, and perhaps, too, because of the opposition 
 which his views aroused on the part of biologists and 
 geologists. These demanded untold ^ons for the orig- 
 inal fire-mist to cool down and form a spinning globe fit 
 to be the abode of organic life, whereas Thomson en- 
 deavored to show the weakness of the arguments which 
 they advanced to uphold their claim for unlimited time. 
 Basing his estimate on the rate of increase of temper- 
 ature as we go below the earth's suface, he concluded 
 that the earth required from 100 to 200 million years, 
 and probably less, to cool from its molten state to its 
 present condition. 
 
 Impressed by the value of the experimental work 
 which he did under Regnault in Paris, Prof. Thomson 
 gave himself no rest until he secured a place in which 
 the demonstrations of the lecture-room could be sup- 
 plemented by qualitative and quantitative work in the 
 laboratory. This was the first "physical laboratory" 
 open to students in Great Britain, a fact that makes the 
 year 1846 a memorable one in the history of university 
 development. Two apartments were allotted him for 
 experimental purposes, viz., an abandoned wine-cellar 
 and a disused examination-room, to which, as time 
 went on, were added a corridor, some spare attics, and 
 even the university tower itself, so great was the power 
 of annexation possessed by the young Professor. In 
 those dark and cheerless rooms, a few old instruments 
 were installed, after which students were invited and 
 work begun. A band of men, whose ardor was enkin- 
 dled by the glowing enthusiasm of the presiding genius, 
 
LORD KELVIN 369 
 
 gathered around him, and helped him to carry out in- 
 vestigations on the properties of metals, on moduli of 
 elasticity, elastic fatigue and atmospheric electricity. 
 Among .this band of earnest students it will suffice to 
 mention the names of the late Prof. Ayrton, an eminent 
 electrician ; Prof. John Perry, known for his Homeric 
 battles in favor of reform in the teaching of math- 
 ematics ; Sir William Ramsay, the discoverer of the 
 ** newer" gases of the atmosphere ; and Prof. Andrew 
 Gray, who succeeded his master in the University of 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Writing of his laboratory experiences, Prof, Ramsay 
 says : "I remember that my first exercise, which occu- 
 pied over a week, was to take the kinks out of a bundle 
 of copper wire. Having achieved this with some success, 
 I was placed opposite a quadrant electrometer and made 
 to study its construction and use." ''Although this 
 method," he adds, "is not without its disadvantages— 
 for systematic instruction is of much value— there is 
 something to be said for it. On the one hand, too long 
 a course of experimenting on old and well known lines 
 is likely to imbue the young student with the idea that 
 all physics consists in learning the use of apparatus and 
 repeating measurements which have already been made. 
 On the other hand, too early attempts to investigate 
 the unknown are likely to prove fruitless for want of 
 manipulative skill and for want of knowledge of what 
 has already been done." 
 
 Prof. Gray wrote : " In the physical laboratory. Prof. 
 Thomson was both inspiring and distracting. He con- 
 tinually thought of new things to be tried, and inter- 
 rupted the course of work with interpolated experiments 
 
370 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 which often robbed the previous sequence of operations 
 of their final result." 
 
 It may bring a grain of consolation to teachers who 
 meet with troublesome elements in the discharge of their 
 duties, to know that Thomson, great and brilliant as he 
 was, had similar experiences now and again. At one 
 time a book of mathematical data would be removed 
 from the place assigned to it, upon which he would give 
 orders that it should be chained to the table ; at others, 
 there would be no chalk near the blackboard, and then 
 the assistant would be solemnly instructed to have one 
 hundred pieces available next time. On one occasion, 
 he settled in a very novel manner the case of a student 
 who insisted on disturbing the class by moving his foot 
 back and forth on the floor. Calling his assistant, 
 Thomson told him in a whisper to go down into the room 
 under the tiers of seats, to listen attentively, and locate 
 the wandering foot by its distance from two adjacent 
 walls of the building. On his return to the lecture-room, 
 the triumphant assistant gave the desired coordinates to 
 the Professor, who took out his tape at once and meas- 
 ured off the distances, by which the outwitted offender 
 was mathematically located. In obedience to orders, the 
 latter rose and left the room, muttering a few grace- 
 ful epithets as he went, in honor of Descartes, the 
 founder of a system of geometry that could serve so 
 well the twofold purpose of the detective and the 
 mathematician. 
 
 It was the custom in Glasgow to open the daily ses- 
 sions, morning and afternoon, with prayer, the selection 
 of which was left to the discretion of the Professor. 
 Thomson usually recited from memory the third collect 
 from the morning service of the Church of England, to 
 
LORD KELVIN 371 
 
 which he sometimes added reflections of his own for 
 the spiritual benefit of his hearers. 
 
 In his teaching, Prof. Thomson was particularly- 
 insistent that his students should not bow their intel- 
 lects in mute admiration before an array of mathematical 
 symbols ; but that, on all occasions, they should seek 
 the physical meaning behind them. Writing on his 
 blackboard one day dxjdt, he was not satisfied when 
 told that it represented the ratio of the increment of x to 
 the increment of the independent variable t (time) ; he 
 wanted the student to say it represents velocity. He 
 himself was so wont to look for the physical meaning 
 of symbols that, like the prophets of old, he saw many 
 things that were hidden from the eyes of ordinary 
 mortals. 
 
 He had the rare gift of translating mathematical 
 equations into real facts ; and he strove all throughout 
 his life, by word and writing, to purify mathematical 
 theory from mere assumptions. He often said that he 
 could not understand a thing until he was able to make^ 
 or at least conceive, a model of it. 
 
 H« had a "keen mathematical instinct," as Prof. 
 Silvanus P. Thomson puts it in a letter to the writer, an 
 insight that * ' grew to see things. ' ' He often left matters 
 in the dark for years, then returned to see them in the 
 clear light of truth. At the age of sixteen, he wrote a 
 mathematical essay on the figure of the earth ; and at 
 eighty-three, took it up again in order to add a note to 
 the argument ! 
 
 Thomson was discursive in his lectures, and was 
 never able to boil the matter down to suit the taste and 
 digestive powers of the ordinary student. The activity 
 of his mind and its fecundity were such that new ideas. 
 
372 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 new problems, new modes of treatment were continually 
 occurring, and with such fascination that he would 
 leave the main subject to indulge in what often proved 
 prolonged digressions. One of his bugbears was our 
 system of weights and measures, which he denounced 
 in season and out of season as "insane," "brain-wast- 
 ing" and "dangerous." Occasionally epithets of a 
 more caloric nature would escape the lips of the in- 
 dignant Professor, who, as a consequence of his de- 
 nunciation, had always to be indulgent to students who 
 chanced to be shaky in the matter of Troy weight, 
 avoirdupois weight or even apothecaries weight. 
 
 In later years, I heard Lord Kelvin at the Royal In- 
 stitution, London, on some of his favorite dynamical 
 subjects, such as the gyrostat, vortex rings and the 
 like. However impressed by his keen eye, intellectual 
 forehead, his mastery of the subject and wealth of 
 illustration, I was no less impressed by his vivacity, his 
 enthusiasm and the rapidity with which he could leave 
 a train of thought and return to it again. 
 
 At meetings of the British Association, he always had 
 something illuminating to say ; but not infrequently, 
 carried away by a torrent of ideas, he would indulge in 
 a superfluity of detail, forgetting that other speakers 
 had to be heard and other papers read. 
 
 The idea of connecting the Old World with the New 
 by means of an electric cable laid on the bed of the 
 ocean, seemed to most people in the 'fifties quixotic and 
 Utopian. Manufacturers said such a cable could not be 
 made ; engineers, that it could not be laid ; electricians, 
 that it could not be worked ; and financiers, that if laid 
 and worked, it would never pay. But with a Field to 
 look after the financial interests of the scheme, and a 
 
LORD KELVIN 373 
 
 Thomson to attend to electrical quantities, there was no 
 tilting at windmills, and the Utopian scheme became in 
 due time the cable whose core pulsated with the news 
 of the world. 
 
 As early as 1850, Bishop Mullock, of St. John's, N. 
 F., addressed to an American newspaper, called the 
 Courier, a letter in which he advocated a telegraph 
 line from Newfoundland to New York, so that the news 
 of mail steamers could be intercepted and wired to that 
 City. In 1852, the "Newfoundland Electric Telegraph 
 Company " was formed for the purpose of carrying out a 
 similar plan. This was to be accompHshed by means of 
 a telegraph line from Cape Race, at the eastern ex- 
 tremity of Newfoundland to Cape Ray, on the western, 
 as well as by short cables over to Cape Breton Island, to 
 Prince Edward Island and the mainland, and thence by 
 ordinary telegraph lines to Canada and the United 
 States. But owing to the want of money, nothing was 
 done. 
 
 The first attempt at laying a cable under the Atlantic 
 was made by the Atlantic Telegraph Company in 1857, 
 after a careful survey of the ocean had revealed the ex- 
 istence of a submarine plain, or extended table-land, on 
 which the cable could rest undisturbed by passing keels, 
 monsters of the deep or angry billows. The result was 
 the first of a series of failures, which caused great per- 
 plexity and depression at the time ; for, after 330 miles 
 had been paid out from Valentia on the Irish coast, the 
 cable suddenly parted, burying in 2000 fathoms of water 
 an electrical conductor which had cost $150,000 for its 
 manufacture. 
 
 A second attempt was made in 1858, when the U. S. 
 frigate Niagara and H. M. S. Agamemnon, each carry- 
 
374 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 ing half of the cable, met in mid-ocean; and, after 
 splicing the two ends together, steamed away in opposite 
 directions, the Niagara toward Newfoundland and the 
 Agamemnon toward Valentia. Fortunately for the en- 
 terprise, Prof. Thomson was on board the English ship as 
 chief electrician. No doubt, his mind turned many a 
 time during those anxious days to Fourier's differential 
 equation for the flow of heat along a conductor, and his 
 own application of it to the conduction of the electric 
 current through the copper core of the cable as it came 
 up from the tanks, trailed out behind the ship, dipped 
 silently into the blue water and slowly settled down to 
 its bed of ooze on the ocean floor. 
 
 After a series of disheartening mishaps, necessitating 
 as many returns of the ships to the rendezvous in mid- 
 ocean, the Agamemnon landed the shore-end safely in 
 "Valentia ; and the Niagara, after rolling and pitching 
 for days and nights in tempestuous seas, landed hers in 
 Trinity Bay on the morning of August 5th, 1858, on 
 which historic date the telegraphic union of the two 
 worlds was finally consummated and the great feat of 
 the century accomplished. 
 
 Though not fully realized at the time by the capitalists 
 who financed his scheme, by the engineers and elec- 
 tricians who carried it out, or even by statesmen, econr- 
 omists and social reformers, the slender copper cord, 
 buried away from human ken amidst the debris of 
 minute organisms, was destined to effect a revolution in 
 the affairs of men greater than any achieved by the 
 wisdom of sages or the policy of legislators. 
 
 Owing to the electrostatic capacity of the cable, sig- 
 naling would have been difficult and unsatisfactory had 
 it not been for the resourcefulness of Prof. Thomson, 
 
LORD KELVIN 375 
 
 who devised his reflecting galvanometer to serve as 
 receiving instrument. The principle of the mirror ap- 
 plied in this way was not new, for it had been suggested 
 by Poggendorff and even used by Gauss in connection 
 with very heavy magnets. The magnets used by Thom- 
 son, on the other hand, were strips of watch-spring 
 weighing about a grain each, so that even a very weak 
 current coming through the cable would be sufficient to 
 produce strong displacements of the spot of light on the 
 scale. Thomson was clearly the first to insist on small 
 dimensions in magnetic instruments, and to show that 
 reduction in size would be attended with corresponding 
 increase in sensitiveness. 
 
 The mirror galvanometer, surrounded with a thick 
 iron case to screen it from the magnetic field due to the 
 iron of the ship, the "iron-clad galvanometer " as it was 
 called, was used for the first time on the telegraphic 
 expedition of 1858. 
 
 The instrument itself, which was fitted up on board 
 the Niagara and which was connected with so many 
 episodes of thrilling interest, was placed by Prof. Thom- 
 son in the collection of historical apparatus in the Univer- 
 sity of Glasgow, where it is at the present day. 
 
 Beautiful as was the invention of the mirror galvan- 
 ometer, it gave neither warning of the beginning of a 
 message nor a permanent record of it. Sitting in his 
 dark room, the operator had to- be always on the alert 
 for the first swing of the spot of light over the scale. 
 To obviate these drawbacks, Thomson, after some think- 
 ing and more talking with his friend White, of Glasgow, 
 finally patented the siphon-recorder, in which a glass 
 siphon of capillary dimensions is pulled to the right or 
 left by the action of the current fiowing through a light 
 
376 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 movable coil, and is thus made ix) register signals in ink 
 on a vertical strip of paper which is kept in uniform 
 motion by a train of clockwork. It is by this simple 
 but very ingenious instrument that messages are re- 
 ceived and recorded to-day at all the cable-stations of 
 the world. 
 
 The inaugural message through the cable came from 
 the Directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company in 
 Great Britain to the Directors in America, saying : 
 ' ' Europe and America are united by telegraph ; glory to 
 God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward 
 men." 
 
 The message from Queen Victoria to President Bu- 
 chanan, consisting of 95 words, took 67 minutes in trans- 
 mission ; it read : 
 
 "The Queen desires to congratulate the President 
 upon the successful completion of this great international 
 work, in which the Queen has taken the deepest interest. 
 
 "The Queen is convinced that the President will join 
 with her in fervently hoping that the electric cable 
 which now connects Great Britain with the United States 
 will prove an additional link between the nations whose 
 friendship is founded upon their common interests and 
 reciprocal esteem. 
 
 ' ' The Queen has much pleasure in thus communicating 
 with the President, and renewing to him her wishes for 
 the prosperity of the United States." 
 
 The reply of President Buchanan was as follows : 
 
 "The President cordially reciprocates the congratula- 
 tions of Her Majesty, the Queen, on the success of the 
 great international enterprise accomplished by the 
 science, skill and indomitable energy of the two coun- 
 tries. It is a triumph more glorious, because far more 
 
LORD KELVIN 377 
 
 useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on 
 the field of battle. 
 
 ''May the Atlantic telegraph, under the blessing of 
 Heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and 
 friendship between the kindred nations, and an instru- 
 ment destined by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, 
 civilization, liberty and law throughout the world. In 
 this view will not all nations of Christendom spontan- 
 eously unite in the declaration that it shall be forever 
 neutral, and that its communications shall be held sacred 
 in passing to their places of destination, even in the 
 midst of hostilities? " 
 
 The historian of the enterprise was Mr. John Mullaly, 
 of New York, who was on the Niagara as secretary to 
 Prof. Morse and subsequently to Mr. Cyrus W. Field 
 and correspondent of the New York Herald. He has 
 published three interesting works on the subject : a Trip 
 to Newfoundland, with an account of the laying of the 
 submarine Cable (between Port au Basque and North 
 Sydney), 1855 ; The Ocean Telegraph, 1858 ; and The first 
 Atlantic Telegraph Cable, a pamphlet of 28 pages, re- 
 printed from the "Journal of the Franklin Institute," 
 1907. From it, we learn that Archbishop Hughes was 
 one of the principal American subscribers to the capital 
 of the Atlantic Cable Company. 
 
 When, in 1855, the subject of laying a cable under the 
 Atlantic ocean began to be seriously considered, Thom- 
 son, who was then only 31 years of age, discussed in a 
 series of masterly papers the theory of signaling through 
 such conductors, showing inter alia that the instruments 
 used on land-lines would be inoperative on cables, and 
 also that the same speed of transmission could not be 
 attained on cables as on ordinary telegraph lines. It 
 
■378 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 was shown at the same time, that these differences are 
 due to the fact that, unhke an air-line, the cable is an 
 electrical condenser in which the copper core is separated 
 from the waters of the ocean by a layer of ^tta percha, 
 a nonconducting material. As a submerged cable is, 
 therefore, along Leyden jar of great electrical capacity, 
 it follows that a signal sent in at the American end will 
 not reach the other instantly ; for while the current flows 
 along the conductor, it has also to charge up the cable 
 as it progresses, which operation retards the signals, 
 and also deprives them of the clearness and sharpness 
 with which they were sent. The phenomenon is analo-- 
 gous to the diffusion of heat along a bar, the tempera- 
 ture of the various cross-sections rising in gradual suc- 
 cession until the distant end is reached. The mathe- 
 matical investigations of Thomson showed the necessity 
 of working slowly, and of using weak currents as well 
 as very delicate receiving instruments. The interval of 
 time required for the transmission of a signal from New- 
 foundland to Valentia is about one second. 
 
 Some years later, in 1858, Thomson had the opportun- 
 ity of putting his theoretical views to the test of experi- 
 ment on a grand, commercial scale, and had the satis- 
 faction of finding that all his conclusions were confirmed. 
 Electricians of the early period distrusted the inex- 
 perienced young man who had never erected a mile 
 of telegraph line or even served for a month in a tele- 
 graph office ; but their distrust was followed by admira- 
 tion when they saw the efficient manner in which he 
 handled every problem and dealt with every difficulty 
 that occurred while laying the cable of 1858. It was 
 generally admitted that, had it not been for the brilliant 
 work of the young Glasgow Professor, many years 
 
LORD KELVIN 379 
 
 would have passed away before the Old World and the 
 New would have been brought into telegraphic com- 
 munication. 
 
 Like all interested in the enterprise, Thomson was 
 greatly shocked when the news reached him that signals 
 could no longer be transmitted through the cable, which, 
 after costing so much money, so much thought and 
 labor, now lay a useless thing in two and a half miles 
 of water. Attempts were made to raise it, but with- 
 out success. 
 
 During its short life of less than a month, 366 mes- 
 sages were flashed through the cable, aggregating 4359 
 words of 21,421 letters. 
 
 The failure of the pioneer cable has been attributed 
 to a variety of causes, chief of which were defective 
 construction and imperfect paying-out machinery, which 
 produced unequal strains in the cable. Defective 
 as the cable was at the moment of immersion, the var- 
 ious troubles became intensified with time, until at last, 
 when provoked by the feebleness of the signals, the in- 
 judicious electrician at Valentia had recourse to the 
 great penetrative power of the induction coil, and 
 gave the dying cable the coup de grace. 
 
 An experiment made by Mr. Latimer Clark is not only 
 germane to the subject, but is also of very great in- 
 terest. Writing from Valentia on Sept. 12th, 1866, Mr. 
 Latimer Clark says : "With a single galvanic cell, com- 
 posed of a few drops of acid in a silver thimble^ and a 
 fragment of zinc, weighing a grain or two, conversation 
 may easily, though slowly, be carried on through one 
 of the cables (1865, 1866) or through the two joined to- 
 
 1 The thimble was borrowed from Miss Fitzgrerald, daughter of the Knight of 
 'Kerry, who was living: at Valentia. 
 
380 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 gether at Newfoundland ; and although in the latter 
 case, the spark, twice traversing the breadth of the 
 Atlantic, has to pass through 3700 miles of cable, its 
 effects at the receiving end are visible in the galvan- 
 ometer in a little more than a second after contact is 
 made with the battery. The deflections are not of a 
 dubious character, but full and long, the spot of light 
 traversing freely a space of 12 in. or 13 in. on the scale ; 
 and it is manifest that a battery many times smaller 
 would suffice to produce similar effects," 
 
 Not to be outdone by the English electrician, Mr. 
 William Dickerson devised the gun-cap cell, which he 
 used in 1866 with success in transmitting signals from 
 Heart's Content, Newfoundland, to Valentia on the 
 Irish coast. 
 
 A piece of No. 16 bare copper wire was procured, one 
 end of which was firmly twisted around the head of an 
 empty percussion-cap. To one end of another similar 
 length of wire was bound, with fine copper wire, a short 
 strip of zinc bent at a right angle to form the anode 
 element of the diminutive cell. After charging the cell 
 with a drop of acidulated water of the size of an ordi- 
 nary well-formed tear, and properly connecting the 
 terminals with earth and cable, signals were transmit- 
 ted over the cable by the infinitesimal current generated 
 by this novel cell. The receiving operator reported that 
 the signals were "awfully small" ; but they were in- 
 telligible, and messages were successfully transmitted 
 under the ocean by this tiny element. 
 
 Contrast with this Lilliputian cell the enormous power 
 that was used on the cable of 1858 toward the end of its 
 short existence, when batteries of 380 and 420 Daniell 
 cells were employed to force signals across. 
 
LORD KELVIN 381 
 
 When, in 1865, it was decided to make another attempt 
 at laying a cable under the Atlantic, Prof. Thomson, 
 whose reputation was enhanced during the seven inter- 
 vening years by a number of communications on the 
 theory and practice of submarine telegraphy, was again 
 retained as scientific expert in a consultative sense, with 
 Mr. Cromwell F. Varley as chief electrician. In accord- 
 ance with the costly experience that had been gained, 
 a new cable was made and coiled on board the Great 
 Eastern,^ a leviathan which was well fitted for the work 
 by the great manoeuvring power afforded by its screw 
 and paddles combined. Leaving Valentia, the big ship 
 steamed with her prow to the west at a slow rate of 
 speed, in order to give the cable time to sink beneath 
 the waves and adapt itself to the configuration of the 
 ocean floor. Eleven hundred miles had been success- 
 fully paid out when, to the consternation of all, the 
 cable suddenly snapped and disappeared in more than 
 two miles of water. Attempts were made during the 
 next nine days to recover it from those abysmal depths ; 
 and, though grappled many times during those trying 
 hours, it gave way each time under the strain to which 
 it was subjected. Like its predecessors of 1857 and 
 1858, the cable of 1865 was finally abandoned to its fate, 
 and the Great Eastern returned home with three 
 greatly disappointed men on board, viz., Prof. Thom- 
 son, Mr. C. F. Varley and Captain (later Sir James) 
 Anderson. 
 
 In the following year, a sum of three-quarters of a 
 million sterling, nearly $4,000,000, was offered to the 
 Directors of the ''Telegraph Construction Company " if 
 they would complete the cable of 1865 and lay a new 
 
 1 Broken up a few years ago for scrap iron. 
 
382 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 one. After consultation and careful consideration, the 
 offer was accepted and the cable constructed according- 
 to the best engineering knowledge available. 
 
 In 1866, Prof. Thomson was again on board the Great 
 Eastern with Captain Anderson ; and this time the 
 big ship had snugly coiled up in her deep, cavernous 
 tanks the cable that was destined to put Europe and 
 America in permanent telegraphic communication. 
 With a well-manufactured cable, improved paying-out 
 machinery and an experienced staff of mechanical en- 
 gineers, not to mention the foremost electricians of the 
 day, the immersion of the cable was successfully effect- 
 ed, after which the American end of the cable of 1865 
 was raised, a new length spliced on, and the shore-end 
 safely landed in Trinity Bay. Europe and America 
 were thus united together by two electric bonds. 
 
 It may here be mentioned that ocean cables are 
 usually made in three sections, called, respectively, the 
 shore-end, the intermediate section and the deep-sea 
 section. It is clear that the submerged conductor needs 
 the greatest protection in the shallow water that sur- 
 rounds the coast, where it lies on a pebbly or rocky bot- 
 tom, exposed to the drifting action of currents and 
 tides, as well as to the haling flukes of the anchors of 
 storm-tossed ships. In deep water, on the other hand, 
 there is neither shingly bottom nor violent movement 
 to displace and abrade the cable ; for all is quiet and 
 peaceful in the profound depths where the god of the- 
 trident holds his court ; and hence few coverings and 
 a light armor afford sufficient protection. The wear and 
 tear in the ocean depths is a vanishing quantity when 
 compared with the abrasive effects near coast-lines. 
 Looking at the sections of an ocean cable, the biggest 
 
LORD KELVIN 383 
 
 and heaviest is the shore-end, while the thinnest and 
 lightest is that which goes down into the depths of the 
 sea. The lengths of the various sections are determined 
 by the survey of the route, which is always carefully 
 made before completing the specification of the cable. 
 Moreover, as the position of the cable-ship at noon every 
 day is known from its longitude and latitude, it follows 
 that the location of the cable on the bed of the ocean is 
 also exactly known. When a cable is broken either by 
 an upheaval or by a subsidence of the ocean floor, the 
 distance of the rupture from the shore end is determined- 
 by an electrical test, after which a repair-ship is dis- 
 patched to the spot, when the cable is lifted, the 
 "fault" cut away, a new length spliced on, and the 
 amended cable allowed to settle down into its watery 
 depths. 
 
 At the present time (July, 1909), there are sixteen 
 cables carrying the work of the North Atlantic, at an 
 average speed of 20 words a minute duplex, or 40 words 
 a minute, counting both directions. 
 
 This cable narrative affords as striking an illustration 
 of the triumph of failure as any recorded in the history 
 of human enterprise. It was a victory of mind over 
 matter ; of character and tactfulness, energy and endur- 
 ance over difficulties of every kind, moral and financial, 
 mechanical and meteorological. The four expeditions of 
 1857, 1858, 1865 and 1866 represent years of hard work, 
 anxiety and distressing failures ; but, sustained by the 
 patience of hope and by an unshaken confidence in the 
 soundness of the enterprise as well as in the ability of 
 their staff, the Directors of the Atlantic Company were 
 well rewarded for the disappointment occasioned and 
 the monetary losses incurred. "It has been a long 
 
384 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 struggle," said the initial promoter of the enterprise, 
 Mr. Cyrus W. Field, speaking at a banquet given in his 
 honor on November 15th, 1866, at the Metropolitan 
 Hotel, New York, "a, long struggle of nearly thirteen 
 years of anxious watching and ceaseless toil. Often my 
 heart was ready to sink. Many times, when wandering 
 in the forests of Newfoundland in pelting rain, or on 
 the decks of ships in dark, stormy nights, I almost ac- 
 cused myself of madness and folly to sacrifice the peace 
 of my family for what might have proved but a dream. 
 I have seen my companions, one after another, fall by 
 my side, and I feared that I, too, might not live to see 
 the end. And yet one hope has led me on ; I prayed 
 that I might not taste of death till the work was accom- 
 plished. That prayer has been answered ; and now, 
 beyond all acknowledgments to men, is the feeling of 
 gratitude to Almighty God.'* 
 
 It was men like Field and Thomson that the poet had 
 in mind when he wrote : 
 
 The wise and active conquer difficulties 
 By daring to attempt them. Sloth and folly 
 Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and labor. 
 And make the impossibility they fear. 
 
 Shortly after his return home. Prof. Thomson was 
 knighted for his splendid services in connection with 
 sub-oceanic cables, and was also honored with the free- 
 dom of the City of Glasgow. 
 
 If while journeying over land or sea. Sir WilHam's 
 mind was always active, his eyes were also open and 
 observant. In the numerous voyages which he under- 
 took in the interest of cable companies, he seems to have 
 heen struck by the unreliable character of the ordinary 
 apparatus used in taking soundings, consisting of a 
 
LORD KELVIN 385 
 
 heavy weight suspended by a thick hempen cord un- 
 wound from a reel. Owing to the massiveness of the 
 cord, the motion of the ship and currents in the water 
 would necessarily deflect it from the vertical, so that the 
 soundings recorded would be in excess of the true depth. 
 To remedy this defect, Thomson replaced the rope, at 
 first by a steel wire, and later by a thin strand of steel 
 wires, on which the speed of the ship has but little 
 effect ; the sinker descends vertically with considerable 
 velocity, and is raised with equal rapidity by suitable 
 winding-up machinery placed in the stem of the ship. 
 The sinker carries a gauge consisting of a quill-tube open 
 at the lower end and closed at the top. The inside, 
 which is coated with silver chromate, shows by the dis- 
 coloration produced by the action of the sea water how 
 far the water has compressed the air in the tube. By 
 comparison with a graduated ruler, the depth is then 
 read off. When the sinker reaches bottom, the heavy 
 weight is detached automatically, so that there is but 
 little strain on the wire as it ascends with its thermom- 
 eter and battery of tubes containing samples of the 
 depths reached. 
 
 A story is told in connection with this sounding-ma- 
 chine which shows the vivacity and wit of the inventor. 
 Having brought his friend Joule into White's one day, 
 lie pointed to a number of coils of steel wire lying on the 
 floor, informing his English friend of "mechanical- 
 equivalent" fame at the same time that he intended the 
 wire for sounding purposes. Upon Joule's innocently 
 asking what note it would sound, he received the prompt 
 answer, ''the deep sea"! 
 
 Another subject to which Sir William gave some atten- 
 tion after his experiences on the ocean is the navigating 
 
386 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 compass. His observations led him to distrust the long^ 
 heavy needles then in general use on shipboard. Be- 
 sides the friction to which the pressure on the pivot 
 gives rise and which necessarily diminishes the sensi- 
 tiveness of the needle, there was another objection, due 
 to the difficulty experienced in successfully applying 
 steel magnets and soft-iron masses to compensate for the 
 magnetism of the ship and for the changes induced in it 
 by change of place in the earth's magnetic field. 
 
 As a result. Prof. Thomson devised a compass-card 
 , which is remarkable for its lightness and sensitiveness. 
 It is made of two sets of magnets, containing four 
 needles each, arranged symmetrically on the right and 
 left of the pivot. The four needles, forming a set, are 
 of unequal length, ranging from 3i to 2 inches, with the 
 shortest outermost. Such a card, with its associated cor- 
 rectors of steel magnets and soft-iron balls, has added 
 greatly to the safety and certainty of navigation ; and as 
 such, it is used to-day in the merchant service and in 
 the navies of most countries of the world. 
 
 As we have seen, Thomson had the keen, racy wit of 
 his race. Lecturing before the members of the Bir- 
 mingham and Midland Institute in 1883, he placed him- 
 self and his nationality on record in a very humorous 
 way. His subject was "The six gateways of Knowl- 
 edge." As will be remembered by the readers of The 
 Pilgrim's Progress, old Bunyan likened the soul to a 
 citadel on a hill having no means of communication with 
 the outer world save by five gates, viz., the eye gate, 
 the ear gate, the mouth gate, the nose gate and the feel 
 gate. These are the five senses by which we obtain our 
 knowledge of the material world which surrounds us. 
 But Prof. Thomson took issue with Bunyan, with Reid 
 
LORD KELVIN 387 
 
 and the metaphysicians of all time in maintaining in this 
 lecture that we have six gateways of knowledge instead 
 of five, justifying the position which he took by affirming 
 that the sense of touch is really twofold, one of heat and 
 the other of force. It does not appear, however, that he 
 made any marked impression on the philosophic thought 
 of the day, for psychologists continued to write with un- 
 disturbed equanimity of the five senses and not the six. 
 
 It was on this occasion that Prof . Thomson said: "The 
 only census of the senses, so far as I am aware, that ever 
 before made them more than five was the Irishman's 
 reckoning of seven senses. I presume the Irishman's 
 seventh sense was common sense ; and I believe that the 
 possession of that virtue by my countrymen, / speak as 
 an Irishman, I say the large possession of the seventh 
 sense which I believe Irishmen have, will do more to 
 alleviate the woes of Ireland than the removal of ' the 
 melancholy ocean ' which surrounds its shores. " 
 
 For the successful operation of cables, telegraph lines 
 and scientific investigations of all sorts, a system of prac- 
 tical electrical units, accepted by all companies and 
 countries of the world, was soon found to be indispens- 
 able. The pioneer in the movement for establishing an 
 international system of electrical standards was Mr. J. 
 Latimer Clark, who, assisted by his distinguished part- 
 ner, (Sir) Charles Bright, prepared a paper on "The 
 formation of Standards of Electrical Quantity and Re- 
 sistance, '* which was read at the Manchester meeting 
 of the British Association in 1861. Prof. Thomson was 
 present ; and, at his instance, a committee was appoint- 
 ed to report on the general question of electrical units. 
 This was the first meeting of a committee that was des- 
 tined to accomplish much in the electric and electro- 
 
388 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 magnetic field ; it was the initial impulse of a movement 
 that brought renown to the entire body of English elec- 
 tricians. Such units as the ohm, the volt and the farad 
 met with immediate acceptance, while later on the 
 ampere, the coulomb, the watt and the joule were 
 introduced. Among the members of this body besides 
 Prof. Thomson, were such able men as Clerk Maxwell, 
 Joule, Lord Rayleigh, Sir William Siemens, Johnstone 
 Stoney, Balfour Stewart, and Carey Foster. 
 
 The world is then indebted to the insistence and ad- 
 vocacy of Prof. Thomson for the general acceptance of 
 the **C. G. S." system of measurement, which involves 
 the centimeter (length), the gram (mass), and the 
 second (time) as the fundamental units from which all 
 others are derived. 
 
 Prof. Thomson has claims in the *' wireless" field 
 also ; for as far back as 1855, he studied the nature of 
 the discharge of a condenser and proved mathemati- 
 cally that, under certain conditions easily realized in 
 practice, such discharges are of an oscillatory character, 
 consisting of a forward and a backward rush of elec- 
 tricity between the two coatings of the condenser. As 
 pointed out on page 92, Prof. Henry had reached the 
 same conclusion in 1842, and Helmholtz in 1847 ; but 
 Thomson's insight into the phenomenon is keen and his 
 mathematical analysis of it very remarkable. 
 
 Just as the to-and-fro motions of the prongs of a 
 tuning-fork give rise to sound-waves in the air, so the 
 electric oscillation due to a condenser discharge sets up 
 in the universal ether electric waves which flash the 
 news of the world over continents and oceans with un- 
 thinkable velocity. 
 
LORD KELVIN 389 
 
 By special request, Sir William Thomson gave, in 
 1884, a course of lectures at the Johns Hopkins Univer- 
 sity, Baltimore, to an audience of "professional fellow- 
 students in physical science," as he called the elite of 
 American men of science, twenty-one in number, as- 
 sembled to hear him. These accomplished physicists he 
 also affectionately called his "twenty-one coefficients." 
 
 The subject was the wave-theory of light, and the 
 object of the lecturer was to show how far the phenom- 
 ena of light, such as its transmission, refraction and 
 dispersion, could be explained within the limits of the 
 elastic solid theory of the ether, which makes that 
 hypothetical medium rigid, highly elastic and non- 
 gravitational. From the very first lecture. Sir William 
 assumed a cold and diffident attitude toward the rival 
 theory of Clerk Maxwell, which makes light an electro- 
 magnetic phenomenon ; and though his own presented 
 formidable difficulties, and its rival was universally ac- 
 cepted, the veteran Professor assured his hearers that 
 the elastic solid theory is the "only tenable foundation 
 for the wave-theory of light in the present (1884) state 
 of our knowledge." 
 
 Despite the energy which he displayed, his luminous 
 argumentation and close logic, Kelvin made no converts 
 among his "twenty-one coefficients"; and it soon 
 became evident that he was championing a lost cause. 
 Newton did the same when he held tenaciously to the 
 corpuscular theory of light ; and in doing so, let it be 
 said, that he retarded the acceptance of the wave-theory 
 and the advance of science by a hundred years. 
 
 A few years after the Baltimore lectures, official rec- 
 ognition of his distinguished services and of his emi- 
 nence in science came to Sir William Thomson when, in 
 
390 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 1892, he was raised to the peerage, with the title of 
 Baron Kelvin of Netherhall, Kelvin being the name 
 of a stream which passes near the buildings of the 
 University of Glasgow and flows into the Clyde, while 
 Netherhall is that of his country-seat at Largs, in Ayr- 
 shire, 40 miles from Glasgow. 
 
 As to the structure of matter, Kelvin lived to see the 
 "atom" of his youth and mature years shattered into 
 fragments, and the atomic theory of matter rapidly 
 yielding to the electronic. Though he maintained an 
 open mind toward the new school of physics, he was 
 reserved and conservative toward the revolutionary 
 doctrine of extreme radio-activists. He did not believe 
 in the transformation of one elementary form of matter 
 into another ; and he strenuously combated the theory 
 of the spontaneous disintegration of the atom. 
 
 Notwithstanding a long life devoted to the study of 
 mathematical and experimental physics, during which 
 Kelvin unraveled many a difficult problem in electricity 
 and magnetism and added many a beautiful skein to the 
 texture of our knowledge in electrostatics and electro- 
 kinetics, that illustrious man, the acknowledged leader 
 in physical science, made a public admission in 1896 
 which caused a great stir throughout the scientific world. 
 It was on the occasion of the celebration of the golden 
 jubilee of his professorship of natural philosophy in the 
 University of Glasgow. Delegates had come from all 
 parts of the world ; kings and princes had sent their 
 representatives; universities and learned societies of 
 every country of the Old World and the New vied with 
 one another in doing honor to the scientist who had 
 figured so long and so conspicuously in the advances of 
 the age. It was on that solemn occasion and in presence 
 
LORD KELVIN 391 
 
 of such a notable assembly that Kelvin made the aston- 
 ishing admission that, although he had been a diligent 
 student of electricity and magnetism for a period ex- 
 ceeding fifty years, and although he had pondered every 
 day for forty years over the nature of the ether and the 
 constitution of matter, he knew no more about their 
 essence, about what they really are, than he knew at 
 the beginning of his professional work. 
 
 This confession, remarkable by reason of the man 
 who made it and the circumstances in which it was 
 made, has always appeared to the writer of these lines 
 as having more of the ring of disappointment in it than 
 of blank failure. Kelvin's great analytical mind early 
 and persistently strove to penetrate the closely guarded 
 secrets of nature ; and because Dame Nature did not 
 yield to his open sesame, but persisted in her reticence, 
 the philosopher grew pessimistic and disappointed ; and, 
 under the sway of such feelings, he summed up the result 
 of his life-quest after the ultimate problems in science 
 and pronounced it a "failure." 
 
 A "failure" it was not, if science is the discovery 
 and registration of the laws of God as revealed in the 
 universe of mind and matter ; for few men of his gener- 
 ation, if any, made more contributions of the first order 
 to the theory of electrostatics, to the doctrine of en- 
 ergy, to hydrodynamics and the thermo-electric proper- 
 ties of matter. This note of disappointment, or wail of 
 despondency, had been sounded before by Faraday, who 
 said that, the more he studied electrical phenomena, 
 the less he seemed to know about electricity itself. 
 Was not Laplace animated by a kindred feeling when 
 he spoke about the infinitude of our ignorance? Lastly, 
 was not this intense feeling of our limited powers pre- 
 
392 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 cisely that which, after all his discoveries in mathe- 
 matics, in optics and in celestial mechanics, made New- 
 ton compare himself to a child standing on the beach 
 with the vast ocean of truth before him, unf athomed and 
 unexplored? 
 
 Kelvin gave a beautiful example to the world when, 
 after resigning the chair which he had occupied for 
 fifty-five years in the University of Glasgow, he imme- 
 diately proceeded to enter his name on the undergradu- 
 ate list, intimating by such an act that, whether a man 
 is a professor-in-ordinary of natural philosophy or a pro- 
 fessor emeritus, he must ever be a student, in close 
 touch with nature. 
 
 Lord Kelvin had the happiness of enjoying good 
 health throughout all the years of his long career, a 
 happiness due in part to nature, and in part also to the 
 simplicity, frugality and regularity of his life. 
 
 As already said, he was fond of cruising in European 
 waters in his yacht Lalla Rookh during the summer 
 months, and even venturing out on the Atlantic as far 
 as Madeira, for. 
 
 He loved the sea, and what is more. 
 He loved it best when far from shore. 
 
 In later years, however, owing to facial neuralgia, he 
 was accustomed to spend a month or so every summer 
 with Lady Kelvin at Aix-les-Bains, from which visits 
 he always derived much benefit. 
 
 While making some experiments in a corridor of his 
 beautiful home at Netherhall, he caught a chill on 
 November 23d, 1907, from which he never rallied, de- 
 spite the cares and attentions that were fondly lavished 
 upon him. The bulletins that were issued concerning- 
 
LORD KELVIN 393 
 
 his condition were read all the world over with more 
 concern than if they referred to a reigning sovereign 
 or an heir apparent. Every teacher of physics, math- 
 ematical or experimental ; every man interested in the 
 advance of science and the spread of knowledge, 
 anxiously awaited news from the sick-room of the illus- 
 trious patient— news that was transmitted to the ends 
 of the earth by the siphon-recorder invented by the 
 dying scientist in the heyday of his hfe ; and when the 
 word came that Kelvin had breathed his last, that 
 cablegram brought universal sorrow for the quenching 
 of the brightest light of the age and the loss of the 
 leading scientist, the model man and faithful Christian. 
 
 It was in the fitness of things that the man who wa& 
 considered the greatest since Newton should be buried 
 in Westminster Abbey, and that the mortal remains 
 of Lord Kelvin should find a resting-place next to the 
 grave of the genius who thought out the Principia and 
 discovered the gravitational law which governs the 
 planetary as well as the stellar universe. 
 
 If asked to say what impressed me most in Lord 
 Kelvin, I would mention the cordial manner in which he 
 welcomed those who sought advice ; the encouragement 
 which he held out to students ; his absolute devotion to 
 truth ; his fair-mindedness and candor ; his reverence in 
 dealing with the problems of the soul and the destiny of 
 man ; and the uniform, tranquil happiness of his life, 
 due, under God, to his profound religious belief and 
 noble Christian life. 
 
 A man of strong convictions, Kelvin did not, how- 
 ever, wear his religion on his sleeve, but treasured it 
 in the depths of his heart, where it was never dis- 
 turbed by the tossing and ever-changing wave-forms of 
 
:394 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 individual opinion. He quietly but uniformly maintained 
 that physical science demands the existence and action 
 of creative power ; and he did not shrink from affirming 
 this conviction whenever circumstances seemed to re- 
 quire it, as was the case on the memorable occasion of 
 his Presidential address to the members of the British 
 Association in 1871. In concluding that brilliant dis- 
 course, he said: "But strong, overpowering proofs of 
 intelligent and benevolent design lie all around us ; and 
 if ever perplexities, whether metaphysical or scientific, 
 turn us away from them for a time, they come back 
 upon us with irresistible force, showing to us, through 
 nature, the influence of free will, and teaching us that 
 all living beings depend on one ever-acting Creator and 
 Ruler." 
 
 Once when particularly disgusted with the material- 
 istic views of those who, while denying the existence of 
 a Creator, attributed the wonders of nature, animate 
 and inanimate, to the potency of a fortuitous concourse 
 of atoms, he wrote to Liebig, asking him if a leaf or a 
 flower could be formed or even made grov/ by chemical 
 forces, to which he received the significant reply from 
 the famous chemist of Giessen : " I would more readily 
 believe that a book on chemistry or on botany could 
 grow out of dead matter by chemical processes." 
 
 We have already referred to the custom which ob- 
 tained in the University of Glasgow, of beginning the 
 daily sessions by invoking the blessing of heaven on the 
 work about to be undertaken. Having liberty in the 
 matter of choice, Prof. Thomson selected for this pur- 
 pose a prayer from the morning service of the Church 
 of England, which reads: "0 Lord, our heavenly Fa- 
 ther, almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely 
 
LORD KELVIN 395 
 
 brought us to the beginning of this day ; defend us in 
 the same with Thy mighty power ; and grant that this 
 day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of 
 danger ; but that all our doings may be ordered by Thy 
 governance, to do always what is righteous in Thy 
 sight; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen." 
 
 Academical honors were showered upon Lord Kelvin 
 by seats of learning, ancient and modem ; he was a D. 
 C. L. Oxford, LL.D. Cambridge, and a D. Sc. London; 
 he was President of the Royal Society from 1890 to 
 1895 ; President of the British Association in 1871 ; 
 Knight of the Prussian Order Pour le Merite, and For- 
 eign Associate of the Institut de France. 
 
 His published works include a ' ' Treatise on Natural 
 Philosophy," 2 vols., written in collaboration with Prof. 
 Tait, of Edinburgh (the two authors were often referred 
 to as T and T); "Contributions to Electrostatics and 
 Magnetism"; "Collected mathematical and physical Pa- 
 pers," 3 vols.; "Popular Lectures and Addresses," 
 3 vols.; and the "Baltimore Lectures." These, as well 
 as the instruments which he devised for navigation, 
 for the finest work of the laboratory, as well as for the 
 commercial measurement of current, potential, and en- 
 ergy, form a monument to Lord Kelvin that will be 
 aere pe'yfi.nniv^. 
 
 Brother Potamian. 
 
INDEX 
 
 397 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abbey, Westminster, 393 
 Academical honors, 395 
 Academy of Science, Royal, 202 
 Action at a distance, 356 
 Adams Prize, 339 
 Addison, 215, 216 
 Advancement of learning, 65 
 Affinity, 70 
 Agonic line, 22, 23 
 Akenside, 216 
 Albert the Great, 36 
 Albertus Magnus, 70 
 Alibert, 159 
 Aldin, 141, 207 
 Alfonso el Sabio, 8 
 Almanack, Poor Richard's, 103 
 Ampere, Jean Jacques, 233, 210, 
 
 232, 361 
 Amperean currents, 214 
 Amundsen, 30, 51 
 Anaesthesia, 308 
 Anaxagoras, 244 
 Anatomy, Comparative, 136 
 Ancients in the exact sciences, 1 
 Anderson, 381 
 Anelectrica, 70 
 Animal electricity, 146, 149, 175, 
 
 205, 320 
 Annus mirabilis, 86 
 Apollonius, 244 
 Arago, 177, 232, 243 
 Archimedes, 1, 13, 139, 244, 213; 
 
 burning mirror, 14 
 Architecture, 199 
 
 Architectonics of metaphysics, 222 
 Aristarchus of Samos, 53 
 -Aristotle, 52 
 Arsinoe, Queen, 5 
 Aspects of pain, 352 
 Assisi, Poor little man of, 161 
 
 Atheism, 160 
 
 Atlantic Telegraph Co., 373 
 
 Atoms, 355 
 
 Attraction and repulsion, 197 
 
 Auenbrugger, 274 
 
 Autobiography of Franklin, 126 
 
 Ayrton, 369 
 
 B 
 
 Bacon, Chancellor, r"^ 
 
 Bacon, Roger, 3, 10, 64 
 
 Balance, Electric, 200 
 
 Balancing of energies, 331 
 
 Baltimore lecture, 395 
 
 Barlowe, Wm., 40, 70, 326 
 
 Barometer, 70 
 
 Barrett, Father, 254 
 
 Bassi, I/aura, 154 
 
 Battery, Voltaic, 206 
 
 Bauernfeind, 292 
 
 Baxter, Richard, 359 
 
 Bear, Little, 24 
 
 Bede, 54 
 
 Beet sugar, 306 
 
 Bembo, Cardinal, 215 
 
 Bence Jones, 333 
 
 Bernoulli, 236, 245, 348 
 
 Bernoulli, Daniel, 280 
 
 Bernoulli, Johann, 280 
 
 Bertelli, 27 
 
 Bertholinus, 147 
 
 Berthollet, 224 
 
 Beuve, Saint, 253 
 
 Bevis, 95 
 
 Biot, 198, 203, 224 
 
 Birds' ears ; kidneys; semi -circular 
 
 canals, 137 
 Boethius, 54 
 Bolivar, 255 
 Bond, 70 
 Bose, 87 
 
398 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Boyle. 70, 301 
 Brewster, Sir David, 218 
 Briggs, 50 
 
 Bright, Sir Charles, 387 
 Brook Taylor, 280 
 Browne, Sir Thomas, 70 
 Brugnatelli, Prof., 179 
 Brunetto Latini, 9 
 Buff on, 14, 99, 132 
 Bunyan, 386 
 Burning mirror, 14 
 Byron, 328 
 
 Cabanis, 246 
 
 Cabeo, 3, 26, 73 
 
 Cable, submarine; 362, telegraph, 
 322 , 
 
 Cabot, Sebastian, 23 
 
 Calculus of variations, 245 
 
 Canada balsam, 348 
 
 Canals, Semi-circular, 348 
 
 Canton, 91 
 
 Carthesian ovals, 337 
 
 Carminate, Prof., 141 
 
 Cascade, 90 
 
 Cassini, 26 
 
 Cavallo, 26 
 
 Cavendish, 93, 101, 173, 338; Lab- 
 oratory, 340 
 
 Cayley, 364 
 
 Cell, Gun-cap, 380 
 
 Charles, Law of, 173, 224 
 
 Chelonian, Complaisant, 52 
 
 Chemical manipulation, 307 
 
 Childe Harold, 328 
 
 Christianity, 257 
 
 Chrystal, 258 
 
 Churchmen in Science, 162 
 
 Cingari, 153 
 
 Circle, Graduated, 19 
 
 Circuit, 70 
 
 Clark, Latimer, 218, 387 
 
 Clausius, 348 
 
 Clergymen Pioneers in Electricity, 
 162 
 
 Clerk Maxwell, 32, 94, 324 
 
 Clerk of Penicuik, 335 
 
 Cluny, 8 
 
 Coffin of Mahomet, 5 
 
 Coleridge, 261, 328 
 
 Collinson, Peter, 81 
 
 Color vision, 345 
 
 Columbian line, 23 
 
 Columbus, 21, 23; on electricity,. 
 
 208 
 Como, College of, 172 
 Compass -card, 386; variation of 
 
 the, 25 
 Concentration, 367 
 Concourse of atoms, 394 
 Conference of St. Vincent de Paul, 
 
 254 
 Contributions to molecularphysics, 
 
 285 
 Copernicus, 54 
 Copley medal, 284 
 Coulomb, 84, 93, 188; character, 
 
 203; memoirs, 199 
 Creator and Ruler, 394 
 Creatures, 331 
 Crookes, 86, 246 
 Gumming, 70 
 Cunatus, 87 
 
 Current, Oscillatory, 206 
 Curves, Rolling, 337 
 Cuthberson, 361 
 Cuvier, 252, 224 
 Cynosure, 24 
 
 D 
 
 Dante, 161 
 
 Darwin, 227, 327, 351 
 
 Davy, Sir Humphry, 303, 326 
 
 Davy, 209, 306 
 
 D'Alembert, 280 
 
 D'Alibard, 99, 106 
 
 De Causis et Sedibus Morborum,. 
 
 167 
 Declination, 21 
 De Civitate Dei, 5 
 Degrees and residence, 205 
 De Heer, 284 
 Dellman, 286 
 De Magnete, 35 
 De Mundo Nostro, 61 
 De Mundo Nostro Sublunari, 63 
 De Natura Rerum, 2 
 De Romas, 107 
 De Vi Attractiva, 170 
 
INDEX 
 
 399 
 
 Be Viribus Electricitatis, 141 
 
 Development, Process of, 228 
 
 Devotion, L,ife of, 231 
 
 Dewar, 41 
 
 Dickerson, William, 380 
 
 Didactic lecture, 295 
 
 Digby, Sir Kenelen, 40 
 
 Dip -circle, 30 
 
 Discoveries by accident, 311; in 
 science, 283; new, 251; prac- 
 tical, 213 
 
 Disposer, Great, 332 
 
 Divinia Commedia, 161 
 
 Divisch, 107 
 
 Dobereiner's lamp, 173 
 
 Dry den, 65 
 
 Dubois, Raymond, 298 
 
 Dufay, 83, 95 
 
 Dumas, 290 
 
 Dynamics of bodies, 291 
 
 Earth's magnetism, 22 
 
 Earthquakes and electricity, 148 
 
 Earthquakes and magnetism, 315 
 
 Ear of the bird, 139 
 
 Elastic solids, 337 
 
 Electrica, 70 
 
 Electrical bumper, 96; jack, 95; 
 
 pistol, 172; treatment, 147; 
 
 tube, 81 
 Electricitatis, 134 
 Electric light, 316; matter, 92; 
 
 motor, 76 
 Electricity, 70 
 Electro -dynamics, 250 
 Electromagnet, 70 
 Electro-magnetics, 250 
 Electro-magnetism, 70 
 Electro -magnetismos, 41 
 Electron, 86 
 Electronic theory, 85 
 Electrophorus, 171 
 Electroscope, 171 
 Epilepsy, 292 
 Epitaph of Franklin, 129 
 Eratosthenes, 1 
 Ether, 309; universal, 60 
 Euclid, 1 
 Eudiometer, 172 
 
 Eugenie, Empress, 310 
 Euler, 107, 236, 280 
 Ewing, 42 
 
 Examination of conscience, 79 
 Existence, History of, 247 ; of God, 
 354 
 
 E 
 
 Failure, Triumph of, 283, 391 
 
 Faith, Confession of, 186 
 
 Faraday, 32, 41, 189, 298, 338, 361, 
 366; eloquence, 323; marriage, 
 329 ; money making, 309 ; note- 
 books, 302, 317; parents, 300; 
 passing of, 332 ; perseverance, 
 318; poverty, 300; statement 
 of law, 314 
 
 Faraday -Maxwell Theory, 344 
 
 Father of Mercies, 327 
 
 Father of Pathology, 167 
 
 Fechner, 276, 284 
 
 F^nelon, 235 
 
 Fichte, 324 
 
 Field, Cyrus W., 322, 377, 384 
 
 Field of force, 42 
 
 Filial tributes, 267 
 
 Flavio Gioja, 20 
 
 Foster, Carey, 388 
 
 Foucault, 55 
 
 Fourier, 363 
 
 Fowler, 149 
 
 Francis I., Emperor, 110 
 
 Franklin, 68, 77; and Paine, 128 
 
 Franklinian rods, 115 
 
 Franz, Father, 110 
 
 Freedom of the Press, 225 
 
 Free will, 352, 394 
 
 Fresnel, 251, 361 
 
 Frog dancing master, 151 
 
 Fuller, 65 
 
 Fulminating pane, 89 
 
 Future, Truth of, 331 
 
 Galileo, 40, 245 
 
 Gateway of Knowledge, 386 
 
 Galtoni, Father, 16, 8 
 
 Galvani, 133, 205, 211; anticipation: 
 
 of original experiment, 144; 
 
 Madame, 141 ; the physician. 
 
 the teacher, 151; wife, 140 
 
400 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Galvanometer, 70, 375 
 
 Garnett, 339 
 
 Gasser, 28 
 
 Gauss, 271, 375 
 
 Gay-Lussac, 209 
 
 Gellibrand, 26, 49 
 
 Genius, Precocious, 234 
 
 Geometry, 1; and intellectual cul- 
 ture, 267, 268 
 
 Gilbert, 3, 13, 26, 32 
 
 Giliani, Alessandra, 155 
 
 Gioja, 200 
 
 Gladstone, 236, 332 
 
 Glass harmonica, 115 
 
 God disposes, 289 
 
 Goethe, 222 
 
 Graduation, Early, 165 
 
 Graft, 192 
 
 Graham, 26 
 
 Gray, Stephen, 77; Prof. Andrew, 
 369 
 
 Great Eastern, 382 
 
 Green, 70 
 
 Gregory, 244 
 
 Grind, 263 
 
 Guericke, Otto von, 74 
 
 Guyot deProvins, 7 
 
 Gymnotus electricus, 150 
 
 Gyrostat, 372 
 
 H 
 
 Hakewill, 216 
 
 Hallam, 36 
 
 Hamilton, 76 
 
 Handy-men, 273 
 
 Hansteen, 208 
 
 Happy in life, 355 
 
 Hartmann, 26, 31 
 
 Harvey, 133, 334 
 
 Hauksbee, 74 
 
 Haiiy, Abbe, 224 
 
 Headaches, 52 
 
 Helmholtz, 279, 321, 366 
 
 Heis, 271 
 
 Henry, 214, 361; Joseph, 92, 284, 
 
 206, 388 
 Herapath, 348 
 Herschel, Sir John, 225 
 Hertzian waves, 342 
 -Hippocrates, 244 
 
 Hobby, 345 
 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 262 
 
 Homer, 235 
 
 Horace, 204, 355 
 
 Hottentots, 129 
 
 Hunter, John, 138 
 
 Huyghens, 244 
 
 Hymn to Mont Blanc, 328 
 
 Identity of lightning and electric- 
 ity, 98 
 
 II mago benefice, 184 
 
 Imitation of Christ, 255 
 
 Inclination, 70 
 
 Induction, 311; theory of, 311; 
 sparks, 316 
 
 Institute of France, 202 
 
 Interference, Phenomena of, 287 
 
 Iron filings, 3; raspings of, 2 
 
 Isidore of Seville, 54 
 
 Isomagnetic lines, 24 
 
 Invisible things of God, 331 
 
 Izarn, 207 
 
 Jacobi, 284 
 
 Jesuit gymnasium, 270 
 
 Johns Hopkins University, 389 
 
 Joule, 385, 388 
 
 K 
 
 Kant, 119, 260 
 Kelvin, Lord, 139, 228, 258 
 Keppler, 40, 333 
 Kidneys of the bird, 136 
 Kinnersley, 83 
 Kircher, 26, 41, 70 
 Kite incident, 131; lightning, 121 
 Klaproth, 7, 224 
 Kleist, Dean von, 87 
 Klopstock, 223 
 Kneller, Father, 177 
 Knowledge, subjective and objec- 
 tive, 247 
 Koerner, 223, 265 
 Kohlrausch, 286 
 
INDEX 
 
 401 
 
 Laboratory, First physical, 368 
 
 ,X<aennec, 139 
 
 Lagrange, 244, 343 
 
 Lament, 270 
 
 Larmor, Dr. Joseph, 66 
 
 Langberg, 287 
 
 Langsdorff, 260 
 
 Languages, Special gift for, 167 
 
 Laplace, 254, 391 
 
 Learning, A little, 160 
 
 Lectures to the working people, 
 
 350 
 Leibnitz, 245 
 Lejeune Dirichlet, 271 
 Lenz, 284 
 Lesage, 219 
 Lessing, 222 
 Leverrier, 251 
 Libri, 27 
 Light an electric phenomenon, 
 
 344; polarized, 316 
 Lightning conductor. The Divisch, 
 
 111; kite, 121; rods, 101, 104, 
 
 114; storm, 116 
 Life, Future, 331; happiness, 355 
 Lines of magnetic force, 313 
 Linnaeus, 238 
 Livius Sanutus, 49 
 Livres dou Tresor, 9 
 Lockwood, Thomas D., 275 
 Lodestone, 2 
 
 Lodge, Sir Oliver, 71, 246 
 Lombroso, 246 
 Lor, M. de, 122 
 Lucretius, 2, 167 
 Ludwig I., 278 
 Lucan, 235 
 
 M 
 
 Mackenzie, Colin, 358 
 
 Machines, Simple, 192, 199 
 
 Magaud, 187 
 
 Magiae Naturalis, 35 
 
 Magic, Natural, 215 
 
 Magnes, Loadstone challenge, 34 
 
 Magnetic declination, 47; dip, 29; 
 fields, 42, 313; figures, 3; in- 
 clination, 31; meridian, 45; 
 .motor. 16 
 
 Magnet and Chinese, 7; flesh, 5; 
 gold, 6; polarity of, 4; white, 
 6 
 
 Magnetism, 70, 202; into electric- 
 ity, 315 
 
 Magnetismus, 40 
 
 Magnetization, Permanent, 206 
 
 Magnetometer, 44 
 
 Mahomet's sarcophagus 
 
 Makers of Modern Medicine, 13 
 
 Malebranche, 248 
 
 Man proposes, 289 
 
 Manzolini, Madame, 154 
 
 Marcet, Mrs., 301 
 
 Maria Theresa, 110 
 
 Mariotte, 245 
 
 Marriage, Faraday's, 329 
 
 Marshall, Chas., 218 
 
 Martinique, 191 
 
 Martins, 298 
 
 Mass and weight, 56; of the earth, 
 58 
 
 Mathematics, Without a taste for, 
 262 
 
 Matter and force, 320; ultimate 
 structure of, 282; al tripos, 364 
 
 Maxwell, 313, 388; the man, 359 
 
 Memberships, Honorary, 332 
 
 Memory, Wonderful, 236 
 
 Menon, Abbe, 77 
 
 Mental powers and morals, 331 
 
 Message, Inaugural, 376 
 
 Metaphysics, 247, 222 
 
 Meteorological machine, 112 
 
 Mind, Concentration of, 169 
 
 Mirror, Galvanometer, 375 
 
 Mitchell, John, 84,189 
 
 Mojon, 207 
 
 Molecular torrent, 86 
 
 Molecules, 353 
 
 Money-making, Faraday on, 309 
 
 Monge, 224 
 
 Montucla, 244 
 
 Morality, Absolute, 247 
 
 Morrison, Charles, 218 
 
 Motion, Perpetual, 18 
 
 Moscow, 265 
 
 Mottelay, P. Fleury, 66 
 
 Mullaly, John, 377 
 
 Miiller, Johann, 338 
 
 Mullock, Bishop, 373 
 
402 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Muscle-twitchings, 175 
 Musschenbroek, 86, 211 
 Myopia, 239 
 
 N 
 
 Napoleon, 179, 202, 247 
 
 Near-sightedness, 239 
 
 Negative, 126 
 
 Neptune, 251 
 
 Newe Attractive, 33 
 
 Newman, Cardinal, 353 
 
 Newton, 74, 139, 197, 244, 333, 389; 
 
 Principia, 62, 208 
 Nollet, Abbe, 77, 95, 101, 170 
 Norman, 29, 59 
 Novum Organum, 13 
 
 O 
 
 Oersted, 208, 232, 249; discusses 
 evolution, 227 
 
 Ohm, Martin, 262, 270 
 
 Ohm's law, 189, 251, 258; of acou- 
 stics, 282; goodness of heart, 
 296 
 
 Ohm's personal appearance, 293; 
 preface, 274 
 
 Olbers, 224 
 
 Opus Majus, 10 
 
 Opus Tertiam, 12 
 
 Orb of virtue, 33 
 
 Orchestrion, 115 
 
 Origin of Species, 227 
 
 Ostwald, 361 
 
 Oval curves, 337 
 
 Ozanam, 253 
 
 Paine, 127 
 
 Palladius, 5 
 
 Paralysis, 148 
 
 Paris, Dr., 304 
 
 Parkinson, 365 
 
 Pascal, 256 
 
 Pasteur, 185, 282, 310 
 
 Pavia, University of, 173 
 
 Pellagra, 184 
 
 Pellico, Sylvio, 187 
 
 Peregrinus, 3, 8, 11 
 
 Perry, Prof. John, 369 
 
 Pfaff, 276 
 
 Philosopher of Copenhagen, 210' 
 
 Philosophia Magnetica, 3 
 
 Philosophical Society, 307 
 
 Philosophy, Small draughts of, 160 
 
 Physics text-book, 291 
 
 Pierre le P61€rin, 12 
 
 Pile, 205 
 
 Pivoted compass, 9 
 
 Plagiarism, 63 
 
 Planta, Martin de, 74 
 
 Plato, 1, 213 
 
 Pliny, 4 
 
 Poet and scientist, 323 
 
 Poem, Mathematical, 364 
 
 Poggendorf, 276, 284, 375 
 
 Pohl, 276 
 
 Poincar^, 344 
 
 Polaric, 24 
 
 Polarity, 4, 200 
 
 Polarization, 200 
 
 Polyhedrons, 244 
 
 Pope Alexander VI., 24; Clement 
 IV., 10; Paul III., 54; Leo X., 
 215 
 
 Popularization of science, 350 
 
 Porta, 215 
 
 Positive, 126 
 
 Potential, 70 
 
 Potato, 174 
 
 Pouillet, 284 
 
 Power, Feeble directive, 51 
 
 Preece, Sir William, 107 
 
 Premonstratensian Order, 107 
 
 Premonition, 266 
 
 Priestley, 106, 121, 167, 171, 231 
 
 Pringle, Sir John, 101 
 
 Priority in discoveries, 133 
 
 Prometheus, Modern, 119 
 
 Providence, 327; particular, gen- 
 eral, 127 
 
 Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 70 
 
 Psychology, 246 
 
 Ptolemy, 54 
 
 Q 
 
 Quacks, 52 
 Quackery, 149 
 
INDEX 
 
 403 
 
 R 
 
 .Radowitz, General, 278 
 Rainbow, 2>2>i 
 Ramsay, Sir Wm., 369 
 Ramsden, 74 
 Rayleigh, Lord, 388 
 Raymond Lully, 10 
 Reid, 368 
 Religion, 129 
 Republic, Cis- Alpine, 156 
 Repulsion, Magnetic, 2 
 Resurrection, 129 
 Retina, 348 
 Richet, 246 
 Riclimann, 106 
 RigM, 71 
 Ritter, 224 
 Robespierre, 114 
 Roentgen, 211 
 Romagnosi, 206 
 Ronaldo, 219 
 Ross, Sir James, 30 
 Rotch, 104 
 Rousseau, 238 
 Rowland, 94 
 Rush, Benjamin, 165 
 
 Sacchetti, 153 
 
 : Samothracian rings, 3 
 
 Saturn's Rings, 339 
 
 Scarpa, 137 
 
 Schelling, 224 
 
 Schiller, 223 
 
 Schlegel, 223 
 
 Schweigger, 273 
 
 Science and free will, 352 ; and re- 
 ligion, 185; classification of, 
 252; experimental, 37; high 
 priest of, 295 
 
 -Sebec, 281 
 
 Secular variation, 49 
 
 Semi -circular canals, 138 
 
 Senses, Seven, 387 
 
 Series, 90 
 
 Seventh Sense, 387 
 
 Shakespeare's Cliff, 329 
 
 Siena, Cathedral, 115 
 
 Siger, 17 
 
 Silurus electricus, 150 
 
 Siphon-recorder, 375 
 
 Skill, Mechanical, 273 
 
 Smith's Prize, 336, 365 
 
 Snell, 244 
 
 Sophocles, 355 
 
 Soundings of deep sea, 384 
 
 Sound, Perception of, 282 
 
 Southey, 8 
 
 Spectator, 215 
 
 Spence, Dr., 82 
 
 Sphere, Electrified, 198 
 
 Spirit of mathematical analysis, 
 
 262 
 Squaring of the circle, 243 
 Saint Aloysius, 134; Augustine, 
 
 53, 254; Francis, Third Order 
 
 of, 161: Thomas, 63 
 Saint-Hilaire, Geoffroy, 252 
 Statics, 199 
 
 Stereoscope, Real image, 348 
 Stethoscope, 139 
 Stevin, 49 
 
 Stewart, Balfour, 388 
 Stimmen aus Maria -L,aach, 177 
 Stokes, 364 
 Stoney, 388 
 Strada, 216 
 
 Strain in the ether, 356 
 Structure of physical bodies, 282 
 Stuber, Dr., 119 
 Sturgeon, 70 
 
 Sugar from beet-root, 306 
 Sulzer, 176 
 
 Superfluous, Elimination of, 283 
 Suspension of the earth, 60 
 Swammerdam, 144 
 
 Taisnier, 26, 63 
 
 Tait, 334, 337, 342 
 
 Tampering with the lodestone, 6 
 
 Tandem, 90 
 
 Taprobane, 5 
 
 Tasso, 166, 235 
 
 Taylor's scientific memoirs, 276 
 
 Telephone, 70 
 
 Terrella, 44 
 
 Terrestrial magnetism, 51 
 
404 
 
 MAKERS OF ELECTRICITY 
 
 Terror, Reign of, 201 
 
 Test-nail method, 44 
 
 Text -books, Maxwell's, 349 
 
 Thales, 2 
 
 Theory of induction, 314; of the 
 
 Leyden-jar, 88; two-fluid, 126 
 Th^venot, 20 
 Thimble -cell, 379 
 Thompson, James, 362; Silvanus 
 
 P., 27, 63, 80, 371; Wm., 361 
 Thunderbolt, 117 
 Toaldo, Padre, 115 
 Torpedo, 150 
 Torsion balance, 84, 188 
 Torque, 200 
 Tripos, 365 
 
 Truth of the future, 331 
 Twitchings of frogs, 135 
 Tycho Brah6, 68 
 Tyndall, 299 
 
 U 
 
 Uhland, 223, 265 
 
 Understanding and personal in- 
 vestigation, 268 
 University degrees, 265 
 Unworkable, 357; extension, 225 
 Uranus, 251 
 
 Van Helmont, 70 
 Van Troostwijk, 361 
 Variation of the compass, 21 
 Vaults, The statics of, 191 
 Venedey, 271 
 Venturoli, 156 
 Verses, Latin, 239 
 
 Virchow, 293 
 
 Virgil, 166 
 
 Virgilius, 53 
 
 Vitry, Cardinal Jacques de, 8 
 
 Volta, 162 ; anticipation of, 176; 
 
 faith, 186; honored, 180; piety, 
 
 183 ; pile, 177 
 Voltaic pile, 176 
 Voltaire, 235 
 Vortex, 372 
 
 W 
 
 Wallace, 244, 246 
 
 Watson, 70, 95 
 
 Waves, Hertzian, 342 
 
 Wealth, Three ways to, 127 
 
 Weber, 342 
 
 Weight, Accidental, 57; and mass 
 
 of the earth, 56, 58 
 Wenckebach, 21 
 Werner, 224 
 Wheatstone, 70 
 Wilson, Dr. Benjamin, 101 
 Wimshurst, 74 
 Windmills, 199 
 Winkler, 91 
 Winkelmann, 222 
 Works, sham, pilfered, distorted, 
 
 63; under-water, 99 
 Worthies of England, 65 
 
 Young, 313 
 
 Zak, Father Alphons, 108 
 
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESS SERIES 
 
 MAKERS OF MODERN MEDICINE-A series of Biogra- 
 pliies Oi the men to whom wo owe the important advances in the 
 development of modern medicine. By James J. Walsh, M. D., 
 Fh. D., LL.D., Dean and Professor of the History of Medicine at 
 Fordham University School of Medicine, N. Y. Second Edition, 
 1909. 362 pp. Price, $2.00 net. 
 
 The London Lancet said : ' ' The list is well chosen, and we have to 
 express gratitude for so convenient and agreeable a collection of 
 biographies, for which we might otherwise have to search through 
 many scattered books. The sketches are pleasantly written, inter- 
 esting, and well adapted to convey the thoughtful members of our 
 profession just the amount of historical knowledge that they would 
 wish to obtain. We hope that the book will find many readers." 
 
 The New York Times: "The book is intended primarily for stu- 
 dents of medicine, but laymen will find it not a little interesting." 
 
 // Morgagni (Italy) : "Professor Walsh narrates important lives in 
 modern medicine with an easy style that makes his book delightful 
 reading. It certainly will give the young physician an excellent idea 
 of who made our modern medicine." 
 
 The Lamp: ' ' This exceptionally interesting book is from the prac- 
 ticed hand of Dr. James J. Walsh. It is a suggestive thought that 
 each of the great specialists portrayed were god-fearing men, men 
 of faith, far removed from the shallow materialism that frequently 
 flaunts itself as inherently worthy of extra consideration for its own 
 sake." 
 
 The Church Standard {Protestant Episcopal) : ' ' There is perhaps 
 no profession in which the lives of its leaders would make more 
 fascinating reading than that of medicine, and Dr. Walsh by his 
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 The New York Medical Journal: "We welcome works of this 
 kind ; they are evidence of the growth of culture within the medical 
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 have the leisure to look backward to what has been accomplished." 
 
 Science: "The sketches are extremely entertaining and useful. 
 Perhaps the most striking thing is that everyone of the men de- 
 scribed was of the Catholic faith, and the dominant idea is that great 
 scientific work is not incompatible with devout adherence to the tenets 
 of the Catholic religion." 
 
THE POPES AND SCIENCE— The story of the Papal Rela- 
 tions to Science from the Middle Ages down to the Nineteenth 
 Century. By James J. Walsh, M. D., Ph. D., LL.D. 440 pp. 
 Price, $2.00 net. 
 
 Prof. Pagei., Professor of History at the University of Berlin: 
 ' ' This book represents the most serious contribution to the history 
 of medicine that has ever come out of America." 
 
 Sir Ci,ifford Ai,i,butT, Regius Professor of Physic at the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge (England) : " The book as a whole is a fair 
 as well as a scholarly argument." 
 
 The Evening Post (New York) says : ' ' However strong the reader's 
 .prejudice * * * * he cannot lay down Prof. Walsh's volume without 
 |at least conceding that the author has driven his pen hard and deep 
 into the ' academic superstition ' about Papal Opposition to science." 
 In a previous issue it had said : ' ' We venture to prophesy that all 
 who swear by Dr. Andrew D. White s History of the Warfare of 
 Science With Theology in Christendom will find their hands full, 
 if they attempt to answer Dr. James J. Walsh's The Popes and 
 Science." 
 
 The Literary Digest said : ' ' The book is well worth reading for 
 its extensive learning and the vigor of its style." 
 
 The Southern Messenger says : ' ' Books like this make it clear 
 that it is ignorance alone that makes people, even supposedly edu- 
 cated people, still cling to the old calumnies." 
 
 The Nation (New York) says: " The learned Fordham Physician 
 has at command an enormous mass of facts, and he orders them 
 with logic, force and literary ease. Prof. Walsh convicts his oppo- 
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 The Pittsburg Post says : ' ' With the fair attitude of mind and influ- 
 enced only by the student's desire to procure knowledge, this book 
 becomes at once something to fascinate. On every page authorita- 
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 Prof. Wei^ch, of Johns Hopkins, quoting Martial, said: "It is 
 pleasant indeed to drink at the living fountain-heads of knowledge 
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 Prof. Piersol, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Penn- 
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 as his guiding mark, and every opportunity to replace even time- 
 honored misconceptions by what is really the truth must be wel- 
 comed." 
 
 The Independent (New York) said: "Dr. Walsh's books should 
 be read in connection with attacks upon the Popes in the matter of 
 science by those who want to get both sides." 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
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