*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74764 ***
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
OF
ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM
[Illustration: _St. Augustine._ “_La Cité de Dieu._”
_from a manuscript in the Musée de Chantilly._]
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
OF
ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM
CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED
RESEARCHES INTO THE DOMAIN OF THE
EARLY SCIENCES, ESPECIALLY FROM THE PERIOD OF
THE REVIVAL OF SCHOLASTICISM, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER
ACCOUNTS OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS
THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE AGES
COMPILED BY
PAUL FLEURY MOTTELAY, Ph.D.
AUTHOR OF
“GILBERT OF COLCHESTER,” “THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY,” ETC.
WITH INTRODUCTION BY THE LATE
PROF. SILVANUS P. THOMPSON, D.Sc., F.R.S.
AND FOREWORD BY
SIR R. T. GLAZEBROOK, K.C.B., D.Sc., F.R.S.
“Historia, quoquo modo scripta delectat.”--_Pliny._
“Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.”--_Virgil._
“Il importe beaucoup de connaître l’histoire de la science à
laquelle on s’attache.”--_Éloge de Boerhaave._
“It is of great advantage to the student of any subject to read in
the original memoirs on that subject, for science is always most
completely assimilated when it is found in its nascent state. Every
student of science should, in fact, be an antiquary in his
subject.”--_J. Clerk Maxwell._
“Les tâtonnements de nos prédécesseurs nous apprennent à marcher
avec plus de sûreté, et l’on ne sait jamais mieux conduire la
science en avant que lorsqu’on sait le chemin qu’elle a parcouru
jusqu’à nous.”--_J. P. Rossignol._
WITH FRONTISPIECE AND PLATES
[Illustration]
LONDON
CHARLES GRIFFIN & COMPANY LIMITED
12 EXETER STREET, STRAND, W.C. 2
1922
[_All rights reserved._]
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
[Illustration:
PORTRAIT OF
THE AUTHOR
TAKEN FOR
A PASSPORT TO FRANCE
A FEW WEEKS
BEFORE HIS DEATH]
FOREWORD
BY
SIR RICHARD T. GLAZEBROOK, K.C.B., D.Sc., F.R.S.
_Past President of the Institute of Electrical Engineers
and late Director of the National Physical Laboratory_
This splendid volume has a tragic story. Dedicated to Lord Kelvin,
it opens with an introduction by Silvanus Thompson and a preface by
the distinguished author who himself passed from us before the book
containing the fruit of many years of toil was ready for issue.
And what toil! A Bibliographical History of Electricity and Magnetism
covering 4458 years, from 2637 B.C., when Hoang-Ti, Emperor
of China, is said to have directed the pursuit of his troops after a
rebellious subject by the aid of the compass, up to Christmas Day,
A.D. 1821, when Faraday first caused a wire carrying a current
to rotate in a magnetic field.
The early centuries are passed over quickly. Homer’s name occurs with
quotations from the _Odyssey_:
“In wondrous ships self-mov’d, instinct with mind,
No helm secures their course, no pilot guides;
Like men intelligent, they plough the tides.”
Does this mean that the Greeks knew of the compass? The author is
doubtful.
Thales, 600–580 B.C., the discoverer of frictional electricity,
follows. The Crusaders wrote of the magnet. A facsimile page is given
of Vincent de Beauvais’ _Speculum Naturale_, and Gauthier d’Espinois,
who lived about A.D. 1250, sang to his mistress:
“Tout autresi (ainsi) comme l’aimant deçoit (detourne)
L’aigulette pas force de vertu
A ma dame tot le mont (monde) retennue
Qui sa beauté connoit et aperçoit.”
And when one passes to more recent years, there is not a name one knows
omitted from the list. There are also many included who all contributed
in some way to the growth of natural knowledge, but who can only be
known to the few, the very few, who have burrowed in past records
scattered far and wide with the perseverance, the patience, and the
skill of Dr. Mottelay.
And he has discovered interesting facts without number, and at the same
time has supported his case with full references to original works. To
the question, How can I find out what--some unknown writer--has written
about Electricity? there can in future be but one answer: Look him
up in Dr. Mottelay’s _Bibliographical History_. Our debt to the
author is no small one; our regrets that he is not here to be gratified
by the reception his book must meet with are deep and sincere.
The Great War delayed the issue of the book. The public are indebted
to Messrs. C. Griffin & Co., Ltd., for bringing out a work of the kind
under the difficulties which all scientific publications have met with
since 1918, and Dr. Mottelay realized to the full the value of the
assistance they gave him. I trust with confidence that electricians
throughout the world (for the interest of the book is world-wide) will
not be slow to show their appreciation of the work of all those who
have combined to render them so marked a service.
R. T. GLAZEBROOK.
TO
THE REVERED MEMORY
OF
LORD KELVIN
PREFACE
The present work is the definitive edition of my “Chronological History
of Magnetism, Electricity and the Telegraph,” which had tentative
publication (1891–1892) serially in four leading technological
Journals, viz. “Engineering” of London, “The Electrical World” of New
York, “La Lumière Electrique” of Paris, and “L’Industrie Moderne” of
Brussels.
Since the time of that first publication, it has received a most
thorough revision of the original text, for correction of faults of
form, or of substance, suggested by learned critics conversant with the
history of electricity and magnetism; and there have been added a very
large number of new entries besides exhaustive notices of the work done
by Peregrinus, Gilbert, Oersted, Faraday and other great pathfinders,
also biographical and bibliographical notices of all the prominent
ancient writers mentioned in the original compilation.
This bibliography commences B.C. 2637--conclusively shown
to be the earliest date at which history notes anything resembling
the application of the magnetic influence--and it ends with Michael
Faraday, esteemed by Tyndall to be “the greatest experimental
philosopher the world has ever seen,” and who is held “to have
done more for the development of electrical science than any other
investigator.” Thus is the chronological series shown to cover 4458
years, being purposely made to terminate at A.D. 1820–1821
(Oersted, Ampère, Arago, Faraday, etc.), the culminating period when,
through the splendid discovery of electro-magnetism, the two immense
groups of phenomena were first linked together.
Besides the matter distinctly involved in the title of the new work,
it has been deemed advisable to note in this History all the most
important forms of the optical telegraph, or semeiograph. Many of the
ancient and historical methods for communicating intelligence swiftly
at great distances are noticed in their chronological order: doubtless,
this will prove to the generality of readers no less interesting than
the vast multitude of curious facts pertaining to the direct line of
researches. An exhaustive cross-entry Index of Selected Names and
Subjects, embracing fuller titles and much additional data that could
not well be entered into the body of the work, will, for the first
time, make this mass of historical data readily accessible.
To bar controversies and partisan discussion as to the relative
merits of different discoverers and inventors, concerning which
authorities are at variance, it has been thought best to quote all
of the weightiest known authorities under the respective heads and
dates of the several claimants. To the would-be historian and to the
delving student, this will certainly appear the better course. A case
in point, and it is no uncommon one, attaches to the invention of the
mariner’s compass, where that instrument and its original employment in
navigation are credited with equal assurance to China, Iceland, France,
England and Italy, by equally eminent historians and scientists. And,
as nearly all, except the very earliest, discoveries of any high
importance have already been traced to their respective origins by many
authors, additional data have been gathered and quoted wherever such
data seemed deserving of more than the ordinary notices previously
accorded them in print, or where the peculiar nature of the discovery,
or the identity of its author, merited authentication to preclude doubt
or controversy.
The unusual number of cumulative references purposely given throughout
many entries (the most important of which were originally set in
italics) cannot be seriously objected to, as they afford ready means
for making searches through different accessible channels, covering
various phases of a subject, and they facilitate the verification of
all extracts and of all quoted passages. They likewise effectually
offset the likelihood of misprints necessarily attaching to many of
the authorities which are cited from, and which often can be found
solely in, rare early publications or in more or less unintelligible
manuscripts. Only those who have had to make important searches through
such can appreciate the difficulties which continually beset the
investigator. Many of the older serials likewise prove quite unreliable
and disappointing, either through wrong pagination or irregular and
sometimes conflicting dates of publication, as well as through the
rearrangement or redistribution of parts or series, at various periods
and in different volumes. This is the case, more particularly, with “Le
Journal des Savants” and with “The Philosophical Transactions,” as it
is also with many technical serial publications of various countries
which are referred to in the following pages.
In the Preface to his “Experimental Researches,” the great Faraday
justly remarked that: “The date of a scientific paper containing any
pretensions to discovery is frequently a matter of serious importance,
and it is a great misfortune that there are many most valuable
communications, essential to the history and progress of science, with
respect to which this point cannot now be ascertained. This arises
from the circumstance of the papers having no dates attached to them
individually, and of the Journals in which they appear having such as
are inaccurate, _i. e._ dates of a period earlier than that of
publication.”
Of the afore-named serials, the very important “Philosophical
Transactions” have doubtless been most frequently alluded to herein,
both in their original and abridged forms, and, for that reason, the
assistance of representatives of the Royal Society has been sought in
order to give a proper account to date, showing the difficulties which
have throughout been encountered by its many successive editors. It
will be seen, at pages 546–547, that there were numerous irregularities
in the publication of the unabridged series from the initial date of
1665, only seven numbers having been issued from 1679 to 1682, whilst
neither numbers nor volumes appeared between 1688 and 1690, and that,
through lax editing, various numbers were often, during subsequent
years, assigned to volumes differently designated. In the many abridged
reports, irregularities are still greater, as shown at pages 547–548.
During 1721, Motte edited “an abridgment, 1700–1720, in three volumes
which was very incorrect” (“Dict. Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XXXIX. p. 194).
The six volumes of 1720–1732 also appeared in two volumes, published
1733. The two volumes of 1719–1733 contained an “Index to the previous
seven volumes” by different authors. This was made up by John Martyn,
who published in five volumes an abridgment of the Transactions for
1719–1750, which he had previously issued in three sets of two volumes
each. Mr. Samuel H. Scudder’s remarks as to various discrepancies are
worthy of notice. He says (“Cat. of Scient. Serials,” 1879, p. 27) that
“the Philosophical Transactions Abridged have been very irregularly
issued. The first five volumes went through several editions (from
five to two, according to the volume) between 1705 and 1781; the
later volumes through only one, 1734–1756.” He adds: “There is a
strange discrepancy here, the fourth edition of the first volume being
sometimes dated 1731, sometimes 1781, and sometimes 1782, whilst the
fifth edition of volumes one to three is dated 1749; the eighth volume
is again sometimes dated 1734, sometimes 1747.”
Were I to indite an _apologia_ for the present work, I could
not hope to express it more happily than does Mr. J. J. Fahie in the
preface to his “History of Wireless Telegraphy, 1838–1899”; or, I might
adopt the words of two of the most learned French authors of the day:
“Si je donne ces détails, nouveaux, ou peu connus, c’est qu’il est
toujours intéressant de remonter à l’origine et au développement
successif des inventions.” (M. Berthelot, in the “Comptes Rendus.”)
“S’il n’y a pas beaucoup de gens qu’elles intéressent, il y en a
qu’elles intéressent beaucoup. À ceux-ci, nous avons, en rédigeant ces
notes, eu l’intention et l’espérance de venir quelquefois en aide. Tout
catalogue a des points obscurs, même les meilleurs.... L’office propre,
le devoir de la critique, est de rechercher si ces points obscurs ne
pourraient pas être éclairés par quelque lumière. Il est vrai qu’elle
y perd souvent sa peine. Mais cela ne doît jamais la décourager.” (M.
Hauréau, in “Le Journal des Savants.”)
I am especially thankful for the warm encouragement which I have
received, on all sides, since the original work appeared in serial
form. This History has been frequently called for, and I regret that
I have been hitherto prevented from bringing it out earlier in its
present desirable book form. This is the more to be regretted as it
long ago received the practical endorsement of the _doyen_ of
the electrical profession, Lord Kelvin (formerly styled Sir William
Thomson), to whom it is dedicated. Leave to do this was obtained
through a mutual friend in such a cordial manner that I cannot refrain
from giving the correspondence attaching thereto:
_Westminster Chambers,
London, S.W.,
January 4, 1894._
“DEAR MOTTELAY,
“I duly received yours of the 21st ... but the point on which
I feel guilty is your _dedication_.... I have now started
the matter by writing to Lord Kelvin fully on the subject, and
I hope, within a week, to get his reply, which I shall at once
send to you--he cannot possibly wish to decline the honour....
“I remain,
“Yours very truly,
“LATIMER CLARK.”
_Westminster Chambers,
London, S.W.,
January 13, 1894._
“DEAR MOTTELAY,
“Lord Kelvin’s letter is so nice a one that I send you the
original, otherwise I should have liked it as an autograph for
my library. I shall be glad to hear that it has duly reached
you....
“Yours very truly,
“LATIMER CLARK.”
_The University,
Glasgow,
January 11, 1894._
“DEAR CLARK,
“Your letter of the 4th should have been answered sooner, but
for my absence from home at the time it came.
“Will you tell Mr. Mottelay that I shall feel honoured by
his dedicating his “Chronological History of Electricity and
Magnetism” to me, and express to him my thanks for his kind
proposal to do so.
“Yours very truly,
“KELVIN.”
I desire to record my great indebtedness to Dr. Silvanus P. Thompson,
D.Sc., F.R.S., for the interest he has throughout manifested in, and
the material aid he has given to, the improvement and development of
the present work. Especial acknowledgment is made of Dr. Thompson’s
personal revision of the articles on Petrus Peregrinus (at A.D. 1269),
on William Gilbert (at A.D. 1600), and on Michael Faraday (at A.D.
1821). With all of these authors, he has become very prominently
identified through the several special publications concerning them,
which have been issued by him at different periods, and all of which
are herein noticed in their proper order.
Thanks are likewise due, and are also by me hereby tendered, more
particularly to Dr. Elihu Thomson, of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology; to Dr. J. A. Fleming, M.A., F.R.S.; to Mr. W. D.
Weaver, late Editor of the “Electrical World”; to Mr. Wm. J. Hammer,
representative of Mr. Thomas A. Edison; to Mr. A. Hastings White,
assistant-librarian, Royal Society, London; to Messrs. Charles Spon
and Louis H. Walter, M.A.; to Messieurs Henri Omont, Bibliothèque
Nationale; Paul Marais, Bibliothèque Mazarine; Henri Martin,
Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal; Amédée Boinet, Bibliothèque Ste. Geneviève;
Messieurs Plon Nourrit et Cie; as well as to Professors C. F.
Brackett, William Hallock and Edward L. Nichols, of the Universities
of Princeton, Columbia and Cornell; also to Sir Arthur Schuster, Sir
Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Dr. Robert L. Mond, and Dr. Horace F. Parshall,
for many valuable suggestions and other aid given by all of them at
different periods to the material benefit of this compilation.
It is scarcely necessary adding that, notwithstanding the great care
given to the preparation of this very extensive Bibliography, and
to its difficult “proof” reading, errors will undoubtedly present
themselves. It is, however, hoped these will not prove of material
importance. Such mistakes as are of a typographical nature can easily
be recognized and in due time remedied; those, however, resulting from
the conflict of authorities are more difficult to trace, and I shall
greatly appreciate their being pointed out to me, with the view to
improving future editions.
P. FLEURY MOTTELAY.
INTRODUCTION
Anyone who enters on the perilous paths of Bibliography realizes,
sooner or later, the truth that “of the making of books there is no
end.” But there was a beginning: and if the Bibliography of Electricity
promises to stretch onward into the future in endless line, at least
its backward reach might seem to be finite in date. Nevertheless, the
student of the early periods of book production, when the science of
electricity was literally in that “infancy” from which in our time it
has emerged, is continually finding that there are early works of which
he was unaware, and of which even our best libraries are destitute.
He finds, as he progresses backward, toward the origins of things, in
how many points our ancestors in the domain of electric science had
anticipated the discoveries of later date. He finds that, again and
again, by some rare stroke of insight, the great minds that had devoted
themselves to the research of phenomena had seen--it may be, with dim
or imperfect glimpses--many of the things which are commonly regarded
as quite modern. The pioneer, unbiased by the views of contemporary
philosophers, unhampered by the load of textbook tradition, often sees
further than the professed researcher who comes after him.
The art of scientific discovery--for it is an art--can be attained in
but one way, the way of attainment in all arts, namely, by practising
it. In the practice of art, the aspirant may at least learn something
that all the textbooks cannot drill out of him, and which will help him
in his practice, by the careful examination of the actual ways in which
the discoveries of science, now facts of history, were actually made.
But, to do this, he must throw overboard for a time the systematic
textbooks, he must abandon the logical expositions which embody, at
second hand, or at third hand, the antecedent discoveries, and he must
go to the original sources, the writings and records of the discoverers
themselves, and learn from them how they set to work. The modern
compendious handbooks in which the results of hundreds of workers have
been boiled down, as it were, to a uniform consistency, is exactly the
intellectual pabulum which he must eschew. Let him read Faraday, not
through the eyes of Maxwell or of Tyndall, but in his own words in the
immortal pages of the “Experimental Researches,” with their wealth of
petty detail and their apparent vagueness of speculation. Let him
read Ohm’s own account of the law of the circuit, not some modern
watered-down version. Let him turn over the pages of Franklin’s letters
to Collinson, as his observations dropped red-hot out of the crucible
of his endeavours. Let him read Stephen Gray’s charming experiments in
the old-world diction that befitted a pensioner of the Charterhouse.
Let him go back to old Gilbert, who had talked with Drake and Sir
Walter Raleigh in the flesh, who had discussed magnetism with Fra Paolo
Sarpi and had experimented on the dip of the needle with Robert Norman.
Gilbert’s account of his own experiments is for the would-be scientific
discoverer worth a hundredfold the Novum Organon of the overpraised
Francis Bacon. Nay, let him go back to Peter Peregrinus, the
soldier-pioneer, and see how he experimented with floating lodestones
before he penned his account of the pivoted magnet--the earliest known
instrument that can rightly be called a mariner’s compass. Not until he
has thus become a bit of an antiquary will he have fully understood how
the discoveries of old were made. And, in precisely the same spirit of
quest, though with the wealth of modern appliances at his command, must
he go to work, if new discoveries are to be made by him.
But, for all this, he needs a guide to tell him what are the records
of the original pioneers, by what names their works are called, and
where they can be found. Such a guide doubtless exists to some extent
in the mere catalogues of electrical literature, such as the catalogue
of the Ronalds’ Library at the Institution of Electrical Engineers, in
London; or, more fully, even, in the new Catalogue of the Latimer Clark
Library, now known as the Wheeler Collection, at the American Institute
of Electrical Engineers, in New York. The Chronological History of
Electricity which Mr. P. F. Mottelay contributed, week by week, to the
columns of the “Electrical World” and of “Engineering” in the years
1891–1892, was the beginning of an attempt to provide an even more
complete analysis of the earlier literature of the subject. But these
are only the beginnings.
In the “Bibliographical History of Electricity and Magnetism,” which
Mr. Mottelay is now giving to the world, a far more exhaustive and
detailed account is rendered of the earlier workers and writers in our
dual science. He has particularly worked up all important electrical
channels, and in the more extended articles, some of which it has
been the writer’s privilege to peruse in advance, there are presented
valuable monographs dealing with particular workers who each in his own
day made notable contributions to the advance of the science.
To all who would tread in their paths, and add something to the
ever-widening domain of electrical discovery, this Bibliographical
History may be commended, not only for what it contains, but for the
appreciative spirit in which it brings before the reader the work of
those men who made the science what it is.
Pioneers; O Pioneers!
SILVANUS P. THOMPSON.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD BY SIR R. T. GLAZEBROOK, K.C.B., D.SC., F.R.S.
PREFACE vii
INTRODUCTION, BY PROF. SILVANUS P. THOMPSON, D.SC., F.R.S. xiii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix
CHRONOLOGICAL SECTION, B.C. 2637 TO A.D. 1821 1
APPENDIX I
ACCOUNTS OF EARLY WRITERS, NAVIGATORS AND OTHERS, ALLUDED TO
IN GILBERT’S _DE MAGNETE_ 501
“THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS” 542
APPENDIX II
DISCOVERIES MADE BY WILLIAM GILBERT (DESIGNATED IN _DE MAGNETE_
BY LARGE ASTERISKS) 545
APPENDIX III
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE UNABRIDGED AND ABRIDGED EDITIONS
OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY “PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS”; ALSO,
OF THE “PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE” AND OF THE “JOURNAL
DES SÇAVANS--SAVANTS” 547
APPENDIX IV
NAMES OF ADDITIONAL ELECTRICAL AND MAGNETICAL WORKS, PUBLISHED
UP TO 1800 553
APPENDIX V
MERCATOR’S PROJECTION 559
GENERAL INDEX OF SELECTED AUTHORS AND SUBJECTS 565
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ST. AUGUSTINE _Frontispiece_
“La Cité de Dieu, translatée et exposée par Raoul de
Presles.” Taken from the manuscript in the Musée de
Chantilly, by permission of the executors of Monsieur le
Duc d’Aumale.
_Facing page_
CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS 11
Page taken from the earliest known edition of the “Naturalis
Historiae” Venetiis, 1469, of which there are only three known
original vellum copies. These now are at Vienna, Ravenna and in
the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris.
ARISTOTLE 11
“De Naturali Auscultatione.” Title-page of the Paris 1542
edition. This belonged to Dr. William Gilberd, when at
Cambridge, and is inscribed with his name and with that of
Archdeacon Thomas Drant. (From the library of the late Silvanus
P. Thompson).
GUIOT DE PROVINS 30
“La Bible.” Page 93 _verso_ of MS. Fr., No. 25405, _Variorum
Poëmata_, in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
VINCENT DE BEAUVAIS 33
“Speculum Naturale.” Page taken from the (Argentorati) 1473
issue, _la première édition et la plus rare de toutes_. In the
Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris.
BRUNETTO LATINI 43
“Li Livres dou Trésor.” Page taken from the XVth Century MS.
(originally copied by Jean du Quesne), No. 191, _Trésor de
Sapience_, in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
DANTE ALIGHIERI 44
“La Divina Commedia,” Mantuae 1472, the first page of what is
by many regarded as the oldest edition of the earliest known
poem written in the Italian language. Now in the Bibliothèque
Sainte Geneviève, Paris.
PETRUS PEREGRINUS 46
“Epistola ... de Magnete.” _The earliest known treatise of
experimental science._ Original photographic reproduction
of first page of the almost illegible MS. No. 7378 A; page
67 _recto_ (embraced in a geometrical treatise), now in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
PETRUS PEREGRINUS 52
Facsimile of Bodleian MS., No. 7027 (MS. Ashmole No. 1522),
folio 186 _verso_, being Chap. II, Part II, of the “Epistola
... de Magnete,” wherein is described _the earliest known
pivoted compass_.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS _Between_ 64 _and_ 65
Photographic reproduction of his letter, March 21, 1502, to
Nicolo Oderigo, Ambassador to France and to Spain, which was
acquired by the King of Sardinia and presented by him to the
city of Genoa. It is now preserved in the Palace of the Genoese
Municipality.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS _Between_ 64 _and_ 65
Translation of the letter written by him to Nicolo Oderigo,
shown here on opposite plate; made into English by Mr. Geo. A.
Barwick, B.A., of the British Museum. Permission to copy both
the original letter and its translation was given by Messrs. B.
F. Stevens and Brown, London.
CECCO D’ASCOLI 524
Last page of the earliest known edition of his “Acerba,”
Venetia, 1476. Printed nineteen times up to and including the
edition of 1546. Now in the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève,
Paris.
LACTANTIUS 524
“De Divinis Institutionibus.” Page taken from the Sublacensi
1465 edition, called by Joannis Vogt _inter rariora
typographiae incunabula rarissimum_. In the Bibliothèque Sainte
Geneviève, Paris.
PEDRO NUÑEZ 530
“Traitte que le docteur P. Nunes fit sur certaines doubtes de
la Navigation.” Page 9 _verso_ of MS. Fr. No. 1338, now in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM
FROM B.C. 2637 TO A.D. 1821
=B.C. 2637.=--This date has been conclusively shown to be the
earliest one at which history notes anything resembling the application
of the magnetic influence. It is related that, during this sixty-first
year of the reign of Hoang-ti (Yeou-hioung-che, also named Koung-fun
and Hiuen-yuen), the emperor’s troops, who were pursuing the rebellious
prince Tchéyeou (Tchi-yeou), lost their way, as well as the course
of the wind, and likewise the sight of their enemy, during the heavy
fogs prevailing in the plains of Tchou-lou. Seeing which, Hoang-ti
constructed a chariot upon which stood erect a prominent female figure
which indicated the four cardinal points, and which always turned to
the south whatever might be the direction taken by the chariot. Thus he
succeeded in capturing the rebellious prince, who was put to death.
Some say that upon this chariot stood a needle, to denote the four
parts of the world. That, states the French author writing in 1736,
would “indicate the use of the compass, or something very similar to it
... and it is unfortunate that the device has not been explained more
fully.”
REFERENCES.--Du Halde, “Description de la Chine ...,” La Haye,
1736. Vol. I. pp. 270–271; B.C. 2634, Klaproth, “Boussole,” pp.
33, 34, 71, 74, 76, 79, 82; Azuni, “Boussole,” Paris, 1809, pp.
186, 214; Staunton’s “China,” London, 1797, Vol. I. p. 446;
“Encycl. Metrop.,” Vol. III. p. 736; Buffon, “La Terre,” Vol. I.
p. 304; Davis, “The Chinese,” 1844, Vol. III. p. 14; Humboldt,
“Cosmos,” 1848, Vol. V. p. 51, for Ed. Biot in _Comptes Rendus_,
Vol. XIX. 1844, p. 822; Dr. A. T. Thompson, translation of
Salverte’s “Philosophy of Magic,” 1847, Vol. II. chap. xi. p.
222 (note), wherein he alludes to Davies’ “Early History of
the Mariner’s Compass”; “British Annual,” 1837; Saillant et
Nyon, “Mémoires concernant l’Histoire,” Paris, 1788, Vol. XIII.
pp. 234–235, giving chronological tables of the history of
China, also p. 227 relative to Hoang-ti; P. Etienne Souciet,
“Observations,” Paris, 1732, Vol. II. pp. 94–95.
Hoang-ti (Hoang, supreme king), third in the “Period of the Five
Emperors” (Claude Augé, “Nouveau Larousse,” Vol. V. p. 134), regarded
as the founder of the Chinese Empire, died at the age of 121, after
reigning 100 years, B.C. 2598. Mailla (Joseph A. M. de Moyriac de)
in his “Histoire ... traduite du Thoung-Kian-Kang-Mou,” Paris, 1777,
Vol. I. p. 28, makes the latter date 2599, as do likewise, Dr. Hœfer
(“Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” Paris, 1858, Vol. XXIV. pp. 817–819)
and Pierre Larousse (“Grand Dict, du XIX^e Siècle,” 1873, Vol. IX. p.
317), but Michaud (“Biogr. Univer.,” 1857, Vol. XIX. pp. 476–477) says
he reigned from 2698 to 2577 B.C., and, in “La Grande Encyclop.,” Vol.
XX. pp. 157–158, we are told that the correct period is 2697–2597 B.C.
(“L’art de vérifier les dates,” Paris, 1819, Vol. IV. p. 8).
The above-named work of Jean Baptiste Du Halde on China is considered
the most complete account of that vast empire that has appeared in
Europe (“New Gen. Biogr. Dict.,” London, 1850, Vol. VIII. p. 175). In
any case, remarks Mr. Demetrius C. Boulger (“History of China,” London,
1881, Vol. I. pp. 4–5), it is incontestable that the individuality of
Hoang-ti, who was the successor of “Fo-hi,” the first great Chinese
emperor, is much more tangible than that of any of his predecessors.[1]
By him, it is well recorded that the extensive Chinese territory
(Empire) was divided into ten provinces, or _Chow_, each of which was
subdivided into ten departments, or _Tsee_, and these again into ten
districts, or _Tou_, each of them containing ten towns, or _Ye_.
=B.C. 1110.=--Tcheou-Koung is said to have at this date taught the
use of the needle compass to the envoys from Youa-tchang. “As the
ambassadors sent from Cochin China and Tonquin” (Humboldt, “Cosmos”
Vol. V. p. 51) “were about to take their departure” (which was in
the twenty-second cycle, more than 1040 years B.C.), “Tcheou-Koung
gave them an instrument which upon one side always turned toward the
north and on the opposite side to the south, the better to direct them
upon their homeward voyage.[2] This instrument was called _tchi-nan_
(chariot of the south), and it is still the name given to the compass,
which leads to the belief that Tcheou-Koung invented the latter.” In
his chapter on “The Magnetic Needle,” Humboldt says the apparatus was
called _fse-nan_ (indicator of the south).
Tcheou-Koung (Ki-tan) was Chinese Minister of State under both Von-Vang
(the first emperor of the Tcheou dynasty, who ruled seven years) and
Tsching-Vang (second emperor, who ruled thirty-seven years), and lived
to be 100 years old. He was one of the most learned and most popular
men China has ever known, and is spoken of to this day by the Chinese
“with an admiration bordering upon enthusiasm” (Saillant et Nyon,
“Mémoires concernant l’Histoire,” Paris, 1776, Vol. III. p. 37). The
emperor Tsching-Vang caused Tcheou-Koung’s body to be interred near his
father’s remains, after giving it imperial funeral honours.
REFERENCES.--Du Halde, “Description de la Chine ...,” La Haye,
1736, Vol. I. p. 312; Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 81; Azuni,
“Boussole,” pp. 190–191; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” London, 1849, Vol.
II. p. 628, and Vol. V. p. 52.
=B.C. 1084.=--According to Æschylus, the father of the Athenian drama,
Agamemnon employed a line of optical signals to advise his queen
Clytemnestra of the fall of Troy. Robert Browning’s translation,
London, 1877, runs as follows:
“Troia, the Achaioi hold....
Hephaistos--sending a bright blaze from Idé
Beacon did beacon send, from fire the poster,
Hitherward: Idé to the rock Hermaian
Of Lemnos: and a third great torch o’ the island
Zeus’ seat received in turn, the Athoan summit.
And--so upsoaring as to stride sea over,
The strong lamp-voyager, and all for joyance--
Did the gold-glorious splendor, any sun like,
Pass on....”
Anna Swanwick thus renders Æschylus’ “Agamemnon,” London, 1881, p. 13:
“For Priam’s city have the Argives won.
* * * * *
Hephaestos sending forth Idaian fire.
Hither through swift relays of courier flame....”
At page 193 of his “Agamemnon,” London, 1873, E. H. Plumptre refers
to the system of posts or messengers which the Persian kings seem to
have been first to organize, and which impressed the minds of both the
Hebrews (Esther viii. 14) and the Greeks (Herod., viii. 98) by their
regular transmission of the king’s edicts or of special news.
What of the passage from the celebrated patriarch Job (xxxviii. 35):
“Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, ‘Here
we are?’” (original Hebrew, “Behold us”). As has been remarked, this
seems prophetic, when taken in connection with the electric telegraph.
The fire beacons are also alluded to by Plutarch in his Life of Quintus
Sertorius; and Mardonius prepared fire signals to notify Xerxes, then
at Sardis, of the second taking of Athens.
REFERENCES.--“Le Théâtre des Grecs,” P. Brumoy, Paris, 1820,
Vol. II. pp. 124–125; “Penny Encyc.,” Vol. XXIV. p. 145;
Knight’s “Mechan. Dict.,” Vol. III. p. 2092.
For a decidedly original explanation of the beacon fires, read the
introduction to “The Agamemnon of Æschylus,” translated by A. W.
Verrall, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, England. See, likewise,
reference to Act of Scottish Parliament, 1455, c. 48, made by Walter
Scott in a note to his “Lay of the Last Minstrel”; “Archeologia,”
London, 1770, Vol. I. pp. i-7.
=B.C. 1068.=--In the obscure age of Codrus, the seventeenth and last
king of Athens, at about the period of the “Return of the Heraclidae”
(descendants of Heracles--Hercules) to the Peloponnesus, the Chinese
had magnetic carriages, upon which the movable arm of the figure of
a man continually pointed to the south, and which it is said served
as a guide by which to find the way across the boundless grass plains
of Tartary. Humboldt states, besides, that, even in the third century
of our era, Chinese vessels navigated the Indian Ocean under the
direction of magnetic needles pointing to the south, and that, at
pages xxxviii-xlii, Vol. I. of his “Asie Centrale,” he has shown what
advantages this means of topographical direction, as well as the early
knowledge and application of the magnetic needle, gave the Chinese
geographers over the Greeks and Romans, to whom, for instance, even
the true direction of the Pyrenees and the Apennines always remained
unknown.
REFERENCES.--Humboldt, “Cosmos,” London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 173,
also his “Examen Critique de l’histoire de la Géographie,” Vol.
III. p. 36; “Mœurs de Reg. Athen.,” lib. iii. cap. xi. For
Codrus and the Heraclidæ, consult: Chambers’ “Encycl.,” 1889,
Vol. III. p. 329 and Vol. V. 1890, p. 657; “Encycl. Britan.,”
9th ed., Edinburgh, Vol. VI. p. 107 and Vol. XI. p. 92; Hœfer,
“Nouv. Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XI. p. 29.
=B.C. 1033–975.=--Solomon, King of Israel, son of King David and
of Bathsheba, who, “in the Jewish scriptures, has the first place
assigned to him among the wise men of the East,” is believed by many
to have known the use of the compass. The Spanish Jesuit Pineda and
Athanasius Kircher assert the same, and state that Solomon’s subjects
employed it in their navigations. Others, notably Fuller, “Miscel.,”
iv. cap. 19, and Levinus Lemnius, “De Occulta Naturae Miracula,” lib.
iii, have even tried to prove that Solomon was the inventor of the
compass, and that it was in his time used by the Syrians, Sidonians
and Phœnicians, but the contrary has been shown by Henricus Kippingius
in his “Antiq. Rom. de exped. Mar.,” lib. iii. cap. 6, as well as by
Bochart, the geographer, in his “Géo. Sacr.,” lib. i. cap. 38.
REFERENCES.--Venanson, “Boussole,” Naples, 1808, p. 34; Enfield,
“History of Philosophy,” London, 1819, Vol. I. p. 40; Cavallo,
“Magnetism,” 1787, p. 48; Ronalds’ “Catal.,” 1880, articles
“Hirt” and “Michaelis,” pp. 246, 344.
=B.C. 1022.=--At this period the Chinese magnetic cars held a floating
needle, the motions of which were communicated to the figure of a
spirit whose outstretched hand always indicated the south. An account
of these cars is given in the “Szuki” (Shi-ki), or “Historical Memoirs
of Szu-ma-thsian” (Szu-matsien), which were written early in the second
century B.C., and are justly considered the greatest of all Chinese
historical works, containing, as they do, the history of China from the
beginning of the empire to the reign of Hiao-wou-ti, of the Han dynasty.
REFERENCES.--“Les peuples Orientaux,” Léon de Rosny, Paris,
1886, pp. 10, 168, 240; Johnson’s “Encyclopædia,” Vol. I. p.
929; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” Vol. II. 1849, p. 628; Klaproth,
“Boussole,” 1834, p. 79, for further allusion to a passage in
the Thoung-Kian-Kang-Mou, already referred to under date B.C.
2637.
=B.C. 1000–907.=--Homer, the greatest of epic poets, called the
father of Greek poetry, and who, according to Enfield (“History of
Philosophy,” Vol. I. p. 133), flourished before any other poet whose
writings are extant, relates that the loadstone was used by the Greeks
to direct navigation at the time of the siege of Troy.
The latter construction has been placed upon several passages in Homer,
the most important being found in Book VIII of the “Odyssey.”
As this appears to be the first attributed allusion to the compass, it
is deemed worth while to give herein several interpretations of the
original Greek. The selections made are as follows:
“In wond’rous ships, self-mov’d, instinct with mind;
No helm secures their course, no pilot guides;
Like man intelligent, they plough the tides.
* * * * *
Though clouds and darkness veil th’ encumber’d sky,
Fearless thro’ darkness and thro’ clouds they fly.”
Alexander Pope, “The Odyssey of Homer,” London, 1818, p. 135.
“...; for here
In our Phæacian ships no pilots are,
Nor rudders, as in ships of other lands.
Ours know the thoughts and the intents of men.
To them all cities and all fertile coasts
Inhabited by men are known; they cross
The great sea scudding fast, involved in mist
And darkness, with no fear of perishing
Or meeting harm.”
Wm. Cullen Bryant, “The Odyssey of Homer,” Boston, 1875, Vol. I.
p. 174.
“For unto us no pilots appertain,
Rudder nor helm which other barks obey.
These ruled by reason, their own course essay
Sparing men’s mind ...
Sail in a fearless scorn of scathe or overthrow.”
Philip Stanhope Worsley, “The Odyssey of Homer,” London, 1861,
Vol. I. p. 198.
“For all unlike the ships of other men,
Nor helm nor steersman have our country’s barks,
But of themselves they know the thoughts of men;
... and wrapped in gloom and mist
O’er the broad ocean gulfs they hold their course
Fearless of loss and shipwreck....”
Earl of Carnarvon, “The Odyssey of Homer,” London, 1886, p. 201.
“These marvellous ships, endued with human sense, and
anticipating the will of their masters, flit unseen over the
sea.”--“Homer’s Odyssey,” by W. W. Merry and James Riddell,
Oxford, 1886, Vol. I. p. 353, note.
“That our ships in their minds may know it when they bring thee
hither to hand,
Because amidst us Phæacians, our ships no helmsmen steer,
Nor with us is any rudder like other ships must bear,
But our keels know the minds of menfolk, and their will they
understand,
* * * * *
And therewith exceeding swiftly over the sea-gulf do they go,
In the mist and the cloud-rack hidden....”
“The Odyssey of Homer,” translated by Wm. Morris, London, 1887,
p. 145.
The afore-named construction is not, however, alluded to by Matthew
Arnold in his well-known lectures given at Oxford, nor by the Right
Hon. Wm. Ewart Gladstone either in his “Juventus Mundi” or throughout
his very extensive “Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age.”
Sonnini tells us that as this period is about the same as that of the
Chinese chronicles, it can scarcely be doubted that the knowledge of
both the polarity of the needle and of the use of the compass for
navigation date back 3000 years (Buffon, “Terre,” Paris, An. VIII. p.
304).
This ill accords, however, with the views of others who have concluded,
perhaps rightly, that the Greeks, Romans, Tuscans and Phœnicians[3]
were ignorant of the directive property of the magnet, from the fact
that none of the writings, more especially of Theophrastus, Plato,
Aristotle, Lucretius and Pliny, make explicit allusion thereto.
REFERENCES.--Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. p. 51; “Good
Words,” 1874, p. 70; Brumoy, “Théâtre des Grecs,” 1820, Vol. I.
p. 55; Pope’s translation of the “Iliad,” 1738, Vol. I. pp. 14,
20; Schaffner, “Telegraph Manual,” p. 19; also references under
both the A.D. 121 and the A.D. 265–419 dates.
=B.C. 600–580.=--Thales of Miletus, Ionia, one of the “seven wise men
of Greece” (the others being Solon, Chilo, Pittacus, Bias, Cleobolus
and Periander), founder of the Ionic philosophy, and from whose
school came Socrates, is said to have been the first to observe the
electricity developed by friction in amber.
Thales, Theophrastus, Solinus, Priscian and Pliny, as well as other
writers, Greek and Roman, mention the fact that when a vivifying heat
is applied to amber it will attract straws, dried leaves, and other
light bodies in the same way that a magnet attracts iron (“Photii
Bibliotheca” Rothomagi, 1653, folio, col. 1040–1041, cod. 242).
Robert Boyle (“Philosophical Works,” London, 1738, Vol. I. p. 506, or
London, 1744, Vol. III. p. 647) treats of different hypotheses advanced
to solve the phenomena of electrical attraction, saying: “The first
is that of the learned Nicholas Cabaeus (A.D. 1629), who thinks the
drawing of light bodies by amber ... is caused by the steams which
issue out of such bodies and discuss and expel the neighbouring air
... making small whirlwind.... Another is that of the eminent English
philosopher, Sir Kenelm Digby (A.D. 1644), and embraced by the very
learned Dr. Browne (A.D. 1646) and others, who believed that ... chafed
amber is made to emit certain rays of unctuous steams, which, when they
come to be a little cooled by the external air, are somewhat condensed
... carrying back with them those light bodies to which they happen to
adhere at the time of their retraction.... Pierre Gassendi (A.D. 1632)
thinks the same, and adds that these electrical rays ... get into the
pores of a straw ... and by means of their decussation take the faster
hold of it ... when they shrink back to the amber whence they were
emitted ... Cartesius (Descartes, A.D. 1644) accounts for electrical
attractions by the intervention of certain particles, shaped almost
like small pieces of riband, which he supposes to be formed of this
subtile matter harboured in the pores or crevices of glass.”
The ancients were acquainted with but two electrical bodies--amber
(_electron_), which has given the denomination of the science; and
_lyncurium_, which is either the tourmaline or the topaz (Dr. Davy,
“Mem. Sir Humphry Davy,” 1836, Vol. I. p. 309). From a recent article
treating of gems, the following is extracted: “The name of the precious
stone inserted in the ring of Gyges has not been handed down to us,
but it is probable that it was the topaz, whose wonders Philostratus
recounts in the Life of Apollonius. An attribute of the sun and of
fire, the ancients called it the _gold magnet_, as it was credited
with the power of attracting that metal, indicating its veins, and
discovering treasures. Heliodorus, in his story of Theagenes and
Caricles, says that the topaz saves from fire all those who wear it,
and that Caricles was preserved by a topaz from the fiery vengeance of
Arsaces, Queen of Ethiopia. This stone was one of the first talismans
that Theagenes possessed in Egypt. The topaz, at present, symbolizes
Christian virtues--faith, justice, temperance, gentleness, clemency.”
REFERENCES.--“Greek Thinkers,” by Theodor Gomperz, translation
of L. Magnus, London 1901, p. 532; Zahn at A.D. 1696; Joannes
Ruellius, “De Natura Stirpium,” 1536, p. 125; Paul Tannery,
“Pour l’Histoire de la Science Hellène,” Paris, 1887, chap. iii.
pp. 52–80; Becquerel, “Traité Expérimental,” Paris, 1834, Vol.
I. p. 33; Pliny, “Natural History,” Bostock and Riley, 1858,
book 37, chap. xii. p. 403; Pline, “Histoire Naturelle,” 1778,
livre 37, chapitre iii.; Lardner, “Lectures,” 1859, Vol. I. p.
104; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 182; Poggendorff,
XI. p. 1088; Apuleius, Floridor, p. 361; Plato; Timæus, The
Locrian; “De Anima Mundi ...,” 12, 15; Pauli (Adrian), Dantzig,
1614; Ulysses Aldrovandus, “Musaeum Metallicum,” pp. 411–412;
Aurifabrum (Andreas), “Succini Historia,” ... Königsberg,
1551–1561; and, for the different names given to amber and the
magnet by the ancients, consult, more especially, the numerous
authorities cited by M. Th. Henri Martin (“Mém. présenté à
l’Académie des Inscrip. et Belles Lettres,” première partie,
Vol. VI. pp. 297–329, 391–411, Paris, 1860); J. Matthias
Gessner, “De Electro Veterum” (Com. Soc. Reg. Sc. Gött., Vol.
III for 1753, p. 67); Louis Delaunay, “Minér. des Anciens,” Part
2, p. 125 (Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 540); Philip Jacob Hartmann,
in _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXI. No. 248, pp. 5, 49, also in
Baddam’s Abridgments, Vol. III, first edition, 1739, pp. 322–366.
=B.C. 600.=--The Etruscans are known to have devoted themselves at
this period to the study of electricity in an especial manner.[4]
They are said to have attracted lightning by shooting arrows of metal
into clouds which threatened thunder. Pliny even asserts that they
had a secret method of not only “drawing it (the lightning) down”
from the clouds, but of afterwards “turning it aside” in any desired
direction. They recognized different sources of lightning, those
coming from the sky (_a sideribus venientia_), which always struck
obliquely, and others from the earth (_infera_, _terrena_), which rose
perpendicularly. The Romans, on the other hand, recognized only two
sorts, those of the day, attributed to Jupiter, and those of the night,
attributed to Summanus (see Vassalli-Eandi at A.D. 1790).
This Vassalli-Eandi--like L. Fromondi--made special study of the very
extensive scientific knowledge displayed by the ancients and, as shown
in his “Conghietture ...” he concluded that they really possessed the
secret of attracting and directing lightning. The above-named extracts
concerning the Etruscans and Romans are made from the subjoined work of
Mme. Blavatsky, wherein the following is likewise given.
Tradition says that Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, was
initiated by the priests of the Etruscan divinities, and instructed by
them in the secret of forcing Jupiter, the Thunderer, to descend upon
earth. Salverte believes that before Franklin discovered his refined
electricity, Numa had experimented with it most successfully, and that
Tullus Hostilius, the successor of Numa, was the first victim of the
dangerous “heavenly guest” recorded in history. Salverte remarks that
Pliny makes use of expressions which seem to indicate two distinct
processes; the one obtained thunder (_impetrare_), the other forced
it to lightning (_cogere_). Tracing back the knowledge of thunder and
lightning possessed by the Etruscan priests, we find that Tarchon,
the founder of the theurgism of the former, desiring to preserve his
house from lightning, surrounded it by a hedge of the white bryony, a
climbing plant which has the property of averting thunderbolts. The
Temple of Juno had its roofs covered with numerous pointed blades of
swords. Ben David, says the author of “Occult Sciences,” has asserted
that Moses (born about 1570 B.C.) possessed some knowledge of the
phenomena of electricity. Prof. Hirt, of Berlin, is of this opinion.
Michaelis remarks that there is no indication that lightning ever
struck the Temple of Jerusalem during a thousand years: that, according
to Josephus, a forest of points, of gold and very sharp, covered the
roof of the temple, and that this roof communicated with the caverns in
the hill by means of pipes in connection with the gilding which covered
all the exterior of the building, in consequence of which the points
would act as conductors. Salverte further asserts that in the days of
Ctesias--Ktesias--India was acquainted with the use of conductors of
lightning. This historian plainly states that iron placed at the bottom
of a fountain, and made in the form of a sword, with the point upward,
possessed, as soon as it was thus fixed in the ground, the property of
averting storms and lightning.
“Ancient India, as described by Ktesias, the Knidian,” J. H. McCrindle,
London, 1882, alludes, p. 68, to iron swords employed to ward off
lightning. Reference is made to the _pantarbe_ at pp. 7–8, 69–70,
and to the _elektron_ (amber) at pp. 20, 21, 23, 51, 52, 70, 86. See
account of Ktesias in “Nouvelle Biogr. Génér.,” Vol. XII. pp. 568–571,
and in “Larousse Dict.,” Vol. V. p. 614.
In his “Observations sur la Physique,” Vols. XXIV. pp. 321–323,
XXV. pp. 297–303, XXVI. pp. 101–107, M. l’Abbé Rosier gives the
correspondence between M. de Michaelis, Professor at Göttingen, and Mr.
Lichtenberg, showing conclusively how the numerous points distributed
over the surface of the roof of the Temple of Solomon effectively
served as lightning conductors. Mr. Lichtenberg in addition shows that
the bell tower located upon a hill at the country seat of Count Orsini
de Rosenberg, was, during a period of several years, so repeatedly
struck by lightning, with great loss of life, that divine service had
to be suspended in the church. The tower was entirely destroyed in 1730
and soon after rebuilt, but it was struck as often as ten times during
one prolonged storm, until finally a fifth successive attack, during
the year 1778, compelled its demolition. For the third time the tower
was reconstructed, and the Count placed a pointed conductor, since
which time no damage has been sustained.
REFERENCES.--Mme. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,” 1877, Vol. I. pp.
142, 457, 458, 527, 528, and her references to Ovid, “Fast,”
lib. iii. v. 285–346; Titus Livius, lib. i. cap. 31; Pliny,
“Hist. Nat.,” lib. ii. cap. 53 and lib. xxviii. cap. 2; Lucius
Calp, Piso; Columella, lib. x. v. 346, etc.; La Boissière,
“Notice sur les Travaux de l’Académie du Gard,” part I. pp.
304–314; “Bell. Jud. adv. Roman,” lib. v. cap. 14; “Magas. Sc.
de Göttingen,” 3^e année 5^e cahier; Ktesias, in “India ap.
Photum. Bibl. Cod.,” 72. See also, De La Rive, “Electricity,”
London, 1858, Vol. III, chap. ii. p. 90; “Encycl. Brit.,” 8th
ed., article “Electricity”; Lardner, “Lectures,” II. p. 99;
Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. pp. 502–504; Boccalini,
“Parnassus,” Century I. chap. xlvi. alluded to at p. 24, Vol.
I. of Miller’s “Retrospect”; Gouget, “Origin of Laws,” Vol.
III. book 3; Themistius, Oratio 27, p. 337; “Agathias Myrenaeus
de rebus gestis Justiniani,” lib. v. p. 151; Dutens, “Origine
des découvertes ...”; “Gentleman’s Magazine” for July 1785, p.
522; Falconer, “Mem. of Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Manchester,” Vol
III. p. 278; “Sc. Amer.,” No. 7. p. 99; E. Salverte, “Phil. of
Magic,” 1847, Vol. II. chaps. viii. and ix.; “Fraser’s Magazine”
for 1839; H. Martin, Paris, 1865–6; P. F. von Dietrich, Berlin,
1784.
[Illustration: Caius Plinius Secundus. Page taken from
earliest known edition of the Naturalis Historiae Venetiis
1469, of which there are only three known original vellum
copies. These are now at Vienna, Ravenna and in the
Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris.]
[Illustration: Title page of Aristotle’s “De Naturali
Auscultatione,” Paris 1542. The property of Dr. William
Gilberd, when at Cambridge, inscribed with his name and
that of Archdeacon Thomas Drant. (From the Library of Dr.
Silvanus. P. Thompson.)]
=B.C. 588.=--The earliest reliable record of messages transmitted
by the _sign of fire_ is to be found in the book of Jeremiah, vi.
1: “O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the
midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign
of fire in Beth-haccerem; for evil appeareth out of the north and
great destruction.”
REFERENCES.--Turnbull, “Electro-magnetic Telegraph,” 1853, p.
17; Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. III. p. 2092; Penny and other
Encyclopædias.
=B.C. 341.=--Aristotle, Greek philosopher, says (“Hist. of
Anim.,” IX. 37) that the electrical _torpedo_ causes or produces
a torpor upon those fishes it is about to seize, and, having by that
means got them into its mouth, feeds upon them. The _torpedo_ is
likewise alluded to, notably by (Claudius) Plutarch, the celebrated
Greek moralist, by Dioscorides, Pedacius, Greek botanist, referred to
in Gilbert’s “De Magnete,” Book I. chaps. i, ii, and xiv; by Galen,
illustrious Roman physician, who is also frequently alluded to in “De
Magnete,” and by Claudius Claudian, Latin poet, who flourished at
the commencement of the fifth century. Oppian describes (“Oppian’s
Halieuticks of the nature of fishes and fishing of the ancients in five
books,” lib. ii. v. 56, etc., also lib. iii. v. 149) the organs by
which the animal produces the above effect, and Pliny (“Nat. Hist.,”
Book 32, chap. i) says: “This fish, if touched by a rod or spear, at
a distance paralyzes the strongest muscles, and binds and arrests the
feet, however swift.”
“The very crampe-fish _tarped_, knoweth her owne force and power,
and being herself not benummed, is able to astonish others” (Holland
“Plinie,” Book IX. chap. xlii.).
“We, here, and in no other place, met with that extraordinary fish
called the _torpedo_, or numbing fish, which is in shape very like
the fiddle fish, and is not to be known from it but by a brown circular
spot about the bigness of a crown-piece near the centre of its back”
(Ausonius, “Voyages,” Book II. chap. xii.).
REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Metr.,” IV. p. 41; “Encycl. Brit.,”
article “Electricity”; Jos. Wm. Moss, “A Manual of Classical
Biography,” London, 1837, Vol. I. pp. 105–186, for all the
Aristotle’s treatises, also Commentaries and Translations;
Jourdain (Charles et Amable), “Recherches ... traductions
latines d’Aristotle,” Paris, 1843; Fahie, “Hist. of Elec.
Teleg.,” p. 170; “Sci. Amer.,” No. 457, pp. 7301, 7302;
“Aristotle,” by Geo. Grote, London, 1872; Humboldt, “Cosmos,”
1859–1860, Vols. I and II _passim_, Vol. III. pp. 13–15, 29–30,
124; “Journal des Savants,” for Feb. 1861, March and May 1872,
also for Feb., May and Sept. 1893.
Aristotle is alluded to in Gilbert’s “De Magnete,” at Book I.
chaps. i. ii. vii. xv. xvi. xvii.; Book II. chaps. i.[5] iii.
iv.; Book V. chap. xii.; Book VI, chaps. iii. v. vi.
=B.C. 341.=--Æneas, the tactician, believed to be the same Æneas
of Stymphale alluded to by Xenophon, invented a singular method of
telegraphing phrases commonly used, especially in war. These were
written upon exactly similar oblong boards placed at the dispatching
and receiving stations, where they stood upon floats in vessels of
water. At a given signal the water was allowed to flow out of the
vessel at each station, and, when the desired phrase on the board had
reached the level of the vessel, another signal was made so that the
outflow could be stopped and the desired signal read at the receiving
station.
REFERENCES.--Laurencin, “Le Télégraphe,” Chap. I; “Penny
Encycl.,” Vol. XXIV. p. 145; “Michaud Bio.,” Paris, 1855, Vol.
XII. pp. 459–460.
=B.C. 337–330.=--From the well-known work by Mme. Blavatsky (“Isis
Unveiled,” New York, 1877) the following curious extracts are made
regarding “The Ether or Astral Light” (Vol. I. chap. v. pp. 125–162):
“There has been an infinite confusion of names to express one and
the same thing, amongst others, the Hermes-fire, the lightning of
Cybelè, the nerve-aura and the fluid of the magnetists, the od of
Reichenbach, the fire-globe, or meteor-_cat_ of Babinet, the physic
force of Sergeant Cox and Mr. Crookes, the atmospheric magnetism of
some naturalists, galvanism, and finally, electricity, which are but
various names for many different manifestations or effects of the same
all-pervading causes--the Greek Archeus....” Only in connection with
these _discoveries_ (Edison’s Force and Graham Bell’s Telephone, which
may unsettle, if not utterly upset all our ideas of the imponderable
fluids) we may perhaps well remind our readers of the many hints to be
found in the ancient histories as to a certain secret in the possession
of the Egyptian priesthood, who could instantly communicate, during
the celebration of the Mysteries, from one temple to another, even
though the former were at Thebes and the latter at the other end of
the country; the legends attributing it, as a matter of course, to
the “invisible tribes” of the air which carry messages for mortals.
The author of “Pre-Adamite Man” (P. B. Randolph, at p. 48) quotes
an instance, which, being merely given on his own authority, and he
seeming uncertain whether the story comes from Macrinus or some other
writer, may be taken for what it is worth. He found good evidence, he
says, during his stay in Egypt, that one of the Cleopatras actually
sent news by a wire to all of the cities from Heliopolis (the
magnificent chief seat of sun-worship) to the island of Elephantine, on
the Upper Nile.
Further on, Mme. Blavatsky thus alludes to the loadstone:
“The stone magnet is believed by many to owe its name to Magnesia....”
We consider, however, the opinion of the Hermetists to be the correct
one. The word _magh_, _magus_, is derived from the Sanscrit _mahaji_,
meaning the great or wise ... so the magnet stone was called in honour
of the Magi, who were the first to discover its wonderful properties.
Their places of worship were located throughout the country in all
directions, and among these were some temples of Hercules, hence
the stone--when it became known that the priests used it for their
curative and magical purposes--received the name of Magnesian or
Herculean stone. Socrates, speaking of it, says: “Euripides calls it
the Magnesian stone, but the common people the Herculean” (Plato,
“Ion”--Burgess--Vol. IV. p. 294). In the same Vol. I. of “Isis
Unveiled” we are likewise informed that Electricity in the Norse
legends is personated by Thor, the son of Odin, at Samothrace by the
Kabeirian Demeter (Joseph Ennemoser, “History of Magic,” London,
1854, Vol. II.; J. S. C. Schweigger, “Introd. to Mythol. through Nat
Hist.,” Halle, 1836), and that it is denoted by the “twin brothers,”
the Dioskuri. Also that the _celestial_, pure fire of the Pagan altar
was electrically drawn from the astral light, that magnetic currents
develop themselves into electricity upon their exit from the body, and
that the first inhabitants of the earth brought down the heavenly fire
to their altars (J. S. C. Schweigger in Ennemoser’s “Hist. of Magic,”
Vol. II. p. 30; Maurus Honoratus Servius, “Virgil,” Eclog. VI. v. 42).
=B.C. 321.=--Theophrastus, Greek philosopher, first observed the
attractive property of the _lyncurium_, supposed by many to be the
_tourmaline_, and gave a description of it in his treatise upon stones
(“De Lapidibus,” sec. 53; or the translation of Sir John Hill, 1774,
chap. xlix.-l., p. 123). This crystal was termed _lapis lyncurius_ by
Pliny in his “Nat. Hist.,” and _lapis electricus_ by Linnæus in his
“Flora Zeylanica” (U. Aldrovandus, “Mus. Metal.”; Philemon Holland,
“The Historie of the World,” commonly called “The Naturall Historie of
C. Plinius Secundus,” London, 1601).
Theophrastus and Pliny speak of this native magnet as possessing, like
amber, the property of attracting straw, dried leaves, bark and other
light bodies. The different sorts of loadstones, of which the best were
blue in colour (as stated by Taisnier, Porta, Barthol. de Glanville and
others), are thus alluded to by Pliny (“Nat. Hist.,” lib. xxxvi. cap.
16): “Sotacus describes five kinds: the Æthiopian; that of Magnesia, a
country which borders on Macedonia; a third from Hyettus, in Boetia; a
fourth from Alexandria, in Troas; and a fifth from Magnesia, in Asia”
(Porta, “Natural Magick,” Book VII. chap. i.). He further says that
iron cannot resist it; “the moment the metal approaches it, it springs
toward the magnet, and, as it clasps it, is held fast in the magnet’s
embrace.” It is by many called _ferrum vivum_, or quick iron.[6]
Claudian speaks of it as “a stone which is preferred to all that is
most precious in the East.... Iron gives it life and nourishes it”
(Claudian, Idyl V; Ennemoser, “Hist. of Magic,” Vol. II. p. 27).
Hippocrates, the father of medical science, calls it “the stone which
carries away iron.”
Epicurus, an Athenian of the Ægean tribe, says: “The _loadstone or
magnet_ attracts iron, because the particles which are continually
flowing from it, as from all bodies, have such a peculiar fitness in
form to those which flow from iron that, upon collision, they easily
unite.... The mutual attraction of _amber_ and like bodies may be
explained in the same manner.”
Hier. Cardan intimates that “it is a certain appetite or desire
of nutriment that makes the loadstone snatch the iron....” (“De
Subtilitate,” Basileæ, 1611, lib. vii. p. 381).
Diogenes of Apollonia (lib. ii. “Nat. Quæst.,” cap. xxiii.) says that
“there is humidity in iron which the dryness of the magnet feeds upon.”
Cornelius Gemma supposed invisible lines to stretch from the magnet to
the attracted body, a conception which, says Prof. Tyndall, reminds us
of Faraday’s lines of force.
Lucretius accounts for the adhesion of the steel to the loadstone by
saying that on the surface of the magnet there are hooks, and, on the
surface of the steel, little rings which the hooks catch hold of.
Thales, Aristotle, Anaxagoras of Clazomenæ and the Greek sophist
Hippias, ascribe the loadstone’s attractive virtue to the _soul_ with
which they say it is endowed. Humboldt (“Cosmos,” article on the
Magnetic Needle) says _soul_ signifies here “the inner principle of
the moving agent,” and he adds in a footnote: “Aristotle (“De Anima,”
I. 2) speaks only of the animation of the magnet as of an opinion that
originated with Thales.” Diogenes Laertius interprets this statement as
applying also distinctly to amber, for he says: “Aristotle and Hippias
maintain as to the doctrine enounced by Thales.”
The native magnet appears to have long been known in nearly every
quarter of the globe (Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1848, Vol. V., and Harris,
“Rudimentary Magnetism,” Parts I and II).
In the Talmud, it is called _achzhàb’th_, the stone which attracts;
in the Aztec, _tlaihiomani tetl_, the stone that draws by its breath;
in the Sanscrit, _ayaskânta_, loving toward iron; in the Siamese,
_me-lek_, that which attracts iron; in the Chinese, _thsu-chy_, love
stone, also _hy-thy-chy_, stone that snatches up iron; in the French,
_l’aimant_, and in the Spanish, _iman_, loving stone; in the Hungarian,
_magnet kö_, love stone; while in the Greek it is called _siderites_,
owing to its resemblance to iron.
For _lyncurium_ of the ancients see _Phil. Trans._, Vol. LI. p. 394,
and Hutton’s “Abridgments,” Vol. XI. p. 419.
Euripides (“Fragmenta Euripidis,” Didot edit., 1846, p. 757) called it
_lapis herculaneus_, from its power over iron, and it was also known as
_lapis heracleus_, doubtless because the best was, at one time, said
to be found near Heraclea in Lydia (Plato, “Ion”--Burgess--Vol. IV. p.
294; see, besides, Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. p. 130; Hervart
(J. F.), Ingolstadii, 1623).
It has likewise been designated as follows: Chinese, _tchu-chy_,
directing stone; Icelandic, _leiderstein_, leading stone; Swedish,
_segel-sten_, seeing stone; Tonkinin, _d’ànamtchûm_, stone which shows
the south; and, by reason of its great hardness, the Greeks called
it _calamita_; the Italians _calamita_; the French _calamite_, also
_diamant_; the Hebrews _khalamish_ or _kalmithath_, and the Romans
_adamas_, while _adamant_ was the name given to the magnetic needle
(compass) by the English of the time of Edward III (T. H. H. Martin,
“De l’aimant, de ses noms divers et de ses variétés,” Paris, 1861;
Buttmann, “Bemerkungen ... des Magnetes und des Basaltes,” 1808, Band
II.; G. A. Palm, “Der Magnet in Alterthum,” 1867).[7]
“This stone adamas is dyuers and other than an Magnas, for yf an adamas
be sette by yren it suffryth not the yren come to the magnas, but
drawyth it by a manere of vyolence fro the magnas” (Trevisa, “Barth, de
Prop, reb.,” XVI. 8).[8]
“The adamant cannot draw yron if the diamond lye by it” (Lyly,
“Euphues,” sig. K. p. 10).
“Right as an adamound, iwys, can drawen to hym sotylly the yren” (“Rom.
Rose”).
“In Ynde groweth the admont stone ... she by her nature draweth to her
yron” (Caxton, “Myrrour,” II. vii. 79).
“The adamant placed neare any iron will suffer it to be drawen away of
the lode stone” (Maplet, “Greene Forest,” I.).
“You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant; but yet you draw not iron; for
my heart is true as steel” (Shakespeare, “Midsum. Night’s Dream,” Act.
ii. sc. 1).
“As sun to day, as turtle to her mate, as iron to adamant”
(Shakespeare, “Troilus and Cressida,” Act iii. sc. 2).
“The grace of God’s spirit, like the true load stone or adamant, draws
up the yron heart of man to it” (Bishop Hall, “Occas. Medit.,” 52.).
“The adamant ... is such an enemy to the magnet that, if it be bound to
it, it will not attract iron” (Leonardus, “Mirr. Stones,” 63).
According to Beckmann (Bohn, 1846, pp. 86–98) the real _tourmaline_ was
first brought from Ceylon (where the natives called it _tournamal_),
at the end of the seventeenth century or beginning of the eighteenth
century (see A.D. 1707).
It is classed by Pliny as a variety of carbuncle (lib. xxxvii. cap.
vii.). John de Laet says (“De Gemmis,” 1647, 8vo, p. 155): “The
description of the _lyncurium_ does not ill agree with the hyacinth of
the moderns.” Watson thinks likewise (“Phil. Trans.,” Vol. LI. p. 394)
and so does John Serapion-Serapio Mauritanus--Yuhanna Ibn Serapion Ben
Ibrahim (alluded to by Gilbert, “De Magnete,” Book I. chap. i.) in his
“Lib. de simplicibus medicinis,” Argent. 1531, fol. p. 263; and Anselm
Boèce de Boot, Flemish naturalist (“Gem. et Lap. Hist.,” Leyden, 1636);
while Epiphanius (“De Gemmis,” XII.) states that he could find in the
Bible no mention of the _lyncurium_, which latter he also believes to
have been the hyacinth. On the other hand, the Duke de Noya Caraffa
(“Recueil de Mém. Æpinus,” Petersb. 1762, 8vo, p. 122) considers the
_tourmaline_ to be identical with the _theamedes_ of the ancients
(Pliny, lib. xx. 50, and xxxvi., 25; Cardan, “De Subtilitate,” lib.
vii. p. 386).
The _betylos_ has doubtless been likewise named in this connection.
Strabo, Pliny, Helancius--all speak of the electrical or
electro-magnetic power of the betyli. They were worshipped in the
remotest antiquity in Egypt and Samothrace as magnetic stones
“containing souls which had fallen from heaven,” and the priests
of Cybelè wore a small _betylos_ on their bodies (Blavatsky, “Isis
Unveiled,” Vol. I. p. 332).
REFERENCES.--Enfield, “Dict. Phil.,” I. 152: Marbodeus Gallus,
1530–1531 Friburg, pp. 41 and 1539, Cologne, p. 39; Bostock’s
“Pliny,” Book XXXVII. chap. xii.; Azuni, “Boussole,” 1809, p.
37; Venanson, “De l’invention de la Boussole Nautique,” Naples,
1808, pp. 27–29; Thomas, “Sc. An.,” 1837, p. 250. See also
De Noya, “Encycl. Brit.,” 1855, VIII. p. 529, and Priestley,
“History of Electricity,” 1775, p. 293; A. Cæsalpini, “De
Metallicis,” Romæ, 1596; Th. Browne, “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,”
1650, p. 51; St. Isidore, “Originum,” lib. xvi. cap. 4; Corn.
Gemma, “De Natura Divinis,” lib. i. cap. 7; Alb. Magnus, “De
Mineral.,” lib. ii.; Joseph Ennemoser, “History of Magic,”
Vol. II. pp. 27, 29, 51; Julius Solinus, “De Mirabilibus,”
cap. 34; Johann S. T. Gehler, “Physik. Wörterbuch,” article
“Magnetismus”; Joannes Langius, “Epistolarum Med.,” Epist.
lxxv. For extract of Serapio’s work see Fernel’s “Coll. ...
Greek Writers,” 1576. Consult likewise “Collection des anciens
Alchimistes Grecs,” par M. Marcellin Berthelot, Paris, 1887, p.
252: _siderites_, _aimant_ ou _magnes_, _ferrum vivum_, mâle et
femelle--with references to Dioscorides, Pliny and Lexicon Alch.
Rulandi.
For Pliny, see also “Manual of Classical Biography,” by Jos. Wm.
Moss, London, 1837, Vol. I. pp. 473–504.
“For lyke as ye lodestone draweth vnto it yron: so doeth
beneficence and well doyng allure all men vnto her.”--Udal.
Markè, c. 5.
=B.C. 285–247.=--Ptolemy (Ptolemæus II, surnamed _Philadelphus_, or
the brother-loving, son of Ptolemy _Soter_) ordered Timochares, the
architect of the palace, to suspend the iron statue of Arsinoë in the
temple of Pharos.
Although Pliny says (lib. xxxiv. cap. 14) that the statue was never
completed owing to the death of both Ptolemy and his architect,
Ausonius (Decimus Magnus), Roman poet (A.D. 309–393), asserts
the contrary in his most important work, “Mosella” (vv. 314–320),
translation of Mr. de la Ville de Mirmont, the first edition of
which was published by Ugollet at Venice in 1499. Therein it is
said: “Timochares (and not Dinochares, Dinocrates, Demochrates or
Chirocrates) suspended the statue in mid-air (_dans les hauteurs
aëriennes du temple_).... Under the ceiling-vault crowned with
loadstones, a bluish magnet draws, by means of an iron hair, the young
woman it holds in its embrace.”
“Dinocrates began to make the arched roofe of the temple of Arsinoë all
of magnet, or this loadstone, to the end, that within that temple the
statue of the said princesse made of yron, might seeme to hang in the
aire by nothing” (Holland, “Plinie,” Book XXXIV. cap. 14).
King Theodoric alludes (Cassiodor, “Variar,” lib. i. epist. 45) to a
statue of Cupid in the temple of Diana at Ephesus (one of the seven
Wonders of the World), and St. Augustine (“De Civitate Dei,” XXI. 6)
speaks of a bronze figure in the temple of Serapis at Alexandria, both
suspended by means of a magnet attached to the ceiling.[9]
REFERENCES.--De Mirmont, “La Moselle,” 1889, “Commentaire,”
pp. 93 and 95; St. Isidore, “Originum,” lib. xvi. cap. 4; G.
Cedrinus, “Compend. Hist.,” cap. 267; Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,”
Vol. II. p. 1370; Knight’s “Cyclopædia,” Vol. I. p. 363; J.
Ennemoser, “Hist. of Magic,” Vol. II. p. 35; Ath. Kircher,
“Magnes,” 1643, lib. ii. prob. vi.; Dinochares, with translation
of poem (Claudian, Idyl V) at pp. 61–62 of “Antique Gems,” by
Rev. C. W. King, London, 1866; Vincent de Beauvais, “Spec.
Mai,” Douai, 1624, Vol. I., lib. viii. cap. 34; Alb. Magnus,
“De Mineralibus,” 1651, lib. ii. cap. 6, p. 243; Ausonio
Lucius Ampelius, “Lib. Memorialis,” Paris, 1827, cap. viii.;
T. H. Martin, “Observ. et Théories,” 1865, pp. 5–7; Thos.
Browne, “Pseud. Epidem.,” 1658, Book II. p. 79; W. Barlowe’s
“Magneticall Advertisements,” 1616, p. 45; “Simonis Maioli ...
dies Caniculares, seu Colloqui, XXIII,” 1597, P. 782; Ruffinus,
“Prosper d’Aquitaine”; Porta, “Magia Naturalis,” lib. vii.
cap. 27; “Mosella,” in Wernsdorf’s “Poetæ Latini Minores”; E.
Salverte, “Phil. of Magic,” 1847, Vol. II. p. 215.
=B.C. 200.=--Polybius, a Greek statesman and historian, describes (lib.
x. cap. 45, “General History”) his optical telegraph--_pyrsia_--because
the signals were invariably produced by means of fire-lights--an
unquestionable improvement upon the modes of communication which had
been previously suggested by Cleoxenes and Democritus. It consisted of
a board upon which the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet were
arranged in five columns, one space being vacant. The party signalling
would hold up with his left hand a number of torches indicating the
column from which the desired letter was to be taken, while in the
right hand he would hold up to view as many torches as were necessary
to designate the particular letter required.
REFERENCES.--Rollin’s “Ancient History, 9th Dundee,” Vol VI.
p. 321; “Emporium of Arts and Sciences,” Vol. I. pp. 296–299;
“Penny Encycl.,” Vol. XXIV. p. 145. A good cut of the Polybius
telegraph will be found at p. 2 of “Wireless Telegraphy,” by Wm.
Maver, Jr., New York, 1904, and a very detailed account of all
known fire signals is given at pp. 148 and 373, Vol. IV of “The
History of Herodotus,” by Geo. Rawlinson, London, 1880.
=B.C. 60–56.=--Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus), Roman poet, alludes
to the magnet in his poem “De Rerum Natura” (“The Nature of Things”),
thus translated by Dr. Thomas Busby, London, 1813, Book VI. vv.
1045–1059:
“Now, chief of all, the Magnet’s powers I sing,
And from what laws the attractive functions spring.
(The Magnet’s name the observing Grecians drew
From the Magnet’s region where it grew.)
Its viewless, potent, virtues men surprise;
Its strange effects they view with wondering eyes,
When without aid of hinges, links 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 superior those below maintain;
Circle ’neath circle downward draws in vain,
While free in air disports the oscillating chain.
So strong the Magnet’s virtue as it darts
From ring to ring and knits the attracted parts.”
A rendering by Thomas Creech, A.M., London, 1714, Book VI. vv. 894–989,
likewise deserves reproduction here:
“Now sing my muse, for ’tis a weighty cause.
Explain the Magnet, why it strongly draws,
And brings rough Iron to its fond embrace.
This, Men admire; for they have often seen
Small Rings of Iron, six, or eight, or ten,
Compose a subtile chain, no Tye between;
But, held by this, they seem to hang in air,
One to another sticks and wantons there;
So great the Loadstone’s force, so strong to bear!
* * * * *
First, from the MAGNET num’rous Parts arise,
And swiftly move; the STONE gives vast supplies;
Which, springing still in Constant Streams, displace
The neighb’ring air and make an EMPTY SPACE;
So when the STEEL comes there, some PARTS begin
To leap on through the VOID and enter in.
* * * * *
The STEEL will move to seek the STONE’S embrace,
Or up or down, or t’ any other place,
Which way soever lies the EMPTY SPACE.”
The transmission of the magnetic attraction through rings or chains
is also alluded to in Plato’s “Ion,” p. 533, D. E. Ed. Stephanus; by
Pliny, lib. xxxiv. cap. 14; St. Augustine, “De Civitate Dei,” XX.
4; Philo, “De Mundi Opificio,” D. ed., 1691, p. 32; likewise by the
learned Bishop Hall, “The English Seneca,” as follows: “That the
loadstone should by his secret virtue so drawe yron to it selfe that a
whole chaine of needles should hang by insensible points at each other,
only by the influence that it sends downe from the first, if it were
not ordinary, would seeme incredible” (“Meditations,” 1640, con. 3,
par. 18).
REFERENCES.--“Le Journal des Savants” for January 1824, p. 30.
also for March 1833, June 1866 and December 1869; Plutarch,
“Platon. Quæst.,” Vol. II. p. 1004, ed. par.; St. Isidore,
“Etymologiarum, Originum,” lib. xvi., iv.; the Timæus (Bohn,
1849, Vol. II. p. 394); Platonis, “Io,” Lugduni, 1590, pp. 145,
146; “Houzeau et Lancaster, Bibliographie Générale,” Vol. I.
part i. pp. 440–442; Geo. Burgess, tr. of Plato’s “Ion,” London,
1851, Vol. IV. pp. 294–295 and notes.
=A.D. 50.=--Scribonius Largus, Designationus, Roman physician, relates
(Chaps. I. and XLI. of his “De Compositione Med. Medica”) that a
freedman of Tiberius called Anthero was cured of the gout by shocks
received from the electric _torpedo_, and Dioscorides advises the same
treatment for inveterate pains of the head (“Torpedo,” lib. ii.).
Other applications are alluded to by Galen (“Simp. Medic.,” lib. xi.;
Paulus Ægineta, “De Re Medica,” lib. vii.; “Encycl. Met.,” article
“Electricity,” IV. p. 41). See also Bertholon, “Elec. du Corps Humain,”
1786, Vol. I. p. 174.
Fahie states (“History of Electric Telegraphy,” p. 172) that, along
the banks of the Old Calabar River, in Africa, the natives employ the
electrical properties of the _gymnotus_ for the cure of their sick
children. They either place the ailing child close by the vessel of
water containing the animal, or the child is made to play with a very
small specimen of the fish.
REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XXIX. p. 831; Humboldt,
“Voyage Zoologique,” p. 88; “New Gen. Biogr.,” London, 1850,
Vol. XI. p. 501; “Larousse Dict.,” Vol. XIV. p. 427; “Hœfer
Biogr.,” Vol. XLIII. p. 654.
=A.D. 121.=--The Chinese knew of old the magnet, its attractive force
and its polarity, but the most ancient record made of the peculiar
property possessed by the loadstone of communicating polarity to iron
is explicitly mentioned in the celebrated dictionary “Choue-Wen,” which
Hin-tchin completed in A.D. 121, the fifteenth year of the reign of the
Emperor Ngan-ti of the Han dynasty.
This dictionary contains a description of the manner in which the
property of pointing with one end toward the south may be imparted to
an iron rod by a series of methodical blows, and alludes to (“Tseu”)
the “stone with which a direction can be given to the needle.”
“In Europe it has been thought that the needle had its chief tendency
to the north pole; but in China the south alone is considered as
containing the attractive power” (Sir G. Staunton, “Account of an
Embassy,” London, 1797, Vol. I. p. 445).
Le Père Gaubil, who was sent to China in 1721 and died in Pekin 1759,
says (“Histoire ... de la dynastie de Tang,” in “Mémoires concernant
...” Vol. XV) that he found, in a work written towards the end of the
Han dynasty, the use of the compass distinctly marked to distinguish
the north and the south. He also states, though doubtless erroneously,
that that form was given it under the reign of Hian-Tsoung.
With reference to the magnetic attraction to the pole, it is well to
bear in mind that no allusion whatsoever is made thereto by any of the
writers of classical antiquity. This much has already been stated under
date B.C. 1000–907. It certainly appears to have escaped the attention
of the ancient Greeks and Romans, whose admiration, according to the
learned French physician Falconet (“Dissert. Hist. et Crit.”), was
excited solely by the attractive property of the loadstone.
The Rev. Father Joseph de Acosta (“Natural and Moral History of the
Indies,” translation of C. R. Markham, lib. i. cap. 16) thus alludes to
the above subject: “I finde not that, in ancient bookes, there is any
mention made of the vse of the Iman or Loadstone, nor of the Compasse
(_aguja de marear_) to saile by; I beleeve they had no knowledge
thereof.... Plinie speakes nothing of that vertue it hath, alwaies
to turne yron which it toucheth towards the north.... Aristotle,
Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Lucretius, Saint Augustine, nor any other
writers or Naturall Philosophers that I have seene, make any mention
thereof, although they treat of the loadstone.”
Thomas Creech, in the notes to his translation of Lucretius’ “De
Natura” says: “Nor indeed, do any of the ancients treat of this last
(the directive) power of the loadstone ... and Guido Pancirollus justly
places it among the modern inventions.”
REFERENCES.--Klaproth, “La Boussole,” Paris, 1834, pp. 9, 10,
66; Azuni, “Boussole,” Paris, 1809, p. 30; “English Cycl.”--Arts
and Sciences--Vol. V. p. 420; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1848, Vol. II.
p. 628; John Francis Davis, “The Chinese,” London, 1836, Vol.
II. pp. 221, etc., or the 1844 edition, Vol. III. p. 12; Geo.
Adams, “Essay ...” 1785, p. 428.
=A.D. 218.=--Salmasius, in his Commentary upon Solinus, asserts
that, at this date, amber was known among the Arabs as _Karabe_, or
_Kahrubá_, a word which, Avicenna states, is of Persian origin and
signifies the power of attracting straws; the magnet being called
_Ahang-rubá_, or attractor of iron.
REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Met.,” Vol. IV. p. 41; Fahie, “Hist. of
Elec. Teleg.,” p. 29.
=A.D. 232–290.=--Africanus (Sextus Julius), an eminent Christian
historical writer, author of a chronicle extending from the date of the
creation to A.D. 221, as well as of an extensive work entitled
“Kestoi,” states that the Roman generals perfected a system for
readily communicating intelligence by means of fires made of different
substances.
REFERENCES.--Shaffner, “Teleg. Man.,” 1859, p. 19; Appleton’s
“Cyclopædia,” 1871, Vol. XV. p. 333.
=A.D. 235.=--It is related that one Makium, who was ordered by the
Chinese emperor to construct “a car which would show the South”
succeeded in doing so, and thus recovered the secret of manufacture
which had for some time been lost. The “Amer. Journ. of Science and the
Arts” (Vol. XL. p. 249) adds that, from this date, the construction of
a magnetic car seems to have been a puzzle ... and the knowledge of
the invention appears to have been confined within very narrow limits.
Humboldt says that the magnetic wagon was used as late as the fifteenth
century of our era; the “American Journal” states that it cannot be
traced later than 1609.
=A.D. 265–419.=--What is by many believed to be the earliest reliable,
distinct mention or actually printed record of the use of the magnet
for navigation, appears in the justly prominent Chinese dictionary or
rather encyclopædia, “Poei-wen-yun-fou,” wherein it is mentioned that
there were during this period (that of the second Tsin dynasty) ships
directed to the South by the _ching_ or needle. It is likewise therein
stated that the figure then placed upon the magnetic cars represented
“a genius in a feather dress” and that, when the emperor went out upon
state occasions this car “always led the way and served to indicate the
four points of the compass.”
REFERENCES.--Homer at B.C. 1000–907; Davis, “The Chinese,” Vol.
III. p. 12; Klaproth, “Boussole,” pp. 66, 67; Johnson, “Univ.
Cycl.,” Vol. I. p. 927. ed. 1877; Miller, “Hist. Phil. Illust.,”
London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 180.
In a later work called “Mung-khi-py-than” will be found the following:
“The soothsayers rub a needle with the magnet stone, so that it may
mark the south; however, it declines constantly a little to the east.
It does not indicate the south exactly. When this needle floats on the
water it is much agitated. If the fingernails touch the upper edge
of the basin in which it floats, they agitate it strongly; only it
continues to slide and falls easily. It is preferable, in order to show
its virtues in the best way, to suspend it as follows: Take a single
filament from a piece of new cotton and attach it exactly to the middle
of the needle by a bit of wax as large as a mustard seed. Hang it up in
a place where there is no wind. Then the needle always shows the south;
but among such needles there are some which, being rubbed, indicate the
north. Our soothsayers have some which show the south and some which
show the north. Of this property of the magnet to indicate the south,
like that of the cypress to show the west, no one can tell the origin.”
=A.D. 295–324.=--Koupho, Chinese physicist as well as writer, and one
of the most celebrated men of his age, compares the attractive property
of the magnet with that of amber animated by friction and heat. In his
“Discourse on the Loadstone” he says: “The magnet attracts iron as
amber draws mustard seeds. There is a breath of wind that promptly and
mysteriously penetrates both bodies, uniting them imperceptibly with
the rapidity of an arrow. It is incomprehensible.”
REFERENCES.--Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 125; Humboldt, “Cosmos,”
1848, Vol. V. p. 51; Libri, “Hist. des Mathém.,” Vol. I. p. 381,
note 2.
=A.D. 304.=--St. Elmo (St. Erasmus) Bishop of Formiæ, in ancient
Italy, who suffered martyrdom about this date at Gæta, is the one
after whom sailors in the Mediterranean first named the fires or
flames which by many are believed to be of an electric nature and
which appear during stormy weather, either at the yardarms, mastheads,
in the rigging, or about the decks of a vessel. When two flames are
seen together, they are called Castor and Pollux, “twin gods of the
sea, guiding the mariner to port,” and are considered by seamen an
indication of good luck and of fine weather; but when only one flame is
visible it is called Helena, and is supposed to be an evil omen, the
beacon of an avenging God luring the sailor to death.
St. Elmo’s fire is also known to the Italians as the fire of _St.
Peter_ and of _St. Nicholas_, to the Portuguese as _San Telmo_ and
as _Corpos Santos_, and to the English sailors as _comazant_ or
_corposant_.
The historian of Columbus’ second voyage says that during the month
of October 1493 “St. Elmo appeared on the topgallant-masts with seven
lighted tapers.” It is also alluded to by Pliny, “Nat. Hist.” lib. ii.
cap. 37; by Stobæus, “Eclogarum Phys.,” I. 514; Livy, “Hist.,” cap.
2; Seneca, “Nat. Quæst.,” I. 1; by Cæsar, “de Bello Africano,” cap. 6
edit. Amstel., 1686; and by Camoëns, “Os Lusiades,” canto v. est. 18.
“Last night I saw St. Elmo’s stars,
With their glimmering lanterns all at play
On the tops of the masts and the tips of the spars,
And I knew we should have foul weather to-day.”
Longfellow, “Golden Legend,” Chap. V.
“... Sometimes I’d divide,
And burn in many places--on the topmast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join....”
Shakespeare, “The Tempest,” Act i. sc. 2.
REFERENCES.--“Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” Vol. XVI. p.
179; “Grand Dict. Univ. du xix^e siècle” of Pierre Larousse,
Vol. VII. p. 786; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 245;
Becquerel, “Traité Expér.,” 1834, Vol. I. p. 34, and his
“Résumé,” Chap. I; Le Breton, “Histoire,” 1884, p. 43; “La
Lumière Electrique,” Juin 1891, p. 546, likewise Procopius,
“De Bello, Vandal,” lib. ii. cap. 2; William Falconer’s
“Observations,” etc. in Vol. III. p. 278 of “Mem. Lit. and Ph.
Soc. Manchester,” 1790 (translated in Italian, 1791), for an
account of the flames appearing upon the spear points of the
Roman legions.
=A.D. 400.=--Marcellus Empiricus, who was _magister officiorum_ in the
reign of Theodosius the Great (379–395) states in his “De Medicamentis
Empiricis,” Venetiis, 1547, P. 89, that the magnet called _antiphyson_
attracts and repulses iron. This, adds Becquerel in his “Résumé,” Chap.
III, further proves that these properties were known in the fourth
century.
REFERENCES.--Klaproth, “Boussole,” 1834, p. 12; Harris,
“Magnetism,” I and II; “New Gen. Biogr. Dict.,” London, 1850,
Vol. IX. p. 475.
=A.D. 425.=--Zosimus (Count), Greek historian, who lived under
Theodosius II (401–450), “sometime advocate of the Treasury of the
Roman Empire,” wrote the history of that empire from the reign of
Augustus to the year A.D. 410, wherein he is the first to call
attention to the electrolytic separation of metals, _i. e._ that the
latter acquire a coating of copper upon being immersed in a cupreous
solution.
REFERENCES.--Gore, “Art of Electro-Met.,” 1877, p. 1, or the
London 1890 edition, p. B; “A treatise on Electro-Metal.,” by
Walter G. McMillan, London, 1890, p. 2; “Journal des Savants”
for June 1895, pp. 382–387; Dr. Geo. Langbein’s treatise,
translated by W. T. Brannt, Chap. I; “Nouvelle Biogr. Gén.”
(Hœfer), Vol. XLVI. p. 1022; Schoell, “Hist. de la Littér.
Grecque”; Pauly, “Real Encycl. ... Alterthums”; “Biogr. Univ.”
(Michaud), Vol. XLV. p. 606; “Nouveau Larousse,” Vol. VII. p.
1429.
=A.D. 426.=--Augustine (Aurelius, Saint), the most prominent of the
Latin Fathers of the Church, finishes his “De Civitate Dei,” which he
began in 413, and which is considered the greatest monument to his
genius. He was probably the most voluminous writer of the earlier
Christian centuries. He was the author of no less than 232 books, in
addition to many tractates or homilies and innumerable epistles (“Books
and their Makers, during the Middle Ages,” Geo. Haven Putnam, New York,
1896, Vol. I. p. 3). In the “De Civitate Dei” he tells us (Basileæ,
1522, pp. 718–719) of the experiment alluded to herein at A.D. 1558.
This had better be given in his own words (“De Civitate Dei,” lib. ii.
cap. 4, Dod’s translation, Edinburgh, 1871):
“When I first saw it (the attraction of the magnet), I was
thunderstruck (_vehementer inhorrui_), for I saw an iron ring attracted
and suspended by the stone; and then, as if it had communicated its
own property to the iron it attracted and had made it a substance like
itself, this ring was put near another and lifted it up, and, as the
first ring clung to the magnet, so did the second ring to the first.
A third and fourth were similarly added, so that there hung from
the stone a kind of chain of rings with their hoops connected, not
interlinking but attached together by their outer surface. Who would
not be amazed by this virtue of the stone, subsisting as it does, not
only in itself, but transmitted through so many suspended rings and
binding them together by invisible links? Yet far more astonishing
is what I heard about the stone from my brother in the episcopate,
Severus, Bishop of Milevis. He told me that Bathanarius, once Count of
Africa, when the Bishop was dining with him, produced a magnet and held
it under a silver plate on which he placed a bit of iron; then as he
moved his hand with the magnet underneath the plate, the iron upon the
plate moved about accordingly. The intervening silver was not affected
at all, but precisely as the magnet was moved backward and forward
below it, no matter how quickly, so was the iron attracted above. I
have related what I have myself witnessed: I have related what I was
told by one whom I trust as I trust my own eyes.”
REFERENCES.--“Vie de St. Augustin,” by Poujoulat, second
edition, Paris, 1852, and by G. Moringo, 1533; Possidius,
also Rivius, “Vitæ de St. Augus.”; L. Tillemont, “Mémoires
Eccles.,” 1702 (the 13th Vol. of which is devoted to an
elaborate account of his life and controversies); Bindemann,
“Der heilige Augustinus,” 1844; Butler, “Lives of the Saints”;
Lardner, “Credibility of the Gospel History,” Vol. VI. part
i. pp. 58–59, and Vol. X. pp. 198–303; Neander, “Geschichte
der Christlichen Religion und Kirche”; Pellechet, “Catalogue
Général des Incunables,” 1897, pp. 339–370; Alfred Weber,
“History of Philosophy,” tr. by Frank Thilly, New York, 1896,
pp. 188–198; “St. Augustine’s City of God,” tr. by Rev. Marcus
Dods, Edinburgh, 1871, Vol. II. book xxi. pp. 420, 457;
“Journal des Scavans,” Vol. XIV. for 1686, pp. 22–23, mentions
the above-named experiment and the effect of diamond on the
loadstone; “Journal des Savants” for Sept. 1898; Ueberweg,
“Hist. of Philosophy” (Morris’ tr., 1885), Vol. I. pp. 333–346.
=A.D. 450.=--Aëtius (Amidenus), Greek physician, informs us (Aëtii, op.
lib. xi. cap. 25) that “those who are troubled with the gout in their
hands or in their feet, or with convulsions, find relief when they hold
a magnet in their hand. Paracelsus recommended the use of the magnet
in a number of diseases, as fluxes, hæmorrhages, etc., while Marcellus
(“Steph. Artis. Med. Princip.,” II. p. 253) and Camillus Leonardus
(“Speculum Lapidum,” lib. ii.) assert that it will cure the toothache.”
During the year 1596, Jean Jacques Vuccher published “De Secretis”
(“The secrets and marvels of Nature”), wherein, at p. 166, he thus
advises the application of a loadstone for curing the headache: “_La
pierre d’aymant appliquée et mise contre la teste, oste toutes les
douleurs et maux d’icelle-ce que nostre Hollerius escrit comme l’ayant
prins_ [sic] _des commentaires des anciens_.” And, in 1754, Lenoble
constructed magnets that were readily used in the treatment of various
diseases (“Practical Mechanic,” Vol. II. p. 171).
The application of the magnet for the relief of various complaints
is treated of at pp. 334–335, Vol. II. of J. Ennemoser’s “History
of Magic,” where will be found a list of works containing accounts
of the oldest and most extraordinary known cures on record.
Additional references to cures by the magnet, as well as with iron or
amber--besides those named more particularly at A.D. 1770 (Maxim. Hell)
and at A.D. 1775 (J. F. Bolten)--are to be found in the following works:
Avicenna, “Canona Medicinæ,” Venice, 1608, lib. ii. cap. 470;
Pliny, “Natural Historie,” Holland tr., 1601, Chap. IV. p. 609;
Hali Abas, “Liber totius medicinæ,” 1523, lib. i.; Serapio
Mauritanus, “De simplicibus medicinis,” Argent., 1531, pp.
260, 264; Antonius Musa Brasavolus, “Examen omnium simplicium
medicamentorum,” Rome 1536; Santes de Ardoynis Pisaurensis,
“Liber de Venenis” (Venetiis, 1492), Basilæ, 1562; Oribasius,
“De facultate metallicorum,” lib. xiii.; Joannes Baptista
Montanus, “Metaphrasis Summaria ...” 1551; G. Pictorio, in his
poem published at Basel in 1567, or in the 1530–1531 editions
of “Marbodei Galli Poetæ vetustissimi de lapidibus pretiosis
Enchiridion” (J. A. Vander Linden, “De Scriptis Medicis,” 1651,
pp. 210–211); Rhazès, “De simplicibus, ad Almansorem,” Venetiis,
1542, lib. ult. cap. 295; Joannes Lonicerus (author of “De
Meteoris,” Frankfort, 1550), “In Dioscoridæ Anazarbei de re
medica ...” 1543, p. 77; Matthæus Silvaticus, “Opus Pandectarum
Medicinæ,” 1498, 1511, 1526 (1541), cap. 446; Petrus de Abano,
“Tractatus de Venenis,” 1490, also “Conciliator Differentiarum
Philosophorum” (1496), 1520, 1526; Nicolaus Myrepsus, “Liber de
compositione medicamentorum,” 1541, 1549, 1567, 1626; Joannes
Manardus, “Epistolarum medicinalium” (Basilæ, 1549); Dioscorides
Pedacius, “De materia medica,” Spengel ed., 1829, Chap. CXLVII.
or in the 1557 ed. p. 507, or in the translation made by Joannes
Ruellius in 1543; Nicholas Monardus, “Joyfull newes out of the
new-found worlde,” Frampton tr., London, 1596; Arnaldus de
Villa Nova, “Tractatus de virtutibus herbarum” (1499); Amatus
Lusitanus, “Enarrationes Eruditissimæ,” 1597, pp. 482, 507;
Gabriellus Fallopius, “De Simplicibus Medicamentis purgentibus
tractatus,” and “Tractatus de compositione Medicamentorum,”
Venetiis, 1566, 1570; Joannes Langius, “Epistolarum Medicinalium
...,” Paris, 1589; Petri Andriæ Mathiolus, “Commentarii ...
Dioscoridis ... de materia medica,” 1598, p. 998; W. Barlowe,
“Magneticall Advertisements,” 1616, p. 7, or the 1843 reprint;
Albertus Magnus, “De Mineralibus” (1542), lib. ii.; Oswaldus
Crollius, “Basilica Chimica,” 1612, p. 267; Nicolaus Curtius,
“Libellus de medicamentis ...” Giessæ Cattorum, 1614; Rudolphi
Goclenii--Goclenius--“Tractatus de magnetica curatione,” 1609,
1613, also “Synarthosis Magnetica,” Marpurgi, 1617 (Eloy “Dict.
Hist. de la Méd.,” Vol. II. pp. 359–360); Luis de Oviedo,
“Methodo de la Coleccion y Reposicion de las medicinas simples,”
1622, p. 502; W. Charleton, “A Ternary of Paradoxes of the
Magnetic cure of Wounds,” 1650; the “Pharmacopœia Augustana,”
Augsburg, 1621, p. 182; Patrick Brydone in “Phil. Trans.,”
Vol. L. pp. 392, 695, and Vol. LXIII. p. 163. Consult also the
abridgments by Hutton, Vol. XI. p. 262, Vol. XIII. p. 415;
Waring’s “Bibliotheca Therapeutica,” London, 1878.
“The magnet ... gives comfort and grace, and is a cure for many
complaints; it is of great value in disputes. When pulverised, it cures
many burns. It is a remedy for dropsy” (I Sermone ... di F. Sacchetti
... § 18).
According to Dias, “the magnet reconciles husbands to their wives,” and
Platea remarks that “it is principally of use to the wounded,” while
Avicenna says “it is a remedy against spleen, the dropsy and alopecian.”
For additional information, consult J. Beckmann’s “History of
Inventions,” Bohn, 1846, Vol. I. p. 43, and the article “Somnambulism”
in the “Encyclopædia Britannica.”
=A.D. 543.=--The Japanese say that at about this date the Mikado
received from the Court of Petsi in Corea “the wheel which indicates
the south.”
REFERENCE.--Knight, “Mechanical Dictionary,” Vol. II. p. 1397.
=A.D. 658.=--As shown by Kaï-bara-Tok-sin, in the “Wa-zi-si,” the first
magnetic cars were constructed during this year in Japan; the loadstone
was not, however, discovered in that country until A.D. 713, when it
was brought from the province of Oomi (Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 94).
The “Journal of the Franklin Institute” (Vol. XVIII. for 1836, p. 69),
gives a description and illustration of one of these magnetic chariots,
taken from the thirty-third volume of the Japanese Encyclopædia.
=A.D. 806–820.=--Between these dates, under the Thâng dynasty, were
first made the cars called _Kin-Koung-yuan_, which were magnetic
chariots similar to those previously known, but bearing in addition a
drum and a bell. Both the latter were struck at regular intervals by an
erect male figure placed at the head of the car (“American Journal of
Science and the Arts,” Vol. XL. p. 249).
A critic named Tchen-yn admits, as already indicated herein under the
A.D. 235 date, that the knowledge of the mode of construction of the
magnetic cars was by no means general. “I know well,” adds he, “that,
at the time of the Thâng, under Hien-toung (who ascended the throne
806 A.D., and reigned seventeen years) a chariot was made which always
showed the four parts of the earth, in imitation, it was said, of those
constructed at the time of Hoang-ti.... Upon it stood the figure of a
spirit, whose hand always pointed to the south.”
REFERENCES.--“Mémoires concernant l’histoire ...” by Saillant et
Nyon, Paris, 1776–1788, Vol. XIII. p. 234; Klaproth, “Boussole,”
p. 72.
=A.D. 968.=--Kung-foo-Whing is said to have invented a method of
transmitting sound through wires by means of an apparatus called
_thumthsein_, although no trace whatever of the latter is to be found
in any of the numerous authorities herein quoted.
=A.D. 1067–1148.=--Frode (Ari Hinn--Ara Hin--or the Wise), Arius
Polyhistor (Ari Prestrinha Frodi Thorgillsun), Icelandic historian,
“than whom there is no higher authority,” was the first compiler of the
celebrated “Landnama-Bok,” which contains a full account of all the
early settlers in Iceland, and is doubtless the most complete record of
the kind ever made by any nation.
In it, he says that, at the time Floke Vilgerderson left Rogoland, in
Norway, about A.D. 868, for another visit to Gardansholm (Iceland),
of which he was the original discoverer, “the seamen had no loadstone
(_leiderstein_) in the northern countries,” thus showing, according to
Prof. Hansteen, that the directive power of the needle and its use in
navigation were known in Europe in the eleventh century. In this manner
is given the first intimation of the knowledge of the mariner’s compass
outside of China. The passage quoted above is by many supposed to be
an interpolation, for it is not found in several manuscripts, and it
has even been asserted (“Br. Ann.,” p. 296), that its origin does not
antedate the fourteenth century, thus strengthening the claims of the
French in behalf of Guyot De Provins.
REFERENCES.--“Landnama-Bok,” Kiœbenhaven, 1774, T. I. chap. ii.
par. 7; John Angell, “Magnet. and Elect.,” 1874, p. 10; Lloyd,
“Magnetism,” p. 101; “Pre-Col. Disc. of Am.,” De Costa, pp.
xxiii and 11; “Bull. de Géogr.,” 1858, p. 177; “Good Words,”
1874, p. 70; Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 40; Hansteen, “Inquiries
Concerning the Magnetism of the Earth,” and “Magazin für
Naturvidenskaberne Christiana,” I. 2, “Encycl. Metrop.,” Vol.
III. p. 736; the 1190–1210 entry herein.
=A.D. 1111–1117.=--Keou-tsoungchy, Chinese philosopher and writer,
gives, in the medical natural history called “Pen-thsao-yan-i,” written
by him under the Soung dynasty, the earliest description of a water
compass found in any Chinese work, viz.: “The magnet is covered over
with little bristles slightly red, and its superficies is rough. It
attracts iron and unites itself with it; and, for this reason, it is
commonly called the stone which licks up iron. When an iron point is
rubbed upon the magnet, it acquires the property of pointing to the
south, yet it declines always to the east, and is not perfectly true to
the south.... If the needle be passed through a wick or a small tube of
thin reed, and placed upon water, it will indicate the south, but with
a continual inclination towards the point _ping_, that is to say, East
five-sixths South.”
In the “Mung-khi-py-than,” also composed under the Soung dynasty, it is
stated that fortune-tellers rub the needle with the loadstone in order
to make it indicate the south.
REFERENCES.--_Comptes Rendus_, Vol. XIX. p. 365; “Am. Journal
Sc. and Arts,” 1841, XL. p. 248; Davis, “The Chinese,” 1844,
Vol. III. p. 13; Becquerel, “Elec. et Mag.,” p. 58; Klaproth,
“Boussole,” pp. 67–69, 95; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p.
656, and Vol. V. p. 52; Knight, “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 1397;
Humboldt, “Examen Critique,” Paris, 1836, Vol. III. p 34.
=A.D. 1160.=--Eustathius, Archbishop of Thessalonica, relates in his
commentary on the Iliad of Homer, that Walimer, father of Theodoric
and King of the Goths, used to emit sparks from his body; also that a
certain philosopher observed sparks occasionally issuing from his chest
accompanied with a crackling noise.
Leithead tells us that streams of fire came from the hair of Servius
Tullius, a Roman King, during sleep, when he was about seven years
of age (Dionysius, “Antiq. Rom.” lib. iv.; Pliny, “Hist. Nat.” lib.
ii. cap. 37); that Cardan alludes to the hair of a certain Carmelite
monk emitting sparks whenever it was rubbed backward (“De Rerum
Varietate,” lib. viii. cap. 43); that Father Faber, in his “Palladium
Chemicum,” speaks of a young woman whose hair emitted sparks while
being combed, and also refers to allusions made in the same line by
Thomas Bartholinus, “De Luce Animalium,” Lugd. 1647, p. 121; Ezekiel
di Castro, “De Igne Lambente”; Johann Jacob Hemmer, “Trans. Elec. Soc.
Mannheim,” Vol. VI; and _Phil. Trans._, Vol. V. pp. 1, 40.
REFERENCES.--Eustath in Iliad, E. p. 515, ed. Rom.; “Encycl.
Brit.,” 1855, VIII. p. 571; Priestley, “History of Electricity,”
London, 1775, pp. 128, 129; _Phil. Trans._, abridged, Vol. X.
pp. 278, 343, 344, 357.
=A.D. 1190–1210.=--Guyot de Provins, minstrel at the Court of the
Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa), gives the first French mention of the
water compass in a manuscript “politico-satirical” poem entitled “La
Bible,” to be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale. It is therein said
that sailors were at that time in the habit of rubbing needles upon the
ugly brown stone called _marinière_, “to which iron adheres of its
own accord,” and that, as soon as placed afloat upon a small piece of
straw in the water, the needles would point to the North. The passage
alluding to the compass has been copied by D. A. Azuni, member of the
Turin Academy of Sciences, from the original manuscript, and is given
entire, with the French translation, at p. 137 of his “Dissertation
...” second edition, Paris, 1809:
“De notre père l’apostoile (le pape)
* * * * *
Ils l’appellent la tresmontaigne
* * * * *
Par la vertu de la marinière,
Une pierre laide et brumière,
Ou li fers volontiers se joint....”
The passage is also given by Klaproth, at pp. 41–43, and by Venanson,
at p. 72, of their respective works already cited; likewise by
Bertelli, p. 59 of his Memoir published in 1868.
Sonnini (C. S.), in Buffon “Minéraux,” Vol. XV, p. 100, says that Azuni
has successfully established the claims of France to the first use
of the mariner’s compass. Other writers herein, who follow in their
order, will doubtless show to the satisfaction of the reader that, as
the Arabs possessed it at the same time, they must have received it
from the Chinese, and therefore transmitted it to the Franks during the
first Crusades, as stated by Klaproth in his “Lettre à M. de Humboldt,”
Paris, 1834, pp. 64–66.
REFERENCES.--Becquerel, “Traité d’Elect. et de Magn.,” Vol. I.
p. 70; Bertelli, “Mem. sopra P. Peregrino,” 1868, p. 59; R.
M. Ferguson, “Electricity,” 1867, p. 43; J. F. Wolfart, “Des
Guiot von Provins,” Halle, 1861; “Bulletin de Géographie,”
1858, p. 177; Barbazan, “Fabliaux,” Vol. II. p. 328: Becquerel,
“Résumé,” Chap. III; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. pp.
628–630; “Amer. Journ. Sc. and Arts,” Vol. XL. p. 243; “Guiot
von Provins,” in Meyers Konvers. Lex., Vol. VIII. p. 81;
“Encycl. Met.,” Vol. III. p. 736, gives a verbatim copy of part
of Guyot’s poem, with its literal translation; Libri, “Hist. des
Sc. Mathém.,” Paris, 1838, Vol. II. p. 63; “Encycl. Met.,” Vol.
XII. p. 104; J. Lorimer, “Essay on Magnetism,” London, 1795; Sir
John Francis Davis, “The Chinese,” Vol. III. p. xii, or “China,”
London, 1857, pp. 184–187; Whewell, “Hist. of Ind. Sc.,” Vol.
II. p. 46.
[Illustration: Guiot de Provins. “La Bible.” In the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.]
=A.D. 1204–1220.=--Jacobus de Vitry, Cardinal Bishop of Ptolemais,
in Syria, one of the Crusaders, thus speaks of the compass in his
“Historiæ Hierosolimitanæ,”[10] cap. 89 and 91: “The Magnet [_diamant_,
as shown under the B.C. 321 date] is found in the Indies.... It
attracts iron through a secret virtue; after a needle has touched the
loadstone, it always turns toward the North Star, which latter is as
the world’s axis and is immobile, while the other stars turn around it;
that is why the compass is so useful to navigators, _valde necessarius
navigantibus_.”
REFERENCES.--Azuni, “Boussole,” p. 140; Venanson, “Boussole,”
p. 77; Klaproth, pp. 14, 43–44; Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 1184;
Becquerel, “Elec. et Magn.,” Vol. I. p. 70; Knight, “Mech.
Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 1397.
=A.D. 1207.=--Neckam (Alexander of), 1157–1217, Abbot of St. Mary’s,
alludes in his “De Utensilibus” to a needle carried on board ship,
which, being placed upon a pivot and allowed to take its own position
of repose, “showed mariners their course when the Polar Star is
hidden.” In another work, “De Naturis Rerum” (lib. ii. cap. 89), he
writes: “Mariners at sea, when, through cloudy weather in the day,
which hides the sun, or through the darkness of the night, they lose
the knowledge of the quarter of the world to which they are sailing,
touch a needle with a magnet which will turn around until, on its own
motion ceasing, its point will be directed toward the North (Chappell,
“Nature,” No. 346, June 15, 1876; Thomas Wright, “Chronicles and
Memoirs ... Middle Ages,” 1863).
REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XXIV. p. 898; Hœfer,
“Nouv. Biogr. Générale,” Vol. XXXVII. p. 570.
=A.D. 1235–1315.=--Lully (Raymond) of Majorca (often confounded
with Ramond Lull, who is the author of several alchemical books and
of whose biography very little is known), was, by turns, a soldier,
a poet, a monk, a knight, a missionary and a martyr, and is referred
to by Humboldt as “the singularly ingenious and eccentric man, whose
doctrines excited the enthusiasm of Giordano Bruno when a boy, and who
was at once a philosophical systematizer and an analytical chemist, a
skilful mariner and a successful propagator of Christianity.”
During the year 1272 Lully published his “De Contemplatione,” which
was followed by “Fenix de las maravillas del orbe” in 1286, and by his
“Arte de Naveguar” in 1295. In these he states that the seamen of his
time employed instruments of measurement, sea charts and the magnetic
needle (_tenian_, _los mareantes_, _instrumento_, _carta_, _compas y
aguja_), and he describes the improvements made in the astrolabes
(designed for the determination of time and of geographical latitudes
by meridian altitudes and capable of being employed at sea) from the
period that the astrolabium of the Majorcan pilots was in use.
The application of the astrolabe to navigation, Mr. Irving says (“Hist.
of the Life ... of Columbus,” London, 1828, Vol. I. pp. 76–78), was
“one of those timely events which seem to have some thing providential
in them. It was immediately after this that Columbus proposed his
voyage of discovery to the crown of Portugal.”
Lully also confirms the fact that the Barcelonians employed atlases,
astrolabes[11] and compasses long before Don Jaime Ferrer penetrated to
the mouth of the Rio de Ouro, on the western coast of Africa, which was
about fifty years after the date of the last-named work.
Incidentally it may be added that Lully, posing as an alchemist, is
said to have in the presence of the English King, Edward I, converted
iron into gold, which latter was coined into rose-nobles (Bergman,
“Hist. of Chem.”; Louis Figuier, “L’Alchimie et les Alchimistes,”
Paris, 1860, p. 148).
REFERENCES.--For Lul. Raimon, or Raymundus, or Lullius
(1235–1315), “Dict. of Philos. and Psych.,” by J. M. Baldwin,
New York, 1902, Vol. II. p. 32; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol.
II. pp. 629–631, 670, and 1859, Vol. V. p. 55; Miller, “Hist.
Phil. Ill.,” London, 1849, Vol. II. p. 217; Whewell, “Hist. Ind.
Sc.,” 1859, Vol. I. p. 169; also his “Phil. of the Ind. Sc.,”
London, 1840, Vol. II. pp. 320–323; “Journal des Savants,” 1896,
pp. 342, 345–355; “Biogr. Génér.,” article “Lulle”; Helfferich,
“Raym. L.,” Berlin, 1858; Nicolai Eymerici, “Direct Inq.,” Rome,
1578; Bolton, “Ch. Hist. of Chem.,” pp. 1000–1001; Ueberweg,
“Hist. of Philos.” (Morris’ translation, 1885), Vol. I. pp.
457, 459; “Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers,” by Arthur
Edward Waite, London, 1888, pp. 68–88, in which is given, at pp.
276–306, an alphabetical catalogue of all works on Hermetic
Philosophy and Alchemy; Humboldt, “Examen Critique,” Paris,
1836, Vol. I. pp. 7, 283.
For the Dominican Giordano (Jordano) Bruno, see “The Course of
the History of Modern Philosophy,” by Victor Cousin, New York,
1872, Vol. II. pp. 56–58; “English Cycl.” (Biography), Vol. I.
p. 979; Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Paris, 1838, Vol. I. p.
141; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. VIII. pp. 258–259, reviewed in
the “London Athenæum,” Nov. 28, 1903, p. 711.
[Illustration: Vincent de Beauvais. “Speculum Naturale.”
Page taken from the 1473 copy, now in the Bibliothèque, Ste.
Geneviève, Paris.]
=A.D. 1250.=--Vincent de Beauvais, another Crusader, writes his
“Mirror of Nature” (“Bibliotheca Mundi, Speculum Majus, Speculum
Triplex”) for St. Louis and his consort, Marguerite de Provence, and
speaks therein of the polarity of the needle (“Speculi Naturalis,” Vol.
II. lib. ix. cap. 19). He cites Aristotle as having written a book,
“De Lapide,” containing a notice of the magnet’s use in navigation,
but none of Aristotle’s known works appear to have the passage given.
Cabæus and others rather judge that book to be the work of some Arabic
writer (Thomas Creech, “Lucretius”). Libri, however, says that a
translation or _abrégé_ of the MS. of “De Lapide” is at the Paris
Library--MSS. Arabes, No. 402 (“Hist. des sc. Mathém.,” Vol. I. p. 101).
Le Sieur Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt (see A.D. 1269) alludes
clearly to the polarity of the needle in an epistle, “Ad Sigerum de
Foucaucourt--Fontancourt--militem de Magnete,” written toward the end
of the thirteenth century, and the magnet is, at about the same period,
referred to in the following lines of the minstrel Gauthier d’Espinois,
contemporary of the Count of Champagne, Thibaud VI, who lived before
the middle of the thirteenth century (“Hist. Lit. de la France,” 1856,
Vol. XXIII--chansonniers--pp. 576, 831):
“Tout autresi (ainsi) comme l’aimant déçoit (détourne)
L’aiguilette par force de vertu
A ma dame tot le mont (monde) retennue
Qui sa beauté connoit et aperçoit.”
Vincent de Beauvais applies the terms _zohron_ and _aphron_ (not
_afon_) to the south and north ends of the needle, and Mr. J. Klaproth
(“Lettre à M. de Humboldt sur l’invention de la Boussole,” Paris, 1834,
pp. 49–51), says these words are Arabian, notwithstanding assertions
made to the contrary by Martinus Lipenius in his “Navigatio Salomonis
Ophiritica Illustrata,” 1660, cap. v. sec. 3, as well as by many others
who have written upon the compass.
REFERENCES.--Sonnini, in Buffon, “Minéraux,” VIII. p. 76;
Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859–1860, Vol. II. pp. 253–254, and Vol.
V. p. 54; Azuni, “Boussole,” pp. 41, 42, and 44; Klaproth, p.
13; Miller, “History Philosophically Illustrated,” London, 1849,
Vol. I. p. 179, note. “Simonis Maioli ... Dies Caniculares,
seu Colloqui,” XXIII. 1597, p. 783; Dr. F. Ueberweg, “Hist.
of Phil.” (Morris’ translation, 1885), Vol. I. pp. 433, 435;
“Journal des Savants” for Feb.-Mar. 1892; “Vincenti Bellov.
Speculi Naturalis,” Vol. II. lib. ix. cap. 19.
It may be added that the “Mirror of Nature”[12] is one of the four
pretentious works which, however popular they may at any time have
been and however powerfully they may have influenced the age in which
they were written, do not, says Humboldt, fulfil by their contents the
promise of their titles. The other three are the “Opus Majus” of Roger
Bacon, the “Liber Cosmographicus” (Physical Geography) of Albertus
Magnus, and the “Imago Mundi” (Picture of the World) of Cardinal Petrus
de Alliaco--Pedro de Helico--Pierre d’Ailly. (For the celebrated
French theologian Pierre d’Ailly (1350–1420), Chancellor of the Paris
University, see “Histoire de l’Astronomie,” J. F. C. Hœfer, Paris 1873,
p. 290; “Paris et ses historiens,” Le Roux de Lincy et L. M. Tisserand,
Paris, 1867, p. 402 (etched portrait); “New Int. Encycl.,” New York,
1902, Vol. I. p. 231; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. I. pp. 952–954; also
works relating to him by Aubrelicque, Compiègne, 1869, by Arthur
Dinaux, Cambrai, 1824, and by Geo. Pameyer, Strasbourg, 1840.) The
last-named work by Pierre d’Ailly was the chief authority at the time
and exercised a greater influence on the discovery of America than did
the correspondence with the learned Florentine Toscanelli (Humboldt,
“Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 621; “La lettre et la carte de Toscanelli,”
par Henri Vignaud, Paris, 1901, or “Toscanelli et Christophe Colomb”
in the “Annales de Géographie,” No. 56, 11^e année, Mars 15, 1902, pp.
97–110; “Toscanelli in der älteren und neuren Columbus literatur,” E.
Geleich Mitteil. Wien, Vol. XXXVI. 10, 1893).
Two of the above-named works partake of the encyclopædic, and in this
class likewise properly enter the twenty books “De Rerum Natura” of
Thomas Cantapratensis of Louvain (1230), the “Book of Nature,” by
Conrad Van Meygenberg of Ratisbon (1349), and the great “Margarita
Philosophica,” or “Circle of the Sciences,” of Father Gregorius
Reisch (1486). (See the different entries concerning the last-named
work at pp. 663–664 of Libri’s Catalogue, Vol. II, for 1861.) One more
work bears title “Picture of the World”--“l’Image du Monde”--written
by Gautier de Metz, a French poet of the thirteenth century, on the
lines of still another encyclopædic “Imago Mundi,” by Honorius d’Autun
(Neubauer, “Traductions historiques de l’Image du Monde,” 1876, p.
129; Haase, likewise Fritsche, “Untersuch ... der Image du Monde,”
1879 and 1880; Fant, “l’Image du Monde, étudié dans ses diverses
rédactions françaises,” Upsal, 1886. Chas. Bossut, in his “Hist.
Générale des Mathém.,” Paris, 1810, Vol. I. p. 229, also mentions an
encyclopædic “Mirroir du Monde,” in Turkish _Gian Numah_; “The
Final Philosophy,” Chas. W. Shields, New York, 1877, p. 133).
=A.D. 1254.=--Albertus Magnus, of the family of the Counts of
Bollstädt, one of the most prominent philosophers and theologians of
the Middle Ages, likewise alludes to the book “De Lapide” already
referred to at A.D. 1250, and to the Arabic terms _zohron_ and
_aphron_, giving to these words, however, a wrong interpretation.[13]
Albertus Magnus (1193–1280) was justly styled _Doctor Universalis_,
for, from the time he entered the Order of the Dominican Friars
in 1221, as well as throughout his teachings, mainly at Bologna,
Strasburg, Freiburg and Cologne, he displayed an intimate acquaintance
with almost all branches of the natural sciences. He was especially
well versed in philosophy, astronomy and mathematics--_in rebus magicis
expertus fuit_--and was justly considered by many as the most erudite
philosopher of his generation; an encomium of the very rarest kind,
when such rivals as Alexander of Hales and Thomas Aquinas could dispute
the palm with him. Natural science, says Humboldt (“Cosmos,” 1860,
Vol. II. pp. 243–245), was intimately associated with medicine and
philosophy among the learned Arabs, and, in the Christian Middle Ages,
with theological polemics. The latter, from their tendency to assert an
exclusive influence, repressed empirical inquiry into the departments
of physics, organic morphology, and also astronomy, the last being,
for the most part, closely allied to astrology. The study of the
comprehensive works of Aristotle, introduced by Arabs and by Jewish
Rabbis, had tended to lead to a philosophical fusion of all branches
of study (Jourdain, “Sur les traductions d’Aristotle,” p. 256; Michael
Sachs, “Die Religiöse Poesie der Juden in Spanien,” 1845, s. 180–200),
and hence Ibn-Sina (Avicenna), Ibn-Roschd (Averroës), Albertus Magnus
and Roger Bacon passed for the representatives of all the knowledge of
their time. The fame which in the Middle Ages surrounded the names of
these four great men was proportionate to the general diffusion of this
opinion of their endowments.
Albertus was the first scholastic who systematically reproduced the
philosophy of Aristotle with reference to the Arabian commentators and
who remodelled it to meet the requirements of ecclesiastical dogma.
The cause of the new development of scholasticism in the thirteenth
century was the translation, for the first time, into Latin of the
complete works of Aristotle, which latter only came to the knowledge of
the scholastics (1210–1225) through the agency of Arabian philosophy.
The leading Arabian philosophers were Avicenna, Averroës and Avempace,
whilst, in the new movement, Albertus Magnus, St. Thomas Aquinas and
Joannes Duns Scotus represented the culmination of scholastic thought
and its consolidation into a system.[14]
Albertus, according to Humboldt, must be mentioned as an independent
investigator in the domain of analytic chemistry, improving as he did
the practical manipulation of ores, and having actually enlarged the
insight of men into the general mode of action of the chemical forces
of nature. His “Liber Cosmographicus” is a singularly able presentment
of physical geography. He also wrote very extensively upon plant-life,
and is the author of commentaries upon practically all the physical
works of the Stagirite, although in the commentary on Aristotle’s
“Historia Animalium” he is said to have closely followed the Latin
translation of Michael Scotus from the Arabic. Albertus doubtless owes
the praise conferred upon him by Dante less to himself than to his
beloved pupil Aquinas, who accompanied him from Cologne to Paris in
1245, and returned with him to Germany in 1248.
“Questi, che m’ è a destra più vicino,
Frate e maestro fummi; ed’ esse Alberto
E’ di Cologna, ed io Thomas d’Aquino.”
“Il Paradiso,” X. 97–99.
Gilbert refers to Albertus in “De Magnete,” Book I. chaps, i. and vi.,
also in Book II. chap. xxxviii.
REFERENCES.--“Albert the Great,” by Dr. Joachim Sighart,
translated by Rev. Fr. J. A. Dixon, London, 1876; “Journal
des Savants” for May 1848 (“D’un ouvrage inédit de Roger
Bacon”: Albertus is called _Magnus in magia naturali, major
in philosophia, maximus in theologia_; Tritheim, “Annales
Hirsaug.,” Vol. I. p. 592); for May 1851, pp. 284–298 _passim_;
for Nov. and Dec. 1884; for June 1891 (“Traditions ... du Moyen
Age”), for Feb. 1892 (“Traductions des ouvrages alchimiques
... arabes; l’alchimie dans Albert le Grand,” pp. 126–128), as
well as for March 1892; “Histoire des Sciences,” par. F. M.
L. Maupied, Paris, 1847 (Albert le Grand), Vol. II. pp. 1–95;
Barthol. Glanvilla, “Liber, de Proprietatibus Rerum,” Book
VII; Pellechet, “Cat. Gen. des Incunables,” 1897, pp. 57–81;
Bolton, “Chronol. Hist. of Chemistry,” 1897, p. 947; “The Great
Schoolmen of the Middle Ages,” by W. J. Townsend, London, 1881,
Chap. X. pp. 165–173; “Siger de Brabant et l’Averroïsme Latin
au xiii^e siècle,” par. Pierre Maudonnet, Fribourg, 1899, pp.
li-lii notes _passim_; Walton and Cotton, “Complete Angler,”
New York and London, 1847, Pt. I. p. 62; “New Int. Encycl.,”
New York, 1902, Vol. I. p. 279; “Aristotle and the Arabs,” by
Wm. M. Sloane, pp. 257–268 of “Classical Studies in Honour of
Henry Drissler,” New York, 1894; Sonnini, Buffon, “Minéraux,”
VIII. p. 76; Enfield, “History of Philosophy,” Book VII. chap
iii.; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. pp. 617–619; Quétif
and Echard, “Scriptor. Ord. Predicat,” Vol. I. p. 171; Brande,
“Manual,” 1848, Vol. I. p. 8; Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “History
of Philosophy,” tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I.
pp. 436–440; J. B. Hauréau, “La Philos. Scholas.,” Paris, 1850,
Vol. II. pp. 1–103; Dr. W. Windelband, “History of Philosophy,”
auth. tr. by Jas. H. Tufts, New York, 1853, pp. 311, 313; “Dict.
Hist. de la Médecine,” N. F. J. Eloy, Mons, 1778, Vol. I. pp.
63–65; “Christian Schools and Scholars,” Augusta Th. Drane,
London, 1867, pp. 69, etc.
Of authors prominently cited by Albertus Magnus, or alluded to in the
foregoing, the following accounts are given:
Alfarabius--Alpharabius--Abn Nasr Muhammed ... al Farabi--(A.D.
870–950), celebrated Arabian philosopher, native of Turkestan,
one of whose most important works, “Liber de scientiis ...”
is an encyclopædia, giving in five chapters a classification
of all known sciences. It is said he could speak in as many
as seventy languages (J. C. L. S. de Sismondi, “Historical
View of the Literature of the South of Europe,” London, 1846,
Vol. I. p. 65). He was a most zealous student of Aristotle,
and is one of the authors (Aristotle, Avicenna and Al-gazel
being the others) from whom David the Jew compiled his work “De
Causis.” Of the latter, Albertus gives a long description, and
it is likewise cited both by Thomas Aquinas and Bacon, “Opus
Majus,” J. H. Bridges, Oxford, 1897, Vol. I. pp. 100–101, who
quotes: Jourdain, pp. 112, 138–145, 184–185, and Wüstenfeld,
“Geschichte,” Göttingen, 1840.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. p. 195; “Biog.
Gen.,” Vol. I. pp. 951–952 and the references therein given;
“New Int. Encycl.,” New York, 1902, Vol. I. pp. 329–330; M.
Stenischneider, “Al-Farabi,” St. Petersb., 1869; Friedrich
Dieterici, “Al-Farabi’s Philosophische Abhandlungen,” Leyden,
1890, and his “Die Philosophie der Araber,” Leyden, 1892, 1895;
Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” tr. by Geo. S.
Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 407, 411–412.
Al-gazel--Al-Ghazzali--(1058–1111), another prominent Arabian
philosopher, who was for a long time professor of theology in
the Bagdad University, and became the ruler of the Sufis or
Mystics, in whose behalf he travelled extensively.[15]
The biography in “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XVIII. pp.
899–900, gives a full account of his most important works and
several valuable references, his principal book being “The
Destruction of the Philosophers,” which called forth a reply in
one of the two most important works of Averroës, entitled “The
Destruction of Destruction.”
Tholuck says: “If ever a man hath deserved the name, Ghazzali
was truly a divine, and he may justly be placed on a level
with Origen [Fr. Dietericii, “Die Philosophie der Araber,”
Leipzig, 1876, pp. 28–31], so remarkable was he for learning and
ingenuity, and gifted with such a rare faculty for the skilful
and worthy exposition of doctrine.”
REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Britann.,” ninth ed., Vol. I.
p. 510; “New Int. Encycl.,” Vol. I. p. 337; “The Alchemy of
Happiness,” by Mohammed Al-Ghazzali, tr. of Henry Guy Homes,
Albany, 1873, pp. 6–7, also Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “History of
Philosophy, tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp.
407 and 413–414.
Alexander of Hales, so called because he made his studies at the
Monastery of Hales in Gloucestershire (_d._ 1245), called
“Doctor Doctorum” or “Doctor Irrefragabilis,” also “Theologorum
Monarcha,” was a celebrated English theologian. He became a
noted professor of philosophy and then a lecturer among the
Franciscans, being succeeded in turn by his pupils, John of
Rochelle (who died in 1271) and John Fidanza, better known as
Bonaventura (1221–1274). He was the first scholastic acquainted
with the whole of the Aristotelian works and with the Arabian
commentaries upon them. The only authentic work of his is the
ponderous “Summa Universæ Theologiæ” (best edition, Venice,
1576), much of the substance and even the text of which is said
to be found in the “Summa” of Aquinas and in the “Speculum
Morale” of Vincent de Beauvais.
REFERENCES.--“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” London, 1885, Vol. I. p.
271; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. II. p. 121; Fleury, “Hist.
Eccles.,” Vol. XX; Du Boulay, “Hist. de l’univ. de Paris,” Vol.
I.; Stoeckl, “Geschichte d. Phil. d. Mittelalters,” 1865, Vol.
II. pp. 317–326; “Chambers’s Encycl.,” 1888, Vol. I. p. 148;
Ninth “Encycl. Britann.,” Vol. XXI. p. 427; “Dict. of Philos.
and Psychol.,” by J. M. Baldwin, New York, 1901; Vol. I. pp.
30, 124; Wadding, “Annales Ord. Min.”; “New Int. Encycl.,” New
York, 1902, Vol. I. pp. 321–322; Fabricius, “Bibl. Lat. mediæ et
inf. ætat.,” Vol. I. p. 1; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. I. pp. 923–927;
J. B. Hauréau, “Hist. de la Philos. Scholastique,” 1880, Vol.
I. part ii. pp. 131–141, or the 1850 Paris ed., Vol. I. p. 418;
Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” tr. by Geo.
S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 433–434; Thos. Fuller,
“Church History of Britain,” London, 1837, Vol. I. pp. 398–402.
Avempace--Abn Bekr Muhammed Ibn Yahga, Arabic philosopher,
physician and poet (_d._ 1138), introduced the peripatetic
philosophy into Andalusia, and wrote commentaries on Aristotle,
in addition to a book, “Conduct of the Individual,” alluded to
by Averroës, likewise several works upon medicine and music.
REFERENCES.--“The History of Philosophy” of Dr.
Friedrich Ueberweg, tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol.
I. p. 414 (Munk, “Mélanges de Philosophie,” pp. 383–410); “New
Int. Encycl.,” New York, 1902, Vol. II. p. 281; Brockelmann,
“Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur”; James Gow, “A Short
History of Greek Mathematics,” Oxford, 1884, pp. 203–205 for
Arabic learning in Spain.
Averroës--Muhammed Ibn Ahmed Ibn-Roschd, “the commentator,” “the
last great thinker of the Moslem world in the West” (1120–1198),
was an illustrious Moorish philosopher and physician best known
by his commentaries and paraphrases upon Aristotle. It is said
Averroës was recommended to the Calif as the fittest person to
expound the works of Aristotle and make them accessible to all
(“History of Classical Scholarship,” J. E. Sandys, Cambridge,
1903, p. 541).
REFERENCES.--Renan, “Averroës et l’Averroïsme,” Paris,
1852; “Dict. of Philos. and Psychology,” by J. M. Baldwin,
New York, 1901, p. 96; “Journal des Savants” for Feb. 1892,
pp. 118–126 _passim_; Antonii, “Bibl. Hisp. Vetus,” Vol.
II. pp. 240–248; Wüstenfeld, “Geschichte d’ Arab. A. V. N.,”
1840; “Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. I. pp. 448–449; Eloy, “Dict. Hist.
de la Médecine,” Vol. I. pp. 220–221; Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg,
“History of Philosophy,” tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885,
Vol. I. pp. 407–408, 415–417; Dr. W. Windelband, “History of
Philosophy,” auth. tr. by Jas. H. Tufts, New York, 1893, pp.
317, 338; “Dictionnaire des Sciences Philosophiques,” par une
société de savants, Paris, 1852, Vol. III. pp. 157–172.
“Euclide geometra e Tolommeo,
Ippocrate, Avicenna, e Galieno
Averrois che ’l gran comento feo.”
(Dante, “Divina Commedia,” Inferno, Canto IV.)
Augusta Th. Drane places Averroës at the head of all Arabic
interpreters of Aristotle, and incidentally says it would
be hard to determine his religion, for he scoffed alike at
Christianity, Judaism and Mahometanism.
Avicenna--Abohalis, Ibn Sina, Al Rayis or “the
chief”--(980–1037), “the greatest thinker of the Moslem world
in the East,” a native of Aschena, near Bokhara, was the most
celebrated physician of his day. In the “Journal des Savants”
for March 1892, “l’Alchimie d’Avicenne” is very extensively
treated of at pp. 179–189, and Avicenna is said (“Journal des
Savants” for February 1892, pp. 118–128) to be the alchemist
most frequently alluded to in the “Speculum Naturale” of Vincent
de Beauvais. His writings were so highly esteemed that the
Sultan of Egypt ordered them to be translated by the celebrated
Jewish Rabbi, Maimonides--Moses Ben Maimon--(born at Cordova, in
Spain, about A.D. 1132).
REFERENCES.--Casiri, “Bibl. Arab. Hispan.,” Vol. I. p. 268;
Hottinger, “Bibl. Quadrip.,” 1664, pp. 256, 261; “Dict. des
Sciences Philosophiques,” Paris, 1852, Vol. III. pp. 172–178; S.
Klein, “Dissertatio,” 1846; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gen.,”
Vol. I. pt. i. pp. 469–470; “The Edinburgh Encycl.,” 1830,
Vol. III. p. 107; “Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. I. pp. 449–450; Gilbert,
“De Magnete,” Book I. chaps. i., viii., xv. and Book II. chap.
ii.; Eloy, “Dict. Hist. de la Médecine,” Vol. I. pp. 223–227;
Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” tr. by Geo.
S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 407, 412–413; Dr. W.
Windelband, “History of Philosophy,” auth. tr. by Jas. H. Tufts,
New York, 1893, p. 317; “New Gen. Biog. Dict.,” London, 1850,
Vol. XII. p. 43; “Dict. of Philosophy and Psychology,” by J. M.
Baldwin, New York, 1901, Vol. I. p. 97; “Lectures on Metaphysics
and Logic,” by Sir Wm. Hamilton, London, 1860, Vol. II. pp. 167,
171; “Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe,”
by J. C. L. S. de Sismondi, London, 1846, Vol. I.
Duns Scotus, John, “Doctor Subtilis” (born about 1270, died in
1308), a very prominent schoolman, who was educated at Oxford,
entered the Order of St. Francis, and became one of the great
founders of scholastic thought. But little is known as to his
origin, except that a monument, erected to his memory at
Cologne during the year 1533, bears the following: “_Scotia me
genuit, Anglia me suscepit, Gallia me docuit, Colonia (Germania)
me tenet_.”
As shown by Luc. Wadding in his “J. Duns-Scoti Opera,” twelve
volumes, published at Lyons in 1639, his works are quite
numerous, the most important consisting of questions and
commentaries on the writings of Aristotle and on the “Sentences”
of Peter Lombard.
Joannes Duns Scotus is very frequently referred to by Dr. W.
Windelband (“History of Philosophy,” auth. tr. by Jas. H.
Tufts, New York, 1893, pp. 311, 314–315, 321–326, 344), and is
mentioned as “the acutest and deepest thinker of the Christian
Middle Ages, who brought the germs of the philosophy of the
will, contained in Augustine’s system, to their first important
development, and so from the metaphysical side gave the impulse
for a complete change in the direction of philosophical thought.”
REFERENCES.--“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” London, 1888, Vol. XVI. pp.
216–220; Ritter’s “Geschichte der Philosophie”; Dr. Friedrich
Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New
York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 452–457; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
VI. p. 1398, containing an extensive list of references; Alfred
Weber, “History of Philosophy,” New York, 1896, pp. 246–252
(tr. of Frank Thilly); “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XV. pp. 256–257; “La
Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XV. pp. 71–72; Pluanski, “Thèse sur Duns
Scot,” Paris, 1887; “The Great Schoolmen of the Middle Ages,”
W. J. Townsend, London, 1881, “Duns Scotus,” Chap. XV.; J. B.
Hauréau, “La Philosophie Scholastique,” Paris, 1850, Vol. II.
pp. 307–417. Consult also the biographies written by Ferchius,
Berti, Caveili and Veglensis, and, for a complete exposition
of his system, C. Werner, “Die Scholastik des Späteren
Mittelalters,” Vienna, 1881, Vol. I; “Illustrations of the
History of Medieval Thought,” by R. L. Poole, London, 1884.
=A.D. 1254.=--Bacon (Roger), “the most remarkable man in the most
remarkable century of the Middle Ages” (E. H. Plumptre, 1866),
sometimes called Friar Bacon (1214–1294), a Franciscan monk of
Ilchester, who devoted himself to the study of science at Oxford and
Paris and “whose deep penetration into the mysteries of nature justly
entitled him to the appellation of “The Wonderful Doctor,” treats of
the magnet and of its properties at pp. 383–384 of his “Opus Minus” (J.
S. Brewer, “Fr. R. Bacon,” London, 1859), and dwells upon the loadstone
as a _miraculum in parte notum_.
Bacon is also the author of many other works, the most important of
which are his “Opus Majus” and “Opus Tertium” (first published in
English respectively in 1733 and 1859), the last named having been
originally written out for Pope Clement IV and intended to serve as a
preamble to the “Opus Minus” and “Opus Majus,” although it was later
than either in the date of its composition (Brewer, _op. cit._ p.
xliv). Leland has said that it is easier to collect the leaves of the
Sybil than the titles of all of Bacon’s works. At pp. 218–222, Vol.
III. of the ninth edition “Encyclopædia Britannica” will be found a
synopsis of the six parts into which Jebb divided the “Opus Majus”
(pronounced by Whewell “at once the Encyclopædia and the Organum of
the thirteenth century”), and likewise an account of his other works,
besides numerous references to leading authorities.
In the “Opus Tertium,” the last of the series of three which, it is
said, were all completed in about eighteen months, he speaks more than
once of A.D. 1267 as being the then current year. This happens
to be but two years prior to the date of the epistle of Pierre Pélerin
de Maricourt, the great experimentalist (Petrus Peregrinus), whom he
commends (p. lxxv) in the following words: “For there are only two
perfect mathematicians, Master John of London[16] and Master Peter of
Maricourt, the Picard ... who is worth more than any of them ... of
whom I have fully written in my ‘Opus Minus’ and of whom I shall write
more in its proper place.” Of this Master Peter, whom he calls one
of his most illustrious pupils, he further says that, being “struck
with the genius that dawned in his countenance,” he took him under his
protection from his fifteenth year and instructed him so carefully
that he outstripped all of his contemporaries both at Oxford and at
Paris. “There is no one,” adds he, “who knows so much of the root of
Philosophy ...” and one who, “through experiment, gains such knowledge
of things natural, medical, chemical; indeed, of everything in the
heavens or earth.”
Gilbert states (“De Magnete,” Book I. chap. i.) that many believe the
work of Peter Peregrinus on the magnet owes its origin to the opinions
of Roger Bacon. And in the Appendix I to Brewer’s work--p. 537, chap.
vi. “De Experimentis Mirabilibus”--will be found Bacon’s views fully
exposed on the operations of the magnet.
REFERENCES.--“Fratris Rogeri Bacon, O. M. Opus Majus,” S.
Jebb, Londini, 1733; “L’Alchimie et les Alchimistes,” Paris,
1860, by Louis Figuier, who, at p. 97, calls Roger Bacon _La
plus vaste intelligence que l’Angleterre ait possédée_; “Essai
Théorique ... des connaissances humaines,” par G. Tiberghien,
Bruxelles, 1844, Vol. I. pp. 388–389; Dr. Geo. Miller, “History
Philosophically Illustrated,” London, 1849, Vol. II. p. 112;
Humboldt, “Cosmos,” New York, 1860, Vol. II. pp. 43, 229, 241,
245, 318; “Journal des Savants” for March, April, May and
August 1848, also for December 1859 and February 1891; “Origin,
Progress and Destiny of the English Language and Literature,”
by John A. Weisse, New York, 1879, pp. 28, 233–234, 236, 424;
“History of Latin Christianity,” by Henry Hart Milman, London,
1857, Vol. VI. pp. 279–303; “Opus Majus,” by John Henry
Bridges, Oxford, 1897, Vol. I. pp. xxv-xxvi, and Vol. II. pp.
203–206, containing a valuable tabulated list of facts relating
to Bacon’s life; “Roger Bacon,” par Emile Charles, Paris, 1861,
pp. 15–19, 339–391; “De Bibliorum Textibus,” by Dr. Hody; Wm.
Whewell, “History of the Inductive Sciences,” 1858, Vol. I. pp.
512–522, or 1859, Vol. I. pp. 209–210, 245–246, 512–522, Vol.
II. p. 55; also “Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences,” London,
1840, Vol. II. pp. 323–337; “The Philosophical Magazine,” Vol.
XII. pp. 327–337; Enfield, Book VII. chap. iii.; “Catalogue
Général des livres imprimés de la Bibliothèque Nationale,”
Paris, 1901, Vol. VI. pp. 256–259; “Encyclopædia Britannica,”
Edinburgh, 1842, seventh edition. Vol. I. as per Index at p. 17;
“Les Editions de Roger Bacon” in the “Journal des Savants” for
July 1905.
[Illustration: Brunetto Latini. “Li livres dou Trésor.”
Page taken from the 15th century Ms. in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris.]
=A.D. 1260.=--Brunetto Latini, _b._ 1230, _d._ 1294, “maestro del
divino poeta Dante,” celebrated Florentine encyclopædist, composes his
“Tesoro,” rewritten in French (“Livres dou Trésor”), wherein he speaks
clearly of the compass as at some time likely to be useful at sea.
But he adds: “No master mariner dares to use it, lest he should fall
under the supposition of being a magician; nor would even the sailors
venture themselves out to sea under his command if he took with him an
instrument which carries so great an appearance of being constructed
under the influence of some infernal spirit.”
The “Tesoro” is said to be a kind of abridgment of the Bible, of Pliny,
of Solinus, of the Ethics of Aristotle, of the rhetorical writings of
Cicero and of the political works of Aristotle, Plato and Xenophon
(“New Biog. Dict.,” London, 1850, Vol. IX. p. 205). It would be well to
consult “La Table Générale des bulletins ... Sociétés Savantes,” par
M. Octave Teissier, Paris, 1873, p. 44, regarding the collection of
different manuscripts of Brunetto’s extensive work.
REFERENCES.--Davis, “The Chinese,” 1844, Vol. III. p. xi;
Venanson, “Boussole,” pp. 75, 148–154; Azuni, “Boussole,” p.
139; Klaproth, “Boussole,” pp. 45–46; “Journal des Savants”
for January 1865, also for January and February 1880; “The
Monthly Magazine” for June 1802; Libri, “Hist. des Sciences
Mathématiques,” Paris, 1838, Vol. II. pp. 64, 152–156.
=A.D. 1265–1321.=--Dante--Durante--(Alighieri), illustrious Italian
poet, regarded as the greatest poetical genius that flourished between
the Augustan and Elizabethan ages, composed, during his exile, the
“Divina Commedia,” which was the first poem written in the Italian
language. In Canto XII. vv. 28–30 of his “Paradiso,” translated by Dr.
Plumptre, he thus alludes to the mariner’s compass:
“Then from the heart of one of those new lights,
There came a voice which made me turn to see,
E’en as the star the needle’s course incites.”
Guido Guinicelli (1240–1276), priest and scholar, and whom Dante
considered not only the greatest of living Bolognese poets, but his
master in poetry (Note: “Purg.,” XXVI. Vol. I. p. 327, v. 92) refers to
the nautical compass in nearly the same terms as Dante (“Rime. Ant.,”
p. 295). He adds: “The mountains of loadstone give the virtue to the
air of attracting iron, but, because it (the loadstone) is far off,
(it) wishes to have the help of a similar stone to make it (the virtue)
work, and to direct the needle toward the star” (P. L. Ginguené, “Hist.
Lit. d’Italie,” Vol. I. p. 413; Guido delle Colonne--Io Colonna da
Messina--Mandella Lett. p. 81, Florence, 1856).
At pp. 35 and 130 of Bertelli’s “Pietro Peregrino di Maricourt,” Roma,
1868, Memoria prima, appear verses said to be by Guinicelli and by
Guido delle Colonne, judge of Messina, who flourished about 1250, and
which are translated literally into English as follows:
“In those parts under foreign skies
Are the mountains of loadstone,
_Which give power to the air_
To attract iron, but, because distant,
It requires to have assistance from similar stones,
To bring it into use,
And direct the needle towards the star.
The learned relate that the loadstone
Could not attract
Iron by its power,
_Were it not that the air between them aids_;
Although the calamite is a stone,
The other existing stones
Are not so powerful
To attract, because they have not the influence.”
The “Paradiso,” translated by A. J. Butler, London, 1885, Canto XII. v.
29, reads: “_Si mosse voce, che l’ago (needle) alla stella_,” and
Fazio degli Uberti in the “Dittamondo” (about 1360) has “_Quel gran
disio, che mi, traeva addietro come ago a calamita_” (III. 2).
REFERENCES.--Hœfer, “Nouv. Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XIII. pp. 21–50,
the last-named page containing an unusual number of citations;
“Biblogr. Dantesca,” by Colomb de Batines, Prato, 1845–1846; “La
Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XIII. pp. 887–901, embracing many
additional references; the note at p. 154 of Plumptre’s “Dante,”
also Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 629; Libri, “Hist.
des Sc. Math.,” Paris, 1838, Vol. II. pp. 164, etc.; Frederic
C. Harrison, “The New Calendar of Great Men,” London, 1892, pp.
310–315.
[Illustration:
Dante Alighieri. “La Divina Commedia,” Mantuae 1472, the first
page of what is by many regarded as the oldest edition of the
earliest known poem written in the Italian language.
Now in the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris.]
=A.D. 1266.=--It is shown by Th. Torffæus (Latin for Thormodr
Torfason), an Icelandic scholar (_b._ 1636, _d._ 1719), who published
“Historia Rerum Norvegicarum” (Hafniæ, 1711, IV. c. 4, p. 345), that
at this date the northern nations were acquainted with the mariner’s
compass. In the “History of Norway” here alluded to, he mentions the
fact that the poem of the Icelandic historian, Jarl Sturla (Snorri
Sturlason) written in 1213, on the death of the Swedish Count
Byerges, was rewarded with a box containing a mariner’s compass.
REFERENCES.--Suhm, “In effigien Torfæi, una cum Torfænis”;
“Nouv. Biogr. Générale de Hœfer,” Vol. XLV. p. 495; “New Gen.
Biog. Dict.,” London, 1850, Vol. XII. p. 263; Jessen, “Norge,”
pp. 83–99; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XV. p. 312; Michaud,
“Biog. Univ.,” Vol. XLI. p. 683.
=A.D. 1269.=--Peregrinus (Petrus), Pierre Pélerin de Maricourt,
Méhéricourt--Magister Petrus de Maharnecuria, Picardus--doubtless a
Crusader, was, as Roger Bacon tells us (“Opus Tertium,” cap. xi) the
only one, besides Master John of London, who, at this period, could be
deemed a thoroughly accomplished, perfect mathematician, and was one
who understood the business of experimenting in natural philosophy,
alchemy and medicine better than any one else in Western Europe.
Peregrinus is the author of a letter or epistle, “Written in
camp at the Siege of Lucera (delle Puglie--Nucerræ) in the year
of our Lord 1269, on the 8th day of August,” addressed to his
_Amicorum intime_, a soldier, by the name of Sygerus de
Fontancourt--Foucaucourt--Foucancort.
Of this epistle, which is the earliest known work of experimental
science, there are but few reliable complete manuscript copies. Most of
these have been very ably analyzed by P. D. Timoteo Bertelli Barnabita
in the exhaustive Memoirs published by him in Rome during 1868, and
still better detailed by Dr. Silvanus P. Thompson in his several
valuable printed researches and lectures on the subject, but there has
been of it only one printed issue in book form, that of the Lindau
physician, A. P. Gasser, which appeared at Augsburg during 1558.
Several attempts at translation have been made, notably by Guillaume
Libri (“Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques ...” Paris, 1838, Vol. II.
p. 487) who admitted that, with the aid of several paleographers, he
could not decipher many of the abbreviated faint characters existing in
the Bibliothèque Nationale manuscript (No. 7378A in quarto,
at folio 67), and by Tiberius Cavallo, who does scarcely better with
the Leyden copy (Fol. Cod. No. 227) which was discovered by him,
and but a portion of which he transcribes in the supplement to his
“Treatise on Magnetism,” London, 1800, pp. 299–320. A translation
was also made by Brother Arnold, of the La Salle Institute in Troy,
N.Y., and published during 1904, but the most meritorious version now
existing is the one entitled “Done into English by Silvanus P. Thompson
from the printed Latin versions of Gasser 1558, Bertelli 1868, and
Hellmann 1898, and amended by reference to the manuscript copy in his
possession, formerly amongst the Phillipps’ manuscripts, dated 1391.”
This translation, “printed in the year 1902, in the Caxton type, to the
number of 250 copies,” reflects very great credit upon Prof. Thompson,
who has given us such a faithful interpretation of the original work
as would naturally be expected at his hands, and who has, besides,
rubricated this right royal little volume and caused it to be issued in
one of the most attractive typographical fashions of the Chiswick Press.
The Hellmann 1898 Berlin version just alluded to, which appeared in
“Neudrucke von Schriften und Karten ...” No. 10 (_Rara Magnetica_),
contains a photographic reproduction of the Augsburg 1558 title-page,
and, it may be added, the volume of Phillipps’ manuscripts, of
which Prof. Thompson became the fortunate possessor, includes one
of Chaucer’s treatises on the Astrolabe, besides the Peregrinus’
manuscript in question.
During the year 1562 much of the original epistle was pilfered by
Joannes Taisnier Hannonius, who badly condensed and deformed it and
incorporated it as new matter, conjointly with some papers of his own,
in a book entitled “Oposculum ... de Natura Magnetis et ejus effectibus
...” Coloniæ, 1562; and that much was translated “into Englishe” by
Richarde Eden, London, about 1579, under title of “A very necessarie
and profitable booke concerning navigation.”
Much has been said at different times regarding the contents of the
above-named epistle, the full title of the Paris MS. No. 7378 of which
reads
“_Epistola Petri Peregrini de Maricourt ad Sygerum de Foucaucourt
militem de magnete_,”
but no _résumé_ of it could better be given than by quoting here its
first page, which has been translated as follows:
This treatise on the magnet contains two parts, of which Part I
is complete in ten chapters, and Part II in three.
Of Part I: Chap. I states the object of the work;
Chap. II, of what the investigator in this line of work should
be;
Chap. III, of a knowledge of the loadstone;
Chap. IV, of the science of the discovery of the parts of the
loadstone;
Chap. V, of the source of the discovery of poles in the
loadstone--which of them is the north and which the south;
Chap. VI, in what manner a magnet attracts a magnet;
Chap. VII, how iron touched with the magnet turns towards the
poles of the globe;
Chap. VIII, in what manner a magnet attracts iron;
Chap. IX, why the northern part attracts the southern part, and
the converse;
Chap. X, of the inquiry whence the magnet derives the natural
power it possesses.
[Illustration: Petrus Peregrinus. “Epistola ... de Magnete.”
The earliest known treatise of experimental science, now in
the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.]
Of Part II: Chap. I, on the construction of an instrument
(floating compass) by which the azimuth of the sun and moon, and
of any star above the horizon, can be ascertained;
Chap. II, on the construction of a better instrument (pivoted
compass) for like purpose;
Chap. III, on the construction of a wheel for perpetual motion.
An analyzation of each chapter in turn will show how satisfactorily
Peregrinus has developed, in connected series, all of the early
experiments upon which are based his theories of the loadstone.
PART I
Chap. I states that the intention or object of the work is to
make known the hitherto hidden nature, occult properties, of
the loadstone, the art of treating the latter, the making of
scientific instruments, and matters of interest to students of
nature, astrologers and sailors.
Chap. II. The investigator in this line should know the natures
of things and understand the motions of the heavenly bodies,
but, above all, he should be assiduous in handiwork for
experimental research.
Chap. III indicates four different requisite qualities of the
loadstone, and tells where they are to be found and how to
select and test them--the best of them being free from flaws, of
great density and of a bluish or celestial colour.
Chap. IV shows how to find in the loadstone the two poles,
one north and the other south, using preferably a globular
magnet,[17] placing thereon a needle or an oblong piece of
iron, and, either drawing lines in the direction taken by the
needle, so that they “may meet at two points, just as all the
meridian circles of the world meet at the two opposite poles
of the world,” or, by merely marking the magnet so that “the
opposite points will be correctly placed just as are the poles
in a sphere.”
Chap. V. In order to find the poles in a stone--which of them is
the North and which the South--take a round wooden vessel shaped
like a skiff (_paropsidis_, _parascidis_), and place
the stone therein, then put the vessel containing the stone into
another large vessel filled with water, so that the first-named
vessel may float into the larger one: “The stone in the first
vessel will be like a sailor in a ship, and the first vessel
may float roomily into the second as does a ship in a river,
and the stone so placed will turn its small vessel acting as
the Northern pole in the direction of the Northern heaven....
If this pole were then turned away a thousand times, a thousand
times would it return to its place by the will of God.”
Chap. VI. Having found which pole is the Northern, mark it so
that it may be known when necessary. Place the stone into a
small vessel, as shown in Chap. V, then hold another stone in
the hand and approach its Northern part to the Southern part of
the stone floating in the vessel, and the floating stone will
follow the other “as if it wished to adhere thereto.... Know
that, as a rule, the Northern part of one stone attracts the
Southern part of another stone and the Southern the Northern.”
Chap. VII. When the needle or oblong piece of iron (alluded to
in Chap. IV) has touched the magnet and been attached to a light
piece of wood or stalk and then placed in a vessel of water,
one part will be turned towards the mariner’s star because it
is near the pole, “the fact being that it does not turn towards
the aforesaid star but towards the pole.” That end of the iron
which has touched the Southern end of the stone turns towards
the Northern quarter of the sky, and _vice versa_.
Chap. VIII. If you wish to attract iron floating on water, hold
the Southern part of a loadstone to the Northern part of the
iron and the iron will follow. But, if you bring the North end
of the stone near the North end of the iron, the latter will
avoid the stone. “If, however, violence is used towards the
ends, so that, for instance, the Southern end of the iron which
was touched with the Northern end of the magnet is now touched
with the Southern end of the magnet ... the power in the iron
will easily be changed, and that will become Southern which was
previously Northern, and the converse.”
Chap. IX. “The Northern part of the magnet attracts the Southern
and the reverse, as has been shown; in which attraction the
magnet is an ‘agent’ of greater power while the ‘patient’
(_i. e._ the other which is acted upon) is, of weaker.” This
is proved by taking a loadstone--marking it, for instance,
AD--dividing, separating it into two parts, and placing one
part (the Northern, marked A, called the “agent”) into water
so that it will float. It will turn “to the North, as before,
for the division does not deprive the parts of the stone of
their properties, if it be homogeneous.” The other part (the
Southern, marked D, called the “patient”) is next to be floated
in a similar manner. When this is done, the other ends of the
two stones should be marked respectively B and C. It will then
be observed that “if the same parts are again brought near each
other, one will attract the other, so that they will be joined
together again at B and C where the division took place. Whence
it is that they become one body with the same natural propensity
as at first. The proof of this is that if they are joined
together they will possess the same oppositions (opposite poles)
they first contained. The ‘agent,’ therefore, as you will see by
experiment, intends to unite its ‘patient’ to itself, and this
takes place on account of the similitude between them.... And,
in the same way, it will happen that if A is joined with D, the
two lines will become one, by virtue of that very attraction,
in this order CD--AB ... there will then remain the identity of
the extreme parts as at first, before they were reunited, for C
will be the North point and B the South point, as B and C were
before.... It is therefore evident, from these observations,
why the Southern parts do attract the Northern, and the reverse,
and why the attraction of the South by the South, and the North
by the North, is not according to Nature.”
Chap. X. “Some weak inquirers have imagined that the power which
the magnet exercises over iron lies in those mineral places in
which the magnet is found ... but it is found in different parts
of the world.... Besides, when iron or the magnet turns towards
the Southern as well as to the Northern quarter, as is evident
from what has already been said, we are compelled to decide
that the attraction is exercised on the poles of the magnet not
only from the locality of its quarry, from which ensues the
evident result that, wheresoever a man may be, the direction
of this stone appears to his eye, according to the position of
his meridian circle. All the meridian circles, however, meet
together at the poles of the globe, wherefore it is that the
poles of the magnet receive their power from the poles of the
world. From this, it manifestly appears that the direction of
the magnet is not towards the mariner’s star, as the meridian
circles do not meet there, but all the poles, for the mariner’s
star is always found beyond the meridian circle of any region
unless it be twice in a complete revolution of the firmament.
Likewise from this, it is manifest that the parts of the magnet
receive their power from the world’s poles ... the whole
magnet from the whole heavens.”[18] Then follows a suggestive
experiment looking towards perpetual motion, by which one may
secure “a wonderful secret” and even “be saved the trouble of
having any clock.” Here, it is given that a _terrella_,
poised on its poles in the meridian, moves circularly with a
complete revolution in twenty-four hours. This is explained by
N. Cabæus in his “Phil. Magn.,” lib. iii. cap. 4.
PART II
Chap. I. He takes a round, or an ovoid magnet, and, after noting
its poles, files it between the two poles on both sides so that
it may be like a compressed sphere and thus occupy less space.
He then encloses this magnet between two light wooden capsules,
or boxes (_cassulas_) after the manner of a mirror ...
so fastened (with glue) that they cannot be opened and water
cannot enter. Then, says he, “place the capsules thus adjusted
in a large vessel full of water in which the two quarters of the
globe, viz. the South and the North, are found and marked, and
let them be indicated by a thread extending from the Northern to
the Southern part of the vessel; allow the capsules, or boxes,
to float and let there be above them a slender piece of wood in
the form (position) of a diameter. Then move this piece of wood
above the boxes until it is equidistant from the meridianal line
previously found and indicated by the thread, or is the same
(line) itself. This being done, according to the piece of wood
so situated, draw a line on the capsules, or boxes, and it will
be the perpetual meridianal line in all countries. That line,
therefore, when cut at right angles by another will be divided
in the centre and will be the line of the East and West. You
will thus have four quadrants actually marked on the capsules,
or boxes, representing the four quarters of the globe, of which
each will be divided into ninety, so that there may be in the
universe CCCLX parts (degrees) in the entire circumference of
the capsules, or boxes. Inscribe divisions on it as they were
formerly inscribed on the back of the astrolabe. There should
be, besides, a slender and light ruler above the capsules so
inscribed after the manner of the ruler on the back of the
astrolabe. Instead, however, of the sights (_pinnularum_),
should be erected at right angles two pins over the ends of the
ruler.”
This floating compass and the pivoted compass described
in the following chapter are to be found illustrated, pp.
67–77, figs. 10 and 12, at end of Part II of Bertelli
Barnabita’s Memoirs above referred to.
Chap. II. For the construction of a “better instrument and of
more certain effects” (the pivoted compass) he says: “Let there
be made a vessel of wood, brass or any other solid material
that you desire, and let it be turned in the shape of a jar
(_pixidis tornatum_) somewhat deep and tolerably large and
let a cover of transparent material, such as glass or crystal,
be fitted to it. If the whole vessel were of transparent
substance so much the better. Let there be placed in the centre
of the same vessel a slender axis of brass or silver, applying
its extremities to the two parts of the jar, that is to say (to
the) higher and lower. Let two holes be then made in the centre
of the axis facing each other at right angles. Then let a piece
of iron wire, like a needle, be passed through one of these
holes and another wire of silver or brass be passed through the
other, intersecting the iron at right angles. Let the cover at
first be divided into quadrants and each of the quadrants into
ninety parts, as was taught regarding the other instrument. Let
North and South and East and West be marked on it and let a rule
of transparent material be added to it with wires set upright at
the ends. You will approach what part of the magnet you please,
whether North or South, to the crystal until the needle moves
towards it and receives virtue from it. When this is done,
turn the vessel until one end (of the needle) stands directly
over the North in the instrument coinciding with the Northern
quarter of the sky. This being done, turn the rule to the sun,
by day, and to the stars, by night, in manner above indicated.
By means of this instrument, you will be enabled to direct your
footsteps to states and islands and to any places on the globe,
and wheresoever you may be, whether on land or on sea, so long
as their latitudes and longitudes are known to you.”
Chap. III. He constructs “a wheel which shall be constantly
in motion,” by making a very thin concave, silver case, after
the manner of a mirror, suitably perforated, around the rim
of which he inserts small iron nails, or teeth, bent closely
toward each other and which he then places upon an immovable
axis so that it may revolve easily.” He continues: “Let a silver
wire be added to this axis, fixed to it and placed between two
bowls on the end of which let a magnet be set, prepared in this
manner. Let it be rounded and its poles ascertained, as before
indicated; afterwards, let it be fashioned in the shape of an
egg with the poles intact, and let it be somewhat filed down
in two intermediate and opposite parts with the object of its
being compressed and occupying less space so that it may not
touch the inner walls ... let the magnet be placed on the wire
... and let the North pole be somewhat inclined towards the
small teeth of the wheel so that it may exercise its power ...
so that each tooth shall arrive at the North pole and, owing
to the impetus of the wheel, shall pass it by and approach the
Southern quarter. Thus every small tooth will be in a perpetual
state of attraction and avoidance. And, in order that the wheel
may perform its duty with greater rapidity, insert, between
the cases, a small round brass or silver pebble of such size
that it may be caught between any two of the small teeth, so
that, as one part of the wheel comes uppermost, the pebble may
fall to the opposite part. Wherefore, whilst the motion of the
wheel is perpetual on one side, the same will be in the case
of the pebble on the other side, or the fall of the pebble
caught between any two of the teeth will be perpetual to the
opposite side because as it is drawn towards the centre of the
earth by its weight, it assists the motion by not suffering the
small teeth to remain at rest in front of the stone. Let there
be spaces, however, between the small teeth conveniently curved,
so as to catch the pebble as it falls in the way the present
description indicates.”
[Illustration: Petrus Peregrinus. Facsimile of a Ms. at the
Bodleian Library, of the “Epistola de Magnete,” wherein is
described the earliest known pivoted compass.]
Gilbert alludes to this perpetual-motion engine as having been devised
or delineated by Peregrinus after he had got the idea from others (“De
Magnete,” Book II. chap. xxxv.), and says that Jerome Cardan writes
(“Opera,” Batav., 1663; “De Rerum Varietate,” Book, IX. chap. xlviii.)
he could construct one out of iron and loadstone--not that he ever saw
such a machine; that he merely offers the idea as an opinion and quotes
from a report of the physician Antonio de Fantis of Treviso published
in “Tabula generalis ac mare magnum scotice subtilitatis....”
In the “Magisterium Naturæ et Artis,” P. Francisci Tertii de Lanis,
Brixiæ, 1684, Tractatus Tertius, Caput Secundum, p. 489, under
Problema, I, _Motus perpetuus magnetis_, will be found allusion
to the machines of (1) P. Peregrinus, as described in his epistle;
(2) Taisnier; (3) Ant. de Fantis (cited by Cardan, as stated above);
also mention of those of P. Schottus, Athan. Kircherus, Hieronimus
Finugius and others; the most important of these being again alluded to
throughout the third chapter of the same tract.
Gilbert makes further allusion to P. Peregrinus in his Book I. chap.
i.; Book II. chap. xxxv.; Book III. chap. i.; Book IV. chap. i.; Book
VI. chap. iv.
The Peregrinus’ Leyden manuscript (Fol. Cod. No. 227) already alluded
to, Libri says (“Histoire des Sciences Mathém....” 1838, Vol. I. p.
383, note), is but a poor copy of the manuscript in the Paris Library
(No. 7378A), from which latter the words _Petri ad Sygerum_ have been
unfortunately transformed into _Petri Adsigerii_. He adds (Vol. II. pp.
70–71) that Humboldt cites (“Examen Critique,” p. 243) several authors
who have alluded to the pretended Adsigerius. Mention is also made of
the fact that W. Wenkebach, professor at the Hague Military School,
examined the manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Nos. 1629, 1794 and
2458, containing the treatise of Peregrinus, and that not one of them
has the passage alluding to the declination. The Leyden manuscript,
by the way, is said to be the only one, besides the Vatican copy, No.
5733, bearing the full date, which latter was first made known by
Thévenot in his “Recueil de Voyages.” And it was a passage found in the
Leyden manuscript (Q 27) which led to the belief that Peregrinus had
first observed the variation or declination of the magnetic needle.
The passage is as follows: “Take note that the magnet, as well as
the needle that has been touched by it, does not point exactly to the
poles, but that the part of it which is supposed to point to the South
sometimes declines a little to the West, and that the part which looks
towards the North sometimes inclines to the East. The exact quantity of
this declination I have ascertained, after numerous experiments, to be
five degrees. However, this declination is no obstacle to our guidance,
because we make the needle itself decline from the true South by nearly
one point and a half towards the West. A point contains five degrees.”
This passage is unquestionably a late addition, being written in a
different hand in a circle which itself is an incompleted outline of
one of the figures of Peregrinus’ primitive compass.
REFERENCES.--“Encyclopædia Metropolitana,” Vol. III. p. 737
(“Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum,” fol. 11, p. 1400; “Catalogue
of the MSS. in the library of Geneva,” by Senebier, p. 207);
“Bulletino di bibliographia e di storia delle scienze ...” B.
Boncompagni, Vol. I. pp. 1–32, 65–99, 101–139, 319–420; Vol. IV.
pp. 257–288, 303–331; “Cat. bibl. publicæ univers. Lug. Bat.,”
p. 365; W. Wenkebach, “Sur Petrus Adsigerius ...” Rome, 1865
(taken from Vol. VII. No. 3 of the “Annali Pura ed Applicata”);
Brunet, “Manuel du Libraire,” 1863, Vol. IV. p. 493; “Br. Museum
Library,” 538, G 17; “Journal des Savants,” for April-May 1848,
and September 1870; Walker, “Magnetism,” 1866, p. 6; “English
Cyclopædia,” Vol. VIII. p. 160, also Dr. Hutton’s “Phil. and
Math. Dictionary”; Thos. Young, “A Course of Lectures on Nat.
Phil. and the Mechanical Arts,” London, 1807, Vol. I. pp. 746,
756; “Electro-magnetic Phenomena,” by T. A. Lyons, New York,
1901, Vol. I. pp. 105–106; Vol. II. p. 565 (with translation of
a portion of the original manuscript); “Examen Critique,” A. de
Humboldt, Paris, 1836, Vol. III. p. 31; “Science and Literature
of the Middle Ages,” Paul Lacroix, London, pp. 88–89, 280–282;
Silvanus P. Thompson, “Proceedings of the British Academy,”
1905–6, p. 377. It may be added that Houzeau et Lancaster,
“Bibl. Générale,” Vol. I. part i. p. 640, allude, at No. 3197,
to a manuscript of P. Peregrinus, “Nova compositio astrolabii
particularis,” as being in the Library of Geneva and as citing
the year 1261 in connection with the astronomical tables of John
Campan (Campanus, Italian mathematician, who died about 1300):
“Biog. Générale,” Vol. VIII. p. 373.
=A.D. 1270.=--Riccioli (Giovanni Battista), an Italian astronomer,
member of the Society of Jesuits, _b._ 1598, _d._ 1671, asserts that at
this period under the reign of St. Louis (1226–1270), French navigators
were already using the magnetic needle, which they kept floating in a
small vase of water, and which was supported by two tubes to prevent
its falling to the bottom.
For a detailed account of the work of this well-known scientist
consult: “Biographie Générale” Vol. XLII. pp. 147–149; Fabroni, “Vitæ
Italorum,” Vol. II; Jean Baptiste Delambre, “Hist. de l’Astron. Mod.,”
1821; Davis, “The Chinese,” Vol. III. p. 11; Venanson, “Boussole,” pp.
70–71; Klaproth, “Boussole,” p. 54; Becquerel, “Résumé,” p. 59; Alex.
Chalmers, “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” 1811, Vol. XXVI. pp. 182–183; Fischer,
“Geschichte der Physik,” Vol. I; Tiraboschi, “Storia della letter.
Ital.,” Vol. VIII; “English Cyclopædia,” Vol. V. pp. 76–77. Riccioli’s
“Almagestum Novum,” Bologna, 1651, in two volumes, gives in book nine
of the second volume the sentence of Galileo. This is the work which
an old savant called “the pandects of astronomical knowledge” (Morhof
Polyhistor, Vol. II. p. 347).
=A.D. 1271–1295.=--Polo (Marco), Paulum Venetum, is reported by many
to have brought the compass from China to Italy. This is, however,
supported by no evidence, nor is any allusion whatever made to the fact
in the account he rendered of his voyage. Before Marco Polo set out on
his travels, as Humboldt states, the Catalans had already made voyages
“along the northern islands of Scotland as well as along the western
shores of tropical Africa, while the Basques had ventured forth in
search of the whale, and the Northmen had made their way to the Azores
(the Bracir islands of Picignano).”
Polo relates that he set out from Acre in 1271, and returned to Venice
“in the year 1295 of Christ’s Incarnation.” His “Travels” (“Il Milione
di Messer Marco Polo”) according to the review of Col. Henry Yule,
consists of a prologue and four books. It was dictated by him to a
fellow prisoner, Rusticiano or Rusticello, of Pisa, and “it would
appear now to be definitely settled that the original was ... of just
such French as we might expect in the thirteenth century from a Tuscan
amanuensis following the oral dictation of an Orientalized Venetian.”
Polo’s journeyings extended “so far to the north that he leaves the
North Star behind him, and thence so far to the south that the North
Star is never seen.”
REFERENCES.--Becquerel, “Elec. et Magn.,” Vol. I. p. 70;
Sonnini, in Buffon, “Minéraux,” Vol. VI. p. 84; Humboldt,
“Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. pp. 625, 656, or 1860, pp. 250–251;
“The Book of Ser Marco Polo,” by Sir Henry Yule, New York,
1903, which contains a very extensive bibliography at end of
the second volume; Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Paris, 1838,
Vol. II. pp. 26, 140, etc.; D. A. Azuni, “Dissertation sur la
Boussole,” p. 69; Miller, “Hist. Phil. Ill.,” 1849, Vol. I. pp.
179–180; “Encycl. Brit.,” ninth ed., Vol. XIX. p. 407; “Journal
des Savants” for September 1818, also May 1823, and the five
articles published January to May 1867; see also “Centennaire
de Marco Polo,” par. H. Cordier, Paris, 1896, containing
“bibliographie très complète de toutes les éditions de Marco
Polo et des ouvrages qui lui sont consacrés.”
=A.D. 1282.=--Baïlak, native of Kibdjak, wrote this year, in Arabic,
his book on “Stones,” wherein he says that he saw during his voyage
from Tripoli to Alexandria, in 1242, the captains of the Syrian sea
construct a compass in the following manner: “When the night is so
dark as to conceal from view the stars which might direct their course
according to the position of the four cardinal points, they take a
basin full of water, which they shelter from wind by placing it in the
interior of the vessel; they then drive a needle into a wooden peg or
a corn-stalk, so as to form the shape of a cross, and throw it into
the basin of water prepared for the purpose, on the surface of which
it floats. They afterwards take a loadstone of sufficient size to fill
the palm of the hand, or even smaller; bring it to the surface of the
water, give to their hands a rotatory motion towards the right so that
the needle turns on the water’s surface; they then suddenly and quickly
withdraw their hands, when the two points of the needle face north and
south. I have seen them, with my own eyes, do that during my voyage at
sea from Tripolis to Alexandria.”
REFERENCES.--E. Salverte, “Phil. of Magic,” New York, 1847,
Vol. II. pp. 221–222, note; “American Journal of Science and
Arts,” Vol. XL. p. 247; Davis, “The Chinese,” Vol. III. p. xii;
Klaproth, “Lettre à M. de Humboldt,” pp. 59, 60, 67; Knight,
“Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II. pp. 1371 and 1397; “Electro-Magn.
Phenom.,” by T. A. Lyons, New York, 1901, Vol. II. p. 564.
=A.D. 1302.=--Gioia--Goia (Flavio or Joannes), an Italian pilot
reported born at Positano, near Amalfi, is said by Flamnius Venanson
(“De l’invention de la boussole nautique,” Naples, 1808, pp. 138 and
168) to be the real inventor of the mariner’s compass. This view is
supported by Briet (Philippe), “Annales Mundi,” Vol. VI: Géog. et
Hydrog., lib. x. cap. 8; by Voltaire (“Essai sur les Mœurs,” 1819,
Vol. III. chap. cxli.), and by many others, but Klaproth (“Lettre ...”
1834, pp. 132–136) quotes Anthony of Bologna, called the Panormitan,
as saying that Gioia lived in the fourteenth century and wrote both
“_Prima dedit nautis usum magnetis Amalphis_” and “_Inventrix
præclara fuit magnetis Amalphis_.” He adds that a statement to the
same effect was made by Arrigi Brechmann in his “Historia Pandectarum
Amalphitorum,” Dissertatio I, No. 22, Neapoli, 1735, p. 925, but that
both are equally incorrect, for Gioja could not have invented an
instrument which had already been in use more than a hundred years
before his time.[19]
In his “Essay on Several Important Subjects,” London, 1676, Joseph
Glanvill remarks (p. 33): “I think there is more acknowledgment due to
the name of this obscure fellow, that hath scarce any left, than to a
thousand Alexanders and Cæsars or to ten times the number of Aristotles
and Aquinas’. And he really did more for the increase of knowledge
and advantage of the world, by this one experiment, than the numerous
_subtile disputers_ that have lived ever since the creation of the
School of Wrangling.”
In the “Navigator’s Supply,” published 1597, William Barlowe speaks of
“the lame tale of one Flavius at Amelphus in the Kingdome of Naples;
for to have devised it (the compass) is of very slender probabilitie.”
M. D. A. Azuni says (“Boussole,” 1809, p. 144) that Gioja may have
possibly invented the method of suspending the magnetic needle upon a
perpendicular pivot so that it would remain horizontal whatever the
movements of the vessel. This is very likely; at any rate, it must be
admitted that this particular mode of support permits a freer movement
to the needle in any direction and admits of more exact observations
than when the needle is floating upon the water.
At pp. 487–505, Vol. II of his “Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques,”
Guillaume Libri transcribes all he is able to from the almost illegible
Peter Peregrinus’ manuscript, No. 7378A, in the Paris Bibliothèque,
and refers to the imperfect mode of suspending the magnetic needle
therein shown. It is, says he, similar to that spoken of by Francesco
da Buti (Libri, Vol. II. pp. 67–68; Bertelli, “Pietro Peregrino,” pp.
63–66), who makes first mention of the compass in the Dante commentary
(“Comment, sopra la Divina Commedia”) to be found in the collection of
manuscripts No. 29, held by the Magliabechiana Library of Florence.
He adds that the suspension of the needle is likewise alluded to by
Guerino detto il Meschino, in a work first composed prior to the
“Divina Commedia” (an Italian romance, attributed to one Andrew the
Florentine) as _imbellico_, or _in bellico_, _in bilico_, meaning
in suspense, throughout the editions of Padua, 1473, Bologna, 1475,
Milan, 1482 and Venice, 1480, 1498. Mention is also made by Libri of
the writings of Adélard de Bath on the compass, at p. 62 of his second
volume.
REFERENCES.--Camillus Leonardus, “Speculum Lapidum”; the notes
at p. 180, Vol. I. of Dr. Geo. Miller’s “Hist. Phil. Ill.,”
London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 179, note; Venanson, “Boussole,”
pp. 158, 160; Knight, “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 1398;
Collenutius--Collenuccio--“Compendio ... regno di Napoli,”
Venice, 1591; “Discussione della leggenda di Flavio Gioia,
inventore della bussola” (T. Bertelli, in “Rivista di Fisica
Mat. e Sc. Nat.,” Pavia, 1901, II. pp. 529–541); Matteo Camara,
“Memorie ... di Amalfi,” Salerno, 1876; “Literary Digest,” July
6, 1901, translated from “Le Cosmos,” Paris, June 8, 1901;
Giraldi, “Libellus de Re Nautica,” Bâle, 1540; Admiral Luigi
Fincati, “Il Magnete, la calamita e la bussola,” Rome, 1878;
“Annales de Géographie,” Vol. XI. No. 59, pp. 7–8 for September
15, 1902, and G. Grimaldi in the “Mem. d. Accad. Etrus. di
Cortona”; Paulus Jovius, “Historiarum,” Florence, 1552; Pietro
Napoli Signorelli, “Sull’invenzione della bussola nautica ...”;
M. A. Blondus, “De Ventis,” Venice, 1546; Cælius Calcagninus,
“Thesaurus Græcarum Antiquitatum,” 1697, Vol. XI. p. 761;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 149; “Riv. G.
Ital.,” X. 1903, pp. 1, 11, 105–122, 314–334.
For Briet (Philippe), _b._ 1601, _d._ 1668, see Michaud, “Biog. Univ.,”
Paris, 1843, Vol. V. p. 527. The best, most complete edition of Briet’s
“Annales Mundi” is the Venice, 1693.
=A.D. 1327–1377.=--It has been claimed by F. M. Arouet de Voltaire,
who asserts it at Vol. III. pp. 251–252 of his “Essai sur les Mœurs et
l’Esprit des Nations,” Paris, 1809, “that the first well-authenticated
use of the compass” was made by the English during this period, which
is that of the reign of King Edward III.
By Voltaire, the extraordinary (_prodigieuse_) antiquity of the
Chinese is not questioned. They knew of the compass, but he says “it
was not employed by them for its proper use, that of guiding vessels
at sea. They travelled only along the shores. Possessed, as they were,
of a country that furnished everything, they did not feel the need
of going, as we do, to the other end of the world” (Vol. I. pp. 239,
247). Speaking of the Portuguese (Vol. III. p. 257) he says: “It was
not before known if the magnetic needle would point to the south on
approaching the South Pole; it was found to point constantly to the
north during the year 1486.”
From the time of Edward III, the compass was known in England by the
names of _adamant_, _sailing needle_ and _sail-stone dial_, as has been
shown in the writings of Chaucer and others, the most important of
which will be duly quoted in their order. The compass was alluded to,
more particularly, by John Gower, “Confessio Amantis,”[20] Books I and
VI; by Richard Hakluyt, “Voyages,” Vol. I. pp. 213, 215; and by Edward
Fairfax, “Godefroy de Boulogne,” Book XV. s. 18.
It may be well to record here that Voltaire was “confessedly the
foremost name, the acknowledged head of European literature of his
time.” Goethe calls him “the greatest literary man of all time,
the most astonishing creation of the Author of Nature” (“Nouvelle
Biographie,” Vol. XLV. i. p. 445). Though not the first French author
who wrote on the wonderful discoveries of Newton, he was the first to
make them extensively known on the Continent.
REFERENCES.--Sir Harris Nicolas, “Hist. Roy. Navy,” 1847,
Vol. II. p. 180; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. p. 57,
note; Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sc.,” 1859, Vol. I. p. 431;
“Crit. and Misc. Essays,” by Thomas Carlyle, Boston, 1860,
pp. 5–78. “La France Littéraire,” par Joseph M. Quérard,
Vol. X. Paris, 1839, pp. 276–457, devotes as many as 182
pages to bibliographical notices of Voltaire and names 1131
publications written by or relating to him, whilst in Quérard’s
“Bibliographie Voltairienne” will be found a still more extended
account at pp. i-xxxvi and at pp. 1–84.
THE MARINER’S COMPASS
Regarding the mariner’s compass, it can scarcely be doubted, from what
precedes, that it came to the knowledge of Europeans in the manner
indicated under the A.D. 1190 date.
Baïlik of Kibdjak--Baüak Kibdjaki--spoke of its use as generally well
known by the Syrian navigators, who constructed it in exactly the
same way as did the Chinese (A.D. 1111–1117 and A.D. 1282), and which
resembled the compass seen by Brunetto Latini in the possession of
Friar Bacon while in England prior to the year 1260 (Knight, “Mech.
Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 1397).
Edrisi (Idrisi or Aldrisi), the most eminent of the Arabian
geographers, is said by Boucher to have given a confirmed account of
the polarity of the magnet, the early knowledge of which by the Arabs
has been shown conclusively by Jacob de Vitry, Vincent de Beauvais and
Albertus Magnus.
Signor P. T. Bertelli, who has been mentioned under the A.D. 1190 date,
could not find any reference, however remote, to the directive property
of the loadstone throughout a careful examination of Latin and Greek
works dating from the sixth century B.C. to the tenth century A.D.
He admits that the directive property was known to the Chinese, who
had made rude floating needle compasses before the beginning of the
Christian era, although these compasses are likely to have been brought
home by the Amalfian sailors, who are, by some writers, represented as
having substituted the pivoted needle as well as added the Rose of the
Winds.[21] He will not, however, recognize the claims made in favour of
Flavio Gioja. On the other hand, A. Botto has shown that the Amalfitans
introduced the compass between the tenth and the eleventh centuries
(“Contributo agli studi storici sull’origine della bussola nautica,”
1899). Consult likewise Vol. IX of “Annales de Géogr. et de Bibliogr.,”
1899, p. 8.
At p. 195 of the December 1904 issue of “Terrestrial Magnetism” is a
short article relative to the claim made that the compass was invented
by a Veronese named Salomone Ireneo Pacifico (A.D. 776–846) during the
first half of the ninth century. It states that Bertelli considers this
due to a misinterpretation of an inscription on Pacifico’s tomb, and
it alludes to Bertelli’s previous paper on the subject in “Terrestr.
Magn.,” Vol. VIII. No. 4, p. 179 (see also the number of “Terrestr.
Magn.” for June 1905, p. 108, and the “Geographical Journal” for March
1905, pp. 334–335).
The earliest recorded use of the compass in a Spanish vessel, according
to Capmany (“Memorias Historicas,” 1792), is to be found in the
Chronicle of Don Pedro Niño, Conde de Buelna, as follows: “It is
reported that Conde’s galleys left the island of La Alharina along the
coast of Bombay ... and the pilots compared their needles which had
been rubbed with the magnet stone....”
In Dr. Plumptre’s notes on Dante, reference is made to the fact that
the European knowledge of the magnetic needle came from Arabia, and,
like Humboldt, he quotes in support thereof an allusion from the
Spanish “Leyes de las Partidas” belonging to the first half of the
thirteenth century. The passage in the last named is spoken of by M.
Fern de Navarrete in his “Discurso historico,” etc., 1802 (II. tit. ix.
ley 28) and reads thus: “The needle which guides the seaman in the dark
night and shows him, both in good and in bad weather, how to direct his
course is the mediatrix (_medianera_) between the loadstone (_la
piedra_) and the north star....” Humboldt adds: “See the passage in
‘Las siete Partidas del sabio Rey Don Alonso el IX’ [according to the
usually adopted chronological order, Alfonso the tenth], Madrid, 1829,
Vol. I. p. 473.”[22]
On the other hand, the knowledge of the compass by the Arabs in the
thirteenth century has been most decidedly contested by E. Renaudot
(“Anciennes Relations des Indes et de la Chine,” Paris, 1717, p. 3);
by D. A. Azuni (“Dissertation sur l’origine de la Boussole,” Paris,
1809, pp. 102, 127); by Giovanni Battista Ramusio (“Coll. Voy.,” 1554,
Vol. I. p. 379); by A. Collina (“Considerazioni,” etc., Faenza, 1748,
p. 121, etc.). Buffon says (“Théorie de la Terre,” Paris, An. VIII.
tome i. p. 300): “I know that some pretend the Arabs have invented
the compass and have used it long before the French (see ‘Abrégé de
l’histoire des Sarrazins,’ de Bergeron, p. 119) ... but that opinion
always appeared to me devoid of reason; for there is no word in the
Arabian, Turkish or Persian tongue which can be made to signify the
compass.... They employ the Italian word _bossola_....”
The same view is entertained by Dr. William Robertson, principal of
the University of Edinburgh, who, after announcing in his “History
of the Reign of Charles V,” London, 1769, Vol. I. p. 78, that the
mariner’s compass was invented soon after the close of the Holy War,
gives at pp. 333–335 of his “Historical Disquisition,” London, 1812,
a translation of the above passage taken from an early edition of
that illustrious French naturalist George Louis Le Clerc, Comte de
Buffon. Robertson adds: “This shows that the knowledge of this useful
instrument was communicated to them (the Arabs) by the Europeans. There
is not one single observation of ancient date made by the Arabians on
the variation of the needle, or any instruction deduced from it for the
assistance of navigators.... When Mr. Niehbuhr was at Cairo, he found a
magnetic needle in the possession of a Mohammedan which served to point
out the _Kaaba_, and gave it the name of _el magnetis_, a
clear proof of its European origin.”
The claims of France to the discovery of the compass have been laid
by some to the fact that the north point of the early instruments
was generally drawn in the form of a _fleur de lys_, but Voltaire
says (“Essai,” etc., Vol. III. p. 251), that the Italians drew this
in honour of the sovereigns of Naples, a branch of the French royal
family. The able writer in the English Cyclopædia (“Arts and Sciences,”
Vol. III. p. 102) considers the design to be only “an _ornamented
cross_ which originated in devotion to the mere symbol; though, as the
compass undoubtedly came, he says, into Europe from the Arabs, the
_fleur de lys_ might possibly be a modification of the _mouasala_, or
dart, the name by which the Arabs called the needle” (“Phil. Mag.,”
Vol. XVIII. p. 88).
REFERENCES.--Hallam, “Middle Ages,” Vol. III. chap. ix. part
ii.; Klaproth, “La Boussole,” pp. 53, 54 and 64–66; Davis, “The
Chinese,” Vol. III. p. 12; “Silliman’s Journal,” XL. 242–250;
“Nautical Magazine,” April 1903; “Ciel et Terre,” Juin 1,
1904, pp. 156–158; “Histoire de la Boussole,” par P. D. M.
Boddært; Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Paris, 1838, Vol. I.
pp. 136–137, 382, etc.; Article “Bussola” in “Nuova Encycl.
Italiana,” by Bocardo, Vol. IV. Torino, 1877, p. 377, poesia
di Ugo di Sercy (Bercy) e di Giovanni di Mehun; “Harper’s
Magazine,” New York, for February, 1904; V. Molinier, “Notice
... boussole au xiii^e siècle,” Toulouse, 1850; G. Grimaldi,
“Dissert. ... della bussola,” Roma, 1741; McCulloch, “Traités
... boussole,” Paris, 1853; Magliozzi, “Notizie ... bussola,”
Napoli, 1849; Dr. Geo. Miller, “Hist. Phil. Illust.,” London,
1849, Vol. I. p. 180, note. For Edrisi, see “Journ. des
Savants,” issued in April and August 1843, and in December 1846.
=A.D. 1391.=--Chaucer (Geoffrey), the father of English poetry,
thus expresses himself in “The Conclusions of the Astrolabie”
(“English Poets,” London, 1810, Vol. I): “I haue giuen thee a
sufficient astrolabye for oure orizont compowned after the latitude
of Oxenforde.... Now hast thou here, the fower quarters of thin
astrolabie, deuided after the fower principall plages or quarters of
the firmament.... Now is thin Orisonte departed in XXIIII partiez by
thi azymutz, in significacion of XXIIII partiez of the world; al be it,
so that ship men rikne thilke partiez in XXXII.”
“Now maugre Juno, Aneas
For all her sleight and her compas
Atcheiued all his auenture.”
“House of Fame,” B. I.
“The stone was hard of adamaunt,
Whereof they made the foundemaunt,
The tour was round made in compas,
In all this world no richer was.”
“Rom. of the Rose.”
“Right as betwene adamants two
Of euen weight, a pece of yron set,
Ne hath no might to moue to ne fro
For what that one may hale, that other let.”
“Assem. of Foules.”
REFERENCES.--“English Poets,” London, 1810, Vol. I. p. 453; Ch.
Wells Moulton, “Library of Literary Criticism,” Vol. I. pp.
77–81.
=A.D. 1436.=--Bianco--Biancho--(Andrea), was an Italian cartographer
living at Venice early in the fifteenth century, who published, in
1436, an atlas exhibiting charts of the magnetic variation. The
knowledge of the latter, which is so indispensable to the correction of
a ship’s reckoning, was then ascertained less by the sun’s rising and
setting than by the polar star.
One of Bianco’s charts, now in the Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, shows
two islands at the West of the Azores, leading many to believe that he
possessed some knowledge of the existence of North and South America.
In Justin Winsor’s description of Dr. John G. Kohl’s collection of
early maps (“Harvard Univ. Bulletin,” Vol. III. pp. 175–176), it is
said that the original of Andrea Bianco’s Map of the World A.D. 1436,
now at Venice, was reproduced by Joachim Lelewell (“Géographie du Moyen
Age,” Pl. XXXII), and also in M. F. de Barros de Santarem’s “Essai
sur l’histoire de la cosmographie et de la cartographie” (Pls. XXIII,
XLIII).[23] Reference is also made thereto in Winsor’s “Bibliography of
Ptolemy’s Geography,” sub anno 1478. Mr. Winsor adds: “Bianco’s views
are of interest in early American cartography from the deductions which
some have drawn from the configuration of the islands ‘Antillia’ and
‘De la man Satanaxio’--(two islands on its western verge)--that they
represent Pre-Columbian discovery of South and North America.” Humboldt
(“Crit. Untersuchungen,” I. 413, 416) has discussed the question, and
pointed out that one island, “Antillia,” had earlier appeared on a map
of 1425, and D’Avezac finds even earlier references to the same island.
To Andrea Bianco may be ascribed the best of all known forms of
wind-roses. Admiral L. Fincati illustrates, in his well-known pamphlet
“Il Magnete, la Calamita e la Bussola,” Rome, 1878, all the best-known
examples from 1426 to 1612, those of Bianco having upon them either
the _fleur de lys_ (referred to at A.D. 1327–1377) or the letter
=T=[symbol], or designs of a triangle or trident, to indicate the
north, whilst the east is designated by a cross, in same manner as
shown in the 1426 Giraldi and the Oliva 1612–1613.[24]
For other forms and accounts of these rose-of-the-winds or compass
cards, it would be well to consult more particularly Nordenskiöld,
Nils Adolf Erik (1832–1901), “Periplus” (1897), as well as his
“Facsimile Atlas” published eight years previously; Pedro de Medina,
“Arte de Navegar”; Francesco Da Buti, “Comment, sopra la Div. Com.”;
Simon Stevin’s “Haven-finding Art”; Athan. Kircher, “Magnes, sive
de Arte Magnetica”; and Guillaume de Nautonniez, “Mécométrie de
l’Eymant ... déclinaison guideymant pour tous les lieux ...” published
1602–1604.[25]
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Gen.,” Vol. V. pp. 922–923, Mazzuchelli,
“Scrittori d’ Italia”; “New Int. Encycl.,” New York, 1902–1903,
Vol. II. p. 796; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II. p. 672;
Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. p. 55; Johnson’s “New Univ.
Cycl.,” 1878, Vol. III. p. 230; “Der Atlas des Andrea Bianco
vom Jahre 1436 of Oscar Peschel,” Venedig, 1869; Justin Winsor,
“Narrative and Critical Hist. of America,” Boston, 1889, Vol. I.
pp. 50–56, 114, 117; “Formaleoni, saggio sulla nautica antica de
Veneziani,” Venez., 1783, pp. 51–59 (Libri, “Hist. des. Math.,”
Vol. III).
=A.D. 1490–1541.=--Paracelsus (Aureolus Theophrastus)--the assumed
name of Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim--a native
of Switzerland, admitted by unprejudiced writers to have been one of
the greatest chemists of his time (Hemmann, “Medico--Sur. Essays,”
Berlin, 1778). The author of “Isis Unveiled” states that he made use
of electro-magnetism three centuries before Prof. Oersted’s discovery,
and that he rediscovered the occult properties of the magnet, “the bone
of Horus,” which, twelve centuries before his time, had played such an
important part in the theurgic mysteries, thus very naturally becoming
the founder of the school of magnetism and of mediæval magico-theury.
But Mesmer, who lived nearly three hundred years after him, and as a
disciple of his school brought the magnetic wonders before the public,
reaped the glory that was due to the fire-philosopher, while the great
master died in want (“Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. pp. 71, 72, 164).
Madame Blavatsky further adds (Vol. I. p. 167) that the full views
of Paracelsus on the occult properties of the magnet are explained
partially in his famous book “Archidoxorum,” wherein he describes the
wonderful tincture, a medicine extracted from the magnet, and called
“Magisterium Magnetis,” and partially in the “De Ente Dei” and “De Ente
Astrorum,” lib. i.
[Illustration: Christopher Columbus. Photographic
reproduction of his letter, March 21st, 1502, to Nicolo
Oderigo, Ambassador to France and to Spain, which was
acquired by the King of Sardinia and presented by him to the
City of Genoa.
It is now preserved in the Palace of the Genoese
Municipality.]
[Illustration:
_Señor,--La soledad en que nos habeys desado non se puede
dezir. El libro de mys escrituras, di amiçer Françisco de
Ribarol, para que os le enbie, con otro traslado de cartas
mesajeras. Del recabdo y el lugar que porneys en ello, os pido
por merçed que lo escrivays aDon Diego. Otro tal se acabara, y
se os enbiara por la mesma guisa, y el mesmo miçer Françisco:
en ello fallereys escritura nueba. Sus Altezas me prometieron
de me dar todo lo que me pertençe y de poner [en] posesion de
todo aDon Diego como veyreys. Al Señor mi[çe]r Juan Luys y ala
Señora madona Catalina escrivo. La carta va con esta. Yo estoy
de partida en nonbre de la Santa Trinidad con el primer buen
tienpo, con mucho atabio. Si Geronimo de Santi Esteban viene
debeme esperar y no se enb[ali]jar con nada por que tomar[a]n
del lo que pudieren y despues le desaran en blanco. Venga aca y
el Rey y la Reyna le recibiran fasta que yo venga. Nuestro Señor
os aya en su santa guardia. Fecha a xxi de março en Sebilla
1502._
_Alo que mandardes,_
·_S_·
·_S· A ·S_·
_X M Y_
_X[-p]o FERENS._
Sir,--The loneliness in which you have left us cannot be told.
I have given the book of my writings to Messer Francesco di
Rivarola, in order that he may send it to you, with another
transcript of letters missive. Respecting the receipt thereof,
and the place in which you will put it, I beg you to be so
good as to write to Don Diego. Another similar one shall be
finished and sent to you in the same manner, and by the same
Messer Francesco; you will find a new writing in it. Their
Highnesses made me a promise to give me all that belongs to
me, and to put Don Diego into possession of everything, as you
will see. I am writing to Messer Gian Luigi and to the Signora
my Lady Caterina; the letter is going with this one. I am on
the point of setting out, in the name of the Holy Trinity, with
the first fine weather, with a great equipment. If Girolamo da
Santo-Stefano comes, he must wait for me, and not burden himself
with anything, because they will take from him whatever they
can, and will then leave him bare. Let him come hither, and the
King and Queen will receive him until I arrive. May Our Lord
have you in his holy keeping. Done on the 21st of March, in
Seville, 1502.
At your command
·S·
·S· A ·S·
X M Y
Xp̄o FERENS.]
Christopher Columbus. Translation of the letter written by
him to Nicolo Oderigo, shown opposite; made into English by
Mr. G. A. Barwick, B.A., of the British Museum. Permission to
reproduce both original letter and its translation was given
by Messrs. B. F. Stevens & Brown, London.]
In the words of Paracelsus, we give the following extracts concerning
the loadstone, taken from “The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings ...” by
A. E. Waite, London, 1894:
_Vol. I. p. 17._--“The adamant. A black crystal called ... Evax ... is
dissolved in the blood of a goat.”
“The magnet. Is an iron stone, and so attracts iron to itself.
Fortified by experience.... I affirm that the magnet ... not only
attracts steel and iron, but also has the same power over the matter of
all diseases in the whole body of man.”
_Vol. I. pp. 132_ and _145_.--“A magnet touched by mercury or anointed
with mercurial oil, never afterwards attracts iron ... same if steeped
in garlic....”
_Vol. I. p. 136._--“The life of the magnet is the spirit of iron which
can be taken away by rectified _vinum ardens_ itself or by spirit of
wine.”
_Vol. II. p. 59._--“Wherever the magnet has grown--there, a certain
attractive power exists, just as colocynth is purgative and the poppy
is anodyne....”
Mr. A. E. Waite says (Vol. II. p. 3) that the ten books of Paracelsus’
_Archidoxies_ stand in the same relation to Hermetic Medicine as
the nine books _Concerning the Nature of Things_ stand to Hermetic
Chemistry and to the science of metallic transmutation.
REFERENCES.--Biography of Paracelsus, in Larousse, “Dict
Univ.,” Vol. XII. pp. 171–172, in F. Hartmann, 1887, and in the
ninth ed. of the “Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. XVIII. pp. 234–236; Van
Swinden, “Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vol. I. pp. 356–358;
Gilbert, “De Magnete,” Book I. chaps. i. and xiv., also Book
II. chap. xxv.; “Journal des Savants” for November 1849; Walton
and Cotton, “Complete Angler,” New York and London, 1847, pp.
212–213, for notes regarding Paracelsus, Robert Fludd, Jacob
Behmen and the Rosicrucians; “Dictionnaire Historique de la
Médecine,” N. F. Eloy, Mons, 1778, Vol. III. pp. 461–471;
“History and Heroes of the Art of Medicine,” J. Rutherfurd
Russell, London, 1861, pp. 157–175; “Histoire Philosophique de
la Médecine,” Etienne Tourtelle, Paris, An. XII. (1804) Vol. II.
pp. 326–346; “History of Magic,” Joseph Ennemoser, London, 1854,
Vol. II. pp. 229–241.
At p. 55 of the first supplement to “Select. Bibliog. of
Chemistry,” by H. C. Bolton, Washington, 1899, mention is made
of the Paracelsus Library belonging to the late E. Schuberth of
Frankfort-on-the-Main ... as containing 194 titles of works on
Paracelsus and 548 titles of works relating to Paracelsus and
his doctrines; the section on Alchemy embracing as many as 351
titles.
=A.D. 1492.=--Columbus, Colombo, Colon (Christopher), the discoverer
of America., is the first to determine astronomically the position of
a _line of no magnetic variation_ (on which the needle points to the
true north) the merit of which discovery has, by Livio Sanuto, been
erroneously attributed to Sebastian Cabot. (Livio Sanuto, “Geographia
distincta in XII libri ...” wherein the whole of Book I is given to
reported observations of the compass and to accounts of different
navigators.)
Columbus did not, as many imagine, make the first observations of the
existence of magnetic variation, for this is set down upon the charts
of Andrea Bianco, but he was the first who remarked, on the 13th of
September, 1492, that “2½ degrees east of the island of Corvo, in
the Azores, the magnetic variation changed and passed from N.E. to
N.W.” Washington Irving thus describes the discovery (“History ... Ch.
Columbus,” Paris, 1829, Vol. I. p. 198): “On the 13th of September, in
the evening, being about two hundred leagues from the island of Ferro
(the smallest of the Canaries), Columbus, for the first time, noticed
the variation of the needle, a phenomenon which had never before been
remarked. He perceived, about nightfall, that the needle, instead of
pointing to the North Star, varied about half a point, or between five
and six degrees to the north-west, and still more on the following
morning. Struck with this circumstance, he observed it attentively
for three days and found that the variation increased as he advanced.
He at first made no mention of this phenomenon, knowing how ready his
people were to take alarm; but it soon attracted the attention of the
pilots, and filled them with consternation. It seemed as if the laws
of nature were changing as they advanced, and that they were entering
into another world, subject to unknown influences (Las Casas, ‘Hist.
Ind.,’ l. i. c. 6). They apprehended that the compass was about to lose
its mysterious virtues; and, without that guide, what was to become
of them in a vast and trackless ocean? Columbus tasked his science
and ingenuity for reasons with which to allay their terrors. He told
them that the direction of the needle was not to the polar star but
to some fixed and invisible point. The variation, therefore, was not
caused by any fallacy in the compass, but by the movement of the North
Star itself, which, like the other heavenly bodies, had its changes
and revolutions, and every day described a circle around the pole. The
high opinion that the pilots entertained of Columbus as a profound
astronomer gave weight to his theory, and their alarm subsided.”
Humboldt says: “We can, with much certainty, fix upon three places in
the _Atlantic line of no declination_ for the 13th of September,
1492, the 21st of May, 1496 and the 16th of August, 1498.”
REFERENCES.--“Columbus and his Discoveries,” in the “Narrative
and Critical History of America,” by Justin Winsor, Boston,
1889, Vol. II. pp. 1–92; “Christopher Columbus, His life, work
...” by John Boyd Thacher, 1903; Giov. Bat. Ramusio, “Terzo
volume delle Navigationi e Viaggi ...” 1556; Dr. Geo. Miller,
“History Phil. Illust.,” London, 1849, Vol. II. pp. 216–219;
David Hume, “History of England,” London, 1822, Vol. III. pp.
387–398; Guillaume Libri, “Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques
en Italie,” Halle, 1865, Vol. III. pp. 68–85; “Columbus, a
Critical Study,” by Henry Vignaud, London, 1903; Weld, “Hist.
Royal Society,” Vol. II. p. 429; Thos. Browne, “Pseudodox.
Epid.,” 1658, Book II. pp. 68–69; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849,
Vol. I. p. 174; Vol. II. pp. 636, 654–657, 671–672, and Vol.
V. (1859) pp. 55–56, 116; Knight, “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II., pp.
1374, 1397; Poggendorff, “Geschichte der Physik,” Leipzig, 1879,
p. 270; “Raccolta di documenti e studi publicati della R. Com.
Columb. pel 40 Centenario alla scoperta dell’America,” Roma,
1892; Humboldt, “Examen Critique ... progrès de l’astronomie
nautique,” Paris, 1836, Vol. I. pp. 262–272, etc.
It may be worth noting here that the ashes of Columbus, removed from
the Cathedral of Havana, were placed in a mausoleum at Seville,
November 17, 1902 (“Science,” Dec. 12, 1902, p. 958).
Amongst the numerous claimants to the discovery of America, some have
placed the great navigator Martin Behaim--Behem--(1430–1506), who
received his instruction from the learned John Müller (Regiomontanus)
and became one of the most learned geographers as well as the very
best chart maker of his age. Cellarius, Riccioli and other writers
assert that Behaim had, before Columbus, visited the American
Continent, while Stuvenius shows, in his treatise “De vero novi orbis
inventore,” that the islands of America and the strait of Magalhæns
were accurately traced upon the very celebrated globe called the
“World Apple” completed by Behaim in the year 1492, and which is still
to be seen in Behaim’s native city of Nürnberg.[26] (See Mr. Otto’s
letter to Dr. Franklin, in the second volume of the “Transactions of
the American Philosophical Society held at Philadelphia for promoting
useful knowledge,” likewise Humboldt, “Examen critique de l’histoire
de la Géographie,” Vol. II. pp. 357–369; “The Reliquary,” London,
Vol. VI. N.S. Jan.-Oct. 1892, pp. 215–229; Justin Winsor, “Narrative
and Critical History of America,” Boston 1889, Vol. II. pp. 104–105;
“Geogr. Jour.,” Vol. V. March 1895, p. 228.)
It was this same Martin Behaim (Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II.
p. 255) who received a charge from King John II of Portugal to
compute tables for the sun’s declination and to teach pilots how to
“navigate by the altitudes of the sun and stars.” It cannot now be
decided whether at the close of the fifteenth century the use of the
log was known as a means of estimating the distance traversed while
the direction is indicated by the compass; but it is certain that
the distinguished voyager Francisco Antonio Pigafetta (1491–1534)
the friend and companion of Magellan--Magalhæns--speaks of the log
(_la catena a poppa_) as of a well-known means of measuring the
course passed over. Nothing is to be found regarding way-measurers
in the literature of the Middle Ages until we come to the period of
several “books of nautical instruction,” written or printed by this
same Pigafetta (“Trattato di Navigazione,” probably before 1530); by
Francisco Falero, a brother of Ruy Falero, the astronomer (“Regimiento
para observar la longitud en la mar,” 1535); by Pedro da Medina, of
Seville (“Arte de Navegar,” 1545); by Martin Cortez, of Bujalaroz
(“Breve Compendio de la esfera, y de la arte de navegar,” 1551), and by
Andres Garcia de Cespedes (“Regimiento de Navigacion y Hidrografia,”
1606). From almost all these works--some of which, if not all, have
naturally become very scarce--as well as from the “Summa de Geografia”
which Martin Fernandez de Enciso had published in 1519, we learn most
distinctly that the “distance sailed over” was then ascertained in
Spanish and Portuguese ships not by any distinct measurement, but
only through estimation of the eye, according to certain established
principles. Medina says (lib. iii. caps. 11–12): “In order to know
the course of the ship, as to the length of distance passed over,
the pilot must set down in his register how much distance the vessel
hath made according to hours (_i. e._ guided by the hour-glass,
_ampoleta_); and, for this, he must know that the most a ship
advances in an hour is four miles, and, with feebler breezes, three
or only two.” Cespedes, in his “Regimiento” (pp. 99 and 156) calls
this mode of proceeding _echar punto por fantasia_, and he justly
remarks that if great errors are to be avoided, this _fantasia_
must depend on the pilot’s knowledge of the qualities of his ship.
Columbus, Juan de la Cosa, Sebastian Cabot and Vasco da Gama, were
not acquainted with the log and its mode of application, and they all
estimated the ship’s speed merely by the eye, while they ascertained
the distance they had made merely through the running down of the sand
in the glasses known as _ampoletas_.
REFERENCES.--For F. A. Pigafetta, for Petro de Medina and for
Martin Cortez, Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Génér.,” Vol. I. pt.
ii. pp. 1221–1223; “New Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Jas. Rose, London,
1850, Vol. XI. p. 113; “Biog. Univ.” (Michaud), Vol. XXXIII. p.
297; “Grand Dict. Univ.” (Larousse), Vol. XII. p. 999; “Nouv
Biog. Gen.” (Hœfer), Vol. XL. p. 207. Also Dr. G. Hellmann’s
“Neudrucke,” 1898, No. 10, for reproduction of Francisco
Falero’s “Tratato del Esphera y del arte del marear” (Del
Nordestear de las Agujas), 1535, as well as for reproduction of
Martin Cortez’ “Breve Compendio” (De la piedra Yman), 1551.
=A.D. 1497.=--Gama (Vasco or Vasquez da), celebrated Portuguese
navigator, is known positively to have made use of the compass during
the voyage he undertook this year to the Indies. He says that he
found the pilots of the Indian Ocean making ready use of the magnet.
The first book of the history of Portugal by Jerome Osorius--wherein
he gives (pp. 23–24, Book I. paragraph 15, 1581 ed.) a very extended
“description de l’aiguille marine, invention des plus belles et
utiles du monde”--states that, instead of a needle, they used a small
magnetized iron plate, which was suspended like the needle of the
Europeans, but which showed imperfectly the north.
Gilbert says (“De Magnete,” Book IV. chap. xiii.) that, as the
Portuguese did not rightly understand the construction and use of the
compass, some of their observations are untrustworthy and that in
consequence various opinions exist relative to magnetic variation. For
example, the Portuguese navigator Roderigues de Lazos--Lagos--takes
it to be one-half point off the Island of St. Helena; the Dutch, in
their nautical journal, make it one point there; Kendall, an expert
English navigator, makes it only one-sixth of a point, using a true
meridional compass. Diego Alfonso finds no variation at a point a
little south-east of Cape das Agulhas,[27] and, by the astrolabe, shows
that the compass points due north and south at Cape das Agulhas if it
be of the Portuguese style, in which the variation is one-half point to
the south-east.
REFERENCES.--Azuni, “Boussole,” p. 121; Klaproth, “Boussole,” p.
64; Knight, “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 1398; Larousse, “Dict.,”
Vol. VIII. p. 977; “Voyageurs anciens et modernes” (Charton),
1855; “Le Comte Amiral D. Vasco da Gama,” par D. Maria T. da
Gama, Paris, 1902.
=A.D. 1497.=--Cabot (Sebastian), a prominent English navigator, lands,
June 24, 1497, on the coast of Labrador, between 56 degrees and 58
degrees north latitude.
At p. 150 of the 1869 London edition of Mr. J. F. Nicholl’s “Life of
Seb. Cabot” it is said the latter represented to the King of England
that the variation of the compass was different in many places, and
was not absolutely regulated by distance from any particular meridian;
that he could point to a spot of no variation, and that those whom he
had trained as seamen, as Richard Chancellor and Stephen Burrough, were
particularly attentive to this problem, noting it at one time thrice
within a short space.
REFERENCES.--Richard Hakluyt, “The Principal navigations,
voyages, traffiques and discoveries of the English nation,”
1599: at pp. 237–243, for the voyage of Richard Chancelor,
pilote maior, and, at p. 274, for “the voyage of Steuen
Burrough, master of the pinnesse called the Serchtrift”;
Livio Sanuto, “Geografia,” Venice, 1588, lib. i.; Fournier,
“Hydrographie,” lib. xi.; “Library of Am. Biog.,” by Jared
Sparks, Boston, 1839, Vols. II and VII as per Index at pp.
318–319; “Jean et Seb. Cabot,” par Hy. Harisse, Paris, 1882;
Geo. P. Winship, “The Cabot Bibliography,” London and New
York, 1900; Humboldt, “Examen Critique,” Vol. IV. p. 231, and
“Cosmos,” Vol. II. (1860) pp. 640, 657–658; Biddle, “Memoir of
Seb. Cabot,” 1831, pp. 52–61.
=A.D. 1502.=--Varthema-Vertomannus (Ludovico di) leaves Europe for the
Indies, as mentioned at p. 25 of his “Travels,” translated by J. Winter
Jones, London, 1863, from the original “Itenerario ... ne la India ...”
Milano, 1523. He states that the Arabs who navigated the Red Sea were
known to have long since made use of the mariner’s chart and compass,
and he tells us, in the introduction and at p. 249, that “the captains
carried the compass with the needle after our manner,” and that their
chart was “marked with lines perpendicular and across.” When the polar
star became invisible, they all asked the captain by what he could then
steer them, and “he showed us four or five stars, among which there was
one (_B. Hydrus_) which he said was opposite to (_contrario della_)
our North Star, and that he sailed by the north because the magnet was
adjusted and subjected to our north, _i. e._ because this compass was
no doubt of European origin--its index pointing to the north, and being
unlike that of the Chinese pointing to the south.”
REFERENCES.--Cavallo, “Magnetism,” London, 1787, Chap. IV;
also, “Hakluyt’s Collection of the early voyages, travels and
discoveries,” London, 1811, Vol. IV. p. 547, for “The navigation
and voyages of Lewes Vertomannus.”
=A.D. 1530–1542.=--Guillen (Felipe), an ingenious apothecary of
Seville, and Alonzo de Santa Cruz (who was one of the instructors of
mathematics to young Charles V, King of Spain and Emperor of Germany,
and the _Cosmografo Mayor_ of the Royal Department of Charts at
Seville), construct variation charts and variation compasses by which
solar altitudes can be taken.
REFERENCES.--Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 658, and
1859, Vol. V. p. 56; L. A. Bauer, “U. S. Magn. Tables,” 1902, p.
26.
Although based upon very imperfect observations, the magnetic
charts thus devised by Alonzo de Santa Cruz antedate by more
than one hundred and fifty years the work of Dr. Halley (at
A.D. 1683).
=A.D. 1544.=--Hartmann (Georg) a vicar of the church of Saint Sebaldus,
at Nuremberg, writes March 4, to the Duke Albrecht of Prussia, a
letter which was brought to light by Moser and which reads as follows:
“Besides, I find also this in the magnet, that it not only turns from
the north and deflects to the east about nine degrees, more or less,
as I have reported, but it points downward. This may be proved as
follows: I make a needle a finger long, which stands horizontally on a
pointed pivot, so that it nowhere inclines toward the earth, but stands
horizontal on both sides; but, as soon as I stroke one of the ends
(with the loadstone) it matters not which end it be, then the needle
no longer stands horizontal, but points downward (_fällt unter sich_)
some nine degrees, more or less. The reason why this happens I was not
able to indicate to his Royal Majesty.” The above seems to establish
the fact that Hartmann first observed the dip of the magnetic needle
independently of Robert Norman.
Gilbert refers (“De Magnete,” Book I. chap. i.) to Fortunius
Affaitatus--Affaydatus--an Italian physicist who, says he, has some
rather silly philosophizing about the attraction of iron and of its
turning to the poles, thus alluding to the latter’s small work called
“Physicæ (et) ac astronomiæ (astronomicæ) considerationes,” which
appeared at Venice in 1549. Nevertheless, it is a question whether
Affaitatus was not actually the first to publish the declination of
the magnetic needle. (“Biogr. Gén.,” Vol. I. p. 346; Mazzuchelli,
“Scrittori d’Italia”; Bertelli, “Mem. sopra P. Peregrino,” p. 115;
Adelung, Supplément à Jocher, “Allgem. Gelehrten-Lexicon”; Johann
Lamont, “Handbuch des Magnetismus,” Leipzig, 1867, p. 425; J. C.
Poggendorff, “Biogr.-Lit. Handwörterbuch,” Leipzig, 1863, Vol. I. p.
15; Michaud, “Biogr. Univ. Anc. et Mod.,” Vol. I. p. 208, Paris, 1843;
Brunet, “Manuel,” Paris, 1860; “Biog. Cremonese de Lancetti”; M. le Dr.
Hœfer, “Biog. Gen.,” Paris, 1852, Vol. I. p. 346.)
REFERENCES.--Dove, “Repertorium der Physik,” Vol. II, 1838, pp.
129–130; Poggendorff, “Geschichte der Physik,” 1879, p. 273; L.
Hulsius, “Descriptio et usus,” Nürnberg, 1597; “Ency. Brit.,”
1883, Vol. XV. p. 221; P. Volpicelli, “Intorno alle prime ...
magnete” (Atti dell Acad. Pont. de Nuov. Lincei, XIX. pp. 205,
210).
=A.D. 1555.=--Olaus Magnus, a native of Sweden and Archbishop of Upsala
(where he died during 1568) issued in Rome his great work “Historia de
Gentibus Septentrionalibus,” which, for a long time, remained the chief
authority on Swedish matters. In this book, Gilbert says (“De Magnete,”
lib. i. cap. 1) allusion is made to a certain magnetic island and to
mountains in the north possessing such power of attraction that ships
have to be constructed with wooden pegs so that as they sail by the
magnetic cliffs there be no iron nails to draw out.
To this, reference is made by Thos. Browne (“Pseud. Epidem.,” 1658,
Book II. p. 78) as follows: “Of rocks magnetical, there are likewise
two relations; for some are delivered to be in the Indies and some
in the extremity of the North and about the very pole. The Northern
account is commonly ascribed unto Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala,
who, out of his predecessors--Joannes, Saxo and others--compiled a
history of some Northern Nations; but this assertion we have not
discovered in that work of his which commonly passeth among us; and
should believe his geography herein no more than that in the first line
of his book, where he affirmeth that Biarmia (which is not 70 degrees
in latitude) hath the pole for its zenith, and equinoctial for the
horizon.”
In a Spanish book entitled “The Naval Theatre,” by Don Francisco de
Seylas and Louera, we find two causes assigned for the variation of
the declination; one is “the several mines of loadstones found in the
several parts of the earth ...” the other being that “there is no doubt
but large rocks of loadstones may affect the needles when near them
...” (“Philos. History ... Roy. Acad. Sc. at Paris,” London, 1742, Vol.
II. pp. 279–280).
REFERENCES.--Claudus Ptolemæus, “Geographia,” lib. vii. cap.
2 (and others named by Bertelli Barnabita at foot of p. 21
of his “Pietro Peregrino de Maricourt,” Roma, 1868, viz.
Klaproth, “Lettre sur la Boussole,” Paris, 1834, p. 116; Thos.
H. Martin, “Observ. et Théor. des anciens,” Rome, 1865, p.
304; Steinschneider, “Intorno. alla calamita,” Roma, 1868);
also Albertus Magnus, Lugduni, 1651; Mr. (Thomas) Blundeville,
“His Exercises”; Fracastorio, in the seventh chapter of his
“De Sympathia et Antipathia”; F. Maurolycus, “Opuscula,” 1575,
p. 122a; Lipenius, “Navigatio Salomonis Ophiritica”; Paulus
Merula, “Cosmographia Generalis,” Leyden, 1605; Toussaincte de
Bessard, “Dialogue de la Longitude,” Rouen, 1574; U. Aldrovandi,
“Musæum Metallicum,” 1648, pp. 554, 563, wherein he alludes to
the magnetic mountains spoken of by Sir John Mandeville; Ninth
“Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. XVII. p. 752; also the entry at A.D.
1265–1321.
=A.D. 1558.=--Porta (Giambattista della), Italian natural philosopher
(1540–1615), carries on a series of experiments with the magnet for
the purpose of communicating intelligence at a distance. Of these
experiments, he gives a full account in his “Magiæ Naturalis,” the
first edition of which is said to have been published at Naples when
Porta was but fifteen years of age (“Encycl. Brit.,” article “Optics”).
Prof. Stanley Jones says this is the earliest work in which he has
found allusions to a magnetic telegraph.
Porta’s observations are so extraordinary--and they attracted so much
attention as to justify eighteen separate editions of his work in
different languages prior to the year 1600--that extracts must needs
here prove interesting. They are taken out of “Natural Magick in XX
Bookes by John Baptist Porta, a Neapolitaine ... London 1658,” the
seventh book of which treats “Of the wonders of the loadstone.”
_Proem_: “And to a friend that is at a far distance from us and
fast shut up in prison, we may relate our minds; which I doubt not may
be done by two mariner’s compasses, having the alphabet writ about them
...”
Chap. I (alluding to the loadstone):
“The Greeks do call it _Magnes_ from the place,
For that the Magnet’s hand it doth embrace.”
Nicander thinks the stone was so called--and so doth Pliny--from one
_Magnes_, a shepherd.
In Chap. XVIII he states that “the situation makes the Vertues of the
Stone contrary ... for the stone put above the table will do one thing,
and another thing if it be put under the table ... that part that
drew above will drive off beneath; and that will draw beneath that
drove off above: that is, if you place the stone above and beneath in a
perpendicular.”
In Chap. XXV, in allusion to “a long concatenation of iron rings,” he
thus quotes Lucretius:
“A stone there is that men admire much
That makes rings hang in chains by touch.
Sometimes five or six links will be
Fast joyn’d together and agree.
All this vertue from the Stone ariseth,
Such force it hath ...”
Chap. XXVII alludes to the Statue hung by Dinocrates: “... but that is
false, that Mahomet’s chest hangs by the roof of the Temple. Petrus
Pellegrinus saith, he shewed in another work how that might be done:
but that work is not to be found.... But I say it may be done--because
I have now done it--to hold it fast by an invisible band, to hang in
the air: onely so, that it be bound with a small thread beneath, that
it may not rise higher: and then striving to catch hold of the stone
above, it will hang in the air, and tremble and wag itself.”
In Chap. XXVIII he says that “Whilst the loadstone is moved under a
table of wood, stone or any metal, except iron, the needle in the
mariner’s compass will move above, as if there is no body between them.
St. Augustine (‘Liber de Civitate Dei’) knew this experiment (likewise
alluded to by Camillus Leonardus in his ‘Speculum Lapidum,’ published
1502). But that is much more wonderful that I have heerd: that if one
hold a loadstone under a piece of silver, and put a piece of iron above
the silver, as he moves his hand underneath that holds the stone, so
will the iron move above; and the silver being in the middle, and
suffering nothing, running so swiftly up and down, that the stone was
pulled from the hand of the man, and took hold of the iron.”
Chap. XXX is headed: “A loadstone on a plate of iron, will not stir
iron,” and he again quotes Lucretius:
“Pieces of iron I have seen
When onely brass was put between
Them and the Loadstone, to recoil:
Brass in the middle made this broil.”
In Chap. XXXII he tells us that an Italian “whose name was Amalphus
... knew not the Mariner’s Card, but stuck the needle in a reed, or a
piece of wood, cross over: and he put the needles into a vessel full of
water that they might flote freely: then carrying about the loadstone,
the needles would follow it: which being taken away, as by a certain
natural motion, the points of the needles would turn to the north
pole: and, having found that, stand still.... Now the Mariner’s Compass
is made, and a needle touched with the Loadstone, is so fitted to it,
that, by discovering the pole by it, all other parts of the heavens are
known. There is made a rundle with a Latin-navel upon a point of the
same metal, that it may run roundly freely. Whereupon, by the touching
onely of one end, the needle not alone partakes of the vertues of it,
but of the other end also, whether it will or not....”
Chap. XLVIII is headed “Whether Garlick can hinder the vertues of the
loadstone.” By Porta we are informed that “Plutarch saith Garlick is at
great enmity with the loadstone; and such antipathy and hatred there
is between these invisible creatures, that if a loadstone be smeered
with Garlick, it will drive away iron from it,” which is confirmed by
Ptolemy, who states “that the loadstone will not draw iron, if it be
anoynted with Garlick; as Amber will no more draw straws, and other
light things to it, if they be first steeped in oyl.” He found that
when the loadstone “was all anoynted over the juice of Garlick, it did
perform its office as well as if it had never been touched with it.”
In Chap. LIII Porta denies “that the diamond doth hinder the
loadstone’s vertue.” “Some pretend,” says he, “there is so much discord
between the qualities of the loadstone and the diamond, and they are so
hateful, one against the other, and secret enemies, that if the diamond
be put to the loadstone, it presently faints and loses all its forces.
(Pliny.) The loadstone so disagreeth with the diamond, that if iron be
laid by it, it will not let the loadstone draw it; and if the loadstone
do attract it, it will snatch it away again from it. (St. Augustine.)
I will say that I have read of the loadstone: how that, if the diamond
be by it, it will not draw iron; and, if it do when it comes neer the
diamond, it will let it fall” (Marbodeus, of the Loadstone ... Marbodei
Galli ... de lapidibus pretiosis Enchiridion ... Freiburg, 1530, 1531):
“All loadstones by their vertue iron draw;
But of the diamond it stands in awe:
Taking the iron from’t by Nature’s Law.”
“I tried this often, and found it false; and that there is no truth in
it.”
With reference to the above, see Plat (at A.D. 1653), who also
alludes to the fact of the softening of the diamond with Goat’s blood.
This is alluded to by Porta in the next chapter.
Chapter LIV contains extracts from Castianus in Geoponic. Græc.,
Marbodeus and Rhenius, the interpreter of Dionysius.
In 1560 there was established at Naples, by the versatile Giam. della
Porta, the first Academy of Sciences--Academia Secretum Naturæ--to
which were admitted only those who had contributed to the advancement
of medicine or to scientific studies in general (“Science,” December
19, 1902, p. 965).
REFERENCES.--Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.” Vol. IV. pp.
108–140, 399–406; Houzeau et Lancaster, Vol. II. p. 229; The
Fourth Dissertation of the “Encycl. Brit.,” p. 624; Sarpi, at
A.D. 1632; Poggendorff, “Geschichte der Physik,” 1879, pp. 133,
273–274; “Encycl. Brit.,” the article on “Optics”; “Journal des
Savants” for September 1841.
=A.D. 1575–1624.=--Boehm--Böhme--Behmen (Jacob), a mystical German
writer, known as the theosophist _par excellence_, is the author
of “Aurora,” etc. (1612), “De Tribus Principiis” (1619) and of many
other treatises, which were reprinted under the title of “Theosophia
Revelata,” and which contain his many very curious observations
concerning astrology, chemistry, theology, philosophy and electricity.
REFERENCES.--“Notice sur J. Boehm,” La Motte-Fouqué, 1831;
“Notes and Queries” for July 28, 1855, p. 63; Ninth “Britan.,”
Vol. III. p. 852; J. Ennemoser, “History of Magic,” Vol. II. pp.
297–328.
=A.D. 1576.=--Norman (Robert), a manufacturer of compass needles at
Wapping, is the first who determined the _dip or inclination_ to the
earth of the magnetic needle in London, by means of a dipping needle
(inclinatorium) of his own making. Five years later (1581) Norman
publishes a pamphlet “The Newe Attractive, containing a short discourse
of the Magnes or Lodestone, and amongest other his vertues, of a newe
discouered secret, and subtill propertie concernyng the Declinyng of
the Needle, touched therewith, under the Plaine of the Horizon ...”
from which is taken the following:
“Hauing made many and diuers compasses and using alwaies to finish and
end them before I touched the needle, I found continuallie that after I
had touched the yrons with the stone, that presentlie the north point
thereof woulde bend or decline downwards under the horizon in some
quantitie; in so much that to the flie of the compass, which was before
levell, I was still constrained to put some small piece of ware on the
south point and make it equall againe ...” (Weld, “History of the Royal
Society,” 1848, Vol. II. p. 432).
In the fourth chapter of his work, Norman describes the mode of making
the particular instrument with which he was enabled to establish the
first accurate measurement of the dip “which for this citie of London,
I finde, by exact obseruations to be about 71 degrees 50 mynutes.”
Whewell thus alludes to several investigations in the same line:
“Other learned men have, in long navigations, observed the differences
of magnetic variations, as Thomas Hariot, Robert Hues, Edward Wright,
Abraham Kendall, all Englishmen: others have invented magnetic
instruments and convenient modes of observation such as are requisite
for those who take long voyages, as William Borough, in his book
concerning the variation of the compass; William Barlo, in his
‘Supplement’; Robert Norman, in his ‘Newe Attractive.’ This is that
Robert Norman (a good seaman and an ingenious artificer) who first
discovered the _dip_ of magnetic iron” (“Enc. Metr.,” p. 738; read
also paragraph 366 of J. F. W. Herschel’s “Prelim. Disc.,” 1855).
In Book I. chap. i. of Gilbert’s “De Magnete,” he says that Norman
posits a point and place toward which the magnet looks but whereto
it is not drawn: toward which magnetized iron, according to him, is
collimated but which does not attract it. He alludes again to this
“respective point” (Book IV. chaps. i. and vi.), saying that Norman
originated the idea of the “respective point” looking, as it were,
toward hidden principles, and held that toward this the magnetized
needle ever turns, and not toward any attractional point: but he was
greatly in error, albeit he exploded the ancient false opinion about
attraction. Gilbert then proceeds to show how this theory is proved by
Norman. The original passage in Norman’s “Newe Attractive” (London,
1581, Chap. VI) is as follows:
“Your reason towards the earth carrieth some probabilitie, but I prove
that there be no _Attractive_, or drawing propertie in neyther of these
two partes, then is the _Attractive_ poynt lost, and falsly called
the poynt _Attractive_, as shall be proved. But because there is a
certain poynt that the needle alwayes respecteth or sheweth, being
voide and without any _Attractive_ propertie: in my judjment this
poynt ought rather to bee called the poynt _Respective_.... This poynt
_Respective_, is a certayne poynt, which the touched needle doth always
_Respect_ or shew....”
For the means of determining the _dip or inclination_, see “English
Ency.”--Arts and Sciences--Vol. VIII. p. 160.
We have thus far learned that the _declination or variation_ was
alluded to by Peter Peregrinus (A.D. 1269) in the Leyden MS.; that
Norman was the first to determine the _dip or inclination_, and we
shall, under the 1776 date, find that Borda determined the third
magnetic element called the _intensity_.
In 1581 appeared “The newe attractive ... a discours of the variation
of the cumpas ... made by W. B(orough).” This was followed, in 1585 and
in 1596, by “The newe Attractive ... newly corrected and amended by M.
W. B.,” also, in 1614, by “The New Attractive, with the application
thereof for finding the true variation of the compass, by W. Burrowes.”
Norman is also the author of “The safegarde of Saylers, or Great Rutter
... translated out of Dutch ... by R. Norman,” 1590, 1600, 1640.
REFERENCES.--Noad, “Manual of Electricity,” London, 1859, p.
525; Gassendi, at A.D. 1632; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859–1860,
Vol. I. p. 179; Vol. II. pp. 281, 335; Vol. V. p. 58; Geo.
Hartmann, A.D. 1543–1544; “Nature,” Vol. XIII. p. 523;
Walker, “Magnetism,” p. 146, and, for a photo reproduction
of the title-page to the 1581 edition as well as a copy of
its contents, see G. Hellmann “Neudrucke ...” 1898, No. 10;
also Sidney Lee, “Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XLI. p. 114,
and William Whiston (1667–1752), “The Longitude and Latitude,
discovered by the Inclinatory or Dipping Needle,” London, 1721.
=A.D. 1580.=--The celebrated naturalist Li-tchi-tchin, who finished his
_Pen-thsao-Kang-Mou_ towards the end of 1580, says: “If the loadstone
was not in love with iron it would not attract the latter.” Eight and
a half centuries before, about the year A.D. 727, the same allusion
had been made by Tchin-Thsang-Khi in his “Natural History” (Klaproth,
“Lettre à M. de Humboldt ...” Paris, 1834, p. 20).
=A.D. 1580.=--In Parke’s translation of the “History of the Kingdom of
China,” written by Juan G. de Mendoza, a Spanish missionary sent to the
Chinese Empire by Philip II, appears the following (Vol. II. p. 36):
“The Chinos doo gouerne their ships by a compasse deuided into twelue
partes and doo vse no sea cardes, but a briefe description of Ruter
(Ruttier--Routier--direction book) wherewith they do nauigate or saile.”
=A.D. 1581.=--Burrowes--Borough--Burroigh (William), “a man of
unquestionable abilities in the mathematiques,” Comptroller of the
English navy in the reign of Elizabeth, who has been alluded to as
Robert Norman, is the first in Europe to publish well authenticated
observations upon the magnetic variation or declination made by him
from actual observation, while voyaging between the North Cape of
Finmark and Vaigatch (Vaygates). These are recorded at length in his
little book dedicated to “the travaillers, seamen and mariners of
England” and entitled “A Discourse of the Variation of the Cumpas, or
Magneticall Needle. Wherein is Mathematically shewed, the manner of the
observation, effects, and application thereof, made by W. B. And is to
be annexed to The Newe Attractive of R. N. 1581 (London).”
At pp. 7 and 8 of his “Terrestrial and Cosmical Magnetism,” Cambridge,
1866, Mr. Walker gives extracts from the twelve chapters of Burrowes’
work which, “containing, as it does, the first recorded attempt at
deducing the declination of the needle from accurate observations,
must be considered as making an epoch in the history of terrestrial
magnetism.”
REFERENCES.--Johnson, “New Univ. Encycl.,” 1878, Vol. III. p.
230, and the tables of the variations at pp. 274–275 of Vol.
II. of Cavallo’s “Elements of Natural Philosophy,” 1825. See
the photo reproduction of “A Discourse ...” 1596 ed. in G.
Hellmann’s “Neudrucke ...” 1898, No. 10.
=A.D. 1585.=--Juan Jayme and Francisco Galli made a voyage from the
Philippines to Acapulco, solely for the purpose of testing by a long
trial in the South Sea a declinatorium of Jayme’s invention, from which
M. de Humboldt says (“Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. p. 56) some idea may be
formed of the interest excited in reference to terrestrial magnetism
during the sixteenth century.
=A.D. 1586.=--Vigenere (Blaise de), in his annotations to Livy (“Les
cinq premiers livres de Tite-Live,” Paris, 8vo, Vol. I. col. 1316)
alludes to the possibility of communicating the contents of a letter
through a thick stone wall by passing a loadstone over corresponding
letters circumscribing the compass needle.
REFERENCES.--“Emporium of Arts and Sciences,” Vol. I. p. 302;
Fahie, p. 20.
=A.D. 1589.=--Acosta (Joseph d’), learned Jesuit, who has been already
mentioned under the A.D. 121 entry, says in Chap. XVII. lib. i. of
his masterly “Historia Natural de las Indias” (“Histoire Naturelle et
Moralle des Indes tant Orientalles qu’Occidentalles,” traduite par
Robert Reynault Cauxois, 1598, 1606) that he is able to indicate four
lines of no variation (instead of one only discovered by Columbus)
dividing the entire surface of the earth: “foure poyntes in all the
world, whereas the needle looked directly towards the North.” Humboldt
remarks that this may have had some influence on the theory advanced,
in 1683, by Halley, of four magnetic poles or points of convergence.
REFERENCES.--Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859–1860, Vol. I. pp. 66, 193,
note; Vol. II. pp. 280, 281; Vol. V. p. 140.
=A.D. 1590.=--Cæsare (Giulio-Moderati), a surgeon of Rimini, observes
the conversion of iron into a magnet by position alone. This effect
was noticed on a bar which had been used as a support to a piece of
brickwork erected on the top of one of the towers of the church of St.
Augustine as is mentioned at the 1632 entry of Pietro Sarpi.
=A.D. 1597.=--Barlowe--Barlow (William)--who died May 25, 1625, and
was Archdeacon of Salisbury--publishes his “Navigators’ Supply,”
from which the following is extracted: “Some fewe yeares since, it so
fell out that I had severall conferences with two East Indians which
were brought into England by Master Candish (Thomas Cavendish, one
of the great navigators of the Elizabethan Age) and had learned our
language.... They shewed that in steade of our compas they (in the East
Indies) use a magneticall needle of sixe ynches long ... upon a pinne
in a dish of white _china_ earth filled with water; in the bottome
whereof they have two crosse lines for the foure principall windes, the
rest of the divisions being reserved to the skill of their pilots.”
Barlowe also published in 1613, 1616 and 1618 different editions of his
work on the magnet, the full title of the last named being “Magneticall
Advertisements or diuers pertinent obseruations and approued
Experiments concerning the nature and properties of the Loadstone.
Whereunto is annexed a briefe Discoverie of the idle Animadversions of
Mark Ridley, Dr. in Physike upon this treatize.”[28] Therein (Preface
to the reader), he speaks of “That wonderful propertie of the body of
the whole earth called the magneticall vertue (most admirably founde
out and as learnedly demonstrated by Doctor Gilbert, physitian vnto our
late renowned soveraigne Queen Elizabeth of happy memory) is the very
true fountaine of all magneticall knowledge. So that although certain
properties of the loadstone were knowne before, yet all the reasons of
those properties were vtterly vnknowne and never before revealed (as I
take it) vnto the sonnes of man....” Just before the Preface appears
the following letter which (as William Sturgeon remarks) affords a good
idea of the opinion entertained by Gilbert of Barlowe’s talents in this
branch of science: “To the Worshipfull, my good friend, Mr. William
Barlow, at Easton by Winchester. Recommendations with many thanks for
all your paines and courtesies, for your diligence and enquiring, and
finding diuers good secrets, I pray proceede with double capping your
Loadstone you speake of, I shall bee glad to see you, as you write,
as any man. I will haue any leisure, if it were a moneth, to conferre
with you, you haue shewed mee more,--and brought more light than any
man hath done. Sir, I will commend you to my L. of Effingham, there
is heere a wise learned man, a Secretary of Venice, he came sent by
that State, and was honourably receiued by her Majesty, he brought me
a lattin letter from a Gentleman of Venice that is very well learned,
whose name is Iohannes Franciscus Sagredus, he is a great Magneticall
man and writeth that hee hath conferred with diuers learned men of
Venice, and with the Readers of Padua, and reporteth wonderfull liking
of my booke, you shall haue a coppy of the latter: Sir, I purpose to
adioyne an appendix of six or eight sheets of paper to my booke after
a while, I am in hand with it of some new inuentions, and I would haue
some of your experiments, in your name and inuention put into it, if
you please, that you may be knowen for an augmenter of the art. So far
this time in haste I take my leaue the XIII of February. Your very
louing friend, W. GILBERT.”
Speaking of William Barlowe, Anthony à Wood says: “This was the person
who had knowledge of the magnet twenty years before Dr. Will. Gilbert
published his book of that subject, and therefore by those that knew
him he was accounted superior, or at least equal, to that doctor for
an industrious and happy searcher and finder out of many rare and
magnetical secrets” (“Athenæ Oxonienses,” London, 1813, Vol. II. p.
375). Under heading of Gilbert, the “British Museum Catalogue of
Printed Books,” 1888, has it that “Mag. Adv.” was compiled partly from
“De Magnete.”
REFERENCES.--Mark Ridley, “Magn. Animad.,” 1617, p. xi; Cavallo,
“Magnetism,” 1787, p. 46; A.D. 1302; Sidney Lee, “Dict. of
Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. III. pp. 233–234; “La Grande Encycl.” (H.
Lamisault), Vol. V. p. 430; Pierre Larousse, “Grand Dict. Univ.
du xix^e siècle,” Paris, 1867, Vol. II. p. 239; Claude Augé, “Le
Nouveau Larousse,” Vol. I. p. 738; “Wood’s Ath. Ox.” (Bliss),
Vol. II. p. 375; Hœfer, “Nouv. Biogr. Univ.,” Vol. IV. p. 53;
“Biogr. Britannica”; Hutton, “Mathem. Dict.”; “British Annual,”
I.
=A.D. 1599.=--Wright (Edward), English mathematician, connected
with the East India Company and author of the Preface to Gilbert’s
original “De Magnete,” published in London “Die Havenvinding--The
Haven-finding Art: Translation of Simon Stevinus’ ‘Portuum
investigandorum ratio,’” in which is urged the advantage of keeping
registers of the variations observed on all voyages. Thus, says
Lardner, the _variation of the variation_ not only as to time, but
as to place, had at this period begun to receive the attention of those
engaged in navigation.
Wright constructed for Prince Henry a large sphere which represented
the motion of the planets, moon, etc., and he predicted the eclipses
for seventeen thousand one hundred years. He is said to have discovered
the mode of constructing the chart which is known by the name of
Mercator’s Projection.
Simon Stevinus, above mentioned, also called Stephanus--Simon
of Bruges--was a most distinguished mathematician and physicist
(1548–1628), and is alluded to by Edward Wright not only in the Preface
to Gilbert’s “De Magnete” above referred to, but also in Book IV.
chap. ix. of the latter work. The English translation of “Portuum
investigandorum ratio” was afterwards attached to the third edition of
Wright’s “Certaine errors in navigation detected and corrected.”
REFERENCES.--“English Cycl.,” Vol. VI. p. 834; “Biogr. Génér.,”
Vol. XLIV. pp. 496–498; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. XIV. p. 1100;
G. Hellmann, “Neudrucke ...” 1898, No. 10; “Chambers’ Encycl.,”
1892, Vol. IX., p. 725; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XXX. pp.
489–490; Montucla, “Hist. des Mathém.,” Paris, An. VIII. Vol.
II; Quetelet, also Van de Weyer, “Simon Stevin,” 1845; “Mémoires
de l’Académie,” Paris, 1753, p. 275; Steichen, “Vie et Travaux
de S. Stevin,” 1846; “Terrestrial Magnetism,” Vol. I. p. 153,
and Vol. II. pp. 37, 72, 78.
=A.D. 1599.=--Pancirollus (Guido)--Panciroli (Gui)--already quoted at
A.D. 121, further remarks: “The ancients sailed by the pole star, which
they call _Cynosura_. The compass is believed to have been found at
Amalfi, about 300 years ago by one Flavius. And this unknown fellow (if
it was Flavius) hath deserved more than 10,000 Alexanders and as many
Aristotles.... This single act hath improved knowledge and done more
good to the world than all the niceties of the subtle schools.”
REFERENCES.--“History of Things Lost,” London, 1715, Vol.
II. p. 338; Græsse, Vol. V. p. 117; also his biography in
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XII. p. 108, and in the “Dict. de
Biographie,” Vol. II. p. 2012.
=A.D. 1600.=--Schwenter (Daniell), Professor of Oriental languages
at Altdorff, describes, under the assumed name of Janus Hercules
de Sunde, in his “Steganologia et Steganographia,” the means of
communicating intelligence at a distance by employing two compass
needles circumscribed with an alphabet, the needles being shaped from
the same piece of steel, and magnetized by the same magnets.
Under caption “The First Idea of the Electric Telegraph,” the following
appeared in the “Journal of the Franklin Institute,” Vol. XXI. 1851, p.
202: “In the number of the _Philosophical Magazine_ for May, 1850, I
[N. S. Heineken] observe that Prof. Maunoir claims, for his friend Dr.
Odier, the first idea of the electric telegraph. I herewith send you
a translation of ‘How two people might communicate with each other at
a distance by means of the magnetic needle,’ taken from a German work
by Schwenter, entitled ‘Deliciæ Physico-Mathematicæ,’ and published at
Nürnberg in 1636 ... upward of a century before the period alluded to
by Prof. Maunoir. Indeed, Oersted’s grand discovery was alone wanting
to perfect the telegraph in 1636. The idea, in fact, appears to have
been entertained prior even to this date, for Schwenter himself quotes,
at p. 346, from a _previous_ author.” This “previous author” is either
Giambattista della Porta, mentioned at A.D. 1558, or Famianus Strada,
who appears herein under the A.D. 1617 date.
The passage from Dr. Louis Odier’s letter relative to an electric
telegraph is given at A.D. 1773 (see J. J. Fahie, “A History of
Electric Telegraphy to the Year 1837,” London, 1884, pp. 21–22).
=A.D. 1600.=--Gilbert--Gilberd--Gylberde (William), of Colchester
(1544–1603), physician to Queen Elizabeth and to James I of England,
justly called by Poggendorff “The Galileo of Magnetism,” publishes
his _“De magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno magnete
tellure; Physiologia nova, plurimis et argumentis et experimentis
demonstrata,”_ to which he had given “seventeen years of intense
labour and research”[29] and which he dedicates “alone to the
true philosophers, ingenuous minds, who not only in books but in
things themselves look for knowledge,” and wherein the phenomena of
electricity are first generalized and classified.
This great work is subdivided into six books, which respectively treat
of the loadstone, of magnetic movements (_coitio_), of direction
(_directio_), of variation (_variatio_), of declination (_declinatio_),
and of the great magnet, the earth[30] of circular movement
(_revolutio_).
BOOK I
After Gilbert has given in this Book an account of ancient and modern
writings on the loadstone,[31] he indicates exactly what the latter is,
where found, its different properties, and, having introduced us to
his _terrella-microge_, or little earth[32]--a globular loadstone,
showing that it has poles answering to the earth’s poles, he tells
us all about iron ore, its natural and acquired poles, the medicinal
virtues attributed by the ancients to iron as well as to the loadstone;
and he ends this First Book with the announcement that loadstone and
iron ore are the same, that iron is obtained from both, like other
metals from their ores, and that all magnetic properties exist, though
weaker, both in smelted iron and in iron ore; furthermore, that the
terrestrial globe is magnetic and is a loadstone; and that just as in
our hands the loadstone possesses all the primary powers (forces) of
the earth, so the earth, by reason of the same potencies, lies ever in
the same direction throughout the universe.
BOOK II
The justly famous Second Book contains Gilbert’s electrical work and,
as is generally known, the second chapter thereof is the earliest
ever published on electricity. We are here introduced to Gilbert’s
_versorium_--a rotating needle electroscope[33]--and are given the
results of his many experimental observations[34] and the opinions of
others relative to magnetic coition or attraction. We find, throughout
the whole of the second chapter, the first systematic study of amber,
with an interesting list of electrics and the recognition of a group of
anelectrics--non-electrics. After pointing out the different kinds of
attractions admitted by Galen and other ancient writers, we are told
that:
“Only feeble power of attraction is possessed by some electrics
(all which have their own distinct effluvia) in favouring dry
atmosphere: observable in midwinter while the atmosphere is very
cold, clear and thin, when the electric effluvia of the earth
offer less impediment and electric bodies are harder--that these
bodies then draw, as well, all metals, wood, leaves, stones,
earths, even water and oil, in short, whatever things appeal to
our senses or are solid.
“All bodies are attracted by electrics, save those which are
afire or flaming or extremely rarefied.
“Very many electric bodies do not attract at all, unless they
are first rubbed. An ordinary piece of amber does not attract by
heat, even when brought to the flaming point, but it attracts by
friction, without which latter few bodies give out their true
natural electric emanation and effluvium. By friction, the amber
is made moderately hot and also smooth; these conditions must
in most cases concur; but a large polished piece of amber or of
jet attracts even without friction, though not so strongly; yet,
if it be carefully brought nigh to a flame or a red coal, it
does not attract corpuscles; further, the sun’s heat heightened
by means of a burning-glass imparts no power to amber, for it
dissipates and spoils all the electric effluvia. Again, flaming
sulphur and burning sealing-wax (of lac) do not attract.
“The loadstone, though susceptible of very high polish, has not
the electric attraction. The force does not come through the
lustre proceeding from the rubbed and polished electric; for the
vincentina, diamond and pure glass attract when they are rough.
Effluvia that attract but feebly when the weather is clear
produce no motion at all when it is cloudy. For the effluvium
from rock crystal, glass, diamond--substances very hard and
very highly compressed--there is no need of any notable outflow
of substance. Such an electric as sound cypress-wood, after a
moment’s friction, emits powers subtle and fine, far beyond all
odours; but sometimes an odour is also emitted by amber, jet,
sulphur, these bodies being more readily resolved; hence it is
that, usually, they attract after the gentlest friction because
their effluvia are stronger and more lasting.
“Rock crystal, mica, glass, and other electric bodies do not
attract if they be burned or highly heated, for their primordial
humour is destroyed by the heat, is altered, is discharged as
vapour. All bodies that derive their origin principally from
humours and that are firmly concreted attract all substances
whether humid or dry; but bodies consisting mostly of humour
and not firmly compacted by nature, wherefore they do not stand
friction but either fall to pieces or grow soft or are sticky,
do not attract corpuscles.
“Electrical movements come from the matter (_materia_)
but magnetic from the prime form (_forma_). Moist air
blown from the mouth, moisture from steam, or a current of
humid air from the atmosphere chokes the effluvium. But olive
oil that is light and pure does not prevent it; and, if a sheet
of paper or a linen cloth be interposed, there is no movement.
But loadstone, neither rubbed nor heated, and even though it be
thoroughly drenched with liquid, and whether in air or water,
attracts magnetic bodies, and that though solidest bodies or
boards or thick slabs of stone or plates of metal stand between.
“Electrics attract all things save flame and objects aflame, and
thinnest air ... for it is plain that the effluvia are consumed
by flame and igneous heat ... yet they draw to themselves the
smoke from an extinguished candle; and, the lighter the smoke
becomes as it ascends, the less strongly is it attracted, for
substances that are too rare do not suffer attraction.”
This Chapter II ends with the following explanation of the difference
between electric and magnetic bodies, viz. all magnetic bodies
come together by their joint forces (mutual strength); electric
bodies attract the electric only, and the body attracted undergoes
no modification through its own native force, but is drawn freely
under impulsion in the ratio of its matter (composition). Bodies
are attracted to electrics in a right line toward the centre of
electricity: a loadstone approaches another loadstone on a line
perpendicular to the circumference only at the poles, elsewhere
obliquely and transversely, and adheres at the same angles. The
electric motion is the motion of conservation of matter; the magnetic
is that of arrangement and order. The matter of the earth’s globe is
brought together and held together by itself electrically. The earth’s
globe is directed and revolves magnetically; it both coheres, and, to
the end it may be solid, it is in its interior fast joined.
Of the other interesting chapters in this Book II, attention is called
more particularly to:
Chap. IV. “Of the strength of a loadstone and its form: the
cause of coition.” The magnetic nature is proper to the earth
and is implanted in all its real parts ... there is in the
earth a magnetic strength or energy (_vigour_) of its own ...
thus we have to treat of the earth, which is a magnetic body,
a loadstone. An iron rod held in the hand is magnetized in the
end where it is grasped and the magnetic force travels to the
other extremity, not along the surface only but through the
inside, through the middle.... Iron instantly receives from
the loadstone verticity and natural conformity to it, being
absolutely metamorphosed into a perfect magnet. As soon as it
comes within the loadstone’s sphere of influence it changes
instantly and has its form renewed, which before was dormant and
inert, but now is quick and active.
Chaps. VI and XXVII illustrate the _Orbis Virtutis_ (Orb of
Virtue, or the magnetic atmosphere surrounding both earth
and loadstone alike), showing how the earth and loadstone
conform magnetic movements, the centre of the magnetic forces
of the earth being the earth’s centre and in the terrella the
terrella’s centre. All loadstones alike, whether spherical or
oblong, have the selfsame mode of turning to the poles of the
world ... whatever the shape, verticity is present and there are
poles.
Chap. VII. “Of the potency of the magnetic force, and of its
spherical extension.” The magnetic energy is not hindered by any
dense or opaque body, but goes out freely and diffuses its force
every whither: in the case of the terrella, and in a spherical
loadstone, it extends outside the body in a circle, but, in the
case of an oblong loadstone, it extends into an area of form
determined by the shape of, and is everywhere equidistant from,
the stone itself.
Chap. XIII. “Of the magnetic axis and poles.”
Chap. XV. “The magnetic force imparted to iron is more apparent
in an iron rod than in an iron sphere or cube, or iron in any
other shape.”
Chap. XVI. “Motion is produced by the magnetic force through
solid bodies interposed: of the interposition of a plate of
iron.”
Chaps. XVII-XXII. Herein are detailed as many as twelve
different experiments to prove the increased efficiency of armed
loadstones.
Chap. XXV. “Intensifying the loadstone’s forces.” Magnetic
bodies can restore soundness (when not totally lost) to magnetic
bodies, and can give to some of them powers greater than they
originally had; but to those that are by their nature in the
highest degree perfect, it is not possible to give further
strength.
Chap. XXVIII. “A loadstone does not attract to a fixed point
or pole only, but to every part of a terrella, except the
equinoctial line.”
Chap. XXIX. “Of differences of forces dependent on quantity or
mass.” Four experiments.
Chaps. XXXVIII and XXXIX are the last, and they treat of the
attractions of other bodies and of mutually repellant bodies.
All electrics attract objects of every kind: they never repel or
propel.
In the preceding Chapter XXXV, Gilbert had alluded to the
perpetual-motion engine actuated by the attraction of a
loadstone, which we have given an account of at Peter
Peregrinus, A.D. 1269.
BOOK III
In this Third Book, we learn of the directive (or versorial) force
which is called _verticitas_--verticity--what it is, how it
resides in the loadstone, and how it is acquired when not naturally
produced; how iron acquires it and how this verticity is lost or
altered; why iron magnetized takes opposite verticity; of magnetizing
stones of different shapes; why no other bodies save the magnetic
are imbued with verticity by friction with a loadstone and why no
body which is not magnetic can impart and awaken that force; of
disagreements between pieces of iron on the same pole of a loadstone,
and how they may come together and be conjoined; that verticity exists
in all smelted iron not excited by the loadstone, as shown by its
lying, being placed--or, preferably, by hammering hot iron--in the
magnetic meridian; that the magnetized needle turns to conformity with
the situation of the earth; of the use of rotary needles and their
advantages; how the directive iron rotary needles of sundials and the
needles of the mariner’s compass are to be rubbed with loadstone in
order to acquire stronger verticity.
BOOK IV
The Fourth Book treats of the variation at different places; says that
it is due to inequality among the earth’s elevations;[35] shows that
variation and direction are due to the controlling force of the earth
and the rotatory magnetic nature, not by an attraction or a coition or
by other occult cause; explains the different modes of constructing the
mariner’s compass, in vogue at the time,[36] and how the deviation of
the needle is greater or less according to the distance of place.
BOOK V
In this Fifth Book is to be found everything relative to the dip of the
magnetic needle, likewise the description of an instrument for showing,
by the action of a loadstone, the degree of dip below the horizon in
any latitude; and the announcement that the magnetic force is animate
or imitates a soul; in many respects, it surpasses the human soul while
that is united to an organic body.
BOOK VI
Throughout this last Book, Gilbert glories in the Copernican theory,
the open, unquestioned, advocacy and endorsement of which according
to many seems, after all, to have been the object of the work. He
maintains that the magnetic axis of the earth remains invariable; he
treats of the daily magnetic revolution of the globes, as against the
time-honoured opinion of a _primum mobile_, the fixed stars being
at different distances from the earth; of the circular motion of the
earth and of its primary magnetic nature, whereby her poles are made
different from the poles of the ecliptic, as well as of the precession
of the equinoxes and of the obliquity of the zodiac.
According to Humboldt,[37] Gilbert was the first to make use of the
words _electric_ force, _electric_ emanations, _electric_ attraction,
but, he says, there is not found in “De Magnete” either the abstract
expression _electricitas_ or the barbarous word _magnetismus_
introduced in the seventeenth century. We likewise owe to Gilbert
the words _equator_, _magneticum_, _terrella_, _versorium_ and
_verticitas_, but not the word _pole_, which had before been used by P.
Peregrinus and others.
The second edition of “De Magnete” appeared at Stettin in 1628,
“embellished with a curious title-page in the form of a monument ...
and a fantastic indication of the earliest European mariner’s compass,
a floated lodestone, but floating in a bowl on the sea and left behind
by the ship sailing away from it.”[38]
The third edition was also published at Stettin during 1633. Gilbert
left, besides, a posthumous work, “De Mundo Nostro Sublunari
Philosophia Nova,” Amsterdam, 1651, which latter, says Prof. Robison,
consists of an attempt to establish a new system of natural philosophy
upon the ruins of the Aristotelian doctrine.[39]
To give here such an analysis as Gilbert’s admirable work merits would
be impracticable, but the short review of it made by Prof. Robison
(at p. 209 of his “System of Mechanical Philosophy,” London, 1822)
deserves full reproduction, as follows: “In the introduction, he
recounts all the knowledge of the ancients on the subject treated, and
their supine inattention to what was so entirely in their hands, and
the impossibility of ever adding to the stock of useful knowledge,
so long as men imagined themselves to be philosophizing, while they
were only repeating a few cant words and the unmeaning phrases of the
Aristotelian school. It is curious to mark the almost perfect sameness
of Dr. Gilbert’s sentiments and language with those of Lord Bacon. They
both charge, in a peremptory manner, all those who pretend to inform
others, to give over their dialectic labours, which are nothing but
ringing changes on a few trite truths, and many unfounded conjectures,
and immediately to betake themselves to experiment. He has pursued
this method on the subject of magnetism, with wonderful ardour, and
with equal genius and success; for Dr. Gilbert was possessed both
of great ingenuity, and a mind fitted for general views of things.
The work contains a prodigious number and variety of experiments and
observations, collected with sagacity from the writings of others, and
instituted by himself with considerable expense and labour. It would,
indeed, be a miracle if all of Dr. Gilbert’s general inferences were
just, or all his experiments accurate. It was untrodden ground. But,
on the whole, this performance contains more real information than
any writing of the age in which he lived, and is scarcely exceeded
by any that has appeared since. We may hold it with justice as the
first fruits of the Baconian or experimental philosophy.” Elsewhere,
Prof. Robison remarks: “It is not saying too much of this work to
affirm that it contains almost everything we know of magnetism. His
unwearied diligence in searching every writing on the subject and in
getting information from navigators, and his incessant occupation in
experiments, have left very few facts unknown to him. We meet with many
things in the writings of posterior inquirers, some of them of high
reputation and of the present day, which are published and received as
notable discoveries, but are contained in the rich collection of Dr.
Gilbert.”
The Rev. Wm. Whewell says in his “History of the Inductive Sciences”
(Vol. III. p. 49) that in the “De Magnete,” a book of only 240 pages,
upon which Dr. Gilbert has been engaged for nearly eighteen years, are
contained “all the fundamental facts of the science, so fully examined,
indeed, that, even at this day, we have little to add to them.”
Dr. John Davy remarks (“Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy,”
London, 1836, Vol. I. p. 309): “Gilbert’s work is worthy being
studied, and I am surprised that an English Edition (translation)
of it has never been published.” He also alludes to the well-known
reproach thrown upon Gilbert’s philosophy by Francis Bacon, who, in
his “De Augmentis Scientiarum,” observes that “Gilbert has attempted
to raise a general system upon the magnet, endeavouring to build a
ship out of materials not sufficient to make the rowing-pins of a
boat.” On the other hand, Digby and Barlowe place Gilbert upon a level
with Harvey, Galileo, Gassendi and Descartes (“Nouvelle Biographie
Générale,” 1858, Vol. VIII. p. 494) while the celebrated historian
of the Council of Trent, Fra Paolo Sarpi--who will not be thought an
incompetent judge--names Gilbert, with Francis Vieta (the greatest
French mathematician of the sixteenth century) as the only original
writer among his contemporaries (“Lettere di Fra Paolo,” p. 31; Hallam,
“Intro. to Lit.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 464).
In Thos. Thomson’s “History of the Royal Society,” London, 1812, the
“De Magnete” is thus alluded to: “Dr. Gilbert’s book on magnetism,
published in 1600, is one of the finest examples of inductive
philosophy that has ever been presented to the world. It is the more
remarkable because it preceded the ‘Novum Organum’ of Bacon, in which
the inductive method of philosophizing was first explained.” How far
Gilbert was ahead of his time is best proven by the works of those
who wrote on magnetism during the first few decades after his death.
They contributed in reality nothing to the extension of this branch of
physical science. Poggendorff, from whose “Geschichte der Physik,” p.
286, this is extracted, as already stated, calls Gilbert “the Galileo
of Magnetism.” By Dr. Priestley, he was named “the Father of Modern
Electricity.”
The tribute of Henry Hallam is to the following effect: “The year 1600
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. Gilbert was
one of the earliest Copernicans, at least as to the rotation of the
earth, and, with his usual sagacity, inferred, before the invention of
the telescope, that there are a multitude of fixed stars beyond the
reach of our vision” (“Introduction to the Literature of the Fifteenth,
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,” London, 1859, Vol. II. p. 463).
In the “Principal Navigations ...” Edinburgh, 1889, Vol. XII. p. 10,
Richard Hakluyt speaks of “... my worshipfull friend M. douctour
Gilbert, a gentleman no lesse excellent in the chiefest secrets of the
Mathematicks (as that rare iewel lately set forth by him in Latine
doeth euidently declare) then in his oune profession of physicke.”
We conclude this account of Gilbert in the quaint words of old Dr.
Fuller: “He has (said my informer[40]) the _clearness of Venice Glass_
without the _Brittleness_ thereof, soon _Ripe_ and long _lasting_ is
his Perfection. He commenced _Doctor_ in _Physick_, and was _Physician_
to Queen _Elizabeth_, who stamped on him many marks of her Favour,
besides an annuall Pension to encourage his studies. He addicted
himself to _Chemistry_, attaining to great exactness therein. One saith
of him that he was _Stoicall_, but not _Cynicall_, which I understand
_Reserved_; but not _Morose_, never married, purposely to be more
beneficial to his brethren. Such his _Loyalty_ to the Queen that, as
if unwilling to survive, he dyed in the same year with her, 1603. His
_Stature_ was _Tall_, Complexion Chearful, an Happiness not ordinary in
so hard a student and so retired a person. He lyeth buried in _Trinity
Church_ in Colchester under a plain monument.”
“_Mahomet’s Tombe_, 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” (“The History of the Worthies of England
Endeavoured by Thomas Fuller, D.D.,” London, 1662, p. 332--Essex).
In his Epistle to Dr. Walter Charleton, physician in ordinary to King
Charles I (Epist. III. p. 15, Vol. XI of the Works of Dryden, London,
1803) the celebrated English poet predicts that:
“_Gilbert shall live till loadstones cease to draw
Or British fleets the boundless ocean awe._”
REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XVIII. p. 930;
“Dictionary of National Biography,” London, 1890, Vol. XXI. p.
338; “Bibliographica Britannica,” London, 1757, Vol. IV. p.
2202; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VIII. p. 123; “Freeman’s
Historic Towns” (Colchester), by Rev. E. L. Cutts, 1888, p.
172; “Beauties of England and Wales,” by E. W. Brayley and
John Britton, 1810, Vol. V. (Colchester) pp. 318–319; Cooper,
“Athenæ Cantabrigienses,” Cambridge, 1858; Anthony à Wood,
“Athenæ Oxonienses,” London, 1813, Vol. I; Thomas Wright, “Hist.
and Top. of the County of Essex,” 1866, Vol. I; “Journal des
Savants” for June 1859, Sept. 1870; Wm. Munk, “The Roll of
the Royal College of Physicians of London,” 1878, Vol. I. p.
77; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859–1860, Vol. I. pp. 158–159, note,
177, 179, 182, note; Vol. II. pp. xvii, 279–281, 334–335,
341–342; Vol. V. p. 58 for references to and extracts from Dr.
Gilbert’s work; Wm. Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sciences,” Vol.
I. pp. 274–275, 394; Vol. II. pp. 192, 217–220, 224, 225, and
“Philosophy of the Ind. Sciences,” London, 1840, Vol. II. pp.
374–379; “Mémoires de Physique,” Lausanne, 1754, pp. 123, etc.;
“U.S. Magnetic Tables and Isogonic Charts for 1902,” L. A.
Bauer, pp. 1–77; “Popular Science Monthly,” August 1901, pp.
337–350 for “Gilbert of Colchester,” by Bro. _Potamian_, also
its translation in “Ciel et Terre” for Dec. 1, 1902, pp. 472–480
and for Dec. 16, 1902, p. 489; “New International Encyclopædia,”
New York, 1903, Vol. VIII. p. 368; “William Gilbert of
Colchester,” by Conrad Wm. Cooke, London, 1890 (reprinted from
“Engineering,” 1889); “William Gilbert of Colchester,” by
Dr. Silvanus P. Thompson, London, 1891; “William Gilbert of
Colchester,” a translation by P. Fleury Mottelay, New York and
London, 1893; “William Gilbert of Colchester,” a translation by
members of the Gilbert Club, London, 1900, to which is appended
a valuable collection of “Notes on the _De Magnete_” of Dr.
William Gilbert, by Dr. Silvanus P. Thompson, who therein also
gives an interesting bibliography of this great work; “William
Gilbert of Colchester,” a sketch of his magnetic philosophy
by Chas. E. Benham, Colchester, 1902; “Zur bibliographie von
W. Gilbert’s _De Magnete_,” Von. G. Hellmann (“Terrestrial
Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity” for June 1902); “Terr.
Magn. and Atm. Elect.,” Vol. II. p. 45 for “The Earth a Great
Magnet,” by J. A. Fleming; “The Earth a Great Magnet,” by
Prof. Alfred M. Mayer, New York, 1872; Philip Morant, “History
and Antiquities of Colchester,” London, 1748; Bacon, “Novum
Organum,” Leyden, 1650, pp. 263–265; Rees’ “Encyclopædia,”
1819, Vol. XVI. article “Gilbert”; “A Course of Lectures on
Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts,” by Thos. Young,
London, 1807, Vol. I. pp. 686, 747, 756; Vol. II. pp. 111,
324, 436; “Critical Dictionary of Engl. Literature,” S. Austin
Allibone, Philad., 1888, Vol. I. p. 668; “General Biographical
Dictionary,” John Gorton, London, 1833, Vol. II, mentioning
Wood’s “Athen. Ox.,” Hutchinson’s “Biog.-Med.,” and Aikin’s “G.
Biography”; _Phil. Trans._ for 1667, Vol. II. pp. 527–531, also
Baddam’s abridgments, London, 1739, Vol. III. p. 129 and London,
1745, Vol. I. p. 97.
=A.D. 1601.=--Brahé (Tycho--Tygge--Thyghe--Tyge), who has been several
times mentioned in this compilation and is referred to by Gilbert
(“De Magnete,” Book IV. chap. xii. also Book VI. chap. v.), was a
distinguished Danish astronomer (_b._ 1546, _d._ 1601), the founder
of modern astronomical calculations, whose investigations and records
of the positions of the stars and planets made possible the brilliant
discoveries of Kepler and Newton. As Humboldt expresses it, the rich
abundance of accurate observations furnished by Tycho Brahé, himself
the zealous opponent of the Copernican system, laid the foundation
for the discovery of those eternal laws of planetary movements which
prepared imperishable renown for the name of Kepler, and which,
interpreted by Newton, proved to be theoretically and necessarily
true, have been now transferred into the bright and glorious domain of
thought as _the intellectual recognition of nature_ (“Cosmos,” 1860,
Vol. II. p. 313).
As his very able biographer, Dr. J. L. E. Dreyer, of the Armagh
Observatory, remarks in his admirable work (Edinburgh, 1890): “Without
Brahé, Kepler never could have found out the secrets of the planetary
motions, and, in the words of Delambre, ‘Nous ignorerions peut être
encore le véritable système du monde.’ The most important inheritance
which Tycho left to Kepler and to posterity was the vast mass of
observations all which, Kepler justly said, ‘deserved to be kept
among the royal treasures, as the reform of astronomy could not be
accomplished without them ...’ at one breath blowing away the epicycles
and other musty appendages which disfigured the Copernican system....
Tycho Brahé had given Kepler the place to stand on and Kepler did move
the world!”
Brahé was the first to recognize the variation, _i. e._ the
inequality, in the moon’s motion. In opposition to the opinion of
Sédillot, M. Biot maintains that this fine discovery of Tycho by no
means belongs to Abul-Wefa, and that the latter was acquainted not
with the “variation” but only with the second part of the “evection”
(“Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 222, wherein are many references to the
_Comptes Rendus_ and to the “Journal des Savants”).
The biographical division of the “English Cyclopædia,” 1866, Vol. I.
pp. 898–903, gives a list of Brahé’s numerous writings, headed by his
earliest publication, “De Nova Stella,” 1573, which is so extremely
rare that, until 1890, when Dr. Dreyer gave a description of it, not
a single historian of astronomy had ever seen it or been able to even
give its title correctly (“Journal of Br. Astron. Assoc.,” Vol. XII.
No. 2, p. 95; Houzeau et Lancaster, Vol. II. p. 598). A detailed
account of its contents is given at pp. 44–56 of Dr. Dreyer’s 1890
work above alluded to, wherein we are further told of the protection
given Brahé by the Landgrave William of Hesse-Cassel, as well as of the
consequent aid so liberally extended by King Frederick II. Reference
is likewise made to the fact that in December 1584 the King turned
to Tycho for help, writing that he was under the impression he had
returned a compass made by Tycho, believing there was something wrong
with it; that, if this proved to be the case, Tycho was to send back
the compass, but, if not, he was to make two new ones similar to the
old one (F. R. Friis, “Tyge Brahé,” p. 147).
REFERENCES.--“Life of Tycho Brahé,” by Gassendi, containing the
“Oratio Funebris,” etc., of John Jessenius; Tessier “Eloges
des hommes illustres,” Vol. IV. p. 383; Blount, “Censura,”
etc.; “Epistolæ ad Joh. Keplerum,” 1718; Riccioli, “Chronicon
in Almagesto Novo,” Vol. I. p. 46; the biography by Malte-Brun
in the “Biog. Univ.,” wherein is to be found the list of all
of Tycho Brahé’s writings; “English Cycl.,” Supplement to
Biography, p. 376, at Scipione Chiaromonti, for “Anti-Tycho”;
“Bulletin de la Société Astronomique de France,” Janvier 1903;
“Journal des Savants,” Juin 1864; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1860,
Vol. III. pp. 158, 160, 162; “Nature” of Dec. 27, 1900, p. 206,
and “Nature,” Vol. LXV. pp. 5–9, 104–106, 181, as well as the
“Bulletin Astronomique,” Paris, Avril 1902, pp. 163–166, for
account of the celebrations of the Tercentenary of Tycho-Brahé’s
death, held at Prague and elsewhere, on Oct. 24, 1901, with
illustrations of his observatory, etc. etc.; “Geschichte der
Mathem. von Abraham G. Kästner,” Vol. II. pp. 376, etc., 613,
etc.; R. A. Proctor, “Old and New Astronomy,” 1892 _passim_;
“Biog. Génér.,” 1890, Vol. XLV. pp. 750, 755; “La Grande
Encycl.,” Vol. VII. pp. 962–963; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
XV. pp. 613–614; “Encycl. Brit.,” Edin., 1876, Vol. IV. p. 200.
Consult likewise for Abul Wefa: “Le Journal des Savants,” for
Nov. 1841, Sept. 1843, Mar. 1845 and Oct. 1871; Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibliog. Gén.,” 1887, Vol. I. pp. 598–600, and Vol.
II. pp. 92–93; “Bull. de la Soc. Acad. de Laon,” Janvier 1903,
pp. 40–48; Leopold Von Ranke, “History of England,” Vol. I. p.
367 and notes; Wm. Whewell, “Phil. of the Ind. Sc.,” London,
1840, Vol. II. pp. 386–388; Harold Höffding, “A Hist. of Mod.
Phil.,” translated by B. E. Mayer, London, 1900, Vol. I. p. 428.
=A.D. 1602.=--Blundeville (Thomas) publishes at London, “The
Theoriques of the Seuen Planets,” etc., which, as the lengthy title
goes to show, indicates “the making, description and vse of two
ingenious and necessarie instruments for sea men to find out thereby
the latitude of any place upon the sea or land, in the darkest night,
that is, without the helpe of sunne, moone or starre; first invented by
M. Dr. Gilbert, a most excellent philosopher, and one of the ordinarie
physicians to Her Majestie.”
He had previously published, in 1589, “A briefe description of
universal mappes and cardes and of their use; and also the use of
Ptolemy his Tables,” which was followed, during 1594, by his well-known
work on navigation. From the rare sixth edition of the latter (London,
1622) the curious title page is worth reproducing as follows: “M.
Blundeville, His Exercises, contayning eight treatises, the titles
whereof are set down in the next printed page: which treatises are
very necessary to be read and learned of all Young Gentlemen that
haue not beene exercised in such Disciplines and yet are desirous to
haue knowledge as well in Cosmographie, Astronomie and Geographie,
as also in the art of navigation, in which art it is impossible, to
profit without the helpe of these or such like Instructions. To the
furtherance of which Art of Navigation the sayd Master Blundeville
especially wrote the said Treatises and of meere good will doth
dedicate the same to all Young Gentlemen of this Realme.” The contents
of this curious work treat of Arithmetic, Cosmography, Terrestrial and
Celestial Globes, Peter Plancius, his Universal Map, Mr. Blagrau, his
Astrolabe, The First Principles of Navigation, etc. etc.
The Mr. Blagrau here mentioned is John Blagrave, eminent English
mathematician, author of “The Mathematical Jewel,” as well as of “The
making and use of the familiar staffe,” of “The Art of Dialling,” and
of “Astrolabium Uranicum Generale, a necessary and pleasunt solace and
recreation for Navigators in their long journeying, containing the use
of an instrument or astrolabe.” From the last named, it appears that
Blagrave was a convert to the heliocentric theory of Copernicus (“New
Gen. Biog. Dict.,” by Rev. H. J. Rose, London, 1850, Vol. IV. p. 277).
The invention of the dipping needle by Mr. Blagrave was before the
discovery of the change of the needle’s variation by Mr. Gellibrand
(“Philos. Britan.,” Benj. Martin, London, 1771, Vol. I. p. 46).
REFERENCES.--“Gen. Biogr. Dict.” (Gorton), London, 1833, Vol. I;
Hutton’s abridgments of the _Phil. Trans._, London, 1739, Vol.
IV. p. 103; “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Leslie Stephen, London, 1886,
Vol. V. pp. 157 and 271–272; “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Alex. Chalmers,
London, 1812, Vol. V. pp. 370–371; “Biog. Univ.,” Paris, 1843,
Vol. IV. p. 397; “Nouv. Biog. Générale” (Hœfer), Paris, 1853,
pp. 170–171; Baddam’s abridgments of the _Phil. Trans._, London,
1739, Vol. IV. p. 103; “Ames’ Typog. Antiq.” (Herbert), pp. 693,
694, 697–701; Bloomfield’s “Norfolk,” Vol. LXIV. pp. 68–70;
Cooper’s “Athenæ Cantab.”; Davy’s “Suffolk Coll.,” Vol. LXXXIX.
p. 215; Hazlitt, “Coll. and Notes,” 1876, also the second series.
=A.D. 1609.=--Kepler (Johann), who succeeded Tycho Brahé in 1601
as astronomer to the German Emperor Rudolph II, is the author of a
treatise “On the Magnet,” which was followed, during 1609, by his
greatest work, the “Astronomia Nova.” The latter was deemed by Lalande
of such importance that he considered it the duty of every astronomer
to read it from beginning to end at least once in his lifetime.
The “Astronomia” contains the extraordinary book “on the motion of
Mars,” and is said to hold the intermediate place, besides being the
connecting link between the discoveries of Copernicus and those of
Newton. Kepler’s doctrine is thus enunciated by Dr. Whewell (“Physical
Astronomy,” Chap. I): “A certain Force or Virtue resides in the sun
by which all bodies within his influence are carried around him.
He illustrates (‘De Stella Martis,’ Chap. XXXIV. p. 3) the nature
of this Virtue in various ways, comparing it to Light and to the
Magnetic Power, which it resembles in the circumstances of operating
at a distance, and also in exercising a feebler influence as the
distance becomes greater.” In the Table of Contents of the work on the
planet Mars, the purport of the chapter to which allusion has been
made is stated as follows: “A Physical speculation, in which it is
demonstrated that the vehicle of that virtue which urges the planets,
circulates through the spaces of the universe after the manner of a
river or whirlpool (vortex), moving quicker than the planets.” It will
doubtless be found by any one who reads Kepler’s phrases concerning
the _moving force_--the _magnetic nature_--the _immaterial virtue_
of the sun, that they convey no distinct conception, except so far
as they are interpreted by the expressions here quoted: “A vortex of
fluid constantly whirling around the sun, kept in this whirling motion
by the rotation of the sun himself and carrying the planets around
the sun by its revolution, as a whirlpool carries straws, could be
readily understood; and though it appears to have been held by Kepler
that this current and vortex was immaterial, he ascribes to it the
power of overcoming the inertia of bodies, and of putting them and
keeping them in motion, the only material properties with which he had
anything to do. Kepler’s physical reasonings, therefore amount, in
fact, to the doctrine of vortices around the central bodies and are
occasionally so stated by himself; though by asserting these vortices
to be ‘an immaterial species,’ and by the fickleness and variety of his
phraseology on the subject, he leaves his theory in some confusion; a
proceeding, indeed, which both his want of sound mechanical conceptions
and his busy and inventive fancy might have led us to expect. Nor, we
may venture to say, was it easy for any one at Kepler’s time to devise
a more plausible theory than the theory of vortices might have been
made. It was only with the formation and progress of the science of
mechanics that this theory became untenable.”
REFERENCES.--“Kepler, sa vie et ses ouvrages,” in the “Journal
des Savants” for June, July and August 1847; Kepler’s
manuscripts, “Phil. Trans.,” Vol. XI. p. 27; Wm. Whewell, “Phil.
of the Ind. Sc.,” London, 1840, Vol. II. pp. 383–386; “Epistolæ
ad J. Keplerum,” published by M. G. Hansch in 1718; Houzeau
et Lancaster, “Bibliogr. Générale,” 1887, Vol. I. part i. pp.
612–614, detailing the contents of Kepler’s “Opera Omnia,” also
Vol. I. part ii. pp. 1315–1316, 1330–1331, 1383, and Vol. II.
pp. 175–176, 456–462 and 1581; Robert Small, “An Account of the
Astronomical Discoveries of Kepler,” London, 1804; Humboldt,
“Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 710, notes, for Laplace, Chasles
and Brewster on the writings and theories of Kepler; “Jour.
des Savants” for June, July and August 1847; “Geschichte der
Mathem.,” Vol. III. p. 318, and Vol. IV. pp. 216, 311; Dr. Geo.
Miller, “Hist. Phil. Ill.,” London, 1849, Vol. III. notes at pp.
134–135; Fourth Dissert. of “Encycl. Brit.”; Whewell, “Hist. of
the Ind. Sc.,” 1859, Vol. I. pp. 291–311, 320, 386, 387, 415,
462, 532–534, and Vol. II. pp. 55, 56.
It will be well to look at the last-named work of Dr. Whewell for
references to Jeremiah Horrox--Horrockes--(1619–1641), the celebrated
young English scientist, who wrote in defence of the Copernican opinion
in his “Keplerian Astronomy defended and promoted” (“Hist. of the
Ind. Sc.,” Vol. I. Book V. chap. iii. p. 276, and Chap. V. p. 303),
as well as for references to Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608–1679).
Borelli, who has by many been erroneously called a pupil of Galileo,
was a distinguished Italian physicist and astronomer, born at Naples
in 1608, who founded what has been called the iatromathematical
school, which, under the protection of Leopold of Tuscany, became
known as the Accademia del Cimento. Whewell speaks of him in Vol. I.
at Book VI. chap. ii. p. 323, at Book VII. chap i. pp. 387, 393, 394,
and at Chap. II. pp. 303, 395, 405, 406. Horrox is mentioned, more
particularly, by Houzeau et Lancaster (“Bibliog. Générale,” Vol. II.
p. 167), also at pp. 12 and 220, Vol. II of Hutton’s abridgments of
the _Phil. Trans._; while full accounts of the many important
works of Borelli are to be found in “Biogr. Générale,” Vol. VI. pp.
700–701; Ninth “Britannica,” Vol. IV. p. 53; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,”
Vol. II. p. 1003; “Chambers’ Encycl.,” 1888, Vol. II. p. 328; “La
Grande Encycl.,” Vol. VII. p. 405; Nicéron, “Mémoires,” Vol. VIII. p.
257; Vigneul-Marville, “Mélanges,” Vol. II. p. 122; Sachs, “Onomasticon
Literarium,” V. 40; Hagen, “Memoriæ Philosophorum,” Frankfort, 1710.
=A.D. 1613.=--Ridley (Marke), “Doctor in physicke and philosophie,
latly physition to the Emperour of Russia and one of ye eight
principals or elects of the College of Physitions in London,” is the
author of a small quarto entitled “A Short Treatise of Magnetical
Bodies and Motions,” published in London, 1613. Of this treatise,
Libri says that the author, in his preface, deals tolerantly with
the many and varied theories concerning magnetic bodies, instancing
many of the most notable from those of Pliny and Nicander to those of
Robert Norman. He is particularly emphatic concerning the production
of perpetual motion by means of the loadstone, finding it “by the
experience of many ingenious practices ... impossible to be done.”
From the notice given him in “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” 1896, Vol.
XLVIII. pp. 285–286, we learn that in the above-named work, he claims
acquaintance with William Gilbert, whom he commends as the greatest
discoverer in magnetical science, and that after giving twenty-four
chapters on the properties and description of the magnet, he discusses
the variation of the compass and methods of estimating it in eight
chapters, the inclinatory needle in eight others, concluding with
a chapter on finding the longitude and one “of the matter of the
magnetical globe of the earth by the needle.”
In 1617, he published “Animadversions on a late work entitled
Magnetical Advertisement; or, Observations on the Nature and Properties
of the Loadstone.”
=References.=--A. Watt, “Bibliotheca Britannica,” Vol. II. p.
804, at p. 75_g_ Vol. I. of which (article, “Wm. Barlowe”) is
“A briefe discovery of the idle animadversions of Marke Ridley,
M.D.,” upon a treatise entitled “Magneticall Advertisements,”
London, 1618. Consult also “The Lancet” of August 7, 1897,
p. 349; Munk’s “College of Phys.,” Vol. I. p. 106; Ridlon’s
“Ancient Ryedales,” p. 425.
=A.D. 1616.=--Schouten (Guillaume Cornelissen--Willem Cornelisz),
Dutch navigator, indicates points lying in the midst of the Pacific and
south-east of the Marquesas Islands in which the variation is null.
Humboldt alludes to this (“Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. I. p. 182, and Vol.
V. p. 59) and says, “Even now there lies in this region a singular,
closed system of isogonic lines, in which every group of the internal
concentric curves indicates a smaller amount of variation.”
For Schouten, consult “Relation,” published by Aris Classen, Amst.,
1617; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XIV. p. 375.
Under this same date, A.D. 1616, Chas. Pickering tells us that Wm.
Baffin (Churchill Coll. and Anders. II. 268) continued North to
“seventy-eight degrees,” as far as a Sound called by him “Thomas
Smith’s,” where the compass varied “fifty-six degrees to the westward,”
making the true North bear N.E. by E. The northern expanse of water
received the name of “Baffin’s Bay” (“Chron. Hist. of Plants,” Boston,
1879, p. 933).
=A.D. 1617.=--Strada (Famianus), an Italian author and Jesuit
priest, publishes his curious “Prolusiones Academicæ,” wherein he
describes (lib. ii. prol. 6) a contrivance consisting of two magnetic
needles attached to two dials each bearing a circle of letters so
arranged that when one needle is made to point to any letter on one
dial, the other needle points to the same letter upon the other dial.
The description is best given in his own words taken from the original
Latin (Stradæ, “Prol. Acad.,” Oxoniæ, 1662, “Magnes cur ferrum aut
aurum trahat,” pp. 326–335): “... If you wish your distant friend, to
whom no letter can come, to learn something, take a disc or dial, and
write round the edge of it the letters of the alphabet in the order
in which children learn them, and, in the centre, place horizontally
a rod, which has touched a magnet, so that it may move and indicate
whatever letter you wish. Then a similar dial being in the possession
of your friend, if you desire privately to speak to the friend whom
some share of the earth holds far from you, lay your hand on the globe,
and turn the movable iron as you see disposed along the margin of
all the letters which are required for the words. Hither and thither
turn the style and touch the letters, now this one, and now that....
Wonderful to relate, the far-distant friend sees the voluble iron
tremble without the touch of any person, and run now hither, now
thither; conscious he bends over it and marks the teaching of the rod.
When he sees the rod stand still, he, in his turn, if he thinks there
is anything to be answered, in like manner, by touching the various
letters, writes it back to his friend....”
REFERENCES.--“The Student; or, Oxford and Cambridge Misc.,”
1750, Vol. I. p. 354; Abbé Moigno’s “Traité de Tel. Elec.,” p.
58; Addison (Joseph), “Spectator” for December 6, 1711, No. 241
(p. 273, Vol. II. London ed., 1854); the “Guardian” for 1713,
No. 119, and “Nature,” Vol. XVI. pp. 268, 269. Also “Academy and
Literature” of January 7, 1905. Zachary Grey, in 1744 edition of
Butler’s “Hudibras,” quotes from the “Guardian.”
=A.D. 1620.=--Bacon (Sir Francis), by many considered the greatest
of English philosophers and philosophical writers (1561–1626), who
was knighted in 1603, became Earl of Verulam in 1618 and Viscount
St. Albans in 1620, produces the masterpiece of his genius, the
“Novum Organum,” after having twelve times copied and revised it. The
last-named work, observes Macaulay, “takes in at once all the domains
of science--all the past, the present and the future, all the errors
of two thousand years, all the encouraging signs of the passing times,
all the bright hopes of the coming age.” Prof. Playfair says of it
that “the power and compass of the mind which could form such a plan
beforehand, and trace not merely the outline but many of the most
minute ramifications of sciences which did not yet exist, must be an
object of admiration to all succeeding ages.”
It was Sir John Herschel who remarked that “previous to the publication
of the ‘Novum Organum’ natural philosophy, in any legitimate and
extensive sense of the word, could hardly be said to exist.” In the
address presented in 1623 by the University of Oxford to Sir Francis
Bacon, he is represented “as a mighty Hercules who had by his own hand
greatly advanced those pillars in the learned world which by the rest
of the world were supposed immovable.”
Treating of the electric fluid, Bacon has given (“Physiological
Remains,” London, 1648) a detailed list of attractive and
non-attractive bodies and the results of his very extensive experiments
and observations in physical science generally, as well as of the
investigations contained in Dr. Gilbert’s work. To the latter, however,
many allusions had already been made in Bacon’s “The Advancement
of Learning,” published during 1605, two years before he was made
Solicitor-General.
The most satisfactory analyzation of Bacon’s researches is to be found
in the attractive edition of his complete works published by Spedding,
Ellis and Heath, fifteen volumes, Boston, 1863. Therein will be seen
the following references to the magnet and magnetic virtue:
Vol. I. p. 435 (note). In Gilbert’s philosophy, the earth’s
magnetic action is not distinguished from gravity (De Mundo, II.
c. 3). That the magnetic action of the earth or of a magnet is
confined to a definite orb, appears from a variety of passages
(see “De Magnete,” II. c. 7, and the definitions prefixed to
this work). Gilbert distinguished between the “Orb of Virtue”
which includes the whole space through which any magnetic action
extends, and the “Orb of Coition” which is _totum illud
spatium per quod minimum magneticum per magnetem movetur_. He
asserts that the orb of the magnetic virtue extends to the moon
and ascribes the moon’s inequalities to the effects it produces
(“De Mundo,” II. c. 19).
Vol. VIII. Aphorisms. “If, before the discovery of the magnet,
any one had said that a certain instrument had been invented
by means of which the quarters and points of the heavens could
be taken and distinguished with exactness ... it would have
been judged altogether incredible ...” (pp. 141–142). “The
‘Clandestine Instances’--which I also call ‘Instances of the
Twilight’ [the attraction or coming together of bodies]--and
which are pretty nearly the opposite of ‘Striking Instances....’
The most remarkable ‘Striking Instance’ is the magnet ... a
‘Clandestine Instance’ is a magnet armed with iron; or, rather,
the iron is an armed magnet ...” (pp. 224–226). “The polarity
of the iron needle when touched with the magnet” (p. 261).
“The magnetic or attractive virtue admits of media without
distinction, nor is the virtue impeded in any kind of a medium”
(p. 269). “There is no medium known by the interposition of
which the operation of the magnet, in drawing iron, is entirely
prevented” (pp. 285–286). “A piece of a magnet does not draw
so much iron as the whole magnet” (p. 301). “As for the help
derived from the virtue of a cognate body, it is well seen in
an armed magnet, which excites in iron the virtue of detaining
iron by similarity of substance; the torpor of the iron being
cast off by the virtue of the magnet” (p. 311). “There are
four virtues or operations in the magnet ... the first is the
attraction of magnet to magnet, or of iron to magnet, or of
magnetised iron to iron; the second is its polarity, and at the
same time its declination; the third, its power of penetrating
through gold, glass, stone, everything; the fourth, its power
of communicating its virtue from stone to iron, and from iron
to iron, without communication of substance” (p. 313). “But the
flight of iron from one pole of the magnet is well observed by
Gilbert to be not a flight strictly speaking, but a conformity
and meeting in a more convenient situation” (p. 315). “The
magnet endues iron with a new disposition of its parts and a
conformable motion, but loses nothing of its own virtue” (p.
318).
Vol. IX. In the fifth book of “De Augmentis Scientiarum,” these
questions are asked: (1) A magnet attracts a solid piece of
iron; will a piece of a magnet dipped in a dissolution of iron
attract the iron itself and so get a coating of iron? (2) Again,
the magnetic needle turns to the pole; does it, in so doing,
follow the same course as the heavenly bodies? (3) And, if one
should turn the needle the wrong way, that is, point it to the
South and hold it there for a while, and then let it go; would
it, in returning to the North, go round by the West rather than
by the East? (pp. 75–76).
Vol. X. This contains, at pp. 269–272, the “Inquiry respecting
the Magnet,” of which the original paper is to be found in Vol.
IV. pp. 121–125. In Dr. Rawley’s list of works composed by
Bacon, during the last five years of his life, this “Inquisitio
de Magnete,” first published in 1658, stands last but two. At
p. 335 this same Vol. X will be found an extract from “De fluxu
et reflexu maris” (“The ebb and flow of the sea”) relative to
the inquiry as to whether the earth itself is a magnet, as was
asserted by Gilbert.
Besides the “Clandestine Instances” or “Instances of the Twilight”
alluded to above, mention could have been made more particularly of
Bacon’s observations (in s. 3 of the “Nov. Organ.”) under the direct
headings of “Instantiæ Citantes ... Supplementi ... Radii ... Magicæ,”
as well as of “Motus Magneticus ... Excitationis ... Fugæ,” etc., which
are fully explained at ss. 190–200 of Sir John Herschel’s “Discourse on
the study of Natural Philosophy.”
They have been analyzed as follows:
_Instantiæ Citantes_, to which may be reduced the “discovery of
a moving magnetic fluid, or an action circular and perpendicular
to the electrical current, yet connected with it.”
_Instantiæ Supplementi_, such as the magnet which attracts iron
through many substances that may be interposed. Perhaps, says
he, “some medium may be found to deaden this virtue more than
any other medium; such an instance of _substitution_, would be
in the way of degree, or _approximation_”; that is, it would
approach toward destroying the magnetic virtue. Iron possesses,
perhaps, this quality in a more marked manner than any other
substance.
_Instantiæ Radii_, leading to the suggestion that there may
exist some kind of “magnetic virtue which operates by consent,
between the globe of the earth and heavenly bodies; or between
the globe of the moon and the waters of the sea; or between the
starry heavens and the planets, by which they may be drawn to
their apogees,” or greatest distances from the earth.
_Instantiæ Magicæ_, such as the loadstone animating a number of
needles without loss of its own magnetism.
_Motus Magneticus_, such as the attraction of the heavenly
bodies, from an idea, perhaps, that it might be due to a species
of magnetism.
_Motus Excitationis_, such as the new property which is given to
iron by the magnet without any loss of power by the latter.
_Motus Fugæ_, such as “the repulsion of electrified pith balls;
also of the similar poles of two magnets. In the latter case,
all the force of a strong man has proved insufficient to make
the two north poles touch each other.”
The last-named work of Sir John Herschel is alluded to, under the
heading of “Prerogative Instances” (“Prærogativæ Instantiarum”)
by Thomas Fowler, who calls attention to the fact that among the
contemporaries of Francis Bacon by whom the Copernican theory was
rejected are: Tycho Brahé (who, however--having died in 1601--did not
live to become acquainted with the discoveries of Galileo); Vieta, the
greatest mathematician of the sixteenth century (who died as early as
1603); Christopher Clavius (who was employed by Gregory XIII to reform
the Calendar and was called the Euclid of his age); and possibly, from
his silence, the famous mechanician Stevinus (Delambre, “Histoire de
l’Astronomie Moderne”).
REFERENCES.--The works of Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor
of England, by Basil Montagu, 16 vols., London, 1825–1834,
and the review thereof made by Thomas Babington Macaulay
(“Essays,” 1855, Vol. II. pp. 142–254 (“Edinburgh Review,” July
1837); Dr. W. Windelbrand, “History of Philosophy,” New York,
1893, translated by Jas. H. Tufts, pp. 380–388; Dr. Friedrich
Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” translated by Geo. S.
Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. II. pp. 33–38; Leopold Von Ranke,
“History of England,” Vol. I. pp. 455–459, Vol. III. p. 383;
William Whewell, “The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences,”
London 1840, Vol. II. pp. 388–413; “Critical Dictionary of
English Literature,” S. Austin Allibone, Philad. 1888, Vol.
I. pp. 89–96; “Catalogue Général des livres imprimés de la
Bibliot. Nation.,” Paris, 1901, Vol. VI. pp. 236–253; Chas.
Wells Moulton, “Library of Literary Criticism,” Vol. I. pp.
638–669; “The Philosophical Works of Francis Bacon,” by John
M. Robertson, New York, 1905; “The Grammar of Science,” by
Karl Pearson, London, 1900, pp. 506–508; “Encycl. Britann.,”
Edinburgh, 1842, seventh edition, Vol. I. as per Index pages
16–17 and at “Dissertation First,” pp. 32–40; “Essai Theorique
... des connaissances humaines,” par G. Tiberghien, Bruxelles,
1844, Vol. II. pp. 409–419; Geo Miller, “History Philosophically
Illustrated,” London, 1849, Vol. II. p. 430; “Francis Bacon,”
by B. G. Lovejoy, London, 1888; “His Life and Character,” pp.
1–188, and “His Essays and Extracts,” pp. 19–277; “Francis
Bacon,” by Kuno Fisher, London, 1857; “Encycl. Brit.” ninth
edition, Vol. III. pp. 200–218; Bacon’s “Novum Organum,” by
Thomas Fowler, New York, 1881, and Oxford, 1889; “Histoire des
Sciences,” par F. L. M. Maupied, Paris, 1847, Vol. II. pp.
252–281, for “Enumeration Méthodique--Eléments--Analyse--des
ouvrages de Francis Bacon”; “Library of Useful Knowledge,” for
account of Lord Bacon’s “Novum Organum”; “Epitome of Electricity
and Galvanism,” Philad., 1809, pp. xvi, 105; Whewell, “History
of the Inductive Sciences,” Vol. I. pp. 339, 385, 494, 530; Van
Swinden, “Recueil de Mémoires ...” La Haye, 1784, Vol. II. pp.
355, 364, 369–370; and, for an exhaustive biographical account
of Francis Bacon, consult the “English Cyclopædia,” Vol. I.
pp. 470–476. It is stated by C. R. Weld in his “History,” Vol.
I. p. 64, that the establishment of the Royal Society was much
accelerated by the writings of Lord Bacon (Buchmeri, “Acad. Nat.
curi. Hist.”).
=A.D. 1620–1655.=--Bergerac (Savinien Cyrano de), a very witty French
writer, is the author of a fragment on physics, as well as of a curious
philosophical romance, “Histoire comique des états et empires de la
lune,” a translation from which latter is here given, as in a measure
suggesting the phonograph: “On opening the box, I found a number of
metallic springs and a quantity of machinery resembling the interior
of our clocks. It was, in truth, to me a book, indeed, a miraculous
book, for it had neither leaves nor characters, and to read it, one
had no need of eyes, the ears alone answering the purpose. It was only
necessary to start the little machine, whence would soon come all the
distinct and different sounds common to the human voice.”
Another translation reads as follows: “On opening the box I found
inside a concern of metal, something like one of our watches, full of
curious little springs and minute machinery. It was really a book,
but a wonderful book that has no leaves or letters; a book, for the
understanding of which the eyes are of no use--only the ears are
necessary. When any one wishes to read, he winds up the machine with
its great number of nerves of all kinds, and turns the pointer to the
chapter he wishes to hear, when there come out, as if from the mouth
of a man or of an instrument of music, the distinct and various sounds
which serve the Great Lunarians as the expression of language.”
As has been said by one of his biographers, “amid the extravagance
of some of his works, Bergerac nevertheless exhibited a pretty good
acquaintance with the philosophy of Descartes.”
REFERENCES.--Article “Aeronautics” in the “Encycl. Brit.,” 1853,
Vol. II. p. 168; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. V. p. 730.
=A.D. 1621.=--Helmont (Jean Baptiste van), famous Belgian scientist,
publishes in Paris his “De Magnetica,” etc. (on the magnetic cure
of wounds). His theories on magnetism greatly resemble those of
Paracelsus, but in his treatment of them he shows himself much
superior to the Swiss alchemist, whom Dr. Hœfer says he took as his
model. “Magnetism,” Van Helmont observes, “is an unknown property of
a heavenly nature, very much resembling the stars, and not at all
impeded by any boundaries of space or time.... Every created being
possesses his own celestial power and is closely allied with heaven
... the spirit is everywhere diffused; and the spirit is the medium of
magnetism ... it is not the spirits of heaven and of hell which are
masters over physical nature, but the soul and spirit of man which are
concealed in him as the fire is concealed in the flint.”
The above-named work of Van Helmont was “translated, illustrated and
ampliated,” in 1650 by Dr. Walter Charleton, physician in ordinary to
King Charles I, under the name of “A Ternary of Paradoxes.” From its
interesting contents, we make the following extracts:
_Page 10._ “A loadstone placed upon a small trencher of wood,
floating on water, does instantly in one determinate point
_australize_, and in the other _septentrionate_ ... all which
various and admirable effects of the loadstone, thou maiest,
if thy judgement relish them, finde made good by multiplyed
observations, by William Gilbert, not many yeers past, a
physician in London, in his book, ‘De Magnete’: of which subject
no man ever writ more judiciously or experimentally: and by
whose industry the variation of the compasse may be restored....”
_Page 12._ “There is a book imprinted at Franekera, in the year
1611, by Vldericus Dominicus Balck, of the _Lamp of Life_. In
which you shall finde, out of Paracelsus, the true magneticall
cure of most diseases, as of the Dropsie, Gout, Jaundice, etc.”
_Page 15._ “Doth not the needle of the Mariner’s Compasse,
through a firme glasse, closely sealed up with melted soder (in
which there can be no pore or crany discovered) steer it self to
the Artick pole? ... wherefore the same numericall _accident_
streaming in one continued _radius_ from the loadstone into the
_aer_, passes through the glasse, and perhaps goes as farre as
to touch the pole it self....”
_Page 38._ “Wherefore the loadstone owes its polarity to a
natural inhærent faculty, flowing from its owne seminall
entity, and not to any forreigne alliciency, or attractive
influx transmitted from the north star. But that otherwise the
loadstone may, by its own instinct, be elevated towards the
Zenith, we have upon ocular demonstration found it true, by a
certain instrument invented by Guilielme Guilbert (the glory
of which excellent invention Ludovicus Fonseca hath lately
endeavoured to ravish) ... which by the spontaneous elevation of
the loadstone in a brasse ring suspended by a thread or small
wier, shews not only the latitude but also the altitude of the
pole, in all places of the earth.”
Page 39. “... the loadstone is endued with a _domestick pilot, a
directive faculty_, which guides it to some determinate place,
but is not at all attracted by the pole.”
Page 40. “The loadstone onely by the affriction of _Garlick_,
amits its _verticity_, and neglects the pole, conserving to
it self, in the meane time, its peculiar forme, materiall
constitution, and all other dependent proprieties. The reason,
because _Garlick_ is the loadstone’s proper Opium, and by it
that spirituall sensation in the magnet is consopited and layd
asleep.... Verily, that alliciency of the pole must be extreame
weake and of inconsiderable energy, which passing through so
many and so immense orbes of heaven, and striking through great
and firme buildings, and thick walls, cannot yet be of power
sufficient to pierce the thin juice of Garlick or the fume of
Mercury....”
Page 42. “There is therefore inhærent in the magnet an
_influentiall virtue_, which, being not obliged to the
propinquinty or comtiguous admotion of its object, is after
the nobler names of coelestiall influences, freely and without
interruption or languor transmitted so farre as to the pole it
self: since there is a spontaneous _eradiation_, or emission of
atomicall _radii_ from the body of the magnet to the pole.”
Page 74. “That the magnetisme of the loadstone and other
inanimate creatures is performed by a certaine naturall
sensation, the immediate anthrix of all sympathy, is a truth
unquestionable.”
Page 75. “For by one phansy it is directed to iron, and by
another to the pole ... the phansy of _amber_ delights to allect
strawes, chaffe, and other festucous bodies; by an attraction,
we confesse, observe obscure and weake enough, yet sufficiently
manifest and strong to attest an _Electricity_ or attractive
signature....”
REFERENCES.--“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. X. pp. 116–119,
containing a full list of Charleton’s works; Thomson, “Hist. of
the Roy. Soc.,” 1812, p. 3; Munk, “Coll. of Phys.,” 1878, Vol.
I. p. 390; “Journal des Savants” for February and March 1850,
June 1851; Mme. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. p. 170;
Eloy, “Dict. Hist. de la Médecine,” Vol. II. pp. 478–482; “Dict.
Hist. de la Médecine,” par. J. E. Dezeimers, Paris, 1839, Vol.
III. pp. 97–104; “Ency. Brit.,” ninth edition, Vol. XI. p. 638;
“History and Heroes of the Art of Medicine,” by J. Rutherfurd
Russell, London, 1861, pp. 197–204; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,”
Vol. IX. p. 158; Van Swinden, “Recueil,” La Haye, 1784, Vol.
II. pp. 351–352, 361–363; Joseph Ennemoser, “The History of
Magic,” London, 1854, Vol. II. pp. 242–253.
=A.D. 1623.=--Hervart--Heroart--Herwart--Hörwarth (Joannes Fridericus),
son of Johann Georg Hervart ab Hohenburg, the well-known scientist
(1554–1622), who during forty-five years occupied the post of Bavarian
Chancellor under three reigning princes--completes his father’s work
entitled “_Admiranda ethnicæ theologiæ ..._” which, Larousse says
(“Dictionnaire Universel,” Vol. IX. p. 250), was published at Munich,
1624, and in which he demonstrates that the earlier Egyptian divinities
were natural phenomena personified and adored under symbolic names.
Michaud, who reiterates this (“Biographie Universelle,” Vol. XIX.
p. 364), speaks of the edition which appeared at Munich in 1626,
and he also states that, at the end of the latter, will be found
“_Exacta temporum ... chronologiæ vulgaris errores_,” which is the
continuation of the “_Chronologia Nova_,” left unfinished by the
Bavarian Chancellor. This is, in fact, so mentioned in the only copy
possessed by the British Museum, which was published by J. F. Hervart
ab Hohenburg at Ingolstadii, 1623, and of which the title reads:
“_Admiranda Ethnicæ Theologiæ Mysteria propalata. Ubi lapidem magnetem
antiquissimis passim nationibus pro Deo-deocultum: et artem qua
navigationes magneticæ per universum orbem instituerentur...._”
Libri’s “Catalogue,” 1861, Part I. p. 405, No. 3703, has the following
entry: “_Admiranda Ethnicæ ... ubi Lapidem Magnetem antiquissimis
Nationibus pro Deo cultum commonstratur_ ...” Ingolstadii, 1623. The
work itself endeavours to prove that the loadstone’s properties were
well known to the ancients.
The “General Biographical Dictionary” of Alexander Chalmers, London,
1814, Vol. XVII. p. 426, makes following entry: “Herwart (or Hervart)
John George, Chancellor of Bavaria at the beginning of the seventeenth
century, published some works wherein his learning was more displayed
than his judgment, in supporting the most extravagant systems. Two
of his works are: ‘_Chronologia nova et vera_,’ in two parts, 1622
and 1626, and ‘_Admiranda Ethnicæ Theologicæ Mysteria propalata, de
antiquissima veterum nationum superstitione, qua lapis Magnes pro Deo
habitus colebatur_,’ Monach, 1626, quarto. It was here asserted that
the ancient Egyptians worshipped the magnet,” etc. (see Deveria, under
B.C. 321).
REFERENCES.--Allusions to Hervart, made at p. 546, Vol. XXIV.
of Dr. Hœfer’s 1861 “Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” or at p.
546, Vol. XXVIII of the 1858 edition, and also at p. 163, Vol.
II of the “Bibliographie Générale de l’Astronomie,” by Houzeau
et Lancaster, Bruxelles, 1882. Likewise Chr. G. Jöcher,
“Compendiöses Gelehrten Lexicon,” Leipzig, 1787, Vol. II. p.
1969, and “A New General Biogr. Dict.,” London, 1850, Vol. VIII.
p. 304.
=A.D. 1624.=--Gunter (Edmund), professor of astronomy at Gresham
College, publishes his work “Of the Sector, Cross-Staff, and other
Instruments,” at Chap. V of the second book of which he gives the
result of the eight observations he made on the variation of the
variation “in various parts of the ground” at Limehouse on the 13th
of June, 1622. His observations of the declination, as given by Prof.
Gellibrand, are detailed at Chap. I of Walker’s “Ter. and Cos. Mag.,”
Cambridge, 1866.
REFERENCES.--De La Rive, “Electricity,” etc., Vol. I. p. 165;
Poggendorff, “Geschichte der Physik,” Leipzig, 1879, p. 275.
=A.D. 1625.=--Carpenter (Nathaniel), Dean of Ireland, well-known
mathematician, publishes at Oxford, “Geography delineated forth in
two bookes, containing the sphæricall and topicall parts thereof,”
wherein he thus alludes to Dr. Gilbert’s “De Magnete”: “Magneticall
proprieties, I find in ancient writers, as little knowne as their
causes; and if any matter herein were broached, it was merely
conjectural, and depending on no certain demonstration; neither had we
any certain or satisfactory knowledge of the thing vntill such time as
it pleased God to raise vp one of our countrymen, D. Gilbert, who, to
his euerlasting praise, hath trodden out a new path to Philosophie, and
on the Loadstone, erected a large Trophie to commend him to posterity.
This famous Doctor being as pregnant in witty apprehension as diligent
in curious search of naturall causes, after many experiments and long
enquiry, found the causes of most magneticall motions and proprieties
hid in the magneticall _temper_ and constitution of the Earth,
and that the earth it selfe was a meere magneticall body challenging
all those proprieties, and more than haue expressed themselves in
the Loadstone; which opinion of his was no sooner broached than it
was embraced, and wel-commed by many prime wits as well English as
Forraine. Insomuch that it hath of late taken large root and gotten
much ground of our vulgar Philosophie.”
REFERENCES.--“Nature,” September 26, 1901; “Dict. of Nat.
Biogr.,” Vol. IX. pp. 161–162; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. IV. p.
438; Prince’s “Worthies” (1810), pp. 173–175, 603.
=A.D. 1625.=--Naudé (Gabriel), a celebrated French savant and one
of the most learned of his day, also physician to King Louis XIII, and
an intimate friend of Gassendi, is the author of “Apologie pour tous,”
etc. (“Apology for great men falsely accused of magic”), of which other
editions appeared in 1652, 1669 and 1712. The magico-theosophical
philosophy, as Madame Blavatsky expresses it, is fully indicated in
his work, and he proved to be the warmest defender of the doctrines of
occult magnetism, of which he was one of the first propounders.
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXXVII. pp. 514–518;
P. Hallé, “Gab. Naudé Elogium”; N. Sanson, “Hist. Chr.
d’Abbeville,” 1653; Sainte Beuve, “Portraits Littéraires,” 1855;
Alf. Franklin, “Hist. de la Biblioth. Mazarine,” 1860.
=A.D. 1627.=--Hakewill (George), Archdeacon of Surrey, publishes
at Oxford, England, the first edition of “An Apologie or Declaration of
the Power and Providence of God,” the tenth chapter, fourth section of
the third book of which alludes to the use of the “mariner’s compass
or sea-card, as also of another excellent invention sayd to be lately
found out upon the loadstone.” As the reviewer justly observes: “While
perusing his description one can hardly imagine that the writer had not
in his mind’s eye one of our modern telegraphic instruments ... and
it will be seen that the date at which his work is written was nearly
two hundred years prior to the first attempt made to communicate at a
distance by means of magnetic needles.”
Hakewill alludes (“Apologie,” 1635, lib. ii. p. 97) to
Hipparchus--Abraxis--“who reports that, in his time, the starre
commonly called the Polar Starre, which is in the tayle of the lesser
Beare, was twelve degrees and two-fifths distant from the Pole of the
Æquator. This starre, from age to age, hath insensibly still crept
nearer to the pole so that at this present it is not past three degrees
distant from the pole of the Æquator. When this starre then shall come
to touch the Pole, there being no farther place left for it to go
forward (which may well enough come to pass with five or six hundred
yeares) it is likely that then there shall be a great change of things,
and that this time is the period which God hath prefixed to Nature”
(see Morell’s “Elem. ... Phil. and Sc.,” London, 1827, pp. 116–119
_et seq._).
Mention of the star in the tail of Ursa Major is made by Gilbert, (“De
Magnete”),[41] in connection (1) with Marcilius Ficinus, who, says he,
seeks in that constellation the cause of the magnetic direction, as he
believes that in the loadstone the potency of Ursa prevails and hence
is transferred to the iron; (2) with Cardan, who assigns the cause of
variation to its rising, for he thinks variation is always to be relied
upon at the rising of the star; (3) with Lucas Gauricus, who holds that
the loadstone beneath the tail of Ursa Major is ruled by the planets
Saturn and Mars; (4) with Gaudentius Merula, who believes that the
loadstone draws iron and makes it point North because it is of a higher
order than is the iron in the Bear.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IX. p. 26;
“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XXIV. pp. 6–8; Walton and Cotton,
“Complete Angler,” New York and London, 1847, Part I. p. 118.
=A.D. 1628.=--Leurechon (Jean), a student belonging to the Order
of Jesuits (1591–1670), who became the confessor of Charles IV of
Lorraine, publishes, under the name H. Van Etten, “La Récréation
Mathématique,” carefully revised editions of which were made by Claude
Mydorge and Denis Henrion in 1630, 1638 and 1661. In these, Leurechon
alludes to the reported transmission of intelligence by the agency of
a magnet or other like stone, saying: “The invention is beautiful, but
I do not think there can be found in the world a magnet that has such
virtue.”
REFERENCES.--Georges Maupin, “Opinions touchant la
mathématique,” Paris, 1898, pp. 20–24; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol.
X. p. 436; “Sc. Am. Suppl.,” Nos. 56, p. 881, and 384, p. 6125.
The curious title-page of the English version of Leurechon’s work,
published by T. Cotes in 1633, merits reproduction: “Mathematicall
Recreations, or a Collection of sundrie Problemes, extracted out of the
Ancient and Moderne Philosophers, as secrets in nature, and experiments
in Arithmeticke, Geometrie, Cosmographie, Horologographie, Astronomie,
Navigation, Musicke, Optickes, Chimestrie, Waterworkes, Fireworks,
etc., Fit for Schollers, Students, and Gentlemen ... lately compiled in
French by Henry Van Hetten. And now delivered in the English tongue.”
Claude Mydorge, as stated in the “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXXVII. p. 87, was
a French scientist (1585–1647), a very close friend of Descartes, and,
according to Baillet, was next to Vieta, the foremost mathematician of
his day. The second edition of his “Examen du livre des Récréations
Mathématiques (du Père Leurechon),” contains notes of Denis Henrion
following the observations of Père Mersenne in “Universæ ...” Paris,
1639 (see Bouillet, “Vie de Descartes,” Vol. I. pp. 36–37, 149–150, and
Vol. II. pp. 43, 76, 78, 325).
Denis Henrion was also a French mathematician, who died about 1640. He
was the author of many very meritorious papers, notably of a “Traité
des Globes et de leurs usages,” 1618, translated from the Latin of
Robert Hues, 1593, 1594 (Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IX. p. 192).
=A.D. 1629.=--Cabæus--Cabeo (Nicolaus), a learned Jesuit of Ferrara,
describes (“Philosophia Magnetica”)[42] numerous experiments made
by him to ascertain the possibility of two persons communicating
intelligence by means of magnetized needles.
Cabæus was the first to observe electrical repulsion, and he thus
announces his discovery in the tenth chapter of the above-named work:
“Magnetic attractions and repulsions are physical actions which
take place through the instrumentality of a certain quality of the
intermediate space, said quality extending from the influencing to the
influenced body.... Bodies are not moved by sympathy or antipathy,
unless it be by means of certain forces which are uniformly diffused.
When these forces reach a body that is suitable they produce changes
in it, but they do not sensibly affect the intermediate space nor the
non-kindred bodies close by it....”
The “Philosophia Magnetica” is the second Latin book published on
electricity, Gilbert’s “De Magnete” being the first.
REFERENCES.--Becquerel, “Résumé,” Chap. III; Stuello, “Bibl.
Scrip. S. J.,” Rome, 1676; Francisco de Lanis, “Magist. nat. et
artis,” 1684; L. L. de Vallemont, “Description de l’aimant,”
1692, pp. 167, 170; Dechales C. F. Milliet, “Cursus seu Mundus
Mathem.,” 1674, 1690.
=A.D. 1632.=--Sarpi (Pietro)--Fra Paolo Sarpi--Father Paul--Paulus
Venetus--Paolo Sarpi Veneto (_b._ 1552, _d._ 1623), who was the author
of the celebrated history of the Council of Trent (“the rarest piece of
history the world ever saw”) is referred to by Gilbert in “De Magnete,”
Book I. chap. i. Therein, he says that Baptista Porta, who has made the
seventh book of his “Magia Naturalis” a very storehouse and repertory
of magnetic wonders, knows little about the movements of the loadstone
and never has seen much of them, and that a great deal of what he has
learned about its obvious properties, either through Messer Paolo, the
Venetian, or through his own studies, is not very accurately noted and
observed.
In the introduction to the 1658 edition of his “Natural Magick,” Porta
admits that he gained some knowledge of Sarpi, who, says he, is of all
men he ever knew the most learned and skilful and the ornament and
splendour not only of Venice or of Italy, but of the entire world.
Bertelli refers (“Memor. sopra P. Peregrino,” p. 24, note) to P.
Garbio’s “Annali di Serviti,” Lucca, 1721, Vol. II. pp. 263, 272, 274,
and to Fra Fulgenzio Micanzio’s “Life of Sarpi,” Helmstat--Verona,
1750, in which it is stated that not only Porta but likewise a
celebrated _ultramontane_ studied magnetism under him. Garbio asks:
“Could this _ultramontane_ be Gilbert of Colchester?”
By Griselini (“Vita de Fra P. Sarpi”--memoria anecdote--Lausanne,
1760), Paolo is said to have written a treatise on the magnet and to
have therein recorded many observations, including the earliest mention
that magnetic properties are destroyed by fire.
Bertelli--whose afore-named memoir we must confine ourselves to, as
it is more satisfactory than are the accounts elsewhere given--makes
mention that he has had in his possession, by courtesy of Sig. Giuseppe
Valentinelli, the Royal Librarian of the Marciana at Venice, copy of
a manuscript (Cod. CXXIX, classe 2, MS. Ital.) containing a brief
comparison of Sarpi’s magnetic researches with those of Musschenbroek.
This manuscript is again alluded to by Bertelli (Memor., p. 88)
wherein it is said that lines 5–38 of the first column, p. 170, are
headed “Observations of F.P.S. on the loadstone, collated with P.
Musschenbroek’s Researches,” and embrace five paragraphs translated as
follows:
1. The author had first tried the action of one magnet on
another without entering into the question of calculation,
but modern authors have, in view of the observations made,
endeavoured to discover a method of computing magnetic forces
in any proportion to the distances, and in the same better
regulated systems they have discovered the cause to be uncertain
(or varying) owing to the contemporaneous action of magnetic
repulsion.
2. He was acquainted with the well-known action of the
magnet on iron, but he understood--as even at this day
some understand--that it was caused by the atmosphere. New
experiments have made us seriously doubt this. He did not pay
attention to the proportion of the magnetic forces as compared
with the distances of iron, to the discovery of which the
efforts of present philosophers are directed but in vain. He
saw, however, that the facility or difficulty of attraction
depends upon the size of the iron (maximum and minimum).
3. He was not ignorant of the direction of the magnet and of
iron rubbed with the magnet towards certain quarters of the sky
when he mentions the new discovery of the poles in the magnet,
and the variation of the magnetized needle, from the Northern or
the Southern quarters, but he did not know a greater number than
two poles found in the magnet, the variation of the declination,
or, I should rather say, the uncertainty of the variation and
the different inclinations of the needle at different places on
the earth.
4. Almost all the experiments referred to by Academies, with
reference to the action of one piece of iron on another piece
of iron, magnetized and not magnetized, and with regard to the
changes of forces which arise from the various inflections of
iron, have been sufficiently sketched out by F. P. S.
5. The magnetic effects acquired by an old piece of iron
continually exposed to the air have also been alluded to. Now,
however, natural philosophers have observed that this iron
exposed for a length of time in the magnetic meridian points
with greater readiness to the above-mentioned quarters. They
have, moreover, ascertained that iron when heated and afterwards
cooled in water is more sensitive to magnetization: which is
directly opposed to the opinion of F. P. S.
Bertelli further remarks that, from information given in the
manuscript, it is seen that Sarpi was at that time acquainted with the
greater number of the magnetic phenomena referred to by Porta, and
developed by Gilbert, viz.:
1. The reciprocal action of magnets;
2. The action of magnets on iron;
3. The manifestation of magnetic activity about the poles
(sphere of action or field of force);
4. The _Maximum_ and the _Minimum_ of the attractive
force of magnets on iron, according to the size of the latter;
5. The inversion of polarity which may arise in the
magnetization of needles--(but not the corresponding
poles--the magnetic variation or declination--Petrus
Peregrinus, A.D. 1269--yet not the variation of the
variation--Henry Gellibrand, A.D. 1635--nor the dip or
inclination--Robert Norman, A.D. 1576).
6. The magnetic properties acquired by iron constantly exposed
to the air.
After detailing the observations of Giulio Cesare Moderati, Filippo
Costa (Costæus) of Mantua, Ulysses Aldrovandi, Francesco Acoromboni,
Luigi Matteini, Father Garzoni and Father Cabæus concerning the
magnetized ironwork of the belfry of the church of St. Augustine at
Arimini (the parochial church of St. John the Baptist, which at that
time, 1586, belonged to the monks of St. Augustine) and relative to the
iron rail in the belfry of the tower of St. Laurence at Rome, Bertelli
says: “From all that precedes, we gather at all events, that the fact
of the spontaneous magnetization of iron was well known in Italy before
Sarpi, Porta and Gilbert. This, Gilbert, and still better Cabæus,
explained as the influence of terrestrial magnetism. However, with
regard to the observations of the needle’s deviation made by Father
Garzoni at Rome, we can, without having attributed it, as does Cabæus,
to the magnetization of pieces of iron concealed in its wall, explain
it, as is done in the new and important experiments of the illustrious
professor Silvestro Gherardi, who attributes it to the magnetic
polarity of the _Mattoni_ [bricks] in the structure itself.”
It is said by Humboldt (“Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 718, note) that
this observation, the first of the kind, was made on the tower of
the church of the Augustines at Mantua (Mantova) and that Grimaldi
and Gassendi were acquainted with similar instances (instancing the
cross of the church of St. Jean, at Aix, in Provence), in geographical
latitudes where the inclination of the magnetic needle is very
considerable. Some writers give Gassendi’s observation as occurring
during 1632 (see Rohaulti, “Physica,” 1718, Par. III. cap. 8, p. 399;
or, Rohault’s “System of Nat. Phil.,” 1728, p. 176).
“As the iron cross of an hundred weight upon the Church of St. John
in Ariminum, or that load-stoned iron of Cæsar Moderatus, set down by
Aldrovandus” (Sir Thomas Browne, “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,” 1658, p. 66).
Consult “Lettera dell’Eccel. Cavallara.,” Mantova, 1586, for a detailed
account of this discovery, made January 6, of the last-named year. The
iron rod supported a brick ornament in the form of an acorn, and stood
on a pyramid at the summit of the belfry of the church of St. Augustine
(Cabæus, “Philos. Magn.,” p. 62; “Ulysses Aldrovandi, Patr. Bonon ...
Barthol. Ambros ...” Lib. i, cap. 6, p. 134).
For the account given by Aldrovandi of the Arimini observation and for
references to Browne’s “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,” as well as to Boyle’s
“Experiments,” see p. 53 of the valuable “Notes on the ‘De Magnete’ of
Dr. William Gilbert,” by Silvanus P. Thompson, attached to the English
translation of the original 1600 edition, which was so attractively
produced by the Gilbert Club during the year 1900. Dr. Thompson further
gives, at the page following (54), additional references to examples of
iron acquiring strong permanent magnetism from the earth.
REFERENCES.--Biography of Sarpi in the “Encycl. Brit.,” ninth
edition, Vol. XXI. pp. 311–313; F. Micanzio, “Vita de F.
P. Sarpi,” Verona, 1750; Rev. Alex. Robertson, “Fra Paolo
Sarpi--the greatest of the Venetians,” 1894; Hallam, “Intro.
to Lit.,” 1839, Vol. II. p. 464; U. Aldrovandi, “Musæum
Metallicum,” 1648, p. 134; Tiraboschi, “Storia della Lettera,”
Modena, 1794, Vol. VI. part ii. p. 506; Sarpi’s Complete Works,
first published at Helmstat, 1750; Fabroni, “Vitæ Italorum,”
Pisa, 1798; Giovini, “Vita,” Brussels, 1836; “Engl. Cycl.,”
Biography, Vol. IV. pp. 695–697; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.” Vol.
XIV. pp. 230–231; “History of the reign of Charles the Fifth,”
by Wm. Robertson and Wm. H. Prescott, Philadelphia, 1883, Vol.
III. p. 68; “Dict. Hist. de la Médecine,” N. F. J. Eloy, Mons,
1778, Vol. IV. pp. 180–181; “The Atlantic Monthly,” New York,
January and February, 1904, wherein the author, Andrew D. White,
ranks Sarpi with Machiavelli and Galileo; Libri, “Hist. des Sc.
Mathém.” Paris, 1838, Vol. IV. p. 214, note.
=A.D. 1632.=--Gassendi (Pierre), an eminent French savant, professor at
the Royal College of France, “ranked by Barrow among the most eminent
mathematicians of the age, and mentioned with Galileo, Gilbert and
Descartes,” discovers that a part of the iron cross of the Church of
St. Jean at Aix possesses all the properties of a loadstone after being
struck by lightning and lying in one position a certain length of time.
Gilbert mentions, “De Magnete,” 1600, Book III. chap. xii.) that the
fact of magnetism being imparted to an iron bar by the earth was first
ascertained by examining the rod upon the tower of the church of St.
Augustine at Arimini (Sir Thomas Browne, “Pseud. Epidemica,” London,
1650, p. 48; U. Aldrovandi, “Musæum Metallicum,” Milan, 1648, p. 134).
In the “Vie de Pierre Gassendi,” par le Père Bougerel de l’Oratoire,
Paris, 1737, p. 14, it is related that during the month of September
1621, while promenading about three leagues’ distance from Aix in a
village named Peynier, he observed a light in the heavens to which he
gave the name of _aurora borealis_, as much on account of its location
as by reason of its resemblance to the light which precedes the rising
of the sun.
From the “History of the Royal Society,” by C. R. Weld, 1848, Vol. II.
p. 430, is taken the following, communicated by Humboldt:
“The movement of the magnetic lines, the first recognition of which is
usually ascribed to Gassendi, was not even yet conjectured by William
Gilbert; but, at an early period, Acosta, ‘from the information of
Portuguese navigators,’ assumed four lines of no declination upon the
surface of the globe.... In the remarkable map of America appended to
the Roman edition of the Geography of Ptolemy in 1508, we find, to
the north of Gruentland (Greenland), a part of Asia represented and
the magnetic pole marked as an insular mountain. Martin Cortez, in
the ‘Breve Compendio de la Sphera’ (1545), and Livio Sanuto, in the
‘Geographia di Tolomeo’ (1588), place it more to the south. Sanuto
entertained a prejudice, which, strange to say, has existed in later
times, that a man who should be so fortunate as to reach the magnetic
pole (_Il calamitico_) would then experience _alcun miracoloso
stupendo effecto_” (“Cosmos,” translated under the superintendence of
Col. Sabine, Vol. II. p. 280). In a footnote to the Otté translation of
Humboldt, 1859, Vol. V. p. 58, it is stated that _calamitico_ was the
name given to the instruments in consequence of the first needles for
the compass having been made in the shape of a frog.
In Gilbert’s “De Magnete,” allusion is made to Martinus Cortez, Book
I. chap. i., also Book III. chap. i. and Book IV. chap. i.,[43] and to
Livio Sanuto in Book I. chap. i., also in Book IV. chaps. i. and ix. In
these several passages, Gilbert tells us that Martinus Cortez holds the
loadstone’s seat of attraction to be beyond the poles, and he states
the views of other writers in this respect, citing more particularly
T. de Bessard (author of “Le Dialogue de la Longitude”), Jacobus
Servertius (who wrote “De Orbis Catoptrici”), as well as Robert Norman,
Franciscus Maurolycus, Marsilio Ficino, Cardan, Scaliger, Costa and
Petrus Peregrinus (M. J. Klaproth, “Lettre à M. le Baron de Humboldt,”
Paris, 1834, pp. 16–17, 37).
REFERENCES.--Enfield, “Hist. Phil.,” Vol. III. p. 430; “Le
Cosmos” for May and June 1859, containing a very interesting
series entitled, “Les Armées Météores”; Lardner, Vol. II. p.
113; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859–1860, Vol. II. p. 335, and Vol. V.
pp. 146–153; Julius Cæsar at A.D. 1590; Houzeau et Lancaster,
Vol. II. p. 146; “Mém. de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences,” Vol. X.
p. 737; “Phil. Hist. and Memoirs of the Royal Acad. of Sc.,”
Vol. II. p. 281; “Geschichte der Mathematik,” Vol. IV. p. 474.
=A.D. 1632.=--Galileo (Galileo Galilei), Italian philosopher and
mathematician, publishes his celebrated “Dialogo sopra i due massimi
sistemi del mondo tolemaico e copernicano,” 4to, Fiorenza, from p. 88
of which is extracted the following passage:
_Sagredus_: “You remind me of a man who offered to sell me a secret for
permitting one to speak, through the attraction of a certain magnet
needle, to someone distant two or three thousand miles, and I said to
him that I would be willing to purchase it, but that I would like to
witness a trial of it, and that it would please me to test it, I being
in one room and he being in another. He told me that, at such a short
distance, the action could not be witnessed to advantage; so I sent
him away and said that I could not just then go to Egypt or Muscovy to
see his experiment, but if he would go there himself I would stay and
attend to the rest in Venice.”
This _Sagredus_ (Iohannes Franciscus), or Sagredo (Giovanni Francisco),
besides being “a great magneticall man,” was a noble Venetian, even a
doge, and had represented his country as ambassador at several courts.
We read in Mr. Conrad W. Cooke’s very able article on William Gilbert
of Colchester, originally printed in London “Engineering,” that this
same _Sagredus_ was the intimate friend of Galileo, and that, together
with the powerful Sarpi, he used the whole might of his name and
influence to protect the great philosopher and mathematician from the
attacks of the clerical party. Pietro Sarpi, otherwise known as Father
Paul, was, as already shown, a most illustrious Venetian scholar, who
attained great proficiency in the medical and physiological sciences
as well as in mathematics and in natural philosophy. _Sagredus_ made
several meritorious researches in magnetism, and, while on a voyage
to Aleppo, ascertained the declination of the magnetic needle at that
place. As a tribute to the scientific attainments of _Sagredus_,
Galileo gave his name to one of the characters in his “Systema
Cosmicum,” and many references to the work by William Gilbert are put
into the mouth of _Sagredus_.
In further illustration of Galileo’s appreciation of Gilbert, the
following is quoted from the great astronomer’s own writing: “I
extremely admire and envy the author of ‘De Magnete.’ I think him
worthy of the greatest praise for the many new and true observations
which he has made, to the disgrace of so many vain and fabling authors,
who write not from their own knowledge only, but repeat everything
they hear from the foolish and vulgar, without attempting to satisfy
themselves of the same by experience; perhaps that they may not
diminish the size of their books” (Drinkwater’s “Life of Galileo”).
Galileo had also published, in 1630, the first edition of his “I
discorsi e demonstrazioni ...” which Lagrange considers to be Galileo’s
most substantial title to scientific glory.
REFERENCES.--Galileo’s Biography in “Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. III.
pp. 13–17; Miller, “Hist. Phil. Illust.,” London, 1849, Vol.
III. p. 203, note; Nelli, “Vita,” 1793; Libri, “Hist. des Sc.
Math.,” Paris, 1838, Vol. IV. pp. 157–294, 473–484; Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibliog. Générale,” Vol. I. part i. pp. 655–657
for an analyzation of the works of Galileo, also Vol. II. pp.
137–145, 1576–1578; Wm. Whewell, “Phil. of the Ind. Sc.,”
London, 1840, Vol. II. pp. 379–383; Guillaume Libri, “Histoire
des Sc. Math.,” Halle, 1865, Vol. IV. pp. 157–302, and the
notes; “Journal des Savants” for September and October 1840,
for March and April 1841, for July to November 1858, for
September 1868 and for October 1877; “Geschichte der Mathem.,”
Vol. IV. pp. 4, 173, etc.; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. VIII. p. 954;
“La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XVIII. pp. 383–385; “Biog. Gén.,”
Vol. XI. pp. 252–267; Fabroni (A.), “Vitæ Italorum,” 1778–1805,
also “Elogi d’Illustri Italiani,” 1786–1789; likewise the very
numerous entries concerning Galileo’s history, his Opponents,
Supporters and School, which appear at pp. 331–357, Part I. of
Libri’s “Catalogue,” published in 1861. Consult also “Galileo,”
by Ed. S. Holden, in the “Popular Sc. Monthly” for January,
February, May and June 1905; “Bibliot. Brit.,” Vol. XVI. N.S.,
1821, pp. 3–21, 79–100, for an account of the life of Galileo
by M. G. B. Clément de Nelli; “Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. LXX.
for 1721, p. 350 in his “Saggiotore”; “Imperial Dictionary of
Universal Biography,” published by Wm. McKenzie, London, pp.
536–539, giving an account of Galileo’s other discoveries.
=A.D. 1635.=--Delambre (J. B. J.) (1749–1822), professor of
astronomy at the Royal College of France, refers (Vol. II. p. 545
of his “Histoire de l’Astronomie Ancienne,” 1817) to the mention
made in “Procli Diadochi Paraphrasis Ptolem.,” lib. iv. “de siderum
effectionibus,” 1635, p. 20, of the notion long current, especially
along the shores of the Mediterranean, “that if a magnetic rod be
rubbed with an onion, or brought into contact with the emanations of
the plant, the directive force will be diminished, while a compass thus
treated would mislead the steersman.”
REFERENCES.--Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. p. 156, also
the entry at A.D. 1653. See likewise Whewell, “Hist. of the
Ind. Sc.,” Vol. I. pp. 442, 443, 447, and the biography in the
Supplement of the “English Cyclopædia,” pp. 539–541; “Journal
des Savants,” for April 1828.
=A.D. 1635.=--Gellibrand (Henry), prominent English mathematician,
professor of geometry and the successor of Edmund Gunter (A.D. 1624),
in the chair of astronomy at Gresham College, publishes his discovery
of the _secular variation of the declination_. The credit of this
discovery has been by many given to John Mair. The _diurnal and horary
variation_ was found by Graham in 1722, and the _annual variation_ was
discovered by Cassini, 1782–1791.
Gellibrand’s discovery is published in a small quarto pamphlet
entitled “A discourse mathematical on the variation of the magneticall
needle--together with the admirable diminution lately discovered,” and
is the result of his study of the observations made by Burrough and
Gunter as well as of observations made by himself, all showing that the
north-east of the needle was gradually moving to the westward.
Mention has already been made of the fact that the _variation of the
variation_ was at this period attracting the attention it deserved,
and it is worth while giving here an account of the discovery in the
author’s own words:
“Thus, hitherto, according to the Tenents of all our Magnetical
Philosophers, we have supposed the variations of all particular places
to continue one and the same. So that when a Seaman shall happly return
to a place where formerly he found the same variation, he may hence
conclude he is in the same former longitude. For it is the assertion
of Mr. Dr. Gilbert’s _Variatio unicuiusq; loci constans est_, that
is to say, the same place doth always retaine the same variation.
Neither hath this assertion, for ought I ever heard, been questioned
by any man. But most diligent magneticall observations have plainely
offered violence to the same, and proved the contrary, namely, that the
variation is accompanied with a variation.”
=A.D. 1637.=--Bond (Henry), Professor of Mathematics in London,
and who appears in one of his treatises as “a famous teacher of the
art of navigation,” is the author of the “Seaman’s Kalendar ... with a
discovery of the ... secret of longitude ...” of which other editions
appeared during 1640 and 1696.
This was followed by many papers on the variation (the most important
of which are to be found in _Phil. Trans._ for 1668, 1672, 1673)
and, during 1678 by “The Longitude not found, or an answer to a
treatise written by H. B. ...” This treatise was in a sixty-five page
pamphlet which had been issued by Mr. Bond’s father during 1676, under
caption: “The Longitude Found; or a treatise shewing an easie and
speedy way, as well by Night as by Day, to find the Longitude, having
but the Latitude of the Place and the Inclination of the Magneticall
Inclinatorie Needle ...” wherein he explains his discovery of the
progress of the deviation of the compass and foretells the variations
for London, 1663 to 1716. This treatise led to the controversy with
Peter Blackborrow (Beckborrow), the title to whose published work
reads: “The Longitude not found: or an answer to a treatise written by
H. Bond, senior, shewing a way to find the longitude by the magnetical
inclinatory needle: wherein is proved that the longitude is not nor
cannot be found by the magnetic inclinatory needle.”
As Humboldt remarks, the resulting controversy, together with Acosta’s
view that there were four lines of no variation which divided the
earth’s surface, may, as already stated, have had some influence on
the theory advanced, in 1683, by Edmund Halley, of four magnetic poles
or points of convergence (“Cosmos,” 1859–1860, Vol. I. p. 193, note;
Vol. II. pp. 280–281, note; Vol. V. p. 58; also Humboldt’s “Examen
Critique de l’Histoire de la Géographie,” Vol. III. p. 60. See likewise
the _Phil. Trans._ for October 19, 1668, p. 790, and for 1673, Vol.
VIII. p. 6065, also following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. II. p. 78, and
Lowthorp Vol. II. p. 610).
REFERENCES.--Walker, “Magnetism,” Chap. I; John Pell, “Letter of
Remarks on Gellibrand’s Math. Disc.,” 1635; “Annales de Chimie
et de Physique,” Mars 1902, Vol. XXV. pp. 289–307; Humboldt,
“Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. pp. 61, 116; Whewell, “Hist. of the
Ind. Sc.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 219; G. Hellmann, “Neudrucke von
Schriften,” No. 9; Baddam’s abridgments of the _Phil. Trans._,
1739, Vol. IV. p. 102.
=A.D. 1641.=--Wilkins (John), Bishop of Chester in the reign of
Charles II, publishes the first edition of “Mercury, or the secret
and swift messenger, showing how a man, with privacy and speed, may
communicate his thoughts to a friend at any distance.”[44]
In the above, he thus alludes to the possibility of making a
contrivance similar to our modern phonograph: “There is another
experiment ... mentioned by Walchius, who thinks it possible so to
contrive a trunk or hollow pipe that it shall preserve the voice
entirely for certain hours or days, so that a man may send his words
to a friend instead of his writing. There being always a certain space
of intermission, for the passage of the voice, betwixt its going into
these cavities and its coming out; he conceives that if both ends were
seasonably stopped, while the sound was in the midst, it would continue
there till it had some vent. _Huic tubo verba nostra insusurremus,
et cum probe munitur tabellario committamus_, etc. When the friend
to whom it is sent shall receive and open it, the words shall come out
distinctly, and in the same order wherein they were spoken. From such
a contrivance as this [saith the same author] did Albertus Magnus make
his Image, and Friar Bacon his Brazen Head, to utter certain words.”
In the eighteenth chapter, he makes suggestions for “a language that
may consist of only tunes and musical notes, without any articulate
sound.”
He had previously described a novel mode of telegraphing by the use of
only three torches (or lights), to designate the twenty-four letters of
the alphabet. These letters were, according to the plan of Joachimus
Fortius, to be placed in three classes of eight each. One torch
indicated Class I, two torches Class II, three torches Class III, and
the number of the letter was shown by the number of times a torch was
elevated.
Bishop Wilkins also described a method of telegraphing by means of two
lights attached to long poles, which, he says, “for its quickness and
speed is much to be preferred before any of the rest.” To interpret
messages at long distances, he suggested the use of the then newly
invented telescope; which he called “Galileus his perspective.”
REFERENCES.--The third edition of above-named work, Chap. XVII.
pp. 71, 72, also the fifth edition of Wilkin’s “Mathematical
Magick,” London, 1707, Chap. XIII. pp. 147–150, “concerning
several attempts of contriving a perpetual motion by magnetical
virtues.” Likewise Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sc.,” 1859, Vol.
I. pp. 332, 395; Mendoza, “Tratado de Navegacion,” Vol. II.
p. 72; Alex. Chalmers, “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” London, 1811, Vol.
XXXII. pp. 74–82.
=A.D. 1641.=--Kircher (Athanasius), a German writer on physical
and mathematical science (1601–1680), member of the Order of Jesuits,
possessed of immense erudition and believing in the magnetism of all
things, speaks in his “Magnes sive de arte magnetica” (Book II. pt. iv.
chap. v.), of the recently advanced idea of being able to correspond
at short distances by employing two spherical vessels bearing the
letters of the alphabet, each of the letters having suspended from it a
magnetized figure attached to a vertical wire.
He likewise alludes to Gellibrand’s discovery, A.D. 1635,
of which he was informed by John Greaves, the eminent English
mathematician, and he communicates a letter received from the learned
French philosopher, le Père Marin Mersenne, containing a distinct
account of the same.
His definition of universal magnetism, according to Madame Blavatsky,
is very original, for he contradicted Gilbert’s theory that the earth
was a great magnet. He asserted that, although every particle of matter
and even the intangible “powers” were magnetic, they did not themselves
constitute a magnet. _There is but one Magnet in the universe, and
from it proceeds the magnetization of everything existing._ This
magnet is, of course, what the Kabalists term the central Spiritual
Sun, or God.... He demonstrates the difference between mineral
magnetism and zoömagnetism, or animal magnetism, and says that the sun
is the most magnetic of all bodies.... It imparts the binding power to
all things falling under its direct rays (“Isis Unveiled,” pp. 208–210).
Another Jesuit, Jacobo Grandamico (1588–1672), published in 1645, “Nova
demonstratio immobilitatis terræ petita ex virtute magnetica,” wherein
he shares fully the views of Niccolas Cabæus, Athanasius Kircher,
Vincentus Leotaudus and others of the same Order relative to the
earth’s magnetism (Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. VIII. p. 1445).
REFERENCES.--“Journal des Sçavans” pour 1665 et 1666, pp.
519–525, 571–578; “Nouveau Larousse,” par Claude Augé, Paris,
Vol. V. p. 485; “Salmonsen ... konversationsleksikon,” 1900, p.
480; Van Swinden, “Recueil,” 1784, Vol. II. pp. 352, 361, 394,
and the different works named in Ronalds’s “Catalogue,” pp.
266–267; ninth ed. “Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. XIV. pp. 93–94.
=A.D. 1644.=--Digby (Sir Kenelme), the very famous Englishman to whom
allusion has already been made under the B.C. 600–580 entry, publishes,
in Paris, “Two Treatises, in the one of which the Nature of Bodies:
in the other, the nature of Man’s Soule is looked into: in Way of
Discovery of the Immortality of Reasonable Soules.”[45] In a chapter of
this work, entitled “Of the lodestone’s generation and its particular
motions,” appears the following interesting reference to Gilbert’s work
and reputation: “But to come to experimentall proofes and obseruations
vpon the loadstone by which it will appeare that these causes are well
esteemed and applyed, we must be beholding to that admirable searcher
of the nature of the loadstone, Doctor Gilbert: by means of whom and of
Doctor Haruey, our nation may claim euen in this latter age as deserued
a crowne for solide Philosophicall learning as for many ages together
it hath done formerly for acute and subtile Speculations in Diuinity.
But before I fall to particulars, I thinke it worth warning my
Reader, how this great man arriued to discouer so much of Magneticall
Philosophy; that he, likewise, if he be desirous to search into nature,
may, by imitation, advance his thoughts and knowledge that way. In
short, then, all the knowledge he gott of this subject was by forming
a little loadstone into the shape of the earth. By which meanes he
compassed a wonderful designe, which was to make the whole globe of the
earth maniable; for he found the properties of the whole earth in that
little body; which he therefore called a Terrella, or little earth;
and which he could manage and trye experiences vpon att his will. And,
in like manner, any man that hath an ayme to aduance much in naturall
sciences, must endeauour to draw the matter he inquireth of, into some
such modell, or some kinde of manageable methode; which he may turne
and winde as he pleaseth. And then lett him be sure, if he hath a
competent vnderstanding, that he will not misse of his marke.”
REFERENCES.--“The Private Memoirs of Sir Kenelme Digby,
Gentleman of the Bedchamber of King Charles I,” London, 1827;
“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XV. pp. 60–66; “New Gen. Biog.
Dict.,” London, 1850, Vol. XI. p. 390; “Gen. Biog. Dict.” of
Alex. Chalmers, London, 1811, pp. 70–78; “Emerson’s Works,”
London, 1873, Vol. II. p. 35; “The Library” for April 1902, has,
at pp. 131–132, the arms of the Digbys.
=A.D. 1644.=--Descartes (René), a prominent French philosopher
and mathematician, publishes his “Principia Philosophiæ,” divided
into four parts; the first giving an exposition of the principles of
all human knowledge, the second treating of the principles of natural
things, and the third and fourth parts developing his theory of
vortices. His main idea was that a rush of subtle matter passes very
rapidly through the earth from the equator towards each pole, being
opposed by magnetic substances throughout its passage and that the sun
is the centre of a vortex of an ethereal fluid, whose whirling motion
produces the revolution of planets about the sun, or around the fixed
stars. Moreover, as Noad states it, “the vortex moves with the greatest
facility in a particular direction, one of its ends being always turned
toward the north.”
One of the most prominent fellow-students of Descartes was Marin
Mersenne, who joined the religious Order of “Minimes,” and who, after
publishing in 1634 and 1639 “Les Mécaniques de Galilée” and “Nouvelles
Découvertes de Galilée,” brought out, during the years 1644 and 1647,
his well-known “Cogitata physico-mathematica,” which, Montucla says,
contains _un océan d’observations de toutes espèces_ ... and embraces
a very interesting treatise on navigation besides many letters from
leading scientists of that period not elsewhere to be found.
REFERENCES.--“La grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XXIII. pp. 730–731;
Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. XI. p. 94; “Biographie Générale,” Vol.
XXXV. pp. 118–123; “The English Cyclopædia,” Vol. IV. p. 206;
Alex. Chalmers, “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” London, 1811, Vol. XXII.
pp. 81–83; “Biographie Universelle,” Vol. X. pp. 465–473;
Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sc.,” Vol. I. pp. 323, 328, 338,
339, 343, 354, 387, 423, 429, 430; Vol. II. p. 220; likewise
pp. 320 and 390 of Vol. I. relative to Le Père Marin Mersenne
and pp. 391 and 423 concerning the “Traité de Physique” of
James Rohault; Playfair’s Fourth Dissertation in the eighth
edition of the “Encycl. Britann.”; “Essai théorique ... des
connaissances humaines,” par G. Tiberghien, Bruxelles, 1844,
Vol. I. pp. 472–495; Dr. W. Windelband, “History of Philosophy,”
New York, 1893, pp. 380–381, 391–396; Dr. F. Ueberweg, “History
of Philosophy,” New York, 1885, Vol. II. pp. 41–55; Alfred
Weber, “History of Philosophy,” translated by Frank Thilly, New
York, 1896, pp. 305–323; Ruard Andala, “Descartes in reality
the overturner of Spinosism and the architect of experimental
Philosophy”; Erasmus Bartholinus, “De Cometis,” Copenhagen,
1664–1665 (“Biog. Univ.”; Weidler, p. 508) Mahaffy, 1880;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gen.,” Vol. II. for Descartes, p.
119, and for Mersenne, p. 204; “Journal des Savants” for Feb.
1826, p. 103, for Feb. 1827, p. 110, also for Aug.-Oct. 1850,
Dec. 1860, Jan.-Feb. 1861, Oct.-Nov. 1869, Feb., April and July
1870, Mar.-April 1880, Aug. 1884, April 1898, Feb. 1899.
=A.D. 1646.=--Browne (Sir Thomas), an eminent English physician
and writer, publishes the well-known treatise “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,
or Inquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors,” which ran through six
editions in twenty-seven years, and upon which his fame is principally
established.
With regard to the possibility of such a magnetic telegraph as Strada
speaks of he says (Book II. chap. iii.): “The conceit is excellent
and, if the effect would follow, somewhat divine; whereby we might
communicate like spirits, and confer on earth with Menippus in the
moon. And this is pretended from the sympathy of two needles, touched
with the same loadstone, and placed in the centre of two abecedary
circles or rings, with letters described round about them, one friend
keeping one and another keeping the other, and agreeing upon the hour
when they will communicate, at what distance of place soever, when one
needle shall be removed unto another letter, the other, by wonderful
sympathy, will move unto the same.”
As the result of experiment, he found that “though the needles were
separated but half a span, when one was moved the other would stand
like the pillars of Hercules, and if the earth stand still, have surely
no motion at all.... By electrical bodies,” he says, “I understand not
such as are metallical, mentioned by Pliny and the ancients; for their
_electrum_ was a mixture made of gold, with the addition of a fifth
part of silver; a substance now as unknown as true _aurichalcum_, or
_Corinthian_ brass, and set down among things lost by Pancirollus. Nor
by electric bodies do I imagine such only as take up shavings, straws
and light bodies, amongst which the ancients placed only _jet_ and
_amber_, but such as, conveniently placed unto their objects, attract
all bodies palpable whatsoever. I say conveniently placed, that is, in
regard of the object, that it be not too ponderous or any way affixed;
in regard of the agent, that it be not foul or sullied, but wiped,
rubbed and excitated; in regard of both, that they be conveniently
distant, and no impediment interposed. I say, all bodies palpable,
thereby excluding fire, which indeed it will not attract, nor yet
draw through it, for fire consumes its effluxions by which it should
attract.”
The different chapters of this second book treat of the loadstone, of
bodies magnetical and electrical, of magnetical rocks and attractive
mountains, and also make allusion to the cross on the church of St.
John in Ariminium, to the reported magnetical suspension of Mahomet’s
tomb, etc. etc.
At pp. 64, 81 and 87 of Chap. II he says: “Neither is it onely true,
what Gilbertus first observed, that irons refrigerated North and
South acquire a directive faculty; but if they be cooled upright and
perpendicularly, they will also obtain the same.... Now this kind
of practice, Libavius, Gilbertus and lately Swickardus, condemn, as
vain and altogether unuseful; because a loadstone in powder hath no
attractive power; for, in that form, it omits the polarity and loseth
those parts which are the rule of attraction.... Glasse attracts but
weakely though cleere, some slick stones and thick glasses attract
indifferently; Arsenic not at all; Saltes generally but weakely, as Sal
Gemma, Allum and also Talke, nor very discoverably by any frication;
but, if gently warmed at the fire and wiped with a dry cloth, they will
better develop their Electricities.”
At Chapter XVII of the seventh book of the above-mentioned treatise,
Browne makes allusion to “the story of Frier Bacon that made a Brazen
Head to speak these words: “_Time is_....”
REFERENCES.--“Library of Literary Criticism,” Chas. Wells
Moulton, Vol. II. p. 339–345; “Fortnightly Review,” for Oct.
1905, pp. 616–626, “Sir Thomas Browne and his Family”; Edmund
Gosse, in the “English Men of Letters Series”; Browne’s “Letter”
inserted in the “Biographia Britannica,” also his entire works,
recognized as an encyclopædia of contemporary knowledge, and
which were published in four octavo volumes by Simon Wilkins,
F.S.A., London, 1836.
=A.D. 1653.=--In the third edition of “The Jewell House of Arte and
Nature,” by Sir Hugh Plat, originally published in 1594, and wrongly
attributed in Weston’s “Catalogue” to Gabriel Plattes, is to be found
the following allusion to the loadstone: “And though the adamant be the
hardest of all stones, yet is it softened with Goa’s blood and there
is a special antipathy between that and the loadstone, which is of the
colour of rusty iron, and hath an admirable vertue not onely to draw
iron to it self, but also to make any iron upon which it is rubbed to
draw iron also, it is written notwithstanding that being rubbed with
the juyce of Garlick, it loseth that vertue and cannot then draw iron,
as likewise if a Diamond be layed close unto it.”
This “special antipathy” of garlick, and of the diamond--whether or not
the latter be softened with Goa’s (goat’s) blood--is treated of very
fully by many other authors, notably:
Pliny, “Nat. Hist.,” Holland tr. 1601, Chap. IV. p. 610;
Plutarch, “Quæstones Platonicæ,” lib. vii. cap. 7; Claudius
Ptolemæus, “Opus Quadripartitum,” lib. i. cap. 3; St. Augustine,
“De Civitate Dei,” lib. xxi.; Bartholom. de Glanvilla, “Liber de
Proprietatibus Rerum,” lib. xvi.; Pietro di Abano, “Conciliator
Differentiarum,” 1520, pp. 72–73, or the Venice edition of 1526,
cap. 51; Joannes Ruellius, “De Natura Stirpium,” 1536, pp. 125,
530; Ibn Roschd’s “Comment on Aristotle,” 1550, T. IV. p. 143t;
Cardinal de Cusa, “Opera,” 1565, p. 175; C. Julius Solinus,
“De Memorabilibus,” cap. 64; Walter Charleton, “A Ternary of
Paradoxes,” London, 1650, pp. 40–41; Thomas Browne, “Pseudodoxia
Epidemica,” 1658, p. 74; G. B. Porta, “Naturall Magick,” 1658,
Chap. XLVIII and Chap. LIII--from both of which chapters
extracts appear at the A.D. 1558 entry; “Journal des Savants”
for January 1894; Chas. de Rémusat, “Hist. de la Philos.,”
Paris, 1878, Vol. II. p. 187.
Rohault--at p. 186 of his 1728 “Syst. of Nat. Phil.”--says: “As to what
some writers have related, that a loadstone will not attract iron if
there be a diamond near and that onions and garlic will make it lose
its vertue; these are contradicted by a thousand experiments which I
have tried. For I have shown that this stone will attract iron through
the very thickest diamonds and through a great many thick skins which
an onion is made up of.”
REFERENCES.--“Dict. of Nat. Biography,” Vol. XLV. pp. 407–409,
giving many particulars; J. B. J. Delambre, at A.D. 1635. For
Gabriel Plattes, see the same “Dict. of Nat. Biography,” Vol.
XLV. p. 410.
=A.D. 1657.=--Schott (Gaspar)--P. Gaspar Schott--a German Jesuit
who was sent to teach natural philosophy and mathematics at Palermo,
Sicily, is the author of several very curious works on physics, of
which the most important alone will here be noted.
“Magiæ Universalis Naturæ et Artis,” etc., appeared at Herbipoli in
1657, 1658, 1659. In the first book of the fourth volume (or part) he
indicates, according to Kircher, whom he had met while in Rome, the
means of conveying one’s thoughts at a distance by the loadstone, and
he alludes to the speaking head constructed by Albertus Magnus, while,
in the third and fourth books of the same volume, he gives a long
treatise on the loadstone as well as an account of numerous experiments
made with it.
“De Arte Mechanica,” etc. (“Mechanicæ,” etc.), Herbipoli, 1657–1658,
contains, in Part II. class i. p. 314, the first published notice of
Von Guericke’s experiments.
“Physica Curiosa sive Mirabilia Naturæ,” etc., Herbipoli, 1662 (which
may justly be considered a continuation of the “Magiæ Universalis”),
treats in the eleventh book of St. Elmo’s fire, thunder and meteors in
general.
“Technica Curiosa sive Mirabilia Naturæ,” etc., Herbipoli, 1664,
alludes, in the first two books, to the experiments made by Von
Guericke and by Boyle, and gives the contents of eight letters written
him by the first named.
“Schola Steganographica,” etc., Norimbergæ, 1665, gives, at pp.
258–264, a description of the dial telegraph of Daniell Schwenter.
“Jocoseriorum Naturæ et Artis,” etc., published about 1666, alludes to
the “Thaumaturgus Mathematicus” of Gaspar Ens, published at Cologne,
1651, as well as to the “Deliciæ Physico-Mathematicæ” of Daniell
Schwenter and Geo. Philippi Harsdoerffer (Senator of Nuremberg), to
“La Récréation Mathématique” of Jean Leurechon, and to the works of
Cardan, Mizauld, Aldrovandi and others.
REFERENCES.--“Notice Raisonnée des Ouvrages de Gaspar Schott,”
par M. L’Abbé Mxxx de St. Léger de Soissons, Paris, 1785, pp. 6,
31, 32, 37, 44, 70; Muirhead’s translation of Arago’s Eloge de
James Watt, London, 1839, p. 51.[46]
=A.D. 1660.=--Guericke (Otto von), a burgomaster of Magdeburg,
Prussian Saxony, constructs the first frictional electric machine. It
consisted of a globe of sulphur, cast in a glass sphere, and mounted
upon a revolving axis, which when rubbed by a cloth pressed against
it by the hand, emitted both sound and light. It was Guericke who
“heard the first sound and saw the first light in artificially excited
electricity.” He proved that light bodies, when attracted by an excited
electric, were immediately repelled by the latter and became incapable
of a second attraction until touched by some other body; also that
light bodies develop electrical excitation when suspended within the
sphere of an excited electric.
REFERENCES.--“Experimenta Nova Magdeburgica,” 1672, lib.
iv, cap. 15, p. 147, also all relating to the sulphur globe
reproduced from the “Experimenta Nova” at end of Figuier’s
“Exposition et Histoire,” etc., Vol. IV. Paris, 1857; Moncony,
Voyages, 1665; Schott (Gaspar), “Technica Curiosa,” etc.,
Norimbergæ, 1664; “Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Mathem.,”
Leipzig, 1898, Vol. VIII. pp. 69–112, for the two articles
by Ferdinand Rosenberger on the development of the electric
machine, etc., from the time of Von Guericke.
=A.D. 1660.=--At the meeting of the English Royal Society, held
June 5, 1660, Magnetical Remedies were discoursed of. Sir Gilbert
Talbot promised to bring in what he knew of _sympatheticall
cures_, and those who possessed any _powder of sympathy_ were
requested to fetch some at the next meeting.
=A.D. 1661.=--Somerset (Edward), second Marquis of Worcester, an
English inventor, announces, in his “Century of Inventions” that
he has discovered “a method by which at a window as far as the eye
can discover black from white, a man may hold discourse with his
correspondent, without noise made or notice taken; being, according
to occasion given, or means afforded, _ex re nata_, and no need of
provision beforehand: though much better if foreseen, and course taken
by mutual consent of parties.” This method, he asserts, he can put
into practice “by night as well as by day, though as dark as pitch is
black.”
REFERENCES.--Dircks’ “Life of Worcester,” p. 357; “Dictionary of
National Biography,” Vol. LIII. pp. 232–237.
=A.D. 1662.=--Rupert (Prince Robert), of Bavaria, son of Frederick
V, elector palatine, and one of the founders of the Royal Society of
London, is credited with the discovery of the curious glass bubbles
called “Rupert’s drops.” These are merely drops of glass thrown, when
melted, into water, and thus becoming suddenly consolidated into a
shape somewhat resembling the form of a tear. The globular end may be
subjected to quite a smart stroke without breaking, but if a particle
of the tail is nipped off, the whole flies into fine powder with almost
explosive violence.
“Mr. Peter did show us the experiment (which I had heard talked of) of
the chymicall glasses, which break all to dust by breaking off a little
small end; which is a great mystery to me” (Samuel Pepys, “Diary,”
January 13, 1662).
Sir David Brewster discovered that the fracture of these unannealed
drops was accompanied by the evolution of electrical light, which
appears even when they are broken under water. Mr. Bennet observed
that when one of the drops was placed upon a book, the latter was
electrified negatively.
REFERENCES.--The articles on “Annealing,” “Optics,” and
“Electricity” in the “Encyclopædia Britannica”; also the
biography in “Penny Cycl.,” Vol. XX. pp. 226–227; Le Cat,
“Memoir,” London, 1749–1750, or _Philos. Trans._, XLVI. p. 175.
=A.D. 1665.=--Grimaldi (Francesco Maria), Italian philosopher
(1618–1663), member of the Order of Jesuits and an associate of the
astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli (at A.D. 1270) is the author of
the important work “Physico mathesis de Lumine ...” which cites the
discovery of magnetism produced by the perpendicular holding of an iron
bar.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._ for 1665; “Engl. Cycl.,” article
“Biography,” Vol. CXI. p. 207; Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. VIII,
p. 1531. And, for Riccioli’s works, see Houzeau et Lancaster,
“Bibliog. Gén.,” Vol. III. p. 238; “Journ. des Sçavans” pour
1665 et 1666, pp. 642–647.
=A.D. 1665.=--Glanvill (Joseph), an eminent English divine and
philosopher, Chaplain to King Charles II and F.R.S., sometimes
called “Sadducismus Triumphatus Glanvill,” endorses in his “Scepsis
Scientifica” (“the vanity of dogmatizing recast”)--published originally
in 1661--the views advanced previously by the Jesuit Leurechon, and,
after discussing the objections of Sir Thomas Browne, expresses the
belief that “to confer at the distance of the Indies by sympathetic
conveyances may be as usual to future times as to us in literary
correspondence.”
A writer in the “Bath Chronicle” reproduced a long extract from
Glanvill’s work, the concluding sentence of which, he says, seems to
have anticipated the electric telegraph. It is as follows: “But yet
to advance another instance. That men should confer at very distant
removes by an extemporary intercourse is a reputed impossibility; but
yet there are some hints in natural operations that give us probability
that ’tis feasible, and may be compassed without unwarrantable
assistance from demoniack correspondence. That a couple of needles
equally touched by the same magnet, being set in two dials exactly
proportioned to each other, and circumscribed by the letters of the
alphabet, may effect this ‘magnale’ (_i. e._ important result)
hath considerable authorities to avouch it.
“The manner of it is thus represented: Let the friends that would
communicate take each a dial, and, having appointed a time for their
sympathetic conference, let one move his impregnate needle to any
letter in the alphabet, and its affected fellow will precisely respect
the same. So that, would I know what my friend would acquaint me with,
’tis but observing the letters that are pointed at by my needle, and
in their order transcribing them from their sympathized index, as its
motion directs; and I may be assured that my friend described the same
with his, and that the words on my paper are of his inditing. Now,
though there will be some ill-contrivance in a circumstance of this
invention, in that the thus impregnate needles will not move to, but
avert from each other (as ingenious Dr. Browne hath observed), yet this
cannot prejudice the main design of this way of secret conveyance;
since it is but reading counter to the magnetic informer, and noting
the letter which is most distant in the Abecederian circle from that
which the needle turns to, and the case is not altered.
“Now, though this desirable effect may possibly not yet answer the
expectations of inquisitive experiment, yet ’tis no despicable item,
that by some other such way of magnetick efficiency it may hereafter
with success be attempted, when magical history shall be enlarged by
riper inspections; and ’tis not unlikely but that present discoveries
might be improved to the performance.”
Glanvill is also the author of “Philosophical Considerations Touching
Witches and Witchcraft,” 1666, and of “The Sadducismus Triumphatus,”
1681.
REFERENCES.--“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” 1908, Vol. VII. pp. 1287–8;
Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. VIII. pp. 1294–1295; “Nature,” Vol. XVI.
p. 269; “Histoire de la Philosophie,” par Charles de Rémusat,
Paris, 1878, Vol. II. chap. xi. pp. 184–201; “The General
Biog. Dict.,” Alex. Chalmers, London, 1811, Vol. XVI. pp.
12–17; “Joseph Glanvill,” by Ferris Greenslet, New York, 1905;
“Imperial Dict. of Universal Biography,” Vol. II. p. 642.
=A.D. 1666.=--Denys (William), hydrographer, of Dieppe, observes
that the compasses placed in different parts of a vessel give different
indications (Becquerel, “Magnétisme,” p. 119; “Journal des Sçavans”
pour 1665 et 1666, p. 538).
=A.D. 1671.=--Richer (T.), French philosopher, who was sent by
the Paris Academy of Sciences to the island of Cayenne for the purpose
of determining the amount of terrestrial refraction and for other
astronomical objects, is the first to make known the electrical powers
of the _gymnotus electricus_.
REFERENCES.--Leithead, “Electricity,” Chap. XII; Fahie, “El.
Tel.,” p. 171; Bertholon, “Elec. du Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol. I.
p. 171; _Mém. de l’Acad. des Sciences_, 1677, Art. VI; Richer,
“Observations,” etc., Paris, 1679; Bancroft, at A.D. 1769;
“Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. pp. 23–24.
=A.D. 1671.=--Rohault (Jacques), a French philosophical writer,
and one of the earliest, ablest and most active propagators of the
Cartesian philosophy in France, publishes at Paris the first edition
of his “Traité de Physique,” at Part III. chap. viii. pp. 198–236 of
which he treats especially of amber and of the loadstone. The same
passages can be seen at Vol. II. part iii. chap. viii. pp. 163, etc.,
of Rohault’s “System of Natural Philosophy,” published in London during
the year 1723, and at the same chapter, pp. 388, etc., of “Jacobi
Rohaulti Physica,” Londini, 1718.
The latter is the last and best edition of the well-known classical
translation, originally made in 1697, by Dr. Samuel Clarke, who was the
friend of Sir Isaac Newton and chaplain to Bishop Moore, of Norwich.
Through this work Clarke introduced very many critical notes exposing
the fallacies of the Cartesian system. The “Physica” passed through
four editions as the Cambridge University textbook before it was made
to give way to the treatises of Newton.
=A.D. 1672.=--Sturm (John Christopher), a very able German
mathematician, who was for thirty-four years professor of natural
philosophy at the University of Altdorf (Franconia), and who,
after vainly attempting to satisfactorily unite the Aristotelian
and Cartesian doctrines finally adopted the Baconian philosophy,
establishes the “Collegium Curiosum” on the plan of the celebrated
Italian “Accademia del Cimento,” alluded to under the A.D.
1609 date.
The society was founded for the purpose of studying, repeating and
even modifying the most notable philosophical experiments of the
day, such as those made by Von Guericke, Boyle, Hooke and others, and
its proceedings were published in 1676 and 1685 under the title of
“Collegium Experimental sive Curiosum, etc.”
=A.D. 1673.=--Hevelius--Hevel--Hovel--Hövelke (Joannes), an eminent
Polish astronomer, member of the English Royal Society, and a great
friend more particularly of le Père M. Mersenne, of Gassendi and
of Kircher, publishes during 1673 the first part of his great work
“Machina Cœlestis”--dedicated to Louis XIV--the entire second part of
which, issued in 1679, was destroyed by fire with the exception of
seven copies. This explains its extreme scarcity. It was this work
which led to the public controversy between Hevelius and Dr. Hooke
who published, in London, during 1674 his “Animad. in Mach. Celest.
Hevelii.”
It is said that, next to John Flamsteed, Hevelius was the most accurate
observer of the heavens in his day (“The Reliquary,” London, Vol. XIV.
pp. 149–159 and Vol. XV. pp. 34–38; “Journal des Savants” for March,
June and November 1836). He had already published “De Variatione acus
magneticæ” (_Opusc. Act. Erudit. Lips._, Vol. I. p. 103), also a
report of the variations of the magnetical needle during 1670, which
can be found in the _Phil. Trans._, Vol. V. for 1670, p. 2059, or
in Hutton’s abridgments, London, 1809, Vol. I. p. 514.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. IX. pp. 266–267; “Biog.
Gén.,” Vol. XXV. pp. 285–294; Delambre, “Hist. de l’Astron.
Mod.,” Vol. II. pp. 434–484; Weidler, “Hist. Astron.,” p. 485;
“Mem. Roy. Soc.,” 1739, Vol. I. p. 274.
=A.D. 1675.=--Boyle (Robert), Irish natural philosopher and
chemist, seventh son of Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, and one of the
first members of what he calls the “Invisible” or “Philosophical”
College, which has since become the Royal Society,[47] gives, in
his “Philosophical Works,” the result of his many experiments upon
magnetism and electricity.
John Evelyn in his letter to Mr. Wotton, March 30, 1695 (“Memoirs,
Diary and Correspondence,” by Wm. Bray, London, p. 716), says of Boyle:
“It must be confess’d that he had a marvailous sagacity in finding out
many usefull and noble experiments. Never did stubborn matter come
under his inquisition but he extorted a confession of all that lay in
her most intimate recesses; and what he discover’d he as faithfully
register’d, and frankly communicated....”
Prof. Tyndall remarks (“Lecture,” February 4, 1875): “The tendency
to physical theory showed itself in Boyle. He imagined that the
electrified body threw out a glutinous or unctuous effluvium, which
laid hold of small bodies, and, in its return to the source from which
it emanated, carried them along with it.”
A few of his many characteristic remarks and observations are, however,
best given in his own words, as extracted from the “Philosophical
Works” above alluded to:
“The invention of the mariner’s needle, which giveth the direction, is
no less benefit for navigation than the invention of the sails, which
give the motion” (London, 1738, Vol. I. p. 62).
“I, with a certain body (rough diamond), not bigger than a pea, but
very vigorously attractive, moved a steel needle, freely poised, about
three minutes after I had left off rubbing it” (Vol. I. p. 508).
Speaking elsewhere of his experiments with diamonds, he says: “But when
I came to apply it (the loadstone) to one more, which look’d somewhat
duller than almost any of the rest, I found that it had in it particles
enough of an iron nature to make it a magnetical body and observed
without surprise that not only it would suffer itself to be taken up
by the strongest pole of the loadstone, but when the pole was offer’d
within a convenient distance it would readily leap through the air to
fasten itself to it.”
“I removed a piece of amber in the sunbeams till they had made it
moderately hot and then found it would attract those light bodies it
would not stir before” (Vol. I. p. 400, and Vol. III. p. 52).
“Whether from such experiments one may argue that it is but, as it
were, by accident that amber attracts another body, and not this the
amber; and whether these ought to make us question, if _electrics
may_, with so much propriety, as has been generally supposed, _be
said to attract_, are doubts, that my design does not oblige me to
examine” (Vol. IV. p. 350).
REFERENCES.--John Evelyn’s “Diary,” Letter to Mr. Wotton, March
30, 1696; Libes’ “Histoire Phil. du Progrès de la Physique,”
Paris, 1810; Boyle’s “Mechanical Origine or Production of
Electricity,” 1675; Birch, “Life of Hon. R. Boyle,” 1743–1744;
Secondat’s “Histoire d’Electricité” (Observations physiques),
1750, p. 141; Whewell, “Hist. of Ind. Sciences,” 1859, Vol. I.
pp. 395, 396. Priestley’s “History of Electricity,” 1775, pp.
5–8; M. Reael, “Observ. a. d. Magnectsteen,” 1651, alluded to
at note, p. 486, Vol. I. of Van Swinden’s 1784 “Recueil,” etc.;
Van Swinden, Vol. II. pp. 353, 359–361; “Biblioth. Britan.”
(Authors), Robt. Watt, Edinburgh, 1824, Vol. I. pp. 142–3;
Aikin’s “G. Biography,” and Martin’s “Biog. Philosophica,”
in “General Biog. Dict.,” by John Gorton, London, 1833, Vol.
I; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. VIII for 1673, p. 6101 and Hutton’s
abridg., Vol. II. p. 90; Boyle, London, 1673, “Essays of the
... Effluviums” (Subtility), pp. 38–42, 52–53; (Efficacy) pp.
18, 19, 32, 33; (Determinate Nature) pp. 21, 57; “An Essay ...
of Gems,” London, 1672, pp. 108–129; Ch. W. Moulton, “Library
of Literary Criticism,” Vol. II. pp. 416–420; “Critical Dict.
of Engl. Lit.,” S. Austin Allibone, Philad., 1888, Vol. I.
pp. 232–233; “Essays in Historical Chemistry,” T. E. Thorpe,
London, 1894, pp. 1–27; Eighth “Britannica,” V. p. 259 for notes
of Boerhaave, also the “Britannica” 1st Dissertation, p. 47,
and 4th Dissertation p. 597; “History and Heroes of the Art of
Medicine,” J. Rutherfurd Russell, London, 1861, pp. 233–246.
Consult also Boyle’s “New Exper. Physico-Mechanical,” etc.,
in which the 16th Exp. is “concerning the operation of the
loadstone”; Boyle’s “A Continuation of New Exp.,” etc., in which
the 31st Exp. is “about the attractive virtue of the loadstone
in an exhausted receiver,” and in which are “Notes, etc.,
about the atmospheres of consistent bodies,” etc., as well as
“Observations about the exciting of the electricity of bodies,”
and concerning the electrical emanations and effluviums. Boyle’s
“Tracts Containing Some Suspicions Concerning some Occult
Qualities of the Air; with an Appendix Touching Celestial
Magnets,” etc. His “Phil. Works,” London, 1744, Vol. III. pp.
65, 67 and 70, 647, etc., give “Experiments and Notes about the
Mechanical Origin or Production of Electricity.”
For full accounts of the Royal Society, alluded to above, see
the histories written by Thomas Sprat (1667), by Thomas Birch
(1756), by Thomas Thomson (1812), and by Chas. Richard Weld
(1847–1848).
=A.D. 1675.=--Picard (Jean), eminent astronomer, who succeeded
Gassendi (A.D. 1632) as professor of astronomy at the Collège
de France, is the first to observe electric light _in vacuo_.
According to Tyndall (“Lessons in Electricity,” p. 88) it was while
carrying a barometer from the Observatory to the Porte Saint-Michel
in Paris that he noticed light in the vacuous portion. Sebastien and
Cassini observed it afterwards in other barometers (see Tyndall’s
“Lecture V.” p. 91, for Priestley’s description of the electric light
_in vacuo_).
It was this same scientist who had already given, in his “Mesure de
la Terre,” 1671, Article IV, the description of the measurement of a
degree of latitude made with instruments of his own manufacture.
REFERENCES.--Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. pp. 23, 24;
Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. XII. p. 937; “Phil. Hist. and Mem. of
the Roy. Acad. at Paris,” London, 1742, Vol. I. pp. 208–221.
=A.D. 1675.=--Newton (Sir Isaac), prominent English mathematician
and natural philosopher, of whom Macaulay says that “in no other mind
have the demonstrative faculty and the inductive faculty coexisted in
such supreme excellence and perfect harmony,” communicates to the Royal
Society his discovery that excited glass will attract any light bodies
even to the surface opposite to that upon which it has been rubbed.
This was successfully demonstrated by the Society, January 31, 1676.
He improved the electric machine by substituting a glass globe for
the globe of sulphur made use of by both Von Guericke and Boyle, the
rubbers in every case being the hands of the operator.
He appears to have somewhat anticipated Franklin’s great discovery,
judging by the following letter he addressed, December 15, 1716, to the
Rev. Dr. Law, in Suffolk:
“Dear Doctor,” it begins, “He that in ye mine of knowledge
deepest diggeth, hath, like every other miner ye least breathing
time, and must sometimes at least come to terr; alt (terra
alta) for air. In one of these respiratory intervals I now sit
doune to write to you, my friend. You ask me how, with so much
study, I manage to retene my health. Ah, my dear doctor, you
have a better opinion of your lazy friend than he hath himself.
Morpheus is my best companion; without eight or nine hours
of him ye correspondent is not worth one Scavenger’s peruke.
My practizes did at ye first hurt my stomach, but now I eat
heartily enow, as y’ will see when I come down beside you. I
have been much amused by ye singular φενομενα resulting from
bringing a needle into contact with a piece of amber or resin
fricated on silke clothe. Ye flame putteth me in mind of sheet
lightning on a small--how very small--scale. But I shall in my
epistles abjure philosophy, whereof when I come down to Sakly
I’ll give you enow. I begin to scrawl at five mins. from nine of
ye clk, and have in writing consumed ten mins. My Lord Somerset
is announced.”
Æther, according to Sir Isaac Newton, is a thin subtile matter much
finer and rarer than air. Sometimes, it is termed by him, a subtil
spirit, as in the latter part of his “Principia,” and sometimes a
subtil ætherial medium, as in his “Optics.” By many it is supposed to
pervade all space, also the interior of solid bodies, and to be the
medium of the transmission of light and heat. The æther of Descartes
was his _materia subtilis_ or his First Element: by which he
understood a “most subtil matter very swiftly agitated, fluid, and
keeps to no certain figure, but which suits itself to the figure of
those bodies that are about it. His Second Element consists of small
Globules; that is, bodies exactly round and very solid, which do not
only, like the First Element, fill up the pores of bodies but also
constitute the purest substance of the Æther and Heaven” (Blome’s
translation of Descartes’ “Philosophy,” p. 101; R. Lovett, “The Subtil
Medium Prov’d”; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XVIII. p. 155).
During the years 1686 and 1687 Newton composed his “Principia,” a
work which Lagrange pronounced “la plus haute production de l’esprit
humain”: “the greatest work on science ever produced” (Sir Robt. Ball),
and “which will be memorable not only in the annals of one science or
of one country, but which will form an epoch in the history of the
world.” This was published at Halley’s expense. As Brewster says (1686,
Chap. XII): “It is to Halley alone that science owes this debt of
gratitude. It was he who tracked Newton to his college, who drew from
him his great discoveries, and who generously gave them to the world.”
In the twenty-third proposition of the second book, fifth section,
Newton says: “The virtue of the magnet is contracted by the
interposition of an iron plate and is almost terminated at it, for
bodies further off are not so much attracted by the magnet as by the
iron plate.” And in Book III. prop. vi. he thus expresses himself:
“The magnetic attraction is not as the matter attracted; some bodies
are attracted more by the magnet, others less; most bodies not at all.
The power of magnetism in one and the same body may be increased and
diminished, and is sometimes far stronger for the quantity of matter
than the power of gravity; and in receding from the magnet decreases,
not in the duplicate, but almost in the triplicate proportion of the
distance, as nearly as I could judge from some rude observations.”
Newton is said to have carried in his ring a magnet weighing but three
grains, which could raise 746 grains, or nearly 250 times its own
weight. This magnet naturally excited much admiration, but is greatly
surpassed in power by that formerly belonging to Sir John Leslie,
and now in the Physical Collection at Edinburgh, weighing three and
one-half grains, and having a carrying power of 1560 grains.
REFERENCES.--Brewster’s “Life of Sir I. Newton,” pp. 307, 308;
“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XL. pp. 370–393; Ch. W. Moulton,
“Library of Literary Criticism,” Vol. II. pp. 710–726; “Bibl.
Britan.” (Authors), Robt. Watt, Edinburgh, 1824, Vol. II., p.
701; Harris, “Magnetism,” Vol. III. p. 11; Ninth “Britannica,”
Vol. XV. p. 274; Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sciences,” 1858,
Vol. I. pp. 385–488; the interesting note at foot of p. 683
of the Fourth Dissertation in the “Encyclopædia Britannica”;
“Muspratt’s Chemistry,” Vol. II. p. 255; the English “Chemical
News” for November 1867, and January 1868, reproducing Sir David
Brewster’s letters to the London “Athenæum” and London “Times,”
likewise Dr. Crompton’s paper read before the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society in October 1866; _Phil.
Trans._, Vol. LXIV. Part I for 1774, p. 153: “Remarks of John
Winthrop upon ... Castillione’s Life of Sir Isaac Newton”; Dr.
Geo. Miller, “Hist. Phil. Ill.,” London, 1849, Vol. III. pp.
414–415; “Newton, sa vie et ses œuvres” in “Cosmos,” September
27, 1890 to December 13, 1890; “Journal des Savants” for April,
May and June 1832; for April 1846, March, April, May, June, July
and August 1852, October, November 1855; Houzeau et Lancaster,
“Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II, 1882, pp. 213–214, 1586; “Hist. de la
Philosophie,” par Chas. de Rémusat, Paris, 1878, Vol. II. chap.
xii. pp. 202–222.
=A.D. 1676.=--Haward, master of several sailing vessels, and a man
of good credit (_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XI. No. 127, p. 647, of July
18, 1676), states that “being on board of the ship Albemarle, July
24, 1641 ... in latitude of Bermuda ... after a terrible clap of
thunder ... it was found that the compass card was turned around, the
N. and S. points having changed positions and, though Mr. Grofton
brought with his finger the flower-de-lys to point directly N., it
would immediately, as soon as at liberty, return to this new unusual
posture, and upon examination he found every compass (three) in the
ship of the same humour; which ... he could impute to nothing else
but the operation of the lightning or thunder mentioned.” The above
is also alluded to at p. 33 of Vol. III. of Boyle’s “Phil. Works,”
London, 1738, with this addition: “One of the compasses, pointing West,
was brought to New England, where, the glass being broke and the air
gaining entrance, it lost its virtue. But one of the others is in that
country possess’d by Mr. Encrease Mather, the North point of the needle
remaining South to this day.”
=A.D. 1677.=--At p. 14 of an exceedingly curious publication
entitled “A Rich Cabinet with a Variety of Inventions,” etc., written
by J. W. (_i. e._ John White, of London), who calls himself “a
lover of artificial conclusions,” will be found an article on “Divers
rare, conceited motions performed by a magnet or loadstone.”
=A.D. 1678.=--Redi (Francesco), well-known Italian scientist,
physician to the Grand Duke Ferdinand II, publishes his “Experimenta
circa res diversas Naturales,” wherein he is first to communicate the
fact that the shock of the _raia torpedo_ can be transmitted to
the fisherman through the line and rod connecting him with the fish.
REFERENCES.--Leithead, “Electricity,” Chap. XII; the Firenze,
1671 ed. of Redi’s “Esperienze,” etc., pp. 47–54; _Phil. Trans._
for 1673, Vol. VIII. p. 6003; _Sci. Am. Supp._, No. 457, pp.
7300–7302; Matteucci, “Recherches,” 1837 and 1867; Eschinardi
(F. della Compagnia di Gesü), “Lettera al S. Francesco Redi,”
Roma, 1681, wherein are detailed many curious experiments,
including some treating of the magnetic needle by which agency
are foretold sudden attacks of earthquakes, etc. etc.
=A.D. 1679.=--Maxwell (William)--Guillelmo Maxvello--native of
Scotland, author of “Medicina Magnetica,” offers to prove to various
medical faculties that, with certain magnetic means at his disposal,
he could cure any of the diseases abandoned by them as incurable
(Blavatsky, “Isis,” Vol. I. p. 215).
REFERENCE.--J. H. Van Swinden, “Recueil de Mémoires,” etc., La
Haye, 1784, Vol. II. p. 367.
=A.D. 1683.=--Arrais (Edoardo Madeira), who had been physician
to--João--John IV, the first Portuguese king of the house of Braganza,
is the author of this much-delayed edition of a book entitled “Arbor
Vitæ, or a physical account of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.”
It treats of occult qualities under the headings of “Doubts,” of which
latter there are eight separate ones which constitute as many different
chapters, from which the following extracts will prove interesting:
“Doubt” 5, p. 45. “Doth not the fish called _Torpedo_ render the
fishes that swim over it immovable, and stupefy the fisher’s arm
with its virtue diffused along his spear?”
“Doubt” 5, p. 46. “... as also there are divers sorts of fishes
that bring numness, as our _Torpedo_ doth.”
“Doubt” 5, p. 49. “And those that travail the coasts of Brasile
make mention of another fish, which causeth numness as our
_Torpedo_ doth: whence it becomes sufficiently manifest that
there are many kinds of _Torpedoes_ to be found. But this kind
lives especially in the river Itapecuro, in the country of the
Maragnani, and it is called _Perache_, or, as Gaspar Barlæus
observed, _Puraquam_, among those Barbarians. In shape and
greatness it resembles a kind of lamprey (or Muræna); they
use to kill it by striking it with staves; but the arm of him
that strikes and then his whole body is stupefied, and shakes
presently. Of which thing, Frier Christopher Severineus, Bishop
elect of Angola is my ocular witness....”
“Doubt” 7, p. 93. “For it is evident from experience that iron
is so indisposed by some qualities that it cannot be moved by
the magnet. That fishes swimming over the _Torpedo_, enclosed in
the mud or sand for the purpose, when they come to the places
whereto the virtue of the _Torpedo_ is extended can stir no
further; by which art she catches and eats them, as Aristotle
relates (6 ‘de Hist. Animal.,’ cap. 10; and 9 ‘de Hist.,’ cap.
37).”
“Doubt” 7, p. 94. “For if amber be dulled by moisture, its
virtue cannot produce motion in straws. If the virtue of the
_Torpedo_ reach the fishes swimming over her, or the
fisher’s arm their motive power cannot produce motion.”
“Doubt” 7, p. 96. “And for this cause, the virtue of the magnet
can produce motion in iron, not in other bodies, because it
finds in it Dispositions necessary on the part of the agent
which, being present, it can operate; not in other things. And,
for the same reason, amber moves straws, not iron nor stones.”
The preface to the “Arbor Vitæ ...” is written by Richard Browner M.L.
Coll. Med., London, who translated out of Latin “The Cure of Old Age,”
by Roger Bacon, wherein he gives quite a good account of the latter’s
life and writings, and from which we extract but one passage likely
here to be of some little interest, viz. at p. 155, regarding the
component parts of a medicine: “By Amber here our author intends Amber
Gryse (a bituminous body found floating on the sea): For he calls it
Ambra and not Succinum (which is solid Amber). Besides, Succinum was
never reckoned a spice as Amber is here. And though both Ambra and
Succinum be great restorers of the animal spirits, yet the former is
more efficacious.”
The “Biographie Générale,” Vol. III. p. 348, says that Duarte Madeyra
Arraess, who died at Lisbon in 1652, was the author also of “Apologia,”
1638, of “Methodo,” 1642, and of “Novæ Philosophiæ,” 1650.
=A.D. 1683.=--Halley (Edmund), LL.D., who became English astronomer
royal, makes known his theory of four magnetic poles and of the
periodical movement of the magnetic line without declination. He states
that the earth’s magnetism is caused by four poles of attraction,
two of them being in each hemisphere near each pole of the earth. By
the word _pole_ he means a point where the total magnetic force is a
maximum, or, as he himself styles it, “a point of greatest attraction”
(Walker, “Magnetism,” p. 317, etc.).
One of the magnetic poles he places near the meridian of Land’s End,
not above 7 degrees from the North Pole, the other being about 15
degrees from the North Pole in the meridian of California, while the
two south magnetic poles are placed respectively about 16 and about
20 degrees from the South Pole of the earth, and 95 degrees west, 120
degrees east of London.
In order to test Halley’s theory, the English Government permitted him
to make three voyages in the Atlantic Ocean (1698, 1699, 1702), in
vessels of which he had the command as post-captain. Humboldt states
that these were the first expeditions equipped by any government for
the establishment of a great scientific object--that of observing one
of the elements of terrestrial force on which the safety of navigators
is especially dependent.
The result of these voyages was the construction of the first accurate
Magnetic Chart, whereon the points at which navigators have found an
equal amount of variation were connected together by curved lines. This
was the model of all charts of a similar nature since constructed.
Halley remarked upon its completion: “The nice determination of the
variation, and several other particulars in the magnetic system, is
reserved for a remote posterity. All that we can hope to do is to
leave behind us observations that may be confided in, and to propose
hypotheses which after-ages may examine, amend or refute.”
See copy of his chart in Vol. I. No. I of “Terrestrial Magnetism,” also
in Musschenbroek’s “Essais de Physique,” or, preferably, in Bouguer’s
“Traité de Navigation,” where the lines for 1700 are in red ink, while
those for 1744 are traced in black, thus readily indicating the changes
in the declination.
REFERENCES.--Cavallo, “Magnetism,” and “Nat. or Exp. Phil.,”
Vol. II. p. 273; Lloyd, “Treatise on Magnetism,” 1874, p. 102;
_Sci. Am. Suppl._, No. 224, pp. 3570, 3571; Whewell, “Hist. of
the Inductive Sciences,” 1859, Vol. I. pp. 396–8, 435–7, 450,
451, 480, 481, and Vol. II. p. 225; Giambattista Scarella, “De
Magnete,” 1759, Vol. II; also G. Casali, “Sopra la Grandine,”
etc., 1767; “The Phil. Hist. and Mem. of the Roy. Ac. of
Sciences at Paris,” London, 1742, Vol. I. p. 245; Vol. II. pp.
240–244, 270, 349; “Magnetic Results of Halley’s Expedition
(1698–1700)” in “Terrestrial Magnetism,” September 1913, pp.
113–132; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. pp.
156–7; Dr. G. Hellmann “Neudrucke von schriften,” Nos. 4 and
8; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. pp. 59–60; John Wallis’s
letters to Halley, London (_Phil. Trans._ for 1702–1703), p.
106; _Phil. Trans._ for 1667, 1683, 1692; “Memoirs of the Roy.
Soc.,” 1739, Vol. II. p. 195; “A Bibliography of Dr. Edmund
Halley,” by Alex. J. Rudolph, in the “Bulletin of Bibliography”
for July 1905; “Old and New Astronomy,” by Richard A. Proctor,
1892, pp. 37–38; _Phil. Trans._ Vol. XIII for 1683, No. 148,
p. 208; Vol. XVII. p. 563; Vol. XXIII. p. 1106; Vol. XXIX. p.
165; Vol. XLII. p. 155; Vol. XLVIII. p. 239, also the following
abridgments: Hutton, Vol. II. p. 624; Vol. VI, pp. 99, 112; J.
Lowthorp, Vol. II. p. 285; Reid and Gray, Vol. VI. p. 177; Eames
and Martyn, Vol. VI. pp. 28, 286; Baddam, 1745, Vol. II. pp.
195–202; Vol. III. pp. 25–32.
AURORA BOREALIS, OR NORTHERN POLAR LIGHT
Dr. Halley was the first to give (_Phil. Trans._, No. 347) a distinct
history of this phenomenon, which has certainly an electric as well as
magnetic origin, and to which Gassendi originally gave the name it now
bears, as has been stated at A.D. 1632.
According to Dr. Lardner (“Lectures,” Vol. I. p. 137), Prof. Eberhart,
of Halle, and Paul Frisi, of Pisa, first proposed an explanation of the
aurora founded upon the following: 1. Electricity transmitted through
rarefied air exhibits a luminous appearance, precisely similar to
that of the aurora borealis. 2. The strata of atmospheric air become
rarefied as their altitude above the surface of the earth is increased,
a theory which has since been countenanced by many scientists. It has
been observed, notably by Dalton, of Manchester, that the primitive
beams of the aurora are constantly in a direction parallel to that
of the dipping needle, and that the latter appears most affected
when the aurora is the brightest. Arago noticed that the changes of
inclination amounted, upon one occasion to 7’ or 8’. The discovery that
the magnetic needle was agitated during the presence of an aurora has
been ascribed to Wargentin (_Am. Journal Sc._, Vol. XXX. p. 227),
though it is claimed by the friends of Olav Hiörter (see A.D.
1740), that it was independently ascertained by the latter during the
year 1741.
The well-known Swiss chemist Auguste Arthur De la Rive has made many
important observations upon the electric character of the aurora,
the experiments carried on by him in the mountains of Finland being
thus described: “We surrounded the peak of a mountain with copper
wire, pointed at intervals with tin nibs. We next charged the wire
with electricity, and nearly every night during our stay produced a
yellowish white light on the tin points, in which the spectroscope
analysis revealed the greenish yellow rays so characteristic of the
aurora borealis. On the peak of Pietarintumturi we were especially
successful, an auroral ray making its appearance directly over and
about 150 yards above the copper coil.”
A complete list of all auroras appearing prior to 1754 is to be found
in Jean Jacques d’Ortons de Mairan’s, Paris, 1731, “Traité Physique de
l’Aurore Boréale,” and a catalogue of auroræ observed, 1800–1877, has
been made up by M. Zenger (_Sci. Am. Supp._, p. 10915). One of the most
interesting displays is known as the _purple aurora_, alluded to in the
Annals of Clan-mac-noise as having appeared A.D. 688 (Biot “Note sur la
direction,” etc., _Comptes Rendus_, Tome XIX for 1844, p. 822). Between
September 19, 1838, and April 8, 1839, Lottin, Bravais, Lilliehöök
and Siljeström observed 160 auroras at Bossekop (69° 58’ N. lat.)
in Finmark and at Jupvig (70° 6’ N. lat.); they were most frequent
during the period the sun remained below the horizon, that is, from
November 17 to January 25. During this night of 70 times 24 hours there
were 64 auroras visible (_Comptes Rendus_, Tome X. p. 289; Martin,
“Météorologie,” 1843, p. 453; Argelander, in the “Vorträgen geh. in der
Königsberg Gesellschaft,” Bd. I. s. 259).
A Finnish physicist, named S. Lenström, who had been attached to the
Nordenskjold Polar Expedition of 1868, visited Lapland in 1871, and,
after a series of important observations, constructed an apparatus that
permitted him to “artificially reproduce the light of the aurora.” The
intensity of this light is so great at times that Lowenörn perceived
the coruscations in bright sunshine on the 29th of January, 1786, and
Parry saw the aurora throughout the day during the voyage of 1821–1823.
The height of the aurora has been variously estimated, but it is seldom
found to be less than forty-five miles above the surface of the earth.
Father Boscovich estimated at 825 miles the height of the one observed
by the Marquis of Poleni on the 16th of December, 1737. The extent of
the aurora, according to Dalton, has been known to cover an area of
7000 or 8000 square miles.
REFERENCES.--“Mem. de Turin,” An. 1784–5, Vol. I. part ii. pp.
328, 338; Young, “Lectures,” Vol. I. pp. 687, 716; Herschel,
“Prelim. Discourse,” pp. 93, 329, 330; _Phil. Trans._, 1753,
p. 350; Müller’s “Kosmischen Physik”; Noad, “Manual,” pp.
225–237; also all the references at pp. 187–196, Vol. I of
Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” Bohn, London, 1849, as well as in Ronalds’
“Catalogue,” pp. 23–24; Mairan, at Vol. X. p. 961, “Dict.
Univ.,” and Vol. XXVI. p. 161, of the “Biog. Universelle”;
_Trans. Cambridge Phil. Soc._, Vol. I; “Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I.
pp. 417, 418.
See likewise the “Pharsalia” of Marcus Annæus Lucanus,
translated by J. Krais, I. pp. 518–527; Plutarchus, “De facie in
orbe lunæ,” cap. 26; the “Annals” of Caius Cornelius Tacitus,
Germania, XLV. 1st ed., Venice, 1470; “Das Polarlicht,” H.
Fritz, Leipzig, 1881, pp. 4–6, 332; Mairan’s “Traité Physique,”
etc., 1731, pp. 179–181; Grégoire du Tour, _Lumière Electrique_,
1882, Vol. VII. p. 389; Elias Loomis, “The Aurora Borealis,”
etc., p. 220 of the Reports of Smiths. Inst., 1865; A. M. Mayer,
“Observations,” etc., _Amer. Jour. of Sc._, February 1871; “A
copy of the Catalogue of Aurorae Boreales observed in Norway
from the earliest times to June 1878” (“Nature,” December
4, 1902, p. 112); “La cause de l’aurore boréale,” Claudius
Arrhenius, in the _Revue Générale des Sciences_ for January 30,
1902, pp. 65–76; “Les Années Météores,” in “Le Cosmos,” Paris,
May 25, 1889, etc.; “Terrestrial Magnetism,” March 1898, p.
7 for Chronological Summary of Authors re Aurora; Rev. Jas.
Farquharson in “Abstracts of Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II.
p. 391; Wm. Dobbie, _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LXI for 1823, p. 252;
W. Derham, for description of Auroras (in _Phil. Trans._ for
1728, p. 453); see, for Boscovitch, “Journal des Savants,”
February 1864; “Journal des Savants,” for August 1820; C.
H. Wilkinson, “Elements,” 1804; Vol. II. p. 279 and note;
Calogera’s “Raccolta,” XVII. 47, _Proc. of the Royal Soc. of
Edinburgh_ for the observations of J. A. Brown and others on
the aurora; F. C. Meyer, De luce boreali, 1726; Poggendorff, I.
135; Sturgeon, “Sc. Res.” 4th Sec. p. 489; _Phil. Trans._, Vol.
XXXVIII. p. 243; Vol. XLVI. p. 499; F. Zöllner’s paper in “L.
E. and D. Philos. Mag.,” for May and July, 1872; C. A. Young,
_Amer. Jour. of Sc_., Vol. III., 3rd s., p. 69; Baron Karl Von
Reichenbach’s “Physico-Physiological Researches,” trans. of Dr.
John Ashburner, London, 1851, pp. 5–36, also pp. 445, etc.,
of the translation of Dr. W. Gregory, London, 1850; J. H. Van
Swinden, “Recueil de Mémoires,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vol. III.
p. 187, etc.; J. E. B. Wiedeburg, “Beobachtungen und Muth.,”
etc., 1771; G. W. Krafft, “Observ. Meteor,” etc., in _Novi Com.
Acad. Petrop._, Vol. V. p. 400; Giuseppe Toaldo, “Descrizione,”
etc., in _Saggi ... Accad. di Padova_, Vol. I. p. 178; Louis
Cotte, “Table of Auroræ, Observed ... 1768–1779,” Paris, 1783;
_Journal de Physique_ for 1775; _Recueil de Mem. de l’Acad. des
Sciences_ for 1769; A. S. Conti, “Rifflessioni sull’ Aurora
Boreale.”[48]
For _Auguste Arthur De la Rive_, consult “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol.
XVI, N.S., 1821, p. 201, likewise the “Annales de Chimie et de
Physique,” _Phil. Mag._, _Phil. Trans._, _Comptes Rendus_, more
especially, as well as the “Bibl. Univ.” and the “Mem. de la
Soc. de Genève,” at which latter place he was born in 1801.
For _Jean Jacques d’Ortons de Mairan_, consult “Mém. de Paris”
for the years 1726, 1731–1734, 1747, 1751, also abridgments of
the _Phil. Trans._ by Hutton, Vol. VII. p. 637, and by Baddam,
1745 ed., Vol. IX. pp. 490–497.
For _W. Derham_ (1657–1735) consult also “Nouv. Biog. Gen.”
(Hœfer), Vol. XIII. p. 712; the _Phil. Trans._ unabridged, Vol.
XXIV. for 1704–1705, pp. 2136–2138; Vol. XXXVI. pp. 137, 204,
also the following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. V. pp. 258–263;
Hy. Jones, Vol. IV. part ii. pp. 290–291; Baddam, Vol. IV. pp.
473–478. In the last-named volume is thus given an account
of Mr. Derham’s experiments: “He shows (_Phil. Trans._, No.
303, p. 2136) that, having consulted what others had writ of
magnets, he finds in Grimaldi’s _De Lumine et colore_ that both
he and M. De la Hire (_Phil. Trans._, No. 188) had hit upon
the same discovery before him.” Mr. Derham also alludes, more
particularly, to the observations of Ridley, Barlow and Dr.
Gilbert.
For _Claudius--Claes--Arrhenius_ (1627–1694) Swedish scientist,
professor at the Upsal University, consult “La Grande Encycl.,”
Vol. III. p. 1107; “Dict. Biog. Suédois,” Vol. XXII. pp. 385–389.
For _John Wallis_, the celebrated English mathematician
(1616–1703), in addition to the above-named _Phil. Trans._,
Vol. XXIII for 1702–1703, p. 1106, consult _Phil. Trans._, Vol.
XII for 1677, No. 135, pp. 863–866 (meteors), also the abridged
editions as follows: Hutton, Vol. IV. pp. 196, 639, 655; Hy.
Jones, Vol. IV. part ii. p. 286; Baddam, London, 1739, Vol. III.
p. 228 and Vol. IV. pp. 100–104 (mariner’s compass); “Nouv.
Biog. Gen.” (Hœfer), Vol. XLVI. p. 530.
AURORA AUSTRALIS, OR SOUTHERN POLAR LIGHT
The earliest account of this phenomenon was given by Don Antonio de
Ulloa, as will be seen under date A.D. 1735–1746.
REFERENCES.--W. L. Krafft, “Observation,” etc., in _Acta Acad.
Petropol._ for 1778, Part I. Hist., p. 45; _Phil. Trans._, XLI.
pp. 840, 843; XLVI. pp. 319, 345; Chr. Hansteen, “On the Polar
Lights,” London, 1827.
ZODIACAL LIGHT
This phenomenon, from its occasional faint resemblance to and
association with the auroras, would seem to deserve mention here,
though none of the conjectures formed, more particularly by Cassini,
Euler, Mairan, Kepler, Laplace, Fatio de Duiller, Schubert, Poisson,
Olmsted, Biot, Herschel, Delambre, Olbers or Sir Wm. Thomson attribute
to it any electric or magnetic origin.
In the _Report of the Proceedings of the Reale Istituto Lombardo_,
1876, however, appears the account of many observations confirmed by
M. Serpieri which “demand absolutely” the conclusion that the zodiacal
light “is an electrical aurora preceding and following the sun round
the earth.”
Angstrom asserted that he observed the auroral line in the spectrum of
the zodiacal light, and Lewis saw the latter during the aurora of May
2, 1877. Humboldt, who observed it (“Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 126) in
the Andes at an elevation of 13,000 to 15,000 feet, as well as on “the
boundless grassy plains, the Llanos of Venezuela, and on the seashore,
beneath the ever-clear sky of Cumana,” believes it to be caused by “a
very compressed annulus of nebulous matter, revolving freely in space
between the orbits of Venus and Mars.” In this connection he refers to
Arago in the _Annuaire_ for 1832, p. 246, and to a letter published
in _Comptes Rendus_, XVI, 1843, p. 687, from which the following is
extracted: “Several physical facts appear to indicate that, in a
mechanical separation of matter into its smallest particles, if the
mass be very small in relation to the surface, the electrical tension
may increase sufficiently for the production of light and heat.”
In Chambers’ “Descript. Astronomy,” p. 257, the historian Nicephorus
is credited with first calling attention to the existence of this
phenomenon, to which Giovanni Domenico Cassini gave the name of
Zodiacal Light, after determining its relations in space during the
year 1683 (_Mém. de l’Académie_, 1730, Tome VIII. pp. 188 and 276),
but to Childrey belongs the credit of having given to Europe the
first explicit description of this phenomenon at p. 183 of his 1661
“Britannia Baconica.”
REFERENCES.--Sturgeon’s _Annals_, etc., Vol. II. pp. 140–142;
Prof. C. W. Prichett’s paper in _Sci. Am. Supp._, No. 126, p.
2008, and the conclusions reached by Herr Gronemann (_Archives
Néerlandaises_) in _Sci. Am. Supp._, No. 327, p. 5221; Whewell,
“Hist. of the Ind. Sciences,” 1859, Vol. I. p. 531, and Vol. II.
p. 609; Tyndall, “Heat as a Mode of Motion,” 1873, pp. 57, 58,
497, 498; J. F. J. Schmidt, “Das Zodiacallicht,” Braunschweig,
1856; the very interesting abstract given in “The Journal of
the Brit. Assoc.,” Vol. XII. No. 5, of paper read by Rev. J.
T. W. Claridge, F.R.S., Jan. 9, 1902; Houzeau et Lancaster,
“Bibl. Générale,” Vol. II. 1882, pp. 763–771; “Pr. Roy. Soc. of
Edin.,” XX. pt. 3; C. Wilkes, “Theory of Zod. Light,” Philad.,
1857; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXXVIII. p. 249; “Cosmos,” 1849,
Vol. I. pp. 126–134; “Anc. Mém. de Paris,” I, VIII and X; J.
J. de Mairan, Paris, 1733; “U. S. Japan Expedition,” Vol. III,
Washington, 1856.
=A.D. 1684.=--Hooke (Dr. Robert), English natural philosopher
(1635–1703), who, in 1677, had succeeded Oldenburg as Secretary to the
Royal Society, gives the earliest well-defined plan of telegraphic
transmission, in a paper addressed to the Royal Society “showing a way
how to communicate one’s mind at great distances ... 40, 100, 120,
etc., miles ... in as short a time almost as a man could write what
he would have sent.” His apparatus consisted of an elevated framework
supporting an open screen, behind which were suspended as many wooden
devices, or symbols, such as circles, squares, triangles, etc., as
there were letters in the alphabet. In the daytime these devices were
drawn up by a rope behind the screen and made visible in the open
space, while during the night use was made of torches, lanterns or
lights.
Hooke also showed, in 1684, that iron and steel rods can be permanently
magnetized by strongly heating them and by rapidly cooling them in the
magnetic meridian (“Enc. Brit.” 1857, Vol. XIV. p. 3).
But, what is still more singular, he had, even previous to the
above-named date (_i. e._ in 1667), alluded to the possibility
of telephoning, that is, communicating sound through a wire. He thus
expresses himself: “And as glasses have highly promoted our seeing,
so it is not improbable that there may be found many mechanical
inventions to improve our other senses--of hearing, smelling, tasting,
touching.... ’Tis not impossible to hear a whisper a furlong’s
distance, it having been already done; and perhaps the nature of the
thing would not make it more impossible though that furlong should be
ten times multiplied. And though some famous authors have affirmed
it impossible to hear through the thinnest plates of Muscovy glass,
I know a way by which it is easy to hear one speak through a wall
a yard thick. It has not been examined how far acoustics may be
improved, nor what other ways there may be of quickening our hearing,
or conveying sound through other bodies than the air, for that is not
the only medium. I can assure the reader that I have, by the help of a
distended wire, propagated the sound to a very considerable distance
in an instant, or with as seemingly quick a motion as that of light,
at least, incomparably swifter than that which at the same time was
propagated through the air; and this not only in a straight line, or
direct, but in one bended in many angles.”
REFERENCES.--Hooke’s entire paper in Derham’s “Phil. Exp. and
Obs.” for 1726, pp. 142–150; _Phil. Trans_, for 1684; for his
observations on atmospheric electricity consult Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 166; “Journal des Savants”
for April 1846; “The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke,” London,
1705, p. 424; “Revue Scientifique,” Mars 15, 1902, p. 351;
for a complete list of all his works, consult Ward’s “Lives
of the Gresham Professors”; for description of his telegraph
and reference to Amontons, etc., see _Phil. Mag._, Vol. I. pp.
312–316.
=A.D. 1684.=--Sturmy’s “Mariner’s Magazine” for this year, of
which a copy can be seen in the library of the British Museum, contains
an account of the deviation of the compass and its tendency to give
misleading directions on account of local attraction.
REFERENCES.--_Chambers’ Journal_, Vol. III. No. 60 for Feb.
24, 1855, p. 132, and Vol. XII. No. 300 for Oct. 1, 1859, p.
246; Capt. Sam. Sturmy’s “Magn. Virtues and Tides,” in _Phil.
Trans._, No. 57, p. 726, or “Memoirs of the Roy. Soc.,” Vol.
I. p. 134; _Phil. Trans._, abridgments: by Hutton, Vol. II. p.
560, and by Lowthorp, Vol. II. p. 609; “Journal des Sçavans” for
1683, Vol. XI. pp. 267–293.
=A.D. 1684.=--In the “Essayes of Natural Experiments made in the
Accademia del Cimento” (Englished by Richard Waller), London, 1684,
by direction of the Royal Society, there are given, respectively at
pp. 53, 123 and 128–132, accounts of the operation of the magnet _in
vacuo_, details of several magnetical experiments and experiments
touching amber as well as other electrical bodies.
=A.D. 1686.=--Maimbourg (Louis), French historian, relates this
instance of the employment of the magnet at Chap. VI of the Rev. W.
Webster’s translation of his “Histoire de l’Arianisme”: “Whilst Valens
(the Roman emperor) was at Antioch ... several pagans of distinction,
with the philosophers ... not being able to bear that the empire
should continue in the hands of the Christians, consulted privately
the demons ... in order to know the destiny of the emperor and who
should be his successor.... For this purpose they made a three-footed
stool ... upon which, having laid a basin of divers metals, they placed
the twenty-four letters of the alphabet around it; then one of these
philosophers, who was a magician ... holding in one hand vervain and in
the other a ring which hung at the end of a small thread, pronounced
... conjurations ... at which the three-footed stool turning around and
the ring moving of itself, and turning from one side to the other over
the letters, it caused them to fall upon the table ... which foretold
them ... that the Furies were waiting for the emperor at Mimas; ...
after which the enchanted ring, turning about again over the letters in
order to express the name of him who should succeed the emperor, formed
first of all these capital letters, T H E O. After adding a D, to form
T H E O D, the ring stopped, and was not seen to move any more, at
which one of the assistants cried out ... ‘Theodorus is the person whom
the gods appoint for our emperor’” (“History of Christianity,” by the
Rev. Henry Hart Milman, London, 1840, Vol. III. p. 120).
Maimbourg’s biography is given at p. 58, Vol. IV. of the “English
Encyclopædia.”
=A.D. 1692.=--Dr. Le Lorrain de Vallemont relates, in “Description
de l’Aimant,” etc., which he published at Paris, that, after a very
severe wind and rain storm during the month of October 1690, the new
steeple of the Church of Notre Dame de Chartres was found to be so
seriously injured as to necessitate demolition. It was then observed
that the iron cross was covered with a heavy coating of rust, which
latter proved to be so highly magnetic that a special report upon it
was made in the “Journal des Sçavans” by M. de la Hire, December 3,
1691, at the request of Giovanni Dom. Cassini, and of other members of
the French Royal Academy.
REFERENCES.--“Journal des Sçavans,” Vols. XX, 1692, pp. 357–364
and Vol. XXXV, 1707, pp. 493–494 for additional accounts of
the Church of N. Dame de Chartres by M. de la Hire and M. de
Vallemont, and for a review of M. de Vallemont’s work, of which
latter pp. 4, 30, 66, 74, 89 to 90 merit special attention.
A.D. 1693.--Gregory (David), an eminent mathematician, who, in
1691, had been made Savilian Professor of Astronomy in Oxford mainly
through the influence of Newton and Flamsteed, communicates the result
of his observations on the laws of magnetic action.
REFERENCES.--Noad, “Manual of Electricity,” 1859, p. 525, _Phil.
Trans._, Vols. XVIII-XXV; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXI. p. 902;
Ninth “Britannica,” Vol. XI. p. 182; J. J. Fahie, “A History of
El. Tel. to the year 1837,” London, 1884, p. 24.
=A.D. 1693.=--In the first volume (Letter IV. pp. 25–28) of the
“Memoirs for the Ingenious ...” by J. de la Crosse, are given accounts
of several “New experiments on the loadstone; of a needle touch’d with
it, and plac’d directly over the needle of a compass; of two Mariner’s
Needles hang’d freely over one another, at several distances; of a
touch’d steel-ring. Reasons of these experiments. The earth magnetical.”
In explanation of all this, M. de la Hire supposes “that the mass of
the earth is a great loadstone, which directs the poles of the same
name in all the loadstones and touch’d needles, towards the same place
of the earth; so that the two hang’d needles do but remove from this
natural position by the particular force they have of driving away
each other’s poles of the same name; which force, in a certain degree,
is not sufficient to overcome the power of the great loadstone of the
earth.”
An account of M. P. de la Hire’s “new sort of a magnetical compass” had
already appeared in the _Phil. Trans._ for 1686–1687, Vol. XVI.
No. 188, p. 344.
REFERENCES.--For De la Hire, the following abridgments of the
_Phil. Trans._: Lowthorp, London, 1722, Vol. II. pp. 620–622;
Baddam, London, 1739, Vol. IV. pp. 473–478; Hutton, London,
1809, Vol. III. p. 381; also “The Phil. Hist. and Mem. of the
Roy. Acad. at Paris,” by Martyn and Chambers, London, 1742, Vol.
II. pp. 273–277; Vol. V. pp. 272–282 and the “Table Alphab. ...
Acad. Royale,” by M. Godin, Paris, Vol. II. p. 16 and Vol. X.
pp. 164 and 734.
=A.D. 1696.=--Zahn (F. Joannes), prebendary of the Prémontrés
Order at Celle near Wurtzburg and provost of the convent of Niederzell,
celebrated for his philosophical and mathematical studies, publishes
his highly valued “Specula physico-mathematico-historica-notabilium ac
mirabilium sciendorum ...” throughout the three folio volumes of which
he treats extensively of the wonders of the entire universe.
In his tabulated list of the origin and properties of all the different
known gems and stones (Vol. II. chap. vii. p. 55), he states that
the loadstone, first discovered at Magnesia in Lydia (Caria--on the
Mæander) is heavy, very well shaped, and of a dark colour verging upon
blue. The marvellous properties of gems and stones are detailed at pp.
59–73 of the same volume, the fifth paragraph of Chap. VIII treating of
the loadstone’s many virtues and admirable qualities, as exemplified
in the writings of Guilielmus Gilbertus, Nicolaus Zucchius, Nicolaus
Cabæus, Athanasius Kircherus, Eusebius Nierembergius, Laurentius
Forerus, Hieronymus Dandinus, Jacobus Grandamicus, Ludovicus Alcazar,
Claudius Franciscus Milliet de Chales, as well as of many others.
REFERENCES.--Michaud, “Biog. Univ.,” Vol. XLV. p. 340; Dr. John
Thomas, “Universal Pron. Dict.,” 1886, p. 2514; Brunet, “Manuel
du Libraire,” Vol. V. p. 1519.
=A.D. 1700.=--Bernoulli (John I), son of Nicolas, the founder of
the celebrated family of that name, improves upon Picard’s discovery of
the electrical appearance of the barometer, made A.D. 1675,
by devising a mercurial phosphorus or mercury shining _in vacuo_
(“Diss. Physica de Mercurio Lucente,” etc., Basel, 1719). This procured
the favourable notice of King Frederick I, of Prussia, who rewarded
him with a medal. John Bernoulli I (1667–1748) was a member of nearly
every learned society of Europe and “one of the first mathematicians
of a mathematical age.” His exceedingly valuable memoirs, found in all
the scientific transactions of the day, were first collected in their
entirety during the year 1742, by Cramer, Professor of Mathematics, and
published at Lausanne and Geneva.
“Is it not surprising,” remarks Prof. Robison, in his able article on
“Dynamics” (Eighth “Britannica,” Vol. VIII. p. 363), “that, twenty-five
years after the publication of Newton’s ‘Principia,’ a mathematician on
the Continent should publish a solution in the Memoirs of the French
Academy, and boast that he had given the first demonstration of it?
Yet, John Bernoulli did this in 1710. Is it not more remarkable that
this should be precisely the solution given by Newton, beginning from
the same theorem, the 40th I., Prin., following Newton in every step
and using the same subsidiary lines? Yet, so it is.” This was five
years after he had accepted (1705) the chair of mathematics made vacant
by the death of his brother, James I.
BERNOULLI FAMILY
The Bernoulli family is as well known in the history of mathematics, by
the distinguished services of eight of its members, as is the Cassini
family through the successes achieved by four of its representatives in
the development of astronomical studies.
Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782), second son of John I, constructed a
dipping needle, which is described on p. 85 of the Eighth “Britannica,”
Vol. XIV, and with which he observed the dip to diminish half a degree
during an earthquake in the year 1767. Before Daniel was twenty-four
years old he had declined the Presidency of the Academy of Sciences
at Genoa, and, at the age of twenty-five, was appointed Professor of
Mathematics at St. Petersburg.
John Bernoulli II (1710–1790), youngest of the three sons of John I,
gained three prizes from the French Academy of Sciences for Memoirs on
the Capstan, on the Propagation of Light and on the Magnet.
John Bernoulli III (1744–1807), grandson of John I, took the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy at the age of thirteen, and, when nineteen years
old, was appointed Astronomer Royal of Berlin. He published several
volumes of travels, in one of which he relates (A. L. Ternant, “Le
Télégraphe,” 1881, p. 32) that he saw, in the last-named city, an
instrument constructed of five bells, with which all letters of the
alphabet could be expressed.
James Bernoulli I (1654–1705), brother of John I, while at London, was
introduced into the philosophical meetings of Boyle, Hooke, Edward
Stillingfleet and other learned and scientific men. He opened, in
1682, the _Collegium Experimentale Physico-Mechanicum_ for public
instruction, but his lasting fame dates from the year 1684, when the
great Von Leibnitz published his treatise “De Gravitate Ætheris.” Three
years later, in 1687, James occupied the mathematical chair of the
University of Basel, made vacant by the death of the learned Megerlin.
REFERENCES.--Whewell, “Hist. of the Inductive Sciences,” 1859,
Vol. I. pp. 358–366, 375–380, 393, 430, and Vol. II. pp. 32–39,
42; “Hist. de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences,” 1700–1707; Edin.
“Encycl.,” 1813, Vol. III. pp. 464–470; “Med. Library and
Historical Journal,” New York, 1903, Vol. I. pp. 270–277.
For Bernoulli family see “Histoire des Sc. Math. et Phys.,”
Maxim. Marie, Paris, 1888, Vols. VII-XI; “Geschichte der
Mathemathik,” Moritz Canton, Leipzig, 1898, Vol. III. pp.
207–261; “Histoire Générale des Mathématiques,” Chas. Bossut,
Paris, 1810, Vol. II. s. 2, as at table, p. 512. See the family
tree in “Eng. Cycl.,” Vol. VI. p. 972, and all the Bernoullis at
p. 84 of Vol. II, Houzeau et Lancaster’s “Bibl. Gén.,” 1882.
=A.D. 1700.=--Morgagni (Giovanni Battista), while practising
medicine at Bologna and at Venice, uses the magnet to remove particles
of iron which had accidentally fallen into the eyes, exactly in the
same manner as Kirkringius and Fabricius Hildanus had done before him.
REFERENCES.--Maunder’s “Biog. Treasury”; also Beckmann’s
“History of Inventions,” Vol. I. p. 44, and biography in
Larousse, Vol. XI, as well as in Vol. XVI of the Ninth
“Britannica.”
=A.D. 1700.=--Duverney (Joseph Guichard), an eminent French anatomist,
knew at this date that the limbs of a frog are convulsed by the
electric current (as shown in the “Histoire de l’Académie des
Sciences,” 1700, p. 40, and 1742, vol. I. p. 187), and the Italian
physician L. Marco Antonio Caldani, assistant to Morgagni, alludes to
the “revival of frogs by electrical discharges.”
REFERENCES.--“Ency. Metrop.,” Vol. IV. p. 220; Highton’s “Elect.
Tel.”; Fahie, “Hist. of Elec. Tel.,” pp. 175 and 176 and notes;
Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 936; G. H. Browne, London,
1704, and in “Phil. Mag.,” Vol. XVIII. p. 285, also note p. 83
of Ronalds’ “Catalogue.”
=A.D. 1701–1702.=--Le Brun (Pierre), French theologian (1661–1729),
publishes his “Histoire Critique des Pratiques Superstitieuses,”
wherein he makes mention (Vol. I. p. 294) of the possibility of
transmitting intelligence in the manner indicated by the Jesuit
Leurechon.
He is also the author of “Lettres qui découvrent l’illusion des
philosophes sur la baguette divinatoire,” Paris, 1693 (Larousse’s
“Dictionnaire,” Tome X. p. 292).
=A.D. 1702.=--Bion (Nicolas), French engineer and manufacturer of
mathematical and astronomical instruments (1652–1733), is the author
of “Usage des Astrolabes,” which was shortly after followed by his
well-known “Traité de la construction et des principaux usages des
instruments de mathématique.” In the preparation of the last named,
which was translated into German (Leipzig, 1713, Nuremberg, 1721) as
well as into English (London, 1723, 1738), Bion admits the assistance
afforded him by Lahire, Cassini and Delisle the younger.
The whole of Book VII (pp. 267–290) of the “Traité,” is devoted to the
description of instruments employed in navigation, the compass and
the astrolabe in particular, with instructions for ascertaining the
declination and variation.
Bion is also the author of “L’Usage des Globes Célestes et Terrestres
et des sphères suivant les differents systèmes du monde,” Amsterdam,
1700. Much of the matter, however, is said to have been copied by Bion
from Pierre Polinière’s “Expériences de Phisique,” of which latter five
editions were printed respectively in 1709, 1718, 1728, 1734 and 1741.
REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. VI. p. 897; Michaud,
“Biog. Univ.,” Vol. IV. p. 354; Dr. J. Thomas, “Univ. Pr.
Dict.,” 1886, p. 386.
=A.D. 1702.=--Marcel (Arnold), Commissioner of the Navy at Arles,
publishes a pamphlet dedicated to the King, and entitled “The Art of
Making Signals, both by Sea and by Land,” wherein he affirms that he
has “communicated frequently at the distance of two leagues (in as
short a space of time as a man could write down and form exactly the
letters contained in the advice he would communicate), an unexpected
piece of news that took up a page in writing.” The particulars of this
invention are, however, wanting.
Marcel reports many well-authenticated instances where, as already
mentioned by Mæstro Giulio Cæsare (A.D. 1590), iron bars have become
temporarily magnetic by position alone.
REFERENCES.--Snow Harris, “Rudim. Mag.,” I and II. pp. 91,
92; also “Emporium of Arts and Sciences,” 1812, Vol. I. p.
301; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXXVII. p. 294, also the following
abridgments: Baddam, Vol. IX, 1745, p. 278; Eames and Martyn,
Vol. VI. part. ii. p. 270; Hutton, Vol. VII. p. 540.
=A.D. 1702.=--Kæmpfer (Engelbrecht), German physician and naturalist
(1651–1716), describes in his “Amœnitates Exoticæ,” experiments made by
him upon the electric _torpedo_ (Leithead, 1837, Chap. XII). He insists
that any person may avoid all sensation of the shock by merely holding
the breath while touching the animal. This apparently improbable fact
has since been confirmed, however, by many scientists; the accurate
observations of Mr. Walsh (A.D. 1773) on the subject, reported in
the _Phil. Trans._ for 1773–1774–1775, claiming especial attention
(Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. IX. p. 1144).
=A.D. 1704.=--Amontons (Guillaume), an ingenious mechanician and
scientist, exhibits before the royal family of France, and before the
members of the Académie des Sciences, his system of communicating
intelligence between distant points through the agency of magnifying
glasses--telescopes. The “Mémoires de l’Académie,” 1698–1705, contain
an account of his many scientific productions.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict.,” Vol. I. pp. 282–283; Appleton’s
“Cyclop.,” Vol. I. p. 432.
=A.D. 1705.=--Witson (Nicholaes), Burgomaster of Amsterdam, announces
at p. 56 of his “Noord en Oost Tartarye,” that the nautical compass was
in use by the Coreans in the second half of the seventeenth century.
=A.D. 1705.=--Hauksbee (Francis), English natural philosopher and
Curator of the Royal Society, makes, before the latter, several
experiments on the _mercurial phosphorus_. He shows that a considerable
quantity of light can be produced by agitating mercury in partly
exhausted as well as in thoroughly exhausted glass vessels. When the
mercury is made to break into a shower, flashes of light are seen to
start everywhere “in as strange a form as lightning.”
He also showed light _in vacuo_ produced by rubbing amber and by
rubbing glass upon woollen. He says (Priestley, “Hist. and Present
State of Electricity,” London, 1775, p. 19) that every fresh glass
first gave a purple and then a pale light, and that woollen, tinctured
with salt or spirits, produced a new, strong and fulgurating light.
Hauksbee constructed a powerful electrical machine wherein the Von
Guericke sulphur globe was replaced by one of glass, as had already
been done by Sir Isaac Newton (at A.D. 1675). With it he found
that upon exhausting the air, whirling the globe rapidly and placing
his hand upon the outside, a strong light appeared upon the interior,
and that the light would show itself also upon the outside when air was
let into the globe (“Physico-Mech. Exp.,” pp. 12, 14, 26, 32, 34).
The machine, which the celebrated mechanician Leupold had constructed
at Leipzig for Mr. Wolfius, only differed from the original one made
by Hauksbee in that the glass globe turned vertically instead of
horizontally.
Other experiments with coated glass globes, globes of sulphur, etc.,
are detailed in the “Physico-Mech. Exp.,” as indicated at pp. 21–24
the Priestley work above alluded to. At the last-named page he says:
“That Mr. Hauksbee, after all, had no clear idea of the distinction of
bodies into electrics and non-electrics appears from some of his last
experiments, in which he attempted to produce electrical appearances
from metals, and from the reasons he gives for his want of success in
those attempts.”
Hauksbee also gave some attention to the study of the laws of magnetic
force, and the results published in the _Phil. Trans._, Vol.
XXVII. for 1710–1712, p. 506, giving a law of force varying as the
sesqui-duplicate ratio of the distances, were subsequently confirmed
by Taylor and by Whiston in the _Phil. Trans._ for 1721 (Noad,
“Manual of Elec.,” 1859, p. 579).
REFERENCES.--Aglave et Boulard, “Lumière Electrique,” Paris,
1882, p. 18; Priestley, “Familiar Intr. to Study of Elec.,”
London, 1786, p. 60; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXV. pp. 2327, 2332;
Vol. XXVI, 1708–1709, pp. 82–92; Vol. XXIX, 1714–1716, p. 294
(with Brooke Taylor); also the following abridgments: Hutton,
Vol. V. pp. 270, 307, 324, 344, 355, 411–416, 452, 509, 528,
696; Jones, Vol. IV. p. 295; Baddam, 1745, Vol. V. pp. 33–37,
41–43, 112, 114–117, 483; Thos. Thomson, “Hist. of the Roy.
Soc.,” London, 1812, p. 430; _Chemical News_, Vol. II. p. 147;
Nicolas Desmarets, “Expériences,” etc., Paris, 1754, in “Recueil
des Mémoires de l’Acad. des Sciences.”
=A.D. 1705.=--Keill (John), M.A., F.R.S., Savilian Professor of
Astronomy, is the author of “Introductio ad Veram Physicam, etc.,”
of which other editions appeared in 1725, 1739 and 1741, and a good
English translation of which was published at Glasgow in 1776.
The last named is entitled “An Introduction to Natural Philosophy, or
Lectures in Physics read in the University of Oxford in the Year 1700.”
In Lecture VIII he states: “It is certain that the magnetic attractions
and directions arise from the structure of parts; for if a loadstone
be struck hard enough, so that the position of its internal parts be
changed, the loadstone will also be changed. And if a loadstone be put
into the fire, insomuch that the internal structure of the parts be
changed or wholly destroyed, then it will lose all its former virtue
and will scarce differ from other stones.... And what some generally
boast of, concerning effluvia, a subtile matter, particles adapted to
the pores of the loadstone, etc., does not in the least lead us to a
clear and distinct explication of these operations; but notwithstanding
all these things, the magnetick virtues must be still reckoned amongst
the occult qualities.”
=A.D. 1706.=--Hartsoeker (Nicolas), Dutch natural philosopher, friend
of Christian Huyghens, while Professor of Mathematics at Düsseldorf,
writes his “Conjectures Physiques,” four editions of which were
published during the three years 1708, 1710 and 1712.
The Tenth Discourse of the Second Book (pp. 140–182) treats of the
nature and properties of the loadstone and gives numerous observations
concerning magnetical phenomena, which are well illustrated. He says
that many ordinary stones have become magnetic after being long exposed
to the air, in consequence of iron penetrating them. He believes
that the native loadstone is made up of ordinary stone and of iron
containing many small bodies through which run magnetic channels;
that the latter are held together so strongly as to be disintegrated
with difficulty, and that they are filled with a subtile matter which
circulates incessantly through and around them.
The First Discourse of the Fourth Book treats of Meteors, and at pp.
91–99 of his “Eclaircissements, ...” published in 1710 he gives further
reports of his curious observations on magnetic phenomena.
REFERENCES.--“Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. XXIV for 1696, pp.
649–656.
For particulars of the very celebrated natural philosopher,
Christian Huyghens--Hugenius van Zuglichen (1629–1695) above
alluded to, consult: the “Vita Hugenii,” prefixed to his
“Opera Varia,” published by Van ’Sgravesande in 1724; “Meyer’s
Konversations-Lexikon,” Leipzig und Wien, 1895, Vol. IX. pp.
93–94, also the biography, embracing a detailed list of his
geometrical, mechanical, astronomical and optical works at pp.
536–538 of the “English Cyclopædia”; Vol. II. of Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibliog. Générale,” p. 169; “Le Journal des Savants”
for May 1834, April 1846, July 1888, April 1896, Feb. 1898, Oct.
1899; “Histoire des Sciences Math. et Phys.,” Maximilien Marie,
Paris, 1888, Vol. V. pp. 15–140; “Hist. et Mém. de l’Acad. Roy.
des Sc.,” Vol. I. p. 307; Hartsoeker’s biography at pp. 307–308
of the “Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. III, 1867.[49]
=A.D. 1707.=--J. G. S. (not, as many suppose, Jean George Sulzer)
publishes “Curious Speculations during Sleepless Nights” 8vo, Chemnitz,
wherein appears the first account of the development, by heat, of
electricity in the _tourmaline_, which latter, it is therein
stated, was first brought from Ceylon by the Dutch in 1703. Another
report of the above appears in the _Mémoires de l’Académie des
Sciences_ of Paris for 1717.
REFERENCE.--Beckmann, Bohn, 1846, Vol. I. pp. 86–98.
=A.D. 1708.=--Wall (Dr. William), a prominent English divine,
communicates to the Royal Society (_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXVI. No.
314, p. 69) the result of his experiments, showing him to have been
the first to establish a resemblance of electricity to thunder and
lightning.
He found that, upon holding tightly in the hand a large bar of amber
and rubbing it briskly against woollen cloths, “a prodigious number of
little cracklings was heard, every one of which produced a small flash
of light (spark); and that when the amber was drawn lightly through
the cloth it produced a spark but no crackling.” He observed that
“by holding a finger at a little distance from the amber a crackling
is produced, with a great flash of light succeeding it, and, what is
very surprising, on its eruption it strikes the finger very sensibly,
wheresoever applied, with a push or puff like wind. The crackling is
fully as loud as that of charcoal on fire.... This light and crackling
seem in some degree to represent thunder and lightning.”
REFERENCES.--Bakewell, “Electric Science,” p. 13; Aglave et
Boulard, “Lumière Electrique,” 1882, p. 17; Thos. Thomson, “An
Outline of the Sciences of Heat and Electricity,” London, 1830,
pp. 314, 463; Thos. Thomson, “Hist. of the Roy. Soc.,” London,
1812, p. 431; see also the following abridgments of the _Phil.
Trans._; Hutton, Vol. V. p. 408 and Baddam of 1745, Vol. V. p.
111.
=A.D. 1712.=--The great Japanese Encyclopædia, _Wa-Kan-san siü
tson-ye_, describes the compass, _zi-siak-no-fari_, at Vol. XV. folio
3, _recto_ (Klaproth, “Lettre à M. de Humboldt,” etc., 1834, p. 107).
=A.D. 1717.=--Leméry (Louis), two years after the death of
his distinguished father, Nicolas Leméry, exhibits a stone (the
_tourmaline_) brought from Ceylon, and announces, to the French
Académie des Sciences, that it possesses the electrical property of
attracting and repelling light bodies after being warmed.
Carl Linnæus (1707–1777) alludes to the experiments of Leméry, in
his _Flora Zeylanica_, and mentions the stone under the name of
_lapis electricus_. (See, for Carl Linnæus, “Thesaurus Litteraturæ
Botanicæ,” G. A. Pritzel, Lipsiæ, 1851, pp. 162–169, also “Guide to
the Literature of Botany,” by Benj. Daydon Jackson, London, 1881, pp.
xxxvi, etc.)
The first scientific examination of the electric properties of the
tourmaline was, however, made by Æpinus in 1756, and published in
the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy. Æpinus showed that a temperature
of between 99½° and 212° F. was necessary for the development of its
attractive powers.
Of the electricity of crystals, Gmelin, in his “Chemistry” (Vol. I. p.
319), names the following discoverers: Æpinus (tourmaline)--see A.D.
1759; Canton (topaz)--see A.D. 1753; Brard (axinite)--see A.D. 1787;
Haüy (boracite, prehnite, sphene, etc.)--see A.D. 1787; Sir David
Brewster (diamond, garnet, amethyst, etc.)--see A.D. 1820; and Wilhelm
Gottlieb Hankel (borate of magnesia, tartrate of potash, etc.).
REFERENCES.--Becquerel, “Résumé,” 1858, p. 11; Leithead,
“Electricity,” p. 239; “Ph. Hist. and Mem. of Roy. Ac. of Sc.
at Paris,” London, 1742, Vol. V. p. 216; “Journal des Sçavans,”
Vol. LXX for 1721, pp. 572–573 on the tourmaline.
=A.D. 1720.=--Grey--Gray (Stephen), a pensioner of the Charter House
and Fellow of the Royal Society, makes known through his first paper in
the _Phil. Trans._ the details of the important line of investigation
which finally led to the discovery of the principle of electric
conduction and insulation as well as to the fact, not the principle, of
induction (see Æpinus, A.D. 1759). _Thus, to Grey is due the credit of
having laid the foundation of electricity as a science._
He proved that electricity can be excited by the friction of feathers,
hair, linen, paper, silk, etc., all of which attract light bodies
even at a distance of eight or ten inches. He next discovered that
electricity can be communicated from excited bodies to bodies
incapable of ready excitation. When first suspending a hempen line with
pack threads he could not transmit electricity, but when suspending
the line with silken threads he transmitted the electrical influence
several hundred feet. The latter he did at the suggestion of his friend
Granville Wheeler--Wheler--(not Checler, as Aglave et Boulard have it
in “Lumière Electrique,” p. 20), thinking that “silk might do better
than pack thread on account of its smallness, as less of the virtue
would probably pass off by it than by the thickness of the hempen line
which had been previously used.” They both tried experiments with
longer lines of pack thread, but failed, as they likewise did after
substituting thin brass wire for the thread. This afterwards led to the
discovery of other insulating substances, like hair, resin, etc. During
the months of June 1729, and August 1730, Grey and Wheeler succeeded in
transmitting electricity through pack thread supported by silken cords
a distance of 765 feet, and through wire at a distance of 800–886 feet.
Grey demonstrated also that electric attraction is not proportioned to
the quantity of matter in bodies, but to the extent of their surface,
and he likewise discovered the conducting powers of fluids and of
the human body. Of the cracklings and flashes of light he remarks:
“And although these effects are at present but _in minimis_,
it is probable, in time, there may be found out a way to collect a
greater quantity of the electric fire, and consequently to increase
the force of that power, which by several of those experiments, if we
are permitted to compare great things with small, seems to be of the
same nature with that of thunder and lightning” (_Phil. Trans._,
abridgment of John Martyn, Vol. VIII. p. 401).
Stephen Grey may be said to have continued his experiments while lying
upon his death-bed, for, unable to write, he dictated to the last, as
best he could, the progress he had made in his studies to Dr. Mortimer,
the Secretary of the Royal Society (_Phil. Trans._, 1735–1736,
Vol. XXXIX. p. 400).
Grey’s own description of a new electric planetarium deserves
reproduction here: “I have lately made several new experiments upon
the projectile and pendulous motions of small bodies by electricity;
by which small bodies may be made to move about larger ones, either
in circles or ellipses, and those either concentric or excentric to
the centre of the large body about which they move, so as to make many
revolutions about them. And this motion will constantly be the same way
that the planets move around the sun, viz. from the right hand to the
left, or from west to east. But these little planets, if I may so call
them, move much faster in their apogeon than in the perigeon part of
their orbits, which is directly contrary to the motion of the planets
around the sun.” To this should be added the following description of
the manner in which these experiments can be made: “Place a small iron
globe, of an inch or an inch and a half in diameter, on the middle of
a circular cake of rosin, seven or eight inches in diameter, greatly
excited; and then a light body, suspended by a very fine thread, five
or six inches long, held in the hand over the centre of the cake,
will, of itself, begin to move in a circle around the iron globe, and
constantly from west to east. If the globe is placed at any distance
from the centre of the circular cake, it will describe an ellipse,
which will have the same excentricity as the distance of the globe
from the centre of the cake. If the cake of rosin be of an elliptical
form, and the iron globe be placed in the centre of it, the light body
will describe an elliptical orbit of the same excentricity with the
form of the cake. If the globe be placed in or near one of the foci
of the elliptical cake, the light body will move much swifter in the
apogee than in the perigee of its orbit. If the iron globe is fixed on
a pedestal an inch from the table, and a glass hoop, or a portion of
a hollow glass cylinder, excited, be placed around it, the light body
will move as in the circumstance above mentioned, and with the same
varieties.”
REFERENCES.--Priestley, “Hist. and Present State of Elec.,”
1775, pp. 26–42, 55–63; and “A New Universal History of Arts and
Sciences,” _Electricity_, Vol. I. p. 460; _Saturday Review_,
August 21, 1858, p. 190; Wilson, “Treatise,” 1752, Section IV.
prop. i. p. 23, note; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXXI. p. 104; Vol.
XXXVII. pp. 18, 227, 285, 397; Vol. XXXIX. pp. 16, 166, 220,
also the following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. VI. p. 490; Vol.
VII. pp. 449, 536, 566; Vol. VIII. pp. 2, 51, 65, 316; Reid
and Gray, London, 1733, Vol. VI. pp. 4–17 (Granville Wheler);
Eames and Martyn, Vol. VI. part ii. pp. 7, 9, 15, and Part IV.
p. 96; Vol. VII. pp. 18–20, 231; John Martyn, Vol. VIII. part
ii. pp. 397, 403, 404 (Dr. C. Mortimer); Baddam, Vol. IX, 1745,
pp. 145–160, 244, 272, 340, 497; “An Outline of the Sciences of
Heat and Electricity,” Thomas Thomson, London, 1830, p. 344;
and Thos. Thomson’s “Hist. of the Roy. Soc.,” London, 1812, p.
431; Weld, “Hist. of Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 466; “A course of
lectures on Nat. Philos. and the Mechanical Arts,” by Thos.
Young, London, 1807, Vol. II. p. 417; “Hist. de l’Académie des
Sciences,” 1733, p. 31; “Jour. Litter.” de 1732, à la Haye, pp.
183, 186, 187, 197; “Hist. de l’Académie Royale de Berlin,”
1746, p. 11; “Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. CXXV for 1741, pp.
134–141, and Vol. CXXVI for 1742, pp. 252–263. For Granville
Wheeler, consult _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLI. pp. 98, 118, also
the following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. VIII. pp. 306–320;
John Martyn, Vol. VIII. part ii. pp. 406, 412, 415. For Dr. C.
Mortimer, consult _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLI. p. 112 and John
Martyn’s abridgments, Vol. VIII. part ii. pp. 404–412.
=A.D. 1721.=--Taylor (Brooke), LL.D., F.R.S. (1685–1731), an eminent
English mathematician, past Secretary of the Royal Society, and one of
the ablest geometers of his time--“the only one who, after the retreat
of Newton, could safely enter the lists with the Bernoullis”--publishes
his “Experiments on Magnetism” in _Phil. Trans._, No. 368.
In order to arrive at a proper determination of the laws of magnetic
force, Dr. Taylor--and also Whiston and Hauksbee--according to Sir
David Brewster, considered “the deviation of a compass needle from the
meridian, produced by the action of a magnet at different distances;
and the conclusion which they all drew from their experiments was that
the magnetic force was proportional to the sines of half the arcs of
deviation, or nearly in the inverse sesqui-duplicate ratio of the
distance, or as the square roots of the fifth powers of the distances.
Dr. Taylor had already come to the conclusion that the force was
different in various magnets, and decreased quicker at great distances
than at small ones, an experimental fact, as shown by Sir W. S. Harris,
‘Rud. Mag.,’ Part III. p. 224.”
In Dr. Thomas Thomson’s “History of the Royal Society” we read, however
(p. 461), that Brooke Taylor, and after him Musschenbroek, attempted
without success to determine by experiment the rate at which the
magnetic attractions and repulsions vary. This rate was successfully
investigated by the subsequent experiments of Lambert, Robison and
Coulomb. The nature of magnetic curves was first satisfactorily
explained by Lambert, Robison and Playfair. Brooke Taylor gave four
poles to a wire by touching it at one end or at various parts, as
indicated in _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXIX. p. 294, and Vol. XXXI. p.
204.
REFERENCES.--Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sciences,” 1859, Vol.
I. pp. 359, 375; Vol. II. p. 31; “General Biog. Dict.,” London,
1816, Vol. XXIX. pp. 163–166; _Phil. Trans._ for 1714–1716, Vol.
XXIX. p. 294 and the following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. VI. p.
528; Reid and Gray, Vol. VI. pp. 17, 159; Hy. Jones, Vol. IV.
part ii. p. 297; Eames and Martyn, Vol. VI. part ii. p. 253.
=A.D. 1722.=--Graham (George), a celebrated optician and instrument
maker in London, is the first to distinctly make known the _diurnal
and horary variations_ of the magnetic needle, traces of which had
been merely recognized as facts by Gellibrand, in 1634, and by the
Missionary Father Guy-Tachard at Louvo, in Siam, during 1682. He finds
that its northern extremity begins to move westward at about seven
or eight o’clock in the morning, and continues to deviate in that
direction until about two o’clock in the afternoon, when it becomes
stationary; it soon begins to return to the eastward and becomes
again stationary during the night. Graham made nearly a thousand
observations, between the 6th of February and the 12th of May, 1722,
and found that the greatest westerly variation was 14° 45’, and the
least 13° 50’; in general, however, it varied between 14° and 14° 35’,
giving 35’ for the amount of the daily variation.
Graham’s discovery--afterwards amplified by Anders Celsius
(A.D. 1740)--attracted but little attention until 1750, when
the subject was ably taken up by Wargentin, Secretary to the Swedish
Academy of Sciences. Between 1750 and 1759 Mr. John Canton made about
4000 observations on the same subject, and was followed by the Dutch
scientist Gerard van Swieten, the favourite pupil of Boerhaave, with
like results.
As Dr. Lardner states (“Lectures on Science and Art,” 1859, Vol. II.
p. 115), the same phenomenon has been observed more recently by Col.
Beaufoy (at A.D. 1813), by Prof. Hansteen (at A.D. 1819) and by many
others. He further states that Cassini, who observed the _diurnal_
variation of the needle at Paris, found that neither the solar heat nor
light influenced it, for it was the same in the deep caves constructed
under the Observatory in Paris, where a sensibly constant temperature
is preserved, and from which light is excluded, as at the surface. In
northern regions these diurnal changes are greater and more irregular;
while, toward the line, their amplitudes are gradually diminished until
at length they disappear altogether.
It was Graham who first entertained the idea of measuring the magnetic
intensity through the vibrations of the needle, a method subsequently
used by Coulomb, and which many believe was invented by the latter.
From the observations made by Humboldt and by Gay-Lussac in this
manner, Biot has reduced the variation of intensity in different
latitudes.
REFERENCES.--“_Am. Journal Science_,” Vol. XXX. p. 225; Walker,
“Magnetism,” Chap. II; Fifth Dissertation of the Eighth
“Britannica,” Vol. I. p. 744; also _Phil. Trans._ 1724–1725,
Vol. XXXIII. p. 332, and pp. 96–107 (“An Account of Observations
Made of the Horizontal Needle at London, 1722–1723, by Mr.
George Graham”) and the following abridgments: Reid and Gray,
Vol. VI. pp. 170, 187; Hutton, Vol. VII. pp. 27, 94; Vol. IX.
p. 495; Eames and Martyn, Vol. VI. part ii. pp. 28, 280, 290;
Baddam, 1745, Vol. VIII. p. 20; John Martyn, Vol. X. part ii. p.
698; _An de chimie_ for 1749, Vol. XXV. p. 310.
=A.D. 1725.=--Horrebow--Horreboe--(Peter), was a Danish physicist
(1679–1764), who studied medicine for a time and then became a pupil
of the celebrated mathematician and astronomer Olaus Rœmer (1644–1710,
best known by his discovery of the finite velocity of light), whom he
succeeded in the University of Copenhagen.
His earliest work, “Clavis Astronomiæ,” first appeared during 1725, but
it is only in the second and enlarged new edition of it in Horrebow’s
“Operum Mathematico-Physicorum,” Havn. 1740, Vol. I. p. 317, that
will be found the passage (s. 226) in which the luminous process of
the sun is characterized as a perpetual northern light. Humboldt,
who mentions the fact (“Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. p. 81) suggests that a
comparison be made of Horrebow’s statement with the precisely similar
views held by Sir William Herschel (1738–1822) and Sir John Frederick
William Herschel (1792–1871). He says that Horrebow, who did not
confound gravitation with magnetism, was the first who thus designated
the process of light produced in the solar atmosphere by the agency of
powerful magnetic forces (“Mémoires de Mathématiques et de Physique,
présentés à l’Académie Royale des Sciences,” Vol. IX. 1780, p. 262;
Hanow, in Joh. Dan. Titius’s “Gemeinützige Abhand. über natür. Dinge,”
1768, p. 102), and, with reference to the Herschels he thus expresses
himself: “If electricity, moving in currents, develops magnetic forces,
and if, in accordance with an early hypothesis of Sir Wm. Herschel
(_Phil. Trans._ for 1795, Vol. LXXXV. p. 318; John Herschel,
“Outlines of Astronomy,” p. 238; also, Humboldt, “Cosmos,” Vol. I. p.
189), the sun itself is in the condition of a perpetual northern light
(I should rather say of an electro-magnetic storm) we should seem
warranted in concluding that solar light transmitted in the regions of
space by vibrations of ether, may be accompanied by electro-magnetic
currents” (“Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” for John and William Herschel, Vol.
XXVI. pp. 263–274).
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IX. p. 397; Wolf,
“Hist. Ordbog.,” Vol. VII. pp. 194–199; Nyerup, “Univ. Annalen”;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibliographie,” 1882, Vol. II. p. 166.
Three of the children of Peter Horrebow, almost equally distinguished
for their learning, are: Nicolas Horrebow (1712–1760), who made
physical and astronomical observations in Iceland and published an
able report thereon during 1752; Christian Horrebow (1718–1776), who
succeeded his father in 1753 as astronomer in the Copenhagen University
and who wrote several important scientific treatises; and Peter
Horrebow (1728–1812), who was professor of mathematics and philosophy,
and published works on geometry, meteorology and astronomy.
Much of interest concerning the above will also be found in the
“Abstracts of Papers ... Roy Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 208, 249, 251, and in
the “Catalogue of Sc. Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. III. pp. 322–328;
Vol. VI. p. 687; Vol. VII. p. 965.
=A.D. 1726.=--Wood (John), an English architect of considerable
repute, is said to have shown that the electric fluid could be conveyed
through wires a long distance, and, during the year 1747, one of the
earliest applications of Wood’s discovery was made by Dr. William
Watson (see A.D. 1745), who extended his experiments over a
space of four miles, comprising a circuit of two miles of wire and an
equal distance of ground.
REFERENCES.--Alexander Jones, “Sketch of the Elect. Teleg.,” New
York, 1852, p. 7; Charles F. Briggs, “Story of the Telegraph,”
1858, p. 18.
=A.D. 1729.=--Hamilton (James), who became sixth Earl of
Abercorn--also called Lord Paisley--publishes “Calculations and Tables
relating to the attractive virtue of loadstones ...” containing very
valuable data and wherein he is the first to give the true law of the
lifting capacity of magnets, as follows: “The principle upon which
these tables are formed is this: That if two loadstones are perfectly
homogeneous, that is if their Matter be of the same specifick parity,
and of the same virtue in all parts of one stone, as in the other; and
that like parts of their surfaces are cap’d or arm’d with iron; then
the weights they sustain will be as the squares of the cube roots of
the weights of the loadstones; that is, as their surfaces.”
Gilbert treats of armed loadstones, Book II. chaps. xvii-xxii. In
connection with the increased energy which magnets acquire by being
armed, that is, fitted with a cap of polished iron at each pole, Dr.
Whewell remarks that it is only at a later period any notice was taken
“of the distinction which exists between the magnetical properties of
soft iron and of hard steel; the latter being susceptible of being
formed into _artificial magnets_, with permanent poles; while soft
iron is only _passively magnetic_, receiving a temporary polarity
from the action of a magnet near it, but losing this property when the
magnet is removed. About the middle of the last century various methods
were devised of making artificial magnets, which exceeded in power all
magnetic bodies previously known” (“Hist. of the Ind. Sc.,” 1859, Vol.
II. p. 220).
Hamilton alludes to a loadstone weighing 139 grains, with a lifting
power of 23,760 grains! We have referred, amongst others, to the
loadstone belonging to Sir Isaac Newton at A.D. 1675, and to
the wonderful collection belonging to Mr. Butterfield at A.D.
1809. A loadstone weighing twelve ounces, capable of lifting sixty
pounds of iron, is referred to in Terzagus, “Musæum Septalianum,” 1664,
p. 42, while another weighing two and a half grains and lifting 783
grains is mentioned at p. 272, Vol. III. of the “Records of General
Science”; and Salviatus (“Dialogues of Galileo,” Dial. III) alludes
to one in the Academy of Florence which, unarmed, weighed six ounces
and could lift but two ounces, but when armed had a lifting power
of 160 ounces. At pp. 317–318, Part III of Nehemiah Grew’s “Musæum
Regalis Societatis,” London, 1681--also 1686--allusion is made to a
loadstone found in Devonshire, weighing about sixty pounds, which moved
a needle nine feet distant. Grew then refers to Athan. Kircher and to
Vincent Leotaud as having published what is said of the loadstone by
Gilbert and others, and he likewise states: “Those that travail through
the vast deserts of Arabia, have also a needle and a compass whereby
they direct themselves in their way, as Mariners at sea [Majoli,
‘Colloquia’]; the power of the magnet dependeth not upon its bulk--the
smaller being usually the stronger....”
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._ for, 1729–1730, No. 412, Vol. XXXVI.
p. 245, and for July 1888, also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. VII.
p. 383; V. T. M. Van der Willigen, “Arch. du Musée Teyler,”
1878, Vol. IV; Jacobi Rohaulti, “Physica,” 1718, Part III. cap.
8, p. 403, or the English translation by Dr. Clarke, 1728,
Vol. II. p. 181; P. W. Hacker, “Zur theorie des magnetismus,”
Nürnberg, 1856; Ath. Kircher, “Magnes. ...” 1643, lib. i. part
ii. p. 63; Daniel Bernoulli, “Acta Helvetica,” 1758, Vol. III.
p. 223; Nic. Cabæus “Philosophia Magnetica,” 1629, lib. iv. cap.
42, p. 407; Kenelme Digby, “The Nature of Bodies,” 1645, Chap.
XXII. p. 243; “Dict. of Nat. Biog.” Vol. XXIV. p. 185.
=A.D. 1729–1730.=--Savery (Servington), English mechanician, succeeds
in imparting magnetism to hard steel bars three-fourths of an inch
square and sixteen inches long, by fitting one bar with an armature at
each end and touching other bars with it whilst held in the magnetic
meridian in the line of the inclined needle.
It was shown by Savery that his artificial magnets were preferable
to loadstones. The first recorded attempt to make artificial magnets
is credited to one John Sellers, believed to be the author of “The
Practical Navigator,” of which the earliest edition appeared in 1669,
and of “The Coasting Pilot,” published about 1680. An “Answer to Some
Magnetical Inquiries Proposed in (the preceding) No. 23, pp. 423–424,”
will be found in _Phil. Trans._ for 1667, Vol. II. pp. 478–479
and in the following abridgments: Baddam, 1745, Vol. I. p. 86; Hutton,
Vol. I. p. 166 (as of No. 26, p. 478); John Lowthorp, Vol. II. p. 601.
Reference is likewise made to this invention of Sellers at Vol. I. p.
86 of the “Memoirs of the Royal Society,” London, 1739, and in a paper
by Réaumur, in the “Mémoires de l’Académie Française” for the year 1723.
REFERENCES.--Savery, “Magnetical Observations and Experiments,”
also _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXXVI. pp. 295–340; and the following
abridgments: Hutton, Vol. VII. p. 400; Reid and Gray, Vol. VI.
p. 166; Eames and Martyn, Vol. VI. p. 260; Baddam, 1745, Vol.
IX. p. 57; Geo. Adams, “Essay on Electricity,” 1785, p. 451.
=A.D. 1731.=--On the 25th of November the Royal Society were
honoured by a visit from the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Lorraine,
the last named being enrolled as a member during the evening.
Experiments were performed “On the strength of Lord Paisley’s
loadstone,” “On Dr. Frobenius’s phlogiston,” and “On the electrical
observations of Mr. Stephen Grey.” These experiments which, it is
said, “succeeded notwithstanding the largeness of the company,” showed
the facility with which electricity passes through great lengths of
conductors and are worth noting as being the first of their nature.
=A.D. 1732.=--Régnault (Le Père Noël) gives in “Les Entretiens
Physiques,” etc., Vol. I. Nos. 15 and 16, the tables of the declination
at Paris from the years 1600–1730, and treats at length of the merits
of the loadstone and of the magnetic needle.
In Vols. II, IV and V he discourses about the extent of the magnetic
fluid and explains the phenomena of meteors, St. Elmo’s fire, thunder,
etc., besides recording the experiments of Grey, Dufay and others.
=A.D. 1733.=--Dufay (Charles François de Cisternay), French scientist
and superintendent of the _Jardin du Roi_, now the _Jardin des
Plantes_, of Paris (in which latter position he was succeeded by
Buffon), communicates to the French Academy of Sciences the history of
electricity brought down to the year 1732 (_Dantzig Memoirs_, Vol. I.
p. 195).
He is said to have originated the theory of two kinds of electricity
permeating matter and producing all the known phenomena of attraction,
repulsion and induction, though the honour of this important discovery
should be shared by M. White, who was associated at one time with
Stephen Grey and who, it appears, independently discovered the fact
while in England. Dufay thus announces his discovery: “... there are
two kinds of electricity, very different from one another, one of
which I call _vitreous_ (positive) and the other _resinous_ (negative)
electricity. The first is that of glass, rock crystal, precious stones,
hairs of animals, wool and many other bodies. The second is that of
amber, copal, gum-lac, silk, thread, paper and a vast number of other
substances. The characteristics of these two electricities are that
they repel themselves and attract each other. Thus a body of the
vitreous electricity repels all other bodies possessed of the vitreous,
and, on the contrary, attracts all those of the resinous electricity.
The resinous also repels the resinous and attracts the vitreous. From
this principle one may easily deduce the explanation of a great number
of the phenomena; and it is probable that this truth will lead us to
the discovery of many other things” (see Franklin, at A.D. 1752, and
Symmer, at A.D. 1759).
Upon repeating Grey’s experiments, Dufay observed, amongst other
things, that, by wetting pack thread, electricity was more readily
transmitted through it, and he was enabled thus easily to convey the
fluid a distance of 1256 feet, though the wind was high and although
the line made eight returns.
REFERENCES.--Fontenelle, “Eloge”; Priestley, “History and
Present State of Electricity,” 1775, Period IV. pp. 43–54;
Sturgeon, _Lectures_, 1842, p. 23; “An Epitome of El. and Mag.,”
Philad., 1809, p. 29; _Mém. de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences_
for 1733, pp. 23, 28, 76, 83, 233–236, 251, 252, 457; also for
the years 1734, pp. 303, 341, and 1737, pp. 86, 307; _Phil.
Trans._, Vol. XXXVIII. p. 258; also the following abridgments:
Hutton, Vol. VII. p. 638; John Martyn, Vol. VIII. part ii. p.
393; Baddam, Vol. IX. p. 497; Thos. Thomson, “An Outline of the
Sciences of Heat and Electricity,” London, 1830, p. 344 and
Thos. Thomson, “Hist. of the Roy. Soc.,” London, 1812, p. 432;
“Electricity in the Service of Man,” R. Wormell (from the German
of Dr. Urbanitzky), London, 1900, p. 14; “Journal des Sçavans,”
Vol. XCIII for 1731, pp. 383–388; Vol. C for 1733, p. 244; Vol.
CIV for 1734, p. 479; Vol. CXII for 1737, p. 65; Vol. CXV for
1738, p. 173; Vol. CXXIX for 1743, p. 501.
=A.D. 1733.=--Winckler (Johann Heinrich), a philosopher of Wingendorf,
Saxony, and Professor of Languages in the University of Leipzig, first
uses a fixed cushion in the electric machine for applying friction
instead of by means of the hand, and is, by many, believed to have been
the first to suggest the use of conductors as a means of protection
against lightning (see B.C. 600).
In March 1745, Winckler read a paper before the Royal Society, in which
he describes machines for rubbing tubes and globes, also a contrivance
with which he can give his globes as many as 680 turns in a minute.
Priestley states that the German electricians generally used several
globes at a time and that they could excite such a prodigious power
of electricity from “globes, whirled by a large wheel and rubbed with
woollen cloth or a dry hand, that, if we may credit their own accounts,
the blood could be drawn from the finger by an electric spark; the skin
would burst and a wound appear, as if made by a caustic.”
During the year 1746 Winckler made use of common electricity for
telegraphic communications by the discharge of Leyden jars through very
long circuits, in some of which the River Pleisse formed a part, and it
may be added that Joseph Franz had previously discharged the contents
of a jar through 1500 feet of iron wire while in the city of Vienna.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLIII. p. 307; Vol. XLIV. pp.
211, 397; Vol. XLV. p. 262; Vol. XLVII. p. 231; Vol. XLVIII.
p. 772; also following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. IX. pp. 74,
109, 251, 345, 494; Vol. X. pp. 197, 529; John Martyn, Vol.
X. part ii. pp. 269, 273, 327, 345, 399; Priestley, 1775, on
the discoveries of the Germans, pp. 70–77; “Thoughts on the
Properties,” etc., Leipzig, 1744, pp. 146, 149.
=A.D. 1733.=--Brandt (Georg), Swedish chemist, gives in the “Memoirs
of the Academy” of Upsal an account of the experiments made by him to
show the possibility of imparting magnetism to substances which are not
ferruginous. He proved it in the case of the metal cobalt, and during
the year 1750 the able discoverer of nickel, Axel. F. de Cronstedt,
showed that the latter is likewise susceptible of this property.
REFERENCES.--Thomas, “Dict. of Biog.,” 1871, Vol. I. p. 428;
English Cyclopædia (Biography Supplement), 1872, p. 423.
=A.D. 1734.=--Polinière (Pierre), French physician and experimental
philosopher (1671–1734), member of the Society of Arts, entirely
revises the fourth edition of his “Expériences de Phisique” originally
issued in 1709. While the second volume contains but a short chapter
relative to electricity, meteoric disturbances, etc., the remainder
of the work gives very curious and interesting experiments with the
loadstone, making allusion to the observations of John Keill, besides
treating of the declination of the needle, etc.
REFERENCES.--“New Gen. Biog. Dict.,” London, 1850, Vol. XI. p.
177; Moréri, “Grand Dict. Hist.”; “Biog. Univ.” (Michaud), Vol.
XXXIII. p. 637; “Nouv. Biog. Gén.” (Hœfer), Vol. XL. p. 614;
Chaudon, “Dict. Hist. Univ.”
=A.D. 1734.=--Swedenborg (Emanuel), founder of the Church of New
Jerusalem, details in his “Principia Rerum Naturalium,” etc., the
result of experiments and sets forth the laws relating to magnetic
and electric forces and effects. The first explicit treatise upon the
close relationship existing between magnetism and electricity was,
however, written fourteen years later by M. Laurent Béraud (1703–1777),
Professor of Mathematics at the College of Lyons. Both Swedenborg and
Béraud recognized the fact that it is, as Fahie expresses it, the same
force, only differently disposed which produces both electric and
magnetic phenomena.
In “Results of an Investigation into the MSS. of Swedenborg,”
Edinburgh, 1869, p. 7, No. 16, Dr. R. L. Tafel makes following entry:
“A treatise on the magnet, 265 pages text and 34 pages tables, quarto.
This work is a digest of all that had been written up to Swedenborg’s
time on the subject, with some of his own experiments. According to the
title page, Swedenborg had intended it for publication in London during
the year 1722.”
The “Principia Rerum Naturalium” is the first volume of Swedenborg’s
earliest great work, “Opera Philosophica et Mineralia,” originally
published in Leipzig and Dresden 1734, which has justly been pronounced
a very remarkable cosmogony. In the “Principia” Part I. chap. ix.,
is to be found his treatment of what he calls the second or magnetic
element of the world; in Part III. chap. i. he gives a comparison of
the sidereal heaven with the magnetic sphere, but he devotes the whole
of Part II to the magnet in following chapters:
I. On the causes and mechanism of the magnetic forces;
II. On the attractive forces of two or more magnets, and the
ratio of the forces to the distances;
III. On the attractive forces of two magnets when their poles
are alternated;
IV. On the attractive forces of two magnets when their axes
are parallel or when the equinoctial of the one lies upon the
equinoctial of the other;
V. On the disjunctive and repulsive forces of two or more
magnets when the cognomical or inimical poles are applied to
each other;
VI. On the attractive forces of the magnet and of iron;
VII. On the influence of the magnet upon ignited iron;
VIII. On the quantity of exhalations from the magnet and their
penetration through hard bodies, etc.;
IX. On the various modes of destroying the power of the magnet;
and on the chemical experiments made with it;
X. On the friction of the magnet against iron, and on the force
communicated from the former to the latter;
XI. On the conjunctive force of the magnet, as exercised upon
several pieces of iron;
XII. On the operation of iron and of the magnet upon the
mariner’s needle; and on the reciprocal operation of one needle
upon another;
XIII. On other methods of making iron magnetical;
XIV. The declination of the magnet calculated upon the foregoing
principles;
XV. On the causes of the magnetic declination;
XVI. Calculation of the declination of the magnet for the year
1722, at London.
REFERENCES.--Béraud, “Dissertation,” etc., Bordeaux, 1748;
also Priestley, 1775, p. 191; “Biographie Universelle,” Vol.
III. p. 687; “Biog. Génér.,” Vol. XLIV. pp. 690–703; Daillant
de la Touche, “Abrégé des ouvrages de Swedenborg,” 1788;
J. Clowes, “Letters on the writings of Swedenborg,” 1799;
“Svenskt Biografiskt Handlexikon,” Herm. Hofberg, Stockholm,
pp. 368–369; “Swedenborg and the Nebular Hypothesis,” Magnus
Nyrén, astronomer at Observatory of Pulkowa, Russia, translated
from the “Viertel jahrschrift der Astronomischen Gesellschaft,”
Leipzig, 1879, p. 81, by Rev. Frank Sewall.
=A.D. 1735–1746.=--Ulloa (Don Antonio de), Spanish mathematician,
who left Cadiz May 26, 1735, for South America, whither he was sent
with Condamine and other French Academicians, as well as with Spanish
scientists, to measure a degree of the meridian, returned to Madrid
July 25, 1746, and shortly after gave an account of his experiences
during an absence of eleven years and two months.
In his “Voyage Historique de l’Amérique Méridionale,” Amsterdam and
Leipzig, 1752, he speaks (Vol. I. pp. 14–18 and Vol. II. pp. 30–31,
92–94, 113, 123, 128) of the defective magnetic needles given him
as well as of the means of correcting them, and he details at great
length the variations of the needle observed during the voyage. He also
alludes to the variation charts of Dr. Halley and to the alterations
therein made by advice of William Mountaine and Jacob Dooson--James
Dodson--of London, as well as to the methods of ascertaining the
variation of the magnetic needle pointed out both by Manuel de
Figueyredo, at Chaps. IX-X of his “Hidrographie ou Examen des Pilotes,”
printed at Lisbon in 1608, and by Don Lazare de Flores at Chap. I, part
ii. of his “Art de Naviguer,” printed in 1672. The latter, he says,
asserts, in Chap. IX, that the Portuguese find his method so reliable
that they embody it in all the instructions given for the navigation of
their vessels.
At pp. 66, 67, Chap. X of vol. ii. Ulloa makes the earliest recorded
reference to the _aurora australis_, as follows: “At half-past
ten in the evening, and as we stood about two leagues from the island
of _Tierra de Juan Fernandez_, we observed upon the summit of a
neighbouring mountain a very brilliant and extraordinary light....
I saw it very distinctly from its inception, and I noticed that it
was very small at first, and gradually extended until it looked like
a large, lighted torch. This lasted three or four minutes, when the
light began to diminish as gradually as it had grown, and finally
disappeared.”
Incidentally, it may be stated here that the very learned Dr. John
Dalton reported having seen the _aurora australis_ in England, and to
have besides observed the _aurora borealis_ as far as 45° latitude
south (see accounts in _Philosophical Transactions_, _Philosophical
Magazine_, _Manchester Transactions_ and _Nicholson’s Journal_), while
Humboldt remarks (“Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 192, note) that in south
polar bands, composed of very delicate clouds, observed by Arago,
at Paris, on the 23rd of June, 1844, dark rays shot upward from an
arch running east and west, and that he had already made mention of
black rays resembling dark smoke, as occurring in brilliant nocturnal
northern lights.
References to the _aurora australis_ are made by the naturalist John
Reinhold Forster, in the article on “Aurora Borealis” of the “Encycl.
Britannica.”
For Mountaine and Dodson, consult the _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLVIII.
p. 875; Vol. L. p. 329, also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XI. p. 149.
=A.D. 1738.=--Boze--Böse--(Georg Matthias) (1710–1761), Professor
of Philosophy at Wittemburg, publishes his “Oratio inauguralis de
electricitate,” which is followed, in 1746, by “Recherches sur la cause
et sur la véritable théorie de l’électricité,” and, in 1747, by his
completed “Tentamina electrica.”
To him is due the introduction in the electrical machine of the prime
conductor, in the form of an iron tube or cylinder. The latter was at
first supported by a man insulated upon cakes of resin and afterward
suspended by silken strings. M. Boze discovered that capillary tubes
discharging water by drops give a continuous run when electrified. He
also conveyed electricity by a jet of water from one man to another,
standing upon cakes of resin, at a distance of six paces, and likewise
employed the jet for igniting alcohol as well as other liquids.
REFERENCES.--Alglave et Boulard, 1882, p. 22, also Priestley,
1775, upon “Miscellaneous Discoveries,” likewise “Nouv. Biog.
Générale” (Hœfer), Vol. VI. p. 772; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol.
VII. p. 454; “Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. LXIII for 1718, p. 485;
_Phil. Trans._ for 1745, Vol. XLIII. p. 419, and for 1749, Vol.
XLVI. p. 189; also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. IX. pp. 127, 681;
and J. Martyn’s abridgments, Vol. X. part ii. pp. 277, 329.
=A.D. 1739.=--Desaguliers (Jean Theophile), chaplain to his Grace
the Duke of Chandos, gives an account of his first experiments on the
phenomena of electricity at pp. 186, 193, 196, 198, 200, 209, 634, 637,
638 and 661 of Vol. XLI of the _Phil. Trans._ for 1739. Some of
these experiments were made on the 15th of April, 1738, at H.R.H. the
Prince of Wales’ house at Cliefden.
He was the first to divide bodies into “electrics,” or non-conductors,
and “non-electrics,” or conductors. He ranked pure _air_ amongst
his electrics (Tyndall, Lecture I) and stated that “cold air in frosty
weather, when vapours rise least of all, is preferable for electrical
purposes to warm air in summer, when the heat raises the vapours”
(_Phil. Trans._, John Martyn abridgment, Vol. VIII. p. 437).
It was Desaguliers who announced that he could render bars of iron
magnetic, either by striking them sharply against the ground while in
a vertical position or by striking them with a hammer when placed at
right angles to the magnetic meridian.
His “Dissertation Concerning Electricity” London, 1742, which won for
him the grand prize of the Bordeaux Academy, is said to be the second
work on the subject published in the English language, the first
having been Boyle’s “Mechanical Origin and Production of Electricity,”
mentioned at A.D. 1675.
Desaguliers was the second to receive the Copley medal, it having been
previously bestowed by the Royal Society only upon Stephen Grey, who
obtained it in 1731 and 1732 for his “New Electrical Experiments.” The
list of recipients of this distinguished honour, given by C. R. Weld
at p. 385, Vol. I of the “History of the Royal Society,” shows that
Desaguliers received _three_ Copley medals; these were awarded him
during the years 1734, 1736 and 1741, for his “Experiments in Natural
Philosophy.” John Canton was given two of the medals, in 1751 and 1764,
the only other electrician similarly favoured being Michael Faraday,
who received them during the years 1832 and 1838, while Sir Humphry
Davy is credited with only one, conferred upon him in 1805.
“Can Britain ...
... Permit the weeping muse to tell
How poor neglected Desaguliers fell?
How he, who taught two gracious kings to view,
All Boyle ennobled, and all Bacon knew,
Died in a cell, without a friend to save,
Without a guinea, and without a grave?”
Cawthorn, “Vanity of Human Enjoyments,” V. 147–154.
In the year 1742, Desaguliers received the prize of the _Académie
Royale de Bordeaux_ for a treatise on the electricity of bodies,
which latter was separately published at the time in a quarto volume of
twenty-eight pages. The same Academy had previously conferred important
prizes for dissertations, upon the nature of thunder and lightning
by Louis Antoine Lozeran du Fech in 1726, upon the variations of the
magnetic needle by Nicolas Sarrabat in 1727, and also subsequently
decreed similar awards, to Laurent Béraud for an essay on magnets in
1748, to Denis Barberet for a treatise on atmospherical electricity in
1750, and to Samuel Theodor Quellmalz for a dissertation on medical
electricity in 1753.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XL. p. 385; Vol. XLII. pp.
14, 140; also the following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. VIII. pp.
246–248, 340, 346, 350–358, 470–474, 479, 546, 584; John Martyn,
Vol. VIII. part ii. pp. 419, 422–444, 740. Very interesting
reading is afforded by M. Desaguliers through the observations
he made on the magnets having more poles than two. These will
be found recorded in _Phil. Trans._ for 1738, p. 383 and in
Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. VIII. p. 246; Thomson, “Hist. Roy.
Soc.,” 1812, pp. 433, 434; “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Alex. Chalmers,
London, 1811, Vol. XI. pp. 489–493.
=A.D. 1740.=--Celsius (Anders), who filled the chair of astronomy at
Upsal, is first to point out the great utility of making simultaneous
observations over a large extent of territory and at widely different
points. He states (_Svenska Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar_ for 1740,
p. 44) that a simultaneity in certain extraordinary perturbations,
which had caused a horary influence on the course of the magnetic
needle at Upsal and at London, afforded proof “that the cause of these
disturbances is extended over considerable portions of the earth’s
surface, and is not dependent upon accidental local actions.”
In the following year (1741), Olav Hiörter, who was Celsius’ assistant,
discovered and measured the influence of polar light on magnetic
variation. His observations were subsequently carried on in conjunction
with Celsius, and were improved upon by Wargentin (A.D. 1750)
and by Cassini (A.D. 1782–1791).
REFERENCES.--Walker, “Ter. and Cos. Magnetism,” p. 116; also
Humboldt, “Cosmos,” _re_ “Magnetic Disturbances,” and Vol. II.
p. 438, of Weld’s “History of the Royal Society.”
=A.D. 1742.=--Gordon (Andreas), a Scotch Benedictine monk (1712–1757),
Professor of Philosophy at Erfurt, abandons the use of glass globes
(Newton, at A.D. 1675 and Hauksbee, at A.D. 1705), and is the first
to employ a glass cylinder, the better to develop electricity. His
cylinder, eight inches long and four inches wide, is made to turn by
means of a bow with such rapidity that it attains 680 revolutions per
minute.
Priestley says (“Discovery of Germans,” Part I. period vii.) that
Gordon “increased the electric sparks to such a degree that they were
felt from a man’s head to his foot, so that a person could hardly
take them without falling down with giddiness; and small birds were
killed by them. This he effected by conveying electricity, with iron
wires, to the distance of 200 ells (about 250 yards) from the place of
excitation.”
REFERENCES.--_Dantzig Memoirs_, Vol. II. pp. 358, 359, and
Nollet, “Recherches,” etc., p. 172. See also Gordon’s “Phenomena
Electricitatis Exposita,” Erford, 1744 and 1746; “Philosophia,”
1745; “Tentamen ... Electricitatis,” 1745; “Versuche ... einer
Electricität.,” 1745–1746.
=A.D. 1743.=--Hausen (Christian Augustus), Professor of Mathematics at
Leipzig, publishes his “Novi profectus in historia electricitatis,” and
is the first to revive the use of the glass globe introduced by Newton
(A.D. 1675) and employed with great effect by Hauksbee (A.D. 1705).
In Watson’s “Expériences et observations sur l’électricité,” is shown
an electrical machine constructed by Hausen and differing but slightly
from the one alluded to herein at A.D. 1705 as made for M.
Wolfius. In this illustration a lady is pressing her hand against the
glass globe, which is being rotated rapidly, thus developing upon its
surface the vitreous electricity, while the resinous electricity passes
through her body to the earth. The young man who is suspended and
insulated by silken cords, represents the prime conductor introduced
by Prof. Boze (A.D. 1738). The vitreous electricity passes
from the surface of the glass globe, through his feet and entire body,
and is communicated by his hand to the young girl, who stands upon a
large section of resin, and is able to attract small parcels of gold
leaf by means of the electric fluid. Another machine, taken from the
same French work (originally published at Paris in 1748), is said to
have been at that time much in use throughout Holland and principally
at Amsterdam. The man rotates a glass globe, against which the operator
presses his hand, and the electricity is conveyed through the metallic
rod supported by silk-covered stands and held by a third party, who is
igniting spirits in the manner indicated at the A.D. 1744 date.
REFERENCE.--_Dantzig Memoirs_, Vol. I. pp. 278, 279.
=A.D. 1743.=--Boerhaave--Boerhaaven--(Hermann), illustrious
physician, mathematician and natural philosopher (1668–1738), who
held the chairs of theoretical medicine, practical medicine, botany
and chemistry at the University of Leyden, F.R.S. and member French
Academy of Sciences, writes an Essay on the virtue of Magnetical Cures,
of which there were subsequently many editions and translations in
different languages.
One of his biographers calls him “the Galen, the Ibn Sina, the Fernel
of his age.” Another remarks that he was, perhaps, the greatest
physician of modern times: “A man who, when we contemplate his genius,
his erudition, the singular variety of his talents, his unfeigned
piety, his spotless character, and the impress which he left not only
on contemporaneous practice, but on that of succeeding generations,
stands forth as one of the brightest names on the page of medical
history, and may be quoted as an example not only to physicians, but
to mankind at large. No professor was ever attended, in public as well
as at private lectures, by so great a number of students, from such
distant and different parts, for so many years successively; none heard
him without conceiving a veneration for his person, at the same time
that they expressed their surprise at his prodigious attainments; and
it may be justly affirmed, that none in so private a station ever
attracted a more universal esteem.”
REFERENCES.--“Biographica Philosophica,” Benj. Martin, London,
1764, pp. 478–483; “Eloge de Boerhaave,” by Maty, Leyde, 1747,
and by Fontenelle, 1763, T. VI; his life, written by Dr. Wm.
Burton, London, 1736; Van Swinden, “Recueil,” etc., La Haye,
1784, Vol. II. p. 354, note; “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Tome VII.
p. 42; “Biographie Générale,” Tome VI. pp. 352–357; “Biographie
Universelle,” Vol. IV. pp. 529–555; Ninth “Encycl. Britannica,”
Vol. III. p. 854; “Histoire Philosophique de la Médecine,”
Etienne Tourtelle, Paris, An. XII. (1807), Vol. II. pp. 404–446;
“Bibl. Britan.” (Authors), Rob. Watt, Edinburgh, 1824, Vol.
I. p. 127; “The Edinburgh Encyclopædia,” 1830, Vol. III. pp.
628–630 or the 1813 ed., Vol. III. pp. 612–614; G. A. Pritzel,
“Thesaurus Literaturæ Botanicæ,” Lipsiæ, 1851, p. 26.
=A.D. 1744.=--Ludolf--Leudolff--(Christian Friedrich), of Berlin,
first exhibits, January 23, the ignition of inflammable substances
by the electric spark. This he does in the presence of hundreds of
spectators, on the occasion of the opening of the Royal Academy of
Sciences by Frederick the Great of Prussia, when fire is set to
sulphuric ether through a spark from the sword of one of the court
cavaliers (see notes on Tyndall’s second lecture, 1876, p. 80).
It was likewise at this period Ludolf the younger demonstrated that the
luminous barometer is made perfectly electrical by the motion of the
quicksilver, first attracting and then repelling bits of paper, etc.,
suspended by the side of the tube, when it was enclosed in another tube
out of which the air was extracted (_Dantzig Memoirs_, Vol. III. p.
495).
=A.D. 1744–1745.=--Waitz (Jacob Siegismund von), a German electrician,
writes three essays in Dutch and one in French, and is given the prize
of fifty ducats proposed by the Berlin Academy of Sciences for the
best dissertation on the subject of electricity. In the following
year he makes experiments, with Etienne François du Tour, to show the
destruction of electricity by flame, and, later on, with Prof. Georg
Erhard Hamberger, he proves conclusively that the motion of quicksilver
in a glass vessel out of which the air is extracted has the power of
moving light bodies. Jean Nicolas Sebastien Allamand subsequently found
that it was immaterial whether the vessel had air in it or not.
REFERENCES.--Tyndall’s Notes on Lecture II, also _Dantzig
Memoirs_, Vol. II. pp. 380, 426, and M. du Tour’s “Recherches
sur les Différents Mouvements de la Matière Electrique,” Paris,
1760.
=A.D. 1745.=--Kratzenstein (Christian Gottlieb), Professor of
Medicine at Halle, author of “Versuch einer Erklarung,” etc., and of
“Theoria Electricitatis,” etc., is said to have first successfully
employed electricity in the relief of sprains, malformations, etc. He
observed that a man’s pulse, which had beat eighty in a second before
he was electrified, immediately after beat eighty-eight, and was soon
increased to ninety-six.
Kratzenstein is reported (Mary Somerville, “Physical Sciences,” Section
XVII.) to have made instruments which articulated many letters, words
and even sentences, and somewhat similar in construction to those
alluded to at A.D. 1620 (De Bergerac), and A.D. 1641 (John Wilkins),
some of which may truly be said to strongly suggest the modern
phonograph.
Albertus Magnus constructed, after thirty years of experimentation, a
curious machine which sent forth distinct vocal sounds, at which the
very learned scholastic philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas (“Angel of the
Schools”) was so much terrified that he struck the contrivance with his
stick and broke it. Bishop Wilkins alludes to this machine as well as
to a brazen head devised by Friar Bacon, which could be made to utter
certain words (“Journal des Savants” for 1899, and J. S. Brewer, “F.
Rog. Bacon,” 1859, p. xci; also, “How Fryer Bacon made a Brasen Head to
Speake,” at pp. 13–14 of the “Famous Historie of Fryer Bacon published
at London for Francis Groue”).
Incidentally, it may be mentioned that Wolfgang von Kempelen, Aulic
Counsellor to the Royal Chamber of the Domains of the Emperor of
Germany, after witnessing some magnetic games shown to the Empress
Maria Theresa at Vienna, constructed, during the year 1778, a speaking
machine which “gave sounds as of a child three or four years of age,
uttering distinct syllables and words” (Wm. Whewell, “Hist. of the
Inductive Sciences,” Vol. II. chap. vi.; J. E. Montucla, “Hist. des
Mathém,” Vol. III. p. 813).
_La Nature_, Paris, May 6, 1905, pp. 353–354, illustrates the
_speaking head_ of l’Abbé Mical presented by him to the French
Academy of Sciences July 2, 1783, and alludes to those of Albertus
Magnus, Wolfgang von Kempelen, C. G. Kratzenstein, etc.
Two more curious productions, in pretty much the same line as
Bergerac’s, can, with equal propriety, be inserted here.
The first is taken from the April number, 1632, of the _Courier
Véritable_, a little monthly publication in which novel fancies were
frequently aired: “Captain Vosterloch has returned from his voyage to
the southern lands, which he started on two years and a half ago, by
order of the States-General. He tells us, among other things, that
in passing through a strait below Magellan’s, he landed in a country
where Nature has furnished men with a kind of sponge which holds sounds
and articulations as our sponges hold liquids. So, when they wish to
dispatch a message to a distance, they speak to one of the sponges, and
then send it to their friends. They, receiving the sponges, take them
up gently and press out the words that have been spoken into them, and
learn by this admirable means all that their correspondents desire them
to know.”
The second is the production of one Thomas Ward, theological poet, who
was born in 1640 and died in 1704. In the second canto of one of his
poems occur these words:
“As Walchius could words imprison
In hollow canes so they, by reason,
Judgment and great dexterity,
Can bottle words as well as he;
And can from place to place convey them,
Till, when they please, the _reed_ shall say them;
Will suddenly the same discharge,
And hail-shot syllables at large
Will fly intelligibly out
Into the ears of all about:
So that the _auditors_ may gain
Their meaning from the breach of cane.”
REFERENCES.--Priestley, “History,” etc., 1775, p. 374, and
_Dantzig Memoirs_, Vol. I. p. 294.
=A.D. 1745.=--Grummert (Gottfried Heinrich), of Biala, Poland, first
observes the return of the electric light _in vacuo_. In order to
ascertain whether an exhausted tube would give light when it was
electrified, as well as when it was excited, he presented one eight
inches long and a third of an inch wide, to the electrified conductor,
and was surprised to find the light dart very vividly along the entire
length of the tube. He likewise observed that some time after the tube
had been presented to the conductor, and exposed to nothing but the
air, it gave light again without being brought to an electrified body
(see _Dantzig Memoirs_, Vol. I. p. 417).
=A.D. 1745.=--Dr. Miles (Rev. Henry), of Tooting, D.D. (1698–1763)
reads, March 7, before the English Royal Society a paper indicating
the possibility of kindling phosphorus by applying to it an excited
electric without the approach of a conducting body. This gentleman’s
tube happening to be in excellent order upon this occasion, he
observed, and doubtless was the first to notice, _pencils of luminous
rays_, which he called _coruscations_, darting from the tube without
the aid of any conductor approaching it.
In a paper which Dr. Miles read before the same Society on the 25th
of January, 1746, he gave an account of other equally interesting
experiments, one of which was the kindling of ordinary lamp spirits
with a piece of black sealing wax excited by dry flannel or white and
brown paper.
REFERENCES.--“Dict. Nat. Biog.,” Sidney Lee, Vol. XXXVII. p.
378; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLIII. pp. 290, 441; Vol. XLIV. pp.
27, 53, 78, 158, and the following abridgments: Hutton, Vol.
IX. pp. 107, 136, 191, 198, 207, 213, 232; John Martyn, Vol. X.
part ii. pp. 272, 277, 317, 319, 322–323, 325.
=A.D. 1745.=--This period was to witness a discovery which, according
to Professor Tyndall, “_throws all former ones in the shade_,” and
which Dr. Priestley calls “_the most surprising yet made in the whole
business of electricity_.” This was the accumulation of the electric
power in a glass phial, called the Leyden jar after the name of the
place where the discovery was made. It was first announced in a letter
to Von Kleist, dean of the cathedral of Kamin--Cammin--in Pomerania,
dated the 4th of November, 1745, and addressed to Dr. Lieberkühn, who
communicated it to the Berlin Academy. The following is an extract:
“When a nail or a piece of thick brass wire is put into a small
apothecary’s phial and electrified, remarkable effects follow; but
the phial must be very dry or warm; I commonly rub it over beforehand
with a finger, on which I put some pounded chalk. If a little mercury,
or a few drops of spirit of wine, be put into it, the experiment
succeeds the better. As soon as this phial and nail are removed from
the electrifying glass, or the prime conductor to which it has been
exposed is taken away, it throws out a pencil of flame so long that,
with this burning machine in my hand, I have taken above sixty steps in
walking about my room; when it is electrified strongly I can take it
into another room and there fire spirits of wine with it. If while it
is electrifying I put my finger, or a piece of gold which I hold in my
hand, to the nail, I receive a shock which stuns my arms and shoulders.”
It is said that Cunæus, rich burgess of Leyden, accidentally made
the same discovery in January 1746. It appears that Pieter Van
Musschenbroek, the celebrated professor, while experimenting with his
colleagues, Cunæus and Allamand, observed that excited bodies soon
lost their electricity in the open air, attributable to the vapours
and effluvia carried in the atmosphere, and he conceived the idea that
the electricity might be retained by surrounding the excited bodies
with others that did not conduct electricity. For this purpose he
chose water, the most readily procured non-electric, and placed some
in a glass bottle. No important results were obtained until Cunæus,
who was holding the bottle, attempted to withdraw the wire which
connected with the conductor of a powerful electric machine. He at once
received a severe shock in his arms and breast, as did also the others
upon renewing the experiment. In giving an account of it to the great
scientist, René de Réaumur, Musschenbroek remarked: “For the whole
kingdom of France, I would not take a second shock.” Allamand states
that when he himself took the shock “he lost the use of his breath for
some minutes, and then felt so intense a pain along his right arm that
he feared permanent injury from it.”
In his “Cours Elémentaire de Physique,” Musschenbroek describes one
of the peculiar electrical machines then being constructed by the
well-known London instrument maker, George Adams, and a cut of it can
be seen at p. 353, Vol. I. of the translation made by Sigaud de la
Fond at Paris during 1769. Another of Adams’ machines is described and
illustrated at p. 126 of the French translation of Cavallo’s “Complete
Treatise,” published at Paris in 1785.
The invention of the Leyden jar is claimed with equal pertinacity for
Kleist, Musschenbroek and Cunæus. While it is necessarily conceded
that Von Kleist first published his discovery, it cannot be denied
that his explanation of it is so obscure as, for the time, to have
been of no practical use to others. It is stated by Priestley:
“Notwithstanding Mr. Kleist immediately communicated an account of this
famous experiment (which indeed it is evident he has but imperfectly
described) to Mr. Winckler, at Leipzig, Mr. Swiettiki, of Denmark, Mr.
Kruger, of Halle, and to the professors of the Academy of Lignitz,
as well as to Dr. Lieberkühn, of Berlin, above mentioned, they all
returned him word that the experiment did not succeed with them. Mr.
Gralath, of Dantzig, was the first with whom it answered; but this was
not till after several fruitless trials, and after receiving further
instructions from the inventor. The Abbé Nollet had information of
this discovery, and, in consequence of it says, in a letter to Mr.
Samuel Wolfe, of the Society of Dantzig, dated March 9, 1746, that the
experiment at Leyden was upon principles similar to that made with
a phial half full of water and a nail dipped in it; and that this
discovery would have been called the Dantzig experiment if it had not
happened to have got the name of that of Leyden.”
In the thirty-eighth volume of the _Philosophical Transactions_,
No. 432, p. 297, is given an abstract of a letter (dated Utrecht,
January 15, 1733, O. S.), from Petrus Van Musschenbroek, M.D., F.R.S.,
to Dr. J. T. Desaguliers, concerning experiments made on the Indian
Magnetic Sand, chiefly gathered along the seashore in Persia. After
detailing his many observations, Van Musschenbroek asks: “And, now,
what can this _sand_ be? Is it an imperfect magnet, or Subtile
Powder of it, which, when it is grown up into a greater lump, makes
the vulgar Loadstones? So I conjectured at first; but when I found by
experience that common Loadstones, exposed to the fire, according to
some of the methods above-mention’d, did rather lose of their force
than gain, I alter’d my opinion; and now confess that I have not yet
penetrated into the knowledge of the nature of this matter.”
REFERENCES.--Dalibard, “Histoire Abrégée,” p. 33; _Dantzig
Memoirs_, Vol. I. pp. 407, 409, 411; Johann Gottlob Kruger,
“Dissert. de Elect.,” Helmstadt, 1756 (Poggendorff, I. p. 1323);
Priestley, 1777, “The Hist. and Pres. State of Electricity,”
pp. 82–84; Opuscoli Scelti, 4to, xviii, 55; Pierre Massuet,
“Essais,” Leide, 1751; Musschenbroek’s “Epitome elementorum,”
etc., 1726, “Tentamina Experimentorum Naturalium,” 1731,
and his “Disertatio Physica experimentalis de Magnete,” as
well as his “Elementa Physicæ,” 1734, and the “Introductio
ad Philosophiam Naturalem,” 1762, the last-named two works
being greatly amplified editions of the “Epitome.” For
Musschenbroek--Musschenbrock--consult also _Phil. Trans._, Vol.
XXXII. p. 370; Vol. XXXVII. pp. 357, 408, also the following
abridgments: Baddam, 1745, Vol. VIII. p. 42; Reid and Gray, Vol.
VI. p. 161 (Musschenbroek to Desaguliers); Hutton, Vol. VII. pp.
105, 647 (magnetic sand); Eames and Martyn, Vol. VI. part ii. p.
255; John Martyn, Vol. VIII. p. 737 (magnetic sand). For this
magnetic sand, consult also Mr. Butterfield’s article in _Phil.
Trans._ for 1698, p. 336 and in the abridgments of Hutton, Vol.
IV. p. 310.
=A.D. 1745.=--Watson (William), M.D., F.R.S., an eminent English
scientist, bears “the most distinguished name in this period of the
history of electricity.” His first letters, treating of this science,
are addressed to the Royal Society between March 28 and October 24,
1745, and, on the 6th of February and the 30th of October, 1746, he
communicated other similar papers to the same Society, all which, like
his subsequent treatises, are to be found in the _Philosophical
Transactions_.
Dr. Watson, like most scientists at the time, made numerous experiments
with the Leyden jar, and he was the first to observe the flash of light
attending its discharge. He says: “When the phial is well electrified,
and you apply your hand thereto, you see the fire flash from the
outside of the glass wherever you touch it, and it crackles in your
hand.” It is to him that we owe the double coating of the jar, as well
as the _plus_ and _minus_ of electricity.
He also shows conclusively that glass globes and tubes do not possess
in themselves the electrical power, but only serve “as the first movers
or determiners of that power,” and he also proves that the electric
fluid takes the shortest course, passing through the substance of
the best medium of connection and not along its surface. This, he
demonstrated by discharging a phial through a wire covered with a
mixture of wax and resin.
In order to ascertain the velocity of the electric fluid from the
Leyden phial and the distance at which it could be transmitted (John
Wood, at A.D. 1726), Watson directed a series of experiments
upon a very grand scale, with the assistance of Martin Folkes,
President of the Royal Society, Lord Charles Cavendish, Dr. Bevis, Mr.
Graham, Dr. Birch, Peter Daval and Messrs. Trembley, Ellicott, Robins
and Short. On the 14th and 18th of July, 1747, they experimented upon
a wire carrying the electricity from the Thames bank at Lambeth to
the opposite bank at Westminster, across Westminster Bridge, and, on
the 24th of July, at the New River, Stoke Newington, they sent a shock
through 800 feet of water and 2000 feet of land, as well as through
2800 feet of land and 8000 feet of water. Other experiments followed
on the 28th of July and the 5th of August, as well as on the 14th of
August of the same year, proving the instantaneous transmission of the
fluid; while a year later, August 5, 1748, additional observations
were made, through 12,276 feet of wire, at Shooter’s Hill, showing
again that the time occupied in the passage of the electricity was
“altogether inappreciable.” Regarding these experiments, Prof.
Musschenbroek wrote to Dr. Watson, “_Magnificentissimis tuis
experimentis superasti conatus omnium_.”
Watson’s experiments were repeated, notably by Franklin, across the
Schuylkill at Philadelphia, in 1748; by Deluc, across the Lake of
Geneva, in 1749; and by Winckler, at Leipzig, in 1750. It is said
that Lemonnier (A.D. 1746) produced shocks at Paris through
12,789 feet of wire and that Bétancourt (A.D. 1795) discharged
electric jars through a distance of twenty-six miles.
To Dr. Watson is also due the first demonstration of the passage of
electricity through a vacuum. Noad tells us that he caused the spark
from his conductor to pass in the form of coruscations of a bright
silver hue through an exhausted tube three feet in length, and he
discharged a jar through a vacuum interval of ten inches in the form
of “a mass of very bright embodied fire.” These demonstrations were
repeated and varied by Canton, Smeaton and Wilson.
His experiments in firing gunpowder, hydrogen, etc., by the electric
spark, are detailed at p. 78 of Priestley’s “History,” etc., London,
1775.
Watson was rewarded with the Copley medal for his researches in
electricity, which brought him also honorary degrees from two German
universities. He was knighted in 1786, one year before his death.
REFERENCES.--“Watson’s Experiments and Observations on
Electricity,” 1745, also his “Account of the Experiments made
by some gentlemen of the Royal Society,” etc., 1748; _Phil.
Trans._, Vol. XLIII. p. 481; Vol. XLIV. pp. 41, 388, 695,
704; Vol. XLV. pp. 49–120, 491–496; Vol. XLVI. p. 348; Vol.
XLVII. pp. 202, 236, 362, 567; Vol. XLVIII. p. 765; Vol. LI.
p. 394 (lyncurium of the ancients); Vol. LIII. p. 10; also the
following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. IX. pp. 151, 195, 308, 368,
408, 410, 440, 553; Vol. X. pp. 12, 189, 197, 227, 233, 242,
303, 372–379, 525; Vol. XI. p. 419 (lyncurium of the ancients),
580, 660, 679; Vol. XII. p. 127; John Martyn, Vol. X. part
ii. pp. 279–280, 290, 294, 329, 339, 347, 368, 407, 410. See
likewise, _Scientific American Supplement_ of Oct. 5, 1889, No.
718, pp. 11, 471, for an interesting engraving of Dr. Watson’s
experiment made through the water of the Thames, as well as for
a detailed account of Lemonnier’s experiment above referred to.
For Mr. A. Trembley, consult _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLIV. p. 58,
and John Martyn’s abridgments, Vol. X. part ii. p. 321.
=A.D. 1746.=--Lemonnier (Pierre Claude Charles), a distinguished
savant, who was member of the French Academy as adjunct geometrician
before he had attained his twenty-first year and became foreign member
of the English Royal Society three years later, was the first scientist
who drew electricity from the narrow domain of the laboratory.
He confirmed the result previously obtained by Grey (A.D.
1720) that electric attraction is not proportioned to the mass or
quantity of matter in bodies, but only to the extent of their surface,
length having greater effect than breadth (_Phil. Trans._, Vol.
XLIV for 1746, p. 290; Snow Harris, “Treatise on Frict. Elect.,”
London, 1867, p. 239, and “Hist. de l’Acad.,” 1746). He found that an
anvil weighing two hundred pounds gives but an inconsiderable spark,
while the spark from a tin speaking-trumpet eight or nine feet long,
but weighing only ten pounds, is almost equal to the shock of the
Leyden phial. A solid ball of lead, four inches in diameter, gives a
spark of the same force as that obtained from a thin piece of lead of
like superficies bent in the form of a hoop. He took a thin and long
piece of lead, and noticed that when it was electrified in its whole
length it gave a very strong spark, but a very small one when it was
rolled into a lump (_Ac. Par._, 1746, M. p. 369). It had likewise
been shown by Le Roi and D’Arcy that a hollow sphere accepted the same
charge when empty as when filled with mercury, which latter increased
its weight sixtyfold; all proving the influence of _surface_ as
distinguished from that of mass (Tyndall, Notes on Lecture IV).
Lemonnier discovered that electricity is ever present in the
atmosphere, that it daily increases in quantity from sunrise till about
three or four o’clock in the afternoon, diminishing till the fall of
dew, when it once more increases for a while, and finally diminishes
again before midnight, when it becomes insensible. He observed a
continual diminution of electricity as the rain began to fall, and he
says: “When the wire was surrounded with drops of rain, it was observed
that only some of them were electrical, which was remarkable by the
conic figure they had; whilst the others remained round as before.
It was also perceived that the electrical and non-electrical drops
succeeded almost alternately; this made us call to mind a very singular
phenomenon which happened some years before, to five peasants who were
passing through a cornfield, near Frankfort upon the Oder, during a
thunderstorm; when the lightning killed the first the third and the
fifth of them, without injuring the second or the fourth” (_Phil.
Trans._, Vol. XLVII. p. 550).
REFERENCES.--Le Monnier, “Lois du Magnétisme,” Paris, 1776–1778;
_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLIV. p. 247; Vol. XLVIII. part i. p.
203; “Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. CXII for 1737, p. 73; also
Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. IX. pp. 275, 308, 368, 591 (biogr.);
John Martyn’s abridgments, Vol. X. part ii. pp. 329–348;
“Philosophical Magazine,” Vol. VI. for 1800, p. 181, “Some
Account of the Late P. C. Le Monnier,” 1715–1799; “Mémoires de
l’Institut Nat. des Sc. et des Arts,” Hist. An. IX. p. 101;
_Mémoires de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences_, 1746, pp. 14–24, 447,
671–696; 1752, Tome I. pp. 9–17, Tome II. 233–243, 346–362;
1770, p. 459; Bertholon, “Elec. du Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol.
I. pp. 10–14; Harris, “Frict. Elec.,” p. 239; _Sc. American
Supplement_, for Oct. 5, 1889, No. 718, pp. 11, 471. See also
reports of the experiments of G. B. Beccaria, G. F. Gardini (“De
inflexu,” etc., ss. 50, 51), Andrew Crosse and others at “Bibl.
Britan. Sc. et Arts,” 1814, Vol. LVI. p. 524.
=A.D. 1746.=--Bevis (John), English astronomer and Secretary of
the Royal Society, first suggested to Dr. Watson the external coating
of the Leyden jar with tinfoil or sheet-lead, and was likewise the
first to observe that the force of the charge increases as larger jars
are employed, but not in proportion to the quantity of water they
contain. As water only played the part of a conductor, he rightly
thought that metal would do equally well, and he therefore filled
three jars with leaden shot instead of with water. When the metallic
connection was made it was found that the discharge from three jars was
greater than that from two and the discharge from two much greater than
that from one. This showed that the seat of the electric force is the
surface of the metal and the glass, and proves that the force of the
charge is in proportion to the quantity of coated surface.
Thus to Dr. Bevis belongs the credit of having constructed the first
electric battery, although the honour has been claimed by the friends
of Daniel Gralath (A.D. 1747).
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._, abridged, Vol. X. pp. 374, 377;
Wilson, “Treatise,” London, 1752, Prop. XVII. p. 107.
=A.D. 1746.=--Le Cat (Claude Nicolas), a physician of Rouen, observed,
when suspending several pieces of leaf gold at his conductor, that they
hung at different distances according to their sizes, the smallest
pieces placing themselves nearest the conductor and the largest
farthest from it.
Le Cat (1700–1768) became celebrated for his surgical operations and
succeeded in carrying off all the first prizes offered by the Royal
Academy of Surgeons between the years 1734 and 1738 inclusively.
Consult his different works named at p. 292 of Ronalds’ “Catalogue”;
“Histoire de l’Electricité,” pp. 84 and 85; “Biographie Générale,” Vol.
XXX. pp. 179–182.
=A.D. 1746.=--Maimbray (M.), of Edinburgh, electrified two myrtle
trees, during the entire month of October 1746, and found that they put
forth small branches and blossoms sooner than other shrubs of the same
kind which had not been electrified. This result was confirmed by the
Abbé Nollet, who filled two pots with vegetating seeds and found that
the pot which he had constantly electrified for fifteen consecutive
days put forth earlier sprouts as well as more numerous and longer
shoots than did the other.
Like experiments were at the same time carried on with equal success
by M. Jallabert and M. Boze, as well as by the Abbé Menon, Principal
of the College of Bueil at Angers, France. The last named also found
that electricity increases the insensible perspiration of animals.
He chose cats, pigeons and chaffinches, and observed after they were
electrified, that one cat was sixty-five or seventy grains lighter than
the other, the pigeon from thirty-five to thirty-eight grains, and the
chaffinch had lost six or seven grains. He also electrified a young
person between the ages of twenty and thirty, for five hours and found
a loss in weight of several ounces.
With reference to the effect of electricity on different varieties of
growing plants, a paper in Boston not long ago published the following:
“In the last few years some very interesting experiments in
gardening by electricity have been made by Prof. Selim Lemström,
of the University of Helsingfors. These have been carried out
both upon the potted plants in the hot-house and upon plants in
the open field, the insulated wires in the latter case being
stretched upon poles over the plot of ground, and provided
with a point for each square metre of area. The current has
been supplied by Holtz machines run from eight to eighteen
hours daily, the positive pole being connected with the network
of wires and the negative with a zinc plate buried in the
ground. The electric influence was scarcely perceptible in
the growing plants, but was very marked in the yield of many
species, especially of barley and wheat, of which the crop was
increased by half in some cases. In the hot-house the maturity
of strawberries was greatly advanced. The results have shown
that plants may be divided into two groups: one, the development
of which is favoured by electricity, comprising wheat, rye,
barley, oats, red and white beets, parsnips, potatoes,
celeriac, beans, raspberries, strawberries and leeks; and the
other, whose development is more or less interfered with by
electricity, including peas, carrots, kohlrabi, rutabagas,
turnips, white cabbages and tobacco. The more fertile the soil,
and consequently the more vigorous the vegetation, the greater
has been the excess of the crop under electric influence. Prof.
Lemström’s experiments up to 1887 were carried on in Finland,
but he has since repeated his work in France, and demonstrated
that the electric influence is the same in any climate, though
likely to be injurious under a scorching sun.”
REFERENCES.--Nollet, “Recherches sur l’Electricité,” pp. 366,
382; _Phil. Trans._, abridged, Vol. X. p. 384; _Electrical
Review_, London, June 5, 1891, p. 707.
=A.D. 1746.=--Knight (Gowan or Gowin), F.R.S., an English physician,
is the first to make very powerful steel magnets. The method, which he
long succeeded in keeping secret, was described after his death, in
the _Phil. Trans._ for 1746–1747, Vol. XLIV. It consists of placing
two magnets in the same straight line, with their opposite poles close
to or very near each other, and in laying under them the bar to be
magnetized after having it tempered at a cherry-red heat. The magnets
are then drawn apart in opposite directions along the bar, so that the
south pole of one magnet passes over the north polar half, and the
north pole of the other magnet passes over the south polar half of the
bar.
This was how Dr. Knight made the bars of the two great magnets of
the Royal Society. Each magnet contained two hundred and forty bars,
fifteen inches long, one inch wide and half an inch thick. Dr. Robison
described, in 1800, the effect of pressing together the dissimilar
poles of the two magnets, and, thirty years later, Prof. Faraday, upon
placing a soft iron cylinder, one foot long and three-quarters of an
inch in diameter, across the dissimilar poles, found that he required a
force of one hundred pounds to break down the attractive power.
Previously to Dr. Knight’s discovery, the method of making artificial
magnets most in use was by simply rubbing the bar to be magnetized upon
one of the poles of a natural magnet in a plane at right angles to the
line joining its two poles.
Another secret of Dr. Knight was also, after his death, made known to
the Royal Society by its secretary, Mr. Benjamin Wilson. It was the
mode of making artificial paste magnets. He collected a large quantity
of iron filings, which he cleansed and made into a fine powder under
water and afterward dried and mixed, preferably with linseed oil. This
was baked into cakes, which were magnetized by placing them between the
ends of his magazine of artificial magnets.
To Dr. Knight was given the first English patent in the Class of
Electricity and Magnetism. It bears date June 10, 1766, No. 850, and is
for the construction of “Compasses so as to prevent them being affected
by the motion of the ship,” etc.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLIII. pp. 161, 361; Vol.
XLIV. p. 656; Vol. XLIX. p. 51; Vol. LXVI. p. 591; C. R. Weld,
“Hist. of Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 511; Noad, “Manual,” 1859, p.
593; Sturgeon, “Sc. Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 249; also the
abridgments by Hutton, Vol. IX. pp. 71, 74, 122, 390 (Folkes),
653; Vol. X. pp. 64, 67; Vol. XIV. pp. 117, 480; and by John
Martyn, Vol. X. part ii. pp. 678–698.
=A.D. 1746.=--Gravesande (Wilhelm Jacob), celebrated Dutch
mathematician and natural philosopher (1688–1742), whose family name
was Storen Van ’Sgravesande, is the author of “Eléments de physique
démontrés mathématiquement ... ou introduction à la philosophie
Newtonienne,” which was translated from the Latin and published at
Leyden in 1746.
At p. 87 of the second volume of the last-named work he gives a
description of an electrical machine constructed on the plan of that
of Hauksbee. It consisted merely of a crystal globe, which was mounted
upon a copper stand, and against which was pressed the hand of the
operator while it was made to revolve rapidly by means of a large wheel.
Gravesande taught publicly on the Continent the philosophy of Newton,
and, by so doing, was one of the first to bring about a revolution
in the domain of physical sciences generally. His original “Physices
Elementa Mathematica,” as well as his “Philosophiæ Newtonianæ,” etc.,
and “Introductio ad Philosophiam,” etc., were respectively published at
Leyden in 1720, 1723 and 1736.
REFERENCE.--Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Générale,” Vol. II. p.
252.
=A.D. 1746.=--Nollet (Jean Antoine), a distinguished French philosopher
(1700–1770), to whom was given the title of Abbé while holding deacon’s
orders, is the first in France to make experiments with the Leyden jar.
While in Paris he applied himself to electrical studies in company with
Charles Dufay (already noticed at A.D. 1733), and made such ingenious
experiments that René de Réaumur allowed him the free use of his
extensive apparatus and laboratory. During the month of April 1746, he
transmitted, in the presence of the French King, an electrical shock
from a small phial through a chain of one hundred and eighty of the
Royal Guards, and at the Carthusian Convent, not long afterward, he
sent a shock through a line of monks stretched a distance of over a
mile, causing them all to experience instantaneously the same sensation.
Nollet’s work, “Essai sur l’électricité des corps,” was originally
published at Paris in 1746. He was the first to observe that pointed
bodies electrified give out streams of light (the smallest points
displaying “brushes of electric light”), but that they do not exhibit
as powerful indications of electricity as are shown by blunt bodies.
He also found that glass and other non-conductors are more strongly
excited in air than _in vacuo_; that the electric spark is more diffuse
and unbroken _in vacuo_; and that an excited tube loses none of its
electricity by being placed in the focus of a concave mirror when the
sunlight is therein concentrated.
His experiments upon the evaporation of fluids by electricity, as well
as upon the electrification of capillary tubes full of water (observed
also by Boze), and upon the electrification of plants and animals, are
detailed in his “Recherches,” etc., pp. 327, 351, 354–356, while his
observations upon the electrical powers of different kinds of glass are
given in the sixth volume of the “Leçons de Physique Expérimentale,”
issued in 1764.
As has been truly said, it is no easy matter to form an adequate idea
of Nollet’s theory of electricity, which was opposed at the time by
almost all the eminent electrical philosophers of Europe. He asserted
that when an electric is excited, electricity flows to it from all
quarters, and when it is thus _affluent_, it drives light bodies before
it. Hence the reason why excited bodies attract. When the electricity
is _effluent_ the light bodies are of course driven from the electric,
which in that condition appears to repel. He therefore believed every
electric to be possessed of two different kinds of pores, one for the
emission of the electric matter, and the other for its reception.
Nollet is the first one who published the close relationship existing
between lightning and the electric spark. This he did during the year
1748, in the fourth volume of his “Leçons,” already alluded to and
from which the following is extracted: “If any one should undertake to
prove, as a clear consequence of the phenomenon, that thunder is in
the hands of nature what electricity is in ours--that those wonders
which we dispose at our pleasure are only imitations on a small scale
of those grand effects which terrify us, and that both depend on the
same mechanical agents ... I confess that this idea, well supported,
would please me much.... The universality of the electric matter,
the readiness of its actions, its instrumentality and its activity
in giving fire to other bodies, its property of striking bodies,
externally and internally, even to their smallest parts ... begin to
make me believe that one might, by taking electricity for the model,
form to one’s self, in regard to thunder and lightning, more perfect
and more probable ideas than hitherto proposed.”
For a memoir treating of the cause of thunder and lightning, written
by the Rev. Father de Lozeran de Fech, of Perpignan, the Bordeaux
Academy of Sciences had in 1726 awarded him its annual prize; and the
same institution conferred a similar award, in August 1750, upon M.
Bergeret, a physician of Dijon, whose memoir admitted the close analogy
between lightning and electricity.
REFERENCES.--Ronalds’ “Catalogue,” pp. 369–371; Jean Morin,
“Réplique,” Paris, 1749; A. H. Paulian, “Conjectures,” 1868;
“Abrégé des transactions philosophiques,” Vol. X. p. 336;
“Mémoires de mathématique,” etc., pour 1746, p. 22; “Journal des
Sçavans,” Vol. CXVII. for 1739, pp. 111–115, and Vol. CXLII for
1747, pp. 248–265; “Medical Electricity,” by Dr. H. Lewis Jones,
Philad., 1904, p. 2; “Mémoires de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences”
pour 1745, p. 107; 1746, p. 1; 1747, pp. 24, 102, 149, 207;
1748, p. 164; 1749, p. 444; 1753, pp. 429, 475; 1755, p. 293;
1761, p. 244; 1762, pp. 137, 270; 1764, pp. 408–409; 1766, p.
323; “Leçons,” eighth edition, Vol. IV. p. 315; _Phil. Trans._,
Vol. XLV. p. 187; Vol. XLVI. p. 368; Vol. XLVII. p. 553; also
the following abridgments: Hutton, Vol. X. pp. 20, 295, 372–379,
446 (Dr. Birch); Vol. XI. p. 580; John Martyn, Vol. X. part ii.
pp. 277–333, 382 (Folkes), 414. See the experiments of Etienne
François du Tour, “Sur la manière dont la flamme agit sur les
corps electriques,” in a letter addressed by him to Nollet in
1745, and in “Mém. de Mathém. et Phys.,” Vol. II. p. 246, Paris,
1755; also Zantedeschi and Faraday on the “Magnetic Condition of
Flame” (Faraday’s “Exper. Res.,” Vol. III. pp. 490–493).
=A.D. 1746.=--Wilson (Benjamin) (1721–1788), Secretary to the Royal
Society, writes his “Essay toward an explication of the phenomena of
Electricity deduced from the ether of Sir Isaac Newton.” In the chapter
of Priestley’s “History” treating of the Theories of Electricity, he
says: “With some, and particularly Mr. Wilson, the chief agent in all
electrical operations is Sir Isaac Newton’s ether, which is more or
less dense in all bodies in proportion to the smallness of their pores,
except that it is much denser in sulphureous and unctuous bodies. To
this ether are ascribed the principal phenomena of attraction and
repulsion, whereas the light, the smell, and other sensible qualities
of the electric fluid are referred to the grosser particles of bodies,
driven from them by the forcible action of this ether. Many phenomena
in electricity are also attempted to be explained by means of a
subtile medium, at the surface of all bodies, which is the cause of
the refraction and reflection of the rays of light, and also resist
the entrance and exit of this ether. This medium, he says, extends to
a small distance from the body, and is of the same nature with what is
called the electric fluid.[50] On the surface of conductors this medium
is rare and easily admits the passage of the electric fluid, whereas
on the surface of electrics it is dense and resists it. This medium is
rarefied by heat, which converts non-conductors into conductors.”
At pp. 71 and 88, 1746 edition, and at p. 88, Prop. XI. of the 1752
edition of this same “Essay,” Wilson says that during the year 1746
he discovered a method of giving the shock of the Leyden jar to any
particular part of the body without affecting any other portion; that
he increased the shock from the jar by plunging it into water, thereby
giving it a coating of water on the outside as high as it was filled on
the inside; and that the accumulation of electricity in the Leyden jar
is always in proportion to the thinness of the glass, the surface of
the glass and that of the non-electrics in contact with the inside and
outside thereof.
It was in this same year, 1746, that Wilson first observed the _lateral
shock_ or _return stroke_, which was not, however, explained until
Lord Mahon, third Earl of Stanhope, published his “Principles of
Electricity,” in 1779.
On the 13th of November, 1760, a paper of Mr. Wilson’s was read before
the Royal Society, in which he detailed several of his ingenious
experiments on the _plus_ and _minus_ of electricity, and showed
that these can be produced at pleasure by carefully attending to the
form of bodies, their sudden or gradual removal and the degrees of
electrifying. He had previously noticed that when two electrics are
rubbed together, the body whose substance is hardest and electric power
strongest is always electrified positively and the other negatively.
Rubbing the tourmaline and amber together he produced a _plus_
electricity on both sides of the stone and a _minus_ on the amber; but,
rubbing the diamond and the tourmaline, both sides of the tourmaline
were electrified _minus_ and the diamond _plus_. When insulated silver
and glass were rubbed, the silver became _minus_ and the glass _plus_.
He further observed that when directing a stream of air against a
tourmaline, a pane of glass or a piece of amber, these were electrified
_plus_ on both sides. Prof. Faraday subsequently showed that no
electrical effect is produced in these cases unless the air is either
damp or holds dry powders in suspension, the electricity being
produced by the friction of particles of water in the one case and
by the particles of powder in the other. Sir David Brewster, who thus
mentions the latter fact, likewise singles out two more of Mr. Wilson’s
observations, viz. that when a stick of sealing-wax is broken across or
when a dry, warm piece of wood is rent asunder, one of the separated
surfaces becomes vitreously and the other resinously electrified.
REFERENCES.--De La Rive, “Electricity,” Vol. I. p. 203; Wilson,
“Treatise on Electricity”; Wilson and Hoadley, “Observations
on a Series of Electrical Experiments”; _Phil. Trans._, Vol.
XLVIII. p. 347; Vol. XLIX. p. 682; Vol. LI. part i. pp. 83, 308,
331, part ii. p. 896; Vol. LIII. pp. 436, etc.; Vol. LXVIII.
p. 999; Vol. LXIX. p. 51; also Hutton’s abridgments; Vol. X.
p. 420; Vol. XI. pp. 15, 396, 504; Vol. XII. pp. 44, 147; Vol.
XIII. p. 374; Vol. XIV. pp. 334, 337, 458, 480; “The Electrical
Researches of the Hon. Henry Cavendish,” Cambridge, 1879, No.
125; L. E. Kaemtz, “Lehrbuch der Meteor,” Halle, 1832, Vol. II.
p. 395.
=A.D. 1746.=--Ellicott (John), of Chester, suggests a method of
estimating the exact force of the electric charge contained in the
Leyden jar by its power to raise a weight in one scale of a balance
while the other scale is held over and attracted by the electrified
body. This was the principle upon which Mr. Gralath constructed the
electrometer shown in _Dantzig Memoirs_, Vol. I. p. 525.
With reference to the experiments of Boze (A.D. 1738) and of Nollet
(A.D. 1746) made with capillary tubes, he says that the siphon,
though electrified, will only deliver the water by drops if the
basin containing the water is also electrified. He explains Nollet’s
observation, that the electric matter issues more sensibly from the
point at the extremity of the conductor, by saying that the effluvia,
in rushing from the globe along the conductor, as they approach the
point are brought nearer together, and therefore are denser there,
and if the light be owing to the density and velocity of the effluvia
it will be visible at the point and nowhere else. Ellicott’s theory
of electricity is founded upon the following data: (1) electrical
phenomena are produced by effluvia; (2) these effluvia repel each
other; (3) they are attracted by all other matter. If the word
_fluid_ is substituted for effluvia, these data absolutely agree with
those adopted by Æpinus and Cavendish, forming the basis of the only
satisfactory theory of electricity hitherto proposed.
REFERENCES.--Boulanger, “Traité de la Cause et des phénomènes de
l’électricité,” Paris, 1750, p. 324; _Phil. Trans._ for 1746,
Vol. XLIV. p. 96, and for 1748, Vol. XLV. pp. 195–224, 313; also
the abridgments of John Martyn, Vol. X. part ii. pp. 324, 386,
389, 394; Hutton, Vol. IX. p. 475.
=A.D. 1747.=--Pivati (Johannes Francisco), a Venetian physician,
relates in his “Lettere della elettricita medica,” that if odorous
substances are confined in glass vessels and the latter excited, the
odours and other medical virtues will transpire through the glass,
infect the atmosphere of a conductor, and communicate the virtue they
may possess to all persons in contact therewith; also, that those
substances held in the hands of persons electrified will communicate
their virtue to them so that medicines can thus be made to operate
without being taken in the usual manner.
This appears to have been likewise asserted especially by M. Veratti,
of Bologna, and by M. Bianchi, of Turin; also by Prof. Winckler, of
Leipzig, who satisfied himself of the power of electricity on sulphur,
cinnamon, and on balsam of Peru even at a distance.
By the above-named means of applying the electric fluid Pivati is
reported to have effected cures of ordinary pains and aches, and to
have even relieved of gout the old Bishop Donadoni, of Sebenico, who
had long been a sufferer, and who was at the time seventy-five years
of age. This pretended transudation and its medical effects could not,
however, be verified, even with the directions asked of and given by
Prof. Winckler, when very careful and exhaustive experiments were made,
on the 12th of June, 1751, at the house of Dr. Watson, in presence
of the president and other officers as well as friends of the Royal
Society. Nor could Dr. Bianchini, Professor of Medicine at Venice,
succeed any better. At a later date, Franklin asserted that it was
impossible to combine the virtues of medicines with the electric fluid.
REFERENCES.--Franklin’s Letters, p. 82; _Phil. Trans._ for 1748,
Vol. XLV. pp. 262, 270; for 1750, Vol. XLVI. pp. 348, 368; for
1751, Vol. XLVII. p. 231; for 1753, Vol. XLVIII. pp. 399, 406,
and Vol. X. abridged, pp. 400–403.
=A.D. 1747.=--Louis (Antoine), eminent French surgeon (1723–1792),
publishes “Observations sur l’électricité,” of which the first issue
appeared in 1747 and wherein he indicates the employment of electricity
in medical practice. This he did again in his “Recueils,” upon a more
pretentious scale, six years later, 1753.
REFERENCES.--N. F. J. Eloy, “Dict. de la Médecine,” Mons, 1778,
Vol. III. p. 206; “Gen. Biog. Dict.” of Alex. Chalmers, 1815,
Vol. XX. p. 419; Hœfer, “Nouv. Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXXI. p. 1033;
Quérard, “La France Littéraire”; “Biog. Univ.,” de Michaud, Vol.
XXV. pp. 319–325.
=A.D. 1747.=--Gralath (Daniel) publishes in the _Dantzig Memoirs_ his
“Geschichte der Electricität.”
He is the first to construct a Leyden phial with a long, narrow neck,
through which is passed an iron wire bearing a tin knob in place of the
iron nail theretofore used; and, with several of these phials joined
together in the form of a battery, he had, during the previous year,
transmitted a shock through a chain of twenty persons. His observations
are recorded in the above-named _Memoirs_ at pp. 175–304 and
506–534, Vol. I.; pp. 355–460, Vol. II.; pp. 492–556, Vol. III.
Gralath’s “Electrische Bibliothek” is in Vols. II. and III.
=A.D. 1747.=--The Swedish mathematician and philosopher, Samuel
Klingenstierna, and his pupil, M. Stroemer, were the first who properly
electrified by the rubber, and their experiments were published in the
Acts of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm for the year 1747
(see Priestley’s “History of Electricity,” Part I. period viii. s. 3,
wherein he alludes to Wilcke’s “Herrn Franklin’s briefe,” etc., p. 112).
=A.D. 1748.=--Morin (Jean), French physicist, publishes at Chartres
“Nouvelle dissertation sur l’électricité des corps,” etc., in which
he details many of his experiments, and endeavours to give a correct
explanation of all the extraordinary electrical phenomena hitherto
observed. He is also the author of a “Reply to Mr. Nollet upon
Electricity,” published in 1749 at Chartres and at Paris, as well as
of a treatise upon Universal Mechanism, which latter, according to
the _Journal des Savants_, contained more information upon Nature
generally, and expressed in fewer words, than was embraced in any
previous work.
REFERENCES.--“Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XI. p. 568; “Biog. Générale,”
Vol. XXXVI. p. 599.
=A.D. 1749.=--Stukeley (the Rev. William), M.D., is the first who
advanced that earthquakes are probably caused by electricity. This he
did in a paper read before the Royal Society, March 22, 1749, having
reference to the subterranean disturbances noticed in London, February
8 and March 8 of the same year. In this communication, as well as in a
subsequent one read to the same Society, December 6, 1750, bearing upon
a similar disturbance observed throughout England during the previous
month of September, he explains why earthquakes are not the result of
subterraneous winds, fires, vapours, etc.
One of his strongest arguments is that no such vapours could
instantaneously have destroyed thirteen great cities as did the
earthquake which occurred in Asia Minor, A.D. 17, and which is
reckoned to have shaken a cone of earth three hundred miles diameter
in base and two hundred miles in the axis. This quantity of earth, he
says, “all the gunpowder which has ever been made since the invention
of it would not have been able to stir, much less any vapours, which
could be supposed to be generated so far below the surface,” and, he
adds, “if the concussion depended upon a subterraneous eruption the
shock would precede the noise.”
He observes that the earth for months prior to the afore-named
disturbances “must have been in a state of electricity ready for that
particular vibration in which electrification exists”; that all the
vegetation had been “uncommonly forward ... and electricity is well
known to quicken vegetation”; that the aurora borealis had been very
frequent about the same time and had been twice repeated just before
the earthquake, “of such colours as had never been seen before,”
there being, one evening, “a deep red aurora borealis covering the
cope of heaven very terrible to behold”; that the whole year had been
“remarkable for fire-balls, thunder, lightning and coruscations, almost
throughout all England,” all which “are rightly judged to proceed from
the electrical state of the atmosphere”; and, finally, that, a little
before the earthquake, “a large and black cloud suddenly covered the
atmosphere, which probably occasioned the shock by the discharge of
a shower.” He adds that, according to Dr. Childrey, earthquakes are
always preceded by rain and sudden tempests of rain in times of great
drought.
Dr. Stephen Hales (1677–1761), who was Stukeley’s classmate at Bennet
College, Cambridge, and later his chief assistant in the study of
the natural sciences, and who afterward became celebrated for his
physical investigations and discoveries, arrives at a like conclusion.
He thinks that “the electric appearances were only occasioned by the
great agitation which the electric fluid was put into by the shock
of so great a mass of the earth.” The great noise which attended the
disturbance of March 8, 1749, he conjectured was “owing to the rushing
or sudden expansion of the electric fluid at the top of St. Martin’s
spire, where all the electric effluvia, which ascended along the large
body of the tower, being strongly condensed, and accelerated at the
point of the weathercock, as they rushed off made so much the louder
expansive explosion.” It may be added here that Dr. Hales is the
one who, at a previous date, had communicated to the Royal Society
his observation of the fact that the electric spark proceeding from
warm iron is of a bright, light colour, while that from warm copper
is green, and the colour from a warm egg of a light yellow. In his
opinion, these experiments appeared to argue that some particles of
those different bodies are carried off in the electric flashes wherein
those different colours are exhibited.
For Stephen Hales, consult the _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLV. p. 409, as
well as the abridgments of Hutton, Vol. IX. p. 534, and for his
portrait see “Essays in Historical Chemistry,” by T. E. Thorpe, London,
1894.
For Stukeley and for Stephen Hales: consult “General Biographical
Dictionary,” Alex. Chalmers, London, 1814, Vol. XVII. pp. 41–43.
REFERENCES.--Priestley, “History of Electricity,” Part I. period
x. s. 12; _Phil. Trans._, abridged by John Martyn, Part II.
of Vol. X. pp. 406–526, 535, 540, 541, 551; Vol. XLIV-XLV, p.
409; Appendix to the _Phil. Trans._ for 1750, Vol. XLVI; Hale,
“Statical Essays,” II. p. 291; Thomson, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” 1812,
p. 197.
=A.D. 1749.=--Jallabert (Jean Louis), Professor of Philosophy and
Mathematics at Geneva, is the author of “Expériences sur l’électricité,
avec quelques conjectures sur la cause de ses effets,” of which a
smaller edition had appeared at Geneva in 1748.
He confirms the result obtained by Dr. Watson (A.D. 1745)
that the electric fluid takes the shortest course by passing through
the substance of a conducting wire instead of along its surface. By
making his Leyden experiments with a jar in which the water is frozen,
he shows that ice is a conductor of electricity. He improves upon
Nollet’s experiments, and demonstrates conclusively that plants which
are electrified grow faster and have finer stems, etc., than those not
electrified. He is the first to observe that a body pointed at one
end and round at the other produces different appearances upon the
same body, according as the pointed or the rounded end is presented to
it. The _Dantzig Memoirs_, Vol. II. p. 378, tell us that Carolus
Augustus Van Bergen, Professor of Medicine at Frankfort on Oder, had
previously noticed, “as a small step toward discovering the effect of
pointed bodies,” that sparks taken from a polished body are stronger
than those from a rough one. With the latter he found it difficult to
fire spirits, but he could easily do it with a polished conductor.
M. Jallabert is also known to have effected some medical cures through
the agency of the electric fluid, as related in the “Expériences” above
alluded to.
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Univ.,” Vol. XX. p. 535; Bertholon, “Elec.
du Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol. I. pp. 260, 292, 299, 334, 413, and
Vol. II. p. 291; Beccaria, “Dell’ Elettricismo Naturale,” etc.,
p. 125; “Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. CXLIX. for 1749, pp. 1–18,
441–461; “Medical Electricity,” by Dr. H. Lewis Jones, Philad.
1904, p. 2.
=A.D. 1749.=--Mines are fired by electricity (S. P. Thompson, lecture
delivered October 7, 1882, at the University College, Bristol).
=A.D. 1749.=--Through the important work entitled “Traité sur
l’Electricité,” Louis Elisabeth de la Vergne Tressan secures, a year
later, admission to both the French Académie des Sciences and the
English Royal Society. During 1786, three years after his death, the
above-named work was merged into a publication in two volumes under
the title of “Essai sur le fluide électrique considéré comme agent
universel.”
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Générale,” Vol. XLV. pp. 623–626;
Larousse, “Dictionnaire Universel,” Vol. XV. p. 474.
=A.D. 1749.=--Duhamel (Henri Louis, du Monceau) (1700–1782), member
of the French Royal Academy of Sciences, develops, in conjunction
with M. Antheaulme, the method introduced by Gowin Knight (A.D. 1746)
for making artificial magnets, which latter process was found to be
defective when applied to very large bars. To Le Maire, however, is due
(_Mem. de l’Acad. de Paris_, 1745 and 1750), the notable improvement
which consists in magnetizing at the same time two steel bars of any
shape by placing them parallel to each other and connecting their
extremities, with pieces of soft iron placed at right angles, in order
to form a closed rectangular parallelogram. Two strong magnets, or two
bunches of small magnetic bars, with their similar poles together, are
then applied to the centre of one of the bars to be magnetized and are
drawn away from each other, practically as in Dr. Knight’s method,
while being held at an inclination of about forty-five degrees. The
operation is repeated upon the other bar and continued alternately
until sufficient magnetism is imparted to both, it being borne in mind
that before the treatment is given to the second bar the poles must in
each instance be reversed, _i. e._ the pole which was to the right hand
should be turned to the left. The entire operation is to be repeated
upon the reverse side of both bars.
REFERENCES.--Harris, “Rudim. Magn.,” I. and II. pp. 85 and 86;
P. Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VI. p. 1363; “Biog. Générale,”
Vol. XV. pp. 106–107; Condorcet, “Eloge de Duhamel”; I. M. Des
Essarts, “Siècles littéraires”; Georges Cuvier, “Hist. des Sc.
Naturelles,” Vol. V; Thos. Thomson, “Hist. of the Roy. Soc.,”
London, 1812, p. 45.
=A.D. 1750–1753.=--In M. Arago’s “Historical Eloge of James Watt,”
translated by James P. Muirhead and published in London during the year
1839, it is said, at p. 6, that Watt constructed, at about the period
first mentioned herein, a small electrical (his earliest) machine, the
brilliant sparks from which became a subject of much amusement and
surprise to all the companions of the poor invalid (“James Watt,” by
Andrew Carnegie, New York, 1905).
=A.D. 1750.=--Wargentin (Pierre Guillaume--Perh Vilhelm--) (1717–1783),
Secretary to the Swedish Academy of Sciences and a distinguished
astronomer, addresses, on the 21st of February, a letter to the Royal
Society, of which a copy is to be found in Vol. XLVII. p. 126 of the
_Phil. Trans._ In this he gives his observations of the result produced
on the magnetic needle by the aurora borealis.
We have already seen (under the A.D. 1683 date), that the discovery
of the fact that magnets are affected by the polar lights has been
ascribed to Wargentin, and we have also learned (A.D. 1722) that he
ascertained the diurnal changes of the magnetic needle with more
precision than had been done by George Graham.
REFERENCES.--Walker, “Magnetism,” p. 116; _American Journal
Science and Arts_, 1841, Vol. XXX. p. 227; Celsius, A.D. 1740,
and the abridgments of Hutton, Vol. X. p. 165.
=A.D. 1750.=--Michell (John), an eminent English man of science,
Professor at Queens’ College, Cambridge, publishes “A treatise of
Artificial Magnets, in which is shown an easy and expeditious method of
making them superior to the best natural ones.”
The process introduced by this work is known as that of the “double
touch.” This consists in first joining, at about a quarter of an
inch distance, two bundles of strongly magnetized bars, having their
opposite poles together, and in drawing these bars backward and forward
upon and along the entire length of the bars to be magnetized, which
latter have already been laid down end to end and in a straight line.
The operation is to be repeated upon each side of the bars. The central
bars of a series thus acquire at first a higher degree of magnetism
than do the outer ones, but by transposing the latter and treating all
alike the magnetic virtue is evenly distributed. In this process the
external bars act the same part as do the pieces of soft iron employed
in the Duhamel method.
At Chap. VI. p. 20 of the third volume of his “Rudimentary Magnetism,”
Harris thus expresses himself: “Michell advanced the idea that in
all the experiments of Hauksbee, Dr. Brooke Taylor, William Whiston
and Musschenbroek, the force may really be in the inverse duplicate
ratio of the distances, proper allowance being made for the disturbing
changes in the magnetic forces so inseparable from the nature of the
experiment. He is hence led to conclude that the true law of the force
is identical with that of gravity, although he does not set it down as
certain.”
REFERENCES.--Harris, “Rud. Mag.,” I. and II. pp. 94–95; C. R.
Weld, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 512; _Phil. Trans._, Vol.
LI. pp. 390, 393, and Hutton’s abridgment, Vol. XI. p. 418;
Gaugain’s observations in “Sc. Am. Suppl.,” No. 7, p. 99.
=A.D. 1750.=--Boulanger--not Boullangère--(Nicholas Antoine)
(1722–1759), a well-known French writer, whose extensive studies were
interrupted by his death, in 1759, at the early age of thirty-seven,
gives, in this “Traité de la cause et des phénomènes de l’électricité,”
accounts of many important observations made in the electrical field.
His attention was carefully given to ascertaining the degrees in which
different substances are capable of being excited, and he gives several
lists of such, inferring therefrom that the most transparent and the
most brittle are always the most electric.
At pp. 64 and 124 of the above-named “Traité” he states that
electricity affects mineral waters much more sensibly than common
water; that black ribbons are more readily attracted than those
of other colours, next to the black being the brown and deep red;
and that, of two glass cylinders exactly alike, except that one is
transparent and the other slightly coloured, the transparent one will
be the more readily excited.
REFERENCES.--The “Traité,” notably at pp. 135 and 164; “Biog.
Générale,” Vol. VI. p. 939; Le Bas, “Dict. Encycl. de la
France”; Quérard, “La France Littéraire”; Chaudon et Delandine,
“Dict. historique.”
=A.D. 1751.=--Adanson (Michael), a French naturalist of very high
reputation, who, before the age of nineteen, had actually described
four thousand species of the three kingdoms of nature, introduces in
his “History of Senegal” the _silurus electricus_, a large species
of eel originally brought from Surinam. Sir John Leslie states that
the _silurus_ is furnished with a very peculiar and complex nervous
apparatus which has been fancifully likened to an electrical battery,
and that, from a healthy specimen exhibited in London, vivid sparks
were drawn in a darkened room. M. Broussonet alludes to the _silurus_
as _Le Trembleur_ in the “Hist. de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences” for
1782, p. 692.
Adanson also called attention, in 1756, to the electrical powers of
the _malapterus electricus_, but, according to the able naturalist,
James Wilson (“Ichthyology,” _Encycl. Brit._), there is a much earlier
account of the fish extracted from the narrative of Baretus and Oviedo
dated 1554.
The Swedish scientist, Karl A. Rudolphi, pupil of Linnæus, called the
_princeps helminthologorum_, has given a detailed description as well
as illustrations of the electric organs of the _malapterus_ in “Ueber
den Zitter-wels,” _Abh. Berl. Acad._ VII.... This fish, which the
Arabs call _Raad_ or _Raash_ (thunder), gives its discharge chiefly
when touched on the head, but is powerless when held by the tail, the
electrical organs in fact not reaching the caudal fin.
To Adanson has been attributed the authorship of an essay on the
“Electricity of the Tourmaline” Paris, 1757, which bears the name of
the Duke de Noya Caraffa.
REFERENCES.--Spreng, “Hist. R. Herb.,” Vol. II; and “Adanson’s
Biog.,” Vol. II. “Encycl. Britannica,” Rees’ “Cycl.” Supplement
and in “Bibl. Universelle,” Vol. I; Chambers’ “Encyl.” for 1868,
Vol. III. p. 822; Cavallo, “Nat. Phil.,” Philad., 1825, Vol. II.
p. 237; _Scientific American Supplement_, No. 457, pp. 7300,
7301; Rozier, Vol. XXVII. p. 139, and W. Bryant in _Trans. Am.
Phil. Soc._ II. p. 166, O. S.
=A.D. 1752.=--Franklin (Benjamin) (1706–1790), an able American
editor, philosopher and statesman, crowns his many experiments with
the brilliant discovery of the identity of electricity and lightning.
Humboldt says: “From this period the electric process passes from the
domain of speculative physics into that of cosmical contemplation--from
the recesses of the study to the freedom of nature” (“Cosmos,” Vol. II.
1849, p. 727). Wall (A.D. 1708) had only alluded to the resemblance of
electricity to thunder and lightning; Grey (A.D. 1720) had conjectured
their identity and implied that they differed only in one degree, while
Nollet (A.D. 1746) pointed out a closer relationship than ever before
adduced between lightning and the electric spark; but it was left for
Franklin to prove the fact with empirical certainty.
Franklin’s attention was first directed to electrical studies in 1745,
by a letter from Peter Collinson, Fellow of the Royal Society of
London, to the Literary Society of Philadelphia, and he first wrote
on the subject to that gentleman on the 28th of July, 1747. This was
followed by several other similar communications up to April 18, 1754,
the whole of which comprise most of what subsequently appeared under
the title “New Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at
Philadelphia, in America, by Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. and F.R.S.”
Franklin first entertained the idea that lightning was not likely to
be attracted by a pointed rod unless the latter was placed at a great
height, and he therefore waited for the erection of a tall spire in
Philadelphia which he intended to utilize for his observations, but
delay in its completion led him to use a kite pointed with an iron rod,
not doubting that the electric fluid could, during a thunderstorm, be
drawn from it through a string.
The manner of constructing and employing the kite, and the attending
results, are thus given in a letter dated Oct. 19, 1752 (Letter XII,
“Experiments and observations on Electricity”): “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 made of silk, is fitter to bear the wet and wind of a
thunder-gust without tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the
cross is to be fixed a very sharp-pointed wire, rising a foot or more
above the wood. In the end of the twine, next the hand, is to be held a
silk ribbon, and where the silk and twine 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
window. 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 electrified, and the lose filaments of the twine
will stand out every way and be attracted by an approaching finger. 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 (Leyden jar)
may be charged, and from electric fire thus obtained spirits may be
kindled, and all the other electric experiments be performed which are
usually done by the help of a rubber glass globe or tube, and thereby
the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning completely
demonstrated.”
It was during the month of June 1752, on the approach of a storm, that
he and his son walked out upon the Philadelphia Commons and first
raised the kite. At the outset no important results were obtained,
but as soon as the cord became wet by the shower that followed, the
electric sparks were easily drawn from the key and enabled Franklin to
charge and give shocks from a Leyden jar.
Thus, says Sabine, was Benjamin Franklin successful in one of the
boldest experiments ever made by man upon the powers of nature, and
from that moment he became immortal.
He had already, in 1749, made public the following, which is
embodied in one of his letters to Mr. Collinson: “The electrical
spark is zigzag, and not straight; so is lightning. Pointed bodies
attract electricity; lightning strikes mountains, trees, spires,
masts and chimneys. When different paths are offered to the escape
of electricity, it chooses the best conductor; so does lightning.
Electricity fires combustibles; so does lightning. Electricity fuses
metals; so does lightning. Lightning rends bad conductors when it
strikes them; so does electricity when rendered sufficiently strong.
Lightning reverses the poles of a magnet; electricity has the same
effect.”
Franklin had, likewise, published at about the same period the plan
for an experiment to ascertain from elevated structures whether the
clouds that contain lightning are electrified or not. He himself had
proposed to put the plan to execution; but he was led to try the kite
experiment, and, meanwhile, his suggestions had been successfully acted
upon, in France, by M. Dalibard and de Lor, as will be shown later on.
“The lightning, which doth cease to be, ere one can say, ‘it
lightens.’”--Shakespeare.
“First let me talk with this philosopher; what is the cause of
thunder?”--Shakespeare.
“... a way for the lightning of the thunder.”--Job xxviii. 26,
and xxxviii. 25.
“It related not to the instances of the _magneticalness_ of
lightning.”--“Hist. of Roy. Soc.,” by Thomas Birch, Vol. IV. p.
253.
When specifying the great points of coincidence existing between the
ordinary electric discharge and lightning, Franklin, as already partly
stated, had remarked that flashes of lightning are frequently waving
and crooked, of a zigzag or forked appearance, sometimes diffused
and sometimes coloured (“On the Nature of Thunderstorms,” W. Snow
Harris, London, 1843, p. 24; Priestley, “History and Present State
of Electricity,” London, 1769, p. 166; “Encycl. Metropol.,” article
“Electricity”; Biot, “Traité de Physique,” Vol. II). In treating of
the subject of lightning flashes, Dr. L. D. Gale (trans. of M. F. J.
F. Duprez’s paper on “Atmospheric Electricity,” taken from the memoirs
of the Royal Academy of Brussels) alludes to the attempts made by C.
G. Helvig to determine the velocity of the linear flashes (Gilbert’s
_Annalen_, Vol. LI. pp. 136 and 139, ss. 2, 10) which he estimated to
be 40,000 to 50,000 feet in a second, and states that M. Weigsenborn,
of Weimar (_Comptes Rendus_, Vol. IX. p. 218), calculated the velocity
of a flash observed in 1839 to be more than two leagues, while M.
François Arago (“Annuaire,” etc., pour l’année 1838, pp. 249, 255,
257, 459, estimated the lengths of certain flashes to be 3·3, 3·6,
3·8 leagues. The views of Messrs. Logan (_Phil. Trans._, 1735, Vol.
XXXIX. p. 240), L. J. Gay-Lussac (_Ann. de Chim. et de Phys._, 1805,
Vol. XXIX. p. 105), H. W. Brandes (“Beiträge zur Witterungskunde,”
etc., 1820, p. 353), C. H. Pfaff and L. E. Kaemtz (J. S. T. Gehler,
“Dict. de Phys.,” Vol. I. p. 1001, and “Lehrbuch d. Meteor,” Vol. II.
p. 430), Gabriel Lamé (“Cours. de Phys. de l’Ecole Polytech.,” Tome II.
2^e partie, p. 82), Becquerel (_Comptes Rendus_, 1839, Tome VIII. p.
216), Faraday (_Philos. Magazine_, 1841, Vol. XIX. p. 104), Pouillet
(“Eléments de Phys. et de Météor,” Tome II. p. 808), Parrot (J. S. T.
Gehler, “Dict. de Phys.,” Vol. I. p. 999), are also set forth in the
above-named translation of M. Duprez’s valuable work.
Humboldt informs us that “the most important ancient notice of
the relations between lightning and conducting metals is that of
Ctesias, in his _Indica_, Cap. IV. p. 169. He possessed two iron
swords, presents from the King Artaxerxes Mnemon, and from his mother
Parysatis, which, when planted in the earth, averted clouds, hail and
_strokes of lightning_. He had himself seen the operation, for the king
had twice made the experiment before his eyes” (“Cosmos,” Vol. II. N.
186). Ctesias was a man of great learning. He was a contemporary of
Xenophon, and lived for a number of years at the Court of Artaxerxes
Mnemon as private physician to the king. Diodorus states that Ctesias
was highly honoured at the Persian court. An abridged edition of the
_Indica_ was printed by Stephens in 1594 (“Hist. Roy. Soc.,” C. R.
Weld, London, 1848, Vol. II. p. 93; “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol.
XIII. p. 536; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. XII. p. 568).
In imitation of Franklin, Doctor Lining, of Charleston, in South
Carolina, sent a kite into a thunder cloud, and by that means
dissipated the lightning (_Philosophical Transactions_ for 1754, Vol.
XLVIII. p. 757).
The opinion entertained by Franklin regarding the nature of electricity
differs from that previously submitted by Dufay (A.D. 1733),
in the manner shown by Noad at p. 6 of his Manual, London, 1859 edition.
What Dufay considered to be two distinct species of electricities,
_vitreous_ and _resinous_, Franklin conceived to be two different
states of the same electricity, which he called _positive_ and
_negative_. This, which constitutes the foundation of the present
theory of electricity, is usually called the Franklinian theory, but it
can be said to belong equally to Dr. Watson, for he had communicated it
to the Royal Society before Franklin’s opinion on the subject was known
in England (_Phil. Trans._ for 1748, Vol. XLV. pp. 49, 491; Thomson,
“Hist. Roy. Soc.,” p. 436). Noad, in paragraph 12, applies the latter
theory to the case of a charged Leyden jar, alluding to Franklin’s
discovery of the location of electricity in the jar, wherefrom is
drawn the conclusion that it is upon the glass that the electricity
is deposited, and that the conducting coatings serve “only, like the
armature of the loadstone, to unite the forces of the several parts and
bring them at once to any point desired” (see “Œuvres de Franklin,”
trans. of Barbeu-Dubourg, Tome II. p. 16, 3^e lettre).
Of his _plus_ and _minus_ theory, Franklin thus wrote to Mr. Collinson:
“To electrise _plus_ or _minus_ no more needs to be known than this,
that the parts of the tube or sphere that are rubbed do, in the
instant of the friction, attract the electrical fire, and therefore
take it from the thing rubbing; the same parts, immediately as the
friction upon them ceases, are disposed to give the fire they have
received to any body that has less.”
In an appendix to his official report as U.S. Commissioner at the
Paris Universal Exposition of 1867, entitled “Franklin and Electrical
Semaphores,” Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, LL.D., expressed himself as
follows:
“It has frequently been asserted (on what authority I know not) that
the first idea of an electric semaphore originated with Franklin. I
have sought in vain in the publication of Franklin’s experiments and
works for anything confirmatory of this assertion. On mentioning the
subject to my friend Professor Blake, he kindly proposed examining the
writings of Franklin in order to elicit the truth. From him I have
received the following:
“‘I consulted several works for the purpose of ascertaining, if
possible, the foundation for the statement that Franklin suggested the
idea of semaphores by static electricity. I have not yet found any
such suggestion, but I have noted that, following the experiments by
Dr. Watson and others, in England, to determine the _velocity_ of
the electric discharge, and the time supposed to be required for the
electrical discharges across the Thames, by which spirits were kindled,
etc. (in 1747), Dr. Franklin (in 1748) made some similar experiments
upon the banks of the Schuylkill, and amused his friends by sending a
spark “from side to side through the river without any other conductor
than the water” (vide Priestley’s “History of Electricity”). This was
in 1748, at the end of the year. In 1756 “J. A., Esq.,” of New York
(James Alexander), presented to the Royal Society a proposition “to
measure the time taken by an electric spark in moving through any
given space” by sending the discharge or spark down the Susquehanna or
Potomac, and round by way of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, so that
the “electric fire” would have a circuit of some thousands of miles to
go. All this was upon the supposition or assumption that the electric
fire would choose a continuous water conductor rather than to return
or pass through the earth. Franklin presented a paper in reply, in
which he says “the proposed experiment (though well imagined and very
ingenious) of sending the spark round through a vast length of space,
etc. etc., would not afford the satisfaction desired, though we could
be sure that the motion of the electric fluid would be in that tract,
and not underground in the wet earth by the shortest way”’ (‘Franklin’s
Experiments on Electricity, and Letters and Papers on Philosophical
Subjects,’ 4to, London, MDCCLXIX, pp. 282, 283).
“Can it be possible that Franklin’s experiment of firing spirits and
showing the spark and the effects of the electric discharge across the
river originated, or forms the foundation for, the statement that he
suggested the semaphoric use of electricity?”
After speaking of the experiments, to which allusion was made (at
Watson, A.D. 1745), Franklin writes: “... It is proposed to
put an end to them for this season, somewhat humorously, in a party of
pleasure, on the banks of the Schuylkill. Spirits at the same time are
to be fired by a spark sent from side to side through the river without
any other conductor than the water--an experiment which we some time
since performed to the amazement of many. A turkey is to be killed for
our dinner by the electrical shock, and roasted by the electrical jack,
before a fire kindled by the electrified bottle, when the healths of
all the famous electricians in England, Holland, France and Germany are
to be drank in electrified bumpers under the discharge of guns from the
electrical battery.”
It was toward the close of the year 1750 that Franklin entertained the
practicability of a lightning conductor (see Winckler, A.D.
1733), and, for this, he says, he was indebted to an experiment made
by his friend Mr. Thomas Hopkinson (vide Franklin’s “Complete Works,”
London, 1806, Vol. I. p. 172). In his “Poor Richard’s Almanac” for
1753, he refers to the lightning rod as security for “habitations and
other buildings from mischief by thunder and lightning.”
REFERENCES.--J. B. Le Roy, “Lettera al Rozier,” etc., Milano,
1782; “Rec. de Mém. de l’Acad. des Sc.” for 1770 and 1773;
_Jour. de Phys._, 1773, Vol. II; Memoirs of M. Beyer, Paris,
1806–1809, and Delaunay’s explanation of his theories at pp.
193–198 of his 1809 Manuel.
The many notable observations, experiments and discoveries of Franklin
are nowhere more ably reviewed than by his great admirer Dr. Priestley,
who devotes much space thereto in his justly celebrated work on
electricity.
At p. 92 of his “New Experiments,” etc., London, 1774, Franklin alludes
to the failure of many European electricians in firing gunpowder by the
electric spark, and gives his own method by using a battery of four
large glass jars, while at p. 423 of the London edition of his “Letters
and Papers,” etc., Franklin relates curious observations which are
worth mentioning here. He says that he sent a charge of electricity
“through a small glass tube that had borne it well when empty, but when
filled with water was shattered to pieces and driven all about the
room. Finding no part of the water on the table, I suspected it to have
been reduced to vapour. I was confirmed in that suspicion afterward
when I had filled a like piece of tube with ink and laid it on a sheet
of paper, whereon after the explosion I could find neither any moisture
nor any sully from the ink. This experiment of the explosion of water,
which I believe was first made by that most ingenious electrician,
Father Beccaria, may account for what we sometimes see in a tree struck
by lightning, when part of it is reduced to fine splinters like a
broom; the sap vessels being so many tubes containing a watery fluid,
which, when reduced to vapour, sends every tube lengthways. And,
perhaps it is this rarefaction of the fluids in animal bodies killed
by lightning or electricity, that by separating its fibres renders
the flesh so tender and apt so much sooner to putrefy. I think, too,
that much of the damage done by lightning to stone and brick walls may
sometimes be owing to the explosion of water found during showers,
running or lodging in the joints or small cavities or cracks that
happen to be in the walls.”
REFERENCES.--Majus--May--(Heinrich), “Disp. de fulmine” and
“Disp. de tonitru,” Marp., 1673, as at Pogg., _Annalen_, Vol.
II. p. 21; Giuseppe Saverio Poli, “La formazione del Tuono,”
etc., 1772, and his other works on the same subject which
appeared during the years 1773, 1779 and 1787; _Phil. Trans._
for 1751, Vol. XLVII. pp. 202, 289, 362; W. de Fonvielle,
“Eclairs et Tonnerres”; “Terrestrial Magn.” for June 1903;
_Jour. of the Franklin Institute_ for 1836, Vol. XVII., p.
183; M. le Docteur Sestier, “De La Foudre”; “Lightning-Rod
Conference,” Reports of Delegates, by G. J. Symons, 1882;
Chap. III. s. 3, vol. i. of Van Swinden’s “Recueil,” etc.,
1784; _Lumière Electrique_, Tome XL. No. 23, p. 497; Giovanni
Cardan’s work, Lyons, 1663; “Library of Literary Criticism,”
C. W. Moulton, Buffalo, 1901–1902, Vol. IV. pp. 79–106; “An
Outline of the Sciences of Heat and Electricity,” by Thos.
Thomson, London, 1830, pp. 347, 423, 432–433; “The Electrical
Researches of the Hon. Henry Cavendish,” Cambridge, 1879, Nos.
350, note, 363; “Works of Benj. Franklin,” Jared Sparks, London,
1882; _Phil. Trans._, Vols. XLVII. p. 565; XLIX. pp. 300, 305,;
L. p. 481; LI. p. 525; LII. 456; also Hutton’s abridgments,
Vol. X. pp. 189, 212, 301, 629, 632; Vol. XI. pp. 189, 435,
609; “Bibliothèque Britannique,” Genève, 1796, Vol. LI. p. 393
(letter to M. Marc Auguste Pictet); Stuber, “Continuation of
the Life of Dr. Franklin”; “An Essay on the Nature of Heat,
Light and Electricity” (on the Franklinian hypothesis), by Chas.
Carpenter Bompass, London, 1817, Chap. III. s. 3, p. 217; “List
of Books written by or relating to Franklin,” by Paul L. Ford,
1889; L. Baldwin, “Mem. of Amer. Acad.,” O. S. I. part i. p.
257; Sturgeon’s “Researches,” p. 524; J. Bart. Beccari, “De
Artif. elect ...”; likewise all the references that are given
at pp. 26–27 of Ronalds’ “Catalogue”; “Journal des Savants” for
June 1817, pp. 348–356.
=A.D. 1752.=--Dalibard (Thomas François), French botanist and amateur
in physics, carries out very carefully the suggestions embodied in
Franklin’s printed letters and constructs an atmospherical conductor at
Marly-la-Ville, about eighteen miles from Paris, where Nollet likewise
experimented. Dalibard’s apparatus consisted of a pointed iron rod,
one inch in diameter and about forty feet long, which was protected
from the rain by a sentry box and attached to three long wooden posts
insulated by silken strings.
On the 10th of May, 1752, during Dalibard’s absence, an old soldier
by the name of Coiffier, who was at the time employed as a carpenter
and who had been left in charge, on observing the approach of a storm,
hurried to the apparatus prepared to carry out the instructions
previously given him. It was not long before he succeeded in obtaining
large sparks on presenting a phial to the rod, and these sparks, which
were all accompanied by a large snapping noise, were likewise obtained
by the curate of Marly, M. Raulet, whom he had sent for and with whose
aid Coiffier subsequently succeeded in charging an electric jar. On the
13th of May, Dalibard made, to the French Academy of Sciences, a report
of the results thus obtained by Coiffier, to whom, it may be said,
properly belongs the distinction of having been _the first man who
saw the electric spark drawn from the atmosphere_.
On the 18th of the same month of May, M. de Lor, of the French
University, drew similar sparks from a rod ninety-nine feet high at
his house in the Estrapade, at Paris, and the same phenomenon was
afterward exhibited to the French King. It is said that the conductor
afforded sparks even when the cloud had moved at least six miles from
the place of observation. Other experiments of a like nature were made
a few days later by Buffon at Montbar, and, during the ensuing months
of July and August, in the vicinity of London, by Canton, who, it is
said, succeeded in drawing atmospheric electricity by means of a common
fishing rod (Dissertation Fifth, Eighth “Britannica,” Vol. I).
An account of the Dalibard and de Lor experiments was transmitted by
the Abbé Mazéas, on the 20th of May, to the Royal Society of London.
Mazéas erected, in the upper section of his residence, a magazine
consisting of several insulated iron bars connected with the pointed
rod. The lightning was brought into the house by means of a projecting
wooden pole, having at its extremity a glass tube filled with resin
which received a pointed iron rod twelve feet long. This apparatus was,
however, too much exposed to afford reliable observations, and Mazéas
therefore arranged to make more accurate experiments at the Château
de Maintenon, during the months of June, July and October 1753. The
results he obtained were communicated to the English Royal Society by
Dr. Stephen Hales. The letters of the Abbé Mazéas to the Rev. Stephen
Hales, detailing some of M. Le Monnier’s experiments as well as
observations made by M. Ludolf at Berlin and transmitted by M. Euler,
are to be found at pp. 354–552, Vol. XLVII. _Phil. Trans._ for 1753.
For Mazéas, see also _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLVII. p. 534, Vol. XLVIII.
part i. p. 377, and Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. X. pp. 289, 434.
Thomas Ronayne in Ireland, and Andrew Crosse[51] in England (see
“Account of an apparatus for ascertaining and collecting the
electricity of the atmosphere”) made use of long wires in horizontal
positions insulated by being attached to glass pillars, but Mazéas, in
his Maintenon experiments, attached the iron wire by a silken cord to
the top of a steeple ninety feet in height, whence it entered an upper
room of the castle, a total distance of 370 feet. With this, Mazéas
ascertained that electric effects are produced at all hours of the
day during clear, dry and particularly hot weather, the presence of
a thunderstorm not being requisite for the production of atmospheric
electricity. In the driest summer nights he could discover no signs of
electricity in the air, but when the sun reappeared the electricity
accompanied it, to vanish again in the evening about half an hour after
sunset.
REFERENCES.--W. Sturgeon, “Lectures,” London, 1842, pp. 182,
183; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLVIII. part i. pp. 370, 377, etc.;
Dalibard’s “Franklin,” Vol. II. p. 109, etc.; “Mém. de l’Acad.
des Sciences,” for May, 1762; Nollet, “Letters,” Vol. I. p. 9;
Franklin’s Works, Vol. V. p. 288; English Cyclopædia, “Arts and
Sciences,” Vol. III. pp. 804–805; “Letters of Thomas Ronayne, to
Benjamin Franklin,” at p. 137 of Vol. LXII of _Phil. Trans._,
likewise Ronayne both in _Journal de Physique_, Tome VI, and
in the _Phil. Trans._ for 1772, Vol. LII. pp. 137–140; also
Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. p. 310; Geo. Adams, “Essay on
Elect.,” London, 1785, p. 259.
=A.D. 1752.=--Freke (John), surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital,
London, gives, in the Second Part of “A Treatise ... of Fire,” the
third edition of his “Essay to Show the Cause of Electricity,” etc.,
originally published in 1746, while in the Third Part of the same work
he shows the “Mechanical Cause of Magnetism, and why the compass varies
in the manner it does.”
He says (pp. 90–91): “It had been impossible that this wonderful
_Phenomenon_ of Electricity should ever have been discovered, if there
had not been such things as are non-electricable; for, as fast as this
Fire had been driven on anything its next neighbour would have carried
it farther; but, when it was most wonderfully found, that anything
which was suspended on a silk cord (that being non-electricable) was
obliged to retain the Fire, which by Electrical Force was driven on
it; and when, moreover, it appeared, that any person or thing, being
placed on a cake of beeswax (which is also a non-electricable) could
no more part with its Fire than when suspended in [_sic_] a silk
cord; I think it will become worthy of inquiry, why they are not
electricable.” And, at p. 136, he adds: “I think it a great pity that
the word _Electricity_ should ever have been given to so wonderful a
_Phenomenon_, which might properly be considered as the first principle
in nature. Perhaps the word _Vivacity_ might not have been an improper
one; but it is too late to think of changing a name it has so long
obtain’d.” In the Third Part, he explains that “by the Fire passing
from and to the Sun, it so pervades iron aptly placed, as to make it
attractive and produce the various operations of magnetism.”
REFERENCE.--“Gentleman’s Magazine,” London, Vol. XVI for 1746,
pp. 521, 557.
=A.D. 1752.=--In this year was published at Leipzig the “Biblia
Naturæ,” written by John Swammerdam, a celebrated Dutch natural
philosopher (1637–1682), all of whose works were translated into
English and published in folio during the year 1758.
In the second volume of the _Biblia_, he thus alludes to one of many
experiments made by him in 1678, before the Grand Duke of Tuscany: “Let
there be a cylindrical glass tube in the interior of which is placed a
muscle, whence proceeds a nerve that has been enveloped in its course
with a small silver wire, so as to give us the power of raising it
without pressing it too much or wounding it. This wire is made to pass
through a ring bored in the extremity of a small copper support and
soldered to a sort of piston or partition; but the little silver wire
is so arranged that on passing between the glass and the piston the
nerve may be drawn by the hand and so touch the copper. The muscle is
immediately seen to contract.”
Through Swammerdam, the Germans lay claim to the origin of what
has been called galvanism. It certainly cannot be denied that the
above-described experiment closely resembles that which made Galvani
famous (A.D. 1786).
REFERENCES.--Swammerdam’s Biography, also Dissertation Fifth,
in the eighth edition “Encycl. Brit.”; the note at p. 491 of
Ronalds’ “Catalogue”; “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” London, 1816, Vol.
XXIX. pp. 45–47; Eloy, “Dict. Hist. de la Méd.,” Vol. IV;
“Biog. Générale,” Vol. XLIV. pp. 706–708; Cuvier, “Hist. des
Sc. Naturelles,” Vol. II. pp. 427–433; Schelhorn, “Amænitates
liter.,” Vol. XIV; “Biblioth. Hulthemiana,” Gand, 1836, Vol. II;
Boerhaave, Preface to “Biblia Naturæ.”
=A.D. 1752.=--On the 16th of April, 1752, is read before the Royal
Society a letter written by John Smeaton, a very prominent English
engineer and inventor (1724–1792), to Mr. John Ellicot, giving an
account of the electrical experiments _in vacuo_ made with his
improved air pump at the request of Mr. Wilson. This account, fully
illustrated, appears in the Society’s Vol. LXVII for the years 1751 and
1752, pp. 415–428.
He observes that, upon heating the middle of a large iron bar to
a great heat, the hot part can be as strongly electrified as the
cold parts on each side of it. He also finds that if anybody who is
insulated presses the flat part of his hand heavily against the globe,
while another person standing upon the floor does the same, in order to
excite it, the one who is insulated will hardly be electrified at all;
but that, if he only lays his fingers lightly upon the globe, he will
be very strongly electrified.
REFERENCES.--Wilson, “Treatise on Electricity,” pp. 129–216;
_Phil. Trans._ XLVI. p. 513; “Dict. of Nat. Biography,” Vol.
LII. pp. 393–395; “Biog. Univ.” (Michaud), Vol. XXXIX. p. 445;
Smile’s “Lives of the Engineers--Smeaton and Rennie”; Flint’s
“Mudge Memoirs,” Truro, 1883.
=A.D. 1752–1753.=--M. de Romas, Assessor to the Presideal of Nerac,
in France, repeats the experiment of Benjamin Franklin, and succeeds
finally in bringing from the clouds more electricity than had before
been taken by any apparatus.
He constructed a kite seven feet five inches high and three feet wide,
with a surface of eighteen square feet, and, having wound fine copper
wire around a strong cord through its entire length of about eight
hundred feet, he raised the kite to a height of five hundred and fifty
feet on the 7th of June, 1753. Sparks two inches in length were at
first drawn by a discharging rod, and, when the kite was afterwards
allowed to reach an elevation of six hundred and fifty feet, he
received many flashes one foot long, three inches wide and three lines
diameter, accompanied by a noise audible at as great a distance as five
hundred feet.
On the 16th of August, M. de Romas raised the kite with about one
thousand feet of string and obtained thirty beams of fire, nine or ten
feet long and about an inch thick, accompanied by a noise similar to
that of a pistol shot (“Encycl. Britannica,” eighth edition, Vol. VIII.
p. 582). Three years later, August 26, 1756, and also during the year
1757, De Romas obtained similar results from numerous experiments.
He finally apprehended much danger from the raising of the kite and
thereafter coiled the string upon a small carriage, which he drew along
by means of silken lines as the cord was being unwound.
The researches of De Romas concerning the electricity of isolated
metallic bars are embraced in six letters addressed by him to the
Bordeaux Academy of Sciences between July 12, 1752, and June 14, 1753.
It is reported that they have never been printed and that they are
kept, together with other manuscript matter of the same physicist, in
the private archives of the institution.
The experiments of De Romas upon isolated bars were first repeated by
Boze at Wittenberg, by Gordon at Erfurt, and by Lomonozow in Russia
(_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLVIII. part ii. p. 272). M. Veratti, of Bologna,
obtained the electric spark in all weathers, through a bar of iron
resting in sulphur, and Th. Marin, of the same city, by means of a long
iron pole erected upon his dwelling, studied the relationship of rain
and atmospheric electricity (Musschenbroek, “Cours de Physique” Vol. I.
p. 397).
REFERENCES.--_Journal des Sçavans_ for October, 1753, p. 222;
“Mémoire sur les moyens,” etc., par De Romas, Bordeaux, 1776;
Sturgeon’s “Annals,” etc., Vol. V. p. 9; Harris, “Electricity,”
p. 176; Priestley, “History,” etc., 1775, pp. 326–329; “Mémoires
de Mathématique,” etc., Vol. II. p. 393, and Vol. IV. p. 514;
“Etude sur les travaux de De Romas,” p. 491, by Prof. Mergey, of
Bordeaux, which latter work won a prize for its author in 1853;
Becquerel, “Traité expérimental,” etc., 1834, Vol. I. pp. 42–43;
likewise the results obtained by Prof. Charles in “Traité de
Physique Expérimentale,” etc., par Biot, Paris, 1816, Vol. II.
pp. 444, 446, and in Peltier’s Introduction to his “Observations
et Recherches Expérimentales,” etc., Paris, 1840, p. 7, as well
as Brisson’s “Dict. de Phys.,” Paris, 1801, Vol. II. p. 174, and
“Mémoires des Savants Etrangers,” 1755, Vol. II. p. 406.
=A.D. 1753=.--M. Deslandes, member of the French Royal Academy of
Sciences, is the author of “Recueil de Différents traités de Physique,”
the third volume of which contains his memoir on the effects of thunder
upon the mariner’s compass. He alludes to the observations made thereon
by Dr. Lister of London (well known by his “Historiæ Animalium Angliæ,”
Lugd., 1678), as well as to many experiments made by Musschenbroek and
by others noted in the _Philosophical Transactions_.
=A.D. 1753.=--Prof. George William Richmann (1711–1753), native
of Sweden and member of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, who
had already constructed an apparatus for obtaining atmospherical
electricity according to Franklin’s plans, was attending a meeting of
the Russian Academy of Science, on the 6th of August, 1753, when his
ear caught the sound of a very heavy thunder clap. He hastened away
in company with his engraver, M. Sokolow, and upon their arrival home
they found the plummet of the electrometer elevated four degrees from
the perpendicular. Richmann stooped toward the latter to ascertain the
force of the electricity, and “as he stood in that posture, a great
white and bluish fire appeared between the rod of the electrometer
and his head. At the same time a sort of steam or vapour arose, which
entirely benumbed the engraver and made him sink on the ground.”
Sokolow recovered, but Richmann had met with instant death.
REFERENCES.--“Library of Useful Knowledge,” London, 1829;
“Electricity,” p. 59, also p. 33; “Lettre sur la mort de
Richmann,” par C. A. Rabiqueau, Paris, n. d.; “Comment. Acad.
Petrop.,” XIV. pp. 23, 301–302, also the “Novi Comment.,” IV.
pp. 25, 235 and 299; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XLII. p. 258;
“Gentleman’s Magazine,” London, Vol. XXIII., 1753, p. 431 and
Vol. XXV. for 1755, p. 3; Singer, “Electricity,” p. 217; Harris,
“Electricity,” p. 177; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLVIII. part ii.
pp. 763–765, 772; also Vol. XLIX. part i. pp. 61, 67, and the
abridgments by Hutton, Vol. X. pp. 525, 574–577; “La physique
à la portée de tout le monde,” par le Père Paulian, Vol. II.
p. 357; “Hist. de l’Acad. des Sciences,” pour 1753, p. 78;
“Franklin in France,” 1888, Part. I. p. 5.
=A.D. 1753.=--Canton (John), an English savant (1718–1772), announces
his most important discovery that vitreous or resinous electricity
may be produced at will in the same tube. This he proves on taking a
tube, which had been roughened by grinding it with thin sheet-lead
and flour-of-emery mixed with water, and which developed vitreous
electricity when rubbed with dry oil silk, and resinous or negative
electricity when rubbed with new flannel. Rough quartz will, it is
said, show like results. He also took a tube, of which only one-half
had been made rough while the other half was polished, and he
demonstrated that the different electricities are produced at a single
stroke with the same rubber.
He likewise discovered that the exciting power of the rubber or cushion
of the electrical machine will be very greatly increased by applying to
it an amalgam of mercury and tin mixed with a little chalk or whiting
(see Winckler, at A.D. 1733, for the introduction of the
cushion).
His very remarkable experiments upon many descriptions of tourmaline,
reported to the Royal Society in December 1759, were followed by
many others detailed by Priestley, at pp. 298–301 of his “History of
Electricity,” London, 1775, and Canton was the first to discover the
electrical properties of the topaz, which latter were made known during
the early part of the year 1760. (Consult Wilhelm Hankel, “Uber die
therm. eigen. des Topases,” Leipzig, 1870.)
He was also the first to establish properly the fundamental fact of
electrification by induction, or, as he terms it, “relating to bodies
immerged in electric atmospheres,” which afterward led Wilcke (A.D.
1757) and Æpinus (A.D. 1759) to the method of charging a plate of
air like a plate of glass, and to make the most perfect imitation
of the phenomena of thunder and lightning (George Adams, “Essay on
Electricity,” London, 1799, pp. 351–356; Noad, “Manual,” Chapter I,
and Priestley, “History,” etc., s. 5). The paper containing an account
of Canton’s experiments was read before the Royal Society, December 6,
1753. The principle enounced is that “the electric fluid, when there
is a redundancy of it in any body, repels the electric fluid in any
other body when they are brought within the sphere of each other’s
influence and drives it into the remote parts of the body; or quite
out of it, if there be any outlet for that purpose. In other words,
bodies immerged in electric atmospheres always become possessed of the
electricity contrary to that of the body in whose atmosphere they are
immerged.”
Canton is the first to show that the air of a room can be electrified
either positively or negatively, and can be made to retain the
electricity when received. He thus explains his method: “Take a charged
phial in one hand and a lighted candle insulated in the other, and,
going into any room, bring the wire of the phial very near to the
flame of the candle and hold it there about half a minute, then carry
the phial and candle out of the room and return with the pith balls
(suspended by fine linen threads) held out at arm’s length. The balls
will begin to separate on entering the room and will stand an inch and
a half or two inches apart when brought near the middle of it.”
The construction of artificial magnets by Canton, through the
combination of the Duhamel (A.D. 1749) and the Michell (A.D. 1750)
methods, as well as without the aid of natural loadstones or artificial
magnets, is detailed by Noad at Chapter XV of his “Manual,” London,
1859.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XXXV. p. 137 (Berlinghieri, V.
L.); Vol. XXXVII. p. 294 (Marcel, A.); Vol. XLVII. p. 31; Vol.
XLVIII. part i. pp. 350, 356, and Part II. pp. 780, 782 and 784,
also Vol. XLIX. part i. p. 300; Vol. LI. pp. 398, 403, and Vol.
LII. part ii. pp. 457, 461; and the abridgments of Hutton, Vol.
X. pp. 131, 421, 532; Vol. XI. pp. 421, 609; A.D. 1722, and A.D.
1752; “A Course of Lectures on Nat. Philos. and the Mechanical
Arts,” by Thos. Young, London, 1807, Vol. I. p. 372; II. pp.
64, 243; “The Electrical Researches of Hon. Hy. Cavendish,”
1879, Nos. 117, 205; Descriptions and Drawings of the various
electric friction machines can be seen in Priestley’s “History,”
Plates IV-VIII, and in Albrecht’s “Geschichte d. Electricität,”
1885, pp. 20–30; _Acta Acad. Petr._, I., 1778; “Gentleman’s
Magazine” for Sept. 1759. See likewise the _Phil. Trans._ for
Monday, January 21, 1666, p. 375, and George Adams’ “Essay on
Electricity,” etc., London, 1799, p. 579, for method of making
the artificial Bolonian stone or Canton’s phosphorus.
=A.D. 1753.=--Beccaria (Giovanni Baptista) (1716–1781), a very
ingenious and industrious Italian electrician and astronomer, is the
author of several quite important works on electricity.
Father Beccaria, as he is sometimes called from having been a member
of the religious order of the Pious Schools, proved at the time
to be the most indefatigable follower of Franklin in the study of
atmospheric electricity. He was the first who recorded the phenomena
of thunderstorms, and his many observations thereon are detailed
throughout Part I. period x. and s. 10 of Priestley’s great work on
electricity. Beccaria says that all clouds, whether of thunder, rain,
snow or hail, are formed by the electric fluid; that the electric
matter is continually darting from the clouds in one place at the
same time that it is discharged from the earth in another; and that
the clouds serve as conductors to convey the electric fluid from those
places of the earth which are overloaded with it to those which are
exhausted of it. Having shown that the polarity of the magnetic needle
is determined by the direction in which the electric current has passed
through it, he suggests taking the polarity acquired by ferruginous
bodies as a test for ascertaining the kind of electricity with which
the thunder cloud is charged.
He also shows that the meteor called a _falling star_ is an electrical
appearance, explains the cause of the peculiar noise attending the
electric spark, and states that the passage of electricity is not
instantaneous through the best conductors. He found a spark to occupy
at least half a second in passing through 500 feet of wire, and six and
a half seconds through a hempen cord of the same length, although when
the cord was dampened it passed through it in two or three seconds.
He was the first to show the electric spark while in its passage
through water, and he observed that the water sank in the tubes
whenever a spark passed from one to the other as the air was repelled
by the electric fluid. He found the effect of the electric spark upon
water greater than the effect of common fire on gunpowder, and says
he does not doubt that, if a method could be found of managing them
equally well, a cannon charged with water would be more effective
(“dreadful”) than one charged with gunpowder.
He demonstrates that air, contiguous to an electrified body, gradually
acquires the same electricity; that the electricity of the body is
diminished by that of the air; that there is mutual repulsion between
air and the electric fluid, and that the latter, in passing through any
portion of air, creates a temporary vacuum.
The production of what he calls his _new inventive phosphorus_ and
the method he employs for _revivifying metals_, are described,
respectively, at pp. 365 and 282 of his “Lettere dell’ elettricismo.”
REFERENCES.--Beccaria, “Lettere,” etc., Bologna, 1758, pp. 146,
etc., 193, 266, 268, 290, 310, 345; likewise his “Elettricismo
Artificiale,” Turin, 1753, pp. 110, 114, 227; _Phil. Trans._
for 1760, Vol. LI. p. 514; 1762, p. 486; 1766, Vol. LVI. p.
105; 1767, Vol. LVII. p. 297; 1770, Vol. LX. p. 277; 1771, p.
212, also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XI. p. 435; Vol. XII, pp.
291, 445; Vol. XIII. p. 50; Wartmann, “Mém. sur les Etoiles
filantes”; Humboldt, “Relation historique,” Tome I; Lardner,
“Lectures,” Vol. I. pp. 429–444; Sturgeon’s _Annals_, Vol. VI.
pp. 415–420, 425–431, and Vol. VIII. p. 180; Noad, “Manual,”
London, 1859, p. 197; Louis Cotte, “Observation ...” Paris,
1769 and 1772; “Mém. de Paris” for the same years and _Jour. de
Phys._ for 1783; Ant. Maria Vassalli-Eandi, “Notizia sopra la
vita ... di Beccaria,” 1816; Carlo Barletti, “Nuove Sperienze
...” Milano, 1771; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. V. pp. 77–78; “The
Electrical Researches of Hon. Henry Cavendish,” Cambridge, 1879,
No. 136; Hale, “Franklin in France,” Boston, 1888, Part I. p.
447; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” London, 1859, Vol. I. pp. 113–136, 202,
337; Vol. V. pp. 217–219, for the observations of Beccaria,
Rozier, Kepler, Benzenberg, Brandes, Bogulawski, Nicholson,
Arago and others on atmospheric electricity, aerolites, etc. See
likewise Beccaria’s letters to Jean Claude Fromond, the Italian
physicist (1703–1795), relating his experiments tending to prove
that electric motions do not occur _in vacuo_, also his letters
to the Princess Giuseppina di Carignano on the electricity of
the moon, as well as to Jean Baptiste Le Roy and to Jacopo
Bartolommeo Beccari relative to experiments with his kite;
“Scelta di Opuscoli,” of Amoretti, Campi, Fromond and Soave,
Vols. XIX. XXI. XXXII.; “Opuscoli Scelti,” II. 378; III. 243,
284, 377; V. 19.
=A.D. 1753.=--Bazin (Gilles Augustin), French physician and
naturalist, publishes, at Strasbourg, an illustrated treatise on
Magnetic Currents (“Description des Courants Magnétiques,” etc.), which
also contains his observations upon the magnet, and a supplement to
which appears during the year 1754.
REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. V. p. 974; Michaud,
“Biog. Univ.,” Vol. III. p. 353; Ninth “Britannica,” Vol. XV. p.
242.
=A.D. 1753.=--C. M., _i. e._ Charles Morrison and not Charles Marshall,
of Greenock, Scotland, writes, from Renfrew, February 1, 1753, to
the _Scots’ Magazine_, a letter entitled “An Expeditious Method of
Conveying Intelligence,” wherein is first suggested a practical manner
of transmitting messages by frictional electricity.
A full copy of this letter appears at pp. 7–9 of Robert Sabine’s
“Electric Telegraph,” London, 1872, and at p. 9, 103, No. 570, of the
_Scientific American Supplement_ for December 4, 1886, the last-named
also reproducing some correspondence establishing the identity of
Charles Morrison which was found in the papers of Sir David Brewster.
In the article of Auguste Guérout, which appeared in _La Lumière
Electrique_ early in 1883, C. M. is alluded to as Charles Marshall.
This is likewise the case in Johnson’s Encyclopædia, 1878, Vol. IV.
p. 757. Fahie gives (“History of the Electric Telegraph,” London,
1884, pp. 68–77) a full account of the many inquiries instituted to
establish the identity of C. M., which he admits to stand for Charles
Morrison, although, at p. 81 of the same work, is given a letter of Sir
Francis Ronalds alluding to Charles Marshall, of Renfrew. An article in
_Cornhill Magazine_, Vol. II for 1860, pp. 65–66, speaks of an elderly
Scotch lady who remembered a very clever man named Charles Marshall,
who could make “lichtnin’ write an’ speak” and who could “licht a room
wi’ coal-reek” (coal-smoke).
In his remarks upon the afore-named letter, made during the year 1859,
Sir David Brewster says: “Here we have an electric telegraph upward of
a hundred years old, which at the present day would convey intelligence
expeditiously, and we are constrained to admit that C. M. was the
inventor of the electric telegraph.... Everything done since is only
improvement.”
REFERENCES.--_Scots’ Magaz._, XV. p. 73; “Le Cosmos,” Paris,
Feb. 17, 1854; “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XXXIX. p. 107;
_Athenæum_ of Nov. 5, 1864; Lesage, at A.D. 1774; Th. Du Moncel,
“Exposé des applications de l’électricité,” Paris, 1874, Vol.
III. pp. 1 and 2.
=A.D. 1754.=--Diwish (Prokop), Diviss--Divisch (Procopius), a monk of
Seuftenberg, Bohemia (1696–1765), erects, June 15, 1754, a lightning
protector upon the palace of the curator of Prenditz, Moravia. The
apparatus was composed of a pole surmounted by an iron rod supporting
twelve curved up branches and terminating in the same number of
metallic boxes filled with iron ore and closed by a boxwood cover
traversed by twenty-seven sharp iron points which plunged at their base
in the ore. All the system of wires was united to the earth by a large
chain. The enemies of Diwish, jealous of his success at the court of
Vienna, excited the peasants of the locality against him, and, under
the pretext that his lightning rod was the cause of the great drought,
they made him take down the lightning rod which he had utilized for
six years and then imprisoned him. What is most curious is the form of
this first lightning rod, which is of multiple points, like the one M.
Melseu afterward invented.
REFERENCES.--_Poggendorff_, Vol. I. p. 580, for Procopius
Divisch’s “Erfand einen Wetter Ableiter”; _Scientific American_,
Sept. 10, 1887, p. 160; “Kronika Prace,” by Pokorny, of Prague;
“Historical Magazine,” Feb. 1868, Art. XII. p. 93; “Prague
News,” for 1754, art. of Dr. Scrinci.
=A.D. 1754.=--Ammersin (Rev. Father Windelinus), of Lucerne,
Switzerland, announces in his “Brevis relatio de electricitate,” etc.,
that wood properly dried till it becomes very brown is a nonconductor
of electricity. We have already mentioned the observation made by
Benjamin Wilson (A.D. 1746) that, when a dry, warm piece of
wood is broken across, one of the pieces becomes vitreously and the
other resinously electrified.
Ammersin advises boiling the dried wood in linseed oil or covering
it with varnish to prevent the possible return of moisture, and he
states that wood thus treated seems to afford stronger appearances of
electricity than does even glass (_Phil. Trans._, Vol. LII. part
i. p. 342).
REFERENCES.--Ammersin, “Kurze Nachricht,” etc., pub. at Basel,
1771, and translated the same year by Jallabert, who embodied it
in his “Versuche über die Elektricität,” etc.
=A.D. 1754.=--In his “Dissertations sur l’incompatibilité de
l’attraction,” etc., Le Père Gerdil, Professor of Philosophy in the
Royal University of Turin, speaks of agencies of which we shall never
know anything and of others with which we shall inductively become
acquainted, although we shall always ignore many of their respective
quantities, qualities and differences. He says that the electric fluid
explains the sympathy known to exist between amber and straws--shown by
the analogy observed between electricity and magnetism to be the same
as that existing between iron and the loadstone.
=A.D. 1754.=--Mr. Strype produces the sixth and last edition of
the original “Survey of London” by John Stow, which first appeared
during the year 1598.
In his account of Cornehill Ward, allusion is made to the “fair new
steeple” of the Church of Saint Michael th’ Archangel, “begun to be
built in the year 1421,” and, at p. 74, occurs the following: “As I
have oft heard my father report, upon St. James’ night, certain men
in the loft next under the bells, ringing of a peal, a tempest of
lightning and thunder did arise, an ugly shapen sight appeared to
them, coming in at the South window and lighted on the North, for fear
whereof they all fell down and lay as dead for the time, letting the
bells ring and cease of their own accord; when the ringers came to
themselves, they found certain stones of the North window to be razed
and scratched, as if they had been so much butter, printed with a
lion’s claw; the same stones were fastened there again and so remain to
this day.”
In one of the notes to William T. Thoms’ reprint of the above-named
“now perfectly invalyable” work, he says: “It is quite clear from the
tone in which Stow speaks of this ‘ugly shapen sight’ and the marks
‘printed with a lion’s claw,’ that he suspected this instance of the
power of the electric fluid to be nothing less than a visitation from
the foul fiend himself.”
Speaking of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Stow tells us that its pulpit cross
“was by tempest of lightning and thunder defaced,” and that “on
Wednesday, the fourth of June (in the year 1561), betweene three, four
and five of the clock, in the after-noone, the steeple of Paule’s in
London, being fired by lightning brast forth (as it seemed to the
beholders) two or three yards beneath the foote of the crosse, and from
thence burnt downe the speere to the stone worke and bels, so terribly,
that within the space of foure houres, the same steeple with the roofes
of the church ... were consumed.” Very curious and interesting reading
will be found in the “Burnynge of Paule Church, London, in 1561, and
the iiii day of June, by lyghtnynge at three of the clocke ...” by
Wyllyam Seres, London, 1563; as well as in his previous work on like
subject, published in 1561. See Report in “Archæologia,” London, 1794,
Vol. XI. pp. 72–86; likewise the entry at A.D. 1769, relative
to another lightning stroke in 1772.
Stow is perhaps best known by his “Annales, or a Generalle Chronicle
of England.” In that portion of the latter work devoted to “the
life and raigne of Queene Elizabeth” he states (London ed., 1631,
p. 809) “that the knowledge and use of the sea compasse or needle
was neither familiar nor understood but few yeeres before” the time
of the navigators John Hawkins, Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher and
Thomas Candish, and he adds (at p. 810) “that the honour of that
invention, as touching the propertie of the Magneticall needle in
pointing towards the Poles is attributed by (Flavius) Blondus in his
_Italia Illustrata_ (in the description of Campadia Felix) and by
the great writer Paulus Jovius in lib. xxv. of his History in the end
[_sic_], to the citizens of Amalfi.... The author’s name is no
more particularly recorded, then [_sic_] to be one Flavio ... for
to him that honour is given by Francis Lopez, of Gomara, in his West
Indian History, lib. i. cap. 9, and by Peter Ciezius, in lib. ii. cap.
9, of his Indian Story, and by Pandulph: Collenutius in his History of
Naples, who, three hundred yeeres since, namely in the yeere of our
Saviour 1305, discovered that propertie in the Magnes and applied it to
navigation” (see, for Flavius Blondus: George Hakewill, “An apologie,”
etc., Oxford, 1635, lib. iii. s. 4, and lib. v. p. 60; “Blondi Flavii
Fortiriensis ... Italia Illustrata,” 1531, folio; Flavius Blondus
(Flavio Biondo), “Roma Ristaurata et Italia Illustrata,” Vinezia, 1558,
12mo; Niceron, “Mémoires ... des hommes illustres,” Paris, 1731, Vol.
XVI. pp. 274–281).
A contemporary of Flavius Blondus, by name Michael Angelus Blondus
(1497–1560), author of “De Ventis et Navigatione,” published at Venice
in 1546, likewise alludes to the polarity of the needle, and gives a
curious illustration of a mariner’s compass at Chap. XXIV. p. 15, of
the last-named work. (For M. A. Blondus, see “La Grande Encyclopédie,”
Vol. VI. p. 899.)
Stow makes reference (p. 810) to Dr. Gilbert’s _De Magnete_, to
the “diuision of the plot or playne of the compasse into the thirty-two
points,” considered by “Goropius in his lib. iii. _De Origin.
Hispanicis_, to have been the inuention of some Germane,” and to
the manner and “meanes saylers vsed to sayle, before they atteined the
knowledge of the compasse.”
=A.D. 1755.=--Eeles--Eales (Henry), a prominent scientist of Lismore,
Ireland, communicates to the Royal Society, on the 25th of April, 1755,
a paper concerning the electrical property of steam and exhalations of
all kinds. Eeles’ theory of the electricity of vapour (“On Vesicles
and Atmospheres of Electricity”), afterward developed by Sir John
Herschel, is fully explained in the “Encycl. Brit.” article on
“Meteorology” (par. 135, etc.), and is also alluded to at p. 43 of
Harris’ “Electricity” as well as at p. 153, Vol. XLIX. part i. of the
_Philosophical Transactions_.
Mr. Eeles showed, that while the Leyden jar is being charged, both
the inside and the outside have the same kind of electricity and
that the negative electricity does not appear until the machine has
ceased turning. Eeles’ hypothesis, extracted from his “Philosophical
Essays,” and from the analysis of a course of lectures delivered at
Trinity College, Cambridge, by Mr. Atwood, is treated of at length
by George Adams in the fourth chapter of his “Essay on Electricity,”
wherein pertinent allusion is also made to the fact of Mr. Eeles having
been purposely shut out of Priestley’s “History and Present State of
Electricity.”
REFERENCES.--_Philosophical Transactions_, Vol. XLVII. p. 524;
_Phil. Mag. and Journal_, Vol. XLIV. p. 401 (1814).
=A.D. 1756.=--Le Chevalier Jacques C. F. de la Perriere de Roiffé
(not Reiffé) is the author of “Méchanismes de l’Electricité et de
l’Univers,” published at Paris, wherein he pretends to account for all
electrical phenomena.
At p. 12 of his Préface, he curiously states that as everybody
comprehends the distinction between elastic and non-elastic bodies,
likewise the existence, nature and diversity of the properties of
atmospheric fluids, with which all bodies are impregnated and by which
they are surrounded, also the various expansive modes of activity to
which they are subject, as well as their immiscibility as regards the
surrounding air, without which latter they could not, however, subsist,
he will in his new theory apply these principles to the mechanisms of
electricity and of the universe as affected by the general laws and the
invariable results attaching to shock and motion.
=A.D. 1756.=--In the “Subtil Medium Proved,” etc., of Mr. R.
Lovett, lay-clerk of the cathedral church at Worcester, England, are
shown numerous medical cures successfully made by electricity. He
asserts that the electric fluid is almost a specific in all cases of
violent pains, like obstinate headache, the toothache, sciatica, etc.,
but that it has not succeeded so well in rheumatic affections. He
states that electricity properly administered has never caused injury,
and he alludes to equally successful cures made by the Rev. John Wesley
and by Dr. Wetzel, of Upsal.
The well-known physician, Antonius de Haen, during several years’
experience, made many cures of paralysis, St. Vitus’ dance, etc., by
the agency of electricity, as related in his _Ratio Medendi_, Vol. I.
pp. 199, 200, 233, 234 and 389. Allusion has been made in these pages
to the employment of electricity for medical purposes by Kratzenstein
(A.D. 1745) and by Jallabert (A.D. 1749), and Priestley named many
others who have likewise used it successfully in their practice.
REFERENCES.--“Subtil Medium Proved,” etc., pp. 76, 101 and 112;
also his “Philosophical Essays,” Worcester, 1761 and 1766, and
his “Electrical Philosopher,” 1774; Wesley’s “Desideratum,
or Electricity made Plain and Useful,” p. 3; Joseph Veratti,
“Observations ... pour guérir les paralytiques....” La Haye,
1750.
=A.D. 1757.=--Dr. Darwin, of Lichfield, addresses to the Royal
Society of London a paper which is read May 5, 1757, and in which he
gives an account of experiments to prove that the electric atmosphere
does not displace air, and that all light, dry, animal and vegetable
substances, in particular, are slow to part with the electricity with
which they have been charged (_Phil. Trans._, Vol. L. part i. pp.
252 and 351).
=A.D. 1757.=--Euler (Leonard), a native of Switzerland, who
studied under the Bernoullis, and who succeeded Daniel Bernoulli as
Professor of Mathematics at St. Petersburg, was undoubtedly one of the
greatest analysts the world has ever produced (“Encycl. Brit.,” Fifth
Dissertation of the eighth edition, Vol. I. p. 742).
He adopted the theory of Descartes that the magnetic fluid moves
from the equator to the poles, and he endeavoured to determine
mathematically the course of the magnetic needle over the earth’s
surface. He announces that “the magnetic direction on the earth follows
always the small circle which passes through the given place and the
two magnetic poles of the earth,” or, as worded by Sir David Brewster,
that “the horizontal needle is a tangent to the circle passing through
the place of observation and through the two points on the earth’s
surface where the dipping needle becomes vertical or the horizontal
needle loses its directive power.”
He entertained very peculiar ideas regarding the source of power
in the loadstone, the pores of which he imagined were filled with
valves admitting of the entrance of the current and preventing its
return. His notions on this subject are best given in his own words:
“Non-magnetic bodies are freely pervaded by the magnetic matter in all
directions; loadstones were pervaded by it in one direction only ...
water, we know, contains in its pores particles of air ... air, again,
it is equally certain, contains in its pores a fluid incomparably
more subtile, viz. _æther_, and which, on many occasions, is
separated from it, as in Electricity; and now we see a still further
progression, and that ether contains a matter much more subtile than
itself--the magnetic matter which may, perhaps, contain in its turn
others still more subtile.... The loadstone, besides a great many pores
filled with ether, like all other bodies, contains some still much more
narrow into which the _magnetic matter_ alone can find admission.
These pores are disposed in such a manner as to have communication with
each other, and constitute tubes or canals through which the magnetic
matter passes from the one extremity to the other. Finally, this matter
can be transmitted through these tubes only in one direction, without
the possibility of returning in the opposite direction.... As we see
nothing that impels the iron toward the loadstone, we say that the
latter attracts it. It cannot be doubted, however, that there is a
very subtile, though invisible matter, which produces this effect by
actually impelling the iron towards the loadstone.”
REFERENCES.--“Journal des Savants” for March and April 1868;
Euler’s “Letters,” translated into English, 1802, Vol. I. p.
214, and Vol. II. pp. 240, 242, 244; “Berlin Memoirs,” for
1746, p. 117; 1757, p. 175; 1766, p. 213; _Poggendorff_, Vol.
I. p. 702; “Nova Act. Petropol.” for 1779, Vol. III; “Pièces de
Prix de l’Acad. des Sc. de Paris,” Vol. V. Mém. II and IX, this
last-named publication, containing likewise a joint Memoir of D.
Euler, J. Bernoulli and E. F. Dutour upon the mariner’s compass,
which appeared in Paris during 1748; Whewell, “History of the
Inductive Sciences,” 1859, Vol. I. pp. 225, 367, 370; Vol. II.
pp. 32, 40.
His son, Albert Euler, censured Halley’s magnetical hypothesis, and
proposed, in 1766, a theory requiring the assumption of only two poles,
distinct, however, from those of the terrestrial axis.
=A.D. 1757.=--Dollond (John), who was at first a silk weaver
at Spitalfields, England, which occupation he abandoned in order to
give his exclusive attention to scientific experimental studies,
discovered the laws of the dispersion of light and constructed the
first achromatic telescope as well as several improved instruments for
magnetic observations. A full description of the most important of
these, accompanied by illustrations, can be found in the articles of
the “Encyclopædia Britannica” on magnetic instruments.
REFERENCES.--Kelly’s “Life of John Dollond,” London, 1808;
_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XVIII. p. 47; Thomas Thomson, “Hist. of Roy.
Soc.,” London, 1812, pp. 379–382; “Directions for using the
Electric Machine made by P. and J. Dollond,” London, 1761.
=A.D. 1757.=--Wilcke (Johann Karl), a very distinguished scientist
of Stockholm (1732–1796), introduces new phenomena respecting the
production of electricity produced by melting electrical substances,
which he discovers in continuation of experiments begun by Stephen
Grey. He gives the name of _spontaneous_ to the electricity
produced by the liquefaction of electrics, observing that the
electricity of melted sulphur does not appear until it commences to
cool and to contract, its _maximum_ being reached at its point of
greatest contraction. Melted sealing wax, he says, becomes negatively
electrified when poured into glass, but, when poured into sulphur, it
is positively electrified, leaving the sulphur negative (Sir Humphry
Davy, “Bakerian Lectures,” London, 1840, p. 36 and notes).
While in Berlin, he and Æpinus investigate the subject of electric
atmospheres, and they are led to the discovery that plates of air
can be charged in the same manner as plates of glass. (See Canton,
A.D. 1753.) This they did by suspending large wooden boards,
which were covered with tin and whose flat surfaces were held parallel
to and near each other. They found that upon electrifying one of the
boards positively the other was always negative, and that with them
could be given shocks like those produced by a Leyden jar. They likened
the state of the boards to the condition of the clouds and the earth
during a thunderstorm, the earth being in one state and the clouds in
the opposite, the body of air between them answering the same purpose
as the small plate of air between the boards or the plate of glass
between the two metallic coatings of the Leyden jar.
In Wilcke’s treatise, alluded to below, he defines the two
electricities much more clearly than had previously been done.
He distinguishes three causes of excitation, viz. _warming_,
_liquefaction_ and _friction_; the _spontaneous electricity_ already
alluded to, he further says, is the result of the apposition or
mutual action of two bodies, in consequence of which one of them
is electrified positively and the other negatively; _communicated
electricity_, on the other hand, is that which is superinduced upon the
whole or part of a body, electric or non-electric, without the body
having been previously heated, melted or rubbed, or without any mutual
action between it and any other body. This distinction is, in general,
very obvious, but Mr. Wilcke defines it throughout his work in a very
clear manner, citing cases wherein they are frequently confounded.
Wilcke and Anton Brugmans (A.D. 1778) first propounded the theory of
two magnetic fluids, which was afterward established by Coulomb (A.D.
1785) and perfected by the great mathematician Poisson (A.D. 1811).
The hypothesis of the two fluids supposes that a magnet contains
minute invisible particles of iron, each of which possesses by itself
the properties of a separate magnet. It is assumed that there are two
distinct fluids--the _austral_ and the _boreal_--which reside in each
particle of iron. These fluids are inert and neutral when combined, as
in ordinary iron, but when they are decomposed the particles of the
_austral_ attract those of the _boreal_, and _vice versa_, while they
each repel one another.
REFERENCES.--Wilcke, “Disputatio inauguralis physica,” etc.,
published Rostock, 1757, also his “Herrn Franklin’s briefe von
der electricitat,” etc., Leipzig, 1758, his “Jal om Magneten,”
1764, and his “Über den Magneten,” Leipzig, 1758; besides
1794–1795; likewise his different Memoirs in the “Swedisches
Musæum,” Vol. I. p. 31, and in both the “Schwedischen Akad.
Abhandlungen,” etc. (also _Neue Abhand_.) and the “Vetensk Acad.
Handl.” for 1758, 1759, 1761–1763, 1766–1770, 1772, 1775, 1777,
1780, 1782, 1785, 1786, 1790; “The Electrical Researches of Hon.
Hy. Cavendish,” 1879, No. 134.
=A.D. 1759.=--Hartmann (Johann Friedrich), of Hanover, is the
author of three works on electricity, published in that city during
1759, 1764 and 1766, wherein he gives an account of several very
curious electrical experiments. One of the most interesting of these
demonstrates the progressive motion of the electrical discharge. When
he passes the shock through many small cannon balls, sometimes to
the number of forty, placed upon small drinking goblets close by one
another, all the sparks are seen and all the cracklings are heard
at the same moment; but when he substitutes eggs (preferably ten or
twelve) for the balls, the progress of the explosion is visible, every
two giving a flash and a report separately.
He remarks that upon one occasion, as he re-entered a room which he
had just before left, after making therein a number of experiments, he
observed a small flame following him as he walked about swiftly while
holding a lighted candle in his hand. The flame vanished whenever he
stopped to examine it, and he attributed its appearance to the presence
of sulphur thrown into the air by continued violent electrification.
REFERENCES.--Hartmann, “Abhandlung von der verwandschaft,” etc.,
Hanover, 1759, pp. 58, etc., and 135; also his “Electrische
experimente,” etc., Hanover, 1766, and his “Anmerkungen,” etc.,
1764, 4to, p. 38; Friedrich Saxtorph, “Elektricitätsläre,”
Vol. II; _Hamburgisches Magazin_ (also _Neues Hamb. Mag._)
for 1759, Vol. XXIV, and for 1761, Vol. XXV; “Nov. Acta Acad.
Nat. Curios,” Vol. IV. ss. 76–82, 126; “Göttingischen gemein.
Abhand.,” von Jahr 1775.
=A.D. 1759.=--Wesley (John), the founder of Methodism (1703–1791)
and the most eminent member of a very distinguished English family,
publishes “The Desideratum; or Electricity made Plain and Useful, by
a Lover of Mankind and of Common-sense.” In this, he relates at great
length the cures of numerous physical and moral ailments, attributed
to the employment of the electric fluid, under such curious headings
as “Electricity, the Soul of the Universe,” “Electricity, the Greatest
of all Remedies,” etc. (“The Library of Literary Criticism,” C. W.
Moulton, Buffalo, 1901–1902, Vol. IV. pp. 110–129).
=A.D. 1759.=--Æpinus (Franz Maria Ulrich Theodor) (1724–1802),
celebrated German natural philosopher, member of the Scientific
Academies of Berlin and St. Petersburg, publishes in the latter
city his most important work, “Tentamen Theoriæ Electricitatis et
Magnetismi,” wherein he adopts, as did Wilcke, all the general
principles of Franklin’s theory of positive and negative electricities.
Therein he also shows that the phenomena of electricity depend mainly
upon the tendency of the fluid to attain a state of equilibrium by
passing from bodies containing an excess to others which have less
than the natural quantity; that the electric fluid existing in the
pores of all bodies moves without obstruction in non-electrics and
with much difficulty in electrics; that all bodies contain a fluid
whose particles mutually repel one another with forces decreasing as
the distance between them increases, and, according to the same law,
attract the particles of the bodies with which they are in combination.
It has already been shown that, in conjunction with Wilcke, he found
the means of charging a plate of air. This experiment, suggested by
some of the observations made by Canton and Franklin, led to what
may be considered one of the greatest discoveries in the science of
electricity, for in this was first demonstrated the grand principle
of induction (see Grey at A.D. 1720), and the result led to
Volta’s discovery of the _electrophorus_. Volta, also, was the
first to apply to an electrometer the apparatus invented by Æpinus for
condensing electricity.
Æpinus first discovers to its fullest the affinity existing between
electricity and magnetism, explaining nearly all the phenomena of
magnetism (“De Similitudine vis electricæ et magneticæ”; “Similitudinis
effectuum vis magnet. et. elect.: novum specimen” in the “Novi Comment.
Acad. Petrop.,” Vol. X. p. 296). He improves upon the methods employed
by both Duhamel and Michell for the construction of artificial magnets
in a different line from that employed by John Canton, A.D.
1753. He lays the bar to be magnetized upon the ends of the opposite
poles of two powerful field magnets, and places two bunches of magnetic
bars upon the middle of the bar, separating the bunches by a piece of
wood and keeping together the poles of each of the same name as that
of the powerful fixed magnet nearest to it. These two bunches are then
held at an inclination of 15 to 20 degrees, and are drawn away from
each other to the end of the bar which is to be magnetized, so that
each half of the bar receives the same number of strokes. When the bar
is very thick, the process should be repeated upon its reverse, and
in order to make the result more effective, the united ends of the
bars should at the outset be ground together, and pressure should be
applied while the operation is going on.
Æpinus was the first to discover the polarity of the tourmaline. After
M. Lechman acquainted him with its attractive power, he made many
experiments, of which he communicated the very important results,
during the year 1756, to the Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres at
Berlin. Up to this time but little was known regarding the necessity
of heat to excite the tourmaline. Æpinus found that he could electrify
it to a high degree by placing the stone in boiling water, and that
it was necessary to heat it to between 99½ degrees and 212 degrees
Fahrenheit to develop its attractive powers. One of the extremities of
the tourmaline terminated by the six-sided pyramid then becomes charged
with positive electricity, while the other extremity is negative. When
the stone is of considerable size, flashes of light can be seen along
its surface.
M. De Romé Delisle, in his “Essai de Cristallographie,” Paris, 1772, p.
268, alludes to what has already been stated relative to the necessity
of heating the tourmaline (see J. G. S. at A.D. 1707, and
Leméry at A.D. 1717), and he gives an extract from the work
attributed to Adanson, as mentioned at A.D. 1751. Delisle’s
references embrace: “Act. Paris,” 1717, p. 9; “Act. Berolin,” 1756,
p. 105; “Lettre du Duc de Noya Caraffa à M. de Buffon,” Paris, 1759;
_Ascendrecker, Aschentrecher, Aschenzicher_ (_tire-cendre_),
“Trip: Tourmaline, Vog. min.” 191; “Act. Holmens,” 1768, p. 7; besides,
at pp. 209, 233 and 245 he speaks of the electrical and phosphorescent
properties of crystals, showing that the _lapis lyncurius_ of the
ancients is the hyacinth or zircon of to-day (see B.C. 321),
and not, as many believe, either amber or belemnite (_pierre de
foudre_, _lapis fulminaris_), while the hyacinth of old was a
purple stone which, if now found, would be classed among the amethysts.
REFERENCES.--“Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie,” Leipzig, 1875,
Vol. I. p. 129; Æpinus, “Sermo Acad. de similitudine,” etc.,
1758, and his “Recueil ... sur la tourmaline,” 1762; “Novi. Com.
Petropol.,” for 1761, 1764, 1768; “Acta Acad. Moguntinæ,” Vol.
II. p. 255; Leithead, “Electricity,” p. 289; _Phil. Trans._,
Vol. LI. p. 394, and Vol. LVII. part i. p. 315; “Encycl. Brit.,”
articles “Electricity” and “Magnetism”; Bigeon’s report in the
“Annales de Ch. et de Phys.,” 2^e série, Tome XXXVIII. p. 150;
Van Swinden, “Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vols. I and II
_passim_; Becquerel in _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, Vol.
XXXVI. p. 50; Thomson, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” 1812, p. 184; “The
Electrical Researches of the Hon. Henry Cavendish,” Cambridge,
1879, Nos. 1, 134, 340 and 549; Lord Kelvin (Sir Wm. Thomson),
“Æpinus atomized,” in _Phil. Mag._ for March 1902, p. 257, etc.,
and in _Journal de Physique_ for Sept. 1902, p. 605.
=A.D. 1759.=--Symmer (Robert) assails the theory announced by Dufay
(see Franklin, A.D. 1752), and shows, in a paper submitted to the Royal
Society, December 20, 1759, that all the electrical phenomena are
produced by two distinct but coexistent fluids not independent of, but
counteracting each other. He says that equal quantities of these fluids
are contained in all bodies while in their natural condition; that when
a body is positively electrified it does not hold a larger share of
electric matter, but a larger portion of one of the active powers, and
when negatively electrified a larger portion of the other, and not, as
Franklin’s theory supposes, an actual deficiency of electric matter.
Symmer’s theory is perhaps best explained in his own words, as follows:
“It is my opinion that there are two electric fluids (or emanations of
two distinct electric powers), essentially different from each other;
that electricity does not consist in the efflux and afflux of these
fluids, but in the accumulation of the one or the other in the body
electrified; or, in other words, it consists in the possession of a
larger portion of the one or of the other power than is requisite to
maintain an even balance within the body, and lastly, that according as
the one or the other power prevails, the body is electrified in one or
the other manner.”
Very curious reading may be had by reference to the volumes of the
_Philosophical Transactions_ named below, in which Symmer details many
experiments with pieces of silk, as well as with white and coloured,
new and newly cleansed silk and worsted stockings. Therein he shows
his ability to charge the Leyden jar with either positive or negative
electricity, according as he presents a black or white stocking to the
wire of the phial. These experiments, which Symmer admits to have made
for the express purpose of proving the existence of two electricities,
further illustrate the phenomenon of electrical cohesion, although
the latter is still better demonstrated by means of panes of ordinary
glass. He thus expresses himself: “Upon these considerations, we may
expect, from the experiment in hand, the means of determining whether
the distinction of electricity into two different kinds is merely
nominal, or if there is an essential difference between them; for,
after the glass plates have been electrified in one position, so as to
be incapable of receiving any more electricity, if they be inverted,
and in that new position presented to the chain and wire, and the globe
again be put in motion, according as one or other of those opinions
hold, corresponding effects will follow.”
Symmer also proves his two distinct powers of electricity by the
experiment of passing the electric shock through a quire of paper
instead of through a single card (“Lib. Useful Knowledge,” London,
1829, “Electricity,” p. 44).
REFERENCES.--“Electricity in the Service of Man,” R. Wormell,
London, 1900, p. xiv; _Philosophical Transactions_, Vol. LI.
part i. pp. 171, 340, 366, 373, etc., 389, and Vol. LVII. p.
458; also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XI. p. 405; Nollet,
“Lettres,” etc., Vol. III. p. 42; “Encycl. Brit.,” article
“Electricity”; “Library of Useful Knowledge,” London, 1829,
“Electricity,” Nos. 160 and 161.
=A.D. 1760.=--Mayer (Johann Tobias, Sen.) (1723–1762), one of the
most celebrated German astronomers, director of the observatory at
Göttingen, is the first to make known the law of the inverse square
resulting from actual experimental investigation. This he does in a
paper, “Inclination and Declination of the Magnetic Needle, as deduced
from theory,” read before the Royal Society at Göttingen, wherein he
states that the intensities of the magnetic attractions and repulsions
vary inversely as the squares of the distances from the pole of a
magnet. Consult “Magnetism,” in the ninth edition of the “Encyclopædia
Britannica,” for additional reference to the above paper, also section
14 of the same work for an account of Mayer’s dipping needle as
constructed by General Sabine.
REFERENCES.--Delambre’s notice of the life of J. T. Mayer in the
“Biographie Universelle”; Hutton’s “Mathem. Dict.”; Montucla,
“Histoire des Mathématiques”; list of his works added to the
éloge pronounced by Kaestner, Göttingen, 1762; “Abhandlungen
von Galvani und andern,” Prague, 1793; Whewell, “History of
the Inductive Sciences,” 1859, Vol. II. pp. 206, 221; Coulomb,
“Mémoires Acad. Paris” for 1786 and 1787; “Royal Soc. Cat. of
Sc. Papers,” Vol. IV. pp. 311–314; Lambert, “Reports of the
Berlin Academy” for 1776.
Mayer (Johann Tobias, Jr.), 1752–1830, is the author of Memoirs on the
magnetic needle as well as upon many electrical experiments, of which
details may be found in the _Journal der Physik_ of Friedrich A.
C. Gren and in the “Comment Soc. Göttingen recent.”
=A.D. 1760.=--Delaval (E. H.) communicates between 1760 and 1764
several papers to the London Royal Society in reference to experiments
made for the purpose of ascertaining the conducting powers of a body
in different states. Therein, he shows that animal and vegetable
substances lose their conducting powers when reduced to ashes, and that
while metals are the best conductors, their oxides are non-conductors.
His experiments made with _island_ (Iceland) _crystal_ (well
known for its extraordinary property of double refraction), proved that
it is affected by heat differently from other substances named, since
the temperature necessary to render them electric makes the crystal
non-electric. He had a piece of crystal of which, he said, one part
became non-electric when greatly heated, while the other part, with the
same or even a much greater heat, remained perfectly electric. These
experiments did not, however, succeed with Sir Torbern Bergman, who
repeated them with great care and who found that _island crystal_
was a conductor in all cases, to whatever degree of heat it was
exposed.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._, Vol. LI. part i. p. 83; Vol LII.
part i. pp. 353, etc., and part ii. p. 459; also Vol. LIII.
part i. pp. 84–98; and Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XI. pp. 334,
589; Vol. XII. p. 140; Thomas Thomson, “Hist. of Roy. Soc.,” p.
443; Thos. Young, “Course of Lectures,” 1807, Vol. II. p. 679,
for notes on Dr. Wm. H. Wollaston’s paper concerning the double
refraction of Iceland crystal.
=A.D. 1760–1762.=--Bergman--Bergmann--(Torbern Olof), celebrated
Swedish astronomer, naturalist and chemist, writes several letters to
Mr. Wilson, which are read before the Royal Society, Nov. 20, 1760, and
March 18, 1762, wherein he alludes to the possibility of electrifying
plates of ice in the same manner as plates of glass. In a subsequent
letter he details experiments with silk ribbons of different colours,
almost as curious as those of which an account has already been
given (by Symmer at A.D. 1759), and from which he concludes
that there is a certain fixed order regarding positive and negative
electricity in which all bodies may be placed while other circumstances
remain unchanged.
REFERENCES.--Bergman’s “Bemerkung ... Isländischen Krystales,”
“Comment ... electrica turmalini,” “Elektrische Versuche,”
etc., and his other works referred to in the _Philosophical
Transactions_, Vol. LI. p. 907; Vol. LIII. p. 97; Vol. LIV. p.
84; Vol. LVI. p. 236; also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XI. pp.
506, 705; Vol. XII. pp. 109, 343; “Nova Acta Soc. Upsal.,” “K.
Schwedischen Akad. Abhand.,” “Aus dem Schwed. Magazine,” _Phil.
Mag._, IX. p. 193; “Eng. Cycl.,” Vol. I. pp. 664–665; Gmelin’s
“Chemistry,” Vol. I. p. 320; Thomas Thomson, “Hist. of the Royal
Society,” London, 1812, pp. 444, 475–477.
=A.D. 1761.=--The many experiments made at this period by Ebenezer
Kinnersley, of Philadelphia, relative to the two contrary electricities
of glass and sulphur, are endorsed by his close friend Benjamin
Franklin in his _Letters_ at pp. 99, 100 and 102–105. He makes
several curious observations on the elongation and fusion of fine iron
wires whenever a strong charge is passed through them while in a state
of tension, to which Dr. Watson makes special reference in a paper
read before the Royal Society. He believes that lightning does not
melt metal by a cold fusion, as Dr. Franklin and himself had formerly
supposed, and that when it passes, for instance, through the blade of
a sword, if the quantity is not very great, it may heat the point so
as to melt it, while the broadest and the thickest part may not be
sensibly warmer than before.
To ascertain the effects of electricity upon air, Kinnersley devised
an instrument which he called an _electrical air thermometer_,
and which is described at p. 626, Vol. VIII of the 1855 “Encyclopædia
Britannica.” With this he could show the sudden rarefaction which air
undergoes during the passage of the electric spark through it, heat
being produced without accompaniment of any chemical change in the
heated body.
Some other important observations made by Kinnersley, who, besides
being an intimate friend, was the original associate of Ben. Franklin,
are summed up as follows: A coated flask containing boiling water
cannot be charged, the electricity passing off with the steam; but when
the water gets cold the flask may be charged as usual. A person in a
negative state of electricity standing upon an electric, and holding up
a long sharp needle out of doors in the dark, observes light upon the
point of it. No heat is produced by electrifying a thermometer, nor by
passing shocks through large wire, but small wire is heated red-hot,
expanded and melted (_Phil. Trans._ for 1763, Vol. LIII. p. 84;
Thomson, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” p. 445).
In the New York “Electrical Review” of May 13, 1905, will be found
the following curious reference to the Boston Art Club exhibits of
President R. H. W. Dwight:
“Among these is an interesting broadside, which gives a summary of
two lectures on electricity by Ebenezer Kinnersley delivered in
Faneuil Hall in September, 1751--the first lectures probably ever
delivered on the then new subject of electricity. Kinnersley was an
Englishman, who was head master in English literature in the College
of Philadelphia, from 1753 to 1773, a student of science, who made a
number of discoveries in electricity and invented a number of quaint
electrical devices. He and Franklin were on intimate terms, and were
closely associated in their electrical experiments. Kinnersley has
been erroneously cited as an anticipator of Oersted’s discovery of the
deflection of a magnetic needle by an electric current. The former’s
experiment, however, was purely electrostatic. In the summary of these
two lectures, among other things, it states that electricity ‘is an
extremely subtile fluid; that it doth not take up any perceptible time
in passing through large portions of space; that it is mixed with the
substance of all other fluids and solids of our globe; that our bodies
at all times contain enough of it to set a house on fire.’”
The exhibits of President Dwight are:
“An artificial spider animated by the electric fire so as to act like
a live one; a shower of sand which rises again as fast as it falls; a
leaf of the most mighty of metals suspended in the air, as is said of
Mahomet’s tomb; electrified money which scarce anybody will take when
offered to them; a curious machine, acting by means of the electric
fire, and playing a variety of tunes on eight musical bells.”
This broadside of 1751 appears to antedate any other similar notice of
electrical experiments.
The “Electrical Review” of April 23, 1904, p. 621, had published copy
of an advertisement from the Massachusetts _Gazette_ of March 7,
1765, giving notice of a course of lectures by David Mason, illustrated
by “entertaining experiments on electricity similar to those cited in
the broadside under date of 1751.” The advertisement of 1765, here
referred to, appears at A.D. 1771.
REFERENCES.--Sturgeon’s “Lectures,” London, 1842, p. 169; “The
Electrical Researches of Hon. Henry Cavendish,” 1879, Nos. 125,
137, 213; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. LIII. part i. pp. 84–87; Vol.
LIV. p. 208; Vol. LXIII, 1773, part i. p. 38; also the Hutton
abridgments, Vol. XI. p. 702, and Vol. XIII. p. 370; Bertholon,
“Elec. du Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol. I. pp. 23, 33, 214, 217, 220.
=A.D. 1762.=--Sulzer (Johann Georg), a Swiss philosopher, member
of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, in his “Theory of Agreeable and
Disagreeable Sensations” (“Theorie d. angenehmen u. unangenehmen
Empfindungen,” Berlin, 1762), thus expresses himself: “When two pieces
of metal, one of lead and the other of silver, are so joined together
that their edges make one surface, a certain sensation will be produced
on applying it to the tongue, which comes near to the taste of martial
vitriol (vitriol of iron); whereas each piece by itself betrays not the
slightest trace of that taste” (F. C. Bakewell, “Manual of Electricity”
London, 1857, Chap. III. p. 28).
The passage in the edition “Nouvelle Théorie des Plaisirs,” published
in 1767, is thus given by Sabine, “Electric Telegraph,” 1872, p. 15:
“On taking two pieces of different metals--silver and zinc--and placing
one of them above and the other underneath his tongue, he found that,
so long as the metals did not make contact with each other, he felt
nothing; but that when the edges were brought together over the tip
of his tongue, the moment contact took place and during the time it
lasted, he experienced an itching sensation and a taste resembling
that of sulphate of iron....” Sulzer does not appear to have been much
surprised at the result, thinking it “not improbable that, by the
combination of the two metals, a solution of either of them may have
taken place, in consequence of which the dissolved particles penetrate
into the tongue; or we may conjecture that the combination of these
metals occasions a trembling motion in the respective particles, which,
exciting the nerves of the tongue, causes that peculiar sensation.”
And thus, remarks Pepper, a prominent fact has slept in obscurity from
the time of Sulzer to the time of Galvani.
REFERENCES.--Izarn, “Manuel,” Paris, 1804, p. 4; Sturgeon,
_Annals_, Vol. VIII. p. 363; also note at p. 491 of Ronalds’
“Catalogue”; _Mém. de l’Acad. de Berlin_, “Théorie Générale du
Plaisir”; also “Temple du Bonheur,” published at Bouillon (Pays
Bas), 1769, Tome III. p. 124, this last-named work being alluded
to in the _Journal des Débats_, 7 Vendémiaire, au X; Edm. Hoppe,
“Geschichte,” 1884, p. 128; C. H. Wilkinson, “Elements of
Galvanism,” Vol. I. p. 69, note; Albert’s “Amer. Ann. d. Artz,”
Vol. II. Bremen, 1802.
=A.D. 1762.=--Ledru Comus, French Professor of Natural Philosophy,
invents a mode of telegraphing which is described and fully
illustrated in Vol. I of Guyot’s “Nouvelles Récréations Physiques
et Mathématiques,” Paris, 1769; as well as at p. 278 of “Mémoires,
Correspondance et Ouvrages Inédits de Diderot,” Paris, 1821, in one of
the letters to Mlle. Voland dated July 28, 1762.
His apparatus consisted of two dials, each bearing upon it twenty-five
letters of the alphabet, which were moved by the agency of magnets and
of magnetized needles; but Auguste Guérout considers the contrivance
to have been merely a speculative one, as will be seen by his article,
reproduced from “La Lumière Electrique” of March 3, 1883, in No. 384 of
the “Scientific American Supplement.”
REFERENCES.--_Journal de Physique_ for 1775, Vols. V and VI;
for 1776, Vol. VII; and for 1778, Vol. I; “Scelta di Opuscoli,”
Milano, 1776.
=A.D. 1765.=--Cigna (Giovanni Francesco), native of Mondovi, Italy, and
nephew to the electrician Beccaria (A.D. 1753), became secretary to
the society of savants who gave birth to the Royal Academy of Sciences
at Turin, and whose Memoirs contain his work, “De novis quibusdam
experimentis electricis,” 1765.
At pp. 31–65 of the above Memoirs is given a full account of Cigna’s
many curious observations made with silk ribbons placed in various
positions, and in contact with different surfaces, instead of with
the silk stockings employed by Symmer (A.D. 1759). He thus supplies
the main defect of Dufay’s theory (A.D. 1733) by proving that the two
opposite electricities are produced simultaneously. On p. 47 of the
same work will be found a report of Cigna’s experiment with ice to
ascertain whether electric substances contain more electric matter than
other bodies.
REFERENCES.--Vol. III. p. 168 of Nollet’s “Letters,” for an
account of his observations upon the electric attraction and
repulsion between conducting substances immersed in oil; as well
as Chap. II. s. 3., vol. i. of Van Swinden’s “Receuil,” etc.,
published at La Haye, 1784. Should also be consulted: Cigna’s
“Memoirs on Electricity and Magnetism” in the “Miscellanea
... Taurinensia,” and the several communications made by him
to Priestley, Lagrange and others in 1775 concerning Volta’s
electrophorus; likewise “Memorie istorische ... di Gianfrancesco
Cigna de Antonmaria Vassalli Eandi,” Torino, 1821.
=A.D. 1766–1776.=--Lambert (Johann Heinrich), a profound German
mathematician, native of Upper Alsace, publishes in Vol. XXII of the
“Reports of the Berlin Academy” two beautiful Memoirs upon the “Laws of
Magnetic Force” and upon the “Curvature of the Magnetic Current,” both
of which, according to Dr. Robison, would have done credit to Newton
himself.
In the first Memoir, says Harris, the author endeavours to determine
two very important laws; one relating to the change of force as
depending upon the obliquity of its application, the other as referred
to the distance. In the second Memoir the curves of the magnetic
current are investigated by the action of the directive or polar force
of a magnet upon a small needle. Lambert concludes that the effect
of each particle of the magnet on each particle of the needle, and
reciprocally, is as the absolute force or magnetic intensity of the
particles directly, and as the squares of the distances inversely.
Noad states (“Manual,” London, 1859, p. 580) that Lambert’s deductions
were confirmed twenty years later by Coulomb, through the agency of his
delicate torsion balance, and more recently (about the year 1817) by
Prof. Hansteen, of Christiania.
Previous to the above-named date, in 1760, Lambert had published,
both at Leipzig and at Augsburg, his “Photometria, sive de Mensura et
Gradibus Luminis, Colorum et Umbræ,” the sequel to a tract printed two
years before, wherein he indicates the mode of measuring the intensity
of the light of various bodies. The celebrated mathematician and
astronomer, Pierre Bouguer (1698–1758), who had published, in 1729, his
“Essai d’Optique,” etc., which was greatly enlarged in his “Traité,”
etc., brought out by La Caille in 1760, may be considered the founder
of this branch of the science of optics, to which the name _photometry_
has been given by English writers. The photometer designed by Sir
Benjamin Thompson, _Count Rumford_ (entered at A.D. 1802), has been
described in _Phil. Trans._ for 1794, Vol. LXVII. His method is to cast
two shadows of a given object near each other on the same surface, the
lights being removed to such distances that the shadows appear equally
dark.
REFERENCES.--Sir John Leslie’s “Fifth Dissertation” in the
eighth “Encycl. Brit.”; Count Rumford’s photometer illustrated
at Plate XXVII. figs. 387, 388, vol. i. of Dr. Thomas Young’s
“Course of Lectures,” London, 1807; also Vol. II. pp. 282 and
351 of the same work, concerning photometry generally; Dredge
and others, “Electric Illumination,” etc. (chiefly compiled from
London _Engineering_), Vol. II. pp. 101–117; Brewster’s “Edin.
Jour. of Sc.,” 1826, Vol. II. p. 321; Vol. III. p. 104; Vol.
V. p. 139, for William Ritchie’s articles on the photometer of
Mr. Leslie, and relative to an improved instrument upon the
principles of Bouguer (_Edin. Transactions_, Vol. X. part. ii.);
Lambert’s biography and the article “Magnetism” in the “Encycl.
Brit.”; Harris, “Rudim. Magn.,” Part III. pp. 20, 33, 191–203.
It may be added that all the valuable manuscripts left by Lambert were
purchased by the Berlin Academy, and were afterward published by John
Bernoulli, a grandson of the celebrated John Bernoulli alluded to at
A.D. 1700.
=A.D. 1766.=--Lullin (Amadeus), in his “Dissertatio physica
de electricitate,” Geneva, 1766, at p. 26, alludes to Beccaria’s
experiments, saying that he produced much greater effects with the
electric spark by passing the latter through oil instead of water:
oil being a much worse conductor, the spark in it is larger. At p.
38 of the same work he details the experiments made to prove the
correctness of Mollet’s doctrine regarding the constant motion of
electrical atmospheres, and at p. 42 are given his experiments to show
the production of electricity in the clouds. With a long insulated pole
projecting from the mountain side he observed, among other effects,
that when small clouds of vapour produced by the sun’s heat touched
only the end of the pole the latter was electrified, but that it was
not affected if the entire pole was covered by the vapour (“Lib. Useful
Knowledge,” “Electricity,” Chap. XI. Nos. 154, etc.).
Lullin, it is said, proposed a modification of Reusser’s plan of
telegraphing, in manner stated at p. 69 of Reid’s 1887 “Telegraph in
America.”
=A.D. 1766.=--L’Abbé Poncelet, a native of Verdun, France, publishes
at Paris “La Nature dans la formation du Tonnerre,” etc., wherein he
indicates a method of protecting from lightning residences, pavilions
and other structures, by constructing them of resinous woods and lining
them with either silk or waxed cloths. He quaintly remarks that as
they thus present “on all sides resinous surfaces, which never receive
phlogiston by communication, the latter (thunder and lightning), after
having leaped lightly around the pavilion and finding itself unable
to attack it, will probably depart in order to pursue its ravages
elsewhere.”
REFERENCES.--_Scientific American Supplement_, No. 66, p. 1053,
for a copy of the frontispiece of the above-named work; also
Figuier, “Exposition et Histoire,” etc., 1857, Vol. IV. pp. 234,
235.
=A.D. 1767.=--Bozolus (Joseph), an Italian Jesuit, Professor of
Natural Philosophy at Rome, is the first (and not Cavallo, A.D. 1775)
to suggest employing the active principle of the Leyden jar for the
transmission of intelligence.
His plan is to place underground two wires which are to be brought
at each station close enough to admit of the passage of a spark. One
of the wires is to be connected with the inner coating and the other
with the outer surface of a Leyden phial; the sparks observed at the
opening between the wires being there made to express any meaning
according to a preconcerted code of signals.
REFERENCES.--Latin poem entitled “Mariani Parthenii
Electricorum,” in six books, Roma, 1767, lib. i. p. 34
(describing the _telegrafo elettrico scintillante_); also
_Saturday Review_, August 21, 1858, p. 190, and _Cornhill
Magazine_ for 1860, Vol. II. p. 66.
=A.D. 1767.=--Priestley (Joseph), the earliest historian of electrical
science, publishes, by advice of Benjamin Franklin, the first edition
of his great work, “The History and Present State of Electricity,” of
which there were four other separate enlarged issues, in 1769, 1775,
1775 and 1794. During the year 1766 he had been given the degree of
Doctor of Laws by the Edinburgh University and he had also, at the
instance of Franklin, Watson and others, been made a member of the
English Royal Society, which, a few years later, bestowed upon him the
Copley medal.
Speaking of the above-named work, Dr. Lardner says (“Lectures, 1859,
Vol. I. p. 136): “This philosopher did not contribute materially to the
advancement of the science by the development of any new facts; but
in his ‘History of Electricity’ he collected and arranged much useful
information respecting the progress of the science.” Nevertheless,
to him is due the first employment of the conductor supported by an
insulating pillar, as described by Noad, who gives an account of
Priestley’s electrical machine at Chap. IV of his “Manual”; and he is
also the first to investigate upon an extensive scale the chemical
effects of ordinary electricity. The observations of M. Warltire, a
lecturer on natural philosophy, and Priestley’s own experiments in
this line, made by passing the electric spark through water tinged
blue by litmus, also through olive oil, turpentine, etc., as well as
his researches more particularly upon the gases and upon the influence
of the electric fluid in expanding solid bodies, are detailed at the
“Electricity” chapter of the “Encycl. Brit.”
At pp. 660–665 of the fourth edition of his “History,” Priestley
describes the experiments he made to illustrate what he called the
_lateral force of electrical explosions_; that is, the tendency of
the fluid to diverge, as is the case with lightning when any material
obstruction lies in its path.
Perhaps the most important of all Dr. Priestley’s electrical
discoveries (Thomson, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” p. 445) was that charcoal is
a conductor of electricity, and so good a conductor that it vies even
with the metals themselves. When the conducting power of charcoal was
tried by succeeding electricians, it was found to vary in the most
unaccountable manner, sometimes scarcely conducting at all, sometimes
imperfectly and sometimes remarkably well; a diversity naturally
indicating some difference in the nature of the different specimens
of English charcoal (Priestley’s “History,” etc., Part VIII. s. 3).
Charcoal being examined by Mr. Kinnersley (at A.D. 1761), was
also by him observed to vary in its conducting power. Oak, beech and
maple charcoal he found to conduct satisfactorily; the charcoal from
the pine would not conduct at all, while a line drawn upon paper by a
heavy black lead pencil conducted pretty well (_Phil. Trans._,
1773, Vol. LXIII. p. 38).
REFERENCES.--Priestley’s letter to Dr. Franklin (_Phil. Trans._,
Vol. LXII. p. 360) concerning William Henley’s new electrometer
and experiments; likewise the _Phil. Trans._, Vol. LVIII. p. 68;
Vol. LIX. pp. 57, 63; Vol. LX. p. 192; Vol. LXII. p. 359; and
the abridgments by Hutton, Vol. XII. pp. 510, 600, 603; Vol.
XIII. p. 36; “Trans. of the Amer. Phil. Soc.,” O. S., Vol. VI.
part i. p. 190, containing proceedings of the Society on the
death of Joseph Priestley; Wilkinson’s “Elements of Galvanism,”
etc., London, 1804, Vol. II. pp. 74–80; Noad’s Lectures, No. 4,
Knight’s edition, pp. 182, 183; “Library of Useful Knowledge,”
London, 1829, Chap. “Electricity,” pp. 41 and 45; “Library of
Literary Criticism,” C. W. Moulton, Buffalo, 1901–1902, Vol. IV.
pp. 444–456; “Essays, Reviews and Addresses” by James Martineau,
London, 1890, Vol. I. pp. 1–42; “Mém. de l’Institut” (Histoire),
Tome VI. 1806, p. 29 for Elogium; “Essays in Historical
Chemistry,” T. E. Thorpe, London, 1894, pp. 28, 110; “Science
and Education,” by Thos. Henry Huxley, New York, 1894, pp. 1–37;
“Scientific Correspondence of Jos. Priestley,” by H. C. Bolton,
New York, 1902; Dr. Thos. H. Huxley, “Science Culture,” 1882, p.
102; Warltire, in Muirhead’s translation of Arago’s “Eloge de
James Watt,” pp. 99, 100; also the appendix to the last-named
work, p. 157 and note.
=A.D. 1767.=--Lane (Thomas--Timothy), a medical practitioner of
London, introduces his _discharging electrometer_, which is now to
be found described and illustrated in nearly all works on electricity.
It consists of a bent glass arm, one end of which is attached to a
socket in the wire of the Leyden jar, while the other end holds a
horizontal sliding brass rod, or spring tube, which bears a ball at
each extremity. The rod is usually divided into inches and tenths,
indicating the force of the discharge which takes place when the
knob of the jar is placed in contact with the prime conductor of an
electrical machine, and the charge is strong enough to leap from one to
the other. In Mr. Lane’s experiments the shocks were twice as frequent
when the interval between the balls was one twenty-fourth of an inch
as when twice as much: from which he concluded that the quantity of
electricity required for a discharge is in exact proportion to the
distance between the surfaces of the balls.
A combination of the Lane and other electrometers was made by Mr.
Cuthbertson, as shown at p. 528, Vol. II of _Nicholson’s Journal of
Natural Philosophy_, and at p. 451, Vol. LVII of the _Philosophical
Transactions_.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._ for 1805; Hutton’s abridgments, Vol.
XII; p. 475; Cavallo, “Elements ... Phil.” 1825, Vol. II. p 197;
Harris, “Electricity,” p. 103; _Monthly Magazine_, December
1805, and _Tilloch’s Philosophical Magazine_, Vol. XXIII. p. 253.
The Hutton abridgments contain, at p. 308, Vol. XV, the description of
a new electrometer by Abraham Brook.
=A.D. 1768.=--Ramsden (Jesse), a very capable English manufacturer of
mechanical instruments, member of the Royal Society and of the Imperial
Academy of St. Petersburg, is said to be the first to construct an
electrical machine wherein a plate of glass is substituted for the
glass globe of Newton and of Hauksbee and for the glass cylinder of
Gordon (at A.D. 1675, 1705 and 1742). The same claim which has been
made for Martin de Planta, Swiss natural philosopher, appears to have
no foundation. (See note at p. 401 of Ronalds’ “Catalogue.”)
REFERENCES.--_Journal des Sçavans_, November 1788, p. 744;
_Phil. Trans._, 1783; “Chambers’ Encyclopædia,” 1868, Vol. III.
p. 812; Mme. Le Breton, “Hist. et app. de l’Electricité,” Paris,
1884, pp. 61, 62.
=A.D. 1768.=--Molenier (Jacob), physician to the French King, Louis
XV, writes “Essai sur le Mécanisme de l’Electricité” for the purpose
of showing the utility of the application of the electric fluid in
medical practice. At p. 60 he explains the effects and results when
applications are made more particularly to the nerves, and at pp. 65–67
he gives certificates of many of the cures he has effected of gout,
rheumatism, tumours, cancers, loss of blood, as well as of pains and
aches of various descriptions.
REFERENCES.--Jallabert (A.D. 1749); Lovett (A.D. 1756);
Bertholon (A.D. 1780–1781); Mauduyt (A.D. 1781); Van Swinden,
“Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vol. II. pp. 122–129 for the
experiments of Sauvages, De La Croix, Joseph Elder von Herbert,
H. Boissier and others; Thomas Fowler, “Med. Soc. of London,”
Vol. III; M. Tentzel, “Collection Académique,” Tome XI; the
works of L’Abbé Sans, Paris, 1772–1778; M. de Cazèles Masar’s
“Mémoires et Recueils,” published 1780–1788, and reproduced in
Vols. II and III of the “Mémoires de Toulouse”; Jacques H. D.
Petetin, “Actes de la Soc. de Lyon,” p. 230; M. Partington,
_Jour. de Phys._, 1781, Vol. I; Dr. Andrew Duncan’s “Medical
Cases,” Edinburgh, 1784, pp. 135, 191, 235, 320; C. A. Gerhard,
“Mém. de Berlin,” 1772, p. 141; _Jour. de Phys._, 1783, Vol.
II; J. B. Bohadsch, “Dissertatio,” etc., Prague, 1751; _Phil.
Trans._ for 1752; Patrick Brydone, _Phil. Trans._ for 1757;
Geo Wilkinson, of Sunderland, “An account of good effects,”
etc., in _Medical Facts_, etc., 1792, Vol. III. p. 52; M.
Carmoy, “Observ. sur l’El. Med.,” Dijon, 1784; M. Cosnier, M.
Maloet, Jean Darcet, etc.; “Rapport,” etc., 1783; Le Comus,
“Dissertatio,” etc., 1761; Le Comus, “Osservazioni,” etc., 1776
(_Jour. de Phys._, 1775, Vols. V and VI; 1776, Vol. VII; 1778,
Vol. I; 1781, Vol. II); Ledru, “Sur le traitement,” etc., 1783;
Le Dr. Boudet, “De l’Elec. en Médecine,” conférence faite à
Vienne le 6 Octobre, 1883.
=A.D. 1769.=--Bancroft (Edward Nathaniel), a resident physician of
Guiana, openly expresses the belief that the shock of the _torpedo_
is of an electrical nature. He alludes (“Natural History of Guiana”)
also to the _gymnotus electricus_, which, he says, gives much stronger
strokes than the _torpedo_; the shocks received from the larger animals
being almost invariably fatal.
The discharge of the _gymnotus_ has been estimated to be equal to that
of a battery of Leyden jars of three thousand five hundred square
inches, fully charged. At a later date, the American physicians, Garden
and Williamson, showed that as the fluid discharged by that fish
affects the same parts that are affected by the electric fluid; as it
excites sensations perfectly similar; as it kills and stuns animals in
the same manner; as it is conveyed by the same bodies that carry the
electric fluid and refuses to be conveyed by others that refuse to take
the fluid, it must be the electric fluid itself, and the shock given by
the eel must be the electric shock.
Humboldt, speaking of the results obtained by M. Samuel Fahlberg,
of Sweden, says: “This philosopher has seen an electric spark, as
Walsh and Ingen-housz had done before him at London, by placing the
_gymnotus_ in the air and interrupting the conducting chain by
two gold leaves pasted upon glass and a line distant from each other”
(_Edinburgh Journal_, Vol. II. p. 249). Faraday, who gives this
extract at paragraph 358 of his “Experimental Researches” says he could
not, however, find any record of such an observation by either Walsh or
Ingen-housz and does not know where to refer to that by Fahlberg. (See
the note accompanying afore-named extract.)
REFERENCES.--_Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, Vol. XI; _Phil.
Trans._ for 1775, pp. 94, 102 (letter of Alexander Garden,
M.D.), 105, 395; “Acad. Berlin,” 1770, 1786; fifteenth series
Faraday’s “Exper. Researches,” read December 6, 1838; Wheldon’s
“Catalogue,” No. 74, 1870; Sir David Brewster’s “Edin. Jour.
of Science,” 1826, Vol. I. p. 96, for the observations of
Dr. Robert Knox; G. W. Schilling: at Ingen-housz, “Nouvelles
Expériences,” p. 340, as well as at note, p. 439, Vol. I. of Van
Swinden’s “Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784; also G. Schilling’s
“Diatribe de morbo in Europâ penè ignoto,” 1770; article
“Physiology” in the “Encycl. Brit.,” 1859, Vol. XVII. p. 671;
Aristotle (B.C. 341), Scribonius (A.D. 50), Richer (A.D. 1671),
Redi (A.D. 1678), Kaempfer (A.D. 1702), Adanson (A.D. 1751);
_Sc. Am. Suppl._, No. 24, p. 375 (for M. Rouget’s observations
on the _gymnotus_) and No. 457, p. 7300; M. Bajon, “Descrizione
di un pesce,” etc., Milano, 1775 (_Phil. Trans._, 1773, p. 481);
M. Vanderlot’s work on the Surinam eel, alluded to at p. 88 of
“Voyage Zoologique,” by Humboldt, who published in Paris, during
1806 and also during 1819 special works on the _gymnotus_ and
upon electrical fishes generally.
=A.D. 1769.=--Cuthbertson (John), English philosophical instrument
maker, issues the first edition of his interesting work on electricity
and galvanism.
He is the inventor of the _balance electrometer_, employed for
regulating the amount of a charge to be sent through any substance, as
well as of an electrical condenser and of an apparatus for oxidating
metals, all of which are respectively described at pp. 593, 614 and
620, Vol. VIII. of the 1855 “Encycl. Brit.”
At the end of Part VI of his “Practical Electricity and Galvanism,”
Cuthbertson gives the conclusions he reached from his numerous
experiments with wire. These, as well as Mr. George Adams’ own
observations (“Essay,” etc., 1799, p. 285), proved that the quantity of
electricity necessary to disperse a given portion of wire will be the
same, even though the charged surface be greatly varied; and that equal
quantities of electricity in the form of a charge will cause equal
lengths of the same steel wire to explode, whether the jar made use of
be of greater or less capacity (_Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. II. p.
217).
During his many experiments Cuthbertson made the very extraordinary
discovery that a battery of fifteen jars and containing 17 square feet
of coated glass, which, on a very dry day in March 1796 could only
be made to ignite from 18 to 20 inches of iron wire of ¹⁄₁₅₀ part of
an inch in diameter, took a charge which ignited 60 inches when he
breathed into each jar through a glass tube (Noad, “Manual,” p. 122;
also Cuthbertson, “Prac. Elec. and Magnetism,” 1807, pp. 187, 188).
REFERENCES.--Cuthbertson’s communication to the “Emporium of
Arts,” Vol. II. p. 193, regarding his experiments on John
Wingfield’s “New Method of Increasing the Charging Capacity
of Coated Electric Jars”; Cuthbertson’s “Electricity,” Parts
VIII, IX and XI; Cuthbertson’s letter addressed to _Nicholson’s
Journal_, Vol. II. p. 526, also _Phil. Mag._, Vol. II. p. 251.
for electrometers; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XXXIX. 1808, p. 97;
Vol. XLVII. 1811, p. 233; Cuthbertson’s several works published
at Amsterdam and Leipzig, 1769–1797, and alluded to in _Phil.
Mag._, more particularly at Vols. XVIII. p. 358; XIX. p. 83;
XXIV. p. 170; XXXVI. p. 259, as well as at p. 313, Vol. XII.
of J. B. Van Mons’ _Journal de Chimie_; _Nicholson’s Journal_,
Vols. II. p. 525; VIII. pp. 97, 205, and the New Series, Vol.
II. p. 281; Gilbert’s _Annalen_, Vol. III. p. 1; “Bibl. Brit.
Sc. et Arts,” Genève, 1808, Vol. XXXIX. p. 118; Noad’s “Manual,”
p. 118; Van Marum (A.D. 1785); Harris, “Electricity,” p. 103,
and his “Frictional Electricity,” p. 76; C. H. Wilkinson,
“Elements of Galvanism,” etc., London, 1804, Vol. II. pp. 242,
266–268; _Phil. Trans._, 1782, for A. Brook’s electrometer,
which apparatus is described in the latter’s work published,
under the head of “Miscellaneous Experiments,” at Norwich,
1789, as well as in the “Electricity” article of the “Encycl.
Britannica.”
=A.D. 1769.=--St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, is first provided with
lightning conductors. Dr. Tyndall, who mentions this fact (Notes
of Lecture VI, March 11, 1875) likewise states that Wilson, who
entertained a preference for blunt conductors as against the views of
Franklin, Cavendish and Watson, so influenced King George III that the
pointed conductors on Buckingham House were, during the year 1777,
changed for others ending in round balls.
In 1772, St. Paul’s Cathedral was struck by lightning, which “heated to
redness a portion of one of its conductors consisting of a bar of iron
nearly four inches broad and about half an inch thick.” In 1764, the
lightning had struck St. Bride’s Church, London, and “bent and broke
asunder an iron bar two and a half inches broad and half an inch thick”
(Sturgeon, “Sc. Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 360; _Phil. Trans._ for
1764 and 1762).
The Rev. James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, published in London a
detailed account of the partial destruction of St. Paul’s Church by
lightning, June 4, 1561, which is also to be found at pp. 53–55 of
Strype’s “Life of Grindall,” published in London, 1710, and of which an
abstract appears under the A.D. 1754 date.
REFERENCES.--Sturgeon’s _Annals_, Vol. X. pp. 127–131; also,
Biography of John Canton in “Encycl. Britannica”; Sir John
Pringle, at A.D. 1777; Hutton’s abridgments of the _Phil.
Trans._, Vol. XII. pp. 620–624.
=A.D. 1769.=--Mallet (Frederick) member of the Royal Society of Upsal
and of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences, acting upon the observations
of Anders Celsius (at A.D. 1740), is the first to make an attempt to
determine the intensity of magnetism simultaneously at distant points.
He ascertains that the number of oscillations in equal times at Ponoi,
China (latitude, 67 degrees 4 minutes north; longitude, 41 degrees
east) are the same as at St. Petersburg, Russia (59 degrees 56 minutes
north latitude; 30 degrees 19 minutes east longitude).
REFERENCES.--Walker, “Magnetism,” Chap. VI; “Novi Commen. Acad.
Sc. Petropol.,” Vol. XIV for 1769, part ii. p. 33; Le Monnier,
“Lois du Magnétisme,” etc., 1776, p. 50; “Biog. Univ.,” Vol.
XXVI. p. 258.
=A.D. 1770.=--The well-known work of Jas. Ferguson, F.R.S., which first
appeared under the title of “Introduction or Lectures on Electricity,”
now becomes still more popular under the head of “Lectures on Select
Subjects,” etc. (Consult likewise his “Lectures on Electricity,”
corrected by C. F. Partington, with appendix, London, 1825.)
In his first lecture he says that the most remarkable properties of the
loadstone are: (1) it attracts iron and steel only; (2) it constantly
turns one of its sides to the north and the other to the south, when
suspended to a thread that does not twist; (3) it communicates all its
properties to a piece of steel when rubbed upon it without losing any
itself. He cites the experiments of Dr. Helsham, according to whom,
says he, the attraction of the loadstone decreases as the square of the
distance increases. He also treats of electrical attraction generally,
and reports in the sixth lecture having “heard that lightning,
striking upon the mariner’s compass, will sometimes turn it round and
often make it stand the contrary way, or with the north pole towards
the south.”
=A.D. 1770.=--Hell--Hehl--Heyl--Höll (Maximilian), Hungarian scientist
(1720–1792), member of the Order of Jesuits and Professor of Astronomy
at Vienna, who had great faith in the influence of the loadstone,
invented a singular arrangement of steel plates to which he afterward
attributed the cure “with extraordinary success” of many diseases, as
well as of a severe attack of rheumatism from which he himself had long
suffered.
He communicated his discovery to Friedrich Anton Mesmer, who was so
strongly impressed by Hell’s observations that he immediately procured
every conceivable description of magnet, with which he made many
experiments that led to his introduction of animal magnetism, or rather
_mesmerism_.
He is the author of many works, the most important being “Elementa
Algebræ Joannis Crivelii magis illustrata et novis demonstrationibus et
problematibus aucta,” Vienna, 1745; “Observ. Astronomicæ,” 1768, and
“Auroræ Boreales Theoria nova,” 1776.
REFERENCES.--Beckmann, Bohn, 1846, Vol. I. p. 44; _Practical
Mechanic_, Glasgow, 1843, Vol. II. p. 71; Van Swinden,
“Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vol. II. pp. 303, 304, etc.;
J. Lamont, “Handbuch,” etc., p. 436; M. V. Burq, “Métallo
thérapie,” Paris, 1853; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXIII. pp.
836–839; Schlichtegroll, “Nekrol.,” 1792, Vol. I. pp. 282–303;
“Journal des Sçavans,” for July 1771, p. 499; Meusel, “Gelehrtes
Teutschl”; Jer. de la Lande, “Bibliogr. Astronomique,” Paris,
1803, pp. 721–722.
=A.D. 1771.=--Morveau (Baron Louis, Bernard Guyton de), a
very prominent French chemist and scientist, publishes at Dijon
his “Reflexions sur la boussole à double aiguille,” and, later on,
communicates to the _Annales de Chimie_, Vol. LXI. p. 70, and
Vol. LXIII. p. 113, very valuable papers treating on the influence of
galvanic electricity upon minerals, which are read before the French
Institute.
REFERENCES.--Thomson, “Hist. of Chemistry,” Vol. II. 1831;
the translation of Morveau’s letter to Guénaud de Montbéliard
in _Scelta d’ Opuscoli_, Vol. XXXIII. p. 60; Berthollet,
“Discours,” etc., 1816; “Biog. Univ.,” Tome XVIII. pp. 296–298;
“Journal des Savants” for Jan. 1860; “Roy. Soc. Cat. of Sc.
Papers,” Vol. III. pp. 99–102; Vol. VI. pp. 679–680; “Biog.
Univ. et Portative,” etc., 1834, Vol. III. p. 701; _Annales
de Chimie_, Vol. LXI. pp. 70–82; Sir Humphry Davy, “Bakerian
Lectures,” London, 1840, p. 51.
=A.D. 1771.=--In a very interesting article published by the _Gazette_
at Salem (Mass.), August 9, 1889, on the occasion of the formal
opening of the new station of the Electric Lighting Company, the
connection of that city with the progress of electricity was traced in
the following manner:
“In 1771 Col. David Mason, a prominent figure among the patriots
at Leslie’s Retreat, gave a course of lectures on ‘Electricity’ at
his house near North Bridge. The Rev. John Prince, LL.D., minister
of the First Church from 1779 to 1836, was especially interested in
electricity, and is said to have made the first electrical machine
in Salem, if not in the country. Col. Francis Peabody, assisted by
Jonathan Webb, the apothecary, was much interested in the subject, and,
in 1829, gave a series of lectures, illustrated with a machine made
by himself, which had a glass plate wheel imported from Germany at a
reported cost of $1500.
“Dr. Charles Grafton Page, another native of Salem, invented the first
electric motor in which solenoids were used, and as early as 1850
constructed a motor which developed over 10 h.p. The next year he made
a trial trip with his electro-magnetic locomotive over the Baltimore
and Washington Railroad. Prof. Moses Gerrish Farmer lived in Pearl
Street between the years 1850 and 1870, and, as far back as 1859,
illuminated the house with divided electric lights--_probably the
first time that any house in the world was lighted by electricity_.
In 1847 Prof. Farmer had constructed and exhibited in public an
electro-magnetic locomotive drawing a car holding two passengers, on a
track one foot and a half wide.
“Many of Prof. Alexander Graham Bell’s early experiments were conducted
in Salem, and the first lecture on the telephone in this country, if
not in the world, was delivered by him before the Essex Institute
in Lyceum Hall, February 12, 1877. The late Prof. Osbun, teacher of
chemistry and physics at the Normal School in Salem, was also an
electrical expert. He exhibited the first arc lights in Salem, and
was the inventor of the storage battery system from which lights were
exhibited.”
The advertisement of March 7, 1765, previously alluded to herein at
Kinnersley, A.D. 1761, is as follows:
“A COURSE OF EXPERIMENTS ON THE
newly discovered _Electrical Fire_, to be accompanied with methodical
LECTURES on the Nature and Properties of that wonderful Element
will be exhibited by DAVID MASON, at his House opposite Mr. _Thomas
Jackson_; Distiller, near Sudbury-Street.--To consist of two Lectures,
at one Pistareen each Lecture.--The first Lectures to be on Monday and
Thursday, and the Second on Tuesday and Friday Evenings every week,
Weather permitting.
“OF ELECTRICITY IN GENERAL
“That the Electric Fire is a real Element,--That our Bodies at all
Times contain enough of it to set an House on Fire,--That this Fire
will live in Water,--A Representation of the seven Planets, shewing a
probable Cause of their keeping their due Distances from each other,
and the Sun in the Centre,--The Salute repulsed by the Ladies’ Fire,
or Fire darting from a Lady’s Lips, so that she may defy any Person to
salute her,--A Battery of Eleven Guns discharged by the Electric Spark,
after it has passed through eight Feet of Water,--Several Experiments
shewing that the Electric Fire and Lightning are the same, and that
Points will draw off the Fire so as to prevent the Stroke,--With a
number of other entertaining Experiments, too many to be inserted in an
Advertisement.
“TICKETS to be had either at his House above or at his Shop in
Queen-Street.”
Another advertisement, which appeared in the Salem _Gazette_ of
Tuesday, January 1, 1771, is thus worded: “To-morrow evening (if
the Air be dry) will be exhibited A Course of Experiments in that
instructive and entertaining branch of Natural Philosophy called
Electricity; to be accompanied with Methodical Lectures on the nature
and properties of the wonderful element; by David Mason, at his
dwelling-house near the North-Bridge. The course to consist of two
lectures, at a pistareen each lecture.”
=A.D. 1771.=--Milly (Nicolas Christiern de Thy, Comte de) French
chemist, constructs compass needles of an alloy of gold and ferruginous
sand. These needles answered well their purpose, as did also the brass
needle owned by Christian Huyghens (alluded to at A.D. 1706), a fact
which received the confirmation of Messrs. Du Lacque, Le Chevalier
d’Angos and M. Arderon, while the latter further ascertained that he
could impart a feeble though distinct magnetic force to a brass bar
either by striking it or by means of the “double touch.”
REFERENCES.--The Comte de Milly’s “Mémoire sur la réduction des
chaux métalliques par le feu electrique,” read before the Paris
Academy May 20, 1774, brought about many controversial articles,
notably from Sigaud de la Fond, Felice Fontana, Jean M. Cadet,
Jean Darcet, G. F. Rouelle and Le Dru le Comus; “Biog. Univ.,”
Vol. XXVIII. p. 312; _Journal de Physique_, Tome XIII. p. 393;
_Philosophical Transactions_, Vol. L. p. 774; Duhamel, “Hist.
Acad. Reg. Paris,” p. 184; _Journal des Sçavans_, Paris edition
of December 1772, and Amsterdam edition of January 1773.
=A.D. 1772.=--Mesmer (Friedrich Anton), an Austrian physician, who,
upon taking his diploma at Vienna in 1766, had published a thesis
“On the Influence of the Planets upon the Human Body,” begins his
investigations as to the power of the magnet with the steel plates of
Father Hell. The results proved so favourable that Hell was induced
to publish an account of them, but he incurred the displeasure of his
friend by attributing the cures merely to the _form_ of the plates.
Mesmer subsequently arrived at the conclusion that the magnet was
incapable, by itself, of so acting upon the nerves as to produce the
results obtained and that another principle was necessarily involved;
he did not, however, give an explanation of it, and managed to keep his
process a secret for quite a while. He had observed that nearly all
substances can be magnetized by the touch, and in due time he announced
his abandonment of the use of the magnet and of electricity in his
production of what became known as _mesmerism_.
In 1779 he published his “Mémoire sur la découverte du magnétisme
animal,” in which he says: “I had maintained that the heavenly
spheres possessed a direct power on all of the constituent principles
of animated bodies, particularly on the _nervous system_, by
the agency of an all-penetrating fluid. I determined this action
by the intension and the remission of the properties of matter and
organized bodies, such as gravity, cohesion, elasticity, irritability
and electricity. I supported this doctrine by various examples of
periodical revolutions; and I named that property of the animal matter
which renders it susceptible to the action of celestial and earthly
bodies, _animal magnetism_. A further consideration of the subject
led me to the conviction that there does exist in nature a universal
principle, which, independently of ourselves, performs all that we
vaguely attribute to nature or to art.”
The whole theory and practice of mesmerism was, however, openly
rejected by one of Mesmer’s most capable pupils, Claude Louis
Berthollet (A.D. 1803), a very distinguished French chemical
philosopher, founder of the “Société Chimique d’Arcueil,” and who, in
conjunction with Lavoisier (A.D. 1781), Guyton de Morveau (A.D. 1771),
and Fourcroy (A.D. 1801), planned the new philosophical nomenclature
which has since proved of such service to chemical science (“La Grande
Encycl.,” Tome VI. p. 449; “Biog. Universelle,” Tome IV. pp. 141–149).
Mesmer gave all his manuscripts to Dr. Wolfart, of Berlin, who
published in 1814, “Mesmerism ... as the general curative of mankind.”
And it was one of Mesmer’s students, le Marquis de Puységur, who
discovered magnetic somnambulism, an entirely new phenomenon in animal
magnetism. (See the article “Somnambulism” in the “Encyl. Britannica,”
as well as the numerous works therein quoted, relating to the
above-named subjects, notably Mesmer’s own “Précis historique des faits
relatifs au magnétisme animal, jusques en Avril 1781.”)
REFERENCES.--“Bulletin de l’Acad. de Méd.,” Paris, 1837, Tome I.
p. 343, etc., and Tome II. p. 370; Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,”
Vol. I. p. 172, etc.; “L’Académie des Sciences,” par Ernest
Maindron, Paris, 1888, pp. 57–63; Richard Harte, “Hypnotism and
the Doctors,” Vols. I and II, New York, 1903 (from Mesmer to
De Puységur, Dupotet, Deleuze, Charcot, etc.); Robert Blakey,
“History of the Philosophy of Mind,” London, 1850, Vol. IV.
pp. 570–582, 639–645; the report of Dr. Franklin and other
Commissioners ... against mesmerism, translated by Dr. William
Bache, London, 1785; J. C. Schäffer, “Abhandlung,” etc., and
“Kräfte,” etc. (1776), “Fernere,” etc. (1777), also “Journal
Encyclopédique” for March 1777; Van Swinden, “Recueil,” etc., La
Haye, 1784, Vol. II. pp. 373–446; C. H. Wilkinson, “Elements of
Galvanism,” etc., Chapter XVIII; Champignon, “Etudes Physiques,”
etc., Paris, 1843; “Archives du Magn. Animal,” published by M.
Le Baron d’Hénin de Cuvillers, Paris, 1820–1823; “Report on
Animal Magnetism” made by Charles Poyen Saint Sauveur, 1836;
Dupotet’s “Manuel,” etc., Paris, 1868; Hale’s “Franklin in
France,” 1888, Part II. chap. v. alluding to an interesting
manuscript of T. Auguste Thouret now in the collection of the
American Philosophical Society.
=A.D. 1772.=--Henley (William T.), F.R.S., invents the _quadrant
electrometer_, an apparatus with which the quantity of electricity
accumulated in a jar or battery can be measured through the amount
of repulsion produced by the fluid upon a pith ball suspended from
the centre of a graduated arc. It is generally attached to the prime
conductor to measure the state of action of the electrical machine.
He is also the inventor of the _universal discharger_, for
directing the charge of jars or batteries (Edw. Whitaker
Gray--1748–1807--“Observations on manner glass is charged and
discharged by the electric fluid” in Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XVI. p.
407).
In the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1774, Henley and Nairne give an
account of many curious experiments proving the superiority of points
over balls as conductors. The same is shown by William Swift in the
_Phil. Trans._, Vol. LXVIII. p. 155. (For Wm. Swift consult, besides,
the _Phil. Trans._, Vol. LXIX. p. 454, and Hutton’s abridgments,
Vol. XIV. pp. 314, 571.) Henley also states that the vapour of water
is a conductor of electricity; that when the flame of a candle is
introduced into the circuit and a Leyden jar is discharged through it,
the flame always inclines toward the negative side; and he proves that
electricity cannot effect a passage through glass (_Phil. Trans._,
Vol. LXVIII. p. 1049). He likewise makes a number of experiments
to determine the relative conducting power of the different metals
according to the quantity of a wire, each of a given size, melted by
equal electrical shocks passed through them, and finds the metals to
hold the order following as conductors: gold, brass, copper silvered,
silver, iron. It was also shown by Nairne that copper conducts better
than iron, in the _Phil. Trans._ for 1780, Vol. LXX. p. 334.
REFERENCES.--Harris, “Rud. Electricity,” 1853, p. 93, and
his “Frictional Electricity,” 1867, p. 23; “The Electrical
Researches of the Hon. Hy. Cavendish,” Cambridge, 1879, Nos.
559, 568, 569, 580; Thos. Young, “Nat. Phil.” _passim_; _Phil.
Trans._, Vol. LXIV. pp. 133, 389; Vol. LXVI. p. 513; Vol. LXVII.
pp. 1, 85; also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. pp. 323 (new
electrometer), 512, 551, 659; Vol. XIV. pp. 90, 97, 130, 473;
_Transactions of the Humane Society_, Vol. I. p. 63; Ronayne and
Henley, “Account of Some Observations ...” London, 1772 (_Phil.
Trans._, p. 137).
=A.D. 1772.=--Cavendish (Henry), F.R.S., eldest son of Lord Charles
Cavendish, and a prominent English scientist, sometime called
“The Newton of Chemistry” (“the most severe and cautious of all
philosophers”--Farrar, 284), commences investigating the phenomena
of electricity, the results of which study were duly communicated to
the _Philosophical Transactions_. His papers embrace twenty-seven
mathematical propositions upon the action of the electric fluid, and
contain the first distinct statement of the difference between common
and animal electricity.
Cavendish made many very important experiments upon the relative
conducting power of different substances. He found that a solution of
one part of salt in one part of water conducts a hundred times better,
and that a saturated solution of sea-salt conducts seven hundred and
twenty times better than fresh water, also that electricity experiences
as much resistance in passing through a column of water one inch long
as it does in passing through an iron wire of the same diameter four
hundred million inches long, whence he concludes that rain or distilled
water conducts four hundred million times less than iron wire.
He decomposed atmospheric air by means of the electric spark, and he
successfully demonstrated the formation of nitric acid by exploding a
combination of seven measures of oxygen with three of nitrogen. The
latter he did on the 6th of December, 1787, with the assistance of Mr.
George Gilpin, in presence of the English Royal Society. (For George
Gilpin, consult “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XXXVI, 1807, p. 3; _Phil.
Trans._ for 1806.)
He improved upon Priestley’s experiments after studying thoroughly the
power of electricity as a chemical agent. In one of his experiments
he fired as many as five hundred thousand measures of hydrogen with
about two and a half times that quantity of atmospheric air, and having
by this means obtained 135 grains of pure water, he was led to the
conclusion which Mr. Watt had previously maintained, that water is
composed of two gases, viz. oxygen and hydrogen.
He explains why no spark is given by the electrical fishes: the latter
may contain sufficient electricity to give a shock without being able
to make it traverse the space of air necessary for the production of a
spark, as the distance through which the spark flies is inversely (or
rather in a greater proportion) as the square root of the number of
jars in operation.
For an account of his experiments anticipating Faraday’s discovery
of the specific inductive capacity of various substances, see Chap.
XI. pp. 69–142 of Gordon’s “Physical Treatise,” etc., London, 1883.
See, likewise, J. Clerk Maxwell’s “Electrical Researches,” etc.,
Cambridge, 1879, pp. liii-lvi, as well as references therein made, more
particularly at articles Nos. 355–366, 376; also the notes 27, 29 as
per Index at pp. 450 and 453; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. CLXVII (1877), p.
599; Sparks’ edition of Franklin’s “Works,” Vol. V. p. 201.
REFERENCES.--Dr. G. Wilson’s “Life and Works of Hon. Henry
Cavendish,” London, 1851; Sturgeon’s _Annals_, Vol. VI. pp.
137, 173, etc.; Noad, “Manual,” etc., pp. 14, 161; Harris,
“Electricity,” pp. 136, 140; Harris, “Frictional Electricity,”
pp. 23 and 45; Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sciences,” 1859, Vol.
II. pp. 203–206, 273–275, 278; C. R. Weld, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,”
for Lord Charles Cavendish, Vol. II. pp. 171, 176–185, 221; T.
E. Thorpe, “Essays in Historical Chemistry,” London, 1894, pp.
70, 110; Thomas Thomson, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” London, 1812, pp.
456, 457, 471; Sir William Thomson’s “Works,” 1872, pp. 34,
235; _Phil. Trans._ for 1776, Vol. LXVI. p. 196; Thos. Young,
“Lectures,” 1807, Vol. I. pp. 658, 664, 751, and Vol. II. p. 418.
=A.D. 1773.=--Walsh (John), F.R.S., demonstrates the correctness
of Dr. Bancroft’s opinion that the shock of the _torpedo_ is of
an electrical nature, resembling the discharge from a Leyden jar. In
the letter announcing the fact, which he addressed to Franklin, then
in London, he says: “He, who predicted and showed that electricity
wings the formidable bolt of the atmosphere, will hear with attention
that in the deep it speeds a humbler bolt, silent and invisible; he,
who analyzed the electric phial, will hear with pleasure that its
laws prevail in _animated_ phials; he, who by reason became an
electrician, will hear with reverence of an instructive electrician
gifted at its birth with a wonderful apparatus, and with skill to use
it.”
Mr. Walsh’s experiments were made off Leghorn, in company with Dr.
Drummond, as stated in _Phil. Trans._, 1775, p. 1, and were
confirmed by Johan Ingen-housz as well as by the Italian naturalist,
Lazaro Spallanzani (at A.D. 1780). The last named found the
_torpedo_ shocks strongest when it lay upon glass, and that when
the animal was dying the shocks were not given at intervals, but
resembled a continual battery of small shocks: three hundred and
sixteen of them have been felt in seven minutes.
REFERENCES.--Leithead, “Electricity,” p. 135; Gray, “Elements
of Natural Philosophy,” 1850, p. 323; “Electrical Researches
of Lord Cavendish,” 1879, pp. xxxv, xxxvi and 395–437;
Fifth Dissertation of “Encycl. Britannica,” 8th ed. p. 738;
_Phil. Trans._ for 1773, 1774, 1775 and 1776; also Hutton’s
abridgments, Vol. XIII. p. 469; “Chambers’ Ency.,” 1868, Vol.
III. p. 821; “People’s Cyclopædia,” 1883, Vol. I. p. 628;
Kaempfer (A.D. 1702); _Sc. American Supplement_, No. 457,
pp. 7300, 7301, “Lettera dell’ Abate Spallanzani al Signore
Marchese Lucchesini,” Feb. 23, 1783, inserted in the _Gothaische
Gelehrte Zeitungen_ for 1783, p. 409. See also the experiments
of Dr. Ingram, of Kaempfer and of Borelli, described in Van
Swinden’s “Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vol. II; Wilkinson’s
“Galvanism,” 1804, Vol. I. pp. 318, 324; G. W. Schilling,
“Diatribe de morbo,” etc., 1770, and Friedrich von Hahn in the
preface to Schilling’s “De Lepra,” etc., 1778, as well as at pp.
436–442, Vol. I and at note, p. 160, Vol. II of Van Swinden’s
“Recueil,” already noted; J. B. Leroy and M. Saignette “Sur.
l’élect. de la Torpille,” etc. (_Jour. de Phys._, 1774, Vol. IV
and for 1776, Vol. VIII); “Annales du Musée d’Hist. Nat.,” p.
392; R. A. F. De Réaumur, “Mém. de l’acad. des Sc. de Paris” for
1714; C. Alibert, “Eloges,” etc., Paris, 1806.
=A.D. 1773.=--Odier (Louis), a well-known Swiss physician, thus
addresses a lady upon the subject of an electric telegraph: “I shall
amuse you, perhaps, in telling you that I have in my head certain
experiments, by which to enter into conversation with the Emperor
of Mogol or of China, the English, the French, or any other people
of Europe, in a way that, without inconveniencing yourself, you may
intercommunicate all that you wish, at a distance of four or five
thousand leagues in less than half an hour! Will that suffice you for
glory? There is nothing more real. Whatever be the course of those
experiments, they must necessarily lead to some grand discovery; but I
have not the courage to undertake them this winter. What gave me the
idea was a word which I heard spoken casually the other day, at Sir
John Pringle’s table, where I had the pleasure of dining with Franklin,
Priestley and other great geniuses.”
REFERENCES.--Necrology of Prof. Odier in “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol.
IV. N. S., 1817, pp. 317–328; see also allusion to Odier at
Schwenter (A.D. 1600), and in the report of Bristol meeting of
the British Association, August 25, 1875; also Chambers’ “Papers
for the People,” 1851, _El. Com._, p. 6; Bertholon, “Elec. du
Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol. I. p. 357.
=A.D. 1773.=--Hunter (John), a native of Scotland, “by common
consent of all his successors, the greatest man that ever practiced
surgery,” gives at p. 481 of the _Phil. Trans._ for 1773 his
observations on the anatomical structure of the _raia torpedo_.
The electricity of the animal, he found, is generated by organs on each
side of the cranium and gills, somewhat resembling a galvanic pile, and
consisting wholly of perpendicular columns reaching from the upper to
the under surface of the body. Dr. Walsh gave him for examination a
fish about eight inches long, two inches thick and twelve inches broad,
and Hunter found in each electrical organ as many as 470 columns; but
in a very large fish, four and a half feet long and weighing 73 pounds,
he counted as many as 1182 in each organ.
He remarks that there is no part of any animal with which he is
acquainted, however strong and constant its natural action, which
has so great a proportion of nerves; and he concludes that, if it be
probable these nerves are not necessary for the purposes of sensation
or action, they are subservient to the formation, collection or
management of the electric fluid.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._ for 1773, p. 461; for 1775, p. 465
(_gymnotus electricus_); for 1776, p. 196; the _Phil. Trans._,
Vol. LXIII. p. 481, (torpedo); Vol. LXV. p. 395 (gymnotus); and
Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. pp. 478, 666; also John Davy’s
account in _Phil. Trans._ for 1832, p. 259; “Am. Trans.,” Vol.
II. p. 166; _Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. I. p. 355; _Journal de
Physique_, Vol. XLIX. p. 69; Becquerel et Brachet, _Comptes
Rendus_, III. p. 135; Carlo Matteucci, “Recherches,” Genève,
1837; Delle Chiage, on the organs of the torpedo; Geo. Adams,
“Essay on Electricity,” etc., 1785, p. 315; D. J. N. Lud. Roger,
“Specimen Physiologicum,” etc., Göttingæ, 1760; Dr. Buniva’s
experiments recorded in “Journal de Littér. Médicale,” Tome
II. p. 112; Leithead, “Electricity,” Chap. XII; _Scient. Am.
Suppl._, No. 457, pp. 7300–7302. See also the account of his
having been the first to observe the galvanic sensation of light
in the experiment on the eyes, published in “Opuscoli Scelti,”
Vol. XXII. p. 364.
=A.D. 1774.=--At p. 16 of the third volume of Dr. Wm. Hooper’s
“Rational Recreations,” etc., there is given a fine illustration of the
electrical machine made by Dr. Priestley, and mention is made of the
fact that, since the publication of the latter’s “History and Present
State of Electricity,” he contrived, to be placed on the top of his
house, a windmill by which the machine could be occasionally turned.
Much of the remainder of the volume is given to all kinds of
experiments in the line of electricity and magnetism.
=A.D. 1774.=--Lesage (Georges Louis, Jr.), a Frenchman living at
Geneva, Switzerland, makes in that city the first real attempt to avail
of frictional electricity for the transmission of signals between two
distant points (see C. M., or Charles Morrison, at A.D. 1753). His
apparatus consists of twenty-four metallic wires insulated from each
other and communicating with separate electrometers formed of small
balls of elder held by threads and each marked with different letters
of the alphabet. Whenever the electric current was transmitted, the
balls indicated the desired letter.
Lesage was not, however, satisfied with a telegraph upon so small a
scale as to be utilized only in one building, and on the 22nd of June
1782 he addressed a letter to M. Pierre Prévost, at Geneva, on the
subject of “a ready and swift method of correspondence between two
distant places by means of electricity.” This, he says, had occurred
to him thirty or thirty-five years before, and had been “then reduced
to a simple system, far more practicable than the form with which
the new inventor has endowed it.” He employed a subterranean tube of
glazed earthenware, divided at every fathom’s length by partitions with
twenty-four separate openings intended to hold apart that number of
wires, the extremities of the wires being “arranged horizontally, like
the keys of a harpsichord, each wire having suspended above it a letter
of the alphabet, while immediately underneath, upon a table, are pieces
of gold leaf, or other bodies that can be as easily attracted, and are
at the same time easily visible.” Upon touching the end of any wire
with an excited glass tube, its other extremity would cause the little
gold leaf to play under a certain letter, which would form part of the
intended message.
Georges Louis Lesage (sen.) wrote a work on “Meteors,” etc., published
at Geneva in 1730, and alluded to in _Poggendorff_, Vol. I. p. 1433.
REFERENCES.--Abbé Moigno, “Traité,” etc., 2nd ed. Part II. chap.
i. p. 59; Ed. Highton, “The Electric Telegraph,” 1852, p. 38;
_Journal des Sçavans_, September 1782, p. 637; Pierre Prévost,
“Notice,” etc., 1805, pp. 176–177.
=A.D. 1774.=--Wales (William), English mathematician and the
astronomer of Captain Cook during the expeditions of 1772, 1773 and
1774, is the first to make scientific observations relative to the
local attraction of a ship upon mariners’ compasses. While on his way
from England to the Cape and during his passage through the English
Channel he found differences of as much as 19 degrees to 25 degrees in
the azimuth compass.
REFERENCES.--Sturmy, at A.D. 1684; also Wales and Bayly’s
“Observations on Cook’s Voyages,” p. 49.
=A.D. 1775.=--Gallitzin (Dmitri Alexewitsch Fürst, Prince de), an
able Russian diplomat and scientist, carries on at the Hague, between
the 4th of June, 1775, and the commencement of the year 1778, a series
of experiments upon atmospherical electricity, the results of which
he communicates to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in a Memoir
entitled “Observations sur l’Electricité naturelle par le moyen d’un
cerf-volant.” Therein he states that the presence of electricity was
always noticeable whenever he raised his kite, whether in the night or
in the daytime, as well as during hot, dry, or damp weather, and he
ascertained that electricity is generally positive during calm weather
and more frequently negative when the weather is stormy.
He also observed during an extensive course of experiments upon animals
that hens’ eggs hatch sooner when they are electrified, thus confirming
the previous observations of Koeslin and Senebier, and he gives an
account of the effects of battery shocks upon various species. He cites
the case of a hen which had sustained the shock of sixty-four jars and
appeared dead, but which revived and lived thirty-two days; and he
gives the report of the dissection made by M. Munichs, as well as the
very curious observations upon it noted at the time by M. Camper.
REFERENCE.--Bertholon, “Elec. du Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol. I.
pp. 13–14, 66, and Vol. II. p. 48, etc.; “Anc. Mém. de l’acad.
Belge,” Vol. III. p. 3, showing preference for the pointed
form of electrical conductors; “Mercure de France,” 1774, p.
147; “Biog. Univ.,” Tome XV. p. 425; “Mém. de l’Acad. ... de
Bruxelles,” Vol. III. p. 14; _Journal de Physique_, Vols. XXI
and XXII for 1782 and 1783; “Opuscoli Scelti,” Vol. II. p. 305.
=A.D. 1775.=--Lorimer (Dr. John), “a gentleman of great knowledge on
magnetics” (1732–1795), describes his combined dipping and variation
needle for determining the dip at sea, which he calls _universal
magnetic needle or observation compass_ in a letter to Sir John
Pringle, Bart., copied in _Philosophical Transactions_, Vol. LXV. p.
79. This apparatus is also to be found described in Lorimer’s “Essay
on Magnetism,” etc., 1795, as well as at p. 168 of Cavallo’s “Treatise
on Magnetism” published in 1787; and, at p. 333 of the latter work,
the Doctor endeavours to explain the causes of the variation of the
magnetic needle.
REFERENCES.--For Lorimer, consult Hutton’s abridgments, Vol.
XIII. p. 593, and, for dipping needles, refer to the same volume
of Hutton, p. 613, wherein especial mention is made of those
of Thomas Hutchins. The dipping needle of Robert Were Fox is
described in the “Annals of Electricity,” as well as at p. 411,
Vol. II. of “Abstract of Papers of Roy. Soc.,” and the two
dipping needles of Edward Nairne are described in _Phil. Trans._
for 1772, p. 496. Capt. Henry Foster made a report on changes of
magnetic intensity ... in dipping and horizontal needles, to be
found in _Phil. Trans._ for 1828, p. 303 (“Abstracts Sc. Papers
... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 290–296, 344).
=A.D. 1775.=--Cavallo (Tiberius), a distinguished Italian natural
philosopher, publishes in London “Extraordinary Electricity of the
Atmosphere at Islington,” which volume was reprinted by Sturgeon, and
contains his many experiments and important observations upon the line
indicated by Franklin. This work was followed in 1777, 1782, 1787,
1795, 1802 by his “Complete Treatise on Electricity,” etc.; by his
“Essay on the Theory and Practice of Medical Electricity” (London,
1780, 1781; Leipzig, 1782, 1785; Naples, 1784); and during 1787
was also published in London the first edition of his “Treatise on
Magnetism,” a supplement to which appeared eight years later.
He had made many very remarkable observations during the year 1787 on
the phenomena of electricity in glass tubes containing mercury, and he
had particularly experimented with various substances floating upon
mercury in order to test their magnetism.
Before the year 1795 he contrived what he called a _multiplier of
electricity_, a good illustration of which is to be found, more
particularly, opposite p. 270, Vol. II. of his “Elements,” etc.,
published at Philadelphia in 1825. It consisted of two brass plates
insulated upon glass pillars, and of a third plate which could be
insulated or uninsulated at will, and which, turning on a pivot, or
rather a movable arm, could be made to successively convey electricity
from one plate to the other until the desired quantity was accumulated.
(For the _multiplier_, see Jean Damel Colladon in “Bibl. Britan.,”
Vol. XXIX, N.S. for 1825, p. 316.)
Cavallo also invented a small electroscope and a _condenser of
electricity_. The latter consisted of an insulated tin plate between
the sides of a wooden frame lined with gilt paper, one edge of the
plate being connected with the body containing the electricity, and
the condensation making itself observable at the opposite edge by the
electroscope.
In the fourth edition of his “Treatise on Electricity” (1795), which,
like the previous editions, was freely translated into other languages,
will be found at pp. 285–296 of the third volume mention of the
possibility of transmitting intelligence by combinations of sparks and
pauses. For his experiments he made use of brass wires 250 English feet
in length, and his electric alarm was based upon either the explosion
of a mixture of hydrogen and of oxygen, or of gunpowder, phosphorus,
phosphuretted hydrogen, etc., fired by the Leyden phial (vide Bozolus
at A.D. 1767). It is in Vol. I. p. 358 of the afore-named
fourth edition that Cavallo explains the mode of action of the charged
Leyden jar. His concluding words deserve reproduction: “Which shows
that one side of a charged electric may contain a greater quantity
of electricity than that which is sufficient to balance the contrary
electricity of the opposite side. This redundant electricity should be
carefully considered in performing experiments of a delicate nature.”
The same is expressed in other words in the 1825 American edition of
his “Natural Philosophy,” Chap. IV. Therein he asserts that glass is
impervious to the electric fluid, saying: “If the additional electric
fluid penetrates a certain way into the substance of the glass, it
follows that a plate may be given so thin as to be permeable to the
electric fluid, and, of course, incapable of a charge; yet glass balls
blown exceedingly thin, viz. about the six-hundredth part of an inch
thick, when coated, etc., were found capable of holding a charge.”
(Consult Cavendish’s experiments which produced this remarkable
discovery, in _Phil. Trans._, Vols. LXXV and LXXVIII.)
An electrical machine used by Cavallo in 1777 had a glass cylinder
rotated by means of a cord passing around the neck and the wheel, also
a cushion (amalgamated with two parts of mercury, one of tinfoil, some
powdered chalk and grease) holding a silk flap and freely moving along
a groove, and provided with a prime conductor resting on glass legs and
with collecting points.
REFERENCES.--Sturgeon, “Lectures,” London, 1842, p. 12;
Young’s “Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. I. pp. 682, 686, 694,
714; _Nicholson’s Journal_, 1797, Vol. I. p. 394; Du Moncel,
“Exposé,” Vol. III; Aikin’s “General Biography,” Vol. X; _Phil.
Transactions_, 1776, Vol. LXVI. p. 407; 1777, Vol. LXVII. pp.
48, 388; 1780, Vol. LXX. p. 15; 1786, p. 62; 1787, p. 6; 1788,
pp. 1 and 255, and 1793, p. 10 (Volta’s letters); likewise
Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XVI. pp. 57, 170, 354, 449; Vol.
XIV. pp. 60, 129, 180, 608; see also “Encycl. Britannica,” art.
“Magnetism,” Chap. III. s. 1. for Cavallo’s “Observations on the
Magnetism of Metals,” etc.
=A.D. 1775.=--Bolten (Joach. Fred.), a German physician, is the
author of “Nachricht von einem mit dem Künstlichen magneten gemachten
Versuchein einer Nerven-Krankheit” (Hamburg, 1775), the title of which
is here given in full, as the work is not usually found recorded in
publications and is considered to be of excessive rarity.
Contrary to the accepted belief of many at the time, Bolten asserts
that the application of magnetic plates for the cure of nervous and
other affections is not only useless, but has, in many instances, been
shown to greatly increase pain. This is proven by M. Fonseca in his
_Journal_, which forms part of the above-named work; by Andry
and Thouret (“Obs. et Rech sur ... l’Aimant ...” 8, pp. 599, 661),
and by J. David Reuss (“Repertorium,” Vol. XII. p. 18), as well as by
observations recorded in another very scarce work, translated into
Dutch during 1775 by the celebrated physicist, J. R. Deimann, under
the title of “Geneeskundige Proefneeming met den door Koast gemaakten
Magneet, door den Heere T. C. Unzer.”
REFERENCES.--Magnetical cures by different processes are
treated of more particularly by Goclenius R., Jr., “Tract.
de Mag. Curatione ...” Marp., 1609; J. Robertus, “Curationis
Magneticæ ...” Luxemb., 1621, Coloniæ, 1622; Charlton, “A
Ternary of Paradoxes ...” London, 1650; G. Mascuelli, “De
Medicina Magnetica,” Franckfort, 1613, translated by W. Maxwell
(Maxvellus), 1679–1687; Tentzelius, “Medicina Diastatica
...” 1653; A. Van Leuwenhoeck (_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XIX for
1695–1697, as shown below); J. N. Tetens, “Schreiben ...
Magnetcuren,” Bützow and Wismar, 1775; Jacques de Harsu,
“Receuil des Effets ...” Geneva, 1783; W. Pigram, “Successful
Application ...” (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXXII. p. 154); Kloerich,
F. W., “Versuche ...” (“Götting. Anzeigen,” 1765), “Von dem
Medicin ...” Göttingen, 1766; M. Mouzin, “De l’emploi ...
Maladies,” Paris, 1843. See likewise A.D. 450, and Hell at A.D.
1770.
For Anthony Van Leuwenhoeck, consult the _Phil. Trans._ for
1695–1697, Vol. XIX. No. 227, p. 512; Vol. XXXII. p. 72; also
the abridgments of Reid and Gray, Vol. VI. p. 170, and of Eames
and Martyn, Vol. VI. part. ii. pp. 277–278.
=A.D. 1775.=--Volta (Alessandro), an Italian natural philosopher
and Professor at the University of Pavia, who had already, in 1769,
addressed to Beccaria a Latin dissertation, “De Vi Attractivâ ignis
electrici,” etc., makes known his invention of the _electrophorus_,
a sort of perpetual reservoir of electricity. This consists of two
circular metallic plates having between them a round disc of resin,
which is excited by being struck a number of times with either a
silk kerchief or pieces of dry warm fur or flannel. During 1782 he
discovered what he called an electrical condenser, wherein the disc
of resin is replaced by a plate of marble or of varnished wood. With
this he is reported (_Philosophical Transactions_, Vol. LXXII) to
have ascertained the existence of negative electricity in the vapour
of water, in the smoke of burning coals, and in the gas produced by a
solution of iron in weak sulphuric acid. An account of the above named
and of other discoveries, as well as of various experiments, appears in
letters addressed by him to Prof. Don Bassiano Carminati, of the Pavia
Medical University, April 3, 1792, and to Tiberius Cavallo, Sept. 13,
and Oct. 25, 1792, as shown in the _Philosophical Transactions_ of the
Royal Society, which institution gave him its gold Copley medal.
Volta’s crowning effort lies in the discovery of the development of
electricity in metallic bodies and in the production of the justly
famous pile which bears his name. The latter consisted of an equal
number of zinc and copper discs separated by circular plates of
cloth, paper or pasteboard soaked in salt-water or dilute acid, all
being suitably connected to develop a large quantity of the electric
fluid. Thus, says Dr. Dickerson in his address at Princeton College,
Volta gave to the world that new manifestation of electricity called
Galvanism. In that form this subtle agent is far more manageable than
in the form of static electricity; and by the use of galvanic batteries
a current of low tension, but of enormously greater power, can be
maintained with little difficulty; whereas static electricity is like
lightning, and readily leaps and escapes on the surfaces on which it is
confined.
“It was Volta who removed our doubtful knowledge. Such knowledge is
the early morning light of every advancing science, and is essential to
its development; but the man who is engaged in dispelling that which is
deceptive in it, and revealing more clearly that which is true, is as
useful in his place and as necessary to the general progress of science
as he who first broke through the intellectual darkness and opened a
path into knowledge before unknown” (Faraday’s “Researches”).
The last mentioned discovery, though made in 1796, was first announced
only on the 20th of March, 1800, in a letter written from Como to Sir
Joseph Banks, by whom it was communicated to the Royal Society. It was
publicly read June 26, 1800 (_Phil. Trans._ for 1800, Part II. p. 408).
At pp. 428–429 of “La Revue Scientifique,” Paris, April 8, 1905, will
be found a review of J. Bosscha’s work entitled “La correspondance
de A. Volta et de M. Van Marum,” published at Leyden. Bosscha
calls especial attention to letters numbered XIII and XIV, dated
respectively August 30 and October 11, 1792, wherein Volta describes
his construction of the apparatus which, as already stated, was not
made known until March 20, 1800. M. Bosscha’s work is also referred to
in the “Journal des Savants” for August 1905.
Volta, at about the same period, constructed an electrical battery,
which has been named _La Couronne de Tasses_ (the crown of cups),
and which consisted of a number of cups arranged in a circle, each cup
containing a saline liquid and supporting against its edges a strip
of zinc and one of silver. As the upper part of each zinc strip was
connected by a wire with a strip of silver in the adjoining cup, the
silver strip of the first cup and the zinc strip of the last cup formed
the poles of the battery. It is said that twenty such combinations
decomposed water, and that thirty gave a distinct shock.
On the 16th, 18th and 20th of November 1800 (Brumaire an. IX), Volta,
who had obtained permission of the Italian Government to go to
Paris with his colleague Prof. Brugnatelli, delivered lectures and
experimented before the French National Institute (Sue, “Histoire
du Galvanisme,” Vol. II. p. 267). As a member of the latter body,
Bonaparte, the First Consul, who had attended the second lecture and
witnessed the electro-chemical decomposition of water, proposed that
a gold medal be stuck to commemorate Volta’s discovery, and that a
commission be formed to repeat all of Volta’s experiments upon a
large scale. The commission embraced such prominent men as Laplace,
Coulomb, Hallé, Monge, Fourcroy, Vauquelin, Pelletan, Charles, Brisson,
Sabathier, Guyton De Morveau and Biot. Biot, the chairman of the
commission, made a report December 11, 1800, which appears in Vol. V
of the _Mémoires de l’Institut National de France_, as well as in
the _Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XLI. p. 3. In addition to the gold
medal, Volta received from Bonaparte the sum of six thousand francs and
the cross of the Legion of Honour.
To Volta has been attributed the fact of having, as early as 1777,
entertained the idea of an electric telegraph, although nothing more
appears to be on record in relation to the matter. Fahie quotes a
letter of Sir Francis Ronalds, alluding to an autograph manuscript,
dated Como, April 15, 1777, and gives its translation by César Cantu,
wherein Volta states that he does not doubt the possibility of
exploding his electrical pistol at Milan, through wires supported by
posts, whenever he discharges a powerful Leyden jar at Como.
REFERENCES.--Arago, “Eloge Historique de Volta” and “Notices
Biographiques,” Tome I. p. 234 (“Raccolta Pratica di Scienze,”
etc. for March and April 1835); London _Times_ of January 26,
1860; the eulogies pronounced by Giorn. Fogliani at Como and
by G. Zuccala at Bergamo, the year of Volta’s death, 1827; P.
Sue, “Histoire du Galvanisme,” Tome II. p. 267; _Journal de
Leipzig_, Tome XXXIV; _Scelta d’ Opuscoli_, Vols. VIII. p.
127; IX. p. 91; X. p. 87; XII. p. 94; XIV. p. 84; XXVIII. p.
43; XXXIV. p. 65; _Opuscoli Scelti_, Vols. I. pp. 273, 289;
VII. pp. 128, 145; XV. pp. 213, 425; XXI. p. 373; “Mem. dell’
I. R. Istit. Reg. L. V.,” Vol. I. p. 24; “Mem. dell’ Istit.
Nazion. Ital.,” Vol. I. p. 125; “Memor. Soc. Ital.,” Vols. II.,
pp. 662, 900; V. p. 551; “Bibl. Fisica d’Europa” for 1788;
“Giornale Fis.-Med.,” Vols. I. p. 66; II. pp. 122, 146, 241,
287; III. p. 35; IV. p. 192; V. p. 63; “Giornale dell’ Ital.
Lettera,” etc., Vol. VIII. p. 249; L. V. Brugnatelli, “Annali
di Chimica,” etc., Vols. II. p. 161; III. p. 36; V. p. 132;
XI. p. 84; XIII. p. 226; XIV. pp. 3, 40; XVI. pp. 3, 27, 42;
XVIII. pp. 3, 7; XIX. p. 38; XXI. pp. 79, 100, 163; XXII. pp.
223–249 (Aless. Volta and Pietro Configliachi); Aless. Volta
and Angelo Bellani, “Sulla formazione,” etc., Milano, 1824; F.
A. C. Gren, _Neues Journal der Physik_, Vols. III and IV for
1796 and 1797; Rozier, _Observ._, Vols. VII, XXII and XXIII for
1776, 1873; J. B. Van Mons, _Journal de Chimie_, No. 2, pp. 129,
167; Sédillot, “Receuil Per. de la Soc. de Méd. de Paris,” IX.
pp. 97, 231; _Journal de Phys._, Vols. XXIII. p. 98; XLVIII.
p. 336; LI. p. 334; LXIX. p. 343; _Annales de Chimie_, Vols.
XXX. p. 276; XLIV. p. 396; _Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. XV. p.
3; _Phil. Tr._ for 1778, 1782 and 1793; “Soc. Philom.,” An.
IX. p. 48, An. X. p. 74; “Bibl. Brit.,” Vol. XIX. p. 274; _Le
Correspondant_ for August, 1867, p. 1059, and _Les Mondes_,
December 5, 1867, p. 561; Highton, “The Elec. Tel.,” 1852,
pp. 13 and 28; Robertson, “Mémoires Récréatifs,” 1840, Vol.
I. chaps, x. and xiii.; Miller, “Hist. Philos. Illustrated,”
London, 1849, Vol. IV. p. 333, note; Achille Cazin, “Traité
théorique et pratique des piles électriques,” Paris, 1881;
“Mémoires de l’lnstitut” (Hist.) An. XII. p. 195; Andrew Crosse,
“Experiments in Voltaic Electricity,” London, 1815 (_Phil.
Mag._, Vol. XLVI. p. 421, and Gilbert’s “Annalen,” Bd. s. 60);
“Lettere sulla Meteorol.,” 1783; Theod. A. Von Heller, in Gilb.
“Annal.,” Vols. IV and VI, 1800; and _Gren’s Neues Journ._,
1795, 1797; “L’Arc Voltaique,” by M. Paul Janet, in “Revue
Générale des Sciences,” May 15, 1902, pp. 416–422; “L’Académie
des Sciences,” par Ernest Maindron, Paris, 1888, pp. 245–251;
“Philosophical Magazine,” Vol. IV. pp. 59, 163, 306; Vol. XIII.
pp. 187–190 [_re_ prize founded by Napoleon); Vol. XXI. p. 289
(electrophorus); Vol. XXVIII. p. 182 (theory of Pierre Hyacinthe
Azais), and p. 297 (Paul Erman on “Voltaic Phenomena”); Thomson,
“Hist. of Chemistry,” Vol. II. pp. 251–252; “Dict. de Gehler,”
Vols. III. p. 665; VI. pp. 475, 484; Thomas Thomson, “Hist. of
the Royal Soc.,” London, 1812, p. 451; Young’s “Lectures,”
Vol. I. pp. 674, 677, 678, 683; see likewise the “Theory of
the Action of the Galvanic Pile,” as given by Dr. Wm. Henry
at s. 5 Vol. I. of his “Elements of Experimental Chemistry,”
London, 1823; also _Nicholson’s Journal_ for Henry’s essay in
Vol. XXXV. p. 259; M. De Luc’s papers in Vol. XXXII. p. 271,
and Vol. XXXVI. p. 97; Mr. Singer on the “Electric Column” in
Vol. XXXVI. p. 373; Dr. Bostock’s essay in Thomson’s “Annals,”
Vol. III. p. 32; Sir H. Davy’s chapter on “Electrical Attraction
and Repulsion,” in his “Elements of Chem. Philos.,” p. 125;
the first volume of Gay-Lussac and Thénard’s “Recherches”;
Johann Mayer, “Abhandlungen ... Galvani, Valli, Carminati u.
Volta,” etc., Prague, 1793; _Lehrbuch der Meteor._, von L. F.
Kaemtz, Halle, 1832, Vol. II. pp. 398, 400, 418; M. Detienne
et M. Rouland in _Jour. de Phys._, Vol. VII. for 1776; J.
N. Hallé, “Exposition Abrégée,” etc. (“Bull. des Sc. de la
Soc. Philom.,” An. X. No. 58); C. B. Désormes’ very extended
observations recorded in the _An. de Ch._, Vol. XXXVII. p. 284;
Volta’s letter to Prof. F. A. C. Gren in 1794, and Wilkinson,
“El. of Galv.,” Vol. II. pp. 314–325; J. F. Ackerman (“Salz.
Mediechirurg,” 1792, p. 287); Cadet (_An. de Ch._, Vol. XXXVII.
p. 68); letter written by Volta to M. Dolomieu (“Bull. de la
Société Philom.,” No. 55, p. 48); Friedlander’s “Experiments”
(_Jour. de Phys._, Pluvoise, An. IX. p. 101); Paul Erman (_Jour.
de Phys._, Thermidor, An. IX. p. 121); Gilbert’s “Annalen,”
VIII, X, XI, XIV); _Jour. de Phys._, Tome LIII p. 309; _Jour. de
Médecine_, Nivose, An. IX. p. 351; P. C. Abilgaard,“Tentamina
Electrica”; C. H. Wilkinson, “Elements of Galvanism,” etc.,
London, 1804, 2 vols. _passim_; A. W. Von Hauch’s Memoir read
before the Copenhagen Acad. of Sc. (Sue, “Hist. du Galv.,” 1802,
Vol. II. p. 255); Alexander Nicoläus Scherer’s Journal, 31st
book; “Abstracts of Papers of Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 27; also
Hutton’s abridgments of the _Phil. Trans._ Vol. XV. p. 263;
Vol. XVII. p. 285; Vol. XVIII. pp. 744, 798; _Phil. Magazine_,
Vol. IV. pp. 59, 163, 306; “Bibliothèque Britannique,” Genève,
1796, Vol. XV. an. viii. p. 3; Vol. XIX for 1802, pp. 270,
274, 339; Vol. XVI, N.S. for 1821, pp. 270–309; account of the
immense electrophorus constructed for the Empress of Russia, in
Vol. I. of “Acta Petropolitana” for 1777, pp. 154, etc. In the
_Philosophical Transactions_ for 1778, pp. 1027, 1049, will be
found Ingen-housz’s paper relating to the then recent invention
of Volta’s _electrophorus_ and to Mr. Henley’s experiments. It
is said that at about this time (1778), John Jacob Mumenthaler,
Swiss mechanic, constructed very effective electrophori and
electric machines out of a very peculiar kind of paper. M. F.
Vilette also made a paper electrophorus which is alluded to by
J. A. Nollet (“Experiments Letters,” Vol. III. pp. 209, etc.).
Consult, besides, Carlo Barletti, “Lettera al Volta ...” Milano,
1776; W. L. Krafft, “Tentatem theoriæ ...” Petropol, 1778; J. C.
Schäffer, “Abbild. Beschr. d. elek. ...” Regensberg, 1778; Georg
Pickel, “Experimenta physico-medica ...” Viceburgi, 1778–1788;
J. A. Klindworth, “Kurze Beschr. ...” Gotha, 1781–1785;
(Lichtenberg’s “Magazin,” I. 35–45;) while for Klindworth, M.
Obert and M. Minkeler, see the “Goth. Mag.,” I. ii. p. 35; V.
iii. pp. 96, 110; E. G. Robertson, “Sur l’électrophore résineux
et papiracé,” Paris, 1790; (_Journal de Physique_, Vol. XXXVII;)
M. Robert on the electrophorus (Rozier, XXXVII. p. 183); S.
Woods, “Essay on the phenomena ...” London, 1805; (_Phil. Mag._,
Vol. XXI. p. 289;) M. Eynard’s “Mém. sur l’electrophore,” Lyon,
1804; John Phillips, “On a modification of the electrophorus,”
London, 1833 (_Phil. Mag._, s. 3, Vol. II); G. Zamboni, “Sulla
teoria ...” Verona, 1844 (“Mem. Soc. Ital.,” Vol. XXIII); F. A.
Petrina, “Neue theorie d. elect. ...” Prag., 1846.
=A.D. 1776.=--Borda (Jean Charles), French mathematician and
astronomer, improves upon the work of Mallet (at A.D. 1769), and is
the first to establish accurately the knowledge of the third and most
important element of terrestrial magnetism, viz. its _intensity_.
To him is exclusively due the correct determination of the difference
of the intensity at different points of the earth’s surface by
measuring the vibrations of a vertical needle in the magnetic meridian.
This he determined during his expedition to the Canary Islands, and his
observations were first confirmed through additional experiments which
the companion of the unfortunate La Pérouse, Paul de Lammanon, made
during the years 1785–1787, and which were by him communicated from
Macao to the Secretary of the French Academy.
REFERENCES.--Borda’s biography in the “Eng. Cycl.,” and in the
eighth “Britannica”; Walker, “Magnetism,” p. 182; Humboldt
on magnetic poles and magnetic intensity, embracing the
observations of Admiral de Rossel, and “Cosmos,” Vol. V. 1859,
pp. 58, 61–64, 87–100; also Vol. I. pp. 185–187, notes, for the
history of the discovery of the law that the intensity of the
force increases with the latitude; Norman (A.D. 1576).
=A.D. 1777.=--Lichtenberg (Georg Christoph), Professor of
Experimental Philosophy at the University of Göttingen, reveals the
condition of electrified surfaces by dusting them with powder.
The _figures_, which bear his name, are produced by tracing any desired
lines upon a cake of resin with the knob of a Leyden jar and by
dusting upon the cake a well-triturated mixture of sulphur and of red
lead. These substances having been brought by friction into opposite
electrical conditions, the sulphur collects upon the positive and the
lead upon the negative portions of the cake: positive electricity
producing an appearance resembling feathers, and negative electricity
an arrangement more like stars.
REFERENCES.--Harris, “Frict. Elect.,” p. 89; eighth
“Britannica,” Vol. VIII. p. 606; E. Reitlinger, “Sibven Abh.
...” (Wien Acad.); illustrations in _Sc. Am. Suppl._, No. 207,
p. 3297; Noad, “Manual,” p. 132; Erxleben’s “Physikalische
Bibliotek,” s. 514; L. F. F. Crell, _Chemische Annalen_ for
1786; “Göttingisches Magazin,” J i., S ii., pp. 216–220;
Lichtenberg’s “Math. u. Phys. Schriften,” etc., Vol. I. p. 478.
See also Dr. Young’s “Lectures on Nat. Phil.,” London, 1807,
Vol. II. pp. 119, 419 for additional references, and p. 426 for
Lichtenberg’s “Table of Excitation.”
=A.D. 1777.=--Pringle (Sir John), a man of great scientific
attainments--who was physician to the Duke of Cumberland as well as to
the Queen’s household, became a baronet in 1766, and afterward received
many distinguished honours from foreign learned bodies--resigns the
Presidency of the English Royal Society, which he had held since the
year 1772. In this, as will be seen at a later date, he was succeeded
by Sir Joseph Banks (at A.D. 1820), who continued in the
office a period of over forty-two years. The cause which led to his
resignation is best given in the following extract from his biography
in the English Cyclopedia:
“During the year 1777 a dispute arose among the members of the Royal
Society relative to the form which should be given to electrical
conductors so as to render them most efficacious in protecting
buildings from the destructive effects of lightning. Franklin had
previously recommended the use of points, and the propriety of this
recommendation had been acknowledged and sanctioned by the Society
at large. But, after the breaking out of the American Revolution,
Franklin was no longer regarded by many of the members in any other
light than an enemy of England, and, as such, it appears to have been
repugnant to their feelings to act otherwise than in disparagement
of his scientific discoveries. Among this number was their patron
George III, who, according to a story current at the time, and of the
substantial truth of which there is no doubt, on its being proposed to
substitute knobs instead of points, requested that Sir John Pringle
would likewise advocate their introduction. The latter hinted that the
laws and operations of nature could not be reversed at royal pleasure;
whereupon it was intimated to him that a President of the Royal
Society entertaining such an opinion ought to resign, and he resigned
accordingly.”
In Benjamin Franklin’s letter to Dr. Ingen-housz, dated Passy, Oct.
14, 1777, occurs the following: “The King’s changing his _pointed_
conductors for _blunt_ ones is therefore a matter of small importance
to me. If I had a wish about it, it would be that he had rejected them
altogether as ineffectual.” It was shortly after the occurrence above
alluded to that the following epigram was written by a friend of Dr.
Franklin:
“While you Great George, for knowledge hunt,
And sharp conductors change for blunt,
The nation’s out of joint:
Franklin a wiser course pursues,
And all your thunder useless views,
By keeping to the _point_.”
Thomson informs us (“Hist. Roy. Soc.” pp. 446–447) that the Board
of Ordnance having consulted the Royal Society about the best mode
of securing the powder magazine, at Purfleet, from the effects of
lightning, the Society appointed Mr. Cavendish, Dr. Watson, Dr.
Franklin, Mr. Robertson and Mr. Wilson a committee to examine the
building and report upon it. These gentlemen went accordingly, and
the first four recommended the erecting of pointed conductors in
particular parts of the building, as a means which they thought
would afford complete security. Mr. Wilson dissented from the other
gentlemen, being of the opinion that the conductors ought not to be
pointed but blunt, because pointed conductors solicit and draw down
the lightning which might otherwise pass by. He published a long paper
on the subject, assigning a great variety of reasons for his preference
(_Philosophical Transactions_, Vol. LXIII. p. 49). It was this
dissent of Mr. Wilson which produced between the electricians of the
Royal Society a controversy respecting the comparative merits of
pointed and blunt conductors, which continued a number of years, and
a variety of papers in support of which made their appearance in the
_Philosophical Transactions_. The controversy, in fact, engaged
almost the exclusive attention of the writers on electricity for
several successive volumes of that work.
REFERENCES.--William Henley, “Experiments ... pointed and
blunted rods ...” in _Phil. Trans_, for 1774, p. 133; P. D.
Viegeron, “Mémoire sur la force des pointes ...”; Edward Nairne,
“Experiments ... advantage of elevated pointed conductors,” in
_Phil. Trans._ for 1778, p. 823; Lord Mahon, “Principles ...
superior advantages of high and pointed conductors,” London,
1779; Hale’s “Franklin in France,” 1880, Part I. p. 91, and
Part II. pp. 254–256, 279, for some of his other correspondence
with Dr. Ingen-housz; likewise Part II., pp. ix, 273, 441–451,
regarding the first publication of copies of letters written
by Franklin to Sir Joseph Banks, which “for some curious
reason,” Mr. Hale remarks, were not publicly read and were
never included in the _Philosophical Transactions_, as Franklin
intended they should be. Consult also Thomas Hopkinson on “The
Effects of Points,” etc., in Franklin’s “New Experiments,”
etc., London, 1754; Tilloch’s _Philosophical Magazine_ for
1820; Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. p. 382; “Memoir of Sir
J. Pringle” in Weld’s “Hist. of Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 58–67,
102; Jared Sparks’ edition of Franklin’s “Works,” and Sir John
Pringle’s discourse delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of
the Royal Society, Nov. 30, 1774, a translation of the last
named appearing at p. 15, Vol. XV of the “Scelta d’ Opuscoli.”
J. Clerk Maxwell, “Electrical Researches of the Hon. Henry
Cavendish,” 1879, pp. 52–54.
=A.D. 1778.=--Martin (Benjamin), English artist and mathematician,
who had already written an “Essay on Electricity” and a prominent
supplement thereto (1746–1748), publishes an enlarged edition in three
volumes of his “Philosophia Britannica,” originally produced in 1759.
At Vol. I. p. 47 of the last-named work, he states that his experiments
indicate a magnetic force inversely as the square roots of the cubes
of the distances. Noad, treating of the laws of magnetic force, says
(“Electricity” p. 579) that Martin and Tobias Mayer both came to the
conclusion that the true law of the magnetic force is identical with
that of gravitation, and that, in the previous experiments of Hauksbee
and others, proper allowance had not been made for the disturbing
changes in the magnetic forces so inseparable from the nature of the
experiments.
His first Lecture explains all the phenomena of electricity and
magnetism, the appendix thereto detailing numerous experiments of
Mr. John Canton, and giving many additional facts concerning the
manufacture of artificial magnets. From his preface the following
extracts will, doubtless, prove interesting: “We are arrived at great
dexterity since Sir Isaac Newton’s time; for we can now almost prove
the existence of this _aether_ by the phenomena of electricity;
and then we find it very easy to prove that electricity is nothing
but this very _aether_ condensed and made to shine. But I believe,
when we inquire into the nature and properties of this _aether_ and
electricity, we shall find them so very different and dissimilar, that
we cannot easily conceive how they should thus mutually prove each
other.... I see no cause to believe that the matter of electricity is
anything like the idea we ought to have of the _spiritus subtilissimus_
of Sir Isaac.... The smell also of _electrical fire_ is so very much
like that of _phosphorus_, that we may be easily induced to believe a
great part of the composition of both is the same.”
REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Britan.,” 1857, Vol. XIV. p. 320; Antoine
Rivoire (Rivière), “Traité sur les aimants ...” Paris, 1752;
Nicolaus von Fuss, “Observations ... aimants ...” Petersburg,
1778; Le Noble, “Aimants artificiels ...” Paris, 1772, and
“Rapport ... aimants,” 1783 (Mém. de Paris); Wens, “Act. Hill,”
Vol. II. p. 264; C. G. Sjoestén (Gilbert, _Annalen der Physik_,
Vol. XVII. p. 325); Rozier, IX. p. 454.
=A.D. 1778.=--Toaldo (Giuseppe) Abbé, celebrated Italian physicist,
who had in 1762 been made Professor at the Padua University and was
the first one to introduce the lightning rod in the Venetian States,
makes known the merits of the last-named invention through his “Dei
conduttori per preservare gli edifizj,” etc., which work embraces
most of his previous treatises on metallic conductors as well as the
translation of H. B. de Saussure’s “Exposition abrégée,” etc., Geneva,
1771, and of M. Barbier de Tinan’s “Considérations sur les conducteurs
en général.”
The above was followed by many highly interesting memoirs containing
valuable meteorological observations, notably those in continuation of
the work of J. Poleni, made close up to the time of Toaldo’s sudden
death at Padua, Dec. 11, 1798. His complete works, covering the
period 1773–1798, were published in Venice through M. Tiato, with the
assistance of Vincenzo Chiminello, during the year 1802.
REFERENCES.--In addition to the last-named publication (entitled
“Completa Raccolta d’ Opuscoli,” etc.), “Mem. della Soc. Ital.,”
Vol. VIII. pt. i. p. 29 (“Elogio ... da A. Fabbroni,” 1799);
note at Beccaria, p. 42 of Ronalds’ “Catalogue”; Larousse,
“Dict. Universel,” Vol. XV. p. 251; “Biographie Générale,” Vol.
XLV. p. 450; “Biografia degli Italiani Illustri,” etc., by
E. A. Tipaldo, Vol. VIII; “Padua Accad. Saggi,” Vol. III. p.
cv; “Opusc. Scelti,” Vol. VI. p. 265; Vol. VII. p. 35; “Nuovo
Giornale Enciclopedico di Vicenza” for 1784; Antonio Maria
Lorgna, “Lettera ... parafulmini,” 1778; G. Marzari (Vol. II.
p. 73, of “Treviso Athenæum”); Fonda “Sopra la maniera ...”
Roma, 1770; G. Marzari e G. Toaldo, “Memoria Descrizione ...”
25 Aprile, 1786; Barbier de Tinan, “Mémoire sur la manière
d’armer,” etc., Strasbourg, 1780; F. Maggiotto’s letter to
Toaldo upon a new electrical machine; Sestier et Méhu, “De la
foudre,” etc., Paris, 1866.
Vincenzo Chiminello, nephew of Giuseppe Toaldo, whom he succeeded
at the Padua Observatory and who continued the _Giornale
Astro-meteorologico_ after his uncle’s death, is the author of works on
the magnetic needle, on lightning conductors, etc., which are treated
of in the columns of the _Mem. Soc. Ital._, Vols. VII and IX; the
_Giornale Astro-met._ for 1801, 1804, 1806, as well as in the _Saggi
... dell’Accad. di Padova_, _Nuova Scelta d’Opuscoli_, and _Opuscoli
Scelti sulle scienze e sulle arti_.
REFERENCES.--Chiminello’s biography, _Giorn. dell’Ital.
Lettera_, etc., Serie II. tome xvii. p. 164, and in “Atti della
Soc. Ital.,” Modena, 1819.
=A.D. 1778.=--Dupuis (Charles François), eminent French writer who, at
the age of twenty-four, became Professor of Rhetoric at the College of
Lisieux, constructs a telegraph upon the plan suggested by Amontons (at
A.D. 1704). By means of this apparatus he exchanged correspondence with
his friend M. Fortin, then residing at Bagneux, until the commencement
of the Revolution, when he deemed it prudent to lay it permanently
aside (_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 1855, Vol. VIII. p. 263).
=A.D. 1778.=--Brugmans--Brugman (Anton), who was Professor of
Philosophy at the University of Francker between 1755 and 1766,
publishes his “Magnetismus, seu de affinitatibus magneticis.” He is,
besides, the author of several works upon magnetic matter and the
magnetic influence, which appeared 1765–1784 and are alluded to by
Poggendorff (“Biog.-Liter. Hand.,” Vol. I. p. 316), as well as in the
“Vaderlandsche Letter” for 1775 and 1776, and at p. 34, Vol. I of Van
Swinden’s “Recueil de Mémoires ...” La Haye, 1784.
It was in this same year, 1778, that Sebald Justin
Brugmans--Brugman--son of Anton Brugmans, a distinguished physician,
naturalist and author who was the successor of Van Swinden at the
Francker University, and became Professor of Botany at Leyden,
discovered that cobalt is attracted while bismuth and antimony are
repelled by the single pole of a magnet, thus laying _the foundation
of the science of diamagnetism_.
Humboldt remarks: “Brugmans, and, after him, Coulomb, who was endowed
with higher mathematical powers, entered profoundly into the nature of
terrestrial magnetism. Their ingenious physical experiments embraced
the magnetic attraction of all matter, the local distribution of
force in a magnetic rod of a given form, and the law of its action at
a distance. In order to obtain accurate results the vibrations of a
horizontal needle suspended by a thread, as well as deflections by a
torsion balance, were in turn employed.”
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Générale,” Vol. VII. p. 582; Larousse,
“Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II. p. 1334; “Catalogue Sc. Papers Roy.
Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 672; W. H. Wollaston, “Magnetism of ... Cobalt
and Nickel” (_Edin. Phil. Jour._, Vol. X. p. 183); Kohl on pure
cobalt (L. F. F. Crell’s “Neusten Ent.,” Vol. VII. p. 39);
Tyndall, “Researches on Dia-Magnetism,” London, 1870, pp. 1, 90,
etc.; Appleton’s Encyclopædia, 1870, Vol. IV. p. 10; Humboldt’s
“Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. p. 61; Augustin Roux, “Expériences
nouvelles ...” (_Journal de Médecine_, for November 1773).
Consult also, for Sebald J. Brugmans, “Biog. Générale,” Vol.
VII. p. 582; Bory de Saint Vincent, in the “Annales Générales de
Sciences Physiques,” Vol. II.
=A.D. 1779.=--Lord Mahon, afterward third Earl of Stanhope, an
Englishman of great ingenuity and fertility in invention and a pupil
of Lesage of Geneva (at A.D. 1774), publishes his “Principles
of Electricity,” in which he explains the effects of the _return
stroke_ or _lateral shock_ of an electrical discharge which was
first observed by Benjamin Wilson (at A.D. 1746).
He imagined that when a large cloud is charged with electricity it
displaces much of that fluid from the neighbouring stratum of air,
and that when the cloud is discharged the electric matter returns
into that portion of the atmosphere whence it had previously been
taken. According to Lord Cavendish, the theory developed in the
above-named work is that “A positively electrified body surrounded
by air will deposit upon all the particles of that air, which shall
come successively into contact with it, a proportional part of its
_superabundant_ electricity. By which means, the _air_ surrounding the
body will also become _positively_ electrified; that is to say, it will
form round that positive body an electrical atmosphere, which will
likewise be positive.... That the _Density_ of all such atmospheres
decreases when the distance from the charged body is increased.”
Tyndall says (Notes on Lecture VII) that Lord Mahon fused metals and
produced strong physiological effects by the return stroke.
In 1781, the English scientist, John Turberville Needham (1713–1781),
published at Brussels his French translation of Lord Mahon’s work under
the title of “Principes de l’Electricité.” Needham was the first of the
Catholic clergy elected to a fellowship of the English Royal Society,
to whose Transactions he made several contributions. His numerous works
include “A letter from Paris concerning some new electrical experiments
made there,” London, 1746, also a volume of researches upon the
investigations of Spallanzani. The list of his communications to the
_Phil. Trans._ and to the “Mém. de l’Acad. de Bruxelles” will be found
in Watt’s “Bibliotheca Britannica” and in Namur’s “Bibl. Acad. Belge”
(“Dict. Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XL. p. 157; _Phil. Trans._, 1746, p. 247, and
Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. IX. p. 263).
REFERENCES.--“Electrical Researches” of Lord Cavendish, pp.
xlvi-xlvii; _Phil. Trans._ for 1787, Vol. LXXVII. p. 130; Dr.
Thomas Young, “Course of Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. I. p.
664; Dr. Thomas Thomson, “History of the Royal Society,” London,
1812, p. 449; Sturgeon, “Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 398.
=A.D. 1779.=--Ingen-housz (Johan), distinguished English physician and
natural philosopher, native of Breda, publishes, _Phil. Trans._, p.
661, an account of the electrical apparatus which is by many believed
to have led to the invention of the plate electrical machine, although
the same claim has been made in behalf of Jesse Ramsden (at A.D.
1768). Dr. Priestley states that Ingen-housz and Ramsden invented it
independently of one another. He describes a circular plate of glass
nine inches in diameter turning vertically and rubbing against four
cushions, each an inch and a half long and placed at the opposite
ends of the vertical diameter. The conductor is a brass tube bearing
two horizontal branches extending to within about half an inch of the
extremity of the glass, so that each branch takes off the electricity
excited by two of the cushions (Dr. Thomas Young, “Course of Lectures,”
Vol. II. p. 432).
The plate machine of Dr. Ingen-housz is illustrated at p. 16 of
“Electricity” in the “Library of Useful Knowledge.” For other plate
machines see, more particularly, Dr. Young’s “Course of Lectures,”
Vol. II. p. 431; _Phil. Trans._ 1769, p. 659; Geo. K. Winter’s
apparatus with ring conductor and peculiar-shaped rubbers, as well
as the great machine at the Royal Polytechnic, and that of Mr.
Snow Harris, illustrated and described in Vol. III. p. 787, “Eng.
Ency.--Arts and Sciences,” and at pp. 223, 224 of J. H. Pepper’s
“Cyclopædic Science,” London, 1869; “Allg. deutsche Biblioth.,” B.
XXIV. Anh. 4, Abth., p. 549, 1760 (Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 465),
relative to the machines of Martin Planta, Ingen-housz and Ramsden;
Reiser’s plate machine (Lichtenberg and Voigt’s “Magazin für das
Neueste aus der Physik,” Vol. VII. St. 3, p. 73); Ferdinando Elice,
“Saggio sull’Elettricita,” Genoa, 1824 (for two electricities); J. J.
Metzger’s machine (Elice, “Saggio,” second edition, p. 55); Marchese
C. Ridolfi, for a description of Novelluccis’ plate electrical machine
(“Bibl. Italiana,” Vol. LXIII. p. 268; “Antologia di Firenze,” for
August 1824, p. 159); Robert Hare, “Description of an Electrical Plate
Machine,” London, 1823 (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. LXII. p. 8). See,
besides, the machines of Bertholon (rubber in motion) in Lichtenberg
and Voigt’s “Magazin,” Vol. I. p. 92 and Rozier XVI. p. 74; of Brilhac
(Rozier, XV. p. 377); of Saint Julien (Rozier, XXXIII. p. 367); of Van
Marum (Rozier, XXXVIII. p. 447).
Dr. Ingen-housz also constructed a small magnet, of several laminæ of
magnetised steel firmly pressed together, capable of sustaining one
hundred and fifty times its own weight, and he found that pastes into
the composition of which the powder of the natural magnet entered
were much superior to those made with the powder of iron; the natural
magnet, he observed, having more coercitive force than iron.
REFERENCES.--_Journal de Physique_ for February 1786, and for
May 1788, containing the letters of Dr. Ingen-housz, which
show that the vegetation of plants is in no sensible degree
either promoted or retarded by common electricity. An account
is also given of his experiments in “Versuche mit Plantzen,”
Vienna, 1778, in the “Catalogue of the Royal Society,” p.
313, in “Goth. Mag.,” Vol. V. iii. 13; Rozier, XXXII. p. 321;
XXXIV. p. 436; XXXV. p. 81; _Journal de Physique_, Vol. XXXV
for 1789. See also, _Journal de Physique_, XLV (II), 458;
Rozier, XXVIII. p. 81; M. Nuneberg, “Osservazioni ...” Milano,
1776 (“Scelta d’Opuscoli,” XVII. p. 113); Pietro Moscati,
“Lettera ...” Milano, 1781 (“Opus Scelti,” IV. p. 410); H. B.
de Saussure (_Journal de Physique_, Vol. XXV for 1784); G. da
San Martino, “Memoria ...” Vicenza, 1785; M. Schwenkenhardt,
“Von dem Einfluss ...” (Rozier, XXVII. p. 462; _Journal de
Physique_ for 1786, Vol. I); A. M. Vassalli-Eandi in the “Mem.
della Soc. Agr. di Torino,” Vol. I for 1786, particularly
regarding the experiments of Ingen-housz and Schwenkenhardt;
also in the “Giornale Sc. d’una Soc. Fil. di Torino,” Vol.
III; N. Rouland, “Elec. appliquée aux vegétaux” (_Journal de
Physique_, 1789–1790); Ingen-housz, Rouland, Dormoy, Bertholon
and Derozières (Rozier, XXXV. pp. 3, 161, 401; XXXVIII. pp. 351,
427, and in _Journal de Physique_, Vols. XXXII, XXXV, XXXVIII);
M. Carmoy, on the effects of electricity upon vegetation, in
Rozier, XXXIII. p. 339; _Jour. de Physique_ 1788, Vol. XXXIII;
M. Féburier, “Mémoire sur quelques propriétés ...”; G. R.
Treviranus, “Einfluss ...” Kiel, 1800 (Gilbert’s _Annalen_,
Vol. VII for 1801 and “Nordisches Arch. f. Nat. u. Arzneiw.,”
1st Band, 2tes Stück); C. G. Rafn (“Mag. Encyclopédique,” No.
19, Ventose An. X. p. 370), Paris, 1802; J. P. Gasc, “Mémoire
sur l’influence ...” Paris, 1823; E. Solly, “On the influence
...” London, 1845 (“Journ. of the Hortic. Society,” Vol. I. part
ii.); E. Romershausen, “Galv. El. ... Vegetation,” Marburg,
1851; M. Menon, “Influence de l’électricité sur la végétation,”
and his letters to R. A. F. de Réaumur. Consult likewise J.
Browning’s letter to H. Baker, Dec. 11, 1746 (_Phil. Trans._
for 1747, Vol. XLIV. p. 373); G. Wallerius, “Versuch ...”
Hamb. and Leipzig, 1754; (“K. Schwed. Akad. Abh.,” XVI. p.
257; also “Vetensk Acad. Handl.,” 1754;) L. F. Kamtz (Kaemtz),
“Über d. Elek ...” Nürnberg, 1829; (Schweigger’s _Journal f.
Chemie u. Physik_, Vol. LVI;) Bartolomeo Zanon, “Intorno un
punto ...” Belluno, 1840; Francesco Zantedeschi “Dell influsso
...” Venezia, 1843; (“Mem. dell Instit. Veneto,” I. p. 269;)
E. F. Wartmann, “Note sur les courants ...” Genève, 1850;
(“Bibl. Univ. de Genève,” for Dec. 1850;) T. Pine, “Connection
between Electricity and Vegetation,” London, 1840; (“Annals of
Electricity,” Vol. IV. p. 421.) For the effects of galvanism
on plants, see Giulio in “Bibl. Ital.,” Vol. I. p. 28; also
E. J. Schmuck “On the Action of Galvanic Electricity on the
_Mimosa Pudica_,” and M. Rinklake, as well as Johann W. Ritter,
“Elektrische versuche an der _Mimosa Pudica_.” For an account of
M. P. Poggioli’s observations on the influence of the _magnetic_
rays on vegetation, and the reply of F. Orioli thereto,
see Vol. I of the “Nuova collezione d’opuscoli scientifici
...” Bologna, 1817. Dr. Thomas Young’s “Course of Lectures,”
Vol. II. pp. 432–433; N. K. Molitor’s “John Ingen-housz.
Anfangsgrunde ...” 1781; Geo. Adams, “Lectures on Nat. and Exp.
Philosophy,” London, 1799, Vol. I. pp. 512–515; John Senebier,
“Expériences,” etc., 1st and 2nd Memoirs, Genève and Paris,
1788; Becquerel in the _Comptes Rendus_ for November 1850,
also Tome XXXI. p. 633; M. Buff (_Phil. Mag._ N. S. Vol. VII.
p. 122); Priestley’s “History ...” 1775, p. 487; Walsh at A.D.
1773; Cavallo’s “Exper. Philosophy,” 1803, Vol. III. p. 357;
Pouillet (Poggendorff’s _Annalen_, Vol. XI. p. 430); Reiss, in
Poggendorff’s _Annalen_, Vol. LXXIX. p. 288; G. F. Gardini, “De
inflvxu ...” s. 7, p. 10; _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1775,
1778, p. 1022; 1779, p. 537; _Journal de Physique_, Vol. XVI for
1780; “Erxleben’s phys. bibliothek,” s. 530; papers relative to
the effects of electricity upon vegetation alluded to in “Le
Moniteur Scientifique,” more particularly at pp. 904, 907, 1026,
Vol. XX for 1878, and at p. 23, Vol. XXI for 1879.
=A.D. 1780.=--Spallanzani (Lazaro), celebrated Italian naturalist,
to whom the French Republic vainly offered the Professorship of
Natural History at the Paris _Jardin des Plantes_, and who has been
already particularly alluded to in connection with John Walsh, at
A.D. 1773, writes a second treatise upon the operations of Charles
Bonnet, of Geneva, as regards the effects of electricity upon nerves
and muscles. He is also the author of works upon electrical fishes as
well as upon meteors, etc., which will be found detailed in Vol. VII
of the “Biographie Médicale,” as well as at Vol. XLIII. p. 246, of the
“Biographie Universelle.”
REFERENCES.--Alibert’s Eloge in Vol. III of the “Mém. de la Soc.
Médicale d’Emulation”; “Catal. Roy. Soc. Sc. Papers,” Vol. V. p.
767; “Opus. Scelti,” Vols. VII. pp. 340, 361; VIII. p. 3; XIV.
pp. 145, 296; Brugnatelli, “Ann. di chimica” for 1793 and 1795;
“Mem. Soc. Ital.,” Vols. II. p. 11; IV. p. 476.
=A.D. 1780–1781.=--Bertholon de Saint Lazare (Pierre), French
physician and Professor of Natural Philosophy, and a great friend of
Dr. Franklin, publishes at Paris his “Electricité du Corps Humain
...” in which he relates more particularly his general observations
upon atmospheric electricity as affecting the human body while in a
healthy state and while in a diseased condition. He likewise treats of
the effects of electricity upon animals, and details very interesting
experiments upon the _torpedo_, which latter, he remarks, establishes
the closest possible resemblance to the Leyden phial.
He is also the author of “Electricité des Végétaux” (1783), as well
as of “Electricité des Météores” (1787), and of a volume entitled
“Electricité des Métaux.” J. C. Poggendorff says (“Biog.-Lit. Handw.
...” Vol. II. p. 102) that J. Ferd. Meidinger (1726–1777) had
previously written concerning the action of electric fire upon metals
and minerals. Johann Jacob Hemmer published, at Mannheim in 1780, “Sur
l’Electricité des Métaux” (“Ob. sur la Physique,” July 1780, p. 50),
and A. A. De La Rive wrote in 1853 “De l’Elect. Développée ...” (“Bibl.
Univ.,” Vol. LIX).
REFERENCES.--Young’s “Course of Lectures,” Vol. II. p. 431;
Ingen-housz at A.D. 1779; _Journal de Physique_, Vol. XXXV;
“Biographie Universelle,” Vol. IV. p. 149; “Biographie
Générale,” Vol. V. p. 722; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
II. p. 618; “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. VI. p. 450. See
also Bertholon’s “Nouvelles Preuves ...” pp. 18–19; Arago,
“Notices Scientifiques,” Vol. I. pp. 338–340, 386; “Mercure
de France,” 1782, No. 52, p. 188; Abbé d’Everlange de Wittry,
“Mém. sur l’Elec. ... dans les végétaux et le corps humain,”
read June 24, 1773--“Anc. Mém. de l’Acad. Belge,” Vol. I.
p. 181; Vassalli-Eandi, “Esame della Elett. delle Meteore
del Bertholon,” Torino, 1787; account of the experiments to
ascertain the effects of electricity on vegetation, made in
France during the summer of 1878 by MM. Grandeau, Celi and
Leclerc; and a curious publication, “Les Animaux et les Métaux
deviennent ils Electriques par communication,” by L. Béraud
(Bérault), alluded to in Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 146.
=A.D. 1780–1783.=--Prof. Samuel Williams, at Cambridge, Mass., makes
the earliest known observations of the magnetic dip in the United
States, and publishes them in the “Memoirs of the American Academy of
Arts,” Vol. I. pp. 62, 68. According to this authority, the dip in 1783
was 69° 41’. The next dip observations are those made during Long’s
expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1819.
REFERENCES.--“American Journal of Science,” Vol. XLIII. pp. 93,
94; “Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc.,” O. S., Vol. III. p. 115.
=A.D. 1780–1794.=--Le Père Amyot (Amiot), learned French Jesuit,
who was sent in 1751 as a missionary to Pekin, where he resided till
his decease in 1794, writes, on the 26th of July 1780, and also on
the 20th of October 1782 that, as a result of a great number of
observations, he finds no change in the variation of the magnetic
needle, _i. e._ that “the point which indicates the north declines
westerly from 2 to 2½ degrees, rarely more than 4½ degrees, and never
less than 2 degrees.”
REFERENCES.--“Mémoires concernant l’histoire,” etc., Saillant et
Nyon, Vol. X. p. 142; Davis, “The Chinese,” Vol. III. p. 13.
=A.D. 1781.=--The so-called compass plant (_Silphium lancinatum_) is
first introduced from America into Europe by M. Thouin and blooms for
the first time in the Botanic Gardens of Upsala, Sweden.
In the “Scientific American” of February 26, 1881, reference is made
to the interesting account of this plant given by Sir J. D. Hooker
in Curtis’ “Botanical Magazine,” as well as to the following extract
from Prof. Asa Gray’s report concerning it: “The first announcement
of the tendency of the leaves of the compass plant to direct their
edges to the north and south was made by General (then Lieutenant)
Alvord, of the U.S. Army, during the year 1842, and again in 1844, in
communications to the American Association for the Advancement of
Science.... The lines in “Evangeline” (familiar to many readers):
“Look at this delicate plant that lifts its head from the meadow,
See how its leaves all point to the north as true as the magnet;
It is the compass plant that the finger of God has suspended,
Here on its fragile stalk, to direct the traveller’s journey,
Over the sealike, pathless, limitless waste of the desert----”
were inspired through a personal communication made by General Alvord
to the poet Longfellow.
In this connection, the following article, headed “A Wonderful Magnetic
Plant,” translated from _La Nature_ by the London _Court Journal_, will
prove interesting: “There has been discovered in the forests of India a
strange plant (_Philotacea electrica_) which possesses to a very high
degree astonishing magnetic power. The hand which breaks a leaf from
it receives immediately a shock equal to that which is produced by the
conductor of an induction coil. At a distance of six metres a magnetic
needle is affected by it, and it will be quite deranged if brought
near. The energy of this singular influence varies with the hours
of the day. All powerful about two o’clock in the afternoon, it is
absolutely annulled during the night. At times of storm its intensity
augments to striking proportions. While it rains the plant seems to
succumb: it bends its head during a thunder-shower and remains without
force or virtue even if one should shelter it with an umbrella. No
shock is felt at that time in breaking the leaves, and the needle is
unaffected by it. One never by any chance sees a bird or insect alight
on this electric plant; an instinct seems to warn them that in so doing
they would find sudden death. It is also important to remark that where
it grows none of the magnetic metals are found, neither iron, nor
cobalt, nor nickel--an undeniable proof that the electric force belongs
exclusively to the plant. Light and heat, phosphorescence, magnetism,
electricity, how many mysteries and botanical problems does this
wondrous Indian plant conceal within its leaf and flower!”
The results of some interesting researches on plant-electricity have
been reported by A. D. Waller, who finds that whenever a plant is
wounded, a positive electric current is established between the wounded
part and the intact parts. This may start with an electromotive force
of 0·1 volt, but it afterward diminishes. He writes further:
“Actual wounding is not necessary to obtain this manifestation; an
electro-positive current is set up when there is mechanical excitation,
but it is much weaker (0·02 volt). And light acts like mechanical
excitation with certain plants, such as the leaves of the iris, of
tobacco, of the begonia, etc. From the illuminated to the darkened
part flows a positive electric current that may be as strong as
0·02 volt. A similar reaction in the petals is not always observed.
There is a certain correlation between the vigour of a plant and the
electric reaction. The more vigorous the plant is, the stronger the
current. Plants grown from fresh seeds give a more powerful current
than those from old seeds. A bean a year old gave a current of 0·0170
volt; one five years old, a current of 0·0014; and the reaction is
inversely and regularly proportional to the age of the seed from
which the plant springs. There is observed in vegetable tissues,
subjected to an excitation of the same intensity at regular intervals,
the characteristic changes of reaction that are present in animal
tissues--fatigue, recuperation, etc. Temperature plays a part in all
these phenomena; below -4° to -6° C. [+° to + 25° F.] and above 40° C.
[108° F.] there is no reaction.”
=A.D. 1781.=--Lavoisier (Antoine Laurent), an eminent French natural
philosopher, the chief founder of modern chemistry as well as of
the prevailing system of chemical nomenclature which ended in the
expulsion of the phlogistic theory, demonstrates by experiments made in
conjunction with Volta and Laplace that electricity is developed when
solid or fluid bodies pass into the gaseous state. Sir David Brewster
says that the bodies to be evaporated or dissolved were placed upon an
insulating stand and were made to communicate by a chain or wire with a
Cavallo electrometer, or with Volta’s condenser, when it was suspected
that the electricity increased gradually. When sulphuric acid, diluted
with three parts of water, was poured upon iron filings, inflammable
air was disengaged with a brisk effervescence; and, at the end of a
few minutes, the condenser was so highly charged as to yield a strong
spark of negative electricity. Similar results were obtained when
charcoal was burnt on a chafing dish, or when fixed air or nitrous gas
was generated from powdered chalk by means of the sulphuric and nitrous
acids.
The phlogistic theory alluded to above, which was so named by George
Ernest Stahl in 1697 after Johann Joachim Beccher (1635–1682) had
pointed out its principle in 1669, had for its most energetic defender
the editor of the _Journal de Physique_, M. J. C. De La Méthérie,
who is entered at A.D. 1785, and it was in order to offset the
influence which this gave him that the antiphlogistians established the
_Annales de Chimie_, so frequently mentioned in these pages.[52]
REFERENCES.--George Adams’ “Lectures on Nat. and Exp.
Philosophy,” London, 1799, Vol. I. pp. 575–587, wherein
Lavoisier’s system is confuted by the German chemist Wieglib,
whose views are endorsed by Mr. Green, while for Stahl and
Beccher, refer to Sir H. Davy, “Bakerian Lectures,” London,
1840, p. 102, note, to “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. V. pp. 85–87; “Meyer’s
Konvers. Lexikon,” Vol. II. p. 654, and to Thomson’s “Hist. of
Roy. Soc.,” London, 1812, p. 467. See also J. M. G. Beseke,
“Ueber elementärfeuer ...” Leipzig, 1786; G. A. Kohlreif,
“Sollte die elektricität ...” Weimar, 1787; Lavoisier and
Laplace, in the “Mém. de l’Acad. Roy. des Sciences” for 1781, p.
292; Lavoisier’s “Opuscules ...” 1774, and his “Rapport ... mag.
animal.,” Paris, 1784; Dr. Thomas Thomson, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,”
pp. 479–486; Herschel’s “Nat. Phil.,” concerning the third age
of chemistry; Grégoire, “Dict. d’hist.,” etc., p. 1171; Miller’s
“Hist. Phil. Illus.,” London, 1849, Vol. IV. pp. 332–333,
notes. Chap. IV of the “History of Chemistry,” Ernst Van Meyer,
tr. by George McGowan, London, 1898, entitled “History of the
Period of the Phlogiston Theory from Boyle to Lavoisier,” will
prove interesting. “La chimie constituée par Lavoisier,” Jacob
Volhard, in “Le Moniteur Scientifique,” du Dr. Quesneville, Vol.
XIV for 1872, pp. 50–71; “Nouveau Larousse,” Vol. V. p. 608;
“La Révolution chimique,” M. Berthelot, Paris, 1890; “Essays in
Historical Chemistry,” T. E. Thorpe, London, 1894, pp. 87, 110;
“Journal des Savants” for Nov. 1859 and Feb. 1890; “Lives of Men
of Letters and Science,” by Henry, Lord Brougham, Philadelphia,
1846, pp. 140–166.
=A.D. 1781.=--Achard (Franz Carl), able chemist and experimental
philosopher, born in Prussia but of French extraction, communicates
to the “Mém. de Berlin” a report of many very interesting experiments
made by him, which are reviewed by Prince Dmitri Alexewitsch Fürst
Gallitzin, in Vol. XXII of the _Journal de Physique_.
He had previously published essays upon the electricity of ice and
the electricity developed on the surface of bodies, as well as upon
terrestrial magnetism, the electrophorus, etc. He made many notable
investigations to prove that fermentation is checked by electricity and
that putrefaction is hastened both in electrified meats and in animals
killed by the electric shock.
One of his experiments illustrating galvanic irritation so greatly
interested Humboldt that the latter repeated it with different animals,
not doubting but small birds might in many cases be brought back to
life when they fall into a state somewhat resembling death. On one
occasion, he took a linnet about to expire and, having established
the necessary communication, perceived, the moment the contact took
place, that the linnet opened its eyes, stood erect upon its feet and
fluttered its wings; it breathed, he says, during six or eight minutes
and then expired tranquilly.
It was a namesake of Achard who invented the electro-magnetic brake
which will be found described and illustrated in articles from the
London _Engineer_ and _Engineering_, reproduced through the
_Scientific American Supplements_, No. 111, p. 1760, and No. 312,
p. 4974.
REFERENCES.--Poggendorff, “Biog.-Lit. Hand. ...” Vol. I. p.
7; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. I. p. 176; “Cat. Roy. Soc. Sc.
Papers,” Vol. I. p. 9; “Opus. Scelt.,” Vols. III. p. 313; V. p.
351; VI. p. 199; Reuss, _Repertorium_, Vol. IV. p. 351; Dr. G.
Gregory, “Economy of Nature,” London, 1804, Vol. I. p. 317; Van
Swinden, “Recueil ...” La Haye, 1784, Vol. I. p. 24; “Biographie
Universelle,” Vol. I. p. 114; “Journal Lit. de Berlin,” for
1776; Cavallo, London, 1777, p. 403; “Mém. de Berlin” for
1776–1780, 1786, 1790–1791; Sturgeon, “Lectures,” London, 1842,
p. 12; Geo. Adams, “Essay on Electricity,” etc., London, 1785,
pp. 214–220, 277; “Gött. Mag.,” Vol. II. ii. 139; Rozier, VIII.
p. 364; XV. p. 117; XIX. p. 417; XXII. p. 245; XXIII. p. 282;
XXV. p. 429; XXVI. p. 378; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. III. p. 51.
=A.D. 1781.=--Kirwan (Richard), LL.D., F.R.S., an Irish chemical
philosopher of great eminence, who became President of the Dublin
Society and of the Royal Irish Academy, receives from the English
Royal Society its gold Copley medal for the many valuable scientific
papers communicated by him to the latter body. These papers embrace his
“Thoughts on Magnetism,” wherein he treats at length of attraction,
repulsion, polarity, etc., as shown in the review given at pp. 346–353
of the eighth volume of Sturgeon’s “Annals of Electricity,” etc.
It is said that Kirwan first suggested the notion of molecular magnets,
but, according to Dr. J. G. M’Kendrick, it was not till a definite form
was given thereto by Weber that it acquired any importance.
REFERENCES.--_Transactions Royal Irish Academy_, Vol. VI; Ninth
“Encycl. Britannica,” Vol. XV. p. 276; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXXIV.
p. 247; Thomson, “Hist. of the Roy. Soc.,” p. 483; “Bibl.
Britan.,” An. VII. vol. xii. p. 105.
=A.D. 1781.=--Mauduyt (Antoine René) (1731–1815), Professor at
the Collège de France, publishes several observations from which he
concludes that the application of electricity is favourable in cases of
paralysis. He was in the habit of placing the patient upon an insulated
stool, in communication with the conductor of an electrical machine.
De La Rive, who mentions the fact (“Electricity,” Chap. III. pp. 586,
587), observes that the effect, if any, could only proceed from the
escape of electricity into the air.
REFERENCES.--Bertholon, _Elec. du Corps. Humain_, 1786, Vol.
I. pp. 275–276, 302, 439, 447, etc., and Vol. II. pp. 7 and
296; “Mémoire sur les différentes manières d’administrer
l’électricité,” etc., Paris, 1784; “Recueil sur l’électricité
médicale,” etc., containing articles by G. F. Bianchini, De
Lassoné, Deshais (_see_ Sauvages), Dufay, Jallabert, Pivati,
Quellmalz, Veratti, Zetzell, etc.; K. G. Kuhn’s works published
at Leipzig, 1783–1797; E. Ducretet in “Le Cosmos,” Paris, Oct.
3, 1891, pp. 269–272; P. Sue, aîné, “Hist. du Galvan,” Paris,
An. X-XIII, 1802, Vol. I. p. 40; and Vol. II. p. 382; “Grande
Encyclop.,” Vol. XXIII. p. 415.
=A.D. 1781–1783.=--Don Gauthey--Gauthier or Gualtier--a monk of the
Order of Citeaux, improved upon the invention of Dupuis (at A.D. 1778)
and constructed a telegraph, which he submitted at the Académie des
Sciences to Dr. Franklin as well as to Condorcet and De Milly, by
whom it was recommended to the French Government. In his prospectus,
published during 1783, he relates that he has discovered a new
mode of rapid transmission enabling him to convey intelligence and
sound, by means of water pipes, a distance of fifty leagues in fifty
minutes. Ternant, who states this at pp. 33 and 34 of _Le Télégraphe_,
Paris, 1881, adds that, as no action was taken at the time upon the
prospectus, it doubtless still lies in the archives of the Academy.
REFERENCES.--Laurencin, _Le Télégraphe_, p. 9; Eng. Cycl., “Arts
and Sciences,” Vol. VIII. p. 65; “Penny Cycl.,” 1842, Vol. IV.
p. 146.
=A.D. 1782.=--Nairne (Edward), an English mathematical instrument
maker, publishes papers on electricity describing his invention of a
cylinder machine which is illustrated and described at p. 15 of the
chapter on “Electricity” in “Library of Useful Knowledge,” 1829. In
this, as has been truly said, are seen all the essential parts of the
frictional apparatus now in use.
This machine, according to Cuthbertson, was originally constructed
in 1774, and was far more powerful than any before made. Nairne also
constructed the largest battery known up to that time. It contained 50
square feet of coated surface, and it could be given so high a charge
as to ignite 45 inches of iron wire ¹⁄₁₅₀ of an inch diameter, which up
to that period was the greatest length of wire ever ignited. Nairne,
while improving upon some of Priestley’s experiments, found that a
piece of hard drawn iron wire, ten inches long and one-hundredth of an
inch diameter, after receiving successively the discharge of 26 feet
of coated glass (nine jars), was shortened three-fortieths of an inch
by such discharge. Dr. Priestley had previously observed that a chain
28 inches long was shortened one quarter of an inch after having had
transmitted through it a charge of 64 square feet of coated glass, and
Brooke Taylor found that by passing a charge of nine bottles of 16
feet of coated surface nine times in succession through a steel wire
12 inches long and one one-hundredth of an inch diameter, the wire was
shortened one and one-half inches, or one-eighth its entire length.
To Nairne was granted the third English patent in the Class of
Electricity and Magnetism, the first having been issued to Gowin
Knight in 1766 (see A.D. 1746) and the second to Gabriel Wright, June
25, 1779, for “a new constructed azimuth and amplitude compass.” Knight
subsequently covered other similar inventions, July 5, 1791, and Jan.
19, 1796. Nairne’s patent bears date Feb. 5, 1782, No. 1318, and is
for what he calls “The Insulated Medical Electrical Machine,” the
conductors of which are so arranged as to readily give either shocks or
sparks. He says that “by means of the conductors and jointed tubes, the
human body can be in any part affected with either kind of electricity
in any convenient manner.”
REFERENCES.--_Philosophical Transactions_ for 1772, 1774,
1778, 1780, 1783, Vol. LXIV. p. 79; Vol. LXVIII. p. 823; Vol.
LXX. p. 334; also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. pp. 360
(dipping needle), 498; Vol. XIV. pp. 427–446, 688; Vol. XV.
p. 388; “General Biog. Dict.,” London, 1833, by John Gorton,
Vol. I. (n. p.); Cuthbertson, “Practical Electricity,” London,
1807, pp. 165–168; article “Electricity,” in the “Encycl.
Britannica”; “Description of ... Nairne’s ... Machine,” London,
1783 and 1787; Caullet de Veaumorel, “Description de la machine
électrique négative et positive de Mr. Nairne,” Paris, 1784;
Delaunay’s “Manuel,” etc., Paris, 1809, pp. 7, 12–14.
=A.D. 1782–1783.=--Linguet (Simon, Nicolas, Henri), French advocate
(1736–1794), who was an associate of Mallet du Pan in the preparation
of the _Annales Politiques_ and who was later on committed to the
Bastille in consequence of a visit which he imprudently made to Paris,
writes a letter to the French Ministry proposing a novel method of
transmitting messages of any length or description by means of some
kind of a telegraph, “nearly as rapidly as the imagination can conceive
them.” He adds, “I am persuaded that in time it will become the most
useful instrument of commerce for all correspondence of that kind;
just as electricity will be the most powerful agent of medicine; and
as the fire-pump will be the principle of all mechanic processes which
require, or are to communicate, great force.”
To Linguet has been attributed the authorship of the anonymous letter
which appeared in the _Journal de Paris_ of May 30, 1782, and in
_Le Mercure de France_ of June 8, 1782, wherein it is proposed to
employ twenty-four pairs of gilt wires, placed underground in separate
wooden tubes filled with resin and bearing a knob at each extremity.
Between each pair of knobs was to be placed a letter of the alphabet,
which would become discernible whenever the electric spark was passed
through the wire by means of the Leyden phial.
REFERENCES.--Ternant, _Le Télégraphe_, Paris, 1881, p. 11;
Linguet, “Mém. manuscrit ... signaux par la lumière,” Paris,
1782; all about the “Mercure de France,” in “Bulletin du
Bibliophile” No. 7 of July 15, 1902; “Biog. Dict.,” Alex
Chalmers, 1815, Vol. XX. p. 290; “Nouv. Biog. Gén.” (Hœfer),
Paris, 1860, Vol. XXXI. p. 279; “Biog. Univ.” (Michaud), Vol.
XXIV. p. 565.
=A.D. 1782–1791.=--Cassini (Jean Jacques Dominique, Comte de), son
of Cassini de Thury, eminent astronomer, makes the very important
announcement that, besides the _secular_ variation of the declination,
the magnetic needle is subject to an _annual_ periodical fluctuation
depending on the position of the sun in reference to the equinoctial
and solstitial points.
Cassini’s discovery is contained in a Memoir consisting of two parts,
the first part being a letter addressed to L’Abbé Rosier and published
by him in the _Journal de Physique_, while the second part, composed at
request of the Académie des Sciences, is that which specially treats of
the _annual variation in declination_.
Besides the last named, we have thus far learned of the _secular_
variation discovered by Gellibrand (Hellibrand) in 1635, as well as
of the _diurnal_ and _horary_ variations, first accurately observed
by George Graham during the year 1722, and we have likewise been
informed of the earliest observations of _the dip or inclination_, made
independently by both Georg Hartmann (A.D. 1543–1544) and by Robert
Norman (A.D. 1576), as well as of the determination of the intensity
of the inclination by J. C. Borda (at A.D. 1776). For accounts of
the _secular_ and _annual_, as well as of the _diurnal_ and _horary_
variations of the dip, the reader should consult the First Section of
Humboldt’s “Cosmos” treating of telluric phenomena and some of the very
numerous references therein given.
Speaking of the influence of the sun’s position upon the manifestation
of the magnetic force of the earth, Humboldt remarks that the most
distinct intimation of this relation was afforded by the discovery
of _horary_ variations, although it had been obscurely perceived by
Kepler, who surmised that all the axes of the planets were magnetically
directed toward one portion of the universe. He says that the sun may
be a magnetic body, and that on that account the force which impels
the planets may be centred in the sun (Kepler, in “Stella Martis,”
pp. 32–34--compare with it his treatise, “Mysterium Cosmogr.,” cap.
20, p. 71). He further observes that the _horary_ variations of the
declination, which, although dependent upon true time are apparently
governed by the sun as long as it remains above the horizon, diminish
in angular value with the magnetic latitude of place. Near the equator,
for instance, in the island of Rawak, they scarcely amount to three
or four minutes, whilst the variations are from thirteen to fourteen
minutes in the middle of Europe. As in the whole northern hemisphere
the north point of the needle moves from east to west on an average
from 8½ in the morning until 1½ at midday, in the southern hemisphere
the same north point moves from west to east (Arago, _Annuaire_,
1836, p. 284, and 1840, pp. 330–358). Attention has been drawn, with
much justice, to the fact that there must be a region of the earth,
between the terrestrial and the magnetic equator, where no horary
deviations in the declination are to be observed. This fourth curve
(in contradistinction to the _isodynamic_, _isoclinic_ and _isogonic_
lines, or those respectively of equal force, equal inclination and
equal declination), which might be called the _curve of no motion_, or
rather _the line of no variation of horary declination_, has not yet
been discovered. No point has hitherto been found at which the needle
does not exhibit a _horary_ motion, and, since the erection of magnetic
stations, the important and very unexpected fact has been evolved that
there are places in the southern magnetic hemisphere at which the
_horary_ variations of the dipping needle alternately participate in
the phenomena (types) of the hemispheres.
Humboldt also alludes, in the article on “Magnetic Variation,” to his
recognition of the “four motions of the needle, constituting, as it
were, four periods of magnetic ebbing and flowing, analogous to the
barometrical periods,” which will be found recorded in Hansteen’s
“Magnetismus der Erde,” 1819, s. 459, and he likewise refers to the
long-disregarded _nocturnal_ alterations of variation, for which
he calls attention to Faraday “On the Night Episode,” ss. 3012–3024.
(See also, Poggendorff’s _Annalen der Physik_, Bd. XV. s. 330, and
Bd. XIX. s. 373.)
The _Phil. Trans._ for 1738, p. 395, contain the description of a new
compass for ascertaining the variation “with greater ease and exactness
than any ever yet contrived for that purpose.” This was devised by
Capt. Christopher Middleton, whose many interesting observations are
to be found in the same volume of the _Phil. Trans._, p. 310, as well
as in the volumes for 1726, p. 73; 1731–1732, 1733–1734, p. 127; 1742,
p. 157, and in John Martyn’s abridgment, Vol. VIII. part i. p. 374.
Reference should also be made to the volumes for 1754 (p. 875) and
1757 (p. 329), giving the reports of W. Mountaine and J. Dodson upon
the magnetic chart and tables of 50,000 observations, likewise to
the volume for 1766 containing the report of W. Mountaine on Robert
Douglass’ observation, as well as for the record of investigations of
the variation made by David Ross on board the ship “Montagu” during the
years 1760–1762.
REFERENCES.--Sabine, “On the Annual and Diurnal Variations” in
Vol. II of “Observations made ... at Toronto,” pp. xvii-xx, also
his Memoir “On the Annual Variation of the Magnetic Needle at
Different Periods of the Day,” in _Phil. Trans._ for 1851, Part
II. p. 635, as well as the Introduction to his “Observations
... at Hobart Town,” Vol. I. pp. xxxiv-xxxvi, and his Report
to the British Association at Liverpool, 1854, p. 11--_Phil.
Trans._ for 1857, Art. 1, pp. 6, 7--relative to the _lunar
diurnal magnetic variation_. See likewise C. Wolf, “Histoire
de l’observatoire depuis sa fondation à 1793”; Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibl. Gen.,” Vol. II. p. 102; “Mém. de Paris,” Vol.
II. p. 74, and Vol. VII. pp. 503, 530; Walker, “Ter. and Cos.
Magn.,” Chap. III; Mme. J. Le Breton, “Histoire et Applic.,”
etc., Paris, 1884, p. 17; Robison, “Mech. Phil.,” Vol. IV. p.
356; Thos. Young, “Nat. Phil.,” 1845, p. 583.
CASSINI FAMILY
This celebrated family, to which allusion was made under A.D. 1700,
deserves here additional notice.
Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625–1712), the first and greatest of the
name, succeeded Buonaventura Cavaliéri in the astronomical chair of
the Bologna University in 1650, and remained there until given the
directorship of the Paris Royal Observatory upon its completion in
1670. Partly with the assistance of his learned nephew, James Philip
Maraldi, Cassini made many important discoveries, among which may be
signalled the finding of the first, second, third and fifth satellites
of Saturn, as well as the dual character of that planet’s ring, the
determination of the rotation of Jupiter, Mars and Venus, and the laws
of the moon’s axial rotation. (See Thomson, “Hist. of the Roy. Soc.,”
p. 331; “Anc. Mém. de Paris,” I, VIII, X; Thos. Morrell, “Elem. of the
Hist. of Phil. and Sc.,” London, 1827, pp. 377–379.)
Jacques (James) Cassini (1677–1756), the only son of the preceding,
became director of the Paris Observatory upon the death of his father,
made many very important astronomical observations, and wrote several
treatises upon electricity, etc. In one of his works, “De la Grandeur
et de la Figure de la Terre,” Paris, 1720, he gives an account of the
continuation of the measurement of Picard’s arc of the meridian from
Paris northward, begun by Domenico Cassini and La Hire in 1680, and
recommenced by Domenico and Jacques Cassini in 1700. (See “Mém. de
Paris,” Vol. VII. pp. 455, 456, 508, 572; and for years 1705, pp. 8,
80; 1708, pp. 173, 292; 1729, Hist. I., Mem. 321.)
Cesar François Cassini de Thury (1714–1784), son of Jacques, whom he
in turn succeeded at the Observatory, was, as above stated, the father
of Jean Dominique Cassini (1747–1845). He made numerous researches
while in the Director’s Chair, his most remarkable work being the large
triangulation of France published in 1744, under the title of “La
Méridienne,” etc. (See “Hist. de l’Acad. des Sciences de Paris” pour
1752, p. 10.)
=A.D. 1783.=--Robespierre (François-Maximilien-Joseph-Isidore de),
who afterward became leader of the famous French Jacobin Club, and was
at the time practising law in his native town of Arras, distinguishes
himself by successfully defending the cause of the Sieur de Vissery
de Boisvalé, a landed proprietor of that place, who had erected a
lightning conductor on his house, “much to the scandal of the discreet
citizens” of the locality--“Deistical philosophy; away with it!”
(Eighth “Britannica,” Vol. XIX. p. 233).
Mr. de Boisvalé’s case was an appeal from a judgment delivered by
the sheriff of Saint-Omer, ordering the destruction of the lightning
conductor, and its printed report bears the following epigraph:
“L’usage appuyé sur les temps
Et les préjugés indociles.
Ne se retire qu’à pas lents
Devant les vérités utiles.”
Jean Paul Marat, docteur en médecine et médecin des Gardes de corps de
M. le Comte d’Artois, who, like Robespierre, was a member of the French
National Convention as well as a declared enemy of the Girondins,
and who was killed by Charlotte Corday, July 13, 1793, made many
electrical experiments. These greatly interested Benjamin Franklin,
who used to visit him (Ninth “Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. XV. p. 526). He
was the author of many electrical works during the years 1779–1784,
notably “Découvertes sur le feu, l’électricité et la lumière,”
“Recherches Physiques,” and a memoir on medical electricity (“Œuvres de
Marat,” Paris, 1788; A. Bougeart, “Marat, l’ami du peuple,” 1864; F.
Chevremont, “Jean Paul Marat,” 1881).
REFERENCES.--Ronalds’ “Catalogue,” p. 434; _La Lumière
Electrique_ for Sept. 5, 1891; the _Electrician_, London, Sept.
11, 1891.
=A.D. 1783.=--Wilkinson (C. H.), Scotch physician, publishes at
Edinburgh his “Tentamen Philosophico-medicum de Electricitate,” which
is followed, during 1798 and 1799, by other works upon electricity,
wherein he cites a number of marvellous cures of intermittent fevers
similar to those made by Cavallo, also of amaurosis (_goutte sereine_)
and of quinsy (_squinancie_) like those performed by Lovet, Becket and
Mauduyt.
During the year 1804 appeared the first edition, in two volumes, of
his “Elements of Galvanism in Theory and Practice,” containing a very
comprehensive review of the discovery from the time of Galvani’s early
experiments. In this last-named work, however, he shows that incipient
amaurosis and the completely formed gutta serena have not yielded to
his own treatment by galvanic influence as had been the case with Dr.
C. J. C. Grapengieser, who published many accounts of surprising cures
(Grapengieser, “Versuche den Galvanismus ...” Berlin, 1801 and 1802,
or Brewer and Delaroche, “Essai ...” Paris, 1802). The whole of Chap.
XXXVI is devoted to the application of galvanism to medicine, whereto
allusion had already been made in the first chapter of the same work.
Wilkinson refers also to the electricity of the _torpedo_, and to the
observations made thereon by Hippocrates, Plato, Theophrastus, Pliny
and Ælian, also by Belon, Rondelet, Salviana and Gesner, as well as by
Musschenbroek, Redi, Réaumur, Walsh, Hunter, Spallanzani, ’Sgravesande,
Steno, Borelli, Galvani and others. Much space is likewise given to the
observations recorded on animal electricity, notably by Fontana, De La
Méthérie, Berlinghieri, Vassali-Eandi, Humboldt, Pfaff, Lehot, Hallé,
Aldini, and to the experiments of Valli as they were repeated before
the French Academy of Sciences and before the Royal Society of Medicine
of Paris, in presence of M. Mauduyt. When treating of the powers of
galvanism as a chemical agent, reference is made to the decomposition
of water, thus first effected in 1795 by Creve, the discoverer of
metallic irritation, and to the operations of Nicholson and Carlisle,
Dr. Henry, Cruikshanks, Haldane, Henry Moyes, Richter, Gibbes, etc.
REFERENCES.--J. J. Hemmer, “Commentat Palatinæ,” VI, Phys.,
p. 47; Bertholon, “Elec. du Corps Humain,” 1786, Vol. I. pp.
314, 330, 483, and Vol. II. p. 299; “Bibl. Britan.,” 1808,
Vol. XXXVIII. p. 270 (_Phil. Mag._, No. 105); _Annales de
Chimie_, Vol. LXXVIII. p. 247; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIX. p. 243,
and Vol. XLIX. p. 299; F. Buzzi, “Osservazione ... amaurosi
... elettricita,” Milano, 1783 (“Opus. Scelti,” Vol. VI. p.
359); _Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. VIII. pp. 1, 70, 206; also
Vol. X. pp. 30–32, for letter relative to certain erroneous
observations of Mr. Wilkinson respecting galvanism, by Mr. Ra.
Thicknesse, who also wrote in Vol. IX. pp. 120–122, explaining
the production of the electric fluid by the galvanic pile.
=A.D. 1783.=--Saussure (Horace-Benedict de), Professor of Physics at
the University of Geneva and founder of the Society for the Advancement
of the Arts in the same city, is the inventor of an electrometer
designed to ascertain the electrical state of the atmosphere, which
will be found described in Vol. VIII. p. 619 of the 1855 “Encycl.
Britannica.”
He observed that electricity is strongest in the open-air, that it
is weak in streets, under trees, etc., and that during the summer
and winter, by night as well as by day, when the atmosphere is free
from clouds, the electricity of the air is always positive. In
contradistinction, Mr. T. Ronayne found in Ireland that the electricity
of the atmosphere is positive in winter when the air is clear, but that
it diminishes in frosty or foggy weather and that he could detect no
electricity in the air during summer except on the approach of fogs,
when the electricity proved to be positive. During the year 1785, M.
de Saussure observed at Geneva that, during the winter, the intensity
of atmospherical electricity attained its first maximum at 9 a.m.,
diminishing from that hour until it reached its minimum at 6 p.m.,
after which it began to increase until attaining its second maximum
at 8 p.m., diminishing gradually thereafter till it recorded its
second minimum at 6 a.m. During the summer he found the electricity
increasing from sunrise till between 3 and 4 p.m., when it would reach
its maximum; after that it appeared to diminish till the dew fell, when
it again became stronger, but was scarcely sensible during the night.
Sir David Brewster informs us in his able article on “Electricity”
in the “Britannica” that De Saussure made a number of elaborate
experiments on the electricity of evaporation and combustion. He
observed at first that the electricity was sometimes positive and
sometimes negative when water was evaporated from a heated crucible,
but in his subsequent trials he found it to be always positive in
an iron and in a copper crucible. In a silver, also in a porcelain
crucible, the electricity was negative and the evaporation of
both alcohol and of ether in a silver crucible also gave negative
electricity. M. de Saussure made many fruitless attempts to obtain
electricity from combustion, and he likewise failed in his efforts to
procure it from evaporation without ebullition.
To De Saussure is often erroneously attributed the authorship of
Lullin’s “Dissertatio physica de electricitate,” alluded to at
A.D. 1766.
REFERENCES.--De Saussure’s “Dissertatio de Igne,” “Exposition
abrégée,” etc. (translated by Giuseppe Toaldo, in both his
“Della maniera,” etc., and “Dei conduttori,” etc., Venezia, 1772
and 1778), “Voyage dans les Alpes,” all published at Geneva,
1759, 1771, 1779, also the important 1786 Neuchatel edition of
the last-named work, more particularly at pp. 194, 197, 203,
205, 206, 211, 212, 216, 218, 219, 228, 252, 254 of Vol. II, and
at pp. 197, 257 of Vol. IV; likewise his Memoirs relative to the
electricity of the atmosphere, of vegetables, of microscopic
animals, etc., etc., alluded to in _Journal de Physique_ for
1773, 1784, 1788; in _Journal de Paris_ for 1784, 1785; in Vol.
I of Lazaro Spallanzani’s “Opuscoli di fisica,” etc., for 1776;
in Vol. III of the “Opuscoli Scelti di Milano,” and in the
_Philosophical Transactions_. See also Jean Senebier, “Mémoire
historique,” etc., Genève, 1801; Louis Cotte in his “Traité,”
etc., “Mémoires,” etc., “Observation,” etc., Paris, 1762, 1769,
1772; in the “Mémoires de Paris,” Année 1769, “Hist.,” p. 19;
Année 1772, “Hist.,” p. 16, and in the _Journal de Physique_ for
1783, Vol. XXIII; the experiments of MM. Becquerel and Brachet
in Becquerel’s “Traité d’El. et de Magn.,” Paris, 1836, Vol.
IV. p. 110; Theodor Ægidius von Heller, “Beobach d. Atmosphär.
Elektricität.” (F. A. C. Gren, “Neues Journal der Physik”
for 1797, Vol. IV); Faujas de St. Fond, “Description,” etc.,
Vol. II. p. 271, as per George Adams’ “Essay on Electricity,”
London, 1799, p. 419; Noad, “Manual,” etc., London, 1859, p.
16; Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 755; Rozier, XXXI. pp. 317, 374;
XXXIV. p. 161; articles “Meteorology and Electricity” in the
“Encyclopædia Britannica”; Thomas Young, “Course of Lectures,”
etc., London, 1807, Vol. II. pp. 447, 466–471.
=A.D. 1784.=--Swinden (Jan Hendrik Van) (1746–1823), who had been made
Professor in the University of Franequer at the early age of twenty
(1767), and was at this time occupying the Chair of Natural Philosophy
and Mathematics at Amsterdam, publishes in three volumes, at La
Haye, his “Recueil de Mémoires sur l’Analogie de l’Electricité et du
Magnétisme,” etc. (“De Analogia ...” in Vol. II of the “Neue Abhandl.
der Baierischen Akad. Phil.”). The latter contains all the essays sent
to the Electoral Academy of Bavaria on the subject--“Is There a Real
and Physical Analogy Between Electric and Magnetic Forces; and, if Such
Analogy Exist, in What Manner Do These Forces Act Upon the Animal Body?”
Van Swinden’s essay, which gained him one of the prizes, shows that,
in his opinion, the similarity between electricity and magnetism
amounts merely to an apparent resemblance, and does not constitute a
real physical analogy. He infers from this that these two powers are
essentially different and distinct from one another, but the contrary
opinion was maintained by Profs. Steiglehuer and Hubner, who contended
that so close an analogy as that exhibited by these two classes of
phenomena indicated the effects of a single agent, varied only in
consequence of a diversity of circumstances.
The eminent professor, Gerard Moll, of Utrecht, has communicated to the
Edinburgh _Journal of Science_ (1826, Vol. I. part ii. pp. 197–208)
a biographical notice of Van Swinden, wherein he gives a list of the
latter’s principal works and there speaks of one of his best-known
productions in following manner: “The _Positiones Physicæ_ (Opusc.
Scelti, X. 7), as far as they are published (Harderovici, 1786, Vol.
I and Vol. II. part i.), are allowed to rank among the best elements
of natural philosophy, and have been found by actual experience to
belong to the best sources from which the young student could draw
his information on those parts of natural philosophy, and its general
principles, as are contained in the first volume and part of the
second, which is all that was published. The work itself is on a most
extensive plan; and the multifarious avocations which crowded on Van
Swinden in Amsterdam delayed the publications, and made him afterward
abandon all thoughts of completing a work which would have done the
greatest honour to its author, and which even now, unfinished as it is,
is celebrated as an excellent specimen of sound reasoning and profound
learning.”
Van Swinden was the first President of the Royal Institute of the
Netherlands. He entered with ardour into all the new discoveries of
his day and kept up an extensive correspondence with many of the
leading scientific characters of the time, notably with the Swiss
philosopher, Charles Bonnet (whose “Contemplations de la Nature” he
annotated extensively); with Dr. Matthew Maty (who became secretary
of the Royal Society upon the resignation of Dr. Birch in 1765, and
who was appointed, by the king, principal librarian of the British
Museum upon the death of Dr. Gowin Knight, 1772); with the eminent
French physician, Michel-Augustin Thouret, Dean of the Paris “Faculté
de Médecine”; as well as with Delambre, Euler, De Saussure, and many
others who have been named elsewhere in this “Bibliographical History.”
The following is further extracted from Prof. Moll’s interesting
paper: “Mr. Biot, in his treatise on Natural Philosophy (Tome III. p.
143) asserts that we are indebted to Cassini IV. (see Jean Dominique,
Comte de Cassini, at A.D. 1782–1791) for much of what we know even
about the diurnal variation of the needle. This, I think, is not fair.
We do not mean to undervalue Mr. Cassini’s observations, but it is
unquestionable that long before the publication of that philosopher’s
work, Mr. Van Swinden had observed and published (‘Recherches sur
les aiguilles aimantées et leurs variations’--Mémoires présentés à
l’Académie des Sciences de Paris, Tome VIII--prize essay 1777) that
which Mr. Biot less accurately is pleased to ascribe to his countryman.
In this respect, however, Mr. Van Swinden was treated with more justice
by other eminent philosophers, such as Haüy, Halley and Burkhardt.”
(Consult also the “Acta Acad. Petrop.” for 1780, Part I. Hist. p. 10.)
In the afore-named very meritorious work, “Recueil de Mémoires,”
etc., crowned by the Bavarian Academy, Van Swinden has treated fully
of the then current theories relative to electrical and magnetical
phenomena, reviewing the entire field of their application. In so
doing he has necessarily made numerous references to discoverers and
experimenters of all countries, the names of many of which appear in
the present compilation, and while it is, of course, useless here to
quote these anew, it has been thought best, for a record, to specify
such as are infrequently met with, and which appear in many of his most
important articles, even at the risk of being accused of diffuseness or
prolixity. They are as follows:
REFERENCES.--John T. Needham (Vol. IV, Mem. Brussels Acad. for
1783); _Phil. Trans._, 1746, p. 247; J. G. Lehmann (“Abhandlung
von Phosph.”; “Von Magnet Theilen im Sande,” “Novi Com. Acad.
Petrop.,” Vol. XII. p. 368, etc.); M. De La Cépède, “Essai sur
l’El. nat et artif.”; C. E. Gellert (“Com. Acad. Petrop.,” Vol.
XIII. p. 382, Exp. 15, 16); J. F. Henckel, “Pyritologia,” etc.;
J. E. Von Herbert, “Theor. Phæn. Elect.,” cap. 4, prop. 8; C.
F. M. Déchales, “Mundus Mathematicus,” lib. 1, _Quartus Exper.
Ordo._, exp. 16, Tome II. p. 488, ed. 2, etc.; M. Marcel’s
Dissertation on powdered magnets, which appears in the Dutch
“Uitgezogte Verhandelingen,” Vol. I. p. 261, etc.; Jean M. Cadet
(“Nova Acta. Physico. Med. Acad. Natur. Curios.,” Tome III);
Abbé Giraud-Soulavie (“Comment. ... Œuvres de Mr. Hamilton,”
note 4, p. 303); J. B. Le Roy (“Mém. de l’Acad. de Paris,”
for 1753, p. 447; for 1772, p. 499; _Jour. de Phys._, Vol.
II); Rudolph Richard (“Magazin d. Hamb.,” IV. p. 681); Gilles
A. Bazin, “Descrip. des Cour, Mag.,” Plates 14, 16–18; J. F.
Gross, “Elektrische Pausen,” Leipzig, 1776; _Jour. de Phys._,
Vol. X. p. 235; Niccolo Bammacaro, “Tentamen de vi Electrica,”
etc., s. 6; Samuel Colepress (_Phil. Trans._, 1667, No. 27,
Vol. I. p. 502); E. F. Du Tour, “Discours sur l’aimant,” s.
27; “Recueil des Prix de l’Acad. de Paris,” Tome V. mém. ii.
p. 49; “Mém. Math, et Phys.”; Mr. Calendrin, at Van Swinden’s,
Vol. I. pp. 233, etc.; M. Blondeau (“Mém. de l’Acad. de
Marine,” Brest., Tome I. s. 46, pp. 401–431, 438); J. A. Braun,
“Observations,” etc.; “Novi. Comment. Acad. Petrop.,” Vol. VII.
pp. 388, 407; M. Antheaulme (“Mém. sur les aimants artif.”
(prize essay), 1760; “Mém. de l’Acad. Roy.,” 1761, p. 211; Van
Swinden, 1784, Vol. II. pp. 95, 170); J. N. Reichenberger,
“Directorium magneticum magneticis,” etc., and “Hydrotica,” as
at Van Swinden, 1784, Vol. II. pp. 272–273; Geo. C. Schmidt,
“Beschr., einer Elektrisir Masch.,” etc., 1778; M. De la Folie
(_Jour, de Phys._, 1774, Vol. III. p. 9); Cölestin Steiglehner,
“Obs. phaenom. elect.,” “Ueber die Annal der Elek. und des
Magn.”; Lorenz Hubner, “Abh. u. d. Annal. u. mag. Kraft”; Jos.
Thad. Klinkosch, “Schreiben,” etc., “Beschreib. d. Volta ...
Elektrophors.” Reference should also be made to Noad, “Manual,”
etc., p. 641; Encycl. Brit., 1857, Vol. XIV. p. 6; “Messager des
Sciences et des Arts,” Gand, 1823, pp. 185–201, detailing all of
Van Swinden’s works; Antoine Thillaye’s treatise presented to
the Ecole de Médecine le 15 Floréal, An. XI; Butet (“Bull, des
Sc. de la Soc. Philom.,” No. 43, Vendémiaire, An. IX).
=A.D. 1784.=--Cotugno (Domenico), Professor of Anatomy at Naples, thus
addresses Le Chevalier G. Vivenzio under date October 2, 1784: “The
observation which I mentioned some days ago, when we were discoursing
together of the electrical animals, upon which I said I believed the
mouse to be one of that number, is the following: Toward the latter end
of March, I was sitting with a table before me and observing something
to move about my foot, which drew my attention. Looking toward the
floor I saw a small domestic mouse, which, as its coat indicated,
must have been very young. As the little animal could not move very
quick, I easily laid hold of it by the skin of the back and turned it
upside down; then with a small knife that laid by me, I intended to
dissect it. When I first made the incision into the epigastric region,
the mouse was situated between the thumb and finger of my left hand,
and its tail was got between the last two fingers. I had hardly cut
through part of the skin of that region, when the mouse vibrated its
tail between the fingers, and was so violently agitated against the
third finger that, to my great astonishment, I felt a shock through
my left arm as far as the neck, attended with an internal tremor, a
painful sensation in the muscles of the arm, and such giddiness of the
head, that, being affrighted, I dropped the mouse. The stupor of the
arm lasted upward of a quarter of an hour, nor could I afterwards think
of the incident without emotion. I had no idea that such an animal was
electrical; but in this I had the positive proof of experience.” (See
G. Vivenzio, “Teoria e pratica della elettricità med.” ... Napoli,
1784.)
Cotugno’s observations attracted much attention throughout Italy and
gave rise to many experiments, notably by Vassalli, who, however,
merely concluded from them that the animal’s body could retain
accumulated electricity in some unaccountable manner.
REFERENCES.--_Essai sur l’histoire_, etc., J. B. Biot, p. 9;
_Journal de Physique_, XLI. p. 57; _Mémoires Récréatifs_,
etc., par Robertson, Paris, 1840, Vol. I. p. 233; Cavallo,
_Electricity_, London, 1795, Vol. III. p. 6; Izarn, _Manuel_,
Paris, 1804, p. 4; _Journal Encyclopédique de Bologne_, 1786,
No. 8; Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 417; Sue, aîné “Hist. du Galv.,”
Vol. I. pp. 1–2.
=A.D. 1785.=--Coulomb (Charles Augustin de), the founder of
_electro-statics_ and of the school of experimental physics in
France, invents the torsion balance, with which he discovers the
true law of electric and magnetic attractions and repulsions. Some
have asserted that Lord Stanhope had previously established the law
with regard to electricity, but it has not been seriously questioned
that its extension to magnetism belongs exclusively to Coulomb.
Johann Lamont (“Handbuch ...” p. 427) gives the credit of the latter
discovery to Giovannantonio Della Bella, of Padua, who is mentioned
by Poggendorff (“Biog.-Liter. Handwörterbuch,” Vol. I. p. 139) as the
author of several works on electricity and magnetism, but the claim
does not appear to be established upon any satisfactory foundation.
With his torsion balance, or rather electrometer, Coulomb measured
the force by the amount of twist it gave to a long silken thread
carrying a horizontal needle, constructed, preferably, of a filament
of gum-lac or of straw covered with sealing-wax. From his experiments
he concluded: That the attractive force of two small globes, one
electrified positively and the other negatively, is in the inverse
ratio of the squares of the distances of their centres, and that the
repulsive force of two small globes, charged either with positive or
negative electricity, is inversely as the squares of the distances of
the centres of the globes (“Mém. de l’Acad. Roy. des Sciences,” 1784,
1785).
In one of his three memoirs to the French Academy during 1785, he
states that a balance used by him was so delicate that each degree of
the circle of torsion expressed a force of only one hundred-thousandth
of an English grain, that another, suspended by a single fibre of
silk four inches long, made a complete revolution with a force of one
seventy-thousandth of a grain, and turned to the extent of a right
angle when a stick of sealing-wax, which had been rubbed, was presented
to it at the distance of a yard. It is said that a similar electrometer
has been constructed in which the movement of one degree recorded a
force not exceeding twenty-one million six-hundred-thousandths of a
grain.
The many valuable experiments made by Coulomb on the dissipation of
electricity and upon the distribution of electricity upon the surfaces
of bodies are fully recorded in the able article of Sir David Brewster
in the “Encyclopædia Britannica” (F. C. Achard, “Mém. de Berlin,”
1780, p. 47); M. Vernier, “De la dist. ... conducteurs,” Paris,
1824; J. L. F. Bertrand, “Programme d’une thèse ...” Paris, 1839; D.
Bourdonnay, “Sur la dist. ... conducteurs,” Paris, 1840; Ed. A. Roche
in “Montp. Acad. Sect. Sciences,” Vol. II. p. 115).
He discovered that shellac is the most perfect of all insulators, also
that a thread of gum-lac insulates ten times better than a dry silken
thread of the same length and diameter: and he established the law that
the densities of electricity insulated by different lengths of fine
cylindrical fibres, such as those of gum-lac, hair, silk, etc., vary as
the square root of the lengths of the fibre.
Besides the communications above alluded to, Coulomb sent to the French
Academy, during the years 1786, 1787, 1788 and 1789, many papers upon
Electricity and Magnetism, and, up to within two years of his death
(1806), he made many notable experiments, especially in magnetism, of
which full accounts are given in several of the Mémoires noted at foot.
The theory of the two magnetic fluids appeared in his 1789 paper. It is
also in this same paper that Coulomb describes his improved method of
making artificial magnets by employing compound magnets as first made
use of by Gowin Knight and as explained at A.D. 1746. Still further
improvements in these were brought about more particularly by the young
Flemish scientist, Etienne Jean Van Geuns (1767–1795), by Jean Baptiste
Biot (see A.D. 1803), and by the Rev. Dr. Scoresby during the year 1836.
Coulomb found that a steel wire is, by twisting, rendered capable of
being nine times more strongly magnetized; that the magnetic power
dwells on the surface of iron bodies and is independent of their mass;
that the directive force of a magnetized bar reached its maximum
when tempered to a bright cherry-red heat at 900 degrees, and that
every substance is susceptible of magnetism to a degree of actual
measurement. This last important research was communicated by him to
the French Institute during the year 1802. His experiments proved
that a grain of iron could communicate sensible magnetism to twenty
pounds’ weight of another substance, and that when even beeswax had
incorporated with it a portion of iron filings equal only to the one
hundred-and-thirty-thousandth part of its weight it was yet sensibly
affected by the magnet.
According to Dr. Thomas Young, Coulomb’s improvements in the theory of
electricity may be considered as having immediately prepared the way
for the elegant inventions of Volta and for the still more marvellous
discoveries of Davy. Dr. Young gives reports of some of Coulomb’s
experiments at p. 439, Vol. II of his “Course of Lectures” London,
1807 (“Journal of the Royal Institution” Vol. I. p. 134; “Décade
Philosophique,” No. 21).
REFERENCES.--“Mém. de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences,” Paris,
1784, p. 266; 1785, pp. 560, 569, 578, 612; 1786, p. 67; 1787,
p. 421; 1788, p. 617; 1789, p. 455; “Mém. de l’Institut,” Vol.
III. p. 176; Vol. IV. p. 565, and Vol. VI. for 1806; “Mém. de
Math. et de Phys.” Vols. VIII and IX; “Mémoires de Coulomb,”
Vol. I of the “Collection de Mémoires relatifs à la Physique,”
Paris, 1884; “Cat. of Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. III. p. 73;
“Abstracts of Papers of Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. p. 402; “Bull.
de la Soc. Philom.,” Nos. 3, 31, 61, 63, and for 1795, 1802;
_Journal de Physique_, Vols. XLV (II), pp. 235, 448; LIV. pp.
240, 267, 454; LV. p. 450 (for Carradori’s report); Ch. N. A.
De Haldat du Lys (“Mém. de Nancy” for 1841); _Phil. Magazine_,
Vols. XI. p. 183; XII. p. 278; XIII. p. 401; XV. p. 186; Rozier,
XXVII. p. 116; XLIII. p. 247; Gilbert, XI. pp. 254, 367; XII.
p. 194; Dr. Young, “Course of Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. I.
pp. 682, 685, 686; “Royal Society Cat. of Sc. Papers,” Vol.
II. p. 73; Eighth “Britannica,” Vol. XIV. pp. 37–38; Humboldt,
“Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. V. p. 61; Schaffner, “Manual,” 1859, p.
56; Biot’s article in the “Biographie Universelle” and Biot’s
“Traité de Physique,” Paris, 1816, Vols. II, III; Dr. Thomas
Thomson, “Outline of the Sciences,” etc., London, 1830, pp.
350, 351, 379–422; Harris, “Rudim. Magn.,” Parts I, II. p. 56.
See also description of the electrometer of Colardeau and the
electro-micrometer of Delaunay, in the latter’s “Manuel,” etc.,
Paris, 1809, pp. 66, 76–80, and Plate V. fig. 61, as well as
Libes’ “Dict. de Phys.,” Vol. I. p. 406.
=A.D. 1785.=--The Canon Gottoin de Coma, friend of Alessandro Volta,
observes that an iron wire about thirty feet in length will give a
sound under certain conditions of the atmosphere when stretched in
the open air. The circumstances that accompany, as well as those that
favour the production of the phenomenon, says Prescott, demonstrate
that it must be attributed to the transmission of atmospheric
electricity. This transmission does not occur in a continuous manner,
like that of a current, but is observable by a series of discharges.
REFERENCES.--Knight’s _Mechanical Dictionary_, 1876, Vol. III.
p. 2515; Prescott’s “The Speaking Telephone,” etc., 1879, p.
122; _Encyl. Britannica_, 1860, Vol. XXI. p. 631.
=A.D. 1785.=--Marum (Martin Van), a Dutch electrician who had in 1776
taken the degree of M.D. at the Academy of Gröningen, constructs
for the Teylerian Society at Haarlem, with the assistance of John
Cuthbertson, an electrical machine said to be the most powerful
theretofore made. According to Cavallo (_Nat. Phil._, 1825, Vol. II.
p. 194) it consisted of two circular plates of French glass, each
sixty-five inches in diameter, parallel with each other on a common
axis, and about seven and a half inches apart. Each plate was excited
by four rubbers, the prime conductor being divided into two branches
which entered between the plates and, by means of points, collected the
electric fluid from their inner surfaces only.
In Van Marum’s machine, the positive and negative electricity could
only be obtained in succession, but Dr. Hare, of the University
of Pennsylvania, remedied this by causing the plates to revolve
horizontally. It is said the machine was so powerful that bodies at a
distance of forty feet were sensibly affected; a single spark from it
melted a leaf of gold and fired various kinds of combustibles; a thread
became attracted at the distance of thirty-eight feet, and a pointed
wire was tipped with a star of light at a distance of twenty-eight feet
from the conductor.
Descriptions of his machines are given by Dr. Van Marum in letters
to the Chevalier Marsiglio Landriani and to Dr. Ingen-housz, both
printed in Haarlem during 1789 and 1791. The first quarto volume of
_Nicholson’s Journal_ also contains a reference thereto and gives (p.
83) the extract from a letter read June 24, 1773 (_Phil. Trans._, Vol.
LXIII. pp. 333–339), addressed to Dr. Franklin, F.R.S., by John Merwin
Nooth, M.D., who describes improvements by which machines are rendered
effective in all kinds of weather. Nooth was the inventor of the silk
flap, of which mention was made in the description of Cavallo’s machine
(under A.D. 1775).
Van Marum also constructed a powerful battery, the metallic coatings of
which were equal to 225 square feet, enabling him to give polarity to
steel bars nine inches long, nearly half an inch wide and one-twelfth
of an inch thick, as well as to sever a piece of boxwood four inches
diameter and four inches long, and to melt three hundred inches of iron
wire one hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch in diameter, or ten inches
of one-fortieth of an inch in diameter. It is said that, during these
experiments, the report was so loud as to stun the ears, and the flash
so bright as to dazzle the sight.
Dr. Van Marum likewise made experiments upon the electricity developed
during the melting and cooling of resinous bodies, which are detailed
in the article “Electricity” 8th Edit. “Encyclopædia Britannica,” Vol.
VIII. p. 565, and also upon the effects of electricity on animals and
vegetables, which are given at pp. 49–51 of the article “Electricity”
in the “Library of Useful Knowledge,” as well as in the 1855 Edit.
“Encyclopædia Britannica,” Vol. VIII. pp. 602, 603.
In 1785 again Van Marum discovered that electric sparks, on passing
through oxygen gas, gave rise to a peculiar sulphurous or electrical
odour, which Cavallo called “electrified air,” and the presence of
which Dr. John Davy, brother of Sir Humphry Davy, found the means of
detecting.
During the month of October 1801 Volta wrote a letter to Van Marum
asking him to make, in concert with Prof. C. H. Pfaff, of Kiel, several
experiments on the electricity of the pile with the very powerful
apparatus of the Teylerian Society. The extended researches of these
two scientists are embodied in the _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 161,
as well as in the “Lettre à Volta” etc., published at Haarlem during
1802, and are likewise treated of in a very complete manner throughout
Chaps. XVI and XXXII of Wilkinson’s well-known work on galvanism. Their
united observations confirm the doctrine of Volta as to the identity of
the current of the fluid put in motion by the voltaic pile and that to
which an impulsion is given by an electrical machine. Thus is answered
the question asked during May 1801 by the Haarlem Society of Sciences,
viz. “Can the voltaic pile be explained in a satisfactory manner by
the known laws and properties of electricity; or is it necessary to
conclude the existence of a particular fluid, distinct from the one
which is denominated electrical?” They also demonstrated that the
current put in motion by the voltaic pile has an enormous celerity
“which surpasses all that the imagination can conceive.” With a pile
of one hundred and ten pairs of very large copper and zinc plates,
they made experiments on the fusion of iron wires and ascertained the
causes of the more considerable effects of large piles in the fusion
and oxidation of metals, proving, among other facts, as Biot and
Cuvier had already done, that a part of the oxygen is absorbed whether
the operation be carried on in the open air or _in vacuo_ (Biot
and Cuvier, _Soc. Philomathique_, An. IX. p. 40; _Annales de
Chimie_, Vol. XXXIX. p. 247).
Another of Van Marum’s experiments is related in a letter to M.
Berthollet, wherein he says: “... I have succeeded in the decomposition
of water, by means of the current of the electrical machine, provided
with a plate of thirty-one inches diameter, constructed by me on a
new plan (see the _Journal de Physique_ for June, 1795).... I
took a thermometrical tube, of the kind employed in making the most
sensitive thermometers of Crawford and Hunter, for which purpose I
had procured several of these tubes some time before in London. Its
diameter interiorly was not more than the one-hundredth part of an
inch; and I introduced into it an iron wire of the diameter of about
the three-hundredth part of an inch, to the depth of about twelve
inches. I now closed the end of my thermometrical tube with sealing
wax in such a way that the extremity of the iron wire should scarcely
project, and I placed the tube itself, by means of a cork, within a
larger tube containing water. The rest of the apparatus was arranged
in the customary manner. By directing the powerful current of the
above-mentioned machine to this apparatus, the copper ball belonging to
which, placed on the thermometrical tube, was at the distance of about
three or four lines from the conductor, I succeeded in decomposing the
water with a promptitude nearly equal to that which results from a
voltaic pile of a hundred pairs of metallic plates.” This method of
decomposing water is a very tedious one, and is in fact the result of
an interrupted explosion, while the process of Dr. Wollaston (alluded
to at A.D. 1801) is tranquil and progressive.
REFERENCES.--“Biogr. Univ.,” Vol. XLII. p. 600; J. G. Heinze,
“Neue elekt. versuche ...” Oldenberg, 1777; Tries’ claim to
Van Marum’s machine in Rozier, XL. p. 116; Prieur’s extract in
_Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XXV. p. 312; “Verhand. Genootsch.
Rott.,” VI for 1781 and VIII for 1787; _Journal de Physique_,
XXXI, 1787; XXXIII, 1788 (Marum en Troostwyk); XXXIV, 1789;
XXXVIII, 1791; XL, 1792; “Journal du Galvanisme,” XI, Cahier,
p. 187; “Journal des Savants” for August 1905; “Revue
Scientifique,” Paris, April 8, 1905, pp. 428–429; _Nicholson’s
Journal_ for March 1799, Vol. II. p. 527; Harris, “Electricity,”
pp. 62, 90, 171; Cuthbertson, “Practical Electricity,” London,
1807, pp. 166, 172, 197, 225; Cavallo, “Electricity,” 4th ed.,
Vol. II. p. 273; “Lib. of Useful Knowledge,” “Electricity,” p.
45; Wilkinson, “Elements of Galvanism,” etc., London, 1804, Vol.
II. pp. 106–128, 384; “Teyler’s Tweede Genootschap”; Gilbert,
_Annalen_, I. pp. 239, 256; X. p. 121; Rozier, XXVII. pp.
148–155; XXXI. p. 343; XXXIV. p. 274; XXXVIII. pp. 109, 447; XL.
p. 270; “Opus. Scelti,” IX. p. 41; XIV. p. 210.
=A.D. 1785.=--Sigaud de la Fond, Professor at the Collège d’Harcourt
in Paris, publishes in the latter city his “Précis historique et
expérimental des phénomènes electriques,” wherein he states having,
as far back as 1756, made use of a circular plate machine provided
with cushions and similar in shape to that which many claim to have
originated with Ingen-housz and with Ramsden. (See A.D. 1779 and A.D.
1768.)
Sigaud de la Fond is also the author of “Description d’un Cabinet de
Physique” (1784), “Cours de Physique,” etc. (1786), “Examen.,” etc.
(1803) and of several treatises on medical electricity.
REFERENCES.--“Journal de Physique,” Vol. II. 1773; Figuier,
“Exposition et Histoire,” Paris, 1857, pp. 50, 74–76, 178;
Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 927.
=A.D. 1785.=--In the “Nachricht von einer neuen Elektrisirmaschine
des Herrn Walkiers von Saint Amand,” the last named gives a description
of the electrical machine presented by him in 1784 to the Belgian
Academy of Sciences.
It is also described and outlined in Delaunay’s “Manuel” named below,
but, although very powerful in its effects, cannot be made readily
available in consequence of its huge dimensions. M. Caullet de
Veaumorel suggested the feasibility of changing the cylinders from a
horizontal to a vertical position.
REFERENCES.--“Lichtenberg’s Mag.,” Vol. III. 1 st. p. 118;
Delaunay, “Manuel,” etc., 1809, pp. 14–16.
=A.D. 1785.=--Adams (George), mathematical instrument maker to his
Majesty, writes an enlarged edition of his “Essay on Electricity,”
etc., which first appeared the year previous and wherein, as its full
title indicates, he endeavours to explain the theory and practice
of that science and the mode of applying it to medical purposes. He
illustrates many experiments and gives an Essay on Magnetism, in the
treatment of which latter he acknowledges the valuable aid of Dr. J.
Lorimer.
The fifth and last edition of the “Essay,” which was issued by William
Jones in 1799, four years after Adams’ death, contains a communication
on the subject of Medical Electricity by John Birch, the author of
“Della Forza dell’ Elettricita,” etc., Napoli, 1778.
At p. 86 of the 1799 “Essay,” etc., Adams relates that, while M. Loammi
Baldwin (“Memoirs of Amer. Acad.,” Vol. I. p. 257) held the cord of his
kite during the approach of a thunderstorm, he “observed himself to be
surrounded by a rare medium of fire, which, as the cloud rose nearer
the zenith, and the kite rose higher, continued to extend itself with
some gentle faint flashes.” At pp. 137, 186 and 222, he alludes to “A.
Brook’s Miscellaneous Experiments and Remarks on Electricity,” etc.,
as well as to the Rev. John Lyon’s “Experiments and Observations of
Electricity,” and refers to the “Journal of Natural Philosophy” (Vol.
II. p. 438) for Nicholson’s experiments on the _plus_ and _minus_ of
electricity.
=A.D. 1785.=--La Méthérie (Jean Claude de), French physicist
naturalist, becomes sole editor of the “Journal de Physique, de
chimie et d’histoire naturelle,” and publishes in Paris his “Essai
Analytique,” etc., wherein amongst other observations he asserts that
the electric spark results from the combination of oxygen with hydrogen.
He considers that all bodies exist in an electrical or magnetical
condition, that we are only a temporary aggregation of molecules
of matter governed in different ways by nature’s laws, and that
excitability is produced by galvanic action resulting from the
superposition of nervous and muscular fibres.
He is also the author of very interesting treatises on animal
electricity communicated to the _Journal de Physique_ (Vol. XLII. pp.
252, 255, 292), and of which an account is given in Sue’s “Histoire du
Galvanisme,” Paris, 1802, Vol. I. pp. 64–68. The last-named work also
gives, at p. 80, an account of the letter on “Galvanism” sent to M. De
La Méthérie by M. Leopold Vacca-Berlinghieri (_Journal de Physique_,
Vol. XLI. p. 314).
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Générale,” Vol. XXIX. p. 209; Rozier,
XLI. p. 437; Delaunay, “Manuel,” etc., 1809, p. 15, also
Delaunay’s letter in _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXVII. p. 260; C. H.
Wilkinson, “Elements of Galvanism,” London, 1804, Vol. I. p.
62; Vol. II. p. 9; “Opus. Scelti,” XXI. p. 373; _Journal de
Physique et Chimie_ (of which La Méthérie remained editor up to
the time of his death, during 1817), Vols. LIII, LIV, Pluviose,
An. XI. p. 161; also p. 157 for letter sent him by Giuseppe
Izarn; _Ann. di Chim. di Brugnatelli_, Vol. XIX. p. 156; Aubert,
“Elektrometische Flasche,” Paris, 1789.
=A.D. 1785.=--According to Prof. Tyndall, George Cadogan Morgan
sought to produce the electric spark in the interior of solid bodies.
He inserted two wires into wood and caused the spark to pass between
them; the wood was illuminated with blood-red light or with yellow
light according as the depth at which the spark was produced proved
greater or less. The spark shown within an ivory ball, an orange, an
apple, or under the thumb, illuminates these bodies throughout. A lemon
is especially suited to this experiment, flashing forth, at every
spark, as a spheroid of very brilliant golden light, and a row of eggs
is also brilliantly illuminated throughout, at the passage of every
spark from a Leyden jar. Morgan likewise made several experiments to
ascertain the influence of electricity on the animal functions. These
are alluded to at p. 602, Vol. VIII of the 1855 “Britannica,” and at p.
49 of “Electricity” in the “Library of Useful Knowledge.”
This George Cadogan Morgan (1754–1798) was an English physician and
also a Professor of Natural Philosophy at Hackney, in an establishment
founded by his uncle, Dr. Price. His “Lectures on Electricity” appeared
in Norwich during the year 1794. In the second volume he describes (pp.
225–236) “the form, noise, colours and devastation of the electric
flash,” and treats (pp. 383–397) of the “relation of the electric
fluid to vegetation,” alluding more particularly to the experiments
of Maimbray, Nollet, Achard, Duvernier, Ingen-housz, Van Breda, Dr.
Carmoy and the Abbé d’Ormoy. He likewise gives an account of the
northern lights, as well as descriptions of Bennet’s movable doubler
and electroscope, and of Lane’s electrometer.
REFERENCES.--Morgan’s biography in Larousse, “Dict. Universel,”
Tome XI. p. 562, and in “Biog. Générale,” Tome XXXVI. p. 570;
“Bibl. Britan.” An. VII. vol. ii. pp. 129, 223, and Vol. XII. p.
3.
=A.D. 1786.=--Rittenhouse (David), an American physicist and
astronomer who afterward became F.R.S. and succeeded Dr. Franklin as
President of the Am. Philos. Soc., publishes his theory of magnetism in
a letter to John Page at Williamsburg, which is reproduced at folio 178
of Vol. II, old series, of the Transactions of the above-named Society.
“Were we called upon,” says Renwick, “to assign him a rank among the
philosophers whom America has produced, we should place him, in point
of scientific merit, as second to Franklin alone.”
REFERENCES.--“Trans. Am. Phil. Soc.,” Vol. II, O.S., pp. 173,
175, for Page and Rittenhouse, and Vol. III. for Rittenhouse and
Jones, as well as Rittenhouse and Hopkinson, upon “Meteors and
Lightning.”
=A.D. 1786.=--Galvani (Aloysio or Luigi), an Italian physician, who,
at the age of twenty-five, was Professor of Anatomy at the University
of Bologna, is led to the discovery of that important branch of
electricity which bears his name. The manuscript giving the result of
his experiments upon the Electricity of Metals is dated Sept. 20, 1786.
From papers in the “Bolognese Transactions” noted below, it would
appear that he had, even before the year 1780, made many observations
on the muscular contraction of frogs by electrical agency. Upon
one occasion his wife happened to be holding a scalpel against the
dissected legs and parts of the spine of a frog, which lay in close
proximity to the conductor of an electrical machine recently charged
by one of Galvani’s pupils. She noticed that whenever the dissecting
knife touched the muscles they were violently convulsed, and, upon
communicating the fact to her husband, he repeated and extended the
experiment and found it necessary to pass the electric fluid through a
metallic substance in order to develop the result originally observed.
At first the frogs had been hung upon a copper hook fastened to an
iron railing, but he afterward substituted an arc composed of both
metals and with which he could readily produce the same results as were
obtainable with an electrical machine.
Galvani also made experiments to ascertain the effect of atmospheric
electricity upon the nerves of frogs. He connected the latter with rods
leading to lightning conductors erected upon the roof of his house,
attaching also ground wires to the legs of the animals, and found that
the same convulsions appeared whenever lightning was seen and likewise
when heavy storm clouds passed over the house.
The results of his many interesting observations were first
made public in the celebrated work entitled “Aloysii Galvani de
viribus electricitatis in motu musculari. Commentarius: cum Aldini
dissertatione et notis,” which appeared during 1791–1792. Therein, he
expresses the belief that the bodies of animals possess a peculiar
kind of electricity by which motion is communicated through both nerve
and muscle, positive electricity going to the nerve, while negative
electricity goes to the muscle, and that the muscles represent the
exterior and the nerves the interior of the Leyden jar, the discharge
being similarly produced by the metal which communicates with both.
Galvani’s singular experiments naturally attracted everywhere the
attention of philosophers, by whom they were repeated and varied,
but by none were they more assiduously prosecuted than by Volta, who
was then a Professor at the Pavia University, and who, as already
indicated, was led by them to the discovery of the voltaic pile and of
voltaic or galvanic electricity.
The announcement of Galvani’s observations was made in Germany,
notably by J. F. Ackermann (“Medicinisch-chirurgische Zeitung”), by
M. Er (“Physiologische Darstellung der Lebenskräfte”), by M. Smuck
(“Beiträge zur weiteren Kenntniss,” etc.), and by F. A. C. Gren
(“Journal der Physik,” Vols. VI, VII and VIII), while experiments
were continued upon an extensive scale by the Italians F. Fontana,
Carlo Francesco Bellingeri, M. Giulio and F. Rossi, as well as by
Samuel T. Von Sömmering, by Wilhelm Behrends and by Karl Friedrich
Kielmayer (Kielmaier), Professor of Medicine at the Tübingen University
(Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 1253). For the curious galvanic experiments
of the celebrated French physician Larrey, and of Stark, Richerand,
Dupuytren and Dumas, see “Bulletin des Sciences de la Société
Philomathique,” 1793, Nos. 23, 24, and “Principes de Physiologie,” Vol.
II. p. 312.
REFERENCES.--C. Alibert, “Eloges Historiques de Galvani,
Spallanzani, Roussel et Bichat ...” Paris and Bologna, 1802–1806
(“Mém. de la Soc. d’Emul. de Paris,” Vol. IV; S. Gherardi,
“Rapporto sui Manoscrotti,” Bologna, 1840, p. 19); Poggendorff,
Vol. I. p. 839; Thomas Thomson, “History of the Royal Society,”
London, 1812, pp. 450, etc.; Thomas Young, “Course of Lectures,”
London, 1807, Vol. II; “Bolognese Transactions” for papers
dated April 9, 1772, April 22, 1773 and Jan. 20, 1774; Sabine,
“El. Tel.,” 1872, pp. 16–18; Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,” Vol.
II. pp. 936, 937, for extract from report of Nat. Inst. of
France, July 4, 1798; “Johnson’s Encyclop.,” 1877, Vol. I. p.
1510; Bakewell’s “Electricity,” p. 26; “Encyclop. Britannica,”
1855, Vol. VIII. p. 530, and Vol. XXI. pp. 609, etc.; Fahie’s
“History,” etc., 1884, pp. 180–185; _Phil. Trans._, 1793;
Miller, “History Philos. Illustrated,” London, 1849, Vol. IV.
p. 333; Thomson, “Hist. of Chemistry,” Vol. II. pp. 251, 252;
Matteucci, “Traité des phénomènes,” etc., Part I. p. 7; the
Address of M. Gavarret made in 1848 before the Paris Medical
Faculty; J. C. I. A. Creve’s treatise on Galvanism (“Jour. de
la Soc. de Méd.,” Vol. XVIII. p. 216); “Mém. de la Soc. Méd.
d’Emul.,” Vol. I. p. 236); Biot et Cuvier (_Ann. de Ch._, Vol.
XXXIX. p. 247); A. Richerand (“Mém. de la Soc. Méd. d’Em.” Vol.
III. p. 311); “Opus. Scelt.,” Vol. XV. p. 113; “Giornale Fis.
Med.,” Vol. II. pp. 115, 131 (letter of B. Carminati); Marsiglio
Landriani, “Lettera,” etc., 1776; Lettre d’un ami au Comte
Prosper Albo (“Bibl. de Turin,” 1792, Vol. I. p. 261; _Jour.
de Phys._, Tome XLI. P. 57); “Comment Bonon. Scient.,” Vol.
VII. p. 363; account of the experiments made by MM. Cortambert
and Gaillard, reported in “Mém. de la Soc. Méd. d’Em.,” Vol.
I. pp. 232, 235; G. Klein’s “Dissert. de Métal,” etc., Maintz,
1794; Ostwald’s _Klassiker_, No. 52, p. 4; C. H. Wilkinson,
“Elements of Galvanism,” etc., London, 1804, 2 Vols. _passim_;
Wm. C. Wells, “Obs. on the Influence,” etc. (_Phil. Trans._,
1795, Pt. XI. p. 246); E. G. Robertson (_An. de Ch._, 1801, Vol.
XXXVII. p. 132; _Jour. de Paris_, 10, 15 and 17 Fructidor de
l’An. VIII); Paul Louis Simon, “Beschreibung neuengalvanisch,”
etc., “Resultate,” etc., and “Versuche,” etc., all published in
1801 (L. W. Gilbert’s _Annalen_, 1801, Book V, _An. de Chimie_,
No. 121, p. 106); L. W. Gilbert’s Book VI of the _Annalen_,
containing the “Memoirs on Galvanism,” by J. L. Boeckmann, L. A.
von Arnim, Paul Erman, M. Gruner and C. H. Pfaff; C. Dupuytren,
“Faits Particuliers,” etc., 1801; J. B. Trommsdorff, “Expér.
Galv.,” 1801; M. Rouppe’s letter of Aug. 28, 1801, in Van Mons’
_Jour. de Ch._, Vol. I. pp. 106, 108; M. Bichat (Sue, “Hist. du
Galv.,” II. p. 216); A. M. Vassalli-Eandi (_Jour. de Phys._,
Frimaire, An. X. p. 476); C. F. Hellwag and M. Jacobi fils,
“Erfahrungen,” etc., 1802; M. le Comte de Pusckin’s experiments
on Galvanism, made Sept. and Dec. 1801, with a _colonne
tournante_ (Sue, “Hist. du Galv.,” Vol. II. pp. 257, 258); Al.
Volta, in _Jour. de Leipzig_, and in “Comment ... Med. gestis,”
1792; Johann Mayer, “Abh. ... Galvani, Valli, Carminati u. Volta
...” Prag, 1793); Junoblowiskiana Society (“Comment ... Med.
gestis,” 1793); “Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography,”
Wm. McKenzie London, n. d., Vol. II. p. 546; M. Cortambert
(“Mém ... Soc. ... d’Emul.,” I. p. 232); M. Payssé (“Jour. de
la Soc. des Pharm.,” first year, p. 100); Geo. Couvier (_Jour.
de Physique_, Vol. VII. p. 318; “Mém. des Soc. Sav. et Lit.,”
Vol. I. p. 132), 1801; C. Mathieu (“Rec. de la Soc. d’Agr. ...
d’Autun,” An. X. p. 21), 1802; Ponton d’Amécourt, “Exposé du
Galvanisme,” Paris, 1803; Joseph Weber’s works, published in
1802–1803, 1815, 1816, and those of J. K. F. Hauff, Marburg
and Leipzig, 1803, 1804; M. Curtet (_Jour. de Van Mons._, No.
VI. p. 272; _Jour. de Physique_, An. XI. p. 54), 1803; William
Meade (“On the origin and progress of Galvanism”), Dublin, 1805;
J. C. Reil (_Jour. de Van Mons._, No. IV. p. 104; Sue, “Hist.
du Galv.,” Vol. IV. p. 26); J. A. Heidmann (_Phil. Mag._, Vol.
XXVIII. p. 97), 1807; Sir Richard Phillips, “Electricity and
Galvanism explained ...” (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. LVI. p. 195),
London, 1820; B. G. Sage, “Recherches ... Galvanisme”; Leopold
Nobili, “Sur le courant....” Genève, 1827.
=A.D. 1786.=--Hemmer (J. J.), celebrated physician and secretary
of the Meteor. Society of Mannheim, gives, in the “Transactions of the
Electoral Society,” an account of what have been pronounced the most
complete series of experiments ever made upon the electricity of the
human body. They absolutely show that the human subject possesses no
species of electrical organs which are under the regulation of the
will. Of his many observations, the following are worth recording: He
found that the electricity of the body is common to all ages and sexes;
that its intensity and character often vary in the same body (in 2422
experiments, it was 1252 times positive, 771 times negative and 399
times imperceptible); that the electricity of the body is naturally
positive, it being always so when subject to no violent exertion,
and that when the body is subjected to sudden or violent motion the
electricity becomes negative, the case also when the body experiences
either cold or extreme lassitude.
REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. VIII, 1855, p. 571;
“Rheinische Beiträgen zur Gelehrsamkeit” for 1781, Fifth Book,
pp. 428–466; Van Swinden, “Recueil,” etc., La Haye, 1784, Vols.
I and II _passim_; “Observ. sur la Phys.,” July, 1780; _Phil.
Mag._, 1799, Vol. V. pp. 1, 140; “Comment. Acad. Theod.-Palat.,”
Vols. IV, V and VI of _Phys._; “Mém. de l’Acad. de Mannheim,”
Vol. IV; “Pfalzbayr. Beiträge” for 1782.
=A.D. 1787.=--Lomond--Lomont--(Claude Jean-Baptiste), a very capable
French machinist, and “one who has a genius for invention,” is the
first to introduce a successful electric telegraph consisting of but
one wire. Of this the following account appears under date Oct. 16,
1787, in Arthur Young’s “Voyage Agronomique en France” (“Travels”),
fourth edition, Vol. I. p. 79: “You write two or three words on a
paper; he takes it with him into an adjoining room and turns a machine
in a cylinder case, on the top of which is an electrometer having a
pretty little ball of pith of a quill suspended by a silk thread; a
brass wire connects it to a similar cylinder and electrometer in a
distant apartment, and his wife, on observing the movements of the
corresponding ball, writes the words which it indicates. From this
it appears that he (Lomond) has made an alphabet of motions. As the
length of the brass wire makes no difference in the effect, you could
correspond with it at a great distance, as, for example, with a
besieged city or for objects of much more importance. Whatever be the
use that shall be made of it, the discovery is an admirable one.”
REFERENCES.--Ed. Highton, “Elec. Tel.,” 1852, p. 38; Sabine,
“Elec. Tel.,” pp. 10–11; Shaffner, “Manual,” pp. 132, 133;
Vail’s “History,” etc., p. 121; “Appleton’s Encycl.,” 1871, Vol.
XV. p. 335.
=A.D. 1787.=--Brard (Cyprien Prosper), French mineralogist, first
observes that some crystals of axinite (consisting mainly of silica,
alumina, lime and peroxide of iron) become electric by heat.
REFERENCES.--Gmelin, article “Electricity,” etc., Vol. I. p.
319; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II. p. 1205; Thomas, “Dict.
of Biog.,” Vol. I. p. 429; “Enc. Brit.,” 8th ed., Vol. VIII. p.
530; Brard, “Manuel du Minéralogiste,” etc., Bordeaux Academy of
Sciences Report for 1829, p. 39, and for 1838, p. 84--the latter
containing M. Hatchett’s observations on one of M. Brard’s
meteorolites.
=A.D. 1787.=--Haüy (Le Père René Just), native of Picardie and member
of the Académie Royale des Sciences, publishes an abridgment of the
doctrines of Æpinus (at A.D. 1759) under the title of “Exposition
raisonnée de la Théorie de l’Électricité et du Magnétisme.” He was
doubtless the first to observe that in all minerals the pyro-electric
state has an important connection with the want of symmetry of
the crystals, and no proof of the extent to which he directed his
investigations in that line can more readily be had than by consulting
general “Encyclopædia” articles relative to the pyro-electricity of
boracite (borate of magnesia), of prehnite (silica, alumina and lime),
of mesotype (hydrated silicate of alumina and of lime or of soda), of
sphene (silica, titanic acid and lime), calamine (silicate of zinc) and
of Siberian topaz.
At pp. 480, 481 of his “Outline of the Sciences,” etc., London, 1830,
Dr. Thomas Thomson states:
“There is a hill of sulphate of lime, called Kalkberg, situated near
Lunebourg, in the duchy of Brunswick, in which small cubic crystals
are found. These cubes are white, have a specific gravity of 2·566,
and are composed of two atoms of boracic acid combined with one atom
of magnesia. They are distinguished among mineralogists by the name of
_boracite_. If we examine the cubic crystals of boracite, we shall find
that only four of the solid angles are complete, constituting alternate
angles placed at the extremity of two opposite diagonals at the upper
and lower surface of the cube. The other four solid angles are replaced
by small equilateral triangles. When the boracite is heated all the
perfect solid angles become charged with _negative_ electricity, while
all the angles replaced by equilateral triangles become charged with
_positive_ electricity. So that the boracite has eight poles: four
positive and four negative. Those are obviously the extremities of four
diagonals connecting the solid angles with each other. One extremity
of each of these diagonals is charged with positive and the other
extremity with negative electricity. In general, the electricity of
boracite is not so strong as that of the _tourmaline_.” This curious
law of the excitability of the boracite and of its eight poles was
discovered by Haüy in 1791 (Haüy’s “Minéralogie,” 260, second edition).
_Axinite_, _mesotype_, and the _silicate of zinc_ are also minerals
which become electric when heated, and which, like the _tourmaline_,
exhibit two opposite poles, the one positive, the other negative. It
is not every crystal of axinite and mesotype which possesses this
property, but such only as are unsymmetrical, that is to say, such as
have extremities of different shapes. No doubt this remark applies
also to the silicate of zinc; though as the crystals of that mineral
are usually acicular it is not so easy to determine by observation the
degree of symmetry which they may possess.
The _topaz_, _prehnite_, and the titaniferous mineral called _sphene_
are also capable of being excited by heat, and have two opposite poles
like those already mentioned.
Haüy also made the most extensive and accurate observations known
upon the development of electricity in minerals by friction. Detailed
lists of the different classes of minerals, as well as the conclusions
arrived at through various experiments, are given in the “Encyclopedia
Britannica,” Vol. VIII, 1855, pp. 538, 539, while at pp. 529 and 558
of the same work are to be found accounts of his observations on the
electricity of the _tourmaline_, as well as a description of the
different electroscopes employed in his many experiments.
REFERENCES.--Priestley, “History of Electricity,” 1767, pp.
314–326; Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. p. 319; Noad, “Manual,”
pp. 27–31; also article “Electricity” in “Library Useful
Knowledge,” pp. 3, 54, 56; M. Lister, “Collection Académique,”
Tome VI; “Société Philomathique,” An. V. p. 34; An. XII. p. 191;
“Mém. du Museum d’Hist. Nat.,” Vol. III; “Mém. de l’lnstitut,”
An. IV. tome i., “Sciences Math. et Phys.” p. 49; “Mém. de
l’Académie,” 1785, Mem. p. 206; _Philosophical Magazine_, Vols.
XX. p. 120; XXXVIII. p. 81; Thomas Thomson, “Hist. of the
Roy. Soc.,” London, 1812, pp. 180, etc.; Young’s “Lectures,”
London, 1807, Vol. II; Haüy, “Traité Élémentaire de Physique,”
Chap VII, “Magnetism”; Experiments of J. L. Treméry (author of
“Observations sur les Aimants Elliptiques,” recorded in _Journal
des Mines_, Vol. VI for 1797, also in _Jour. de Phys._, Vols.
XLVIII and LIV) and of M. De Nelis, some of whose observations
are given in the _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XLVIII. p. 127, and in the
_Jour. de Phys._, Vols. LXI. p. 45; LXII. p. 150; LXIII. p. 147;
LXIV. p. 130; LXVI. pp. 336, 456, as shown and illustrated at
pp. 153–162 of Delaunay’s “Manuel,” etc., of 1809; “Séances de
l’Acad. de Bordeaux” for 1835, giving M. Vallot’s report on the
difference existing between the chalcedony and the tourmaline.
Regarding the latter, consult S. Rinmann (“K. Schwed. Akad.
Abh.,” XXVIII. pp. 46, 114); C. Rammelsberg, “Die Zuzam ... und
Feldspaths”; Mr. Magellan’s edition of Cronstedt’s Mineralogy
for Steigliz’s tourmaline; Cesare G. Pozzi, on the tourmaline;
H. Von Meyer (“Archiv. ... Ges. Natural,” XIV. 3, p. 342); M.
Lechman (Berlin Academy Reports); Carl Von Linné (Linnæus),
“Flora Zeylanica,” Stockholm, 1747; M. Leymerie (Toulouse Acad.
Reports); Brewster, “Journal” I. p. 208; J. K. Wilcke (“Vetensk.
Akad. Handl.,” 1766 and 1768); Jos. Muller, “Schreiben ...
Tourmaline,” Wien, 1773; F. J. Muller von Reichenstein, “Nachr.
... an Born,” Wien, 1778; H. B. de Saussure (“Jour. de Paris”),
1784; Louis Delaunay’s letter on the tourmaline, 1782; D. G.
Fischer’s works, published at Mosk, 1813, 1818; J. D. Forbes
(“Edin. Trans.,” Vol. XIII), 1834.
=A.D. 1787.=--Charles (Jacques Alexandre César), a singularly able
French physicist and experimentalist, who became the Secretary of the
Académie des Sciences, relates many of his electrical experiments in
the thirtieth volume of the _Journal de Physique_.
He was one of the first to study and develop the theories of Franklin,
who, in company with Volta, frequently attended the brilliant lectures
which Charles was enabled to give in what was then considered the most
complete philosophical laboratory of Europe. In many of his experiments
on atmospherical electricity, Charles has been known to produce
thousands of sparks, beams or flashes, which exceeded 12 feet in length
and which made reports similar to those of fire-arms. The French
Academy endorsed the opinion given the Minister of War by Charles to
the effect that “a conductor will effectually protect a circular space
whose radius is twice the length of the rod.”
Charles invented the megascope and was the first to make an ascension
in a hydrogen balloon, which he did in company with M. Robert on
the 1st of December (not on the 2nd of August) 1783, ten days after
the first trip made by Pilatre de Rozier and Comte d’Arlandes in a
Montgolfière from the Paris Bois de Boulogne.
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Générale,” Vol. IX. pp. 929–933;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. III. p. 1020; _Journal de
Physique_ for 1791, p. 63; “Mémoires de l’Acad. des Sciences”
for 1828; George Adams, “Lectures on Nat. and Exp. Philosophy,”
London, 1799, Vol. III. pp. 462–464; Edin. Encycl., 1813,
article “Aeronautics,” Vol. I. p. 160, “Franklin in France,”
1888, Part II. pp. 256, 270, 276–280; M. Veau Delaunay,
Introduction to his “Manuel,” etc., Paris, 1809, pp. 19, 25 and
61–63; also pp. 23, 68, 92, 96, 122, 176 and 214.
=A.D. 1787.=--Mann (Théodore Augustin), Abbé, Flemish writer and
antiquary, becomes perpetual secretary of the Brussels Academy of
Sciences ten years after leaving the Nieuport Monastery (1777), and is
charged with the duty of making meteorological observations, which are
regularly transmitted to the Mannheim Academy officials, who receive
similar reports regularly from different parts of Europe and publish
them under the title of “Ephémérides Météorologiques.”
His many investigations made with electrical machines are embraced
in the last-named publication and are also alluded to in his “Marées
Aériennes,” etc., which appeared in Brussels during the year 1792.
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Générale,” Tome XXXIII. p. 231; Larousse,
“Dict. Universel,” Tome X. p. 1085; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. IV. p.
337; “Comm. Ac. Theod. Pal.,” 1790, Vol. VI. p. 82.
=A.D. 1787.=--Bennet (Rev. Abraham), F.R.S., first describes in
the _Philosophical Transactions_ for this year, pp. 26–32, the
gold-leaf electroscope which bears his name and which is considered
the most sensitive and the most important of all known instruments for
detecting the presence of electricity. It consists of a glass cylinder
which is covered with a projecting brass cap, made flat in order to
receive upon it whatever article or substance is to be electrified,
and having an opening for the insertion of wires and of a metallic
point to collect the electricity of the atmosphere. The interior of the
cap holds a tube which carries two strips of gold leaf in lieu of the
customary wires or threads, and upon two opposite sides of the interior
of the cylinder are pasted two pieces of tinfoil directly facing the
gold-leaf strips. The cap is turned around until the strips hang
parallel to the pieces of tinfoil, so that any electricity present will
cause the strips to diverge and make them strike the tinfoil, which
will carry the electricity through the support of the cylinder to the
ground.
This electroscope, says Wilkinson, possesses great sensibility, and
through the movable coatings introduced by Mr. Pepys, very small
portions of electricity are discernible. Another very excellent
electroscope is formed with either extremely fine silver thread,
prepared after the manner of Mr. Read, or with the minutest thread
found in a bundle of very fine flax, having a little isinglass glue
applied gently over it with the finger and thumb.
Of the numerous observations made by Bennet, the following interesting
extract relative to the phenomenon of evaporation is taken from the
_Philosophical Transactions_ for the year 1787. “If a metal
cup with a red hot coal in it be placed upon the cap of a gold leaf
electroscope, a spoonful of water thrown in electrifies the cup
resinously; and if a bent wire be placed in the cup with a piece of
paper fastened to it to increase its surface, the vitreous electricity
of the ascending column of vapour may be seen by introducing the paper
into it. The experiments on the evaporation of water may be tried
with more ease and certainty of success by heating the small end of a
tobacco pipe and pouring water into the head, which, running down to
the heated part, is suddenly expanded, and will show its electricity
when projected upon the cap of the electrometer more sensibly than any
other way that I have tried. If the pipe be fixed in a cloven stick and
placed in the cup of one electrometer while the steam is projected upon
another, it produces both electricities at once.”
Some of Mr. Bennet’s experiments with the electroscope on the
electricity of sifted powders, upon the electricity of the atmosphere,
etc., are recorded at pp. 564 and 566 of the “Britannica,” Vol. VIII,
and at p. 56 of “Library of Useful Knowledge.”
Mr. Bennet also invented the _electrical doubler_, designed to increase
small quantities of electricity by continually doubling them until
visible in sparks or until the common electrometer indicates their
presence and quality (_Phil. Trans._ for 1787, p. 288). It consists of
three plates of brass, illustrated and explained at Fig. 9, p. 20, Vol.
I of Prescott’s “Electricity and the Electric Telegraph,” 1885 edition,
wherein it is stated that in forty seconds the electricity can thus, by
continual duplication, be augmented five hundred thousand times. (See,
for doublers, C. B. Désormes and J. N. P. Hachette, in _Annales de
Chimie_, Vol. XLIX for 1804; J. Read (_Phil. Trans._ for 1794, p. 266);
Sir Francis Ronalds (Edin. “Phil. Journal,” Vol. IX. pp. 323–325).)
At p. 105 of his “Rudim. Magnetism,” Snow Harris mentions the fact
that, in some of his experiments, Mr. Bennet employed a magnetic
needle suspended by filaments of a spider’s web as a magnetometer.
In this connection, it may be said that, in the _Philosophical
Transactions_ for 1792, the assertion is made that a fine, and
weakly magnetic steel wire suspended from a spider’s thread of three
inches in length will admit of being twisted around eighteen thousand
times and yet continue to point accurately in the meridian, so little
is the thread sensible of torsion (Young’s “Course of Lectures,” 1807,
Vol. II. p. 445). The use of the spider’s line had, during the year
1775, been recommended as a substitute for wires by Gregorio Fontana,
who, it is said, obtained threads as fine as the eight-thousandth
part of a line. In a lecture delivered at Boston, Mass., during the
year 1884, Prof. Wood alluded to spiders’ threads estimated to be one
two-millionths of a hair in thickness.
REFERENCES.--Bennet, “New Experiments on Electricity,” etc.,
Derby, 1789, and “A New Suspension of the Magnetic Needle,”
etc., London, 1792; Introduction to “Electrical Researches,” by
Lord Henry Cavendish; _Sc. Am. Supplement_, No. 647, pp. 10,
327; Noad, “Manual,” p. 27; Cavallo, “Nat. Phil.,” 1825, Vol.
II. pp. 199, 216; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. LXXVII. pp. 26–31, 32–34,
288–296; also the abridgments by Hutton, Vol. XVI. pp. 173,
176, 282 and Vol. XVII. p. 142; _Sc. American_, Vol. LI. p. 19;
_Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XLIX. p. 45; Ezekiel Walker, _Phil.
Mag._ for 1813, Vol. XLI. p. 415 and Vol. XLII. pp. 161, 215,
217, 371, 476, 485; also Vol. XLIII. p. 364.
=A.D. 1788.=--Barthélémy (Jean Jacques), who, after completing his
studies in a French seminary of Jesuits, succeeded Gros de Boze as
keeper of the king’s cabinet of medals, publishes in four volumes,
at Paris, the first edition of his “Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis.”
In this well-known work, begun by him in 1757, and translated into
English under the title “Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece,”
Barthélémy alludes to the possibility of telegraphing by means of
clocks (_pendules_, not _horloges_), having hands similarly magnetized
in conjunction with artificial magnets. These were “presumed to be
so far improved that they could convey their directive power to a
distance, thus, by the sympathetic movements of the hands or needles in
connection with a dial alphabet, communications between distant friends
could be carried on.”
Writing to Mme. du Deffand in 1772, he observes:
“It is said that with two timepieces the hands of which are magnetic,
it is enough to move one of these hands to make the other take the
same direction, so that by causing one to strike twelve the other will
strike the same hour. Let us suppose that artificial magnets were
improved to the point that their virtue could communicate itself from
here to Paris; you have one of these timepieces, we another of them;
instead of hours we find the letters of the alphabet on the dial. Every
day at a certain hour we turn the hand, and M. Wiard [Mme. du Deffand’s
secretary] puts together the letters and reads.... This idea pleases
me immensely. It would soon be corrupted by applying it to spying in
armies and in politics, but it would be very agreeable in commerce and
in friendship.”
REFERENCES.--“Correspondance inédite de Mad. Du Deffand,” Vol.
II. p. 99; letter of J. MacGregor in _Journal Society of Arts_,
May 20, 1859, pp. 472, 473.
=A.D. 1789.=--Adriaan Paets Van Troostwÿk and Jean Rodolphe Deimann,
Dutch chemists, associated for the purpose of scientific research,
complete the experiments of Lord Cavendish and announce, in the
_Journal de Physique_, their discovery of the decomposition of water
through the electric spark, which latter is conveyed by means of very
fine gold wires. As is now well known, water is by this means resolved
into its two elements of oxygen and hydrogen, both of which assume
their gaseous form.
The electric machine they employed was a very powerful double-plate
one, of the Teylerian mode of construction, causing the Leyden jar to
discharge itself twenty-five times in fifteen revolutions.
REFERENCES.--“Mém. de la Soc. de Phys. Exp. Rotterdam,” Tome
VIII; _Journal de Physique_, Vol. XXXIII; Noad, “Manual,” p.
161; “Encyl. Brit.,” Vol. VIII, 1855, pp. 530, 565; “Biog.
Universelle,” Vol. X. p. 282; De La Rive, “Electricity,” Vol.
II. p. 443; Wm. Henry, “Elements of Experimental Chemistry,”
London, 1823, Vol. I. pp. 251, 252; Delaunay’s “Manuel,” etc.,
1809, pp. 180–183; “Verhandl. van het Genootsch te Rotterdam”
(“Mém. de la Soc. de Phys. Exp. de Rotterdam”) Vol. VIII;
Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 1555; Dove, p. 243; G. Carradori
(Brugnatelli’s _Annali di chimica_, Vol. I. p. 1); John
Cuthbertson, “Beschreibung einer Elekt. ...” Leipzig, 1790.
=A.D. 1790.=--Reveroni--Saint-Cyr (Jacques Antoine, Baron de),
French Colonel and author, best known by his very interesting work,
“Mécanismes de la Guerre,” proposes an electric telegraph for the
purpose of announcing the drawings of lottery numbers; no satisfactory
information as to its construction, however, appears obtainable.
REFERENCES.--Fahie, “History,” etc., London, 1884, p. 96;
Etenaud, “La Télégraphie Electrique,” 1872, Vol. I. p. 27; _Sc.
Am. Supp._, No. 384, pp. 6, 126.
=A.D. 1790.=--Mr. Downie, master of his Majesty’s ship “Glory,”
makes a report on local attraction wherein he observes “that in all
latitudes, at any distance from the magnetic equator, the upper ends of
iron bolts acquire an opposite polarity to that of the latitude,” an
observation, Harris remarks, which accords with Marcel’s experiment (at
A.D. 1702).
“I am convinced,” says Mr. Downie, “that the quantity and vicinity of
iron, in most ships, has an effect in attracting the needle; for it
is found by experience that the needle will not always point in the
same direction when placed in different parts of a ship; also, it is
very easily found that two ships, steering the same course by their
respective compasses, will not go exactly parallel to each other;
yet when their compasses are on board the same ship they will agree
exactly.”
REFERENCES.--William Walker, “The Magnetism of Ships,” London,
1853, p. 20; J. Farrar, “Elements,” p. 376; Harris, “Rudim.
Magn.,” 1852, Part III. p. 161.
=A.D. 1790.=--Tralles (Johann Georg), a German scientist, is the
first to make known the negative electricity of cascades. This he
communicates through his “Uber d. Elektricität d. Staubbachs,”
published at Leipzig.
In the Report on Atmospheric Electricity of Francis J. F. Duprez,
translated from the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Brussels by Dr. L.
D. Gale, we read that one day while in the Alps, opposite the cascade
of Staubbach, near Lauterbrunnen, Tralles “presented his atmospheric
electrometer, not armed with the metallic wire, to the fine spray which
resulted from the dispersion of the water. He immediately obtained very
distinct signs of negative electricity. The same effect was exhibited
at the cascade of Reichenbach. Volta, a short time after, verified the
correctness of this observation, not only above the great cascades,
but also wherever a fall of water existed, however small, provided
the intervention of the wind caused the dispersion of the drops. The
electricity always appeared to him, as it did to Tralles, negative.
Schübler repeated the same experiments in his journey to the Alps in
1813. He observed farther, that this negative electricity was very
strong, since it became perceptible at a distance of 300 feet from the
cascade of Reichenbach; and at a distance of 100 feet his electrometer
indicated 400 and even 500 degrees.... Tralles attributed it at first
to the friction of the minute drops of water against the air; but soon
after he thought, with Volta, that the cause was to be found in the
evaporation which the same minute drops experience in falling....”
The Italian physicist, Giuseppe Belli, who published at Milan,
during 1836, “Sulla Elettricità negativa delle cascate,” entertains
an opinion contrary to that advanced by M. Becquerel, and believes
“that the electrical phenomenon of the water of cascades is owing to
the development of electricity by the induction which the positive
electricity of the atmosphere exercises on the water. The water, he
says, is by induction in the negative state, when the atmosphere is,
as it is ordinarily, charged with positive electricity. At the moment
when this water divides into thousands of minute drops, it cannot fail
to carry the electricity with which the electrical induction of the
atmosphere has impregnated it to all bodies which it meets.”
REFERENCES.--“Œuvres de Volta,” Vol. II. p. 239; Franz Samuel
Wilde, “Expériences sur l’électricité des cascades” (“Mémoires
de Lausanne,” Vol. III, “Histoire,” p. 13, 1790); “Bibliographie
Universelle,” N. S., 1836, Vol. VI. p. 148; Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibl. Générale,” Vol. II. p. 265; “Biblio. Ital.,”
LXXXIII. p. 32; Schweigger, _Journal f. Chemie u. Physik_, Vol.
IX. p. 358; Tralles, “Beyträge zur Lehre von der Electricität”;
L. W. Gilbert’s _Annalen der Physik und Chemie_, Vol. XXVIII
for 1808; F. A. C. Gren’s _Journal der Physik_, Vol. I. for
1790; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 344, and the
reference to Gay-Lussac in _Ann. de chimie et de physique_, Vol.
VIII. p. 167.
=A.D. 1790.=--Eandi (Giuseppe Antonio Francesco Geronimo), an
able physicist, native of Saluces (1735–1799), reads, May 10, before
the Academy of Sciences of Turin, a Memoir upon Electricity _in
vacuo_ which is printed in the Collections of that Institution. He
studied for the priesthood and entered the Normal College of Turin,
where he followed protracted courses of literature under Bartoli and
of natural philosophy under Beccaria, becoming the assistant of the
latter, whom he finally replaced from 1776 to 1781. He afterward became
Professor of Natural Philosophy at the College of Fine Arts, where he
gave particular attention to electrical studies, and published several
papers on that science, as well as upon natural philosophy generally.
He bequeathed all his possessions to his nephew Vassalli, upon
condition of the latter’s taking the name of Eandi.
Besides the above, he wrote: “Memorie istorische,” etc., or “Historical
Memoir upon the Studies of Father Beccaria,” Turin, 1783, which is
dedicated to Count Balbi and gives the new theories of electricity,
also an “Essay upon the Errors of Several Physicists in Regard to
Electricity,” Turin, 1788.
REFERENCES.--“Notice sur la vie ... d’ Eandi par
Vassalli-Eandi,” Turin, 1804; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. XV.
p. 589; Larousse, “Dict. Universel,” Vol. VII. p. 5; the Turin
Academy Memoirs for the years 1802–1804; Eandi e Vassalli-Eandi,
“Physicæ Experimentalis,” etc., Turin, 1793–1794.
=A.D. 1790.=--Vassalli-Eandi (Antonio Maria), Italian savant
(1761–1825), nephew of G. A. F. G. Eandi, who was, like his uncle, a
pupil of Beccaria, publishes his views concerning the electricity of
bodies and regarding other investigations, as well as a report upon
experiments relative to the electricity of water and of ice, which
appear respectively in L. V. Brugnatelli’s _Annali di Chimica_,
Vol. I. p. 53, in the “Bibl. Fis. d’Europa,” Vol. XVII. p. 144, and in
the third volume of “Mem. della Soc. Italiana.”
He was one of the most prolific of Italian writers, his more important
essays, which number 160, being written in Italian, Latin and French,
and covering almost every leading branch of physical science. One of
his biographers tells us, _Il a embrassé, pour ainsi dire, l’ensemble
des connaissances humaines_, and that he is one of whom his country
may justly be proud.
In his investigations concerning aerolites, which appeared in
1786 (“Memoria ... sopra ... bolidi in generale”), he explains
the movements of those bodies much more satisfactorily than had
previously been done by any scientist. Essays published by him during
the same year, as well as in 1789 and 1791, treat of the effect of
electricity upon vegetables; then follow his papers relative to
Bertholon’s “Electricité des Météores,” to Haüy’s theories and to the
meteorological observations of Senebier, De Saussure, Toaldo and Monge,
up to 1792, when Vassalli was made Professor of Natural Philosophy at
the Turin University. He had also in the meantime carefully looked
into the scientific knowledge possessed by the ancients, and was led
to believe, as shown in his “Conghietture sopra l’arte,” etc., that
they had the means of attracting and directing thunder and lightning.
The latter fact has been alluded to in this “Bibliographical History,”
under the B.C. 600 entry. (See J. Bouillet, “De l’état des
connaissances,” etc., Saint Etienne, 1862.)
He was after this made perpetual secretary of the Royal Academy of
Sciences of Turin, then became Director of the Museum of Natural
History, as well as of the Observatory situated in the last-named city,
which position he held at the time of his death.
His other essays treat more particularly of animal electricity, the
electricity of fishes, the effects of electricity upon recently
decapitated bodies, the application of electricity and of galvanism to
medicine, and cover very extended observations on meteorology. He was
the editor of both the “Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences of Turin,
from 1792 to 1809,” and of the “Annals of the Turin Observatory, from
1809 to 1818” (Larousse, “Dictionnaire Universel,” Vol. XV. p. 801);
was likewise editor of the “Bibliothèque Italienne,” in conjunction
with Giulio Gioberti and Francesco Rossi, and is said to have devised
an electrometer superior to that of Volta.
REFERENCES.--Vassalli-Eandi, Giulio (or Julio) e Rossi, “Rapport
présenté,” etc., Turin, 1802, or “Transunto del Rapporto,” etc.,
Milano, 1803 (“Opusc. Scelti,” Vol. XXII. p. 51), translated
into English, London, 1803 (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 38); also
Vassalli-Eandi, F. Rossi et V. Michelotti, “Précis de nouvelles
expériences galvaniques,” Turin, 1809 (“Mém. de Turin,” Années,
1805–1808, p. 160). See likewise, S. Berrutti, “Elogio,” etc.,
1839; “Saggio sulla vita ... Vassalli-Eandi,” Torino, 1825;
“Notizie biografiche ... Vassalli Eandi” (“Mem. di Torino,”
Vol. XXX. p. 19); “Elogio, scritto dal Berrutti” (“Mem. of the
Ital. Soc.,” Vol. XXII. p. liv); _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XV. p.
319; _Journal de Physique_, An. VII. p. 336 and Vols. XLIX,
L; “Ital. Soc. Mem.,” Vols. VIII. p. 516; X. p. 802; XIII.
p. 85; XVII. p. 230; XIX. p. 347; “Mémoires de Turin,” Vols.
X-XIII; “Mem. dell’ Acad. di Torino,” Vols. VI, X, XXII, XXIV,
XXVI, XXVII, XXIX; “Mem. della Soc. Agrar. di Torino,” Vol.
I; “Opuscoli Scelti,” Vols. XIX. pp. 215, etc.; XXII. p. 76;
“Nuova Scelta d’Opuscoli,” Vol. I. p. 167; “Opuscoli Scelti
di Milano,” quarto, Vol. XIV; “Mem. Soc. Ital.,” Vols. IV.
p. 263; X. p. 733; “Biblioteca Oltramontana”; Brugnatelli’s
_Annali di Chimica_; “Giornale Scientifico ... di Torino,”
Vols. I, III; “Giornale Fis. Med.,” Vol. II. p. 110; “Biblioteca
Italiana”--“Bibliothèque Italienne,” Vols. I. p. 128; II. p. 25;
“Recueil périodique ... de Sédillot,” Vol. II. p. 266.
=A.D. 1790–1800.=--Morozzo--Morotius--(Carlo Luigi, Comte de), Italian
savant, who studied mathematics under Lagrange, and was President of
the Turin Academy of Sciences, publishes numerous scientific memoirs
in French through the reports of the last-named institution, in one
of which he is said to have described an experiment suggesting the
electro-magnet.
REFERENCES.--Biography in Larousse, “Dictionnaire Universel,”
Tome XI. p. 577, and in the “Biographie Générale,” Tome XXXVI.
p. 643.
=A.D. 1791.=--Leslie (Sir John), an able English scientist (April
1766–Nov. 1832), who, upon the death of Prof. John Playfair, was called
to the Chair of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh,
writes a very interesting paper entitled “Observations on Electric
Theories,” which is read the following year at the meeting of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, and is published at the latter place during 1824.
According to Carnevale Antonio Arella, “Storia dell’ Elettricità,”
Alessandria, 1839, Vol. I. p. 130, Sir John Leslie is the author
of quite an interesting treatise on the inefficacy of lightning
conductors, and the “English Cyclopædia” (Biography), Vol. III. p.
866, gives a list of many of the numerous contributions he made
to the leading publications of his day, more particularly in the
“Edinburgh Philos. Transactions,” the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” the
“Edinburgh Review,” and “Nicholson’s Philos. Journal.” The reviewer
adds, what will surprise many readers, that, although some papers by
Sir John Leslie treating of physical subjects were also read before
the Royal Society of London, none were ever printed in their “Philos.
Transactions.”
Professor John Playfair above alluded to (1748–1819), became, during
1785, Joint Professor of Mathematics with Dr. Adam Ferguson in
the University of Edinburgh and, in 1805, exchanged this for the
Professorship of Natural Philosophy in the same university.
REFERENCES.--Macvey Napier, “Memoir of Sir John Leslie,” 1838,
which appeared in seventh edition of “Encycl. Britan.,” Vol.
XIII; “Engl. Cycl.” (Biography); Rose, “New Gen. Biogr.”; Hœfer,
“Nouv. Biogr. Gen.,” Paris, 1862, Vol. XXX. pp. 949–952 (giving
full account of his works); “Encycl. Britan.,” ninth edition,
Edinburgh, 1882, Vol. XIV. pp. 476–477; Sidney Lee, “Dict. Nat.
Biogr.,” Vol. XXXIII. pp. 105–107 and Vol. XLVIII. pp. 413–414;
Pierre Larousse, “Grand Dict. Univ.,” Vol. X. pp. 406–407;
“Caledonian Mercury,” article of Prof. Napier summarized in the
“Gentleman’s Magazine” for 1833, Vol. I. pp. 85–86. Consult also
A.D. 1751 at Adanson; “Dove,” p. 256; _Philosophical Magazine_,
Vols. XL and XLII.
=A.D. 1791.=--At p. 353, Chap. III of the first volume of Gmelin’s
“Handbook of Chemistry,” it is stated that during 1791 James Keir
(Kier) first showed, by immersing iron in a solution of nitrate of
silver or fuming nitric acid, that many metals can be made to pass from
their ordinary _active_ state into a _passive_ or electro-negative
state and lose either wholly or in part their tendency to decompose
acids and metallic oxides.
At pp. 167–170, Sixth Memoir, of Wm. Sturgeon’s “Scientific Researches”
(Bury, 1850), treating of the application of electro-chemistry to the
dissolution of simple metals in fluids, reference is made to the long
line of investigations carried on by both Bergman and Keir, the last
named having demonstrated that iron “acquires that _altered_
state by the action of nitric acid which Sir John Herschel met with
in his experiments, and has called _prepared_ state, and that
Schönbein and others call the _peculiar_ or the _inactive_
state” (Noad’s “Manual of Electricity,” London, 1859, p. 534). The iron
which is active in nitric acid was called by Keir “fresh iron,” while
that which became inactive he designated as “altered iron” (Sturgeon’s
“Annals of Electricity,” Vol. V. p. 439).
Some remarkable phenomena in the display of which but one individual
piece of metal is used, as first shown by Keir, remain, Sturgeon says,
“without even an attempt at explanation by any of the philosophers
under whose notice they have appeared.” Sir John Herschel pronounces
them as of an “extraordinary character”; Prof. Andrews, after giving
some very satisfactory explanations of several phenomena, acknowledges
that he “can offer no explanation of most of the particular facts which
have been described,” and Professor Schönbein “has not made public any
conclusive explanation of them whatever” (_Phil. Mag._ for October
1837, p. 333, and for April 1838, p. 311).
This same James Keir, called by Watt “a mighty chemist” (1735–1820),
has strangely by some been confounded with Robert Kerr, also a
Scotchman, who was an able scientific writer and lived at about the
same period (1755–1813). Kerr made valuable translations from Lavoisier
and Linnæus which, during 1805, won for him a fellowship in the
Edinburgh Royal Society. (Consult Sidney Lee, “Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,”
London, 1892, Vol. XXI. p. 64, also the references therein given;
and the article “Faraday” in the “Encycl. Britan.,” ninth edition,
Edinburgh, 1879, Vol. IX. p. 30.)
REFERENCES.--Mrs. Amelia Moillet, “Sketch of the Life of
James Keir,” 1859; Sidney Lee, “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” London,
1892, Vol. XXX. pp. 313–314; _Annales de Chimie_ for October
1837; _Phil. Trans._ for 1790, p. 353, as well as Hutton’s
abridgment of the same, Vol. XVI. p. 694; Sturgeon’s “Annals of
Electricity,” Vol. V. p. 427; Gmelin’s Chemistry, pp. 367, 370.
=A.D. 1791.=--Shaw (George), English naturalist, who became a Fellow of
the Royal Society during the year 1789, communicates to the latter body
a paper on the _Scolopendra electrica_ and _Scolopendra subterranea_
(“Linn. Soc. Trans.” I. pp. 103–111). This was afterward translated
into Italian and appeared in Vol. IX. p. 26, of Brugnatelli’s _Annali
di Chimica_. Mr. James Wilson, F.R.S.E., in his “Encycl. Brit.” article
on _Myriapoda_, alludes to the _Scolopendra electrica_ as figured
by Frisch and described by Geoffroy in his “Histoire des Insectes,”
Vol. II. p. 676, n. 5. Shaw also treats of the _Trichiurus Indicus_,
which Sir David Brewster believes to be the same as the _trichiurus
electricus_, known to inhabit the Indian Seas and to have the power of
giving electric shocks.
Five years before the above date (1786), the _Phil. Trans._ contained
(p. 382) the description of the _tetraodon electricus_, which
Lieutenant William Paterson discovered in the cavities of the coral
rocks of one of the Canary Islands and which he found to possess the
properties of other electrical fishes. (See Hutton’s abridgments, Vol.
XVI. p. 134.)
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Générale,” Vol. XLIII. p. 922;
“Gentleman’s Magazine,” Vol. LXXXIII; Poggendorff, Vol. II. p.
918; “Cat. Royal Society Sc. Papers,” Vol. V. p. 674; Dr. Thomas
Young, “Course of Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. II. p. 436, for
the _Trichiurus Indicus_....
Having thus far called attention to the most important varieties of
the electrical fishes, notably at the articles Adanson (A.D. 1751),
Bancroft (A.D. 1769), Walsh, also Hunter (A.D. 1773), the following
original list of additional references will prove interesting:
_Raia Torpedo._--Stephani Lorenzini, “Osservazioni ...” Firenze,
1678; R. A. F. de Réaumur, “Des Effets ...” Paris, 1714;
Templeman, in “Nouvelliste,” 1759; Ingen-housz (_Phil. Trans._,
1775); Cavendish (_Phil. Trans._, 1776, Vol. LXI. p. 584, Vol.
LXVI. p. 196, also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. II. p. 485; Vol.
XIII. p. 223; Vol. XIV. p. 23); F. Soave (“Scelta di Opuscoli,”
Vol. XV), Milano, 1776; J. A. Garn, “De Torpedine ...” Witteb.,
1778; R. M. de Termeyer (Raccolta Ferr. di Op. Sc. ... Vol.
VIII), Venice, 1781; L. Spallanzani (“Goth. Mag.,” V. i. 41;
“Opusc. Scelti,” VI. 73), Milano, 1783; Girardi and Walter
(“Mem. Soc. Ital.,” III. 553), Verona, 1786; W. Bryant (“Tr.
Amer. Phil. Soc.,” II. 166, O. S.), Philad., 1786; J. W. Linck,
“De Raja Torpedine,” Lips., 1788; Vassalli-Eandi (_Journal de
Physique_, Vol. XLIX. p. 69); Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (“Annal.
du Mus.,” An. XI. Vol. I., No. 5, and _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XV.
p. 126), 1803; J. F. M. Olfers, “Die Gattung Torpedo ...”
Berlin, 1831; Linari-Santi in “Bibl. Univ.,” Ser. II., Geneva,
1837–1838, and in “Bibl. Ital.,” Vol. XCII. p. 258, Milan,
1839; C. Matteucci, “Recherches ...” Genève, 1837 (“Royal Soc.
Catalogue of Sc. Papers,” Vol. IV. pp. 285–293); also Delle
Chiaje, “On the Organs ...” and P. Savi, “Etudes ...” Paris,
1844; G. Pianciani (“Mem. Soc. Ital.,” XXII. 7); F. Zantedeschi
(“Bull. Acad. Brux.,” VIII. 1841); A. Fusinieri (“Ann. del
Reg. Lomb.-Veneto,” VIII. 239), Padova, 1838; A. F. J. C.
Mayer, “Spicilegium ...” Bonnæ, 1843; L. Calamai, “Osservazioni
...” 1845; C. Robin, “Recherches ...” Paris, 1847; Krünitz,
“Abhandl.,” XVII; _Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. I. p. 355;
Rozier, IV. p. 205; “Acad. Brux.,” 111; “Phil. Hist. and Mem.
of the Roy. Acad. of Sc. Paris,” 1742, Vol. V. pp. 58–73; John
Ewing, at A.D. 1795; Dr. Godef. Will. Schilling (in original
Latin, also the French translation), “Biblioth. Britannique,”
Vol. XL. pp. 263–272; Dr. Jan Ingen-housz in _Phil. Tr._ Vol.
LXV. p. 1; Vol. LXVIII. pp. 1022, 1027; Vol. LXIX. pp. 537,
661; also Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. p. 575; Vol. XIV.
pp. 462, 463, 589, 598; “Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. LXXVIII.
for January-April, 1726, p. 58; “The System of Natural History,
written by M. De Buffon,” Edinburgh, 1800, Vol. II. pp. 24–25.
M. R. A. F. De Réaumur, mentioned above, has communicated the
results of his investigations relative to the _torpedo_ in
“Mém. de Paris” for 1714, following it up more particularly with
another article in the issue for year 1723 on magnetization,
which is also alluded to in “Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. LXXXII.
for 1727, p. 4.
_Silurus Electricus._--Ranzi, on the discovery of the discharge
of this animal; P. Forskal “Beobachtungen ...” 1775; F. Pacini,
“Sopra l’ Organo ...” Bologna, 1846; Abd-Allatif, Relation de
l’Egypte, p. 167, quoted at p. 250; Note XI. vol. i. of Libri’s
“Hist. des Mathém.”; C. Maspero, “The Dawn of Civilization,”
New York, 1894, p. 36, wherein it is said that the silurus was
the _nârû_ of the ancient Egyptians, as described by Isidore
Geoffroy de St. Hilaire in his “Histoire Naturelle des Poissons
du Nil.”
_Gymnotus Electricus._--T. Richer, “Observations ...” Paris,
1679 (“Hist. et Mém. de l’Acad. Roy. des Sciences,” Vols. I.
p. 116; VII. i. pt. 2, p. 92); “Edinburgh Review,” Vol. XVI.
pp. 249–250; John Ewing at A.D. 1795; P. Sue, aîné “Histoire
du Galvanisme,” Paris, An. X, 1802, Vol. II. pp. 94–97; A. Van
Berkel, “Reise nach Rio ...” Memming, 1789, for the observations
made in 1680–1689; J. B. Duhamel (“Hist. Acad. Sc.,” 168); J.
N. Allamand, “On the Surinam Eel ... by S’Gravesande,” Haarlem,
1757; Gronov-Gronovius (“Acta Helvetica ...” IV. 26, Basle,
1760; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. LXV. part i. p. 94, 102, and part
ii. p. 395); P. V. Musschenbroek (“Hist. et Méms. de l’Acad.
des Sc.,” 1760); G. W. Schilling, “Diatribe de Morbo ...” 1770,
treating of the torpedo as well as of the _magnetism_ of the
Gymnotus (which latter was observed by him in 1764, and is
alluded to besides by Jan Ingen-housz in his “Nouv. Exper.,”
Paris, 1785); “Mem. of Berlin Acad. of Sc.,” Bonnefoy, “De
l’app. de l’élect ...” 1782–1783, p. 48; Ferdinando Elice,
“Saggio sull’ Elettricità,” p. 26; H. Williamson, Alexander
Garden and John Hunter in the _Phil. Trans._ for 1775, p. 94,
102, 105, 395, and in Hutton’s abridgments, Vol. XIII. pp.
597–600; R. M. de Termeyer (“Opus. Scelti,” IV. 324, for 1781);
H. C. Flagg (“Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc.,” O. S., Vol. II. p. 170);
Samuel Fahlberg, “Beskrifning ofver elektriska alen Gymnotus
electricus,” Stockholm, 1801; (See Fahlberg at A.D. 1769, and
in “Vet Acad. Nyr. Handl.”; Gilbert, _Annalen_, XIV. p. 416);
Humboldt, “Observations ... anguille elect ...” Paris, 1806;
“Versuche ... elec. fische,” Jena, 1806; also in the _Annales
de Chimie et de Physique_, Vol. XI for 1819, and at p. 256 of
the “Harmonies of Nature,” by Dr. G. Hartwig, London, 1866,
will be found a picture showing mode of capture of the Electric
Eel; F. S. Guisan, “De Gymnoto ...” Tübingen, 1819, Carl
Palmstedt (“Skand. Naturf. motets Forhand,” 1842); H. Letheby
(“Proceedings London El. Soc.,” Aug. 16, 1842, and June 17,
1843); M. Vanderlot’s work, alluded to by Humboldt at p. 88 of
his “Voyage ...”; F. Steindachner, “Die Gymnotidie ...” Wien,
1868.
Consult likewise, for reputed magnetic powers of the _echeneis_,
or sucking-fish, Gaudentius Merula, “Memorabilium,” 1556,
p. 209; Fracastorio, “De Sympathia,” lib. 1, cap. 8; W.
Charleton, “Physiologia,” 1654, p. 375; Cornelius Gemma,
“De Naturæ Divinis,” 1575, lib. 1, cap. 7, p. 123; and, for
electrical fishes generally, Rozier, Intr., II. p. 432; Bloch,
“Naturgeschichte ...” Berlin, 1786; A. De la Rive, “Traité
de l’électricité,” Paris, 1858, Vol. III. pp. 61–82; Rozier,
Vol. XXVII. pp. 139–143; “Works of Michael de Montaigne,” by
W. Hazlitt, New York, 1872, Vol. II. pp. 158–159; R. J. Haüy,
“Traité de Physique,” p. 41; Geoffroy Saint-Hilare (_Journal de
Physique_, LVI. 242; _Phil. Mag._ XV. 126–136, 261; “B. Soc.
Phil.” N. 70; Gilbert, _Annalen_, XIV. 397; “Ann. du Mus.”
for 1803); M. Schultze, “Zur Kentniss ... elect ... fische,”
Halle, 1858 and 1859; Jobert (de Lamballe) “Des Appareils ...”
Paris, 1858; W. Keferstein and D. Kupffer (Henle u. Pfeuffer’s
“Zeitschr. f. rat. Med. Newe Folgc,” III. 1858) and Keferstein’s
“Beitrag ... elekt. fische,” Göttingen, 1859; “Annual of Sc.
Discovery” for 1863, giving, at pp. 115–116, the views of
Sir John Herschel, of Charles Robin and of M. Moreau on the
electrical organs of fishes.
=A.D. 1792.=--Berlinghieri (Francesco Vacca, and not Vacca Leopold
nor Andrea Vacca), Italian surgeon and anatomical writer, communicates
to M. De La Méthérie the result of the extensive experiments made by
him in concert with M. Pignotti and his brother. After describing his
investigations with frogs, he remarks that the same movements and
contractions can be produced on animals with hot blood, but that the
latter require a peculiar process. He says that after having dissected
the crural or any other considerable nerve, and cut it at a certain
height to separate it from its superior part, it should have a piece of
tinfoil wrapped around its summit, and the communication should be made
in the usual way by touching the coating with one of the extremities of
the exciting arc and the muscles in which the nerve is distributed with
the other extremity.
Many other investigations of Berlinghieri were, later on, communicated
to the Société Philomathique, by whom they were successfully renewed,
and, during the year 1810, a translation of his paper on the method of
imparting magnetism to a bar of iron without a magnet appeared at p.
157, Vol. XXXV. of the _Philosophical Magazine_.
REFERENCES.--Rozier, XL. p. 133, and XLI. p. 314; “Giorn. di
Med. Prac. di Brera,” IX. pp. 171–298; L. B. Phillips, “Dict. of
Biog. Ref.,” 1871, p. 137; Tipaldo, “Biografia ...” 1834.
=A.D. 1792.=--Lalande (Joseph Jérome le Français de), a distinguished
scientist, and, doubtless, the best known of all French astronomers,
who had previously communicated (1761) observations on the loadstone
to the “Mémoires de Paris,” and had likewise written upon meteoric
displays (1771), addresses to the _Journal des Sçavans_ of Nov. 1792
a treatise entitled “Une Notice sur la découverte du Galvanisme,”
justifying his claim to being the first introducer of galvanism into
France, which he had before made through the columns of the _Journal de
Paris_ of the 17 Pluviôse, An. VII.
REFERENCES.--Lalande, “Abrégé de l’Astronomie,” pp. 101, etc.;
“Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXVIII. p. 948; “Biog. Universelle,” Vol.
XXII. pp. 603–613; Ninth “Enc. Britannica,” Vol. XIV. p. 225; P.
Sue, aîné, “Hist. du Galv.,” Paris, An. X (1802), Vol. I. p. 1.
=A.D. 1792.=--Chappe (Claude), a French mechanician (1763–1805),
introduces the _sémaphore_, which he at first called a _tachygraphe_,
from two Greek words meaning to write fast, but to which M. Miot,
chief of one of the divisions of the War Department, gave the name of
telegraph during the year 1793. Chappe had not long before devised a
contrivance somewhat like that alluded to by Barthélémy (A.D. 1788),
but it was not apparently brought into use.
His _sémaphore_ consisted of a vertical wooden pillar 15 feet or 16
feet high, bearing a transverse beam 11 feet or 12 feet long, which
turned upon its centre and held at each extremity pivoted arms so
worked by cords or levers as to admit of 256 distinct signals. The
semaphores were placed upon high towers, about four miles apart, on
level ground, and even as much as ten miles apart upon intervening
elevations. This system of signals was presented by Chappe to the
Assemblée Législative, and was originally erected during the month of
August 1794 upon stations between Paris and Lille (Lisle), a distance
of about 148 miles. One of the first sentences conveyed between the two
places by the Committee of Public Safety consumed 13 minutes and 40
seconds, but it was not long before dispatches could be conveyed in two
minutes’ time, and it was through Chappe’s apparatus that the news of
the recapture of the city of Condé was conveyed to the Assembly shortly
after the entry of the troops of the Republic.
It is not now believed that Claude Chappe was acquainted with the
devices of either Robert Hooke (at A.D. 1684) or of Guillaume Amontons
(at A.D. 1704), as was at the time claimed by many of his jealous
contemporaries. No doubt exists that he is justly entitled to the
credit of having, with the assistance of other members of his family,
developed an entirely new system of signals as well as the mechanism
by which they were operated. The histories of telegraphy written by
I. U. J. Chappe (Paris, 1824; Le Mans, 1840) review Claude Chappe’s
investigations and the difficulties he encountered, besides making
reference to the false magnetic telegraphs of A. T. Paracelsus
(A.D. 1490–1541), William Maxwell (A.D. 1679), and F. Santanelli
(“Philosophiæ reconditæ ...” Coloniæ, 1723) alluded to in the
“Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales.”
Claude Chappe’s uncle, L’Abbé Jean Chappe d’Auteroche (1722–1769),
French astronomer, who succeeded N. L. de la Caille at the Paris
Observatory as assistant to Cassini de Thury and edited a translation
of the works of Dr. Halley, is the author of several memoirs upon the
declination and inclination and upon lightning, meteors, etc., alluded
to in J. B. J. Delambre’s “Hist. de l’Astron. au 18^e siècle,” in J. C.
Poggendorff’s “Biog.-Liter. Hand.,” Vol. I. p. 420, and in the “Mém. de
Paris,” 1767, _Mém._ p. 344.
REFERENCES.--English Encycl., “Arts and Sciences,” Vol. VIII.
p. 65; “Johnson’s Encycl.,” Vol. IV. p. 757; “Penny Ency.,”
Vol. XXIV. p. 146; Shaffner, “Manual,” pp. 27, 45 and 48; “Le
Cosmos,” Paris, Feb. 4, 1905, p. 128; Nicholson’s “Journ. of
Nat. Phil.,” Vol. VIII. p. 164, note; _Sc. American Supplement_,
No. 475, p. 7579; “Emporium of Arts and Sciences,” Vol. I. p.
292; Rozier, XXXIV. p. 370, and XL. p. 329; “Bull. des Sc. de la
Société Philomathique,” March 1793, No. 21, for an account of
the experiments of Galvani and of Valli repeated for the Society
by C. Chappe, M. Robillard and A. F. de Silvestre.
=A.D. 1792.=--Valli (Eusebius), Italian physician of Pisa,
corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Turin,
publishes his “Experiments on Animal Electricity” the results of which
were communicated to the French Academy of Sciences and found to be of
such great importance that a committee composed of Messrs. Le Roy, Vicq
d’Azyr, Coulomb and Fourcroy, was directed to repeat them. The most
important were repeated in Fourcroy’s laboratory on the 12th of July
1792.
Valli was the first to demonstrate that when an arc of two metals,
plumber’s lead and silver, is employed upon an animal, the most violent
contractions are produced while the lead is applied to the nerves and
the silver to the muscles. He also showed that of all metals, zinc,
when applied to the nerves, has the most remarkable power of exciting
contractions; and he found that when a frog had lost its sensibility to
the passage of a current, it regained it by repose.
These experiments were also repeated before the French Royal Society
of Medicine. M. Mauduyt, who was present, deduced from the results
obtained by Valli that the metals were charged with a different
quantity of the electric fluid, in so much that when they were brought
in contact with each other a discharge ensued. And, secondly, that the
animal body, by which the electric fluid is rendered perceptible, is a
more delicate electrometer than any one heretofore discovered.
Many new and very interesting investigations were afterward made by
Valli upon different animals, the results of which were given to
the public through the columns of the _Journal de Physique_ as
shown below. These embrace thirteen experiments upon animals rendered
insensible by means of opium and powdered tobacco, showing electricity
to be independent of their vitality, as well as others to show that the
electric fluid is necessary to man and animals. He fully established
the identity of the nervous and the electric fluids, and proved that
the convulsions took place by merely bringing the muscles themselves
into contact with the nerves, without the intervention of any metal
whatever. In answer to the inquiry of M. Vicq d’Azyr, member of the
late French Academy of Sciences, he supported by nineteen experiments
the assertion that however the blood vessels may be, as they assuredly
are, conductors of electricity, the nerves alone prove capable of
exciting muscular movements in consequence of the mode in which they
are disposed.
REFERENCES.--Brugnatelli, _Annali di Chimica_, Vol. VII. pp.
40, 213, 228 (and pp. 138, 159, 186, 208 for Caldani); also
the “Giornale Fis. Med. di Brugnatelli,” Vol. I. p. 264; Sue,
“Histoire du Galvanisme,” Paris, An. X-1802, Vol. I. p. 45;
“Société Philomathique,” Vol. I. pp. 27, 31, 43; _Journal de
Physique_, Vol. XLI. pp. 66, 72, 185, 189, 193, 197, 200, 435;
Vol. XLII. pp. 74, 238, the last named containing the “Lettre
sur l’Electricité Animale” (“De animalis electricæ theoriæ
...” Mutinæ, 1792) sent by Valli to MM. De La Méthérie and
Desgenettes; Report of MM. Chappe, Robillard and Silvestre on
Valli’s and Galvani’s experiments (“Soc. Phil.” for March 1793,
No. 21); Report of Messrs. Le Roy, Vicq d’Azyr and Coulomb in
“Médecine éclairée par les Sciences Physiques,” Tome IV. p. 66;
“Epitome of Electricity and Magnetism,” Philad., 1809, p. 133;
“Versuche ... animal, electricität” of Karl Friedrich Kielmayer
(Kielmaier) of the Tübingen University (Poggendorff, Vol. I. p.
1253; F. A. C. Gren, _Journal der Physik_, Vol. VIII for 1794);
Floriano Caldani’s works, 1792–1795, and those of Leopoldo
Marc-Antonio Caldani, 1757–1823; Junoblowiskiana Society,
1793–1795.
=A.D. 1793.=--Fontana (Felice), distinguished Italian experimental
philosopher and physiologist, gives in his “Lettere sopra l’
Elettricità Animale,” the result of further extensive investigations
carried on by him to ascertain more especially all the features of
galvanic irritability and the peculiar actions of the several organs
in cases of death by electricity. Some of his previous observations
in the same line had already been made known through his “Di Moti
dell’ Iride,” 1765, and “Richerche filosofiche,” 1775, all which led
to an active correspondence in after years with the Italian Giochino
Carradori, as will be seen by consulting the volumes of Luigi Valentino
Brugnatelli’s well-known “Giomale Fisico-Medico” (Cuvier, in “Biog.
Univ.,” Vol. XV. p. 8, par. 1816; “Giornale Fisico-Medico,” Vol. IV. p.
116).
Fontana (Gregorio), younger brother of Felice Fontana, likewise an
able natural philosopher, succeeded the celebrated Ruggiero Giuseppe
Boscovich in the Chair of Higher Mathematics at the University of
Padua, and is the author of “Disquisitiones physico-mathematicæ,”
Papiæ, 1780, as well as of many papers in the “Mem. della Soc. It.
delle Scienze,” wherein he gives detailed accounts of many very
interesting electrical observations. Mention of Gregorio Fontana’s name
has already been made under Bennet, A.D. 1787.
REFERENCES.--Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part i.
p. 334, and, for R. G. Boscovich, “The Edinburgh Encyclopædia,”
1830, Vol. III. pp. 744–749.
=A.D. 1793.=--Aldini (Giovanni), nephew of Luigi Galvani and one
of the most active members of the National Institute of Italy, who
succeeded his former instructor, M. Canterzani, in the Chair of Physics
at the Bologna University, established in the last-named Institution a
scientific society whose open object was to combat all of Volta’s works
and which became very hostile to the organization already formed in the
University of Pavia by Felice Fontana, Bassiano Carminati and Gioachino
Carradori against the followers of Galvani. Similar societies espousing
the cause of Volta were subsequently organized in England, at the
suggestion of Cavallo and others, and during five years, the scientists
of Europe were divided between the two discoverers, without, however,
any material benefit accruing therefrom to either faction.
Aldini proved to be an indefatigable investigator, as shown by the
numerous Memoirs sent by him to the publications named below, up to
the month of October 1802, when he experimented before the Galvani
Society of Paris. An account of these experiments is given in his
“Essai théorique,” etc., where, among other results, attention is
called to the curious fact that contractions can be excited in a
prepared frog by holding it in the hand and plunging its nerves into
the interior of a wound made in the muscle of a living animal (Figuier,
“Exposition,” etc., Vol. IV. p. 308). His interesting investigations
of the artificial piles of muscle and brain, first made by M. La Grave
and shown to the French Galvani Society, are alluded to in _Nicholson’s
Journal_, Vol. X. p. 30, in the _Journal de Physique_, An. XI. pp. 140,
159, 233, 472, and in Sturgeon’s “Scientific Researches,” Bury, 1850,
p. 195.
Nearly all of Aldini’s experiments were successfully repeated in
London at Mr. Wilson’s Anatomical Theatre, where Mr. Cuthbertson
assisted Prof. Aldini in arranging the apparatus, and where a student,
by the name of Hutchins, furnished the anatomical preparations, but
the demonstration, of all others, which attracted most attention was
doubtless the one made in London on the 17th of January 1803. The
murderer Forster had just been executed and, after his body lay for
one hour exposed in the cold at Newgate, it was handed over to Mr.
Koate, President of the London College of Surgeons, who, with Aldini,
made upon it numerous important observations to ascertain the precise
effects of galvanism with a voltaic column of one hundred and twenty
copper and zinc couples. The extraordinary results obtained, which
cannot properly be enumerated here, are to be found in the “Essai
Théorique,” etc., already alluded to. They led Aldini to believe
he could, by the galvanic agency, bring back those in whom life was
not totally extinct, such as in cases of the recently drowned or
asphyxiated. (Consult M. Bonnejoy’s method of proving death by ...
Faradization, Paris, 1866, and Georgio Anselmo, “Effets du Galvanisme
...” Turin, 1803; S. T. Sömmering, “On the application of Galvanism to
ascertain the reality of death,” Ludwig scripter nevrolog., III. 23;
Ure, “Exper. on the body of a criminal ...” “Journal of Sc. and Arts,”
No. XII; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LIII. p. 56; Jean Janin de Combe Blanche,
“Sur les causes,” etc., Paris, 1773 (hanging); C. W. Hufeland, 1783,
for the app. of Elec. in cases of asphyxia; T. Kerner, for the app.
of Galv. and Magn. as restoratives, Cannstadt, 1858; Wm. Henley, for
electricity as a stimulant ... drowned or ... suffocated, “Trans. of
the Humane Society,” Vol. I. p. 63.)
Another of Aldini’s curious experiments was the production of very
powerful muscular contractions upon the heads of oxen and other
animals recently decapitated, by introducing into one of the ears a
wire connecting with one of the battery poles and into the nostrils
or tongue a wire communicating with the other pole. Thus were the
eyes made repeatedly to open and roll in their orbits while the ears
would shake, the tongue move and the nostrils dilate very perceptibly
(De la Rive, “A Treatise on Electricity,” 1856, Vol. II. p. 489, and
1858, Vol. III. p. 588; Pepper, “Voltaic Electricity,” 1869, pp. 287,
288). In the experiments which Aldini made during 1804 upon corpses,
the body became violently agitated and even raised itself as if about
to walk, the arms alternately rose and fell and the forearm was made
to hold a weight of several pounds, while the fists clenched and beat
violently the table upon which the body lay. Natural respiration was
also artificially re-established and, through pressure exerted against
the ribs, a lighted candle placed before the mouth was several times
extinguished.
For the experiments of the eminent French physiologist and anatomist
Marie François Xavier Bichat, of Vassalli-Eandi, Giulio, Rossi, Nysten,
Hallé, Mezzini, Klein, Bonnet, Pajot-Laforest, Dudoyon, Berlinghieri,
Fontana, Petit-Radel, Alizeau, Lamartillière, Guillotin, Nauche
and others upon animals and men recently decapitated, see Bichat’s
“Recherches Physiologiques sur la vie et la mort,” Paris, 1805;
Francesco Rossi’s “Rapport des expériences,” etc., Turin, 1803; P. H.
Nysten’s “Nouvelles Expériences Galvaniques,” etc., Paris, 1811, and
also the latter’s “Expériences faites ... le 14 Brumaire, An. XI.”
(Consult likewise, J. R. P. Bardenot, “Les Recherches ... refutées,”
Paris, 1824, and, for an account of Bichat consult F. R. Buisson,
“Précis historique ...” Paris, 1802; Larousse, Vol. II. pp. 703, 704;
“Biog. Univ.,” Vol. XI. pp. 2–19.)
In Aldini’s “Account of Galvanism,” printed for Cuthell and Martin,
London, 1803, it is said (p. 218) that, on the 27th of February 1803,
he transmitted current through a battery of eighty silver and zinc
plates from the West Mole of Calais harbour to Fort Rouge, by means of
a wire supported on the masts of boats, and made it return through two
hundred feet of intervening water.
REFERENCES.--J. B. Van Mons’ treatise on animal electricity in
Tome III of the sixth year of the “Magasin Encyclopédique”;
Fowler, in “Bibl. Britannica,” May 1796; Giulio e Rossi (“Gior.
Fis. Med. di Brugnatelli,” 1793, Vol. I. p. 82); P. Sue, ainé,
“Hist. du Galvanisme,” Paris, An. X, 1802, Vol. I. pp. 31, 67,
73; Vol. II. p. 268; Brugnatelli, _Annali di Chimica_, Vols.
XIII. p. 135; XIV. p. 174; XIX. pp. 29, 158; “Opuscoli Scelti,”
Vols. XVII. p. 231; XIX. p. 217; XX. p. 73; XXI. p. 412; “Mem.
Soc. Ital.,” Vol. XIV. p. 239; Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 27;
“Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XXII. 1803, pp. 249–266; “Galvanische und
elektrische ... Körpern,” 4to, Frankfort, 1804; “Bull. des Sc.
de la Soc. Philom.,” No. 68; J. C. Carpue, “Bibl. Britannica,”
Nos. 207, 208, p. 373; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XIV. pp. 88, 191,
288, 364; XV. pp. 40, 93; Cassius Larcher, M. Daubancourt et
M. Zanetti, ainé (_Ann. de Chimie_, Vol. XLV. p. 195); also
Larcher, Daubancourt et M. de Saintiot (Précis succinct, etc.,
Paris, 1803); W. Sturgeon, “Scientific Researches,” Bury, 1850,
p. 194; M. Kilian, “Versuche über restitution ...” Giessen,
1857; Gilbert, IV. 246; J. Tourdes (“Décade Philos.” No. 3,
An. X. p. 118); Francesco Rossi (“Bibl. Ital.,” Vol. I. p.
106; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XVIII. p. 131; and in the “Mémoires
de Turin”); J. J. Sue, “Recherches Physiol.,” etc., 1803, p.
77; Vassalli-Eandi (“Expériences sur les décapités ...” Turin,
1802 and “Recueil ... de Sédillot,” Vol. II. p. 266); C. H.
Wilkinson, “Elements of Galvanism,” etc., London, 1804, 2
Vols. _passim_; Report of MM. Chappe, Robillard and Silvestre
(“Bull. des Sciences de la Soc. Philom.,” No. 21 for March
1793; also _Jour. de Phys._, Vol. XLII. p. 289); M. Payssé
(“Jour. de la Soc. de Pharm.,” first year, p. 100); Dr. Crichton
(“Rec. Périod. de Litt. Méd. Etrangère,” Tome II. p. 342);
J. Louis Gauthier, “Dissertatio,” etc., Hales, 1793 (“Com.
de Leipzig,” Tome XXXVI. p. 473); Gardiner’s “Observ. on the
animal œconomy”; Humboldt (“Soc. Philom.,” Vol. I. p. 92); Alex.
Monro’s “Experiments,” etc., Edin., 1793, 1794 (“Trans. Edin.
Roy. Soc.,” Vol. III); Felice Fontana, “Lettere ...” 1793;
Joseph Izarn, “Manuel du Galvanisme,” Paris, An. XII, 1804,
pp. 97, 138, 141, 160, 163, 285; Louis Figuier, “Exposition et
Histoire,” Vol. IV. pp. 307–308, 358, 360–363, 365, 366, 370,
371.
=A.D. 1793.=--Fowler (Richard), a very ingenious physician, of
Salisbury, makes known in Edinburgh his “Experiments and Observations
relative to the influence lately discovered by Galvani and commonly
called Animal Electricity,” of which a very complete review is made by
Dr. G. Gregory at pp. 374–381, Vol. I of his “Economy of Nature,” etc.,
third edition, published in London during the year 1804.
Dr. Fowler observed that the contractions in a frog are excited by
making the metals touch under water even at the distance of an inch
from the divided spine of the animal. He succeeded in causing the heart
to contract, but could not produce the same effect upon the stomach
and intestines. He also found, as did Prof. John Robison, of Edinburgh,
at the same period, that the senses of touch and smell are unaffected
by the metals, but that when these are applied to the eye, or, what is
better, when they are thrust up between the teeth and the lips, and
then made to touch, a flash of light is rendered visible. This is the
case also when the metals are placed between the gums and the upper and
lower lips, as proven by the experiments of Dr. Rutherford and of Mr.
George Hunter, of York. Fowler likewise observed that all pure metals
prove excellent conductors of the galvanic influence and that living
vegetables afford it a ready passage, but that stones and oils seem to
be possessed of no conducting power whatsoever.
In conjunction with Mr. Alexander Munro, Fowler published a work
on animal electricity (translated into German under the title of
“Abhandlung ueber thierische elekt.” etc.), while, in the “Bibliotheca
Britannica” for May 1796, mention will be found of the observations of
Dr. Fowler respecting the muscular irritability excited by electricity,
as well as on the reproduction of the nervous substance, on the action
of poisons, on the phenomena of muscular contraction, etc. etc.
REFERENCES.--“Essays and Observations,” etc., Edinburgh, 1793,
in Library of the Royal Institution; Gilbert Blane’s paper read
to the English Royal Society, of which an extract can be found
in Bacher’s “Medical Journal,” Vol. XC. p. 127; Figuier, “Exp.
et Hist. des Princip. Déc.,” Vol. IV. p. 309; C. H. Wilkinson,
“Elements of Galvanism,” London, 1804, Chap. VI. _et passim_;
eighth “Encyc. Brit.,” Vol. XXI. p. 634.
=A.D. 1793.=--Dalton (John), LL.D., F.R.S. (1766–1844), a very
able English natural philosopher and the illustrious author of
the “Atomic Theory of Chemistry and of the Constitution of Mixed
Gases,” gives in his earliest separate publication, “Meteorological
Observations and Essays,” the result of many experiments upon the
electricity of the atmosphere, made by him at Kendal and at Keswick
during the seven years ending May 1793.
He proved, as Sir David Brewster expresses it, that the aurora
exercises an irregular action on the magnetic needle, that the luminous
beams of the aurora borealis are parallel to the dipping needle; that
the rainbow-like arches cross the magnetic meridian at right angles;
that the broad arch of the horizontal light is bisected by the magnetic
meridian; and that the boundary of a limited aurora is half the
circumference of a great circle crossing the magnetic meridian at right
angles, the beams perpendicular to the horizon being only those on the
magnetic meridian.
In the eighth “Encyclopædia Britannica” (Vol. IV. p. 246), treating of
the height of polar lights, reference is made to the extraordinary
aurora borealis observed by Dalton on the 29th of March 1826, and of
which a description is given in a paper read before the Royal Society,
April 17, 1828 (_Phil. Mag. or Annals_, Vol. IV. p. 418; _Philosophical
Transactions_ for 1828, Part II; James Hoy in _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LI. p.
422; J. Farquharson in _Phil. Trans._ for 1839, p. 267). This aurora
was seen in places one hundred and seventy miles apart and covered an
area of 7000 to 8000 square miles. In Vol. XIV of the same Encyclopædia
will be found (p. 15), an account of another aurora observed at Kendal,
February 12, 1793, while at p. 12 are given Dalton’s views as to the
connection between the heat and magnetism of the earth, and, at p.
66, his conclusions as to the cause of the aurora and its magnetic
influence.
REFERENCES.--“Memoirs of Dalton’s Life,” by Dr. W. C. Henry,
London, 1854; “Life and Discoveries of Dalton,” in _British
Quarterly Review_, No. 1; _Pharmaceutical Journal_, London,
October 1841; Thomson’s “History of Chemistry,” Vol. II; Young’s
“Course of Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. I. pp. 706–709, 753,
and Vol. II. pp. 466–470; Noad, “Manual,” etc., London, 1859,
pp. 226, 269, 534; article, “Aurora Borealis,” immediately
following A.D. 1683; Sir H. Davy, “Bakerian Lectures,” London,
1840, pp. 322, 323, 328–330; “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XIII.
pp. 428–434, as well as the numerous references therein cited.
Consult also, for theories, investigations, observations,
records, etc., of the Aurora Borealis: Georg. Kruger, 1700; J.
J. Scheuchzer, 1710–1712, 1728–1730; L. Feuillée, 1719; J. L.
Rost, 1721; J. C. Spidberg, 1724; W. Derham, 1728, 1729–1730;
F. C. Mayer--Meyer, 1726; J. F. Weidler, 1729, 1730, 1735; J.
Lulolfs, 1731; M. Kelsch, 1734; F. M. Zanotti, 1737, 1738; also
Zanotti and P. Matteucci, 1739; B. Zendrini, J. Poleni, F. M.
Serra, E. Sguario and D. Revillas in 1738; G. Bianchi, 1738 and
1740; J. M. Serantoni, 1740; G. C. Cilano de Maternus, 1743; S.
von Trienwald, 1744; G. Guadagni, 1744; J. F. Ramus, 1745; C.
Nocetus, 1747; P. Matteucci, 1747; Jno. Huxham, 1749–1750; G. W.
Krafft, 1750; P. Kahm--Kalm, 1752; G. Reyger, 1756; A. Hellant,
1756, 1777; Jos. Stepling, 1761; H. Hamilton, 1767, 1777; M. A.
Pictet, 1769; J. E. Silberschlag, 1770; C. E. Mirus, 1770; J. E.
B. Wiedeburg, 1771; Max. Hell, 1776; Mr. Hall, J. H. Helmuth,
1777; E. H. de Ratte, W. L. Krafft, 1778; J. E. Helfenzrieder,
1778; G. S. Poli, 1778–1779; Marcorelle and Darguier, 1782; L.
Cotte, 1783; J. A. Cramer, 1785; D. Galizi, in A. Calogera’s
“Nuova Raccolta ...” Vol. XXXIX. p. 64; J. L. Boeckmann, in
“Mem. de Berlin” for the year 1780; H. Ussher, 1788; G. Savioli,
1789, 1790; J. J. Hemmer, 1790; P. A. Bondoli, 1790, 1792, 1802;
A. Prieto, 1794; J. D. Reuss’s works published in Göttingen;
Jacopo Penada, 1807–1808; M. Le Prince, “Nouvelle Théorie
...”; W. Dobbie, 1820, 1823; Col. Gustavson, in _Phil. Mag._
for 1821, p. 312; M. Dutertre, 1822; J. L. Späth, 1822; Chr.
Hansteen, 1827, 1855; L. F. Kaemtz, 1828, 1831; G. W. Muncke,
1828; J. Farquharson, 1829; D. Angelstrom, Rob. Hare, 1836; Ant.
Colla, 1836, 1837; L. Pacinotti, 1837; G. F. Parrot, 1838; J.
H. Lefroy, 1850, 1852; Don M. Rico-y-Sinobas, 1853; A. A. de La
Rive, 1854; A. Boué (_Katalog_), 1856, 1857; C. J. H. E. Braun,
1858; E. Matzenauer, 1861; F. Dobelli, 1867; F. Denza, 1869.
=A.D. 1793–1797.=--Robison (John), a very distinguished English
natural philosopher, completes what are without question the most
important of all his scientific publications. These are to be found
throughout the eighteen volumes and two supplements to the third
“Encyclopædia Britannica,” where they cover such subjects as Physics,
Electricity, Magnetism, Thunder, Variation, etc. etc. Taken together,
“they exhibited,” according to Dr. Thomas Young, “a more complete view
of the modern improvements of physical science than had previously been
in the possession of the British public.”
It was after his retirement from the navy that Robison devoted himself
to scientific studies, becoming the successor of Dr. Black in the
lectureship of chemistry at the University of Glasgow during 1766,
and accepting, seven years later (1773), the Professorship of Natural
Philosophy at Edinburgh, where he taught all branches of physics
and of the higher mathematics. In 1783 he was made Secretary of the
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, received the degree of Doctor of
Laws, 1798–1799, and was elected foreign member of the Saint Petersburg
Academy of Sciences in 1800. Of him, Mr. James Watt wrote, Feb. 7,
1805: “He was a man of the clearest head and the most science of
anybody I have known” (Arago’s “Eloge of Jas. Watt,” London, 1839, p.
81).
It was while acting as midshipman under Admiral Saunders that Robison
himself observed the effect of the aurora borealis on the compass,
which had been remarked by Hiörter, Wargentin, and Mairan several years
before, but which was not then generally known. The aurora borealis,
he afterwards wrote, “is observed in Europe to disturb the needle
exceedingly, sometimes drawing it several degrees from its position. It
is always observed to increase its rate of deviation from the meridian;
that is an aurora borealis makes the needle point more westerly. This
disturbance sometimes amounts to six or seven degrees, and is generally
observed to be greatest when the aurora borealis is most remarkable....
Van Swinden says he seldom or never failed to observe aurora borealis
immediately after any anomalous motion of the needle, and concluded
that there had been one at the time, though he could not see it....
This should farther incite us to observe the circumstance formerly
mentioned, viz., that the South end of the dipping needle points to
that part of the heavens where the rays of the aurora borealis appear
to converge....”
The experiments of J. H. Lambert (at A.D. 1766–1776) upon the
laws of magnetic action were carefully repeated by Robison, who, in
1769 or 1770, tried various methods and made numerous investigations
from which he deduced that the force is inversely as the square of
the distance. When he observed, however, some years afterward, that
Æpinus had in 1777 conceived the force to vary inversely as the simple
distance, he carefully again repeated the experiments and added others
made with the same magnet and with the same needle placed at one side
of the magnet instead of above it. By this simple arrangement the
result was still more satisfactory, and the inverse law of the square
of the distance was well established.
Throughout his numerous investigations, Prof. Robison found that when
a good magnet was struck for three-quarters of an hour, and allowed in
the meantime to ring, its efficacy was destroyed, although the same
operation had little effect when the ringing was impeded; so that the
continued exertion of the cohesive and repulsive powers appears to
favour the transmission of the magnetic as well as of the electric
fluid. The internal agitation, produced in bending a magnetic wire
around a cylinder, also destroys its polarity, and, it is said, the
operation on a file has the same effect. M. Cavallo found that brass
becomes generally much more capable of being attracted when it has been
hammered, even between two flints; and that this property is again
diminished by fire: in this case, Dr. Thomas Young remarks, it may
be conjectured that hammering increases the conducting power of the
iron contained in the brass, and thus renders it more susceptible of
magnetic action.
Of his other very important observations in the same line it would
be difficult to select the most interesting, and it may suffice to
call attention merely to such as are noted throughout Prof. Alfred M.
Mayer’s valuable contributions on “The Magnet, Magnetism,” etc., in
Johnson’s “New Universal Encyclopædia,” as well as in his “Practical
Experiments in Magnetism,” etc., published through the columns of the
_Scientific American Supplement_.
Prof. Robison’s electrical investigations are scarcely less
interesting. In the theories advanced by Æpinus and Cavendish it
was shown that the action of the electrical fluid diminished with
the distance, while M. Coulomb proved, by a series of elaborate
experiments, that it varied like gravity in the inverse ratio of the
square of the distance. Robison had previously determined that in the
mutual repulsion of two similarly electrified spheres the law was
slightly in excess of the inverse duplicate ratio of the distance,
while in the attraction of oppositely electrified spheres the deviation
from that ratio was in defect; and he therefore arrived at the same
conclusion formed by Lord Stanhope, that the law of electrical
attraction is similar to that of gravity.
At the close of Richard Fowler’s “Experiments and Observations,” etc.,
Edinburgh, 1793, is a letter from Prof. Robison, wherein he gives the
following results of many curious investigations, mostly made upon
himself, to ascertain the effects of the galvanic influence. He found
the latter influence well defined on applying one of two metallic
substances to a wound which he had accidentally received; discovered
by their tastes the solders in gold and silver trinkets; and showed
that the galvanic sensation can be felt when the metallic substances
are placed at a distance from each other. He proved the last-named fact
by placing a piece of zinc between one of the cheeks and the gums,
and a piece of silver on the opposite side within the other cheek. He
next introduced a zinc rod between the piece of zinc and the cheek
on the one side, and a silver rod between the silver and the cheek
on the other, and when he afterward carefully brought into contact
the extremities of the rods outside the mouth a flash appeared and a
powerful sensation was noticeable in the gums. He experienced the same
sensation when he again separated the rods and brought them to a short
distance from each other, but he could perceive no galvanic effect
when he placed the rods (or wires) in such manner that the silver rod
should touch the zinc or the zinc rod touch the piece of silver. He
also ascribed to galvanic effect the well-known fact that the drinking
of porter out of a pewter pot produces a more brisk sensation than when
it is taken out of a glass vessel. In this instance, he says there is
a combination of one metal and of two dissimilar fluids. In the act of
drinking, one side of the pewter pot is exposed to the saliva and the
humidity of the mouth, while the other metallic side is in contact with
the porter. In completing the circuit, in the act of drinking, a brisk
and lively sensation arises, which imparts an agreeable relish to the
liquid. He likewise observed that the conducting power of silk thread
depends greatly on its colour, or rather on the nature of its dye. When
of a brilliant white, or a black, its conducting power is the greatest;
while either a high golden yellow or a nut-brown renders it the best
insulator. Human hair, when completely freed from everything that water
could wash out of it, and then dried by lime and coated with lac, was
equal to silk.
Robison’s last publication was made in 1804, one year before his death,
and constituted the first part of a series which was to appear under
the head of “Elements of Mechanical Philosophy.” This portion, together
with some MSS. intended for the second part, and his principal articles
contributed to the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” were collected in 1822 by
Sir David Brewster, and published with notes in 4 vols. under the title
of “System of Mechanical Philosophy.”
REFERENCES.--Playfair in “Transactions of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh,” Vol. VII. p. 495; Stark’s “Biographia Scotica”;
_Philosophical Magazine_, Vol. XIII. pp. 386–394 (Biogr.
Memoir); Aikin’s “General Biography,” London, 1813, Vol.
VIII; Dr. Gleig in _Anti-Jacobin Magazine_ for 1802, Vol. XI;
Chalmer’s “Biographical Dictionary,” London, 1816, Vol. XXV; Dr.
Thomas Young, “Course of Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. II. pp.
438, 444.
=A.D. 1793.=--Prof. Georg. Fred. Hildebrandt of Erlangen (1764–1816),
makes important observations relative to the influence of form and
of substance upon the electric spark. He finds, among other results,
that an obtuse cone with an angle of fifty-two degrees gives a much
more luminous spark than one with an angle of only thirty-six degrees;
that the greatest sparks are given by conical pieces of regulus of
antimony and the least by tempered steel; also, that when the spark
is _white_ by taking it with a metallic body, it will, under the same
circumstances, be _violet_ if taken with the finger; that if the spark
is taken with ice or water, or a green plant, its light will be red,
and, if it is taken with an imperfect conductor, such as wood, the
light will be emitted in faint red streams.
REFERENCES.--Biography in fifth ed. of “Lehrbuch der Physiologie
des Mens. Koerpers,” Erlangen, 1817; “Encyl. Britannica,” Vol.
VIII, 1855, pp. 544, 545; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXIV. pp.
671–672; Ersch und Gruber, “Allgem. Encyklopædie.”
=A.D. 1794.=--Read (John), mathematical instrument maker, at the
Quadrant, in Kingsbridge, Hyde Park, gives, in his “Summary View of the
Spontaneous Electricity of the Earth and Atmosphere,” the result of a
very elaborate series of observations, which he continued almost hourly
between the years 1791 and 1792. Of 987 trials, he found that 664 gave
indications of positive electricity, and out of 404 trials made during
twelve months, the air was positively electrical in 241, negatively
in 156, and insensible in only seven observations. He also found the
vapour near the ground, in the act of condensing into dew, always
highly electric.
He made many observations upon the electricity of vegetable bodies,
which were afterward developed by M. Pouillet, and it was also Mr. Read
who introduced a new hand-exploring instrument as well as an improved
fixed thunder rod for collecting atmospherical electricity. These are
described at p. 608 of the eighth volume of the 1855 “Encyclopædia
Britannica.”
According to Mr. Wilkinson (“Elements of Galvanism,” etc., London,
1804, Vol. II. p. 344), Mr. Read was the first to apply the apparatus
called the condenser to the electroscope in order that it should evince
small intensities of electricity. He says: “The very minute portion
of the fluid given out by the single contact of two different metals,
does not produce any disturbance of the gold leaves; but when several
minute portions are accumulated, a separation of the leaves takes
place. The electroscope, in its simple state, will be as much charged
the first time as if the contact had been made a thousand times, and
cannot therefore acquire a greater quantity of the fluid than suffices
to place it _in equilibrio_ with the metallic plates. This portion
being inadequate to the production of any divergency of the leaves,
Mr. Read applied the principle of the electrical doubler to the above
instrument, by which means he was enabled to charge an intervening
plate of air. By thus accumulating every minute portion of the fluid
imparted through the metallic plate, and by apparently condensing and
increasing its intensity, he ultimately succeeded in producing marked
signs of disturbance.”
REFERENCES.--_Philosophical Transactions_ for 1791, p. 185; for
1792, p. 225; for 1794, pp. 185, 266: also Hutton’s abridgments,
Vol. XVII. pp. 52, 207, 423; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. II, 1796,
p. 209; Vol. III, 1796, p. 272; Vol. X, an. vii. p. 283;
Cavallo, “Nat. Phil.,” 1825, Vol. II. p. 226; Young’s “Course of
Lectures,” Vol. I. p. 714; Ed. Peart, “On Electric Atmospheres
...” Gainsboro’, 1793; “Eng. Ency.,” “Arts and Sciences,” Vol.
III. p. 805; Thomas Thomson, “Outline of the Sciences,” 1830, p.
446; _Journal de Physique_ for 1794, Vol. XLV. p. 468.
=A.D. 1794.=--Chladni (Ernst Florens Friedrich), founder of the
theory of acoustics, publishes “The Iron Mass of Pallas,” etc. (“Ueber
den Ursprung der von Pallas ...”), giving a list of recorded cases of
the fall of meteorites or aerolites and all the important accounts of
such that he was able to collect. As Prof. Alexander Herschel informs
us, in his lecture, delivered (1867) before the British Association at
Dundee, Chladni conceived that a class of cosmical bodies exists in all
parts of the solar system, each forming by itself a peculiar concourse
of atoms, and that the earth from time to time encounters them, moving
with a velocity as great as its own, and doubtless in orbits of very
various eccentricity around the sun. Prof. Muirhead says that through
their exceeding great velocity, which is increased by the attraction
of the earth and the violent friction of the atmosphere, a strong
electricity and heat must necessarily be excited, by which means they
are reduced to a flaming and melted condition, and great quantities of
vapour and different kinds of gases are thus disengaged, which distend
the liquid mass to a monstrous size, until, by still further expansion
of these elastic fluids, they must at length explode (Chladni’s
hypothesis in “Enc. Brit.,” article “Meteorolite”).
Humboldt gives (“Cosmos,” London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 104, note) the
following upon the same subject, taken from Biot’s “Traité d’Astronomie
Physique,” third edition, 1841, Vol. I. pp. 149, 177, 238, 312: “My
lamented friend Poisson endeavoured in a singular manner to solve the
difficulty attending an assumption of the spontaneous ignition of
meteoric stones at an elevation where the density of the atmosphere is
almost null. These are his words: ‘It is difficult to attribute, as
is usually done, the incandescence of aerolites to friction against
the molecules of the atmosphere, at an elevation above the earth
where the density of the air is almost null. May we not suppose
that the electric fluid, in a neutral condition, forms a kind of
atmosphere, extending far beyond the mass of our own atmosphere, yet
subject to terrestrial attraction, although physically imponderable,
and consequently following our globe in its motion?’ According to
his hypothesis, the bodies of which we have been speaking would, on
entering this imponderable atmosphere, decompose the neutral fluid by
their unequal action on the two electricities, and they would thus
be heated, and in a state of incandescence, by becoming electrified”
(Poisson, “Rech. sur la Probabilité des Jugements,” 1837, p. 6).
The theories advanced by Chladni were confirmed four years later by
Brandes and Benzenberg at Göttingen, and, during the month of April
1809, he inserted a “Catalogue of Meteors” in the “Bulletin de la
Société Philomathique,” which was followed by a paper on “Fiery
Meteors” published at Vienna during 1819.
In his “Traité d’Acoustique,” Chladni treats of the line of experiments
to which he was led, as well by the discovery of Lichtenberg’s
electrical figures (see A.D. 1777, and Tyndall, “Sound,”
Lecture IV), an account of which latter appeared in the “Mémoires de
la Société Royale de Göttingen,” as through the suggestions made him
by Lichtenberg himself during the year 1792 relative to the origin of
meteors. The results of Chladni’s researches concerning the last named
appeared in a Memoir published at Leipzig during 1794, translated by M.
Eugène Coquebert Mombret for Vol. V of the _Journal des Mines_.
It may here be properly added that, in one of the editions of his
“Lectures on Sound,” Prof. Tyndall gives a portrait of Chladni and
quotes a letter received from Prof. Weber wherein he says: “I knew
Chladni personally. From my youth up he was my leader and model as a
man of science, and I cannot too thankfully acknowledge the influence
which his stimulating encouragement during the last years of his life
had upon my own scientific labours.”
REFERENCES.--Quetelet (Lambert A. J.) in “Cat. Sc. Pap. Roy.
Soc.,” Vols. V, VI, VIII; “Mém. de l’Acad. Roy. de Brux.,”
1830–1842; “Annali” of Ambroglio Fusinieri for 1854; “Phil.
Mag.,” 1851; Secchi (Angelo) in “Cat. Sc. Pap. Roy. Soc.,”
Vols. V, VIII; “Bull. Meteor. dell Osservat.,” 1862, 1866,
1867; Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 104 (M.
Schreiber), pp. 113, 114 (M. Capocci), also pp. 105, 108, 110,
121, and the entire “Review of Natural Phenomena,” with all
the important references and notes thereunto attached. See
likewise Peter Simon Pallas (_Phil. Trans._ for 1776 and “Act.
Acad. Petrop.,” I for 1778); Chladni’s “Uber ... elektricität
einer Katze,” Jena, 1797; J. Acton and Capel Lofft, in _Phil.
Mag._, Vol. LI. pp. 109, 203; A Seguin, _Phil. Mag._, Vol.
XLIV. p. 212; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. pp.
714, 762, for étoiles, filantes et météorites; F. B. Albinus,
“Specimen,” etc., 1740; Voigt’s “Magaz.,” I, 1797; Schweigger’s
_Journal_, XLIII, 1825; H. Atkinson, “On Hypotheses,” etc.
(_Phil. Mag._, Vol. LIV. p. 336); Karstner, _Archiven_, Vol.
IV; F. C. Von Petersdorff in “Great Divide”; Pierre Prevost
and others in Poggendorff’s _Annalen_, Vols. II, VI and VII;
Arago, “Annuaire pour 1826”; “The fall of Meteorites in Ancient
and Modern Times” (“Sc. Progress,” Vol. II. N.S., pp. 349–370:
numerous references given by Prof. H. A. Miers; “A Century of
the Study of Meteorites,” by Dr. Oliver C. Farrington in “Pop.
Sc. Monthly,” Feb. 1901, or the Report of Smiths. Instit.
for 1901, pp. 193–197; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. IV. p. 332; “Cat.
Sc. Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. pp. 916–918; D. Avelloni
“Lettera,” etc., Venezia, 1760; Martin H. Klaproth’s different
memoirs published at Berlin 1795–1809; Joseph Izarn, “Lithologie
Atmosphérique”; J. Murray (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. LIV. p. 39);
beside Chladni’s works in conjunction with Karl F. Anton von
Schreibers, Wien, 1819 and 1820, and with Messrs. Steininger
and Næggerath, London, 1827 (Schweigger’s _Journal_, N.R., XVI.
385, and _Phil. Mag._, Vol. II. p. 41, also Vol. IV. p. 332).
For a very interesting account, see “A description of the great
Meteor which was seen on the 6th of March 1715–1716, sent in a
letter ... to R. Danuye ...” London, 1723 (_Phil. Trans._ for
1720–1721, Vol. XXXI), by Roger Cotes (1682–1716), of whom Sir
Isaac Newton entertained so high an opinion as to frequently
remark: “_If Mr. Cotes had lived, we had known something_”
(“Biographia Philosophica,” pp. 512–516; English Encycl.,
“Biography,” Vol. II. p. 401). Other exceedingly interesting
accounts of aerolites are to be found, more particularly in
Frederic Petit’s works, published at Toulouse, in Bigot de
Morogue’s “Catalogue,” London, 1814, and in the _Phil. Mag._,
Vols., XVII, XX, XXVIII, XXXII, XXXVI, XLIII, XLVI, XLVIII, L,
LIII, LIV, LVI-LIX, LXII. While treating of this subject, it
may be well to add here that up to the year 1887 diamonds were
not known to exist in meteorites. In a very remarkable paper by
Prof. A. E. Foote, read before the Geological section of the
Am. Asso. Adv. Sci., at its meeting in Washington, he described
having, during the month of June 1891, explored Crater Mountain
(Cañon Diablo), 185 miles north of Tucson, Ariz., where he
found some extraordinary specimens. The extreme hardness of one
of these attracted particular attention, and upon carefully
examining it he discovered in some of the cavities many small
black diamonds as well as a white diamond one-fiftieth of an
inch in diameter. This is said to be the most extensive find of
the kind yet made.
=A.D. 1794.=--Mr. J. Churchman publishes his improved “Magnetic
Atlas or Variation Charts of the whole terraqueous globe,” etc., which
Sir John Leslie subsequently pronounced the most accurate and complete
hitherto made. The charts preceding it worthy of note were those of Dr.
Halley (see A.D. 1683), of Mountaine and Dodson, in 1744 and
in 1756, of Wilcke, in 1772, and of Lambert, in 1779. In his charts,
Churchman refers variation lines to two poles, one of which he places,
for the year 1800, in lat. 58° N. and long. 134° W. of Greenwich, while
the other pole is in lat. 58° S. and long. 165° E. of Greenwich. He
supposes the northern pole to revolve in 1096 years and the southern
one in 2289 years (“Ency. Brit.,” 1857, Vol. XIV. p. 49).
REFERENCES.--Churchman’s letters to Cassini, Phila., 1788, and
his “Explanation of the Magn. Atlas ...” 1790; Harris, “Rudim.
Mag.,” Part III. p. 101; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. II. 1796, p. 325
(atlas); Becquerel, “Traité d’Electr. et de Magn.,” Paris, 1856,
III. p. 140.
=A.D. 1794.=--M. Reusser Reiser, of Geneva, addresses a letter
to the “Magazin für das Neueste aus der Physik” of Johann Heinrich
Voigt (Vol. IX. part i. p. 183), describing the construction of “a new
species of electric letter post” (“Schreiben an den herausgeber”) in
the following words: “... on an ordinary table is fixed, in an upright
position, a square board, to which a glass plate is fastened. On this
plate are glued little squares of tinfoil, cut after the fashion of
luminous panes, and each standing for a letter of the alphabet. From
one side of these little squares extend long wires, enclosed in glass
tubes, which go underground to the place whither the despatch is to be
transmitted. The distant ends are there connected to tinfoil strips,
similar ... to the first, and, like them, each marked by a letter
of the alphabet; the free ends of all the strips are connected to
one return wire, which goes to the transmitting table. If, now, one
touches the outer coating of a Leyden jar with the return wire, and
connects the inner coating with the free end of that piece of tinfoil
which corresponds to the letter required to be indicated, sparks will
be produced, as well at the near as at the distant tinfoil, and the
correspondent there watching will write down the letter....”
Reusser also suggested calling the attention of the correspondent by
firing an electrical pistol through the spark; to him, therefore,
belongs the credit of having first clearly indicated the use of a
special call for the telegraph.
REFERENCES.--Vail’s “History,” p. 121; Voigt’s “Magazin ...”
Vol. VII. part ii. p. 57; Shaffner, “Manual,” pp. 133, 134;
Forster’s “Bauzeitung,” 1848, p. 238; Ed. Highton, p. 38;
Sabine, p. 11; “Appleton’s Encycl.,” 1871, Vol. XV. p. 335;
Reiser, “Der El. Würfel,” Gotha, 1791; _Comptes Rendus_, Tome
VII for 1838, p. 80.
=A.D. 1794.=--Prof. Boeckmann improves upon Reusser’s idea, and does
away with the thirty-six plates and the seventy-two wires which the
latter is believed to have employed. As Dr. Schellen expresses it, he
used “the sparks passing at the distant station, employing only two
wires, through which first one and then, after certain intervals, more
sparks are combinedly grouped” in a way to indicate particular letters.
Like Reusser, he made use of the pistol as a call signal.
REFERENCES.--Zetzsche, “Geschichte der Elektrischen
Telegraphie,” p. 32; Boeckmann, “Versuch über Telegraphie und
Telegraphen,” Carlsruhe, 1794, p. 17; “El. Magn. Teleg.,” 1850,
p. 46; Gren’s _Journal der Physik_, Vol. I for 1790; “Neue
Abhandl. der Bairischen Akad. Philos.,” Vol. III.
=A.D. 1794.=--Edgeworth (Richard Lovell), an able English
mechanical philosopher, better known as the father and literary
associate of Maria Edgeworth, introduces his _tellograph_
(contraction of the word _telelograph_), “a machine describing
words at a distance,” which originated in a wager relative to the
prompt transmission of racing news from Newmarket to London. It
consisted merely of four pointers, in the form of wedges or isosceles
triangles, placed upon four portable vertical posts and the different
positions of which were arranged to represent letters and numbers.
Edgeworth claimed to have made experiments, as early as 1767, with
an ordinary windmill, the arms and sails of which were arranged in
different positions to indicate the several letters of the alphabet.
REFERENCES.--Edgeworth’s Letter to Lord Charlemont on the
Tellograph, also his “Essay on the Art of Conveying Secret and
Swift Intelligence,” Dublin, 1797, republished in Vol. VI of the
_Trans. of the Royal Irish Academy_; “Appleton’s Encycl.,” 1871,
Vol. XV. p. 334.
A.D. 1795.--Lord George Murray, of England, submits to the
Admiralty his six-shutter telegraph, an improvement upon Chappe’s
original plan. Each of the six octagonal shutters was made to turn
inside of two frames at different angles upon its own axis, thus
affording sixty-three separate and distinct signals. By its means,
information was transmitted from London to Dover in seven minutes, and
it answered nearly all the requirements of the Admiralty up to the year
1816, when it was superseded by the semaphore of Rear Admiral Popham.
Murray’s method was, however, useless during foggy weather, when relays
of horses had to be employed for conveying the news.
REFERENCES.--English Encyclopædia, “Arts and Sciences,” Vol.
VIII. p. 66; Tomlinson’s “Telegraph”; Turnbull, _El. Mag. Tel._,
1853, p. 18; “Penny Ency.,” Vol. XXIV. p. 147.
=A.D. 1795.=--Salvá (Don Francisco), a distinguished Spanish
physician, reads a memoir, before the Academy of Sciences of Barcelona,
from which the following is extracted: “... with twenty-two letters,
and even with only eighteen, we can express with sufficient precision
every word in the language, and, thus with forty-four wires from Mataro
to Barcelona, twenty-two men there, each to take hold of a pair of
wires, and twenty-two charged Leyden jars here, we could speak with
Mataro, each man there representing a letter of the alphabet and
giving notice when he felt the shock.... It is not necessary to keep
twenty-two men at Mataro nor twenty-two Leyden jars at Barcelona,
if we fix the ends of each pair of the wires in such a way that one
or two men may be able to discriminate the signals. In this way six
or eight jars at each end would suffice for intercommunication, for
Mataro can as easily speak with Barcelona as Barcelona with Mataro ...
or the wires can be rolled together in one strong cable ... laid in
subterranean tubes, which, for greater insulation, should be covered
with one or two coats of resin.”
He is said to have approved of the use of luminous panes as indicated
by Reusser; to have also suggested, as early as December 16, 1795,
the idea of a _submarine telegraphic cable_ carrying several
conductors, and to have proposed, at the same period, the laying of a
cable between Barcelona and Palma in the island of Majorca.
In 1798, Salvá constructed a single wire telegraphic line between
Madrid and Aranjuez, a distance of twenty-six miles, through which
the signals were transmitted in the shape of sparks from Leyden jars.
This is the line which is credited to Augustin de Bétancourt, a French
engineer, by Alexander Von Humboldt, in a note at p. 14 of Gauss and
Weber’s _Resultate_, etc., for the year 1837.
On the 14th of May 1800, and on the 22nd of February 1804, Salvá
communicated to the Academy of Sciences at Barcelona two papers on
galvanism applied to electricity, wherein he shows that a cheaper
motive power is produced by the electricity of a number of frogs,
and proposes a telegraphic apparatus in conjunction with the voltaic
column which is illustrated and described at pp. 224 and 225 of Fahie’s
“History of Telegraphy.” From the latter the following is taken: “This
illustrious Spanish physician (Salvá) was therefore the first person
who attempted to apply electricity dynamically for the purpose of
telegraphing. It is, says Saavedra, not without reason, I must confess,
notwithstanding my cosmopolitan opinions on scientific questions,
that _the Catalans hold Salvá to be the inventor of electric
telegraphy_. With documents as authentic as those which I have
seen with my own eyes in the very hand writing of this distinguished
professor (which documents are at this present moment to be found in
the library of the Academy of Sciences of Barcelona) it is impossible
for any author to henceforth deny, even if others did precede Salvá in
telegraphic experiments with static electricity, that no one preceded
him in the application of the docile electro-dynamic fluid to distant
communications.”
REFERENCES.--_Comptes Rendus_, séance, 1838; Memorial of Joseph
Henry, 1880, p. 224; Ed. Highton, the _El. Tel._, 1852, pp.
38 and 43; “Appleton’s Encyclopædia,” 1871, Vol. XV. p. 335;
_De Bow’s Review_, Vol. XXV. p. 551; Voigt’s _Magazin_, etc.,
Vol. XI. part iv. p. 61; _Sc. Am. Supp._, No. 547, p. 8735, and
No. 384, p. 6127; Biography in Saavedra’s _Revista_, etc., for
1876; Noad’s _Manual_, pp. 747 and 748; Shaffner, _Manual_,
p. 135; Turnbull, _El. Mag. Tel._, 1853, pp. 21, 22, 220; Du
Moncel, _Exposé_, Vol. III; “Edinburgh Encyclopædia,” London,
1830, Vol. VIII. p. 535; “Gazette de Madrid” of November 25,
1796; “Mémoires de l’Institut,” Vol. III and “Bulletin de la
Soc. Philom.,” An. VI for the new telegraph of MM. Bréguet and
Bétancourt, and for the Report made thereon by MM. Lagrange,
Laplace and others.
=A.D. 1795.=--Ewing (John), D.D., Provost of the University of
Pennsylvania and one of the founders of the American Philosophical
Society, makes a compilation of his course of lectures on natural
experimental philosophy, which is subsequently revised for the press by
Prof. Robert Patterson.
He devotes much attention to atmospheric electricity, detailing the
Franklinian theory, and, besides reporting upon the hypotheses advanced
by Henry Eales (at A.D. 1755), as well as treating of the attraction of
magnetism, he gives a very interesting account of experiments with the
_torpedo_ and the _gymnotus electricus_. He says that Mr. Walsh found
the _torpedo_ “possessed of the power of shocking only in two parts of
its body, directly opposite to each other and near to the head. A spot
on the back and another on the belly opposite to the former being of a
different colour led him to make the experiment, and he found that the
electrical virtue was confined to these, and that any other part of the
fish might be handled, without receiving a shock, while it was out of
the water. Either of these places separately might be handled without
the shock being received until a communication between them was formed.
This makes it appear probable that the same may also be the case with
the Guiana eel. One of these spots must therefore be always in the
positive and the other in the negative state; or, rather, they are both
generally in the natural state, until, by an effort of the fish’s will,
they are suddenly put into different states, as we frequently found
that the hand might be in the water, which formed the communication,
without receiving any shock. This cannot be the case with the Leyden
bottle when charged, which suddenly discharges itself upon forming the
communication. Whether there be any electric atmosphere round these
spots in the _torpedo_ we cannot tell, as we had no opportunity of
examining this matter in the eel, nor have we heard whether Mr. Walsh
made any experiments for ascertaining this.”
ELECTRICITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE
The investigations of John Ewing concerning atmospheric electricity
were in reality quite extensive. He not only repeated the experiments
of Franklin, but he examined thoroughly those of other scientists in
the same channel, especially the investigations of Henry Eeles, which
will be found detailed in the latter’s “Trinity College Lectures” as
well as in his “Philosophical Essays,” London, 1771.
For a very interesting historical review of theories as to the origin
of atmospherical electricity, it would be well to consult M. A. B.
Chauveau’s article in “Ciel et Terre,” Bruxelles, March 1, 1903, and
also Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” London, 1849, Vol. I. pp. 342–346. In the
last-named work are cited: Arago, “Annuaire,” 1838, pp. 246, 249–266,
268–279, 388–391; Becquerel, “Traité de l’Electricité,” Vol. IV. p.
107; De la Rive, “Essai Historique,” p. 140; Duprez, “Sur l’électricité
de l’air,” Bruxelles, 1844, pp. 56–61; Gay-Lussac, “Ann. de Ch. et de
Phys.,” Vol. VIII. p. 167; Peltierin, “Ann. de Chimie,” Vol. LXV. p.
330, also in “Comptes Rendus,” Vol. XII. p. 307; Pouillet, “Ann. de
Chimie,” Vol. XXXV. p. 405.
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
| | |
Date | Name | Experiments | References
| | |
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1751 |Franklin |Effects of lightning |Phil. Trans., xlvii. p. 289
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1751 |Mazeas |Kite experiments independently |Phil. Trans., 1751–1753
| | of Franklin |
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |Nollet |Theory of Electricity |Recher. sur les causes,
| | | 1749–1754
| | |Lettres sur l’élect., 1753,
| | | 1760, 1767, 1770
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |Watson |Electricity of clouds |Phil. Trans., 1751, 1752
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |De Lor and Buffon|Iron pole 99 ft. high, mounted |Letter of Abbé Mazeas,
| | on a cake of resin 2 ft. sq.,| dated St. Germain,
| | 3 in. high, Estrapade, May | May 20, 1742
| | 18, 1752 |
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |D’Alibard |Sparks from thunder clouds, 40 |Mem. l’Acad., r. des
| | ft. pole in garden at Marly, | Sci., May 13, 1762
| | also wooden pole 30 ft. high,| Hist. Abrégée, 1776
| | at Hôtel de Noailles |
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |Le Monnier |Observations of air charge |Mém. de Paris, 1752,
| | | pp. 8, 233
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |De Romas |Observations of air charge; |Mém. Sav. Etrangers,
| | kite experiments | 1752, and Mém. de
| | | Math., 1755, 1763
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |Mylius, Ch. |Observations of air charge |“Nachrichten,” Berlin, 1752
| | |
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |Kinnersley |Observations of air charge |Franklin’s Letters, Phil.
| | | Trans., 1763, 1773
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1752 |Ludolf and Mylius|Observations of air charge |Letter to Watson
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1753 |Richman |Electrical gnomon |Phil. Trans., 1753
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1753 |Canton |Electricity of clouds |Franklin’s letters and
| | | Phil. Trans., 1753
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1753 |Beccaria, C.B. |Systematic observations with |Lett. dell’ Elet. Bologna,
| | an electroscope | 1758
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1753 |Wilson |Experiments |Phil. Trans., 1753, p. 347
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1754 |Lining |Kite experiments |Letter to Chas. Pinckney
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1755 |Le Roy |Experiments |Mém. de Paris, 1755
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1756 |Van Musschenbroek|Kite experiments |Intro. ad Phil. Nat., 1762
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1759 |Hartmann |Origin of electricity |Verbesseter ... Blitzes
| | | (_Hamb. Mag._ vol. xxiv.)
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1769 |Cotte |Memoirs on meteorology |Journ. Phys., xxiii., 1783
| | | Mém. Paris, 1769–1772
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1772 |Ronayne |Fog observations |Phil. Trans., 1772, p. 137
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1772 |Henley |Quadrant electrometer |Phil. Trans., 1772–1774
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1775 |Cavallo |Fogs, snow, clouds and rain; |Treatise on Elect., 1777
| | kite experiments |
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1784 |De Saussure |Observations |“Voyages dans les Alpes,”
| | | Geneva, 1779–1796
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1786–7|Mann |Daily observations with an |Ephémer. Météorol. of the
| | electrical machine, timing | Mannheim Society,
| | the revolutions to produce a | 1786–1792
| | given spark with a record of |
| | the weather |
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1788 |Volta |New electroscope |Lettere Sulla Meteor,
| | | 1788–1790
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1788 |Crosse |Experiments with collectors |Gilb. Ann., Bd. 41, s. 60
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1791 |Read |Insulation and conductors |Phil. Trans., 1791 and
| | | Summary, 1793
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1792 |Von Heller |Observations |Gren, “_Neues Journ. der
| | | Phys._,” vol. ii. 1795
| | | and vol. iv. 1797
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
1792 |Schubler |Observations with weather rod |J. de Phys., lxxxiii. 184
------+-----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------------
An attractive table, which we are permitted to rearrange and reproduce
here, giving a _résumé_ of references to some of the most noted
experiments of the chief investigators from the time of Franklin to
the end of the eighteenth century, was made up by Mr. Alex. McAdie and
first appeared in the “Amer. Meteor. Journal.” Mr. McAdie says that a
detailed history of most of Franklin’s co-labourers will be found in
the accounts given by Exner,[53] Hoppe,[54] Mendenhall,[55] Elster and
Geitel[56] as well as by himself,[57] and that in making up this table
he has passed over Peter Collinson, of London, who introduced to the
notice of the Royal Society the experiments of Franklin, and the three
less-known workers--J. H. Winkler, who wrote in 1746 on the electrical
origin of the weather lights; Maffei, 1747; and Barberet, 1750.
=A.D. 1795.=--The telegraphs of the Rev. J. Gamble, Chaplain to the
Duke of York, consisted either of five boards placed one above the
other or of arms pivoted at the top of a post upon one axis and
capable of producing as many signals as there are permutations in the
number five, all of the combinations being possible at equal angles of
forty-five degrees. His doubts as to the practicability of employing
electricity “as the vehicle of information” are fully expressed at p.
73 of his “Essay on the Different Modes of Communicating by Signal,”
etc., London, 1797.
REFERENCES.--J. Gamble, “Observations on Telegraphic
Experiments,” etc.; Article “Telegraph” in Tomlinson’s “Encyl.
of Useful Arts”; “Penny Ency.,” Vol. XXIV. pp. 147 and 148;
“English Cyclopædia,” “Arts and Sciences,” Vol. VIII. p. 66.
=A.D. 1795.=--Garnet (John), proposes a telegraph consisting of only
one bar moving about the centre of a circle, upon which latter the
letters and figures are inscribed. On placing corresponding divisions,
by means of wires, before the object glass of the telescope the
coincidence of the two radii or of the arm would point out the letter
intended to be repeated. As this plan proved impracticable for long
distances, it did not come into general use (“Emporium of Arts and
Sciences,” Phila., 1812, Vol. I. p. 293).
=A.D. 1795.=--Wells (Charles William), a physician, native of South
Carolina but practising in England and a F.R.S., publishes in the
_Phil. Trans._ a paper on the influence which incites the muscles
of animals to contract in Galvani’s experiments. Therein he was the
first to demonstrate that voltaic action is produced through charcoal
combined with another substance of different conducting power, and
this he did by causing noticeable convulsions in a frog through the
combination of charcoal and zinc. (See “Ency. Met.,” Vol. IV. pp. 220,
221, for the experiments of both Dr. Wells and Dr. Fowler.) Fahie
states that Davy subsequently constructed a pile which consisted of
a series of eight glasses containing well-burned charcoal and zinc,
using a red sulphate of iron solution as the liquid conductor. It is
said this series gave sensible shocks and rapidly decomposed water and
that, compared with an equal and similar series of silver and zinc,
its effects were much stronger. (See Priestley’s discovery of the
electrical conductibility of charcoal at A.D. 1767, and the description
of Davy’s charcoal battery in “Jour. Roy. Inst.” and _Nicholson’s
Journal_, N. S., Vol. I. p. 144.)
His biographer, in the “Eng. Cyclop.,” says (Vol. VI. pp. 631–632) that
his last work and the one upon which his reputation as a philosopher
must rest, is his “Essay upon Dew,” published in 1814 (“Journal des
Savants” for Sept. 1817), whilst J. F. W. Herschel remarks at p. 122 of
his “Prel. Disc ... Nat. Phil.,” 1855: “We have purposely selected this
theory of dew, first developed by the late Dr. Wells, as one of the
most beautiful specimens we can call to mind of inductive experimental
inquiry lying within a moderate compass....”
REFERENCES.--Wells’ biography in the “English Cyclopædia,”
Vol. VI. p. 631; _Phil. Trans._ for 1795, p. 246; Hutton’s
abridgments of the _Phil. Trans._, Vol. XVII. p. 548; Fahie’s
“History,” etc., pp. 201 and 202; “Aristotle on Dew”
(Poggendorff, _Geschichte der Phys._, 1879, p. 42); Luke
Howard, “On the Modification of Clouds ...” London, 1803; C. H.
Wilkinson, “Elements of Galvanism,” etc., London, 1804, Vol. I.
pp. 162–165 and Vol. II. p. 329.
=A.D. 1796.=--Gregory (George), D.D., F.R.S., Vicar of Westham,
a miscellaneous writer of Scotch origin, for many years editor of the
“New Annual Register,” is the author of “Economy of Nature,” etc., of
which the second and third editions, considerably enlarged, appeared
respectively in 1798 and 1804.
In the first volume of the last-named edition (Book I. chap. vi. pp.
35–54) he treats of natural and artificial magnets and of magnetic
powers and theories of magnetism, while the whole of Book IV. (chaps.
i.-viii. pp. 299–386) is devoted to the history of and discoveries
relative to electricity, its principles and theories, as well as to
electrical apparatus and electrical phenomena and to galvanism or
animal electricity.
Gregory is also the author of “Popular Lectures on Experimental
Philosophy, Astronomy and Chemistry; Intended Chiefly for the Use
of Students and Young Persons,” 2 vols., 12 mo, published in London
1808–1809, one year after Gregory’s death.
It was the perusal of the latter work which led Joseph Henry to
embrace a scientific career, just as the reading of “Mrs. Marcet’s
Conversations on Chemistry” had induced Michael Faraday to enter the
field in which he afterward became so highly distinguished. Prof. Asa
Gray, in his Biographical Memoir of Henry, says that Gregory’s work
alluded to is an unpretending volume but a sensible one, and that it
begins by asking three or four questions, such as these: “You throw a
stone, or shoot an arrow into the air; why does it not go forward in
the line or direction that you give it? Why does it stop at a certain
distance and then return to you?... On the contrary, why does flame
or smoke always mount upward, though no force is used to send them in
that direction? And why should not the flame of a candle drop toward
the floor when you reverse it, or hold it downward, instead of turning
up and ascending into the air?... Again, you look into a clear well
of water and see your own face and figure as if painted there? Why is
this? You are told that it is done by reflection of light. But what is
reflection of light?” As Prof. Gray remarks, young Henry’s mind was
aroused by these apt questions, and allured by the explanations. He now
took in a sense of what knowledge was. The door to knowledge opened to
him, that door which it thence became the passion of his life to open
wider. The above-named volume is preserved in Prof. Henry’s library,
and bears upon a fly-leaf the following entry:
“This book, although by no means a profound work, has, under
Providence, exerted a remarkable influence upon my life. It
accidentally fell into my hands when I was about sixteen years old, and
was the first work I ever read with attention. It opened to me a new
world of thought and enjoyment; invested things before almost unnoticed
with the highest interest; fixed my mind on the study of nature,
and caused me to resolve at the time of reading it, that I would
immediately commence to devote my life to the acquisition of knowledge.
J. H.” (See Prof. A. M. Mayer, “Eulogy of Joseph Henry,” Salem, 1880,
pp. 29–30; “Smithsonian Report,” 1878, pp. 145, 146.)
REFERENCES.--_Gentleman’s Magazine_, Vol. LXVII. p. 415; Beloe’s
“Sexag.,” II. 128; “Living Authors” (1798), I. p. 225.
=A.D. 1797.=--Bressy (Joseph), French physician and able chemist,
remarks, in his “Essai sur l’électricité de l’eau,” that the electric
fluid is composed of three beams (_rayons_, i. e. rays, gleams,
or sparks), vitreous, resinous and vital; that three principal agents
exist in nature, viz. the air, isolating body; the water, conducting
body, and movement, determining action; that vapours resolve themselves
into clouds merely because friction enables the electric fluid to
seize upon the aqueous molecules, and that, in water, the hydrogen is
maintained in the form of gas by the electric fluid, while the oxygen
becomes gaseous under influence of the caloric.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II. p. 1236;
Delaunay, “Manuel,” etc., 1809, pp. 15, 16.
=A.D. 1797.=--Treméry (Jean Louis), a French mining engineer,
communicates his observations on elliptic magnets through Bulletin No.
6 of the “Société Philomathique” as well as through the sixth volume of
the _Journal des Mines_.
His observations on conductors of electricity and on the emission of
the electric fluid appear at p. 168 Vol. XLVIII of the _Jour. de
Phys._, and in “Bull. de la Soc. Philom.,” No. 19, while his views
in opposition to the two-fluid theory are to be found in Bulletin No.
63 of the last-named publication as well as in _Jour. de Phys._,
Vol. LIV. p. 357.
REFERENCES.--Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 1131; John Farrar, “Elem.
of Elec.,” etc., p. 120.
=A.D. 1797.=--Pearson (George), English physician and chemist,
communicates to the Royal Society a very interesting paper entitled,
“Experiments and Observations made with the view of ascertaining the
nature of the gas produced by passing electric discharges through
water; with a description of the apparatus for these experiments.”
An abstract of the above appears in the _Phil. Trans._ for 1797, and
a full transcript of it is to be found in _Nicholson’s Journal_, 4to,
Vol. I. pp. 241–248, 299–305, and 349–355.
As Mr. Wilkinson has it, “Dr. Pearson supposes the decomposition of
water by electricity to be effected by the interposition of the dense
electric fire, between the constituent elements of the water, which he
places beyond the sphere of attraction for each other, each ultimate
particle of oxygen and hydrogen uniting with a determinate quantity
of the electric fire to bestow on them their gaseous form. Hence the
doctor supposes that the electric fire, after effecting the disunion,
assumes the state of caloric.
“On the reproduction of water by the passage of an electric spark
through a proportionate quantity of oxygen and hydrogen gases, Dr.
Pearson ingeniously conjectures that by the influence of the electric
flame the ultimate particles of these gases, the nearest to the flame,
are driven from it in all directions, so as to be brought within the
sphere of each other’s attractions. In one of these cases Dr. Pearson
supposes that the caloric destroys the attraction, which in the other
instance it occasions.
“It is with diffidence that I take on me to controvert the opinions of
this very respectable physician; but I presume that the whole of the
phenomena of the synthesis and analysis of water are more readily to be
explained on the principles I have laid down than by the adoption of
the mysterious terms of attraction and repulsion. By the operation of
galvanism, water is more rapidly decomposed than by common electricity.
In this operation there is no evolution of dense electrical fire, but
merely a current of a small intensity of electricity acting permanently
and incessantly. To reproduce water, a flame must be generated
sufficient to kindle the contiguous portion of the hydrogen gas, then
the next portion, and so on, the combustion being preserved by the
presence of the oxygen gas. As these processes proceed with immense
rapidity as soon as the gases are intermixed, so as to appear like one
sudden explosion, the caloric of each of them being thus disengaged,
their bases unite and constitute water.”
Dr. Pearson also made many interesting experiments to ascertain the
effect of the application of galvanic electricity for the treatment of
diseases, and Noad, who describes one of his successful operations,
also details (“Manual,” pp. 343–349) the observations of many others
in the same line, notably those of Drs. Apjohn, Majendie, Grapengieser
and of Wilson Philip, Petrequin, Pravaz, Prevost and Dumas (_Jour.
de Physiol._, Tome III. p. 207), as well as of Sarlandière and Dr.
Golding Bird, besides giving the very important conclusions arrived at
by Stefano Marianini.
REFERENCES.--“Some Account of George Pearson,” M.D., F.R.S.
(_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XV for 1803, p. 274); letter of Humboldt
to M. Loder (“Bibl. Germ.,” Vol. IV, Messidor, An. VIII. p.
301); William Van Barneveld, “Med. Elektricität,” Leipzig,
1787; C. H. Wilkinson, “Elements of Galvanism,” London, 1804,
2 vols. _passim_; Paragraph No. 328 of Faraday’s “Experimental
Researches,” J. N. Hallé, “Journal de Médecine de Corvisart,”
etc., Tome I, Nivose, An. IX. p. 351; “Annales de l’Electricité
Médicale” _passim_; H. Baker (_Phil. Trans._, Vol. XLV. p. 270);
“Jour. de la Soc. Philom.,” Messidor, An. IX; J. F. N. Jadelot,
“Expériences,” etc., 1799; M. Butet (“Bull. des Sc. de la Soc.
Philom.,” No. 43, Vendémiaire, An. IX); M. Oppermanno, “Diss.
Phys. Med.” (see J. G. Krunitz “Verzeichnis,” etc.); Andrieux,
“Mémoire ... maladies,” Paris, 1824; Lebouyer-Desmortiers
(Sue, “Hist. du Galv.,” Vol. II. p. 420, and _Jour. de Phys._,
Prairial, An. IX, 1801, p. 467); C. J. C. Grapengieser,
“Versuche den Galvanismus,” etc., Berlin, 1801 and 1802;
the works of J. Althaus, published in London and Berlin in
1859–1870; C. A. Struve’s works, published in Hanover and
Breslau, 1797–1805; F. L. Augustin’s works, published in Berlin,
1801–1803; Karl Friedrich Kielmeyer (Kielmaier), works published
at Tübingen (Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 1253); Einhoff (Gilbert,
XII. p. 230); Francesco Rossi’s treatises on the application
of galvanism, published in 1809; Gilb. “Ann.,” Vol. XII. p.
450; _Jour. de Phys._, Vol. LII. pp. 391 and 467; Cuthbertson’s
letter in _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XVIII. p. 358; J. G. Anglade,
“Essai sur le Galvanisme,” etc. (Sue, “Hist. du Galv.,” Vol.
III. p. 73); Jacques Nauche, in _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 368,
as well as in Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 256, and throughout the
“Journal du Galvanisme.”
=A.D. 1797.=--In No. CCXXII of the _Reichsanzeiger_, a German
publication, it is said that a certain person having an artificial
magnet suspended from the wall of his study with a piece of iron
adhering to it, remarked, for several years, that the flies in the
room, though they frequently placed themselves on other iron articles,
never settled upon the artificial magnet.
REFERENCES.--Cavallo, “Experimental Philosophy,” 1803, Vol. III.
p. 560, or the 1825 Philad. ed., Vol. II. p. 286.
=A.D. 1797–1798.=--Reinhold (Johann Christoph Leopold), while Bachelor
of Medicine in Magdeburg, tendered for his theses, on the 16th of
December 1797 and on the 11th of March 1798, two Latin dissertations
on galvanism, one of which was offered concurrently with J. William
Schlegel, then a medical student.
Numerous extracts from both the above very important papers, which
treat extensively of galvanic experiments upon animals, vegetables,
metals, etc., will be found at pp. 123–195, Vol. I of Sue’s “Histoire
du Galvanisme,” Paris, 1802. Both dissertations review galvanism from
its origin and make mention of many works which had not up to that time
appeared in print.
In the first volume of his “Elements of Galvanism,” London, 1804,
Mr. C. H. Wilkinson devotes the entire Chap. VIII (pp. 188–260) to
Reinhold’s able review of galvanism, wherein are first cited Gardiner
(author of “Observations on the Animal Economy”), Lughi, Klugel and
Gardini as “anterior to the discovery of the doctrine of animal
electricity.” Then follow accounts of their writings, as well as of
those of Galvani and of Volta, “the Prince of Italian naturalists,”
after which due mention is made, in their proper order, of the
observations of Aldini, Valli, Fontana, Berlinghieri, Monro, Fowler,
Corradori, Robison, Cavallo, Wells, Havgk, Colsmann, Creve, Hermestædt,
Klein, Pfaff, Ackermann, Humboldt (letters to Blumenbach, Crell, Pictet
and M. de Mons), Eschenmeyer, Achard, Grapengieser, Gren, Michaelis,
Caldani, Schmuck, Mezzini, Behrends, Giulio, Ludwig, Webster, Vasco,
Hebenstreit and others.
The subject of the eighth and last section of Reinhold’s Dissertations,
as Wilkinson expresses it, consists of the exposition of the hypotheses
of different authors on the galvanic fluid. These hypotheses he brings
into two classes, as they relate to the seat which is assigned to the
cause of the phenomena. The first of these classes belongs to the
animal which is to be galvanized, and the second to the substance
applied to its body, or to the arc. As the galvanic phenomena are
ascribed by several physiologists to electricity, Reinhold makes a
new division, relatively to the opinion of those who assert that
the galvanic and electric fluids are the same, and of those who are
persuaded that the former differs from the latter. Under the first head
or division he ranges Galvani, Aldini, Valli, Carradori, Volta, in the
early time of the discovery; then Schmuck, Voigt, and Hufeland; while
under the second come Fowler and Humboldt. Of the latter division he
makes subdivisions, in the first of which he comprehends Volta, Pfaff,
Wells, Yelin and Monro, the second embracing Creve and Fabbroni. The
other authors, not having openly avowed their opinion, he passes over
in silence.
Reinhold is likewise the author of “Versuche um die eigentliche,”
etc. (Gilb. “Annal.,” X, 1802, pp. 301–355), “Untersuchungen über die
natur.,” etc. (Gilb. “Annal.,” X, 1802, pp. 450–481, and XII, 1803,
pp. 34–48); “Galvanisch-elektrische Versuche,” etc. (Gilb. “Annal.,”
XI, 1802, pp. 375–387); “Geschichte des Galvanismus,” Leipzig, 1803;
“Versuch einer skizzirten,” etc. (Reil. “Archiv.,” VIII, 1807–1808, pp.
305–354); “Ueber Davy’s Versuche” (Gilb. “Annal.,” XXVIII, 1808, pp.
484–485).
REFERENCES.--Schlegel, “De Galvanismo”; Figuier, “Exp. et Hist.
des Principales Découvertes,” Vol. IV. pp. 310, 433; J. W.
Ritter, “Beweis ... in dem Thierreich ...” Weimar, 1796; G. R.
Treviranus, “Einfluss ... thier, Reizbarkeit,” Leipzig, 1801,
and Gilbert’s “Annalen,” Vol. VIII for the latter year.
=A.D. 1798.=--Perkins (Benjamin D.), is given an English patent
for a process enabling him to cure aches, pains and diseases in the
human body by drawing electrified metals over the parts affected. His
metallic tractors, originally introduced from America and consisting
of an alloy of different metals, awakened much curiosity both in
England and on the Continent, and were successfully used by Dr.
Haygarth and others, as related in the article “Somnambulism,” of the
“Encyclopædia Britannica.”
In the Repert. II. ii. 179, it is said that one of the tractors
was made of zinc, copper and gold, and the other of iron, platina
and silver. M. V. Burq, in his “Métallo-thérapie,” makes a review
of the successful cures of nervous complaints effected by metallic
applications.
REFERENCES.--_Jour. de Phys._, Vol. XLIX. p. 232; Mr.
Langworthy, “View of the Perkinian Electricity,” 1798; T. G.
Fessenden, “Poetical petition against ... the Perkinistic
Institution ...” London, 1803; B. D. Perkins, “The Influence
of Metallic Tractors on the Human Body ...” London, 1798–1799;
“Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XXI, 1802, pp. 49–89; “Recherches sur le
Perkinisme,” etc. (“Annales de la Soc. de Méd. de Montpellier,”
Vol. XXIX. p. 274); “Sur les tracteurs de Perkins” (“Mém. des
Soc. Savantes et Lit.,” Vol. II. p. 237); P. Sue, aîné, “Hist.
du Galv.,” IV. p. 286 and “Hist du Perkinisme,” Paris, 1805; J.
D. Reuss, “De re electrica,” Vol. XII. p. 20; J. Krziwaneck, “De
electricitate ...” Prag., 1839.
=A.D. 1798.=--In a long letter written to Thomas Jefferson, President
of the American Philosophical Society, and read before the latter body
on the 4th of May 1798, the Rev. James Madison, then President of
William and Mary College, details several experiments made by him to
ascertain the effect of a magnet upon the Torricellian vacuum, and to
explain the phenomena exhibited by magnets in proximity to iron filings.
He says: “Many ingenious men have supposed that the arrangement of the
filings clearly indicated the passage of a magnetic fluid or effluvia
in curved lines from one pole to another of a different denomination,”
but that the experiments which he relates prove the attractive force
of the magnets, at either pole, to be the real cause of the phenomena
which the filings exhibit, and that the action of the magnet upon the
filings, when they approach within a certain distance, renders them
magnetic. In every magnet, says he, there is at least one line, called
the equator, from which, in the direction of both poles, the attractive
power increases so that the filings will “incline toward them, forming
angles which appear to be such as the resolution of two forces, one
lateral and the other polar, would necessarily produce.”
Thomas Jefferson, above named, succeeded Benjamin Franklin as
United States Minister Plenipotentiary to Paris, 1784–1789, became
Vice-President of the United States in 1796, and was sworn in as the
successor of John Adams to the Presidency on the 4th of March 1801. The
Rev. James Madison, D.D., second cousin of the fourth President of the
United States bearing the same name, became President of William and
Mary College in 1777, and was consecrated first Bishop of Virginia by
the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lambeth Palace, Sept. 19, 1790.
REFERENCES.--“Transactions of the Am. Phil. Soc.,” Vol. IV for
1799, O.S. No. 39, pp. 323–328.
=A.D. 1798.=--Monge (Gaspar), Comte de Peluse, a very able French
scientist, called “the inventor of descriptive geometry,” and from
whom, it is said, that science received greater accessions than had
before been given it since the days of Euclid and Archimedes, erects a
telegraph upon the “Palais des Tuileries” in Paris. Of this, however,
no reliable details are on record.
He also makes many experiments on the effects of optics and
electricity, and, likewise, many useful observations on the production
of water by inflammable air, independently of those carried on by Lord
Cavendish.
REFERENCES.--Biography in Charles Dupin’s “Essai Historique,”
etc., and in “English Cycl.,” Vol. IV. pp. 296, 297; Memoir at
p. 175 of Vol. LV, _Phil. Mag._ for 1820; G. Monge, “Sur l’effet
des étincelles ...” Paris, 1786, and “Précis des leçons,” Paris,
1805; _Sci. Am. Supp._, No. 621, p. 9916, and the note at foot
of p. 701 of “Fifth Dissert.” eighth ed. of “Encyclopædia
Britannica,” Vol. I; as well as “Mém. de l’Acad. des Sciences,”
1786.
=A.D. 1798.=--Berton (Henri Montan), a prominent French composer
and Professor of Harmony at the Paris “Conservatoire de Musique,” also
a member of the “Académie des Beaux-Arts,” devises a novel electric
telegraph which is merely alluded to, under the heading of “Note
historique sur le télégraphe électrique,” at p. 80 of the seventh
volume of the _Comptes Rendus_ for July 1838, as well as in Julia
Fontenelle’s “Manuel de l’électricité.”
=A.D. 1799.=--Fabbroni--Fabroni--(Giovanni Valentino M.),
Professor of Chemistry at Florence, communicates to the _Journal
de Physique_ (9th series, Tome VI, Cahier de Brumaire, An. VIII),
an amplification of his able memoir, “Sur l’action chimique,” etc.
(“Dell’azione chimica ...”), which was first presented by him during
1792 to the Florentine Academy and duly analyzed by Brugnatelli in his
“Giornale physico-medico.” Therein is made the first known suggestion
as to the chemical origin of voltaic electricity, inquiring whether
the phenomenon of galvanism is not solely due to chemical affinities
of which electricity may be one of the concomitant effects, and also
ascribing the violent convulsions in a frog to a chemical change which
is produced by the contact of one of the metals with some liquid matter
on the animal’s body, the latter decomposing and allowing its oxygen to
combine with the metal.
REFERENCES.--“Elogio ... A. Lombardi” (“Mem. Soc. Ital.,” Vol.
XX); _Cornhill Magazine_, Vol. II for 1860, p. 68; “Biog.
Univ.,” Vol. XIII. p. 311; “Encycl. Met.,” “Galvanism,”
Vol. IV. p. 215; _Journal de Physique_, Vol. XLIX. p. 348;
“Chambers’ Ency.,” 1868, Vol. IV. p. 593; “Mem. Soc. Ital.,”
Vol. XX. pp. 1 and 26; P. Sue, aîné, “Histoire du Galvanisme,”
Paris, An. X-1802, Vol. I. pp. 229–232; _Phil. Mag._, Vol.
V. p. 270; _Nicholson’s Journal_, quarto, Vol. IV. p. 120;
Sir Humphry Davy, “Bakerian Lectures,” London, 1840, p. 49;
Young’s “Lectures,” Vol. I. p. 752; W. Sturgeon, “Scientific
Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 156; “Giornale di fisica” for 1810;
“Giornale dell’ Ital. Lettera ...” IX. p. 97; “Atti della Reg.
Soc. Economica di Firenze,” XX. p. 26; Brugnatelli, _Annali
di chimica_, II. p. 316 and XXI. p. 277; C. Henri Boissier,
“Mémoire sur la décomp. de l’eau, etc.,” Paris, 1801 (_Journal
de Physique_, Prairial, An. IX).
=A.D. 1799.=--Jadelot (J. F. N.), French physician, translates
Humboldt’s work on “Galvanism,” wherein he reviews the investigations
of the great German scientist and treats of the application of the
Galvanic fluid in medical practice. The observations of a friend of
Humboldt, Dr. C. J. C. Grapengieser, are especially detailed and a
complete account is given of all the noted physicians who have recorded
experiments in the same line.
REFERENCES.--For the medical applications of Galvanism: _Journal
de Physique_, Vol. LII. pp. 391, 467; Gilbert’s “Annalen,” XI.
354, 488 and XII. 230, 450; “An. of Sc. Disc.” for 1865, p. 123;
Larrey, 1793, 1840; L. Desmortiers, 1801; Legrave, 1803; F. J.
Double, 1803; J. Nauche, 1803; “Galv. Soc.” (_Phil. Mag._, Vol.
XV. p. 281); Laverine, 1803; Mongiardini and Lando, 1803; F.
Rossi, 1803–1827; J. Schaub, 1802–1805; B. Burkhardt, 1802; M.
Butet, 1801; J. Le Roy d’Etiolle, “Sur l’emploi du Galv....”;
P. L. Geiger, 1802–1803; J. D. Reuss in “De Re Electrica”; M.
Buccio, 1812; La Beaume, 1820–1848; P. A. Castberg (Sue, “Hist.
du Galv.,” IV. 264); Fabré-Palaprat and La Beaume, 1828; Rafn’s
“Nyt. Bibl.,” IV; C. C. Person, 1830–1853; S. G. Marianini,
1841; C. Usiglio, 1844; F. Hollick, 1847; G. Stambio, 1847; Du
Fresnel, 1847; H. de Lacy, 1849; M. Récamier, J. Massé, 1851;
R. M. Lawrance, Robt. Barnes, and Crimotel de Tolloy, 1853; M.
Middeldorpf, 1854; R. Remak, 1856, 1860, 1865; J. Seiler, 1860;
V. Von Bruns, 1870.
=A.D. 1799.=--Humboldt (Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron Von)
(1769–1859), native of Berlin, is the author of “Cosmos” so frequently
alluded to in these pages, and, in the words of one of his biographers,
“will be remembered in future times as perhaps, all in all, the
greatest descriptive naturalist of his age, the man whose observations
have been most numerous and of the widest range, and the creator of
several new branches of natural sciences.”
The French translation of his work on “Galvanism” (“Expériences sur le
Galvanisme ... traduit de l’allemand par J. F. N. Jadelot”) appeared
in Paris during the year 1799, before which date, Noad remarks, no one
had applied the galvanic arc, as he did, to so many animals in various
parts of their bodies. Among other results, he discovered the action of
the electric current upon the pulsation of the heart, the secretions
from wounds, etc., and he proved upon himself that its action was not
limited to the sole instants of the commencement and end of its passage.
In the first volume of his very interesting work on “Galvanism”
(pp. 166–174, 261–310, 407–434) Wilkinson reviews the above-named
publication which M. Vassalli-Eandi, in 1799, pronounced “the most
complete that has hitherto appeared.” The following sectional extracts
are mainly taken from Mr. Wilkinson’s book, Chap. IX. part ii.
Humboldt’s first experiments were made with the aid of M. Venturi,
Professor of Natural Philosophy at Modena, and they were followed
quite assiduously for a while, but it was not until he learned of the
important observations made by Fowler, Hunter and Pfaff on animal
electricity and irritability, that he was spurred on to still further
extended investigations, which were carried on more particularly in
presence of Jurine, Pictet, Scarpa, Tralles and Volta. Humboldt’s work
is divided into ten sections, as follows:
Sect. I treats of the relation between galvanic irritation and
incitability.
Sect. II deals with the galvanic irritation produced without a coating,
or metallic or charcoal substances (repeating the investigations of M.
Cotugno, which led to the experiments of Vassalli during 1789).
Sect. III treats of the excitement produced by a simple metallic
substance, or by homogeneous metallic parts (detailing the experiments
of Aldini, Galvani, Berlinghieri, Lind, Pfaff and Volta).
Sect. IV discourses on heterogeneous metals. During his experiments
in this line, which were aided by his elder brother, chance led him
to a very interesting discovery. He found that the coatings of the
nerve and muscle being homogeneous, the contractions may be produced
when the degree of excitability is extremely feeble, provided the
coatings of this nature are united by exciting substances, among which
there is a heterogeneous one, having one of its surfaces covered by
a fluid in a state of vapour. This observation, which was originally
made at the commencement of 1796, surprised Humboldt so much that he
instantly communicated it to Sömmering, Blumenbach, Hertz and Goethe.
He had not as yet found recorded in the published works on galvanism
any experiment the result of which had the smallest analogy with his
discovery; and it was not until after the publication of the works of
Pfaff on animal electricity that he became acquainted with any one
similar to his own. There were, however, some differences, as he proves
by several passages cited from the above author.
Sect. V relates to the classification of active substances into
_exciters_ and _conductors_ of the galvanic fluid.
Sect. VI treats of experiments on the comparative effects of animal and
vegetable substances employed in the galvanic chain.
Sect. VII describes, in a tabular form, the conducting substances, and
those by which the galvanic fluid is insulated. In the employment of
very long conductors, it was not possible for Humboldt to remark any
interval between the instant when the muscle contracts and the moment
the contact of the conductor takes place, the muscle and nerve being
from two hundred to three hundred feet distant from each other. This
announces a celerity of twelve hundred feet per second. The effect
would be the same, should the conductors even be from ten thousand
to twenty thousand feet in length. Thus Haller, in his physiology,
ascribes to the nervous fluid a swiftness sufficient to enable it to
run over a space of nine thousand feet a second. The calculation of
Sauvages is carried to thirty-two thousand four hundred feet in the
same space of time; and what is still infinitely more surprising, its
celerity is estimated by the author of the essays on the mechanism of
the muscles at five hundred and seventy-six millions of feet (upward
of one hundred thousand miles) in the above space of a second of
time. It ought here to be noticed that the great differences in these
calculations arise from the different kinds of experiments on which
they are founded.
Sect. VIII proves that the nerve which is intended to excite
contractions in a muscle should be organically united with it, and it
deals with the effects of galvanism upon vegetables, aquatic worms,
insects and fishes.
Sect. IX describes the effects of galvanism upon amphibious animals,
referring to the observations of Nollet, Rosel, Haller, Spallanzani, P.
Michaelis and Herembstads.
Sect. X treats of the all-important effects of galvanism upon man, and
makes allusion to the experiments of Hunter, Pfaff, Fowler, Munro,
Robison, Hecker, Carradori, Achard, Grapengieser, Schmuck, Ludwig,
Creve, Webster and Volta. In speaking of the observations made by the
last named upon the tongue, he observes that some idea of them had been
given thirty years before, in Sulzer’s work entitled “The New Theory of
Pleasures,” published in 1767; and that if, at the above period, the
consideration of the superficial situation of the nerves of the tongue
had led to the artificial discovery of a nerve, the important discovery
of metallic irritation would have been made in the time of Haller,
Franklin, Trembley, Camper, and Buffon. How great a progress would not
this revelation have made if the above philosophers had transmitted to
us, thirty years ago, the theory and experiments which we leave to our
successors?
Volta having singled out the differences, in point of savour, which
result from galvanic experiments on the tongue according to the nature
and disposition of the coatings, Humboldt repeated these experiments
and added to them several of his own, with a nearly similar result. His
different trials, however, having failed to produce any contraction
of the tongue, appear to have established the truth of the ancient
assertion of Galen, confirmed by Scarpa, namely, that the nerve with
which the tongue is supplied by the third branch of the fifth pair is
exclusively devoted to the sense of tasting, and that the ninth pair
are exclusively destined for the motion of the tongue. This has been
evidently proved by the galvanic experiments on the nerve in question.
The termination, in the pituitous membrane, of the nerves belonging
to the organ of smelling, which originate in the first pair and in
the first two branches of the fifth, together with the observation of
the innumerable phenomena of sympathy between the organs of sight and
those of smell and taste, had led to a presumption that, by galvanizing
the nostrils, the smell would be affected. This supposition has not,
however, been confirmed by any experiment.
The eleventh chapter of Wilkinson’s work contains the analysis of
the report drawn up by Mr. J. N. Hallé in behalf of the commission
appointed by the French National Institute. This commission, which was
organized to look into (_examiner et vérifier_) the different
galvanic experiments which had been made and to ascertain their effects
and results, was composed of such distinguished French physiologists as
Coulomb, Fourcroy, Vauquelin, Charles, Sabathier, Hallé, Pelletan and
Guyton de Morveau, who were afterward joined by both Humboldt and the
celebrated Prof. Venturi, of Modena.
Humboldt’s observations respecting the application of galvanism to
medicine are embodied in his well-known letter to M. Loder, inserted
in “La Bibliothèque Germanique,” Vol. IV, Messidor, An. VIII. p. 301,
and are likewise detailed by Wilkinson (Chap. XIII) where references
are made, more particularly, to the experiments of Hufeland, Behrends,
Creve, Hymly, Pfaff and Anschell.
Between the years 1799 and 1804 Von Humboldt made observations upon
the magnetic intensity of the earth, of which an account will be found
in Vol. XV of the _Annalen der Physik_. These were made upon the
American Continent during the course of his well-known journey, the
equal of which latter, says Petersen, has not been seen since the days
when Alexander the Great fitted out an extensive scientific expedition
for Aristotle.
Humboldt’s observations in the same line were continued for many years,
notably between 1805 and 1806, in company with Gay-Lussac during
a tour which they made together through France, Switzerland, Italy
and Germany, as related in the first volume of the _Mémoires de la
Société d’Arcueil_.
Some idea can be formed of the extent of Humboldt’s share in the
magnetical labours of the first half of the century by perusing the
last chapters of his “Cosmos” and the third volume of his “Relation
Historique.” At p. 615 of the last-named work, he himself says: “The
observations on the variation of terrestrial magnetism, to which I
have devoted myself for thirty-two years, by means of instruments
which admit of comparison with one another, in America, Europe and
Asia, embrace an area extending over 188 degrees of longitude from the
frontier of Chinese Dzoungarie to the West of the South Sea, bathing
the coasts of Mexico and Peru, and reaching from 60 degrees North
latitude to 12 degrees South latitude. I regard the discovery of the
law of the decrement of magnetic force from the pole to the equator as
the most important result of my American voyage.”
Humboldt was the first who made especial observations of
those irregular perturbations to which he applied the name of
“magnetic-storms,” and the effects of which he originally observed at
Berlin in 1806. These are treated of in his “Cosmos,” London, 1858,
Vol. V. pp. 135, etc., wherein he states that, when the ordinary
horary movement of the needle is interrupted by a magnetic-storm, the
perturbation manifests itself often simultaneously, in the strictest
sense of the word, over land and sea, covering hundreds and thousands
of miles, or propagates itself gradually, in short intervals of
time, in every direction over the earth’s surface. In this same work
(“Cosmos,” Sabine’s translation, Vol. I. p. 180), he contributes a
graphic description of the concurrent and successive phases of a
complete aurora borealis, reference to which is made by Noad (“Manual,”
etc., pp. 228, 229, 235), who, likewise, gives (pp. 612–615) an account
of the establishment of magnetic stations at different points, for
simultaneous observations, upon a plan originally laid out by Humboldt.
As early as 1806, this great naturalist had published at Erfurt
his “Inquiry Concerning Electrical Fishes.” While at Naples with
Gay-Lussac, during the previous year, they had examined the properties
of the _torpedo_, and had observed more particularly that the animal
must be irritated previous to the shock, preceding which latter a
convulsive movement of the pectoral fins is noticeable, and that
electrical action is prevented by the least injury done to the brain
of the fish; also, that a person accustomed to electrical discharges
could with difficulty support the shock of a vigorous torpedo only
fourteen inches long; that the discharge can be felt with a single
finger placed upon the electrical organs, and that an insulated person
will not receive the shock if the fish is touched with a key or other
conducting body (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXII. p. 356; _Annales de Chimie_,
No. 166; “Encycl. Brit.,” 1855, Vol. VIII. p. 573). Humboldt’s account
of the mode of capturing gymnoti is detailed at pp. 575, 576 of the
last-named work, as well as at pp. 472–474 of Noad’s “Manual of
Electricity,” London, 1859.
At request of the King of Prussia, Humboldt returned from Paris to his
native city in 1827, and it was during the winter of 1827–1828 that he
began in Berlin his lectures on “Cosmos, or Physical Universe.” This
is the title of his chief work, which has universally been recognized
one of the greatest productions ever published, and one which Ritter
pronounced as being the culminating point both in the history of
science and in the annals of civilization.
REFERENCES.--Klenke, “Alex. Von Humboldt, ein biographisches
Denkmal,” 1851: “Alex. Von Humboldt ... von Wittwer,” Leipzig,
1861; “Life of Alex. Von Humboldt,” translated by J. and C.
Lassell, 2 Vols., London, 1873; “Meyer’s Konversations-Lexikon,”
Leipzig und Wien, 1895, Vol. IX. pp. 44–47; Delambre’s
eulogium on Humboldt will be found at p. 15, Vol. XV of
“Edinburgh Review”; Gren’s “Neues Journal der Physik,” Vol.
IV; _Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XXII; _An. Chim. et Physique_,
Vol. XI; Poggendorff’s “Annalen,” Vols. XV, XXXVII; “Société
Philomathique,” Tome I. p. 92; “Opus. Scelti,” XXI. p. 126;
Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. II. p. 1874; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. VI
(1800), pp. 246, 250; “Cat. of Sc. Papers of Roy. Soc.,” Vol.
III. pp. 462–467; Vol. VI. p. 692; Vol. VII. pp. 1035–1036;
_Sc. Am. Supp._, No. 457, pp. 7301, 7302; Noad, “Manual,” pp.
425, 528, 529, 612; Harris, “Rudim. Magn.,” Part III. p. 103;
Walker, “Ter. and Cos. Magn.,” 1866, p. 81; Humboldt, “Aphorismi
ex doctrina ...” 1793; “Voyage, etc., dans les années,
1799–1804”; “Report of Seventh Meeting of British Association,”
Vol. VI, London, 1838, pp. 1, 5 and 7, and the remainder of
Major Sabine’s able article upon “Magnetic Intensity,” in the
same volume; “Report of the Meeting of the French Academy of
Sciences” of May 21, 1849, for extract of a letter from Emile
H. Du Bois-Reymond, sent by Humboldt, and treating of the
Electricity of the Human Frame (“L’Institut,” Mai 23, 1849);
S. H. Christie and Sir G. B. Airy, “Report upon a Letter ...”
London, 1836; C. H. Pfaff, “Mém. sur les expér. de Humboldt ...”
1799; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. pp. 168,
1580–1581.
=A.D. 1800.=--William Nicholson, editor of the journal bearing his
name, as well as an able chemist, and Sir Anthony (then Mr.) Carlisle,
an English surgeon, while carrying on a series of chemical experiments,
discover that, by means of the voltaic pile, water is decomposed
into its constituents of oxygen and hydrogen. Their pile consisted
of seventeen silver half-crown pieces alternated with equal discs of
copper and cloth soaked in a weak solution of ordinary salt, and,
having used a little water to make good the contact of the conducting
wire with a plate to which the electricity was to be transmitted,
Carlisle observed that gas was being set free in the water, while
Nicholson recognized the odour of hydrogen proceeding from it. The
better to observe this result they afterward (May 2, 1800) employed a
small glass tube, which, after being filled with water, was stopped at
both ends with corks through which passed two brass wires extending
a little distance into the water. When platinum wires were used, gas
bubbles appeared from both wires, and the two gases, hydrogen from the
negative and oxygen from the positive end, were found to be nearly in
the proportion to constitute water. (See account of above in Pepper’s
“Electricity,” p. 312, as well as at pp. 193 and 194 of Fahie’s
“History of Telegraphy to 1837,” and at pp. 339 and 340 of Vol. I of
Lardner’s “Lectures.”)
During the year 1781 William Nicholson had published the first edition
of “An Introduction to Natural Philosophy.” In the second section of
the third book of the latter work he treats of magnetism, the methods
of communicating it, and the variation of the compass. The loadstone,
he says, “is a ponderous ore of iron, usually of a dirty black colour
and hard enough to emit sparks with steel. It is found in most parts
of the world, and possesses a natural magnetism acquired most probably
from its situation or position with respect to the earth.” In the
third section of the same third book he discourses upon electrical
matter, electrical jars, electrical instruments, and devotes much
space to the explanation of experiments and facts touching natural and
atmospheric electricity, balls of fire, of the _ignis fatuus_, or
_will-with-the-wisp_, of waterspouts, earthquakes, etc., alluding
to most of the then well-known observations thereon recorded by
different scientists.
To Nicholson is due the invention of a revolving doubler, an
improvement upon that of Abraham Bennet, which is described and
illustrated in the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” as well as in No. 647,
p. 10327, of the _Sci. Am. Supplement_ (Read at A.D. 1794, also _Phil.
Trans._, Vol. LXXVIII. p. 1, for M. Cavallo’s remarks upon the defects
in Bennet’s doubler).
The above-named discovery of Nicholson and Carlisle, which, Mr. Davy
says (_Phil. Trans._ for 1826, p. 386) was the true origin of all that
had been previously done in electro-chemical science, together with
Hisinger and Berzelius’ decomposition of salts, and the successful
decomposition of ammonia, nitric acid, etc., made by the distinguished
English chemical philosopher, Dr. William Henry (_Nicholson’s Journal_,
Vol. IV. pp. 30, 209, 223 and 245; “Encyclopædia Metropolitana,” Vol.
IV. pp. 221 and 611; Hutton’s abridgment of _Phil. Trans._, Vol. X. pp.
505, 599), as well as Davy’s decomposition of the earths and alkalies,
creates at the commencement of another century, as we have already
observed, an entirely new epoch in the history of chemistry.
REFERENCES.--Nicholson’s letter to the Royal Society, read June
5, 1788, entitled “A description of an instrument which, by
the turning of a winch, produces the two states of electricity
without friction or communication with the earth” (influence or
induction machine!); _Nicholson’s Journal_, 1800, Vol. IV. p.
179; Despretz, “Physique,” 1827, p. 432; _Mechanics’ Magazine_,
Nov. 9, 1839; biography in “English Cyclopedia,” Vol. II. p.
82; Tomlinson, “Cyclopedia of Arts,” etc., 1862, Vol. I. p.
566; “Memoir of Joseph Henry,” 1880, p. 78; Highton, “The
Electric Telegraph,” p. 28; Noad, “Manual,” p. 353; “Encycl.
Brit.,” 1855, Vol. XXI. p. 628; _Phil. Trans._, Vol. LXXIX.
p. 265; _Philosophical Magazine_, Vol. VII. p. 337, and XLV.
p. 396; C. H. Wilkinson, “Elements of Galvanism,” 1804, Vol.
II. pp. 21, 22, 46, 68, 375, etc.; “Bibl. Brit.,” Vol. XIX. p.
274; “Sciences et Arts,” Part I. p. 274, and Part II. p. 339,
for Volta’s answer to Nicholson. For various treatises on,
and methods of, effecting the decomposition of water, consult
Adam W. Von Hauch (_Mons’ Jour. de Chimie_, Vol. I. p. 109);
G. Carradori (_Journal de Physique_, An. XII. p. 20, “Nuova
Scel. d’Op.,” quarto, Vol. I. p. 29, Paris and Milan, 1804);
W. Wilson (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXII. p. 260); Cioni e Petrini
(Brugnatelli’s _An. di Chim._, Vol. II. p. 322, 1805); M. Van
Marum’s letter to Nauche (_Jour. du Galvan._, Eleventh Book,
p. 187; _Gilb. Ann._, XI. p. 220); J. C. I. A. Creve, as at
Ronalds’ “Catalogue,” p. 119; “Bibl. Britan.,” An. VIII. vol.
xv. p. 23 and An. IX. vol. xvi. p. 23; J. C. Cuthbertson (_Phil.
Mag._, Vol. XXIV. p. 170, 1806); Jos. Mollet’s Memoirs published
at Aix and Lyons, 1821, 1823, as well as in the Reports of the
Lyons Academy, 1823, 1825, and in the _Comptes Rendus_ for
1823; Mr. Leeson (_Sturgeon’s Annals_, Vol. IV. p. 238, 1839;
Robert Hare, _Trans. Am. Phil. Soc._, N.S., Vol. VI. p. 339; L.
Palmieri and P. Linari-Santi, “Telluro-Elettricismo,” 1844; M.
Merget’s theses, read before the Paris Academy, Aug. 30, 1849;
A. Connel, _Phil. Mag._, 4th Ser., for June 1854, p. 426); Dr.
Edward Ash, “On the action of Metals ... upon water,” in letter
to Humboldt, April 10, 1796.
=A.D. 1800.=--Grout (Jonathan, Jr.), of Belchertown, Mass., takes
out, October 24, the first telegraph patent in the United States. It
was for a contrivance which he operated between Martha’s Vineyard and
Boston, about ninety miles’ distance, from hilltop to hilltop, and
which was sighted by telescopes (“Telegraph in America,” J. D. Reid,
1887, p. 5; also “Growth of Industrial Art,” Washington, 1888, p. 55).
=A.D. 1800.=--Cruikshanks (William), of Woolwich, England, confirms
Nicholson and Carlisle’s experiments, and, in his further prosecution
of them, employs a pile consisting of from forty to a hundred pairs of
zinc and silver plates, as well as a tube holding silver terminals or
electrodes, in place of the platinum electrodes, which they were first
to make use of.
He discovers that hydrogen is always evolved from the silver or copper
end of the voltaic pile and oxygen from the other; that, under like
circumstances, metals can be “completely revived” from their solutions;
that pure oxygen is freed when a wire of non-oxidable metal, like
gold, is connected with the zinc plate, and that fluids that contain
no oxygen cannot transmit the voltaic current. These results were
verified by Lieut. Col. Henry Haldane, whose many observations upon the
series of metals best suited to the production of voltaic electricity
and their respective powers in connection therewith are related at pp.
242 and 313, Vol. IV of _Nicholson’s Journal_ for Sept. and Oct. 1800.
Cruikshanks was also the first to discover, in 1800, that when passing
the electric current through water tinged with lithmus, the wire
connected with the zinc end of the pile imparted a red tinge to the
fluid contiguous to it, and that by using water coloured with Brazil
wood, the wire connected with the silver end of the pile produced a
deeper shade of colour in the surrounding fluid, whence it appeared
that an acid was formed in the former case, and an alkali in the
latter. Fahie, who thus mentions the fact, justly remarks that upon
this discovery are dependent the electro-chemical telegraphs proposed
by Bakewell, Caselli, Bonelli, D’Arlincourt, Sawyer and others.
Cruikshanks is the inventor of the galvanic trough, an improvement
upon the voltaic pile, made by soldering together rectangular plates
of zinc and copper, and so arranging them horizontally, in a box of
baked wood coated with an insulating substance, as to allow of open
spaces which can be filled with a solution of salt and water or with
diluted acid, to take the place of the wet plates of cloth, paper or
pasteboard. Cruikshanks’ plan was adopted in the construction of the
powerful battery of 600 pairs, which Napoleon Bonaparte presented to
the Ecole Polytechnique and upon which Gay-Lussac and Thénard made
their important experiments during the year 1808. As Noad remarks, it
is a very convenient form when sulphate of copper is used, for Dr. Fyfe
has shown (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XI. p. 145) that this exciting agent
increases the electro-chemical intensity of the electric current as
compared with that evolved by dilute sulphuric acid in the proportion
of 72 to 16.
Both the above and Volta’s form of battery were much improved upon by
Dr. William Babington (1756–1833), who united the pairs of zinc and
copper plates by soldering them at one point, and by attaching them
to a strip of wood in such a manner as to allow of the entire line
being immersed at will into an earthenware or wooden trough having
a corresponding number of cells or partitions. The extraordinarily
strong voltaic battery, constructed in 1808 for the Royal Institution
of London, by Mr. Eastwick under the direction of Sir Humphry Davy and
of John George Children, was built upon this plan. It consisted of 200
separate parts, each part being composed of ten double plates, in all
2000 double plates of zinc and copper with a total surface of 128,000
square inches, and the charge which William H. Pepys was accustomed
to give it consisted of a mixture of 1168 parts of water, 108 parts
nitrous acid, and 25 parts sulphuric acid.
REFERENCES.--Wilkinson, “Elements of Galvanism,” 1804, Vol. II.
pp. 52–63, 96–99; Pepper, “Electricity,” 1809, pp. 313–315;
Noad, “Manual,” pp. 263, 264; Tomlinson, “Cyclopædia of Arts,”
Vol. I. p. 566; Napier, “Electro-Metallurgy,” 1853, pp. 27,
28; _Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. IV. pp. 187, 254, 261 and
511; _Sturgeon’s Annals_, Vol. IX. p. 309; Cruikshanks, “Some
Experiments and Observations on Galvanic Electricity,” July
1800; also “Additional Remarks on Galvanic Electricity,”
September 1800.
=A.D. 1801.=--Davy (Humphry), a very eminent English chemical
philosopher, whose early studies had been greatly influenced
both by Dr. John Tonkin, of Penzance, and by Gregory Watt, son
of the celebrated inventor, James Watt, as well as by Mr. Davies
Giddy Gilbert, who brought him to the notice of the English Royal
Institution, delivers before the latter body, on the 25th of April
1801, his first lecture, wherein he traces the history of galvanism,
and describes the different methods of “accumulating” it.
His first communication to the Royal Society was made in June
of the same year, and is entitled, “An Account of Some Galvanic
Combinations Formed by the Arrangement of Single Metallic Plates and
Fluids, Analogous to the New Galvanic Apparatus of Volta.” As his
able biographer, Prof. T. James Stewart Traill, M.D., of Edinburgh,
remarks, this paper is the first of that series of electro-chemical
investigations which have immortalized his name. In all hitherto
constructed piles, the series had consisted of not less than two
metals, or of one plate of metal, another of charcoal, and some
interposed fluid. He showed in this paper that the usual galvanic
phenomena might be energetically exhibited by a single metallic
plate and two strata of different fluids, or that a battery might
be constructed of one metal and two fluids, provided one of the
fluids was capable of causing oxidation on one of the surfaces of the
metal (“Bakerian Lectures,” London, 1840, pp. 32, etc., and _Phil.
Trans._, Vol. XCI. p. 297).
On the 20th of November 1806 was read before the Royal Society Davy’s
first Bakerian lecture, “On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity.”
This essay was universally regarded as one of the most valuable
contributions thus far made to chemistry, and obtained for Davy the
prize founded by Napoleon when First Consul, to be awarded by the
French Institute, “à celui, qui par ses expériences et ses découvertes,
fera faire a l’électricité et au galvanisme un pas comparable à
celui qu’ont fait faire à ces sciences Franklin et Volta” (“Bakerian
Lectures,” 1840, p. 56, and notes at p. 349, Vol. I of Dr. Lardner’s
“Lectures,” etc., 1859).
Of the French Institute Davy became a member in 1817. Regarding the
above-named important paper, given in full at pp. 1–56, of the volume
of “Bakerian Lectures,” already referred to, Davy says (_Phil.
Trans._ for 1826, p. 389): “Referring to my experiments of 1800,
1801 and 1802, and to a number of new facts, which showed that
inflammable substances and oxygen, alkalies and acids, and oxidable and
noble metals, were in electrical relations of positive and negative,
I drew the conclusion _that the combinations and decompositions by
electricity were referable to the law of electrical attractions and
repulsions_,” and advanced the hypothesis “_that chemical and
electrical attractions were produced by the same cause, acting in the
one case on particles; in the other on masses; ... and that the same
property, under different modifications, was the cause of all the
phenomena exhibited by different voltaic combinations_” (Vol. I.
pp. 678–684 of Dr. Thomas Young’s “Course of Lectures,” London, 1807,
on “Electricity in Motion,” also Dr. Henry M. Noad’s “Manual,” London,
1859, pp. 362–365).
The second Bakerian lecture, “On some new phenomena of chemical changes
produced by electricity, particularly the decomposition of the fixed
alkalies, and the exhibition of the new substances which constitute
their bases; and on the general nature of alkaline bodies,” was read
Nov. 19, 1807. In this he gives an account of the most brilliant of
all his discoveries (made during the previous month), proving that the
so-called fixed alkalies are merely combinations of oxygen with metals.
It has been stated by Dr. John Ayrton Paris that since the days of
Newton no such happy and successful instance of philosophical induction
has ever been afforded as that by which Davy reached the above-named
results (_Phil. Trans._ for 1808, Vol. XCVIII. pp. 1–44). Davy’s
observations were fully confirmed by Gay-Lussac, Thénard, Berzelius
and Pontin (_Annales de Chimie_, Vol. LXXII. p. 193; Vol. LXXV.
pp. 256–291; _Bibl. Brit._ for June 1809, p. 122). Although Davy
was less successful in his attempt to decompose the proper earths, he
proved that they consist of bases united to oxygen. It was reserved
for Friedrich Wöhler, Berzelius and Bussy to exhibit the bases by
themselves, and to show that all, excepting silica, are metallic, and
capable of uniting with iron.
It is said that the original 500-plate batteries of the Royal
Institution were so worn in the course of Davy’s experiments as to
be almost unserviceable, and that he suggested to the managers the
propriety of starting a subscription for the purchase of a large
galvanic battery. This being acted upon during the month of July 1808,
he was placed in possession of the battery already alluded to in the
Cruikshanks article (A.D. 1800), and which was the most powerful
constructed up to that time. “With this battery Davy did not reach
any new results of importance; but he was enabled to demonstrate
the galvanic phenomena upon a more brilliant scale. Nor was the
increased power necessary to carry on successfully the experiments on
the decomposition of the alkalies and the earths as was apparently
believed by many of those historians of science ... who attributed the
author’s brilliant success in electro-chemical research to his supposed
extraordinary means, the enormous voltaic batteries of the Royal
Institution.” In this connection, the terse notes appearing at foot of
pp. 62, 63, 106, 107 of the 1840 edition of the “Bakerian Lectures”
will prove interesting reading.
It was with the afore-named galvanic combination that Davy openly
made--in 1809–1810, and not in 1813, as has been frequently stated--the
first display of the continuous electric arc (John Davy, “Memoirs of
the Life of Sir Humphry Davy,” p. 446).
“When the cells of this battery were filled with sixty parts of water
mixed with one part of nitric acid and one part of sulphuric acid,”
he says, “they afforded a series of brilliant and impressive effects.
When pieces of charcoal about an inch long and one-sixth of an inch in
diameter were brought near each other (within the thirtieth or fortieth
part of an inch), a bright spark was produced, and more than half the
volume of the charcoal became ignited to whiteness, and by withdrawing
the points from each other a constant discharge took place through the
heated air, in a space equal at least to four inches, producing a most
brilliant ascending arch of light, broad and conical in form in the
middle. When any substance was introduced into this arch, it instantly
became ignited; platina melted as readily in it as wax in the flame
of a common candle; quartz, the sapphire, magnesia, lime, all entered
into fusion; fragments of diamond, and points of charcoal and plumbago,
rapidly disappeared, and seemed to evaporate in it, even when the
connection was made in a receiver exhausted by the air pump; but there
was no evidence of their having previously undergone fusion” (“Elements
of Chemical Philosophy,” 1812, p. 154).
Dr. Paris says that Davy had already produced the spark upon a small
scale as far back as 1800 (_Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. III, quarto,
p. 150), and we learn, through an article published upon the early
experiments with the electric light, the names of others who had
likewise noticed the arc at about the same period, while Quetelet
informs us that M. Curtet is reported to have observed the light
between carbon points during the year 1802 (Curtet’s letter to J. B.
Van Mons in the latter’s _Journal de Chimie_, No. VI. p. 272, and in
_Journal de Physique_, An. XI. p. 54). The article referred to is as
follows:
“Dr. S. P. Thompson has given the following interesting details in
regard to this subject: In looking over an old volume of the _Journal
de Paris_, I found, under date of the Twenty-second Ventose, An. X
(March 12, 1802), this passage, which evidently refers to an exhibition
of the electric arc: ‘Citizen (E. G.) Robertson, the inventor of
the phantasmagoria (magic lantern), is at present performing some
interesting experiments that must doubtless advance our knowledge
concerning galvanism. He has just mounted metallic piles to the number
of 2500 zinc plates and as many of rosette copper. We shall forthwith
speak of his results, as well as of a new experiment that he performed
yesterday with two glowing carbons. The first having been placed at
the base of a column of 120 zinc and silver elements, and the second
communicating with the apex of the pile, they gave at the moment they
were united a brilliant spark of an extreme whiteness that was seen by
the entire society. Citizen Robertson will repeat the experiment on the
25th.’”
The date generally given for this discovery by Humphry Davy is 1809,
but earlier accounts of his experiments are found in Cuthbertson’s
“Electricity” (1807), and in several other works.
In the _Phil. Mag._, Vol. IX. p. 219, under date of Feb. 1, 1801,
in a memoir by Dr. H. Moyes, of Edinburgh, relative to experiments
made with the pile, we find the following passage: “When the column
in question had reached the height of its power, its sparks were
seen by daylight, even when they were made to jump with a piece of
carbon held in the hand.” In the same volume of the _Phil. Mag._,
and immediately following Dr. Moyes’ letter to Dr. Garthshore, on
experiments with the voltaic pile, will be found an account of similar
investigations made in Germany, and communicated by Dr. Frulander, of
Berlin.
In the “Journal of the Royal Institution” (1802), Vol. I. p. 106, Davy
describes a few experiments made with the pile, and says: “When instead
of metals, pieces of well-calcined carbon were employed, the spark
was still larger and of a clear white.” On p. 214 he describes and
figures an apparatus for taking the galvano-electric spark into fluid
and aeriform substances. This apparatus consisted of a glass tube open
at the top, and having at the side another tube through which passed a
wire that terminated in a carbon. Another wire, likewise terminating in
carbon, traversed the bottom, and was cemented in a vertical position.
But all these observations are subsequent to a letter printed in
“Nicholson’s Journal” for October 1800, p. 150, entitled “Additional
experiments on Galvanic Electricity in a letter to Mr. Nicholson.” The
letter is dated Dowry Square, Hotwells, Sept. 22, 1800, and is signed
by Humphry Davy, who at this epoch was assistant to Dr. Beddoes at the
Philosophical (Pneumatic) Institution of Bristol. It begins thus:
“Sir: The first experimenters in animal electricity remarked the
property that well calcined carbon has of conducting ordinary galvanic
action. I have found that this substance possesses the same properties
as metallic bodies for the production of the spark when it is used for
establishing a communication between the extremities of Signor Volta’s
pile.”
Among the papers read by Davy before the Royal Society between June
30, 1808, and Feb. 13, 1814, are the following: “Electro-chemical
researches on the decomposition of the earths, with observations on the
metals obtained from the alkaline earths, and on the amalgam procured
from ammonia”; “An account of some new analytical researches on the
nature of certain bodies,” etc., and the Bakerian lecture “On some
new electro-chemical researches, on various objects, particularly the
metallic bodies from the alkalies and earths, and on some combinations
of hydrogen”; “Elements of chemical philosophy, detailing experiments
on electricity in vegetation.”
In alluding to the important subjects covered by him during the
above-named period, his brother and biographer, John Davy, M.D.,
F.R.S., says: “I shall not attempt an analysis of these papers; I
shall give merely a sketch of the most important facts and discoveries
which they contain, referring the chemical reader to the original for
full satisfaction. After the extraction of metallic bases from the
fixed alkalies, analogies of the strongest kind indicated that the
alkaline earths are similarly constituted; and he succeeded in proving
this in a satisfactory manner. But, owing to various circumstances of
peculiar properties, he was not able on his first attempts to obtain
the metals of those earths in a tolerably pure and insulated state
for the purpose of examination. On his return to the laboratory after
his illness, this was one of the first undertakings. He accomplished
it to a certain extent by uniting a process of Messrs. Berzelius and
Pontin, who were then engaged in the same enquiry, with one of his own.
By negatively electrifying the earths, slightly moistened, and mixed
with red oxide of mercury, in contact with a globule of mercury, he
obtained amalgams of their metallic bases; and, by distillation, with
peculiar precautions, he expelled the greater part of the mercury.
Even now, in consequence of the very minute quantities of the bases
which he procured, and their very powerful attraction for oxygen,
he was only able to ascertain a few of their properties in a hasty
manner. They were of silvery lustre, solid at ordinary temperatures,
fixed at a red heat, and heavier than water. At a high temperature
they abstracted oxygen from the glass, and, at ordinary temperatures,
from the atmosphere and water, the latter of which in consequence they
decomposed. The names he proposed for them, and by which they have
since been called, were barium, strontium, calcium and magnium, which
latter he afterwards altered to magnesium....”
The reviewer of Davy, in the columns of the “Chemical News,” writing in
1879, states that his papers on numerous subjects flowed into the Royal
Society’s archives in an uninterrupted stream, and it may be said,
without exaggeration, that his work, especially during the six years
from 1806 to 1812, did more for chemistry than the 60 which followed
them.
Between the last-named dates, Davy was asked by the Dublin Society
to give a course of lectures on electro-chemical science, which he
delivered Nov. 8–29, 1810. Trinity College afterward conferred on him
the degree of LL.D., and he was knighted by the Prince Regent one
day before resigning from the Royal Institution, wherein he gave his
farewell address on April 9, 1812.
In 1813, accompanied by his bride and Mr. Faraday (his “assistant
in experiments and in writing”), Davy made his first trip to the
Continent, where he met Ampère, Humboldt, Gay-Lussac, Vauquelin,
Cuvier, Laplace and other distinguished scientists, and where
he carried on many experiments, of which the results were duly
communicated to the Royal Society, as were also the observations made
by him up to the time of the completion of his second trip in 1820.
Besides the Rumford medal conferred on him in 1816, he received a
baronetcy two years later, and was given, in 1827, the medal of the
Royal Society, the presidential chair of which he occupied for seven
consecutive years.
One of the four memoirs produced by Davy in 1818–1829 treats of
electro-magnetism. In 1820, Davy, Arago and Seebeck independently
discovered the magnetizing power of the electric current on steel
and iron needles or filings. In Davy’s experiments, it is said,
the filings adhered to the wire connecting the poles of a voltaic
apparatus, consisting of a hundred pairs of plates of four inches, in
such considerable quantities as to form a mass around it ten or twelve
times the thickness of the wire (_Phil. Trans._ for 1821, p. 9;
_Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, Vol. XV. p. 93).
Davy was actively engaged during 1821–1822 in experiments on
electro-magnetism and on electricity in vacuo, reaching the conclusion,
in the last-named channel, that electric light as well as electrical
attractions and repulsions are observable in the most perfect vacuum
obtainable. This is readily demonstrated with either the apparatus
employed by Tyndall in his Lecture VIII, “On the analogies of light,
heat and sound,” or with the apparatus used by Davy and illustrated at
Plate CCXXIII of the “Encyclopædia Britannica,” eighth edition. From
the numerous experiments and observations recorded in the last-named
work the following are extracted:
“A spark capable of passing through only half an inch in common air
will pass through six inches of the Torricellian vacuum.... When the
minutest quantity of rare air was introduced into the mercurial vacuum,
the colour of the electric light changed from bright _green_ to _sea
green_, and by increasing the quantity, to _blue_ and _purple_. At a
low temperature the vacuum became a much better conductor. A vacuum
above fused tin exhibited nearly the same phenomena. At temperatures
below zero the light was yellow and of the palest phosphorescent kind,
just visible in great darkness, and not increased by heat. When the
vacuum was formed by pure olive oil and by chloride of antimony, the
electric light through the vapour of the chloride was more brilliant
than that through the vapour of the oil; and in the last it was more
brilliant than in the vapour of mercury at common temperatures. The
light was of a _pure white_ with the chloride, and of a _red_ inclining
to _purple_ in the oil.... In carbonic acid gas the light of the spark
is white and brilliant, and in hydrogen gas it is red and faint. When
the sparks are made to pass through balls of wood or ivory they are
of a _crimson_ colour. They are _yellow_ when taken over powdered
charcoal, _green_ over the surface of silvered leather, and _purple_
from imperfect conductors.”
Davy’s Bakerian lecture for 1826 was entitled “On the relation of
electrical and chemical changes.” Two years previous to its reading
he had communicated to the English Government his discovery of what
he erroneously considered a remedy against the rapid deterioration
of copper sheathing for ships. His plan consisted in altering the
electrical condition of the copper by adding plates of zinc or iron
(called “protectors”), but the bottoms of the vessels became so foul
through the deposition of calcareous matter and the adhesion of large
balani and lepades, etc., to the copper, that the attempt had to be
abandoned (A. Bobierre, “Thèse ... pour doubler les navires,” Nantes,
1858). It was in the same year (1824) that Davy made an important
journey through Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holstein, and Hanover, during
which he met Oersted, Berzelius, Gauss, Olbers, Schumacher and other
savants.
His last communication to the Royal Society, “Remarks on the
Electricity of the _Torpedo_,” was sent from Rome in 1828, one year
before his death, and embodies the result of many observations made
while on the Continent, more especially during the years 1814–1815.
The investigations in this line which, owing to continued ill health,
he was unable to carry on, were completed by his brother, Dr. John
Davy, who established the following points of difference between the
phenomena of the _torpedo_ and those of other kinds of electricity:
“Compared with voltaic electricity, its effect on the multiplier is
feeble: its power of decomposing water and metallic solutions is
inconsiderable; but its power of giving a shock is great, and so also
is its power of magnetizing iron. Compared with common electricity,
it has a power of affecting the multiplier, which, under ordinary
circumstances, common electricity does not exhibit; its chemical
effects are more distinct; its power of magnetizing iron and giving
a shock appears very similar; its power of passing through air is
infinitely less as is also (if it possess it at all) the power of
producing heat and light.”
Davy likewise made noteworthy observations concerning the
pyro-electricity of the tourmaline, confirming previous investigations
in the same line, and asserting that “when the stone is of considerable
size, flashes of light may be seen along its surface” (“Elements
of Chemical Philosophy,” Vol. I. p. 130), a curious fact which Sir
David Brewster says he does not believe has ever been verified by any
subsequent observer.
It is not within the scope of this “Bibliographical History” to
describe Davy’s other notable papers relative to the miner’s safety
lamp, etc., but reference should be made here to his first scientific
memoir, “On heat, light and the combination of light” (Sir H. Davy’s
works, Vol. II) of which copious extracts are given by Prof. John
Tyndall in the appendix to his third lecture on “Heat considered as a
mode of motion.”
As regards the caloric theory, which had deservedly been engaging
the attention of so many scientists, it is, however, thought best
to quote here from Deschanel’s article on thermo-dynamics: “Strange
to say, this theory survived the many exposures of its weakness and
the, if possible, still more conclusive experiment of Sir Humphry
Davy, who showed that two pieces of ice, when rubbed together, were
converted into water, a change which involves not the evolution but the
absorption of latent heat, and which cannot be explained by diminution
of thermal capacity, since the specific heat of water is much greater
than that of ice. Davy, like Rumford, maintained that heat consisted
in motion, and the same view was maintained by Dr. Thomas Young;
but the doctrine of caloric nevertheless continued to be generally
adopted until about the year 1840, since which time the experiments of
Joule, the eloquent advocacy of Meyer, and the mathematical deductions
of Thomson, Rankine and Clausius, have completely established the
mechanical theory of heat, and built up an accurate science of
thermo-dynamics.”
REFERENCES.--“The Life of Sir H. Davy,” by John Ayrton Paris,
M.D., 1831, and by T. E. Thorpe, New York, 1896, also his life
by Dr. John Davy, F.R.S., 1836; and his biography and articles
“Chemistry” and “Voltaic Electricity” in the “Encyclopædia
Britannica”; “Works of Sir Humphry Davy,” edited by John Davy,
1839–1840; “The Fragmentary Remains ... of Sir H. Davy,” 1858;
“Dic. Tech. et Prat. d’Electricité” de Mr. Geo. Durant, Paris,
1887–1889; W. T. Brande, “Manual of Chemistry,” London, 1848,
Vol. I. pp. xciii-cv, 213–224; C. H. Wilkinson, “Elements of
Galvanism,” London, 1804, Vol. II. pp. 80–86, and Chap. XXVII;
Thomas Thomson, “History of the Royal Society,” London, 1812,
pp. 454–455; “Galvanism,” in Dr. Lardner’s Lectures; Noad’s
“Lectures on Chemistry,” pp. 32–33; Bakewell’s “Elec. Sc.,” pp.
33–35; Daniel Davis, “Manual of Magnetism,” 1846–1852; Thomson,
“History of Chemistry,” Vol. II. pp. 260–261; “Elem. of Exp.
Chem.,” Wm. Henry, London, 1823, Vol. I. p. 192; “Elements of
Chemical Philosophy,” p. 155; Thomas Thomson, M.D., London,
1830; “Outline of the Sciences of Heat and Electricity,”
pp. 467, et. seq., 491–495, 533; De la Rive’s “Treatise
on Electricity ...” Vol. II. pp. 282–283; “Encyclopedia
Metropolitana,” Vol. IV (Galv.), pp. 176, 178, 222, and (Elec.
Mag.) pp. 9 and 10; Gay-Lussac and Thénard, _Phil. Mag._, Vol.
XXXII. p. 88, 1809; Jacquin, _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXXVI. p. 73,
1810; M. Donovan, _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXII. pp. 227, 245, 1811;
M. Yatman, “A Letter ...” and Davy’s “Enquiries ...” London,
1811, 1814; W. Henry, “On Sir H. Davy and Dr. Wollaston,”
London, 1830; Contessi G. Lelandri, “Ann. Reg. Lomb., Veneto,”
11, 78, 1832, and F. I. Roux, “Conservation des plaques ...”
Paris, 1866; _Nicholson’s Journal_, 4to, Vol. IV. pp. 275, 337
and 394; and 8vo., Vol. I. p. 144, Vol. III. p. 135; Dredge,
“Electric Illumination,” Vol. I. pp. 24, 25, 30; _Phil. Mag._,
Vol. VII. p. 347, for experiments of Dr. Henry Moyes, also Vol.
XI. pp. 302, 326; XXVIII. pp. 3, 104, 220; XXIX. p. 372; XXXI.
p. 3; XXXII. pp. 1, 18–22, 101, 146, 193; XXXIII. p. 479; XXXV.
p. 401; XXXVI. pp. 17, 85, 352, 404; XL. p. 145; LVIII. pp. 43,
406; LIX. p. 468; LX. p. 179; _Phil. Mag. or Annals_, Vols. I.
pp. 31, 94, 190; VI. p. 81; X. pp. 214, 379, 426; _Phil. Trans._
for 1801, 1809, 1810, 1822; Sturgeon’s “Scientific Researches,”
Bury, 1850, pp. 14–16, 23; _Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XV. p.
113; “Société Philomathique,” An. X. p. 111; Becquerel, Paris,
1850, Vol. I. pp. xi and 33 note; “Nuova Scelta d’Opusc.” Vol.
II. pp. 190, 282; “Beiträge zur Erweiterung,” etc., Berlin,
1820; “Elemente d. Chemischen,” etc., Berlin, 1814; “Royal
Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers,” London, 1868, Vol.
II. pp. 171–175; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. XIII. p. 264;
“Engineering,” London, Vol. LII. p. 759; “Abstracts of Papers
... Roy. Soc.,” London, 1832–1833, Vol. I. pp. 59, 247, 278,
313, 350; Vol. II. pp. 154, 159, 189, 213, 242, 281, 354; “Royal
Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers,” Vol. II. pp. 175–180,
and Vol. VI. p. 633 (likewise Vol. VII. pp. 494–495--for John
Davy); “Bibliothèque Britannique,” Vol. XVII for 1801, pp. 237,
246; Vol. XXV, N.S. for 1824, p. 98; Vol. XXXIV, O.S. for 1807,
p. 397 (the same as “Nicholson’s Journal,” for January 1807);
Vol. XXXV. pp. 16, 141; “Edin. Phil. Journ.,” Vol. X. p. 185.
Of the afore-named references in the _Phil. Magazine_, Vol. XXXI,
that at p. 3 relates to Davy’s new Eudiometer acting by the electric
spark exactly in the same manner as that of Il Marchese de Brezé,
described in the “Opuscoli.”
=A.D. 1801.=--Flinders (Matthew), a very able navigator and captain
in the English merchant service, sails in the bark “Investigator” for
the purpose of circumnavigating and exploring New Holland. During
this memorable voyage he carefully observed the cause of errors in
the variation of the magnetic needle as depending on the direction in
azimuth of the ship’s head, having often noticed, as a writer in the
English _Quarterly Review_ expresses it (Vol. CXVIII. p. 343), that the
direction of the compass needle frequently wandered from that which the
known variation due to the geographical position of the ship assigned
to it. To correct those disturbances he suggested placing aft of the
compass a vertical bar of soft iron, whose upper end, having like
magnetism as the imaginary mass in the ship’s head, would, in acting on
the opposite pole of the compass needle, rectify its disturbances.
Flinders had, during the year 1795, made observations in the same line
as those recorded by the astronomer Bayly, who had sailed with Captain
Cook during his last two voyages, but it was not until his return from
the unfortunate first voyage above alluded to that he properly recorded
his investigations for the benefit of navigators.
REFERENCES.--“Encyclopædia Britannica,” 1856, Vol. X. p. 295,
and article “Australia,” Vol. IV. pp. 253, 254; “English
Cyclopædia” (Biography), Vol. II. pp. 933–935; _Sci. Am. Supp._,
No. 534, p. 8526; William Walker, “The Magnetism of Ships,”
London, 1833, pp. 21–23; “Abstracts of Papers of the _Phil.
Trans._, 1800–1830,” p. 187; _Phil. Trans._ for 1805; John
Farrar, “Elem. of Elect.,” 1826, p. 381; “Cat. Sc. Papers Royal
Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 187.
=A.D. 1801.=--Gautherot (Nicholas), able French chemist (1753–1803),
discovers that when a current has passed through two plates or wires
of the same metal in dilute sulphuric acid, a secondary, reverse or
polarization current is obtainable after disconnecting the battery.
This was the first step in the storage of electricity and an account is
given of it in the _Philosophical Magazine_, Vol. XXIV. pp. 185–186,
which contains a report of the proceedings before the Galvani Society
of Paris. Gautherot says that the results he obtained should become the
source or basis of several other experiments, and concur more than any
other to the discovery of the theory of this new branch of physics.
In this same year Gautherot observed the power of adhesion of the
two wires in contact with the upper and lower ends of the pile, a
report upon which appears at p. 209, Vol. XXXIX of the _Annales de
Chimie_, while a full account of his observations on the subject
forms the substance of a separate work printed in London during the
year 1828.
The French physicist, C. J. Lehot, makes allusion to the last-named
discovery in the following words, at p. 4 of his pamphlet entitled
“Observations sur le Galvanisme et le Magnétisme”:
“It has long been known that the two wires which terminate a pile
attract one another, and, after contact, adhere like two magnets.
This attraction between the two wires, one of which receives, and the
other loses, the galvanic fluid, differs essentially from electrical
attraction, as Ritter observed, since it is not followed by a repulsion
after contact, but continues as long as the chain is closed.”
J. J. Fahie, who also quotes this passage, says:
“The discovery in question seems to have been made independently,
and at about the same time by Gautherot (_Philosophical Magazine_ or
_Annals_ for 1828, Vol. IV. p. 458), by P. S. Laplace, and by J. B.
Biot (_Journal de Physique et de Chimie_, for 1801, Vol. LIII. p. 266).
The latter made the further very acute observation that, if the wires
are attached to plates of metal, and these plates approached by their
edges, they will attract one another; while if approached by their
faces no action whatever takes place. For other interesting experiments
of this kind see ‘Nicholson’s Journal’ for 1804, Vol. VII. p. 304.”
Previous to the aforesaid discoveries, on the 12th Brumaire, An. IX
(Nov. 1800), Gautherot had published his refutation of Volta’s contact
theory, through the Paris “Société Philotechnique,” and it is to be
found recorded at p. 471, Vol. I of the “Mémoires des Sociétés Savantes
et Littéraires de la République Française.”
Later on he devoted so much attention to galvanic researches that
Messrs. A. F. de Fourcroy and L. N. Vauquelin made a special report
upon the five important memoirs containing the results of his many
observations to the French Institute on the 21st Fructidor.
The first memoir gives the whole theory and practice of the various
kinds of conductors, and describes an apparatus devised by Gautherot to
ascertain the conducting powers of different natural, solid, liquid and
even gaseous bodies (Izarn, “Manuel du Galvanisme” 1804, pp. 56–60). He
enters into full details as to the effects of the voltaic pile in many
experiments made upon himself, and draws consequences which apparently
disprove the identity of the electric and the galvanic fluids.
The second memoir treats of the galvanic properties of charcoal, and
shows that it is a less perfect conductor than are metallic substances.
In the third memoir he makes known his discovery that charcoal and zinc
form a galvanic apparatus which will produce shocks, the decomposition
of water, etc. He observes “that in the decomposition of water,
charcoal decomposes that fluid in the same way with non-oxydable
metals; or, in other words, that when two pieces of charcoal are
employed for this purpose, one of them disengages the hydrogen gas, and
the other the oxygen ... when the portions of charcoal touch each other
in the water, its decomposition is not stopped on that account, as
happens when metallic substances are brought in contact under the same
circumstances. Indeed, if to bring more immediately together, one of
the pieces of charcoal be cut in a furcated shape, this does not become
an obstacle to the decomposition of the water.”
The fourth memoir treats further of different kinds of conductors, and
of various methods of constructing galvanic columns.
In the fifth and last memoir, Gautherot relates his important discovery
that an effective galvanic apparatus can be made without metals.
He constructed one of forty layers of charcoal and plumbago, which
communicated a strong and pungent taste, accompanied by the galvanic
flash of light, and which finally produced the decomposition of water,
the charcoal side disengaging the hydrogen gas (Izarn, “Manuel du
Galvanisme,” 1804, p. 177).
During the month of March 1803, he read before the “Institut National”
a memoir entitled “Recherches,” etc. (researches upon the causes which
develop electricity in the galvanic apparatus). This appeared in the
_Journal de Physique_, Vol. LVI. p. 429.
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Générale,” Vol. XIX. p. 694; Larousse,
“Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VIII. p. 1089; Izarn, Giuseppe (Joseph)
“Manuel du Galvanisme,” Paris, An. XII. 1804, s. 6, pp. 95,
250–254: _Mém. des Soc. Savantes_, etc., Vol. I. pp. 164,
168; P. Sue, aîné, “Hist. du Galvanisme,” Paris, An. X, 1802,
Vol. II. pp. 191, 196–203, 213, 214, 316; Alglave et Boulard,
_Lumière Electrique_, Paris, 1882, p. 219; _Poggendorff_,
Vol. I. p. 857; “Extrait d’une lettre de Brugnatelli,” etc.,
Bruxelles, 1802 (Van Mons, _Journal de Chimie_, Vol. II. p. 216).
=A.D. 1801.=--Robertson (Etienne Gaspard), a very capable French
experimentalist and one of the founders of the Paris Galvani Society,
who has already been alluded to in the article relating to Sir
Humphry Davy, writes a memoir, “Expériences nouvelles sur le fluide
galvanique,” which was read before the Institute on the 11th Fructidor,
An. VIII, and which appeared in the _Annales de Chimie_ (Vol. XXXVII.
p. 132), as well as in the “Mémoires Récréatifs, Scientifiques,” etc.,
published in Paris during 1840, three years after Robertson’s death.
Robertson states that as he was delivering a lecture on the 9th
Vendémaire, An. IX, during which he alluded to differences which
he found to exist between the galvanic and electric fluids, he was
interrupted by Prof. Brugnatelli, who stated that Volta, who was then
present, desired an opportunity to correct the wrong impressions
the lecturer laboured under. Volta called upon him early the day
following and brought a live frog as well as apparatus, with which
they experimented quite extensively, and the results of which brought
Robertson completely over to the views of the Italian scientist.
Volta frequently repeated his visits, which led to the development
of a lasting friendship between the two. They visited together
all the prominent scientific bodies, such as l’Ecole de Médecine,
l’Ecole Polytechnique, etc., but found to their great astonishment
that Robertson was the only one in Paris who had as yet given the
new discovery any serious attention. At pp. 250–253, Vol. I of his
“Mémoires,” etc., will be found a full account of the above as well as
of the very indifferent reception first given them by the celebrated
Prof. Charles.
Robertson adds (p. 256 of last-named work) that he was asked by Volta
to witness the latter’s notable experiments made before the members of
the National Institute of France, Nov. 16, 18, 20, 1800, and already
alluded to herein at A.D. 1775. The sessions of that body were being
held at the time in the Palais du Louvre, and the excitement caused
by the meetings was so great that all the approaches were guarded by
soldiery. After Prof. Volta had explained his theory and alluded to the
identity of electricity and galvanism, he announced that Robertson had
first illustrated the fact, and he asked him to repeat his original
experiment, which the latter did after the necessary hydrogen gas had
been procured from the neighbouring cabinet of Prof. Charles.
Robertson is also the author of several other interesting memoirs
on the electrophorus, the improved “couronne de tasses” and “acide
galvanique” which can be found in Vol. XXXVII of the _Journal de
Physique_ and in the _Journal de Paris_ for the year 1800 (“Recueil des
Actes de la Soc. de Lyon,” Tome II. p. 370).
=A.D. 1801.=--Gerboin (A. C.), Professor at the Medical School of
Strasbourg, is the first to report upon the peculiar agitation of
mercury when the voltaic current passes through it.
He states, in his “Recherches expérimentales sur un nouveau mode de
l’action électrique” (Strasbourg, 1808), that his many researches
were instigated by the observation he had made during the winter of
1798, while in company with some friends watching a child play with a
hollow wooden ball. The Italian physicist, Abbate Fortis (1740–1803),
who wrote several works on natural philosophy, but who is best known
by his “Viaggio di Dalmazia,” had already announced that a pyritical
cube suspended by a thread held between the thumb and index would
immediately, without any movement of the fingers, assume a circular
motion upon being approached by another body. The “Morgenblatt” of
Tübingen and the French “Archives Littéraires” render in 1807 a very
complete account of Ritter’s researches upon the Fortis pendulum,
and N. Meissas states, at pp. 181–187 of his “Nouveaux Eléments de
Physique,” Paris, 1838, that he repeated the experiment of Ritter and
of his friend Gerboin and observed many very curious results. These he
embodied in a communication during the month of April 1829 to Ampère,
who looked into Meissas’ work in company with M. Becquerel, also a
member of the French Institute.
In his experiments, Gerboin employed a tube bent in U[ symbol] form,
filled half full of mercury, which later was covered with a stratum
of water, and he placed therein the wires connecting with a pile. The
surface of the mercury beneath the negative pole was slightly oxidized,
but the surface under the positive point moved so violently as to
cause small bodies placed within to be thrown outward upon the surface
of the tube. These bodies moved in a contrary direction, v from the
circumference toward the interior, if the positive pole was made to
touch the liquid metal.
REFERENCES.--Observations of M. Erman, of the Berlin Academy of
Sciences, upon M. Gerboin’s experiments related in the _Annales
de Chimie_, Tome LXXVII. p. 32. Also, _Annales de Chimie_, Tome
XLI. pp. 196, 197, _Mém. des Soc. Sav. et Lit._, Vol. II. p.
199; Dr. Gore, “El. Metal,” 1877, p. 3; De la Rive, “Treatise on
Electricity,” 1856, Vol. II. p. 433; Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol.
I. p. 487.
=A.D. 1801.=--Trommsdorff (Johann Bartholomäus), German chemist
and pharmacist, who became Professor of Physics and Chemistry in the
University of Erfurt, discovers that by employing large plates in
galvanic batteries he can produce the combustion of fine wires and of
thin leaves of metal.
After having obtained very strong shocks and large sparks, and effected
the decomposition of water, etc., with his first pile consisting of
180 discs of copper, zinc and wet cardboard, he experimented with
very thin leaves of the following metals, and found them to burn as
follows: Gold, with a bright white light; silver, with a blue light;
yellow copper, with a reddish blue light; red copper, with an emerald
blue flame; zinc, with a bluish white flame; tin, with a reddish white
light, etc. When oxidizing the noble or perfect metals, gold, silver,
platinum, in hollow glass spheres, he found them to melt so thoroughly
as to completely line the sides of the latter.
Trommsdorff afterward constructed a much larger pile of nearly 600
discs, not doubting that with a larger apparatus he could consume very
thick plates. It was while carrying on subsequent experiments that MM.
Fourcroy, Vauquelin and Thénard ascertained the fact that metals were
more effectively deflagrated by piles with large plates than by piles
having a great many plates of smaller surfaces.
In a letter dated Erfurt, March 16, 1801, Trommsdorff alludes to the
galvanic decomposition of water spoken of at p. 98 of the “Archives
du Nord pour la Physique et la Médecine,” published at Copenhagen,
and expresses doubts as to the correctness of the conclusions therein
pointed out by Pfaff and Ritter.
REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Metrop.” (Galvanism), Vol. IV. p. 221;
“Roy. Soc. Sci. Papers,” Vol. VI. pp. 45–52; _Poggendorff_, Vol.
II. pp. 1136, 1137; C. H. Wilkinson, “Elem. of Galv.,” London,
1804, Vol. II. pp. 134–136; J. S. Ersch, “Handbuch,” etc., p.
119; L. F. F. Crell, “Chemische Annalen” for 1801; 4^e Cah.,
p. 337; J. B. Van Mons, _Journal de Chimie_, Vol. I. p. 41;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XV. p. 535. His pile is described
at pp. 253–254, Vol. II of “Hist. du Galvanisme,” P. Sue, aîné,
Paris, An. X, 1802, with references to Von Crell’s “Chemische
Annalen,” 1801, 4th Book, p. 237, and Van Mons’ “Journal de
Chimie,” Vol. I. p. 41.
=A.D. 1801.=--Libes (Antoine), Professor of Natural Philosophy
at the Collège de Beziers and at the Paris Ecole Normale and Lycée
Charlemagne, publishes in three volumes, at Paris, his “Traité
élémentaire de Physique,” which had been preceded by his “Théorie de
l’électricité,” etc., and was followed by a valuable “Dictionnaire de
Physique” in 1806 (C. F. V. Delaunay, “Manuel,” etc., Paris, 1809).
In his “Traité,” Prof. Libes dispels the previous generally accepted
belief as to the production of electricity by pressure. Experiments
made by Æpinus and by Haüy had shown that such minerals as developed
positive electricity by friction likewise exhibited the same
electricity by pressure, and that those furnishing resinous or negative
electricity by pressure developed the same electricity by friction.
It is known that varnished silk (_taffetas gommé_) acquires
resinous electricity by ordinary friction, but Libes found the means of
causing it to develop vitreous or positive electricity. This is shown
when a metallic disc insulated by a glass handle is _pressed_ upon
the silk; the latter will acquire positive electricity while the disc
will develop resinous or negative electricity. If, on the contrary, the
disc is _rubbed_ or _rolled_ upon the silk so as to produce
friction, the silk acquires resinous electricity and the disc vitreous
or positive electricity. If a glass plate is substituted for the disc,
the silk again acquires vitreous electricity and the glass resinous
electricity, that is to say, they both develop contrary electricities
to that furnished through ordinary rubbing.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. X. p. 475;
_Poggendorff_, Vol. I. pp. 1449, 1450; Volpicelli, “Sul
cognito fenomeno ...” Roma, 1859; Haüy, “Traité Elémentaire de
Physique,” Paris, 1806, Vol. I. pp. 371, 372; A. C. Becquerel,
“Expériences ... par la pression,” Paris, 1823; “Catal. of Sci.
Papers of Roy. Soc.,” Vol. IV. p. 5; Thos. Thomson, “An Outline
of the Sciences of Heat and Electricity,” London and Edinburgh,
1830, p. 482; Dove, p. 229; “Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. VIII, 1855, p.
563; _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, Vol. XXII. p. 5; _Phil.
Mag._, Vol. LXII. pp. 204, 263.
=A.D. 1801.=--Fourcroy (Antoine François de), an eminent French
chemist, physician and author, who succeeded Macquer in the
professorship at the Jardin du Roi, for which Lavoisier was likewise a
candidate, publishes (Vol. XXXIX. p. 103, of the _Annales de Chimie_)
the result of galvanic experiments which he made in conjunction with
Louis Nicholas Vauquelin (1763–1829), and also with Baron Louis Jacques
Thénard (1777–1857), who, in turn, became the successor of Fourcroy as
Professor of Chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique. They thought that by
using many discs they could increase the force of the current and also
decompose water more rapidly, but found this was not the case, and that
with an enlarged pile the combustion of metallic wires was more rapid
and brilliant, thus proving that the degree of combustion is relative
to the surface of the plates (“Encyclopædia Britannica,” 1855, Vol.
XXI. p. 626).
The grand experiment made conjointly by Fourcroy, Vauquelin and Seguin
on the composition of water from its constituent gases was commenced
May 13, 1790, and continued by them without intermission until its
completion, nine days later. “The gases were fixed in a close vessel
by means of electricity, and produced a nearly equal weight of water”
(_Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc._, N. S., Vol. VI. p. 339, giving
description of apparatus for the decomposition and recomposition of
water).
Fourcroy was also one of the savants appointed in 1798 by the Academy
of Sciences of Paris to examine and report upon the experiments of
Galvani. The committee was composed of Guyton de Morveau, Coulomb,
Vauquelin, Sabathier, Pelletan, Charles, Fourcroy and Hallé, the last
named being charged with the verification of all the then recent
discoveries, which were repeated with the assistance of Humboldt, who
went to Paris especially for the purpose. The official report fully
endorsed the praiseworthy line of researches prosecuted by both Galvani
and Humboldt, and the entire series of experiments was at once repeated
by many leading physicists throughout Germany.
On June 19, 1803, one of Antoine Fourcroy’s most interesting memoirs,
treating of meteoric stones, was read by C. Fourcroy before the French
Institute.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XVI. p. 299; Noad’s “Lectures,”
pp. 183, 184; Ure, “Dict. of Chem.”; also the interesting
biography embracing a list of his very numerous works and
treatises, at pp. 846–849, Vol. IX of 1855 “Encyclopædia
Britannica.” See likewise, “Royal Society Catalogue of
Scientific Papers,” Vol. II. pp. 677–682; Thomas Thomson,
“History of Royal Society,” p. 454; Wilkinson’s “Elements of
Galvanism ...” 1804, Vol. II. pp. 113, 145, 151, 152, 208, 359;
Fahie’s “History of Electric Telegraphy,” p. 194; Izarn, “Manuel
du Galv.,” 1804, s. 4, p. 167; “Journal des Savants” for Jan.
1860; P. Sue, aîné, “Hist. du Galvanisme,” Paris, 1802, Vol. II.
pp. 159–160, 241, 264. For Louis N. Vauquelin, consult “Cat. Sc.
Papers of Roy. Soc.,” Vol. VI. pp. 114–128, 761; also “Mém. des
Soc. Savantes et Litt.,” Vol. I. p. 204.
=A.D. 1801.=--Lehot (C. J.), French physicist, sends a curious and
lengthy memoir, regarding the circulation of a very subtile fluid in
the galvanic chain, to the Institut National, before which body it is
read on the 26 Frimaire, An. IX.
To the analyzation of the above-named memoir, Wilkinson devotes more
than half the tenth chapter of his “Elements of Galvanism,” calling
attention to a very singular result from numerous experiments which
is worthy of special mention. It is the possibility of actually
distinguishing one metal from another without seeing or feeling either
of them, and he says that by his arrangement of the chain, M. Lehot
was able to recognize a portion of zinc from a piece of silver, at the
extremity of metallic threads several yards in length.
Lehot’s contributions to the science of animal electricity are too
numerous to be given here. Noad summarizes them in the translation from
pp. 17, 18 of C. Matteucci’s “Traité des phénomènes ...” Paris, 1844.
He ascertained that in a recently killed animal contractions are
excited by the electric current in whatever direction it may be
applied, but, when the vitality of the animal has become diminished,
if the current is sent in the direction of the ramifications of the
nerves, contractions are produced only at the _commencement_ of
the current; the reverse takes place when the current is directed
contrary to the ramifications of the nerves; _i. e._ in this
case the contractions only take place when the current ceases. After
studying the sensation excited by the current on the organs of taste,
Lehot concluded that the current which traverses a nerve in the
direction of its ramifications excites a sensation when it ceases to
pass, though this influence is only exerted at the _commencement_
of its passage when the nerve is traversed in a direction contrary to
its ramifications. The later experiments of Carlo Francesco Bellingeri
and Stefano Giovanni Marianini entirely confirm those of Lehot.
REFERENCES.--_Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XXXVIII. p. 42; _Journal
de Physique_, An. IX, Pluviose, LII. 135; Gilbert, _Annalen_,
IX. 188; P. Sue, aîné, “Hist. du Galvanisme,” Vol. II. pp. 123,
124, 129, 132, 141,142; “Encyclopedia Metropolitana,” Vol. IV
(“Electro-Magnetism,” p. 8).
=A.D. 1801.=--Wollaston (William Hyde), celebrated English chemist
and natural philosopher, an associate of Sir Humphry Davy, who had
taken the degree of M.D., and joined the Royal Society in 1793, but
soon abandoned the practice of medicine to devote himself exclusively
to scientific researches, is the first to demonstrate the identity of
galvanism and frictional electricity, through a paper read before the
above-named society in June 1801.
The latter communication shows that he succeeded in decomposing water
as rapidly by means of mere sparks from frictional electricity as
through the agency of the voltaic pile, and in a more tranquil and
progressive manner than can be assured through shocks from large and
powerful apparatus. He concluded that the decomposition must depend
upon duly proportioning the strength of the charge to the quantity of
water, and that the quantity exposed to its action at the surface of
communication depends on the extent of that surface. He observes:
“Having procured a small wire of fine gold, and given to it as fine a
point as I could, I inserted it into a capillary glass tube, and after
having heated the tube so as to make it adhere to the point and cover
it at every part, I gradually ground it down till, with a pocket lens,
I could discern that the point of gold was disclosed. I coated several
wires in this manner, and found that when sparks from a conductor were
made to pass through water by means of a point so guarded, a spark
passing to the distance of ⅛ of an inch would decompose water, when
the point did not exceed ¹⁄₇₀₀ of an inch in diameter. With another
point, which I estimated at ¹⁄₁₅₀₀, a succession of sparks ¹⁄₂₀ of an
inch in length afforded a current of small bubbles of air. With a still
finer filament of gold, the mere current of electricity, without any
perceptible sparks, evolved gas from water.”
In his Bakerian lecture of Nov. 20, 1806, Sir Humphry Davy relates
experiments made after the manner contrived by Wollaston, showing
that the principle of action is the same in common as in voltaic
electricity. Dr. Robert Hare, in a paper read before the Academy of
Natural Sciences, “On the Objections to the Theories Severally of
Franklin, Dufay and Ampère,” etc., says that, instead of proving the
identity of galvanism with frictional electricity, the above-named
experiments show that in one characteristic at least there is a
discordancy, but that at the same time they possibly “indicate that
ethereal may give rise to ethereo-ponderable undulations.” Noad remarks
that in these ingenious experiments true electro-chemical decomposition
was not effected; that is, “the law which regulates the transference
and the final place of the evolved bodies had no influence.” The water
was decomposed at both poles independently of each other, and the
oxygen and hydrogen gases evolved at the wires are the elements of the
water before existing in those places. Faraday observes:
“That the poles, or rather points, have no mutual decomposing
dependence, may be shown by substituting a wire or the finger for one
of them, a change which does not at all interfere with the other,
though it stops all action at the charged pole. This fact may be
observed by turning the machine for some time; for though bubbles will
rise from the point left unaltered in quantity sufficient to cover
entirely the wire used for the other communication, if they could be
applied to it, yet not a single bubble will appear on that wire.”
Wollaston communicated a paper to the Royal Society (_Phil.
Trans._, Vol. XCI. p. 427) showing that the oxidation of the
metal is the primary cause of the electrical phenomena obtained in
the voltaic pile. The oxidating power is finely shown by his eighth
experiment, which he thus describes:
“Having coloured a card with a strong infusion of litmus, I passed a
current of electric sparks along it, by means of two fine gold points,
touching it at the distance of an inch from each other. The effect, as
in other cases, depending on the smallness of the quantity of water,
was most discernible when the card was nearly dry. In this state a very
few turns of the machine were sufficient to occasion a redness at the
positive wire, very manifest to the naked eye. The negative wire, being
afterward placed on the same spot, soon restored it to its original
blue colour.”
He verified in 1802 the laws of double refraction in Iceland spar
announced by Huyghens, and wrote a treatise thereon which was read
before the Royal Society on the 24th of June, and which contains
additional evidence deduced from Dr. Wollaston’s superior mode of
investigation.
He is said to have been the first to propose forming the spectrum by
using a very narrow pencil of daylight instead of sunlight, and to
have first made an accurate examination of the electric light. In his
communication to the Philosophical Transactions for 1802 he says:
“When the object viewed is a _blue_ line of electric light, I
have found the spectrum to be separated into several images; but the
phenomena are somewhat different from the preceding (viz. the spectrum
of the blue portion of the flame of a candle). It is, however, needless
to describe minutely appearances which vary according to the brilliancy
of the light, and which I cannot undertake to explain.”
During the year 1815, Wollaston made a great improvement in the
construction of voltaic batteries. Having observed that the power
of a battery is much increased with a corresponding economy in zinc
plates, when both zinc surfaces are opposed to a surface of copper, he
devised what he called an _elementary galvanic battery_. Each couple
of the latter is made up only of a plate of copper doubled up around a
zinc plate from which it is kept apart by strips of cork or wood, and
the connecting strips of metal are attached to a wooden rod which is
lowered or elevated when the battery is in or out of action. He found
that a properly mounted plate of zinc, one inch square, was more than
sufficient to ignite a wire of platina ¹⁄₃₀₀₀ of an inch in diameter,
even when the acid is very diluted (fifty parts of water to one of
sulphuric acid).
He was a very careful workman, and in order to adapt his apparatus
to the popular uses, he generally endeavoured to construct them upon
the most reduced scale (_dans des proportions très exigues_). He
produced platinum wire so extremely fine as to be almost imperceptible
to the naked eye. It was estimated that 30,000 pieces of this wire,
placed side by side in contact, would not cover more than an inch; that
it would take 150 pieces of this wire bound together to form a thread
as thick as a filament of raw silk, and that a mile of this wire would
not weigh more than a grain. It may be well to add here that the wire
made with John Wennstrom’s sapphire plates, for delicate electrical
apparatus, is so fine that thirty-six miles of it, properly insulated
for Government use in torpedo experiments, measures only about five
inches in length by three in diameter when wound upon a spool. The
fibre used as carbon filaments in the incandescent lamps is scraped to
an even thinness by being drawn through sapphire plates from ³⁰⁄₁₀₀₀ to
⁴⁄₁₀₀₀ of an inch in diameter.
The smallest battery that Wollaston formed of the above-described
construction consisted of a thimble without its top, flattened until
its opposite sides were about two-tenths of an inch asunder. The bottom
part was then nearly one inch wide and the top about three-tenths, and
as its length did not exceed nine-tenths of an inch, the plate of zinc
to be inserted was less than three-fourths of an inch square (_Annals
of Philosophy_, Vol. VI. p. 210).
We are also indebted to Dr. Wollaston for the first idea of the
possibility of producing electro-magnetic rotations. Prof. Schweigger
opposed the action of revolving magnetism upon the ground that if it
were true, a magnet might be made to revolve around the uniting wire,
but Faraday found experimentally not only that a magnet could be made
to revolve round the uniting wire, but that a movable uniting wire
might be made to revolve around a magnet. (See Faraday’s “Experimental
Researches,” Vol, II. pp. 159–162 for “Historical Statement Respecting
Electro-magnetic Rotation.”)
Wollaston was made secretary of the Royal Society in 1806, became its
president in 1820 after the death of Sir Joseph Banks, and contributed
in all thirty-eight memoirs to the _Philosophical Transactions_ of
that Institution.
His death occurred Dec. 22, 1828, and during the following February
Dr. Fitton, President of the Geological Society, concluded his annual
address with the following encomium:
“It would be difficult to name a man who so well combined the qualities
of an English gentleman and a philosopher, or whose life better
deserves the eulogium given by the first of our orators to one of our
most distinguished public characters; for it was marked by a constant
wish and endeavour to be useful to mankind.”
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag. or Annals_, Vol. V. p. 444. See also
“The Roll Call of the Royal College of Physicians of London,”
by William Munk, M.D., Vol. II; _Edin. Phil. Jour._, Vol. X. p.
183; Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. p. 424; De la Rive, “Treatise
on Electricity,” pp. 444, 445; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXXIII. p.
488; LXIII. p. 15; James Napier, “Manual of Electro-Metallurgy,”
4th Am. ed., pp. 492, 518; Desbordeaux, in _Comptes Rendus_,
Vol. XIX. p. 273; _Le Moniteur_, No. 40 for 1806; Sue, aîné,
“Galvanisme,” Vol. II. pp. 193–195, 199, 202; Joseph Izarn,
“Manuel du Galvanisme,” p. 137; _Poggendorff_, Vol. II. p. 1362;
“Encycl. Metrop.,” Vol. IV (Galvanism), pp. 180, 181, 216, 222;
_Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. V. p. 333; Thos. Young, “Lectures,”
London, 1807, Vol. II. p. 679; W. Sturgeon, “Scientific
Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 29; _Quarterly Journal of Science_
for January 1821; _British Quarterly Review_ for August 1846;
“Biog. Générale,” Tome XLVI. p. 822; Highton’s “Electric
Telegraph,” p. 14; Larousse, “Dict. Universel,” Tome XV. p.
1370; “Cat. Sc. Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 61; Vol. II.
pp. 136, 199; “Bibl. Britan.,” 1801, Vol. XVIII. p. 274; 1810,
Vol. XLIII. p. 347 (_Phil. Mag._, June 1809); Vol. I., N.S.,
1816, p. 119.
=A.D. 1802.=--Walker (Adam), English writer and inventor of several
very ingenious mathematical instruments, publishes in London his
enlarged edition of “A System of Familiar Philosophy,” two volumes,
8vo, in which he devotes ss. 5–9 of Lecture II. vol. i. to magnetism,
and all of Lectures VII and VIII of the second volume to electricity.
We are informed, through his preface, that “the identity of fire,
light, heat, caloric, phlogiston and electricity, or rather their being
but modifications of one and the same principle, as well as their being
the grand agents in the order of nature ... are the leading problems of
the work.” In another part he tells us:
“If electricity, light and fire be but modifications of one and the
same principle ... and they have their origin or foundation in the
sun, it is natural to suppose, in issuing from that luminary, they
proceed from him first in their purest state, or in the character of
electricity; that joining the particles of our atmosphere, electricity
becomes _light_, and uniting with the grosser earth, _fire_ ... that
this _fire_ shall be culinary when called forth from the earth by
ordinary _combustion_, and electric when called forth by _friction_.
Thus have I exhibited this wonderful agent in most of the lights in
which it has yet been seen; and flatter myself the reader’s deductions
from these appearances will be similar to my own, viz. that electricity
emanates in a perfect state from the sun and fixed stars; that
its particles repel each other and fill all space; that they have
an affinity to the earth and planets, but an affinity that cannot
easily be gratified, because the surrounding atmospheres are in part
non-conductors, being already saturated, and, of course, repellent of
the electric fluid” (Lecture VIII. p. 72).
In the section devoted to “Miscellaneous Observations,” he remarks that
the magnetic power may almost be said to be created by friction, rather
than communicated by it; for a magnet acquires strength by giving
magnetism to iron; so that, if all the magnets in the world were lost,
magnetism might be revived by rubbing the end of one steel bar against
the side of another.
Section V, treating of “Magnetic Attraction,” concludes as follows:
“How far these observations and experiments go to establish the
doctrine of a magnetic effluvium flowing through the earth, or from one
end of a magnet to the other, must be left to the reader’s judgment and
opinion. We are apt to laugh at the _subtil matter_ of Descartes and
the _aether_ of Euler, as occult qualities, which modern philosophy
will not admit into its creed, but this effluvium is a _subtil_ matter,
an _aether_, equally as inexplicable and as equally out of the reach of
our five senses to scrutinize; however, if we may venture to guess at
causes by effects, and to compare analogies with what we can see, feel,
etc., I think we have infinite data in favour of an electro-magnetic
fluid, superior to any proof that can be brought of æther being the
cause of gravity, light, vision, etc.”
John Read’s letter to the author concerning the _electrophorus_ appears
at pp. 47–49 of the second volume (Poggendorff, Vol. II. pp. 1248–1249).
=A.D. 1802.=--Alexandre (Jean), who is said to have been the natural
son of Jean Jacques Rousseau, and to have studied for the medical
profession, operates his secret telegraph (_télégraphe intime_) at
Poitiers, and afterwards addresses M. Chaptal, Ministre de l’Intérieur,
asking for financial aid in order that he may be enabled to go to
Paris and submit his invention to the French Government. This request
being refused on account of Alexandre’s unwillingness to divulge his
secret, he next obtained an audience of M. Cochon, Prefect of Vienne,
before whom he demonstrated his invention so successfully that the
latter was induced to make a report of it to M. Chaptal, advising him
to invite Alexandre to Paris at the expense of the State. A second
refusal, however, followed, and Alexandre went to Tours, where he there
also failed to obtain the desired assistance, after giving successful
exhibitions of his telegraph before the Prefect of Indre-et-Loire,
General Rommereul, as well as before the Mayor and the city officials.
The substance of Prefect Cochon’s communication is to be found
translated at pp. 111–113 of Fahie’s “History of Electric Telegraphy,”
which latter also contains a full translation of the report addressed,
10 Fructidor, An. X by the celebrated French astronomer, J. B.
J. Delambre, to the First Consul, suggesting for the inventor’s
representative, M. Beauvais, an interview which Bonaparte, however,
refused to grant.
Alexandre died, 1832–1833, without having revealed his secret to
any one but M. Beauvais. It is stated by Fahie that in the English
_Chronicle_ of June 19–22, 1802, appears a brief account of the
above-named exhibition given at Tours, concluding as follows: “The art
or mechanism by which this is effected is unknown, but the inventor
says that he can extend it to the distance of four or five leagues,
even though a river should be interposed.” A copy of the above-named
newspaper, doubtless unique, was in Latimer Clark’s library.
REFERENCES.--“Annales Télégraphiques,” March-April, 1859, pp.
188–199, for M. Edouard Gerspach’s Memoir; “Sci. Am. Suppl.,”
No. 384, for a translation of M. Auguste Guéroult’s article in
“La Lumière Electrique”; M. Cézanne, “Le Cable Transatlantique,”
Paris, 1867, p. 32; M. Bério, “Ephemerides of the Lecture
Society,” Genoa, 1872, p. 645.
=A.D. 1802.=--Sue (Pierre, aîné), a very able French physician,
publishes, at Paris, “Histoire du Galvanisme et analyse des différents
ouvrages publiés sur cette découverte ...” which is considered by
scientists one of the most important works on the subject.
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Générale,” Vol. XLIV. pp. 618–619;
Larousse, “Dictionnaire Universel,” Vol. XIV. p. 1200;
Wilkinson, “Elem. of Galv.,” 1804, Vol. I. p. 182.
=A.D. 1802.=--Brugnatelli (Luigi Valentino), who, after being a pupil,
became the close friend and subsequently the colleague of Volta at the
Pavia University, is the first to obtain, by means of the voltaic pile,
a decidedly practical result in electro-plating. He gilded two large
silver medals on bringing them in communication, by means of the steel
wire, with the negative pole of a voltaic pile, and by keeping them
one after the other immersed in ammoniurets of gold newly prepared and
well saturated (_Phil. Mag._ for 1805).
He also electro-deposited bright metallic silver upon platinum, and
observed that when the current entered the liquid by means of a pole
of copper or zinc, those metals were dissolved and then deposited upon
the negative pole. Spon tells us (“Dictionary of Engineering,” London,
1874, Vol. II. p. 1378) that the solutions employed by Brugnatelli were
alkaline; they consisted of ammoniurets of gold, silver or platina,
that is, the product obtained by treating the chlorides of gold and
platina or the azotate of silver, by ammonia. There is much obscurity
in the descriptions of Brugnatelli, but according to the _Journal
de Physique et Chimie_ of Van Mons, the most expeditious method of
reducing, by means of the battery, dissolved metallic oxides, is to
make use of their ammoniurets by placing the ends of two conducting
wires of platina into ammoniuret of mercury. The wire of the negative
pole speedily becomes covered with small particles of this metal. MM.
Barral, Chevalier and Henri tried to reproduce Brugnatelli’s operation
by following his descriptions, but with very imperfect results, the
nature of the dissolvent employed by the learned Italian not being
known.
At p. 136, Vol. XVIII of his _Annali di Chimica_, etc., Brugnatelli
publishes a memoir entitled “Chemical Observations on the Electric
Acid.” He says:
“Naturalists have hitherto merely abandoned one erroneous hypothesis
for another, in considering the nature of the electric fluid. Some
have regarded it as identical with heat; while others have been led to
consider it as a modified caloric. The disciples of Stahl ascribed it
to the nature of their _phlogistic_ or, at least, supposed it to
be a fluid abundantly provided with that principle. Henley conjectured
it to be phlogistic, when in a state of repose, and fire, when in a
state of activity. Among the moderns, several have been found who
have declared it to be an acid; but their opinion has been combated
by Gardini, who, by means of several ingenious observations, has
endeavoured to demonstrate that it is composed of caloric and hydrogen.”
In the earlier experiments on the decomposition of even chemically
pure water by the voltaic column, the presence of an acid was always
apparent at the pole evolving oxygen, while alkaline matter appeared at
the other (_Nicholson’s Journal_, quarto, Vol. IV. p. 183).
Mr. William Cruikshanks supposed the former to be the nitrous acid
resulting from a combination of the oxygen at the positive pole with
the azote of the air held in solution by the water, while the alkali,
he said, proceeded from the combination of the same principle with the
hydrogen evolved at the negative pole (_Nicholson’s Journal_, quarto,
Vol. IV. p. 261). Mr. C. B. Desormes afterward endeavoured to show that
the products were ammonia and muriatic acids (_Annales de Chimie_,
Vol. XXXVII. p. 233). Brugnatelli’s experiments with the _couronne de
tasses_, however, led him to consider it to be an acid _sui generis_
produced by the combination of one of the constituents of water with
positive electricity. He classed it as _oxi-electric_, and of all the
metals, gold and platina alone appeared to him not to be sensibly
affected by this electric acid.
REFERENCES.--For Brugnatelli’s record of other experiments
and observations and for his Memoirs upon different piles,
upon animal electricity, upon the identity of the electric and
galvanic fluids, etc. etc., see his “Principes,” etc., 1803,
and “Grundsätze des Elektricität,” etc., 1812, his _Annali
di Chimica_, Vols. VII. p. 239; XIX. pp. 77, 153, 274, 277,
280–281; XXI. pp. 3, 143, etc., 239; XXII. pp. 1, etc., 77–92,
257, 301; the _Giornale di Chimica, Fis. e Storia Nat._ of
L. and G. Brugnatelli, G. Brunacci and P. Configliachi, Vol.
I. pp. 147–163, 337–353; IX. p. 145; XI. p. 130, and the
“Commentarii Medici,” edited by L. Brugnatelli and L. V. Brera;
also Brugnatelli’s _Giornale Fisico-Medico_, etc., and its
continuation, _Avanzamenti della Medicina e Fisica_, the first
named containing (Vol. I. p. 280), a repetition of Galvani’s
experiments, made by Volta, Rezia and Brugnatelli; G. Bianconi,
“Intorno ...” and “Cenni intorno ... Galvanoplastica” (_Nuovi
Annali della Scienze Naturali_); the “Biblioteca Italiana,” of
which his son Gaspare Brugnatelli was an editor, in conjunction
with Breislak, Configliachi, Carlini, Cotena, Acerbi, Brunacci,
Fantonelli, Fumagelli, Ferrario, Giordiani, Gironi and Monti; G.
A. Giobert, “Gior. Fis. Med.,” 1188; Du Pré, “Ann. di Chimica,”
IX. 156; P. Mascagni, “Lettera ...” for Brugnatelli’s notes; A.
Cossa, “Notizie ... elettro-chimica,” 1858; J. Napier, “Man. of
El. Met.,” 4th ed., pp. 491, 492; J. B. Van Mons’ _Journal de
Chimie_, Vols. I. pp. 1, 24, 101, 216, 325; II. pp. 106, 216;
IV. p. 143; X. p. 114; XVI. p. 132; also Vol. LXXVI; _Giornale
di Fis. Chim._, Vol. I. pp. 4–32, 28, 139–147, 164–166, 338;
“Effemeridi Chim. Mediche di Milano,” 1807, Sem. I. p. 57; A.
F. Gehlen’s _Journal für die Chemie_, Vol. I. pp. 54–88; VI.
pp. 116–124; VIII. pp. 319–359; L. W. Gilbert, _Annalen der
Physik_, Vols. VIII. pp. 284–299; XVI. pp. 89–94; XXIII. pp.
177–219; _Philosophical Magazine_, Vols. XXI. p. 187; XXV.
pp. 57–66, 130–142; LIII. p. 321; Dr. Thos. Thomson’s _Annals
of Philosophy_, Vol. XII. p. 228; Alfred Smee’s “Elements of
Electro-Metallurgy,” _History_, pp. xxv-xxvi; _Journal de
Pharmacie_, Vol. III. pp. 425, 426; J. Nauche, _Journal du
Galvanisme_, etc., Vol. II. pp. 55–60; P. Sue, aîné, “Histoire
du Galvanisme,” An. X, 1802, Vol. I. p. 305; II. pp. 263, 316,
320, 328; _Annales de Chimie_, Feb. 1818; for Brugnatelli,
“Biblioth. Britan.,” Vol. XXXI., 1806, pp. 43, 122, 223 (pile
végétale).
=A.D. 1802.=--Jäger (Karl Christoph Friedrich van), a well-known
physicist of Wurtemberg and professor at Stuttgart, confirms by
mathematical analysis the theory of electrical distribution and
equilibrium, as will be seen by his papers in Gilbert’s _Annalen der
Physik_, Vols. XII. pp. 123, 127; XIII. pp. 399–433; XXIII. pp.
59–84, and LII. pp. 81–108.
The views of Jäger were fully endorsed by Berzelius, who, like Scholz
and Reinhold, endeavoured to extend them, and who says that we are
indebted to the German physicist for actually the most complete
elucidation of the theory of the voltaic pile.
In Vol. XLIX of Gilbert’s _Annalen_ for 1815, pp. 47–66, will be
found Jäger’s observations and experiments on Zamboni’s column as well
as the papers of Zamboni and Deluc on dry piles. Dr. Thomson says that
since Dr. Jäger found that, when the temperature was raised to 104
degrees, or as high as 140 degrees, the pile begins again to act as
well as ever, we must conclude from this that dry paper, while cold, is
a nonconductor of electricity, but that it becomes again a conductor
when heated up to 104 degrees or 140 degrees.
REFERENCES.--Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp. 1186, 1187; “Catalogue of
Scientific Papers of the Royal Society,” Vol. III. p. 525; Jäger
on the tourmaline in Gilbert’s _Annalen_ for 1817, Vol. LV. pp.
369, 416, and Jäger, Bohnenberger and Zamboni in the _Annalen_
for 1819, Vol. LXII. pp. 227–246; Figuier, “Expos. et Histoire,”
1857, Vol. IV. p. 433; Davy, “Bakerian Lectures,” 1840, pp.
44–56, on the “Agencies of Electricity.”
=A.D. 1802.=--Gale (T.), an American physician, publishes at Troy
“Electricity or Ethereal Fire ... considered naturally, astronomically
and medically, and comprehending both the theory and practice of
medical electricity,” etc. Among other things, he describes at pp. 27,
28, various experiments made with his galvanometer; explains at pp.
46–64 how the Newtonian principles are erroneous; and shows at p. 264
how to extract lightning from the clouds; while at pp. 272, etc., are
given directions for using electricity both as a sure preventive and
cure of diseases.
=A.D. 1802.=--Gibbes (George Smith), M.D., of Bath, reads before
the Royal Society a paper on the Phenomena of Galvanism thus noticed
by Dr. Young at pp. 672, 673, Vol. II. of his “Course of Lectures,”
London, 1707:
“Dr. Gibbes begins with reciting some experiments on the oxidation
produced during the union of tinfoil with mercury, first in the air
and then under water. He assumes a different opinion from that of
Dr. Wollaston, respecting the origination of electricity in chemical
changes, and maintains on the contrary that the electrical changes are
to be considered as preceding and favouring the chemical. He imagines
that the simple contact of various substances produces changes of
electrical equilibrium, and that the action of acids is effectual in
promoting these changes, by bringing their surfaces into contact. Dr.
Gibbes observes upon Dr. Wollaston’s experiment of immersing zinc and
silver in an acid solution, that if they are placed in two separate
portions of the fluid, and the parts not immersed are brought into
contact there is no emission of gas from the silver; but that it is
copiously produced when the contact takes place in the same fluid. He
proceeds to relate some experiments which seem to show a difference
between galvanism and electricity, particularly that galvanism does not
appear to be attracted by metallic points. He also states an experiment
in which a piece of paper is placed on tinfoil, and rubbed with elastic
gum, and although the tinfoil is not insulated, sparks are produced on
raising the paper. Dr. Gibbes concludes with some arguments against
the doctrine of the decomposition of water; and advances as a probable
opinion, that oxygen and hydrogen gas are composed of water as a basis,
united with two other elements, which, combined, form heat.”
As remarked by Wilkinson (“Elements of Galvanism,” London, 1804, Vol.
II. pp. 385, 386), Dr. Gibbes’ hypothesis as to the composition of
water having been deduced from Richter’s experiments, and these latter
proving erroneous, the ingenious superstructure which the doctor has
erected must necessarily fall to the ground.
=A.D. 1802.=--Romagnosi (Gian Domenico Gregorio Giuseppe), Italian
jurist of Salsomaggiore, near Piacenza, who had devoted much time to
scientific investigation, and was about taking the law professorship
at the Parma University, communicates, Aug. 3, 1802, to the _Gazetta
di Trento_, his important paper entitled “Articulo sul Galvanismo.”
Of the latter, a translation, made from the reprint at p. 8 of Gilb.
Govi’s “Romagnosi e l’Elettro-magnetismo,” appears at pp. 259, 260 of
Fahie’s “History of Electric Telegraphy.”
To Romagnosi has by many been given the credit of having discovered
the directive influence of the galvanic current upon a magnetic
needle. This claim has of late years been again made for him, notably
by Dr. Donato Tommasi, of Paris (_Cosmos, les Mondes_ of June
30, 1883), while Dr. J. Hamel endeavoured to prove (pp. 37–39 of
“Historical Account ... Galv. and Mag. Elec. ...” reprinted by W. F.
Cooke for the Society of Arts, London, 1859) that Oersted was aware
of Romagnosi’s experiments at the time he published the discovery of
electro-magnetism. This is what Dr. Hamel says:
“I cannot forego stating my belief that Oersted knew of Romagnosi’s
discovery announced in 1802, which was eighteen years before the
publication of his own observations. It was mentioned in the book of
Giovanni Aldini (the nephew of Galvani) ... Oersted was in Paris 1802
and 1803, and it appears from the book of Aldini, that at the time
he finished it Oersted was still in communication with him; for he
says at the end (p. 376) he had not been able to add the information
received from Oersted, Doctor of the University at Copenhagen, about
the galvanic labours of scientific men in that country.... It deserves
to be remembered, that from Aldini’s book (“Essai théorique et
expérimental sur le galvanisme,” etc., Paris, 1804, qto. p. 191, or
Vol. I. of the 8vo ed., pp. 339–340) it was known that the chemist,
Giuseppe Mojon (Joseph Mojon, in the French), at Genoa, had before
1804 observed in unmagnetized needles exposed to the galvanic current
‘a sort of polarity.’ Joseph Izarn repeats this also in his ‘Manuel du
Galvanisme’ (Paris, An. xii., 1804, sec. iii. p. 120, or 1805, sec.
ix.), which book was one of those that by order were to be placed in
the library of every lycée of France.”
Robert Sabine remarks (“The Electric Telegraph,” 8vo., 1867, p. 22;
“History of the Electric Telegraph,” in Weale’s Rudimentary Treatises,
1869, pp. 23, 24; “History and Progress of the Electric Telegraph,” 3rd
ed., 1872, p. 23):
“The discovery of the power of a galvanic current to deflect a magnetic
needle, as well as to polarize an unmagnetized one, were known to,
and described as early as 1804, by Prof. Izarn.... The paragraph
which especially refers to this subject is headed ‘Appareil pour
reconnaitre l’action du galvanisme, sur la polarité d’une aiguille
aimantée.’ After explaining the way to prepare the apparatus, which
consists simply in putting a freely suspended magnetic needle parallel
and close to a straight metallic conductor through which a galvanic
current is circulating, he described the effects in the following
words: ‘According to the observations of Romagnosi, a physicist of
Trent, a magnetized needle which is submitted to a galvanic current
undergoes (_éprouve_) a declination; and according to those of J.
Mojon, a learned chemist of Genoa, unmagnetized needles acquire by this
means a sort of magnetic polarity.’ To Romagnosi, physicist of Trent,
therefore, and not, as is generally believed, to Oersted, physicist at
Copenhagen (who observed, in 1820, the phenomenon of the deflection of
a magnet needle by a voltaic current), is due the credit of having made
this important discovery.”
On the other hand, Gilb. Govi, who gives in his afore-named work a good
illustration of Romagnosi’s experiment, explains that it resembles in
no way the experiment of Oersted, there being no magnetic action of
the column on the magnetic needle, which latter is in fact repelled
by the mere electricity of the pile. Ronalds states that Romagnosi’s
experiment, much like that made by Schweigger (A. F. Gehlen’s
_Journal für die Chimie und Physik_, 1808, pp. 206–208), was
a modification if not a repetition of the one which Thomas Milner
performed with static electricity (T. Milner’s “Experiments and
Observations in Electricity,” London, 1783, p. 35), wherein a magnetic
needle forms the electrometer since improved upon by J. C. A. Peltier.
To the ordinary mind, a conclusive proof that Romagnosi had no part in
the discovery of electro-magnetism would seem to be, as Fahie rightly
observes, the fact that he himself never claimed any, although he lived
until 1835, fifteen years after the announcement made by the Danish
philosopher. Fahie calls attention, for some experiments in the same
line, to J. B. Van Mons’ _Journal de Chimie_, Bruxelles, January 1803,
p. 52, and to Nicholson’s _Journal of Nat. Phil._, Vol. VII. p. 304,
as well as to the 1746 and 1763 _Phil. Trans._ for investigations
made by B. Robins and Ebenezer Kinnersley, and he likewise alludes to
others recorded in the _Amer. Polytechnic Review_ for 1831, and in the
_Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts_ for 1826, to all of which,
he says, as little real attention should be given as can properly be
attached to the observations of Aldini and of Izarn previously referred
to.
REFERENCES.--“Notizia di G. D. Romagnosi, stesa da Cesare Cantù,”
Milan, 1835; “Nuova Scelta d’ Opuscoli,” Vol. I. p. 201; _Gazetta di
Roveredo_ for 1802, No. 65; “Atti della Reale Accad. delle Scienze di
Torino,” Vol. IV, April 7, 1869; J. C. Poggendorff, Vol. II. pp. 681,
682; S. I. Prime’s “Life of Morse,” 1875, p. 264; _Phil. Mag._, Vol.
LVIII. p. 43; _Journal Soc. of Arts_, April 23, 1858, p. 356, and July
29, 1859, pp. 605, 606; _Bibl. Ital._, Vol. XCVIII. p. 60; Gilbert,
_Annalen_, 1821, Vol. LXVIII. p. 208; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
XIII. p. 1318; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. XLII. pp. 574, 575, the last
named remarking that the discovery alluded to in the works of Aldini
and Izarn passed unnoticed till Oersted caused its value to be fully
appreciated.
=A.D. 1802.=--Parrot (George Friedrich), Russian physician and
professor at Dorpat, is, of all the European savants, the one who
developed most extensively the chemical theory of the voltaic pile. The
superior manner in which all his observations were carried on have led
many to consider him justly entitled to the credit of being the founder
of the theory (Figuier, “Exposition et Histoire,” etc., Paris, 1857,
Vol. IV. chapitre viii. pp. 426–429).
He commenced his experiments in 1801, and first recorded them in a
memoir which was crowned the same year by the Batavi Scientific Society
of Haarlem. His other papers on the same subject followed in rapid
succession, mainly through L. W. Gilbert’s _Annalen der Physik_,
under such heads as: “Sketch of a New Theory of Galvanic Electricity,
and Concerning the Decomposition of Water,” etc. (“Combination of
Induction and Chemical Action,” Gilb., Vol. XII. p. 49, Seypfer, p.
200), “How to Measure Electricity,” “Relative to the Electrometer,”
“The Effects of the Condenser,” and “The Theory of Volta Concerning
Galvanic Electricity,” all of which appeared in Vol. LXI. of the
_Annalen_. These papers were alluded to in his letter to the
editors of the _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_ (_An. Ch. et
Phys._, Vol. XLII. p. 45), and were afterward greatly amplified in
his “Treatise on Natural Philosophy.”
Parrot started with the determination to demolish completely the
theories of Volta and to thoroughly instruct him anew (_instruire
de toutes pièces le procès du physicien de Pavie_), and it must be
admitted that the many important facts enounced by Parrot were such as
would have ordinarily created a disturbing influence, but they became
known after Volta’s views had been thoroughly espoused by many German
and French scientists and consequently attracted comparatively little
attention.
At p. 466, Vol. II of Dr. Thomas Young’s “Course of Lectures,” London,
1807, reference is made to a paper in Gilbert’s _Annalen der
Physik_ (X. p. 11, also XIII. p. 244), concerning Parrot’s theory
of evaporation, with mention of the fact that the same paper contains
a proposal for inoculating the clouds with thunder and lightning, by
projecting bombs to a sufficient height.
Parrot also devised a scheme for telegraphing, which is described in
the _Mem. Acad. Petropol._, ser. vi. Vol. I for 1838, and is
alluded to in the Report on Telegraphs for the United States, made
at request of the Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury, by
the Committee on Science and the Arts of the Franklin Institute. The
proposed telegraph, as worded in the Report, “consists of a single
arm or _indicator_, which should be about nine feet long and one
foot wide, with a cross-piece at one end, about three feet long and
one wide; the whole being movable about an axis at its centre.... The
movements may be communicated with ease and certainty, either by an
endless chain passing over a wheel on the axis, and a wheel in the
building; or by a cog-wheel on the axis, and an endless screw on a
vertical bar. For night signals, three lamps are used, one swinging
beyond the end of the arm, the other two beyond the ends of the
cross-piece.”
REFERENCES.--Gilbert’s _Annalen_, Vols. XXI for 1805, LV for
1817, LX for 1819; J. H. Voigt’s _Magazin_, Vol. IV; Grindel’s
“Russ. Jahrb. f. Chem. u. Pharm.,” XI, 1810; L. Turnbull, “Elec.
Mag. Tel.,” p. 19; “Naturwiss. Abhandl. aus Dorpat.,” I, 1823;
“Roy. Soc. Cat. of Sc. Papers,” Vol. IV. pp. 765–767; _Annales
de Chimie_, Vol. XLII, 1829, pp. 42–45, and Vol. XLVI, 1831, p.
361; “Mém. sixième série Sc. Mathém.,” first part of Vols. III
and V; “Pander’s Beitr. z. Naturk, I.”
=A.D. 1802–1806.=--Berzelius (Baron Jöns Jacob Freiherr von), M.D.,
one of the greatest of modern chemists, native of East Gothland,
Sweden, publishes his “De Electricitatis ...” or “Physical Researches
on the Effect of Galvanism upon Organized Bodies,” which established
his reputation as an experimental philosopher and procured for him the
appointment of Assistant Professor of Medicine, Botany and Chemical
Pharmacy at Stockholm. Of the very great number of scientific papers
which he communicated to learned Societies, that entitled “An Essay on
the Division of Salts through Galvanism” deserves especial mention, for
in it, he lays down the electro-chemical theory, the honour of being
the original propounder of which is by many claimed for Sir Humphry
Davy.
In conjunction with Gottlieb Gahn, with W. Hisinger, of Elfstorps Bruk,
and with the Swedish physician, Magnus Martin de Pontin, Berzelius made
many very extensive observations and published numerous treatises, the
most important of which are embraced in the papers named at foot (Sir
Humphry Davy, “Bakerian Lectures,” London, 1840, more particularly at
pp. 13, 20, 109, 111, 122–123).
As has been before observed, the brilliant investigations of Berzelius
and Hisinger, together with those of Nicholson and Carlisle, of Dr.
William Henry and of Sir Humphry Davy, actually created a new epoch
in the history of chemistry. Prof. Wm. B. Rogers better expressed the
fact in his address of Jan. 16, 1879, when saying that “through the
labours mainly of Berzelius and of Davy, the great generalization of
electro-positive and electro-negative substances was established, and
with it the fruitful theory of the electro-chemical exposition of
compound bodies.” Such of the experiments of Berzelius as were repeated
by Sir Humphry Davy before the English Royal Institution, are embodied
in Davy’s paper (partly alluded to above in “Bakerian Lectures”) which
was read before the Royal Society, June 30, 1808. According to J. F. W.
Herschel, Berzelius and Hisinger ascertained it as a general law, that
in all of the chemical decompositions which they effected, the acids
and oxygen become transferred to, and accumulated around, the positive
pole, and hydrogen, alkaline earths and metals around the negative pole
of a voltaic circuit; being transferred in an invisible, and, as it
were, a latent or torpid state, by the action of the electric current,
through considerable spaces, and even through large quantities of water
or other liquid, again to reappear with all their properties at their
appropriate resting-places.
Berzelius discovered selenium while examining certain substances found
in the acid manufactured at Gripsholm, Sweden. He includes selenium
among the metals; but as it is a nonconductor of electricity, also a
most imperfect conductor of heat, and as, in other respects, it bears
much analogy to sulphur, it is generally placed among the non-metallic
combustibles (Brande, “Manual of Chemistry,” London, 1848, Vol. I. p.
435; Berzelius, “Lehrbuch der Chemie,” “Traité,” etc., Paris, 1846,
Vol. II. p. 184; “Annales de Chimie et de Physique,” Vol. IX. p. 160;
“Annals of Philosophy,” Vol. XIII. p. 401 and Vol. VIII, N.S. p. 104).
The important rôle which the high electrical resistance of selenium has
in its early days been made to play by Mr. Willoughby Smith, Dr. Werner
Siemens and others, is alluded to at pp. 791–794 of Vol. IV supplement
to “Ure’s Dict. of Arts,” etc., London, 1878.
For full accounts of Berzelius’ numerous contributions to science,
attention is called to the following:
REFERENCES.--“Royal Society Catal. of Sc. Papers,” Vol. I. pp.
330–341; “Gedächtnissrede auf Berzelius ...” Berlin, 1851;
G. Forchammer, “J. J. Berzelius,” 1849; Poggendorff, Vol. I.
pp. 172–175; “Afhandl. i Fisik. ...”; Jos. Thomas, “Dict. of
Biography,” 1870, Vol. I. p. 341; “Report Smiths. Inst.” for
1862, p. 380; “Vetensk. Acad. Handl.”; “La Grande Encyclopédie,”
Vol. VI. p. 478. See likewise, “Journal Frankl. Inst.,” 3rd
Ser., Vol. XVI. pp. 343–348; Faraday’s “Experim. Researches,”
Arts., 746, 870, 960, and Vol. II. pp. 226–228; Gahn at p. 226
of Becquerel’s “Eléments d’El. Ch.,” Paris, 1843; “Annalen der
Physik,” Vol. XXVII. pp. 270, 311, 316, and Vol. XXXVI. p. 260;
Gehlen’s “Journal für die Chem. und Phys.,” Vol. I. p. 115 and
Vol. III. p. 177; John Black, “An Attempt ... Electro-Chem.
Theory,” London, 1814; Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. pp. 400,
457–458, 461–462; “Encycl. Metrop.” (Galvanism), Vol. IV. pp.
221–222; “Sc. Am. Suppl.,” No. 284, p. 4523, for report of
Helmholtz’s Faraday Lecture of April 5, 1881, taken from the
“Chemical News”; Sturgeon’s “Annals,” Vol. VII. pp. 300–303;
Vol. VIII. p. 80; Whewell, “History of the Inductive Sciences,”
1859, Vol. II. pp. 304, 347–348; Thos. Thomson, “An Outline of
the Sciences ...” London, 1830, Chap. XIV. p. 532; Berzelius
and Wöhler on Volcanoes, in Poggendorff’s “Annalen,” Bd. I. s.
221, and Bd. XI. s. 146; “Journal des Savants” for June 1892,
pp. 375–385; J. Berzelius and F. Wöhler, Leipzig, 1901; “Svenskt
Biografiskt Handlexikon,” Herm. Hofberg, Stockholm, pp. 88–89;
“Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. LI, 1812, pp. 174–183 (“Nicholson’s
Journal,” July 1812) for John Gough’s remarks on the hygrometer
of Berzelius (Phil. Mag., Vol. XXXIII. p. 177); “Annales de
Chimie,” Vol. LI. pp. 167, 171; Vol. LXXXVI for 1813, p. 146;
Vol. LXXXVII. pp. 286, etc.; also Vol. LXXIII. pp. 198, 200–201,
the last named giving an account of the ammoniacal amalgam which
Berzelius and Pontin were the first to explain.
=A.D. 1802.=--Thompson (Sir Benjamin), Count Rumford, an eminent
scientist, native of Woburn in Massachusetts, Knt., F.R.S., one of the
founders of the English Royal Institution, publishes his “Philosophical
Memoirs ... being a collection of ... Experimental Investigations ...
of Natural Philosophy.”
Though more properly identified with important observations and
researches on heat, the question of the nature of which, Dr. Edward
L. Youmans says, he was the first to take out of the domain of
metaphysics, where it had stood since the days of Aristotle, he has
given accounts of some highly important experiments regarding the
relative intensities and the chemical properties of light, heat and
electricity, which can be seen at pp. 273, etc., Vol. LXXVI. part ii.
of the _Phil. Trans._ for 1786. Heat spreads in every direction,
whilst the electrical fluid may be arrested in its progress by certain
bodies, which have on that account been called non-conductors, but he
shows that the Torricellian vacuum affords, on the contrary, a ready
passage to the electrical fluid while being a bad conductor of heat.
At p. 30 of George E. Ellis’ “Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson,”
published in Boston (no date), is reproduced Rumford’s “Account of
what expense I have been at toward getting an electrical machine”
during 1771, and at pp. 481–488, Vol. I, also pp. 350, 351, Vol. III
of the “Complete Works of Count Rumford,” published by the American
Academy of Sciences, allusion is made to the galvanic influence in the
construction of utensils.
REFERENCES.--Sir W. Thomson, “Mathematical and Physical Papers,”
London, 1890, Vol. III. pp. 123, 124; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. IX for
1801, p. 315; Silliman’s _American Journal of Science_, Vol.
XXXIII. p. 21; “Biog. Universelle,” Tome XXXVII. p. 81; “Journal
des Savants,” for Dec. 1881 and Jan. 1882; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol.
LVI., 1814, pp. 398–401 (necrology).
=A.D. 1802.=--Pepys (William Haseldine, Sr.), son of an English
manufacturer of surgical instruments, who became F.R.S. and was one
of the founders of the Askesian Society, as well as of both the
London Institution and of the London Geological Society, constructs,
during the month of February 1802, the strongest pile hitherto known.
It consists of sixty pairs of zinc and copper plates, each six feet
square, held in two large troughs filled with thirty-two pounds of
water containing two pounds of azotic, or nitric, acid.
It is said that with this battery he succeeded in melting iron wires
ranging in diameter from one two-hundredth to one-tenth of an inch, the
combustion developing an extremely bright light, while platinum wires,
one thirty-second of an inch in diameter, turned to white heat and
melted in globules at the point of contact. Charcoal was permanently
ignited a length of nearly two inches and the galvanic action was
strong enough to light it after passing through a circuit of sixteen
persons holding one another by the hand. Gold leaf displayed a bright
white light, accompanied with smoke; silver leaf gave an intense green
light without sparks, but with still more smoke; while sheets of lead
burned actively, with accompaniment of very red sparks mixed with the
flame (Figuier, “Exposition,” etc., Paris, 1857, Vol. IV. p. 347).
Later on, another battery was constructed by him for the London
Institution. This consisted of 400 pairs of plates five inches square,
and of 40 pairs one foot square. With it, Davy ignited cotton, sulphur,
resin, oil and ether, melted a platinum wire, burned several inches of
an iron wire one three-hundredth of an inch in diameter, and boiled
easily such liquids as oil and water, even decomposing and transforming
them into gases. It was during the year 1808 that Pepys finished
the enormous battery of 2000 double plates already alluded to under
the Cruikshanks (A.D. 1800) and the Davy (A.D. 1801) articles, and
which is to be found described at p. 110 of the “Elements of Chemical
Philosophy.”
One year before that (1807) Pepys constructed a new form of eudiometer,
of which a description was given before the Royal Society on the 4th of
June, as shown at p. 270 Vol. I of the “Abstracts of Papers,” etc., of
that Institution, as well as in the 1807 volume of the _Philosophical
Transactions_.
Of the many ingenious experiments by which Pepys distinguished himself,
scarcely none attracted more attention than those which are referred
to in the last-named _Transactions_ for 1866, pp. 339–439. It is only
since 1815, when he employed the electric current to heat iron wire
and diamond dust together, whereby he obtained steel, that the direct
carburization of iron by the diamond has been clearly established.
Prior to this date, during 1798, Clouet had melted a little crucible of
iron weighing 57·8 grammes containing a diamond weighing 0·907 gramme,
and produced a fused mass of steel. Guyton de Morveau reported upon
Clouet’s experiment in the _Annales de Chimie_ for 1799 (Vol. XXXI. p.
328) and his investigations were repeated by many scientists, notably
by Margueritte, as recently as 1865. The latter’s observations, which
were communicated to the _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_ (Tome
VI), showed that, although carburization can be effected by simple
contact of carbon and iron in a gaseous atmosphere, it is nevertheless
true that in the ordinary process of cementation the carbonic oxide
gas plays an important part, which had until then been overlooked
(Translation of Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen, F.R.S. For Mr. Children’s
investigations in the same line, see the _Phil. Trans._ for 1815, p.
370, also A.D. 1809).
Sir Humphry Davy employed in his experiments on the decomposition and
composition of the fixed alkalies two mercurial gasometers of Pepys’
design, described in No. 14 of the _Phil. Trans._ for 1807, in
conjunction with the same apparatus used by Messrs. Allen and Pepys for
the combustion of the diamond (“Bakerian Lectures,” London, 1840, pp.
84 and 93).
During the year 1822 Pepys constructed for electro-magnetic
experiments a very large spiral galvanic battery, which was put
together for the London Institution on the plan of the one first
built by Dr. Robert Hare, Professor of Chemistry in the University
of Pennsylvania. Pepys called it a _calorimotor_, by reason of its
remarkable power of producing heat, and it is well illustrated in the
8th Edit. “Encyclopædia Britannica” article on “Voltaic Electricity.”
It consisted only of two metallic sheets, copper and zinc, fifty to
sixty feet long by two feet wide, coiled around a cylinder of wood and
prevented from coming together by three ropes of horse-hair, the whole
being suspended over a tub of acid so that, by a pulley or otherwise,
it could be immersed or taken up. As stated in Vol. V of the _Trans. of
the Amer. Phil. Soc._, this battery required nearly fifty-five gallons
of fluid, and the solution used contained about one-fortieth of strong
nitrous acid.
When, as Noad observes, it is stated that a piece of platinum wire may
be heated to redness by a pair of plates only four inches long and two
broad, the calorific power of such an arrangement as the above may be
imagined to have been immense. The energy of the simple circle depends
on the size of the plates, the intensity of the chemical action on
the oxidizable metal, the rapidity of its oxidation, and the speedy
removal of the oxide. Pouillet is said to have constructed one of these
batteries with twelve couples for the Paris Faculté des Sciences, and
found it very powerful in producing large quantities of electricity
with low tension. The best liquid for this battery was water with
one-fortieth in volume of sulphuric acid and one-sixtieth of nitric
acid. With the above-described battery of Mr. Pepys, Sir Humphry Davy
performed a remarkable experiment which is to be found described in
the _Phil. Trans._ for 1823. A similar apparatus was produced
independently, at about the same time, by Dr. Seebeck, of Berlin.
Another of Pepys’ inventions is the substitution, for the tinfoil
coatings within the glass of Bennet’s electroscope, of two plates,
forming an acute angle, which, by means of a regulating screw, can be
adjusted to any required distance from the gold leaves. The angular
part is secured to the bottom; the open part perpendicularly upward.
By this mode of approximating the coatings to the gold leaves, the
resistance being diminished, a weaker intensity of electricity suffices
for their disturbance.
REFERENCES.--_Quarterly Journal of Science_, Vol. I for 1816;
_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXI. p. 241; XLI. p. 15; Becquerel, Vol. I.
p. 34. Mr. William H. Pepys, Jr., published descriptions of the
newly invented galvanometer and of the large galvanic apparatus
in the _Phil. Mag._, Vol. X., June 1801, p. 38, and Vol. XV
for 1803, p. 94; “Cat. Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. p. 192;
“Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XVIII, 1801, p. 343, and Vol. XXII, 1803,
p. 297.
=A.D. 1803.=--Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (Etienne), a very eminent French
naturalist, once the pupil of Haüy, whose life he was the means of
saving during the massacre of September 1792, is the first to give a
thoroughly complete description of the electrical organs and functions
of the _raia torpedo_, of the _gymnotus electricus_, of the _silurus
electricus_, and of other similar species of fishes. His work on the
subject, entitled “Sur l’anatomie comparée,” etc., is alluded to
in Vol. I. An. xi. No. 5 of the “Annales du Museum,” whence it is
translated for the fifteenth volume of the _Phil. Mag._
His analyzation of the fluid in the cells of the _torpedo_ showed it
to consist of albumen and gelatine; and he discovered some organs
analogous to those of the _torpedo_ in different species of the same
genus _raia_, which, strange to say, do not appear possessed of any
electrical power.
The electrical organs of the _silurus electricus_ he found to be much
less complicated than those of other electrical fishes. They lie
immediately below the skin and stretch all around the body of the
animal. Their substance, he says, is a reticulated mass, the meshes
of which are plainly visible, and these cells are filled, like those
of other electrical fishes, with an albuminous gelatinous matter. The
nerves distributed over the electrical organs proceed from the brain,
and the two nerves of the eighth pair have a direction and nature
peculiar to this species. (Consult C. Matteucci, “Traité des Phénomènes
...” Paris, 1844, Chaps. VI and VII. pp. 301–327.)
In his great work on Egypt (Pl. XII, 2) Geoffroy gives the figure of
a _malapterus electricus_ (see Adanson, A.D. 1751) which is opened
to show the viscera, but, by a singular inaccuracy, says Mr. James
Wilson, the fish is represented as scaly, whereas there are no scales
whatever upon this fish, and no fish known to possess electric powers
has either scales or spines. The _torpedo_, the _gymnotus_ and the
_malapterus_ have all naked skins. The _tetraodon electricus_ (see Shaw
at A.D. 1791) is also destitute of spines on the skin, although all its
congeners have skins as bristly as those of a hedgehog.
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (Isidore), son of Etienne, was also a
distinguished naturalist. He became Assistant Professor of Zoölogy to
his father in 1829, likewise his assistant at the Faculté des Sciences
in 1837, and, when Etienne became blind, during the year 1841, he
succeeded to the Professorship of Zoölogy at the Museum of Natural
History. He is the author of “The Life, Works and Theories (_Vie,
Travaux et Doctrine_) of Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire,” Paris, 1847.
REFERENCES.--Gilbert’s _Annalen_, XIV. p. 397; _Bulletin Soc.
Phil._, No. 70; Geo. Wilson’s “Life of Cavendish,” London, 1851,
p. 469, alluding to the later experiments on electrical fishes
made by Faraday (1838), Dr. James Stark, of Edinburgh (1844),
Prof. Goodsir (1845), and Dr. C. Robin (1846). Consult also,
_Journal de Physique_, Vol. LVI. p. 242, and the complete list
of Geoffroy’s works in Callisen’s “Medicinisches-Schriftsteller
Lexicon”; “Memoir of M. Isidore G. Saint Hilaire,” by M. De
Quatrefages, in “Report of Smithsonian Institution” for 1872,
pp. 384–394; “Journal des Savants” for May-Aug., 1864; “Roy.
Soc. Cat. of Sc. Papers,” Vol. II. pp. 824–832; Vol. VI. p. 669;
Vol. VII. p. 757.
=A.D. 1803.=--Carpue (J. C. S.), English scientist, relates, in his
“Introduction to Electricity and Galvanism,” published in London, some
noteworthy experiments on the curative action of common electricity.
He repeated many of the investigations of Giovanni Aldini, and, in the
presence of Dr. Pearson and other medical gentlemen, experimented upon
the body of Michael Carney, immediately after his execution for murder.
Carpue’s main object was to ascertain whether galvanism, applied at
once to the nerves, could excite action in the internal parts, and
especially in the respiratory organs. He first made an opening into
the windpipe and, after introducing about three pints of oxygen into
the lungs, he applied conductors to the phrenic nerve as well as to
other parts of the body, the lungs being at the same time occasionally
inflated, but no action could be excited in the diaphragm. The
application of conductors to the inside of the nostrils and elsewhere,
however, excited very considerable contractions in the right auricle
more than three hours after death, the ventricles being, as in Aldini’s
experiments, perfectly motionless.
REFERENCES.--“Galvanic Experiments Made by Carpue on the Body of
Michael Carney,” etc., London, 1804 (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XVIII.
p. 90); the “Encyclopedia Metropolitana,” article “Galvanism,”
Vol. IV. pp. 105, 106, also the “Introduction,” etc., above
named for descriptions of Mr. Cuthbertson’s plate electrical
machine and of Mr. Read’s condenser.
=A.D. 1803.=--Hachette (Jean Nicholas Pierre), a protégé of Monge,
who became professor at the Paris Ecole Polytechnique, where he had
among his pupils Poisson, Arago and Fresnel, presents to the Institut
National the dry pile which was the result of the many experiments he
had carried on in conjunction with Charles Bernard Desormes, who was
then known as a prominent French scientist and manufacturer of chemical
products.
Their idea was to establish the development of electricity by
simple contact, and they sought to obtain a substance which would
satisfactorily replace the wet discs, and not be affected by the
metals, as had been all the liquids hitherto employed (H. Boissier,
“Mémoire,” etc., Paris, 1801). After numerous investigations they
adopted a compound consisting of common starch and either salts,
varnishes or gums, with which they made the necessary discs. These
discs were dried and placed alternately between the copper and zinc
couples, but were afterward found to be too easily affected by moisture
to prove very effective (D. Tommasi, “Traité des Piles Electriques,”
Paris, 1889, p. 529).
In the columns of the _Annales de Chimie_, named below, will be
found detailed the numerous experiments with the galvanic pile
carried on individually and collectively by Hachette, Desormes and
other scientists; those of Hachette and Thénard upon the ignition of
metallic wires claiming especial notice. Prof. John Farrar (“Elem.
of Elec. Magn.,” etc., Cambridge, 1826, p. 167) calls attention to
the latter and in the _Phil. Mag._ for 1821 will be found an account
of the researches of the above-named scientists made during the year
1805, to establish more properly the analogy between galvanism and
magnetism. Hachette and Desormes endeavoured to ascertain the direction
which would be taken by a voltaic pile, whose poles were not joined,
when freely suspended horizontally. Their pile, as Fahie gives it,
was composed of 1480 thin plates of copper tinned with zinc, of the
diameter of a five-franc piece, and was placed upon a boat floating
on the water of a large vat; but it assumed no determinate direction,
although a magnetized steel bar, of a weight nearly equal to that of
the pile, and likewise placed upon the boat, would turn, after some
oscillations, into the magnetic meridian.
REFERENCES.--_Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XXXVII. pp. 284–321;
XLIV. pp. 267–284; XLVII (Biot’s Observations), p. 13; XLIX.
pp. 45–54, and XLV for 1808. See also, the _Annales_ for 1834,
as well as Vol. XLII. p. 125, for experiments of MM. Desormes
and Clement on the fixed alkalies; _Journal de Physique_
of Sept. 1820, for the paper of Hachette and Ampère on the
electro-magnetic experiments of Oersted and Ampère; _Annales de
Chimie et de Physique_, Vol. II for May 1816, pp. 76–79, and V.
p. 191; _Phil Mag._, Vol. LVII. p. 43; L. W. Gilbert, _Annalen
der Physik_, Vols. IX. pp. 18–39; XVII. pp. 414–427; _Journal de
l’Ecole Polytechnique_, Vol. IV for 1802; XI. p. 284; Leithead,
“Electricity,” p. 252; _Bull. de la Soc. Philomathique_, No. 83;
P. Sue, aîné, “Hist. du Galv.,” Paris, An. X, 1802, Vol. II. pp.
160, 167, 188, 345 (Hachette et Thénard), and p. 371; Joseph
Izarn, “Manuel du Galvanisme,” An. XII, 1804, s. 4. p. 179;
Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp. 562, 985; Larousse, “Dict. Universel,”
Vol. VI. p. 576; “Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers,”
Vol. III. pp. 106–109.
=A.D. 1803.=--Biot (Jean Baptiste), who, in 1800, at the age of
twenty-six, was made Professor of Natural Philosophy at the “Collège
de France,” and afterward ranked among the first astronomers and
mathematicians, gives an account of his journey to Aigle, in the
Department of l’Orne, whither he was sent by the Government to examine
and report upon a very extraordinary shower of meteorites. The facts
obtained by him were communicated to the Institute on the 29th
Messidor, An. XI, and also appeared at the time in the Paris _Journal
des Débats_ (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XVI. p. 299).
On the 23rd of August of the year following (1804) Biot accompanied
Gay-Lussac in the latter’s first memorable balloon ascent. This
aeronautic voyage, sanctioned by the French Government mainly through
the efforts of Berthollet and Laplace, was the first of the kind
undertaken solely for a scientific object.
Besides numerous barometers and electrometers, Biot and Gay-Lussac
carried with them two compasses, a dipping needle and other
instruments. For the examination of the electricity of different
strata of the atmosphere, they had several metallic wires from 60 to
300 feet in length, also a small electrophorus feebly charged, while
for galvanic experiments they added some discs of copper and zinc,
together with a supply of frogs, insects and birds. An account of
the exceedingly important results obtained by those scientists at
different elevations, of which the highest reached exceeded four miles,
was read before the National Institute, Aug. 27, 1804. It was also
published in London during the latter year, and alluded to at p. 371,
Vol. XIX of the _Philosophical Magazine_. Mary Somerville remarks
(“Connection of the Physical Sciences,” 1846, p. 334) that according
to the observations of Biot and Gay-Lussac, the magnetic action is
not confined to the surface of the earth, but extends into space. The
moon has become highly magnetic by induction, in consequence of her
proximity to the earth, and because her greatest diameter always points
toward it. Her influence on terrestrial magnetism is now ascertained;
the magnetism of the hemisphere that is turned toward the earth
attracts the pole of our needles that is turned toward the south and
increases the magnetism of our hemisphere; and as the magnetic, like
the gravitating force, extends through space, the induction of the sun,
moon and planets must occasion perpetual variations in the intensity
of terrestrial magnetism, by the continual changes in their relative
positions.
In 1805 Biot published an investigation of the laws which should
govern the dip and intensity, in the hypothesis of a magnet situated
at the centre of the earth, having its poles infinitely close to each
other and directed to opposite points on the surface of the globe
and, as justly adds Major Edward Sabine (Report Seventh Meeting Brit.
Asso.), it is a well-known consequence of this hypothesis that the
lines of equal dip and equal intensity on the earth’s surface should
everywhere be parallel to each other. The phenomena of electricity
had been brought within the pale of mixed mathematics by C. A.
Coulomb (A.D. 1785), whose considerations mainly attached
to the distribution of electricity upon the surface of spheres, and
his investigations were at once diligently pursued by the French
scientists, Biot, Laplace and Poisson. Laplace, who undertook to
investigate the distribution of electricity upon the surface of
ellipsoids of revolution, showed that the thickness of the coating
of the fluid at the pole was to its thickness at the equator as the
equatorial is to the polar diameter, or, what is the same thing, that
the repulsive force of the fluid, or its tension at the pole, is to
that at the equator as the polar is to the equatorial axis. Biot
extended this investigation to all spheroids differing little from
a sphere, whatever may be the irregularity of their figure, and his
solution of the problem will be found in No. 51 of the _Bulletin des
Sciences_. He also determined, analytically, that the losses of
electricity form a geometrical progression when the two surfaces of a
jar or plate of coated glass are discharged by successive contacts, and
he found that the same law regulated the discharge when a series of
jars or plates are placed in communication with each other (Whewell,
“History of the Inductive Sciences,” Vol. II. pp. 208, 223; Noad’s
“Manual,” p. 15; Eighth “Britannica,” Vol. VIII. p. 531. For Biot’s
experiments, touching upon electrical attraction and demonstrating
practically the distribution of electricity upon the surface of a
conductor, see the last-named volume of the “Britannica,” pp. 552, 556,
and Noad, p. 56).
In conjunction with Frederick Cuvier, Mr. Biot investigated the
connection of chemical charge with the production of electricity. Like
Mr. W. H. Pepys, they examined the effect produced by the pile on
the atmosphere in which it is located. Mr. Pepys placed the pile in
an atmosphere of oxygen, and found that in the course of a night 200
cubic inches of the gas had been absorbed, but that in an atmosphere
of azote the pile ceased to act. Biot and Cuvier likewise observed the
quantity of oxygen absorbed, and inferred from their experiments that
“although, strictly speaking, the evolution of electricity in the pile
was produced by oxidation, the share which this had in producing the
effects of the instrument bore no comparison with that which was due
to the contact of the metals, the extremity of the series being in
communication with the ground.” Their investigation was attended by
the discovery that as long as any oxygen remained to be absorbed, the
chemical and physiological effects of the apparatus still continued,
but with decreasing intensity; so that if the conducting wires attached
to the two poles are made to return from under the receiver in tubes of
glass they may be used to decompose water and communicate shocks to the
organs. All these effects, however, cease when the surrounding oxygen
is exhausted (_Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XXXIX. p. 242; _Soc.
Philomathique_, An. IX. p. 40; Sue, “Histoire du Galv.,” Vol. II. p.
161).
In the second volume of Biot’s “Traité de Physique” will be found
recorded his many observations on the nature and origin of the electric
light, extracts from which are given by Sir David Brewster in the
electricity article of the “Britannica.” Biot remarks that the light
which is observed during an electric explosion was for a long time
considered by philosophers as a modification of the electric principle
itself, which they supposed to be the quality of becoming luminous
at a certain degree of accumulation (John Farrar, “Elem. of Elec.,
Mag. and El. Mag.,” 1826, p. 118). Brewster adds that this eminent
French writer, however, considered the opinion as erroneous, and he
has devoted a whole chapter to prove that electricity has the same
origin as the light disengaged from air by mechanical pressure, “and
that it is purely the effect of the compression produced on the air by
the explosion of electricity.” In order to establish this theory, Mr.
Biot has stated, on the authority of several experiments, “that the
intensity of electric light depends always on the ratio which exists
between the quantity of electricity transmitted and the resistance
of the medium”; and he has shown, by an experiment with Kinnersley’s
thermometer, “that at each spark the air of the cylinder, driven by
the repulsive force, presses on the surface of mercury, which rises
suddenly in the small tube, and falls back again immediately after the
explosion.” He adds:
“This indication proves the separation produced between the particles
of the mass of air where the electricity passes; and from what
we know of its extreme velocity it is certain that the particles
exposed immediately to its shock ought in the first moment to sustain
individually all the effect of the compression. They ought, then, from
this cause alone to disengage light, as when they are subjected to any
other mechanical pressure. Thus one part at least of the electric light
is necessarily due to this cause; and this being the case, there is no
experiment which can lead us to conjecture that it is not all due to
this cause.”
REFERENCES.--“Encycl. Brit.,” 1857, Vol. XIV. pp. 7, 63,
and _Journal de Physique_, Vol. LIX. p. 450. For Mr. Biot’s
observations on the magnetism of metals and minerals, and on
the distribution of magnetism in artificial magnets, as well
as for his improvement upon Coulomb’s method of constructing
the latter, see the last-named volume of the “Britannica,”
pp. 23, 26, 71, and Noad’s “Manual of Electricity,” London,
1859, pp. 528, 535, while, for Biot’s very ingenious theory
relative to the aurora, see Lardner and Walker’s “Manual of
Elec. Mag. and Meteor.,” London, 1844, Vol. II. p. 235, and
Noad, pp. 232, 233. The observations concerning the laws
regulating the intensity of electro-magnetic phenomena, made by
MM. Biot and Savary, are alluded to by Noad at pp. 644, 645,
in the “Encycl. Metropol.” (Elec. Magn.), Vol. IV. p. 427; and
Whewell’s “History of the Inductive Sciences,” 1859, Vol. II.
pp. 245–249; “Scientific papers of the Royal Society,” Vol.
I. pp. 374–386; Biot’s “Traité de Phys. Exp. et Math.,” Vol.
II. p. 457; _Journal de Physique_, Vol. LIX. pp. 315, 318;
Wilkinson’s “Elem. of Galv.,” Vol. II. pp. 38, 123, 154, 361,
Chap. XVI; Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” treating of Aerolites, of the
Zodiacal Light and of the figure of the earth; Noad, “Manual,”
p. 530; Eighth “Ency. Brit.,” Vol. VIII. p. 580; Sir H. Davy,
“Bakerian Lectures,” London, 1840, p. 3, alluding to Biot
and Thénard in No. 40 of the _Moniteur_ for 1806; “Encycl.
Metropol.,” Vol. IV. (Electro-Magn.), p. 7; Harris “Rudim.
Magn.,” Part III, London, 1852, pp. 116, 117; Gautherot at A.D.
1801; Figuier, “Exposition,” etc., Paris, 1857, Vol. iv. p. 429;
“Lib. of Useful Knowl.” (Electricity), p. 64 and (Magnetism),
p. 89; “Soc. Philomath.,” An. IX. p. 45; An. XI. pp. 120, 129;
Becquerel’s “Traité,” 1856, Vol. III. p. 11; _Phil. Mag._, Vols.
XVI. p. 224; XXI. p. 362; “Mém. de l’Institut” for 1802, Vol.
V; “Annales des Mines” for 1820, relative to the experiments
on electro-magnetism made by Oersted, Arago, Ampère and Biot;
_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXII. pp. 248, 249, for the magnetical
observations made by Biot and Arago; _Comptes Rendus_ for 1839,
I Sem., VIII, No. 7, p. 233, for the observations of Biot and
Becquerel on the nature of the radiation emanating from the
electric spark; “Chemical News,” London, 1868, Vol. XVI for
John Tyndall’s lecture on some experiments of Faraday, Biot
and Savary; “Atti dell’ Accad. dei Nuovi Lincei, Ann.,” XV.
Sess., IV. del 2 Marzo 1862, for the biography of J. B. Biot,
who died Feb. 2, 1862, within two months of the completion of
his eighty-eighth year. “Journal des Savants” for June and July
1820, April 1821, and for Feb.-Mar.-April 1846.
J. B. Biot’s son, Edward Constant Biot (1803–1850), is the author of
the extended catalogue of shooting stars and other meteors observed in
China during twenty-four centuries, which was presented to the French
Academy during 1841, and a supplement to which was published at Paris
in 1848 (_Acad. des Sciences_, _Savants Etrangers_, Tome X).
=A.D. 1803–1805.=--Acting upon the discovery of Gautherot, the
Bavarian philosopher Johann Wilhelm Ritter (1776–1810) is the first to
construct an electrical accumulator.
Ritter’s “ardency of research and originality of invention” had, as
far back as 1796, shown itself in the numerous very able scientific
papers relating to Electricity, Galvanism and Magnetism which he had
communicated mainly through L. W. Gilbert’s _Annalen der Physik_,
J. H. Voigt’s _Mag. für Naturkunde_ and A. F. Gehlen’s _Journal
für die Chemie_, all which obtained recognition in several foreign
publications. These papers secured for him membership in the Munich
Academy during the year 1805.
From Prof. H. W. Dove’s discourse before the Society for Scientific
Lectures, of Berlin, the following is extracted:
“As the (then considered) essential portions of a galvanic circuit
were two metals and a fluid, innumerable combinations were possible,
from which the most suitable had to be chosen. This gigantic task was
undertaken by Ritter, an inhabitant of a village near Leignitz, who
almost sacrificed his senses to the investigation. He discovered the
peculiar pile which bears his name, and opened that wonderful circle
of actions and reactions which, through the subsequent discoveries of
Oersted, Faraday, Seebeck and Peltier, drew with ever-tightening band
the isolated forces of nature into an organic whole. But he died early,
as Günther did before him, exhausted by restless labour, sorrow and
disordered living.”
Ritter’s _charging or secondary pile_ consists of but one metal,
the discs of which are separated by circular pieces of cloth, flannel
or cardboard, moistened in a liquid which cannot chemically affect the
metal. When the extremities are put in communication with the poles of
an ordinary voltaic pile it becomes electrified and can be substituted
for the latter; and it will retain the charge, so that for a time there
can be obtained from it sparks, shocks, as well as the decomposition of
water.
The writer of the article at p. 268 of the April 1802 _Monthly
Magazine_, making reference to _an artificial magnet_ discovered at
Vienna (Bakewell, “Elec. Science,” p. 40), no doubt alludes to the
above-named charging or secondary pile, in the construction of which
Ritter made many modifications. At first he arranged 32 copper and
card discs in three series, two of which series contained 16 copper
discs while the intermediate series consisted of 32 card discs. He
then placed them so that the discs alternated, employing but 31 discs
of copper, and he also used 64 as well as 128 copper discs alternating
with similar ones of cardboard. In each case he compared the chemical
action through the decomposition of water as well as the physiological
effect or shock and the physical property or electrical tension. The
results obtained are given in his many papers alluded to below.
Independently of the English scientists he discovered the property
possessed by the voltaic pile of decomposing water as well as saline
compounds, and of collecting oxygen and acids at the positive pole
while hydrogen and the bases collect at the negative pole. He conceived
that he had procured oxygen from water without hydrogen, by making
sulphuric acid the medium of the communication at the negative surface,
but, as Davy says, in this case sulphur is deposited, while the
oxygen from the acid and the hydrogen from the water are respectively
repelled, and the new combination produced.
A correspondent in Alex. Tilloch’s _Philosophical Magazine_ (Vol.
XXIII for 1805–1806, pp. 51–54--Extracts from a letter of M. Christ.
Bernoulli abridged from Van Mons’ _Journal_, Vol. VI) thus alludes
to some of Ritter’s experiments communicated in May 1805 to the Munich
Royal Society:
“I have seen him galvanize a louis d’or. He places it between two
pieces of pasteboard thoroughly wetted, and keeps it six or eight
minutes in the circuit of the pile. Thus it becomes charged, though
not immediately in contact with the conducting wires. If applied to
the recently bared crural nerves of a frog the usual contractions
ensue. I put a louis d’or thus galvanized into my pocket, and Ritter
told me, some minutes after, that I might discover it from the rest
by trying them in succession upon the frog. I made the trial, and
actually distinguished, among several others, one in which only the
exciting quality was evident. The charge is retained in proportion to
the time that the coin has been in the circuit of the pile. Thus, of
three different coins, which Ritter charged in my presence, none lost
its charge under five minutes. A metal thus retaining the galvanic
charge, though touched by the hand and other metals, shows that this
communication of galvanic virtue has more affinity with magnetism than
with electricity, and assigns to the galvanic fluid an intermediate
rank between the two. Ritter can, in the way I have just described,
charge at once any number of pieces. It is only necessary that the two
extreme pieces of the number communicate with the pile through the
intervention of wet pasteboards. It is with metallic discs charged
in this manner and placed upon one another, with pieces of wet
pasteboard alternately interposed, that he constructs his charging
pile, which ought, in remembrance of its inventor, to be called the
_Ritterian pile_. The construction of this pile shows that each
metal galvanized in this way acquires polarity, as the needle does when
touched with a magnet.”
The same correspondent alludes to experiments made with Ritter’s
battery of 100 pairs of metallic plates, the latter having their edges
turned up so as “to prevent the liquid pressed out from flowing away”
(_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIII. p. 51), but he says he was unable to
see either Ritter’s great battery of 2000 pieces, or the one of 50
pieces, each 36 inches square, the action of which is said to have
continued very perceptibly for a fortnight. He writes as follows:
“After showing me his experiments on the different contractibility of
various muscles (“Beiträge zur nähern Kenntniss,” etc., Jena, 1802,
B. II) Ritter made me observe that the piece of gold galvanized by
communication with the pile exerts at once the action of two metals, or
of one voltaic couple, and that the face which in the voltaic circuit
was next the negative pole became positive, and the face toward the
positive pole negative. Having discovered a way to galvanize metals,
as iron is rendered magnetic, and having found that the galvanized
metals always exhibit two poles as the magnetized needle does, Ritter
suspended a galvanized gold needle on a pivot, and perceived that it
had a certain dip and variation, or deflection, and that the angle of
deviation was always the same in all his experiments. It differed,
however, from that of the magnetic needle, and it was the positive pole
that always dipped.”
It can truly be said that the nearest approach to a solution of the
question as to the analogy between electric and magnetic forces, which
had remained unsettled since the time of Van Swinden (see A.D. 1784),
was given by Ritter, who announced “that a needle composed of silver
and zinc arranged itself in the magnetic meridian and was slightly
attracted and repelled by the poles of a magnet; that by placing a gold
coin in the voltaic circuit, he had succeeded in giving to it positive
and negative electric poles; that the polarity so communicated was
retained by the gold after it had been in contact with other metals,
and appeared therefore to partake of the nature of magnetism; that a
gold needle under similar circumstances acquired still more decided
magnetic properties; that a metallic wire, after being exposed to
the voltaic current, took a direction N.E. and S.W.” Dr. Roget gives
these same extracts in his article on “Electro-Magnetism,” and justly
remarks that Ritter’s speculations were of too crude a nature to
throw any distinct light on the true connection between magnetism and
electricity, nor was much notice taken of Ritter’s announcements, owing
to the vague manner in which they were made. No satisfactory results
were in fact obtained until Oersted (at A.D. 1820) made his famous
discovery which forms the basis of the science of electro-magnetism.
REFERENCES.--The “Encyclopædia Britannica” article relating to
the influence of magnetism on chemical action, for an account
of Ritter’s other experiments; also Faraday’s “Experimental
Researches,” No. 1033; Ritter’s “Physisch. Chem. Abhand.,”
etc., 3 vols., Leipzig, 1806; Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 652;
Tyndall’s notes on Electric Polarization; Donovan’s “Essay on
the Origin, Progress and Present State of Galvanism,” Dublin,
1816; “Société Philomathique,” An. IV. p. 181; An. IX. p. 39;
An. XI. pp. 128, 197; An. XII. p. 145; _Bull. Soc. Phil._, Nos.
53, 76, 79; _Nuova Scelta d’Opus._, Vol. I. pp. 201, 334; _Bibl.
Brit._, XXXI; “Reichsanzeiger,” 1802, Bd. I, No. 66, and Bd.
II, No. 194; also F. L. Augustin’s “Versuch einer geschichte
...” 1803, p. 75; Gilbert’s _Annalen_, II, VI, VII, VIII, IX,
XIII, XV, XVI; Voigt’s _Magazin_, Vol. II. p. 356; Gehlen’s
_Journal_, Vol. III for 1804, and Vol. VI for 1806; “Denkschr.
d. Münch.,” 1808 and 1814; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIII. chap.
ix. pp. 54, 55 (for experiments from Van Mons’ _Journal_, No.
17), Vols. XXIV. p. 186; XXV. p. 368; LVIII. p. 43; L. F. F.
Crell, “Chemische Annalen” for 1801; _Nicholson’s Journal_,
Vols. IV. p. 511; VI. p. 223; VII. p. 288, VIII. pp. 176, 184;
“Gottling’s Almanach” for 1801; Leithead, “Electricity,” p.
255; “Encycl. Metropolitana,” article “Galvanism,” Vol. IV. p.
206; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. XLII. p. 322; Larousse, “Dict.
Universel,” Vol. XIII. p. 1234; Pierre Sue, aîné, “Histoire du
Galvanisme,” Paris, An. X, 1802, Vol. I. pp. 226, 266; Vol. II.
pp. 112–119, 156; Joseph Izarn, “Manuel du Galvanisme,” Paris,
An. XII, 1804, pp. 84–87, 249, 255–261; Brugnatelli, “Notizie
... nell’ anno 1804,” Pavia, 1805, p. 16, also his _Annali di
chimica_, Vol. XXII. p. 1; _Journal de Physique_, Vol. LVII.
pp. 345, 406; _Annales de Chimie_, Vols. XLI. p. 208; LXIV.
pp. 64–80; _Jour. de Chim. de Van Mons_, No. 14, p. 212, for
the experiments of Van Marum and Oersted, made with Ritter’s
apparatus; Sturgeon’s “Scientific Researches,” Bury, 1850, pp.
7, 8, and Prof. Millin’s “Magazin Encyclopédique”; “Allgemeine
Deutsche Biographie,” Leipzig, 1875, Vol. XXVIII. pp. 675–678;
“Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XXXI. 1806, p. 97, Vol. XXV. 1807, pp.
364–386 (Lettre de M. le Dr. Thouvenel).
=A.D. 1803.=--Basse (Frédéric Henri), of Hamel, makes one of the
earliest trials of the transmission of galvanism through water and
soil, the results of which appear in his work, “Galvanische Versuche,”
etc., published at Leipzig the year following.
Along the frozen water of the ditch or moat surrounding the town of
Hamel he suspended, on fir posts, 500 feet of wire, at a height of six
feet above the surface of the ice, then making two holes in the ice and
dipping into them the ends of the wire, in the circuit of which were
included a galvanic battery and a suitable electroscope, he found the
current circulating freely. Similar experiments were made in the Weser;
afterwards, with two wells, 21 feet deep and 200 feet apart; and,
lastly, across a meadow 3000 to 4000 feet wide. Whenever the ground
was dry it was only necessary to wet it in order to feel a shock sent
through an insulated wire from the distant battery. Erman, of Berlin,
in 1803, and Sömmering, of Munich, in 1811, performed like experiments,
the one in the water of the Havel, near Potsdam, and the other along
the river Isar.
Fahie, from whom we take the above, alludes to Gilbert’s _Annalen der
Physik_, Vol. XIV. pp. 26 and 385, as well as to Hamel’s “Historical
Account,” p. 17, of Cooke’s reprint, and adds that Fechner, of Leipzig,
after referring to Basse’s and Erman’s experiments in his “Lehrbuch
des Galvanismus,” p. 268, goes on to explain the conductibility of the
earth in accordance with Ohm’s law. As he immediately after alludes to
the proposals for electric telegraphs, he has sometimes been credited
with the knowledge of the fact that the earth could be used to complete
the circuit in such cases. This, however, is not so, as we learn from
a letter which Fechner addressed to Prof. Zetzsche, on the 19th of
February 1872.
REFERENCES.--Zetzsche’s “Geschichte der Elektrischen
Telegraphie,” p. 19. See Dr. Turnbull’s Lectures in the _Journal
of the Franklin Institute_, Vol. XXI. pp. 273–274; “Scientific
Papers of the Royal Society,” Vol. I. p. 203.
=A.D. 1803.=--Thillaye-Platel (Antoine), French savant, who was
afterward appointed pharmacist in the Paris _Hôtel-Dieu_, gives
out as the result of numerous investigations a great many useful
precepts on the medical application of electricity and galvanism, which
will be found in his thesis presented to the Paris Ecole de Médecine on
the 15th Floréal, An. XI. These precepts, De la Rive says (“Treatise
on Elect.,” translated by C. V. Walker, London, 1858, Vol. III. pp.
587, 588), are followed to this day and are extremely simple, requiring
only the use of metallic brushes held by an insulated handle and put
into communication with the conductor of the machine; and directing
the application of electricity in its mildest form as well as its
gradual increase to as much as the invalid is able to support, besides
allowing of the concurrent employment of other means acting in the same
direction, such as frictions, blisters, etc.
Antoine Thillaye-Platel’s uncle, Jean Baptiste Jacques Thillaye
(1752–1822), French physician and Professor of Anatomy at Rouen and in
Paris, published “Eléments de l’Elect. et du Galv.,” Paris, 1816–1817,
ten years after the death of his nephew (Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 1094;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XV. p. 131).
De la Rive alludes to cures effected by several specialists and
particularly to Father R. B. Fabre-Palaprat’s translation made in 1828
of La Beaume’s English work on the medical efficacy of electricity and
galvanism, originally published in 1820–1826. The latter, he says,
is preceded by a preface wherein the translator rivals the author on
the wonderful effects of the electric fluid as a sovereign remedy for
nearly all maladies.
REFERENCES.--For M. Thillaye’s experiments with M. Butet on
galvanic electricity, made at the Paris École de Médecine,
see the _Bulletin des Sciences de la Soc. Philom._, No. 43,
Vendémiaire An. IX, also Vol. IX. p. 231, of the “Recueil
Périodique de la Soc. Libre de Médecine du Louvre.” Consult
likewise, Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 1094; “Royal Society
Catalogue of Scientific Papers,” Vol. V. p. 954; De la Rive’s
“Treatise,” Vol. III. pp. 587, 588; P. Sue, aîné, “Histoire du
Galvanisme,” Vol. III. p. 14. Some of the other authors who have
treated of the same subject are: F. Zwinger, 1697–1707; W. B.
Nebel, 1719; Oppermanno, 1746; E. Sguario, 1746; G. C. Pivati,
1747–1750; G. Veratti, 1748–1750; O. de Villeneuve, 1748; L.
Jallabert, 1748–1750; G. F. Bianchini, 1749; Mellarde, of Turin,
1749; Palma, 1749; F. Sauvages de la Croix, 1749–1760; J. B.
Bohadsch, 1751; O. M. Pagani, 1751; S. T. Quellmaz, 1753; A. von
Haller, 1753–1757; Linné (Linnæus), 1754; P. Paulsohn, 1754; E.
F. Runeberg, 1757; P. Brydone, 1757; Lower, 1760; De Lassone,
1763; Wm. Watson, 1763; G. F. Hjotberg, 1765; J. G. Teske,
1765; P. A. Marrherr, 1766; Gardane, 1768–1778; J. G. Krunitz,
1769; R. Symes, 1771; Sigaud de la Fond, 1771; C. A. Gerhard,
1772; Abbé Sans, 1772–1778; J. Janin de Combe Blanche, 1773;
J. B. Becket, 1773; Marrigues à Montfort L’Amaury, 1773; G. F.
Gardini, 1774; J. G. Schaffer, 1776; Mauduyt, 1776–1786; De
Thouri, 1777; A. A. Senft, 1778; Masars de Cazéles, 1780–1788;
P. F. Nicolas, 1782; Bonnefoy, 1782; Niccolas, 1783; K. G. Kuhn,
1783, 1797; C. W. Hufeland, 1783; Cosnier, Maloet, Darcet, etc.,
1783; J. P. Marat, 1784; G. Vivenzio, 1784; Carmoy, 1784–1785;
G. Piccinelli, 1785; L. E. de Tressan, “Essai ...” 1786, p.
233, etc.; Krunitz-Kirtz, 1787; Porna and Arnaud, 1787; F.
Lowndes, 1787–1791; J. H. D. Petetin, 1787, 1808; G. Pickel,
1788; Van Troostwijk and Krayenhoff, 1788; R. W. D. Thorp,
1790; G. Wilkinson, 1792; C. H. Pfaff, 1793; G. Klein, 1794;
M. Imhof, 1796; C. H. Wilkinson, 1799; C. A. Struve, 1802;
Maurice, 1810; J. Morgan, 1815; Le Blanc, 1819; P. A. Pascalis,
1819; J. Price, 1821; K. Sundelin, 1822; Girardin, 1823;
Ch. Bew, 1824; Sarlandière, 1825; S. G. Marianini, 1833; F.
Puccinotti, 1834; François Magendie, 1836, 1837; Gourdon, 1838;
C. Matteucci, Piria, etc., 1838, 1858; Breton Frères, 1844;
B. Mojon, Jr., 1845; J. E. Riadore, 1845; A. Restelli, 1846;
Budge, 1846; F. Hollick, 1847; R. Froriep, 1850; C. V. Rauch,
1851; H. Valerius, 1852; Burci, 1852; Marie-Davy, 1852–1853;
W. Gull, 1852; C. Beckensteiner, 1852–1870; F. Channing, 1852;
F. F. Videt, 1853; R. M. Lawrance, 1853–1858; G. M. Cavalleri,
1854, 1857; Briand, 1854; M. Kierski, 1854; P. Zetzell, 1856;
Ad. Becquerel, 1856–1860; E. Pfluger, 1856, 1858; Pulvermacher,
1856; P. C. Pinson, 1857; H. Ziemssen, 1857–1866; Philipeaux,
1857; J. Dropsy, 1857; M. Meyer, 1857–1869; Nivelet, 1860–1863;
A. Tripier, 1861; J. Rosenthal, 1862; Desparquets, 1862; M. P.
Poggioli (Mémoire lu à l’Institut, Oct. 31, 1853; “Annual of
Scientific Disc.,” 1865, p. 327); G. Niamias, “Della elettr.
... medicina,” 1851 (“An. of Sci. Disc.,” 1865, p. 327); A. C.
Garrat, 1866; H. Lobb, 1867; Aug. Beer, 1868; H. M. Collis (“An.
of Sci. Dis.,” 1869, p. 175); Toutain, 1870; J. R. Reynolds,
1872; Onimus and Legros, 1872; as well as Jobert de Lamballe,
Richter and Erdmon, T. Guitard, J. J. Hemmer, H. van Holsbeek,
T. Percival, J. D. Reuss and Mr. Ware (in Kuhn, Hist. II. p.
183).
=A.D. 1803.=--Berthollet (Claude Louis de), very eminent French
scientist, who was the first of the leading chemists to openly endorse
the antiphlogistic doctrine propounded by Lavoisier (A.D. 1781), and
who with Laplace founded the well-known scientific Société d’Arcueil,
admits in his “Essai de Statique Chimique” the analogy existing between
caloric and the electric fluid. He believes that the latter during
the oxidation of metals does not give out much heat, but causes only
a dilatation of bodies which separates their molecules, and he also
believes that electricity aids metallic oxidation by lessening cohesion
(Delaunay, “Manuel de l’Electricité,” p. 16).
When Berthollet and Charles passed heavy electrical charges through
platinum wire, they observed that the latter acquired a temperature
about equal to that of boiling water, and therefore not sufficient to
fuse the wire. If the metal is one easily oxidized, the separation of
the molecules causes them to unite with the oxygen of the air, and it
is therefore the oxidation itself which produces the consequent high
degree of heat.
REFERENCES.--“Essai de Statique,” Vol. I. pp. 209 and 263.
See also “Biographie Générale,” Vol. V. p. 716; Young’s
“Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. II. p. 423, and _Nicholson’s
Journal_, Vol. VIII. p. 80; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II.
p. 617; “Sci. Papers of Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. pp. 321–323; Sir H.
Davy, “Bakerian Lectures,” London 1840, pp. 41, 94, regarding
more particularly Berthollet’s elaborate experiments on the
decomposition of ammonia by electricity alluded to in _Mém. de
l’Acad._, 1782, p. 324, also Delaunay, “Manuel,” pp. 17, 150.
=A.D. 1804.=--Jacotot (Pierre), Professor of Astronomy at the Lyceum
of Dijon, states, at p. 223, Vol. I of his “Eléments de Physique
Expérimentale,” that Wlik, teacher of natural philosophy at Stockholm,
invented the electrophorus during the year 1762. Jacotot, of course,
refers to Johannes Carolus Wilcke (see A.D. 1757) who, during the
month of August 1762, constructed a resinous apparatus to which he
gave the name of _perpetual_ electrophorus (Scripta Academiæ Suec.,
1762). Books V, VI and VII of the same volume treat respectively of
Electricity, Galvanism and Magnetism.
REFERENCES.--With regard to the _perpetual_ electrophorus,
see L. S. Jacquet de Malzet “Lettre d’un Abbé de Vienne ...”
Vienna, 1775, translated into German by “A. H.” (A. Hildebrand),
Wien, 1776; also C. Cuyper’s “Exposé d’une méthode ...” La
Haye, 1778; and, for other improvements, Marsiglio Landriani,
_Scelta d’Opuscoli_, 12mo, XIX. p. 73; J. F. Klinkosch, _Mém.
de l’Acad. de Prague_, III. p. 218. Consult J. C. Poggendorff,
“Biog.-Litter. Hand. ...” Vol. I. pp. 1, 182, and Larousse,
“Dictionnaire Universel,” Vol. IX. p. 868.
=A.D. 1804.=--Hatchett (Charles), F.R.S. and foreign member of
the Paris Academy, communicates through a paper entitled “An Analysis
of the Magnetical Pyrites ...” his conclusions that iron must be
combined with a large portion of either carbon, phosphorus or sulphur
in order to acquire the property of receiving permanent magnetic
virtue, there being, however, a limit beyond which an excess of either
of the above-named substances renders the compound wholly incapable of
exhibiting the magnetic energy. In this connection, the interesting
observations of Messrs. Seebeck, Chenevix and Dr. Matt. Young on
anti-magnetic bodies, in Vol. XIV. p. 27, of the eighth “Encyclopædia
Britannica,” will repay perusal.
Three years before, on the 26th of November 1801, Mr. Hatchett
had communicated to the Royal Society an interesting paper on
_columbium_, a new metallic substance found in an ore from the
State of Massachusetts.
REFERENCES.--“Abstracts of the papers ... of the _Phil.
Trans._,” Vol. I. p. 155; also the _Phil. Trans._ for 1804, p.
315; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXI. pp. 133 and 213; Poggendorff, Vol.
I. p. 1031; “Cat. Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 155.
=A.D. 1804.=--M. Dyckhoff publishes in _Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. VII.
pp. 303 and 305, “Experiments on the activity of a galvanic pile in
which thin strata of air are substituted instead of the wet bodies.”
His description of what has by many been called the first practical dry
pile is as follows:
“I constructed a pile with discs of copper and zinc, and little bits of
thin green glass about the size of a lentil, three of which I placed
triangularly in the intervals that separated the metallic plates. Thus
between each pair of metals I had a thin stratum of air instead of a
wet substance. A pile of ten pairs tried by the condenser affected the
electrometer as powerfully as a common (voltaic) pile of five pairs.”
It was in the year following, 1805, that Wilhelm Behrends, of
Frankfort, constructed his dry pile consisting of eighty pairs of discs
of copper, zinc and gilt paper (De la Rive, “Treatise on Electricity,”
Vol. II. p. 852).
The investigations of Maréchaux, De Luc, Zamboni and others in the same
line will appear in due course.
REFERENCES.--Young’s “Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. II. p. 430,
and _Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. VII. pp. 303 and 305, Becquerel,
Paris, 1851, p. 34; Sturgeon’s “Lectures on Galvanism,” p.
73; Sturgeon’s _Annals of Electricity_, Vol. VIII. pp. 378,
etc.; _Journal de Chimie de Van Mons_, No. 11, p. 190, and
also No. 12, p. 300, for Bouvier de Jodoigne’s experiments;
“Catalogue Scientific Papers of the Royal Society,” Vol. II. p.
432; Gilbert, XIX. pp. 355–360, and Wilkinson’s denial of the
effectiveness of Dyckhoff’s pile, in _Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol.
VIII. p. 1.
=A.D. 1804.=--Gay-Lussac (Joseph Louis), one of the most prominent
of modern scientists, who was for a time assistant to Berthollet,
makes, in Paris, two ascents in a balloon, at heights varying between
12,000 and 23,623 feet, for the purpose of carrying out extensive
observations upon terrestrial magnetism. The latter are recorded at
length in the _Journal de Physique_, Vol. LIX, and are alluded to
in the articles “Aeronautics” and “Meteorology” of the “Encycl. Brit.,”
likewise at Biot, A.D. 1803, and in paragraphs 2961 and 2962
of Faraday’s “Experimental Researches in Electricity,” while at p. 193,
Vol. XXI of the _Phil. Mag._ will be found the account of a very
interesting aerial voyage made during January of the same year (1804)
by M. Sacharof, of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
In conjunction with Louis Jacques Thénard (alluded to at Fourcroy, A.D.
1801), Gay-Lussac communicates to the _Annales de Chimie_ for 1810
(Vol. LXXIII. p. 197, etc.), a paper relative to their “preparation of
an ammoniacal amalgam through the agency of the voltaic pile” which
had been read at the “Institut National” during the month of September
1809, and which is also alluded to at pp. 250, etc., of the _Annales
de Chimie_, Vol. LXXVIII for 1811. Their united “physico-chemical
researches on the voltaic pile ...” are reviewed at pp. 243, etc., of
the last-named volume and are likewise alluded to at p. 36 of Vol.
LXXIX for the same year. The largest of the many piles they employed in
their several experiments consisted of 600 pairs with a square surface
of 1800 feet (Figuier, “Exposition et Histoire ...” 1857, Vol. IV. pp.
387 and 433; _Journal des Mines_, Vol. XXX. pp. 5–56; Schweigger’s
_Journal_, Vol. II. pp. 409–423).
At pp. 76, etc., of the second volume of the _Annales de Chimie et de
Physique_ for the month of May 1816, are to be found the observations
of Gay-Lussac on dry voltaic piles, especially upon those of Desormes
et Hachette, De Luc and Zamboni. He remarks that the last named
does not appear to have so constructed his pile as to enable the
oscillations of the needle to indicate an exact measure of time
(Schweigger’s _Journal für Chemie_, Vol. XV. pp. 113, 130–132), but
that the so-called electric clocks of M. Ramis, of Munich, and of M.
Streizig, of Verona, readily pointed the hours, minutes and seconds
(Schweigger’s _Journal_, Vol. XIII. p. 379; Ronalds’ “Catalogue” for
notices of his own as well as of the clocks of Ramis and of Streizig).
The investigations of Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, relative to the
magnetic intensity and dip or inclination, throughout France, Germany,
Switzerland and Italy, will be found recorded in the first volume of
_Mém. d’Arcueil_, 1807, while at p. 284, Vol. X, and at pp. 305–309 of
the _Annales de Chimie_ are observations of Gay-Lussac and Arago, and
at p. 509 of the fourth volume of Figuier’s “Exposition et Histoire,”
etc., Paris, 1857, appears an extended account of the special report
upon lightning rods, which Gay-Lussac was authorized by the Natural
Philosophy Division of the French Academy of Sciences to prepare during
the year 1823, and the outcome of which appears in the _Comptes Rendus
des Séances_ ... Vol. XXXIX. p. 1142.
REFERENCES.--Faraday’s “Experimental Researches,” 1839, Vol.
I. p. 217, note, as well as paragraph No. 741 “Recherches
Physicochimiques,” p. 12, and J. Farrar’s “Elem. of Elec. Mag.,”
1826, pp. 150–152; while for Gay-Lussac and Thénard’s repetition
of Sir Humphry Davy’s experiments on the decomposition of the
alkalies, see _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXXII. p. 88; “Instruction sur
les parat ...” for Gay-Lussac, Fresnel, Lefevre, Gineau and
others, Paris, 1824, and for Gay-Lussac and Pouillet, Paris,
1855. Other reports on lightning rods not hitherto specially
mentioned are: J. Langenbucher, 1783; Beyer, 1806–1809; P.
Beltrami, 1823; Bourges, at Bordeaux, 1837; Boudin, 1855, and
J. Bushee, Amer. Assoc., 1868. The observations of Thénard
and Dulong are recorded at paragraphs 609, 612, 636, 637 of
Faraday’s “Experimental Researches,” as well as at Vols. XXIII.
p. 440; XXIV. pp. 380, 383 and 386 of the _Annales de Chimie_,
and those of Thénard, Fourcroy, and Vauquelin will be found in
the _Mém. des Soc. Sav. et Lit._, Vol. I. p. 204. See “Royal
Society Catalogue of Sc. Papers,” Vol. II. pp. 800–807; Vol.
V. pp. 944–948; Vol. VI. p. 666; Vol. VII. p. 748; Vol. VIII.
p. 1072; “Discours de M. Becquerel ...” _Inst. Nat. Acad. des
Sciences_; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XX. p. 83; XXI. p. 220; _Sci. Am.
Supp._, p. 11794; _Edin. Magazine_, Vol. V. p. 471; _Annales
de Chimie et Physique_ for 1818, Vol. VIII. pp. 68, 161, 163;
the eighth “Britannica,” Vol. VIII. pp. 532, 539, 573 for
Gay-Lussac’s additional experiments; the ninth “Britannica,”
Vol. X. pp. 122, etc.; also _Report Brit. Asso._, London,
1838, pp. 7–8, for the magnetic observations of Gay-Lussac and
Humboldt on the European Continent, likewise Sir Humphry Davy
“Bakerian Lectures,” London, 1840, pp. 134–137; Humboldt, at
A.D. 1799, and Cruikshanks, at A.D. 1800. For a description of
the Volta eudiometer invented by Gay-Lussac, see _Ann. de Ch. et
Phys._, Vol. IV. p. 188, also Dr. Hare in _Silliman’s Journal_,
Vol. II. p. 312, and for the “Memoir of Louis Jacques Thénard,”
by M. Flourens, see the “Report of the Smithsonian Institution”
for 1862, pp. 372–383; “Journal des Savants” for Dec. 1850;
Meyer’s “Konversations-Lexikon” Leipzig und Wien, 1894, Vol.
VII. pp. 140–141; “Dict. Général de Biog. et d’Histoire,” Paris,
2nd ed., pp. 1218–1219.
=A.D. 1805.=--Mr. Joseph Davis submits to the London Society of Arts
an improvement upon the telegraph of Lord George Murray (A.D. 1795),
consisting of the addition of a seventh shutter, which, instead of
being poised on a horizontal axis, is made to slide up and down in
grooves in the centre of the framework; so that it may either range
with the six shutters or, if not required at all, may descend into a
space provided for it in the roof of the Observatory. By this simple
device the power of the apparatus is quadrupled, it being made capable
of indicating in all 252 changes.
The night signals are given by a coloured lamp mounted in the centre of
the seventh or sliding shutter and by six white lights fastened to the
outside of the frame, to produce, through their display or concealment
by slides, the same signals as, under ordinary circumstances, are given
by the opening and closing of the shutters.
=A.D. 1805.=--Grotthus--Grothuss--(Theodor--more properly Christian
Johann Dietrich, Baron von) makes known his theory of electro-chemical
decompositions, through the “Mémoire,” etc., published in 12mo at Rome,
and of which an English translation appeared in London during 1806.
As Lardner and Fahie have it, Grotthus’ theory was the most plausible
of the many proposed at this early period of experimental inquiry
to explain chemical decomposition by the voltaic apparatus. The
above-named “Mémoire ...” which appeared in the _Phil. Mag._ for 1806,
Vol. XXV. pp. 330–334, is analyzed by both of these writers (Lardner,
“Electricity, Mag. and Meteor.,” Vol. I. pp. 135–137, or “Popular
Lectures,” 1851, Vol. I. pp. 348, 349; Fahie, “Hist. of Elec. Teleg.,”
pp. 210, 211), but it may be briefly stated in the words of Sir David
Brewster as follows:
“Grotthus (_Annales de Chimie_ for 1806, Vol. LVIII. p. 61) regards the
pile as an electric magnet with _attracting_ and _repelling_ poles, the
one attracting hydrogen and repelling oxygen, and the other attracting
oxygen and repelling hydrogen. The force exerted upon each molecule of
the body is supposed to be inversely as its distance from the poles,
and a succession of decompositions and recompositions is supposed to
exist among the intervening molecules.”
In this connection it will be well to add here, by way of contrast,
and again according to Sir David Brewster, the views held by other
experimentalists of the same period. Sir Humphry Davy adopts the idea
of attractions at the poles, diminishing to the middle or neutral
points, and he thinks a succession of decompositions and recompositions
probable. Messrs. Riffault and Chompré regard the negative current as
collecting and carrying the acids on to the positive pole, and the
positive current as doing the same, with the bases toward the negative
pole. Biot attributes the effects to the opposite electrical states of
the decomposing substances in the vicinity of the two poles. M. De la
Rive considers the portions decomposed to be those contiguous to both
poles, the current from the positive pole combining with the hydrogen
or the bases which are there present, and leaving the oxygen or acids
at liberty, but carrying the substances in union with it across to the
negative pole, where it is separated from them, entering the conducting
metal, and leaving on its surface the hydrogen or its bases. Faraday
regards the poles as exercising no specific action, but merely as
surfaces or doors by which the electricity enters into or passes out of
the substance undergoing decomposition. He supposes that “the effects
are due to a modification of the electric current and the chemical
affinity of the particles through or by which that current is passing,
giving them the power of acting more forcibly in one direction than in
another, and consequently making them travel by a series of successive
decompositions and recompositions in opposite directions, and finally
causing their repulsion or exclusion at the boundaries of the body
under decomposition in the direction of the current, and that, in
larger or smaller quantities, according as the current is more or less
powerful.”
In 1810 Grotthus published his “Uber d. elektricität ... wassers
entwickelt,” one of his curious observations being the fact that when
water is rapidly frozen in a Leyden jar, the outside coating, not being
insulated, receives a weak electrical discharge, the inside being
positive and the outside negative, and when the ice is rapidly thawed,
the inside is negative and the outside positive.
REFERENCES.--Faraday’s “Experimental Researches,” articles 481,
485, 489, 492, 507, etc.; also _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XXIV. p. 183,
and XXVIII. pp. 35 and 59; Joseph Izarn, “Manuel du Galvanisme,”
pp. 280–284 for M. Riffault and N. M. Chompré; Whewell, “History
of the Inductive Sciences,” Vol. II. p. 304; Noad, “Manual,” pp.
364, 365; William R. Grove, “On Grotthus’ Theory ...” London,
1845; J. S. C. Schweigger’s _Journal_, Vols. III, IV, IX, XXVIII
and XXXI; A. F. Gehlen’s _Journal_ for 1808; L. W. Gilbert’s
_Annalen der Physik_, Vol. LXVII; Ostwald, “Elektrochemie,”
1896, pp. 309–316; A. N. Scherer’s _Allgem. nördliche Annal. d.
Chemie_, Vol. IV; _Annales de Chimie_, Vol. LXIII; _Phil. Mag._,
Vol. LIX. p. 67; J. C. Poggendorff, “Biog. Literarisches,” etc.,
Vol. I. pp. 959, 960; “Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific
Papers,” Vol. III. pp. 29–31.
Grotthus’ theory was extended by Rudolf Clausius, and the latter’s
theory in turn gave way to that of Svante Arrhénius. Clausius
maintained that the exchanges were going on continuously, although no
current was flowing; while the assumption of Arrhénius was that in
every electrolyte, a certain number of molecules break up into ions and
that all electrolytes contain some of these free ions. This is the much
controverted dissociation theory (Dr. Henry S. Carhart’s Presidential
Address).
The “Encycl. Amer.,” New York, 1903, Vol. II says that the
establishment of the theory of electrolytic dissociation, which is due
to the noted Swedish chemist, Svante Arrhénius, supplies a reasonable
explanation of many chemical phenomena otherwise insoluble, and
correlates various facts between which no connection was previously
discovered. Two important publications by Arrhénius are “Sur la
conductibilité galvanique des electrolytes” (1884), and a treatise in
German on electro-chemistry (1902). (See “Le Moniteur Scientifique,”
Avril 1904, pp. 241–243.)
Rudolf Clausius, German scientist (1822–1888), “one of the most
celebrated mathematical physicists of the nineteenth century,”
communicated in 1850 to the Berlin Academy of Sciences the paper
wherein he announced the second law of thermo-dynamics, that “heat
cannot of itself pass from a colder to a hotter body.” The honour of
establishing the science of thermo-dynamics upon a scientific basis
he thus shares with Rankine and Thomson (“Encycl. Amer.,” Vol. V.
n. p.; “New Inter. Encycl.,” New York, 1902, Vol. IV. p. 711. For
biography, consult Riecke, “Rudolf Clausius,” Göttingen, 1889; “Meyer’s
Konversations-Lexikon,” Leipzig, 1894, Vol. IV. p. 213).
=A.D. 1805.=--Alexander Tilloch’s _Philosophical Magazine_, Vol. XXI.
p. 279, has a letter addressed by W. Peel to the editor, under date
Cambridge, April 23, 1805, relative to the “Production of Muriate of
Soda by the Galvanic Decomposition of Water.” This is followed by a
communication dated Pisa, May 9, 1805, from Dr. Francis G. Pacchiani,
Professor of Philosophy at the Pisa University (Rees’ Encyclopedia,
“Galvanism,” p. 15), to Lawrence Pignotti, Historiographer to the King,
entitled “Formation of Muriatic Acid by Galvanism,” as well as by two
letters, one from W. Peel, dated Cambridge, June 4, 1805, on “The
Production of Muriates by the Galvanic Decomposition of Water,” and the
other from Dr. Wm. Henry, dated Manchester, July 23, 1805, relative to
the above-named processes and to the latter’s own experiments in the
same direction.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXII. pp. 153, 179, 188; XXIII.
p. 257; XXIV. p. 183; XXVII. p. 82; XXVIII. p. 306; Sir Humphry
Davy’s allusion to above, as well as his earlier experiments
communicated to Dr. Beddoes, Sir James Hall, Mr. Clayfield
and others, in “Bakerian Lectures,” London, 1840, pp. 2, 3;
Sylvester, at A.D. 1806, and Donovan, at A.D. 1812; Lardner’s
“Lectures on Science and Art,” Vol. I. p. 350; Faraday’s
“Experimental Researches,” No. 314; J. F. Macaire, _Ann. Ch.
et Phys._, XVII. 1821; Marni “Sulla formazione ...”; G. B.
Polcastro, “Giorn. Ital. Letter del Dal Rio,” X. p. 182, 1805;
Cioni and Petrini, _Phil. Mag._, XXIV. 167, 1806; The Paris
Galvani Society, _Phil. Mag._, XXIV. p. 172, and _Ann. de Ch._,
Vol. LVI, 1806; A. B. Hortentz, _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIV. p.
91, 1806; Leop. de Buch, _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIV. p. 244, 1806;
Veau Delaunay, _Phil. Mag._, XXVII. p. 260, 1807; G. Innocenti,
_Nuova Scelta d’ Opuscoli_, II. p. 96, 1807; P. Alemanni, _Phil.
Mag._, Vol. XXVII. p. 339, 1807; C. H. Pfaff, _Phil. Mag._,
XXVII. p. 338, and XXIX. p. 19; _Ann. de Chim._, Vols. LX. p.
314; LXII. p. 23, 1807–8; Wm. Henry, _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XXII.
p. 183; XL. p. 337, 1805–1812; F. G. Pacchiani, in _Nuova Scelta
d’ Opuscoli_, I. p. 277; Brugnatelli, _An. di Chimica_, Vol.
XXII. pp. 125, 134 and 144; _Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal_, of
July 1, 1805; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIV. p. 176, for his letter to
Fabbroni. For Dr. Wm. Henry, consult “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XV,
An. VIII. pp. 35, 293; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. VII for 1830, p. 228;
XXII. p. 183; XXXII. p. 277, and XL. p. 337; _Phil. Trans._,
Part II for 1808.
=A.D. 1806.=--On Oct. 16, Mr. Wm. Skrimshire, Jr., addresses from
Wisbech a letter to Mr. Cuthbertson on the absorption of electric light
by different bodies.
In this letter, which is given in full at pp. 281–283 of the fifteenth
volume of _Nicholson’s Journal_, he says he was led to his
experiments by the well-known fact that when the electric current is
passed through a lump of sugar it makes the latter appear luminous.
He tried many calcareous species, chalk, Kelton stone, the phosphate,
nitrate, sulphates of lime, etc. etc., and he details some of the
results obtained, the most interesting being that given by the
sulphuret of lime, commonly called Canton’s phosphorus, which, he says,
is, by the electric explosion, rendered the most luminous of all the
substances tried.
=A.D. 1806.=--Heidmann (J. A.), physician at Vienna, publishes his
“Theorie der Galvanischen Electricität ...” or “Theory of Galvanic
Electricity deduced from Actual Experimentation” (London, 1807). This
had been preceded by other important electrical reviews at Vienna
during the years 1799, 1803 and 1804.
As stated by Guyton de Morveau, Heidmann has given us in the above the
complete history of galvanic electricity--including the experiments
and observations of Aldini, Arnim, Biot, Boeckman, Carminati, Cavallo,
Creve, Davy, Fontana, Fowler, Gilbert, Haldane, Hallé, Helebrandt,
Humboldt, Nicholson, Pepys, Pfaff, Reil, Reinhold, Ritter, Valli,
Vassalli-Eandi, etc. etc.--together with the description of the
construction and the relation of all parts of the galvanic pile, which
is called by him a galvanic battery. Heidmann also gives an account of
his many interesting experiments with frogs placed in different liquids
as well as with the galvanic chain, and he reviews all the known
phenomena presented by the voltaic pile.
REFERENCES.--“Annales de Chimie,” Vol. LXI. p. 70; _Phil. Mag._,
Vol. XXVIII. p. 97.
=A.D. 1806.=--Dr. Joseph Baronio of Milan constructs a galvanic pile
composed exclusively of vegetable substances. He makes his discs, two
inches in diameter, of beet roots (_bietola rossa_) and of walnut
wood (_legno di noce_), the latter having been freed from all of its
resinous substance by treatment in a solution of vinegar and cream
of tartar. Through this pile, he produced convulsions in a frog by
excitation with a leaf of _cochlearia_ (spoon wort or scurvy-grass).
REFERENCES.--“Annales de Chimie,” Vol. LVII. pp. 64–67; Vol.
LXII. p. 212; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIII. p. 283; “Nota di
Brugnatelli sopra una pila di sostanze vegetabili,” Pavia, 1805
(“Am. di Chim. di Brugnatelli,” Vol. XXII. p. 301); Volta, in
_Giorn. Fis. Med._, Vol. II. p. 122.
=A.D. 1806.=--Sylvester (Charles), the author of the articles
on “Galvanism and Voltaism” in Rees’ “Encyclopædia,” announces that
he obtains muriatic acid from pure water by passing through it the
galvanic current. Mr. Wollaston, however, asserts this cannot be
done unless the current traverses some vegetable or animal substance
containing that acid.
His first paper on the subject appeared in _Nicholson’s Journal_, 1806,
Vol. XIV. pp. 94–98; in Gehlen’s _Journ. der Chemie_, Vol. II for
1806, pp. 152–153, and in Gilbert’s _Annalen der Physik_, Vol. XXV.
pp. 107–112, 454–457. The paper following is entitled “Repetition of
the Experiment in which Acids and Alkalies are Produced in Pure Water
by Galvanism (no animal or vegetable matter, nor oxidable metal being
present).”
REFERENCES.--_Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. XV. pp. 50–52; Vol.
XXIII. pp. 258–260; Gehlen’s _Journal_, Vol. II, 1806, pp.
155–158. For his other papers, consult _Nicholson’s Journal_,
Vol. IX. p. 179; Vol. X. pp. 166–167; Vol. XIX. pp. 156–157;
Vol. XXVI. pp. 72–75; Gilbert’s _Annalen_, Vol. XXIII. pp.
441–447; “Roy. Soc. Catal. of Sc. Papers,” Vol. V. pp.
900–901; Sturgeon’s _Scientific Researches_, Bury, 1850, p.
153; Sir Humphry Davy’s lecture “On some chemical agencies of
electricity,” read Nov. 20, 1806; _Annales de Chimie_, Vol. LX.
p. 314; Vol. LXI. pp. 330–331; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XXXIII,
1806, p. 324.
=A.D. 1806.=--Maréchaux (Peter Ludwig), correspondent of the French
Galvani Society at Wesel, is the first to construct an effective
dry pile containing paper discs. He makes known through M. Riffault
(_Annales de Chimie_, Vol. LVII for January 1806, p. 61), that water
is not essential to the production of galvanic effects, and his
experiments are repeated for the Chemical Society by M. Veau Delaunay,
as shown in _Journal de Physique_, Messidor, An. XIV.
This “Maréchausian Pile,” or _colonne pendule_, as it was originally
denominated, consists of pairs of oven-dried cardboard, pasteboard,
or blotting-paper, and of copper discs all pierced in such manner
as to be suspended by three silken cords which hold them fast in
position. Sturgeon remarks (“Researches,” pp. 199 and 239) that in this
dry column the electric pulsations are, in consequence of the very
great number of interrupting papers, less frequent than in either the
processes of Volta or in that of Seebeck, notwithstanding which the
instrument produces slow pulsatory currents.
REFERENCES.--W. Sturgeon’s “Annals of Electricity,” Vol. I. p.
256, note; Vol. VIII. pp. 379, 484; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIV.
p. 183; Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 46; “Roy. Soc. Cat. of Sci.
Papers,” Vol. IV. p. 236; Gilbert’s _Annalen der Physik_, Vols.
X.-XXVII _passim_, also Vol. XV. p. 98 and Vol. XVI. p. 115
giving a description of the Maréchaux electro-micrometer (screw
and silver leaf), likewise Vol. XXII, containing an account of
the observations made by M. Paul Erman.
=A.D. 1807.=--Young (Thomas), M.D., a very celebrated English
scientist, “eminent alike in almost every department of human
learning,” who was the associate of Davy at the Royal Institution, and
who became the successor of Volta as Foreign Associate of the French
Academy of Sciences, publishes his very elaborate “Course of Lectures
on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts,” upon which he was
assiduously engaged for five years, and a new edition of which was
issued (with additional references and notes) by the Rev. P. Kelland,
M.A., F.R.S., during the year 1845.
The above-named work comprises the sixty lectures which Dr. Young
delivered during his connection with the Royal Institution and includes
also his optical and other memoirs, as well as a very extended
classified catalogue of publications in every leading department of
science. His biographer in the “English Encyclopædia” remarks that
Young’s lectures embody a complete system of natural and mechanical
philosophy, drawn from original sources, and are distinguished
not only by extent of learning and accuracy of statement, but by
the beauty and originality of the theoretical principles. One of
these is the principle of interferences in the undulatory theory of
light. “This discovery alone,” says Sir John Herschel, “would have
sufficed to have placed its author in the highest rank of scientific
immortality, were even his other almost innumerable claims to such a
distinction disregarded.” The first reception, however, of Dr. Young’s
investigations of light was very unfavourable. The novel theory of
undulation especially was attacked in the _Edinburgh Review_, and
Dr. Young wrote a pamphlet in reply, of which it is said but one copy
was sold, but it is now generally received in place of the molecular or
emanatory theory.
His review and treatment of the field of electrical and magnetic
phenomena, as may be imagined from the foregoing, is very extensive,
and as no justice could be done it by making therefrom such extracts as
would suitably come within the scope of the present “Bibliographical
History,” only an extract from the lecture treating of “Aqueous and
Igneous Meteors” will here be given.
Speaking of the aurora borealis, he says “that it is doubtful if its
light may not be of an electrical nature. The phenomenon is certainly
connected with the general cause of magnetism. The primitive beams of
light are supposed to be at an elevation of at least 50 or 100 miles
above the earth, and everywhere in a direction parallel to that of the
dipping needle; but perhaps, although the substance is magnetical, the
illumination, which renders it visible, may still be derived from the
passage of electricity, at too great a distance to be discovered by any
other test.... It is certainly in some measure a magnetical phenomenon;
and if iron were the only substance capable of exhibiting magnetic
effects, it would follow that some ferruginous particles must exist in
the upper regions of the atmosphere. The light usually attending this
magnetical meteor may possibly be derived from electricity, which may
be the immediate cause of a change in the distribution of the magnetic
fluid contained in the ferruginous vapours that are imagined to float
in the air.”
The assumption of ferruginous particles or vapours, remarks Prof.
Robert Jameson, of the Edinburgh University, seems, however, purely
gratuitous and imaginary; and as iron is not the only substance or
matter capable of exhibiting magnetic effects, light itself being
susceptible of polarization, the above hypothesis is, therefore,
untenable even on the ground upon which it has been rested by its
author. But it is, nevertheless, certain that the cause of this
luminous meteor is intimately connected with magnetism and electricity;
or, rather, as the magnetic is variously modified and effected by the
electric power, with the phenomena of electro-magnetism.
REFERENCES.--Young’s Catalogue for “Aurora Borealis” and
“Terrestrial Magnetism” (“Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. II. pp.
440–443, 488–490), “Journal Roy. Inst.,” Vol. I; Dr. George
Peacock’s “Life of Thomas Young”; also “Miscellaneous Works of
T. Young,” London, 1855; “Memoirs of the Life of Thos. Young,”
London, 1831; also Vol. XIII of John Leitch’s “Hieroglyphical
Essays and Correspondence,” all of which contain every
contribution made by the scientist to the _Phil. Trans._, as
well as many other important articles communicated by him to
other scientific publications of his time; “Eloge Historique
de Dr. Thomas Young,” par M. Arago, in _Mém. de l’Acad. Roy.
des Sc._, etc., Tome XIII. p. 57; _Quarterly Review_ for April
1814; Tyndall, “Heat as a Mode of Motion,” 1873, pp. 267,
268; _Annales de Chimie_, Feb. 1815; Whewell, “History of the
Inductive Sciences,” 1859, Vol. II. pp. 92, 96, 106, 111–118.
=A.D. 1808.=--Pasley (Charles William), F.R.S., D.C.L., K.C.B., who
was at the time aide-de-camp to Sir John Moore, became Major-General
in 1841 and Lieutenant-General in 1851, gives at pp. 205, 292, Vol.
XXIX, and at p. 339, Vol. XXXV of Tilloch’s _Philosophical Magazine_,
a description of the original and improved methods of constructing his
“polygrammatic telegraph.”
The apparatus, as first devised by him between the years 1804 and
1807, consists of four posts, each bearing a pair of pivoted arms,
which latter can be placed at different angles to indicate all desired
numerals and letters. After he had seen the French semaphore during
1809 he improved his telegraph, employing but one post, upon which were
three pairs of pivoted arms representing hundreds, tens and units.
In 1823 Pasley (then a Lieutenant-Colonel, Royal Engineers) issued
a pamphlet entitled “Description of the Universal Telegraph for Day
and Night Signals,” wherein he announces the abandonment of the
polygrammatic principle. For day service he employs an upright post
with two movable arms attached to the top on a pivot. Each arm is
capable of assuming seven different positions, besides the quiescent
position called the _stop_, in which the arms are turned down and
concealed by the post. To prevent signals being seen in reverse,
another arm, called an _indicator_, is added to one side of the post.
For night signals he places a central lamp at the top of the post, as
well as a lamp at the end of each arm, and suspends a fourth lamp, as
an indicator, upon a light crane projecting horizontally beyond the
range of both movable arms. Motion to the arms was communicated by
means of an endless chain passing over two pulleys. Up to this time
the semaphores employed by the Admiralty had been constructed without
provision being made for the display of night signals.
Pasley was the first to apply the heating power of the galvanic battery
to a useful practical purpose. While engaged on the River Thames he was
written to by Mr. Palmer (Alfred Smee, “Electro-Metallurgy,” p. 297),
who advised him to employ the galvanic battery instead of the long fuse
then in common use, and as soon as he was made acquainted with the
method of operating he at once adopted it and applied it effectively,
during the year 1839, to the removal of the sunken hull of the “Royal
George,” at Spithead.
REFERENCES.--Sturgeon’s “Scientific Researches,” Bury, 1850, p.
174; Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,” Vol. I. p. 784; also “Documents
relatifs à l’emploi de l’Electricité,” etc., Paris, 1841, taken
from the _United Service Journal_ and the “Militaire Spectateur
Hollandais.” Consult likewise, “Trans. of the Society ... Arts,”
Vol. XXXIX, London, 1821, for Peter Barlow, XL. pp. 76–100,
and for Lieut. Nicolas Harris Nicolas, XL. p. 104; also Vol.
XLII, London, 1824, for Mr. A. Westcott, pp. 165–166. A patented
telegraph by James Boaz is alluded to in Vol. XII. pp. 84–87 of
the _Phil. Magazine_.
Following close upon Pasley’s original telegraphic contrivance were
several other methods of conveying intelligence at a distance,
introduced at this period, worthy of mention here.
The Chevalier A. N. Edelcrantz, Swedish savant, sent to the London
Society of Arts a model of his apparatus, which is to be found minutely
described in Vol. XXVI. pp. 20, 184–189, of the _Transactions_ of
that institution. A description of his earlier contrivances for the
same purpose had already been published at Stockholm in the year
1796, and after being translated into French had been noticed in
William Nicholson’s _Journal of Natural Philosophy_ for 1803. The
one he finally adopted in 1808 consisted of ten boards placed in
three vertical ranks, the central one having four boards and the side
ranks three boards each. By this arrangement 1024 signals could be
clearly shown, and it was possible, by observing the _order_ in which
the boards were exhibited, to make as many as 4,037,912 changes. He
subsequently advised attaching lamps to the boards for night service.
His system of working the boards, though very complicated, could be
controlled by only one person, while the English method required
several men to hold the shutters during heavy weather. As it was, his
method is said to have been in constant use for fully twelve years
prior to 1808 on both sides of the Baltic, and to have likewise served
to transmit signals between Sweden and England.
Mr. Henry Ward, who had observed the difficulty with which the
telegraph was worked at Blandford, in Dorsetshire, contrived the
apparatus described in Vol. XXVI. pp. 20, 207–209 of the London
_Journal of the Society of Arts_. The grooved wheels which are
fixed upon the axis of the shutters to receive the ropes by which they
are turned have the grooved portion of the rim formed in two segments,
which are so attached to the periphery of the wheels by steel springs
that they fly off and remain a little distance off when there is
no strain upon the ropes, although so soon as a rope is pulled its
pressure forces the segments into close contact with the solid rim of
the wheel. In the segments are two notches, which, when the shutters
are in either of their required positions, engage with a fixed catch
so soon as the strain on the ropes is relaxed, and thus hold the
shutters steady without any aid from the attendant. The pulling of a
rope by drawing the segments close to the wheel releases the catch,
and consequently enables the attendant to return any shutter to its
original position.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald, F.R.S., who was already favourably
known by two Reports on the Diurnal Variation of the Magnetic
Needle observed at Fort Marlborough, Sumatra, and at St. Helena
(_Philosophical Transactions_ for 1796, p. 340, and for 1798, p. 397,
also “Eighth Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. XIV. p. 54), publishes (1808–1817)
two treatises upon his “Terrestrial Telegraph,” accompanied by an
extensive “Telegraphic Dictionary.” His contrivance consists of
thirteen boards or shutters arranged, like those of Edelcrantz, into
three vertical ranks representing hundreds, tens and units. Twelve of
the boards are capable of producing 4095 distinct combinations, and
the thirteenth or auxiliary board, which is mounted over the centre
of the apparatus, doubles that number. A flag or vane is added to the
hundred side to distinguish it in whatever direction it may be viewed,
and a ball sliding upon the staff which supports it affords the means
of again doubling the number, so that, on the whole, 16,380 distinct
signals can be obtained. He subsequently adopted a modification of the
contrivance introduced by Pasley in 1809, and also described a sort
of a “Symbolic Telegraph,” in which symbols like those of Dr. Hooke,
but representing numerals instead of alphabetical characters, were
dropped into open spaces denoting hundreds, tens and units. He further
suggested a useful flag telegraph for the navy and devised several
schemes for night telegraphs both for land and sea, one of which latter
consists of three sets of four lights each, with an additional or
_director_ light to each set, affording the same extensive powers as
his large board or shutter telegraph (_Phil. Mag._, Vols. LVII. pp.
88–93, and LVIII. pp. 99–103).
Major Charles Le Hardy communicates in 1808 to the London Society of
Arts, Vol. XXVI. pp. 20, 180–183, a novel contrivance consisting of a
large framework with nine radiating bars, representing the numerals
from 1 to 9, and four sets of other bars intersecting them so as to
form four concentric polygons, which latter express units, tens,
hundreds and thousands; thousands being shown by the innermost polygon.
Attached to the centre of the apparatus are four slender arms, carrying
four square boards, the lengths of these arms being such that the board
of one may, during the revolution of the arm, traverse the polygon
which represents thousands, that of another the polygon representing
hundreds, etc. By the addition of two other boards at the upper
corners, one of which denotes 10,000 and the other 20,000, or, when
displayed together, 30,000, the total range of the telegraph is from 1
to 39,999 (_Philosophical Magazine_, Vol. XXXIII. p. 343).
In the twenty-seventh volume of the _Transactions_ of the London
Society of Arts will be found the telegraphic devices of Knight
Spencer and of Lieutenant James Spratt (pp. 20, 163–169), while the
thirty-third volume contains (at pp. 23, 118–121) a description of
the contrivance of Alexander Law, intended for service on both sea
and land. These, it may be said, are the only additional telegraphic
methods worthy of note introduced up to the time when the English
Admiralty adopted the system proposed by Sir Home Popham in 1816. The
“anthropo-telegraph” of Knight Spencer, though laid before the Society
of Arts in 1808, had been used as early as 1805. It consisted merely of
two circular discs of wicker work, painted white with a black circle
in the centre, to be held in different positions with respect to each
other. The device of Lieutenant Spratt was more simple still, for it
consisted only in holding a kerchief in various positions; yet, simple
as it was, it served as a means of communication between vessels before
the battle of Trafalgar, and it was also successfully used to converse
between Spithead and the ramparts at Portsmouth, etc.
REFERENCES.--For Mr. Knight Spencer’s other papers, see the
_Philosophical Magazine_, Vols. XXXVI. p. 321, and XL. p. 206,
and, for different methods of telegraphing, see Mr. Macdonald’s
“Treatise,” published in 1817, as well as, more particularly,
Vols. XXVI, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVI of the _Transactions of the
Society of Arts_; likewise Rohde’s “Système complet de Signaux
...” published 1835.
=A.D. 1808.=--Callender--Calendar (Elisha), of Boston, Mass.,
obtains, on Oct. 3, 1808, for his lightning rod, an American patent,
which latter is the first one in the line of electricity issued by the
United States.
REFERENCES.--H. L. Ellsworth’s “Digest of Patents,” Washington,
1840, p. 234; Edmund Burke, “A List of Patents,” Washington,
1847, p. 185; “List of United States Patents,” Washington, 1872,
p. 67.
=A.D. 1808.=--Bucholz (Christoph--Christian--Friedrich), distinguished
German chemist, receives his diploma as a physician at Rinteln, prior
to graduating at the Erfurt University, and publishes “Ueber die
Chimischen ... metallen,” giving a description of the chain bearing his
name. The latter was the result of experiments made by him to prove
that the electricity in the pile results from the oxidation of one of
the metals and also to establish a comparison between the quantity of
electricity obtained and the amount of oxygen absorbed by the one metal.
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Universelle,” Bruxelles, 1843–1847,
Vol. III. p. 227; A. F. Gehlen, _Jour. für Chem. und Phys._,
Vol. V; L. Figuier, “Exp. et Hist.,” Paris, 1857, Vol. IV. p.
426; “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. VIII. p. 315, and also the
letter of J. B. Van Mons to Bucholz, Brussels, 1810.
=A.D. 1808.=--Amoretti (Carlo), Italian naturalist, who was allowed
(1772) to withdraw from the order of St. Augustine that he might
devote himself exclusively to scientific researches, gives, in his
“Della rabdomanzia ossia elettrometria,” a complete history of the
divining rod, and treats also therein of animal magnetism, etc. His
investigations of the electric polarity of precious stones show, among
other results, that the diamond, the garnet and the amethyst are - E,
while the sapphire is + E.
REFERENCES.--For a further account of the _Virgula Divina_, or
divining rod (_baguette divinatoire_), see the “Gentleman’s
Magazine” for 1751, Vol. XXI; also the notes at foot of pp.
91–106 of Baron Karl Von Reichenbach’s “Physico-Physiologicæ
Researches,” translated by Dr. John Ashburner, London, 1851.
In the latter, reference is made to Pierre Le Lorrain de
Vallemont’s “La Physique Occulte,” etc. (1693), to a work
written by Count J. de Tristan, to the “Mémoire,” etc., of
Tardy de Montravel (1781) and to Pierre Thouvenel’s “Mémoires,”
etc., the last named bearing the Paris-London imprint of
1781–1784, and attempting to show relations existing between
the rod and electricity and magnetism. Allusion is likewise
made in the afore-named work to the translation by Dr. Hutton
(1803) of Jean Etienne Montucla’s (1778) improvement of Jacques
Ozanam’s “Récréations Mathématiques et Physiques,” originally
built upon Leurechon’s “Récréations Mathématiques,” and first
published in Paris during the year 1724. For Reichenbach, see
“Le Cosmos,” Nos. 703–705 for July 16, 23 and 30, 1898; “Cat.
Sc. Pap. Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. pp. 139–140; Vol. VIII. pp. 720,
721. Besides the above, reference should be had to the lecture
of Prof. Rossiter W. Raymond before the Philadelphia Electrical
Exhibition of 1884, and to the article in Paris _Cosmos_ of Jan.
3, 1891, which alludes to the works of P. Lebrun (1702), Albert
Fortis (1802), Dr. Charpignon (1848), Abbé Chevalier (1853),
and M. E. Chevreul “De la baguette ...” (1854). Consult also,
Eusebe Salverte, “The Philosophy of Magic.,” Vol. II. chap. xi.
speaking of Pryce’s “Mineralogia Cornubiensis” (1778); Theod.
Kirchmaier, “De Virgula divinatrice,” 1678; F. Soave, (_Opus.
Scelti_, III. p. 253), 1780; F. M. Stella (_Opus. Scelti_, XIII.
p. 427), 1790; G. B. San Martino (_Opus. Scelti_, XVII. p. 243),
1794; L. Sementini, “Pensieri e Sperimenti ...” 1811; A. M.
Vassalli-Eandi (_Opus. Scelti_, XIX. pp. 215, etc.); Kiesser,
_Archiv._, Vol. IV. p. 62; at Vol. I. p. 265, of Blavatsky’s
“Isis Unveiled”; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. II. pp. 290, 291;
“Roy. Soc. Catal. of Sc. Papers,” Vol. I. p. 58.
=A.D. 1808.=--Lebouvier-Desmortiers (Urbain René Thomas), French
writer, who had called attention to the danger attending the bodily
application of the galvanic fluid, through the _Journal de Physique_ of
1801 (p. 467), transmits another Mémoire to the same publication upon
an improved electrical (_briquet_) tinder box.
The cylinder, which had previously been made of copper, he constructed
of glass as illustrated by Delaunay at Plate IX. fig. 105, of his
“Manuel,” etc., Paris, 1809. With the new contrivance he was enabled
to exert considerable force upon the piston, and it was generally
necessary to push the latter suddenly in order to so compress the air
as to light the (_amadou_) spunk attached to the lower portion of
the cylinder.
REFERENCES.--See his “Examen des principaux systèmes ...”
Paris, 1813; J. C. Poggendorff, _Biogr. Liter. Hand._ ...
Vol. I. p. 1399; Larousse, _Dict. Univ._, Vol. X. p. 290;
_Journal de Médecine_, Vol. XXVI. pp. 298–303; _Catal. Sc. Pap.
Roy. Soc._, Vol. III. p. 910; C. H. Wilkinson, “Elements of
Galvanism,” London, 1804, Vol. I. p. 461; V. Delaunay, “Manuel
de l’Electricité,” Paris, 1809, pp. 151–153; Detienne, “De
l’électricité de pression” (_Journal de Physique_, 1777, Vol.
IX).
=A.D. 1809.=--Krafft (Wolfgang Ludwig), Professor of Experimental
Philosophy in the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg is the
author of “Uber ein hypothet ...” wherein is given the result of his
investigations of the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism.
Comparing Biot’s examination of the dip observations previously made
by Humboldt, Krafft simplified the former’s conclusions, showing that
if we measure the latitude from the magnetic equator, the tangent of
the dip is double the tangent of such latitude, or, as he expresses it:
“If we suppose a circle circumscribed about the earth, having the two
extremities of the magnetic axis for its poles, and if we consider this
circle as a magnetic equator, the tangent of the dip of the needle,
in any magnetic latitude, will be equal to double the tangent of this
latitude.”
Krafft gave a complete theory of the _electrophorus_ in the first
part of the 1778 “Acta Acad. Petrop.,” which latter also contains
his experiments with Canton’s phosphorus and his observations on the
aurora of February 6–17 of the same year. The results of many of his
other investigations are to be found in Part XI of the work mentioned
as well as in Vols. XV, XVII and XIX of the “Novi Commentarii Academiæ
Petropolitanæ.”
=A.D. 1809.=--Pinkerton (John), gives in his “Voyages and Travels,”
published at London (Vol. IV. pp. 1–76) a reprint of the rare volume
entitled “Account of Paris at the close of the Seventeenth Century,”
by Martin Lister, M.D., wherein are detailed several surprisingly
interesting experiments made by Mr. Butterfield with his wonderful
collection of loadstones. It is therein stated that one of these
loadstones, when unshod, weighed less than a dram and would suspend a
dram and a half, but when shod would attract 144 drams of iron, whilst
another of the loadstones, weighing 65 grains, attracted 14 ounces, or
140 times its own weight; another would work through a wall eighteen
inches in thickness, etc. etc.
=A.D. 1809.=--Children (John George), an English scientist to whom
reference has already been made, more particularly under Cruikshanks,
A.D. 1800, communicates to the _Philosophical Transactions_, “An
account of some experiments performed with a view to ascertain the
most advantageous method of constructing a voltaic apparatus for the
purposes of chemical research.” This paper appears also in Vol. XXXIV
of the _Philosophical Magazine_.
Four years later (1813) he publishes a description of his magnificent
galvanic battery, the largest ever constructed on the plan suggested
by Dr. Wollaston. This consisted of twenty pairs of copper and zinc
plates, each six feet long and two feet eight inches wide, the
united capacities of the cells being 945 gallons. With this battery
he confirmed Davy’s observation that “intensity increases with the
number (of plates) and the quantity of the electricity with the extent
of surface.” It is reported that, when in full action, the battery
rendered a platinum wire five feet six inches long and ¹¹⁄₁₀₀ of
an inch in diameter red-hot throughout so as to be visible in full
daylight; that eight feet six inches of platinum wire ⁴⁴⁄₁₀₀ of an inch
in diameter were easily heated red; that a bar of platinum one-sixth of
an inch square and two and a quarter inches long was heated red-hot and
fused at the end; and that a round bar of the same metal, ²⁷⁶⁄₁₀₀₀ of
an inch in diameter and two and a half inches long, was heated bright
red throughout.
The result of many other investigations which he also made in 1813 and
during 1815 showed that metallic wires (eight inches long and ¹⁄₃₀ of
an inch diameter) became red-hot in the following order: platinum,
iron, copper, gold, zinc, silver; and he deduced that their conducting
power was in the inverse order, silver conducting best and platinum
least. Tin and lead fused immediately at the point of contact, and the
oxides of tungsten, uranium, cerium, titanium, iridium and molybdenum
were also fused. An opening made with a saw across an iron wire having
been filled with diamond powder, the diamond was liquefied and the
contiguous iron became steel. (See the Pepys entry at A.D.
1802.)
REFERENCES.--For Children’s other experiments, consult “_Phil.
Mag._,” Vol. XLII. p. 144; Vol. XLVI. pp. 409–415; _Phil.
Trans._ for 1815, pp. 368–370, also Dr. Wm. Henry’s “Elem. of
Exper. Chem.,” London, 1823, Vol. I. pp. 168–174; Dr. Thomas
Thomson, “Outline of the Sciences,” London, 1830, pp. 524–526;
Louis Figuier, “Expos. et Hist. ...” Paris, 1857, Vol. IV. pp.
389–390; Becquerel, Vol. I. p. 52; “Encycl. Metrop.,” Vol.
IV. pp. 179, 222; Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. p. 424; “Cat.
Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 317; Vol. II. p. 26; “Bibl.
Britan.,” Vol. XLIII, 1810, p. 67 and Vol. I of the N.S. for
1816, p. 109.
=A.D. 1809–1810.=--Oken (Lorenz)--originally Lorenz
Ockenfuss--celebrated German naturalist, while occupying the post
of Extraordinary Professor of Medicine at the University of Jena,
publishes the great work “Lehrbuch der Naturphilosophie,” which was
translated into English by Dr. A. Tulk and published in London,
during 1847, by the Royal Society, under the title of “Elements of
Physico-Philosophy.”
This work, says his biographer in the “English Cyclopædia” (Vol. IV.
p. 557), takes the widest possible view of natural science: it is
interesting as a document in the history of a great mental movement and
contains the germs of those principles which are now regarded as the
secure generalization of well-observed facts.
From the epitome of the work given in the “Encyclopædia Britannica,”
the following is extracted: “Polarity is the first force which appears
in the world.... Galvanism is the principle of life ... the vital force
... the galvanic process is one with the vital process.... There is no
other vital force than the galvanic polarity.”
According to Dr. Richard Owen, Lorenz Oken contends that organism
is galvanism residing in a thoroughly homogeneous mass. A galvanic
pile, pounded into atoms, must become alive. In this manner, nature
brings forth organic bodies. The basis of electricity is the air; of
magnetism, metal; of chemism (the name he gives to the influence that
produces chemical combination), salts. The basis of galvanism, in
like manner, is the organic mass. Accordingly, whatever is organic is
galvanic; whatever is alive is galvanic. Life, organism, galvanism,
are one. Life is the vital process; the vital process is an organic
or galvanic process. Galvanism is the basis of all the processes of
the organic world.... God did not make man out of nothing, but took
an elemental body then existing, an earth-clod or carbon, moulded it
into form, thus making use of water, and breathed into it life, viz.
air, whereby galvanism or the vital process arose.... Organization
is produced by the co-operating process of light and heat. The ether
imparts the substance, the heat the form, the light the life....
The life of an inorganic body is a threefold action of the three
terrestrial elements, in which three processes galvanism consists. The
nutrient process is magnetic, present and entire in every part of the
body, and wheresoever it is withdrawn there is death.... These three
processes constitute the galvanic process. Thus the galvanic circle
is complete, and motion is the manipulation of galvanism. The process
of motion is synonymous with the galvanic process--this is the vital
process.
REFERENCES.--The extended biography of Lorenz Oken, embracing
a list of his chief works and original essays at pp. 498–503,
Vol. XVI of the Eighth “Encycl. Britan.”; Dr. William Whewell’s
“History of the Inductive Sciences,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 477;
“Hist. des Sciences,” par F. L. M. Maupied, Paris, 1847, Vol.
II. pp. 466–514.
=A.D. 1809.=--Luc (Jean André de), celebrated natural philosopher
of Swiss extraction (though from 1773 until his death in 1817, a
resident of England, where he became reader to Queen Charlotte, the
consort of George III), transmits to the Royal Society a long paper
treating of the separation of the chemical from the electrical effects
of the pile, with a description of the electric column and aerial
electroscope.
In this communication, says Dr. Young, he advanced opinions so little
in unison with the latest discoveries of the day, especially with
those of the President of the Royal Society, that the Council probably
thought it would be either encouraging error or leading to controversy
to admit them into the _Philosophical Transactions_. He had,
indeed, on other occasions shown somewhat too much scepticism in the
rejection of new facts; and he had never been convinced even of Mr.
Cavendish’s all-important discovery of the composition of water.
The paper was afterwards published in _Nicholson’s Journal_ (Vol.
XXVI), and the dry column described in it was constructed by various
experimental philosophers. It exhibited a continual vibrating motion,
made sensible by the sound of a little bell, which was struck by the
pendulum at each alternation; and during many months the vibration was
more or less rapid, according to circumstances affecting the column.
This dry column consists of discs of Dutch gilt paper, alternated
with similar discs of laminated zinc, so arranged that the order of
succession will be maintained throughout. When sufficiently dry these
are piled upon each other, the gilt side of the paper being in contact
with the zinc, and all are pressed together in a glass tube by a brass
cap and screw connected at each end with a metallic wire. The column
presented by De Luc to the Royal Society consisted of 300 discs of zinc
and of 300 discs of gilt paper. It is said that, with a larger column,
the vibration of a brass ball suspended between two bells was so
continued as to maintain a perpetual ringing for over two years; that
with an apparatus comprising 20,000 groups of silver, zinc and double
discs of writing paper, sparks have been obtained, while a Leyden jar
was charged in ten minutes with sufficient electricity to produce
shocks and to fuse an inch of platinum wire of an inch in diameter; and
that a similar pile, in the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford, rang ten
small bells continuously for over forty years.
In Vols. XXXV, XXXVI and XXXVII of the “Phil. Mag.,” and in Vols.
XXVII and XXVIII of “Nicholson’s Journal,” André de Luc shows how the
dry column can be used for determining the insulating qualities and
conducting power of bodies, it having been also employed as are aerial
electroscopes to indicate the electrical changes taking place in the
atmosphere. The other volumes of the same publications named below
contain additional papers upon electricity, galvanism, etc., while at
p. 392, Vol. L of the _Phil. Mag._ will be found an account of De
Luc’s life and principal works, the latter being likewise mentioned in
Vol. XXV of the “Biographie Universelle.”
REFERENCES.--B. M. Forster, “Description ... elec. col. ...
De Luc ...” London, 1810; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXXVII. p. 197;
J. D. Maycock, _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XLVIII. pp. 165, 255; L.
Configliachi, “Osservazioni sulle pile a secco”; M. Delezenne,
“Expériences sur les piles sèches”; _Bibl. Brit. Sci. et Arts_,
Vol. XLVII, 1811, pp. 3, 113, 213, 313; Vol. XLIX, 1812,
pp. 88–92 (Necrology of J. A. De Luc), Vol. L, 1812, p. 351
(“Nicholson’s Journal,” No. 126), also the “Bibl. Britan.” for
1812, Vol. L. pp. 279–290 (Nicholson’s _Journal_, April 1812),
for J. D. Maycock’s reply to De Luc’s objections concerning
voltaic plates (“Phil. Mag.,” Vol. XLVIII. pp. 165, 255);
Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. pp. 424–427; G. J. Singer’s
“Elements of Electricity” and William Sturgeon’s _Annals of
Electricity_, _passim_, as well as his “Researches,” Bury, 1850,
pp. 147, 199, 261; De la Rive’s “Treatise on Electricity,” Vol.
II. p. 852; _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, Vol. II. pp.
79–82 for May 1816; Gilbert’s _Annalen_, Vol. XLIX; also Vols.
VII, 1801, to Vol. LXXIV, 1821, for various articles upon the
dry pile, etc.; G. Schübler, “Uber De Luc’s Elektr. saüle ...”
1813; Geo. Wilson’s “Life of Cavendish,” London, 1851, p. 66,
etc.; “Nicholson’s Journal,” Vols. XXI, XXII, XXXII, XXXIII,
XXXV; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XLII, XLV, the last named containing,
at pp. 359–363, Mr. G. J. Singer’s paper on “The Electric Column
considered as ... first mover for Mechanical Purposes,” while
at pp. 466, 467 is the communication of Mr. Francis Ronalds on
De Luc’s electric column. The latter is also specially referred
to in Vols. XLIII. pp. 241, 363; XLVI. p. 11; XLVII. pp. 47,
48; XLVIII. pp. 165, 255; LVII. pp. 446, 447; while at p. 55 of
Vol. XLIX is a paper relative to a “combination of the electric
column, the thermometer, barometer and hygrometer in one
instrument, for electro-atmospherical researches.”
=A.D. 1809.=--Sömmering (Samuel Thomas von), German anatomist and
physiologist, first employs voltaic, or contact, electricity for the
transmission of telegraphic signals.
Both his original and perfected working instruments were constructed
between July 9 and August 6, 1809 (_Journal Franklin Institute_,
1859, Vols. XXXVII and XXXVIII; _Journal Society of Arts_, Vol. VII.
p. 235). The complete apparatus consists of thirty-five gold rods
placed into glass tubes starting from a reservoir of acidulated water
and connecting with thirty-five silk-covered wires, which are run
into thirty-five apertures of copper (corresponding with twenty-five
letters and ten figures) upon a wooden stand into each opening of
which the wires of the voltaic pile can be inserted. When the latter
are connected, the bubbles rising through the decomposition of the
water are made to enter the lettered glass receivers through which
the messages can be deciphered. On August 8, 1809, he was able to
transmit intelligence a distance of 1000 feet, and twenty days later
he presented his apparatus to the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Fahie,
“Hist. of Electric Telegraphy,” p. 228).
Sömmering’s telegraph was carried by Dominique Jean Larrey, chief
surgeon of the French armies, to Paris, where it was delivered by him
to the French Academy of Sciences, Dec. 5, 1809, and Dr. Hamel states
that Biot, Carnot, Charles and Monge were appointed by that body to
report upon the new invention (_Journal of the Franklin Institute_
for 1859, Vol. XXXVIII. p. 398). In 1810 and 1811, Sömmering reduced
the number of wires in his apparatus to twenty-seven. These brass or
copper wires were first insulated with a covering of gum lac and then
with silk thread, after which they were united into a thread-covered
cable 1000 feet in length. The cable was in turn covered with heated
gum lac or with a ribbon plunged in a solution of the same substance.
The Russian Count Jeroslas Potocki took the new instrument to Vienna
and submitted it, July 1, 1811, to the Emperor Francis I, while another
model of the apparatus was sent to William Sömmering, then at Geneva,
where it was shown to De la Rive, Auguste Pictet and other scientists.
During March 1812 this instrument carried intelligence 10,000 feet, or
ten times the distance previously reached.
REFERENCES.--Dr. Hamel, Cooke’s reprint, pp. 7, 8. See
Sömmering’s own description of this, the first electro-chemical
telegraph, in “Der Elektrische,” etc., published by his son
William at Frankfort, 1863, or the translations at p. 751 of
Noad’s “Manual,” London, 1859, and at pp. 230–234 of Fahie’s
“Hist, of Elec. Tel.,” London, 1884; Dr. Hamel, in _Jour. Soc.
of Arts_, for 1859, p. 453, or the reprint of W. F. Cooke in
1859, Vol. VII. pp. 595–599 and 605–610; Du Moncel, “Exposé,”
etc., Vol. III; _Comptes Rendus_, Tome VII for 1838, p. 81;
“De Bow’s Review,” Vol. XXV. p. 551; Highton’s “Elec. Tel.,”
p. 39; Harris, “Galvanism,” p. 35; Sturgeon’s _Ann. of Elec._,
Vol. III, March 1839, pp. 447–448; “Turnbull, Electric Magn.
Tel.” “Denkschr. Münch. Akad. ...” for 1809 and 1810, alluding
to his first experimental instrument made in 1807; Schweigger,
_Journal_, II. pp. 217, 240 of Vol. XX for 1817; Poggendorff’s
_Annalen_, Vol. CVII. pp. 644–647; “Smithsonian Report” for
1878, pp. 269–271; _Journal of the Franklin Institute_ for 1851,
Vol. XXI. pp. 330–332; Prime’s “Life of Prof. Morse,” 1875, pp.
263–275; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XLIX, 1812, p. 19; “Traité de
tél. sous-marine,” E. Wünschendorff, Paris, 1888.
=A.D. 1810.=--Prechtl (Johann Joseph), German mathematician and
chemist, director of the School of Arts and Navigation in Trieste,
also professor in the Vienna Polytechnic Institute, is the author of
several very interesting articles on electricity, magnetism, etc.,
which appeared in Gilbert’s _Ann. der Physik_ from Vol. XXXV for
1810, to Vol. LXVIII for 1821, as well as in Gehlen’s _Jour. für
Chemie, Physik und Mineralogie_, Vols. V-VII. According to Figuier
(“Expos, et Hist. ...” 1857, Vol. IV. p. 433) we owe to Prof. Prechtl a
still more lucid explanation of the theory of electric distribution and
equilibrium in the voltaic pile than was conveyed even by the learned
Prof. Jäger (A.D. 1802).
Of the many separate treatises which he wrote up to 1836, and which
are contained in the numerous publications cited below, the most
important, by far, is doubtless that treating of the fundamental state
of the magnetic phenomena of the electrical connecting wire and on
the transverse electrical charge (“Uber d. transversal-magnetismus
...”) which is to be found in Schweigger’s _Journal für die Chemie
und Physik_, Vol. XXXVI. pp. 399–410, and in Dr. Thomas Thomson’s
_Annals of Philosophy_, N.S., Article I. vol. iv. pp. 1–6 for
July 1822. Alluding to the last named, Mr. Sturgeon says (“Scientific
Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 29) that an _attempt_ is made by M.
Prechtl to explain the manner in which the connecting wire acts upon
the needle, but that his diagrams and his mode of reasoning are too
complex to be entered into the “Researches.”
REFERENCES.--Poggendorff’s “Biograph.-Liter. ...” Vol. II. pp.
519, 520; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XIII. p. 45; “Catal.
Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. V. pp. 3–5; Gehlen’s _Journal_,
Vols. VII. pp. 141–282; VIII. pp. 297–318; Gilbert’s _Annalen_,
Vols. XXXV, 1810, pp. 28–104; XLIV, 1813, pp. 108–111; LXVII,
1821, pp. 81–108, 221, 222, 259–276; LXVIII, 1821, pp. 104–106,
187–206; LXXVI, 1824, pp. 217–228; Brugnatelli’s “Giornale,”
Vol. III, 1810, pp. 477–486; Kastner, “Archiv. Natur.,” II,
1824, pp. 151–167; Wien, “Jahrb. Pol. Inst.,” Vol. XIV, 1829,
pp. 144–160, and Poggendorff’s _Annalen der Physik und Chemie_,
Vol. XV, 1829, pp. 223–238.
=A.D. 1810.=--The compiler of this “Bibliographical History” will
doubtless be pardoned for introducing here an additional mode of
“communicating intelligence” promptly at great distances. Reference
is made to the first germ of pneumatic telegraphy sown by the English
engineer, George Medhurst, during the year 1810.
The London _Telegraphic Journal_, which gives an extract from
the specification of Medhurst’s patent “for a new method of conveying
letters and goods with great certainty and rapidity by air,” states
that the process took practical form only in 1854, when Latimer
Clark laid down a one-and-a-half-inch lead pipe between the Electric
Telegraph Company’s central station, Lothbury, and the London Stock
Exchange. The system was extended in 1858 to Mincing Lane, and, two
years later, Varley introduced the use of compressed air, so that
messages were drawn one way by a vacuum, and propelled in the opposite
direction by a prenum, instead of employing a vacuum both ways, as
Latimer Clark had previously done. During the year 1865 the system,
then considerably modified, was introduced into Paris, and it was
also made use of, at about the same time, by the Messrs. Siemens, who
employed it between the Bourse and the telegraph station in the city
of Berlin.
=A.D. 1810.=--Jacopi (Joseph), Italian physician, anatomist and
physiologist (1774–1813), pupil of the famous Scarpa, makes known
through his “Elementi di Fisiologia e Notomia comparata” (“Eléments de
Physiologie et d’Anatomie comparée”), the results of his very extended
investigations of the electrical organs of the _torpedo_.
To him is due the first clear description of the electrical lobes
situated in the _torpedo’s_ brain and of its relation to the eighth
pair of nerves distributed throughout the hexagonal columns, which
latter received also from him a very extended notice in the above-named
work. The fifth ramification of nerves was first observed by Carus,
and the most valuable investigation relative to the fourth and last
important group of nerves directly connected with the electrical organs
was made by the celebrated Italian professor, Carlo Matteucci.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IX. p. 867; C.
Matteucci, “Traité des Phénomènes Electro-Phys.,” Paris, 1844,
pp. 283–318; Geoffroy St. Hilaire at A.D. 1803.
Another author, Delle Chiaje, likewise gave a description of
the rhomboidal sinus-shaped protuberance which he calls _lobo
pagliarino_ (straw-coloured lobe), and which he considers as
formed of one mass but does not admit its important connection
with the electrical organs.
=A.D. 1811.=--Poisson (Siméon Denis), a very able French scientist,
communicates to the “Institut des Mathématiques et Physiques” and
publishes at Paris under the caption “Traité de Mécanique,” his
analytical observations of the electric phenomena which, it has
been truly said, actually establish a new branch of, and is the
best elementary work extant upon, mathematical physics. One of his
biographers remarks that Poisson’s object was “to leave no branch
of physics unexplored by aid of the new and powerful methods of
investigation which a school, yet more modern than that of Lagrange and
Laplace, had added to the pure mathematics.”
As shown, notably by Sir David Brewster in his able article on
“Electricity” in the eighth “Encycl. Brit.” (Vol. VIII. p. 531), and by
Noad, in his “Manual” (London, 1859, pp. 15, 16):
“Poisson adopted as the basis of his investigations the theory of two
fluids, proposed by Symmer and Dufay, with such modifications and
additions as were suggested by the researches of Coulomb. He deduced
theorems for determining the distribution of the electric fluid on the
surfaces of two conducting spheres, when they are placed in contact
or at any given distance, the truth of which had been established
experimentally by Coulomb before the theorems themselves had been
investigated. On bodies of elongated forms, or those which have edges,
corners or points, it is shown as a consequence of the theory of two
fluids that the electric fluid accumulates in greater depths about the
edges, corners or points than in other places. Its expansive force,
being therefore greater at such parts than elsewhere, exceeds the
atmospheric pressure and escapes, while at other points of the surface
it is retained.”
In the latter connection Mary Somerville remarks:
“There can hardly be a doubt but that all the phenomena of magnetism,
like those of electricity, may be explained on the hypothesis of one
ethereal fluid, which is condensed or redundant in the positive pole,
and deficient in the negative; a theory that accords best with the
simplicity and general nature of the laws of creation; nevertheless,
Poisson has adopted the hypothesis of two extremely rare fluids,
pervading all the particles of iron, and incapable of leaving them.
Whether the particles of these fluids are coincident with the molecules
of the iron, or that they only fill the interstices between them, is
unknown and immaterial. But it is certain that the sum of all the
magnetic molecules, added to the sum of all the spaces between them,
whether occupied by matter or not, must be equal to the whole volume
of the magnetic body.... M. Poisson has proved that the result of the
action of all the magnetic elements of a magnetized body is a force
equivalent to the action of a very thin stratum covering the whole
surface of a body, and consisting of the two fluids--the austral and
the boreal, occupying different parts of it; in other words, the
attractions and repulsions externally exerted by a magnet are exactly
the same as if they proceeded from a very thin stratum of each fluid
occupying the surface only, both fluids being in equal quantities,
and so distributed that their total action upon all the points in the
interior of the body is equal to nothing. Since the resulting force is
the difference of the two polarities, its intensity must be greatly
inferior to that of either” (J. C. Wilcke at A.D. 1757, “Conn.
of the Phys. Sci.,” 1846, s. 30 pp. 308, 309).
The “Mémoires de l’Institut” for 1811 contain Poisson’s very able
papers showing the manner in which electricity is distributed on the
surfaces of bodies of various figures and the thickness of the stratum
of electricity existing throughout these bodies. Mrs. Somerville
further observes of work already cited (s. 28):
“Although the distribution of the electric fluid has employed the
eminent analytical talents of M. Poisson and M. Ivory, and though many
of their computed phenomena have been confirmed by observation, yet
recent experiments show that the subject is still involved in much
difficulty. Electricity is entirely confined to the surface of bodies;
or, if it does penetrate their substance, the depth is inappreciable;
so that the quantity bodies are capable of receiving does not follow
the proportion of their bulk, but depends principally upon the form
and extent of surface over which it is spread; thus the exterior may
be positively or negatively electric, while the interior is in a state
of perfect neutrality.” (Consult J. Farrar, “Elem. of Elect. Magn. and
Electro-Magn.,” 1826, pp. 50–56.)
In his treatment of the theories of magnetism, Brewster alludes
again to the masterly investigations of Poisson, who, says he,
appears to have been “the first to conceive the idea of absolute
magnetic measurement.” In a short but luminous article at the end of
the “Connaissance des Temps” for 1828, he describes the method for
obtaining the value of H[ symbol] in absolute measure. His first
and second “Mémoire sur la Théorie du Magnétisme” appeared during
1824–1825, at pp. 247, 488, Vol. V of the Transactions of the Paris
Royal Academy, and were closely followed (Vol. VI. p. 441) by his
Memoir on the theory of Magnetism in motion. _Translations_ of
these will be found at pp. 336–358, 373, Vol. I and pp. 328–330, Vol. V
of the _Edin. Jour. of Sci._ and at pp. 334, 335 of John Farrar’s
“Elem. of Elect. Magn. and Electro-Mag.,” all published during the year
1826.
Poisson’s theoretical prediction of magne-crystallic action is thus
alluded to by Dr. John Tyndall in his “Researches on Diamagnetism,”
etc., London, 1870, pp. 13 and 66, 67:
“In March 1851, Professor William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) drew attention
to an exceedingly remarkable instance of theoretic foresight on the
part of Poisson, with reference to the possibility of magne-crystallic
action.
“Poisson,” says Sir William, “in his mathematical theory of
magnetic induction founded on the hypothesis of magnetic fluids
(moving within the infinitely small magnetic elements), of which he
assumes magnetizable matter to be constituted, does not overlook
the possibility of those magnetic elements being non-spherical and
symmetrically arranged in crystalline matter, and he remarks that
a finite spherical portion of such a substance would, when in the
neighbourhood of a magnet, act differently according to the different
positions into which it might be turned with its centre tube fixed.
But (such a circumstance not having yet been observed), he excludes
the consideration of the structure which would lead to it from his
researches, and confines himself in his theory of magnetic induction
to the case of matter consisting either of spherical magnetic elements
or of non-symmetrically disposed elements of any forms. Now, however,
when a recent discovery of Plucker’s has established the very
circumstance, the observation of which was wanting to induce Poisson to
enter upon a full treatment of the subject, the importance of working
out a magnetical theory of magnetic induction is obvious.
“Sir William Thomson then proceeds to make the necessary ‘extension of
Poisson’s Mathematical Theory of Magnetic Induction,’ and he publishes
a striking quotation from the ‘Mémoires de l’Institut,’ 1821–1822,
Paris, 1826.”
REFERENCES.--Biography in “English Encycl.,” Vol. IV. p.
899; _Phil. Mag._ for 1851; Roy. Soc. Catal. of Sci. Papers,
Vol. IV. pp. 964–969; G. M. Racagni, “Sopra una Memoria ...”
1839; Johnson’s “Encycl.,” 1878, Vol. III. p. 227; eighth
“Britannica,” Vol. XV. p. 98; ninth “Britannica,” Vol. XV. pp.
241, 249; _Ann. de Chimie_ for Feb. 1824; “Le Globe,” No. 87;
Harris, “Magnetism,” p. 131; Whewell, “Hist. of the Inductive
Sciences,” 1859, Vol. II. pp. 43, 208, 209, 222, 223; Sir
William Thomson’s works, 1872; Thomas Thomson, “An Outline,”
etc., 1830, p. 351; _Mém. de l’Acad. des Sci._ for 1824–1826,
1838; _Soc. Philom._ for 1803, 1824–1826; Humboldt’s “Cosmos,”
London, 1849, Vol. I. pp. 104, 105, 130, 165–169; N. Bowditch,
“Of a mistake which exists in the calculation of M. Poisson
relative to the distribution of the electric matter upon the
surfaces of two globes, in Vol. XII of the “Mém. ... Sc. Math.
... de France”; _Mem. Amer. Acad._, O.S., Vol. IV. part i.
p. 307; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 228.
Mention is made of Poisson’s principal writings, in Vol. XI. pp.
179–191 of M. Max Marie’s “Hist. des Sciences Mathém.,” Paris,
1888, but the complete list will be found in Vol. II of the
works of Arago.
=A.D. 1811.=--Schweigger (Johann Salomo Christoph), a chemist of Halle
(1779–1857), inserts at p. 240, Vol. II of his _Journal für die Chemie
und Physik_, the memoir of Sömmering, relative to his electro-chemical
telegraph, as well as an appendix thereto, wherein he points out the
difficulties likely to attend the employment of so many different
wires. He suggests the use of but two wires, and of two piles of
unequal power. With these, all desired characters could be transmitted,
through a preconcerted code regarding the meaning of such letters and
figures as would be represented by the weaker or the stronger pile, in
conjunction with the duration of the gas evolutions or the space of
time separating them. He also suggested, for an alarum, the use of a
pistol, by connecting a battery to the pile, in lieu of liberating an
alarm by means of accumulated gas as Sömmering had done.
Two months after Oersted’s great discovery, which was announced in July
1820, Schweigger read at Halle (September 16, 1820) and communicated
to the German _Literary Gazette_ (No. 296 for November 1820), a paper
relative to an important improvement made in his _galvano magnetic
indicator_. The latter, which had been described at pp. 206–208 of
Gehlen’s (1808) _Journal für Chemie_, was merely an electroscope,
employed to indicate the attraction and repulsion of ordinary
frictional electricity in lieu of a Coulomb balance, the improved
apparatus being the result of his discovery that, by coiling an
_insulated_ wire several times around a magnetic needle, the deflecting
power of the voltaic current increases with the number of turns (Kuhn,
“Ang. Elek.-Lehre,” p. 514).
Alluding to Schweigger’s multiplier, the Abbé Moigno says:
“A conducting wire twisted upon itself and forming one hundred turns
will, when traversed by the same current, produce an effect one hundred
times greater than a wire with a single turn: provided always that the
electric fluid pass through circumvolutions of the wire without passing
laterally from one contour to another” (_Cornhill Magazine_, Vol. II
for 1860, pp. 61, 64).
It was, however, shown by Dr. Seebeck that the power of multiplication
does not increase with the number of windings in the uniting wire, for
the resistance to transmission naturally increases with the length of
the wire, thus diminishing its conducting power.
To his new instrument Schweigger gave the name of _electro-magnetic
multiplier_ (_multiplicator_) or _galvanometer multiplier_, and it has
become the most important for indicating and measuring the strength of
the galvanic current.
Prof. W. B. Rogers says that Schweigger’s apparatus as improved by
Nobili (_Ital. Soc. Mem._, Vol. XX. p. 173) became indispensable in
the measurement of current electricity, and that through the later
improvements given it by Sir William Thomson (also by Du Bois Reymond),
it has been made one of the most perfect and delicate of all known
means of measuring force. Schweigger’s multipliers with improvements
made thereon by Oersted and Nobili are illustrated at p. 642, Vol. XXI
of the eighth “Ency. Britannica,” where reference is made to drawings
on a large scale shown at Plate 522, article “Thermo-Electricity,” of
the “Edinburgh Encyclopædia.”
According to a footnote, p. 273 of “Report Smithsonian Inst.” for
1878, Schweigger’s multiplier is alluded to in the “Additions to
Oersted’s Electroma-gnetic Experiments,” a memoir read at the
_Naturforschende Gesellschaft_ at Halle, September 16 and November
4, 1820. An abstract of this paper was published in the _Allgemeine
Literatur-Zeitung_ of Halle (4to), November 1820, No. 296, Vol.
III. col. 621–624, whilst the full memoir appeared in the _Journal
für Chemie und Physik_, 1821, Vol. XXXI. pp. 1–17; and “Additional
Remarks ...” by Dr. Schweigger, in the same volume, pp. 35–41. It is
further stated in the afore-mentioned note that:
“A galvanometer of somewhat different form, having a vertical helix
and employing an unmagnetized needle, was very shortly afterward
independently devised by Johann Christian Poggendorff, of Berlin;
and as he preceded Schweigger in publishing an account of it, he is
sometimes regarded as the original inventor. Schweigger designated his
device an ‘Electro-magnetic Multiplicator’; Poggendorff designated
his arrangement a ‘Galvano-magnetic Condensator.’ Prof. Oersted
remarks: ‘Immediately after the discovery of electro-magnetism, M.
Schweigger, professor at Halle, invented an apparatus admirably
adapted for exhibiting by means of the magnetic needle the feeblest
electric currents.... M. Poggendorff, a distinguished young savant,
of Berlin, constructed an electro-magnetic multiplier very shortly
after M. Schweigger, with which he made some striking experiments. M.
Poggendorff’s work having been cited in a book on electro-magnetism by
the celebrated M. Erman (published immediately after the discovery of
these phenomena), became known to several philosophers before that of
M. Schweigger’ (_Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, 1823, Vol.
XXII. pp. 358–360).
“The researches of Schweigger and Bart leave us little or no doubt
that the ancients were well acquainted with the mutual attraction of
iron and the lodestone, as well as with the positive and negative
properties of electricity, by whatever name they may have called it.
The reciprocal magnetic relations to the planetary orbs, which are all
magnets, was with them an accepted fact, and aerolites were not only
called by them magnetic stones, but used in the Mysteries for purposes
to which we now apply the magnet.”
REFERENCES.--“Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. pp. 281, 282. See also
_Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, 1816, Vol. II. pp. 84, 86;
Thos. Thomson, “An Outline of the Sciences ...” London, 1830,
Chap. XV. p. 564; “Encycl. Brit.,” seventh edition, “Voltaic
Electricity,” p. 687; _Polytechnisches Centralblatt_; _Sc. Am.
Supp._, No. 404; Sturgeon’s “Scientific Researches,” Bury,
1850, p. 19; L. F. Kaemtz, _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LXII. p. 441;
Poggendorff, Vol. II. pp. 873–875; Du Moncel, “Exposé ...” Vol.
III; Whewell’s “Hist. of Ind. Sci.,” Vol. II. p. 251; “Abhandl.
d. Naturf. Gesellsch. zu Halle” for 1853–1856; Schweigger’s
_Journal für Chemie und Physik_, Vol. II. part iv. pp. 424–434;
Vol. X for 1814 and Vol. XXXVIII for 1823; “Cat. Sc. Papers
Roy. Soc.,” Vol. V. pp. 589–592; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XVI,
N.S., 1821, p. 197; Larousse, Vol. XIV. pp. 386–387. _Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal_, July 1821, Vol. V. p. 113. For Seebeck,
see _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LXI, 1823, p. 146. For Poggendorff, see
“Cat. Sc. Pap. Roy. Soc.,” Vol. IV. pp. 952–956; Vol. VIII. pp.
638–640; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XVIII, N.S., 1821, p. 195; Pogg.,
“Annalen,” Vol. CLX (biography).
In the editorship of Schweigger’s _Journal_, which followed
Gehlen’s _Journal_, Mr. J. S. C. Schweigger was assisted, from
1828, by Franz W. Schweigger-Seidel, who was the author of “Lit. d.
Math. Natur.,” published in 1828. (For the joint magnetic work of J.
S. C. Schweigger and Wilhelm Pfaff, see _Jour. f. Ch. u. Ph._,
Band X. heft i. for 1814.)
=A.D. 1811.=--Monsieur Dessaignes is first to establish a relation
between electricity and phosphorescence, as is shown in the extract
published in London from the Memoir which he had presented two years
before to the French Institute. The general view he takes is that
phosphorescence is produced by a particular fluid, which is set in
motion by light, by heat, by electricity, as well as by friction, and
that it is dissipated by overheating or by too long exposure to light.
It is asserted by Fahie (“Hist. of El. Tel.,” pp. xiv, 297) that it was
Dessaignes and not Seebeck who first discovered thermo-electricity.
“Dessaignes,” he says, “showed us how difference of temperature or
heat could produce electricity.” This was in 1815, or six years before
Seebeck, who is always credited with the observation (Bostock’s
“History of Galvanism,” London, 1818, p. 101). Many observations
bearing on _thermo-electricity_ had been made even long before
Dessaignes.... In 1759 Æpinus called attention to the same phenomena,
and pointed out that electricity of opposite kinds was developed at
opposite ends of the crystal (tourmaline). In 1760 Canton observed the
same properties in the topaz; and between 1789 and 1791 Haüy showed the
thermo-electric properties of various other substances, as mesotype,
prehnite, Iceland spar, and boracite.
REFERENCES.--Priestley’s “History of Electricity,” 1767, pp.
314–326. For Dessaignes’ other observations, see J. Farrar,
“Elem. of Elec., Mag. and Electro-Mag.,” 1826, p. 125, and
_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XLIV. p. 313. See also _Phil. Mag._, Vol.
XXXVIII. p. 3; _Journal des Mines_, Vol. XXVII. p. 213;
Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 563; “Cat. Sci. Pap. Roy. Soc.,” Vol.
II. pp. 272, 273; Chap. III. s. 3 of the “Electricity” article
of the “Ency. Britannica.”
=A.D. 1811.=--The idea of placing a lightning conductor through the
body of a ship is first suggested by Mr. Benjamin Cook, of Birmingham,
and is carried out by Mr. William Snow Harris, of Plymouth. Mr. William
Sturgeon, who mentions the fact (“Lectures of Electricity,” London,
1842, p. 208), adds that Mr. Harris “has formed the conductors into
strips of copper, which are inserted in grooves in the after side of
the masts from top to bottom and through the keelson to the sea. In
one of the smaller men-of-war Mr. Harris carried his mizzen conductor
through the powder magazine!!! The evils attending these conductors
arise principally from lateral explosions and electro-magnetic
influence.”
REFERENCES.--For Wm. Sturgeon, consult _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XI,
1832, pp. 195, 270, 324; “Cat. Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. V.
pp. 876–878, Vol. VI. p. 758 and Vol. VIII. p. 1042.
=A.D. 1811–1812.=--Schübler (Gustav), Professor, of Tübingen,
is the first to present a connected series of observations upon the
electricity of the air, which were made at Stuttgart, during all
kinds of weather and at regular daily intervals, between May 1811
and June 1812. Other observations previously carried on by Schübler,
during 1805 and subsequent years, at Ellvanguen and Stuttgart are
detailed at pp. 579, 580, Vol. VIII--and are also alluded to in article
“Meteorology”--of the eighth “Britannica.”
While De Lor was the first to observe, in 1752, the existence of
electricity in the atmosphere, even when no lightning is visible,
Schübler made the earliest known report upon the daily periodicity
of the intensity of the electricity. The annual periodicity had been
previously demonstrated by G. B. Beccaria, who published at Turin two
able treatises on the subject during 1769 and 1775.
The origin of atmospheric electricity was, by Lavoisier, Laplace and
Sir H. Davy, attributed in great part to the constant combustion
taking place upon the earth’s surface. Volta and Saussure believed it
to arise from the process of evaporation, while Pouillet pointed out
the influence of the processes of vegetation; Reich, however, showed
that as neither developed electricity they could not produce it in
the atmosphere. Peltier advanced the theory that mere evaporation
without chemical action is not enough, and the experiments of Faraday
and Armstrong showed that evaporation without friction is likewise
insufficient. These theories are treated of in “Gaea-Natur und Leben,”
Köln and Leipzig, 1873, p. 322, and in Lardner’s “Popular Lectures,”
1859, Vol. II. pp. 149–160. The last named gives tables of many
observations, and reports, among other matters, that the series of
observations on the diurnal changes of atmospheric electricity which
Schübler made, in 1811–1812, were repeated and confirmed at Paris in
1830 by M. Arago. During the month of March 1811 Schübler found that
the mean time of the morning maximum was eight hours thirty minutes,
and M. Arago ascertained the mean time for the same month to be eight
hours forty-eight minutes.
REFERENCES.--_Edin. Jour. of Sci._, new series, Vol. III;
_Biblio. Univers._, Vol. XLII; _Annales de Ch. et de Ph._
for 1816, Vol. II. p. 85; “Jahrbuch der Ch. und Ph.,” 1829;
Gilbert’s _Annalen_, Vols. XXXIX, XLIX, LI; Schweigger’s
_Journal_, Vols. II. p. 377; III. p. 133; VIII. pp. 21, 22, 25,
26, 28, 29; IX. pp. 348, 350, 351; XV. p. 130; XIX. pp. 1 and
11; XXV. p. 249; XXXI. p. 39; _Jour. de Phys._, Vol. LXXV. p.
177; Vol. LXXXIII. p. 184; “Lehrbuch der Meteor,” L. F. Kaemtz,
Halle, 1832, Vol. I. p. 337; Vol. II. pp. 411, 414; “Annual of
Sc. Disc.” for 1862, pp. 99–103; L. Palmieri in _Lum. Elec._,
Paris, Oct. 31, 1891, pp. 209–212; “Sci. Pap. Roy. Soc.,” Vol.
V. pp. 559–562; Vol. VI. p. 755; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. II,
N.S. for 1816 pp. 93–113 (atmosph. electricity); Poggendorff,
Vol. II. p. 853; Report on Atmospheric Electricity by F. J. F.
Duprez, 1858, Part III. chap. ii. pp. 363–368; Foggo, p. 124,
Vol. IV of _Edin. Jour. Sci._; J. J. Hemmer’s observations at
Mannheim from 1783 to 1787, Lehrbuch, etc., Vol. II. p. 418, and
the recorded investigations of De Luc, Girtannier, Mayer, Monge,
Pouillet, Becquerel, De Tressan, Arago, De Saussure, Delezenne,
Helwig and Kaemtz.
=A.D. 1811.=--In the first volume of his “Cosmos” (London, 1849,
Vol. I. pp. 240–241) Humboldt speaks of _islands of eruption_,
or marine volcanoes, which can properly be classed among electrical
phenomena, and alludes to the one observed on the 13th of June 1811 by
Captain Tillard (Tilland), and to which he gave the name “Sabrina.”
This volcano, which had previously appeared June 11, 1638 and December
31, 1719, off the island of St. Michael, in the Azores, is thus
described in the _Philosophical Transactions_:
“Imagine,” says Captain Tillard, “an immense body of smoke rising from
the sea, the surface of which was marked by the silver rippling of
the waves occasioned by the slight and steady breezes incidental to
those climates in summer. In a quiescent state, it had the appearance
of a circular cloud, revolving on the water like a horizontal wheel,
in various and irregular involutions, expanding itself gradually on
the lee side, when suddenly a column of the blackest cinders, ashes,
and stones, would shoot up in the form of a spire, rapidly succeeded
by others, each acquiring greater velocity and breaking into various
branches resembling a group of pines; these again forming themselves
into festoons of white feathery smoke. During these bursts, the most
vivid flashes of lightning continually issued from the densest portion
of the volcano, and the columns rolled off in large masses of fleecy
clouds, gradually expanding themselves before the wind, in a direction
nearly horizontal, and drawing up a quantity of water spouts, which
formed a striking addition to the scene. In less than an hour, a peak
was visible, and, in three hours from the time of our arrival, the
volcano then being four hours old, a crater was formed twenty feet
high, and from four to five hundred feet in diameter. The eruptions
were attended by a noise like the firing of cannon and musketry mixed;
as also with shocks of earthquakes sufficient to throw down a large
part of the cliff on which we stood.” (See description of the sudden
appearance of the Island of St. Michael, etc., in Lectures by Dr.
Webster, Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at Harvard College,
Boston, 1822.)
=A.D. 1811–1818.=--Ure (Andrew), M.D., F.R.S., the first astronomer
appointed to the Glasgow Observatory and the author of a Dictionary of
Chemistry (the undisputed standard until the appearance of a similar
work by Henry Watts), makes known the result of his electrical
experiments in the same line as those made by Aldini (A.D. 1793) upon
the body of a recently executed criminal. Noad, who gives a greatly
detailed account of the investigations, at pp. 338–341 of his “Manual,”
remarks that they “serve to convey a tolerably accurate idea of the
wonderful physiological effects of the electrical agent, and will be
impressive from their conveying the most terrific expressions of human
passion and human agony.”
Dr. Ure is the inventor of an improved eudiometer, for detonating
or exploding gases by means of an electric shock or spark, which is
fully described and illustrated in the “Electricity” article of the
“Britannica.”
REFERENCES.--De la Rive, “Treatise on Electricity,” Vol. II.
pp. 489–490, also “Encycl. Metropol.,” Vol. IV (Galv.), p. 197.
Another report of Ure’s experiments appears at pp. 634, 635 of
the “Encycl. Brit.,” article on “Voltaic Electricity,” also in
No. 12 of the _Journal Sci. and Arts_, and at p. 56, Vol. LIII
of the _Philosophical Magazine_.
=A.D. 1812.=--Through the _New York Columbian_, of July 1812, Mr.
Christopher Colles informs the public that the operation of his new
telegraphs “will be shown from the top of the Custom House on Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays from four to six o’clock in the afternoon.”
In an explanatory pamphlet, he states that “eighty-four letters can
be exhibited by this machine in five minutes, to the distance of one
telegraphic station averaged at ten miles, and by the same proportion a
distance of 2600 miles in fifteen minutes, twenty-eight seconds.”
James D. Reid, who mentions this fact at p. 5 of his “Telegraph in
America,” says that the above was nothing but the already well-known
European semaphore or visual signal, and that Colles worked his
“machine” between New York and Sandy Hook for several years.
=A.D. 1812.=--On April 1 and 15, May 13 and June 17, Mr. M. Donovan,
secretary of the Kirwanian Society of Dublin, reads before the latter
body a long communication “On the Inadequacy of the Hypothesis
at Present Received to Account for (explain) the Phenomena of
Electricity,” which was afterward ably criticized by J. A. de Luc,
as will be seen by reference to the _Philosophical Magazine_, Vols.
XLV. pp. 97, 200, 329–332, and XLVI. pp. 13, 14. In his treatment of
Eeles’ hypothesis (see A.D. 1755) Donovan gives some attention to the
designed suppression by Priestley of Eeles’ valuable papers from the
_Philosophical Transactions_.
The above communication was followed by still more valuable and much
longer ones, read by Mr. Donovan before the same society, February 22,
March 8, and March 22, 1815, entitled “On the Origin, Progress and
Present State of Galvanism ... and Inadequacy of the Hypotheses to
Explain Its Phenomena ...” a modified form of which obtained for its
author the prize of the Irish Royal Society.
The sketch of the history of galvanism is divided into three periods.
The first treats of the discoveries attaching to muscular contraction,
and alludes to the observations of Sulzer, Galvani, Fabbroni,
Humboldt, Pfaff, Fontana, Valli, Monro, Vassalli-Eandi, Fowler, Smuck,
Marsigli, Grapengieser, Giulio, Rossi, Aldini and Wells. The second
period reviews the gradual development of the physical and chemical
power of combined galvanic arrangements, beginning with Nicholson and
Carlisle, and refers to the many conclusions reached by Cruikshanks,
Henry, Haldane, Ritter, Robertson, Brugnatelli, Fourcroy, Vauquelin,
Thénard, Lehot, Trommsdorff, Simon, Helwige (Major Helvig), Twast,
Bourguet, Erman, Grapengieser, Wollaston, Davy, Pfaff, Van Marum,
Biot, Cuvier, Desormes, Bostock, Cuthbertson, Aldini, Lagrave, Jordan,
Ritter and Wilkinson. The third period commences with the well-known
generalizations of the chemical effects of galvanism made by Hisinger
and Berzelius; their experiments on the invisible transfer of elements
at a distance, and the explanation given by Grotthus of the invisible
transfer of the elements of water. Following this, Donovan alludes
to the announced decomposition of muriatic acid by W. Peel, Francis
Pacchiani, and others, as well as the discovery of the source of
mistakes in the Galvani Society investigations by Pfaff, Biot, Thénard
and Davy; after which reference is made to the special observations
of Sylvester, Grotthus, Wilson, Erman, Davy, Pontin, Gay-Lussac and
Thénard, Children, De Luc, Singer, Murray and Maycock.
On the 5th of April 1815, Donovan reviewed the hypotheses of Volta and
Fabbroni, as well as of the British philosophers Wollaston, Bostock
and Davy, and, on the 19th of the same month, he read an additional
paper on the inadequacy of the galvanic hypothesis, having previously
(Dec. 28, 1814, and Jan. 11, 1815) presented to the Kirwanian Society a
communication relative to a new theory of Galvanism.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag._, Vols. XXXIX. p. 396; XLIV. pp.
334, 401; XLV. pp. 154, 222, 308, 381; XLVI. p. 401; XLVII.
pp. 167, 204; also Vol. XXXVII. pp. 227, 245, on Mr. Davy’s
erroneous hypothesis of electro-chemical affinity, and Vols.
XXII and XXIII of the _Trans. Royal Irish Academy_ for Mr.
Donovan’s papers relating to improvements in the construction of
galvanometers, on galvanometric deflections, etc. etc.
=A.D. 1812.=--Zamboni (Giuseppe), Italian physicist, Professor of
Natural Philosophy in the Verona Lyceum, makes known through his
“_Della pila elettrica a secco_” an improved method of constructing dry
piles. He dispenses entirely with the zinc plates of De Luc and employs
only discs of paper having one side tinned and the other coated with a
thin layer of black oxide of manganese pulverized in a mixture of flour
and milk (“Note historique sur les piles sèches,” _Annales de Chimie et
de Physique_, Vol. XI. p. 190).
His pile terminates in metallic plates, compressing the paper discs
by means of silk ligatures, and the column is insulated by giving it
a coating of either sulphur or shellac. In this apparatus the tinned
surface is the positive element, the negative being the oxide of
manganese, which replaces M. De Luc’s Dutch gilt paper. In the later
forms of Zamboni’s pile the discs were formed of gilt and silvered
paper pasted back to back. William Sturgeon remarks (“Scientific
Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 200) that the Zamboni piles are those which
have been the most securely protected against the action of the ambient
air and which alone have maintained their original electrical intensity.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XV. p. 1452; K.
F. Anton Von Schreibers in Gilbert’s _Annalen_, LV; Placidus
Heinrich (Schweigger’s _Journal_, XV); Gustav Schübler, “Uber
Zamboni’s Trockne Säule,” 1815–1816; G. F. Parrot (Gilbert’s
_Annalen_, LV); K. C. F. Jäger in Gilbert’s _Annalen_, Vol. XLIX
for 1815, pp. 47–66; De la Rive, “Treatise on Electricity,” Vol.
II. p. 852; A. M. Ampère, _Ann. de Chimie et de Phys._, XXIX;
John Farrar, “Elem. of Electricity,” etc., 1826, p. 179; Zamboni
and Ambrogio Fusinieri, _Ann. ... Reg. Lomb., Veneto_, Vols.
IV. pp. 128, 132; VI. pp. 31, 142, 143, 293; G. Resti-Ferrari,
“Elettroscopio ... del Zamboni”; _Ann. ... Reg. Lomb., Ven._,
Vols. II. p. 229; III. p. 290; “Verona Poligrafo” for 1831, p.
87; _Mem. Soc. Ital._, Vols. XXI, XXIII; _Mem. dell’ Istit.
Veneto_, Vol. II. pp. 239, 251; G. A. Majocchi, _Annali di
Fisica_, Vol. VIII. p. 14; “Comm. dell’ Ateneo di Brescia,”
1832, p. 38; Sturgeon’s “Researches,” Bury, 1850, pp. 147, 199,
etc., for observations of A. de la Rive and Francis Watkins;
_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XLV. pp. 67, 261; _Ann. Ch. et Phys._ for
May 1816, Vol. II. pp. 76, etc., 82–87, and _Bibl. Britan._,
Vol. LVII. p. 225; also Vol. LVIII. p. 111 of the O.S., Vol. II,
N.S. for 1816, p. 21 as well as Vol. XL. p. 190; “Bibl. Univ.,”
Bruxelles, 1831, Vol. XLVII. p. 183 (horloge électrique);
“Edin. New Phil. Journal,” 1829, Vol. XXI. p. 357. See likewise
the references at Hachette (A.D. 1803), Dyckhoff (A.D. 1804),
Maréchaux (A.D. 1806), De Luc (A.D. 1809); the illustration
and description of M. Palmieri’s dry pile in _Sci. Am. Supp._,
Nos. 512, 519, and the accounts of investigations made more
particularly by MM. Beetz, Belgrado, Burstyn, Crosse, Du Bois
Reymond, De la Rive, D’Arsonval, Desruelles, Edelmann, Faraday,
Gassiot, Gassner, Germain, Roul, Guérin, Haussman, Keiser,
Schübler, Minotto, Pollak, Riess, Schmidt, Trouvé, Wagner,
Watkins and Wolf.
=A.D. 1812.=--Schilling (Pawel Lwowitch), Baron (of Kannstadt),
attaché to the Russian Embassy in Munich, and who had been two years
before associated with S. T. Von Sömmering (Kuhn, p. 836), devises what
he calls his “sub-aqueous galvanic conducting cord”--a copper wire
insulated with a thin coating of india-rubber and varnish. This was
laid both underground and under the sea, and, it is asserted that, by
means of an arrangement of charcoal points, he was enabled to explode
powder mines across the Neva, near St. Petersburg, as well as also
across the Seine, during the occupation of Paris by the allied armies.
REFERENCES.--Hamel, “Bull. Acad. Petersb.,” II and IV; also Wm.
F. Cooke’s reprint, 1859, pp. 20–22; Fahie’s “History,” p. 309.
From the moment Schilling first saw the telegraph of Sömmering (Aug.
13, 1810) he made many experiments (Prime’s “Life of Morse,” p. 277)
with the view of introducing it into Russia and finally took a model of
it to St. Petersburg during the year 1812 (“Sc. Am. Suppl.,” No. 405).
Hamel states (at p. 41 of Cooke’s reprint) that one of his contrivances
was exhibited to the Emperor Alexander as early as 1825. Of this,
Dr. E. N. Dickerson, in his Henry Memorial Address before Princeton
College, gives the date as 1824. Be that as it may, it was only after
his return from China in 1832 (two years after Sömmering’s death)
that, following Ampère’s suggestion as to the availment of Oersted’s
discovery, he submitted the apparatus which established for him the
credit of having invented the electro-magnetic telegraph.
Many authors have erroneously described Schilling’s apparatus as
consisting of a number of platinum wires insulated and bound together
with a silken cord which put in motion thirty-six magnetic needles
placed vertically in the centre of the multiplier by means of a species
of key connecting with a galvanic pile. This account appeared at p.
43 of the “Journal des Travaux de l’Acad. de l’Industrie Française”
for March 1839. The fact is that he employed but one magnetic needle
and multiplier, with two leading wires, as proposed by Fechner, and
was enabled by means of a combination of the deflections of the needle
to the right and left to give all necessary signals for a complete
correspondence by changing the poles of the battery at the ends of
the wires. His call signal was given by a bell in connection with a
clockwork, released by the deflection of a magnet.
REFERENCES.--For a detailed explanation of the working of
Schilling’s telegraph, J. S. T. Gehler’s “Physikalisches
Wörterbuch” for 1838, Vol. IX. p. 111; Fahie’s “History,” pp.
310–313; “Sc. Am. Suppl.,” No. 405, p. 6467.
From the account of the telegraphic collection at the 1873 Exposition,
published by Dr. Edward Zetzsche in the “Austellungblatte” of the
Vienna “Neue Freie Presse,” the following is extracted: “Even after
Prof. Oersted, of Copenhagen, had observed the deviation of a magnetic
needle under the influence of the current, neither the proposition
of Ampère, at Paris, in 1820 (of employing thirty needles and sixty
wires) nor that of Fechner, at Leipzig, in 1829 (twenty-four needles
and forty-eight wires) gave any impulse to telegraphy. Only in 1832 did
the Russian Councillor of State, Baron Schilling de Kannstadt (who had
seen the telegraph of his friend Sömmering, and had made it known in
Russia), invent a new instrument with but five wires, which number he
subsequently reduced to one. In it, the movements of the needle were
rendered more perceptible by means of little discs of paper attached
to a silk thread, holding the needle in suspension. This telegraph, it
is true, was not put in application on a large scale, for Schilling
died in 1837, but, on the 23rd of Sept. 1835, he had already brought
out his apparatus at Bonn and at Frankfort-on-the-Main, where it was
seen amongst other persons by Prof. Muncke, who doubtless constructed a
similar one which he took with him to Heidelberg.”
It was only one year before his death that Schilling succeeded in
obtaining the support of the Russian Government for his telegraph,
and it was only after Muncke had shown it (March 6, 1836) to Wm.
Fothergill Cooke, then a student in medicine at Heidelberg, that the
latter produced his needle telegraph, which was followed by Cooke and
Wheatstone’s still more perfect instrument in 1837 (Prime’s “Life of
Morse,” pp. 265, 276). Some improvements in Schilling’s so-called
deflective telegraph had, in the meantime, been made by Gauss and Weber
at Göttingen, as well as by Steinheil at Munich.
Prior to his visiting Bonn (Meeting of Naturalists--Isis, Nog., 1836)
Schilling had taken the working model of his telegraph to Vienna, where
he made many experiments with it in conjunction with Baron Jacquin and
with Prof. Andreas von Ettinghausen. Upon his return home from Germany
in 1836, he declined invitations made him to bring his instruments to
England (Dr. Hamel’s St. Petersburg lecture on “The Telegraph and Baron
Paul Schilling”), whilst, by direction of the Russian Commission of
Inquiry, he set up an experimental telegraph in two chambers of the
Palace of the Admiralty connecting the apparatus by a long line over
ground and by a cable laid in the waters of the canal. The results
proved so satisfactory that in May 1837 the Emperor Nicholas ordered
a submarine line to be laid between St. Petersburg and Cronstadt.
Schilling’s death, on the 25th of July following, prevented, however,
the execution of the project.
REFERENCES.--Biography in _Sci. Am. Supp._, No. 547, p. 8737;
_Polytechnic Central Journal_, Nos. 31, 32 for 1838; _Lumière
Electrique_ for March 17, 1883; “Allg. Bauztg.,” 1837, No. 52,
p. 440; L. Turnbull, Electro. Magn. Tel. p. 223; (Hibbard’s
Ev. 31; Channing, Ev. 41); Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 798;
_Annales Télégraphiques_ for November to December 1861, p. 670;
_Journal Soc. of Arts_ for July 22, 1859, p. 598; References
at Ronalds’ “Catalogue,” p. 457; Du Moncel, “Exposé,” Vol.
III. p. 8 and “Traité Théorique et Pratique du Tel. Elect.,”
Paris, 1864, p. 217; _Comptes Rendus_, Vol. VII for 1838, p. 82;
_Journal Franklin Inst._ for 1851, p. 60; H. F. E. Lenz, “Uber
die Praktische ... Galvanismus,” 1839; “Report of Smithsonian
Inst.,” 1898, pp. 224–225.
=A.D. 1812–1813.=--Morichini (Domenico Pini), eminent Italian
physician, is the first to announce that unmagnetized steel needles can
be rendered magnetic by making the focus of violet solar rays collected
through a lens pass repeatedly from the middle to one end of the
needle, without touching the other half (Zantedeschi, II. p. 214).
The long contention created by this announcement and the ingenious
experiments of Mrs. Somerville, together with the results obtained
by P. T. Riess and L. Moser, are detailed at p. 48 of Brewster’s
(1837) “Treatise on Magnetism.” At p. 12 of his article (Vol. XIV of
the eighth “Britannica”), Sir David Brewster states that Morichini’s
experiments were successfully repeated by both Dr. Carpi at Rome and
the Marquis Ridolfi at Florence; but M. d’Hombre Firmas, at Alais,
in France; Prof. Pietro Configliachi, of Pavia, and M. Berard, of
Montpelier, failed in obtaining decided effects from the violet rays.
In 1814 Morichini exhibited the actual experiment to Sir Humphry Davy,
and in 1817 Dr. Carpi showed it to Prof. Playfair. A few months later
Sir David Brewster met Davy at Geneva, and learned from him the fact
that he had paid the most diligent attention to one of Morichini’s
experiments, and that he had actually seen with his own eyes an
unmagnetized needle rendered magnetic by violet light. Then follow in
the same article the account of Dr. Carpi’s experiment as given to
Brewster by Prof. Playfair, also details of the investigations of Mrs.
Somerville, Mr. Christie, Sir William Snow Harris, Prof. Zantedeschi,
of MM. Baumgartner and Barlocci, as well as those of Riess and Moser
above alluded to.
REFERENCES.--“Elogio storico del Cavaliere D. Morichini” in
_Mem. della Soc. Ital._, Vol. XXVI. p. 3; Riess and Moser in
_Phil. Mag. or Annals_, Vol. VIII. p. 155, 1830 and in Edin.
_Trans._, Vol. X. p. 123; “Library of Useful Knowledge” (El.
Mag.), p. 97; _Zeitschrift_, Vol. I. p. 263; Noad, “Manual,” pp.
532, 533; the article of Col. George Gibbs in Silliman’s _Amer.
Jour. of Sci._, 1818, Vol. I. pp. 89, 90; _Annales de Chimie_,
Vol. XLII. p. 304; Brewster’s “Optics,” p. 92; also articles
“Optics,” p. 596, “Light,” p. 452 and “Electricity,” p. 569 of
the eighth “Britannica”; _Edin. Jour. of Sci._, No. 4, p. 225;
B. Gandolfi, “Antologia Romana,” 1797; Harris, “Rud. Mag.,”
Parts I, II. p. 69; _Phil. Trans._ for 1826, pp. 132, 219; D.
Olmstead, “Int. to Nat. Phil.,” 1835, Vol. II. p. 194. See also
Thomas Thomson’s “Outline of the Sci.,” p. 514, and Berzelius’
“Traité de Chimie,” Vol. I. p. 138 for Morichini’s observations
on galvanic energy; “Bibl. Brit.,” Vol. LII, 1813, p. 21; Vol.
LIII, 1813, p. 195; Vol. LIV, 1813, p. 171 (Experiments of G.
Babini in Florence); Vol. IV, N.S., 1817, pp. 1–8; Vol. V,
N.S., 1817, p. 167; Vol. VI, N.S., 1817, p. 81; Vol. XI, N.S.,
1819, p. 29 for the experiments of L. A. d’Hombre Firmas on
Morichini’s violet rays, whilst p. 174 of the same issue gives
J. Murray’s investigations as recorded in the “Phil. Mag.” for
April 1819.
Peter (Pietro) Configliachi, already named, was the successor of Volta
as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Pavia University, and became
editor of the “Biblioteca Fisica d’Europa,” the “Biblioteca Germanica,”
the “Biblioteca Italiana” and the “Giornale di Fisica, Chimica e Storia
Naturale” (Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IV. p. 908; J. J. Prechtl, in
Schweigger’s _Journal_, Vol. IV for 1812; Fr. Mochetti, “Lettera al P.
Configliachi,” Como, 1814; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. LVIII, 1815, p. 305
and Vol. IV of the N.S. for 1817, pp. 1–8).
=A.D. 1813.=--Sharpe (John Robert), of Doe Hill, near Alfreton,
transmits to the _Repertory of Arts_ a letter, which appeared in
its Vol. XXIX, second series, p. 23, wherein he alludes to p. 188,
Vol. XXIV of the same series, containing an account of Sömmering’s
apparatus. He says:
“Without the slightest wish to throw a doubt over the originality of
Mr. Sömmering’s invention, I beg leave to mention that an experiment,
showing the advantages to be obtained from the application of the
certain and rapid motion of the electric principle through an extensive
voltaic circuit to the purpose of the ordinary telegraph, was exhibited
by me before the Right Hon. the Lords of the Admiralty, in the
beginning of February 1813.”
It is said that the Lords of the Admiralty spoke approvingly of it, but
stated that as the war was over, and money scarce, they could not carry
it into effect (_Saturday Review_ for August 21, 1858, p. 190).
Ronalds says (“Catal.,” p. 473):
“No description of this telegraph appears to have been printed. It was
mentioned at the Admiralty after the invention and full description of
Sömmering’s, described fully and with figures in the Denkschriften of
the Academy of Munich for 1809–1810, issued in 1811.”
Mr. Benjamin Sharpe, nephew of J. R. Sharpe, is the author of “A
Treatise on the Construction and Submersion of Deep-Sea Electric
Telegraph Cables,” London, 1861, wherein he alludes to the above, and
asserts that his uncle “conveyed signals a distance of seven miles
under water” (Fahie’s “History,” pp. 244–246; _Sci. Am. Supp._,
No. 404, pp. 6, 446).
=A.D. 1813.=--Deleuze (Joseph Philippe François), French
physician, publishes his “Histoire Critique du Magnétisme Animal,”
containing the result of observations made by him during the previous
twenty-five years upon animal magnetism.
According to Dr. Allen Thomson, of the University of Glasgow, Deleuze
believed in the existence of an all-pervading magnetic fluid. This
fluid, says he, is under the control of the will, and is constantly
escaping from our bodies, forming around them an atmosphere, which,
having no determinate current, does not act sensibly on the person near
us; but, when urged and directed by our volition, it moves with all
the force which we impress upon it; it is moved like the luminous rays
emitted by substances in a state of combustion. The chief difference
between the Deleuze and Puységur schools has reference to the various
modes in which the magnetic fluid should be brought into action, and
the suitable occasions for its employment.
During the year 1815 the Magnetic Society was established in Paris,
with M. De Puységur as its president and M. Deleuze as vice-president,
but it expired in 1820. In 1819 M. Deleuze had published his “Défense
du Magnétisme Animal,” in reply to the attack made upon the subject
by M. Virey through the “Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales,” and he
was followed, more particularly, by M. Bertrand, who issued in 1823
his “Traité du Somnambulisme,” and in 1826 his still more important
work, “Du Magnétisme Animal en France,” etc. Respecting the last named
Deleuze says:
“Of all the attacks directed against magnetism up to the present
day, this is the most powerful, the most imposing, and the most ably
combined. The author is a man of genius, etc. He has been occupied
with magnetism for some years. He has joined its practice to that of
medicine, and he has even taught its doctrines in public lectures.
A more attentive examination and new experiments have dissuaded him
from a belief which he himself propagated; he undertakes to undeceive
others, and to prove that magnetism is a mere chimera. Certainly his
conviction must be very strong.”
REFERENCES.--Article “Somnambulism,” in the “Britannica,” more
especially for a review of, and extracts from, Deleuze’s great
work, also the translation of the latter by T. C. Hartshorn, of
which the enlarged fourth edition was published at London in
1850, accompanied by notes and a life by Dr. Foissac.
=A.D. 1813.=--Brande (William Thomas), F.R.S., succeeds Sir Humphry
Davy as Professor of Chemistry to the Royal Institution after having
long been his assistant.
He was already favourably known through a long line of interesting
chemical experiments, one of which, treating of the effects of the
galvanic current on albumen, had attracted very particular attention at
the time it was communicated to the _Philosophical Transactions_.
When he applied Davy’s method to fluids containing albumen, the
albumen and acid were found at the positive pole and the albumen and
alkali at the negative pole, and he also observed that, although it
remained fluid with a weak battery, a stronger one caused it to be
separated in a coagulated form. In like experiments subsequently made
by Golding Bird, coagulation took place in the positive vessel, while
none occurred in the negative; after a time the contents of the former
had an acid taste, and of the latter a caustic alkaline flavour. When
all in the positive vessel was coagulated by the galvanic action, he
found there hydrochloric acid mixed with chlorine and the alkali in the
negative vessel.
He also repeated the experiments of Davy on the light developed by
charcoal points connected with a powerful galvanic battery, and found
that this light was as effectual as solar light in decomposing muriate
of silver and other bodies, and in acting upon hydrogen and chlorine
gases, causing them to detonate, but he could not produce the same
effect by the moon’s rays or by any other light.
The electricity developed in flame, which had received much attention
from Paul Erman and others, was likewise investigated by Prof. Brande,
whose conclusions are to be found detailed at Sec. III. chap. iii.
part i. of the “Electricity” article in the “Encyclopædia Britannica.”
Therein is recalled the fact that A. L. Lavoisier, P. S. Laplace and
Aless. Volta previously obtained clear indications of electricity by
the combustion of charcoal, while H. B. de Saussure failed to develop
electricity either by the combustion or explosion of gunpowder, and
Humphry Davy could not obtain it through the combustion of charcoal
or of iron in air or in pure oxygen. In the above-named article will
also be found an account of the investigations of Pouillet and of
Becquerel in the same line; some of the other well-known scientists
who have treated more or less directly upon the subject being E. F.
Dutour, J. S. Waitz, J. J. Hemmer, Heinrich Buff, G. Gurney, Carlo
Matteucci, W. R. Grove, Michael Faraday, M. A. Bancalari, W. G. Hankel,
F. Zantedeschi and M. Neyreneuf.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XLIV. p. 124; _Phil. Mag. or
Annals_, Vol. IX. p. 237; _Annales de Chimie_, 5^e série,
Vol. II; _Phil. Trans._ for 1809 and 1820; _Mémoires de
Mathématiques_, Vol. II. p. 246; “Cat. Sc. Pap. Roy. Soc.,” Vol.
I. p. 48; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. LVII, 1814, p. 11.
=A.D. 1813.=--Colonel Mark Beaufoy (already alluded to at Graham, A.D.
1722), describes in the first volume of Dr. Thomas Thomson’s _Annals
of Philosophy_ what has by many been called the most perfect form known
of the variation compass. It is also to be found illustrated at p.
81, Vol. XIV of the eighth “Britannica,” wherein it is said that he
employed it in the valuable series of magnetic observations made by him
between the years 1813 and 1821. It consists of a telescope, underneath
the axis of which is a magnetic needle whose position is alterable in
order to indicate the exact angle of deviation, or the declination of
the needle from the true meridian.
Brewster states (eighth “Brit.,” Vol. XIV. p. 54) that when the diurnal
variation of the needle was first discovered it was supposed to have
only two changes in its movements during the day. About 7 a.m. its
north end began to deviate to the west, and about 2 p.m. it reached
its maximum westerly deviation. It then returned to the eastward to
its first position, and remained stationary till it again resumed its
westerly course in the following morning. When magnetic observations
became more accurate, it was found that the diurnal movement commences
much earlier than 7 a.m., but its motion is to the east. At 7.30
a.m. it reaches its greatest easterly deviation, and then begins its
movement to the west till 2 p.m. It then returns to the eastward till
the evening, when it has again a slight westerly motion; and in the
course of the night, or early in the morning, it reaches the point
from which it set out twenty-four hours before. The most accurate
observations made in England were those of Colonel Beaufoy, when the
variation was about 24½´ west. In these the absolute maxima were
earlier than in Canton’s observations, and the second maximum west
about 11 p.m. Dr. Thomas Thomson alludes to the diurnal investigations
of Barlow and Christie and others, and gives (“Outline of the
Sciences,” London, 1830, pp. 543–550) a table of the mean monthly
variation of the compass from April 1817 to March 1819 as determined
by Colonel Beaufoy. Mr. Peter Barlow, he says, has given in his “Essay
on Magnetic Attractions” a very ingenious and plausible explanation of
the daily variation by supposing the sun to possess a certain magnetic
action on the needle.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag._, Vol. LIII, 1819, p. 387; LV, 1820,
p. 394; W. S. Harris, “Rud. Mag.,” Parts I, II, pp. 150–152;
“Encycl. Metrop.,” Vol. III (Magnetism), pp. 766, 767; _Annals
of Phil._, series 1, Vols. II, VI, IX, XVI, and N.S., Vol. I. p.
94, for Beaufoy’s own summary of all his observations.
=A.D. 1814.=--Mr. Thomas Howldy addresses to the _Philosophical
Magazine_ a letter, dated Hereford, March 24, 1814, relative to
“Experiments evincing the influence of atmospheric moisture on an
electric column composed of 1000 discs of zinc and silver,” wherein
he also makes reference to the dry pile of J. A. De Luc alluded to at
A.D. 1809.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XLIII. pp. 241, 363, and
_Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. XXXV. p. 84; also the _Phil. Mag._,
Vol. XLI. p. 393, for a description of the electric column of
20,000 pairs of zinc and silver plates, and others, constructed
during the previous year (1813) by Mr. George J. Singer.
The above-named letter was followed (_Phil. Mag._, Vols. XLVI. pp.
401–408, and XLVII. p. 285) by a communication on the “Franklinian
Theory of the Leyden Jar ... with Some Remarks on Mr. Donovan’s
Experiments,” and by another letter sent to MM. R. Taylor and R.
Phillips (_Phil. Mag. or Annals_, Vol. I. p. 343) relative to the paper
of William Sturgeon “On the Inflammation of Gunpowder by Electricity,”
which appeared at p. 20 of the last-named book.
An interchange of correspondence not long since through the columns of
the London _Electrical Review_, for the purpose of ascertaining
the period of the earliest use of carbon as a resistant, brought forth
an extract from the “Treatise on Atmospheric Electricity,” published
at London and Edinburgh, 1830, by Mr. John Murray, of Glasgow, which
reads as follows: “Mr. Howldy, of Hereford, an ingenious electrician,
has by some novel experiments clearly proved the increased power of
electricity if retarded in its progress; instead of using tubes of
glass filled with water, as Mr. Woodward had done, he has employed a
glass tube supplied with lamp black.”
=A.D. 1814.=--Murray (John), Scotch physician and chemist, also
Ph.D., and Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in the Edinburgh
University, is the author of works entitled, “On Electrical Phenomena,
and on the new substance called Jod (Iode),” also “On the Phenomena of
Electricity,” published at London, respectively, during the years 1814
and 1815 (Tilloch’s _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XLIII. pp. 270–272; XLV.
pp. 38–41; “Catalogue Sci. Pap. Roy. Soc.,” Vol. IV. pp. 556–557).
Dr. John Murray died July 22, 1820, in Edinburgh, the place of his
birth, as will be seen by reference to Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
XI. p. 706, and to Poggendorff, Vol. II. pp. 243, 244. He should not
be confounded, as has been done by many, with _Mr._ John Murray, whose
papers, read before the Royal Society (“Catalogue Scientific Papers,”
Vol. IV. pp. 557–559; Vol. VI. p. 731), treat of the relations of
caloric to magnetism, of the unequal distribution of caloric in voltaic
action, etc., of aerolites, of the decomposition of metallic salts
by the magnet, of the ignition of wires by the galvanic battery, of
lightning rods, conductors, etc. (These papers appear in Tilloch’s
_Phil. Mag._, Vols. LIV, 1819, pp. 39–43; LVIII, 1821, pp. 380–382; LX,
1822, pp. 358–361; LXI, 1823, p. 207; LXII, 1823, p. 74; LXIII, 1824,
pp. 130, 131; L. F. von Froriep, “Notizen ...” for 1823, Vol. IV. col.
198; _Edin. Phil. Jour._, Vols. XIV for 1826, pp. 57–62; XVIII for
1828, pp. 88–91; and in Sturgeon’s _Annals_, Vols. III for 1838–1839,
pp. 64–68; VII for 1841, pp. 82–83.)
Mr. John Murray is said to have been a lecturer on experimental
philosophy, and one of his most interesting reviews is the one
appearing at p. 62, Vol. XLIII of the _Phil. Mag._ regarding
Ezekiel Walker’s theory of combustion as deduced from galvanic
phenomena. Murray thinks there is much obscurity in Mr. Walker’s
solution, which arises “from his using indiscriminately the terms
heat (caloric) and combustion. Now caloric (the matter of heat) and
combustion (the act of ignition) are not identical. What may be
collected, however, from the general tenor of that paper is the theory
of Lavoisier in a new dress.”
At p. 17 of this same volume is a paper from Mr. John Webster on the
agency of electricity in contributing the peculiar properties of bodies
and producing combustion, while, at p. 20, is a letter from Mr. George
J. Singer wherein he calls Mr. Walker a novice in the science of
electricity, saying that among other things he “has yet to learn that a
conducting body supported by dry glass and surrounded by dry air may be
still very far from being insulated.”
The treatise of Mr. John Murray on “Atmospheric Electricity” previously
alluded to (at Thomas Howldy, A.D. 1814) was translated into
French (“Mém. de l’Elec. Atm.”) by J. R. D. Riffault, Paris, 1831.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag._, Vols. XLIII. p. 175; L. pp. 145,
312; LII. p. 60; LIII. pp. 268, 468; LVIII. p. 387; LX. p. 61;
LXI. p. 394; LXII. p. 456; LXIII. p. 130; also pp. 306, 307 of
Fahie’s “History,” regarding John Murray’s “Notes to Assist the
Memory in Various Sciences.”
=A.D. 1814.=--Wedgwood (Ralph), member of the family whose name
is inseparably connected with one of the most beautiful manufactures
of pottery, completes an electric telegraph, upon which he has been
steadily at work from 1806. Of its construction or mode of action he
appears, however, to have left no particulars.
At pp. 178 and 180 of “The Wedgwoods ...” by Llewellyn Jewett, London,
1865, appears the following:
“This Thomas Wedgwood was, I believe, cousin to Josiah, being son
of Aaron Wedgwood, etc., etc. ... He was a man of high scientific
attainments, and has the reputation of being the first inventor of the
electric telegraph (afterward so ably carried out by his son Ralph)
and of many other valuable works.... In 1806 Ralph Wedgwood established
himself at Charing Cross, and soon afterward his whole attention began
to be engrossed with his scheme of the electric telegraph, which in
the then unsettled state of the kingdom--in the midst of war, it must
be remembered--he considered would be of the utmost importance to the
government. In 1814, having perfected his scheme, he submitted his
proposals to Lord Castlereagh, and most anxiously waited the result
... was informed that ‘the war being at an end, the old system was
sufficient for the country.’ The plan, therefore, fell to the ground,
until Prof. Wheatstone, in happier and more enlightened times, again
brought up the subject with such eminent success. The plan thus brought
forward by Ralph Wedgwood, in 1814, and of which, as I have stated,
he received the first idea from his father, was described by him in a
pamphlet, entitled ‘An Address to the Public on the Advantages of a
Proposed Introduction of the Stylographic Principle of Writing Into
General Use; And Also an Improved Species of Telegraphy, Calculated for
the Use of the Public, as Well as for the Government.’”
The pamphlet is dated May 29, 1815. Fahie gives (“History,” pp.
125–127) extracts both from this pamphlet, regarding the electric
Fulguri-Polygraph, and from the communication of Mr. W. R. Wedgwood to
the _Commercial Magazine_ for December 1846, urging his father’s
claims to a share in the discovery of the electric telegraph.
REFERENCES.--“Life of Wedgwood,” by Miss Meteyard, 2 vols.,
1865–1866; J. D. Reid, “The Telegraph in America,” p. 70.
=A.D. 1814.=--Singer (George John), distinguished English scientist
and writer, publishes the first edition of his valuable “Elements of
Electricity and Electro-Chemistry,” of which translations were made, in
French by M. Thillaye, Paris, 1817, as well as in German and in Italian
during the year 1819.
Mr. Singer is the inventor of the improvement upon Mr. Bennet’s
electroscope, which is to be found illustrated and described in nearly
all works upon natural philosophy and the main design of which is to
diminish, if not totally prevent, the amount of moisture generally
precipitated upon the surface of insulators. Mr. Singer remarks that
his arrangement so effectually precludes moisture that some of the
“electrometers constructed in 1810 and which have never yet (1814)
been warmed or wiped, have still apparently the same insulating power
as at first.” The use of this apparatus is strongly recommended by Dr.
Faraday, whose instructions for the use of electrometers are given at
great length at pp. 617–619, Vol. VIII of the eighth “Britannica.”
After describing the above-named electrometer, Mr. William Sturgeon
remarks (“Lectures,” London, 1842, pp. 42, 43):
“It is frequently exceedingly difficult, without extensive reading, to
confer the merit that is due to invention on the right party, and even
then we sometimes err for want of proper information. Mr. Singer has
hitherto, with most writers, had the exclusive merit of insulating the
axial wire of the electroscope from the brass cap, by a glass tube; and
it would appear from the description he gives of this improvement in
his excellent treatise on electricity that he was not aware of anything
of the kind being previously done. It appears, however, by an article
of Mr. Erman in the _Journal de Physique_, Vol. LIX. p. 98, and
_Nicholson’s Journal_, Vol. X, published in 1805, that a Mr. Weiss
had applied the glass tube for the purpose of insulating the axial wire
of Bennet’s electroscope. The account runs thus: ‘The electrometer he
(Mr. Erman) used was that distinguished in Germany as the electrometer
of Weiss.’ From this it would appear to have been long known. ‘The
length of its leaves of gold is half an inch, and the diameter of the
glass cylinder which encloses them is three-quarters of an inch, the
height being an inch and a half. Its cover of ivory does not project
above the glass, and is perforated in the middle with a hole in which
a _smaller glass tube is fixed, and through this last tube passes
the metallic rod that serves to suspend the gold leaves_.’ Singer’s
improvement, first published in 1814, would, therefore, consist in
adding the brass ferrule, which covers the glass tube first introduced
by Weiss.”
Singer is also the inventor of one of the best-known amalgams for the
cushions of the electric machine. It is described at p. 536, Vol.
VIII of the eighth “Britannica,” where it is said that a mixture of
one part tin and two parts mercury is very effective, as is also the
amalgam consisting of mosaic gold and the deutosulphuret of tin. (Other
descriptions of the application of mosaic gold on the rubber are to
be found at p. 432, Vol. II of “Young’s Course of Lectures”; Woulfe,
_Phil. Trans._, 1771, p. 114; Bienvenu and Witry de Abt, _Lichtenb.
Mag._, Vols. II. p. 211, and IV. st. 3, pp. 58–61; Marquis de Bouillon,
“Observ. de Physique,” XXI.)
The dry electric columns which Mr. Singer invented are alluded to
in _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XLI. p. 393 and XLV. p. 359, while
the results of his experiments on the electric fusion of metallic
wires and the oxidation of metals, as well as those made upon the
electricity of sifted powders and also in order to ascertain the
effects of electricity upon gases, are to be found recorded at pp. 564,
592, 593 and 597, Vol. VIII of the 1855 “Britannica,” and at p. 46
(“Electricity”) of “Library of Useful Knowledge.”
REFERENCES.--pp. 15, 16 of the last-named work; Poggendorff,
Vol. II. pp. 938, 939; Figuier, “Exp. et Hist.,” 1857, Vol.
IV. p. 267; Sturgeon’s “Lectures,” 1842, p. 11; _Phil. Mag._,
Vols. XXXVII. p. 80; XLII. pp. 36, 261; XLIII. p. 20; XLVI. pp.
161, 259; likewise Ch. Samuel Weiss, at Poggendorff, Vol. II.
pp. 1287–1289; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XLIII, 1810, p. 166; Vol.
XLVII, 1811, pp. 3, 113, 213, 313; Vol. LVI, 1814, pp. 197, 318.
=A.D. 1814–1815.=--Fraunhofer--Frauenhofer (Joseph von), a
practical Bavarian physicist and optician, who had been assistant
to the celebrated George Reichenbach, publishes his observations
on spectra in a pamphlet entitled “Bestimmung des Brechungs und
Farbenzerstreuungs-Vermögens ...”
In the latter work will be found detailed his experiments with the
electric spark, which he found to give a different spectrum from
all other lights. Sir David Brewster says that in order to obtain a
continuous line of electrical light Fraunhofer brought to within half
an inch of each other two conductors, and united them by a very fine
glass thread. One of the conductors was connected with an electrical
machine and the other communicated with the ground. In this manner
the light appeared to pass continuously along the fibre of glass,
which consequently formed a fine and brilliant line of light. When
this luminous line was expanded by refraction, Fraunhofer saw that,
in relation to the lines of its spectrum, electric light was very
different both from the light of the sun and from that of a lamp. In
this spectrum he met with several lines partly very clear, and one of
which, in the green space, seemed very brilliant compared with other
parts of the spectrum (_Edin. Jour. of Sci._, No. XV. p. 7). He
saw in the orange another line not quite so bright, which appeared to
be of the same colour as that in lamplight spectra; but in measuring
its angle of refraction he found that its light was much more strongly
refracted, and nearly as much as the yellow rays of lamplight. In the
red rays toward the extremity of the spectrum, he observed a line
of very little brightness, and yet its light had the same degree of
refrangibility as the clear line of lamplight, while in the rest of
the spectrum he saw the other four lines sufficiently bright. In a
subsequent paper read at Munich in 1823 (“Neue Modifikation des Lichtes
...” or “New Modification of Light”) and in Schumacher’s “Astronomische
Abhandlungen,” Fraunhofer states that, by means of the large electrical
machine in the cabinet of the Academy of Munich, he obtained a spectrum
of electric light in which he recognized a great number of light lines,
and that he had determined the relative place of the lightest lines as
well as the ratios of their intensities.
The introduction of the electric spark for the purpose of volatilizing
metals was an important step in the development of spectral analysis,
but although used by both Wollaston and Fraunhofer its true value in
that particular line was not realized for many years after their time.
Fraunhofer is not only celebrated as one of the founders of spectrum
analysis, but he is well known also as the inventor of many important
philosophical instruments, being the constructor of the great Dorpat
parallactic telescope, called by Struve _the giant refractor_. It
was during the year 1814 that he measured and described the innumerable
dark lines of the solar spectrum known as Fraunhofer’s lines, which
were first noticed by Wollaston and reported upon by the latter to the
Royal Society in 1802.
REFERENCES.--M. Merz, “Das Leben und Wirken Fraunhofers,”
Landshut, 1865; Ninth “Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. IX. p. 727; “Abh.
der K. Bayer, Akad. d. Wiss.” for 1814 and 1815; Fraunhofer’s
biography in the “Memoirs of the Astronomical Society of
London,” Vol. III. p. 117; his “Determination ...” München,
1819; Whewell, “Hist. of Ind. Sci.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 475;
_Sci. Am._, Nov. 19, 1887, p. 321; _Phil. Trans._ for 1814,
pp. 204, 205, and for 1820, p. 95; Tyndall, “Heat as a Mode of
Motion,” 1873, pp. 485, 486; article “Optics” in eighth “Encycl.
Brit.,” Vol. XVI. pp. 544, 588, 591; Sir David Brewster’s
article on “Electricity” in the “Encycl. Brit.”; “Mem. of the
Roy. Bav. Acad. of Sci.” for 1822; “On the Spectrum of the
Electric Arc,” in Jas. Dredge’s “Elec. Illum.,” Vol. I. pp. 32,
36; _Edin. Trans._, Vol. VIII for 1822; _Edin. Jour. Sci._, Vol.
XIII. pp. 101, 251; _Biblioth. Univ._, Vol. VI. p. 21, as per
Becquerel’s “Traité ...” Vol. I. p. 23; Dr. William A. Miller’s
first and third lectures before the Royal Institution in 1867;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 136; Rich. A.
Proctor, “Old and New Astronomy,” 1892, p. 787.
=A.D. 1815.=--Bohnenberger (Johann Joseph Friedrich von), 1765–1831,
Professor of Mathematics and of Astronomy at the Tübingen University,
constructs an extremely sensitive electrometer by suspending a single
strip of gold leaf upon a wire midway between, though apart from, the
insulated terminating discs of De Luc’s column.
With this contrivance he found that, however slightly the leaf was
electrified, it was drawn to one of the poles according to the nature
of the electricity affecting it, and he was thus enabled to observe not
only the presence of the slightest electrical influence, but the kind
of electricity which was present.
Noad gives, at p. 30 of his “Manual,” an illustration of the
electrometer as subsequently improved by Becquerel, and states that Mr.
Sturgeon describes (“Lectures on Galvanism,” 1843) a somewhat similar
arrangement, the delicacy of which he states to be such that the cap
(plate) being of zinc and of the size of a sixpence, the pendant leaf
is caused to lean toward the negative pole by merely pressing a plate
of copper, also the size of a sixpence, upon it, and when the copper is
suddenly lifted up the leaf strikes. The different electrical states of
the inside and outside of various articles of clothing were readily
ascertained by this delicate electroscope.
M. Gottlieb Christian Bohnenberger, of Neuenberg (1732–1807), is
the author of several works treating particularly of the electrical
machine, the electric spark, the electric doubler, etc., published at
Stuttgart between 1784 and 1798.
REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. VII. p. 84; L. W.
Gilbert, _Annalen der Physik_, Vols. XXIII (for Behrend’s);
XLIX, LI (for “Beschreibung ... empfindlichen elektrometers
...”); _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_, Vol. XVI. p. 91; J.
C. Poggendorff, “Biogr.-Liter. Handwörterbuch ...” Vol. I. p.
226; _Sci. Am. Supp._, No. 519, p. 8290, for Pouillet’s remarks
upon the effectiveness of dry pile electroscopes; De la Rive,
“Treatise on Electricity,” Vol. I. pp. 54–56.
=A.D. 1815.=--Mr. B. M. Forster sends to the _Philosophical
Magazine_ (Vol. XLVII. pp. 344–345) the description of an electrical
instrument called “The Thunderstorm Alarum,” which can be made to
show the effect produced by the passage of a charged cloud over an
_atmospherical electrometer_.
He had several years before described, at p. 205 of the same
publication, a method of fitting up in portable form one of De Luc’s
electrical columns, respecting which latter he subsequently addressed
communications, which appeared in Vols. XXXV. pp. 317, 399, 468; XXXVI.
pp. 74, 317, 472; XXXVII. pp. 197, 265, also relative to one which he
constructed and which ran continuously for five months.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Mag._, Vol. IV for 1828, p. 463; eighth
“Britannica,” Vol. XXI. p. 619.
=A.D. 1815.=--Gregory (Olinthus Gilbert), LL.D., Professor of
Mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in his “Treatise
on Mechanics,” London, 1815 (Vol. II. pp. 442–449), describes the
methods of transmitting distant signals introduced by Polybius, the
Marquis of Worcester, Robert Hooke, Amontons and Chappe, and alludes to
an improved telegraph described in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” as well
as to the so-called nocturnal telegraph, of which an account is to be
found in the _Repertory of the Arts and Manufactures_ (“Biographie
Générale,” Tome XXI. p. 903).
=A.D. 1815.=--In the _Philosophical Magazine_ (Vol. XLVI. pp. 161,
259), will be found an account of the electrical experiments of M. De
Nelis, of Mechlin, or Malines, in the Netherlands, with an extension of
them by George J. Singer and Andrew Crosse.
These allude to many investigations made during previous years by
M. De Nelis, who reported upon them to Mr. Tilloch and to M. de la
Méthérie, and which show “very remarkable and permanent evidence of the
expansive power of the electric charge.” Singer adds: “It is difficult
to contemplate such extraordinary mechanical effects without admitting
that the power by which they are produced has at least the leading
characteristics of a material substance.” At p. 127, Vol. XLVIII of the
_Phil. Mag._, is an account of some further electrical experiments
of M. De Nelis, one of which is intended to improve the simple current
with an apparatus not insulated by discs. In this communication, which
bears date July 10, 1815, he discourses upon the theory of the two
fluids.
=A.D. 1816.=--Coxe (John Redman), M.D., Professor of Chemistry in
the University of Pennsylvania, is the second to propose a system of
transmitting signals, based, like Sömmering’s (A.D. 1809),
upon the discovery of Nicholson and Carlisle.
In the first series of Dr. Thos. Thomson’s _Annals of Philosophy_
for 1816 (not 1810), Vol. VII. pp. 162, 163, will be found Coxe’s
letter “On the Use of Galvanism as a Telegraph,” wherein he says:
“I have contemplated this important agent as a probable means of
establishing telegraphic communication with as much rapidity, and
perhaps less expense, than any hitherto employed. I do not know how far
experiment has determined galvanic action to be communicated by means
of wires; but there is no reason to suppose it confined as to limits,
certainly not as to time. Now, by means of apparatus fixed at certain
distances, as telegraphic stations, by tubes for the decomposition
of water, metallic salts, etc., regularly arranged, such a key might
be adopted as would be requisite to communicate words, sentences or
figures, from one station to another, and so on to the end of the
line.... As it takes up little room, and may be fixed in private, it
might in many cases of besieged towns, etc., convey useful intelligence
with scarcely a chance of detection by the enemy. However fanciful in
speculation, I have no doubt that, sooner or later, it will be rendered
in useful practice. I have thus, my dear sir, ventured to encroach
on your time with some crude ideas that may serve perhaps to elicit
some useful experiments in the hands of others. When we consider what
wonderful results have arisen from the first trifling experiments
of the junction of a small piece of silver and zinc in so short a
period, what may not be expected from the further extension of galvanic
electricity? I have no doubt of its being the chief agent in the hands
of nature in the mighty changes that occur around us. If metals are
compound bodies, which I doubt not, will not this active principle
combine their constituents in numerous places so as to explain their
metallic formation; and if such constituents are in themselves
aeriform, may not galvanism reasonably tend to explain the existence of
metals in situations in which their specific gravities certainly do not
entitle us to look for them?”
Coxe does not appear, however, to have at any time made satisfactory
experiments, and his systems were considered impracticable until worked
out by Alex. Bain during the year 1840.
At pp. 99–110, Vol. II of Dr. Coxe’s _Emporium of Arts and Sciences_,
Philadelphia, 1812, will be found his illustrated “Description of a
Revolving Telegraph,” for conveying intelligence by figures, letters,
words or sentences, upon which plan, he says, he constructed a small
telegraph that worked “readily and appropriately, although by no means
fitted with the various pulleys, etc., to facilitate the motion of the
ropes.”
REFERENCES.--For full explanation of Coxe’s systems, see L.
Turnbull, “Elect. Mag. Tel.” Highton’s “Electric Telegraph,” p.
39; _Jour. Franklin Inst._, Vol. XXI. for 1851, pp. 332, 333;
_Comptes Rendus_ for 1838, Vol. VII. pp. 593, etc.; _Sci. Am.
Supp._, Nos. 404, p. 6446, and 453, p. 7234; Alfred Vail, “The
American Electro-Magnetic Telegraph,” pp. 128, 129; Prime’s
“Life of Morse,” p. 263.
=A.D. 1816.=--In Part I of the _Philosophical Transactions_ for 1816,
and at p. 14, Vol. XLVII of the _Philosophical Magazine_, will be seen
an account of the observations and experiments made by Mr. John T.
Todd on the _torpedo_ off the Cape of Good Hope, during the year 1812
(“Abstracts of Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. p. 57).
It is said that the _torpedo_ in this locality is never more than
eight nor less than five inches in length, and never more than five
nor less than three and a half inches in breadth. Mr. Todd found the
columns of their electrical organs to be larger and less numerous in
proportion than those described by Hunter, and that they appeared to
be of a cylindrical form, while from a number of experiments he drew,
among other conclusions, the fact that a more intimate relation exists
between the nervous system and electrical organs of the _torpedo_,
both as to structure and functions, than between the same and
whatsoever organs of any known animal. (See Hunter at A.D.
1773.)
Reports of another series of experiments, carried on by Mr. Todd at
La Rochelle during 1816, will be found in the _Phil. Trans._ for
the year following as well as at p. 57, Vol. II of the “Abstracts of
Papers ... of the _Phil. Trans._, 1800–1830.” The last-named
investigations were made especially to determine whether the
_torpedo_ possessed any voluntary power over the electrical
organs, either in exciting or interrupting their action, except
through the nerves of these organs.
=A.D. 1816.=--Philip--Phillip--(Wilson), English physician,
publishes in the _Philosophical Transactions_ a continuation of
researches made by him to establish the relations existing between
the phenomena of life and voltaic electricity. Noad gives (“Manual,”
pp. 341–344) an account of some of the experiments made on animals to
prove the analogy existing between the galvanic energy and the nervous
influence, and he alludes also to the fact of asthma having been
relieved by galvanism through Dr. Philip, whose treatment had received
the endorsement of Dr. Clarke Abel, of Brighton.
REFERENCES.--_Journal of Science_, Vol. IX. See also Faraday’s
“Experimental Researches,” 1791 and note; “Abstract of Papers
... _Phil. Trans._, 1800–1830,” Vol. II for 1822, p. 156.
=A.D. 1816.=--The Rev. James Bremmer, of the Shetland Islands, is
rewarded by the Society of Arts for his night telegraph, the operation
of which consists in the alternate exhibition and concealment of a
torch in manner similar to that devised by Joachimus Fortius for
Bishop Wilkins, as stated at A.D. 1641. This plan is said to have been
successfully operated between the Copeland Island lighthouse and Port
Patrick on the other side of the English Channel.
Particulars of the above-named night telegraph, as well as of the
apparatus devised for day service, will be found in the _Trans. of
the Soc. of Arts_, Vol. XXXIV. pp. 30, 213–227. The day telegraph
consisted of a framework, having two circular openings, in each of
which was a semicircular screen or shutter which, revolving upon
an axis in the centre of the circle, was capable of assuming four
different positions. This contrivance expressed an alphabet of sixteen
letters, by dividing the latter into four classes of four each, and
making one screen or shutter express the class, while the other
indicated the number of the letter in that class.
=A.D. 1816.=--Sir Home Riggs Popham (1762–1820) British naval
officer, who had been a rear-admiral in 1814, introduces his land
semaphore which shows a great improvement upon all previous ones and
at once replaces the Murray apparatus heretofore used by the English
Admiralty (see A.D. 1795). It consists only of two arms placed
upon the same hollow hexagonal mast, and movable upon separate pivots,
each of which can be made to assume six different positions, giving
together forty-eight different signals. It is fully described and
illustrated at pp. 30, 167–177, Vol. XXXIV of the _Trans. of the Soc.
of Arts_, and also appears in the “Telegraph” article, Vol. II of
the “Encycl. of Useful Arts,” as well as at p. 149, Vol. XXIV of the
“Penny Encycl.,” at pp. 67, 68, Vol. VIII of the (“Arts and Sciences”)
“English Encycl.,” and in the “Telegraph” article by Sir John Barrow,
one of the secretaries to the Admiralty, in the seventh “Britannica.”
In this same year (1816), Sir Home Popham also introduced a ship
semaphore, which latter, as well as other similar devices of his
construction, is to be found in the several publications already
mentioned (the “Navy” article of the “Britannica” and pp. xii, xiii of
Ronalds’ “Catalogue”).
=A.D. 1816.=--Ronalds (Francis), English experimentalist
(1788–1873)--F.R.S., 1844, knighted 1870--whose serious attention
to the development of electrical science appears to date from his
meeting with M. De Luc in 1814, constructs at Hammersmith his telegraph
which is the type of all dial instruments and which first presents
the employment of two synchronous movements at the two stations. The
telegraph is fully described and illustrated in the “Description of an
Electrical Telegraph and of Some Other Electrical Apparatus,” 8vo, 83
pages, which Mr. Ronalds issued in pamphlet form, London, 1823, and
which is said to be the first work published on electric telegraphy.
Copious extracts from this are to be found at pp. viii-xi of the
Ronalds “Catalogue,” and at pp. 129, 135–145, of Fahie’s “History,” the
latter also containing several fine plates reproduced from the original
work.
For his experimental line, Ronalds “erected two strong frames of wood
at a distance of 20 yards from each other, and each containing 19
horizontal bars; to each bar he attached 37 hooks, and to the hooks
were applied as many silken cords, which supported a small iron wire
(by these means well insulated), which (making its inflections at the
points of support) composed in one continuous length a distance of
rather more than eight miles.” After making many experiments with this
overhead line, he thus laid one underground:
“A trench was dug in the garden 525 feet in length, and four feet deep.
In this was laid a trough of wood two inches square, well lined on the
inside and out with pitch, and within this trough thick glass tubes
were placed, through which the wire ran.”
His biographer, Mr. Frost, adds:
“In order to prevent the tubes from breaking by the variation of
temperature, each length was laid a short distance from the next
length, and the joint made with soft wax. The trough was then covered
with pieces of wood, screwed upon it whilst the pitch was hot. They
were also well covered with pitch, and the earth then thrown into the
trench again.”
Mr. Edward Highton, at p. 40 of his work, the “Electric Telegraph,”
1852, says:
“Ronalds employed an ordinary electric machine and the pith-ball
electrometer in the following manner. He placed two clocks at two
stations; these two clocks had upon the second hand arbor a dial with
twenty letters on it; a screen was placed in front of each of these
dials, and an orifice was cut in each screen, so that only one letter
at a time could be seen on the revolving dial. The clocks were made to
go isochronously; and as the dials moved round the same letter always
appeared through the orifices of each of these screens. The pith-ball
electrometers were hung in front of the dials. The attention of the
observer was called through the agency of an inflammable air gun fired
by an electric spark.”
Realizing the value of his invention, Ronalds strove to bring it before
the English Government, but was met (Aug. 5, 1816), with much the same
encouragement we have seen vouchsafed Sharpe (A.D. 1813), and Wedgwood
(A.D. 1814), viz. “Telegraphs of any kind are now wholly unnecessary
and no other than the one now in use will be adopted.” The one alluded
to was the semaphore line between London and Portsmouth, originally
of the Chappe pattern and improved upon by Charles W. Pasley and Rear
Admiral Popham.
Alluding to Mr. (afterward Sir) John Barrow’s letter in a note at p. 24
of his work Ronalds says:
“... Should they again become necessary, however, perhaps electricity
and electricians may be indulged by his Lordship and Mr. Barrow with an
opportunity of proving what they are capable of in this way.”
He was so disappointed that he not long after announced his “taking
leave of a science which once afforded him a favourite source of
amusement,” and that he was “compelled to bid a cordial adieu to
electricity.” Fortunately for the scientific world, however, he
afterward gave his attention again to electrical matters as is
evidenced by many important papers contained in the publications noted
below.
In Ronalds’ afore-named work the phenomenon of retardation of signals
in buried wires is clearly foreseen and described, although Zetzsche
endeavours to combat this assertion at p. 38 of his “Geschichte der
Elektrischen Telegraphie,” Berlin, 1867. Speaking of the apprehended
difficulty of keeping the wire charged with electricity, Ronalds
suggests that when not at work “the machine be still kept in gentle
motion to supply the loss of electricity by default of insulation;
which default, perhaps, could not be avoided, because (be the
atmosphere ever so dry, and the glass insulators ever so perfect),
conductors are, I believe, robbed of their electricity by the same
three processes by which Sir Humphry Davy and Mr. Leslie say that
bodies are robbed of their sensible heat, viz. by radiation, by
conduction, and by the motion of the particles of air.” He also gives
descriptions of an improved electrical machine (eighth “Britannica,”
Vol. VIII. p. 536; _Sci. Am. Supp._, No. 647, p. 10326; Noad’s
“Manual,” p. 69), of a new method of electrical insulation and of some
experiments on Vesuvius (_Quarterly Jour. of Sci._, Vols. II.
p. 249; XIV. pp. 332–334), of a new electrograph for registering the
charge of atmospheric electricity, of a pendulum doubler (_Edin.
Phil. Jour._, Vol. IX, 1823, pp. 323–325) and of an attempt to apply
M. De Luc’s electric column to the measurement of time. His other
contributions relative to the dry pile are to be found in the _Phil.
Mag._, Vols. XLIII. p. 414, and XLV. p. 466.
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Mem. of Sir Francis Ronalds, F.R.S.,” by
Alfred J. Frost, in Ronalds’ “Catalogue”; “Mem. of Dist. Men of
Science,” by William Walker; Ronalds’ “Corres. and Memoir.,”
in 1848–1849, to 1853, to April 17, 1855, to June 5, 1856, to
Sept. 2, 1862, and in 1866–1870; Ronalds’ “Walk Through ... Exh.
of 1855”; _Illustrated London News_ of April 30, 1870; eighth
“Britannica,” Vol. VIII. pp. 622, 627, for Ronalds’ improved
electrometers and his telegraph; _Nature_, London, Nov. 23,
1871, Vol. V. p. 59; _Journal of the Telegraph_, March 15,
1875, Vol. VIII. p. 82, reporting the inaugural address of Mr.
Latimer Clark before the English Society of Tel. Engineers;
_Comptes Rendus_ for 1838, Vol. VII. pp. 593, etc.; _Sci. Am.
Supp._, No. 384, pp. 6, 127; No. 547, p. 8735, and No. 659,
p. 10521, for his Telegraph; “Bombay Mag. Observatory,” 1850;
_Fortschrift des Phys._, Vol. III. p. 586, and Buys-Ballot
“Meteor. Preisfrage,” 1847, for Ronalds’ apparatus to measure
atmospheric electricity; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XLIV. p. 442;
XLV. p. 261; XLVI. p. 203; and third series, Vols. XXVIII for
1846; XXXI. p. 191; British Ass. Reports for 1845, 1846, and
Reports concerning the Kew Observatory for 1845, 1850, 1852;
_Phil. Trans._ for 1847, Moigno’s _Le Cosmos_, Vol. XIII; L. Von
Forster, “All. Bauzeitung” for 1848, p. 238; Noad’s “Manual,”
pp. 184, 185, 748; Knight’s “Mechanical Dictionary,” Vol. I. p.
708; Turnbull’s “Electro-magnetic Telegraph,” p. 22; _Annals
of Electricity_, Vol. III. p. 449; “English Cyclop.” (Arts and
Sci.), Vol. VIII. pp. 71, 72; _Jour. Soc. Teleg. Eng._, 1879,
Part XV, xxxviii; Vol. VIII, first part, p. 361; Reply to Mr. W.
F. Cooke’s pamphlet, “The Elec. Teleg.: Was it Invented by Prof.
Wheatstone?” London, 1855; Du Moncel, Vol. III; “Telegraphic
Tales,” 1880, p. 42; J. D. Reid, “The Telegraph in America,”
1887, p. 71; Ure’s “Dict. of Arts,” etc., London, 1878, Vol. II
(Elect. Metal.), p. 230; T. P. Schaffner, “Tel. Man.,” 1859, pp.
147–156; Silliman, “Principles of Physics,” 1869, p. 617; “Edin.
Phil. Journal,” 1823, Vol. IX. pp. 322, 395.
=A.D. 1816.=--Porret (Robert) (1783–1868) communicates to the _Annals
of Philosophy_ (Vol. VIII. p. 74) a paper “On Two Curious Galvanic
Experiments” (Electrovection, Voltaic Endosmose, or Electro-chemical
Filtration).
He observed that when water was placed in a diaphragm apparatus, one
side of which was connected with the positive and the other side with
the negative electrode of the battery, that a considerable portion
of the liquid was transferred from the positive toward the negative
side of the arrangement. It has since been found that the same result
occurs in a minor degree when saline solutions are electrolyzed,
and, generally, the greater the resistance which the liquid offers
to electrolysis the greater is the amount which is thus mechanically
carried over.... It appears from the researches of Wiedemann (Pogg.,
_Ann._, Vol. LXXXVII. p. 321), which have been confirmed by those of
Quincke, that the amount of liquid transferred, _cæteris paribus_,
is proportioned to the strength or intensity of the current; that it
is independent of the thickness of the diaphragm by which the two
portions of liquid are separated; and that when different solutions
are employed, the amount transferred in each case, by currents of
equal intensity, is directly proportional to the specific resistance
of the liquid. Miller, from whom the above is taken, says that this
transfer has been minutely studied by Quincke, and gives an account of
the latter’s work extracted from the _Ann. de Chimie_, LXIII. p. 479.
Brewster’s allusion to Porret and Wiedemann (eighth “Britannica,” Vol.
VIII. p. 630) is followed by the statement that Mr. Graham considers
ordinary endosmose as produced by the electricity of chemical action.
REFERENCES.--Graham, Vol. II. p. 266; De la Rive’s
“Electricity,” Chap. IV. pp. 424–443; “Roy. Soc. Cat. of Sci.
Papers,” Vol. IV. pp. 987, 988; Wm. Henry, “Elem. of Exp. Chem.”
1823, Vol. I. p. 178; C. Matteucci, “Traité des Phénom. Elect.
Phys.,” 1844, p. 262 for Porret and Becquerel; Sturgeon’s “Sc.
Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 544; Poggendorff, Vol. II. p. 503;
“Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. III, N.S., 1816, p. 15 (Thomson’s “Annals”
for July 1816).
=A.D. 1817.=--Mr. J. Connolly makes known through an English
and French pamphlet, entitled “An Essay on Universal Telegraphic
Communication,” the details of his portable telegraph.
As shown in the thirty-sixth volume of the _Transactions of the
Society of Arts_ and in the twenty-fourth volume of the “Penny
Cyclopædia,” his apparatus consists merely of three square boards
painted with simple devices, like triangles, crescents, etc., the
colours on the one side being the reverse of those on the other. Each
of the six figures thus obtained is capable of producing four different
distinct signals, making in all twenty-four, by successively turning
each side of the board downward. In experiments made at Chatham, boards
only eighteen inches square were found to answer for a distance of two
miles, with a telescope having a magnifying power of twenty-five; and
Mr. Connolly had also, it is said, exhibited these signals between
Gros-nez and Sarque, a distance of seventeen miles, with boards twelve
feet square.
At pp. 205, 208, of the _Transactions of the Society of Arts_,
1818, Vol. XXXV, and at p. 98, Vol. XXXVI for 1819, will be found
Mr. Connolly’s system of telegraphing by means of flags in manner
different from that of Lieut.-Col. John Macdonald alluded to at Pasley,
A.D. 1808.
=A.D. 1817.=--In the “Encycl. Brit.” article treating of the influence
of magnetism on chemical action, it is said that M. Muschman, Professor
of Chemistry in the University of Christiania, made experiments to
ascertain the effect of the earth’s magnetism on the precipitation of
silver.
Desirous of explaining the chemical theory of the tree of Diana
(_Arbor Dianæ_, first observed by Leméry), “he took a tube like a
siphon and poured mercury into it, which accordingly occupied the lower
part of the two branches; above the mercury he poured a strong solution
of nitrate of silver. He then placed the two branches of the siphon
so that the plane passing through them was in the magnetic meridian,
and after standing a few seconds the silver began to precipitate
itself with its natural lustre; but it accumulated particularly in the
northern branch of the siphon, while that which was less copiously
precipitated in the other branch had a less brilliant lustre, and was
mixed with the mercurial salt deposited from the solution.” Muschman
and Prof. Hansteen, having repeated this experiment with the same
result, concluded that the magnetism of the earth had an influence
on the precipitation of silver from a solution of its nitrate, and
Muschman inferred from the experiment the identity of galvanism and
magnetism (eighth “Britannica,” Vol. XIV. p. 42).
=A.D. 1817.=--Freycinet (Claude Louis Desaulses de) (1779–1842),
captain in the French navy, is sent in command of an expedition fitted
out by the French Government for the purpose of making scientific
observations in a voyage round the world. The experimental stations
were the Island of Rawak (near the coast of Guinea), Guam (one of the
Ladrones), the Isle of France, Mowi (one of the Sandwich Islands),
Rio Janeiro, Port Jackson, Cape of Good Hope, Paris and the Falkland
Islands, as described in his “Voyage Autour du Monde ...” Paris, 1842.
His observations on the diurnal variations of the needle, which confirm
the investigations made by Lieut.-Col. John Macdonald (A.D.
1808), are to be found at p. 54, Vol. XIV of the eighth “Britannica.”
REFERENCES.--His “Voyage de Découvertes ... 1800–1804 ...” (F.
Péron and Louis Freycinet), also his “Navigation et Géog. ...”
1815; the note at p. 158, Vol. I of Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” London,
1849; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LVII. p. 20.
=A.D. 1817.=--In Vol. XLII. pp. 165, 166, of the _Transactions
of the Society of Arts_ will be found a record of the explanation
of his magnetic guard for needle pointers which Mr. Westcott made
before the Committee of Mechanics during the year 1817. This is said to
consist of several “bar magnets smeared over with oil placed in a frame
behind the grindstone.”
=A.D. 1818.=--Bostock (John) (1774–1846), English physician, F.R.S.,
lecturer at Guy’s Hospital, publishes in London his “Account of the
History and Present State of Galvanism,” which is scarcely more than a
compilation of works treating of that branch of science.
One of the passages is, however, worth quoting, for it reflects the
opinion shared by many physicists of the time that the resources of
the galvanic field were already wellnigh exhausted. It thus appears
at p. 102: “Although it may be somewhat hazardous to form predictions
respecting the progress of science, I may remark that the impulse which
was given in the first instance by Galvani’s original experiments,
was revived by Volta’s discovery of the pile, and was carried to
the highest pitch by Sir H. Davy’s application of it to chemical
decomposition, seems to have, in a great measure, subsided. It may be
conjectured that we have carried the power of the instrument to the
utmost extent of which it admits; and it does not appear that we are at
present in the way of making any important additions to our knowledge
of its effects, or of obtaining any new light upon the theory of its
action.”
Bostock is also the author of “Outline of the History of the Galvanic
Apparatus”; “On the Theory of Galvanism” (_Nicholson’s Journal_ for
1802); “On the Hypothesis of Galvanism” (_Annals of Philosophy_, III,
1814), and of other works upon different scientific subjects. Reference
is made by Mr. William Leithead (“Electricity,” London, 1837, Chap. VI.
pp. 296, 297) to Bostock’s “Elementary System of Physiology,” 1827,
Vol. II. pp. 413, etc., wherein is shown among other results, that,
contrary to the views of Dr. Philip, there is no necessary connection
between “the nervous influence” and the action of the glands. At p. 306
of Leithead appears another extract, from the third volume of Bostock,
relative to the application of the electro-physiological theory in
elucidating the phenomena of disease.
REFERENCES.--Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp. 249, 250; “Nicholson’s
Journal,” Vols. II. p. 296, and III. p. 3; Figuier, “Expos. et
Histoire,” 1857, Vol. IV. p. 425; Gilbert, Vol. XII. p. 476.
=A.D. 1819.=--Hansteen (Christoph) (1784–1873), Norwegian astronomer
and physicist, embodies in his notable work, “Untersuchungen über den
Magnetismus der Erde ...” (“Inquiries regarding the magnetism of the
earth”), the result of his extensive researches concerning terrestrial
magnetism, the account of which is accompanied by a chart indicating
the magnetic direction and dip at numerous places. This work, which is
said to have been practically completed in 1813 (Humboldt, “Cosmos,”
1859, Vol. V. p. 66), was translated by the celebrated Peter Andreas
Hansen (Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp. 1013–1015) from the original
manuscript and published in German. It attracted much attention
throughout the scientific world, and so highly was it thought of that
in almost all the voyages of discovery afterwards undertaken most
magnetic observations were made according to its directions.
Through the “Encyclopædia Britannica” we learn that Hansteen’s able
work was first made known in England by Sir David Brewster through
two articles in the _Edin. Phil. Journal_ for 1820, Vol. III. p.
138, and Vol. IV. p. 114, and that an account of his subsequent
researches, drawn up by Hansteen himself, appeared in the _Edin.
Journal of Science_ for 1826, Vol. V. p. 65. It is also stated that
the Royal Society of Denmark proposed in 1811 the prize question,
“Is the supposition of one magnetical axis sufficient to account for
the magnetical phenomena of the earth, or are two necessary?” Prof.
Hansteen’s attention had been previously drawn to this subject by
seeing a terrestrial globe, on which was drawn an elliptical line
round the south pole and marked _Regio polaris magnetica_, one of the
foci being called _Regio fortior_, and the other _Regio debilior_. As
this figure professed to be drawn by Wilcke, from the observations of
Cooke and Furneaux, Hansteen was led to compare it with the facts; and
the result of his researches was favourable to that part of Halley’s
theory which assumes the existence of four poles and two magnetic axes.
Hansteen’s Memoir, which was crowned by the Danish Society, forms
the groundwork of his larger volume published in 1819. “In his fifth
chapter, on the Mathematical Theory of the Magnet, he deduces the law
of magnetic action from a series of experiments similar to those of
Hauksbee and Lambert.... In determining the intensity of terrestrial
magnetism Professor Hansteen observed that the time of vibration of
a horizontal needle varied during the day. Graham had previously
suspected a change of this kind, but his methods were not accurate
enough to prove it. Hansteen found that the minimum intensity took
place between ten and eleven a.m., and the maximum between four and
five p.m. He concluded also that there was an annual variation, the
intensity being considerably greater in winter near the perihelion, and
in summer near the aphelion; that the greatest monthly variation was a
maximum when the earth is in its perihelion or aphelion, and a minimum
near the equinoxes; and that the greatest daily variation is least in
winter and greatest in summer. He found also that the aurora borealis
weakened the magnetic force, and that the magnetic intensity is always
weakest when the moon crosses the equator.”
According to Dr. Whewell (“History of Induc. Sciences,” 1859, Vol. II.
p. 226), the conclusions reached by Hansteen respecting the position
of the four magnetic “poles” excited so much interest in his own
country that the Norwegian Storthing, or Parliament, by a unanimous
vote provided funds for a magnetic expedition which he was to conduct
along the north of Europe and Asia, and this they did at the very time
when, strange to say, they refused to make a grant to the King for
building a palace at Christiania. The expedition was made in 1828–1830,
and verified Hansteen’s anticipations as to the existence of a region
of magnetic convergence in Siberia, which he considered as indicating
a “pole” to the north of that country. The results were published in
Hansteen and Due’s “Resultate magnetischer ...” (“Magn., Astron. and
Méteor. Obs. on Journey through Siberia”) which appeared in 1863.
In the Sixth Dissertation, Chap. VII of the “Encycl. Brit.,” it is
said that, next to Prof. Hansteen, science is mainly indebted for
the great extension of our knowledge of the facts and the laws of
terrestrial magnetism to two illustrious German philosophers, Baron
Alexander von Humboldt and Prof. Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855). An
account is therein given of Gauss’s individual investigations, as well
as of the researches he made in conjunction with Wilhelm Eduard Weber
(1804–1891), who was likewise a professor at Göttingen. Of Alex. von
Humboldt, we have spoken fully under date 1799, and of Gauss and Weber,
mention has already been made at Schilling (A.D. 1812).
The very valuable contributions of Gauss and Weber appear throughout
all the many scientific publications of the period, notably in the
“Abhandlung d. Gött. Geselsch. d. Wiss.,” their joint work being shown
to advantage in the important “Resultate ... des Magnet. Vereins,”
published in Leipzig, 1837–1843.[58]
REFERENCES.--For M. Hansteen’s scientific papers and for an
account of additional magnetic results obtained by himself and
others, consult the eighth “Britannica,” Vols. I. p. 745; IV.
p. 249; XIV. pp. 15, 23, 42 (experiment with M. Muschman), 50,
55, 57–64, _et seq._, for Morlet and others; Thomson’s “Outline
of the Sciences,” London, 1830, pp. 546–548; Whewell, “History
of the Induc. Sci.,” Vol. II. pp. 613, 615, also p. 219 for
Yates and Hansteen; Johnson’s new “Univer. Encycl.,” 1878, Vol.
III. pp. 231–234 for Morlet, etc.: Weld’s “Hist. of Roy. Soc.,”
Vol. II. p. 435; “Edin. Jour. of Sci.,” London, 1826, Vols. I.
pp. 87, 334; V. pp. 65–71, 218–222; “Report of Seventh Meeting
British Association,” London, 1838, Vol. VI. pp. 76, 82; J.
G. Steinhauser’s articles published between 1803 and 1821;
Harris’ “Rudimentary Magnetism,” London, 1852, Part. III. pp.
38, 39, 111; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LIX. p. 248, and _Phil. Mag._
or _Annals_, Vol. II. p. 334; “Zeitschr. f. pop. Mitth.,” I. p.
33; Schweigger’s _Journal_, 1813–1827; Poggendorff’s _Annalen_,
1825–1855; “Académie Royale de Belgique” for 1853, 1855,
1865; C. Hansteen and C. Fearnley, “Die Univ.-Sternwarte ...”
1849; Hansteen, Lundh and Muschman, “Nyt. Mag. for Naturvid,”
1823–1856. See likewise his biography in the “English Cyclop.
Supplement,” pp. 642, 643; “Catal. Roy. Soc. Sc. Pap.,” Vol.
III. pp. 167–172; Vol. VI. p. 681, Vol. VII. p. 905; Houzeau
et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 157; “Edin. Phil.
Journal,” 1823, Vol. IX. p. 243; “Annual Rec. Sc. Disc.,” 1873,
p. 683; 1875, p. 155; Knight’s “Amer. Mech. Dict.,” 1875, Vol.
II. p. 1374, and eighth “Britan.,” Vol. XIV. p. 49, regarding
Hansteen’s lines of no variation for 1787; Humboldt’s “Cosmos,”
1859, Vol. V. pp. 110–111, for the investigations of Hansteen,
Sir Ed. Belcher and others, those of the last named being
treated of at p. 493 of the _Phil. Trans._ for 1832; Noad,
“Manual,” pp. 529, 530, 534, 616, 617, etc.; Appleton’s “New Am.
Cycl.,” Vol. XI. p. 64.
=A.D. 1819.=--Hare (Robert) (1781–1858) who was for twenty-nine
years Professor of Chemistry in the Pennsylvania University, publishes
in Philadelphia “A New Theory of Galvanism, Supported by Some
Experiments and Observations Made by Means of the Calorimotor ...”
of which an English edition appears in London the same year. (A full
review of this work is to be found more particularly at p. 206, Vol.
LIV of the _Philosophical Magazine_; in the “Encycl. Metropol.,”
Vol. IV (Galvanism), p. 222; in Ure’s “Dictionary of Chemistry,” Am.
ed., article “Calorimotor”; at p. 187 of the _Phil. Trans._ for
1823; at pp. 409, 410, Vol. I of Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” and at pp.
413–423, Vol. I of Silliman’s _Am. Jour. of Sci._, the last named
being accompanied by a very fine illustration of the Calorimotor.)
This apparatus, which has already been alluded to (Pepys, A.D. 1802),
consists of sheets of zinc about 9 inches by 6, and of copper about 14
inches by 6, coiled around one another nearly half an inch apart; there
being in all 80 coils, 2½ inches in diameter, which are let down by
means of a lever into glass vessels containing the acid solution. Dr.
Hare observes:
“Volta considered all galvanic apparatus as consisting of one or more
electromotors, or movers of the electric fluid. To me it appeared
that they were movers of both heat and electricity; the ratio of the
quantity of the latter put in motion to the quantity of the former put
in motion being as the number of the series to the superficies. Hence
the word _electromotor_ can only be applicable when the caloric
becomes evanescent, and electricity almost the sole product, as in De
Luc’s and Zamboni’s columns; and the word _calorimotor_ ought to
be used when electricity becomes evanescent and caloric appears the
sole product.”
“It afterwards appeared quite natural,” remarks Mr. W. B. Taylor (Note
B, “Mem. of Jos. Henry,” p. 376) “to distinguish these classes of
effects by the old terms--‘intensity’ for electromotive force, and
‘quantity’ for calorimotive force. There is obviously a close analogy
between these differences of condition and resultant, and the more
strongly contrasted conditions of mechanical and chemical electricity;
and indeed the whole may be said to lie in a continuous series,
from the highest ‘intensity’ with minimum quantity, to the greatest
‘quantity’ with minimum intensity.”
Two years later (1821), Dr. Hare constructed his _galvanic
deflagrator_. It consists of two pairs of troughs, each ten feet
long, and containing 150 galvanic pairs, so arranged that the plates
can all be simultaneously immersed into or withdrawn from the acid.
Each pair turns on pivots made of iron, coated with brass or copper,
and a communication is established between these and the voltaic series
within by means of small strips of copper. The “Encycl. Brit.” gives
a full description of the construction and working of the apparatus,
as do also the “Encycl. Metropol.,” Vol. IV (Galv.), p. 176; Noad
(“Manual,” pp. 266, 267); Gmelin (“Chemistry,” Vol. I. pp. 409, 410),
and Silliman (“Journal of Sci. and Arts,” Vol. VII. p. 347). The
first-named publication says of Dr. Hare’s _deflagrator_:
“A brilliant light, equal to that of the sun, was produced between
charcoal points, and plumbago and charcoal were fused by Profs.
Silliman and Griscom. By a series of 250, baryta was deflagrated, and
a platina wire, three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness, ‘was made to
flow like water.’ In the experiments with charcoal, the charcoal on the
copper side had no appearance of fusion, but a crater-shaped cavity was
formed within it, indicating that the charcoal was volatilized at this
side and transferred to the other, where it was condensed and fused,
the piece of charcoal at this pile being elongated considerably. This
fused charcoal was four times denser than before fusion. In a letter
from Prof. Silliman, which was transcribed in the _Sc. Am. Sup._
for Sept. 21, 1878, he says: ‘Undoubtedly the earliest exhibitions
of electric light from the voltaic battery were those made with the
deflagrators of Dr. Hare by Prof. Silliman at New Haven in 1822, and
subsequently on a magnificent scale at Boston in 1834, when an arc of
over five inches diameter was produced by the simultaneous immersion
of 900 large-sized couples of Hare’s deflagrator. But no means had
then been devised for the regulation of the electric light to render
it constant, and although the writer as early as 1842 used this light
successfully to produce daguerreotypes, the progress of invention had
yet to make further use of the discovery of science before electrical
illumination was possible.’”
The description of Dr. Hare’s electrical machine (before alluded
to at Van Marum A.D. 1785), wherein the plate is mounted
horizontally so as to show both negative and positive electricity,
was published in London during 1823, and can be found in Vol. LXII of
the _Phil. Mag._, as well as at pp. 538, 604, 605, Vol. VIII of
the 1855 “Encycl. Brit.” In the last-named article mention is made of
the introduction of a band (illustrated Fig. 7, Plate CCXXII) which
prevents the plate from being cracked, as it frequently is, through
some hasty effort to put it in motion while it adheres to the cushions.
It is also therein stated that in order to offset the heavy expense
attending the breakage of large cylinders and plates, M. Walkiers
de St. Amand, of Brussels, among many others, made an apparatus
of varnished silk 25 feet long and 5 feet wide, capable of giving
sparks 15 inches long (see A.D. 1785), while Dr. Ingen-housz
constructed machines with pasteboard discs four feet in diameter,
soaked in copal or amber varnish dissolved in linseed oil, which gave
sparks of one and even two feet in length.
In the fifth volume, new series, of the _Amer. Phil. Trans._
will be found Dr. Hare’s “Description of an Electrical Machine,” with
a plate four feet in diameter, so constructed as to be above the
operator; also of a battery discharger employed therewith, and some
observations on the causes of the diversity in the length of the sparks
erroneously distinguished by the terms positive and negative. Hare is
also the inventor of a single gold-leaf electroscope of such great
delicacy that it has, he says, enabled him to detect the electricity
produced by one contact between a zinc and copper disc, each six
inches in diameter (Noad, “Manual,” p. 29; Harris’ “Rudim. Elect.,”
p. 50; Silliman’s _Journal_, Vol. XXXV). He invented several
other electrical appliances, and he is likewise the author of numerous
important memoirs which it would be impossible to detail in the narrow
limits of this “Bibliographical History.” They will, however, be found
recorded in the publications named below.
REFERENCES.--_Phil. Trans._ for 1769, Vol. LXIX. p. 659. See
also, for Walkiers de St. Amand, the entry at A.D. 1785, as
well as Lichtenberg’s _Magazin_, Vol. III, 1st, p. 118, for the
last-named year. To these might be added the machines made by
Mundt, of silken strips (Gren’s _Journal der Physik._, Vol. VII.
p. 319); by N. Rouland, “Descript. des mach, elec. à taffetas,”
Amsterdam, 1785; by Croissant and Thore; of paper by W. H.
Barlow (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXXVII. p. 428), of gutta percha;
as well as machines of rubber by Fabre and Kunneman, as shown
at Th. Du Moncel’s “Exposé des appl. de l’El.,” second ed., p.
399, and third ed., 1872, Vol. II. pp. 78, 122, 265, besides the
peculiarly constructed machines of Erdmann Wolfram (Ferussac,
“Bulletin des Sciences Tech.” for 1824); of G. H. Seiferheld,
“Beschreib ... elektrische mach,” 1787; of F. E. Neuman, as
modified by F. Zantedeschi (“Ann. Sci. Lom.-Ven.,” XII. p. 73),
and of those described at p. 420, Vol. II, and at p. 4, Vol.
III of _Nicholson’s Magazine_. Consult likewise, pp. 335, 340,
second Am. ed. of the “New Edin. Encycl.,” 1817. Poggendorff,
Vol. I. pp. 1018, 1019; “Cat. Sci. Papers of Roy. Soc.,” Vol.
III. pp. 177–182; Vol. VI. p. 182; Silliman’s _Am. Jour. Sci.
and Arts_, Vols. II. pp. 312, 326; III. p. 105; IV. p. 201; V.
p. 94; VII. pp. 103, 108, 351; VIII. pp. 99, 145; X. p. 67;
XII. p. 36; XIII. p. 322; XV. p. 271; XXIV. p. 253, XXV. p.
136; XXXI. p. 275; XXXII. pp. 272, 275–278, 280–285; XXXIII. p.
241; XXXV. p. 329; XXXVII. pp. 269, 383; XXXVIII. pp. 1, 336,
339; XXXIX. p. 108; XL. pp. 48, 303; XLI. p. 1, and XLIII. p.
291; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. LVII. p. 284; LXII. pp. 3, 8, etc.;
_Phil. Mag._ or _Annals_, Vol. VI. pp. 114, 171; _Journal of
the Franklin Institute_, third series. Vol. XV. pp. 188, etc.;
_Trans. of the Am. Phil. Soc._, N.S., Vol. VI. p. 297 (for Hare
and Allen) also pp. 339, 341, 343, and Vol. VII for 1841; “Mem.
Jos. Henry,” Washington, 1880, p. 82; Figuier, “Exp. et Hist.,”
1857, Vol. IV. pp. 391, 401, 402; Dr. Thomas Thomson, “Outline
of the Sc.,” London, 1830, pp. 515, 517; Appleton’s “New
Amer. Cycl.,” Vol. VII. p. 66; Appleton’s “Dict. of Machines,
Mechanics ...” 1861, pp. 432, 433; Dr. William Henry, “Elem. of
Exper. Chem.,” London, 1823, Vol. I. p. 169, and Supplement,
Chap. VII. p. 29; “Annual of Sc. Disc.” for 1862, p. 99.
=A.D. 1819.=--Gmelin (Leopold), the most distinguished member of
the family of that name, publishes, at Frankfort, 1817–1819, the first
edition of his celebrated “Handbuch d. theoret. Chemie,” which embodies
the whole extent of chemical science as it then existed and the fourth
and last edition of which, under the author’s supervision, appeared
during 1843–1845. This extensive work is well known, both in its
original form and through the very able translation of it made by Mr.
Henry Watts. In the report of the Council of the Chemical Society for
1854, it is said that “the greatest service which Gmelin rendered to
science--a service in which he surpassed all his predecessors and all
his contemporaries--consists in this: that he collected and arranged
in order all the facts that have been discovered in connection with
chemistry. His Handbuch der theoret Chemie stands alone. Other writers
on chemistry have indeed arranged large quantities of materials in
systematic order, but for completeness and fidelity of collation and
consecutiveness of arrangement, Gmelin’s Handbuch is unrivalled.”
Although many references have been made herein to Leopold Gmelin’s
treatment of such departments of science as directly appeal to the
readers of this compilation, it is well to mention some of the
headings under which they are to be found. They are, “Electricity,”
“Electro-chemical Theories,” “Electrolysis,” “Technical Apparatus of
Electricity,” “Theory of Galvanism,” “Galvanic Batteries,” “Magnetic
Condition of All Matter,” etc., etc., the whole occupying pp. 304 to
519, Vol. I of Gmelin’s English edition. The list of many of Leopold
Gmelin’s valuable contributions to science is given in the “Catalogue
Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” besides which may be mentioned his “Uber e
angebl. meteorische masse” (Gilbert, _Annalen_, LXXIII for 1823),
and his “Versuch einer elektro-chemisch. theorie” (Poggendorff’s
_Annalen der Physik und Chemie_, Vol. XLIV for 1838, while at pp.
547–550 of Mr. J. J. Griffin’s able work, published in London during
1858, will be found the results obtained by Prof. G. Magnus and by
Prof. Faraday with a summary of Gmelin’s conclusions under the heading
of “The Evidence of Electrolysis in Favour of the Radical Theory.”
GMELIN FAMILY
This family, which, through four generations, has been continuously
distinguished for its valuable contributions to chemistry as well as to
the natural and medical sciences, deserves equally well here of such a
special mention as was accorded to the Bernoulli and Cassini families,
under dates A.D. 1700 and 1782–1791.
Johann Georg Gmelin (1674–1728), a very able chemist and pharmaceutist
of Tübingen, was the father of:
Johann Conrad Gmelin (1707–1759), physician and author in the
same city of Tübingen.
Johann Georg Gmelin (1709–1755), distinguished naturalist and
chemist, who graduated as M.D. in his nineteenth year, became
a member of the St. Petersburg Acad. of Sc. and was sent by
the Empress Anna, in company with G. A. Müller and other noted
scientists, upon a ten years’ exploring expedition through
Siberia. He was one of the first explorers of Northern Asia, and
a genus of Asiatic plants was named Gmelina after him by Linnæus.
Philip Friedrich Gmelin (1722–1768), Professor of Botany and of
Chemistry at Tübingen, author of many scientific monographs.
Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin (1744–1774), elder son of Philip Friedrich,
who, like his uncle, graduated M.D. at nineteen and was sent two
years later by the Empress Catherine II upon a scientific tour through
South-Eastern Russia, is the author of “Historia Fucorum ...” as well
as of other contributions which were edited through the famous Pallas.
His biographical notice appears in the last volume of the “Reise durch
Russland ...” published at St. Petersburg.
Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1748–1804), M.D., succeeded his father,
Philip Friedrich, in the chair of chemistry and botany at the Tübingen
University, became Professor of Medicine at Göttingen in 1778 and a
member of “l’Académie des Curieux de la Nature.” He is the author
of the thirteenth edition of Linnæus’ “Systema Naturæ,” which,
notwithstanding Cuvier’s severe criticism of it, is said to be the
only work which even professes to embrace all the objects of natural
history described up to the year 1790 (“Encycl. Brit.,” 1855, Vol. IX.
p. 4). He is also the author of “Geschichte der Chemie ...” Göttingen,
1797–1799, and of “Prælectio de col. metal. a Volta ...” (“Commentat.
Soc. Gött.” XV (Phys.) for 1800–1803, p. 38). (See J. C. Poggendorff,
“Biogr.-Literar. Handwörterbuch,” Vol. I. pp. 914–915.)
His son, Leopold Gmelin (1788–1853), who has already been noticed,
practised chemical manipulation in the Tübingen pharmaceutical
laboratory of Dr. Christian Gmelin, the son of Johann Conrad, and
studied at Göttingen, Vienna and in Italy, after which he became
medical and chemical professor at Heidelberg, 1817–1851 (Poggendorff,
Vol. I. pp. 915–916).
Ferdinand Gottlob von Gmelin (1782–1848), elder son of Dr. Christian
Gmelin, was Professor of Medicine and of Natural History in the
Tübingen University, and wrote “Diss. sistens obs. phys. et chem. de
electricitate et galvanismo” during 1802 (Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp.
916–917).
Christian Gottlob Gmelin (1792–1860), brother of the last named, M.D.,
was Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the Tübingen University, and
the author of “Experimenta electricitatem ...” 1820; “Uber d. Coagulat.
... d. Electricität” (Schweigger’s “Journal,” Vols. XXXVI for 1822);
“Analyse d. turmalins ...” (Schweigger’s “Journal,” Vols. XXXI for 1821
and XXXVIII for 1823--Poggendorff’s “Annalen,” Vol. IX for 1827), as
well as of a “Handbuch der Chemie,” published 1858–1861 (Poggendorff,
Vol. I. p. 917; _Phil. Mag._ or _Annals_, Vol. III. p. 460).
REFERENCES.--Gmelin and Schaub, “Effets Chimiques de la col.
metal ...” (“Magas. Encyclop.,” Vol. VI. p. 201); Eberhard
Gmelin’s letter to M. Privy Councillor Hoffmann of Mayence
(1787), and his new investigations (1789) on the subject of
animal magnetism (“Salzb. Med. Chir. Zeit.,” 1790, I. p. 358);
Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sc.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 348.
=A.D. 1819.=--Dana (J. F.), M.D. (1793–1827), Chemical Assistant
in Harvard University and Lecturer on Chemistry and Pharmacy in
Dartmouth College, writes, Jan. 25, 1819, to Prof. Benjamin Silliman
concerning his new form of portable electrical battery.
This apparatus, consisting of alternate plates of flat glass and of
tinfoil, the sheets of which latter are connected together, is fully
described at pp. 292–294, and is illustrated opposite p. 288, Vol. I
of Silliman’s _American Journal of Science_, 1818, wherein it is
stated that, while “in a battery of the common form, 2 feet long, 1
foot wide and 10 inches high, containing 18 coated jars, there will be
no more than 3500 square inches of coated surface,” a battery of Dana’s
construction will have no less than 8000 square inches covered with
tinfoil, allowing the sheet of glass and of foil to be a quarter of an
inch thick. In a brief description of this apparatus, which appears
at p. 468, Vol. V of Tilloch’s _Phil. Mag. and Journal_, it is
stated that a “battery constructed in this way contains, in the bulk of
a quarto volume, a very powerful instrument; and when made of glass it
is extremely easy, by varnishing the edges, to keep the whole of the
inner surfaces from the air, and to retain it in a constant state of
dry insulation.”
=A.D. 1820.=--Oersted--Örsted (Hans Christian), native of Denmark
(1770–1851), Professor of Natural Philosophy and founder of the
Polytechnic School in Copenhagen, makes known, through a small
four-page pamphlet entitled “Experimenta circa effectum conflictus
electrici in acum magneticam,” his great discovery of the intimate
relation existing between electricity and magnetism (Thomson’s _Annals
of Philosophy_ for October 1820, Vol. XVI, first series, pp. 273–276).
He thus lays the foundation of the science of electro-magnetism, which
subsequently was so materially developed by Ampère and Faraday.
It is said that after taking his doctor’s degree in 1799, he gave much
attention to galvanism, and that in the year 1800 he made important
discoveries as to the action of acids during the production of galvanic
electricity. He was one of the earliest to show the opposite conditions
of the poles of the galvanic battery, also that acids and alkalies are
produced in proportion as they neutralize each other. Upon his return
from a trip to France and Germany, 1801–3, he lectured on electricity
and the cognate sciences, publishing thereon a number of essays. (These
are to be found, more particularly, in J. H. Voigt’s _Magazin_, Vol.
III. p. 412; Van Mons’ _Journal_, No. IV. p. 68; the _Bulletin of the
Société Philomathique_, No. LXVII. an. xi. p. 128; A. F. Gehlen’s
_Neues Allgem. Journal d. Chemie_, Vols. III for 1804, VI for 1806,
VIII for 1808; Schweigger’s _Journal_, Vol. XX; _Phil. Mag._, Vol.
XXIII. p. 129; the “Skand. Lit.-Selskabs Skrifter,” Vol. I; “Oversigt
over det Kongl. ... Forhandlinger,” 1814–1815; “Nyt Biblioth. f.
Physik,” etc., Vol. IX, and in the _Journal de Physique_ as well as in
the _Journal du Galvanisme_.)
He revisited Germany during 1812, and, at the suggestion of Karsten
Niebuhr, published in Berlin his work “Ansicht der Chemischen
Naturgesetze. ...” (“Inquiry into the identity of chemical and electric
forces”), a translation of which was made by M. P. Marcel T. de Serres
under the title of “Recherches sur l’Identité. ...” (Fahie, “Hist. of
Electric Teleg.,” 1884, pp. 270–273). The last-named work appeared
at Paris during 1813, and not, as stated at p. 41, Vol. LVII of the
_Philosophical Magazine_, during 1807, which was the date of the
original small German edition.[59]
One of his biographers says that Oersted was lecturing one day to a
class of advanced students, when, as a means of testing the soundness
of the theory which he had long been meditating, it occurred to him
to place a magnetic needle under the influence of a wire uniting the
ends of a voltaic battery in a state of activity. “In galvanism,” said
he, “the force is more latent than in electricity, and, still more
so in magnetism than in galvanism; it is necessary therefore to try
whether electricity, in its latent state, will not affect the magnetic
needle.” He tried the experiment upon the spot and found that the
needle tended to turn at right angles to the wire, thus proving the
existence of electro-magnetism, or the relation of electricity and
magnetism as mutually productive of each other, and as evidences of a
common source of power. Previous to this time the identity of magnetism
and electricity had only been suspected. For several months Oersted
prosecuted experiments on the subject, and on the 21st of July 1820
promulgated his discovery through the Latin pamphlet above alluded to.
Therein he contends that there is always a magnetic circulation around
the electric conductor, and that the electric current in accordance
with a certain law always exercises determined and similar impressions
on the direction of the magnetic needle, even when it does not pass
through the needle but near it (the eighth edition of the “Encycl.
Britannica,” Fifth Dissertation, pp. 739, 740, 745; and the Sixth
Dissertation, pp. 973–976; Schaffner, “Tel. Manual,” 1859, Chap. VIII;
_Practical Mechanic_, Glasgow, 1842, Vol. III. p. 45).
For this discovery, which naturally excited the wonder of the entire
scientific world, he received the Copley medal of the English Royal
Society, the Dannebrog order of knighthood and numerous testimonials
from nearly every quarter of Europe. As observed by Mr. J. D. Forbes
(Sixth Disser. “Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. I), “the _desideratum_ of
a clear expression of the manifest alliance between electricity and
magnetism has been so long and so universally felt that the discovery
placed its author in the first rank of scientific men.... The prize of
the French Institute, which had been awarded to Davy for his galvanic
discoveries, was bestowed upon Oersted.”
Oersted’s experiments were repeated before the French Academy of
Sciences by M. De la Rive on Sept. 11, 1820, and, seven days later, as
we shall see, Ampère made known the law governing electro-magnetism
(Mme. Le Breton, “Hist. et. Appl. de l’Elect.,” Paris, 1884, pp.
72, 73; W. Sturgeon, “Sci. Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 18; Higg’s
Translation of Fontaine’s “Electric Lighting,” London, 1878, p. 54).
The many investigations subsequently carried on by Oersted in different
branches of sciences are alluded to in the works named below. Perhaps
the most interesting, outside of the ones already spoken of, are those
attaching to thermo-electricity which he made in conjunction with Baron
Fourier, and independently of Dr. Seebeck.
REFERENCES.--Eighth “Britannica,” pp. 651 and 652, Vol. XXI, as
well as pp. 11 and 12, Vol. XIV of Oersted’s “Efterretning om
nogle nye, af Fourier og Oersted ...” Kiobenhaven, 1822–1823,
translated into French as mentioned in Vol. XXII of the _Annales
de Chimie et de Physique_; “Oversigt over det Kongl. ...” for
1822–1823 and 1823–1824; Poggendorff, Vol. III. pp. 309–312;
“Catal. Sci. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. pp. 697–701; Biog.
Sketch by P. L. Möller, “Oersted’s Character und Leben,” 1851,
also Hauch und Forchammer, 1853; Obituary notice in _Jour.
Frankl. Inst._, 1851, Vol. XXI. p. 358; Humboldt, “Cosmos,”
1849, Vol. I. pp. 182, 185 and the 1819–1820 entry of “Magnetic
Observations,” in Vol. V; “Oversigt over det Kongl. danske
Videnskabernes Selskabs Fordhandlinger” for 1822, 1832,
1834–1835, 1836–1837, 1840–1842, 1847–1849; Poggendorff’s
_Annalen_, Vol. LIII; “Ursin’s Magaz. f. Kunstnere ...” Vols.
I and II; “Dict. of Electromagn.,” 1819; Sturgeon’s _Annals of
Electricity_, Vol. I. p. 121; Hatchett “On the Experim. ... of
Oersted and Ampère” (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. LVII. p. 40), _Phil.
Mag._, Vols. LVI. p. 394; LVII. pp. 47–49; LIX. p. 462; _Phil.
Mag._ or _Annals_, Vol. VIII. p. 230; _Annales de Chimie_
for Aug. 1820, p. 244; S. S. Eyck, “Over de magnetische ...”
(_Bibl. Univ._, 1821); Translation by H. Sebald, of H. C.
Oersted’s “Leben,” 1853; Michaud, “Biog. Univ.,” Vol. XXXI.
p. 196; P. L. Möller, “Der Geist in der Natur” (”The Spirit
in Nature”); Elie de Beaumont, “Memoir of Oersted” (“Smith.
Rep.” for 1863); Gilbert’s _Annalen_, Vol. LXVI. p. 295, 1820;
Callisen, “Medicinisches Schriftseller-Lexikon”; W. Sturgeon’s
“Sci. Researches,” Bury, 1850, p. 8 (for 1807), and pp. 9–12
for English version of Oersted’s pamphlet which was translated
in German in Vol. XXIX of Schweigger’s “Journal,” as well as
in Vol. LXVI of Gilbert’s _Annalen_, and which appeared in
French in Vol. XIV of the _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_
for 1820, as well as in Vol. II. pp. 1–6 of “Collection de
Mémoires relatifs à la Physique,” Paris, 1885. See also “Biogr.
Gén.,” Vol. XXXVIII. pp. 522–535; “Göttinger Gelehrte Anz.,”
No. 171; Sturgeon’s “Sc. Researches,” pp. 17, 18, 28, 415;
Thomson’s “Annals of Philosophy,” Vol. XVI. p. 375 for second
series of observations; Van Marum on “Franklin’s Theory of
Electricity,” pp. 440–453; “Galvanism,” by Mr. John Murray, p.
467; “Note sur les expériences ... de Oersted, Ampère, Arago,
et Biot,” (_Annales des Mines_, 1820); L. Turnbull, “Elec. Mag.
Tel.,” 1853, pp. 45, 221; J. F. W. Herschel’s “Preliminary
Discourse,” 1855, pp. 244, 255; Fahie, “Hist. Elec. Tel.,” 1884,
pp. 270–275, Harris, “Rud. Elec.,” 1853, p. 171; Ostwald’s
_Klassiker_, No. 63 and “Elektrochemie,” 1896, p. 67; Mrs.
Somerville, “Con. of Phys. Sci.,” 1846, p. 314; Noad, “Manual,”
p. 642; “Lib. Useful Know.” (El Magn.), pp. 4, 79; Lardner’s
“Lectures,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 119; Tomlinson’s “Cycl. Useful
Arts,” Vol. I. p. 559; Ure’s “Dict. of Arts,” 1878, Vol. II.
p. 233; Henry Martin’s article in Johnson’s “New Cyclopædia,”
1877, Vol. I. pp. 1512, 1514; “Nyt Biblioth. f. Physik,” Band I
auch Scherer’s Nord. Arch., II; “Tidskrift f. Natur ...” I 1822:
Schumacher’s “Astron. Jahrbuch” for 1838; L. Magrini, “Nuovo
metodo ...” Padova, 1836; Boisgeraud “On the Action of the
Voltaic Pile ...” (_Phil. Mag._, Vol. LVII. p. 203); _Sci. Am.
Suppl._, No. 454, p. 7241; Schweigger’s _Journal_, Vols. XXXII,
XXXIII, LII; Figuier, “Expos. et Hist.,” 1857, Vol. IV. p. 393;
“Engl. Cycl.,” “Arts and Sci.,” Vol. III. p. 782; Brande’s
“Man. of Chem.,” London, 1848, Vol. I. p. 248; Prime’s “Life
of Morse,” pp. 264, 451; Dr. Henry’s “Elm. of Exper. Chem.,”
London, 1823, Vol. I. pp. 193–203; _Jour. of the Frankl. Inst._
for 1851, Vol. XXI. p. 403; “_La Lumière Electrique_” for Mar.
19, 1887, p. 593, and for Oct. 31, 1891, pp. 201, etc.: Sir
William Thomson, “Math. Papers,” reprint, etc., 1872; “Encyl.
Metrop.” (Elect. Mag.,); G. B. Prescott, “Elect. and the El.
Tel.,” 1885, Vol. I. p. 91; “Smithsonian Report” for 1878,
pp. 272, 273, note; Bacelli (L. G.), “Risultati ...” Milano,
1821; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XVII, N.S. p. 181; Vol. XVIII, N.S.
p. 3; “Edin. Phil. Journal,” Vol. X. p. 203; “Journal of the
Soc. of Tel. Eng.,” 1876, Vol. V. pp. 459–464, for a verbatim
copy of Oersted’s original communication on his discovery of
electro-magnetism, and pp. 464–469 for a translation thereof
by the Rev. J. E. Kempe under the title of “Experiments on the
effect of electrical action on the Magnetic Needle.” For the
interesting electro-magnetic experiments of J. Tatum, at this
same period, consult the _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LVII, 1821, p.
446; Vol. LXI, 1823, p. 241; Vol. LXII, 1823, p. 107, and, for
additional investigation, the Vols. XLVII and LI for years 1816
and 1818.
=A.D. 1820.=--On Oct. 9, M. Boisgeraud, Jr., reads, before the French
Académie des Sciences, a paper concerning many of his experiments,
which prove to be merely variations of those previously made by Oersted.
He observed that connecting wires, or arcs, placed anywhere in the
battery, affect the needle, and he noticed the difference of intensity
in the effects produced when electrical conductors are employed to
complete the circuit. He proposed to ascertain the conducting power
of different substances by placing them in one of the arcs, cells or
divisions of the battery, and bringing the magnetic needle, or Ampère’s
galvanometer, toward another arc, viz. to the wire or other connecting
body used to complete the circuit in the battery. With regard to
the positions of the needle and wire, as observed by Boisgeraud,
they are all confirmatory of Prof. Oersted’s statement (“Ency. Met.”
(Electro.-Mag.), Vol. IV. p. 6).
One month later, Nov. 9, 1820, Boisgeraud reads, before the same
Académie, his paper “On the Action of the Voltaic Pile upon the
Magnetic Needle,” which will be found on pp. 203–206 and 257, 258, Vol.
LVII of the _Philosophical Magazine_.
=A.D. 1820.=--Banks (Sir Joseph) (1743–1820), a very eminent
English naturalist and traveller, to whom reference has been made
under the A.D. 1775 date, deserves mention here were it alone
for the fact that while occupying the presidential chair of the Roy.
Soc., during the extraordinary long and unequalled period of over
_forty-two years_ (1777, date of Sir John Pringle’s retirement,
to 1820, the date of President Banks’ death) he was instrumental in
bringing prominently before the world many of the most important
discoveries and experiments known in the annals of magnetism and
electricity.
Sir Joseph Banks was succeeded in the presidency of the Royal Society
by William Hyde Wollaston, M.D., June 29, 1820, and by Sir Humphry
Davy, Bart., Nov. 30, 1820, the last named holding the office seven
years (R. Weld, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” 1848, Vol. II. p. 359). Banks and
Dr. Solander, the pupil of Linnæus, had sailed (1768–1771) with Captain
Cook in his voyage around the globe, in the capacity of naturalists,
and afterwards (1772) visited Iceland, where they made many important
discoveries. In 1781 Banks was created a baronet; he received the Order
of the Bath in 1795 and subsequently had many honours conferred upon
him by different English and foreign societies. It is said that he was
never known to be appealed to in vain by men of science, either for
pecuniary assistance or for the use of his extensive library.
REFERENCES.--Tilloch’s _Phil. Mag._ for 1820, Vol. LVI. pp.
40–46; “Cat. Sci. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. p. 176; Dr. Thomas
Thomson, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” London, 1812, p. 12; _Gentleman’s
Magazine_ for 1771, 1772 and 1820; “Biog. Univ.,” Vol. LVII,
Suppl. p. 101; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II. p. 155; “Eloge
Historique de Mr. J. Banks, lu à la Séance de l’Académie Royale
des Sciences, le 2 Avril 1821”; Sir Everard Home, “Hunterian
Oration,” Feb. 14, 1822. See besides, the _Phil. Mag._, Vol.
LVI. pp. 161–174, 241–257, for “A review of some of the leading
points in the official character and proceedings of the late
President of the Royal Society,” contrasting the respective
personal merits and achievements of Sir John Pringle and of Sir
Joseph Banks; “Lives of Men of Letters and Science,” by Henry,
Lord Brougham, Philad., 1846, pp. 199–229, 294–295.
=A.D. 1820.=--Barlow (Peter), F.R.S. (1776–1827), who taught
mathematics at the Military Academy of Woolwich from 1806 to 1847,
brings out the first edition of his “Essay on Magnetic Attractions,
Particularly as Respects the Deviation of the Compass on Shipboard
Occasioned by the Local Influence of the Guns, etc., with an Easy
Practical Method of Observing the Same in all Parts of the World.”
One of his biographers states that through this valuable publication,
which received the Parliamentary reward from the then existing Board
of Longitude, as well as presents from the Russian Emperor, he was
the first to reduce to strictly mathematical principles the method of
compensating compass errors in vessels (_Edin. Jour. of Sci._,
London, 1826, Vols. I. pp. 181, 182; II. p. 379).
This work contains the results of the many experiments to ascertain
the influence of spherical and other masses of iron upon the needle,
which Barlow instituted, more particularly after Prof. Hansteen’s
investigations became generally known. Sir David Brewster details
Barlow’s work in the “Encycl. Brit.,” and refers to the separate
observations of Mr. Wm. Wales (at A.D. 1774), Mr. Downie (at A.D.
1790), Captain Flinders (at A.D. 1801), and Charles Bonnycastle (at
A.D. 1820), mentioning the fact that it is to Mr. W. Bain we owe the
distinct establishment and explanation of the source of error in the
compass arising from the attraction of all the iron on board of ships.
The small 140-page book which Mr. Bain published on the subject in 1817
is entitled “An Essay on the Variation of the Compass, Showing how Far
it is Influenced by a Change in the Direction of the Ship’s Head, with
an Exposition of the Dangers Arising to Navigators from not Allowing
for this Change of Variation.” Brewster remarks that additional light
was thrown upon Mr. Bain’s observations by Captains Ross, Parry and
Sabine, but that we owe to Prof. Barlow alone a series of brilliant
experiments which terminated in his invention of the neutralizing
plate for correcting in perfect manner this source of error in the
compass (Noad’s “Manual,” pp. 531, 532; Olmstead’s “Introduct. to Nat.
Hist.,” 1835, pp. 206, 210). The simple contrivance therein alluded to
is described and illustrated at pp. 9 and 90–91 of the “Britannica,”
article on “Navigation,” and may briefly be said to consist of only a
thin circular plate of iron placed in a vertical position immediately
behind the binnacle or compass (Fifth Dissertation of “Britannica,”
Vol. I. p. 745, and article “Seamanship,” in Vol. XX. p. 27). Such
plates were immediately tried in all parts of the world and were at
once applied to the English vessels “Conway,” “Leven” and “Barracouta”
(_Trans. Soc. of Arts_ for 1821, Vol. XXXIX. pp. 76–100; Harris’ “Rud.
Mag.,” III. pp. 69–76; John Farrar, “Elem. of El. ...” 1826, pp.
376–383; _Westminster Review_ for April 1825; “Encycl. Metropol.,” Vol.
III (Magnetism), pp. 743, 799).
For Mr. Barlow’s experiments on the influence of rotation upon magnetic
and non-magnetic bodies, the result of which was communicated by him
to the Royal Society, April, 14, 1825, six days before the receipt of
S. H. Christie’s paper “On the Magnetism of Iron, Arising from its
Rotation,” communicated by J. F. W. Herschel, see pp. 10, 33, 34, of
the “Britannica,” Vol. XIV above referred to (_Edin. Jour. of Science_,
1826, Vols. III. p. 372, and V. p. 214. Consult also, J. Farrar, “Elem.
of El.,” 1826, pp. 387–395. For his extensive observations regarding
the influence of heat on magnetism and relative to the variation, as
well as for the mode of constructing his artificial magnets, consult
the same volume of the “Britannica,” at pp. 35, 36, 50–53 _et seq._ and
p. 73. See likewise, for the variation, Dr. Thomas Thomson’s “Outline
of the Sciences,” London, 1830, pp. 549–556; Harris, “Rud. Mag.,” I,
II. pp. 152–153. For Samuel Hunter Christie, consult “Abstracts of
Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 197, 225, 243, 251, 270, 305, 321,
347 and 351).
The new variation chart which Prof. Barlow constructed and in which
he embraced the magnetic observations made in 1832 by Sir James Ross,
R.N., is described and illustrated in _Phil. Trans._ for 1833, pp.
667–675, Plates XVII, XVIII. He remarks that the very spot where his
officer found the needle perpendicular, “that is, the pole itself, is
precisely that point in my globe and chart in which, by supposing all
the lines to meet, the several curves would best preserve their unity
of character, both separately and conjointly as a system” (eighth
“Britan.,” Vol. XIV, note, p. 50; Noad, “Manual,” p. 617; D. Olmstead,
“Intr. to Nat. Phil.,” 1835, p. 192).
Mr. Barlow’s electro-magnetic globe was exhibited by Dr. Birkbeck in
his lectures on “Electro-Magnetism” at the London Institution, May
26, 1824. (Its construction is fully described, more particularly, at
p. 65 of the English “Encycl. Brit.” (Magnetism); p. 91 of the “Lib.
of Useful Knowledge” (Electro-Magnetism); pp. 139–140, Vol. I of the
_Edin. Jour. of Science_, London, 1826, and pp. 120–122, Part III of
Harris’ “Rud. Mag.”) Its purpose was to show that what had hitherto
been considered as the magnetism of the earth might be only modified
electricity, and it was also intended to illustrate the theory advanced
by M. Ampère, who, as is well known, attributed all magnetic phenomena
to electric currents. In the words of Dr. Brewster:
“Barlow considers it as probable that magnetism as a distinct quality
has no existence in Nature. As all the phenomena of terrestrial
magnetism can be explained on the supposition that the magnetic power
resides on its surface, it occurred to Mr. Barlow that if he could
distribute over the surface of an artificial globe a series of galvanic
currents in such a way that their tangential power should everywhere
give a corresponding direction to the needle, this globe would exhibit,
while under electrical induction, all the magnetic phenomena of the
earth upon a needle freely suspended above it. Mr. Barlow says ‘he
has proved the existence of a force competent to produce all the
phenomena without the aid of any body usually called magnetic,’ yet
he acknowledges that ‘we have no idea how such a system of currents
can have existence on the earth, because, to produce them, we have
been obliged to employ a particular arrangement of metals, acids, and
conductors.’”
Barlow was the first to test the practicability of Ampère’s suggestion
that by sending the galvanic current through long wires connecting two
distant stations, the deflections of enclosed magnetic needles would
constitute very simple and efficient signals for an instantaneous
telegraph (_Ann. de Chimie et de Phys._, 1820, Vol. XV. pp. 72, 73). He
has thus stated the result: “In a very early stage of electro-magnetic
experiments, it had been suggested (by Laplace, Ampère and others) that
an instantaneous telegraph might be established by means of conducting
wires and compasses. The details of this contrivance are so obvious,
and the principle on which it is founded so well understood, that there
was only one question which could render the result doubtful; and this
was, is there any diminution of effect by lengthening the conducting
wires? It had been said that the electric fluid from a common (tinfoil)
electric battery had been transmitted through a wire four miles in
length without any sensible diminution of effect, and, to every
appearance, instantaneously; and if this should be found to be the case
with the galvanic circuit, then no question could be entertained of
the practicability and utility of the suggestion above adverted to. I
was therefore induced to make the trial; but I found such a sensible
diminution with only 200 feet of wire, as at once to convince me of the
impracticability of the scheme. It led me, however, to an inquiry as
to the cause of the diminution, and the laws by which it is governed.”
This passage is quoted in “Smithsonian Report” for 1878, p. 279; Fahie,
“Hist. El. Tel.,” p. 306; “Memor. of Jos. Henry,” 1880, pp. 223, 224,
the last named containing the following footnote: “On the Laws of
Electro-Magnetic Action,” _Edinburgh Philosophical Journal_, Jan.,
1825, Vol. XII. pp. 105–113:
“In explanation and justification of this discouraging judgment from
so high an authority in magnetics, it must be remembered that both in
the galvanometer and in the electro-magnet, the coil best calculated to
produce large effects was that of least resistance; which unfortunately
was not that best adapted to a long circuit. On the other hand the most
efficient magnet or galvanometer was not found to be improved in result
by increasing the number of galvanic elements. Barlow in his inquiry as
to the law of diminution was led (erroneously) to regard the resistance
of the conducting wire as increasing in the ratio of _the square_
root of its length” (pp. 110, 111 of the last-cited “Journal.)”]
Mr. Taylor justly adds that subsequent experiments have proved Ohm’s
law (announced three years after Barlow’s) of a simple ratio of
resistance to length as approximately correct.
REFERENCES.--G. B. Prescott, “The Speaking Telephone,” 1879,
II; _Sci. Am. Supp._, Nos. 405, p. 6466; 453, p. 7235; 547, p.
8735: “Mem. of Jos. Henry,” 1880, pp. 83, 94, 144, 485, 487.
See also, Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp. 102, 103; Whewell, “Hist.
Ind. Sciences,” 1859, Vol. II. pp. 223, 224, 245, 254, 616;
“Lib. Useful Knowledge” (Magnetism), p. 86 and (El. Mag.), pp.
7, 18, 22, 28; Sturgeon’s “Sci. Researches,” Bury, 1850, pp.
26, 29, 31, 298; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 183; Mrs.
Somerville, “On the Earth not a Real Magnet,” in the “Conn. of
the Phys. Sci.,”; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. LV. p. 446; LX. pp. 241,
343; LXII. p. 321; Harris, “Rud. Mag.,” Part III. pp. 114–116;
“Encycl. Metropol.,” Vol. IV (Elect. Mag.), pp. 1–40; “Abstracts
of papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 164, 197, 241, 318; “Cat.
Sc. Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I. pp. 182–184; “Bibl. Britan.,”
Vol. XX, N.S. p. 127; “Edin. Phil. Journal,” 1824, Vol. X. p.
184 (alludes to papers of Barlow and Christie in _Phil. Trans._
for 1823, Part II).
Mr. Wm. Henry Barlow, second son of Peter Barlow, is the author of a
treatise, “On the spontaneous electrical currents observed in the wires
of the electric telegraph,” which was published in London during 1849
and appeared in Part I of the _Phil. Trans._, for that year. He is also
the inventor of a new electrical machine alluded to herein at Hare
(A.D. 1819), also at p. 130 of the “Annual of Sc. Disc.,” at pp. 76–77
of Noad’s “Manual,” and at p. 428, Vol. XXXVII of the “Philosophical
Magazine.”
=A.D. 1820.=--Laplace (Pierre Simon, Marquis de) (1749–1827), a
very distinguished French astronomer and mathematician, suggests for
telegraphic purposes the employment of magnetic needles suspended in
multipliers of wire, in place of the voltameters of Sömmering, and on
the 2nd of October 1820 his theory is thus explained by Ampère in a
paper read before the French Academy of Sciences:
“According to the success of the experiment to which Laplace drew my
attention, one could, by means of as many pairs of live wires and
magnetic needles as there are letters of the alphabet, and by placing
each letter on a separate needle, establish, by the aid of a distant
pile, and which could be made to communicate by its two extremities
with those of each pair of conductors, a sort of telegraph, which
would be capable of indicating all the details that one would wish to
transmit through any number of obstacles to a distant observer. By
adapting to the battery a keyboard whose keys were each marked with
the same letters and establishing connection (with the various wires)
by their depression, this means of correspondence could be established
with great facility, and would only occupy the time necessary for
pressing down the keys at the one station and to read off the letters
from the deflected needles at the other.”
Laplace is, perhaps, best known by his “Traité de Mécanique Céleste,”
the sixteen books and supplements to which are by many considered, next
to Newton’s “Principia,” the greatest of astronomical works; a book
which has been truly said to have had no predecessor and which has been
called the crowning glory of Laplace’s scientific career. His next
important work was the “Théorie Analytique des Probabilités,” the most
mathematically profound treatise on the subject which had yet appeared,
while his “Système du Monde” was called by Arago “one of the most
perfect monuments of the French language.” By Prof. Nichols, Laplace is
called “the titanic geometer”; by Mr. Airy “the greatest mathematician
of the past age”; by Prof. Forbes “a sort of exemplar or type of the
highest class of mathematical natural philosophers of this, or rather
the immediately preceding age.”
Laplace also wrote, in conjunction with Lavoisier, a treatise “On the
Electricity which Bodies Absorb when Reduced to Vapor” (_Mém. de
Paris_ for 1781). Prof. Denison Olmstead, treating of the origin
of atmospherical electricity (“Introd. to Nat. Phil.,” 1835, pp.
158, 159), says: “Among the known sources of this agent none seems
so probable as the evaporation and condensation of watery vapor. We
have the authority of two of the most able and accurate philosophers,
Lavoisier and Laplace, for stating that bodies in passing from the
solid or liquid state to that of vapor, and, conversely, in returning
from the aeriform condition to the liquid or solid state, give
unequivocal signs of either positive or negative electricity,” and he
adds, in a footnote:
“M. Pouillet has lately published a set of experiments, which seems to
overturn Volta’s theory of the evolution of electricity by evaporation.
He has shown that no electricity is evolved by evaporation unless
some chemical combination takes place at the same time ...” (Thomson,
“Outlines,” p. 440) ... “But we shall be slow to reject the results of
experiments performed by such experimenters as Lavoisier and Laplace,
especially when confirmed by the testimony of Volta and Saussure.”
With regard to the origin of meteorites, Laplace has advanced the very
bold theory that they may be products of Lunar volcanoes, and Prof.
Lockhart Muirhead stated that he would “present the reasoning upon
which this extraordinary hypothesis is founded in the popular and
perspicuous language of Dr. Hutton, of Woolwich: the respect due to the
name of Laplace justifying the length of the extract,” which he gives
at pp. 633–635, Vol. XIV of the 1857 “Britannica.”
REFERENCES.--Humboldt, “Cosmos,” London, 1849, Vol. I. pp.
108–109; Young, “Course of Lectures,” London, 1807, Vol. II.
p. 501, alluding to “Zach. Mon. Corr.,” VI. p. 276, also
to Gilbert, XIII. p. 353, 108, and stating that Olbers had
suggested Laplace’s idea in 1795. See “Mem. of the Astronom.
Soc. of London,” Vol. III. p. 395: Laplace, “Mem. de l’Institut”
for 1809, p. 332; Dr. Young’s “Course of Lectures,” 1807, Vol.
I. pp. 249, 250, 522; Vol. II. p. 466; Humboldt, “Cosmos,”
London, 1849, Vol. I. pp. 28, 76, 130; Vol. II. p. 712;
Lavoisier at A.D. 1781: Biot at A.D. 1803; _Annal. de Ch. et
Phys._, Vol. XV. pp. 72, 73, and for Laplace and Lavoisier, see
Delaunay, “Manuel ...” 1809, p. 178; “Mem. de l’Acad. des Sc.,”
for 1781; “Journal des Savants,” for Feb. 1850 and Nov. 1887;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 184; “Cat. Sc.
Pap. Roy. Soc.,” Vol. III. pp. 845–848; Johnson’s “Cyclopædia,”
pp. 1647–1650 and the “First Supplement,” p. 62.
For Laplace and Joseph Louis Lagrange, see “Mémoires de
l’Institut,” Vol. III. p. 22; also “Pioneers of Science,” by
Sir Oliver Lodge, London, 1905, Lecture XI, and for Lagrange,
consult “Journal des Savants,” Sept. 1844, May 1869, August
1878, Sept. 1879, Sept. 1888 and Oct. 1892.
M. Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace, captain in the French navy,
is the author of the “Voyage Autour du Monde ... sur la Corvette
_Favorite_ ...” and of “Campagne de Circumnavigation de la Frégate
_l’Artémise_ ...” published in Paris during the years 1833, 1839
and 1841.
Baron Jean Baptiste Fourier, celebrated French physicist (1768–1830)
who, in 1827, succeeded Laplace as head of the Council of the
Ecole Polytechnique (“Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XVIII. p. 346) says of his
predecessor:
“Posterity, which has so many particulars to forget, will little care
whether Laplace was for a short time minister of a great state. The
eternal truths which he has discovered, the immutable laws of the
stability of the world, are of importance, and not the rank which he
occupied” (C. R. Weld, “Hist. Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. p. 465). Fourier is
the author of “Expériences thermo-électriques” (“Encycl. Brit.,” ninth
ed., Vol. IX. p. 490; “Eng. Cycl.,” Biography, Vol. II. p. 977).
=A.D. 1820.=--Dutrochet (René Joachim Henri) (1776–1847) a
distinguished French natural philosopher, and likewise medical adviser
to the King of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte, publishes an interesting
treatise on meteors, in conjunction with Mr. Nathaniel Bowditch, who
had already written many very able papers on astronomical subjects and
who afterwards translated the “Mécanique Céleste” of Laplace. Eight
years later (1828) appeared Dutrochet’s “Nouvelles Recherches ...”
wherein he attributes to electricity the direction taken by fluids
through animal and vegetable membranes. The passage of a fluid from
without inwardly he called _endosmosis_, and the passage of the
fluid from within outwardly he termed _exosmosis_.
Of Dutrochet, Dr. John Hutton Balfour, of Edinburgh, makes mention
when treating of the temperature of plants. He thus expresses himself:
“While the nutritive processes are going on in the plant, there is a
certain amount of heat produced. This, however, is speedily carried
away by evaporation and other causes, and it is not easily rendered
evident. Dutrochet, by means of Becquerel’s thermo-electric needle,
showed an evolution of heat in plants. In doing this, he prevented
evaporation by putting the plant in a moist atmosphere. In these
circumstances the temperature of the active vegetating parts, the
roots, the leaves, and the young shoots, indicated a temperature above
the air of ½ to ¾ of a degree Fahrenheit. Van Beek and Bergsma, in
their experiments on the _Hyacinthus Orientalis_ and the _Entelea
Arborescens_, found the proper heat of the active parts of plants about
1·8° F. above that of the air. The vital or proper heat of plants,
according to Dutrochet, is found chiefly in the green plants, and it
undergoes a quotidian paroxysm, reaching the maximum during the day,
and the minimum during the night. When stems become hard and ligneous,
they lose this vital heat. Large green cotyledons gave indications of
a proper heat. The hour of quotidian maximum varied from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m. in different plants.”
It is stated by Becquerel that in the act of vegetation, the earth
acquires continually an excess of positive electricity, while the bark
and part of the wood receive an excess of negative electricity. The
leaves act like the green part of the parenchyma of the bark--that is
to say, the sap which circulates in their tissues is negative with
relation to the wood, to the pith, and to the earth, and positive with
regard to the cambium. The electric effects observed in vegetables are
due to chemico-vital action, and he asserts that the opposite electric
states of vegetables and of the earth give reason to think that, from
the enormous vegetation in certain parts of the globe, they must exert
some influence on the electric phenomena of the atmosphere.
REFERENCES.--Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. p. 447; “Biog.
Gén.,” Vol. XV. p. 506; Poggendorff, “Annalen,” Vol. I. p. 663;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VI. p. 1448; J. W. Ritter, in
“Denkschr. d. Münch. Acad.” for 1814, and the eighth ed. of the
“Ency. Brit.” Vol. XXI. p. 635, for observations concerning the
_mimosa pudica_ and the _mimosa sensitiva_; “Cat. Sc. Papers
Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 422–425; Vol. VI. p. 646; Vol. VII. p.
584; Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 633; “Observations on the diurnal
variation of the magnetic needle,” in Sturgeon’s “Annals,” Vol.
VII. pp. 369–370, and in the _Comptes Rendus_, Vol. XII. p.
298, of Feb. 8, 1841; Burnet, “On the motion of sap in plants.
Researches of Dutrochet on Endosmose and Exosmose ...” London,
1829 (“Phil. Mag. or Annals,” Vol. V. p. 389).
=A.D. 1820.=--Fresnel (Augustin Jean) (1788–1827), one of the most
distinguished French mathematicians and natural philosophers,
communicates a paper detailing his experiments for decomposing water by
means of a magnet. He produced a current in an electro-magnetic helix
enclosing a bar-magnet covered with silk, and on plunging the ends of
the wire in water he observed some very remarkable effects which are
set forth in the _Annales de Chimie et de Phys._, series 2, Vol. XV. p.
219.
REFERENCES.--“Eloge de Fresnel,” by Arago, in his “Œuvres,” Vol.
I; Account of Fresnel’s life in the “Biog. Univ.;” Whewell,
“Hist. of Induc. Sci.,” 1859, Vol. II. pp. 96, 102, 114–117;
“Œuvres complètes d’Augustin Fresnel, publiées par les soins du
Ministre de l’Instruction Publique,” Paris, 1870, in three vols.
=A.D. 1820.=--Sir Richard Phillips (1778–1851), communicates, July
11, to the _Philosophical Magazine_ (Vol. LVI. pp. 195–200) a very
interesting paper entitled “Electricity and Galvanism Explained on
the Mechanical Theory of Matter and Motion.” After reviewing the then
existing theories, he concludes by saying:
“Electricity is no exception to the mechanical principles of matter
and motion, and in regard to the kindred phenomena of galvanism, I
will content myself with observing that it is merely _accelerated
electricity_, the interposing fluid being palpably decomposed and
evolving the electrical powers, each term in the series of plates being
a new impulse or power added to the previous one, till the ultimate
effect is accelerated, like that of a body falling by the continuous
impulses of the earth’s motions, or like a nail heated red-hot by
accelerations of atomic motion produced by repeated percussions of a
hammer.”
Consult “Bibl. Ital.,” Vol. XXVII. p. 107 for references to the “Annals
of Philosophy,” in which he mentions an experiment upon a young poplar,
“whereby it would seem that copper was imbibed in the branches, etc.,
from a solution placed at its roots, and that it was precipitated on a
knife used to cut off a branch.”
=A.D. 1820.=--Brewster (Sir David) (1781–1868), a very distinguished
English natural philosopher and writer, who had just founded the
“Edinburgh Philosophical Journal” in conjunction with Prof. Robert
Jameson, announces his discovery of the existence of two poles of
greatest cold on opposite sides of the northern pole of the earth.
By this he was, like other authors, led to the belief that there
might be some connection between the magnetic poles and those of
maximum cold, and he remarks (Noad “Manual,” London, 1859, p. 545,
and article “Magnetism” in “Encycl. Brit.”): “Imperfect as the
analogy is between the isothermal and magnetic centres, it is yet too
important to be passed over without notice. Their local coincidence
is sufficiently remarkable, and it would be to overstep the limits of
philosophical caution to maintain that they have no other connection
but that of accidental locality; and if we had as many measures of
the mean temperature as we have of the variation of the needle, we
might determine whether the isothermal poles were fixed or movable.”
Similar opinions entertained by Dr. Dalton, Dr. Traill and Mr. Christie
are also mentioned by Noad, who quotes from Oersted’s treatise on
“Thermo-Electricity” the statement of the Danish philosopher “that the
most efficacious excitation of electricity upon the earth appears to be
produced by the sun, causing daily evaporation, deoxidation and heat,
all of which excite electrical currents.”
From his able paper in the _Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions_
for 1820, one is led to share Sir David Brewster’s belief “that two
meridians of greatest heat and two of greatest cold are called into
play, and that the magnetism of our globe depends in great measure
upon electro or rather thermo-magnetic currents.” The electro-magnetic
hypothesis was, he says, ably supported by Prof. Barlow in his paper
“On the probable electric origin of all the phenomena of terrestrial
magnetism,” communicated to the _Phil. Trans._ for 1831. Brewster
thus locates the two poles of maximum cold: The American pole in N.
Lat. 73, and W. Long. 100 from Greenwich, a little to the East of Cape
Walker; the Asiatic pole in N. Lat. 73 and E. Long. 80, between Siberia
and Cape Matzol, on the Gulf of Oby. Hence the two warm meridians will
be in W. Long. 10 and E. Long. 170, and the two cold meridians in W.
Long. 100 and E. Long. 80.
As has already been indicated (under A.D. 1717, Leméry), Sir David
Brewster was the discoverer of the pyro-electrical condition of the
diamond, the garnet, the amethyst, etc. His development of some of
Haüy’s experiments led to a similar discovery, attaching to several
mineral salts as well as to the plates and powders of the tourmaline,
of the scolezite and the melozite; and he likewise experimented with
the boracite, mesotype and with the several minerals and artificial
crystals detailed at pp. 208–215, Vol. I of the _Edin. Jour. of
Science_, London, 1826; and in Chap. II. s. 1, vol. viii of the eighth
“Encycl. Brit.,” article on “Electricity.”
At Part I. chap. i. s. 6 of the last-named article will be found
Brewster’s observations on the nature and origin of electrical light,
his latest researches having been made, like those of Joseph von
Fraunhofer (see A.D. 1814–1815), on the dark and on the luminous lines
which appear in the spectrum formed from it by a prism.
During the year 1831 appeared Brewster’s “Treatise on Optics,” his
“Life of Sir Isaac Newton,” and his “Letters on Natural Magic.” It
is in one of the chapters of the last-named work that he treats of
automatic talking machines and remarks: “We have no doubt that before
another century is completed a talking and a singing machine will be
numbered among the conquests of science.”
Brewster’s other scientific treatises are too numerous and cover too
wide a range to be enumerated here. The “Catal. of Sci. Papers of the
Roy. Soc.” (Vol. I. pp. 612–623) gives the titles of as many as 299
contributions made by him on important subjects, and he has had no less
than 76 papers in the first 39 parts of the _North British Review_, 30
in the _Phil. Trans._ and 28 in the _Edin. Review_. They appear, in
fact, in all the prominent publications of his time, and have won for
him leading honours, more especially from the Edinburgh and Aberdeen
Universities and the Scotch, Irish, English and French Societies, the
French Academy of Sciences doing him the signal honour of selecting him
as one of its eight foreign associates in place of Berzelius, deceased.
Conjointly with Davy, Herschel and Charles Babbage, he originated the
British Association during 1831, and it was in this same year that
he was knighted and decorated by King William IV. He had been made a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1808, and had during the
same year undertaken the editorship of the “Edinburgh Encyclopædia of
Sci., Lit. and Art.” This he continued for twenty-two years, after
which he edited the _Edin. Jour. of Sci._, and also entered with Taylor
and Phillips upon the editorship of the _London and Edin. Phil. Mag.
and Journal_. Many of our readers will doubtless be glad to know that
the last named was a continuation of the well-known _Philosophical
Magazine_ so often quoted in this “Bibliographical History.”
REFERENCES.--The obituary notice contributed by Dr. J. H.
Gladstone to the proceedings of the Royal Society; _Chemical
News_, Amer. reprint, Vol. II. pp. 198, 233; also p. 293 for
accounts given by Sir J. Simpson and Prof. Fraser; J. Robison
and Brewster, “A System of Mechan. Phil.,” London and Edin.,
1822; Ferguson and Brewster’s “Essays and Treatises on Astr.
Elect.,” etc., Edinburgh, 1823; Brewster’s several articles in
the “Encycl. Britannica,” 7th and 8th editions, on “Electricity
and Magnetism”; _Transactions of the Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh_,
Vols. IX. 1821; XX. Part IV; _Edin. Jour. of Sci._, Oct.
1824, No. 2, p. 213; Noad, “Manual,” London, 1859, pp. 31,
32, 636–638; Harris, “Magnetism,” Part III. p. 119; Whewell,
“Hist. of Induc. Sci.,” 1859, Vol. II. pp. 75, 81, 331, 332; the
lectures delivered by Wm. A. Miller during 1867 before the Royal
Institution of Great Britain.
Charles Babbage (1792–1871), a prominent English scientist who is
mentioned above and who besides being one of the founders of the Royal
Astronomical Society, as has already been stated, was also a founder
of the British Association and the originator of the Statistical
Society, is the author of valuable papers, exhibiting a wide range of
learning and research--mainly on mathematical subjects and relating to
magnetical and electrical phenomena--which have been published in the
Reports of the Royal and other Societies (“English Cycl.,” Vol. I. p.
457; “Encyl. Brit.,” ninth ed., Vol. III. p. 178; Larousse, “Dict.,”
Vol. II. pp. 5–6; account of Babbage’s work in C. R. Weld’s “Hist. Roy.
Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 369–391).
=A.D. 1820.=--Fisher (George) (1794–1873), who two years before
had joined Captain David Buchan in his voyage to the Arctic regions, is
the first to point out the true cause of the sudden alteration in the
rates of chronometers at sea. “He observed,” says Dr. Roget, “that the
chronometers on board the ‘Dorothea’ and ‘Trent’ had a different rate
of going from that they had on shore, even when these vessels had been
frozen in, and therefore when their motion could not have contributed
to that variation; ... this effect could be attributed only to the
magnetic action exerted by the iron in the ships upon the inner rim
of the balance of the chronometers, which is made of steel. A similar
influence was perceptible on placing magnets in the neighbourhood of
the chronometers. This conclusion was confirmed by experiments made for
this purpose by Mr. Barlow, who ascertained that masses of iron devoid
of all permanent magnetism occasioned an alteration in the rates of
chronometers placed in different positions in their vicinity.”
REFERENCES.--Fisher’s article “On the Errors in Longitude as
Determined by Chronometers at Sea, Arising from the Action of
the Iron in the Ships upon the Chronometers,” communicated
by John Barrow, F.R.S., to the _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LVII. pp.
249–257. See besides, _Edinburgh Jour. Sci._, London, 1826, Vol.
V. p. 224; _Phil. Trans._ for 1820, Part. II. p. 196, and the
volume for 1833, relative to magnetical experiments; also the
“Lib. U. K.” (Magn.), p. 63. For Capt. Buchan, consult Barrow’s
“Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions.”
Mr. George Thomas Fischer (1722–1848) is the author of “A Practical
Treatise on Medical Electricity” (Poggendorff, Vol. I. p. 756).
=A.D. 1820.=--Bonnycastle (Charles), Professor of Mathematics in
the University of Virginia, treats of the distribution of the magnetic
fluids in masses of iron, as well as of the deviations which they
produce in compasses placed within their influence, at pp. 446–456,
Vol. LV of Tilloch’s _Philosophical Magazine_.
He refers to the then recent publication of Peter Barlow’s “Essay on
Magnetic Attractions,” containing the results of many experiments, made
principally upon spheres of iron, as well as to Dr. Young’s views of
the subject, which were printed by order of the Board of Longitude,
and he says that the principle upon which he intends establishing
his inquiry “is an extension of the law that regulates the action
of electrified bodies upon conductors; which was first given by M.
Poisson in the Memoirs of the Institute for 1811, and employed by him
to determine the development of the electric fluids in spheres that
mutually act on each other.”
The afore-named dissertation, at the time, called forth a rejoinder
from a correspondent and a further communication from Mr. Bonnycastle,
both of which appear at pp. 346–350, Vol. LVI of the same publication.
REFERENCES.--Silliman’s _Journal_, Vol. XL. p. 32; “Sketch of
the Life of Chas. Bonnycastle,” by Thomas Thomson; Poggendorff,
Vol. I. pp. 234, 235; article “Magnetism,” p. 9, Vol. XIV of the
eighth “Britannica.”
=A.D. 1820.=--Harris (Wm. Snow), member of the College of Surgeons, and
a very distinguished English scientist (1791–1867), proposes to the
Board of the Admiralty his system of lightning conductors, of which an
account appears at p. 231, Vol. LX of the _Phil. Mag._, as well as in
a separate work published at London during 1822. This is followed by
his “Observations on the Effects of Lightning ...” 1823, and by papers
relative to the defence of ships and buildings from lightning, which
were published, more particularly, in several numbers of the _Nautical
Magazine_, the _Phil. Mag._, the _Annals of Electricity_, and in the
_Proc. Lond. Elec. Soc._ for 1842, as well as in his “Record of Phil.
Papers,” and under separate heads during many years between 1827 and
1854. One of his biographers remarks:
“His researches have gone far to remove certain popular errors as to
what have been called ‘conductors’ and ‘non-conductors’ of electricity,
and to show the inutility of the old form of lightning rod in the
majority of cases; it being necessary, in place of such rod form, to
link into one great chain all the metallic bodies employed in the
construction of a building, thus providing a connection with these
conductors between the highest parts and the ground, the single
conductor, in one highest part, being possibly insufficient to divert
the course of the fluid and protect the whole fabric. These general
principles have been largely applied to the protection of the ships of
the Royal Navy during the last five and twenty years, under his advice
and direction; and, laying aside the opinions which had been commonly
received, the masts themselves of a ship have all been rendered
perfectly conducting by incorporating with the spars capacious plates
of copper, whilst all the large metallic masses in the hull have been
tied, as it were, into a general conducting chain, communicating with
the great conducting channels in the masts, and with the sea. This may
be considered as the greatest experiment ever made by any country in
the employment of metallic conductors for ships, and the result has
been to secure the navy from a destructive agent, and to throw new
light upon an interesting department of science” (Whewell, “Hist. of
Induc. Sci.,” Vol. II. pp. 199, 200; _Phil. Mag._ for March 1841;
eighth “Encycl. Britannica,” Vols. VIII. pp. 535, 610, 611, and XX. p.
24; “Edin. Review” for Oct. 1844, Vol. LXXX. pp. 444–473).
Harris was the first, says Brewster, who introduced accurate
quantitative measures into the investigation of the laws of statical
electricity--the unit measure by which quantity is minutely
estimated--and also the hydro-electrometer and scale-beam balance by
which its intensity and the laws of attractive forces at all distances
are demonstrated. Of not less value is the thermo-electrometer, by
which the heating effects of given quantities of electricity are
measured and rendered comparable with the varying conditions of
quantity and intensity. Besides these instruments, we owe to Harris
the discovery of a new reactive force, through which repulsion and
other small physical forces are investigated and determined by means
of his bifilar balance, founded upon the reactive force of two
vertically suspended parallel threads when twined upon each other at
a given angle, and acted upon by a suspended weight. With the aid of
these instruments he has carried on a variety of important inquiries
into the laws of electrical forces, and the laws and operations of
electrical accumulation (eighth “Brit.,” Vol. VIII. p. 535). His
papers on the subject appeared in 1825 and 1828, and a _résumé_
of them is given by Noad (“Manual” 1859, pp. 35, 137–140), as well
as in the “Electricity” article of the “Britannica,” both of which
contain descriptions and illustrations of Harris’ unit jar and
electro-thermometer.
During the year 1827 Mr. Harris published in the _Trans. Roy. Soc. of
Edinburgh_ his memoir entitled “Experimental Inquiries Concerning
the Laws of Magnetic Forces,” which experiments were made by means
of a new and very accurate apparatus invented by him for examining
the phenomena of induced magnetism. The above was followed by two
other memoirs, published in the _Phil. Trans._ for 1831, “On the
Influence of Screens in Arresting the Progress of Magnetic Action ...”
and “On the Power of Masses of Iron to Control the Attractive Force
of a Magnet,” which are discoursed of in the “Britannica” article on
“Magnetism,” wherein special treatment is also given more particularly
to Mr. Harris’ researches concerning artificial magnets as well as
the magnetic charge, the development of magnetism by rotation and the
phenomena of periodical variations (“Rudim. Mag.,” Part III. p. 60;
Fahie’s “Hist, of Elec. Tel.,” pp. 283, 284).
Besides additional apparatus named in the subjoined references Mr.
Harris invented a very effective steering compass, of which an account
is given in Part III. pp. 148–153, of his “Rudimentary Magnetism,”
as well as at p. 594 of Noad’s “Manual,” at p. 105 of the “English
Cyclopædia” (Arts and Sciences), Vol. III, and at p. 80, Vol. VIII,
1857, “Encycl. Britannica,” and he has also devised a magnetometer
for the measurement of electric forces, of which the description and
illustrations appear in the last-named publication as transcribed from
Mr. Harris’ work already mentioned.
Mr. Harris was made a F. R. S. in 1831, and received the Copley medal
four years later. It was in 1843 he published his well-known work “On
the Nature of Thunderstorms,” the plans he advocated being adopted in
1847, when he received the order of knighthood as well as a large money
grant from the English Government in acknowledgment of his scientific
services. The following appears in the obituary notice of Sir Wm. Snow
Harris, contributed by Mr. Charles Tomlinson to the _Proceedings of
the Roy. Soc._ (XVI, 1868):
“Harris’ sympathies were with the Bennetts, the Cavendishes, the
Singers, the Voltas of a past age. Frictional electricity was his
_forte_ and the source of his triumphs. He was bewildered and
dazzled by the electrical development of the present day, and almost
shut his eyes to it. He was attached too closely and exclusively to
the old school of science to recognize the broad and sweeping advance
of the new. He was not conscious even of being behind his age when
he presented to the Royal Society in 1861 an elaborate paper on an
improved form of Bennett’s discharger, and still less in 1864, when he
discussed the laws of electrical distribution, and yet relied upon the
Leyden jar and the unit jar.”
REFERENCES.--_Trans. of the Plymouth Institution_, also _Trans.
of the Roy. Soc._ for 1834, 1836, 1839; “Eng. Encycl.” (“Common
Electricity”), Vol. III. p. 801; W. A. Miller, “Elem. of Chem.,”
1864, p. 32. For descriptions of his bifilar balance see the
eighth “Britannica,” Vol. VIII. p. 623; Harris, “Rud. Elec.,”
p. 99, and “Rud. Magn.,” pp. 119, 120; Noad, “Manual,” pp. 26,
27, 37, 40, 41, 63, 580; C. Stahelin, “Die Lehre ...” 1852;
P. Volpicelli, “Ricerche analitiche ...” Roma, 1865, while,
for his balance electroscope and electrometers, see “Edin.
Phil. Trans.,” Dec. 1831; eighth “Britannica,” Vol. VIII. pp.
540, 590, 620 622, 624; Harris, “Rud. Elec.,” pp. 99, etc.;
the “Bakerian Lecture”; the “Report of British Association,”
Dundee, 1867, for an able account of electrometers by Sir
William Thomson. His electrical machine is described at pp.
74–76 of Noad’s “Manual,” as well as at p. 604, Vol. VIII
of the 8th “Britannica,” the latter also giving, at p. 550,
Harris’ experiments on the electrical attraction of spheres and
planes. “Catal. Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. III. pp. 191–192;
Lippincott’s “Biog. Dict.,” 1886, p. 1230; Biography in Harris’
“Frictional Electricity”; “Abstracts of Papers ... Phil. Trans.,
1800–1830,” Vol. II. p. 298; _Lumière Electrique_ for Oct. 3,
1891, p. 49; reprint of Sir Wm. Thomson’s “Mathematical Papers,”
1872; “Brit. Asso. Reports” for 1832, 1835, 1836; _Edin. Phil.
Trans._ for 1834; Fahie’s “History,” p. 321; _Edin. and London
and Edin. Phil. Mag._ for 1840; _Phil. Trans._, 1842; _Phil.
Mag._ for 1856–1857, and Harris’ “Manuals of Electricity,
Galvanism and Magnetism,” published in John Weale’s Rudimentary
Series.
=A.D. 1820.=--Mitscherlich (Eilardt--Eilhert), Professor of Chemistry
at the Berlin University, discovers what is called _Isomorphism_
(_isos_, equal; _morphe_, form), showing that bodies containing very
different electro-positive elements could not well be distinguished
from each other; it was impossible therefore to put them in distant
portions of the classification, and thus, remarks Whewell, the first
system of Berzelius crumbled to pieces.
In other words, Mitscherlich was the first to draw attention to the
fact that two bodies having the same composition could assume different
forms; to this law Berzelius gave the name of _Isomerism_ (_isos_,
equal; _meros_, part).
Sir John Herschel makes particular mention (“Treatise on Light,”
s. 1, 113) of Mitscherlich’s remarkable experiment with sulphate
of lime--the alteration in the tints of which by heat, it is said,
was first observed by Fresnel. This experiment was repeated by Sir
David Brewster, and he discovered still more curious properties in
_glauberite_, all of which are detailed in Vol. I. p. 417 of the
_London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag._ for Dec. 1832.
REFERENCES.--“Cat. Sci. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. IV. pp. 413–416;
“Library Useful Knowledge” (Pol. of Light), p. 63; Poggendorff,
Vol. II. pp. 160, 161; the very able treatise of Mr. J. Beete
Jukes on “Mineralogical Science”; also Poggendorff’s _Annalen_,
Vol. XV. p. 630, for Mitscherlich on the chemical origin of iron
glance in volcanic masses.
=A.D. 1820.=--Ampère (André Marie) (1775–1836), one of the most
distinguished philosophers of the century, Professor of Mathematical
Analysis in the French Ecole Polytechnique (1809), afterwards Professor
of Physics at the Collège de France, reads before the Académie Royale
des Sciences, Sept. 18, 25, Oct. 9, 13, and Nov. 6, 1820, papers
containing a complete exposition of the phenomena of electro-dynamics.
His investigations were subsequently embodied in the “Recueil
d’Observations ...” Paris, 1822, and were still further developed
during 1824 and 1826, as shown through both his “Précis de la théorie
...” and “Théorie des Phénomènes Electro-Dynamiques.”
The news of Oersted’s discovery of the relation existing between
the electric current and the magnet--the fundamental fact of
electro-magnetism--was made known in July 1820, and the inquiry was
at once taken up more particularly by Ampère, Arago, Biot, and Félix
Savary in France, as well as by Berzelius, Davy, De la Rive, Cumming,
Faraday, Joseph Henry, Schweigger, Seebeck, Sturgeon, Nobili and others
throughout Europe and elsewhere. Of all these scientists, Ampère proved
the most energetic, and, within three months of the announcement of
Oersted’s discovery, his first memoir on the subject was publicly read
in Paris.
In this first paper, Sept. 18, he explains the law determining the
position of the magnetic needle in relation to the electric current,
and he also makes known his intended experiments with spiral or helical
wires, which he predicts will acquire and retain the properties of
magnets so long as the electrical current flows through them. He
likewise explains his theory of magnets, saying that if we assume a
magnet to consist of an assemblage of minute currents of electricity
whirling all with the same direction of rotation around the steel
molecules and in planes at right angles to the axis of the bar, we will
have an hypothesis which will account for all the known properties of a
magnet. He constructed his spirals and helices, and to the astonishment
of all, he produced magnets formed only of spools of copper wire
traversed by electric currents. We can readily imagine, adds Prof.
A. M. Mayer, the intense interest awakened by this discovery, a
discovery which caused Arago to exclaim, “What would Newton, Halley,
Dufay, Æpinus, Franklin and Coulomb have said if one had told them
that the day would come when a navigator would be able to lay the
course of his vessel without a magnetic needle and solely by means
of electric currents?” “The vast field of physical science,” says
Arago, “perhaps never presented so brilliant a discovery, conceived,
verified and completed with such rapidity.” Thus Ampère became the
author of a beautiful generalization, which not only included the
phenomena exhibited by the new combinations of Oersted, but also
disclosed forces existing in arrangements already familiar, although
they were never detected till it was thus pointed out how they were to
be looked for. His electro-dynamic theory of the action of currents
and of magnets has been thought worthy of a place near the Principia
of Newton ... it deservedly gained for him the title of the Newton of
electro-dynamics, as he did for this branch of science even more than
Coulomb had previously done for electro-statics (Profs. A. M. Mayer and
W. B. Rogers, “Memorial of Jos. Henry,” 1880, pp. 81, 476; Lardner,
“Lectures,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 120; Fahie, “Hist. Tel.,” p. 276).
The experiments of Oersted and Ampère were at once greatly extended
by many scientists, among whom may be especially mentioned MM.
Yelin, Bœckmann, Van Beek, De la Rive, Moll, Nobili, Barlow and
Cumming. The last named apparently gave the earliest notice of the
increased effects of a convolution of wire around the magnetic needle,
and constructed the first astatic needle galvanometer (_Trans.
Camb. Soc._, Vol. I. p. 279). The Chevalier Julius Konrad Yelin
(1771–1826), German mathematician, ascertained that the electricity
of an ordinary machine when passed along a helix, either in simple
electrical sparks or by discharges from a battery, has the effect
of rendering an included needle magnetic. According to Dr. Henry,
M. Bœckmann found in varying these experiments that no modification
of the effect is produced by altering the diameter of the helix
from half an inch to thirteen inches. With a helix of thirty-four
inches diameter, and a coated surface of 300 square inches, much less
magnetism was, however, imparted; and with one of eighty-four inches
it was scarcely perceptible. It was found that a needle outside of the
helix was magnetized as much as one within; that after being once fully
magnetized a continuation of the discharges diminished its power; and
that five jars, each of 300 square inches, did not produce, by repeated
discharges, much more effect than one of them (Poggendorff, Vol. II. p.
1382; Gilbert’s _Annalen_ for 1820–1823).
In his second paper, Sept. 25 (_Ann. de Chim. et de Phys._, Vol.
XV. pp. 59–170), Ampère makes known the results of his experiments on
the mutual attractions and repulsions of electrical currents, showing
conclusively that when the voltaic current is passed in the same
direction through two parallel wires, so placed as to move freely,
they attract each other, and that they are repelled if the currents
are passed in opposite directions. Thus he establishes the second
fundamental law of electro-magnetism, the first law, instituted as
we have seen by Oersted, being that the magnetical effect of the
electrical current is a circular motion around the current. In the
last-named paper he also proposes the hypothesis of currents of
electricity circulating from east to west around the terrestrial
globe in planes at right angles to the direction of the dipping
needle, to account for the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism (Roget,
“Electro-Magn.,” p. 47).
In his third paper, Oct. 9, Ampère investigates the properties of
currents transmitted through wires forming closed curves (_courbes
fermées_) or complete geometrical figures, an inquiry also alluded
to in another memoir read Oct. 30, 1820.
These papers were immediately followed by others, which engaged nearly
all the sittings of the Academy between Dec. 4, 1820, and Jan. 15,
1821. In these he brings forth new confirmations of his theories, and
reduces the phenomena of electro-magnetism to mathematical analysis.
Mr. Samuel Prime remarks (“Life of Morse,” 1875, p. 266) that the
discovery of the action of the spiral coil upon the magnetic needle
seems to have been independently made by Ampère in 1821:
“I showed that the current which is in the pile acts on the magnetic
needle by the conjunctive wire. I described the instrument, which I
proposed to construct, and, among others, the galvanic spiral. I read
a note upon the electro-chemical effects of a spiral of iron wire,
subjected to the action of the earth, directing an electric current
as well as a magnet. I announced the new fact of the attraction and
repulsion of two electric currents, without the intermediation of any
magnet, a fact which I had observed in conductors twisted spirally
(Tilloch’s _Journal of Science_, Vol. LVII. p. 47, 1821).
One of his biographers, Professor Chrystal says: “Scarcely had the
news of Oersted’s discovery reached France, when a French philosopher,
Ampère, set to work to develop the important consequences which it
involved. Physicists had long been looking for the connection between
magnetism and electricity, and had, perhaps, inclined to the view that
electricity was somehow to be explained as a magnetic phenomenon. It
was, in fact, under the influence of such ideas, that Oersted was led
to his discovery. Ampère showed that the explanation was to be found
in an opposite direction. He discovered the ponderomotive action of
one electric current on another, and, by a series of well-chosen
experiments, he established the elementary laws of electro-dynamic
action, starting from which, by a brilliant train of mathematical
analysis, he not only evolved the complete explanation of all the
electro-magnetic phenomena observed before him, but predicted many
hitherto unknown. The results of his researches may be summarized
in the statement that an electric current, in a linear circuit of
any form, is equivalent in its action, whether on magnets or other
circuits, to a magnetic shell bounded by the circuit, whose strength
at every point is constant and proportional to the strength of the
current. By his beautiful theory of molecular currents, he gave a
theoretical explanation of that connection between electricity and
magnetism which had been the dream of previous investigators. _If
we except the discovery of the laws of the induction of electric
currents_, made about ten years later by Faraday, _no advance in
the science of electricity can compare for completeness and brilliancy
with the work of Ampère_. Our admiration is equally great,
whether we contemplate the clearness and power of his mathematical
investigations, the aptness and skill of his experiments, or the
wonderful rapidity with which he elucidated his discovery when he had
once found the clew.”
“Oersted,” remarks M. Babinet, “was the Christopher Columbus of
magnetism; Ampère became its Pizarro and its Fernand Cortez.”
Of Ampère’s _astatic_ needles, a description, taken from one of
his memoirs (_Ann. de Ch. et de Ph._, Vol. XVIII. p. 320), appears
at pp. 280–281 of Fahie’s “History” (Knight’s “Mech. Dict.,” 1874, Vol.
I. p. 171, and Vol. II. p. 1181). For this greatly perfected form of
galvanometer the credit has erroneously been given to Prof. Cumming,
who first suggested the idea of neutralizing the directive force of
the needle arising from the earth’s magnetism, which he did by placing
a magnetized needle immediately beneath the movable or index needle.
Fahie adds, in a footnote: “In Prof. Cumming’s paper ‘On the Connection
of Galvanism and Magnetism,’ read before the Cambridge Philosophical
Society, April 2, 1821, he described a near approach to the astatic
needle. In order to neutralize the terrestrial magnetism he placed
a small magnetized needle under the galvanometer needle” (_Trans.
Cam. Phil. Soc._, Vol. I. p. 279). The credit of Ampère’s discovery
is sometimes given to Nobili, as in Noad’s “Manual of Electricity,”
London, 1859, p. 327; also Roget’s “Electro-Magnetism” in “Library of
Useful Knowledge,” London, 1832, p. 42.
As has been already shown (Laplace, A.D. 1820), the first proposal to
apply Oersted’s discovery to telegraphic purposes by substituting the
deflection of the magnetic needle through electric currents for the
divergence of the pith balls of the electroscope, was made by Ampère,
in his Memoir of Oct. 2, 1820, which appears in the _Comptes Rendus_,
and at p. 72, Vol. XV of the _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_. His
plan, remarks Sabine, was, however, doomed to the same fate as that of
Sömmering, of never coming into practice, and for the same reasons,
principally the number of line wires. Had Ampère combined his system,
or rather the one of Laplace, with that which Schweigger proposed of
reducing Sömmering’s telegraph to two wires, or with any other using a
code of signals, the problem of the electric telegraph would have been
solved from the year 1820. Ampère makes no mention of surrounding the
needles with _coils of wire_, as is so frequently stated by writers
on the telegraph. Indeed he could not then have even heard of the
galvanometer; for, although Schweigger’s paper on the subject was read
at Halle on the 16th of September 1820, it was not published until the
November following.
M. Jean Jacques Antoine Ampère (1800–1864), son of André Marie Ampère,
was an accomplished scholar who succeeded François Andrieux as
professor at the Collège de France and became a member of the French
Academy in 1847.
REFERENCES.--For accounts of Ampère’s rotary magnet,
electro-dynamic cylinders, revolving battery, and of his
electripeter employed to alter rapidly the direction of the
electric current in voltaic batteries, consult pp. 639, 640,
643, Vol. VIII of the eighth “Britannica.” Fahie, “Hist. of
El. Tel.,” p. 303. See “Catal. Sci. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol.
I. pp. 58, 61; Messrs. Sainte-Beuve et Littré’s account of
his life and labours in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ for Feb.
15, 1837; “Notice sur M. Ampère,” _par_ M. E. Littré, Paris,
1843; Arago’s “Eulogy on Ampère,” translated, at pp. 111–171 of
the “Report of the Smithsonian Institution” for 1872. Consult
also “Report Smiths. Instit.” for 1857, pp. 100–107; Ampère’s
biography in the _Sci. Am. Suppl._, No. 674, p. 10760; also
Ampère’s “Journal et Correspondance,” Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp.
39, 40; Address of His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex to
the Eng. Roy. Soc., 1836; Barlow on “Magnetic Attractions”:
_Comptes Rendus_ for 1838, Vol. VII. p. 81; _Bibl. Univ._,
XX; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. LVI. p. 308; LVII. pp. 40–47, “On the
Electro-Magnetic Experiments of Oersted and Ampère,” by Mr.
Hatchett, and pp. 47–49; _Ann. de Phys. de Bruxelles_, Vol.
VII; _Ann. de Ch. et de Phys._, XXIX; Du Moncel, Vol. III. p.
7; “Acad. de Paris,” Sept. 12, 1825; _La Lum. Elect._ for Oct.
31, 1891, p. 202; Roch, in “Zeitschr. f. Mathém.” 1859, p. 295;
Roget on Ampère’s theory of Mag.; K. W. Knochenhauer, _Pogg.
Annal._, XXXIV. p. 481; J. Marsh, “On a Particular Construction
of M. Ampère’s Rotating Cylinder,” _Phil. Mag._, LIX. p. 433,
1822; Henn, “De Amperi principiis ...”; “Memorial of Joseph
Henry,” 1880, pp. 59, 81; “Lib. of Use. Know.” (El. Mag.), pp.
24, 28, 83–92; Harris, “Rud. Elec.,” pp. 170, 171, and “Rud.
Mag.,” p. 130; Noad, “Manual,” pp. 661–662, 861–864; “Encycl.
Metrop.” (El. Mag.), Vol. IV. pp. 5–8; Highton, “Elec. Teleg.,”
p. 39; Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. p. 317; Mrs. Somerville,
“Conn. Phys. Sci.,” 1846, pp. 320, 321; Dr. Lardner, “Lectures,”
Vol. II. p. 125; J. F. W. Herschel, “Prelim. Dis. Nat. Phil.,”
1855, p. 243; Whewell, “Hist. Induc. Sc.,” 1859, Vol. II. pp.
242, 246, 619; “Ann. of Sc. Disc.” for 1850, p. 129, and for
1865, p. 125; “Smithsonian Report” for 1878, p. 273; Sturgeon,
“Sci. Researches,” Bury, 1850, pp. 12, 16, 29; _Jour. Frankl.
Inst._ for 1851, Vol. XXII. p. 59; Turnbull, “El. Mag. Tel.,”
1853, pp. 55 and 221; (Vail’s “History,” pp. 133, 134; Prof.
Henry’s Evid., 85a, record; Doct. Channing’s Ev., 47a, record;
Hibbard, Ev., 31_a_. ...) See also Humboldt’s “Cosmos,”
articles “Aurora Borealis,” “Volcanoes,” “Earthquakes”; Ampère
et Babinet, “Exposé des Nouv. Déc. ... de Oersted, Arago,
Ampère, Davy, Biot, Erman, Schweigger, De la Rive,” etc.,
Paris, 1822, translated into German “Darstellung der neuen ...
dem Französischen,” Leipzig, 1822, and alluded to in _Lumière
Electrique_ for July 18, 1891, pp. 148, 149; Hachette et
Ampère, “Sur les Expériences de Oersted et Ampère”: _Journal
de Physique_ for September 1820. _Annales de Chimie_ for 1825;
“Journal des Savants,” for June 1872; “Dict. Génér. de Biogr. et
d’Histoire,” Paris, 2^e ed., pp. 85–86; “Collection de Mémoires
relatifs à la Physique,” Paris 1885, 1887, Vols. II and III
_passim_, as per indexes; “Amer. Journ. of Psychology,” Vol. IV.
pp. 6–7.
For William Ritchie (1790–1837), the author of an able paper, “On
electro-magnetism, and Ampère’s proposal of telegraphic communication
by means of this power,” consult _Phil. Trans._ for 1833, p. 313;
“Abstracts of Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 350, 382; _Phil.
Mag._ or _Annals_, Vol. VII, 1830, p. 212; _Phil. Mag. and Journal of
Science_, Vol. III, 1833, pp. 37, 122, 124, 145.
For Leopoldo Nobili (1784–1835), frequently mentioned above, consult
“Bibl. Univ.,” Bruxelles, 1834 (Sc. et Arts), Tome LVI. pp. 82–89,
150–168; “Edin. Trans.” Vol. XII and _Phil. Mag._ Vol. XI, 1832, p.
359, for the account of experiments made by James David Forbes, similar
to those of Nobili, wherein an electric spark was elicited from a
natural magnet. For J. D. Forbes, see also _Phil. Mag._, 1832, Vol. XI.
p. 359. For Nobili and Antinori, consult _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XI, 1832,
pp. 401, 466; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XXV, 1824, N.S. p. 38; Vol. XXIX,
1825, N.S. p. 119. For Antinori and Marchese Cosimo Ridolfi, consult
“Bibl. Britan.” Vol. XVI, N.S., 1821, pp. 72–75, 101–118.
For Prof. James Cumming (1777–1861), also frequently named in above
article, consult _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LX, 1822, p. 253; “Bibl.
Britan.,” Vol. XXV, N.S., 1824, p. 104, for experiments of Cumming,
Trail and Marsh; the investigations in the same line of Mr. Thos.
Stuart being especially reported on in “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XXVII,
N.S., 1824, pp. 199–206; “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol XIII. p. 296;
“Edin. Phil. Journal,” 1824, Vol. X. p. 185; “Cat. Sc. Papers Roy.
Soc.,” Vol. I. pp. 58–61; Vol. VI. p. 565; Vol. VII. p. 29; “Bibl.
Britan.,” Vol. XVI, N.S. p. 309; Vol. XVII, N.S. p. 16; Vol. XIX. p.
244; Vol. XX. pp. 173, 258; Vol. XXIV. p. 109.
For Le Chevalier Julius Konrad von Yelin (1771–1826), consult “Bibl.
Britan.,” Vol. XXIII, N.S., 1823, p. 38; Vol. XXIV, N.S., 1823,
p. 253, and, especially, the important tract on the discovery of
thermo-magnetism at p. 31 of his “Die Akademie der Wissenschaften und
ihre Gegner,” Munich, 1822.
=A.D. 1820.=--Arago (Dominique François Jean), famous French
astronomer, physicist and statesman (1786–1853), who at the early
age of twenty-three had, besides being Assistant Astronomer to the
Observatory, become the successor both of Lalande in the Academy of
Sciences and of Monge in the chair of analytical mathematics at the
Polytechnic School, and who, conjointly with Gay-Lussac, had founded
the highly valued _Annales de Chimie et de Physique_ in 1816,
communicates to the French Institute, on the 25th of September 1820,
his discovery that the electric current has the power of developing
magnetism in iron and steel. Into the axis of a galvanic conductor made
in the form of a coil, or helix, he placed a needle, the extremities
of the wire coil being connected to the poles of a battery, and
with this he proved that the wire not only acted on bodies already
magnetized, but that it could develop magnetism in such as did not
already possess the power. When soft iron was used, the magnetism
given was only temporary, but on repeating the experiment, M. Arago
succeeded completely in permanently magnetizing small steel needles.
Arago’s paper on the subject appears at p. 94, Vol. XV of the _Ann.
de Ch. et de Ph._, and it is said that at about the same time Dr.
Thos. J. Seebeck (1770–1831), and Georg Friedrich Pohl (1788–1849) laid
similar results before the Berlin Academy, also that Sir Humphry Davy
independently made a like discovery, of which he advised Dr. Wollaston,
Nov. 12, 1820. Reference to this fact has already been made at Davy,
under date A.D. 1801, wherein it was stated that the latter
had found iron filings to so adhere to the connecting wire as to form
a mass ten or twelve times the thickness of the wire. This was also
the case in the experiments of M. Arago, who, upon observing that the
filings rose before coming in contact with the conjugate wire, drew the
conclusion that each small piece of iron was converted into a temporary
magnet. Thus was Arago led to the discovery of what is called magnetic
induction by electric currents, or, in other words, that an electrical
current passing through a conductor will induce magnetic action in such
bodies near it as are capable of being magnetized (_Phil. Trans._
for 1821, p. 9; Tilloch’s _Jour. of Sci._, Vol. LVII. p. 42, 1821;
eighth “Britannica,” Vol. VIII. p. 532 and Vol. XIV. p. 640; Thomas
Thomson, “Outline of the Sciences,” p. 563).
A fact worth noting in connection with the development of Oersted’s
discovery by both Arago and Ampère, is that in order “to prevent the
communication of the electricity laterally in the folds of the coil,
the wire was insulated by varnish in the first instance and afterward
by winding silk or cotton around it” (F. C. Bakewell, “Elec. Sci.,”
London, 1853, p. 37).
On the 22nd of November 1824, Arago announced to the French Academy
of Sciences the remarkable discovery made by him of a new source of
magnetism in rotatory motion. He was led to this by observing that
when a magnetic needle was oscillating above or close by any body,
such as water or a plate of metal, it gradually oscillated in arcs of
less and less amplitude, as if it were standing in a resisting medium,
and, besides, that the oscillations performed in a given time were the
same in number (Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” “Magnetic Observations,” 1825).
He caused a circular copper plate to revolve immediately beneath a
magnetic needle or magnet, freely suspended so that the latter might
rotate in a plane parallel to that of the copper plate, and he found
that the needle tends to follow the circumvolution of the plate; that
it will deviate from its true direction, and that by increasing the
velocity of the plate the deviation will increase till the needle
passes the opposite point, when it will continue to revolve, and at
last with such rapidity that the eye will be unable to distinguish it.
This, says Mrs. Somerville, is quite independent of the motion of the
air, since it is the same if a pane of glass be interposed between the
magnet and the copper. When the magnet and the plate are at rest, not
the smallest effect, attractive, repulsive, or of any kind, can be
perceived between them. In describing this phenomenon Arago states that
it takes place not only with metals, but with all substances, although
the intensity depends upon the kind of substance in motion.
Arago’s experiments were repeated in London, March 7, 1825. His
valuable discovery, which obtained for him the Copley medal, and which
confirms the doctrine of the universal prevalence of magnetism in
all bodies, is recorded in Arago’s “Sur les Déviations ... aiguille
aimantée” (_An. de Ch. et de Ph._, Vol. XXXIII, and _Phil. Trans._,
p. 467 for 1825), and a solution of the phenomena is given by Faraday
in _Phil. Trans._ for 1832, p. 146, by Sir John Leslie in the Fifth
Dissertation of the eighth “Britannica,” p. 746, as well as in the
article “Magnetism” of the latter publication, and in Mrs. Somerville’s
“Conn. of Phys. Sc.,” pp. 325–327. (See also the observations recorded
in Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. pp. 172, 173; in Dr. Thomson’s
“Outline of the Sciences,” pp. 556–558; Fahie, pp. 282, 283, 321; Dr.
Whewell, Vol. II. pp. 254–256; Brewster’s _Edin. Jour. of Sci._, 1826,
Vol. III. p. 179; “Dict. Gén. de Biogr. et d’Histoire,” Paris, 2^e ed.
p. 126.)
In Brewster’s _Edinburgh Journal of Science_ (Vol. V. p. 325), notice
is given of Arago’s then recent researches on the influence which
bodies considered not magnetic have on the motions of the magnetic
needle, and reference is made to a new communication transmitted
by Arago to the Académie des Sciences, as well as to a report of
additional experiments in the same line given at meetings held July
3 and 10, 1826. Arago satisfactorily meets the denials made by
Leopoldo Nobili and another Italian natural philosopher (Liberato
Giovanni Bacelli) that substances not metallic have any influence
on the magnetic oscillations, and he announces as a result of his
investigations that, for certain positions of a vertical needle, and
for velocities of rotation sufficiently rapid, the repulsive force
which is exerted in the direction of the radius is as great as the
force perpendicular to the radius, of which the effects are observed
upon a horizontal needle.
Poisson having stated in his memoir “On the Theory of Magnetism” in
motion (see Poisson at A.D. 1811) that Coulomb had recognized
the magnetic virtue in all bodies, independently of the iron which
they contain, Arago remarked that the idea of Coulomb was quite
different from his, Coulomb having been of opinion that a quantity of
iron, although too small for chemical analysis even to appreciate, was
sufficient to produce in bodies which contained it appreciable magnetic
effects. MM. Thénard and La Place confirmed this remark. Brewster adds
that, in justice to Coulomb, it is necessary to state that he is the
undoubted author of the discovery that _all bodies, whether organic
or inorganic, are sensible to the influence of magnetism_. M. Biot
has remarked that there are two ways of explaining this, _either all
substances in nature are susceptible of magnetism, or they all contain
portions of iron, or other magnetic metals, which communicate to them
this property_. This last explanation, though adopted by Coulomb, by
no means affects his claim to the discovery of the general fact that
all bodies, whether organic or inorganic, are susceptible of becoming
magnetic. Prof. Hansteen has drawn from numerous experiments and
observations the important conclusion that _every vertical object, of
whatever material it is composed, has a magnetic south pole above, and
a north pole below_ (_Edin. Phil. Journal_ for January-April
1821).
M. Arago made many valuable investigations concerning the influence of
the aurora borealis on the needle, on the variations of the latter,
upon the nature of meteors, lightning, the zodiacal light, magnetic
storms, etc. etc., which are admirably recorded more particularly in
the great work of Alex. von Humboldt. The latter remarks that Arago has
left behind him a treasury of magnetical observations (upward of 52,600
in number) carried on from 1818 to 1835, which have been carefully
edited by M. Fédor Thoman, and published in the “Œuvres Complètes de
François Arago” (Vol. IV. p. 493). Much could be said, especially
regarding Arago’s paper, presented by him to the Academy of Sciences
in 1811, which is considered to have established the foundation of
chromatic polarization. Mention must at any rate be made of the fact
that in Humboldt’s estimation the discovery of the two kinds of
polarization of light may be considered the most brilliant of the
century. They, unquestionably, rank among the most splendid of optical
phenomena.
Etienne Louis Malus, a distinguished French philosopher (Fifth Dissert.
of “Encycl. Brit.”), discovered in 1808 polarization by reflection
from polished surfaces, and Arago, during 1811, made the discovery of
coloured polarization. A world of wonder, remarks Humboldt, composed
of manifold modified waves of light having new properties was now
revealed. A ray of light which reaches our eyes, after traversing
millions of miles from the remotest regions of heaven, announces
of itself in Arago’s polariscope (consisting of a plate of quartz
cut across the axis placed in one end of a tube, at the other end
of which is a doubly refracting prism) whether it is reflected or
refracted, whether it emanates from a solid or fluid, or gaseous body,
even announcing the degree of its intensity (Delambre, “Histoire de
l’Astronomie,” p. 652; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 33; Vol.
II. p. 715).
In 1818, Arago was elected a F.R.S.; he became a member of the Royal
Astronomical Society and also member of the Bureau des Longitudes
during 1822, was made Perpetual Secretary of the Academy and Director
of the Paris Observatory eight years later, and received the Rumford
medal in 1850. The Copley medal given him in 1825 had never before been
conferred upon a Frenchman of science. It was upon his urgent request
that the “Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes” and “Les Comptes Rendus
hebdomadaires” were commenced by the Academy, 1828–1835.
In a letter to Schumacher, Humboldt speaks of Arago as “one gifted with
the noblest of natures, equally distinguished for intellectual power
and for moral excellence.” In conjunction with Gay-Lussac, Arago was,
for almost half a century, Humboldt’s most intimate friend, and their
ever-increasing intimacy became such as to lead to a perfect unity of
thought on scientific subjects. It cannot, therefore, be considered an
exaggerated expression of feeling when, in a letter to Geoffroy St.
Hilaire, dated Berlin, June 24, 1829, Humboldt should conclude with the
words: “Pray remember me to MM. Valenciennes, Deleuze and Cuvier, but
especially to him whom I hold dearest in this life, to M. Arago.”
REFERENCES.--Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp. 53, 54, and the several
biographies named at p. 202, Vol. I of “Johnson’s New Univ.
Cycl.,” 1877; J. A. Barral, “Œuvres de F. Arago,” 1854–1855;
Faria E. De e Arago, “Breve compendio ...” Lisbon, 1800; Arago’s
“Notices Scientifiques,” “Cat. Sc. Papers Roy. Soc.,” Vol. I.
pp. 80–84; Vol. IV. pp. 697–701; Vol. VI. pp. 567, 736–737;
Vol. VIII. p. 537; “Encycl. Metropol.,” Vol IV (Magnetism),
pp. 6, 7; J. F. W. Herschel, “Nat. Phil.,” 1855, pp. 117, 244,
and his account of the repetition of M. Arago’s experiments on
rotatory magnetism in _Phil. Trans._ for 1825; Whewell, “Hist.
Induc. Sci.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 226; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. LIX.
p. 233; LVII. pp. 40–49; LVIII. p. 50; LXI, p. 134; “Lib.
Useful Knowledge’” (Magnetism), p. 91; Noad, “Manual,” pp.
204, 534; “Ann. of Sci. Disc.” for 1850, p. 124; Harris, “Rud.
Magn.,” Parts I, II. pp. 58–61 and _Phil. Trans._ for 1831,
Part I; Prime’s “Life of Morse,” pp. 168, 265, 266; Gmelin’s
“Chemistry,” Vol. I. p. 317; _Comptes Rendus_ for 1836, Vol. II.
p. 212; Dredge, “Electr. Illum.,” Vol. II. p. 122; Sturgeon,
“Scient. Res.,” Bury, 1850, pp. 13, 37, 216, etc.; Appleton,
“New Am. Cycl.,” Vol. XI. p. 71; _Sci. Am. Suppl._, No. 204, p.
3254; _La Lumière Electrique_ for Oct. 31, p. 202; “Reports of
the Smithsonian Institution” for 1857, pp. 102, 107; for 1862,
pp. 132–143, and p. 127 of last named for Malus’ discovery.
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Générale,” Vol. I. part. i. pp.
676–677 detailing the contents of Arago’s “Œuvres Complètes,”
published in thirteen volumes under the direction of J. A.
Barral, also Vol. II. p. 76; _Cornhill Magazine_, Vol. XVII. p.
727; Pierre Prévost, “Tentative,” Genève, 1822 (Poggendorff,
Vol. II. p. 525); _Phil. Mag._, Vol. LVIII. p. 50; Vol. LXI. p.
134; “Abstracts of Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. p. 249.
=A.D. 1821.=--Ridolfi (Marquis Cosimo di), an Italian agriculturist,
is the author of several treatises on _fenomeni elettro-magnetici_,
published in Florence, wherein he expresses the belief that “because
electricity produces both magnetic and calorific phenomena, the
elements giving these separately may possibly be so compounded together
as to produce electricity; which infers that electricity is a compound
of magnetism and caloric.”
REFERENCES.--“Antologia di Firenze,” 1824, p. 159, and “Biblio.
Ital.,” Vol. LXIII. p. 268 for Ridolfi’s description of the
electric plate machine of Novellucci; also “Annales de Chimie et
de Physique,” Vol. X. p. 287; Sturgeon, “Scientific Researches,”
1850, Sec. I. p. 29; “Bibliothèque Universelle” for Feb. 1821.
=A.D. 1821.=--Scoresby (Dr. William) (1789–1857), English
master-mariner, and author of numerous scientific and other treatises,
first publishes, in the “Trans. of the Edinburgh Society,” accounts
of his magnetometer--magnetimeter--and of his electro-magnetic
experiments. These were duly followed up by full reports of his
many interesting investigations relative, more particularly, to the
development of magnetic properties of metals by percussion, as well as
to magnetic induction, and regarding the uniform permeability of all
known substances to the magnet’s influence.
REFERENCES.--“Abstracts of Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” London
1832–1833, Vol. II. pp. 108, 168, 210; “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,”
London, 1897, Vol. LI. p. 6; _Phil. Trans._ for 1822–1824;
“Trans. Edin. Soc.,” Vol. IX. pp. 243–258, 353, 465; Vol. XI
for 1824; Vol. XII for 1831; Vol. XIII for 1832, and Vol.
XIV for 1833; “Brewster’s Jour. of Sc.,” Vol. VIII for 1828;
“Bibliothèque Britannique,” Genève, 1796, N.S., Vol. XXIX for
1825, p. 185; “Edin. Phil. Jour.” for 1823, Vol. IX. p. 45.
=A.D. 1821.=--Babinet (Jacques) (1794–1872), French scientist, is
the author of a very valuable treatise, published in Paris, upon the
magnetical discoveries of Oersted, Ampère, Arago, Davy and others. This
was followed by his “Résumé complet de la physique,” etc., and by a
companion work treating of the relations of ponderable and imponderable
bodies to the phenomena of magnetism and electricity, also, during
the year 1829, by his Memoir upon the determination of terrestrial
magnetism.
He succeeded Savary as Professor at the Collège de France in 1838, and,
two years later, took the place of Dulong in the section of General
Physics at the Académie des Sciences, becoming not long after the
Assistant Astronomer at the Paris Observatory for Meteorology.
His numerous scientific treatises are to be found throughout the
“Mémoires de la Société Philomathique,” the “Annales de Physique,”
the “Comptes Rendus,” the “Revue des Deux-Mondes” and other prominent
publications of the day.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II. p. 10; “Eng.
Cycl.,” London, 1872, Supplement, p. 143; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol.
IV. p. 21; Mme. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. p. 202; and
Ronalds’ “Catalogue,” pp. 10–11, for the joint works of Ampère
and Babinet.
=A.D. 1821.=--Pfaff (Christian Heinrich) (1773–1852), who became
Professor of Medicine, Physics, etc., at the Kiel University, and
was one of the most energetic followers of Volta, sends an unusually
interesting communication to Gilbert’s “Annalen der Physik” and to
Schweigger’s “Journal für Chemie und Physik,” wherein he very ably
supports the views of the Pavia physicist.
Pfaff had, long before that, become favourably known through numerous
scientific papers, which were translated into the leading foreign
journals, the ones entitled “Dissertatio inauguralis ...” published at
Stuttgart, and “Über thierische Elektricität,” published at Leipzig,
having brought him special distinction. He had also written, more
particularly, upon the experiments made by Alex. von Humboldt as well
as relative to Pacchiani’s “Formation of Muriatic Acid by Galvanism,”
alluded to at the A.D. 1805 entry, and it was by reason of the
investigations made by Pfaff and Van Marum that the use of the voltaic
column was generally abandoned. These scientists had constructed very
strong piles consisting, in some instances, of as many as seventy large
separate discs, when they found that the lower layers of wet cloth or
of pasteboard were so seriously compressed by the discs above them as
to neutralize their effect.
REFERENCES.--Johann Samuel T. Gehler’s “Phys. Wörterbuch,” Vol.
VI. pp. 507, 517–518; “Roy. Soc. Cat. Sc. Papers,” Vol. IV. pp.
866–871; “Ann. der Chemie,” Vol. XXXIV. p. 307; Vol. LX. p.
314; “Annales de Chimie et de Physique,” Vol. XLI. pp. 236–247;
Sturgeon, “Annals,” Vol. VIII. pp. 80, 146; Noad, “Manual,” p.
558; Wilkinson, “Elements,” Vol. I. pp. 1–8, 18, 22, 196, 326,
407; Vol. II. p. 106; “Encycl. Brit.” ninth ed., Vol. XVIII. p.
725; “Soc. Philom.,” Vol. II. p. 181; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXVII.
p. 338.
=A.D. 1821.=--Faraday (Michael), a very distinguished English
chemist and natural philosopher (1791–1867), who probably did
more for the development of the study of electrical science than
any other investigator, publishes his “History of the Progress of
Electro-Magnetism” and succeeds, on the morning of Christmas (December
25), 1821, both in causing a magnetic needle to rotate round a wire
carrying an electric current and in making the wire rotate around the
needle, thus rendering possible the production of continuous mechanical
motion by electricity.
The apparatus with which he produced this result is described in nearly
all works treating of natural philosophy. Premising his reference to
this discovery of Mr. Faraday, whose original papers thereon appear
in the _Quarterly Journal of Sciences and the Arts_, Vol. XII.
pp. 75, 186, 283 and 416 (the first bearing date September 11, 1821),
Dr. Whewell says that on attempting to analyze the electro-magnetic
phenomena observed by Oersted and others into their simplest forms,
they appeared, at least at first sight, to be different from any
mechanical actions which had yet been observed. It seemed as if the
conducting wire exerted on the pole of the magnet a force which was not
attractive or repulsive, but _transverse_; not tending to draw the
point acted on nearer, or to push it further off, in the line which
reached from the acting point, but urging it to move at right angles
to this line. The forces appeared to be such as Kepler had dreamt of
in the infancy of mechanical conceptions, rather than such as those of
which Newton had established the presence in the solar system, and such
as he, and all his successors, had supposed to be the only kinds of
force which exist in nature. The north pole of the needle moved as if
it were impelled by a vortex revolving round the wire in one direction,
while the south pole seemed to be driven by an opposite vortex (called
by Wollaston _vertiginous magnetism_ and considered by Mr. Barlow
as the result of _tangential action_). The case seemed novel, and
almost paradoxical. It was soon established by experiments, made in a
great variety of forms, that the mechanical action was really of this
transverse kind. And a curious result was obtained, which a little
while before would have been considered as altogether incredible: that
this force would cause a constant and rapid revolution of either of the
bodies about the other--of the conducting wire about the magnet, or of
the magnet about the conducting wire (Vol. XII of the “Journal of the
Royal Institution”; Watkins, “Popular Sketch of Electro-Magnetism; or
Electro-Dynamics,” London, 1828; Mrs. Somerville, “Connection of Phys.
Sciences,” 1846, p. 315).
Passing over many of Faraday’s important scientific investigations
in other lines, we come to his second great discovery, that of
_magneto-electric induction_, which is the converse of Oersted’s
(developed by Ampère and Arago), the production of electricity by
magnetism. This is recorded in the first series of “Experimental
Researches in Electricity,” read November 24, 1831 before the Royal
Society, of which body Faraday had become a Fellow during 1824, and it
is published at p. 125 of the _Phil. Trans._ for 1832.
It appears that upon observing certain phenomena, which he described
as _Volta-electric_, he concluded before long that magnetism
in motion ought to produce an electric current just as electricity
was made to imitate all the effects of magnetism. He carried on many
experiments, and after the announcements made by Arago to the French
Academy, November 22, 1824, he endeavoured to make the conducting
wire of the voltaic circuit excite electricity in a neighbouring wire
by induction, just as the conductor charged with common electricity
would have done, but he obtained no satisfactory results until August
29, 1831 (_Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XLVIII. p. 402). He remarks:
“Certain effects of the induction of electrical currents have already
been recognized and described; as those of magnetism; Ampère’s
experiments of bringing a copper disc near to a flat spiral; his
repetition, with electro-magnets, of Arago’s extraordinary experiments,
and perhaps a few others. Still it appeared unlikely that these could
be all the effects which induction by currents could produce....
These considerations, with their consequence, the hope of obtaining
electricity from ordinary magnetism, have stimulated me at various
times to investigate experimentally the inductive effects of electric
currents. I lately arrived at positive results, and not only had my
hopes fulfilled, but obtained a theory which appeared to me to open out
a full explanation of Arago’s magnetic phenomena, and also to discover
a new state which may probably have great influence in some of the most
important effects of electric currents.” His very important conclusion
was finally verified, October 1–17, in the following manner. He had
taken a helix, or spool of copper wire, which latter, Prof. Brande
tells us, was covered with silk as in his former experiments and which
was connected by its extremities with a galvanometer, the deflection of
which would of course announce a current of electricity in the spiral
and wires connected with it, and he found that while in the act of
introducing the pole of a powerful bar-magnet within the coils of the
spiral, a deflection of the galvanometer took place in one direction,
and that when in the act of withdrawing, it took place in the opposite
direction; so that each time the conducting wire cut the magnetic
curves, a current of electricity was, for the moment, produced in it.
Dr. Whewell’s account of the discovery is so well interspersed with
references that it deserves repetition here:
“In 1831, Faraday again sought for electro-dynamical induction,
and, after some futile trials, at last found it in a form different
from that in which he had looked for it. It was then seen, that at
the precise time of making or breaking the contact which closed the
galvanic circuit, a momentary effect was induced in a neighbouring
wire, but disappeared instantly (_Phil Trans._, 1832, p. 127,
1st ser., Art. 10). Once in possession of this fact, Mr. Faraday ran
rapidly up the ladder of discovery, to the general point of view.
Instead of suddenly making or breaking the contact of the inducing
circuit, a similar effect was produced by removing the inducible wire
nearer to or further from the circuit (Art. 18)--the effects were
increased by the proximity of soft iron (Art. 28)--when the soft iron
was affected by an ordinary magnet, instead of the voltaic wire, the
same effect still recurred (Art. 37)--and thus it appeared, that by
making and breaking magnetic contact, a momentary electric current was
produced. It was produced also by moving the magnet (Art. 39)--or by
moving the wire with reference to the magnet (Art. 53). Finally, it
was found that the earth might supply the place of a magnet in this as
in other experiments (2nd ser., _Phil. Trans._, p. 163) and the
mere motion of a wire, under proper circumstances, produced in it, it
appeared, a momentary electric current (Art. 141). These facts were
curiously confirmed by the results in special cases. They explained
Arago’s experiments: for the momentary effect became permanent by the
revolution of the plate. And without using the magnet, a revolving
plate became an electrical machine (Art. 150), a revolving globe
exhibited electro-magnetic action (Art. 164), the circuit being
complete in the globe itself without the addition of any wire; and a
mere motion of the wire of a galvanometer produced an electro-dynamic
effect upon its needle (Art. 171).... And thus he was enabled, at the
end of his second series of ‘Researches’ (December 1831), to give,
in general terms, the law of nature to which may be referred the
extraordinary number of new and curious experiments which he has stated
(Arts. 256–264), namely, that if a wire move so as to cut a magnetic
curve, a power is called into action which tends to urge a magnetic
current through the wire; and that if a mass move so that its parts do
not move in the same direction across the magnetic curves, and with the
same angular velocity, electrical currents are called into play in the
mass. And here might properly be added the experimental distinction
between a helix and a magnet, which Faraday subsequently pointed out
(‘Exper. Res.,’ Art. 3273): ‘Whereas an unchangeable magnet can never
raise up a piece of soft iron to a state more than equal to its own, as
measured by the moving wire, a helix carrying a current can develop in
an iron core magnetic lines of force of a hundred or more times as much
power as that possessed by itself when measured by the same means.’”
An article on the reduction of Mr. Faraday’s discoveries in
magneto-electric induction to a general law appeared in the
“Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society” Vol. III. p. 37, and
at Vol. IV. p. 11, new series, of the _Philosophical Magazine_ (see
Faraday’s first two Memoirs in the _Phil. Trans._, Book XIII. chaps. v
and viii; letter to Gay-Lussac in _Annales de Chimie_, Vol. LI. 1832,
pp. 404–434; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XVII. pp. 281, 356); while, in the
_Phil. Trans._ for 1832, p. 132, is the Report of his production of the
electric spark through a modified arrangement in which the electric
current was induced by an electro-magnet, as shown in his subsequent
work published in London during 1834. This is alluded to in Vol. V.
pp. 349–354 of the _Phil. Mag._ for latter year, and in Poggendorff’s
_Annalen_, Vol. XXXIV. pp. 292–301 for 1835. (See also Bakewell,
“Elect. Science,” pp. 39, 140, 144.)
“Around the magnet, Faraday
Is sure that Volta’s lightnings play;
But how to draw them from the wire?
He took a lesson from the heart
’Tis when we meet--’tis when we part,
Breaks forth the electric fire.”
HERBERT MAYO, in _Blackwood_.
In Prof. Alfred M. Mayer’s address, delivered before the American
Association at Boston, August 26, 1880, we read: “It is not generally
known or appreciated that Henry and Faraday independently discovered
the means of producing the electric current and the electric spark from
a magnet. Tyndall, in speaking of this great discovery of Faraday,
says: ‘I cannot help thinking while I dwell upon them, that this
discovery of magneto-electricity is the greatest experimental result
ever obtained by an investigator. It is the Mont Blanc of Faraday’s own
achievements. He always worked at great elevations, but higher than
this he never subsequently attained.’ And it is this same physicist who
further remarks (‘Johnson’s Cycl.,’ Vol. II. pp. 26–27) that all our
induction coils, our medical machines, and the electric light so far as
it has been applied to lighthouses, are the direct progeny of Faraday’s
discovery. In the paper here referred to (Nov. 24, 1831) he for the
first time calls the ‘magnetic curves,’ formed when iron-filings are
strewn around a magnet, ‘lines of magnetic force.’ All his subsequent
researches upon magnetism were made with reference to those lines. They
enabled him to play like a magician with the magnetic force, guiding
him securely through mazes of phenomena which would have been perfectly
bewildering without their aid. The spark of the _extra current_, which
I believe was noticed for the first time by Prof. Joseph Henry, had
been noticed independently by Mr. William Jenkin. Faraday at once
brought this observation under the yoke of his discovery, proving that
the augmented spark was the product of a secondary current evoked by
the reaction of the primary upon its own wire.” The phenomenon of the
spark from the _extra current_ here alluded to was first announced by
Henry in July 1832. He had observed that when the poles of a battery
are united by means of a short wire of low resistance, no spark or at
least a very faint one is produced, but when the poles of the battery
are connected by a long copper wire and mercury cups, a brilliant
spark is obtained at the moment the circuit is broken by raising one
end of the wire out of its cup of mercury and also that the longer the
wire and the greater the number of its helical convolutions, the more
powerful would be the effect (Silliman, “Am. Jour. of Sc.,” Vol. XXII).
The results of Faraday’s investigation of the _extra current_ first
appeared in the _Phil. Mag._ for November 1834.
The references already named give an account of many other important
results attained by Faraday during 1831 and up to the date of the
publication of the third series of his “Experimental Researches” (p.
76), wherein he recognizes the “Identity of Electricities derived from
different sources”[60] (Vol. I. par. 265 and 360), after investigating
the electricities of the machine, the pile, and of the electrical
fishes, and after employing as conductors the entire plant of the
metallic gas pipes and water pipes of the city of London (_Phil.
Trans._ for 1833, p. 23; Poggendorff, _Annalen_, Vol. XXIX,
1833, pp. 274, 365).
In the fourth series, relating to “A New law of electric conduction”
(Vol. I. par. 380, 381, 394, 410), he demonstrates the influence of
what is called “the state of aggregation” upon the transmission of
the current. He found that although the latter was conveyed through
water it did not pass through ice. This he subsequently explained by
saying that the liquid condition enables the molecule of water to turn
round so as to place itself in the proper line of polarization, which
the rigidity of ice prevents. This polar arrangement must precede
decomposition, and decomposition is an accompaniment of conduction
(_Phil. Trans._ for 1833, p. 507; Poggendorff, _Annalen_, Vol. XXXI,
1834, p. 225; also _Phil. Mag._, Vol. X. p. 98; “Royal Inst. Proc.,”
Vol. II. p. 123; Silliman’s _Journal_, Vol. XXI. p. 368).
Other series (pars. 309, 450, 453–454, 472, 477, 661–662, 669, etc.)
treat of “Electro-chemical or electrolytic decomposition.” The
experiments of Wollaston in this line have been given under the A.D.
1801 date, where Prof. Faraday’s opinion of them is also expressed.
Faraday was successful in the employment of Wollaston’s apparatus for
the decomposition of water, and he afterwards devised an arrangement
enabling him to effect true electro-chemical decompositions by common
electricity as well as by the voltaic pile. For this, it is said, he
used an electric battery consisting of fifteen jars and a plate machine
having two sets of rubbers and a glass disc fifty inches in diameter,
the whole presenting a surface of 1422 inches. One revolution of
the plate could be made to give ten or twelve sparks, each one inch
long, while the conductors afforded sparks ten to fourteen inches in
length. He also devised a _discharging train_, to instantaneously
carry off electricity of the feeblest tension by connecting a thick
wire as he had previously done with the London gas and water pipes. A
good description of the methods by which he succeeded with the latter
apparatus in establishing the analogy between ordinary and voltaic
electricity is given in the eighth “Britannica,” Vol. VIII. pp.
596–597. He had shown, at paragraph 371 and p. 105 of his “Researches,”
that as a measure of quantity, a voltaic group of two small wires of
platinum and zinc, placed near each other, and immersed in dilute
acid for three seconds, yields as much electricity as the electrical
battery, charged by thirty turns of a large machine; a fact that was
established both by its momentary electro-magnetic effect, and by the
amount of its chemical action, but, in order to enable him to establish
a principle of definite measurement, he devised a _voltameter_ or
_volta-electrometer_ as mentioned at paragraph No. 739 (Noad, “Manual,”
p. 365). By means of this apparatus he calculated that a single grain
of water in a voltaic cell will require for its decomposition a
quantity of electricity equal to that liberated in 800,000 discharges
of the great Leyden battery of the Royal Institution (“Researches,”
par. 861). Also, that the decomposition of a single grain of water by
four grains of zinc in the active cell of the voltaic circle, produces
as great an amount of polarization and decomposition in the cell
of decomposition, as 950,000 charges of a large Leyden battery, of
several square feet of coated surface; an enormous quantity of power,
equal to a most destructive thunderstorm. Tyndall remarks (“Notes on
Electricity,” No. 118, also “Faraday as a Discoverer,” 1868, p. 44)
that Weber and Kohlrausch ascertained that the quantity of electricity
associated with one milligramme of hydrogen in water, if diffused
over a cloud 1000 metres above the earth, would exert, upon an equal
quantity of the opposite electricity at the earth’s surface, an
attractive force of 2,268,000 kilogrammes.[61]
Faraday introduced new terms to express more specifically the
circumstances attending electro-chemical decomposition. Objections
had long been made to the designation _poles_--one _positive_, the
other _negative_--on the ground that such did not convey a correct
idea of the effects produced. These designations had been given
under erroneous supposition that the poles exerted an attractive and
repulsive energy towards the elements of the decomposing liquid, much
as the poles of the magnet act towards iron. When connecting the
extremities of a battery, the electricity simply makes a circuit;
the current passes _through_ the substance to be decomposed and the
elements remain in operation until the connection is broken. Since the
poles merely act as a path to the current he calls them electrodes
(_electron_, electricity, _odos_, a way); that part of the surface of
the decomposing matter which the current enters--immediately touching
the positive pole--he designates as _anode_ (_ana_, upward) and the
part of the matter which the current leaves--next to the negative
pole--_cathode_ (_kata_, downward). He names _electrolyte_ (_luo_, to
set free) the fluid decomposed directly by electricity passing through
it; the term _electrolyzed_ meaning electro-chemically decomposed.
The elements of an _electrolyte_ are named _ions_ (_ion_, going), the
_anion_ being the body (in sulphate of copper solution, the acid) which
_goes up_ to the positive pole, to the _anode_ of the decomposing
body, whilst the _cation_ is that (in sulphate of copper solution, the
metal) which _goes down_ to the negative pole, to the _cathode_ of the
decomposing body.
The many tests which he made with his voltameter led him to
the conclusion “that under every variety of circumstance, the
decompositions of the voltaic current are as definite in their
character as those chemical combinations which gave birth to the
atomic theory” (_Phil. Trans._ for 1833, p. 675; for 1834, p. 77;
Poggendorff, _Annalen_, Vols. XXXII. p. 401; XXXIII. pp. 301, 433,
481; Bakewell, “Electric Science,” p. 124; “Brit. Assoc. Report” for
1833, p. 393; Henry’s “Memoirs of Dalton,” p. 106).
The eighth series of his “Researches” (Vol. I. pars. 875, etc.) treats
of the “electricity of the voltaic pile,” a further investigation
of which is shown through the papers constituting his sixteenth and
seventeenth series as per Index of Vol. II. p. 302. Faraday establishes
by very simple experiments the most powerful known refutation of
Volta’s contact theory and shows conclusively that the current in the
pile results from the mutual chemical action of its elements, just
as Fabbroni and Wollaston had stated before him. An extract from the
conclusion of his very elaborate defence of the chemical theory reads
as follows: “... the contact theory assumes, that a force which is
able to overcome powerful resistance ... can arise out of nothing:
that, without any change in the acting matter, or the consumption of
any generating force, a current can be produced, which shall go on
for ever against a constant resistance, or only be stopped as in the
voltaic trough, by the ruins which its exertion has heaped upon its own
course.... The chemical theory sets out with a power, the existence of
which is pre-proved, and then follows its variations, rarely assuming
anything which is not supported by some corresponding simple chemical
fact. The contact theory sets out with an assumption to which it adds
others, as the cases require, until at last the contact force, instead
of being the firm unchangeable thing at first supposed by Volta, is as
variable as chemical force itself. Were it otherwise than it is, and
were the contact theory true, the equality of cause and effect must
be denied. Then would perpetual motion also be true; and it would not
be at all difficult, upon the first given case of an electric current
by contact alone, to produce an electro-magnetic arrangement, which,
as to its principle, would go on producing mechanical effects for
ever” (“Exp. Res.,” pars. 2071–2073, Vol. II. pp. 103–104; _Phil.
Trans._ for 1834, p. 425; for 1840, pp. 61, 93; Poggendorff,
_Annalen_, Vols. XXXV. pp. 1, 222; LII. pp. 149, 547; LIII. pp.
316, 479, 548. Auguste Arthur De la Rive, “Archives de l’Elect.,”
Genève, 1841–1845, Vol. I. pp. 93, 342; Graham, “Elem. of Chem.,”
London, 1850, Vol. I. pp. 242, etc.; Faraday and Sturgeon, “Ann. of
Elec.,” Vol. IV. pp. 229, 231; Daniell, “Intro. to Study of Chem.
Phil.”; Liebig, _Annal._, Vol. XXXVI. p. 137; Figuier, “Expos. et
Hist.,” 1857, Vol. IV. p. 434. Also De la Rive’s “Treatise,” Vol. I.
pp. 393–402; “Exper. Researches,” Vol. I. pp. 322–323--induction of
galvanic current upon itself).
Faraday’s theory of induction offers nothing new as to the nature
of the electric forces--it simply indicates the manner of their
distribution and the laws by which they are affected. His experiments
show that electrization by influence is possible only by means
of continuous particles of air or other non-conducting medium
(dielectric), that no electric action occurs at a distance greater than
the interval existing between two adjacent molecules of such medium, in
which latter a true polarization of the particles takes place, and that
it is by means of this polarization that electric force is transferred
to a distance. Induction only takes place through insulators: induction
is insulation, it being the action of a charged body upon insulating
matter, of which latter the particles communicate to each other in a
very minute degree the electric forces whereby they become polarized
and are enabled to transmit an equal amount of the opposite force to
a distance. The latter property is termed _inductive force_ or
_specific inductive capacity_, and Faraday discovered that the
intensity of electric induction varies in different insulating media;
for instance, the induction through shell-lac (the first substance he
experimented with) being twice as great as through a like thickness of
air. It was while experimenting with shell-lac that he first observed
the singular phenomenon of the _return_ or _residual charge_,
i. e. the charge which would of itself gradually reappear in the
apparatus after the latter had been suddenly and perfectly discharged.
This, he considered due to the penetration, into the substance of the
dielectric, of a portion of the charge by conduction. The inductive
capacity of all gases he found to be the same as that of air, and this
property does not alter with variations in their density.
His discovery of the specific inductive capacity of various substances
has been already alluded to (A.D. 1772, Cavendish). Faraday’s
biographer in the ninth “Britannica” says: “It appears, from hitherto
unpublished papers, that Henry Cavendish had, before 1773, not only
discovered that glass, wax, rosin and shell-lac have higher specific
inductive capacities than air but had actually determined the numerical
ratios of these capacities. This, of course, was not known to Faraday
or other electricians of his time.” It was on the 30th of November,
1837, Faraday communicated to the Royal Society the paper on Induction
wherein he announces the re-discovery of _specific inductive capacity_.
One of its most important results to-day, remarks John Tyndall, “is
the establishment of the specific inductive capacity of insulators--a
subject of supreme importance in connection with submarine cables.
As a striking illustration of Faraday’s insight, it may be mentioned
that as early as 1838 he had virtually foreseen and predicted the
retardation produced by the inductive action between the wires of
submarine cables and the surrounding sea-water” (Tyndall’s “Notes on
Electricity,” 1871, pp. 160–161; “Exper. Researches,” Index Vol. I.;
“Faraday as a Discoverer,” new edition, p. 89). Consult, also, the
references entered at Cavendish, A.D. 1772; J. E. H. Gordon, “Phys.
Treatise on Elect. ...” London, 1883, Vol. I. chap. xi. par. 81–83,
which alludes to “Exper. Researches,” 1161, Vol. I. p. 360 as well
as to the investigations of specific inductive capacities made by
Boltzmann, Romich and Fajdiga, Romich and Nomak, Schiller, Silow,
Wüllner, Dr. Hopkinson, J. E. H. Gordon, Ayrton and Perry, and gives
the “General Table of Specific Inductive Capacities,” detailing the
observations of Cavendish, Faraday and all the others named above. See,
besides, “Reprint of Papers ...” Sir Wm. Thomson, 1872 to 1884, 2nd
ed., paragraphs 36, 46, 50; _Phil. Trans._, 1838, pp. 1, 79, 83, 125;
1842, p. 170; Poggendorff, _Annalen_, Vols. XLVI. pp. 1, 537; XLVII.
pp. 33, 271, 529; XLVIII. pp. 269, 424, 513; XCVI. p. 488; XCVII. p.
415; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. IX. p. 61; XI. p. 10; XIII. pp. 281, 355, 412;
“Bibl. Univ.,” Vol. XVII. p. 178 and “Archives des Sc. Phys.,” Vol.
XXXI. p. 48; “Journal de Pharm.,” Vol. XXVII. p. 60; W. S. Harris,
“Specific Inductive Capacities ...” (_Phil. Trans._, 1842).
In the fifteenth series of his “Exper. Researches” (Vol. II. pars.
1749–1795), Faraday gives the results of his experiments proving the
identity of the power of the _gymnotus_ or the _torpedo_ with common
electricity. He concludes that “a single medium discharge of the fish
is at least equal to the electricity of a Leyden battery of fifteen
jars, containing 3500 square inches of glass coated on both sides,
charged to its highest degree” (p. 8); “all the water and all the
conducting matter around the fish, through which a discharge circuit
can in any way be completed, is filled at the moment with circulating
electric power and this state might be easily represented generally
in a diagram by drawing the lines of inductive action upon it. In the
case of a _gymnotus_ surrounded equally in all directions by water,
these would resemble generally in disposition the magnetic curves of
a magnet having the same straight or curved shape as the animal, that
is, provided he in such cases employed, as may be expected, his four
electric organs at once” (p. 12) (C. Matteucci, “Traité des phénom.
...” Paris, 1844, pp. 188–192).
Then follow in due course, Faraday’s remarkable papers relating to
the magnetization of light and the illumination of magnetic lines of
force, the polar and other condition of diamagnetic bodies, etc. These
communications, which he made to the Royal Society in November and
December 1845, contain the particulars of what many consider to be his
most brilliant discoveries. He first shows that when a ray of polarized
light passes through a piece of silicated borate of lead glass placed
between the poles of a natural (or preferably an electro-) magnet, so
that the line of magnetic force shall pass through its length, the
polarized ray will experience a rotation. The law is thus expressed:
“If a magnetic line of force be _going_ from a North pole or coming
from a South pole, along the path of a polarized ray, _coming_ to the
observer, it will rotate that ray to the right hand, or if such a line
of force be coming from a North pole or going from a South pole it
will rotate such a ray to the left hand” (_Phil. Trans._ for 1846 and
1856; Poggendorff, _Annalen_, Vol. C. pp. 111, 439; Noad, “Manual,”
pp. 804–805; Harris, “Rud. Mag.,” Parts I and II. p. 71; Whewell,
“Hist. of the Inductive Sciences,” Vol. II. pp. III, 133; Gmelin’s
“Chemistry,” Vol. I. pp. 168–169). At the Faraday Centenary Celebration
held in London, June 18, 1891, Lord Rayleigh observed that “the full
significance of the last-named discovery was not yet realized. A large
step towards realizing it, however, was contained in the observation
of Sir William Thomson, that the rotation of the plane of polarization
proved that something in the nature of rotation must be going on within
the medium when subjected to the magnetizing force, but the precise
nature of the rotation was a matter for further speculation, and
perhaps might not be known for some time to come.”
Through Faraday’s other communication, is made known the discovery
of _diamagnetism_. Therein he shows, as the result of his customary
careful experimental explorations that the magnetism of every known
substance (even tissues of the human frame) is manifested in one of
two ways. Either the body is, like iron, attracted by the magnet,
taking a position coincident with the magnetic forces which he calls
_paramagnetic_ (_para_ beside or near, _magnetes_, _magnes_, magnet)
or bodies--like bismuth, for instance--are repelled by the poles
and should therefore be called _diamagnetic_ (_dia_, across) for
they set themselves across, equatorially, or at right angles to the
magnetic lines. As far back as 1788, the repulsion by bismuth was
first observed by Brugmans, while M. Becquerel, during 1827, confirmed
the observation, said to have been made by Coulomb, that a needle of
wood could be made to point across the magnetic curves, and stated
that he had found such a needle place itself parallel to the wires
of a galvanometer. Yet, neither M. Becquerel nor M. Lebaillif, who
(after Saigy and Seebeck) had called attention to the repulsion of
both bismuth and antimony by the magnet, made a distinction of the
diamagnetic force from the paramagnetic as Faraday did. Amongst other
results, this English scientist found that phosphorus is at the head
of all diamagnetic substances, bismuth taking the lead amongst the
metals, whilst, of many gases and vapours, oxygen proved to be the
least diamagnetic, in fact, the only one which is paramagnetic (“Lond.,
Edin., and Dub. Phil. Mag.” for December 1850). All the facts set
forth in Mr. Faraday’s paper are, according to Brande, resolvable
by induction into the general law; that while every particle of a
magnetic body is attracted, every particle of a diamagnetic body is
repelled by either pole of a magnet: these forces continue as long as
the magnetic power is sustained, and cease on the cessation of that
power, standing therefore in the same general antithetical relation to
each other as the positive and negative conditions of electricity, the
northern and southern polarities of ordinary magnetism, or the lines
of electric and magnetic force in magneto-electricity. (_Phil. Trans._
for 1846–1851; _Phil. Mag._, Vols. XXVIII. pp. 294, 396, 455; XXIX.
pp. 153, 249; XXXVI. p. 88; _Annales de Chimie_, Vol. XVII. p. 359;
Poggendorff, _Annalen_, Vols. LXVIII. p. 105; LXX. p. 283; LXXXII. pp.
75, 232; “Bibl. Univ. Archives,” Vols. I. p. 385; III. p. 338; XVI. p.
89; Ludwig F. von Froriep, “Notizen,” Vols. XXXVII. cols. 6–8; XXXIX.
col. 257; Erdmann, “Jour. Prak. Chem.,” Vol. XXXVIII. p. 256; Liebig,
_Annal._, Vol. LVII. p. 261; Napoli, “Rendiconto,” Vol. VI. p. 227;
Silliman’s “Journal,” Vols. II. p. 233; X. p. 188; Walker, “Elect.
Mag.,” Vol. II. p. 259; John Tyndall, “Researches on Diamagnetism
and Magne-crystallic Action,” London, 1870, pp. 1, 38, 89, 90, 137;
Whewell, “Hist. of Ind. Sc.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 620; “Athenæum” for
January 31, 1846; Plücker’s paper “On the relation of Magnetism and
Diamagnetism,” dated September 8, 1847, in Poggendorff’s _Annalen_
and in Taylor’s “Scientific Memoirs,” Vol. V. part ix. p. 376; Edmond
Becquerel’s “Memoir on Diamagnetism” in _An. de Ch. et de Ph._, Vol.
XXXII. p. 112; “Practical Mech. and Engin. Mag.,” 1846, p. 117; for
“Coexistence of Paramagnetism and Diamagnetism in same Crystal,” _see_
“Jour. of Chem. Soc.,” London, February 1906, p. 69, taken from _Les
Comptes Rendus_).
During the course of Faraday’s experiments to ascertain the effects
of magnetism on crystals some very curious results were obtained
with bismuth. Having suspended four bars of the metal horizontally
between the poles of the electro-magnet, the first pointed _axially_;
the second _equatorially_; another _equatorial_ in one position,
and _obliquely equatorial_ if turned round on its axis fifty or
sixty degrees; the fourth _equatorially and axially_ under the same
treatment; whilst all of them were repelled by a single magnetic pole,
thus showing their strong and well-marked diamagnetic character. These
variations were attributed to the regularly crystalline condition
of the bars. He then chose carefully selected crystals and, after
describing their peculiar action between the poles, he says that
“the results are altogether very different from those produced by
diamagnetic action. They are equally distinct from those dependent on
ordinary magnetic action. They are also distinct from those discovered
and described by Plücker, in his beautiful researches into the
relation of the optic axis to magnetic action; for there the force is
equatorial, whereas here it is axial. So they appear to present to us
a new force, or a new form of force in the molecules of matter, which,
for convenience’ sake, I will conventionally designate by a new word,
as the _magne-crystallic force_.” Prof. A. M. Mayer justly observes
(“Johnson’s Cycl.,” I. 1342) that the above-named facts “received their
full explanation at the hands of Tyndall, whose subtile examination or
lucid explanation of these phenomena--though not popularly known--we
think form his greatest claim to illustrious distinction as a man
of science.” For an extract from the last-named work relative to M.
Poisson’s remarkable theoretic prediction of magne-crystallic action,
see the article concerning that scientist at A.D. 1811. (Consult
_Phil. Trans._ for 1849, pp. 4, 22; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. XXIV. p. 77 and
s. 4, Vol. II. p. 178; De la Rive, “Treatise,” Vol. I. pp. 482–497;
“Athenæum,” No. 1103, p. 1266; Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. pp.
514–519.)
The remarkable discoveries we have named were succeeded by many
others of a very high order, the references to which occupy as many
as 158 separate entries through pp. 555–560, Vol. II. of the “Catal.
of Sci. Papers of the Royal Society.” Among those may be singled out
his additional investigations regarding the magnetism of gases and
the magnetic relations of flames and gases, the lines of magnetic
force, subterraneous electro-telegraphic wires (_Phil. Mag._ s. 4,
Vol. VII. 1854), the relation of gravity to electricity, atmospheric
magnetism, likewise his recorded observations on hydro-electricity,
magneto-electric light for lighthouses, pyro-electricity, the
electrophorus, Wheatstone’s telegraph, etc. (“Roy. Inst. Proc.” for
1854–1858, pp. 555–560). It was in 1848 he wrote of the powerful
insulating properties of gutta-percha (Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. p.
313; “Lond. and Edin. Phil. Mag.,” Vol. XXXII. p. 165), and he not long
after constructed a very singular apparatus to a Leyden jar consisting
of a wire 140 miles long, perfectly insulated with gutta-percha, one
end of which communicated with an insulated pile of 360 elements of
zinc and copper charged with acidulated water, as described in the
“Britannica.” The results of his inquiries concerning the Leyden
jar charge of buried electric conducting wires were, according to
Whitehouse’s pamphlet on the Atl. Tel. (p. 5) communicated to the Roy.
Inst. during the year 1854.
The life of Michael Faraday is an admirable example of extraordinary
successes achieved through patient endeavour and constancy of purpose
over unusual obstacles of birth and education. M. Dumas, in the
sixteenth volume of the London “Chemical News,” tells us he was the
only man in England who raised himself to the first rank in science,
whose every attribute can be fearlessly held up as a model. He had
none of the “ambition, eternal pining after rank or hauteur” of
Davy, nor “the secretiveness and coldness” of Wollaston. “Faraday’s
intellect, while it burnt as brightly as Davy’s, was as deep searching
as Wollaston’s, and as reverent as Newton’s, yet it had nothing in
it which could repel us, chill us, or forbid our affection.” The son
of a blacksmith, he was first placed in a bookseller’s shop, then
apprenticed to a bookbinder, but his tastes were averse to the trade
and he was led to seek instruction in another line, more particularly
after attending the evening lectures of Mr. Tatum, yet, as already
stated (see Dr. George Gregory, A.D. 1796), it was while in
M. Riebau’s (the bookbinder’s) employ that chance threw in his way the
works which led him to enter the channels in which he subsequently
became so distinguished. To a friend, he writes:
“Your subject interested me deeply every way; for Mrs. Marcet was a
good friend to me, as she must have been to many of the human race. I
entered the shop of a bookseller and bookbinder at the age of thirteen,
in the year 1804, remaining there eight years, and during the chief
part of the time bound books. Now it was in those books, in the hours
after work, that I found the beginning of my philosophy. There were
two that especially helped me, the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ from
which I gained my first notions of electricity, and Mrs. Marcet’s
‘Conversations on Chemistry,’ which gave me my foundation in that
science. Do not suppose that I was a very deep thinker, or was marked
as a precocious person ... but facts were important to me and saved
me. I could trust a fact and always cross-examined an assertion. So
when I questioned Mrs. Marcet’s book by such little experiments as I
could find means to perform, and found it true to the facts as I could
understand them, I felt that I had got hold of an anchor in chemical
knowledge, and clung fast to it....” (“Faraday as a Discoverer,” by
John Tyndall, 1868, pp. 6–7).
Think of the startling, not to say marvellous, achievements growing out
of Faraday’s subsequent first experiments with an electrical machine
made out of an old bottle and by the aid of a Leyden jar constructed
with a medicine phial!
In 1812, he was taken by Mr. Dance to the lectures of Sir Humphry
Davy, whose chemical assistant he became the following year and in
whose company, as we have already seen (A.D. 1801), he travelled on
the Continent until 1815. Mr. Davies Gilbert, to whom is due Davy’s
introduction to the Royal Institution, has said of the last-named
illustrious philosopher that the greatest of all his discoveries was
the discovery of Faraday. In 1816, Michael Faraday was placed by Mr.
Brande in charge of the “Quarterly Journal of Science,” and, during
1823, he was elected corresponding Member of the French Academy,
becoming F.R.S. the ensuing year through the influence of his friend
Richard Phillips. It was during 1825–1826 he published in the _Phil.
Trans._ the chemical papers wherein he announces the discovery of
benzole (called by him bicarburet of hydrogen) to which, says Hoffmann,
“we virtually owe our supply of aniline, with all its magnificent
progeny of colours.” In 1827, Faraday succeeded Davy as lecturer at
the Royal Institution, and, from 1829 to 1842, he occupied the post
of chemical lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. The
“Experimental Researches,” to which we have so often alluded, first
appeared in the 1831 _Phil. Trans._, and were afterwards collected
in three volumes, which were published respectively during 1839, 1844,
1855. Faraday was made D.C.L. in 1832 by Oxford University, and, one
year later, he received the Fullerian professorship of chemistry in the
Royal Institution, which he held till his death. A pension was given
him by the English Government in 1835, and he also received the Royal
Medal, which latter was again conferred upon him, together with the
Rumford Medal, during 1846. Ten years before (1836) he had become a
member of the Senate of the London University, and during the year 1858
the Queen allotted him the residence in Hampton Court where he died in
1867. “Taking him for all in all,” says Tyndall, “it will, I think,
be conceded that Faraday was the greatest experimental philosopher
that the world has ever seen; and I would hazard the opinion that the
progress of future research will tend not to diminish but to enhance
the labours of this mighty explorer.”
REFERENCES.--“Life of Faraday,” by Dr. H. Bence Jones (Sec.
R.I.); “Michael Faraday,” by Dr. J. H. Gladstone, 1872; “Faraday
as a Discoverer,” by John Tyndall; the biographical sketch by
Prof. Joseph Lovering; “Michael Faraday, his Life and Work,”
by Silv. P. Thompson, New York, 1898; “The Chemical News” (Am.
Rep.), Vol. I. pp. 246, 250, 276, and Vol. II. pp. 98, 202;
Report of the Faraday Centenary celebration at the London
Roy. Inst., June 17, 1891; Poggendorff, Vol. I. pp. 719–722;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” 1872, Vol. VIII. p. 99; “Biog. Gén.,”
Vol. XVII. pp. 90–93; “Men of the Time,” London, 1856; Reports
on Faraday’s Lectures delivered before the Roy. Inst. (taken
from the “London Mining Journal,” Nos. 714, 717–722), at pp.
319–324, 387–393; Vol. XVIII for 1849 of “Jour. of Frankl.
Inst.”; Gmelin’s “Chemistry,” Vol. I. pp. 424, etc., 435–436,
514–519; Poggendorff, _Annalen_, Vols. LXXXVIII. p. 557;
Ergänz, Vol. I. pp. 1, 28, 64, 73, 108, 187, 481–545; Gustav
Wiedemann, “Die Lehre von Galv.,” 1863 and “Die Lehre von der
Elektricität,” 1883; W. H. Uhland, “Die Elektrische Licht,”
1884, p. 62; An. Sc. Dis. for 1850, pp. 129, 131, 132; for 1851,
p. 133, and for 1852, p. 110 on “Atmospheric Magnetism,” taken
from “Jameson’s Journal,” July 1851; for 1853, p. 132; for
1856, p. 161; for 1858, p. 177, Faraday, “On the Conservatism
of Force”; for 1860, p. 125, Faraday on “Static Induction”; for
1863, p. 108, “Elec. Lamp in Lighthouses”; for 1868, p. 169;
for 1870, p. 10; for 1874, p. 174, on “Dielectric Absorption”;
Robison, “Mechan. Phil.”; Leslie, “Geomet. Anal.”; “Jour. Roy.
Inst.” for February 1831, Vol. I. p. 311 (Electrif. of ray of
light); eighth “Britannica,” Vols. I, sixth dissertation; VIII.
pp. 532–533, 539, 542, 544, 552, 601, 607, 617; XIV. pp. 68,
663; XXI. pp. 612, 622, 628, 630; ninth “Britannica,” Vol. IX.
pp. 29–31; Brockhaus, “Conversations-Lexikon,” Vol. VI. pp.
565–566; “Lond. and Edin. Ph. Mag.,” Vol. I. p. 161 for letter
of Faraday of July 27, 1832, enclosing one signed P. M., “in
which _chemical decomposition is for the first time obtained by
the induced magnetic current_”; Faraday and Schönbein (“London
and Edin. Mag.,” July-August 1836; “Roy. Instit. Proc.,” III.
70–71); Faraday and Riess, “On the action of non-conducting
bodies in electric induction,” 1856; Sturgeon, “Sc. Res.,” 1850,
pp. 20, 475; “Practical Mechanic,” Vols. II. pp. 318, 408; III.
p. 197; “Libr. of Useful Knowledge” (Elec. Mag.), pp. 18, 99;
Humboldt, “Cosmos,” Vol. I. pp. 182, 188; Harris, “Rud. Magn.,”
1852, I and II, pp. 61–69, etc., 199; III. 122–128 and “Rud.
Elec.,” 1st ed., pp. 33–34; “Edin. Jour. Sc.,” 1826, Vol. III.
p. 373; “Edin. new Ph. Jour.,” Vol. LI. p. 61; Golding Bird’s
“Nat. Phil.,” p. 227; James Johnstone, “The Ether Theory of
1839,” pp. 26, 37; Noad, “Manual,” pp. 59, 236, 692, 805, 866;
“Am. Jour. Sc.” for April 1871, relative to lines of magnetic
force; “Ann. of Phil.” for 1832; “Bibl. Univ. Archives,” Vol.
XVI. p. 129; “Roy. Instit. Proc.,” Vol. I, 1851–1854, pp. 56,
105, 216, 229; _Phil. Trans._, 1832, p. 163; 1851, pp. 29, 85;
1852, pp. 25, 137; _Phil. Mag._, Vol. III, 1852, p. 401; Dredge,
“Elect. Illum.,” Vol. I. pp. 46, 91, 95; “New Eng. Mag.” for
March 1891; Silliman’s _Journal_, Vol. XII. p. 69; “Sc. Am.
Suppl.,” Nos. 198, p. 3148; 206, p. 3284; 526, p. 8404; 547, p.
8733; 652, p. 10416; _La Lum. Electrique_ for October 31, 1891,
pp. 202–203; Marcel Joubert, “Leçons,” 1882, Vol. I. pp. 495,
559; 576; Th. du Moncel, “Exposé des App. de l’Elec.,” 1872,
Vols. I and II; G. B. Prescott, “Electricity,” 1885, Vol. I. pp.
105–112; “Reports of the Smithsonian Institution” for 1857, pp.
372–380; for 1862, p. 204; for 1889, p. 444; Richard Mansill,
“New Syst. of Univ. Nat. Science,” 1887, pp. 180–185; “Faraday’s
Researches on Electrostatical Induction,” also “Faraday’s Law
of Attractions and Repulsions,” at pp. 26–30, and 647–664 of
“Reprint of Papers on Electro-statics and Magnetism,” by Sir Wm.
Thomson, London, 1884; “Essays in Historical Chemistry,” T. E.
Thorpe, London, 1894, p. 142; “Life and Letters of Thomas Henry
Huxley,” by Leonard Huxley, New York, 1901, as per Index at pp.
513–514; “Fragments of Science,” by John Tyndall, New York,
1901, Vol. I. pp. 420–443; “Jnl. of Psychological Medicine,” by
Dr. William A. Hammond, New York, 1870, pp. 555–569; “Cat. Sc.
Papers ... Roy. Soc.,” Vol. II. pp. 555–561; Vol. VI. p. 653;
Vol. VII. p. 638; “Bibl. Britan.,” Vol. XVIII, N.S. for 1821,
p. 269; “Phil. Mag. and Jour. of Science,” 1833, Vol. III. pp.
18, 37, 38, 161, 253, 353, 460, 469, and Vol. XI, 1838, pp. 206,
358, 426, 430, 538.
APPENDIX I
ACCOUNTS OF EARLY WRITERS, NAVIGATORS AND OTHERS
ALLUDED TO BY GILBERT AND NOT ALREADY DISPOSED
OF THROUGHOUT THIS “BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY”
=Abano=, Pietro di--Petrus Aponus, Apponensis or Apianus--called
“the Reconciler” (1250–1316), was Professor of Medicine at Padua and
wrote several works of importance on different subjects. The best known
is “Conciliator differentiarum philosophorum ac Medicorum,” which is
devoted to the reconciliation of the various medical and philosophical
schools, and in which reference is made to the loadstone, as is also
the case in his “Tractatus de Venenis,” published during 1490.
REFERENCES.--Larousse (Pierre), “Dict. Universel,” Vol. I. p.
11; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. I. pp. 29–31; G. A. Pritzel,
“Thesaurus Literaturæ Botanicæ,” Lipsiæ, 1851, p. 226; N. F. J.
Eloy, “Dict. hist. de la médecine,” Mons, 1778, Art. _Apono_;
Ludovico Hain, “Repertorium Bibliographicorum,” Art. _Abano_;
Mazzuchelli (Frederigo), “Raccolta d’Opuscoli ...” Venetia,
1741; Pellechet (Marie), “Catalogue général des incunables,”
1897, pp. 1–4; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.
=Agricola=, Georgius--Bauer--Landmann--(1494–1555), is called by
Dr. Thomas Thomson one of the most extraordinary men as well as one
of the greatest promoters of chemistry that have ever existed, and he
pronounces Agricola’s “De Re Metallica,” which was published in 1546,
1556, 1558, 1561, as, beyond comparison, the most valuable chemical
work produced in the sixteenth century. Agricola is also the author of
“De Natura eorum,” of “De Natura fossilium” and of “De veteribus et
novis metallis,” all published at Basle in 1657.
Gilbert mentions Agricola in his _De Magnete_ (Book I. chaps, i. ii.
vii. viii.; Book II. chap. xxxviii.) and, in connection with him,
alludes more particularly to Gilgil, the Mauretanian, and also to
Christoph--Entzelt--Encelius, author of a book bearing the same name
as Agricola’s chief work, “De Re Metallica,” published at Frankfort,
1551. Attention may as well be called here to additional authors, whose
works, in the same line, are of great variety and but little known:
(1) Cæsalpinus (Andreas) (1519–1603), “De Metallicis,” Romæ, 1596; (2)
Morieni (Romani), who, in his “De Re Metallica,” Parisiis, 1559, treats
(as does also John Joachim Beccher, 1635–1682: “Hutton’s Abridgments”
Vol. I. p. 620) of the transmutation of metals and of the occult, much
in same manner as Robertus Vallensis in his “De veritate et antiquitate
artis chemicæ ...” 1593, 1612; (3) Bernardo Pèrez de Vargas, who, in
his “De Re Metallica, en el qual se tratan de muchos diversos secretos
...” Madrid, 1569, tells how to find different kinds of minerals
and metals and how to treat them to the best advantage in various
industries; (4) J. Charles Faniani, “De Arte Metallicæ” 1576.
Cuvier says of Agricola: “He was the first mineralogist who appeared
after the _renaissance_ of the sciences in Europe: he was to mineralogy
what Conrad Gesner was to zoology.”
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Générale,” Vol. I. pp. 410–411; Larousse
(Pierre), “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. p. 141; “Dict. hist. de la
médecine” (N. F. J. Eloy), Mons, 1778, Vol. I. pp. 50–52.
=Agrippa=, Heinricus Cornelius--ab Netiesheyem,
Nettesheim--(1486–1535), German Doctor of Medicine, also a Doctor
of Divinity, a soldier--knighted for valour on the battle-field of
Ravenna--a diplomatist, an astrologer, etc. He was in turns, ambassador
at Paris and London, historiographer to Emperor Charles V, professor
at the university of Pavia, town physician in Friburg, private
practitioner at Geneva, court physician to Louise of Savoy, chief
magistrate of Metz, theological delegate to the schismatic council of
Pisa, etc., and for three years was engaged in a military expedition
to Catalonia. He is the author of several important works, the full
collection of which was published at Lyons in 1550. The one by which
he is best known is “De occulta philosophia,” which was translated in
French by Levasseur.
REFERENCES.--Morley (Henry), “The Life of H. Corn. Agrippa,”
London, 1856; Bayle (Pierre), “Dict. Hist.”; Jos. Ennemoser,
“History of Magic,” London, 1854, Vol. II. pp. 253–256; G.
Naudé, “Apologie”; Larousse (Pierre), “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. pp.
143–144; Bolton (H. C.), “Chr. Hist. of Chem.,” p. 946; Gilbert,
_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.
=Albategnius=--Machometes Aractensis, Muhammad Ibn
Jabir--Al-Battani--(_d._ A.D. 929), is considered by
Lalande one of the twenty greatest known astronomers. His principal
work, “De scientia stellarum,” was published in 1537.
REFERENCES.--Delambre (J. B), “Hist. de l’astron. moderne,” pp.
10–62; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Générale,” Vol. I. part. i.
p. 467; Vol. II. p. 71; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book VI. chap.
ix.; “Engl. Cycl.” Vol. I. p. 84.
=Alexander Aphrodisæus=--Aphrodisiensis--a celebrated Greek scientist
and the oldest commentator on Aristotle, who lived at about the close
of the second century after Christ, and whose works were so highly
esteemed by the Arabs that they translated most of them (Casiri, “Bibl.
Arab. Hisp. Escur.,” Vol. I). The list of all of his publications
appears in “Biog. Générale,” Vol. I. pp. 911–914.
REFERENCES.--Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Bibliotheca Græca,”
Vol. V. p. 650; Ritter (Dr. Heinrich), “Geschichte der
Philosophie,” Vol. IV. p. 24; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I.
chap. i. and Book II. chaps. ii. xxv.
=Amatus Lusitanus.= _See_ Lusitanus Amatus.
=Anaxagoras=, born at Clazomenæ, one of the Greek towns of Ionia,
in 500 B.C., three years before the death of Pythagoras, was
a very eminent philosopher of the Ionic school, wherein he succeeded
Anaximenes as a leader, and numbered among his many hearers and pupils
Diogenes of Apollonia, Pericles, Euripides, Socrates and Archelaus. A
very good analysis of Anaxagoras’ philosophical opinions is to be found
in the “Biographical Dictionary of the Society of Useful Knowledge.”
Gilbert alludes to him (_De Magnete_, Book II. chap. iii. and Book
V. chap. xiii.) as believing that the loadstone was endowed with a sort
of life, because it possessed the power of moving and attracting iron,
and as declaring in fact that the entire world is endowed with a soul.
Anaxagoras is accused, by Pliny and other early writers, of having
predicted the fall of aerolites from the sun, and of regarding all
bodies in the universe “as fragments of rocks, which the fiery ether,
in the force of its gyratory motion, has torn from the earth and
converted into stars” (Humboldt, “Cosmos” 1859–1860, Vol. I. pp.
133–135, note; Vol. II. p. 309; Vol. III. pp. 11–12; Vol. IV. pp.
206–207).
Aristotle also attacks Anaxagoras for not properly etymologizing the
word _aether_, from αιθεἲν, to burn, and on this account using it for
fire. He shows that _aether_, which signifies to run perpetually,
implies that a perpetual motion and perpetuity of subsistence belongs
to the heavenly bodies (“Treatises of Aristotle,” by Thos. Taylor,
London, 1807, p. 43, note).
According to Anaximenes, named above (born at Miletus about 528
B.C.), the primal principle was Aer, of which all things are
formed and into which all things are resolved. He belonged to the
branch called the dynamical, whose doctrines as to the heavenly bodies
were opposed to those of mechanical philosophers such as Anaxagoras,
Empedocles and Anaximander of Miletus (“Engl. Cycl.,” Biography, 1866,
Vol. I, p. 201).
REFERENCES.--Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part
i. pp. 401–402, and Vol. II. p. 74; “Plato,” by George Grote,
London, 1865, Vol. I. pp. 49–62; “Essai théorique et pratique
sur la génération des connaissances humaines,” par Guillaume
Tiberghien, Bruxelles, 1844, Vol. I. pp. 181–182; Dr. Heinrich
Ritter, “History of Ancient Philosophy,” London, 1846, Vol. I.
pp. 281–318; Chas. Rollin, “Ancient History,” London, 1845,
Vol. I. p. 376; Paul Tannery, “Pour l’histoire de la Science
Hellène,” Paris, 1887, Chap. XII; Theod. Gomperz, “Greek
Thinkers,” transl. of L. Magnus, London, 1901, Chap. IV. pp.
556–558, 597; Ueberweg, “Hist. of Philosophy,” transl. of Geo.
S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 63–67; Alf. Weber, “Hist.
of Phil.,” transl. of Frank Thilly, New York, 1896, pp. 48–53.
=Aquinas=--St. Thomas--also called Doctor Angelicus (born at Aquino
in Naples, A.D. 1225)--“the most successful organizer of knowledge
the world has known since Aristotle”--was a famous schoolman and is
considered by many the greatest of Christian philosophers. He is
well worthy the profound respect and high admiration in which he is
held always by Gilbert, who alludes to him in Book I. chap. i. and
in Book II. chap. iii. of his _De Magnete_. The chief work of St.
Thomas Aquinas is the “Summa Theologiæ,” to which he devoted the last
nine years of his life and which by many has been called the supreme
monument of the thirteenth century. The first part of the “Summa
Theologiæ” is said to have been originally published in 1465 and the
second part in 1471, the completed work first appearing during the year
1485.[62]
One of his critics remarks that those wishing to thoroughly comprehend
the peculiar character of metaphysical thought in the Middle Ages
should study Aquinas, in whose writings it is seen with the greatest
consistency. He is thus spoken of in Dr. Wm. Turner’s “History of
Philosophy,” published by Ginn & Co., 1903: “He had a comprehensiveness
of purpose which, in these modern times, seems nothing short of
stupendous. It is only when, as we study the history of later
scholasticism and the history of the philosophy of modern times, we
shall look back to the thirteenth century through the perspective of
ages of less successful attempts at philosophical synthesis, that we
shall begin to realize the true grandeur of the most commanding figure
in the history of mediæval thought.”
Aquinas died at the Cistercian Monastery in 1274, and was canonized
forty-nine years later by Pope John XXII.
REFERENCES.--Carle (P. J.), “Hist. de la vie ... de Th. d’Aq.,”
1846; Maffei (Francesco Scipione), “Vita ...” 1842; B. Hauréau,
“De la Phil. Schol.,” Paris, 1850, Vol. II. pp. 104, 213; G.
Tiberghien, “Essai historique ... des con. hum.,” Bruxelles,
1844, Vol. I. pp. 374–378; Dr. Fried. Ueberweg, “Hist. of
Phil.,” transl. of Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp.
440–452; “Thomæ Aquinatis Opera Theologica,” Venice, 1745–1760,
28 vols. quarto, edited by Bernardo M. de Rossi-Rubeis; “Petri
de Bergamo, Super Omnia Opera D. Thomæ Aquinatis,” Bononiæ,
1473; “Biogr. Gén.,” Vol. XLV. pp. 208–218; “Siger de Brabant
et l’Averroïsme au 13^e siècle,” par Pierre Maudonnet, Friburg,
1899, Chap. IV _passim_; “Albert the Great,” by Dr. Joachim
Sighart, transl. of Rev. Fr. T. A. Dixon, London, 1876, Chap.
VI. p. 63; “The Great Schoolmen of the Middle Ages,” by W. J.
Townsend, London, 1881, pp. 199–241; Alfred Weber, “Hist. of
Phil.,” transl. of Frank Thilly, New York, 1896, pp. 241–246;
Dr. W. Windelband, “Hist. of Phil.,” authorized transl. by
Jas. H. Tufts, New York, 1893, pp. 313–314; Paola Antonia
(Novelli), “De D. Th. Aquin.”; A. Hunaci, “Oratio,” Venice,
1507; likewise Veen (Otto van), Etiro (Partenio), Rodericus de
Arriaga, Frigerio (Paolo) and Thouron (V. C.) in their works
on Aquinas, 1610, 1630, 1648, 1688 and 1737–1740; Henry Hart
Milman, “History of Latin Christianity,” London, 1857, Vol.
VI. pp. 273–278, 281–286; Pellechet (Marie), “Catal. Gén. des
Incunables,” 1897, pp. 210–249; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl.
Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 264; “Le Journal des Savants” for May 1851,
pp. 278, 281–298 _passim_, and also in the issue of December
1905.
=Aristarchus of Samos=, one of the earliest astronomers of the
Alexandrian School, who lived in the third century B.C., is referred to
in Gilbert’s _De Magnete_, at Chaps. III and IX of book vi. Vitruvius
ascribes to him the invention of a concave sundial which he calls
_scaphe_ and which is described by Martianus Mineus Capella (cited by
Weidler); and Censorinus says that Aristarchus was the author of an
extensive work called “Annus Magnus,” covering a period of 2484 years.
REFERENCES.--Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. I. p. 623; Montucla
(J. F.), “Hist. des Math.,” Vol. I. p. 721; Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 77; “Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. I.
p. 314.
=Arnaldus de Villa Nova=--Arnaldus Novicomensis--Arnaud de Villeneuve,
dit de Bachuone (1235–1312), who assumed the name of Magrinus when on
his way from France to Sicily, was an eminent physician, the master of
Raymond Lully, who taught medicine as well as alchemy at Barcelona and
whose numerous treatises upon the virtues of plants, etc., are analyzed
in M. F. Hœfer’s “Histoire de la Chimie,” Vol. I. p. 385. The first
edition of his works appeared at Lyons in 1504.
REFERENCES.----Campegius (Laurentius), “Arnaldi Vita”; “Nouvelle
Biographie Générale” (Hœfer), Vol. III. pp. 279–282; Boulay
(H. de), “Hist. de l’Univ. de Padoue,” Vol. IV; Freind (John),
“Hist. de la Médecine,” Vol. III; N. F. J. Eloy, “Dict. Hist.
de la Médecine,” Mons, 1778, Tome III. p. 131; Astruc (Jean),
“Hist, de la fac. de méd. de Montpellier”; “Journal des Savants”
for June 1896, p. 342, “Testaments d’Amand de Villeneuve et
de Raimond Lulle,” “L’Alchimie et les Alchimistes”; Figuier
(Louis), Paris, 1860, p. 172; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I.
chap. i.
=Barbarus=, Hermolaus--Barbaro Ermoleo--(1454–1495)--(Barbari Hermolai,
Aquileiensis Pontificis), whose name alone Gilbert mentions, was
a well-known Italian savant, Professor of Philosophy at the Padua
University, and the author of many works, of which the most popular
are: (1) “Castigationes Plinianæ,” Rome, 1492, wherein he boasts of
having made more than five thousand corrections in Pliny’s “Natural
History”; (2) “Castigationes Secundæ,” Venice, 1480; (3) “Castigationes
in Pomponium Melam,” Antwerp, 1582; (4) “Compendium scientiæ naturalis
ex Aristotele,” Venice, 1545.
REFERENCES.--Paul Jove, “Elogia”; Boissardus (Joannes Jacobus),
“Icones ... virorum illustrium”; “Giornale de’ letterati d’
Italia,” Vol. XXXVIII; “Theosaurus Litteraturæ Botanicæ,”
Lipsiæ, 1851, p. 333; “Biogr. Générale,” Vol. IV. pp. 418–419.
=Becanus.= _See_ Goropius.
=Benedictus=--Benedetti--Joannes Baptista (1530–1590), Italian
mathematician, who was considered a prodigy at the age of eighteen,
and who, five years later, published in Venice a remarkable work on
the solution of most of Euclid’s problems. He is also the author of
treatises on navigation, astronomy, music, etc., and can justly be
placed in the first rank of savants of the sixteenth century.
REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. VI. pp. 132–133;
“Biog. Générale,” Vol. V. pp. 340–342; Libri (Guillaume), “Hist.
des Sciences Mathém.,” Vol. III. pp. 121–133; Montucla (J. F.),
“Hist. des Mathém.,” Vol. I. pp. 572, 693, 729; Marie (J. F.),
“Hist. des Sc. Math.,” Vol. II. p. 307; Houzeau et Lancaster,
“Bibliographie Générale,” Vol. II. p. 83; Gilbert, _De Magnete_,
Chap. IX of book iv.
=Brasavolus=, Antonius Musæ (1500–1570), alluded to by Gilbert in
Book I. chap. i., was a very eminent Italian physician and the author
of “Examen omnium simplicium medicamentorum,” Rome, 1536, as well as of
“In octo libros Aphorism. Hippocratis Comment. et Annot.,” Basle, 1541,
and of several other works, including a very complete index of all the
notable features of the works of Galen.
REFERENCES.--Ginguené (Pierre Louis), “Histoire Litéraire
d’Italie”; Baruffaldi (Girolamo), “Commentario istorico all’
inserizione ...,” Ferrara, 1704; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. VII. p.
269; “Storia della Medicina in Italia” (Salvatore de Renzi),
Napoli, 1848, in Vol. III _passim_ as per Index, Vol. V. p. 987;
Pritzel (G. A.), “Thesaur. Lit. Botan.,” 1851, p. 31.
=Calaber=, Hannibal Rosetius. Of all the authors cited by Gilbert, this
is the only one, who, thus far, cannot satisfactorily be identified,
although exhaustive efforts to this end have been made by the authors
of both the English translations of _De Magnete_. One interpretation
(Hannibal, of Roseto in Calabria, shown on map at end of Vol. I. of
“Briefe uber Kalabrien und Sizilien,” Göttingen, 1791), has as yet
found no endorsement.
=Calcagninus=, Cælius, Italian philosopher and astronomer (1479–1541)
is the author of “Quomodo Cœlum stet, terra moveatur ...” wherein he
asserts that the earth turns around the sun, also of “De Re Nautica,”
containing a good account of ancient ceremonies and observations, as
well as of a Commentary on Aristotle, and of many creditable poetical
effusions published 1533. His complete works appeared at Basle during
the year 1544, and a list of them, fifty-six in all, is given by Jean
Pierre Nicéron in his “Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire des hommes
illustres,” Paris, 1727–1745.
REFERENCES.--Calcagnini (T. G.), “Della vita ... C. Calcag”;
Ginguené (Pierre Louis), “Histoire Litéraire d’Italie,” Vols.
IV, VI and VII; Paul Jove--Jovius--Giovio (_b._ 1483, d. 1552),
“Eloges”; Borsetti, Ferranti Bolani (Ferrante Giovanni),
“Historia almi Ferrariæ Gymnasii,” 1735; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol.
VIII. pp. 159–161; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. III. p. 109;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 98; Gilbert, _De
Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.
=Cardanus=, Hieronymus (1501–1576), who is so very frequently
mentioned by Gilbert, throughout Books I, II, III and IV, was an
Italian physicist whose writings are extremely numerous and are well
reviewed in the best edition of his works published at Lyons during
1663. Those by which he is best known are the “Ars Magna,” “De Rerum
Varietate, Libri XVII,” and the “De Subtilitate, Libri XXI,” which
may be considered the exponent of all his scientific knowledge and a
notably good translation of which, in French, by Richard Leblanc was
published in Paris, 1556.
REFERENCES.--Morley (H.), “Life of Cardan,” 1854, wherein, Vol.
II. pp. 56–70, will be found a long account more particularly
of the contents of “De Subtilitate”; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,”
Vol. III. pp. 376–377; Dr. Fr. Ueberweg, “Hist. of Philosophy,”
tr. of Geo. S. Morris, 1885, Vol. II. p. 25; Walton and Cotton,
“Complete Angler,” New York and London, 1847, Part I. p. 142;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 101.
=Copernicus=, Nicolaus--Koppernik--Zepernic--celebrated astronomer,
native of Poland (1472–1543), whose studies led him to reject the
Ptolemaic system of the universe, and who proposed the one now bearing
his name, is the author of “De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium,” which
was published May 24, 1543, a few days before his death. He is alluded
to by Gilbert (_De Magnete_, Chaps. II, III, VI, IX, of book vi.),
who calls him “the restorer of astronomy” and “a man most worthy of
the praise of scholarship.” The life and labours of Copernicus are
fully detailed, in chapter treating of “Discoveries in the celestial
spaces” of the “Cosmos” by Von Humboldt, who, in relation to a passage
in “De Revolutionibus,” makes the following very curious note: “It very
singularly happens that in an otherwise instructive memoir” (Czynski,
“Kopernik et ses travaux,” 1847, p. 102), “the _Electra_ of Sophocles
is confounded with electric currents. The passage of Copernicus (quoted
in Latin) is thus rendered: ‘If we take the sun for the torch of the
universe, for its spirit and its guide--if Trismegistes call it a God,
and if Sophocles consider it to be an electrical power which animates
and contemplates all that is contained in creation....’
“Four men, Gutenberg, Columbus, Luther and Copernicus, stand at
the dividing line of the Middle Ages, and serve as boundary stones
marking the entrance of mankind into a higher and finer epoch of its
development” (Kapp (Friedrich), _Geschichte_, etc., I).
REFERENCES.--Westphal (E. J.), “Nikolaus Kopernikus”
(“Biographie des Copernicus”); Delambre (J. B. J.), “Histoire
de l’astronomie Moderne”; “Journal des Savants” for February
1864 and for December 1895; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. V.
pp. 66–67; Edw. S. Holden in “Pop. Sc. Monthly” for June 1904,
pp. 109–131; _Phil. Magazine_, Vol. XIX. p. 302; Gassendi
(Pierre), in “Nicolai Copernici Vita,” appended to his biography
of Tycho (“Tychonis Brahei Vita,” 1655, Hagæ Comitum, p.
320); W. Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sciences,” New York,
1858, Vol. I. pp. 257–290; the article at pp. 378–382, “Engl.
Cycl.,” which abounds in references; Rheticus, “Narrat. prima”;
Kepler (Johann), “De Temporis”; Horrebow (at A.D. 1725--the
luminous process of the sun, a perpetual northern light);
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. pp. 109–113,
for an extended list of authorities, and also pp. 1571–1572;
Joachimus (Georgius) surnamed Rhecticus, who quotes many works
on Copernicus.
=Cordus=, Valerius--Eberwein--celebrated German botanist (1515–1544),
who is alluded to by Gilbert, Book I. chap ii. wrote a Commentary on
Dioscorides, published by Egénolphe in 1549, as well as an extensive
history of plants, which is to be found in the Strasburg editions of
his works, issued during 1562 and 1569.
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Générale” (Hœfer), Vol. XI. pp. 804–807;
Larousse (Pierre), “Grand Dictionnaire Universel,” Vol.
V. p. 133; Adam (Melchior), “Vitæ med. Germ.”; “Lindenius
renovatus”--“Thesaur. Lit. Botan.,” 1851, pp. 52, 334;
Camerarius, “Vita Melanchthon”; Linden (Joannes Antonides
van der), “De Scriptis Medicis,” 1651, pp. 572–573; “Dict.
Historique de la Médecine,” par N. F. J. Eloy, Mons, 1778, pp.
705–707, Vol. I.
=Cortesius=, Martinus, celebrated Spanish geographer who died about
1580, is the author of the well-known and extremely scarce work, “Breve
compendio de la esfera, y de la arte de navegar,” Cadiz, 1546 1551,
and Seville, 1556, which was translated by Richard Eden, 1561, 1589,
1609. Of the 1556 issue, Salva remarks (II, 3763): “2e édition aussi
rare que la première. C’est cet ouvrage qui a revolutionné la science
nautique et qui fut le premier à indiquer la déclinaison de l’aiguille.
Les instructions pour construire des mappemondes ne sont la partie
la moins intéressante du texte et pourraient être utiles à tous ceux
qui sont incapables de comprendre le principe des roses de vents et
des loxodromes, qui couvrent la surface des cartes hydrographiques
anciennes. Mais c’est justement ici que l’intelligence pénétrante de
Cortez a indiqué les défauts de la projection longtemps avant Mercator.”
For a reproduction of the title page and of the twelve-page text of
Martin Cortez’s “Breve Compendio,” see G. Hellmann, “Neudrucke,” 1898,
No. 10.
REFERENCES.--Fernandez de Navarrete, “Disertacion sobre la
historia de la nautica y de las mathematicas,” Madrid, 1846; “La
Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XII. p. 1114; “Biographie Générale,”
Vol. XI. p. 964; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.; Book
III. chap. i. and Book IV. chap. i.
=Costæus=, Joannes--Giovanni Costeo--of Lodi, who died at Bologna
in 1603, was an Italian physician teaching medicine at the Universities
of Turin and of Bologna and the author of several valuable works,
notably the “Tractatus de universali stirpium natura,” Turin, 1578;
the “Disquisitionum physiol. ... Avicennæ sectionem,” Bologna, 1589;
the “Annot. in Avicennæ canonem ...” Venetia, 1595; and the “De igneis
medicinæ ...” published also at Venice in the last-named year.
Gilbert, who speaks of him (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.; Book
II. chap. iii.; Book VI. chap. v.) gives this as the theory propounded
by Costæus regarding the powers of amber and loadstone: “There is
work on both sides, result on both sides, and therefore the motion
is produced in part by the loadstone’s attraction and in part by the
iron’s spontaneous movement; for, as we say that the vapours given out
by the loadstone do by their own nature haste to attract the iron, so,
too, do we say that the air impelled by the vapours, while seeking
a place for itself, is turned back, and when turned back impels and
transfers the iron, which is picked up, as it were, by it, and which,
besides, is exerted on its own account. In this way, there is found
a certain composite movement, resulting from the attraction, the
spontaneous motion and the impulsion; which composite motion, however,
is rightly to be referred to attraction, because the beginning of this
motion is invariably from one term, and its end is there too; and that
is precisely the distinguishing character of attraction.”
REFERENCES.--Eloy (N. F. J.), “Dict. historique de la Médecine”;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. V. p. 245.
=Cusanus=--Nicolas Khrypffs or Krebs, Cardinal de Cusa (1401–1464), an
eminent German scholar, who, abandoning the study of law, entered the
Church, became Archdeacon of Liége, member of the Council of Basle, and
was raised, in 1448, to the dignity of Cardinal. His biographer in the
ninth “Encycl. Britan.” (Vol. VI. pp. 728–729) says: “As in religion he
is entitled to be called one of the _Reformers before the Reformation_,
so, in philosophy, he was one of those who broke with scholasticism
while it was still the orthodox system.” His works were published in
complete form by H. Petri, 1565.
REFERENCES.--Hartzheim (Josephus), “Vita N. de C.,” Trèves,
1730; Deux (M.), “Life of C. Cusa,” 1847; Scharpff (Franz
Anton), “Der Cardinal und Bischof Nic. von Cusa ...” Tübingen,
1871; Dr. W. Windelband, “History of Philosophy,” auth. tr. by
Jas. H. Tufts, New York, 1893, pp. 345–347; Humboldt, “Cosmos,”
1860, Vol. II; Libri (G.), “Hist. des Sciences Mathém.,” Vol.
III. p. 99; Dr. F. Ueberweg, “History of Philosophy,” tr. by
Geo. S. Morris, 1885, Vol. II. pp. 23–24; Ritter (Dr. Heinrich),
“Geschichte der Phil.,” Vol. IX. p. 142; Gilbert, _De Magnete_,
Book I. chap. i. and Book II. chaps, iii. xxxvi.; “Journal des
Savants” for January 1894; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,”
Vol. II. p. 115; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. V. p. 687;
“Biogr. Gén.,” Vol. XII. pp. 651–657.
=Dominicus=, Maria Ferrariensis--“Novara”--Italian savant (1464–1514),
taught astronomy at Bologna, Rome and elsewhere, and had for one of his
pupils the celebrated Copernicus, who, later on, became an associate in
his investigations. None of his writings have reached us.
Gilbert thus alludes to Dominicus as well as to Stadius at Chap.
II. book vi. of his _De Magnete_: “According to Dominicus Maria’s
observations, the north pole is raised higher and the latitudes of
places are greater now than in the past: from this he infers a change
of latitudes. But Stadius, holding the directly opposite opinion,
proves by observations, that the latitudes have grown less. ‘The
latitude of Rome,’ says he, ‘is given in the _Geographia_ of Ptolemy
as 41⅔°; and lest any one should say that some error has crept into
the text of Ptolemy, Pliny relates, and Vitruvius in his ninth book
testifies, that at Rome on the day of the equinox the ninth part of
the gnomon’s shadow is lacking. But recent observation (as Erasmus
Rheinhold states) gives the latitude of Rome in our age as 41⅙°; so
that you are in doubt whether one-half of a degree has been lost
(_decrevisse_) in the centre of the world, or whether it is the result
of an obliquation of the earth.’”
REFERENCES.--Borsetti (Ferrante Giovanni), “Hist. Gymn.
Ferrar.,” Vol. II. p. 50; Tiraboschi (Girolamo), “Storia della
Letteratura Italiana,” Vol. XIV. p. 296; Montucla (J. F.),
“Hist. des Math.,” Vol. I. p. 549; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl.
Gén.,” Vol. II. pp. 215–216; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXXVIII. p. 336.
=Dupuis.= _See_ Putaneus.
=Empedocles=, whom Gilbert merely names in Book V. chap. xii.
of _De Magnete_, was a native of Sicily, distinguished as a
philosopher as well as for his knowledge of medicine and of natural
history.
Empedocles flourished about the year 442 or 460 B.C., and was pupil
of Pythagoras or Anaxagoras, and, as others say, of Parmenides (“The
Metaphysics of Aristotle” by the Rev. John H. McMahon, London, 1857,
pp. 19–20, 34, 118).
“Rien n’est engendré, disait Empédocle, rien ne périt de la mort
funeste. Il n’y a que mélange ou séparation de parties.... L’éclair,
c’est le feu s’échappant du nuage où le soleil l’avait lancé. La foudre
n’est qu’une plus grande quantité de feu. Le tonnerre, c’est ce même
feu qui s’éteint dans le nuage humide.... Les phénomènes magnétiques
viennent de la convenance parfaite des pores et des effluves de
l’aimant et du fer. Dès que les effluves de l’aimant out chassé l’air
que contenaient les pores du fer, le courant des effluves de fer
devient si fort que la masse entière est entrainée” (“Dict. des Sc.
Philos.,” Paris, 1852, Vol. II. pp. 206–214).
REFERENCES.--Karsten, “Emped. Agrig. Carmin. Reliq.” in Vol. II
of “Phil. Graec. vet. relig.,” Amst., 1838; and the extensive
list of authorities cited in Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VII.
pp. 457–458; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part i.
p. 401; Ueberweg, “Hist. of Philos.” (Morris), 1885, Vol. I. pp.
60–63; “The Works of George Berkeley,” by A. C. Fraser, Oxford,
1901, Vol. III. pp. 205, 247, 254, 290; Paul Tannery, “Pour
l’histoire de la Science Hellène,” Paris, 1887, Chap. XIII. pp.
304–339; “Greek Thinkers,” by Theodor Gomperz, tr. of L. Magnus,
London, 1901, Chap. V. pp. 558–562, 601; “A History of Classical
Greek Literature,” by Rev. John P. Mahaffy, New York, 1880, Vol.
I. pp. 123–128; Vol. II. pp. 48, 73, 77; “Essai Théorique et
Historique sur la génération des connaissances humaines,” par
Guillaume Tiberghien, Bruxelles, 1844, Vol. I. pp. 185–187.
We are told by Alex. Aphr. (Quæst. Nat., II. 23, p. 137, Speng) that,
like Empedocles, Democritus sought to explain the attractive power of
the magnet, upon which the latter wrote a treatise (according to Diog.
IX. 47).
Democritus was born at Abdera in Thrace about 470 or 460 B.C., and,
according to Thrasyllus, the grammarian, he died 357 B.C.--the same
year as Hippocrates. He was considered, by far, the most learned
thinker of his age, and, according to Carl Snyder, who dedicates “The
World Machine,” 1907, to Democritus, he was justly esteemed by Bacon as
the mightiest of the ancients, for he wrote illuminatively upon almost
every branch of natural knowledge.
The following note to “The Atomistic Philosophy” appears at p. 230,
Vol. II of Dr. E. Zeller’s “History of Greek Philosophy,” translation
of S. F. Alleyne, London, 1881:
“Leucippus and Democritus derive all action and suffering from contact.
One thing suffers from another, if parts of the latter penetrate the
empty interspaces of the former.... Democritus thought that the magnet
and the iron consist of atoms of similar nature but which are less
closely packed together in the magnet. As, on the one hand, like draws
like, and, on the other, all moves in the Void, the emanations of the
magnet penetrate the iron, and pass out a part of its atoms, which,
on their side, strain towards the magnet, and penetrate its empty
interspaces. The iron itself follows this movement, while the magnet
does not move towards the iron, because the iron has fewer spaces for
receiving the effluences.”
The attraction of the magnet, as explained by Diogenes of Appollonia,
is thus given by Alex. Aphr. (Quæst. Nat., II. 23, p. 138, Speng):
“Empedocles supposed that, after the emanations of the magnet have
penetrated into the pores of the iron, and the air which choked them
has been expelled, powerful emanations from the iron pass into the
symmetrical pores of the magnet, which draw the iron to itself and hold
it fast.”
It may be added that the Atomic Doctrine of Leucippus and Democritus
was opposed to the Homoiomeria of Anaxagoras of Clazomenæ--the last
great philosopher of the Ionian School.
REFERENCES.--Ueberweg (Fr.), “History of Philosophy,” trans.
of G. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 67–71; Larousse
(Pierre), “Dict. Univ. du XIX^e siècle,” Paris, 1870, Tome VI.
pp. 409–410; “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Paris, Tome XIV. pp.
66–69; “Nouvelle Biographie Générale” (Hœfer), Paris, 1855, Vol.
XIII. pp. 566–574; Franck (Ad.), “Fragments qui subsistent de
Démocrite,” in the “Mém. de la Société Royale de Nancy,” 1836;
Beazley (C. Raymond), “The Dawn of Modem Geography,” Oxford,
1906, Vol. I. p. 254 (the use by Democritus of magnetic stones,
mentioned by Solinus); Snyder (Carl), “The World Machine,” 1907,
p. 133 (work on the magnet); Zeller (Eduard), “Philosophie der
Griechen”; Ritter and Preller, “Historia Philosophiæ Græcæ”
(7th ed., Gotha, 1888); Mulloch (F. G. A.), “Democriti Abderitæ
operum fragmenta,” Berlin, 1843.
=Erasmus=, Reinholdus (1511–1553), a German savant, who taught
astronomy and mathematics at Wittemberg, has left us “Commentarius
Theoricæ Novæ Planetarum,” 1542, 1558, a work which, Delambre says,
supplies the omissions of Purbacchius and must have cleared many of
the passages of Ptolemy’s syntax. He also wrote “Almageste,” 1549;[63]
made up the Prutenic (Prussian) astronomical tables (“Prutenicæ
tabulæ cœlestium motuum,” 1551), from the observations of Copernicus,
Hipparchus and Ptolemy, and he is believed to be the author of the
anonymous work entitled “Hypotyposes orbium cœlestium ...” which
appeared during the year 1568.
Gilbert’s reference to Erasmus has already been given in connection
with Dominicus.
REFERENCES.--Vossius (G.), “De Scientiis Mathem.,” Chap. XXXVI.
p. 14; Delambre (J. B. J.), “Hist. de l’astronomie moderne,”
Vol. I. pp. 142, 146, 164; Zedler (Johann Hch.); Mädler--Mædler
(Johann Henrich von), Vol. I. p. 168; Bailly (Jean Sylvain),
“Histoire de l’astronomie moderne ...” Vol. I. p. 366 and Vol.
II. p. 71; Jöcher (Johann Friedrich), “Bibliogr. Astronom.”;
Weidler (Christian Gottlieb), p. 353; “Biogr. Générale,” Vol.
XLI. pp. 928–929.
=Erastus=, Thomas--Thomas Lieber--(1524–1583) was a native of
Switzerland, notable in medicine and famous in ecclesiastical polemics,
who furiously combated the medical views of Paracelsus, notably in his
“Disputationum de Medicina,” Basileæ, 1572–1573. Gilbert mentions him
(_De Magnete_, Book I. chaps. i. and vii.), merely saying that,
knowing naught of the nature of the loadstone, Erastus draws from it
weak arguments against Paracelsus.
His numerous works are detailed in the “Biographisches Lexikon,” Vienna
und Leipzig, 1885, Vol. II. pp. 292, etc., and a very complete account
thereof is to be found at pp. 561–564 of “De Scriptis Medicis,” by
Joannes Antonides Van Der Linden, Amstel., 1651.
REFERENCES.--Pluquet (François André Adrien), “Diction. des
Hérésies”; Moreri (Louis), “Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique”;
Wordsworth (Christopher), “Ecclesiastical Biography”; “New Int.
Encycl.,” New York, 1903, Vol. VI. p. 828; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol.
XXXI. pp. 174–175; “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XVI. p. 163;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VII. p. 788; Adam (Melchior),
“Vitæ Germanorum Medicorum,” pp. 107–109; Bolton, H. C., “Ch.
Hist. of Chem.,” p. 981.
=Evax=--Euace--a Latin naturalist who lived in the time of Tiberius
and said to have been King of the Arabs, is the supposed author of
“De nominibus et virtutis lapidum qui in artem medicinæ recipiuntur,”
treating of gems, of which the MS.--now in the Oxford Library--was used
by Marbodeus to make up his own work on precious stones.
Salmasius delivers it as his opinion that, by an error of transcribers,
from Cratevas, who in some copies is also named Cratevas, this Evax
has arisen. (“Gen. Biog. Dict.” of Alex. Chalmers, London, 1814, Vol.
XIII. p. 411.)
REFERENCES.--“Journal des Savants” for June 1891 (“Traditions
... chez les Alchimistes du Moyen Age,” par Marcellin Pierre
Eugène Berthelot); Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VII. p. 1153;
Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book II. chap. xxxviii.
=Fallopius=, Gabriellus (1523–1562), was a famous Italian anatomist and
one of the three who, according to Cuvier, restored or rather created
anatomy during the sixteenth century. The other two were Vassalli and
Eustachi. His principal work is “Observationes Anatomicæ,” Venice,
1561; a list of the others--named in “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XVII. pp.
66–69--embracing “De medicatis ... de metallis sev fossilibus ...”
Venice, 1564; “De Simplicibus Medicamentis purgantibus tractatus,”
1566; “De Compositione Medicamentorum,” 1570; “Opera Genuina Omnia,”
1584, 1596, 1606. The collected edition of his complete works was
published in Venice, 1584, and at Frankfort, 1600.
REFERENCES.--Tiraboschi (Girolamo), “Biblioteca Modenese,”
Vol. II. p. 236; Nicéron (J. P.), “Mémoires,” Vol. IV. p. 396;
Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I. chaps. i. and xv. also Book II.
chap. xxxviii.; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VIII. p. 67.
=Fernelius=, Joannes Franciscus (1497–1558), celebrated French
physician, called the modern Galen, is the author of many works which
are cited at pp. 477–483, Vol. XVII of the “Biographie Générale,” the
principal ones being “De naturali parte medicinæ,” 1542, “De vacuandi
ratione liber,” 1545, and “De Abditis Rerum Causis,” 1548. Gilbert
alludes to the last named (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.),
saying that Fernel believes there is in the loadstone a hidden and
abstruse cause: elsewhere he says this cause is celestial; and he does
but explain the unknown by the more unknown. This search after hidden
causes, he adds, is something ignorant, beggarly and resultless.
REFERENCES.--Thou (François Auguste de), “Historiarum sui
temporis”; Sc. de Sainte Marthe, “Elogia Doct. Gallorum”; Eloy,
“Dict. Hist. de la Médecine,” Mons, 1778, Vol. II. pp. 208–221;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VIII. p. 259.
=Ficino=, Marsilia (1433–1499), was the son of Ficino, the physician
of Cosmo de Medici, and was one of the leading scholars of the
Renaissance. He was celebrated as the most distinguished translator of
Plato and as the reviver of Platonic philosophy in Italy. One of his
biographers has said that the most important feature of his philosophy
is his claim to harmonizing Platonic idealism with Christian doctrine.
Gilbert says that “Ficinus chews the cud of ancient opinions, and
to give the reason of the magnetic direction seeks its cause in the
constellation Ursa. Ficinus writes, and Merula copies, that in the
loadstone the potency of Ursa prevails, and hence it is transferred
into the iron” (_De Magnete_, Book. I. chap. i.; Book III., chap.
i.; Book IV. chap. i.).
His complete works (published in two volumes, Venice, 1516, Basle,
1561, 1576, Paris, 1641), embrace “Theologiæ Platonicæ,” 1488; “De Vita
libri tres,” 1489; “Iamblichus, de mysteriis ...” 1497; “Apologiæ in
qua medicina, astrologia ...” 1498.
REFERENCES.--Corsi (Raimondo Maria), “M. Ficini Vita,” Pisa,
1772; Symonds (John Addington), “Remains in Italy,” London,
1875, and “Renaissance in Italy,” New York, 1888, pp. 324–328;
“English Cyclop.” (Biography), Vol. II. p. 908; “The Rise of
Intellectual Liberty from Thales to Copernicus,” by Frederic May
Holland, New York, 1885, pp. 279–280; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,”
Vol. VIII. pp. 331–332; “Journal des Savants” for May 1894;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 131; “Biog.
Générale,” Vol. XVII. pp. 634–638; “The Works of Geo. Berkeley,”
by A. C. Fraser, Oxford, 1901, Vols. II. p. 268; III. pp.
216–217, 221–223, 260, 296–297; “Dict. of Philos. and Psych.,”
by J. M. Baldwin, New York, 1901, Vol. I. p. 381.
=Fracastorio=, Hieronymo (1483–1553), Italian physician and one of
the most learned men of his day, is said to have been made Professor
of Logic at the University of Padua when but nineteen years of age. J.
B. Ramusio admitted that he owed to Fracastorio the idea and much of
the material for his great work “Rac. di Navigazioni e Viaggi,” first
published in 1550.
Fracastorio made many important astronomical observations, and it was
he and Peter Apian who first made known in Europe the fact that comets’
tails are always turned away from the sun, so that their line of
prolongation passes through its centre.
Gilbert alludes to Fracastorio (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.;
Book II. chaps. ii. iv. xxiv. xxxviii. xxxix.; Book IV. chap. i.),
and to his “De Sympathia,” of which the first edition is Venet.,
1546. This, says Libri, is “an important work in which universal
attraction, as well as electric and magnetic motion, is attributed to
an _imponderable_ principle.”
REFERENCES.--Baillet (Adrien), “Jugement des Savants,” Vol. II;
Menken (F. O.), “De Vita,” Leipzig, 1731; Teissier (H. A.),
“Eloges des hommes illustres,” tirés de M. De Thou; Libri,
“Hist. des. Sc. Mathém.,” Paris, 1838, Vol. III. p. 100; “Biog.
Gén.,” Vol. XVIII. pp. 418–420; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol.
I. p. 86; Vol. II. p. 697; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VIII.
pp. 692–693; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 135.
=Garcia d’Orta=--Garzia ab Horto--Garcia del Huerto--Garcie du
Jardin--a Portuguese physician and the author of “Coloquios dos
simples ... pello douctor Garcia Dorta,” 1563, which was translated
into French and united to the works of C. d’Acosta and Nic. Monardes
(Christophile de la Coste et M. Nicholas Monard) in 1567, 1574 and
1579. The passage which Gilbert alludes to (in _De Magnete_, Book
I. chap. xiv.), is to be found in the abridged Latin translation of
Garcia’s work made by Charles de l’Ecluse, Antwerp, 1593, lib. i. cap.
56, pp. 178–179. Hakewill observes (“Apologie,” 1635, lib. ii. p. 165):
“Remarkable indeed, that is which Garzias ab Horto writes concerning
the loadstone in _Simpl. Indiæ_, lib. i. cap. 47.”
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXXVIII. p. 887; Machado
(Barb.), “Bibliotheca Lusitana”; Denis (Ferdinand), “Bulletin
du Bibliographe”; Pincio (Léon), “Biblioteca Oriental y
Occidental”; “Histoire des Drogues par Antoine Collin,” Lyon,
1619; “Thesaur. Lit. Bot.,” 1851, p. 127.
=Gauricus=, Lucas (1476–1558), Italian mathematician and astronomer,
one of whose pupils was César Scaliger, is the author of twenty-one
different works (“Opera Omnia,” Basle, 1575), of which the best known
are “Rerum naturalium et divinarum ...” 1540; “Isagogicus ... in tot
am astrologiam prædictivam ...” 1546; “Tractatus Astrologicus,” 1552;
“Tabulæ de primo mobili,” 1560.
Gilbert says (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.) the astrologer Lucas
Gauricus held that beneath the tail of Ursa Major is a loadstone, and
that he assigns the loadstone (as well as the sardonyx and the onyx)
not only to the planet Saturn, but also to Mars (with the diamond,
jasper, and ruby), so that the loadstone, according to him, is ruled by
two planets. Further, Lucas says that the loadstone belongs to the sign
Virgo--and with a veil of mathematical erudition he covers many similar
disgraceful stupidities.
REFERENCES.--Ughelli (Ferdinando), “Italia Sacra,” Venetiis
1717–1722; Nicodemo (Francesco), “Biblioteca Napoletana”;
“Chronicum Mathematicorum,” which prefaces the Almagest of
Riccioli; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XIX. pp. 681–683; “La Grande
Encycl.,” Vol. XVIII. p. 617; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
VIII. p. 1087.
=Geber=--Yeber--Djaber--Abū-Mūsa-Jābir--Ibn Haiyān--Al-Tarsūsi--who,
according to Aboulwefa (Michaud, “Dict.,” Vol. XVI. p. 100) lived in
the eighth century A.D., is the earliest of the Great Arabian chemists
or alchemists. Rhazès and Avicenna call him “the master of masters,”
and, by the author of “The Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers,” he is
designated as “the prince of those alchemical adepts who have appeared
during the Christian Era.” As many as five hundred different alchemical
works have been attributed to him, and a complete list of the most
important will be found in M. F. Hœfer, “Histoire de la Chimie,” Paris,
1842.
REFERENCES.--“Journal des Savants,” for May 1851, February 1892,
pp. 118–128 _passim_, and for May 1892 (“Geber et ses œuvres
alchimiques”), pp. 318–329; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. VIII.
pp. 1114–1115; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p.
147; Bolton (H. C.), “Chron. Hist. of Chem.,” pp. 985–986; “La
Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XVIII. pp. 680–682; Gilbert, _De
Magnete_, Book I. chap. vii.
=Gemma=, D. Cornelius, a well-known physician of Louvain (1535–1597)
and son of the celebrated mathematician Gemma Frisius, is the author
of the several works named at p. 854, Vol. XIX of the “Biographie
Générale.” Of these, the most important is the “Cosmocritice, seu de
naturæ divinis ... proprietatibus rerum” published at Antwerp in 1575.
REFERENCES.--Foppens, “Bibliotheca Belgica”--“Biog. Médicale”;
Linden (Joannes Antonides van der), “De scriptis medicis,”
Amst., 1651, pp. 147–148; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book II. chap.
iii.
=Gemma=, Frisius--Rainer--(1508–1555), above alluded to, besides
being a mathematician was a medical practitioner. He wrote “De
Principiis Astronomiæ et Cosmographiæ ...” Antwerp, 1530 (now of
excessive scarcity and Chapters XXX-XXXI of which deal with America),
as well as several other similar works published notably in 1539, 1545,
1548. These are standards of the Netherlands geographical schools,
whose most brilliant representative was the well-known geographer,
Gerard Mercator (1512–1594).
REFERENCES.--“Biog. Générale,” Vol. XIX. p. 854; “La Grande
Encycl.,” Vol. XVIII. p. 702; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl.
Gén.,” Vol. L. part i. p. 1405 and Vol. II. p. 148.
=Goropius=, Henricus Becanus--Jean Bécan--Jean Van Gorp (1518–1572), a
Belgian savant who practised medicine at Antwerp and who attempted to
prove, in his “Indo-Scythica,” that Adam’s language was the German or
Teutonic. We are told by Gilbert, in the first book of _De Magnete_,
that Goropius ascribes the invention of the compass to the Cimbri or
Teutons, on the ground that the thirty-two names of the winds thereon
inscribed are pronounced in German by all mariners, whether they be
British or Spaniards, or Frenchmen.
REFERENCES.--“Opera Joannis Goropii Becani,” Antwerp, 1570;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. II. p. 457; “Biog. Générale,” Vol.
V. pp. 70–71; and, for additional citations, as well as for
mention of all his works, the “Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XIX.
=Grotius=, Hugo, the latinized form of the Dutch _De Groot_--a great
theologian and jurist (1583–1645). His singular precocity attracted
Joseph J. Scaliger, who undertook to direct his studies at the Leyden
University, where it is said he achieved brilliant success in all
studies.
One of his biographers remarks that, in the annals of precocious
genius, there is no greater prodigy on record than Hugo Grotius, who
was able to write good Latin verses at nine (1592), was ripe for
the University at twelve (1595), and at the age of fifteen (1598),
edited the Encyclopædic work of Martianus Capella--a writer of the
fifth century--with the aid of his father, Jan de Groot, the Delft
burgomaster. It might be added that, in 1597, he had delivered public
discourses on mathematics, philosophy and jurisprudence; in 1598, he
was so highly sought for everywhere, that he was asked to, and did,
accompany Count Justin of Nassau and Olden Barneveldt on their special
embassy to the French Court, and that, in 1599, he not only took his
degree of doctor of law and pleaded his first cases before the Hague
Courts, but was able, through his superior knowledge of mathematics, to
translate into Latin Simon Stevin’s work on navigation. Later on, 1603,
he was appointed historiographer of the United Provinces, becoming
fiscal general in 1607 (also Council Pensionary at Rotterdam six years
later), and during 1609, he published his first work “De Mare Liberum,”
which was a treatise against the claims of the English to exclusive
right over certain seas. This was followed in 1610 by “De Antiq.
Reipub. Batavæ,” and some years afterwards by his chief work, “De Jure
Belli et Pacis,” considered the basis of international law and freely
translated into all the principal languages. Grotius is twice mentioned
in Book IV. chap. ix. of _De Magnete_.
REFERENCES.--Brandt et Cattenbuch, “Histoire de Hugo de Groot,”
1727; Burigny (J. Levêque de), “Vie de Grotius,” 1752; Cras
(Hendrik Constantijn), “Laudatio Hugonis Grotii,” 1796; Dr.
Fried. Ueberweg, “Hist. of Phil.,” (Morris tr., 1885, Vol. II.
p. 31); Rogge (H. C.), “Bibliotheca Grotiana,” 1883; Kœnen
(Hendrik Jakob), “Hugo Grotius,” 1837; “Chambers’s Encycl.,”
Vol. V. pp. 431–432; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XIX. pp. 451–452;
“Biographisch Woordenbock,” J. G. Frederiko en F. J. Van den
Branden, Amsterdam, pp. 301–302; Larousse (Pierre), “Dict.
Univ.,” Vol. VIII. p. 1556, giving list of his many works;
Butler (C.), “Life of Grotius,” London, 1826; Creuzer (Georg
Friedrich), “Luther und Grotius,” Heidelberg, 1846; “Biog.
Générale,” Vol. XXII. pp. 197–216 for a complete record of all
his works.
=Hali Abas=--‘Ali Ibn Al-‘Abbás--Al Majusí--celebrated Arabian
physician, whose death occurred about A.D. 995, is author of
“Ketab-el-Maleki,” _i.e._ the “Royal Book”--_Liber Regius_--in which
he pretends to give all that was then known concerning medicine. Mr.
Adams explains (Appendix, “Barker’s Lemprière,” London, 1838), that he
considers the “Royal Book” as the most complete ancient treatise that
has reached us on medicine, and the sciences generally, with exception
of the _Synopsis_ of Paulus Ægenita. The Latin translation of this
work, given in 1127 by Stephanus Antiochenus, was first printed in
Venice, 1492, then at Lyons in 1523.
REFERENCES.--Casiri (Michael), “Bibliotheca Arabico-hispana
Escur.,” Vol. I. pp. 260, 273; Hœfer, “Nouv. Biogr. Univ.,” Vol.
II. pp. 96–97; Michaud, “Biog. Univ.,” Paris, 1843, Vol. I. p.
468; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.; Freind (John),
“History of Physick”; Choulant (Johann Ludwig), “Handbuch der
Bücherkunde ...”; Wüstenfeld (H. F.), “Geschichte d’ Arab.
Ærzte,” p. 59; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. II. pp. 96–97.
=Harriot=, Thomas (1560–1621), one of the learned Englishmen alluded to
by Gilbert, at the end of the first chapter, Book I of _De Magnete_,
as having on long sea voyages observed the differences of magnetic
variation, was a mathematician and astronomer, whose miscellaneous
works, noted at pp. 437–439, Vol. XXIV of the “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,”
embrace treatises on magnetism, mechanics, etc. The account he has
given of his voyage to Virginia was printed in Hakluyt’s “Principal
Navigations,” Vol. III and is pronounced “one of the earliest and best
examples of a statistical survey made upon a large scale,” at p. 11,
Vol. LXXI of the “Edinburgh Review.”
=Heraclides= of Pontus and Ecphantus, was a Greek historian and
philosopher who died about 330 B.C. Diogenes Laertius attributes to him
many works that have not reached us, and we have nothing of him but
fragments of his treatise on the constitutions of the different States
which have been printed with the works of Elien. Gilbert commences the
third chapter of his sixth book by saying that Heraclides, as well as
the Pythagoreans Nicetas of Syracuse and Aristarchus of Samos, and, as
it seems, many others, held that the earth moves, that the stars set
through the interposition of the earth, and that they rise through the
earth’s giving way: they do give the earth motion, and the earth being,
like a wheel, supported on its axis, rotates upon it from west to east.
REFERENCES.--Rowles (S.), “De Vita et Scriptis,” 1824, Vol.
VIII; Deswert (Eugenius), “Dissert de Heraclide Pontico,” 1830;
Krische (August Bernhard), “Forschungen ...” p. 325; “La Grande
Encyclopédie,” Vol. XIX. p. 1131; Dr. F. Ueberweg, “History of
Philosophy,” tr. by Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I.
pp. 38–42; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 309; “Essai
théorique ... des connaissances humaines,” par G. Tiberghien,
Bruxelles, 1844, Vol. I. pp. 182–185; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,”
Vol. IX. p. 200.
=Hermes Trismegistus= (or “thrice great”) is the supposed author
of many Greek works that have reached us and which constitute an
encyclopædia of Egyptian wisdom in that they treat of astronomy,
medicine, and other sciences. As one of his biographers has it, the
principal tenets of the Hermetic Books are that the Creator made the
Cosmos by his word out of fluid ... that death and life are only
changes and that nothing is destructible ... that passion or suffering
is the result of motion.... Gilbert only refers to him in Book V. chap.
xii. by saying that Hermes, Zoroaster and Orpheus recognize a universal
soul. Clemens Alexandrinus, who has given an account and catalogue
of his writings, makes him the author of six books of physic and of
thirty-six books of divinity and philosophy.
REFERENCES.--“The Works of George Berkeley,” by A. C. Fraser,
Oxford, 1901, Vol. III. pp. 209, 253–255, 261, 267, 280;
Baumgarten--Crusius (Ludwig Friedrich Otto), “... de librorum
Hermeticorum ...” 1827; “Dict. of Philos. and Psychol.,”
by J. M. Baldwin, New York, 1901, Vol. I. p. 475; “Hermes
Trismegistus,” by Scheible (J.), 1855; Alex. Chalmers, “Gen.
Biog. Dict.,” London, 1814, Vol. XVII. p. 396; “Hermes
Trismegistus,” by Parthey (Gustav Friedrich Constantin), 1854;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part i. pp. 427–428,
691–694; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IX. p. 228; and the long
list of citations in “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXIV. pp. 377–382.
=Hero=--Heron--of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician, pupil of the
celebrated Ctesibius who flourished in the third century before Christ
and to whom have been attributed many ancient writings upon different
technical subjects. Allusion is made by Gilbert (_De Magnete_, Book II.
chap. ii.), to Hero’s “Spiritualia,” which is his most valuable known
work and which has been often translated, notably into Latin, 1575,
1680, 1683, into Italian, 1547, 1589, 1592, 1605; and into German,
1687, 1688.
REFERENCES.--Hultsch (Friedrich), “Heronis Alex.,” 1864–1874;
Montucla (J. F.), “Hist. des Mathém.,” Vol. I. p. 267;
“Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Mathematik,” Vol. VIII.
pp. 175–214; Martin, “Sur la vie et les ouvrages d’Héron
d’Alexandrie”--Mém. de l’Acad. des Ins. B. L., Paris, 1854, ss.
438–439; Arago (François), “Eloge de Watt” (_Œuvres_, Vol. I);
Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Bibliotheca Græca,” Vol. IV. p. 234;
Figuier (Louis), “Hist. des principales découvertes,” Vol. I. p.
42; “A short history of Greek Mathematics,” Jas. Gow, Cambridge,
1884, pp. 276–286; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. IX. p. 241;
“Chambers’s Encyclopædia,” Vol. V. p. 689; ninth “Encycl.
Britan.,” Vol. XI. p. 760; “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XIX.
p. 1200; “Journal des Savants” for March 1903, p. 147, and for
April 1903, p. 203; “Biogr. Générale,” Vol. XXIV. pp. 447–449;
Th. Martin (“Mém. Ac. des Inscr.,” 1854); also two papers by
Boncompagni and Vincent in “Bulletino di Bibliog.,” Vol. IV.
=Hipparchus= the Rhodian, “le plus grand astronome de
l’antiquité”--born, according to Strabo, at Nicæa in Bithynia, 160–145
B.C.--is the inventor of the astrolabe[64] and discoverer of “the
precession of the equinoxes.” He is mentioned by Gilbert five times
in Book VI. chaps, ii. viii. ix. of _De Magnete_, and is extensively
treated of in the “Journal des Savants” for November 1828, January
1829, August and September 1831, October 1843, August and September
1848, July 1859; also by the Rev. H. M. Close, in “Proc. of Roy. Irish
Acad.,” Series III. vol. vi. No. 3, in Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
IX. p. 286, in the “Historical Account of Astronomy,” by John Narrien,
London, 1833, pp. 219–244, and in the “Astronomy” article of the
“Encyclopædia Britannica.”
By Humboldt, Hipparchus is called the founder of scientific astronomy
and the greatest astronomical observer of antiquity. He was the
actual originator of astronomical tables amongst the Greeks and, in
the new map of the world which he constructed and founded upon that
of Eratosthenes, the geographical degrees of latitude and longitude
were based on lunar observations, and on the measurement of shadows,
wherever such an application of astronomy was admissible (“Cosmos,”
London, 1849, Vol. II. p. 545; Ideler, “Handbuch der Chronologie,” Vol.
I. ss. 212, 329).
The mathematician Eratosthenes, alluded to above, was a native
of Cyrene, and pronounced the most celebrated of the Alexandrian
librarians. He is reported to have made the earliest attempt at
measurement of an arc of the meridian. The next measurement of record
is that of the astronomers of Almamon in the plains of Mesopotamia
(“Encycl. Brit.,” ninth edition, Edinburgh, 1876, Vol. X. p. 177). The
first arc of the meridian measured in modern times with an accuracy any
way corresponding to the difficulty of the problem was by Snellius,
who has given an account of it in his most remarkable work called
“Eratosthenes Batavus,” published at Leyden in 1617 (“Ency. Brit.,”
ninth edition, Vol. VII. pp. 597, 606, also eighth edition, Vol. I.
pp. 617–618; “Cosmos,” London, 1849, Vol. II. p. 544, and Chasles,
“Recherches sur l’astronomie ...” in the _Comptes Rendus_, Vol.
XXIII, 1846, p. 851). The biographers of Snellius--Snell van Roijen
(Willebrood)--state that he was a very celebrated Dutch astronomer
(1591–1626), the discoverer of the law of refraction generally
attributed to Descartes (Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 699),
the author of a treatise on navigation (“Tiphys Batavus,” Leyde, 1624)
after the plan of Edward Wright, and that the method he employed (with
imperfect instruments), for measuring an arc of the meridian has since
been followed by all scientists (“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XXX. p.
115; “Nouv. Biog. Gén.,” de Hœfer, Vol. XLIV. p. 83; Montucla, “Hist.
des Mathém.,” Vol. II; Larousse, “Dist. Univ.,” Vol. XVI. p. 795;
Delambre, “Hist. de l’astronomie moderne,” Vol. II. pp. 92–119; “Ency.
Brit.,” Akron, Ohio, 1905, Vol. XXII. p. 211).
REFERENCES.--Theodor Gomperz, “Greek Thinkers,” translation of L.
Magnus, London, 1901, p. 544; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol.
I. part i. pp. 413–414, and Vol. II. p. 164; “Geographical Journal”
for October 1904, p. 411; Wm. Whewell, “Hist. of the Ind. Sc.,” New
York, 1858, Vol. I. pp. 145–156; “Journal des Savants” for 1828, 1831,
1843; Alex. Chalmers, “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” London, 1814, Vol. XVII. pp.
505–506.
=Hues=--Hood--Robert (1553(?)-1632), another of the English sea
voyagers named by Gilbert at the end of his first book, was a
mathematician and geographer who sailed around the world with Thomas
Cavendish and is the author of “Tractatus de Globis ... et eorum usu,”
1593, 1594, 1627, which was written for the especial purpose of being
used in connection with a set of globes by Emery Molyneux. This work
was shortly afterwards followed by another in the same line entitled
“Breviarum totius orbis”--“Breviarum orbis terrarum” (“Dict. of Nat.
Biog.,” Vol. XXVIII. p. 156).
=Kendall=--Kendel--Abram, who has already been mentioned (Gama, A.D.
1497; Norman, A.D. 1576), is called by Gilbert “the expert English
navigator.” He was sailing master of the “Bear,” a ship belonging to
Sir Robert Dudley (1573–1649), on the voyage which is referred to in
Vol. IV of Hakluyt’s “Collection of the early voyages, travels and
discoveries,” London, 1811. Therein, at pp. 57 and 58, mention is made
of Kendall, who is also favourably alluded to in the very attractive
and justly prominent work of Sir Robt. Dudley, published in three
volumes at Florence, 1646–1647, 1661, and entitled “Dell Arcano del
Mare di Roberto Dudleio, Duca di Nortumbria e Conte di Warwick.”
REFERENCES.--“Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XVI. p. 125; also
Libri’s “Catalogues,” 1859, Vol. I. p. 160, and 1861, Vol. I.
p. 268; Vol. II. p. 573, wherein it is said that amongst the
_Portulani_ are those of Abraham Kendall and John Diez for the
coasts of America and the West Indies.
Kendall is said to have joined, during the year 1595, the last
expedition of Francis Drake and to have died the year following. Drake
is alluded to in the address by Edward Wright in connection with Thomas
Candish (Cavendish), and they are both also mentioned together (_De
Magnete_, Book III. chap. i.), where Gilbert calls Drake “our most
illustrious Neptune,” and Cavendish “that other world-explorer.”
REFERENCES.--David Hume, “History of England,” London, 1822,
Vol. V; “Lives of Drake, Candish and Dampier,” Edin., 1831;
“Collection of Voyages and Discoveries,” Glasgow, 1792; “English
Seamen of the Sixteenth Century,” by James Anthony Froude, New
York, 1896, pp. 75–103, detailing Drake’s voyage around the
world; “Life of Sir Francis Drake and Account of his Family,”
reprinted from the “Biog. Britannica,” 1828; “The Works of John
Locke,” London, 1812, Vol. X. pp. 359–512, for the “History of
Navigation from its Origin to this Time” (1704), prefixed to
“Churchill’s Collection of Voyages,” and embracing the voyages
of Stephen Burrough, Sebastian Cabot, Sir Thos. Candish,
Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake and Vasco da Gama,
as well as the discoveries attributed to Gioia and others;
making, for the polarity of needle, special mention of Bochart’s
“Geog. Sacra,” p. 716, Purchas’ “Pilgrims,” p. 26 and Fuller’s
“Miscellanies,” lib. iv. cap. 19; Franciscus Drakus, 1581, is
Epig. 39, Liber Secundus, p. 28 of 1747, Amsterodami ed. of
“Epigrammatum Ioan Oweni” (John Owen, 1560–1622, “Dict. of Nat.
Biog.,” Vol. XLII. pp. 420–421). At pp. 437 and 444, Vol. I. of
“The History of No’ America,” by Alfred Brittain, Philadelphia,
1903, will be found a plate portrait of Sir Francis Drake and
the reproduction of a page from “Sir Francis Drake Revived,”
originally published in 1626. The latter is “a true relation of
foure severall voyages ... collected out of the notes of Sir
Francis Drake, Philip Nichols and Francis Fletcher ...”; “The
Voyages of the Cabots,” in “Narrative and Critical History of
America,” by Justin Winsor, Boston, 1889, Vol. III. pp. 1–59–84
for Drake, Hawkins and Cavendish. “Life of Sir Rob. Dudley ...”
by John Temple Leader, Florence, 1895. For Sir Francis Drake
and Thos. Candish, consult also Vols. XV and XVI, as per Index,
p. 412 of Richard Hakluyt, “The Principal Navigations ...”
Edinburgh, 1889; “General Biog. Dict.,” Alex. Chalmers, London,
1813, Vol. XII. p. 305 for Sir Francis Drake and pp. 414–418 for
Sir Rob. Dudley.
=Lactantius=--Lucius Cœlius Firmianus--celebrated orator of Italian
descent, called “the Christian Cicero,” died about 325–326 A.D. He
was a teacher of rhetoric in Nicomedia, Bithynia, was entrusted by
Constantine the Great with the education of his son Crispus Cæsar
(“History of Christianity,” Rev. Hy. Hart Milman, London, 1840, Vol.
II. p. 384), and became a very extensive writer. Dufresnoy enumerates
as many as eighty-six editions of his entire works, besides separate
publications of his different treatises, appearing between the years
1461–1465 and 1739; the best editions being given in Vols. X-XI of
the “Bibliotheca Patrum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum ...” by Gersdorf
(Ephraim Gotthelf), Leipzig, 1842–1844 and in Migne (Jacques Paul)
“Patrologiæ,” Vols. VI-VII, 1844. His principal work is the “Divinarum
Institutionum,” the third book of which (“De falsa sapientia”) is
referred to by Gilbert (_De Magnete_, Chap. III), when he says
that Lactantius, like the most unlearned of the vulgar, or like an
uncultured bumpkin, treats with ridicule the mention of antipodes and
of a round globe of earth.
Geo. Hakewill, who has already appeared in this “Bibliographical
History,” at A.D. 1627, alludes to the above (“Apologie,” Oxford,
1635, lib. iii. p. 281), in manner following: “Yet that which to me
seemeth more strange is that those two learned Clearkes, Lactantius
(_Divin. Inst._, lib. iii. cap. 24), and Augustine (_De Civitate Dei_,
I. lib. xvi. cap. 9), should with that earnestnesse deny the being
of any antipodes.... Zachary, Bishop of Rome, and Boniface, Bishop
of Mentz, led (as it seems), by the authority of these Fathers, went
farther herein, condemning one Vergilius, a Bishop of Saltzburg, as
an heretique, only for holding that there were antipodes.” Madame
Blavatsky (“Isis Unveiled,” Vol. I. p. 526) says: “In 317 A.D. we find
Lactantius teaching his pupil Crispus Cæsar, that the earth is a plane
surrounded by the sky, which is composed of fire and water, and warning
him against the heretical doctrine of the earth’s globular form!”
The following notes concerning the antipodes are likely to prove
interesting:
“Pythagoras left no writings--Aristotle speaks only of his school--but
Diogenes Laertius in one passage (‘Vitæ,’ VIII. I. Pythag. 25), quotes
an authority to the effect that Pythagoras asserted the earth to be
spherical and inhabited all over, so that there were antipodes, to whom
that is _over_ which to us is _under_.... Plato makes Socrates say that
he took up the work of Anaxagoras, hoping to learn whether the earth
was round or flat (‘Phædo,’ 46, Stallb. I, 176).” In Plutarch’s essay,
“On the face appearing in the orb of the moon,” one of the characters
is lavish in his ridicule of the sphericity of the earth and of the
theory of antipodes. (Justin Winsor, “Narrative and Critical History,”
Boston, 1889, Vol. I. pp. 3–5, notes; Lucretius, “De Rerum,” V. pp.
1052, etc., and vi. p. 630; Virgil (Publius V. Maro), “Georgics,” I. p.
247; Tacitus (Publius Cornelius), “Germania,” p. 45.)
Speaking of the lower hemisphere or antipodes, as well as of islands
of magnetic power drawing vessels on their rocks, Albertus Magnus
says, in the book “De Natura Locorum,” contained in his “Philosophus
Philosophorum Princeps”: “Perhaps also some magnetic power in that
region draws human stones, even as the magnet draws iron.” See the
Legends, in Reisch’s--Reysch’s--“Map of the World,” Rome, 1508
(“Christ. Colombus,” by J. B. Thatcher, New York, 1903, Vol. I. pp.
165–166).
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the roundness of the earth
and the antipodes were generally recognized. Mention thereof is to be
found in the “Trésor” of Brunetto Latini, in the “Divina Commedia,” in
the “Convito” (Dante, Opere Minori, Vol. I. p. 93), and in the “Acerba”
of Francesco degli Stabili (Cecco d’Ascoli), at ff. 8–11, lib. i.
cap. 3; as well as in most cosmographical treatises of the fourteenth
century (Libri, Vol. II. p. 197, note).
[Illustration: Cecco D’Ascoli. Last page of the earliest
known edition of his “Acerba” Venetia 1476. Printed nineteen
times up to and including the edition of 1546. Now in the
Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris.]
[Illustration: Lactantius. “De Divinis Institutionibus.”
Page taken from the 1465 edition. In the Bibliothèque Ste.
Geneviève, Paris.]
The passage in Lactantius (lib. iii. cap. 24), begins _Ineptum
credere_. In the 1570 edition, it commences at Chap. XXIII, “_Aut
est_ ...” p. 178. In the “Works of Lactantius,” Edinburgh, 1871,
Vol. I. chap. xxiv. pp. 196–197, the translator, Wm. Fletcher, says
that he thus ridicules the antipodes and the roundness of the earth:
“... the rotundity of the earth leads, in addition, to the invention of
those suspended antipodes,” whilst, at Vol. II. chap. xxxix. p. 122,
Lactantius says again that “about the antipodes, also, one can neither
hear nor speak without laughter.”
In “Christian Schools and Scholars,” Augusta Th. Drane, London, 1867,
p. 70, Albertus describes the antipodes and the countries they embrace.
Robert Steele, in his “Mediæval Lore,” London, 1893, p. 75, has it:
“And fables tell, that there, beyond the antipodes be men that have
their feet against our feet.”
At p. 200 of André Pezzani’s “La Pluralité des Existences de l’Ame,”
Paris, 1866, he mentions that Cardinal Nicolas De Cusa admits the
roundness of the earth, the plurality of worlds, etc.
For antipodes and roundness of the earth see, likewise: Libri, “Hist.
des Sc. Mathém.,” Vol. II. pp. 178, 182, note; Ch. W. Shields, “The
Final Philosophy,” New York, 1877, p. 46; “Le Journal des Sçavans,”
Vol. XXXVI for 1707, p. 510, wherein it is said that Plutarch denied
the antipodes, as did both Lactantius and Saint Augustine. Consult,
also, the volumes of “Le Journal des Sçavans” for the years 1710 and
1721.
REFERENCES.--Dupin (André M. J. J.), “Biblioth. des Auteurs
Eccles.,” Vol. I. p. 295; Celier (Léonce), “Hist. des Auteurs
Sacrés,” Vol. III. p. 387; Schöll (Carl), “Hist. de la Lit.
Romaine,” Vol. IV. p. 26; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXVIII. pp.
611–620; ninth “Encycl. Brit.,” Vol. XIV. pp. 195–196; Lenain de
Tillemont, “Hist. Eccles.,” Vol. VI; Fleury (Claude), “Historia
Ecclesiastica” (“The Eccles. History from A.D. 400 to A.D.
456”), Vol. I; “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire,” by Edward Gibbon (Milman), Philad. 1880, Vol. II.
p. 248 note; “Anti-Nicene Christian Library,” edited by Drs.
Roberts and Donaldson.
=Lusitanus=, Amatus--Joan Rodrigo Amato--Portuguese physician
(1511–1568), is author of several medical essays wherein he advocates
the views of Galen and of the Arabian School. His most important work
is “Curationum medicinalium centuriæ septem,” and is so named because
it is divided into seven parts, each containing a hundred different
observations and reports on medical cures, etc. In _De Magnete_,
Book I. chap. i., Gilbert names him amongst authors, like Antonius
Musae Brasavolus and Joannes Baptista Montanus, who tell of the
efficacy of the loadstone in medicine.
REFERENCES.--“Thesaurus Literaturæ Botanicæ,” Lipsiæ, 1851, pp.
334–335; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. X. p. 796; “Dict. Hist.
de la Médecine,” par N. F. J. Eloy, Mons, 1778, Vol. I. pp.
106–107.
=Lynschoten=--Linschooten--Jan Huygan van--who, with Richard Hakluyt,
we find mentioned by Edward Wright in his Address “to the most learned
Mr. William Gilbert,” was a celebrated Dutch navigator (1563–1611) who
accompanied Vicente Fonseca, Archbishop of Goa, upon his Eastern trip
and first published a relation thereof during the year 1601. He is the
author, also, of “Itinerario Voyage ofte Schipvært,” Amsterdam, 1596,
1604, 1605, 1623, and “Itinerarium, ofte Schipvært,” Amsterdam, 1614.
REFERENCES.--Lautz (G.), “Biog. de J. H. Van L.,” Amst., 1845;
Du Boys (Pierre), “Vies des Gouverneurs,” p. 4; “La Grande
Encycl.,” Vol. XXII. p. 299; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. X. p.
542; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXXI. p. 303.
=Machometes Aractensis.= _See_ Albategnius.
=Marbodeus Gallus=, surnamed Pelliciarius, who is briefly mentioned
twice by Gilbert in _De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i., was a French
writer, son of a merchant (Marbode, Marbœuf) who finally became Bishop
of Rennes in 1081, and died at Angers in 1123–1125. He is best known
by his poetical works, which were first published in 1524. As has
already been said, Marbodeus is supposed to have used the manuscript
of Evax-Euace--to make up his own book on precious stones. The latter
work is alluded to by J. B. Hauréau in the second of his articles
on the Latin MSS. of the Palatine--“Codices Palatini Bibliothecæ
Vaticanæ”--wherein the first line is quoted:
“_Evax, rex Arabum, fertur scripisse Neroni_”
(“Journal des Savants,” Sept. 1887, p. 565, June 1891, p. 372; “Hildeb.
et Marbod. Opera,” Col. 1637).
Bertelli quotes, at p. 96 of his “Pietro Peregrino” Memoir, four of the
Latin lines, as well as those of Hildeberti, which can be translated as
follows:
“The magnet stone is found amongst the Troglodites,
The same stone which India, its mother, sends;
This one is known to be of ferruginous colour
And its nature is to draw iron when near it.”
REFERENCES.--“The Lapidarium of Marbodus” (with translation of
the sixty-one chapters) at pp. 389–417 of “Antique Gems,” by
Rev. C. W. King, London, 1866; “Gallia Christiana,” XIV. col.
746; “Hist. Lit. de la France,” Vol. X. p. 343; “La Grande
Encycl.,” Vol. XXIII. p. 15; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. X^2.
p. 1126; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. XXXIII. pp. 366–367.
=Marco Polo.= _See_ A.D. 1271–1295, p. 55.
=Matthæus= Silvaticus. _See_ Silvaticus.
=Matthiolus=, Petrus Andreas--Pierre André Mattiole--(1500–1577),
Italian naturalist and physician, is best known by his Commentary
originally published at Venice under the title “Il Dioscoride con
gli suoi discorsi” and translated into Latin, 1554, which is said to
contain all that was known of medicine and botany up to that time
(Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. X. p. 1349; Eloy, “Dict. Hist. de
Médecine,” Mons, 1778, Vol. III. pp. 190–193.)
Gilbert tells, in Book I. chap. i. of _De Magnete_, that
Matthiolus, the translator of Dioscorides, “furbishes again the
garlic and diamond story, in connection with the loadstone, that he
also brings in the fable of Mahomet’s shrine having an arched roof
of magnets so that the people might be fooled by the trick of the
coffin suspended in air, as though ’twere some divine miracle, and,
furthermore, that he compares the attractive virtues of the loadstone,
which pass through iron, to the mischief of the _torpedo_, whose
poison passes through bodies and spreads in an occult way.”
=Maurolycus=--Marulle--Franciscus (1494–1575) was Abbot of Messina
and a celebrated geometer. His well-known “Opuscula Mathematica,”
Venice, 1575, containing treatises on the sphere, astronomical
instruments, etc., was preceded by his great book on Cosmography
published during 1543, and he also wrote many other works which will
be found enumerated in the Catalogue so ably made up by the Abbé Scina
(Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. X. p. 1365; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl.
Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 201).
Gilbert mentions Franciscus Maurolycus (_De Magnete_, Book I.
chaps. i. and xvii., also Book IV. chaps. i. and xviii.), regarding
the variation in the Mediterranean Sea and says that he discusses a
few problems regarding the loadstone, adopting the current opinion
of others, and that he believes the variation is caused by a certain
magnetic island mentioned by Olaus Magnus.
REFERENCES.--Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Paris, 1838, Vol
III. p. 102; “Nouv. Biog. Gén.” (Hœfer), Vol. XXXIV. p. 428;
“Vita del Abate. Maurolico,” Messine, 1613; Nicéron, “Mémoires,”
Vol. XXXVII; “Biog. Univ.” (Michaud), Vol. XXVII. p. 352;
Tessier (H. A.), “Eloges des hommes Illustres”; “Dict. Univ. du
XIX^e siècle” (Larousse), Vol. X. p. 1365.
=Menelaus= (called also Mileus, Milieus, by Apian and by
Mersenne), was a celebrated Alexandrian, living end of first century
A.D., who, in his brilliant treatment especially of spherical
geometry, went considerably beyond all his predecessors. The only
work of his, however, that has reached us is a treatise on the sphere
in three books, of which the translation was made by Maurolycus and
inserted by P. Mersenne in his “Univ. Geometriæ Synopsis,” 1644.
Menelaus is mentioned by Gilbert (_De Magnete_, Book VI. chaps.
viii. and ix.) together with Ptolemy and Machometes Aractensis, who,
says he, have held in their writings that the fixed stars and the whole
firmament have a forward movement, for they contemplated the heavens
and not the earth and knew nothing of magnetic inclination.
REFERENCES.--Montucla, J. F., “Hist. des Mathém.,” Vol. I. p.
291; Delambre, J. B. J., “Hist. de l’Astron. Moderne,” Vol. II.
p. 243.
=Merula=, Gaudentius, was an Italian savant living early in the
sixteenth century, author of “De Gallorum ... antiquitate,” 1536,
1538, 1592, of “Memorabilium” 1546, 1550, 1551, 1556, and of several
general histories, etc. Gilbert says (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap.
i.) Merula advises that on a loadstone be graven the image of a bear,
when the moon looks to the north, so that, being suspended by an iron
thread, it may win the virtue of the celestial Bear.
REFERENCES.--Cotta (Lazaro Agostino), “Musæo Novarese,” p. 133;
Philippo Argellati, “Bibliotheca ... Mediol. ...” Vol. II. pp.
2131–2134; “La Grande Encycl.” Vol. XXIII. p. 732; “Biog. Gén.,”
Vol. XXXV. p. 127.
=Montagnana=, Bartholommeo, who is briefly alluded to at the end
of Book I. chap. xv. of _De Magnete_, was the head of a well-known
family of Italian physicians. He was born about 1400, practised
medicine at Bologna and Padua, and wrote “Consilia Medica, edita
Paduæ anno 1436,” also “De Balneis Patav.; de compositione et dosi
medicamentorum,” the latter appearing at Padua in 1556.
REFERENCES.--Papadopoli (Nicolaus Comnenus), “Historia
Gymnasii Patavavini,” I; Manget (Jean Jacques), “Bibliotheca
Scriptorum Medicorum”; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXXVI. p. 34.
=Montanus=, Arias--Benedictus (1527–1598), eminent Spanish
Catholic divine and orientalist, member of the Council of Trent, is
best known by his Polyglott Bible--_Biblia Regia_ or _Biblia
Plantiniana_--though he is the author of many works, mostly
religious, published during the years 1569, 1571, 1572, 1574 and
1593. Upon completing the last of the eight folio volumes of the
_Biblia_, he was offered, but declined, a bishopric by King Philip
II, at whose request he had undertaken the work and who, later on,
rewarded him with a liberal pension and other emoluments.
He is but briefly referred to by Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I.
chap. i.
REFERENCES.--Antonio (Nicolas), “Bibl. Hisp. Nova”; D. Nicol. M.
Serrano, “Appendice al Dicc. Univ.,” Madrid, 1881, Vol. XIV. p.
407; “Diccionario Enciclopedico Hispano-Americano,” Barcelona,
1887, Vol. II. p. 596; Loumyer (C.), “Vie de B. A. Montano,”
1842; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. III. pp. 145–146; Rosenmüeller (Ernst
Friedrich Carl), “Handbuch für die Literatur,” Vol. III. p. 296;
Colomiès (Paul), “Italia et Hispania Orientalis,” p. 241.
=Montanus=--Da Monte--Joannes Baptista (1488–1551), already
mentioned in connection with Lusitanus, was a Professor of
Medicine at the Padua University and regarded as one of the most
celebrated physicians of his day. He is the author of many valuable
works, including “Metaphrasis Summaria,” 1551, “De Differentiis
Medicamentorum,” 1551; “In Nonum librum; Rhazès ad Almansorem
Expositio,” 1554, 1562.
REFERENCES.--Tiraboschi (Girolamo), “Storia della Letteratura
Italiana”; Facciolati (Jacopo), “Fasti Gymnasii Patavini,” par.
III; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.; “Biog. Générale,”
Vol. XXXVI. pp. 108–109.
=Myrepsus=--Myrepsius--Nicolaus, Greek physician, living in the
thirteenth century, became very prominent in Rome as a great student of
the Arabic writers. He is the author, more particularly, of a medical
treatise, divided into forty-eight sections containing as many as two
thousand six hundred and fifty-six formulæ, which was translated by
Leonard Fuchs under the title “Nic. Myr. Alex. medicamentorum opus,”
Basle, 1549, and frequently reprinted, whilst another translation
was made by Nicolas de Reggio, who, like Matthæus Silvaticus, was
a physician at Salerno and who called it “Nic. Alex. liber de
compositione medicamentorum,” Ingoldstadt, 1541. The last-named work
has, by some, been confounded with the “Antidotarium” of Nicolas
Præpositas.
Myrepsus is spoken of by Gilbert, Book I, at end of chap. xiv. _De
Magnete_ treating of the medicinal virtue of the loadstone.
Nicolaus, says he, puts into his “divine plaster” a good deal of
loadstone, as do the Augsburg doctors in their “black plaster” for
fresh wounds and stabs; because of the exsiccating effect of the
loadstone without corrosion, it becomes an efficacious and useful
remedy. Paracelsus, in like manner, and for the same end, makes
loadstone an ingredient of his plaster for stab wounds.
REFERENCES.--Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Bibliotheca Græca,”
Vol. X. p. 292; Vol. XII. pp. 4, 346; Kastner (Christian
Wilhelm), “Medicin. Gelehrten-Lexikon,” p. 577; Freind (John),
“Hist. of Physic,” Vol. I. p. 464; Hœfer (M. F.), “Hist. de la
Chimie,” Vol. I; Sprengel (Kurt Polycarp Joachim), “Geschichte
der Arzneikunde,” Vol. II. p. 334; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol.
XI. p. 744; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXXVII. p. 92.
=Nicander of Colophon=, whom Gilbert mentions twice in his first
book, chapter ii., “On the loadstone, what it is: its discovery”--was
a Greek poet and physician who lived second century B.C. and
of whom comparatively little is known. Only two of his many reported
works remain: these are treated of at pp. 917–920, Vol. XXXVII of the
“Biographie Générale,” where can likewise be found the titles of all
the others according to Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Bibliotheca Græca,”
Harles edition, Vol. IV. p. 345).
REFERENCES.--Haller (Albrecht von), “Bibliotheca Botanica”;
Charlant (Johann Ludwig), “Handb. ... die Æltere Medicin”; G. A.
Pritzel, “Thesaur. Lit. Bot.,” 1851, pp. 210–211.
=Nicetas=--Hicetas--of Syracuse, a Pythagorician of the fourth
century B.C., native of Chonæ in Phrygia (the old Colossæ
of St. Paul) alluded to by Gilbert in conjunction with Heraclides of
Pontus, was doubtless the first, according to Diog. Laert (VIII, 85),
to teach the earth’s rotation. Humboldt remarks (“Cosmos,” 1860, Vol.
II. p. 109) that Nicetas, Theophrastus and Heraclides Ponticus appear
to have had a knowledge of the rotation of the earth upon its axis; but
Aristarchus of Samos, and more particularly Seleucus of Babylon, who
lived one hundred and fifty years after Alexander, first arrived at the
knowledge that the earth not only rotated on its axis, but also moved
around the Sun as the centre of the whole planetary system. Cicero,
“Academica,” lib. iv. cap. 39: “Nicetas of Syracuse,” as Theophrastus
says, “believed that the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars--in
brief, all things above--stand still; alone, the earth, of all things
in the world, moves. Because it is rapidly turning and twisting upon
its axis, it gives the effect of the whole sky moving, and that the
earth stands.”
REFERENCES.--Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Biblioth. Græca,” Vol.
I. p. 847; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXIV. p. 642; “La Grande
Encycl.,” Vol. XX. p. 63; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,”
Vol. II. p. 214; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book VI. chap. iii.
[Illustration: Pedro Nuñez, “Traitte ... de la Navigation.”
Page 9 _verso_ of Ms. Fr. No. 1338, now in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.]
=Nuñez=, PEDRO--Nonius, Petrus--was a celebrated Portuguese
mathematician (1492–1577) who, after his voyage to the East Indies,
became chief cosmographer of the kingdom, and made a great many
improvements in astronomical instruments, the merits of which were
recognized notably by Tycho Brahé and by Dr. Halley. Of all his books,
the most important are the “Tratado da sphera ...” 1537; “De arte atque
ratione navigandi,” 1546; “Opera Mathematica,” 1566 (containing many
treatises on navigation, instruments, sailing cards, etc.); “Annotaçoes
à Sphera de Sacro Bosco,” 1567[65]; “Instrumenta Artis Navigandi,”
1592. Stockler observes that the last-named treatise, which is an
amplification of the 1537 “Tratatos das cartas de marear,” would alone
justify placing Nonius among the most distinguished geometricians of
his time.
REFERENCES.--Fernandez de Navarette, “Recherches ... sciences
nautiques” (tr. M. D. de Mofras), Paris, 1839; Varnhagen
(Francisco Adolfo de), “Historia geral do Brazil”; Machado
(Barb.), “Biblioth. Lusitana”; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl.
Générale,” 1887, Vol. I. part i. pp. 216, 574–575, and part ii.
p. 1222; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book IV. chap. viii.; “La Grande
Encycl.,” Vol. XXV. p. 140; “Biographie Générale,” Vol. XXXVIII.
pp. 361–363; “Estromento de Sombras” of Pedro Nuñez, copied in
Dr. G. Hellmann’s “Neudrucke,” 1898, No. 10; J. F. Montucla,
“Hist. des Mathém. ...” (Supplément), Vol. II. pp. 656–659,
for names of many other authors of treatises on navigation.
For Sacro Bosco: “Dict. of National Biography,” edited by
Sidney Lee, London, 1891, Vol. XXVII. p. 217; Larousse, “Dict.
Univ.,” Vol. IX. pp. 934–935; Græsse (J. G. T.), “Trésor des
livres rares,” Vol. VI. pp. 209–211; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXVI.
p. 555; Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Bibliotheca Latina Mediæ
... Ætatis”; Delambre (J. B. J.), “Astron. du Moyen-Age,” Vol.
II; “Hist. Litter. de la France,” Vol. XIX. p. 1; “Ency. Brit.”
ninth edition, Vol. XXI. pp. 140, 543.
=Oribasius=, SARDIANUS, was an eminent Greek physician, born about
A.D. 325 at Sardes, the capital of Lydia. Gilbert (_De Magnete_, Book
I. chap. i.) alludes to Chapter XIII of Oribasius’ “De Facultate
Metallicorum,” which is embraced in one of the only three authentic
treatises of his that have reached us, the first being part of a
compilation relative to seventy medical books, whilst the second is
a Synopsis, or rather an abridgment, of the first, and the third is
called _Euporistes_, or manual of practical medicine.
REFERENCES.--“Dict. Hist. de la Médecine,” par N. F. J.
Eloy, Mons, 1778, Vol. III. 419–422; Eunapius, “Vitæ Philos.
et Soph.”; Sprengel (Kurt Polycarp Joachim), “Hist. de la
Médecine”; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XXV. p. 561; “Biog.
Gén.,” Vol. XXXVIII. pp. 786–789; Fabricius (Johann Albert),
“Bibliotheca Græca,” Vols. IX. p. 451; XII. p. 640, and XIII.
p. 353; Linden (Joannes Antonides van der) “... de scriptis
medicis,” Amst., 1651, pp. 476–477.
=Orpheus=, to whom Gilbert alludes (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. ii.;
Book II. chap. iii. and Book V. chap. xii.) is supposed to be the
Vedic Ribhu. Orpheus is a very important figure in Greek legend, whose
existence is denied by Aristotle, but to whom are attributed many
writings such as the _Argonautica_, _Lithica_, _Bacchica_, _Orphica_,
etc.
REFERENCES.--“La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XXV. pp. 607–608;
“Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXXVIII. pp. 868–877; “English
Cyclopædia,” Vol. IV. pp. 592–593.
=Oviedus=, GONZALUS--Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdès--was one
of the earliest historiographers of the New World (1478–1557), whose
principal work--“Summario de las Indias Occidentales,” printed
1525--Gilbert says (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.) contains earliest
mention of the fact that in the meridian of the Azores there is no
variation.
REFERENCES.--The complete edition of Oviedus’s writings which
appeared in 1850; “Thesaurus Liter. Botanicæ,” 1851, p. 218;
Ticknor (George), “Hist. of Span. Lit.,” 1849.
=Parmenides=, an ancient philosopher, native of Southern Italy,
living in fifth century A.D., and the most prominent of the
followers of the Eleatic School (founded by him and Xenophanes), has
embodied a brief summary of his tenets in a work called “Nature,”
of which an able analyzation is to be found in the ninth “Encycl.
Brit.,” Vol. XVIII. pp. 315–317. Gilbert’s only allusion to him is
at Book V. chap. xii. of _De Magnete_, where he says that the
ancient philosophers, as Thales, Heraclides, Anaxagoras, Archelaus,
Pythagoras, Empedocles, Parmenides, Plato and the Platonists--nor Greek
philosophers alone, but also the Egyptian and the Chaldean--all seek in
the world a certain universal soul, and declare the whole world to be
endowed with a soul.
Parmenides has also left fragments of a poem on astronomy which was
published by Scaliger.
REFERENCES.--Ritter (Dr. Heinrich), “Hist. de la Philos.” (tr.
M. Tissot), Vol. I; Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Biblioth.
Græca,” Vol. I. p. 798; “Diog. Lært.,” IX. 23; Houzeau et
Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 220; Larousse, “Dict.
Univ.,” Vol. XII. p. 307; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXXIX. pp. 227–230;
Dr. Friedrich Ueberweg, “Hist. of Philosophy,” New York, 1885,
Vol. I. pp. 54–57; Paul Tannery, “Pour l’Histoire de la Science
Hellène,” Paris, 1887, Chap. IX. pp. 218–246.
=Paulum Venetum.= _See_ Marco Polo, at A.D. 1271–1295.
=Paulus Venetus.= _See_ Sarpi, Pietro at A.D. 1623.
=Philolaus=, the Pythagorean, was born at Crotona and flourished
about 374 B.C. He was a disciple of Archytas, was the first
known writer on the subject of physics, and it is said his writings
were so highly esteemed that Plato employed three books of Philolaus
for the composition of his “Timæus.” Gilbert says (_De Magnete_,
Book VI. chap. iii.) that Philolaus, whom he calls an illustrious
mathematician and a very experienced investigator of nature, would
have the earth to be one of the stars and to turn in an oblique circle
around the fire, just as the sun and moon have their paths.
In the “Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Mathematik,” Leipzig, 1899,
Vol. IX. pp. 275–292, will be found “Note sur le charactère de
l’astronomie Ancienne,” by Paul Mansion, explaining the seven systems
of Ancient Astronomy and showing the centre of the world to be,
according to Philolaus, a central fire, or vital flame of the entire
planetary system; whilst Eudoxus,[66] Ptolemæus and Tycho Brahé
believed it to be the earth immovable; Heraclides of Pontus asserted
that it was the earth rotating from West to East; and both Aristarchus
and Copernicus maintained that it was the Sun.
REFERENCES.--Fabricius (Johann Albert), “Bibliotheca Græca”;
Rose’s “New Gen. Biog. Dict.,” London, 1850, Vol. XI. p.
102; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 224;
Chaignet (Antelme Edouard), “Pythagore et la Philosophie
Pythagoricienne,” 1873; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859, Vol. I. p. 65;
Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XII. p. 823.
=Philostratus=, FLAVIUS, to whom Gilbert alludes briefly at Chap.
XXXVIII. book ii. of his _De Magnete_ as affirming that the stone
_pantarbes_ attracts to itself other stones, was an eminent Greek
sophist, born at Lemnos between 170 and 180 A.D., whose only writings
known to us are accounts of the lives of Apollonius of Tyana[67] and
of the Sophists. These were first published, Paris, 1608, and a part
thereof have found a good translator in M. A. Chassang, who entitled
his book “Le Merveilleux dans l’Antiquité,” Paris, 1862.
REFERENCES.--Letronne (Jean Antoine), “Mém. de l’Acad. des
Inscrip.,” N. S., Vol. X. p. 296; Gibbon (Edward), “Roman
Empire,” Vol. III. p. 241; Ritter (Dr. Heinrich), “Hist. de
la Philos. Ancienne,” Vol. XII. chap. vii.; Fabricius (Johann
Albert), “Bibliotheca Græca,” Vol. V. p. 540; Miller, in the
“Journal des Savants,” 1849; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XL. pp. 3–5;
ninth “Encycl. Britan.,” Vol. XVIII. pp. 796–797.
=Plancius=, PETER, who is alluded to in Edward Wright’s address
to Gilbert, was a Dutch theologian and astronomer--“a most
diligent student, not so much of geography as of magnetic
observations”--(1552–1622), the first to recommend the Dutch
expeditions to the Indies and who prepared the necessary instructions
and maps to ensure their success. His universal map has been alluded
to at the Blundeville entry, A.D. 1602. In the article on Dr. Kohl’s
Collection of Early Maps (“Harv. Univ. Bull.,” Vol. III. p. 305)
allusion is made to a map of America by Peter Plancius, 1594, which is
spoken of by Blundeville in his “Exercises” as “lately put forth in the
yeere of our Lord 1592.”
REFERENCES.--Wagenaar (Jan), “Histoire de la Hollande,” Vol.
IX. p. 140, and also “Histoire d’Amsterdam,” Vol. I. p. 407,
and Vol. III. p. 219; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XL. p. 403; Larousse,
“Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XII. p. 1129.
=Plotinus of Alexandria=, the father of Neoplatonism, lived 205–270
A.D. His writings were left to the editorial care of Porphyry, who
arranged them in six divisions, each of which was subdivided into nine
books, or Enneads. Plotinus maintains that men belong to two worlds,
that of the senses and that of pure intelligence, and it depends upon
ourselves as to which one we will direct most our thoughts and finally
belong. The fire-firmament of Plotinus is alone referred to by Gilbert
in the third chapter of the last book of _De Magnete_.
REFERENCES.--“Neoplatonism,” and works cited in the
Encyclopædias, also the works on Plotinus, especially by
Kirchner (Carl), 1854, by Brenning (Emil), “Die Lehre ...
Plotin ...” (1864), and by Kleist (E. C. von) (1884); Plotini,
“Operum Philosophicorum Omnium,” Basilæ, 1580, Liber III, Ennead
II, p. 115; Kingsley (Charles), “Alexandria and her Schools,”
Camb., 1854; Grucker (Emile), “De Plotinianis,” Paris, 1866;
Lewes (George Henry), “History of Philosophy from Thales to
Comte,”[68] London, 1867; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XII. p.
1198; “Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XL. pp. 487–494; Dr. Fried. Ueberweg,
“Hist. of Philos.,” tr. of Geo. S. Morris, 1885, Vol. I. pp.
240–252; Bouillet (Marie Nicolas), “Les Ennéades de Plotin,”
1857.
=Ptolemæus=, CLAUDIUS, the great Egyptian mathematician, geographer and
astronomer who flourished in middle of the second century after Christ,
is frequently alluded to throughout four of the books of _De Magnete_,
and Gilbert makes direct reference to the “Opus Quadripartitum,”
“Cosmographia” and “Geographia.” The last is, however, the work with
which Ptolemy’s name is most prominently connected. It was the standard
up to the time of the marine discoveries of the fifteenth century, and
has been translated and published into editions too numerous to mention
here.
It may be added that the “Geographia Universalis” issue of 1540 is the
first to embrace a proper map bearing the name “America,” and that,
to the identical account of Columbus which originally appeared in
the 1522 and 1525 editions, Servetus appended a few words concerning
the absurdity of putting the claims of Americus Vespuccius before
those of the real discoverer.[69] The first book in which the name
America was formally given to the new Continent is entitled “Globus
Mundi,” published 1507–1510, and attributed to Henricus Loritus--de
Glaris--Glareanus. The suggestion of the name had, indeed, been made by
the geographer Waldseemüller (Martinus Hylacomylus) of Freiburg, in his
“Cosmographiæ Introductio,” published at St. Dié, in Lorraine, April
25, 1507, but the “Globus Mundi” was first to put it into effect.
The Waldseemüller suggestion above alluded to is thus translated: “And
the fourth part of the world, having been discovered by Americus, it
may be called Amerige; that is, the land of Americus, or America.” In
1901, Prof. Jos. Fischer, of Beldkirch, discovered, at Wolfegg Castle
in Würtemberg, two huge maps, measuring together eight feet by four
and a half feet, which proved to be those of Waldseemüller, of which
all trace had been lost for centuries. They were reproduced in London,
during the year 1903, and were thus alluded to by one of the writers at
the time:
“Ever since Humboldt first called attention to the ‘Cosmographiæ
Introductio’ no lost maps have ever been sought for so diligently as
those of Waldseemüller. It is not too much to say that the honour of
being their lucky discoverer has long been considered as the highest
possible prize to be obtained amongst students in the field of ancient
cartography. But until the summer of 1901, although many copies of the
book are known in various editions, no specimen of either the globe or
map has ever been seen or heard of in modern times. Some historians
and geographers have even gone so far as to state definitely that they
were never issued at all, and the book published alone. Others have
held that they never got beyond their manuscript form, while some
have contended that they were actually issued with the book, but,
being separate, had become lost in the course of time. The writers
holding this last view have been brought to their belief by tracing the
supposed influence of the St. Dié cartography in later maps, and these
authorities have been proved to be right by Prof. Fischer’s discovery.
The expectation that the missing map would be found to bear the name
of AMERICA on the newly discovered Western Lands has also been duly
realized.”
REFERENCES.--“Le nom d’Amérique et les grandes mappemondes
... de 1507 et 1516,” in “Annales de Géographie,” 15 Janvier
1904, pp. 29–36; “History of North America,” by Alfred Brittin,
Philadelphia, 1903, at p. 293, Vol. I of which is a fine
reproduction of a sheet from Waldseemüller’s “Cosmographiæ
Introductio” published in May 1507, showing the passage that
first suggested calling the new world by the name of America;
“Martinus Hylacomylus Waltzemüller, ses ouvrages et ses
collaborateurs, par un géographe bibliophile” (M. d’Avezac),
Paris, 1867; “Geographical Journal,” Vol. XIX. pp. 201–209,
389; Humboldt, “Examen Critique,” Paris, 1836, Vol. I. p. 22;
also Vol. IV and Vol. V _passim_; “Amerigo Vespucci,” Vol. II.
pp. 129–179 of Justin Winsor’s “Narrative and Critical History
of America,” Boston, 1889. See also the geography and maps of
Loritus (Henricus), _Glareanus_, in the “Geographical Journal”
for June 1905; “Le Journal des Savants” for December 1830; April
and May 1831; August 1840; October and December 1843; July 1847;
Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part i. pp. 420–424,
684–688, and part. ii. p. 1390; also Vol. II. p. 231.
=Puteanus=, GUILIELMUS--Dupuis, and not Dupuy--French physician of the
sixteenth century, professor at the University of Grenoble, is the
author of “De Medicamentorum,” Lyons, 1552, which was reproduced with
a treatise of Cousinot under the title “De Occultis Pharmacorum” two
years later. To Puteanus, Gilbert alludes (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap.
i. and Book II. chap. iii.) saying that he discusses the loadstone
briefly and crudely and deduces its power, not from a property of its
whole substance unknown to any one and incapable of demonstration
(as Galen held and, after him, nearly all physicians), but from “its
substantial form as from a prime motor and self-motor, and as from its
own most potent nature and its natural temperament, as the instrument
which the efficient form of its substance, or the second cause, which
is without a medium, employs in its operations. So the loadstone
attracts iron not without a physical cause, and for the sake of some
good.” But nothing like this, adds Gilbert, is done in other bodies by
any substantial form unless it be the primary one, and this Puteanus
does not recognize.
REFERENCES.--“Biographie Générale,” Vol. XV. p. 367; Larousse,
“Dict. Universel,” Vol. VI. p. 1420.
=Pythagoras=, celebrated Greek philosopher (569–470 B.C.) who, as Hegel
says, “First made thought and not sense the criterion of the essence
of things.” He is said to have travelled widely and, according to one
of his biographers, he learned geometry from the Egyptians, arithmetic
from the Phœnicians, astronomy from the Chaldæans, religious formulæ
and ethical maxims from the Magians, and obtained other scientific
and religious knowledge from the Arabians and the Indians. He settled
finally at Crotona in Lower Italy, during the year 529 B.C. and there
established the school that has made him famous.
To a complete exposition of the Pythagorean school or sect, the
“Biographie Générale” devotes, in Vol. XLI, twenty-four full columns,
whilst the notices of the Pythagoreans which Aristotle gives in the
first book of the “Metaphysics” contain about all that is of importance
in their theory.
According to the report of Philolaus of Croton, the Pythagoreans taught
the progressive movement of the non-rotating Earth, its revolution
around the focus of the world (the central fire, _hestia_), while Plato
and Aristotle imagined that the Earth neither rotated nor advanced
in space, but that, fixed to one central point, it merely oscillated
from one side to the other. Humboldt, from whose “Cosmos” the above
is taken, further says that the figurative and poetical myths of the
Pythagorean and Platonic pictures of the universe were as changeable
as the fancy from which they emanated, and he cites Plato, who, in the
_Phædrus_, adopts the system of Philolaus, whilst, in the _Timæus_,
he accepts the system according to which the earth is immovable in
the centre and which was subsequently called the Hipparchian or
Ptolemaic.[70]
REFERENCES.--Ueberweg (Dr. Friedrich), “History of Philosophy,”
tr. of Geo. S. Morris, New York, 1885, Vol. I. pp. 42–49; Butler
(William Archer), “Lectures on Ancient Philosophy”; Gilbert,
_De Magnete_, Book II. chap. ii., and Book V. chap. xii.; Chas.
Rollin, “Ancient History,” London, 1845, Vol. I. pp. 383–384;
Iamblichus’ “Life of Pythagoras,” translated from the Greek by
Thos. Taylor; “Dict. des Sc. Philos.,” Paris, 1852, Vol. V. pp.
297–312; Ritter (Dr. Heinrich), “History of Ancient Philosophy,”
London, 1846, Vol. I. pp. 326–357; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl.
Gén.,” Vol. II. p. 232; Roeth (Eduard), “Geschichte,” 1846–1858;
Cantor (Moritz), “Geschichte der Mathematik,” Leipzig, 1894,
Vol. I. pp. 137–201; Grote (George), “Greece,” Vol. IV. pp.
525–551; Chaignet (Antelme Edouard), “Pythag. et la Phil.
Pyth.,” 1873.
=Reinholdus=, ERASMUS. _See_ Erasmus.
=Rhazès=--Razes--Rasis--Rasaeus--Abu-Bekr Al-Rázi--Muhammad Ibn
Zakariya--one of the most famous of the ancient Arabian physicians,
is the author of “De simplicibus, ad Almansorem,” the ten books of
which contain a complete system of medicine.[71] In Book I. chap. xv.
of _De Magnete_, reference is made to Chap. LXIII. liber ix.
of Rhazès’ work, entitled “De Curatione omnium partium,” wherein an
electuary of iron slag, or of prepared steel filings, is spoken of as
a highly commended and celebrated remedy for dried-up liver, the Arabs
believing that iron opens the spleen and the liver.
REFERENCES.--“Journal des Sçavans,” Vol. LXXVI for 1725, p.
220, and Vol. LXXXV for 1728, p. 412; “Journal des Savants”
for February 1892, pp. 118–126 _passim_, and for March 1892
(“l’Alchimie de Razes”), pp. 190–195, also for May 1851, p.
288, giving names of all the leading alchemists; “Abhandlungen
zur Geschichte der Mathematik,” Vol. VI., Leipzig, 1892, pp.
43–44, 76; Larousse, “Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XIII. p. 747; Freind
(John), “History of Physic”; Eloy (N. F. J.), “Dict. Hist.
de la Médecine,” Vol. IV. pp. 56–61; Haller (Albrecht von),
“Bibliotheca Botanica”; Sprengel (Kurt Polycarp Joachim), “Hist.
de la Médecine.”
=Ruellius=, JOANNES--Jean Ruel--(1479–1537), was a French physician,
attached to the court of François I--, who wrote a Commentary on
Dioscorides, published 1516, 1529, 1543, as well as several medical
treatises. The one by which he is best known is the “De Natura
Stirpium,” Paris, 1536, reprinted four times at Basle and at Venice,
from which Gilbert extracts (_De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.) the
mention by Ruellius that the loadstone’s force, when failing or dulled,
is restored by the blood of a buck.
REFERENCES.--“Sc. de Ste Marthe, Elogia Doct. Gallorum”; Eloy
(N. F. J.), “Dict. hist. de la Méd.”; “Biographie Générale,”
Vol. XLII. pp. 864–865.
=Rueus=, FRANCISCUS--François de la Rüe--(1520–1585), Flemish
naturalist who long practised in his native country and the author of
“De Gemmis aliquot ...” 1547, 1565, which was printed, with the book on
“Philosophy of Vallesius” in 1588, 1595, 1652, also at Franckfort in
1596, and together with the “Similitudines ac Parabolæ” of Lev. Lemnius
in 1626. Gilbert’s only reference to him is briefly made in the opening
chapter of _De Magnete_.
REFERENCES.--Valère, André, “Bibl. Belgica,” p. 240; Mercklein
(Georg Abraham), “Lindenius renovatus,” 1686, pp. 297, 304; Le
P. Lelong, “Bibl. Sacr.,” p. 935; “Biog. Générale,” Vol. XXIX.
p. 702.
=Scaliger=, JULIUS CÆSAR (1484–1558), a famous Italian scholar who
practised medicine at Verona until 1525 and afterwards devoted his
time to writing on various subjects, as shown in the “Biographie
Générale,” Vol. XLIII. pp. 446–450. Of the works cited in latter,
should be extracted, as best known: “In Aristotelis ... de plantis,”
1556; “In Theophrasti, de causis plantarum,” 1566; “De Subtilitate ad
Cardanum,” 1557, 1560, 1576, 1592, 1634.
It is to the last-named important work that Gilbert frequently alludes
(_De Magnete_, Book I. chaps. i. xvi; Book II. chaps. i. iii. iv.
xxxviii.; Book iv. chap. i.). He says, more particularly, that Scaliger
strays far from truth when, in treating of magnetic bodies, he speaks
of diamond attracting iron, also that he keeps the loadstone and iron
in bran to protect them from the injurious action of the atmosphere,
and that Scaliger, in order to explain the difference of variation for
change of locality, brings in a celestial cause to himself unknown, and
terrestrial loadstones that have nowhere been discovered; and seeks the
cause not in the “siderite mountains,” but in that force which formed
them, to wit, in the part of the heaven which overhangs that northern
point.
REFERENCES.--Teissier (H. A.), “Eloges des hommes illustres”;
Coupé (Jean Marie Louis), “Soirées littéraires,” Vol. XV;
Nicéron (Jean Pierre), “Mémoires,” XXIII; Larousse, “Dict.
Univ.,” Vol. VIII. pp. 692–693.
=Silvaticus=--Sylvaticus--Matthæus Moretus, well-known Italian
savant living in 1344, physician to the King of Naples, one of the
professors at Salerno,[72] and author of “Matth. Silvatici, medic.
de Salerno, Liber cibalis et Medicinalis Pandectarum ...” originally
published at Naples, 1474. This work, dedicated to Ferdinand, King of
Sicily, is an Encyclopædic Dictionary and one of the most important
books we have of the history of medicine in the Middle Ages, and at
beginning of the Italian Renaissance. The citations made by Græsse
(“Trésor,” Vol. VI. p. 406), state that Silvaticus was the owner of
a private botanical garden at Salerno (Chap. CXCVII. s.v. “Colcasia”
of the Opus Pandectarum), and allude to Thos. Frognall Dibdin’s
“Bibliotheca Spenceriana,” Vol. IV. London, 1815, pp. 24–25, and Van
der Meersch, “Rech. sur les impr. Belges,” etc., Vol. I. pp. 384, etc.
REFERENCES.--“Repertoire et sources historiques du Moyen Age,”
par l’abbé Ulysse, Joseph Chevalier, Paris, 1877–1886, p. 2089;
Argellati (Philippo), “Bibliotheca Mediolan.,” 1745; Tiraboschi
(Girolamo), “Storia della Letteratura Italiana,” 1807, Vol.
I. p. 275; Sbaralea (Joannes Hyacinthus), “Supplementum ...
Scriptores ordinis,” 1806, p. 529; Tafuri (Giovanni Bernardino),
“Scrittori ... di Napoli,” 1749, Vol. II. pp. 67–70; “Thesaur.
Lit. Bot.,” 1851, p. 185; Brunet (Jacques Charles), “Manuel du
Libraire,” 1864, Vol. V. pp. 387–388; Watt (Rob.), “Bibliotheca
Britannica,” Edinburgh, 1824, Vol. II. p. 856 _h_; Larousse,
“Dict. Univ.,” Vol. XIV. p. 1308; Paul Lacroix, “Science
and Literature of the Middle Ages,” p. 117; Ludovico Hain,
“Repertorium Bibliographicorum,” Vol. II. part ii. Nos.
15192–15202, pp. 375–376; Gilbert, _De Magnete_, Book I. chap. i.
=Solinus=, CAIUS JULIUS--_Grammaticus_--a Roman writer who lived in
latter part of the second century, the author of a compilation in
fifty-seven chapters which contains a sketch of the world as it was
known to him, but which is supposed to have been taken entirely from
Pliny’s “Natural History.” It was originally published under the title
of “Collectanea rerum mirabilium,” the second edition being headed
“Polyhistor.” This was one of the earliest known printed books, having
first appeared at Venice in 1473, and it has since been translated into
many foreign languages, notably during 1600, 1603, and 1847.
The most important of the three references Gilbert makes to Solinus is
found in _De Magnete_, Book II. chap. xxxviii., where it is said
that Pliny and Julius Solinus tell of the stone _cathochites_,
affirming that it attracts flesh and that it holds one’s hand, as
loadstone holds iron and amber holds chaff. But that, says he, is due
solely to its viscosity and its natural glutinousness, for it adheres
most readily to a warm hand.
REFERENCES.--Dodwell (Henry, the elder), “Dissertationes
Cyprianicæ”; Moller (D. W.); C. J. Solino, in “Biog. Gén.,” Vol.
XLIV. pp. 153–154; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol. XXX. p. 232.
=Thebit Ben-Kora=--Thabit Ibn Corrah--Abū Thabit Ibn Kurrah--Tebioth
ben Chorezen (Houzeau, No. 1130), one of the most brilliant and
accomplished scholars produced by the Arabs (836–901), called by
Delambre “Le Ronsard de l’Astronomie,” is the author of many treatises
on mathematics, and on other scientific subjects, the mention of the
titles of which take up nearly two folio pages of Casiri’s “Catalogue.”
Especially is he shown in latter as having translated into Arabic the
chief works of Archimedes, Apollonius, Euclid and Ptolemy also the
Physics and Analytics of Aristotle and many of the works of Hippocrates
and Galen.
Incidentally it may be added that geometry, to which Thebit Ben-Kora
gave particular attention, was named by the Arabs _handassah_, and that
the _Tahrir Hendassiat_ contains: the explication, the _data_ and
the optics, of Euclid, the _syntaxis magna_ of Ptolemy, the spherics
of Theodosius and his book concerning night and day, the spherics
of Menelaus, the movable sphere of Autolycus, the _ascendants_ or
_horoscopes_ of Asclepius, a treatise of Aristarchus on the discs
of the sun and moon, the _lemmas_ or theorems of Archimedes, also
his treatise on the sphere and cylinder, the conics of Apollonius
and Thebit Ben-Kora, a treatise of Theodosius on the positions, or
quiescence, of bodies, etc., etc. (D’Herbelot, art. _Handassah_, and
_Aklides_. See also, for origin of geometry, etc. “A Short History of
Greek Mathem.,” Jas. Gow, Cambridge, 1884, pp. 123–134.)
The allusions by Gilbert are to be found, Book III. chap. i., and
Book VI. chap. ix. of _De Magnete_, in which latter it is said that,
Thebitius, in order to establish a law for the great inequalities
in the movements of the stars, held that the eighth sphere does not
advance by continued motion from west to east, but that it has a sort
of tremulous motion, “a movement of trepidation.”
REFERENCES.--“Hist. de la Médecine Arabe,” par Dr. Lucien
Leclerc, Paris, 1876, Vol. I. pp. 168–172; Dreyer (J.), “Tycho
Brahe,” 1890, pp. 354–356; Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,”
Vol. I. part i. pp. 466–467, 702; “History of Mathematics,”
Walter W. Rouse Ball, London, 1888, p. 153; “Abhandlungen zur
Geschichte der Mathematik,” Vol. VI, Leipzig, 1892, pp. 25–26.
=Themistius= of Paphlagonia--surnamed Euphrades--was a distinguished
Greek orator and writer (about 315–390), whose philosophical works
consist of commentaries in the form of paraphrases on some of
Aristotle’s writings, one being upon the work “On Heaven,” and the
other upon the twelfth book of the “Metaphysics.” The paraphrases were
first published by Hermolaus Barbarus in 1481. Gilbert’s only reference
is briefly made in _De Magnete_, Book II. chap. iv.
REFERENCES.--Schöll (Carl), “Geschichte d. G. Litt.,” Vol.
III. pp. 96, 388, or “Hist. de la Litt. Grecque,” Vol. VI. p.
141; Vol. VII. p. 121; Photius, _cod._ LXXIV; Fleury, “Hist.
Eccles.”; Tillemont, “Hist. des Emp.,” Vols. IV and V; Suidas,
art. “Themistius”; E. Baret, “De Themistio sophista ...” Paris,
1853; Brucker, “Hist. Crit. de la Phil.,” Vol. II. p. 484.
=Zoroaster=--Zarath ’ustra--Zerdusht--founder of the religious system
contained in the Zend-Avesta (religious book of the Parsees, fire
worshippers), is said to have been a native of Bactria, near the modern
Balkh, and to have lived about 589–513 B.C. That he was an historical
personage, equally with Buddha, Confucius and Mahomet, it is now
scarcely possible to doubt.
His able biographer in the English Cyclopædia, London, 1868, Vol. VI.
pp. 946–948, states that Zoroaster was a great astrologer and magician,
and it is said at p. 95 of Mr. A. V. W. Jackson’s admirable work on
Zoroaster, published in New York, 1899, that some of the original Nasks
of the Avesta are reported to have been wholly scientific in their
contents, and that the Greeks even speak of books purported to be by
Zoroaster treating of physics, of the stars and of precious stones.
Zoroaster is merely named by Gilbert in manner shown at the Hermes
Trismegistus entry.
REFERENCES.--“Life of Zoroaster,” prefixed to Anquetil du
Perron’s “Zend-Avesta,” Paris, 1771; Pastoret (Claude Emmanuel
J. P. de), “Zoroaster, Confucius et Mahomet comparés,” 1787;
Hyde (Thomas), “Historia ... Veterum Persarum ...” Oxford,
1760; “Zend-Avesta, Ouvrage de Zoroastre,” 2 vols. Paris, 1771;
Martin-Haug (I.), “Essays,” Bombay, 1862; Malcolm (Sir John),
“History of Persia,” 1815; Darmesteter, “Ormazd et Ahriman,”
Paris, 1877; Spiegel (Friedrich), “Erânische Alterthumskunde,”
Leipzig, 1871–1878; Chas. Rollin, “Ancient History,” London,
1845, Vol. I. pp. 234–235, 237; Ritter (Dr. Heinrich), “History
of Ancient Philosophy,” London, 1846, Vol. I. p. 52; “History
of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” Edward Gibbon
(Milman), Philad., 1880, Vol. I. pp. 229–230, notes, and, for
abridgment of his theology, pp. 231–234; also the Bury ed.,
London, 1900, Vol. I. pp. 197–198, 456–457; Vol. V. p. 487;
“Classical Studies in Honour of Hy. Drisler,” New York, 1894,
pp. 24–51; “The Fragments of the Persika of Ktesias,” by John
Gilmore, London, 1888, pp. 29–36, 95; “The Great Monarchies of
the Ancient Western World,” by Geo. Rawlinson, London, 1865,
Vol. I. p. 195; Vol. III. pp. 93, 98, 105, 127, 135–139, 164;
Vol. IV. pp. 110, 333; “Essai Historique,” Eug. Salverte, Paris,
1824, Vol. II. p. 503.
To the foregoing “Accounts of Early Writers,” can properly be added
the following happy description of “The School of Athens,”[73] as
coloured by Raphael and now to be seen among his frescoes in the papal
state-apartments (_Stanze_--_Camere_) of the Vatican in Rome, for, it
will be observed, most of the leading writers of which we have spoken
are therein depicted:
=“The School of Athens”=--_Scuola d’Atene_--represents Philosophy in
general, and is, with regard to expression and scholastic knowledge,
a wonderful work; for every philosopher, by his posture and gestures,
characterises his doctrines and opinions.... Beginning with the
Ionian School, on the right, before the statue of Minerva, the aged
person whose head is covered with linen, after the Egyptian manner is
Thales; whom Raphael has represented as walking with a Stick, because,
with that, he measured the Pyramids. Next to Thales is Archelaus of
Messenia.... Behind them is Anaxagoras, resting his foot upon a marble
book and almost hidden; in reference to the persecutions he underwent.
The next figure, standing alone, at a little distance, to show that
he is of another School, represents Pythagoras; who seems resolved
to continue fixed at one spot, to show the unchangeableness of his
ideas ... his head and body being turned different ways shows his
metaphorical method of teaching important truths; and the crown, formed
by his hair, refers to his initiation in all mysteries. The Figure
leaning on a column is Parmenides; close to whom sits a youth, his
adopted son Zeno, who is writing something short; referring to a Poem,
by Parmenides, which compared, in two hundred lines, all the various
Systems of Philosophy. Two masters only of the Eleatic School are
introduced; because its followers were few in number. The metaphysics
of Parmenides and Zeno gave rise to the Sceptical Philosophy of Pyrrho,
expressed by the next figure.... At the opposite side of the Picture,
talking with his fingers to a Figure in armour, supposed to represent
Alcibiades, is Socrates ... who, like Thales, appears to be walking;
because geometry was never taught in a fixed place.... Plato and
Aristotle are placed together on a flight of steps in the centre of the
Picture: Plato, representative of the speculative school, holds the
Timæus: his sublime style is expressed by his attitude, denoting that
his thoughts soar above this earth; and the cord attached to his neck
marks his initiation at the Eleusinian Mysteries.... Aristotle, founder
of ethical and physical philosophy, points earthward. The Figure in
shade, nearest to Plato, is Archothæa.... The next Figure, in the same
line, indicates roughness of character, and represents Xenocrates....
Behind Socrates and another Figure, Lasthenia, is a bearded old man
Zeno of Citium, the founder of the sect called Stoics.... Behind Zeno
of Citium is Antisthenes, in shade, because his School is expressed
by that of Zeno. On the side of Aristotle, the tallest and most
conspicuous Figure is Theophrastus ... said to be the portrait of
Cardinal Bembo. The next figures are Strato of Lampsacus, Demetrius
Phalereus, Callisthenes, Neophron, Glycon. Behind the last named is
Heraclides and in rear of the disciples of Aristotle are Euclid of
Megara and Eubulides of Miletus, his pupil: the last hated Aristotle,
and is looking angrily at him. The lower part of the Picture, on
the side with the statue of Apollo, represents the Philosophy of
Leucippus, the disciple of Zeno, though the author of a very opposite
system. He first taught the doctrine of Atoms.... Democritus, his most
celebrated disciple, is sitting near him--booted, in the manner of his
countrymen, the Abderites--and writing upon a stone table, shaped like
the sarcophagi among which he used to meditate: he lost his fortune,
therefore his dress indicates poverty; and he is represented in deep
meditation, to show his uncommon studiousness. Opposite to Leucippus
sits Empedocles, resting on a _cube_, though not with _contempt_,
according to the principles of Leucippus; because Empedocles adhered,
on some points, to the Pythagorean system. The youth holding, before
Empedocles, Pythagoras’s Table of the Generation of Numbers and the
Harmonies, is Meton.... The Figure in an Oriental costume bending over
Pythagoras, represents Averrhoes, or one of the Magi, from which sect
the Grecian Schools derived part of their doctrines. Behind Empedocles,
is Epicharmus.... The Figure in a toga is Lucretius, placed near
Empedocles, as having been his follower; but looking another way,
because he differed from his master. This figure is the portrait of
Francesco, Duke of Urbino, nephew to Julius II. The person crowned with
vine-leaves and resting a book on a pedestal, is Epicurus, looking gay,
according to the account given of him, and the Figure leaning upon his
shoulder is Metrodorus; next to whom is Heraclitus, wearing a black
veil, like that of the Ephesian Diana, in whose temple he exposed his
works. Seated on the second step, near the centre of the Picture, is
Diogenes, and below him is a Portrait of the great architect, Bramante
(under the character of Archimedes), who is tracing an hexagonal
figure on the pavement ... the enthusiastic-looking person who points
to the hexagon, is supposed to be Archytas of Tarentum; the boy on
his knees, is Phenix of Alexandria; and behind him, with a hand on
his back, is Ctesibius. In the angle of the picture are Zoroaster and
Ptolemy, one holding a celestial and the other a terrestrial globe, as
representatives of Astronomy and Geometry; the figure wearing a crown,
under the character of Zoroaster, being Alphonso, King of Arragon,
Sicily and Naples; the person with a black turban on his head, and
likewise holding a Globe, may probably represent Confucius: and the two
persons with whom Alphonso seems conversing are portraits of Raphael
and of his master Pietro Perugino. The statues and _bassi-relievi_
with which Raphael has ornamented his scene, are emblematical of
the different Schools of Philosophy: and the picture, in point of
composition, is considered to be his _chef-d’œuvre_, the Sibyls of S^a
Maria della Pace excepted.
A more detailed description of the above will be found in the works
of Trendelenburg (Berlin, 1843), and of Richter (Heidelberg, 1882),
bearing title “Ueber Rafael’s Schule von Athen.”
APPENDIX II
DISCOVERIES MADE BY WILLIAM GILBERT--DESIGNATED IN
“DE MAGNETE” BY THE LARGER ASTERISKS
(_Alluded to in the Gilbert_ A.D. _1600 Article, p. 83_)
Book I. chap. iii. The loadstone ever has and ever shows its
poles, which look toward the poles of the earth and move toward
them and are subject to them.
Book I. chap. vi. The loadstone attracts iron ore, as well as
the smelted metal, the best iron, _acies_, being the most
readily attracted.
Book I. chap. ix. Iron ore attracts iron ore.
Book I. chap. x. Iron ore has and acquires poles, and arranges
itself with reference to the earth’s poles.
Book I. chap. xi. Wrought-iron, not magnetized by the loadstone,
attracts iron.
Book I. chap. xii. A long piece of iron, even not magnetized,
assumes a north and south direction.
Book I. chap. xiii. Smelted iron has in itself fixed north and
south parts, magnetic activity, verticity, and fixed vertices or
poles.
Book II. chap. ii. Not only do amber and jet attract light
substances: the same is done by the diamond....
Book II. chap. ii. When the atmosphere is very cold and clear,
the electrical effluvia of the earth offer less impediment.
Book II. chap. xxv. A strong, large, loadstone increases the
power of another loadstone, and also the power of iron.
Book II. chap, xxxiv. Why a loadstone is of different power in
its poles as well in the north as in the south regions (two
experiments).
Book III. chap. xii. Iron becomes magnetized when red-hot and
hammered in the magnetic meridian; also when the iron bars have,
for a long time, lain fixed likewise in the north and south
position (two experiments).
Book III. chap. xv. Two more experiments to show that the poles,
equator, centre, are permanent and stable in the unbroken
loadstone; when it is reduced in size and a part taken away,
they vary and occupy their positions.
Book IV. chap. ii. Variation is due to inequality among the
earth’s elevations.
Book V. chap. ii. Illustration of the direction and dip of a
_terrella_ representing the earth relative to the standard
representation of the globe of the earth, at north latitude 50°.
Book V. chap. iii. Instrument for showing by the action of a
loadstone, the degree of dip below the horizon in any latitude.
Book V. chap. vi. Of the ratio of dip to latitude and the cause
thereof.
Book V. chap. xi. Of the formal magnetical act spherically
effused.
APPENDIX III
THE PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL
SOCIETY OF LONDON
UNABRIDGED
Commenced in 1665, as a periodical, by H. Oldenberg, first Secretary
of the Society, and continued by him up to June 1677. Afterwards,
successively edited by N. Grew, R. Plot, W. Musgrave, R. Walker, Sir
H. Sloane, E. Halley, C. Mortimer, and other Secretaries, up to March
1752, when the publication began to be superintended by a Committee of
the Royal Society. From 1665 to 1678, the publication was regularly
made, with exception of six months between 1677 and 1678.
The title-page, “Philosophical Transactions giving some account of the
present undertakings, studies and labours of the Ingenious in many
considerable parts of the world,” was maintained up to the sixty-sixth
volume, for year 1776, when it gave place to “The Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London.”
From 1679 to 1682, no volumes appeared, the lacunæ being (partly) made
up through the seven numbers of “Philosophical Collections” issued by
Robert Hooke (Nos. 1–7, one volume 4to).
From 1683 to the present time, the publication has gone on uniformly,
with exception of years 1688–1690, during which nothing was published,
and of years 1691–1692, the proceedings of which appear in a volume
(sometimes marked Vol. 16 and sometimes Vol. 17), containing the
numbers 192–195.
Reference to “The Bibliographer’s Manual,” by Wm. Thomas Lowndes
(London, 1863, Part VIII. pp. 2143–2146) and to Samuel H. Scudder’s
“Catalogue of Scientific Serials” (Cambridge, Mass., 1879, p. 27) will
show how the different unabridged volumes have been made up, viz. Vols.
1–65 cover the years 1665–1775; Vols. 66–81 cover the years 1776–1791;
Vols. 82–142 cover the years 1792–1852; Vols. 143–166 cover the years
1853–1876.
Regular dates followed up to Vol. 177, issued 1886–1887, since when
the publication has appeared in two series, viz. A (Physical) and B
(Biological). The volumes now running are A 220, B 210.
In addition to the above, there have appeared, amongst many
publications:
“A General Index ... to all the Philosophical Transactions from the
beginning to July 1677,” London, 1678.
“A General Index ... from January 1667–1668 to December 1693,” London,
1694. And one by James Briggs, 1665–1817.
“A General Index to the Philosophical Transactions from the first to
the end of the seventieth volume,” by Paul Henry Maty (viz. 1665–1780,
which was continued for 1781–1820 as Part II and for 1821–1830 as Part
III).
“Index to Volumes 1–17” (London, 1787); “Index to Volumes 71–110”
(London, 1821); “Index for years 1821–1830” (London, 1833); “Index to
Volumes 1–120” (London, 1842).
“Supplement to the Philosophical Transactions of July 1670” (by W.
Holder), London, 1678.
“Supplement to the Philosophical Transactions for October 1702” (by M.
Lister), London, 1702.
“Miscellanea Curiosa ... being the most valuable discourses read and
delivered to the Royal Society,” 3 Vols., London, 1723–1727.
“Abstracts of the Papers printed in the Philosophical Transactions”:
1800–1830, Vols. I-II; 1831–1843, Vols. III-IV; 1843–1850, Vol. V;
1850–1854, Vol. VI. From Vol. VI, continued as the “Proceedings of
the Royal Society,” the years 1854–1905 being represented by Vols.
VII-LXXVI (issued, from this date onward, in two series (A, Physical,
and B, Biological); about two volumes each year).
“Catalogue of Scientific Papers. Compiled and published by the Royal
Society of London”: 1800–1863, A to Z, Vols. 1–6; 1864–1873, A to Z,
Vols. 7–8; 1874–1883, A to Z, Vols. 9–11; 1800–1883, A to Z, Vol. 12;
1884–1900, A to B, Vol. 13, reaching Vol. 17 in 1920.
Four volumes of Subject Index to the above have appeared, treating of
Pure Mathematics, Mechanics, Heat, Light and Sound, Electricity and
Magnetism.
ABRIDGED
The several Abridgments may be properly collated as follows (through
Lowndes, Scudder, Bolton, also through the private lists of the
different copies found in Hartwell House, November 1843, and given to
the compiler by Mr. Latimer Clark), viz.: From 1665 to end of 1700,
by John Lowthorp, 3 vols., Vols. I, II, III[74]; from 1700 to year
1720–1721 by Ben. Motte, 2 vols.[75]; from 1700 to year 1720 by Henry
Jones, 2 vols., Vols. IV, V[76]; from 1720 to year 1732 by Mr. Reid and
John Gray, 1 vol.[77]; from 1719 to year 1733, by John Eames and John
Martyn, 2 vols., Vols. VI, VII[78]; from 1732 to year 1744, by John
Martyn, 2 vols., Vols. VIII, IX[79]; from 1743 to year 1750, by John
Martyn, 2 vols., Vol. X (two parts).
“Memoirs of the Royal Society; or a New Abridgment of the Philosophical
Transactions from 1665 to 1740,” by Benjamin Baddam, 10 Vols. (first
edition, 1665–1735; second edition, 1665–1740).
“The Philosophical Transactions from their commencement in 1665 to 1800
abridged with notes and illustrations, by Charles Hutton, George Shaw
and Richard Pearson,” 18 vols., the last volume containing a General
Index to the whole which covers 116 pages.[80]
Translations, in French, of some of the abridged and unabridged volumes
are to be found recorded at p. 109 of Scudder’s “Catalogue,” already
mentioned, one of the most important being “La Table des mémoires
imprimés dans les Transactions Philosophiques ... 1665–1735,” by M. De
Brémond, Paris, 1739.
Translations have also been made in Latin, for the first five years,
and some were published in Italian during 1729 and 1731–1734.
THE PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE
The Philosophical Magazine, 1798–1813, 42 vols. United in 1814
with the Journal of Natural Philosophy, etc., and continued
under the title of The Philosophical Magazine and Journal,
etc., 1814–1826, 26 vols., the sixty-eight volumes being called
the first series. During 1827 it was united with the Annals of
Philosophy or Magazine of Chemistry and it became then
The Philosophical Magazine or Annals of Chemistry, etc.,
1827–1832, eleven vols., making up the second series. From 1832
to 1840, after amalgamating with Edinburgh Journal of Science,
sixteen volumes were published under the name of
The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of
Science, and, during 1840–1850, twenty-one volumes appeared
under the name of
The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and
Journal of Science, in all thirty-seven volumes constituting the
third series. The fourth series, of fifty volumes, was issued
1851–1875; the fifth series 1876–1900; and the sixth series,
which began in 1901, is still running as we go to press.
LE JOURNAL DES SÇAVANS (SAVANTS)
_Le Journal des Sçavans_ (Scudder, “Catal. of Sc. Serials,”
1879, p. 97). Published 1665–1792, with Supplements to 1707–1709
and a _Continuation_ in 1797.
_Journal des Sçavans_ (“Catal. of Ronalds’ library,” 1880,
p. 261). Published 1665–1748, 1749–1792, 1816–1845.
_Le Journal des Sçavans_ (“British Museum Catalogue of
Periodical Publications--Paris,” pp. 1369–1370). Published from
1665 to 1828. Edited successively by the Sieur de Hedonville,
by J. Gallois, and others. With a Supplement for 1672–1674, and
a Supplement for each of the years 1707, 1708 and 1709--142
volumes, Paris, 1681–1828, also 1723.
The “Journal des Sçavans” was commenced January 5, 1665, and
suppressed March 30, 1665, after the publication of only
thirteen numbers. Its publication was resumed January 4, 1666,
during which year forty-two numbers were issued. In 1667, there
appeared only sixteen numbers; only thirteen in 1668; four
in 1669; one in 1670; three in 1671; eight in 1672; none in
1673; and only two in 1674. From 1674 to 1723, a number was
published either once a fortnight or once a week, and, from
1724 to 1792, a number appeared every month. In December 1792,
the publication was discontinued, but it was resumed January
4, 1797. On the 18th of June of the same year, however, it was
again discontinued until September 1816, after which a number
was for a time published regularly once a month.
“Table Générale des matières contenues dans le Journal
des Sçavans ... depuis l’année, 1665 ... jusqu’ en 1750
inclusivement ...” 10 vols., Paris, 1753–1764.
Another edition of vols. 1–105, Amsterdam, 1679–1753, also 1685.
Another edition of the years 1725–1760, Paris, 1725–1760.
“Annales des Sciences ... faisant suite au Journal des Sçavans,”
Amsterdam, 1804–1806.
“Journal des Sçavans, combiné avec les Mémoires de Trévoux.
Suite des 170 Volumes ...,” Amsterdam, 1756–1757.
“Journal des Sçavans, combiné avec les meilleurs Journaux
Anglais,” January 1779 to December 1781, Amsterdam, 1779–1781.
_Journal des Savants_ (“British Museum Catalogue of Periodical
Publications--Paris,” pp. 1370–1371). Edited successively by P. C. F.
Danon, le Brun, and others from 1816.
“Table méthodique et analytique des articles ... 1816–1858,”
Paris, 1860.
“Table analytique des articles ... 1859–1908,” Paris, 1909.
APPENDIX IV
List of additional works, relating to subjects treated of in this
“Bibliographical History,” which have not before been especially
mentioned herein and which are deemed worthy of perusal:
1486. Reisch (Father Gregory), “Æpitome ... Marg. Phil. ...
Scibili.”
1495. Roberti de Valle Rotho, Magensis ... “Compendium a Plinio
data ...”
1535. Stœffler (J.), “Cœlestium ... totius sphericæ ...”
1536. Mela (Pomponius), “De situ orbis.”
1537. Maurius, “Sphera Volgare.”
1544. Ulstadius (P.), “Cœlum Philosophorum ...”
1548. Leonicerus (James), “Compendium de meteoris ...”
1555. Navagero (A.), “Orationes ... carmin ... nonnulla. ...”
1558. Göbel (Severin), “De Succino.”
1560. Pedemontani (Alex.), “De Secretis ...”
1562. Carpentarius (J.), “Descriptionis universæ naturæ.”
1571. Titelmanni (Franc.), “Naturalis Philos. Compendium.”
1571. Fulco-Fulke, “A goodly gallery ... Meteors ...” (also
published in 1634 and 1670).
1572. Biringuccio (V.), “Pyrotechnie.”
1572. Lemnius (Levinus), “Occulta naturæ miraculæ.”
1574. Zacaire (D.), “Livres sur l’arithmétique ... métaux,” etc.
1582. Rao (Cesare), “I Meteori.”
1582. Camorano (R.), “Compendio de la arte de navegar ...”
1586. Malfanti (G.), “Le météore.”
1592. Digges (Thomas), “A prognostication ...”
1596. Gallucci (G. P.), “Ratio fabric andi ... magnetica acu.”
1596. Vuccher (Jean Jacques), “Les secrets et merveilles ...”
1596. Bodin (J.), “Universæ naturæ theatrum ...”
1604. Herlicius (D.), “Tractatus de fulmine.”
1604. Harward (S.), “Discourse of ... lightning.”
1605. Morales (G. de), “Libro de las virtudes ...”
1607. Bollenatus Burgundo-gallus, “Theses physicæ ...”
1609. Goclenius (R.), “Tract. ... de magnetica curatione.” (See
also his “Mirabilium naturæ liber,” published in 1643.)
1610. Arlensis, “Sympathia septem metallorum ...”
1610. Argolus (Andreas), “Epistola ad Davidem ...”
1615. Godigno (N.), “De Abissinorum rebus.”
1615. Foscarini (P. A.), “Epistola ...”
1621. Drebbel (C.), “De natura elementorum.”
1621. Tarde (J.), “Les usages ... esguille aymantée.”
1627. Fromondi (L.), “Meteorologicum ...” (See reference to
Fromondi _infra_ at 1781 date. He employed heart pulsations
to calculate the distance of thunder.)
1630. Longinus (Cæsar), “Trinium magicum ...”
1631. Kœnio (H.), “Fulminum theoria meteor. ...”
1632. Remmelinus (Joannes L. U.), “Instrumentum magneticum ...”
1637. Ward (S.), “Magnetis reductorium ...” (See also his
“Wonders of the loadstone,” published in 1640.)
1638. Fludd (Robert), “Philosophia Moysaica ...”
1641. Fabricius (Hildanus), “Observationum et curationum ...”
1643. Servius (Petrus), “Dissertatio de Unguento ...”
1645. Blæu (G. and J.), “Théatre du Monde.”
1646. Henricus (Regius), “Fundamenta physices.” (See also his
“Philosophia naturalis,” published in 1654.)
1649. Zucchi (Nicolo), “Nova de machinis philosophia.”
1651. Reæl (F.), “Observ. ... æn de magneetsteen ...”
1656. Irvine (C.), “Medicina magnetica ...”
1657. Turner (Robert), “Ars Notaria.”
1662. Rattray (Sylvester), “Theatrum sympatheticum ...”
1662. Westen (Wynant Van), “Het eerste deel ...”
1663. Helvetius (J. F.), “Theatr. Herculis. ...” (See also his
“Disputatio Philosophica,” published in 1677.)
1664. Power (Henry), “Experimental Philosophy.”
1665. Johnston (J.), “Thaumatographia naturalis.”
1666. Accademia del Cimento, “Saggi di naturali esperienze.”
1666. “Mémoire d’Homberg, sur l’électr. d’un globe de soufre.”
1667. Colepress (Samuel), “Account of some magnetical
experiments.”
1668. Leotaudus (Vincent), “Magnetologia ... magnetis philos.”
1668. Vitalis (H.), “De magnetica vulnerum curatione.”
1673. Mentzel (M. Chn.), “De lapide bononiensi in obscuro
lucenti.”
1674. Oughtred (W.), “Descript. ... double horiz. dyal. ...”
1676. Heidel (W. E.), “Johannis Trithemii ...”
1677. Dechales (C. F. M.), “Art de naviguer ...”
1677. Hartmann (Philip Jacob), “Succini Prussici ...”
1679. Schielen (J. G.), “Bibliotheca enueleata.”
1681. Senguerd (W.), “Philosophia naturalis ...”
1682 Hiller (L. H.), “Mysterium artis. ...”
1684. Lana-Lanis (Franciscus de), “Magisterii ... et artis ...”
1684. Marana (G. P.), “L’espion du Grand Seigneur ...”
1685. Friderici (J. B.), “Cryptographia ...”
1686. “Recueil d’expériences sur l’aimant ...” published
anonymously at Lyons.
1687. Dalance (M. D.), “Traité de l’aimant ...”
1688. Bartholinus (C. T.), “Specimen philos. naturalis ...”
1688. Boulanger, “Traité de la sphère du monde.”
1689. Blagrave (Joseph), “Astrological practice of physick.”
1689. Eschenbach (A. C.), “Orphei Argonautica ...”
1689. Rennefort (Souchu de), “L’aiman mystique.”
1691. Cecchi, “Saggi di naturali esperienze.”
1692. Brown (R.), “Disputatio philosophica ...”
1692. Cellio (Marco Antonio), “De terra magnete.”
1693. Gregorio (D.), “Lettera intorno all’ elettricità.”
1695. Hale (Sir M.), “Magnetismus magnus ...”
1697. Zwinger (Theodor), “Scrutinum magnetis ...”
1698. Ballard, on the magnetism of Drills in the _Philos.
Trans._, for the year 1698, p. 417.
1698. Tredwey (Robert), in the _Philos. Trans._, Vol. XIX.
p. 711.
1700. Cesi (In.), “De meteoris dissertatio.”
1707. “Curiöse speculationes ... speculirt,” Leipzig and
Chemnitz.
1714. Billingsley (C.), “Longitude at sea ...”
1718. Du Petit, Albert, “Secrets Merveilleux ...”
1718. Luderus (G.), “De methodis ... declin. ... magnetis ...”
1719. Ditton, “Longitude and latitude found by the inclinatory
and dipping needle.” (See also the edition published in London
during 1721.)
1722. Quellmalz (S. J.), “Dissertatio de magnete ...”
1723. Santanelli (F.), “Philosophiæ reconditæ ...”
1729. Abercorn (J. Hamilton, Earl of), “Calculations ... virtue
of loadstones.”
1729. Wischoff (C.), “De Wonderwerken Godts.”
1730. Bailey (Nathan), “Loadstone,” in “Dictionarium
Britannicum.”
1731. Reibelt (J. J. A.), “Thes ... magnetis mysteriis ...”
1732. Derham (W.), “Physico-theology.”
1734. Marana (G. P.), “Letters writ by a Turkish Spy.”
1739. Brémond (François de), in _Philos. Trans._, Vol. XLI.
p. 614.
1740. Mortenson, “Dissertatio de electricitate ...” Upsal. (Also
the 1742 edition.)
1743. Lobe (W.), “De vi corporum electrica.”
1744. Akenside (Mark), Book III of “The Pleasures of
Imagination.”
1745. Piderit (J. R. A.), “Dissertatio inaugaralis ...”
1745. Psellus (M. C.), “De lapidum virt. Græc. ac Latine.”
1745. Rosenberg (A. G.), “Versuche einer Erklarung ...”
1745. Winkler (J. H.), “Quædam electricitatis ...” (See
_Philos. Trans._ for 1745, p. 307.)
1746. Elvius (Petrus), “Historisk berättelse ...”
1746. Lohier fils, “Globules lumineux ...”
1746. Sguario-Squario (Euseb.), “Due Dissertazione ...”
1746. Trembley (A.), at p. 58, Vol. XLIV of the _Philos.
Trans._
1747. Carli (G.), “Dissertazione ... bussola nautica ...”
1747. Faure (G.), “Conghietture fisiche ... machina elettrica.”
1747. Franklin (Georg), “Declaratio phænomenorum ...”
1747. Gottsched (Johann Christoph), “Nov. Prosp. in hist.
electr. ...”
1747. Maffei (Scipione), “Della formazione de’ Fulmini.”
1747. Vasquez-y-Morales (D. Jos.), “Ensayo sobre la Electricidad
...” (This is the translation of Nollet’s work, to which is
added “Historia de la Elett.”)
1748. Collina (Egondio), “Considerazioni ... bussola nautica
...” (claims that the compass was in use during the tenth or
eleventh century).
1748. Rackstrow (B.), “Miscellaneous Observations ...”
1748. “Recueil de traités sur l’électricité ...” (published at
Paris).
1749. Belgrado (Giacomo), “I fenomeni elettrici ...”
1749. Darcet, “Description d’un électromètre.”
1749. Mangin, “Question nouvelle ... sur l’électricité ...”
1749. Plata (F. M.), “Dissertatio de electricitate ...”
1750. Krafft (G. W.), “Prælectiones ... physicam theoreticam.”
1750. Secondat de Montesquieu (J. B.), “Histoire de
l’électricité.”
1751. Berthier, J. E., “Attractions et répulsions électriques.”
1751. Binat (Rev. F.), “Electricorum effectuum.”
1752. Guérin, “Histoire générale et particulière de
l’électricité.”
1752. Penrose (F.), “Treatise on electricity,” also “Essay on
Magnetism.”
1753. Rabiqueau (C.), “Le spectacle du feu élémentaire ...”
1753. Wolf (C.), and Bina (A.), “Physica experimentalis ...”
1755. Frisi (Paolo), “Nova elect. theoria,” also his “De
existentia et motu ætheris ...”
1755. Landriani (G. B.), “Nova electricitatis theoria ...”
1755. Premoli (C. P.), “Nova electricitatis theoria.”
1756. Cartier (J.), “Philosophia electrica ad menten ...”
1757. Butschany (Matthias), “Dissertatio ex phænom. electricis.”
1759. Egeling (J.), “Disq. phys. de electricitate.”
1759. Fayol, “Observations sur un effect singulier ...”
1760. Avelloni (D.), “Lettera ... al fuoco elettrico ...”
1760. Dutour (E. P.), “Recherches ... matière électrique.”
1760. Oberst (J.), “Conjecturæ ... magnetis naturam ...”
1760. Tillet, “Sur l’incendie.”
1761. Laborde (J. B.), “Le clavecin électrique ...”
1761. Wakeley (Andrew), “The Mariner’s compass rectified,” as
revised by Wm. Mountaine.
1762. Paulian (A. H.), “Conjectures nouvelles ...” likewise
“Nouvelles conjectures sur les causes des phénomènes
éiectriques,” published at Nîmes. (See also his “Electricité
soumise ...” Avignon, 1768.)
1764. Meyer (Johann Friedr.), “Chymische versuche ...”
1765. Schmidt (N. E. A.), “Vom magnete,” published at Hanover.
1767. Cellesius (Fabricius), “De naturali electricitate ...” A
very rare work published at Lucca.
1769. Krunitz (Johann Georg), “Verzeichnis der vornehmsten
schriften vonder Electricitat ...” published at Leipzig.
1771. Barletti (Carlo), “Nuove sperienze elettriche ...”
1771. Berdoe (M.), “Inquiry into the influence of the electric
fluid in the structure and formation of animated beings.” This
curious work was published at Bath, where Mr. Berdoe’s book “On
the electric Fluid” was also published in 1773.
1772. Herbert (J. Edler von), “Theoriæ phænomenorum ...” also
“Dissertatio ... aquæ ...” published at Labacii during the same
year.
1772. Para, “Cours complet. ...” also “Théorie ...” published in
1786.
1773. “Essay on electricity ... late discoveries of Jas. Dævin,
C. M. F., Bristol.”
1774. Fontana (Felice), “Descrizioni ed usi ... dell’ Aria.”
1774. Pasumot (Fra.), “Observations sur les effets de la foudre
...”
1775. Detienne, “Peculiar construction of conductor of
electrical machine for increasing the action thereof.”
1775. Jacquet de Malzet (Louis Sebastien), “Lettre ... sur
l’électrophore.”
1775. Simmons (John), “An essay on the cause of lightning.”
1776. Changeux (P. N.), “Météorographie, ou l’art d’observer les
phénomènes de l’atmosphère,” published at Paris.
1776. Landriani (Marsiglio), “Osservazioni sulla poca ...”
1776. Rossler (T. F.), “Progr. de luce primigenia.” He says that
the light before the creation of the sun, mentioned by Moses,
was an electrical light. See besides “Le soleil est un aimant,”
by R. P. Secchi (“_Le Cosmos_,” 453, Paris, 1854).
1776. Schinz (Salomon), “Specimen phys. ...” also “Supplementum
speciminis physici de Electricitate,” published at Turici in
1777.
1777. Chigi (Aleso.), “Dell’ Elettricità terrestre-atmosferica
dissertazione” (_Bibl. Ital. di El. e Magn._, p. 30).
1777. Gross (Johann Friedr.), “Précis des poses électriques.”
1777. Vairano (Josephus), “Diatriba de Electricitate.”
1777. Weigel (Chr. Ehrenfried), “Grundriss der reinen v.
angewandt. Chemie.”
1778. Chaptal (J. A. C.), “Observations sur l’influence de l’air
...” (published in the Reports of the Toulouse Academy, first
series).
1778. Steavenson (Robert), “Dissert. de electricitate ...”
1779. Lüdicke (A. F.), “Comment. de attract. magnetum ...”
1780. Hemmer (Johann Jacob), Articles in the Commentat. Acad.
Theodoro-Palatine published at Mannheim.
1780. Pilatre des Rozier in the _Journal de Physique_,
Vols. XVI and XVII.
1780. Tozzetti (Targioni), “Atti e memorie inedite ...”
1781. Bianchi (Iso), his “Elogium on Libertus Fromondi,”
published at Cremona.
1781. Brisson, “Dictionnaire de Physique.”
1781. Gabler (Matthias), “Theoria Magnetis.”
1781. Lacépède, “Essai sur l’électricité naturelle et
artificielle.”
1782. _Le Mercure de France_, No. 23, for June 1782.
1782. Sans (M. de), in the _Journal de Médecine_ for this
year.
1783. Milner (Thomas), “Exper. and Observ. in Electricity.”
1785. Bruno (M. de), “Recherches ... fluide magnétique.”
1787. Crell (L. F. F.), the miscellaneous scientific articles in
his _Chemische Annalen_, published at Helmstadt.
1787. Hoffmann (C. L.), _Magnetist_, published at Frankfort.
1789. Pasqual (A. R.), “Descrub. ... aguja nautica ...”
1790. Fréméry (N. C. de), “Dissertatio ... de fulmine.”
1790. Segnitz (F. L.), “Specimen ... elect. animali ...”
1791. Peart (Edward), “On electricity ... Magn. ... and El.
Atmospheres,” published at Gainsboro’.
1792. Aberg (V. J.), “... vim magneticam et electricam.”
1792. Carminati (Bassiano), in Brugnatelli’s _Giorn. Fis.
Med._, II. p. 115.
1792. Reil (J. C.), “Uber thierische elektricität.”
1793. Creve (J. C. I. A.), “Beiträge zu Galvanism ...” published
at Leipzig and at Frankfort. (See his “Phénomènes du galvanisme”
in the _Mém. de la Société méd. d’émulation_.)
1793. Hauch (Adam Wilhelm von), his articles in the _Vidensk.
Selsk. Skrift. Ny Samml_, published at Copenhagen.
1794. Gutle (J. C.), “Zaubermechanik od. Beschreibung ...”
published at Nürnberg.
1794. Hopf (C. G.), respond E. Eschenmayer, “Dissert. sistens
... theoriæ” (Sue, Vol. I. p. 133).
1797. Bressy (Jos.), “Essai sur l’électricité de l’eau.”
1798. Hoffmann (J. C.), “Anweisung gute Elektrisirmaschinen ...”
published at Leipzig.
1798. Tingry (P. F.), two articles, “Sur la phosphorescence des
corps” and “Sur la nature du fluide électrique,” published in
the _Journal de Physique_, Vol. XLVII.
1798. Walker (Ralph), “A treatise on the magnet ...”
1799. Arnim (L. A. von), “Versuch einer theorie ...” published
at Halle.
1799. “Proceedings of the Am. Phil. Soc.,” Old Series, Vol. IV.
p. 162, for “An Essay tending to improve intelligible signals
...”
1800. Hulme (N.), see his “Experiments and Observations ...” in
the _Philos. Trans._ for 1800, Part I. p. 161, as well as
Vol. IV of Reuss’s _Repertorium_.
1800. Treviranus (Gottfried R.), see articles in _Gilb.
Annal._, Vol. VII as well as in Vol. VIII.
APPENDIX V
MERCATOR’S PROJECTION
THE JUST CLAIM OF THE ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN,
EDWARD WRIGHT
MERCATOR, GERARDUS (latinized form of Gerhard Kremer), 1512–1594, a
Flemish geographer and mathematician, who is mentioned at pp. 79, 508,
516 of this “Bibliographical History of Electricity and Magnetism,”
is reported to have invented a new method of making maps. The name
of Mercator, it is said, was given to Kremer on account of the great
usefulness of his reported invention to mercators or merchants.
Mercator’s earliest map was published in 1537. One year later appeared
his Map of the World (rediscovered during 1878 in New York), and, in
1541, he introduced a terrestrial globe which was followed, ten years
afterwards, by his equally well-known celestial globe. Then appeared,
in 1568–1569, the first edition of his celebrated planisphere, intended
for use in navigation, which is the earliest known map on what is
called “Mercator’s Projection,” and, in later years, he brought out
many other maps as well as geographical tables, etc., which are too
numerous to be specified here. [See article _Mercator_ in the
Belgian “Biographie Nationale,” Vol. XIV, 1897, and consult likewise
“L’œuvre géographique de Mercator” by Van Ostroy, “Meyers Konversations
Lexikon,” 1897, Vol. XII, pp. 153–154, also “La Nouvelle Biographie
Générale” de Mr. le Dr. Hœfer, Vol. XXV. p. 11.]
The original constructor of the chart known as “Mercator’s Projection”
is, however, said to be a very able English mathematician, Edward
Wright (1560–1615) who is alluded to herein at pp. 78, 79, 520, 524,
532. He was the designer of a very large sphere for Prince Henry, which
showed the motion of the planets, etc., and he predicted the eclipses
for a period of 17,100 years.
So much has been said herein regarding different well-known maps that
the following cannot but prove interesting. It is in apparently just
claim on behalf of Edward Wright to the above-named invention, and,
as stated in the volume published during 1880 by John Davis for the
Hakluyt Society, the first Map of the World that was engraved in
England on Wright’s (Mercator’s) projection is fully described by Mr.
C. M. Coote in a Note at pp. 85–95 of the Davis “Voyages and Works.”
That map, he says, was published one year after Wright had explained
the principle of the projection in his “Certain Errors.” From Mr.
Coote’s description, the following is extracted:
What appears to have escaped the notice of Hallam, and those who have
attempted to describe it at various times down to our day, is, that our
map is laid down upon the projection commonly known as Mercator’s. So
little appears to be known as to the early history of this projection,
that as recently as April 16, 1878, it has been suggested by Mr. Elias
F. Hall that charts upon this projection were not in general use among
seamen at a period much earlier than 1630. Still more recently it has
been gravely asserted that a distinguished Admiral of the American
navy only knew of it as the Merchant’s projection, and that he never
knew that there was such a man as Mercator. In 1569 was produced at
Duisbourg, Mercator’s well-known _Mappemonde_, and many years
elapsed before it attracted the notice of other mapmakers. However
interesting it may be to us as a monument of geography, it is now
admitted that, as regards the projection, it is only approximately
correct up to latitude 40. For the want of a demonstration of the true
principles upon which such a projection was to be laid down, beyond the
legend on the _Mappemonde_, it found but few imitators. The only
three known to us are Bernardus Puteanus of Bruges in 1579, Cornelius
de Jode in 1589, and Petrus Plancius in 1594. Of the first and third
no examples of their maps on this projection are known to exist, these
two doubtless had all the imperfections of the original Mercator. De
Jode’s “Speculum Orbis Terrarum” of 1589 is remarkable, as, while being
on the old plane projection with the lines of latitude and longitude
equidistant, there is to be seen on it a feeble attempt to divide the
central meridional line according to the idea of Mercator, one of
the best possible proofs how imperfectly this idea was understood by
Mercator’s own fellow-countrymen. About 1597 was published by Jodocus
Hondius in Amsterdam, a map entitled Typus Totius Orbis Terrarum, etc.,
easily to be recognized by an allegorical figure, at the bottom of it,
of a Christian soldier armed for the fight against all the powers of
evil. This is on the true projection, known as Mercator’s, but which is
really that of Edward Wright. From Hondius’ connection with Mercator,
and whose joint portraits from the frontispiece of the well-known Atlas
of the latter, it might with good reason be supposed that Hondius
acquired the art of projecting this map from Mercator, yet if one thing
is more certain than another in the history of this projection, it is
the fact that Hondius did not acquire this art from Mercator or his
map, but from Edward Wright, the friend and colleague of Hakluyt.
In proof of this, the following evidence is adduced. We learn from
Blundeville that, at some previous period, probably as early as 1592,
Wright sent his friend, the author, “a table to drawe thereby the
parallells in the Mariner’s Carde, together with the vse thereof in
trewer sort, with a draught” or diagram of the projection. These, it
is evident, were extracts from Wright’s “Errors in Navigation,” then
in MS. Wright, in his preface to the reader, in his work when printed,
bitterly complains that he was induced to lend MS. to Hondius, who,
with its aid and without Wright’s consent, prepared and published
several “mappes of the World, which maps had been vnhatched, had not
he [Hondius] learned the right way to lay the groundwork of some of
them out of his book.” That the above Typus is one of the printed maps
complained of, seems to be proved by the allusion to Wright to be found
on it.
The strongest evidence against the theory of Hondius having acquired
this art from Mercator, is the fact that in none of the subsequent
editions of Mercator’s Atlases edited by him is there a map on this
projection to be found. The truth is, that to Wright, and not to
Mercator, is due the honour of being the first to demonstrate the true
principles upon which such maps were to be laid down by means of the
now well-known Tables of meridional parts.
The first legitimate attempt to lay down a map upon the really true
projection, is no other than the original of our map. Before proceeding
to point out some of its remaining points of interest, it will be
convenient here to endeavour to remove one or two misapprehensions
respecting it, which are even now entertained by more than one of our
eminent booksellers.
Mr. Quaritch, without adducing the least amount of evidence, asserts
that “Hakluyt intended to insert this map in his work of 1589.” This is
impossible, as from internal evidence it could not possibly have been
produced at an earlier period than 1598 or 1599, as has been before
pointed out. Upon this point we fear that Mr. Quaritch has allowed
himself to be misled by the pardonable blunder of Hallam. Again he
says, that Hakluyt calls the original of our great map a terrestrial
globe. This is also a mistake. When Hakluyt said a globe, he meant one,
and not a map; such a globe as he describes was forthcoming in 1592,
at a period midway between the first edition of the “Voyages” and the
appearance of our map. The only example of this globe at present known
to exist is preserved in the Library of the Middle Temple.
Hitherto one of the difficulties in describing and establishing the
identity of this map has been its anonymous authorship. Mr. Quaritch,
in an otherwise fair appreciation of the writer’s labours in this
direction, has thought fit, in another part of his catalogue, to
charge the writer with appropriating Mr. Quaritch’s labours in this
matter of authorship. The charge has found no foundation in any fact
whatsoever. The writer’s conclusions about it were based solely upon
a comparison made between our map and a globe, two things which Mr.
Quaritch has confounded. The globe referred to is known to be by
Molyneux, the reference to it in the title of the map led the writer to
the not unnatural inference that they were by one and the same author.
This position the writer strengthened by two quotations from a scarce
tract by the late Dr. J. G. Kohl of Bremen, which was published twenty
years before Mr. Quaritch’s catalogue of 1877 [No. 11919] saw the
light. The conclusion arrived at by the writer, without any assistance
from Quaritch, was that our map, circa 1600, was a new one, on a new
projection, made by one of the most eminent globe-makers of his time,
probably under the superintendence of Hakluyt. The evidence upon this
point is of course strongly circumstantial only, which future research
may either refute or confirm. Be this as it may, one thing is now quite
certain, namely, that our map, to a very great extent, bears evidence
upon the face of it of the handiwork of another of Hakluyt’s friends
and colleagues, hitherto unsuspected, we take it, even by Mr. Quaritch.
Allusion has been already made to Wright’s “Errors in Navigation,” the
first edition of which was published in 1599. In 1610 appeared the
second edition, in which mention is made of a general map, which map
it has not been our good fortune to see, as the copy in our national
library is without it. Several editions were subsequently published by
Moxon. In these are to be seen copies of a map laid down upon lines
almost identical with ours. They have geographical additions up to
date, and also indicate the variations of the compass. These later maps
are avowedly ascribed to Wright, and a comparison of any one of them
with our map most certainly points to one common source, namely, the
original. The conclusion is therefore irresistible, that whatever may
be due to Molineux or Hakluyt in the execution of the original, it also
represents the first map upon the true projection by Edward Wright. It
will be observed as a somewhat happy coincidence that Hallam’s almost
first words of introduction to our map are a reference to the Arctic
work of Davis, 1585–1587. On the map is also to be observed a record
of the discovery by the Dutchman Barents, of northern Novaya Zemlya,
in his third voyage in 1596. This is the latest geographical discovery
recorded upon it, which serves not only to determine the date of the
map, but to establish for it the undoubted claim of being the earliest
one engraved in England, whereon this last important Arctic discovery
is to be found. The striking similarity between our map and Molineux’s
globe, in the delineations of these Arctic discoveries of Davis and
Barents, seems to point to the conclusion that, so far as the geography
is concerned, they both came from one source, namely, the hands of
Molyneux.
Arctic discovery did not escape the notice of our immortal Shakespere.
In some fifty lines preceding his supposed reference to our map in
“Twelfth Night,” occur the following words. “You are now sailed into
the north of my lady’s opinion, where you will hang like an icicle
on a Dutchman’s beard.” The antithetical idea being of course the
equatorial region of the lady’s opinion. If the date assigned to it
is correct it is probable in the extreme that the thought underlying
these words was suggested to the mind of Shakespere by a glance at
the upper portion of our map, evidently well known in his time as a
separate publication. The remaining points that call for notice are as
follows. The improved geography of the whole of the eastern portion of
our map, as compared with its contemporaries, and the traces of the
first appearance of the Dutch under Davis and Houtman at Bantam. On all
the maps was to be seen the huge Terra Australis of the old geography.
This, as Hallam remarked, had been left out on our map; but what is so
remarkable is that upon it is to be observed, rising “like a little
cloud out of the seas, like a man’s hand,” the then unknown continent
of Australia. It will be observed that Hallam describes the original
as “the best map of the sixteenth century.” Mr. Quaritch improves upon
this, and says it is “by far the finest chartographical labour which
appeared, from the epoch of the discovery of America down to the time
of d’Anville.” If this implies a reference to our map as a work of art,
_i. e._ an engraving, we beg to differ from him, as such terms
are misleading. As a specimen of map engraving, it will not compare
with even its pirated prototype by Hondius. The art of engraving by
Englishmen, more particularly that of maps, was at this period, as is
well known, in its infancy. Maps and illustrations for books were for
the most part executed abroad, and those who did work here were almost
all foreigners. The two best known were Augustus Ryther, who executed
among other things the maps for Saxton’s Atlas, and Hondius, who did
those for Speed’s Atlas. Mr. Richard Fisher writes: “We have scarcely
any record of any Englishmen practising engraving in this country prior
to the commencement of the seventeenth century.” The names, however,
of two are afforded us by Davis himself in his Introduction to the
“Seaman’s Secrets,” namely, those of Molyneux and Hillyer. It is to
be hoped that the position of our map in the history of cartography
is secured upon firmer grounds than those suggested by the best
intentions of Mr. Quaritch. It was the writer’s belief in this that
first led him to express the hope that the original of the facsimile,
so admirably done for the Society, would henceforth be as firmly
associated with Shakespere’s “Twelfth Night” as it certainly is now,
not only with the page of Hakluyt, but with the publications of the
Society that bears his name.
INDEX
(_Embracing much additional data._--See _Preface_)
A
Abano--Apponensis, Aponus, Apianus, Apian, Bienewitz--Pietro di,
“Tractatus de Venenis”; “Conciliator differentiarum ...,” 26,
35, 124, 501, 515, 526, 527.
_See_ Mazzuchelli, G. M., “Gli Scrittori ...,” Vol. I. Part I.
pp. 1–11; Bayle, Pierre, “Dictionnaire Historique ...,” Vol.
I. pp. 383–386.
Abbas Messanensis. _See_ Maurolico.
Abbeville, Hist. Chr. d’, par Nicolas Sanson, 108
Abbott, Evelyn, translator of Max Duncker’s “History of Antiquity,”
7
Abd-Allatif--Movaffik, Eddin--Arabian physician (1162–1231),
“Relation de l’Egypte,” 299
Abderites (_at_ School of Athens), 543
Abel, Dr. Clarke, of Brighton (_at_ A.D. 1816, Phillip, W.), 437
Abercorn, J. Hamilton, Earl of, “Calculations ... loadstones.”
_See_ Hamilton, James.
Aberdeen University (_at_ Sir David Brewster), 466
Aberg, Ulrich Johann, “Comparatio ... magneticam,” 1792, 556
Abhand. Berlin Akademie der Wissenschaften, 192
Abhand. d. Göttingen Kön. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 445
Abhand. d. Mathem. ... Kön. Baierische Akad. der Wissenschaften:
München, 1808–1824, 433, 477
Abhand. d. Naturforschende Gesellschaft: Halle, 414
Abhand. zur Geschichte der mathematik: Leipzig, 126, 520, 535, 538,
541
Abilgaard, Peter Christian (1740–1801), “Tentamina electrica,” 249
Abohalis. _See_ Avicenna.
Abrégé de l’Astronomie. _See_ Lalande, J. J. le François de.
Abrégé de l’histoire des Sarrazins. _See_ Bergeron, Pierre.
Absorption, dielectric (_at_ Faraday, Michael), 498
Abstracts of the papers printed in the Philosophical Transactions,
548.
_See_ Royal Society, London.
Abul-Wéfa (Aboulwéfa), al bouzdjani (930–998), 93, 94, 512, 516
“Academia cæsarea leopoldino-carolina ... naturæ curiosum. ...”
Hist. Nova Acta, etc.: Breslau Academy, 216, 273, 451
Academia electoralis inoguntina scientiarum utilium. Nova Acta,
etc.: Erfurt, 12 Vols., 218
Academia electoralis scientiarum, _also_ called Academia
Theodoro-Palatina.
Academia scientiarum imperalis petropolitana. Commentarii, Nova
Acta, etc.: St. Petersburg Imperial Academy, 140, 204, 214,
232, 273, 274, 368
Academia secretum naturæ, 75
Academia Theodoro-Palatina ... Commentarii (Historia et
Commentationes). _See_ Manheim, _also_ Hemmer, J. J.
Académie de l’industrie française, Journal des travaux de l’, 421
Académie de Marine, 274
Académie de Médecine: Paris, 237
Académie des Curieux de la Nature. _See_ Academia ... naturæ
curiosum....
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres: Paris, 8, 520, 533
Académie des Sciences (Institut), Paris, Mémoires, Histoire, Table,
etc. (_Comptes Rendus, Les_, will be found under separate
head), 18, 34, 72, 81, 115, 129, 130, 132, 138, 139, 140, 142,
144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, 153, 155, 158, 160,
161, 162, 169, 171, 177, 178, 183, 190, 192, 198, 200, 201,
204, 205, 207, 214, 218, 220, 235, 237, 240, 248, 249, 262,
264, 266, 268, 270, 271, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 279, 280,
286, 288, 299, 300, 302, 303, 320, 329, 335, 337, 354, 380,
386, 387, 389, 395, 396, 407, 411, 412, 454, 455, 456, 460,
462, 466, 471, 476, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 485, 497
Académie du Gard, 10
“Academy and Literature,” 99. (In June 1902, “Literature” was
incorporated with “The Academy.”)
Academy of Lignitz, 174
Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, U.S.A., 356
Academy of Sciences. _See_ American, Bavarian, Barcelona, Belgium,
Besançon, Brescia, Brussels, Cambridge (U.S.A.), Copenhagen,
Genoa (147), Lyons, Madrid, Manheim, Montpellier, Padua, Paris,
Prague, Naples, Saint Petersburg, Stockholm, Turin, Washington,
etc.
Accademia Bonon. et Istituto, Commentarii, 7 Vols. 1731–1791.
_See_ Bologna Academy.
Accademia del Cimento, Saggi di naturali esperienze (Essays of
natural experiments), Firenze (Florence), 96, 129, 143, 554.
_See_ Tozzetti, Antinovi, _also_ Magalotti,
Iatromathematical school. Experiment at A.D. 1684, 143
Accademia Etrusca, Cortona, Italy, Memoirs, etc., Vols. I.-IX.
1755–1791, 58
Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei, Roma, Atti, etc., 71, 380
Accumulator, electrical (secondary battery), first constructed by
Ritter, J. W., 380
Acerbi (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V.), 363
Achard, Franz Carl (1753–1821), 262–263, 275, 282, 327, 332
Achromatic telescope, first construction, 214.
_See_ Kelly, John.
Acide galvanique (Journal de Paris, No. 362).
_See_ Robertson, E. G., 351
Ackermann, Johann Friedrich (1726–1804), “Medicinisch-chirurgische
Zeitung”--on the contact theory--1792; “Versuch einer ...
Körper”; “Nachrichten ...,” 249, 284, 327
Acoromboni, Francesco (_at_ Sarpi, Pietro), 112
Acosta, C. d’, and Monardes, Nicholas, 516
Acosta, Joseph d’ (1540–1599), 21, 78, 118
“Acta Helvetica Physico-Mathematico. ...”
_See_ Basle, Basel.
Acton, J. (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F.), 314
Adam, Melchior, “Vitæ Germanorum Medicorum,” 508, 513
Adamantus. _See_ Origen.
Adamas, 15
Adams (_at_ Hali Abbas), 518 (_Appendix_, Barker’s Lemprière).
Adams, Charles Kendall, 38.
_See_ Johnson’s Universal Cyclopædia, 38
Adams, George (1750–1795), “Essay on Electricity,” 1784, 1785,
1787, 1792, 1799; “Lectures ...,” 22, 160, 174, 201, 205, 206,
212, 231, 241, 258, 262, 263, 271, 280–281
Adams, John, President of U.S., 328
Adams’s language, the language of the Germans or Teutonic, 517
Adanson, Michel (1727–1806), 192–193, 218, 230, 296, 298, 374;
“Histoire naturelle du Senegal,” etc.
Addison, Joseph (1672–1719), “The Spectator” (March 1, 1711 to
Dec. 6, 1712), 99
Adelard (Aetheland) of Bath--Adelardus Bathonïensis (twelfth
century), 1302, 57
Adsigerius, Petrus, by W. Wenckebach, 1865, 48, 53
Ægineta--Æginata, Ægenita--Paulus.
_See_ Paulus Ægenita.
Ælianus, Claudius (Greek writer who fl. _c._ A.D. 250), 270
Æneas, the tactician (_at_ 341 B.C.), 12
“Æpinus atomized,” 218
Æpinus, Franciscus Maria Ulricus Theodorus (1724–1802),
Mathematical theory of electricity (_at_ A.D. 1759); “Sermo
Academicus de similitudine vis electricæ atque magneticæ”;
Petropoli, 1758; “Exposition de la théorie de l’électricité de
M. Æpinus”: Paris, 1787, 17, 185, 205, 215, 217–218, 286, 309,
310, 353, 415, 472, 553
Aerolites, Meteorites, Meteorolites, Meteors, 125, 151, 161, 258,
295, 313, 314, 315, 376, 380, 396, 414, 503. _See_ Fisher, E.
G.; Fletcher, L.; Naidinger, W. R. von; Bjorn, Hans O.; Moigno,
F. N. M.; Perego, Antonio; _also_ the references given by S. P.
Thompson in his “Notes on the _De Magnete_ of Dr. William
Gilbert,” 1901. _Consult_, likewise, the A.D. entries herein,
as follows: 1790, Vassalli-Eandi, p. 295; 1794, Chladni, p.
313; 1801, Fourcroy, p. 354; 1803, Biot, E. C., p. 380; 1820,
Laplace, p. 462
Aerolites, spontaneous ignition of, 313
Æschylus (525–456 B.C.), 3, 4.
_See_ Euripides.
Æther--Ether--Ether theory, 12, 133, 183, 184, 213, 254, 360, 404,
498, 503
Ætius, Amidenus, Greek physician (fl. fifth to sixth century), 26,
27
“Afhandl. i Fisik” (Berzelius), 370
Affaitatus, Fortunius--Affaydatus--Italian physicist, 71. _See_
Mazzuchelli, G. M., “Gli Scrittori,” Vol. I. Part I. p. 165.
Africanus, Sextus Julius, Optical signals, 22
Agamemnon’s line of optical signals, 3, 4
Agathias of Myrene (fl. sixteenth century), “De imperio ... gestis
Justiniani,” 1648, 10
Agencies of electricity (Humphry Davy), 364
Aglave et Boulard, “Lumière Electrique,” 150, 152, 154, 166, 350
Agricola, Georgius--Bauer--Landmann (1494–1555), “De re metallica,”
501–502.
_See_ Bayle, Pierre, “Dict. Historique,” Vol. I. pp. 139–140.
Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius (1486–1535), 82, 502;
“De occulta philosophia,” etc. _See_ Bayle, Pierre, “Dict.
Historique,” Vol. I. pp. 145–156.
Agulhas (Aguilhas), Cape (the Needles)--Capo d’Agulhas, most
southerly point of Africa. _See_ Wm. Gilbert, by Gilbert Club,
1900, p. 178; _also_ Wm. Gilbert, by P. F. Mottelay, 1893, p.
266.
Ahrens, J. E. W., “Dissertatio ... qualitate et quantitate
electricitis ...”: Kiel, 1813.
Aikin, John (1747–1822), “General Biography,” 10 Vols. 1799–1815,
92, 131, 245, 311
Air, plate of, electrified like a plate of glass, 205, 215, 217
Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801–1892), 335, 461
Akademie der Wissenschaften und ihre Gegner. _See_ Bavarian
Academy.
Akenside, Mark, “The pleasures of imagination,” 555
Akin, C. K., on the origin of electricity (Trans. Phil. Soc.
Cambridge), 1866.
Albategnius, Mahometes--Machometes Aractensis--Al-Battānī, a very
prominent Arabian astronomer and mathematician (_d._ A.D. 929),
502
Al-Battānī. _See_ Albategnius.
Albert, M., “Amer. Ann. d. Artz,” 224
Albertus Magnus, the “Universal Doctor” (1193–1280), “De
Mineralibus,” 16, 17, 18, 27, 34, 35–37, 39, 72, 82, 119, 125,
171, 524–525
Albinus, F. B., “Specimen ...” (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F.), 314
Albo, Comte Prosper (_at_ Galvani, A.), 284
Albrecht, Duke of Prussia, 70
Albrecht, G. T., “Geschichte der Electricität,” 206
Albumazar (A.D. 805–885), prominent Arabian astronomer.
Alcazar, Ludovicus (_at_ Zahn, F. J.), 146
Alchimie d’ Avicenne, 40
Alchimie et Alchimistes, 506.
_See_ Figuier, Louis G. _Consult also_ “English books on alchemy”
in Notes and Queries, 8th ser., xi, 363, 464.
Alchimistes du moyen-âge, 514
“Alchemy of Happiness,” by Mohammed Al-Ghazzali, 38
Alchemystical Philosophers, Lives of, 516
Alcibiades (_c._ 450–404 B.C.), 543
Aldini, Giovanni, nephew of Aldini (1762–1834), 270, 283, 304, 306,
326, 327, 331, 365, 366, 367, 374, 375, 393, 418, 419.
_See_ “Essai théorique et expérimental sur le galvanisme,” 1804.
Aldrovandi--Aldrovandus--Ulysses, Ulisse (1522–1607), 8, 13, 72,
112, 113, 114, 126. “Musacum Metallicum.”
Alemanni, P. (Phil. Mag., Vol. XXVII. p. 339, 1807), 393
Alembert, Jean Le Rond d’ (1717–1783), French mathematician,
“Eléments de philosophie,” 1759; “Traité de dynamique”: Paris,
1743, 1781, 1796.
Alessandrini, Antonio, “Biografia Italiana”: Bologna, 1858. _See_
Bologna, “Nuovi Annali.”
Alexander Aphrodisacus--Aphrodisiensis (second century A.D.), 503,
511, 512.
_See_ Speng, _also_ Joannes Petrus, _Lucensis_.
Alexander, Emperor of Russia (_at_ Schilling, P. L.), 421
Alexander, James (_at_ Franklin, B.), 197
Alexander of Hales (_d._ 1245), 35, 38–39. _Doctor Irrefragabilis._
Alexander the Great, King of Macedon (356–323 B.C.), 81, 333, 530
Alexandre, Jean (_at_ A.D. 1802), 360–361
“Alexandria and her schools,” Charles Kingsley, 534
Alfarabius--Alpharabius--Al-Farabi (870–950), 37–38
Alfonso Diego. _See_ Diego.
Alfonso el IX. (Alfonso--Alonzo--X., according to chronological
order); “Las siete Partidas ...,” 60, 544
Alfonso the Tenth. _See_ Alfonso el IX.
Al Gazel--Al Ghazzali (1058–1111), 37, 38
Alibard, Thomas François d’. _See_ Dalibard.
Alibert, C., “Eloges ...,” 240, 258, 284
Alizeau (_at_ Aldini, G.), 305
Alkalies, fixed decomposition of, 340, 341, 343, 372
Allamand, Jean Nicholas Sebastian (1713–1787), 170, 173, 299
Allen, Z., “Philosophy of the Mechanics of Nature,” 1852.
Allen, Z., and Hare, R., 449
Allen, Z., and Pepys, W. H., 372.
_See also_ Romagnosi; Mazzuchelli, G. M., “Gli Scrittori,” Vol.
I. Part I. 403–408; Bayle, Pierre, “Dict. Historique,” Vol.
I. pp. 212–213.
Alleyne, S. F., Translator of E. Zeller’s “Hist. of Greek
Philosophy,” 511
Allgem. ... Annal. der Chemie. See Scherer, A. N.
Allgem. bauzeitung ... von Förster, L. von: Wien, 1836–1876, 422,
440
Allgem. Deutsche Bibliothek, 256
Allgem. Deutsche Biographie: Leipzig, 218, 384.
_See_ Mitscherlich and Tralles, J. G.
Allgem. Encyklopædie. _See_ Ersch and Gruber.
Allgem. Gelehrten Lexicon. _See_ Jöcher, C. G., 71
Allgem. Journal der Chemie. _See_ Scherer, A. N.
Allgem. Koust-en-Letterb. _See_ Vorsellmann de Heer.
“Allgem. Literatur-Zeitung”: Halle, 413
Allgem. Magazin der Natur-Kunst. _See_ Lipsiae.
“Allgem. Nördlische Annalen der Chemie ...” _See_ Scherer, A. N.
Alliaco, Cardinal Petrus de--Pierre d’ Ailly (1350–1420),
Chancellor of the Paris University; “Imago Mundi,” 34
Allibone, S. Austin, “Critical Dictionary of English Literature,”
92, 102, 132
Almagests of Aboulwéfa, Ptolemy, Riccioli, and others, 55, 512,
513, 516
“Almagestum Novum. Astronomiam ...”; Bologna, 1651. _See_ Riccioli,
G. B.
Al-Majusi--Hali Abas, 518
Alphabetical, Autographic, Autokinetic, Automatic, and other
telegraphs. _Consult_ Index to Catalogue of Wheeler Gift to Am.
Ins. El. Eng., Vol. II. pp. 453–463.
Alphonso Diego. _See_ Diego.
Alphonso, King of Arrago (_at_ School of Athens), 544
Altdorf (Franconia), University of, 129
Althaus, Julius von (_b._ 1791), “Versuche ... elektromagnetismus
...”: Heidelberg, 1821, 326
Alvord, General B. H. W., U.S.A., 259, 260
Amænitates academicæ ...: Stockholm.
Amænitates literariæ ..., 202
Amand, Walkiers de Saint, of Brussels (Lichtenberg Mag., III., 118,
1785), 448, 449
Amatus Lusitanus. _See_ Lusitanus Amatus.
Amaury, Marrigues à Montfort l’, 1773, 385
Amber. _See_ Electron, 10
Amber and the Magnet, different names given to them by the
ancients. _See_ the numerous citations made by Dr. S. P.
Thompson in his “Notes” on Gilbert’s _De Magnete_.
Amber, historical account of, in Phil. Trans. for the year 1699,
Nos. 248 and 249
Amécourt, Ponton d’, 285
America, name given to New World in honour of Am. Vespuccius, 535
American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Boston, 199, 259, 371
American Annual of Scientific Discovery. _See_ Annual.
American Association, 1868, 389, 487
American Association for the advancement of science, 260, 315
American Electrical Society Journal: Chicago, Ill.
American Electrician: New York, 1896–1905.
American Institute of Electrical Engineers: New York, xiv
American Journal of Psychology, 445, 476
American Journal of Science and the Arts: New Haven, U.S.A., 1818
to date. _See_ Silliman, B.
American Meteorological Journal, 321
American Philosophical Society. Transactions, etc.: Philadelphia,
Penn., 67, 193, 228, 237, 241, 259, 282, 283, 298, 299, 319,
327, 328, 329, 337, 354, 373, 448, 449, 557
American Polytechnic Review, 367
Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine. _See_ Vespucci.
Ames, Joseph, Typog. Antiq. (Herbert): London, 1749, 95
Ammersin, Rev. Father Windelinus--Wendelino, of Lucerne, 209
Ammoniacal amalgam first explained by Berzelius and Pontin, 370
Amontous, Guillaume (1663–1705), 143, 149, 254, 301, 434
Amoretti, Carlo (1741–1816), “Nuova scelta d’opuscoli,” 2 Vols.:
Milano, 1804 and 1807; “Scelta di Opuscoli,” 36 Vols., and its
sequel in 22 Vols.: Milano, 208, 224, 233, 248, 252, 253, 254,
257, 295, 298, 337, 347, 367, 383, 387, 393, 401. _See_ Ritter,
Johann Wilhelm.
Amort, Eusebius (1692–1775), “Philosophia Pollingana ...”:
Augsburg, 1730.
Ampelius, Ansonio Lucius (fl. third century A.D.), “Liber
Memorialis,” 18
Ampère, André Marie (1775–1836), “Théorie des phénomènes
électro-dynamiques ...,” 1826; “Memoires sur l’action mutuelle
...,” 1820–22, 1826, 1827; “Analyse des Mémoires ...” (Ann. de
Phys. de Bruxelles, Vol. VII.), 7, 344, 352, 356, 375, 380,
420, 421, 422, 452, 454, 455, 456, 458, 459, 460, 471–476, 478,
482, 483, 484, 485. The unit of current was named after Ampère;
the other electrical measures are: the Volt, unit of pressure;
the Ohm, unit of resistance, and the Watt, unit of power.
Ampère, A. M., and Babinet, J. _See_ Babinet Jacques; _also_
Nipher, Francis Eugène.
Ampère, Jean Jacques Antoine (1800–1864), 476
Amsterdam, “Vaderlandsche Biblioteek ...,” I., 1773–1796.
Amyot--Amiot--Le Père (1718–1794), 259
Anacharsis, Travels in Greece, 291
Analogia electricitatis et magnetismi. _See_ Swinden, J. H. van,
272; _also_ Cigna, G. F., 224
Analogy between caloric and the electric fluid, 386
Analogy of electricity and lightning. _See_ articles on Franklin
and on Nollet.
Anaxagoras of Clazomene (500–428 B.C.), one of the greatest Greek
philosophers, 15, 503, 511, 512, 524, 532, 542
Anaximander of Miletus (610–547 B.C.), 503; successor of Thales.
Anaximenes of Miletus (born _c._ 528 B.C.), 503. _See_ Speng.
Andala, Ruardus, “Exercitationes academicæ ...,” 1708, 122
Anciennes relations des Indes et de la Chine, par E. Renandot, 60
Andrew, the Florentine--(Andrea Florentino--mentioned in Guerino’s
Venetia, 1477 folio), 57
Andrews, Professor (_at_ Keir, James), 297
Andrieux, Professor François Emile, “Mémoire ...,” 1824, 326, 476
Andry et Thouret, “Observations et recherches sur l’aimant,” 245.
(Reuss, Repertorium, xii, 18.)
Angell, John, “Magnetism and electricity,” 28
Angelstrom, D. (_at_ Dalton, J.), 308
Anglade, J. G., “Essai sur le galvanisme,” 326
Angos, Mr. le Chevalier d’, 235
Angström, Anders Jöns (1814–1874), Swedish physicist who wrote
extensively on magnetism, heat, and on the Zodiacal Light, 141
Animal Magnetism. _See_ Magnetism, Animal.
Annalen der chemie. _See_ Scherer, A. N.
Annalen der chemie, von Liebig (Justus von): Heidelberg.
Annalen der pharmacie. _See_ Liebig, Justus von.
Annalen der physik und chemie, Johann Christian Poggendorff:
Leipzig. _See_ Journal der Physik, von F. A. C. Gren.
Annalen der physik und chemie. _See_ Halle, _also_ Journal der
Physik, von F. A. C. Gren.
Annalen der physik und der physikalischen chemie, L. W. Gilbert:
Halle und Leipzig. _See_ Halle, _also_ Journal der Physik,
von F. A. C. Gren.
Annalen der telegraphie. _See_ P. W. Brix, _also_ “Zeitschrift des
Deutsch-Oesterreichischen ...”
Annalen für das universalsystem der elemente ... von Sertürner:
Göttingen.
Annalen für meteorologie.... _See_ Johann Lamont.
Annales de chimie. _See_ Mons, Jean Baptiste van.
Annales de chimie et de physique, par Gay-Lussac, etc., Vols.
I.-LXXV, etc.: Paris, 119, 140, 157, 195, 218, 230, 233, 247,
248, 249, 261, 270, 279, 280, 284, 290, 291, 294, 297, 299,
306, 321, 335, 340, 344, 347, 348, 350, 352, 354, 355, 363,
368, 370, 372, 376, 378, 383, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393,
394, 396, 406, 412, 414, 416, 420, 423, 426, 434, 441, 454,
455, 459, 462, 464, 473, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 482, 483,
485, 487, 494, 495
Annales de chimie ..., par De Morveau, etc., Vols. I.-XCVI.,
1789–1815. _See_ Paris.
Annales d’électricité et de magnétisme ... publicés, par Mr.
Georges Dumont: Paris, 1889–1890.
Annales de geographic et de bibliographie, 34, 58, 59, 536
Annales de la Société de Médecine de Montpellier. _See_
Montpellier.
Annales de la Société des Sciences d’Orléans, Vols. I.-XIV.,
1819–1836.
Annales de l’électricité: Bruxelles, 1882–1884.
Annales de l’électricité médicale, 326
Annales de l’Observatoire de Bruxelles. _See_ Brussels, _also_
Quetelet, L. A. J.
Annales de physique de Bruxelles, 476
Annales des mines, 380, 455
Annales des sciences et des arts ... par Maisonneuve: Paris,
1808–1809.
Annales des sciences faisant suite au Journal des Savants, 551
Annales du Magnétisme Animal: Paris.
Annales du Museum d’histoire naturelle. _See_ Museum.
Annales Encyclopédiques. _See_ Millin de Grandmaison.
Annales générales de sciences physiques et naturelles: Bruxelles,
1819–1831, par MM. Bory de St. Vincent, Drapez et Van Mons, 255
Annales Mundi. _See_ Briet, Philippe.
Annales, or, a generalle chronicle of England, by Stow, John, 211
Annales Ord. Min. _See_ Wadding.
Annales politiques, 265
Annales télégraphiques: Paris, 368, 423
Annali del Reale Osservatorio Meteorologico ... Napoli. _See_
Palmieri, Luigi.
Annali delle scienze del Regno Lombardo Veneto, del Fusinieri
(Ambrogio): Padova, Milano, Venezia, 298, 314
Annali delle scienze naturali: Bologna.
Annali delle scienze naturali. _See_ Padua.
Annali di chimica, dall Polli, Vols. I.-XLVIII.: Milano, 1845–1868.
Annali di chimica ..., di Brugnatelli, L. V.: Pavia.
Annali di fisica, chimica ..., Majocchi, Giov. Aless.: Milano.
Annali di fisica ..., dell’ Zantedeschi, Franc.: Padova.
Annali di matematica pura a applicata ..., da Tortoloni, Barnàba:
Roma, 54
Annali di scienze ... da Tortoloni, Barnaba, etc.: Roma.
Annali di scienze matematiche e fisiche, da Tortoloni, Barnaba, 8
Vols.: Roma, 1850–1857.
Annali di storia naturale: Bologna.
Annalium Hirsaugiensium ... 1690. _See_ Trithemius, Johannes.
Annals of Caius Cornelius Tacitus, 140
Annals of chemistry ... electricity, galvanism ...: London.
Annals of chemistry. _See_ Philosophical Magazine.
Annals of Clan-mac-noise, 139
Annals of electricity, magnetism and chemistry. _See_ Sturgeon,
Wm.: London, 1836–1843.
Annals of philosophical discovery.... _See_ Sturgeon, Wm.
Annals of philosophy, or magazine of chemistry ... and the arts.
_See_ Thomson (Thos.); united with the Philosophical Magazine.
Annals of Turin Observatory. _See_ Turin.
Année Scientifique et Industrielle. _See_ Figuier, Louis.
Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, 195, 266, 315, 321, 481
Annual of scientific discovery: Boston 1850–1851; edited by Wells,
D. A. and others (continued as Annual Record of Science and
Industry), 300, 330, 386, 416, 445, 449, 460, 476, 481, 498
“Annus Magnus,” the work of Aristarchus of Samos, covering 2484
years, 505
Anschell, Salmon (_at_ Humboldt, Alex. von), 333
Anselmo, Georgio (_at_ Aldini, Giov.), 305
Ansicht der chemischen naturgesetze. _See_ Niebuhr Karsten.
Antheaulme--Antheaume, M. de l’académie des sciences, “Traité sur
les aimans artificiels,” 1760, 190, 274
Anthony of Bologna, called the Panormitan, 56
Anthropo-telegraph of Knight Spencer, 400
“Anti-Jacobin Magazine,” 311
Anti-magnetic bodies, observations on, 387
Anti-Nicene Christian Library, 525
Antinori, “Notizie istoriche ... Accad. del Cimento”: Firenze,
1841; Antinori and Nobili, 477
Antiochenus, Stephanus (_at_ Hali-Abas), 519
Anti-phlogistic doctrine, 261, 386
Antipodes and rotundity of earth ridiculed, 523–525
Antiquitates Americanæ, 115
Antiquitates Italiæ Modii-Acri, 539
Antisthenes, Greek philosopher (_b._ 423 B.C.); founder of the
Cynic school of philosophy, 543
“Antologia, giornale di scienze ..., dir Vieusseux”: Firenze, 256,
482
Antologia Romana. _See_ Gandolfi, B.
Antonia, Paola (Novelli), 505
Antonii, Bibl. Hisp. Vetus., 39
Antonio, Nicolas, “Bibl. Hisp. Nova,” 528
Antonius de Fantis. _See_ Fantis.
Antonius Musæ Brasavolus. _See_ Brasavolus.
“Aperçus historiques sur la boussole.” _See_ Avezac d’.
_Aphron_ (south) and _Zohron_ (north), 33, 35
Apianus. _See_ Abano.
Apjohn, James (_at_ Pearson, Geo.), 325
Apollo (_at_ School of Athens), 543
Apollonius of Perga (born _c._ 262 B.C.), 540, 541
Apollonius of Tyana (fl. first century A.D.). Life of, by
Philistratus, 8, 533
Aponus. _See_ Abano.
Appleton and Company, “New American Cyclopædia,” 22 Vols.;
“Dictionary of Machines, Mechanics ...,” 22, 149, 255, 286,
316, 317, 318, 446, 449, 481
Apuleius--Appuleus (fl. second century), “Apologia and Florida”:
Leipzig, 1900, 8
Aquinas. _See_ Thomas Aquinas.
Aractensis Machometes. _See_ Albatagnius.
Arago, Dom. François Jean (1786–1853), vii, 126, 138, 142, 166,
190, 195, 208, 228, 248, 259, 266, 309, 315, 321, 344, 375,
380, 389, 396, 412, 416, 417, 455, 461, 464, 472, 476,
477–481, 482, 484, 485, 520
Aranjuez-Madrid, telegraph line, 1798, 318
Aratus of Soli, in Cilicia (born _c._ 315 B.C.), 533
Arcana of science and art ...: London, 1828–1838.
Archelaus, Greek philosopher of the fourth century B.C., surnamed
_Physicus_, 503, 532, 542
“Archeologia philosophica nova ...”: London, 1663, 4, 210. _See_
Harvey, Gideon.
Archimedes (_c._ 287–212 B.C.), whom Lodge calls the “father of
physics,” 533, 540, 541, 544
Archives de l’électricité, par Rive, M. A. de la; Supplément à la
“Bibliothequè Universelle,” de Genève.
Archives der mathematik und physik. _See_ Grundig, C. G.
Archives des sciences.... _See_ Genève.
Archives des sciences physiques. _See_ “Bibliothèque Universelle”:
Genève.
Archives du magnétisme animal, 237
Archives du Musée Tyler, 160
Archives du Nord, pour la physique et la médecine: Copenhagen, 353
Archives ... Ges. Natural, 288
Archives für chemie und meteorologie. _See_ Kastner, K. W. G.
Archives für ... naturlehre. _See_ Kastner, K. W. G.
Archives littéraires, 351
Archives Néerlandaises, 142
Archytas of Tarentum (_c._ 428–347 B.C.), Greek scientist of the
Pythagorean school, 532, 544
Arcothea (_at_ School of Athens), 543
Arcueil, La Société d’, 236, 386, 389
Arcy, Patrik d’ (1725–1799), 177
Arderon, M. (_at_ Milly, N. C. de Thy), 235
Ardoniis--Ardonyis--Santes de, _Pisaurensis_; “Liber de Venenis,”
1492, 26
Arella, Carnerale Antonio, “Storia dell’ Elettricita,” 2 Vols.,
1839, 296
Arezzo, Ristoro d’, 50
Argelander, Friedrich Wilhelm August (1799–1875), in the Vörtragen
geh. in der Königsberg Gesellschaft, 139
Argelatti, Philippo, native of Bologna (1685–1755), “Biblioth.
Mediol.,” 528, 540
Argentelle, Louis Marc Antoine Robillard d’ (1777–1828), 302, 303
Argolus, Andreas, “Epistola ad Davidem,” 1610, 553
Aristarchus of Samos (fl. 280–264 B.C.), Greek astronomer, 505,
519, 530, 533, 541
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), xix, 7, 11, 15, 21, 33, 35, 36, 37, 39,
40, 41, 43, 57, 81, 88, 124, 129, 136, 230, 323, 333, 370,
503, 504, 507, 511, 524, 532, 533, 537, 539, 541, 543. “De
Anima, libri tres ...”; “De Cœlo, libri quatuor ...”; “De
Generatione ... libri duo ...”; “Meteorologicorum, libri
quatuor ...”; “De naturali auscultatione ...”; Joannes a
Trinitate; Joannes Baptista, 1748; Joannes de Mechlinea. _See_
Jourdain, C. M. G. B.; Scaliger, J. C.; Speng, Leonhard;
Taylor, Thomas.
Arlandes, Comte d’ (_at_ Charles, J. A. C.), 288
Arlensis, “Sympathia septem metallorum,” 1610, 553
Arlincourt, M. d’ (_at_ Cruikshanks, Wm.), 338
Armagh Observatory, 92
Armangaud, Jeune. _See_ “Electricité L’.”
Armed loadstones or magnets, 86 (Gilbert), 100 (Bacon).
Armées Météores, Les, 115
Armstrong and Faraday (_at_ Schübler, G.), 416
Armstrong, Sir William George, First Lord, F.R.S., “Electric
Movement in Air and Water” (1810–1900).
Arnaldus de Villa Nova--Arnaud de Villeneuve, dit de Bachuone
(1235–1312); “Tractatus de virtutibus herbarum,” 27, 505–506
Arnaud and Porna, 385
Arnim, Ludwig Achim von (1781–1831), “Versuch. einer theorie ...”;
“A treatise on the magnet”: Halle, 1799, 285, 393, 557
Arnold, Brother, “La Salle Institute” (Peregrinus), 45
Arnold, Matthew, Oxford Lectures, 6
Arrais, Edoardo, Madeira--Arraes, Duarte Madeyra, 135–137
Arrhenius, Claudius--Claes--Clas (1627–1694), 140, 141. _See_
“Nouv. Biogr. Univ.”, 351–352
Arrhenius, Svante August, Director of the Physico-Chemical
Department of the Nobel Institute, Stockholm (1859), 391, 392
Arriaga, Rodericus de, 505
Arsaces, Queen of Ethiopia, 8
Arsinoë, temple of, 18
Arsonval, Arsène d’ (1851), 420
Artaxerxes Mnemon, King of Persia (404–358 B.C.), 196
“Art de vérifier les dates....” _See_ Saint Allais, 2
Art of making signals, both by sea and by land, 149
Arts and Sciences, New Universal History of, 155
Arts (Royal), Society of, London. _See_ Journal of the Society of
Arts: London.
Asclepius, the _ascendants_ or _horoscopes_ of, 541 (fl. end of
fifth century A.D.).
Ash, Dr. Edward (_on_ the action of metals ...), 337
Ashburner, Dr. John, translator of Reichenbach’s
“Physico-Physiological Researches,” 140, 401
Askesian Society, founded by Pepys, W. H., and others, 371
Association, British, for the advancement of science. _See_ British
Association.
Astatic needles, invented by Ampère (A.D. 1820), 473, 475
Asterisks, large and small, in Gilbert’s _De Magnete_, 83, 545
Astrolabe (_at_ A.D. 1235–1315), invented by Hipparchus, 32, 46,
54, 148 (Bion), 520, 530
Astronom. Jahrbuch of Schumacher for 1838 (entered _at_ Oersted,
A.D. 1820), 455
Astronomia Britannica. _See_ Newton, John.
Astronomical Society of France. _See_ Paris.
Astronomical Society of Great Britain. _See_ London.
Astronomische Abhandlungen of Schumacher (entered _at_ Fraunhofer,
A.D. 1814–1815), 432
“Astronomische Gesellschaft Vierteljahrschrift:” Leipzig,
1866–1876, 165
Astronomy, Historical account of, 521
Astruc, Jean, “Historie de la faculté de médecine de Montpellier,”
506
Ateneo, Commentarii, Perego, Antonio: Brescia.
Ateneo di Venezia. _See_ Venetian Athenæum.
Athenæ Britannicæ. _See_ Davies, Myles-Miles.
Athenæ Cantabrigienses. _See_ Cooper, C. H.
Athenæ Oxionenses. _See_ Wood, Anthony à.
“Athenæum:” London, 33, 134, 209, 495, 496
Athenæum of Treviso, 253
Athens, School of, 542–544
Atkinson, H. (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F.), 314
Atlantic line of no declination, 64
“Atlantic Monthly,” 114
Atlas showing charts of magnetic variation, 62
Atmosphere, electricity of the, 319–321
Atmospheric electricity. _See_ Electricity, atmospheric.
“Atmospheric magnetism” (taken from Jameson’s Journal), 498
Atomic doctrine of Leucippus and Democritus, 512
Atomic theory of chemistry, 307
Atomistic philosophy, 512
Atoms, doctrine of, 543
Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei: Roma.
Atti (also Memorie) dell’ I. R. Istituto Venet. di scienze. _See_
Venetian I. R. Institution.
Attractive poynt of Robert Norman, 76
Atwood, George, “A description ... natural philosophy,” 1776, 212
Aubenas, George Adolphe. _See_ Miller, B. E. C.
Aubert, H., “Electrometrische Flasche”: Paris, 1789, 282
Aubrelicque of Compiègne, 34
Augé, Claude. _See_ Larousse, Pierre.
Augustin, Friedrich Ludwig (_b._ 1776), “Vorn Galvanismus ...”:
Berlin, 1801; “Versuch einer geschichte ... elektricität ...,”
1803, 326, 383
Augustine, Aurelius, Saint (354–430), the most prominent of the
Latin Fathers of the Church, xix, 18, 20, 21, 25–26, 73, 74,
124, 523, 525.
_See_ Monroe Cyclopædia, Vol. I. pp. 300–301.
Aumale, Henri Eugène Philippe Louis d’Orleans, duc d’ (1822–1907).
_See_ Dazebry, Charles, et Bachelot, The., “Dictionnaire ...” p.
300, xix.
Aurifaber, Andreas (1512–1559), “Succini historia”: Konigsberg,
1551, 8
Aurora Australis, or Southern Polar Light, 141.
_See_ Ulloa, A. de, 165–166
Aurora Borealis, or Northern Polar Light, 138–141; its first
distinctive name, _Nororljós_, was given it by the Icelandic
settlers of Greenland (Cleasby and Vigfusson’s Dictionary),
114, 396. _Consult_ the entries herein under A.D. 1683, pp.
137–141, _also at_ Dalton, pp. 307–308; 1793–1797, Robison, pp.
308–311; 1799, Humboldt, pp. 330–335; 1807, Young, pp. 395–396;
1820, Arago, pp. 477–481. _Consult_ Ramus, J. F., and Capron,
J. Rand.
Auroræ Boreales, Catalogue of, 140
Auroræ Boreales, Chronological Summary of Authors, 140
Auroræ Boreales, Theory of Max Hell, 233
Ausonius, Decimus Magnus (_c._ A.D. 309–393), “Mosella,” 11, 18
Austen. _See_ Roberts, Austen.
Autolycus of Pitana, Greek astronomer, author of “De Sphæra”
(fourth century B.C.), 541
Autun, Honorius d’, “Imago Mundi,” 35
Autun. _See_ Société d’Agriculture.
“Avazamenti della Medicina e Fisica.” _See_ Brugnatelli, L. V.
Avelloni, D. d’, “Lettera ... al fuoco elettrico,” 315, 555
Avempace, Arabian philosopher (_d._ 1138), 36, 39
Averroës, Muhammed Ibn Ahmed Ibn-Roschd (1120–1198), 36, 38, 39–40,
124, 544.
_See_ Bayle, P., “Dict. Historique,” Vol. I. pp. 552–562
Averroës et l’Averroïsme. _See_ Renan.
Averroïsme au xiii^e siècle, 37, 505
Avezac, M. d’, “Aperçus historiques sur la boussole,” 1858–1860,
63, 536
Avicenna--Abu ’Ali Hufain Ibn ’Abd Allah, Ibn Siná, _Abohalis_
(980–1037), 22, 26, 27, 36, 37, 40, 169, 509, 516
Avogadro, Amadeo, Comte de Quaregna (1776–1856). _Consult_ Bibl.
Univ. Suppl. Arch. l’Electricité, Vol. II. pp. 102–110; Mem. di
Torino for 1823 and 1846; Botto, G. D.
Axon, William Edward Armitage (Proc. Phil. Soc. of Manchester, Vol.
16, pp. 166–171, 1877, relative to Strada); “On the history of
the word telegraph” (Proc. Lit. Soc. of Manchester, Vol. 19,
pp. 182–184, 1880).
Ayres, Brown (Journ. Franklin Inst., Ser. 3, Vol. 75, pp. 378–393
and Scientific American Supplement, July 6, 1878, concerning
the telephone).
Ayrton and Perry (_at_ Faraday, M.), 492
Ayrton, William Edward. _See_ Romagnosi (Journ. of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, 1871), 492
Azais, Pierre Hyacinthe (_b._ 1766), “Theorie générale de
l’électricité, du galvanisme et du magnetisme,” 1807, 248
Azuni, Domenico Alberto (1749–1827), “Dissertation sur l’origine de
la boussole,” 1805 (Dissertazione sull’ origine della bussola
nautica, 1797), 1, 3, 17, 22, 30, 31, 33, 43, 55, 57, 60, 69
Azyr, Vicq d’, 302, 303
B
Babbage, Charles (1792–1871) _at_ p. 467 and mentioned at p. 466
Babinet, Jacques (1794–1872) and Ampère, A. M., “Exposé des
nouvelles découvertes, par Oersted ...”: Paris, 1822, 475, 482,
483
Babington, Dr. William (1756–1833), (_at_ Cruikshanks, Wm., A.D.
1800), 338
Babini, G. (_at_ Morichini, D. P., A.D. 1812–1813), 424
Bacelli, Liberto Giovanni (1772–1835), “Risultati dell’ esperienze
...,” 455, 479
Bache, Dr. William (_at_ Mesmer, F. A., A.D. 1772), 237
Bacher, Alex. André Philippe Frédéric, Recueil périodique: “Journal
de médecine,” 307
Bacon, Francis, Baron Verulam, called by Sir Oliver Lodge “the
herald of the dawn of science” (1561–1626), “Novum
Organum”--Novum Organon--Bibliographical Account, xiv, 88, 89,
90, 92, 99–103, 129, 167, 171, 511
Bacon, Roger--Bacconis, Rogerii--(1214–1294), les éditions de.
_See_ Monroe, “Cyclopædia,” Vol. I. pp. 316, 317, _also_ pages
herein, 16, 34, 36, 37, 41–43, 45, 59, 119, 124, 137, 171
Baddam, Benjamin. _See_ Royal Society.
Bærle, K. van. _See_ Barlæus.
Baffin, William, Baffin’s Bay, 98
Bagdad Observatory; _also_ Bagdad University, 38
Baguette divinatoire. _See_ Divining rod.
Baierischen (Bavarian), Akad. Neue Abhandlungen, 272, 316
Baïlak--Baïlik--of Kibdjack, 55, 59, 87
Bailey, Nathan--Nathaniel--(_d._ 1742), “Dictionarium Britannicum
...,” 1736, 555
Baillet, Adrien, “Jugement des savants,” 109, 515
Bailly, Jean Sylvain, “Histoire de l’astronomie moderne,” 513
Bain, Alexander (_at_ Coxe, John Redman, A.D. 1816), 436
Bain, William (1775–1853) (_at_ Barlow, Peter, A.D. 1820), 457
Bajon, M. (_d._ 1790) (_at_ Bancroft, Edward Nathaniel, A.D. 1769),
230
Baker, H. (_at_ Ingen-housz, Johan), 257, and (_at_ Pearson,
George), 326
Bakewell, Frederick C., “A manual of electricity,” 3rd ed., publ.
in 1859; “Electric Science, its history ...,” 1853, 152, 223,
284, 338, 347, 381, 478, 487, 490
Balbi, Count Pado Battista (1693–1772), 294
Balck, Uldericus Dominicus (_at_ Helmont, J. B. van, A.D. 1621),
104
Baldwin, J. M., “Dict. of Philosophy and Psychology,” 32, 39, 40,
519, 520
Baldwin, Loammi (1745–1807), 199, 281
Balfour, Dr. John Hutton, of Edinburgh (1808–1884), 463
Ball, Sir Robert (_at_ Newton, Sir Isaac), 133
Ball, Walter W. Rouse, “History of Mathematics,” 541
Ballard, “Magnetism of Drills,” 554
Ballot, Christopher Hendrik Buÿs-, “Meteor. Preisfrage,” 1847, 440
Bammacaro, Niccolò, “Tentamen de vi electrica,” 273
Bancalari, Michele Alberto (_b._ 1805), 426
Bancroft, Edward Nathaniel (1744–1820), 129, 229, 239, 298
Banks, Sir Joseph (1743–1820), 247, 250, 252, 456
Barbarossa--Emperor Frederick I.--water compass, 30, 146
Barbarus, Hermolaus (1454–1495), “Compendium scientiæ ...,” 506.
_See_ Bayle, Dictionary, Vol. I. pp. 633–638.
Barbazan, Etienne, “Fabliaux,” 30
Barberet, Denis (1714–1776), 167, 321
Barbeu-Dubourg, Jacques (1709–1779), 196
Barcelona Academy of Sciences, 317, 318
Bardenot, J. R. P., “Les recherches ... refutées”: Paris, 1824, 305
Barents, discoverer of Novaya Zemlya, 562, 563
Baret, E. (_at_ Themistius of Paphlagonia), 540
Baretus and Oviedo, narrative of, 1554, 192
Barlæus--Bærle--Kaspar van, “Observ. ... magnesteen en de
magnetische ...,” 1651, 136
Barletti, Carlo (_d._ 1800) “Nuove sperienze,” 1771, 207, 249, 556
Barlocci, Saverio (1784–1845), 423
Barlow, Peter (1776–1862), 398, 427, 457–460, 465, 467, 473, 476,
484. “Essay on magnetical attractions ...,” 1823, 1824;
“Encyclopædia of British Arts, Manufactures ...,” 1855.
Barlow, William Henry, 449, 460
Barlowe--Barlow--William (_d._ 1625), 18, 27, 57, 76, 78, 79, 80,
87, 90, 97, 141. “Magneticall Advertisements ...,” 1613, 1616,
1618, 1843; “Navigator’s supply ...,” 1597.
Barnes, Robert (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Barneveldt--Barneveld--Joan van Olden--Oldenbarneveld (1549–1619)
(_at_ Grotius, Hugo), 518
Barneveldt--Barneveld--Wilhelm van (1747–1826), 6, 325, 326
Baronio, Dr. Joseph, of Milan, 393
Barral, G. (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 362
Barral, J. A. (_at_ Arago, D. F. J., A.D. 1820), 481
Barrow, Sir John, F.R.S. (1764–1848), 114, 438, 439, 467
Bart and Schweigger researches, 414
Barthélémy, Jean Jacques (1716–1795), 291, 301
Barthema. _See_ Varthema.
Bartholinus, C. Thomas (1688), 554
Bartholinus, Erasmus, “De Cometus,” 122
Bartholinus, Thomas (1616–1680), “De Luce animalium”; “De naturæ
...,” 29
Bartholomacus de Glanvilla--Anglicus--(fl. 1230–1250), “Liber de
proprietatibus rerum,” 13, 16, 34, 37, 124. _See_ “Dict. of
Nat. Biogr.,” 1908, Vol. VII. pp. 1288–1290.
Bartoli (_at_ Eandi, G. A. F. G., A.D. 1790), 294
Baruffaldi, Girolamo (_at_ Brasavolus, A. M.), 506
Barwick, G. A., xx
Basilica chimica. _See_ Crollius, Oswaldus.
Basle--Basel--Acta Helvetica Physico Mathematico--Botanico--Medica,
8 Vols.; Nova Acta, etc., 1751–1787, 299.
_See also_ Bernoulli I., James.
Basle--Basel--University, 147
Basse, Frédéric Henri, of Hamel (_at_ A.D. 1803), 384
Batavæ, De Antiq. Reipubl., 517
Batavi Scientific Society. _See_ Haarlem.
Batavian Society of Experimental Philosophy. _See_ Rotterdam.
“Bath Chronicle,” 128
Bathanarius, once Count of Africa, 25
Bathseba, mentioned at p. 5 (1033–975 B.C.).
Batines, Colomb de, “Bibliog. Dantesca,” 1845–1846, 44
Batteries (piles), electric, galvanic, etc.: Volta, 1775; Van
Marum, 1785; Children, Cruikshanks, Davy, Tromsdorff,
Babington, Eastwick in 1800; Wollaston, 1801; Pepys, Parrot in
1802; Ritter, Hachette in 1803; Behrends and Dyckoff,
Gay-Lussac in 1804; Maréchaux, 1806; Deluc, 1809; Zamboni,
1812; Dana, 1819.
Bauer, L. A., “U.S. Magnetic Tables ...”; “Terrestrial Magnetism
...,” 60, 70, 79, 81, 91, 92, 138
Baumgarten--Crusius--Ludwig Friedrich Otto, 520
Baumgartner, Andreas von, Baron (_b._ 1793), 423. _See_
Ettinghausen, _also_ “Zeitschrift für physik....”
Bavaria, Electoral Academy of. _See_ Baierischen, 272
Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich, 273, 380, 406, 407, 424, 432,
433, 477
Bayle, Pierre (1647–1706), “Dictionnaire historique et critique,”
502: London edition, 1734.
Bayly and Wales, 242
Bayly, William, astronomer (_d._ 1810), 348
Bazin, Gilles Augustin (_d._ 1754), 208, 273.
_See_ Nouv. Biogr. Gén., IV., 887.
Beacon fires (_at_ 1084 B.C.), 4
Beaufoy, Col. Mark (1764–1827), 157, 426, 427
Beaume. _See_ La Beaume.
Beaumont, Elie de, “Memoir of Oersted,” 455
Beauvais, M. (_at_ Alexandre, Jean, A.D. 1802), 361
Beazley, C. Raymond (_at_ Empedocles), 511–512
Becani, Joannis Goropii. _See_ Goropus.
Becanus. _See_ Goropius.
Beccari--Beccaria--Jacopo Bartolommeo (1682–1767), 199, 208; “De
artif. elect.”; “A series of experiments,” 1775.
Beccaria, Giovanni Battista (1716–1781), 178, 189, 199, 206–208,
224, 226, 246, 253, 294, 320, 416
Beccher--Becher--Johann Joachim (1635–1682), 261, 262, 502
Beck, M. van. _See_ Moll.
Beckensteiner, C. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 386
Becket, John Brice (_at_ Wilkinson, C. H.), 269, and (_at_
Thillaye-Platel), 385
Beckmann, Johann (1739–1811), “A history of inventions ...,” 17,
27, 148, 152, 233
Becquerel, Adolphe, “Des applications de l’électricité ...”:
Paris, 1856–1860, 386
Becquerel, Alexandre Edmond (1820–1891), 218, 295; (Comptes Rendus,
1840, 1843–4–6–7, 1864); “Memoir on Dia-Magnetism.”
Becquerel, Antoine César (1788–1878), “Eléments d’electro-chimie,”
1843; “Traité experimental de l’électricité et de magnetisme,”
1834–5–6–7, 1840; “Expériences sur la développement de
l’électricité ...,” 1823; “Traité de Physique ...,” 1844, 8,
29, 31, 55, 195, 204, 258, 293, 321, 347, 352, 353, 370, 373,
389, 403, 417, 426, 433, 441, 463, 494.
_See_ Vapereau, G., Dictionnaire, p. 119, _also_
Electro-capillary phenomena.
Becquerel, A. C., and Becquerel, Edmond (1820–1891), “Traité
d’électricité et de magnétisme ...”: Paris, 1855, 1856;
“Eléments de Physique ...”: Paris, 1847; “Résumé de l’historie
de l’électricité et du magnetisme”: Paris, 1858, 24, 29, 30,
54, 110, 129, 153, 271, 315, 380, 388
Becquerel, A. C., and Brachet, A., 241, 271; Concernant des
expériences sur la torpille (Comptes Rendus, III., 135).
Becquerel, Edmond, and Frémy, Edmond, “Recherches électro-chimiques
sur les propriétés des corps electrisés”: Paris, 1852.
Beddoes, Thomas (1760–1808), 392
Beeck, A. van, Van Beck and Bergsma, 463, 473
Beer, Aug., 1868 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Beetz, W. von (_at_ Zamboni, Giuseppe, A.D. 1812), 420
Behaim--Behm--Martin (1430–1506), 67
Behmen. _See_ Boehm.
Behrend (_at_ Bohnenberger, J. J. F. von), 434
Behrends, T. G. B. (_at_ Reinhold, J. C. L., and _at_ Humboldt, F.
H. Alex. von), 327, 333
Behrends, Wilhelm, of Francfort, 284, 387
Belcher, Sir Edward, 446
Belgium, Royal Academy of Sciences, 243, 259, 280
Belgrado, Giacomo (1704–1780), 420, 555
Bell, Alexander Graham (1847), 72, 234
Bell. Jud. Adv. Roman, 10
Bellani, Angelo (_at_ Volta Alessandro, A.D. 1775), 248
Bellay, Joachim du (1524–1560), “Comme le fer qui suit la
calamite,” 16
Belleau, Rémy (1528–1577), “Bergeries,” 16
Belli, Giuseppe (1791–1860) (_at_ Tralles, J. G., A.D. 1790), 293
Bellingeri--Berlingieri--Carlo Francesco (_d._ 1848), 284, 355
Beloe, William (1756–1817), “The Sexagenarian,” 324
Belon, Pierre (1517–1564), 270
Beltrami, P., 1823 (_at_ Gay-Lussac, J. L., A.D. 1804), 389
Bembo, Cardinal (_at_ School of Athens), 542
Bencora--Ben Konah--Thebitius, 540–541
Ben David--Bendavid--Lazarus, “Ueber die religion der Ebräer von
Moses,” 9
Benedictus, Joannes Baptista (1530–1590), 506
Benham, Charles E. (_at_ Gilbert, William, A.D. 1600), 92
Bennet, Abraham, Curate of Wirksworth, F.R.S. (1750–1799), 127,
282, 289, 303, 336, 373, 430, 470
Benzenberg, Johann Friedrich (1777–1846), 208, 314
Bérard, Frédéric (1789–1828), 423 (_at_ Morichini, D. P., A.D.
1812–1813).
Béraud--Berault--Laurent (1703–1777), “Dissertation ...
électricité”; “Theoria electricitatis,” 1755, 163, 164, 167,
258, 259
Bercy, Ugo di. _See_ Sercy.
Berdoe, M., “Inquiry into the influence of the electric fluid ...,”
1771, 556
Bergen, Carolus, Augustus van (_at_ Jallabert, J. L., A.D. 1749),
189
Bergerac, Savinien, Cyrano de (1629–1655), 103, 171
Bergeret--Berjeret--a physician of Dijon, 183
Bergeron, Pierre (second half of sixteenth century), “Abrégé de
l’historie ...,” 60
Bergmann--Bergman--Sir Torbern Olof (1735–1784), “Bemerkung ...
Krystales”; “Commentarius ... turmalini”; “Elektrische versuche
...,” 32, 220, 221; History of Chemistry and other sciences.
Bergsma and Van Beek (_at_ Dutrochet, R. J. H., A.D. 1820), 463
Berio (_at_ Alexandre, Jean, A.D. 1802), 361
Berkel, A. van (_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 299
Berkeley, George, the works of, 511, 515, 520
Berlin, Astronomer Royal (Bernoulli), 147
Berlin Academy--University--Memoirs, History and
Reports--Abhandlungen, 153, 155, 170, 173, 192, 214, 217, 218,
220, 223, 225, 226, 230, 262, 263, 276, 288, 299, 308, 352,
392, 471, 478
Berlingieri, Francesco Vacca Leopold (1732–1812), 206, 270, 300,
305, 327, 331
Bernoulli, Christoph (_at_ Ritter, J. W., A.D. 1803–1805), 381
Bernoulli, Daniel (1700–1782) (_Acta Helvetica_, III. 1758, p.
223), 147, 160, 213
Bernoulli, family, 146–147, 155, 450
Bernoulli, James I. (1654–1705), 147
Bernoulli, John I. (1667–1748), 146, 226
Bernoulli, John II. (1710–1790), 147, 214
Bernoulli, John III. (1744–1807), 147, 226
Berrutti, S., “Elogio del ... Vassalli Eandi,” 1839, 29
Bertelli--Barnabita, Timoteo (1826–1905), 30, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50,
51, 57, 59, 60, 71, 72, 110, 111, 112, 526, 531; “Memoria
sopra P. Peregrino.”
Berthelot, Pierre Eugène Marcellin, Membre de l’Institut, F.R.S.,
“Chimie organique ...”
Berthier, J. E., “Attractions et répulsions électriques,” 1751, 555
Berthollet, Claude Louis de (1748–1822), “Discours ...,” 233, 236,
279, 377, 386, 388
Bertholon de St. Lazare, Nicolle Pierre (1742–1800), “De
l’électricité du corps humain,” 1780; “De l’électricité des
végétaux,” 1783; “De l’électricité des météores ...,” 1787, 20,
129, 178, 189, 223, 229, 240, 243, 256, 257, 258, 259, 263,
270, 295
Bertholot, Marcellin Pierre Eugène (1827–1907), “Collection des
anciens alchimistes grecs”; “Traditions du moyen-âge”; “La
révolution chimique,” x, 17, 262, 514;
“La Grande encyclopédie.” _There is also_ a Berthelot, Th.,
mentioned in Dezebry, Ch.
Berton, Henri Montan (1766–1844), 329
Bertrand, J. L. F., 276
Berzelius, Jöns Jacob von (1779–1848), “Lehrbuch der Chemie,” 5
Vols.: Leipzig, 1848; “Afhandling Galvanismen”: Stockholm,
1802; “Essai sur la théorie ...”: Paris, 1819, 336, 340, 343,
345, 364, 368–370, 419, 423, 466, 471, 472
Berzelius, J. J. F., and Hissinger, W. (1766–1852), “Forsok med.
elektr. ...:” Stockholm, 1806 (Afhandl. i fisik, kemi och
Mineralogi, De i).
Beseke, J. M. G. (_at_ Lavoisier, A. L., A.D. 1781), 262
Bessard, Toussaincte de, “Dialogue de la longitude,” 1574, 63, 72,
115
Bétancourt, Augustin de, Telegraphic line from Aranjuez to Madrid
(Ronalds’ Catalogue, pp. 57 and 280). _See_ Bétancourt y
Molina.
Bétancourt--Bethencourt--y Molina, Augustin de (1760–1826), 176,
318
_Betylos_, 17
Bevis--Bevans--John (1693–1771), 175, 178
Bew, Ch., 1824 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
Beyer, M., Memoirs of, 198, and (_at_ Gay-Lussac, J. L.), 198, 389
Beziers, Collège de, 353
Bianchi, G., 1738 and 1740 (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 186, 308
Bianchi, Iso, 1781, 556
Bianchini, Dr. Giovanni Fortunato (1719–1779), 186, 263, 385
Bianco, Andrea (beginning of fifteenth century, A.D.), 62–63, 64,
65
Bianconi, G. (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Bias, native of Iona (fl. _c._ 570 B.C.), 7
Bibl. Acad. Belge de Namur, 256
Bibl. Dantesca. _See_ Batines, Colomb de.
Bibl. Hisp. Vetus. _See_ Antonii.
“Bibliografia Italiana di Elettricità e Magnetismo ...,” Rossetti,
T. E.; Cantoni, G.: Padua, 1881.
Bibliographer’s Manual of William Thomas Loundes, 1863, 547
Bibliografia Italiana. _See_ Alessandrini, Antonio, 256, 257, 293
Bibliographia Britannica.
Bibliographia Poetica. _See_ English Poets.
Bibliographical Dictionary, 503
Bibliographical History of Electricity and Magnetism. General
Cross-Entry Index. _See_ Encyclopædia Britannica, XIV., 2637
B.C. to A.D. 1821, 1–499, 82, 273, 294, 295, 346, 396, 408,
448, 466, 523, 533, 559
Bibliographie Analytique. _See_ Miller, B. E. C.
Bibliographie Astronomique, Lalande, J. J. Le F. de, 233; Jöcher,
J. F.
Bibliographie de l’astronomie. _See_ Houzeau, J. C., et Lancester,
A., Bruxelles.
Bibliographie des magnetismus. _See_ Murhard, F. W. A.
Bibliographic Voltairienne, Quérard, J. M., 1842, 59
Bibliography of Electricity and Magnetism. _See_ Bibliographical
History of Electricity and Magnetism.
Bibliography of Electricity and Magnetism, “Die Weltliteratur der
Elektricitaet und des Magnetismus, von, 1860–1883 ...”: Wien,
1884. _See_ Bulletin of Bibliography, _also_ “Bulletino di
Bibliografia ...”
Bibliography of Ptolemy’s Geography. _See_ Winsor, Justin.
Bibliography of the sympathetic telegraph, at entry No. 1881 and at
pp. 409–418 of “Catalogue of Wheeler Gift to the Am. Inst. El.
Eng.,” 1909.
Biblioteca Fisica d’Europa (_at_ Morichini, D. P.), A.D.
1812–1813), 248, 424.
_See_ Brugnatelli, L. V.
Biblioteca Germanica (_at_ Morichini, D. P.), 326, 333, 424;
_edited by_ Bura, Configliachi, Ridolfi and Santini.
Biblioteca Italiana (_at_ Morichini, D. P.), 296, 424; _edited by_
Acerbi, Brugnatelli, Gioberti, Configliachi, Monti and others,
5 Vols., 256, 293, 295, 296, 298, 306, 363, 424, 464, 482, 554.
_See_ Lombardy. _Continued as_ Giornala dell’ I.R. Istituto
Lombardo ... e Biblioteca Italiana up to 1856; it was not
republished until 1858–1862, when it appeared as “Atti dell’
I.R. Istituto Lombardo.”
Biblioteca Marciana: Venice, 62, 63
Biblioteca Modenese. _See_ Tiraboschi, G.
Biblioteca Napolitana, 516
Biblioteca Oltramontana, 295
Biblioteca Oriental y Occidental, 516
Biblioteca Vaticanæ, Codices, 526
Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis. _See_ Casiri, Michael.
Bibliotheca Belgica, 517. _See_ Foppers, J. F.
Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum, 54
Bibliotheca Britannica, A. Robert Watt: London, 16, 97, 117, 131,
134, 140, 170, 178, 231, 238, 240, 244, 248, 256, 263, 270,
282, 299, 306, 307, 313, 315, 328, 337, 340, 347, 359, 363,
367, 370, 371, 373, 383, 384, 393, 394, 403, 406, 407, 414,
416, 420, 423, 424, 426, 432, 441, 455, 460, 477, 499, 540
Bibliotheca Chemica: Glasgow, 1906, 43, 262, 520
Bibliotheca Enucleata of Schielen, J. G.: Ulm, 1679, 554
Bibliotheca Grotiana. _See_ Rogge, H. C.
Bibliotheca Historica Italica ... 1874. _See_ Merula, Gaudentius.
Bibliotheca Historica Medii Ævi. _By_ August Potthast.
Bibliotheca Historico-Naturalis.... _See_ Zuchold, E. A.
Bibliotheca Hulthemiana: Gand, 202
Bibliotheca Latina Mediæ ... Ætatis (Medii Ævi) of Albert Johan,
531
Bibliotheca Lusitana. _See_ Machado, B.
Bibliotheca Mediol. _See_ Argellati, P.
Bibliotheca Palatina Vindobonensis: Vicenna.
Bibliotheca Patrum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 523
Bibliotheca Sacra. _See_ Le Long Le Père Jacques.
Bibliotheca Scriptorum Medicorum. _See_ Manget, J. J.
Bibliotheca Technologica. _See_ Martin, Benjamin.
Bibliothecarius Quadripartitus. _See_ Hottinger, J. H.
Bibliothek der philosophie: Berlin.
Bibliothek electro-technische: Braunschweig und Wien.
Bibliothek für philosophie: Berlin.
Bibliothèque Bibliographique: Paris.
Bibliothèque Britannique: Genève et Bruxelles, 1796–1815, 199, 231,
249, 482
Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal: Paris, xi
Bibliothèque d’histoire scientifique. _See_ Hamy, E. T.
Bibliothèque des actualités industrielles. _See_ Urbanitsky.
Bibliothèque des auteurs ecclésiastiques. _See_ Dupin, M. J. J.,
524
Bibliothèque des sciences ..., 6 Vols.: Lyon, 1668.
Bibliothèque des sciences contemporaines: Paris.
Bibliothèque du magnétisme animal: Paris.
Bibliothèque Egyptologique: issued in Paris during 1897, 14
Bibliothèque Germanique. _See_ Biblioteca Germanica.
Bibliothèque Italienne. _See_ Biblioteca Italiana.
Bibliothèque Mazarine: Paris, xi, 108
Bibliothèque Nationale: Paris, xi, xix, 30, 33, 43, 45, 53,
57, 102
Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève: Paris, xii, xix, xx
Bibliothèque Universelle: Genève et Bruxelles, 140, 193, 257, 298,
416, 420, 433, 453, 476, 477, 482, 491, 492, 494, 499. The
Archives de l’Electricité is a supplement; likewise, the
Archives des sciences physiques.
Bichat, Marie François Xavier (Biogr. Gén., VI. 2–20), 284, 285,
305
Biddle, Memoir of Seb. Cabot, 69
Bidone, Giorgio (1781–1839), “Description d’une nouvelle
boussole ...” (Mém. de Turin, 1809–1810).
Bienvenu and Wittry de Abot, 431
Bifilar balance and balance Electroscope, 470–471
Bigeon, L., in Ann. de Ch. et de Phys. (_at_ Æpinus, F. M. U. T.),
218
Bigot de Morogues, Pierre Marie Sebastien (1776–1840),
“Chronological catalogue ...,” 315
Billingsley, C., “Longitude at sea ...,” 1714, 554
Bina, Andrea (_b._ 1724), “De physicis experimentibus ...,” 2 Vols.
1733–1756.
Binat, Rev. F., “Electricorum Effectuum ...,” 1751, 555
Bindemann, Carl, “Der heilige Augustinus,” 1844–1855, 25
Bio-bibliographie. _See_ Chevalier.
Biografia degli Italiana illustri. _See_ Tipaldo, E. A.
Biographia Britannica, 80, 91, 124, 522; Kippis, Andrew: London,
1793, 16
Biographia Medica. _See_ Hutchinson, Benjamin.
Biographia Philosophica. _See_ Martin, Benjamin.
Biographia Scotica. _See_ Stark.
Biographical Dictionary of the Society of Useful Knowledge, 502
Biographical Dictionary. _See_ herein “General Biographical
Dictionary,” by the different authors, Alex. Chalmers, John
Gorton, J. B. Lippincott and H. J. Rose.
Biographie Générale. _See_ Nouvelle Biographie Générale.
Biographie Medicale, 218, 258, 516
Biographie Nationale, 559
Biographie Universelle, ancienne et moderne. _See_ Michaud, M.
Biographie Universelle et Portative, 233, 277, 293, 330
Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch. _See_ Poggendorff.
Biographischen Lexikon, 513
Biography, Ecclesiastical. _See_ Wordsworth, C.
Bion, Nicolas (1652–1733), 32, 148
Biot, Edouard Constant (1803–1850), 7, 380 (Acad. des Sciences,
Savants Etrangers, Vol. X.).
Biot, Jean Baptiste (1774–1862), “Traité de Physique”; “Traité
élémentaire d’astronomie et de physique.”
Biot and Arago, Biot and Becquerel (Comptes Rendus, 1839, viii,
223).
Biot and Cuvier (Annales de Chimie, Vol. XXXIX. p. 247).
Biot, Faraday and Sarart.
Biot, Oersted, Arago, Ampère, Davy, etc.: Paris, 1822, 93, 139,
141, 157, 195, 247, 273, 275, 276, 277, 279, 284, 313, 349,
376–380, 388, 390, 393, 402, 407, 419, 455, 462, 472, 476,
480
Birch, John (1745–1815), “Della forza dell’ Elettricita ...,” 1778;
“Essay on medical application of electricity,” 1803, 281
Birch, M., “Observations on medical electricity,” 1779–1780.
Birch, Thomas (1705–1766), F.R.S., 131, 132, 175, 183, 195, 272;
on the luminousness of electricity (Phil. Trans. for 1754).
_See_ History of the Royal Society.
Bird, Golding (1814–1854), 325, 426, 498
Biringuccio, V., “Pyrotechnie,” 1572, 553
Birkbeck, George (1776–1841), 458
Bjerregaard, C. H. A., “Sufi interpretations,” 38
Black, John, “An attempt ... electro-chemical theory,” 370
Black, Joseph (1728–1799), 309
Blackborrow--Beckborrow--Peter (_at_ Bond, Henry, A.D. 1637), 118
“Blackwood,” London (_at_ Faraday, Michael), 487
Blæu, G. and J., “Théâtre du Monde,” 1645, 554
Blagden, Sir Charles (1748–1820), “An account of some fiery
meteors,” 1784 (Phil. Trans. LXXIV. Part I.).
Blagrave--Blagrau--John, eminent English mathematician, 94, 95
Blagrave, Joseph (1689), 553; “Traité de la sphère du monde.”
Blake, Professor (_at_ Franklin, Benjamin, A.D. 1752), 197
Blakey, Robert, “History of the philosophy of the mind,” 237
Blanc, Gilbert (_at_ Fowler, Richard, A.D. 1793), 307
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna Hahn-Hahn (1831–1891), “Isis Unveiled,”
9, 10, 12–13, 15, 17, 64, 105, 108, 120, 135, 237, 401, 414,
483, 523
Bloch, Marcus E., “Naturgeschichte der Ausländischen fische,” 1786,
299
Blome’s translation of Descartes’ Philosophy, 133
Blondeau, M. (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van, A.D. 1784), 274
Blondus, Flavius, “Italia Illustrata,” 211
Blondus, Michael Angelo (1497–1560), “De ventis et navigatione,”
58, 211
Bloomfield, Robert, “Norfolk,” 1806, 95
Blount, Sir Thomas Pope, “Censura,” 93
Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich (1752–1840), 327, 331
Blundeville, Thomas (_b._ 1530), 72, 94, 534.
_See_ Dict. Nat. Biogr., 1886, V. 271; “Theoriques of the seven
planets,” 1602; “His exercises ...,” 1606.
Boaz, James (_at_ Pasley, C. W., A.D. 1808), 398
Bobierre, A. (_at_ Davy, Sir Humphry, A.D. 1801), 345
Bocardo, Nuova Encyclopædia Italiana: Torino, 1877, 61
Boccalini, Trajano, Advices from Parnassus, 10
Bochart, Samuel (1599–1667), “Geographia Sacra”: Caen, 1646;
Frankfort, 1681, 5, 523
Boddært, Pierre D. M. (_b._ 1730), “Histoire de la boussole,” 61
Bodies, anti-magnetic, observations on, 387
Bodin, J. (1596), “Universæ naturæ theatrum,” 1596, 553
Bodleian Library at Oxford, xix, 53. This library was founded in
1602 by Sir Thos. Bodley. It is now the largest University
library in the world, and is second in England to the British
Museum Library which was founded in 1753.
Boeckmann, Johann Lorenz (1741–1802), 285, 308, 316, 393, 473
Boehm--Böhme--Behmen--Jacob (1575–1624), 65, 75
Boerhaave, Hermannus (1668–1738), “Biblia naturæ,” _on title page_,
132, 157, 169–170, 202
Bogulawski, Albrecht von (_at_ Beccaria, G. B., A.D. 1753), 208
Bohadasch, J. B., “Dissertatio,” 229, 385
Bohnenberger, Gottlieb Christian (1732–1807), 434
Bohnenberger, Johann Joseph Friedrich von (1765–1831), 364, 433
Boinet, Amedée, xii
Boisgeraud--Boisgerard--Junior (Phil. Mag., LVII. 203), 455–456
Boissardus, Joannes Jacobus (_at_ Barbarus, Hermolaus), 506
Boissier, C. Henri, “Mémoire sur la décomposition de l’eau,” 1801,
229, 329, 330, 375
Boisvallé, Sieur de Vissery de, 268, 269
Bollenatus, Burgundo-Gallus, 1607, 553
Bologna Academy and University, Commentarii, Rendiconto, Memorie
(Transactions), 258, 268, 283, 284, 304, 509
Bologna, “Istituto delle scienze ed arti liberali,” 1745–1748.
Bologna, “Istituto nazionale Italiano,” Memorie, 248
Bologna, Journal Encyclopédique, 237, 275
Bologna, Nuovi Annali delle scienze naturali: Alessandrini,
Bertolini, Gherardi e Ranzani, 30 Vols., 1834–1854.
Bolonian stone, 206. _See_ Canton’s phosphorus.
Bolten, Jochim Frederick, 26, 245
Bolton, Henry Carrington, “Select Bibliography of Chemistry,” 32,
37, 65, 228, 502, 513, 517, 548
Boltzmann, Ludwig (1844–1906) (Sitz. Ber. Akad. Wiss. Math.-Nat.,
Vol. 52), 492
Bombay Magnetic Observatory, 440
Bompass, Charles Carpenter, “Essay on the nature of heat, light and
electricity,” 199
Bonaparte. _See_ Napoleon.
Bonaparte, Joseph, King of Spain, 463
Bonaventura. _See_ Fidanza, John, “Die mysterien und des
magnetischen somnambulismus,” 1856.
Boncompagni--Ludovisi Baldassare (1821–1894), 54. _See_ Bulletino
di Bibliografia.
Boncompagni--Buoncompagni and Vincent, 520
Bond, Henry, “The longitude found.” _See_ Seaman’s Kalender, 1637,
_also_ Phil. Trans. for 1668, 1672, 1673, 118
Bondioli, Pietro Antonio (1765–1808), 308
Bonel, A., Histoire de la telegraphie ...: Paris, 1857.
Bonelli, G., “Télégraphes electro-chimique de Bonelli et Casselli,”
1863, 338
Boniface, the Apostle of Germany (680–754), 553
Bonnefoy, Jean Baptiste, “De l’application de l’électricité à l’art
de guérir,” 299, 385
Bonnejoy, Octave Ernest, “Des applications de l’électricité à la
thérapeutique,” 305
Bonnet, Charles (_at_ Aldini, Giovanni, A.D. 1793), 258, 272, 505
(1720–1793).
Bonnycastle, Charles (1792–1840), 457, 468
Bonon. _See_ Bologna.
Boot--Boodt--Anselme Boèce de (1550–1632), “Gemmarum et lapidum
historia,” 17
Borda, Jean Charles (1733–1799), 76, 249, 266
Bordeaux, Académie Royale des Sciences, 167, 183, 203, 286, 288,
389
Borel, Pierre, M.D. (1620–1689), “Bibliotheca Chimica ...”:
Parisiis, 1654.
Borelli, Giovanni Alfonso (1608–1679), “Applicazione dell’
elettricita alla navigazione,” 1855, 96, 97, 240, 270
Borough--Burrowes--William (1536–1599), “A discourse of the nature
(variation) of the cumpas ...,” 1581, 76, 77, 117
Borsetti, Ferranti Bolani (Ferrante Giovanni), 507, 510
Bos, van den. _See_ Moll.
Boscovitch (Boscovich), Father Roger Joseph--Ruggiero
Giuseppe--(1711–1787), 139, 140, 303, 304
Bossange--Bosange--letter from Liebnitz, 152
Bosscha, J. (_at_ Volta, Alessandro, A.D. 1775), 247
Bossut, Charles. _See_ Histoire, Générale des Mathématiques, 35,
147
Bostock, John (1774–1846), 17, 249, 415, 419, 443; “An account of
the history and present state of galvanism”: London, 1818;
“Outline of the history of the galvanic apparatus, etc.”
Bostock and Riley (_at_ Thales, 600–580 B.C.), 8
Botto, A. (_at_ Mariner’s Compass), 59
Botto, Giuseppe Domenico (1791–1865) (Mém. de Turin for 1843, 1845
and 1851; Botto and Avogadro “Mémoire sur ... les courants
électriques ...”: Turin, 1839).
Bottomley, James Thompson, “Electrometers”: London, 1877 (describes
the quadrant and absolute electrometers of Lord Kelvin).
Boucher, Pierre Joseph (1715–1780), “Recueil des savants
étrangers,” 59
Boudet, Dr., “De l’électricité en médecine,” 229
Boudin, Jean Charles Marie, “Histoire physique et medicale de la
fondre,” 1854, 389
Boué, A. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Bouguer, Pierre, Membre de l’Académie Royale des Sciences and
F.R.S. (1698–1758), “Traité de la navigation,” 1753, 138, 225
Bouguerel, Le Père Joseph (1680–1753), 114
Bouillet, J. Marie Nicolas, 109, 295, 534
Bouillon-Lagrange, Edma Jean Baptiste, Marquis de (1764–1840), 431
Boulanger--Boulenger--Jean, “Traité de la sphère du monde,” 1688,
553
Boulanger--not Boullangère--Nicholas Antoine (1722–1759), 185,
191–192
Boulay, H. de, “Histoire de l’Université de Padone,” 505
Boulger, Demetrius Charles, “History of China,” 2
Bourdonnay, D. (_at_ Coulomb, C. A. de, A.D. 1785), 276
Bourguet (_at_ A.D. 1812, Mr. Donovan), 419
Bourinot, J. G., 32, 115
Boussole--Bussola--Mariner’s Compass. _See_ Azuni, D. A., 1, 22,
55, 60, 69;
Bertelli, T., 57, 72;
Davies, 1; Fincati, 58;
Klaproth, 1, 3, 5, 22 _passim_, 28, 29, 61, 69, 72;
Grimaldi, 61;
McCulloch, 61;
Molinier, 61;
Magliozi, 61;
Morveau, boussole à double aiguille, 233;
Signorelli, P. N., 58;
Venanson, 5, 17. B.C. 1110, p. 3; 1068, p. 4; 1033–975, p. 5;
1022, p. 5. A.D. 121, p. 21; 235, p. 22; 265–419, p. 22; 543,
p. 27; 658, p. 27; 806–820, pp. 27–28; 1067–1148, p. 28;
1111–1117, p. 29; 1190–1210, p. 30; 1204–1220, p. 30; 1207,
p. 31; 1235–1315, p. 31; 1250, p. 33; 1260, p. 43; 1265–1321,
p. 43; 1266, p. 44; 1269, pp. 45–54; 1270, p. 54; 1271–1295,
p. 55; 1282, p. 55; 1302, p. 56; 1327–1377, p. 58;
_résumé_ at pp. 59–61 _passim_.
Bouvier de Jodoigne. _See_ Jodoigne.
Bowditch, Nathaniel (1773–1838), 412, 463
Boyle, Robert (1627–1691), “Mechanical origin ... electricity,”
1675; “Experiments and Notes ...,” 1676; “Experiments and
Observations ...,” 1681; “Philosophical Works ...,” 1725, 7,
113, 125, 130–132, 135, 147, 167, 262
Boze--Böse--Georg Mathias (1710–1761), 166, 169, 179, 182, 185,
203
Boze, Gros de. _See_ Claude.
Bozolus, Joseph (_at_ A.D. 1767), 226–227, 244
Brachet. _See_ Becquerel, A. C., 241, 271
Brackett, C. F., Professor, xii
Brahé, Tycho. _See_ Tycho Brahé.
Bramante, Lazzari (_c._ 1444–1514), 544
Brande, William Thomas (1788–1866), “A Manual of Chemistry”;
“Dictionary of Science ...”; “Dissertatio ...,” 37, 347, 370,
425, 426, 455, 485, 494, 497.
_See_ Quarterly Journal of Science.
Branden, F. J. van den, “Biographisch Woordenbuck,” 518
Brandes, Heinrich Wilhelm (1777–1834), 195, 208, 314
Brandt, Georg (1694–1768), 163
Brandt and Cattenbach, 518
Brannt, W. T., translator of Langbein’s work on the
electro-deposition of metals, 24
Brard, Cyprien Prosper (1788–1838), “Manuel du minéralogiste,” 153,
286
Brasavolus, Antonius Musæ (1500–1570), 26, 506, 525.
_See_ Mazzuchelli, G. M., “Gli Scrittori ...,” Vol. II. Part IV.
pp. 2023–2028; _likewise_ Joëher, C. G., “Allgemeines, Gel.
Lex.,” pp. 1338–1339.
Braun, C. J. H. E. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Braun, J. A. (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van, A.D. 1784), 274
Bravais, Auguste (_b._ 1811), 139
Bray, William (_at_ Boyle, Robert, A.D. 1675), 130
Brayley, E. W. (_at_ Gilbert, William, A.D. 1600), 91
Brechmann, Arrigi (_at_ Gioia, Flavio, A.D. 1302), 56
Breda, Jacob van, 282
Breguet, Louis François Clement (1804–1883); Breguet et
Bétancourt, 318
Breislak, Scipio (1748–1826), _also_ Configliachi, Carlini and
others, 363
Bremmer, Rev. James, 437
Brémond, François de, 555, 559
Brenning, Emil (_at_ Plotinus of Alexandria), 533
Brera, V. L., “Giornale di medicina ...,” 12 Vols.: Padova,
1812–1817, 300, 363
Brescia, Academy and Athenæum. Commentarii del Ateneo di Brescia,
1814–1851, 420
Brescia, Commentarii, dell’ Accademia di Scienze ... del: Mella,
1808.
Breslau Academy, “Miscellanea ... Ephemerides, Academiæ Cæs. Naturæ
Curiosum ...,” 24 Vols. 1670–1706. _Also_ “Ephemerides, Acad.
Cæs. Nat. Curios.,” 5 Vols.: Novimb., 1712–1722; Acta
Physico-medica Acad. Cæs. Leopoldino-Carolinæ, Nat. Cur. ...,
18 Vols.: Novimb., 1727–1791.
Bressy, Joseph (_at_ A.D. 1797), 324, 557
Breton frères (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
Breton, Madame Le, “Hist. et Appl. de l’électricité ...,” 229
Brewer, John Sherren (1810–1879), “Fr. Rogeri Bacon,” 41, 42, 171,
269.
_See_ “Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” 1908, Vol. X. pp. 1202–3.
Brewster, Sir David (1781–1868), 96, 127, 134, 153, 156, 185, 208,
213, 225, 230, 261, 271, 275, 288, 298, 307, 311, 346, 379,
390, 409, 411, 423, 427, 432, 441, 444, 457, 458, 464–467, 471,
479, 480
Brewster, Sir David, and Ferguson, James, “Essays ... astronomy,
electricity ...,” 1823.
Brewster, Sir David, and Robison, John, “A system of mechanical
philosophy ...,” 4 Vols. 1822. Edinburgh Encyclopædia of
Science, 1810–1830; Edinburgh Journal of Science, 1831–1832;
Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, 1819–1824; London and
Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science,
1832–1850; London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine
and Journal of Science, 1851; “Treatise on Magnetism,” 1838;
“Edinb. Encyclop.,” IV. 173; “Encyclop. Britannica,” Vol. XXI.
_See_ Copley Medal, Royal Medal, Rumford Medal.
Brezé, Il Marchese de, 347
Briand, J., 1854 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Bridges, John Henry, Oxford, 1897, 37, 43
“Briefe uber Kalabrien und Sizilien:” Göttingen, 507
Briet, Philippe (1601–1668), “Annales Mundi,” 56, 58
Briggs, Charles F., “The story of the telegraph ...,” 1858, 159
Bright, Charles, son of Edward Brailsford Bright, “Yof Dakar
underground cables ...,” 1893.
Brilhac’s plate electrical machine, 257
Brisson, Dictionnaire de physique, 1781, 556
Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1723–1806), “Dictionnaire raisonné de
physique,” 6 Vols., 1800, 204, 247
Bristol, C. M. F. (_at_ 1773), 240, 556
Bristol Philosophical (Pneumatic) Institution, 343
Britannica Baconica. _See_ Childrey.
British Academy, Proceedings of the, 1905–1906, 54
British Annual, 1, 28, 80
British Association for the advancement of science, London;
originated in 1831. Reports, Journals, etc., 142, 240, 267,
313, 335, 377, 389, 440, 446, 466, 471, 490
British Encyclopædia. _See_ Nicholson.
British Museum, London, 54, 80, 106, 143, 272, 550, 551.
_See_ Bodleian Library.
British Quarterly Review. _See_ Quarterly Review.
Brittain, Alfred, 523, 536
Britton, John (_at_ Gilbert, William, A.D. 1600), 91
Brix, T. W., “Annalen der telegraphie”: Berlin, 1870.
Brockelmann, Carl (_at_ Avempace), 39
“Brockhaus’ Konversations-Lexikon,” F. A. Brockhaus: Berlin,
Leipzig und Wien, 498
Brook, Abraham, electrometer, etc., 231, 281
Brougham, Lord Henry, 262, 457
Broussonet, Pierre Marie Auguste, 192
Brown, J. A., on the aurora borealis, 140
Brown, R., 1692, 553
Browne, G. H. (_at_ Duverney, J. G., A.D. 1700), 148
Browne, Richard (_at_ Arrais, E. D., A.D. 1683), 136
Browne, Sir Thomas (1605–1682), “Pseudodoxia Epidemica,” 1650, 7,
17, 18, 66, 69, 71, 113, 114, 123, 124, 127, 128
Browning, J. (_at_ Ingen-housz, A.D. 1779), 257
Browning, Robert, translator of Æschylus, 3
Brucker, Johann Jacob (1690–1770), “Histoire critique de la
philosophie,” 541.
_See_ Enfield.
Brugmans, Anton (1732–1789), 215, 254, 494
Brugmans, Sebald Justin (_at_ Brugmans, Anton, A.D. 1778), 254–255
Brugnatelli, Gaspare (1795–1852), son of L. V. Brugnatelli. Joined
Configliachi in the editorship of the Giornale di Fisica, 363
Brugnatelli, Luigi Valentino (1761–1818), “Biblioteca fisica
d’Europa”; “Annali di Giornale di Fisica, Chimica ...”;
“Principles”; “Avanzamenti ... Fisica”; “Giornale di Pavia”;
“Grunsätte”; “Giornale fisico-medico ...”; “Notizie ...” (1802,
1805) 247, 248, 258, 282, 284, 292, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298,
303, 306, 329, 330, 337, 350, 361, 362, 363, 383, 393, 394,
408, 419, 424
Brugnatelli, L. V., and Brera, V. L., “Commentarii medici,”
1796–1799.
Brugnatelli, L. V., Brunacci, G., and Configliachi, Pietro,
“Giornale di fisica, chimica e storia naturale.”
Brugsch, Dr. H., founder of “Zeitschrift für Ægyptische Sprache und
Alterthumskunde,” 14
Brumoy, Pierre (1688–1742), “Le théâtre des Grecs,” 4, 7
Brunacci, G. (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Brunet, G., Annuaire des sociétés savantes, 1846.
Brunet, Jean Charles, Manuel du Libraire, 54, 63, 71, 146, 539, 540
Brunetto, Latini (1230–1294), xix, 34, 43, 56, 59, 524
Bruno, Giordano (_at_ Lully, Raymond), 31, 33
Bruno, M. de, “Recherches ... fluida magnétique ...,” 1785, 556
Bruns, V. von (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. M., A.D. 1799), 330
Brussels--Bruxelles--Annales de Physique (_at_ Ampère, A. M., A.D.
1820), 476
Brussels--Bruxelles--Annales de l’Observatoire. _See_ Quetelet,
L. A. J.
Brussels--Bruxelles--Annales Générales des sciences physiques et
naturelles, par Mr. Bory de St. Vincent, 255
Brussels, Royal Academy, Memoirs, etc., 195, 243, 256, 273, 289,
293, 298, 299, 314
Bryant, W. (_at_ Adanson, Michael), 193
Bryant, William Cullen, 6
Brydone, Patrick, 27, 229, 385
Buccio, M., 1812 (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799), 330
Buch, Leopold de (Phil. Mag., Vol. XXIV. p. 244), 393
Buchan, Captain David (1780–1839), 467
Buchmeri, Spec. Acad. Nat. Cur. Hist., 103
Bucholz, Christoph Christian Friedrich (1770–1818), 400
Buddha (_at_ Zoroaster), 541
Budge, 1846 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Bueil College at Angers, 179
Buff, Heinrich (_at_ Brande, W. T., A.D. 1813), 426
Buff, M. (_b._ 1805) (Phil. Mag. N. S., Vol. VII. p. 22), 258
Buffon. _See_ Le Clerc, Georges Louis.
Buisson, F. R., “Précis historique ...,” 305
Bulletin de Géographie, 28, 30
Bulletin de la Société Académique de Laon, 94
Bulletin des sciences mathématiques, astronomiques, physiques et
chimiques. 16 Vols. _See_ Ferussac, André Etienne.
Bulletin des sciences technologiques, 19 Vols.: Paris. _See_
Ferussac, André Etienne (1786–1836).
Bulletin du Bibliophile, 265, 516
Bulletin International de l’electricité: Paris, 1882–1895.
Bulletin of Bibliography for 1905, 138
Bulletino di Bibliografia e di storia delle scienze ... de
Boncompagni, 54, 520
Bulletino Meteorologico dell’ Osservatorio del Collegio Romano ...
e bibliografia.... _See_ Sacchi, Angelo (1818–1878).
Bulletino telegrafico de Regno d’Italia, 1865–1888.
Buniva, Dr. Michele Francisco (_at_ Hunter, John, A.D. 1773), 241.
Burci, 1852 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Burgess, George, translator of Plato’s “Ion,” 13, 15, 20
Burigny, J. L’Evegne de, 518
Burke, Edmund (_at_ Callender, Elisha, A.D. 1808), 400
Burkhardt (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van, A.D. 1784), 273; _also_ (_at_
Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799), 330
Burnet (_at_ Dutrochet, R. J. H., A.D. 1820), 464
Burq, M. V., “Métallo-thérapie,” 1853, 233
Burrough, Stephen, master of the “Serchtrift,” 69, 522
Burstyn, J. P. (_at_ Zamboni, Giuseppe, A.D. 1812), 420
Burton, Dr. William (_at_ Boerhaave, H., A.D. 1743), 170
Busby, Dr. Thomas, translator of Lucretius’ “De rerum natura,” 19
Bushee, J. (_at_ Gay-Lussac, J. L., A.D. 1804), 389
Bussola nautica, origine della. _See_ Collina, A.
Bussy, Antoine Alexandre Brutas, “Manipulations Chimiques,” 1827,
340
Butet, Pierre Roland François, 274, 326, 330
Buti, Francesco da, 57, 63. _See_ Mazzuchelli, G. M., “Gli
Scrittori ...,” Vol. II. Part IV. pp. 2468–2469.
Butler, Alban (_at_ Augustine, St., A.D. 426), 25
Butler, A. J. (_at_ Dante, Alighieri, A.D. 1265–1321), 44
Butler, C. (_at_ Grotius, Hugo), 518
Butler, Samuel (1612–1680), author of “Hudibras,” 99
Butler, William Archer (_at_ Pythagoras), 537
Butschany, Matthias, “Dissert. ex phænom. electricis ...,” 1757,
555
Butterfield’s wonderful collection of loadstones, 159, 175, 402
Buttmann, “Bemerkungen ... des magnetes und des basaltes,” 15
Buys-Ballot. _See_ Ballot, C. H. Buÿs.
Buzzi, F. (_at_ Wilkinson, C. N., A.D. 1783), 270
Byerges, Swedish Count (_at_ A.D. 1266), 45
C
Cabæus, Nicolaus--Cabeo, Nicelo--(1585–1650), “Philosophia
Magnetica,” 1629, 7, 33, 48, 50, 109, 110, 112, 113, 120, 146,
160
Cabot bibliography. _See_ Winship, G. P.
Cabot, Jean (_at_ Cabot, Sebastian, A.D. 1497), 69
Cabot, Sebastian (1474–1557), 65, 68, 69, 115, 521, 522.
_See_ Dict. Nat. Biogr., 1886, VIII. 166–171
Cadet, Jean Marie (1751–1835), 235, 249, 273
Cadozza, Giovanni (1816–1877), “Sulla polarizazione rotatoria ...”
(Giornale dell’ I.R. Istit. Lombardo, 1852, 1853, 1854. _See
also_ Atti. Accad. Sc.: Torino, IV. 729–755, 1869).
Cæsalpinus, Andreas (1519–1603), “De Metallicis,” 17, 501
Cæsar, Caius Julius (102–44 B.C.), “De bello Africano,” 24
Cæsar, Crispus. _See_ Crispus.
Cæsare, Giulio Moderati (_at_ A.D. 1590), 78, 79, 112, 113, 115,
149
Caille, Nicholas Louis de la (1713–1762), 301 (Nouv. Biog. Gén.,
Vol. 28, p. 441).
Caird, Edward, “The social philosophy and religion of Comte,” 533
Calaber, Hannibal Rosetius, 82, 507
Calamai, L. (_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 298
Calamita--calamite--the native magnet, 15, 16
Calandrin (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van, A.D. 1784), 274
Calcagnini, T. G. (_at_ Calcagninus, Cælius), 507
Calcagninus, Cælius (1479–1541), “De re nautica commentatio ...,”
58, 507
Caldani, Floriano (1772–1836), “Riflessioni ... elettricità
animale,” 1792, 303, 326 (Ann. di Chimica di Brugnatelli, VII.
138, 159, 186, 208).
Caldani, Leopoldo Marco Antonio (1725–1813), 148, 303
“Caledonian Mercury,” 296
Callender--Calendar--Elisha, of Boston, 400
Callisen, Adolf Karl Peter (1786), 375, 455;
“Medicinisches Schriftsteller-Lexikon,” 1829–1837.
Callisthenes of Olynthus (_c._ 360–328 B.C.), Greek historian, 543
Calogera--Calogiera--Angelo, “Raccolta d’Opuscoli scientifici ...”;
_also_ “Nuova Raccolta ...,” 140, 308
Caloric and electric fluid, analogy between, Berthelot _at_ 1803.
Calorimotor--Calorimotive force--Hare _at_ A.D. 1819, pp. 446–447;
Pepys _at_ A.D. 1802, p. 373
Camara, Matteo, “Memorie ...”: Salerno, 1876, 57
Cambridge Philosophical Society Transactions, 140, 473, 475
Cambridge University, 129, 212
Camerarius, Joachim (1500–1574), “Vita Melanch ...,” 507
Camillus, Leonardus. _See_ Leonardus.
Camoëne, Luiz de (1524–1579), “Os Lusiades,” 24
Camorano, R., “Compendio de la arte de navegar ...,” 1582.
Campan, John (died _c._ 1300), 54
Campegius, Laurentius (_at_ Arnaldus de Villa Nova), 505
Camper, Pierre (1722–1789), 243, 332
Campi (_at_ Beccaria, G. B., A.D. 1753), 208
Candish--Cavendish--Sir Thomas, 79, 211, 522, 523
Cantapratensis, Thomas, of Louvain, 34
Canterzani, Sebastiano, 304 (Tipaldo, “Biografia,” Vol. VIII. p.
87).
Canton, John (1718–1772), 153, 157, 167, 176, 200, 205–206, 215,
217, 232, 252, 320, 393, 402, 415, 427
Cantoni, G. _See_ “Bibliografia Italiana.”
Canton’s phosphorus, 206, 252, 393, 402
Cantor, Moritz, of Leipzig, 147, 537
Cantu, Cesare (_at_ Volta, Alessandro), 248; (_at_ Romagnesi, G. D.
G. G.), 367
Capella, Martianus Minneus Felix (fl. fifth century A.D.), 505, 518
Capmany y Montpalau, Antonio the elder (1742–1813), “Memorias
historicas,” 60
Capocci (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F., A.D. 1794), 314
Cappanera, Rodolfo, editor of “L’Elettricita,” and “La Natura,” in
Florence and Naples.
Capron, J. Rand, “Auroræ, their characters and spectra”: London,
1879.
Cardanus--Hieronymus (1501–1576), 14, 17, 29, 35, 53, 108, 115,
126, 507, 539; “De subtilitate ...,” 1550, 1611; “De rerum
varietate,” 1556, 1557; “Ars magna-artis magnæ.” _See_
Scaliger, J. C., _also_ Wundt, “Philosophische Studien.”
Cardanus, Giovanni, “De fulgure” in his “Opera Omnia,” 10 Vols.:
Lugd., 1663, 199
Carhart, Dr. Henry S., mentioned at Grotthus, Theodor, A.D. 1805,
391
Carignano, Princess Giuseppina di, 208
Caritat. _See_ Condorcet.
Carl, P., Doctor. _See_ “Repertorium für Physikalische Technik,”
1865; “Repertorium für experimental physik,” 1868–1882.
Carle, P. J. (_at_ Aquinas, St. Thomas), 504
Carli, Gian Rinaldo (1720–1785), “Dissertazione ... bussola
nautica ...,” 1747, 553
Carlini (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Carlisle, Sir Anthony (1769–1840), 270, 335–337, 419, 435
Carlyle, Thomas, “Crit. and Misc. Essays,” 59
Carminati, Prof. Don Bassiano, of Pavia (1750–1830), 246, 249, 254,
285, 303, 393, 555 (Tipaldo, “Biografia,” 1838, Vol. IX. p.
250).
Carmoy, M., 229, 257, 282, 385
Carnarvon, Earl of, translation of Homer’s Odyssey, 6
Carnegie, Andrew, “James Watt,” 190
Carnevale, Antonio Arella, “Storia dell’ elettricità,” 2 Vols.:
Alessandria, 1839, 296
Carney, Michael (_at_ Carpue, J. G. S.), 375
Carnot (_at_ Sömmering, S. T. von, A.D. 1809), 407
Carpentarius, J., 156, 553
Carpenter, Nathaniel (1589–1628), “Geography delineated ...,” 1625,
1635; “Philosophia libera ...,” 1621, 1622, 1636, 1675, 107
Carpi, Dr., of Rome, 423
Carpue, Jean Joseph Constantin (1764–1846), 306, 375
Carradori, Gioachino (1758–1818), 232, 277, 292, 303, 304, 326,
327, 337 _Consult_ “Annali di Chimica di Brugnatelli.”
Cars, chariots, magnetic. _See_ Magnetic cars, _also_ Chariots or
cars.
Carsten. _See_ Karsten.
Cartesius, Cartesian system. _See_ Descartes.
Cartier, J., “Philosophia electrica ad menten ...,” 1756, 555
Carus (_at_ Jacopi, J., A.D. 1810), 409
Casali, G. (_at_ Halley, Edmund, A.D. 1683), 138
Cascades, electricity of, 293
Casiri, Michael (1710–1791), “Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana
Escuraliensis,” 1760–1770, 40, 502, 519, 540
Casselli et Bonelli, Télégraphes electro-chimiques, 338
Cassini de Thury, César François (1714–1788), 266, 268, 301
Cassini family, 117, 132, 141, 142, 144, 147, 148, 157, 168, 268,
315, 450
Cassini, Giovanni Domenico (1625–1712), 142, 144, 268
Cassini, Jacques (James) (1667–1756), 268
Cassini, Jean Jacques Dominique, Comte de (1747–1845), 266–268, 273
Cassius, Larcher. _See_ Larcher.
Castberg, P. A. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799), 330
Castianus (_at_ Porta, A.D. 1558), 74
Castlereagh, Lord (_at_ Wedgwood, Ralph, A.D. 1814), 430
Castor and Pollux, 23
Castro, Ezekiel di, “De igne lambente,” 29
Catalogue Bibl. Publicæ Univers. Lug. Bat., 54
Catalogue of Books and Papers relating to Electricity, Magnetism
... compiled by Sir Francis Ronalds and edited by Alfred J.
Frost: London, 1880. Designated throughout these pages as the
Ronalds’ Catalogue.
Catalogue of books printed in Bibl. Nationale, 102
Catalogue of electrical bodies. _See_ Plot, R.
Catalogue of Latimer Clark Library, xiv
Catalogue of Scientific Papers. _See_ Royal Society.
“Catalogue of Scientific Serials.” _By_ Samuel H. Scudder, 1879,
ix, 548–550
Catalogue of Wheeler Gift to Am. Inst. of Elect. Engineers, 2
Vols., 1909.
Cates, William Leist Readwin (1821–1895), co-operated with Bernard
Bolingbroke Woodward in the publication of the “Dictionary of
General Biography” (3rd ed. 1880), after editing the
“Encyclopædia of Chronology,” 1872. [His brother, Cates, Arthur
(1829–1901), co-operated with Papworth, Wyatt Angelicus Van
Sandau (1822–1894), in the publication of the “Architectural
Dictionary.”
Cathochiles (_at_ Solinus, Caius Julius), 540
Caulfield, James, third earl of Charlemont (1728–1799), 316. (He
wrote on the tellograph, etc.)
Cauxois, Robert Reynault, “The Naturall and Morall Historie of the
East and West Indies,” 1604, 78
Cavaliéri, Buonaventura (_at_ Cassini family), 268
Cavalleri, G. M. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Cavallo, Tiberius (1749–1809), 5, 45, 70, 78, 80, 138, 174, 193,
226, 229, 243–245, 246, 258, 261, 263, 269, 275, 277, 278,
280, 291, 304, 310, 313, 326, 336, 393; “A complete treatise
on electricity ...,” 1777, 1787, 1795, 1802; “Treatise on
magnetism ...,” 1787, 1800; “Elements of natural philosophy
...,” 4 Vols. 1803.
Cavendish, Charles, Lord, 175, 238, 239
Cavendish, Henry (1731–1810), _called_ “the Newton of Chemistry.”
_See_ Maxwell, J. Clerk, “The electrical researches of the Hon.
Henry Cavendish”; _also_ Copley Medal, 185, 199, 206, 207,
216, 218, 223, 231, 238–239, 240, 245, 251, 252, 255, 256,
291, 298, 310, 329, 374, 405, 406, 470, 492
Cavendish, Sir Thomas. _See_ Candish.
Cawthorn, James (_at_ Desaguliers, J. T., A.D. 1739), 167
Caxton, William (_c._ 1422–1491), “Myrrour,” 16
Cazelès, Masars de (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
Cazin, Achille, “Traité théorique des piles ...,” 248
Cecchi, 1691, 554
Cecco d’Ascoli. _See_ Stabili.
Cedrinus, G., “Compend. Hist.,” 18
Celi (_at_ Bertholon de St. Lazare, A.D. 1780–1781), 259
Celier, Léonce, “Histoire des auteurs sacrés ...,” 525
Cellarius (_at_ Columbus, Christopher, A.D. 1492), 67
Cellesius, Fabricius, “De naturali electricitate ...,” 1767, 556
Cellio, Marco Antonio, “De terra magnete ...,” 1692, 554
Celsius, Anders (1701–1744), “Observations of the needle ...,” 157,
168, 191, 232.
_See_ Hjorter.
Censorinus, Roman writer of the third century, A.D., 505
Centralblatt fuer Electrotechnik: Muenchen, 1880–1889.
Cesi, In, “De meteoris dissertatio ...,” 1700, 554
Cespedes, Andres Garcia de, “Reg. de Nav. y Hydr.,” 68
Cézanne, “Le cable transatlantique ...,” 361
Chaignet, Antelme Edouard, 533, 537; “Pythagore et la philosophic
Pythagorienne,” 1873.
Chaldeans, 536
Chales. _See_ Dechalles.
Chalmers, Alexander (1759–1834), “General Biographical Dictionary,”
32 Vols. 1812–1817, 54, 95, 106, 120, 122, 129, 167, 186, 189,
265, 311, 514, 520, 522
Chambers, Ephraim (_d._ 1740), “Cyclopædia, or an Universal
Dictionary of Arts and Sciences”; “Papers for the People”;
“History and Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences of
Paris,” 5, 39, 79, 81, 97, 193, 229, 240, 330, 518, 520
“Chambers’ Journal,” 143
Chambers, Robert (1802–1871), “Cyclopædia of English Literature.”
Chambers, William and Robert, “Descriptive Astronomy,” 142
Champignon, “Etudes physiques ...”; Paris, 1843 (_at_ Mesmer,
F. A., A.D. 1772), 237
Champlin, Samuel (_at_ Lully, Raymond, A.D. 1235–1315), 32
Chancellor of Bavaria, Hervart Johann Georg, 106
Chancellor, Richard (_at_ Cabot, Sebastian, A.D. 1497), 69
Chandos, Duke of (_at_ Desaguliers, J. T., A.D. 1739), 166
Changeux, P. N., 1776, 556
Channing, F. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Channing, Dr. William Francis (_b._ 1820). He published, with Prof.
John Bacon, Jr., Davis’s “Manual of Magnetism” (1841), _also_
“Notes on the medical application of electricity” (1849), 423,
436, 476
Chappe, Claude (1763–1805), 301, 317, 434, 439
Chappe, d’Auteroche, L’Abbé Jean (1722–1769), 301
Chappe, Ignace Urbain Jean (1760–1829), “Histoire de la
télégraphie,” 2 Vols.: Paris, 1824, 301
Chappe, Robillard et Sylvestre, 302, 303, 306
Chaptal, J. A. C., 1778, 556
Chaptal, M., Ministre de l’Intérieur, 360, 361
Charas, Moïse, “Antiquité historique ...,” 14
Charcot (_at_ Mesmer, F. A., A.D. 1772), 237
Chariots _or_ cars, magnetic, 1, 3, 4, 5, 22, 27, 28
Charlant, Johann Ludwig (Choulant), “Handbuch der Bücherkunde,”
519, _also_ “Handbuch ... die Æltere Medicin,” 529
Charlemont, Lord, on the tellograph (_at_ Edgeworth, R. L., A.D.
1794), 317
Charles, Emile, “Roger Bacon,” 43
Charles, Jacques Alexandre César (1746–1823), French physicist and
aeronaut, 204, 247, 288–289, 351, 354, 407
Charles I, King of England, 91, 104, 121
Charles II, King of England, 119, 127, 130
Charles II, King of Naples, 16
Charles IV, of Lorraine (_at_ Leurechon, Jean, A.D. 1628), 109
Charles V, Emperor of Germany and King of Spain, 61, 70, 114, 501
Charleton, Walter--Charlton--(1619–1707), 27, 91, 104, 105, 124,
245, 299; “A ternary of paradoxes ... magnetic cure ...,”
1650; “Disquisitiones duæ chymico-physicæ ...,” 1665;
“Physiologia Epicuro Gassendo, Charltoniana ...,” 1654.
Charlotte, Queen, Consort of George III, 405
Charpignon, Dr. (_at_ Amoretti, Carlo, A.D. 1808), 401
Charton--Edouard--Edmond, “Voyageurs anciens et modernes ...,” 69;
contains an extensive bibliography of Marco Polo.
Charts of the magnetic variation. _See_ Bianco, Andrea, A.D. 1436,
62
Chasles, Michel (1793–1880), French mathematician, 96, 288
(_note_), 333, 351, 354, 386, 521
Chasles, Victor Euphémien Philarète (1798–1873).
Chassang, M. A., “Le merveilleux dans l’antiquité,” 533
Chaucer, Geoffrey (_c._ 1340–1400), 16, 32, 46, 58, 61–62; “The
house of fame”; “Assembly of foules”; “Romaunt of the rose”;
“Treatise on the astrolabe.”
Chaudon, Louis Maïcul (et Delandine), “Dict. Historique Universel,”
20 Vols. 1810–1812, 163, 187, 192
Chauveau, M. A. B. (_at_ Ewing, John, A.D. 1795), 321
Checler. _See_ Wheler, Granville, 154, 155
“Chemical News:” London, 134, 150, 344, 370, 380, 466, 496, 498
Chemical Society: London, 449, 495
Chemische Annalen, von Crell, L. F. F.: Helmstadt, 1784–1803, 250
Chemisches Archiv., von Crell, L. F. F.: Helmstadt und Leipzig,
1783–1794.
Chemisches Journal, von Crell, L. F. F.: Helmstadt, 1778–1781.
Chenevix, Richard (_b._ 1830), 387
Chevalier--Chevallier--Jean Gabriel (1778–1848), 362; “Instruction
sur les paratonnerres”: Paris, 1823.
Chevalier and Henri (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 362
Chevalier, l’Abbé Ulysse Joseph (_b._ 1841), “Repertoire des
sources historiques du moyen-âge”;
“1st part--Bio-Bibliographie,” 401, 540
Chevremont, F. (_at_ Robespierre, F. M. J. I., A.D. 1783), 269
Chevreul, M. E., “De la baguette divinatoire,” 401
Chiaromonti, Scipione, “Anti-Tycho,” 1621, 93
Chicago Meteorological Congress, 321
Chigi, Aleso--Alessandro--“Dell’ elettricità terrestre--atmosferica
dissertazione”: Sienna, 1777.
Children, John George (1777–1852), 338, 372, 402, 419
Childrey, Dr. Joshua (1623–1670), “Britannica Baconica,” 1660, 142,
188
Chilo (fl. fifth century B.C.), 7
Chiminello, Vincenzo (1741–1815; _at_ Toaldo, Giuseppe, A.D. 1778),
253, 254
China--La Chine--B.C. 2637, 1110, 1068, 1022; A.D. 121, 235, 265,
295, 806, 968, 1111, 1327–1377. _See_ Boulger, Davis, Du Halde,
Paleologue, Panthier, Saillant et Nyon, Staunton.
Chinese dictionary, or rather encyclopædia “Poei-wen-yun-fou,” 22
Chinese history, chronological tables of, (_at_ 2637 B.C.), 1
Chinese knowledge of the loadstone, 21
Chinese nation, extraordinary antiquity of, according to Voltaire,
58
Chladni, Ernst Florenz Friedrich (1756–1827), founder of the theory
of acoustics, “Ueber den Ursprung der von Pallas ...,” 1794,
312–315
Chompré, Nicolas Maurice (1750–1825), 390, 391
(Phil. Mag., XXVIII. 59).
_See_ Riffault and Chompré.
Choue-wen, celebrated Chinese dictionary of Hin-tchin, 21
Chrichton, A. _See_ Crichton, A.
Christiana, “Magazin für Naturvidenskaberne,” 29
Christiana, University of, 442
Christie, Samuel Hunter (1784–1865), 335, 432, 427, 458, 460, 465
(Phil. Trans., 1825, 1828, 1833, 1835, and Part II. for 1836).
“Chronicle,” London (_at_ Alexandre, Jean, A.D. 1802), 361
Chronological History of Chemistry. _See_ Bolton, H. C.
Chronological History of Magnetism, Electricity and the Telegraph,
vii, xi, xiv
Chronological Summary of authors _re_ Aurora, 140
Chronological Tables of Chinese History, 2637 B.C.
Chrystal, Professor, mentioned at Ampère, A. M., A.D. 1820, 474
Church of New Jerusalem, founded by Swedenborg, 163
Church of Notre Dame de Chartres, 144, 145 (“Dict. of the wonders
of nature,” pp. 362–366).
Church of Saint Augustine at Arimini, 78, 112, 113, 114
Church of Saint Brides, London, 232
Church of Saint Jean at Aix, 113, 114
Church of Saint John the Baptist at Arimini, 112, 113, 123
Church of Saint Laurence, Rome, 112
Church of Saint Michael th’ Archangel, 210
Church of the Augustines at Mantua, 113
Churchill, Awnsham (_d._ 1728) (Dict. Nat. Biogr. 1887, x, 307),
522
Churchill, Awnsham and John, authors of “A collection of voyages
and travels ...”: London, 1704–1732, 98, 522
Churchman, John (1753–1805), 315; The magnetic Atlas ..., 1790,
1794, 1804.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106–43 B.C.), 2, 8, 43, 529, 532;
“Academica”; “De divinatione.”
“Ciel et Terre,” 61, 92, 321
Cieza de Leon, Pedro de, “The seventeen years travels ...,” 1709,
211
Cigna, Giovanni Francesco (1734–1790). “Analogia magnetismi et
electricitatis,” 224
Cioni e Petrini, 337, 392
Cisternay Dufay. _See_ Dufay--Du Fay, 161
Claridge, Rev. J. T. W., F.R.S., 142
Clark, Latimer (1822–1898), x, xi, xiv, 361, 408, 440, 547
Clarke, Dr. Samuel (1675–1729), translator of Rohaulti’s “Physica,”
160, 129
Classen, Aris (_at_ Schouten, W. C., A.D. 1616), 98
Claude, Gros de Boze (1680–1753), 290
Claudianus, Claudius (fl. _c._ A.D. 365), 11, 14, 18
Clausius, Rudolph Julius Emanuel (1822–1888), 347, 391, 392
Clavius, Christopher (1538–1612), 102, 530
Clayfield (_at_ Tilloch, Alexander, A.D. 1805), 392
Cleasby and Vigfusson’s Dictionary. _See_ Aurora Borealis.
Clement IV, Pope (_at_ Bacon, Roger, A.D. 1254), 41
Clement and Désormes, 376
Clement Mallet, J. J., “Documents ... teleg., elec., magn.,” 1850.
Clement of Alexandria--Clemens Alexandrinus (born _c._ A.D. 150),
520
Cleobolus, born in the island of Rhodes (fl. _c._ 560 B.C.), 7
Cleopatra sent news by wire (?) throughout her kingdom, 12
Cleoxenes, Greek engineer (_at_ Polybius, 200 B.C.), 19
Close, Rev. N. M. (_at_ Hipparchus the Rhodian), 521
Clouet, M. (1751–1801), 372
Clowes, J. (_at_ Swedenborg, Emmanuel, A.D. 1734), 164
Clytemnestra. In Greek legend, the daughter of King Tyndareus and
Leda; wife of Agamemnon, 3
Cochon, Prefect of Vienne (_at_ Alexandre, Jean, A.D. 1802), 361
Codices Palatini Bibliothecæ Vaticanæ, 526
Codrus (_c._ 1060 B.C.), last King of Athens, 4, 5
Coiffier, employs lighting to charge an electric jar, 200
Colardeau (_at_ Coulomb, C. A. de, A.D. 1785), 277
Colepress, Samuel, “Account of some magnetical experiments,” 1667,
273, 554
Colla, Ant. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Colladon, Jean Damel, Professor of Mechanics at Geneva, 244
Collection de mémoires relatifs à la physique, 277, 455, 476
Collège de France, Paris, 114, 117, 132, 263, 376, 471, 476, 482
College of Bueil at Angers, France, 179
College of Surgeons, London, 468
Collegium curiosum, established on plan of the Accademia del
Cimento, 129
Collegium experimentale physico-mechanicum, 147
Collegium experimentale sire curiosum ..., 129, 130
Collenuccio, Pandolfo, “Historiæ Napolitanæ,” 1572; “Compendio ...
regno di Napoli,” 1591, 57, 211
Colles, Christopher (1738–1821), 418
Collin, Antoine (_at_ Garcia d’Orta), 516
Collina--Abbondio--Abondio (1691–1753), 60, 555;
“De acus nautica inventore,” 1747; “Considerazioni ... origine
della bussola nautica ...,” 1748
Collinson, Peter (1693–1768), xiv, 193, 194, 196, 321
Collis, H. M. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Colomiès, Paul (_at_ Montanus, Arias Benedictus), 528
Colonna, Egidius (_c._ 1247–1316), 16
Colonne pendula of Maréchaux, 304
Colsmann (_at_ Reinhold, J. C. L., A.D. 1797–1798), 327
Columbus, Christopher, xx, 24, 32, 34, 65–68, 78, 475, 508, 523,
534, 535
Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus (fl. first century A.D.), 10
Combe, Blanche. _See_ Janin de Combe Blanche, 304, 385
Comines, Philippe de Sieur d’Argentan (1445–1510), “Mémoires,” 537
“Commercial Magazine,” 430
Compass. Early compasses of various kinds are mentioned by Robert
Norman in chapter x. of his “Newe Attractive”; _also_ more
particularly at B.C. 2637, 1110, 1068, 1033–975, 1000–907;
A.D. 121, 265–419, 1067–1148, 1204–1220, 1207, 1235–1315, 1250,
1265–1321, 1266, 1269, 1270, 1282, 1302, 1327–1377, 1775.
_See_ Chambers’ Cyclopædia, Vol. I., _also_ Colina and Diderot’s
“Encyclopédie,” II. 374–379.
Compass card--rose of the winds--rose des vents, 63
Compass plant--_silphium lancinatum_--first introduced into Europe,
259–260
Completa Raccolta d’Opuscoli, 253
Composition of water from its constituent gases, Fourcroy at 1801,
354
Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires, de l’Académie des Sciences: Paris.
_See_ Chambers, Ephraim, x, 1, 29, 93, 139, 140, 142, 195, 241,
258, 316, 318, 321, 329, 337, 359, 380, 389, 407, 423, 436,
440, 464, 475, 476, 481, 483, 495, 521
Comte, Isidore A. M. F. X. (1798–1857), founder of Positivism, 534.
_See_ Lewes, G. H., _also_ Caird, Edward.
Comus. _See_ Le Dru.
Condamine, 165
Condenser of electricity, Cavallo’s, 244; Read’s, 312.
_See_ A.D. 1802, 368
Condorcet, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de
(1734–1794), 190, 264
Conducting power of silk thread and of human hair (_at_ Robison),
311
Configliachi, Pietro (1779–1844), “Giornale di fisica chimica e
storia naturale.” _See_ “Biblioteca fisica d’Europa”;
“Biblioteca Germanica”; “Biblioteca Italiana,” 248, 363, 406,
423, 424
Confucius, 541, 542, 544
Connaissance des temps, la. _See_ Paris.
Connel, A. (_at_ Nicholson, William, A.D. 1800), 337
Connolly, J. (_at_ A.D. 1817), 441–442
Conringius, Hermannus, “De anquitatibus Academicis
dissertationes ...,” 36
Conservation of force (Faraday), 498
Constantine the Great, mentioned at Lactantius, L. C. F., 523
Contact and Chemical theories (Faraday), 490–491
Conti, A. S., on the aurora borealis, 140
Conversations-Lexicon nieuwenhuis wooderbock ...: Leiden. _See_
Konversations.
Cook, Benjamin, of Birmingham, 415
Cook, Captain James (1728–1779), 242, 348, 456
Cooke, Conrad W., 92, 116
Cooke, Sir Thomas William Fothergill (1806–1879), “The electric
telegraph, was it invented by Professor Wheatstone?” (Five
distinct pamphlets were issued under this title in 1854, 1856,
1857 and 1866), 365, 384, 407, 421, 422, 440, 444
Cooke, Sir Thos., and Hamel, T., “Historical account of the
introduction of the galvanic and electro-magnetic telegraph
into England ...”: London, 1859.
Cooper, C. C., “Identities of Light and Heat of Caloric and
Electricity”: Philadelphia, 1848.
Cooper, Charles Henry (1808–1866), “Athenæ Cantabrigienses,” 91, 95
Cooper, M., “Philosophical enquiry ...”: London, 1746.
Coote, C. M., 560
Copenhagen, Academy (University) of Sciences, 157, 158, 249, 366;
“Det Kongelige Norske ...”: Kiobenhaven, 1768–1774; “Det
Kongelige Danske ...”: Kiobenhaven, 1801–1818, 1824, 1826; “Nye
Samling ... selskabs skrifter ...”: Kiobenhaven, 1784.
Copenhagen, Archives du Nord pour la physique et la médecine, 353
Copenhagen, Polytechnic School, 452
Copenhagen Society, “Acta Reg. Soc. Hafniensis,” 4 Vols.: Hafn.
1812, 115
Copernicus, Nicolaus--Koppernik (1472–1543), Copernican, 88, 90,
94, 95, 96, 102, 507–508, 510, 512, 513, 515, 533.
_See_ Wundt, Wilhelm, “Philosophische Studien,” Index, p. 22.
Copley Medal of the Royal Society, London: three to Desaguliers,
two each to Faraday and to Canton, 167, 176, 227, 246, 263,
454, 470, 479, 481. Amongst other recipients of the Copley
Medal are: Stephen Hales, 1739; Sir John Pringle, 1752;
Benjamin Franklin, 1753; John Dollond, 1758; Benjamin Wilson,
1760; Hon. Henry Cavendish, 1766; Count Benjamin Rumford, 1792;
Sir David Brewster, 1815; Alexander von Humboldt, 1852, and
Lord Rayleigh, 1899.
Corday, Charlotte, mentioned at Robespierre, A.D. 1783, 269
Cordier, Henri, mentioned at Marco Polo, A.D. 1271–1295, 55.
_See_ Mandeville.
Cordus, Valerius--Eberwein (1515–1544), 508
Cornelius, Agrippa. _See_ Agrippa.
Cornelius, Gemma. _See_ Gemma.
Cornelius, Tacitus--Caius Publius. _See_ Tacitus.
“Cornhill Magazine,” 208, 227, 330, 413, 481
Corsa, A., “Notizie ... elettro-chimica,” 363
Corsi, Raimondo Maria, mentioned at Ficinus, Marsilio, 515
Cortambert and Gaillard (_at_ Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786), 284
(Mém. de la Soc. médicale d’Emul., I. 232).
Cortez--Cortes--Cortesius--Martinus (died _c._ 1580), “Breve
compendio de la esfera y de la arte de navigar,” 1546; “Breve
compendio de la sphera ...,” 1551; “Arte de navegar,” 1556,
68, 114, 115, 507, 508
Cortez, Fernand, mentioned at Oersted, H. C., 475
Corvisart-Desmarets, Jean Nicolas (1755–1821), “Journal de
Médecine,” 325, 326
Cosa, Juan de la (_d._ 1509), mentioned at Columbus, Christopher,
68.
_See_ Nouv. Biogr. Gén. XII. 17.
Cosmo de Medici, mentioned at Ficino, Marsilio, 514
Cosmos (_at_ Humboldt, Alex. von).
Cosmos, Le, Cosmos les Mondes. _See_ Moigno, L’Abbé F. N. M., 365
Cosnier, Maloet and Darcet, 229, 385.
_See_ Le Dru.
Costa, Fillipe--Felipe--of Mantua, 112
Costa-Saya, Antonio, “Dinamometro magnetico” (Giorn. del Sc.
contemporanea): Messina, 1813.
Costæus--Costa--Joannes, of Lodi (_d._ 1603), 115, 508;
“De universali stirpium natura,” 1578.
Cotena, mentioned at Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802, 363
Cotes, Roger (1682–1716), 315
Cotes, T. (_at_ Leurechon, Jean, A.D. 1628), 109
Cotta, Lazaro Agostino, 527
Cotte, Louis (1740–1815), “Traité de météorologie”; “Table of 134
Auroræ observed in the twelve years, 1768–1779,” 140, 207, 271,
308, 320
Cotugno, Domenico (1736–1822), 274, 331
Coulomb, Charles Augustin de (1736–1806), 156, 157, 215, 220, 225,
247, 254, 275–277, 302, 303, 310, 333, 354, 377, 379, 409, 413,
472, 473, 479, 480, 494
Council of Trent, mentioned at Sarpi--Paulus Venetus, A.D. 1632,
110
Coupé, Jean Marie Louis, “Soirées Littéraires,” 539
_Couronne de tasses_, 247, 351, 363
“Courrier du livre,” 32
Court de Gébelin, Antoine (1725–1784), “Monde Primitif ...,” 9
Vols.: Paris, 1781. Phœnicians credited with a knowledge of
the compass.
Court Journal, London, mentioned at A.D. 1781, 260
Cousin, Victor, “... History of modern philosophy ...,” 33
Cousinot, “De occultis pharmacorum,” 536
Couvier, George, mentioned at Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786, 284–285
Coxe, John Redmond (1773–1864), 435
Cramer, Gabriel, mentioned at Bernoulli, John I, A.D. 1700, 146
Cramer, J. A., mentioned at Dalton, John, A.D. 1793, 308
Cras, Hendrik Constantijn, mentioned at Grotius, Hugo, 517, 518
Crateras, mentioned at Evax-Euace, 513, 514
Crauford and Hunter, mentioned at Marum, M. van, A.D. 1785, 279
Creech, Thomas, translator of Lucretius’ “De rerum natura,” 19, 21,
33
Crell, Lorenz Florenz Friedrich von (1744–1816), 250, 253, 254,
255, 327, 383, 554.
_See_ Chemisches archiv.; Chemisches Journal; Chemische annalen;
“Die neuesten entdeckungen in der chimie”: Leipzig.
Crescentio, Bartolomeo, mentioned at Raymond Lully, A.D. 1235–1315,
32
Creve, Johann Caspar Ignaz Anton (1769–1853), “Phénomènes du
galvanisme” (Beiträge zu Galvanis versuchen ...: Frankfurt und
Leipzig, 1793). _See_ Mém. de la Soc. d’Emulation, I. 236;
“Biographisch-Literärisches Handwörterbuch,” pp. 497–498, 270,
284, 321, 327, 332, 333, 337, 393, 556
Crichton, A., Recueil Périodique de Litt. Med. Etrangère, 206
Crimotel de Tolloy. _See_ Tolloy.
Crispus, Cesar, 523, 524
Crivelli, Joannis, mentioned at Hell, Maximilian, A.D. 1770, 233
Croissant and Thore, 449
Crollius, Oswaldus, “Basilica chimica ...,” 27
Crompton, Dr., mentioned at Newton, Sir Isaac, A.D. 1675, 134
Cronstedt, Axel Frederick von (1722–1765), “Versuch einer
mineralogie ...,” 163, 287
Crookes, Sir William (1832–1919), mentioned at 337–330 B.C., 12
Crosse, Andrew (1784–1855), 178, 201, 248, 320, 434;
experiments in voltaic electricity (Phil. Mag., XLVI. 421, 1815).
Crosse, J. de la, “Memoirs for the ingenious,” 145
Cruger, P., Disputatio de motu magnetis (Poggendorff, I. 501):
Leipzig, 1615.
Cruikshanks, William (1746–1800), on galvanic electricity
(Nicholson’s Journal, IV.), 270, 337
Cruz, Alonzo de Santa. _See_ Santa Cruz.
Cryptographia, by Friderici, 553
Crystal, Professor. _See_ Chrystal.
Ctesias, Ktesias, the Knidian, Greek historian (fl. _c._ 400 B.C.),
9, 10, 196, 541
Ctesibus of Alexandria (fl. _c._ 120, B.C.), 520, 544
Cumming, Prof. James (1777–1861), discoverer of thermo-electric
inversion (Phil. Mag., Series 4, Vol. XXVII.); “Manual of
electro-dynamics,” 1827; “Researches in thermo-electricity”
(Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc., 1827), 472, 473, 475, 477
Cunæus, N., wealthy burgess of Leyden, who, in 1746, independently
made the discovery previously announced by Kleist, 173, 174.
_See_ Ronald’s Catalogue, p. 120.
Curtet, François Antoine, 285, 341
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 259
Curtius, Nicolaus, “Libellus de medicamentis,” 27
Cusa--Cusanus--Nicolas Khrypffs (1401–1464), “Nicolai Cusani de
staticis ...,” 1550, 82, 124, 509, 524
Cuthbertson, John, “Eigenschappen van de elektricität”: Amsterdam,
3 Vols. 1769, 1782, 1793; “Practical electricity and
galvanism”: London, 1807, 1821, 228, 230–231, 264, 265, 277,
280, 326, 337, 342, 375, 393, 419; “... A new method of
increasing the charging capacity of coated electrical jars,
discovered by John Wingfield” (Phil. Mag., XXXVI. 259, 1810).
Cuthel and Martin, mentioned at Aldini, G., A.D. 1793, 306
Cutts, Rev. E. L., mentioned at Gilbert, William, A.D. 1600, 91
Cuvier, Frédéric (1773–1838), 344, 378
Cuvier, Georges Leopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert de (1729–1822),
a brief history of galvanism, 190, 279, 284, 303, 344, 419,
451, 481, 503, 515.
_See_ “Histoire des Sciences Naturelles.”
Cuvier, G. L. C., and Biot, “Sur. l’appareil galvanique”: Paris,
1801.
Cuvillers, Mr. le baron d’Hénin de, mentioned at Mesmer, F. A., 237
Cuyper--Cuypers--C., “Exposé ... des machines électriques ...,”
1778, 387
Cybelè--Kybele--Rhea Cybele or “The great mother of the gods,” 12,
17
Cyclopædia of the Physical Sciences. _See_ Nichols, Professor.
Cyclopædia of the Useful Arts. _See_ Tomlinson, Charles.
Cyclopædic Science. _See_ Pepper, J. H.
Cyrano de Bergerac. _See_ Index of Jal’s Dictionary, p. 1312.
Czynski, mentioned at Copernicus, Nicolaus, 507
D
D’Acosta, José (1539–1600).
Dalance (“D ...”), Joachim, “Traité de l’aiman--l’aimant,” 1687,
1691, 554
Dalembert, Jean Le Rond d’. _See_ Diderot, Denis, _also_
D’Alembert.
Dalibard, Thomas François (1703–1779), 175, 195, 199–201, 320
Dal Negro, Salvatore (1768–1839), “Nuovo metodo ... machine
elettriche,” 1799; Mem. Soc. Ital., xi, xxi; Annal. del Reg.
Lomb.-Veneto, Vols. II., III., IV., V., VIII.).
Dal Rio Giorn., Ital. Letter del, 1805, 392
Dalton, John (1766–1844), 138, 140, 165, 307, 464.
_See_ Royal Medal.
Dampier, William (1652–1715), English navigator, 522
Dana, Dr. J. F. (1793–1827), 452
Dance, Mr. (_at_ Faraday, Michael, A.D. 1821), 497
Dandinus, Hieronymus (_at_ Zahn, F. Joannes, A.D. 1696), 146
Daniell, “Introduction to study of Chem. Phil.,” 491
Danon, P. C. F., “Journal des Savants,” 551
Dante, Alighieri, illustrious Italian poet (1265–1321), author of
the “Divina Commedia,” xix, 36, 40, 43, 44, 57, 60, 504, 524
Dantzig--Dantzic, Dantzik, Danzy--_Memoirs_, appeared under the
caption of “Versuche und Abhandlungen ... in Danzig,” 1754,
161, 168, 169, 170, 172, 174, 175, 185, 186, 187, 189
Danuye, R. (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F., A.D. 1794), 315
Darcet, “Description d’un électromètre,” 1749, 555
Darcet, Jean, Maloet, etc., 229, 235, 385.
_See_ Le Dru.
Darguier and Marcorelle, 308;
Marcorelle communicated many papers, relative to the _déclinaison
de l’aiguille aimantée_, to the Mém. de Mathem. et de Phys.
Vols. II. and IV., and to the Reports of the Toulouse
Académie, Mém. de l’Académie Royale des Sciences de Toulouse,
1st Ser. Vol. III. 1788.
Darmester, James, French author (1849–1894), 451
Dartmouth College, 452
Darwin, Dr. Erasmus, of Lichfield (1731–1802), 213
Daubancourt--Daubencourt. _See_ Larcher.
Daval, Peter (_d._ 1763) (_at_ Watson, William, A.D. 1745), 175
David, King, 5
David the Jew (_at_ Alfarabius), 37.
_See_ Davies and Davis.
Davies, D., “Early history of the mariner’s compass,” 1
Davies, Myles--Miles (1662–1715), “Athenæ Britannicæ ...,” 1716.
Davies, Thomas Stephens (1795–1851), “Researches on terrestrial
magnetism.”
Davis, Daniel, “Manual of Magnetism”; “Medical applications of
electricity,” 1846, 1852, 347
Davis, John, for the Hakluyt Society, 562, 563
Davis, Joseph (_at_ A.D. 1805), 389–390
Davis, Sir John Francis, Bart., “The Chinese; a general description
of the empire,” 1836, 1844, 2 Vols.; “China during the war,”
1853, 1857, 2 Vols.; “La Chine,” 1837, 2 Vols., 1, 22, 23, 29,
30, 43, 54, 56, 61, 259
Davy, Dr. John (1790–1868), 8, 88, 89, 241, 278, 343, 345, 346, 347
Davy, Edward (1806–1885). _See_ sketch of his career and of his
telegraphic inventions in “Electrician,” XII. 196–197, 1884.
Davy, Henry, “Suffolk Collections” (_at_ Blundeville, T., A.D.
1602), 95
Davy, Sir Humphry (1778–1829), 8, 88, 89, 167, 215, 233, 249, 262,
276, 278, 308, 322, 327, 330, 338, 339–347, 350, 356, 364, 369,
372, 373, 380, 381, 386, 389, 390, 392, 393, 394, 395, 416,
419, 423, 425, 426, 440, 443, 454, 456, 466, 472, 476, 478,
482, 496, 497.
_See_ Romagnosi, G. D.; Paris, J. A.; Davy, John; Rumford Medal.
Dazebry, Charles, et Bachelet, Th., “Dictionnaire,” for Le Duc
d’Aumale.
“De Bow’s Review,” 318, 407
Décade Philosophique, littéraire ...: Paris, 1794–1804. Continued
as “La Revue on décade philosophique ...,” and subsequently
incorporated with “Le Mercure de France,” 277, 306
Dechales--Deschales--Claude François, 553.
_See_ Milliet.
Declination, magnetic, first announced in print by Francisco Falero
in 1535, 67–68.
_See also_ 65–66, 71
_Declination or variation_, 76
Decomposition of water. _See_ Electric and galvanic decomposition
of water.
“Dedication of books,” 60
Deffand, Marie de Vichy Chamcoud, Marquise de (1697–1780), 291
Deflagrator of Robert Hare (_at_ A.D. 1819), 447
Deiman, Johann Rudolph (1743–1808), 245.
_See_ Troostwjck.
De La Hire. _See_ La Hire.
De Lambre--Delambre--Jean Baptiste Joseph, Membre de l’lnstitut
(1749–1822), “Rapport historique sur le progrès des sciences
...”; “Abrégé de l’astronomie” ... 1813; “Histoire de
l’astronomie ancienne ...,” 1817; “Histoire de l’astronomie du
moyen-âge ...,” 1819; “Histoire de l’astronomie moderne ...,”
1821; “Histoire de l’astronomie ou 18^e siècle ...,” 1827, 54,
92, 102, 117, 125, 130, 141, 220, 273, 302, 335, 361, 481, 502,
508, 512, 513, 521, 527, 531, 540
Delandine, F. A., et Chaudon, L. M., 192
De Lanis, “Magistinum naturæ et artis,” 1684.
_De Lapide._ Book in which Aristotle is said to have mentioned the
employment of the magnet in navigation, 33, 35
De La Rive. _See_ La Rive, A. A. de.
Delaroche (_at_ Wilkinson, C. H., A.D. 1783), 269
Delaunay, C. F. Veau (1751–1814), “Manuel de l’électricité ...”:
Paris, 1809, 198, 265, 277, 280, 281, 288, 289, 292, 324, 353,
386, 393, 394, 401, 402, 462
Delaunay, Louis (1740–1805), 8, 288; “Lettre sur la tourmaline,”
1782; “Minéralogie des anciens,” 2 Vols. 1803.
Delaval, Edward Hussey (1729–1814), 220
Deleuze, Joseph Philippe François (1753–1835), 237, 425, 481
Delezenne, M., “Expériences ...,” 406, 417
(Extrait des Mém. de la Soc. R. des Sciences ... de Lille,
1844–1845).
Delisle, Romé de, “Essai de cristallographia”: Paris, 1772, 218
Delisle the younger (_at_ Bion, Nicolas, A.D. 1702), 148
Della Bella, Giovannantonio (1730–1823), 275;
according to Lamont (Handbuch; p. 427), Della Bella discovered
before Coulomb the law of magnetic attraction and repulsion.
Delle Chiage, “On the organs of the _torpedo_,” 241, 298, 409
De Lor. _See_ Lor.
De Luc, Jean André. _See_ Luc.
_De Magnete._ _See_ Gilbert, Dr. William.
Demeter--Ceres--goddess of the grain, 13
Demetrius, Phalereus (_c._ 345–283 B.C.), 543
Democritus (born _c._ 470–460 B.C.), 19, 511, 543
Denis, Ferdinand, “Bulletin du Bibliographe,” 516
“Denkschriften der Kön. Akad. ... zu München,” 407
Denmark, Royal Society of, 444
Denys, William (_at_ A.D. 1666), 129.
_Consult_ “Biog. Univ. de Michaud,” Vol. X. p. 439.
Denza, F. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
_De re metallica_--_de Metallicii_--_de Arte Metallica_, by
Agricola, Encelius, Cæsalpinus, Morieni, B. Perez de Vargas,
J. Chas. Famiani, 500–501
Derham, W. (1657–1735), 140, 141, 143, 308, 553
(Phil. Trans. for 1728, 1729–1730); Phil. Exp. and Observations
for 1726.
Derozières (_at_ Ingen-housz, John, A.D. 1779), 257
Desaguliers, Jean Theophile (1683–1744), 166, 174, 175
(Phil. Trans. for the years 1729, 1738, 1739, 1740, 1741, 1742).
Desbordeaux, sur le moyen d’obtenir un courant constant avec la
pile de Wollaston (Comptes Rendus, Vol. XIX. p. 273), 359
Descartes (Cartesius), René du Perron (1596–1650)--Cartesian
system, “Principia philosophiæ”: Amstelodami, 1656, 1664, 8,
90, 103, 109, 114, 122, 129, 133, 152, 213, 360, 520.
_See_ Wundt “Philosophische Studien,” Index, p. 23.
Deschanel’s article on thermo-dynamics, 346
Des Essarts. _See_ Essarts, _also_ Lemoyne.
Desgenettes, Nicolas René Dufriche, Baron (1762–1837), 303
Deshais, Medical electricity. _See_ Sauvages.
Deslandes, André François Boureau (1690–1757), 204
Desmarets, Nicolas (1725–1815), “Expériences ...”: Paris, 1754, 151
Desmortiers, Lebouvier, “Observations sur le danger du galvanisme
...” (Journ. de Physique, 1801, p. 467); “Examen des principaux
systèmes sur la nature du fluide électrique ...”: Paris, 1813,
326, 330
Désormes, C. B., “Expériences ... l’appareil de Volta” (Ann. de
Chimie, XXXVII. 1801, p. 284).
Désormes, Charles Bernard, et Hachette, J. N. P., “Mémoire pour
servir à l’histoire ... qu’on nomme galvanisme” (Ann. de
Chimie, XLIV. 1802); “Doubleurs de l’électricité” (Ann. de
Chimie, XLIX. 1804), 249, 290, 363, 375, 376, 388, 419
Desparquets, “L’électricité appliquée au traitemont des malades,”
1862, 386
Despretz, César Mansuète (1791–1863), 337; “Traité de physique,”
1837 (Comptes Rendus, XXIX. 1849).
Desrousseaux, F., “L’électricité dévoilée ...,” 1868; “Sources de
l’électricité ...,” 1864.
Desruelles (_at_ Zamboni, Giusippe, A.D. 1812), 420
Dessaignes (_at_ A.D. 1811), 415. On phosphorescence (Phil. Mag.,
XXXVII. 3, 1811, and XLIV. 313, 1814).
“Destruction of Destruction,” by Averröes, 38
“Destruction of the philosophers,” by Al Gazel, 38
Des Vignes, Pierre (Petri de Vineis), 15
Derwert, Eugenius (_at_ Heraclides of Pontus and Ecphantus), 519
Detienne (Journ. de Phys., 1775; Scelta d’Opuscoli, XXIV. 1776),
249, 402, 556
Deux, M. (_at_ Cusanus, Nicolas K.), 510
Deux-Ponts-Berigny, L. A., “Observations ...”: Paris, 1856.
Deveria, Charles Théodule (1831–1871), “Le fer et l’aimant ...,”
14, 106
Dezeimers, J. E., “Dictionnaire historique de la médecine,” 105
Dia-magnetic conditions of flame and gases (Phil. Mag., Series IV.,
Vol. 31, pp. 401–421, 1865).
Diamagnetism, 254, 494, 495.
_Consult_ the following: “Abhandl. der Königl. Sachsischen
Gesellschaft der Wiss.”: Göttingen, 1867; “Abhandl. der
Königl. Sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wiss.”: Leipzig, 1852,
1867; Becquerel, Edmond, 495; Brugmans, Anton, 254; Faraday,
Michael, 494–495; Plücker, Julius, 495 (Pogg. Annalen,
LXXII., LXXIII., LXXV., LXXVI.); Oersted (Oversigt over det
Kongl ..., 1847, 1848, 1849); Tyndall, John, 411 (Phil. Mag.,
1851, 1856; Lieber’s Catal., 1865).
Diamilla-Muller, “Physique du Globe”: Torino and Firenze, 1870.
Diana temple at Ephesus, one of the world’s seven wonders, 18
Dias (mentioned at Aëtius, Amidenus, A.D. 450), 27
Dibdin, Thomas Frognall, “Bibliotheca Spenceriana,” 539
Diccionario Universale, Madrid, 1881, 527, 25 Vols., Barcelona,
1877–1899, 528
Dickerson, Dr. (mentioned at Volta, Alessandro, A.D. 1775), 246
Dickinson, Dr. E. N. (mentioned at Schilling, P. L., A.D. 1812),
421
Dictionario Enciclopedico Hispano-Americano.
Dictionary of Arts. _See_ Ure.
Dictionary of Biographical Reference. _See_ Phillips, L. B.
Dictionary of Biography. _See_ Thomas, Joseph.
Dictionary of Electro-Magnetism, 454
Dictionary of Engineering, 362
Dictionary of General Biography. _See_ Cates, W. L. R.
Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Sidney Lee and Leslie
Stephen, ix, 32, 39, 41, 77, 80, 91, 95, 97, 105, 107, 109,
122, 125, 127, 128, 134, 158, 160, 172, 201, 203, 209, 256,
296, 297, 308, 477, 482, 518, 521, 522, 530, 548
Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, by J. M. Baldwin, 32, 39,
40
Dictionary of Science (“Athenæum,” Dec. 1871). _See_ Rodwell, G. F.
Dictionary of Universal Biography. _See_ Maunder.
Dictionnaire, biographique Suédois, 141
Dictionnaire classique d’histoire. _See_ Grégoire, L.
Dictionnaire critique de biographie et d’histoire. _See_ Jal,
Auguste.
Dictionnaire de biographie. _See_ Larousse Grand Dictionnaire
Universel; contains a list of writers on the magnet.
Dictionnaire des sciences médicales, 301, 425
Dictionnaire des sciences philosophiques par une société de
savants, 40, 511, 537
Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, 1911 and
1913, 476, 502
Dictionnaire encyclopédique ... de physique. _See_ Brisson, M. J.
Dictionnaire encyclopédique de la France, Le Bas, Philippe, 192
Dictionnaire encyclopédique des sciences _See_ Grégoire, L.
Dictionnaire général de biographie et d’histoire, 389, 476, 479
Dictionnaire historique de la médecine. _See_ Dezeimers, J. E.,
Eloy, N. F. J.
Dictionnaire historique, le grand. _See_ Moreri, Louis.
Dictionnaire historique-universel. _See_ Chaudon, L. M.
Dictionnaire raisonné. _See_ Diderot, Denis, et D’Alembert, Jean Le
Rond d’.
Dictionnaire technique et pratique d’électricité. _See_ Durant,
George.
Dictionnaire universel. _See_ Chaudon, L. M.
Dictionnaire universel, by Bertrand, Elie (1712–1790).
Dictionnaire universel des contemporains. _See_ Vapereau, G.:
Paris, 1893.
Dictionnarium Britannicum. .... _See_ Bailey, N.
Diderot, Denis (1713–1784), et D’Alembert, Jean Le Rond d’
(1717–1783), editors of “Encyclopédie en Dictionnaire Raisonné
...,” 224
Diego-Alfonso (mentioned at Gama, Vasco de, A.D. 1497), 69
Dieterici--Dietericii--Friedrich, “Die Philosophie der Araber,” 38
Dietrich, P. F. von (mentioned at 600 B.C.), 10
Diez, John (mentioned at Kendall, Abraham), 522
Digby, Sir Kenelme (1603–1665), 7, 83, 90, 121, 160.
_See_ Biogr. Britan., Vol. V. pp. 184–199.
Digges, Thomas, “A prognostication ...,” 1592, 551
Dijon, Lyceum, 386
Dinaux, Arthur Martin-Mathurin, 34
Dingler, J. F. _See_ “Polytechnische Journal.”
Diodorus, surnamed Siculus (fl. in time of Augustus). _See_ Posts,
2, 8, 196
Diogenes Laërtius (_c._ beginning of third century A.D.), 15, 519,
524, 530, 532
Diogenes of Apollonia (fifth century B.C.), “Nat. Quæst.,” 14, 503,
512
Diogenes the Cynic (_c._ 412–323 B.C.), 544
Dionysius Areopagitus, first bishop of Athens.
Dionysius--Dyonisius--of Halicarnassus (died _c._ 7 B.C.), 29, 74
Dioscorides, Pedacius, Greek physician, “De medicinali materia
...,” 1543, 11, 17, 20, 21, 26, 27, 508, 526, 538
Dioskuri, 13
Dip and intensity, laws governing, Biot (1803), 376–380; Gay-Lussac
(1804), 389
_Dip or inclination_, first announced in print by Norman in 1576,
75–76, 266
Dipping needle, 70, 76, 138, 147, 553 (Encycl. Brit., 8th ed., Vol.
XIV. pp. 57, 82–89).
Dircks, Henry, Life of the Marquis of Worcester, 127
Directorium magneticum magneticis, 274
Discharger, universal, of William Henley, 237
Discoveries and experiments made by William Gilbert, 545–546
Dissociation theory (_at_ Grotthus, Theodor, A.D. 1805), 391
Ditton, “Longitude and latitude found ...,” 1710, 553
Divining rod--_virgula divina_--(_at_ Amoretti, Carlo, A.D. 1808),
401
Diwish, Procopius (1696–1765), 209
Dixon, Rev. J. A. (_at_ A.D. 1254), 37; (_at_ Aquinas, St. Thomas),
505
Dobbie, W., 140, 308 (Phil. Mag., LVI. 175, 1820, and LXI. 252,
1823).
Dobelli, F. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Dods, Rev. Marcus, translator of St. Augustine’s “De Civitate Dei,”
25, 26
Dodson, James--Dooson, Jacob. _See_ William Mountaine.
Dodwell, Henry, the elder, 540
Dollond, John (1706–1761), 214. Was awarded Copley Medal in 1758
for the achromatic telescope, although Chester Moor Hall had
anticipated--but “not adequately published”--the invention.
Dollond, Peter (1730–1820), 214
Dolomieu, M., 249
Dominicus, Maria Ferrariensis (Novara) (1464–1514), 510
Donadoni, Charles Antoine, Bishop of Sebenico (1675–1756), 186
Donovan, Michael (_b._ 1790), “On the origin, present state and
progress of galvanism ...,” 1815, 1816, 347, 393, 418, 428
Doppelmayer, Johann Gabriel (1671–1750), “Neuentdeckte ... der
electrischen kraft ...,” 1744
Dormoy (_at_ Ingen-housz, Johan, A.D. 1779), 257
Dorpat Naturwiss. Abhandl., 368
Dorpat parallactic telescope, called _the giant refractor_, 433
Double, F. J. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799), 330
Doublers of electricity (Bennet, Desonnes, Hachette, Read,
Ronalds), 290, 336.
_Likewise_ the revolving doubler invented by Nicholson, 336
Douglas, Robert (_at_ Cassini, J. J. D., A.D. 1782–1791,) 267
Dove, Heinrich Wilhelm (1803–1879), 71, 292, 296, 321, 354, 380;
“Über elektricität”: Berlin, 1848; Poggendorff, Annalen, XIII.,
XX., XXVIII., XXIX., XXXV., XLIII., XLIV., XLIX., LII., LIV.,
LVI., LXIV., LXXII., LXXXVII.; “Repertorium der physik,” 7
Vols. 1837–1849, published in conjunction with Meser, Ludwig.
_See_ the Repertorium der physik, Vol. V. p. 152, for
“Literatur des magnetismus und der elektricität,” 1844.
Downie, Master of H.M.S. “Glory,” 292, 457
Drake, Sir Francis, xiv, 211, 522, 523
Drane, Augusta Th., “Christian schools and scholars,” 34, 37, 40,
42, 504, 525
Drant, Archdeacon Thomas, xix
Drebble, Cornelius (1572–1634), 553; “De natura elementorum ...”:
Hamburg, 1621.
Dredge, James (1840–1906), “Electric Illumination”: London,
1882–1885, 225, 347, 433, 481, 499
Dreyer, John Louis Emil, “Tycho Brahé ...,” 92, 93, 541
Drills, magnetism of, Ballard (Phil. Trans. for 1698, p. 417).
Drinkwater, John Elliot, “Life of Galileo,” 116
Drissler, Henry, Classical studies in honour of, 1894, 36, 37, 542
Dropsy, J. (mentioned at Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Drummond, Dr. (_at_ Walsh, John, A.D. 1773), 239
Drummond, T., “On meteoric stones” (Phil. Mag., XLVIII. 28, 1816).
Dryden, John (1631–1700), 91
Dublin Quarterly Journal of Science, 6 Vols. 1861–1866.
Dublin, Trinity College, 344
Du Bois-Reymond, Emile H. (_b._ 1818), 335, 413, 420
Du Boulay, César Egasse, “Historia Universitatis Parisiensis,”
1665–1673, 39
Du Boys, Pierre (_at_ Lynschoten, Jan Hugo van), 526
Ducretet, E. (_at_ Mauduyt, A. R., A.D. 1781), 264
Dudley, Sir Robert (1573[-1649), “Dell’ Arcano del Mare di Roberto
Dudleio, Duca di Nortumbria e conte di Warwick,” 522, 523
Dudoyon (_at_ Aldini, Giovanni, A.D. 1793), 305
Due, Christian, and Hansteen, Christopher, “Resultate magnetischen
...,” 1863, 445
Dufay--Du Fay--Charles François de Cisternay (1698–1739), “Histoire
de l’électricité,” 1733, 1734, 1737; “On Grey’s experiments,”
1737 (Phil. Trans. (abridged) VIII. 393; Phil. Trans.
(unabridged) XXXVIII. 1735; Mém. de l’Acad. de Paris for 1733,
1734, 1737; Dantzig, Memoire, I. 226, 1737), 161–162, 181, 196,
218, 224, 263, 356, 419, 472
Du Fresnel (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799), 330
Dufresnoy, André Ignace Joseph (1733–1801), 523
Duhalde--Du Halde--Jean Baptiste (1674–1743), “Description de
l’empire de la chine,” 1738, 1, 2, 3
Du Hamel, Henri Louis du Monceau (1700–1782), 190, 191, 206, 217;
“Façon singulière d’aimanter ...” (Mém. de Paris, 1745, Hist. p.
1, Mém. 181). _See also_ Mém. de Paris, 1750, Hist. p. 1,
Mém. 154; 1771, Hist. p. 32; 1772, Mém. p. 44.
Du Hamel, Jean Baptiste (1624–1706), 235, 299;
“Philosophia vetus et nova ...,” 4 Vols. (_also_ 6 Vols.), 1678,
1681, 1700; “Hist. Acad. Reg. Paris.”
Duillier. _See_ Fatio--Facio--Faccio--de Duillier, “Lettre à
Cassini ...”: Amsterdam, 1686.
Duke of Sussex (_at_ Ampère, A. M., A.D. 1820), 476
Du Lasque, compass needles, 235
Dulong, Pierre Louis (1785–1838), 389, 482
Dumas, Charles Louis (1765–1813), 325; “De magnetismo animali
... Judicium medicum,” 1790
Dumas, Jean Baptiste (1800–1884), 496.
_See_ Cates, “Dictionary,” p. 1504; “Rapport ... en faveur de
l’auteur des applications les plus utiles de la pile de Volta
...”: Paris, 1864.
Du Moncel, Th. (_b._ 1821), 209, 245, 318, 407, 414, 423, 440, 449,
476, 499;
“Exposé des applications de l’électricité ...,” 1853, 1854, 1857,
1862; “Coup d’œil ... des applications ... de l’électricité,”
1855; “Notice historique ... sur le tonnerre et les éclairs
...,” 1857; “Recherches sur l’électricité ...,” 1861 (Comptes
Rendus, XXXIV. 1852; XXXVI. 1853; XXXVII. 1853; XXXIX. 1854;
Annales télégraphiques, Vol. III. p. 465, 1861, _also_ for
May and June, 1863); Du Moncel was editor of the Journal “La
Science.”
Dumont, Georges, “Annales d’électricité et de magnetisme”: Paris,
1889–1890.
Duncan, A., “Medical cases ...”: Edinburgh, 1778, 229
Duncker, Professor Max, “History of Antiquity,” 7
Duns Scotus, John, _Doctor Subtilis_ (_c._ 1270–1308), 36, 40, 41.
_See_ Joannes ab Incarnatione and Joannes de Colonia.
Du Perron, Anquetil, “Zend Avesta,” 542
Du Petit, Albert, “Secrets merveilleux ...,” 1718, 554
Dupin, André M. J. J., “Bibliothéque des auteurs écclesiastiques,”
525
Dupin, Charles, “Essai historique ...,” 329
Dupotet--Du Potet--de Senneroy, J. Baron, “Manuel ...,” 237
Duprez, François Joseph Ferdinand (_b._ 1807), 195, 196, 292, 319,
416
Dupuis, Charles François (1742–1809), 254, 264
Dupuis. _See_ Puteanus Guilielmus, “De medicamentorum ...,” 1552,
536
Dupuytren, C. (_at_ Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786), 285
Duquesne, Jean, “Li livres don Trésor,” xix
Durant, Georges, “Dictionnaire technique et pratique
d’électricité”: Paris, 1887–1889, 347
Dureau, A., et Moreau, E. Lemoine, Paris, 1868, “Des poissons
électriques....”
Dutens, Louis (1730–1812), “Abrégé chronologique pour servir à
l’histoire de la physique”; “Recherches sur l’origine des
découvertes ...,” 2 Vols. 1766, 1796, 10
Dutertre, P., “Des aurores et de quelques autres météores”: Le
Mans, 1822, 308
Dutour--Du Tour--Etienne François (1711–1784), 170, 183, 214,
273, 426;
Discours sur l’aimant (Acad. de Paris, V., Mém. II. p. 49);
(Mém. de Mathém. et de Phys. I. 375; II. 246, 516; III. 233,
244); “Recherches sur les différents mouvements de la matière
électrique.”
Dutour--Du Tour--Grégoire, on the aurora borealis, 140
Dutrochet, René Joachim Henri (1776--1847), 463;
“Nouvelles recherches sur l’endosmose et l’exosmose”: Paris,
1828. _See_ also Burnet, “On the motion of sap in plants.
Researches of Dutrochet ...” (Phil. Mag. or Annals, V. 389,
1829).
Duverney, Joseph Guichard (1648–1730), 148
Duvernier (mentioned at A.D. 1785), 282
Dwight, Professor R. H. W., 222
Dwight, S. E. (Phil. Mag. or Annals, III. 74, 1828).
Dyckhoff, “Expériences sur l’activité d’une pile de Volta ...,”
387–388, 420
(Journal de Chimie de Van Mons, No. XI. p. 190).
E
Eames, John, _also_ Eames and Martyn. _See_ Royal Society.
Eandi, Antonio Maria. _See_ Vassalli-Eandi.
Eandi, Giuseppe Antonio Francesco Geronimo (1735–1799), 294
“Earth, a great magnet,” 82 (Gilbert), 92 (Fleming), 92 (Mayer),
145 (De la Hire), 101 (Bacon).
Eastwick (_at_ Cruikshanks, Wm.), 338
Eberhart, Prof., of Halle (_at_ Aurora Borealis), 138
Ebulides of Miletus, Greek philosopher (fl. fourth century B.C.),
543
Ecclesiastical Biography. _See_ Wordsworth, C.
Echard J. _See_ Quétif and Echard.
Ecclesiastical History. _See_ Rohrbacher.
_Echeneis_, or sucking fish, magnetic powers of, 299
Ecole de Médecine: Paris, 351
Ecole Normale: Paris, 353
Ecole Polytechnique: Paris, 195, 338, 351, 354, 375, 376, 462, 471,
477
Edelmann (_at_ Zamboni, G., A.D. 1812), 420
Edelrantz, Chevalier A. N., Swedish savant, 398, 399
Eden, Richarde, 46, 509
Edgeworth, Maria, 316
Edgeworth, Richard Lovell (1744–1817), 316
Edinburgh Encyclopædia, Sir David Brewster, 18 Vols. 1810–1830, 40,
147, 170, 289, 304, 318, 413, 449, 466
Edinburgh Journal of Science. _See_ Philosophical Magazine.
Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, 393
Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, 255, 290, 347, 359, 414, 420, 429,
440, 444, 446, 459, 460, 465, 477, 480, 482, 498
Edinburgh Review--Magazine, 102, 296, 299, 335, 389, 395, 466, 469,
518
Edinburgh Royal Society--Transactions, Proceedings, etc., 225, 296,
297, 306, 309, 311, 423, 433, 465, 466, 467, 469, 470, 477, 482
Edinburgh University, 61, 227, 296, 396, 428, 466
Edison, Thomas A., xi
Edrisi--Idrisi--Aldrisi, Abou-Abd-ben-Edris al Hamondi (fl. A.D.
1099), the most eminent of Arabian geographers, 59, 61
Edward I, King of England, 32
Edward III, King of England, 15, 58
Eeles--Eales--Major Henry, of Lismore (1700–1781), 211, 318, 319,
418
Effemeridi Chim. Med. di Milano, 1807 (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V.),
363
Egeling, J., “Disq. phys. de electricitate,” 1759, 555
Egenoff--Egénolphe--Christian (1519–1598), German writer, 508
Egyptians (geometry), 536
Einhoff (Gilbert Ann., XII. p. 230), 326
Eisenlohr, Wilhelm (1799–1872), “Lehrbuch der Physik ...,”:
Mannheim, 1836.
Eleatic School, masters of the, 532, 543.
_See_ Parmenides.
Electric acid, 362
Electric and chemical forces, identity of (_at_ Oersted, H. C.),
453
Electric and galvanic decomposition of water; methods, various
apparatus, etc.: Marum, 1785; Pearson, 1797; Wollaston, 1801;
Van Proostwjck, 1789; Wilkinson, 1783; Nicholson and Carlisle,
1807; Gautherot, 1801; Creve, 1783; Brugnatelli, 1802;
Trommsdorff, 1801; Corradori in 1804; Pacchiani in 1804;
Cuthbertson in 1806; Alemanni in 1807; Rossi and Michelotti in
1811; Fresnel in 1820; Mollet in 1821–1823; Hare in 1839; Grove
in 1847; Palmieri in 1844; Callan, N. J., in 1854 (Phil. Mag.,
Feb. 1854).
Electric and galvanic fluids, identity of, 363
Electric and galvanic fluids, not identical, Humboldt, F. H. Alex.
van, “Expériences ...,” 1799.
Electric and magnetic bodies, difference between (Gilbert), 85
Electric and magnetic cures: Aétius _at_ A.D. 450, Wesley, 1759;
Molenier, etc., 1768; Mesmer, 1772; Bolten, etc., 1775;
Wilkinson, 1783; Adams, 1785; Perkins, 1798; Jadelot, 1799;
Humboldt, 1799.
Electric and magnetic fluids: Coulomb, 1785.
Electric and magnetic forces, analogy between, Swinden (_at_ 1784),
272;
Ritter (_at_ 1803–1805), 383
Electric and magnetic forces of attraction and repulsion, analogies
between. _See_ Huebner, L.
Electric and nervous fluids, identity of, Valli, 302–303
Electric arc, first displayed by Sir Humphry Davy, 341
Electric atmospheres, investigated by Æpinus and Wilcke, 215
Electric fishes. _See_ more especially the following A.D. entries:
Scribonius, 50;
Cavendish, 1772; Adanson, 1751; Redi, 1678; Hunter, 1773;
S’Gravesande, 1774; Bancroft, 1769; Walsh, 1773; Spallanzani,
1780; Wilkinson (Galvani, Berlinghieri, Fontana and others),
1785; Vassalli-Eandi, 1790; Merula, 1791; Ingen-housz, 1779;
Shaw (Réaumur, Schilling, Musschenbroek and others), 1791;
Ewing, 1795; Humboldt, 1799; Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 1803;
Matteucci (Bibl. Univ. de Genève, November 1837), Zantedeschi
(Bull. Acad. Brux., VIII. 1841). _See also_ Aristotle, 341
B.C., and consult separate heads, like _gymnotus_,
_tetraodon_, _malapterus_, _raia_, _silurus_, _scolopendra_,
_trichirus_ _torpedo_, etc.
Electric fluid and caloric, analogy between, 386
Electric fluid composed of three beams (_at_ Bressy, J., A.D.
1797), 323
Electric fluid in medical practice, Lovett, etc., 212–213, 229,
281, 295
Electric fluid, its relation to vegetation, 282
Electric, galvanic and magnetic theories. _See_ Theories.
“Electric Light,” Journal of electric lighting ...: London,
1882–1883.
Electric light, nature and origin of (_at_ A.D. 1803, Biot), 379
Electric lighting, historical retrospect. _See_ Jamin, Jules
Célestin (1818–1886) in the “Revue des deux mondes,” Ser. III.
Vol. 26, pp. 281–303; “Journal of the Franklin Institute,” Ser.
III. Vol. 75, pp. 403–409; Dredge, James, “Electric
Illumination.”
Electric machine, its development from the time of von Guericke,
126
Electric photometry, Masson in 1845, 1847, 1850, 1851.
Electric smelting: Marum, M. van, “Beschriving ...” 1785–1787.
Electric spark, influence of form and of substance upon it (_at_
A.D. 1793), 212
Electric telegraph, history of the: Reynaud in 1851; Highton, 1852;
Jones, 1852; House, 1853; Michaud, 1853; Bonel, 1857; Briggs
and Maverick, 1858; Prescott, 1859; Lambert, 1862; Fahie, 1884.
“Electric telegraph and railway review”: London, 1870.
Electric telegraphs: Morrison, C. M., 1753; Comus, 1762; Lullin,
1766; Bozolus, 1767; Volta, 1775; Le Sage, 1774; Don Gualtier,
1781; Linguet, 1782; Lomond, 1787; Barthélémy, 1788; Reveroni,
St. Cyr., 1790; Chappe, 1792; Reusser, 1794; Beckmann, 1794;
Salva, 1795; Monge, 1798; Berton, 1798; Alexandre, 1802;
Sömmering, 1809; Schweigger, 1811; Schilling, 1812; Sharpe,
1813; Wedgwood, 1814; Coxe, 1816; Ronalds, 1816; Ampère, 1820.
For additional and more modern telegraphs, _see_ “Electric
telegraph, history of the.”
Electrical accumulator, Ritter _at_ 1803–1805.
Electrical air thermometer, Kinnersley, 221
Electrical and magnetical analogy, denied by Swinden, J. H. van,
272
Electrical and magnetical publications (additional), published up
to the year 1800, 552–555
Electrical attraction law, similar to that of gravity (_at_
Robison), 310
Electrical condenser, Cavallo _at_ 1775.
Electrical conductors, pointed form, preference for, 243, 250–252
Electrical decomposition of salts: Murray in 1821, Matteucci in
1830, Brande in 1831.
Electrical distribution and equilibrium, theory of: Jäger (A.D.
1802), 363;
Prechtl (A.D. 1810), 407
Electrical doubler, Rev. Abraham Bennet, 1787, 280
“Electrical Engineer,” publication commenced in London, also in
New York, during the year 1882.
“Electrical Industries,” publication commenced in Chicago during
1889.
Electrical machines: Ramsden, 1768; Dollond, 1761; Holtz, 1864;
Mason, 1771; Priestley (at Hooper), 1774; Heintze, 1777;
Ingen-housz, 1779; Nairne, 1782; Sigaud de la Fond, 1785;
St. Amand, 1785; Van Marum, 1785; Mann, 1787; Ribright, 1788;
Ronalds, 1816; Hare, 1823 and 1827; Ridolfi, 1824; Dakin, 1830;
Dal Negro, 1834; Eton, 1841; Fizeau, 1853; Magrini, 1858.
“Electrical Magazine,” publication commenced in London during 1843.
Electrical measures. _See_ Ampère, A. M.
“Electrical News and Telegraphical Reporter:” London, 1875.
Electrical Resistance, absolute limit of. History of the subject by
Rowland, Henry Augustus (1848–1901) in Am. Jour. Sc., Ser. III.
Vol. 15, pp. 281, 325, 430, 1878.
“Electrical Review:” London, 180, 428
“Electrical Review and Western Electrician:” New York and Chicago,
222, 223
Electrical Society, London, Transactions, Proceedings, etc., 299
Electrical Units. _See_ Nipher, François Eugène.
“Electrical World:” New York, vii, xi, xiv
“Electrician,” publication commenced in London during 1876, 269
Electricians, Lives of the, by Jeans, Wm. T., 1887.
“Electricien, L’,” publication commenced in Paris during 1881.
“Electricité, L’,” publication commenced by Armengaud Jeune during
1876.
Electricities, the two, theories of Dufay, 161, 196;
Grey, 161, _also_ 153–155;
Franklin, 196;
Watson, 196, _also_ 175–177;
Wilcke, 215; Æpinus, 217;
Symmer, 219;
Tossetti, G. B., “Nuova macchina ... della due elettricità ...,”
n. d.; Zantedeschi, F., “De la differénce ... des deux
électricités” (Comptes Rendus, XXXV. 1852).
Electricity--electricities. Both terms first used by Browne, Sir
Thomas (1605–1682), in “Pseudodoxia Epidemica ...,” 1646. The
name _electricity_ appears for the second time in Helmont’s “A
ternary ...,” 1650.
Electricity absorbed by bodies when reduced to vapour (_at_
Laplace), 461
Electricity, agencies of, 364
Electricity, analogy between ordinary and voltaic, 489
“Electricity and Electrical Engineering:” London, 1890, etc.;
Freke, John, 1752; Turner, Robert, 1746; Martin, Benj., 1746.
Electricity and galvanism explained on the mechanical theory of
matter and motion (_at_ A.D. 1820), 464
Electricity and galvanism, identity of, 356
Electricity and galvanism, medical efficacy of (_at_
Thillaye-Platel), 384, 385
Electricity and light, analogy between, Marianini in 1862.
Electricity and lightning, analogy between. _See_ articles on
Franklin and Nollet.
Electricity and magnetism, identity of, affinity, analogy,
connection, between them: Cigna, 1759; Æpinus, 1759; Hubner,
1780; Hemmer, 1781; Swinden, 1784; Cavallo, 1787; Wollaston,
1801; Robertson, 1801; Volta, 1802 and 1814; Ritter, 1801;
Cumming, 1822.
Electricity and magnetism in medical practice (Thillaye-Platel _at_
A.D. 1803), 384–386
Electricity and nervous fluids, identity of, 302
Electricity and phosphorescence, relation between (_at_ Dessaignes,
A.D. 1811), 415
Electricity and thunder, analogy between, Mazeas in 1752.
Electricity, animal, Achard, 1781; Cotugno, 1784; Valli, 1792;
Brugnatelli, 1792; Berlinghieri, 1792; Fontana, 1793; Fowler,
1793; Wells, 1795; Rheinhold, etc., 1797; Robison (Fowler),
1793–1797; Coulomb, 1798; Davy, 1800; Lehot, 1801; Hemmer,
1799.
Electricity, atmospheric, 195, 206, 258, 293, 319–321, 416, 428,
429;
theories as to its origin (_at_ Ewing, J.), 319; Lullin, 1766;
Beccaria, 1775; Gallitzin, 1775; Saussure, 1783; Bertholon,
1786; Read, 1794; De Lor, 1752; Schübler, 1811; Murray, 1814;
Adams, “Essay ...,” 1784; Gardini, 1784; Experiments by
leading investigators, 319;
Biot, 377–378
Electricity, compounds of magnetism and caloric (_at_ Ridolfi), 482
Electricity, condenser of, Cavallo, 244
Electricity destroyed by flame, 170
Electricity developed in flame, 426
Electricity developed in minerals by friction, 287
Electricity distribution upon the surfaces of bodies (Coulomb), 275
Electricity, effects of upon decapitated bodies, 295, 305
Electricity, ever present in the atmosphere, 177
Electricity, fire, heat, light, caloric, phlogiston, identity of
(_at_ A.D. 1802), 359
Electricity, first English printed book on the subject, “Origin ...
of electricity,” by Robt. Boyle, 1675, 130–132
Electricity, first Latin printed book on the subject, _De Magnete_,
by Wm. Gilbert, 82–92
Electricity, first step in the storage of, 348
Electricity, galvanic, in medical practice, 325
Electricity, galvanic, its influence on minerals (Guyton de
Morveau), 233; history of, Sue, Pierre aîné, 1802 and 1805,
361;
Gregory, George, 1796, 323–324;
Heidmann, J. A., 1806, 393.
_See also_ Bostock, John; Delaunay, Claude Veau; Donovan,
Michael; Guette, J. C.; Izarn, G.; Jones, William; Lusson,
F.; Mangin, L’Abbé; Secondat, 131;
Trommsdorff, J. B.; Schaub, J.; Wilkinson, C. H.; likewise _at_
A.D. 1812, pp. 418–420, for a sketch of the history of
galvanism divided into three periods.
Electricity in amber: Thales (Theophrastus, Solinus, Priscian,
Pliny), B.C. 600–580.
Electricity in minerals by friction, Haüy, 1787, 286
Electricity _in vacuo_, Eandi (1790), 294; Nollet (1746), 182
Electricity, its resemblance to thunder and lightning, 152
Electricity, light, heat of caloric; identities of. _See_ Cooper,
C. C., 1848.
Electricity, magnetism, galvanism, history of, Mangin in 1752;
Priestley in 1767–1794; Sigaud de la Fond in 1781; Du Fay in
1733–1737; Schaub in 1802; Sue in 1802–1805; Delaunay in 1809;
Bywater in 1810; Donovan in 1815; La Rive in 1833; Arebla in
1839; Holdat de Lys in 1849–1850; Milani in 1853; Noad,
1855–1857; Becquerel in 1858.
Electricity, mechanical, origin or production of, by Boyle, 131,
132
Electricity, medical, history of, Guitard in 1854; Toutain, 1870;
Krunitz-Kirtz, 1787;
La Beaume, “Remarks ...,” 1820, 384–386
Electricity, multiplier of, Cavallo in 1755, 244; Hare in 1839,
446–449
Electricity, new theories of (at Eandi), 294
Electricity not evolved by evaporation (_at_ Laplace), 461
Electricity of cascades, 293; Tralles (Schübler, Gustav; Belli,
Giuseppe; Becquerel, A. C.; Wilde, F. S.), 1790, 293;
Bressy, 1797.
Electricity of flame, Matteucci in 1854.
Electricity of human body, most complete series of experiments
known, 285, 329
Electricity of ice, Achard, 1781.
Electricity of metals and minerals, Æpinus, 1759; Delaval, 1760;
Guyton de Morveau, 1771; Brugmans, 1778; Bertholon, 1780; Haüy,
1787; Libes, Wollaston and Huyghens, 1801; Ure, 1811.
Electricity of meteors, Bertholon, 1780.
Electricity of plants. _See_ Plant electricity.
Electricity of sifted powders, 290, 431
Electricity of vapours, Canali, Luigi (1759–1841), “Questions ...,”
1795.
Electricity of vegetable bodies, Ingen-housz, etc., 1779;
Bertholon, 1780; Saussure, 1784; Morgan, etc., 1785; Read,
1794; Dutrochet, 1820.
Electricity, origin of. _See_ Akin, C. K.
Electricity, _plus_ and _minus_, Franklin, 1752; Nollet (Mém. de
Paris, 1753 and 1762); Adams, 1785.
Electricity produced by pressure, 353, 379.
_See_ Press electricity.
Electricity, second English book published, 167
Electricity, second Latin printed book on the subject, _Philosophia
Magnetica_, by Nicolas Cabæus, 109–110
Electricity, storage of, Gautherot, 1801.
Electricity, theories of. _See_ Theories.
Electricity, voltaic and galvanic, identity of (Volta, Aless.,
“L’identita del fluids ...”: Pavia, 1814.
Electricity, voltaic, first employed for the transmission of
signals, 406
Electricity, voltaic, first suggestion as to its chemical origin,
329
Electrification of plates of air (in same way as plates of glass),
205 (_at_ Canton, 1753), 215;
(_at_ Wilcke, 1757), 217;
(_at_ Æpinus, 1759).
Electrification of plates of ice (in same way as plates of glass),
221 (_at_ Bergman, 1760–1762).
Electrified air, Cavallo, 278
Electro-balistic chronograph.... Le Boulangé in 1864; Navez in
1859.
Electro-capillary phenomena ... endosmosis and exosmosis ... 1st,
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th Memoirs of Becquerel, A. C.,
in Mém. Acad. des Sc. Institut de France, Vol. XXXVI. 1870.
Electro-chemical decompositions, theory of (_at_ A.D. 1805), 390,
488–489
Electro-chemical exposition of compound bodies, theory of, Davy,
1800; Berzelius, 1802; Grotthus, 1805.
Electro-chemical telegraph, the first, 407
Electro-chemistry, Keir, J., 1791; Faraday, Michael, 1821;
Hartmann, E. F., in 1838; Christophle, C., in 1851.
Electro-chronograph, Locke in 1850.
Electro-dynamic qualities of metals. _See_ Thomson, Sir William.
Electro-dynamics, Ampère, 472, 474;
Weber, W. E., Leipzig, 1846, 1850, 1852, 1857, 1863–1871.
Electrolytes, decomposition of, Renault in 1867.
Electrolytic dissociation theory, Grotthus in 1805.
Electrolytic separation of metals, Zosimus, 425
Electro-magnetic brake, invented by Achard, 1781, 263
Electro-magnetic multiplier, Schweigger, 413, 414; Poggendorff in
1811.
Electro-magnetic rotations, first produced by Wollaston in 1801,
358, 478, 493
Electro-magnetic telegraph. _See_ Turnbull, L., _also_ Vail,
Alfred.
Electro-magnetism, founder of, Oersted, 1820, 452, 472, 474;
Romagnesi, 1802; Ampère, 1820; Faraday, 1821.
Electro-magnetism, history of its progress, by Michael Faraday,
483
Electro-magnetismus. This term appears for the first time in
Kircher’s “Magnes sive ...,” 1641.
Electro-metallurgy, Grimelli, G., “Elettro-metallurgia ...,” 1844;
“Storia scientifica ... elettro-metallurgia ...,” 1844; Watt,
A., “Electro-metallurgy practically treated ...”: London, 1860.
Electrometers and Electroscopes of different kinds mentioned by
Cuthbertson (_at_ Lane, A.D. 1767), 228;
Henley, _quadrant_, also of Priestley, 1767, 1772, 228, 237;
Lane, _discharging_, 1767, 228, 282;
Cuthbertson, _balance_, 1769, 230;
Brook, _quantitative_, 1769, 231;
Tralles, _atmospheric_, 1790, 293;
Forster, _atmospheric_, 1815, 434;
Richman in 1753; Cavallo in 1777; Volta’s condensing electroscope
described in his “Del Modo ...,” 1782; Bennet, gold-leaf
electroscope, 1787, 289;
Singer, 1814, 430;
De Luc in 1819; Hare in 1821, 448;
Zamboni in 1833, _see_ 420;
Perego, Antonio (Comment. Ateneo di Brescia for 1842, p. 77);
electroscopes, capillary (Proc. Roy. Soc., Vol. 32, pp.
85–103, 1880). Others are: Cavallo, A.D. 1775; Saussure,
1785; Blanch, 1793; Arnim, 1799; Walker, 1813; Bohnenberger,
1815; Oersted, 1840; Harris, W. S. (hydro-electrometer),
1820, 469; Faraday (Volta-electrometer), 1821, 489;
Roussilhe, L., in 1857; Collardeau, 277;
Coulomb, 1785, 275;
Ronalds, 440, 470;
Lord Kelvin. _See_ Bottomley, J. P.
Electro-micrometer of Delaunay, 277
Electro-micrometer of Maréchaux, 395
Electron (amber), 8, 10
Electrophorus, Electrophori of various descriptions, and theories
of (_at_ Ingen-housz, A.D. 1779; Volta, 1775; Æpinus, 1759);
Robertson, 1801; Wilcke, 1757; Lichtenberg, 1777 (double
electrophorus); Kraft, 1909; Jacotot, 1804; Eynard, 1804;
Phillips in 1833, 360, 402;
Landriani (Ronalds’ Catalogue, p. 285), 249, 274
Electrophorus, perpetual, 386, 387
Electroplating, Brugnatelli, 1802.
Electro-positive and electro-negative substances, generalization
of, 369
Electroscopes. _See_ Electrometers and Electroscopes.
Electro-static capacity of glass, Hopkinson, John (Proc. Roy. Soc.,
Vol. 31, pp. 148–149, 1880).
Electro-statics, founder of, Coulomb, 1785, 473;
Volpicelli, P., numerous works thereon, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855,
1856, 1858–1865.
Electro-therapeutics, technique of, Walther, Ph. F., “Ueber die
therapeutische ...,” 1803. _Consult also_ Martens, F. H.,
“Vollstaendige ...,” 1803; Reinhold, J. C. L., “Geschichte
...,” 1803; and Kratzenstein, C. G., “Physikalische ...,” 1772.
“Elektrotechniker, Der,” publication commenced in Vienna during
1882.
“Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift,” publication commenced in Berlin
during 1880.
Elements, invisible transfer at a distance, by Grotthus and by
Hisinger and Berzelius, 419
Elephantine island, on the Upper Nile, 12
“Elettricita (L’),” publication commenced by Rodolfo Cappanera in
Florence during 1877.
Eleusinian mysteries, 543
Elice, Fernandino (_b._ 1786), “Saggio sull’ Elettricità,” 256, 299
Elien, Claudius Ælianus Sophista (died _c._ A.D. 260), 518
Elizabeth, Queen of England (1533–1603), 80, 91, 211
Ellicott, John (1706–1772), 175, 185, 202
Ellis, George E. (“Memoir of Sir Benj. Thompson”), 371
Ellsworth, H. L. (_at_ Callender, E., 1808), 400
Ellwert, J. K. P. von, Repertorium für Chemie ...: Hannover and
Leipzig.
Elmo’s fire. _See_ Saint Elmo’s fire.
Eloy, Nicholas François Joseph, “Dictionnaire historique de la
médecine,” 4 Vols., Mons, 1778, 27, 37, 40, 65, 105, 114, 186,
202, 501, 502, 505, 508, 509, 512, 525, 537, 538
Elster, J., and Geitel, H., “Zusammenstellung ... atmosphärische
elektricität,” 321
Elvius, Petrus, “Historisk berättelse ...,” 1746, 555.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 122
Empedocles, native of Sicily (fl. _c._ 460–442 B.C.), 503, 511,
532, 543, 544.
_See_ Wundt, “Philosophische Studien,” Index, p. 25.
Emporium of Arts and Sciences, Philadelphia, 19, 78, 149, 231, 302,
322, 436
Encelius--Entzelt--Christoph (_d._ 1583), 501; “De re metallica,”
1551.
Enciso, Martin Fernandez de, “Summa de Geographia,” 68
Encyclopædia Americana, 392, 513
Encyclopædia Britannica (different editions), 5, 10, 11, 17, 27,
29, 34, 38, 39, 42, 43, 55, 65, 71, 72, 75, 94, 96, 97, 102,
103, 105, 113, 121, 122, 127, 132, 134, 143, 144, 145, 146,
147, 148, 157, 166, 170, 192, 193, 200, 202, 203, 208, 212,
213, 214, 218, 220, 221, 225, 227, 230, 231, 232, 236, 240,
245, 249, 250, 253, 254, 263, 265, 269, 270, 271, 274, 275,
277, 278, 282, 285, 286, 287, 290, 292, 296, 297, 301, 307,
308, 309, 311, 312, 313, 315, 328, 329, 335, 336, 337, 345,
347, 348, 354, 373, 378, 379, 380, 383, 387, 388, 389, 399,
404, 409, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 418, 423, 425, 247, 430,
431, 433, 434, 438, 440, 441, 442, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448,
451, 454, 457, 458, 462, 464, 465, 466, 468, 469, 470, 471,
476, 478, 479, 480, 483, 489, 492, 497, 498, 511, 514, 521,
522, 526, 532, 533.
First edition was published, in 3 Vols., 1768–1771, and the
eleventh edition, in 29 Vols., 1910–1911. The Index issued by
the Cambridge University Press, 1911, and the Indexes to the
Catalogue of the Wheeler Gift, have served as a guide for the
Index to this Bibliographical History, which will be found to
embrace all names of individuals and of publications likely
to prove of service to the general reader. It must be
conceded that “the value of any Index depends to a large
extent on the fulness of its cross-references,” and it will
be seen that our own Index has not only been made upon an
unusually extensive scale, but that the new “encyclopædic
system of alphabetization” has likewise been closely followed
along the lines adopted by the publishers of the Eleventh
“Britannica,” wherever found practicable.
Encyclopædia Italiana. _See_ Bocardo.
Encyclopædia Mancuniensis.... _See_ Hodson, F. M.
Encyclopædia Metropolitana, 1, 11, 20, 22, 29, 30, 54, 76, 148,
195, 322, 330, 336, 347, 353, 355, 359, 370, 375, 379, 380,
383, 403, 418, 427, 446, 447, 455, 456, 458, 460, 476, 481
Encyclopædia of Chronology. _See_ Cates, W. L. R.
Encyclopædia of Useful Arts. _See_ Tomlinson, Charles.
Encyclopädie der elekt. Wissenschaften.... _See_ Hartmann, J. F.
Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire Raisonné: Genève, 1772. _See_ Diderot,
D., and D’Alembert, J. Le R.
Endosmosis and Exosmosis, Dutrochet, 1820, 463; Porret (_at_ 1816),
440.
_For_ Endosmose et Osmose, _consult_ Table analytique des Annales
de Ch. et de Phys., Index, pp. 183, 282–283 (Napier, Chem.
Soc. Mem. and Proc., Vol. III.). _See_ Electro-capillary
phenomena.
Enfield, William (1741–1797), “The history of philosophy,” drawn
up from Johann Jacob Brucker’s Historia Critica Philosophiæ,
1742–1767, 5, 17, 37, 43, 115
“Engineer,” The London, 263
“Engineering,” The, London, vii, xiv, 92, 116, 225, 263, 347
“English Cyclopædia,” Charles Knight: London, 1854–1870, 18, 22,
33, 39, 40, 54, 55, 61, 67, 76, 79, 81, 93, 103, 113, 116, 117,
122, 127, 144, 147, 152, 163, 201, 221, 251, 256, 264, 296,
302, 313, 315, 317, 322, 329, 337, 348, 395, 404, 412, 438,
440, 446, 455, 462, 470, 471, 483, 503, 505, 508, 515, 532,
533, 538, 541
“English Mechanic and World of Science,” publication commenced in
London during 1865.
English Poets, “Biographica Poetica,” 62
Enneads of Plotinus, 534
Ennemoser, Joseph, “History of Magic,” 13, 14, 17, 18, 26, 65, 75,
106, 502
Ens, Gaspar, “Thaumaturgus Mathematicus,” 125
Entzelt. _See_ Encelius.
Ephémérides Météorologiques, 288, 320
Ephemerides of the Lecture Society, Genoa, 361
Ephemerides. _See_ Effemeridi, Breslau Academy.
Epicharmus, Greek poet (_b._ at Cos, 540 B.C.), 544
Epicurus, Greek philosopher (342–270 B.C.), 14, 544
Epiphanius (_c._ A.D. 315–403), “De Gemmis,” 17
Epitome of Electricity and Magnetism, by Green and Hazard,
Philadelphia, 103, 162, 303
Er, M. (_at_ Galvani, A.), “Physiologische Darstellung ...,” 284
Erasmus, Reinholdus (1511–1553), 510, 512
Erastus, Thomas--Thomas Lieber (1524–1583), 513, “Disputationem de
medicina.”
Eratosthenes, native of Cyrene (_at_ Hipparchus), 521
Erdmann, Otto Linné, “Journal für praktische chemie”; “Lehrbuch der
chemie.” _See_ Scherer, A. N., _also_ Nürnberg, 494
Erdmon, Richter and Lamballe (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 386
Erfurt University--Erfurt, Academia Moguntina Scientiarum, 352
Ergänzungs--Conversations-lexikon, 498
Erigena, Joannes Scotus--“Scotigena” (_d._ A.D. 875). _See_ Monroe,
Cyclopædia, Vol. II. pp. 496–497, _also_ “Biogr. Britan.,” Vol.
V. pp. 597–600; “Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” 1897, Vol. LI. p. 115.
Erman, Paul (1764–1851), 248, 249, 285, 352, 384, 395, 414, 419,
426, 431, 476
Ersch, Johann Samuel, and Gruber, Johann Gottfried, “Allgemeine
Encyklopædie der Wissenschaften ...”: Leipzig, 1818, etc., 312
Ersch, Johann Samuel, “Handbuch ...”: Amsterdam, 1813, and Leipzig,
1822–1840, 353
Erxleben, Johann Christian Polykarp, “Physikalisch-chemische
abhandlungen,” 1776; “Physikalische-Bibliotek,” 250, 258
Eschenbach, Andreas Christian of Nuremberg (1663–1705), 554.
_See_ Orpheus.
Eschenmayer, Carl Adolf von (1770–1852), 326
Essarts, Le Moyne des, Nicholas Toussaint, “Siècles Littéraires,”
190
Essay on electricity ... discoveries of James Daevin and C. M. F.
Bristol, 1773, 556
Essays in historical chemistry. _See_ Thorpe, T. E.
Etenaud, Alfred, “La télégraphie électrique,” 292
Ether. _See_ Æther.
Etiolle, J. Leroy d’, “Sur l’emploi du galvanisme,” 330
Etiro, Parthenio (_at_ Aquinas, St. Thomas), 505
Etruscan theurgism, founder of. _See_ Tarchon.
Etruscans, the, 8–10
Etten. _See_ Van Etten.
Ettinghausen, Andreas von, and Baumgartner, Andreas, “Zeitschrift
für physik und mathematik,” 422
Ettinghausen, Andreas von (1796–1878). _See_ “Zeitschrift für
physik und mathematik,” 422
Euclid of Megara, Greek mathematician (fl. third century B.C.), 40,
102, 328, 506, 531, 540, 541, 543
Eudiometer--_eüdio-s_ (clear)--instrument for testing purity of
air. The best known eudiometers are those of: Berthollet,
Claude Louis (1748–1822), Annales de chimie, XXXIV. 78;
Davy, Humphry (1778–1829), Philos. Mag., XXXI. 3, 347;
Hope, Professor, at Edinburgh ... Nicholson’s Journ., 8vo., IV.
210;
Morveau, L. B. Guyton de (1737–1816), Nicholson’s Journ., 4to.,
I. 268; Pepys, W. H., Phil. Trans. for 1807 and Phil. Mag.,
XXIX, 372;
Priestley, Jos. (1733–1804), Scelta d’Opuscoli, 12 mo., XXXIV.
65;
Volta, Alessandro (1745–1827), Nicholson’s Journ., XXV. 154,
and Annali di chimica di Brugnatelli, II. 161, III. 36;
(Gay-Lussac), 389. Others, by John Dalton, Mr. Seguin, Andrew Ure
(418); Hare, etc., can be found in the “Eléments de Chimie
Pratique” of P. J. Macquer. _Consult likewise_ Hegeman in
1829, Hauch in 1793, and Ernst Gottfried Fisher in 1807.
Eudoxus of Cnidus, Asia Minor (fl. _c._ 370 B.C.), 533
Euler, Albert, 214
Euler, Johann Albrecht (1734–1800), 273, 360
Euler, Leonhard (1707–1783), 141, 200, 213–214.
_Consult_ Euler, J. A., Frisi, Paul, and Béraud, Laurent,
“Dissertationes selectæ ... electricitatis causa et theoria
...”: Petropoli et Lucæ, 1757; _also_ Euler, Bernoulli and
Dutour, “Pièces des prix de l’Acad. de Paris,” 1748.
Eunapius, Greek historian (_b._ A.D. 347), “The lives of the
Sophists,” 531
Euripides (_c._ 480–406 B.C.), “Fragmenta Euripidiis,” the third
of the three celebrated Greek tragedians in point of time, the
others being Æschylus and Sophocles, 13, 15, 503
Eustachi--Eustachio--Bartolomeo (_d._ 1574), author of “Tabulæ
Anatomicæ,” 514
Eustathius, Archbishop of Thessalonica (_d._ 1198), 29
Evax--Euace--King of the Arabs, 512–513, 525.
_See_ “Notes and Queries,” 2nd Ser. VIII. 401.
Evax, name of a black crystal, according to Paracelsus, 64
Evelyn, John, “Diary,” 130, 131
Ewing, John (1732–1802), 299, 319–321
Exner, Franz, “Ueber die Ursache ...”; “Repertorium der Physik,”
321
“Experimental Researches” of Michael Faraday, viii, xiii, 483–499
Eyck, S. S. (_at_ Oersted, H. C.), 455
Eydam, Immanuel (1802–1847), “Die Erscheinungen der Elektrizitaet
und des Magnetismus ...”: Weimar, 1843.
Eymerici, Nicolas (1320–1399), 32
Eynard, M. (_at_ Ingen-housz, J.), 249, 257
F
Faber, Father, “Palladium chemicum,” 29
Fabré-Palaprat, Father B. R., 330, 385
Fabricius--Fabrizio--Girolamo (1537–1619), Italian anatomist,
successor of Fallopius at Pisa University.
Fabricius, Hildanus, 1641, “Observationum,” 147, 554
Fabricius, Johann Albertus, German scholar (1644–1729),
“Bibliotheca latina,” 1697, 39;
“Bibliotheca ecclesiastica,” 1718; “Bibliotheca græca,”
1705–1728, 34, 39, 503, 520, 529, 531, 532, 533
Fabricius, Wilhelm von Hilden, “Observations ...,” 147
Fabroni--Fabbroni--Angelo, “Vitæ Italorum doctrina excellentium,”
20 Vols. 1778–1805; “Elogi d’Illustriæ Italiani,” 51, 113, 117,
253
Fabroni--Fabbroni--Giovanni Valentino M. (1752–1822), “Dell’ azione
chimica dei metalli ...,” 1801 (Ann. di Chim. di Brugnatelli,
XXI. 277), 327, 329–330, 393, 419, 490
Facciolati, Jacopo (_at_ Montanus, Joannes Baptista), 529
Faculté de Médecine. _See_ Paris.
Faculté des Sciences. _See_ Paris.
Fahie, John Joseph, “History of Electric Telegraphy to the year
1837”; “History of Wireless Telegraphy, 1838–1899”; “Emporium
of Arts and Sciences,” x, 11, 20, 22, 78, 82, 129, 145, 148,
208, 248, 284, 292, 318, 322, 338, 349, 355, 361, 365, 367,
376, 384, 390, 406, 407, 415, 421, 424, 429, 430, 438, 453,
455, 459, 470, 471, 475, 476, 479
Fahlberg, Samuel (1755–1836), “Beskrifning ofver elektriska alen
gymnotus electricus” (Vetensk Acad. Nyr. Handl., 1794, 1801),
230, 299
Fairfax, Edward, “Godefroy de Boulogne,” 58
Fajdiga. _See_ Romich.
Falconer, William, “Observations on the knowledge of the ancients
respecting electricity” (Mem. Soc. of Manchester, III. 278),
10, 16, 24
Falconet, Camille (1671–1762), “Dissert. historique et critique,”
16, 21
Falero--Faleiro--Francisco (sixteenth century, _at_ Columbus,
Christopher, A.D. 1492), 67.
In his Tratado del esphera, 1565, is given the first printed
record of magnetic declination.
Falero, Ruy, astronomer, 67
Fallopius, Gabriellus (1523–1562), 27, 82, 514
Faniani, J. Charles, “De arte metallica,” 502
Fant, Charles, “L’Image du Monde ...,” 35
Fantis, Antonius de, of Treviso, “Tabula generalis ...,” 1530, 53
Fantonelli--Fantanelli (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Faraday, Michael (1791–1867), vii, ix, xi, xiii, 14, 167, 183, 184,
195, 230, 247, 267, 297, 323, 344, 357, 358, 370, 374, 380,
381, 383, 388, 389, 391, 392, 416, 420, 426, 430, 437, 450,
452, 472, 475, 479, 483–499
Farmer, Moses Gerrish (1820–1893; mentioned at A.D. 1771), 234
Farquharson, Rev. James, 140, 308
Farrar, Frederick William (1831–1903), “The early days of
Christianity,” 2 Vols. 1882; “The life of lives,” 1899.
Farrar, John (Mem. Amer. Acad. O. S. 1818), “Elements of
electricity and magnetism” (_also_ of electro-magnetism,
_likewise_ of electro-dynamics), 1826, 1839, 1842, 238, 292,
324, 348, 376, 379, 389, 411, 415, 420, 458
Farrington, Dr. Oliver C. (mentioned at Chladni, E. F. F., A.D.
1794), 315
Fatio de Duiller, Nicolas, “Lettre ... lumière extraordinaire,”
1686, 141
Faure, G., “Conghietture ... machina elettrica ...,” 1747, 555
Fayol, “Observations sur un effet singulier ...,” 1759, 555
Fazio degli Uberti. _See_ Uberti.
Fearnley, C., and Hansteen, C., 446
Féburier (_at_ Ingen-housz, J., A.D. 1779), 257
Fech, Louis Antoine Lozeran du (_d._ 1755), 167, 183
Fechner, Gustav Theodor (1801–1887), “Repertorium (_also_ Lehrbuch)
der experimental physik ...”: Leipzig, 1832; “Handbuch der
dynamischen elekt ...”: Leipzig, 1824, 421, 422
Féraut, Raimont, 16
Ferchius (_at_ Duns Scotus).
Ferdinand, King of Sicily, 539
Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1610–1670), 135
Ferguson, Adam (1723–1816), University of Edinburgh, 296
Ferguson, James (1710–1776), 232;
“An introduction to electricity,” 1770, 1775, 1778, 1825.
Ferguson, James, and Brewster, Sir David, “Essays ...
electricity ...,” 1823, 466
Ferguson, John, “Bibliotheca chemica,” 2 Vols. 1906.
Ferguson, R. M., “Electricity,” 1866, 30
Fernel--Fernelius--Joannes Franciscus (1497–1558), 17, 169, 514
Ferrari. _See_ Resti-Ferrari, _also_ Zamboni, G.
Ferrario (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Ferrer, Don Jaime (_d._ first half sixteenth century), _at_ Lully,
Raymond, 32.
_See_ Mosen, Jayme Ferrer de Blanco.
Ferussac, André Etienne Baron de (1786–1836), 19, 449;
“Bulletin des sciences mathématiques,” 16 Vols.; “Bulletin des
sciences technologiques,” 19 Vols.
Fessenden, T. G. (_at_ Perkins, B. D., A.D. 1798), 328
Feuillée, L. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Ficino, Marsilio--Marsiglio (1433–1499), 108, 115, 514–515
Fidanza, Giovanni, known as Bonaventura (1221–1274), 38, 39, 42
Figueyredo, Manuel de Andrade de, chorographer (1568–1630), 165
Figuier, Louis Guillaume (_b._ 1819), “Exposition et histoire des
principales découvertes scientifiques et modernes,” 3 Vols.:
Paris, 1855, 1857; “L’année scientifique et industrielle,” 2
Vols.: Paris, 1859; “L’alchimie et les alchimistes”: Paris,
1860, 32, 42, 126, 226, 280, 304, 306, 307, 364, 367, 371, 380,
388, 389, 400, 403, 407, 432, 443, 449, 455, 491, 506, 520
Fincati, Admiral Luigi, “Il magnete ... e la bussola”: Rome, 1878,
58, 63
Finugius, Hieronimus (_at_ Gilbert, Wm., A.D. 1600), 53
Fire beacons and signals: B.C. 1084, 588, 200; A.D. 232–290.
Firenze, Atti della Reg. Soc. Economica, 330
Firmas. _See_ Hombre-Firmas.
Fischer, Ernest Gottfried (1754–1831), “Beschreibung d. Volta’
schen Eudiometers,” 1807; “Über den Ursprung der
Meteorsteine,” 1820.
Fischer, J. C., “Geschichte der physik ...,” 8 Vols.: Göttingen,
1801–1808, 55
Fischer, Joseph, of Beldkirch, 535
Fisher, George, “Magnetical experiments ...” (1794–1873), 467
Fisher, George Thomas (1722–1847), 467
Fisher, Kuno (_at_ Bacon, Sir Francis, A.D. 1620), 103
Fisher, Richard, 565
Fishes, electrical. _See_ Electrical fishes.
Fiske, John (1842–1901), “Discovery of America,” 535
Fitton, William Henry (1780–1861), 359
Flagg, H. C., Observations on the ... torporific eel (Trans. Amer.
Phil. Soc., O. S. II. 170) 1786, 299
Flamsteed, John (1646–1719), the first English Astronomer Royal,
130, 145
Fleming, J. A., xi, 92
Fletcher, Francis (_at_ Kendall, Abraham), 523
Fletcher, L., “An introduction to the study of meteorites,” 1896.
Fletcher, William (_at_ Lactantius, L. C. F.), 524
Fleury, Claude (1640–1723), “Hist. Ecclesiastique,” 39, 525, 541
(the Ecclesiastical History from A.D. 400 to A.D. 456).
Flinders, Matthew (1774–1814), 348, 457
Flint, Robert, “History of the philosophy of history”: Edinburgh,
1893, etc.
Flint, Stamford Rapples, “Mudge Memoirs”: Truro, 1883, 203
Florence--Firenze--Academy, 159, 329
Florence--Firenze. _See_ Accademia del Cimento.
Flores, Don Lazare de, “Art de naviguer,” 165
Flourens, Marie Jean Pierre (_b._ 1794), 389
Fludd, Robert--Robertus de Fluctibus (1574–1637), 65, 245, 554
Foggo (Edinb. Journ. Sc., IV.), 417
Fogliani, Giornal (_at_ Volta, Alessandro, A.D. 1775), 248
Fo-hi, the first great Chinese Emperor, 2
Foissac, Dr. (_at_ Deleuze, J. F. F., A.D. 1813), 425
Folic, Mr. de la (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van, A.D. 1784) (Journ. de
Phys., 1774), 274
Folkes, Martin (1690–1754), 175, 181, 183
Fond. _See_ Sigaud de la Fond.
Fonda, “Sopra la maniera ...,” 1770, 253
Fonseca, Ludovicus, “Journal,” 105, 245
Fonseca, Vicente, Archbishop of Goa, 525
Fontaine, Hippolyte, 454
Fontana, Felice (1730–1805), 235, 270, 284, 303–304, 305, 306, 327,
393, 419, 556
Fontana, Gregorio, “Disquisitiones physico-mathematicæ ...,” 1780,
290
Fontancourt, Sygerus de, 45
Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier--Bouyer--de (1657–1737), 162, 170
Fontenelle, Julia. _See_ Julia-Fontenelle.
Fonvielle, W. de, “Eclairs et Tonnerre,” 199
Foote, A. E. (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F., A.D. 1794), 315
Foppens, John Francis (1689–1761), “Bibliotheca Belgica,” 517
Forbes, James David (_b._ 1809), 288, 454, 461, 477;
“History of natural philosophy”; “Review of the progress of
mathematical and physical science.”
Forbes, P., “On the application of electro-magnetism as a motive
power ...”(Annals of Electricity, V. 239), 1840.
Forchammer and Hauch, 454
Forchammer, G., 370
Ford, Paul L. (_at_ Franklin, Benjamin, A.D. 1752), 199
Forerus, Laurentius (_at_ Zahn, F. J., A.D. 1696), 146
Formaleoni, Vincenzo Antonio, “Saggio ... de Veneziani,” 64
Forskal, P., 299
Forster, B. M. (1764–1829), 406, 434
Forster, Johann Reinhold (1729–1798), “On the aurora borealis,” 166
Forster, L. von, 316, 440
Forster, T., on De Luc’s electric column (Phil. Mag. XXXVII. 424).
Forster’s Bauzeitung, 1848 (_at_ Reusser, A.D. 1794), 316
Fortin (_at_ Dupuis, C. F., A.D. 1778), 254
Fortis, Alberto Giovanni Battista (1740–1803), 351, 352, 401
Fortius, Joachimus, 119, 437
“Fortnightly Review,” London, 124
Fortschrift der Physik, 440
Foscarini, P. A., “Epistola ...,” 1615, 553
Foster, Capt. Henry (_at_ Lorimer, Dr. John, A.D. 1775), 243
Foucault, Jean Bernard Léon (1819–1868), “De la chaleur ...
l’aimant ...,” 1855.
Fourcroy, Antoine François de (1755–1809), 236, 247, 302, 333, 349,
352, 354–355, 389, 419
Fourcroy, C. (_at_ Fourcroy, A. F. de, A.D. 1801), 354
Fourier, Baron Jean Baptiste (1768–1830), “Expériences
thermo-electriques,” 454, 462
Four lines of no variation, 78, 118
Four magnetic poles or points of convergence, 118
Fournier, Georges (1595–1652), 69
Fouvielle, W. de, “Eclairs et Tonnerres,” 199
Fowler, Dr. Thomas (1736–1801), 102, 103, 229, 322, 332, 393, 419
Fowler, Richard (1765–1863), 306, 310, 327, 331, 332
Fox, Robert Were (_at_ Lorimer, Dr. John, A.D. 1775), 243
Fracastorio, Hieronymo (1483–1553), 72, 299, 515; “De sympathia et
antipathia,” 1574.
Frampton, translator of Nicholas Monardus, 27
Francesco, Duke of Urbino, nephew to Julius II, 544
Francis I, Emperor of Austria, 407
Francis I, King of France, 535
Franck, Ad., 512
Francker--Francquer--University, 254, 271
Franklin, Alf., “Hist. de la Bibl. Mazarine,” 108
Franklin, Benjamin (1706–1790) (Phil. Trans., 1751, p. 289; 1752,
p. 505; 1758, p. 695; 1755, p. 300; 1765, p. 182; Phil. Mag.,
1819, p. 61; Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., III. 1793). _See_
Magnetism, animal; Sparks, Jared; Copley Medal; “Experiments
and Observations (_also_ new experiments) on electricity made
in Philadelphia”: London, 1751, 1754, 1769, etc., xiv, 9, 133,
161, 176, 186, 187, 193–199, 201, 203, 204, 205, 206, 216, 217,
218, 219, 221, 222, 227, 228, 231, 237, 239, 240, 243, 250,
251, 252, 258, 264, 269, 278, 282, 288, 319, 320, 321, 328,
332, 339, 356, 455, 472.
Franklin’s letters were not publicly read before the Royal
Society, or printed in their Phil. Trans, contrary to his
wishes, 252
To Brother Potamian, the author of this Bibliographical History
is much indebted for his Critical Notes to the Catalogue of
the Wheeler Gift ...: New York, 1909. Edited by Mr. Wm. D.
Weaver. On p. 191, Vol. I. of said Catalogue, an entry is
made of the above-named 1751 edition of “Experiments and
Observations ...,” with the following note: “These
experiments and discoveries, which have given Franklin such
fame were the work of four men, Benjamin Franklin, Philip
Syng, Thomas Hopkinson and Ebenezer Kinnersley; but, owing
to Franklin’s writing of them to England, they were published
in his name and have redounded to his credit solely (Ford, P.
L., Franklin Bibliography).”
Franklin, B., Lavoisier and others, on animal magnetism: Paris,
1784.
Franklin, Georg, “De electricitate ...”: Oemipont, 1747;
“Declaratio phænomenorum ...,” 1747, 555
Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, 81, 199, 368, 370, 384, 406, 407,
423, 436, 449, 454, 455, 476, 498
Franz, Joseph (_at_ Winckler, J. H., A.D. 1733), 162
Fraser, A. C., 511, 515, 520
Frauenhofer, Joseph von (1787–1826), 432, 466
Frazer, Professor (_at_ Brewster, Sir David, A.D. 1820), 466
Frazers--Fraser’s--Magazine (_at_ 600 B.C.), 10
Frederick the Great was King Frederick II (1712–1786), 170
Frederick I, Emperor (1121–1190). _See_ Barbarossa.
Frederick II, King of Germany (1194–1250), 93
Frederick V, Elector Palatine (1596–1632), 127
Frederiko, J. G., “Biographisch Woordenbock,” 518
Freeman, Edward Augustus, “Historic Towns” (Colchester, etc.), 91
Freind, John (_at_ Arnaldus de Villa Nova), 505, 519, 529, 538
Freke, John (1688–1756), 201
Fréméry, N. C. de, “Dissertatio ... de fulmine,” 1790, 556
Frémy, Edmond. _See_ Becquerel, Edmond.
Fresnel, Augustin Jean (1788–1827), 375, 389, 464, 471.
_See_ “Fresnel and his followers,” by Moon, Robert;
_also_ Athenæum, July 14, 1849.
Freycinet, Claude Louis Desaulses de (1779–1842), 442
(Phil. Mag., LVII. 20, 1831).
Friderici, Johannes Balthazar, 1685, 554
Friedlander’s Experiments, 249
Frigerio, Paolo (_at_ Aquinas, St. Thomas), 505
Friis, F. R., “Tyge Brahé,” 93
Frisch (_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 298
Frisi, Paolo (1728–1784), 138, 555
Fritsche, “Untersuch ... der Image du Monde,” 35
Fritz, H., “Das Polarlicht”: Leipzig, 1881, 140
Frobenius--Froben--Forster--(1709–1791), 161
Frobisher, Martin (_at_ A.D. 1754), 211
Frode, Ari Hinn--Ara Hin--or the Wise, first compiled the
Landnama-Bok, 28
Fromond, Jean Claude, Italian physicist, 208
Fromondi Libertus (1587–1653), “Meteorologicum,” 1627, 9, 553, 555
Froriep, Ludwig Friedrich von (1779–1847), 429, 494;
“Notizen aus d. Gebiet der”; “Natur-und-Heilkunde,” 50 Vols.:
Weimar, 1822–1836.
Froriep, L. F. von, und Froriep, R., “Neue Notizen ...,” 40 Vols.
1836–1845.
Froriep, R., “Beobachtung ... magneto-electrischen apparatus”:
Weimar, 1843, 386
Frost, Alfred James (1844–1881), Biographical Memoir of Sir Francis
Ronalds, 1880.
Froude, Alfred J., 438, 440
Froude, James Anthony, “English seamen of the sixteenth century,”
522
Frulander, Dr., of Berlin, 342
Fuchs, Leonard (_at_ Myrepsus, Nicolaus), 529
Fulco--Fulke, “A goodly gallery ... meteors,” 1571, 1634, 1670, 553
Fuller, Andrew (1754–1815), “Miscellaneous pieces ...,” 5, 523
Fuller, “Miscel.,” iv, cap. 19 (_at_ 1033–975 B.C.), 5
Fuller, Thomas, “History of the worthies of England”; “Church
History of Britain,” 39, 91
Fumagelli (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Furnaux, Tobias (_at_ Hansteen, C., A.D. 1819), 444
Fusinieri, Ambrogio (1773–1854), 298, 314, 347, 420, 449;
“Annali delle scienze del Regno Lombardo-Veneto,” 1831–1845;
“Memorie di meteorologia,” 1847.
Fuss, Nicolas von (1775–1826), 253
Fyfe, Dr. (mentioned at Cruikshanks, A.D. 1800), 338
G
Gabler, Matthias (1736–1805), “Theoria magnetis”: Ingoldstadt,
1781, 556
“Gaea-Natur und Leben,” Bd. 1–12, 1865–1876: Cöln und Leipzig, 416
Gahn, Gottlieb (_at_ Berzelius, J. J. F. von, A.D. 1802–1806), 369,
370
Gaillard et Cortambert, 284
Gale, Dr. L. D. (_at_ Franklin, Benjamin, A.D. 1752), 195;
_also_ (_at_ Tralles, J. G., A.D. 1790), 293
Gale, T. (_at_ A.D. 1802), 364
Galen, Claudius Galenus, illustrious Roman physician (A.D.
130–201), “De facultatibus”; “De simplici medicina,” 11, 20,
83, 169, 333, 506, 514, 525, 536, 540
Galileo-Galilei (1564–1642), 55, 90, 96, 102, 114, 115–117, 120,
122, 152, 159. _Consult_ Wundt, Wilhelm, “Philosophischen
Studien,” at Index, p. 27.
“Galileo of Magnetism,” William Gilbert, 82, 90
Galizi, D. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Galli, Francisco. _See_ Jayme, Juan.
Gallitzin, Prince Dmitry Alexewitsch Fürst. _See_ Golitsuni.
Galois, J. (_at_ “Le Journal des Sçavans”), 550
Galvani, Luigi Aloysio (1737–1798), 202, 220, 223, 249, 269, 270,
283–285, 302, 303, 304, 306, 322, 327, 331, 354, 363, 365,
419, 443
Galvani’s experiments, report on (_at_ Fourcroy, A. F. de, A.D.
1801), 354;
_also_ (_at_ Wilkinson, C. H., A.D. 1783), 269
(Comment. Bonon. Scient., VII. 363, 1796; Opusc. Scelti, XV.
113).
Galvani Society of Paris, 304, 330, 348, 350, 392, 394, 419
(Phil. Mag., XV. 281, 1803; XVI. 90, 1803; XXIV. 172 and 183,
1806; XXV. 260, 1806).
Galvanic battery, some forms of. _See_ Sharpless, S. P.
Galvanic conducting cord, sub-aqueous, 420
Galvanic current, its directive influence upon a magnetic needle,
365
Galvanic deflagrator of Prof. Hare, 447
Galvanic electricity, complete history of. _See_ Electricity,
galvanic, history of.
Galvanic electricity for treatment of diseases, 325, 330
Galvanic electricity, its influence on minerals (_at_ Morveau,
Guyton de, A.D. 1771), 233
Galvanic electricity, new theory of, Parrot, 367; Volta, 367
Galvanic electricity, sketch of a new theory of, by Parrot, G. F.
(_at_ A.D. 1802), 367
Galvanic energy and the nervous influence, analogy between, 437
Galvanic fluid, different hypotheses (_at_ Reinhold, J. C. L., A.D.
1797–1798), 326–328
Galvanic irritation and incitability, relation between, 331
Galvanic pile of Dr. Baronio, composed exclusively of vegetable
substances, 393–394 (Phil. Mag., XXIII, 283, 1806).
Galvanism and frictional electricity, identity of (A.D. 1801,
Wollaston), 356
Galvanism and magnetism, identity of (A.D. 1817), 442
Galvanism applied to medicine, Wilkinson, 1783, 269, 325, 330;
Vassalli-Eandi, 295;
Humboldt, 333
Galvanism, different hypotheses on, 327
Galvanism employed by Aldini and others to bring back life, 304–306
Galvanism, _exciters_ and _conductors_ of, 331
Galvanism, history of. _See_ Electricity, galvanic, history of.
Galvanism, its effect on plants, 257
Galvanism, medical application of, 269, 330
Galvanism, theories of. _See_ Theories, _also_ Galvanic
electricity.
Galvano-magnetic indicator. _See_ Electro-magnetic multiplier.
Galvanometer: Schweigger, _also_ Poggendorff _at_ A.D. 1811, pp.
413, 414;
Ampère, 1820, pp. 473, 475;
Marianini, 1827, pp. 373, 475;
Pick, H., 1855 (Jahresbericht ... des Schuljahres, 1854–1855);
Varley, 1863.
Gallucci, G. P., “Ratio fabric andi ... magnetica acu,” 1596, 553
(“Modus fabric andi ... cum acu magnetica”: Vinet, 1596).
Gama, D. Maria T. de, 69
Gama, Vasco da (_c._ 1460–1525), 68–69, 522, 523
Gamble, Rev. J., chaplain of the Duke of York (_d._ 1811), 322
Gandolfi, B., Lettera al Sig. D. Morichini ... macchina elettriche
(Antologia Romana, 1797), 423
Garbio, P., “Annali di Serviti,” 110, 111
Garcia ab Horto--Don Garzia dall’ Horto--Garcia du Jardin
(1734–1787), “Historia dei simplici aromati,” 1st edition, Goa,
1563; “Dell’ Historia dei simplici aromati ...”: Venezia, 1616,
514–515
Gardane, Joseph Jacques (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803),
385
Garden, Alexander (_at_ Bancroft, E. N., A.D. 1769), 230, 299
Garden, A., and Williamson, H., 230, 299
Gardiner--Gardner--“Observations on the animal œconomy,” 306, 326
Gardini, Giuseppe Francesco (1740–1816), 178, 258, 326, 362, 385
Garn, J. A., “De Torpedine”: Witteb., 1778, 298
Garnet, John (_at_ A.D. 1795), 322
Garrat, A. C. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Garthshorne, Dr. (_at_ Davy, Humphry, A.D. 1801), 342
Garzoni, Barthélemi (brother of Leonardo Thomas), 110
Garzoni, Father Leonardo Thomas (1549–1589), some of his works were
published by Barthélemi Garzoni, 110, 112, 113
Gasc, J. P., “Mémoire sur l’influence,” 257
Gassendi, Pierre (1592–1655), 7, 77, 90, 93, 107, 113, 114–115,
130, 132, 138, 508
Gasser, Achilles P., “Epistola Petri Peregrini ... de magnete,”
1558, 45
Gassiot, John Peter (1797–1877), 420
Gassner (_at_ Zamboni, Giuseppe, A.D. 1812), 420
Gaubil, Le Père, records the early use of the compass, 21
Gaudentius, Merula. _See_ Merula Gaudentius.
Gaugain, J. M. (Annales de Chimie, 1854, XLI. 66), 191
Gauricus, Lucas (1476–1558), 108, 516
Gauss, Johann Karl Friedrich (1777–1855), 82, 317, 318, 345, 422,
445; “Intensitas vis magneticæ ...,” 1832.
Gauss, J. K. F., and Weber, W. E., “Resultate aus den Beobachtungen
des Magnetischen Vereins ...”: Leipzig und Göttingen, 1837–1840.
Gautherot, Nicholas (1753–1803), 348–350, 380
Gauthey--Gauthier--Gualtier--Don (_at_ A.D. 1781–1783), 264
Gauthier d’Espinois, 33 (_at_ Vincent de Beauvais, A.D. 1250).
Gauthier, J. Louis, “Dissertatio ...,” 1793, 306
Gautier de Metz, 35; “L’Image du Monde,” Nouv. Biog. Gén., Vol.
XIX. p. 718.
Gavarret, T. (_at_ Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786), 284
Gay-Lussac, Joseph Louis (1778–1850). _See_ Paris, “Annales de
Chimie et de Physique,” 157, 195, 249, 294, 321, 334, 338, 340,
344, 347, 377, 388–389, 419, 477, 481, 487.
_Consult_ Ronalds’ Catalogue, pp. 196 and 406, for Gay-Lussac’s
work in conjunction with Biot, Humboldt, Poisson, Pouillet,
Thénard and others.
Gazetta di Roveredo, 367
Gazetta di Trento, 365
“Gazette of Salem,” 233, 235
Geber (_at_ Tarsüsi, fl. eighth century A.D.), 515, 517
Gehlen, Adolph Ferdinand von, “Journal für die chemie und physik”;
“Journal der chemie,” 9 Vols., 1803–1806 (Schweigger’s Journ.,
VI. 1812; XII. 1814; XX. 1817), 363, 367, 370, 380, 383, 391,
394, 400, 407, 408, 412, 414, 452.
_See_ Scherer, _also_ Schweigger.
Gehler, Johann Samuel Traugott (1751–1795), “Physikalisches
Wörterbuch”: Leipzig, 17, 195, 248, 421, 483
Geiger, P. L. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799), 330
Geitel, H. _See_ Elster.
Gellert, C. E. (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van, A.D. 1784), 273
Gellibrand, Henry (1597–1636), 95, 107, 112, 117, 120, 156, 266;
“A discourse mathematical on the variation of the magnetic needle
...,” 1635.
_Consult_ “Dict. Nat. Biogr.,” XXI. 117; “Nouv. Biogr. Gén.,”
XIX. 837; “Biogr. Univ.,” XVI. 128. John Pell made a “Letter
of remarks” on the above, London, 1635.
Gemma, D. Cornelius (1535–1577), “De natura divinis ...,” 14, 17,
299, 517
Gemma Trisius--Rainer (1508–1555), 517
General Biographical Dictionary, by Alexander Chalmers, 54, 95,
106, 120, 122, 129, 167, 186, 189, 265, 311, 514, 520, 522,
523
General Biographical Dictionary, by H. J. Rose. _See_ New General
Biographical Dictionary.
General Biographical Dictionary, by John Gorton: London, 1833, 92,
95, 131, 265
General Biography. _See_ Aikin.
Genève, Archives de l’électricité, 5 Vols. 1841–1845.
Genève, Archives des sciences physiques, 36 Vols. 1846–1857.
Genève, Bibliothèque Britannique, 144 Vols. 1796–1815, 482.
Genève, Bibliothèque Universelle, 57 Vols. 1858–1876, 140, 482
Genève, Catalogue of manuscripts in the Geneva Library, 1834, 54
Genève, Revue Suisse, 7 Vols. 1838–1844.
Genève, Société de Physique, Mémoires, 1821, 140
Genève, Université, 270
Genoa, Academy of Sciences, 147
“Gentleman’s Magazine,” 10, 202, 205, 206, 296, 298, 324, 401, 434,
456
Geoffroy, Etienne Louis (1725–1810), 297
Geoffroy, Saint Hilaire Etienne (1772–1844), 298, 300, 373–375,
409, 481
Geoffroy, Saint Hilaire Isidore (son of Etienne) (_b._ 1805),
“Histoire Naturelle ...,” 299, 374, 375
“Geographia distincta ...” of Livio Sanuto, 65
Geographical Journal, 32, 60, 62, 67, 521, 535
Géographie du moyen-àge, Joachim Lelewell, 62
Géographie Universelle. _See_ Malte-Brun, V. A.
Geometrical Analysis. _See_ Leslie, Sir John.
George III, King of England, 231, 251
Gerbert, Pope Sylvester II, his magnetic clock mentioned by Simon
Maiolus.
Gerbi, “Corso di Fisica,” 5 Vols.: Pisa, 1823–1825. _See_ Zamboni,
G.
Gerboin, Antoine Claude (1758–1827), 351–352
Gerdil, Le Père Hyacinthe Sigismond, professor in the Turin
University (1718–1802), 209
Gerhard, C. A. (_at_ Molenier, J.), 229, and (_at_ Thillaye-Platel,
A.), 385
Germain (_at_ Zamboni, G., A.D. 1812), 420
Gersdorf, Ephraim Gotthelf, 523
Gerspach, Edouard (_at_ Alexandre, Jean, A.D. 1802), 361
Geschichte der mathematik. _See_ Kästner, Abraham G.
“Geschichte der physik ...,” by J. C. Fisher: Göttingen, 1801–1808,
8 Vols., _also by_ Poggendorff.
Gessner--Gesner--Conrad (1516–1565), 270, 502
Gessner, J. Matthias, “De electro veterum,” 8
Geuns, Etienne Jean van (1767–1795), 276
Gherardi, Silvestro (_at_ Sarpi, P., A.D. 1632), 113, and (_at_
Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786), 284
(Ext. Nov. Act. Acad. Istit. Bonon, II. and III. 1840).
Ghirlanda, “Intorno ... del galvanismo ...” (Treviso Athenæum, V.
p. 5, for 1835).
Ghisi, L. A., “Descrizione di due nuovi telegrafi elettrici ...”:
Milano, 1850.
Giamone, Pietro (1676–1748), 539
_Giant refractor_, the. _See_ Dorpat.
Gibbes, Sir George Smith (1771–1851), 270, 364
Gibbon, Edward (1737–1794), English historian, author of “The
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” edited by Henry Hart
Milman (1791–1868), 525, 533, 542
Gibbs, Colonel George (_at_ Morichini, D. P., A.D. 1812–1813), 423
Gilbert Club, London, 92, 113
Gilbert, Davies Giddy (1767–1839), 339, 497
Gilbert, L. W., “Annalen der Physik,” 195, 201, 211, 231, 248, 249,
253, 257, 277, 280, 284, 285, 293, 299, 300, 306, 320, 326,
327, 330, 333, 337, 355, 363, 364, 367, 368, 370, 374, 376,
380, 383, 384, 388, 391, 393, 394, 395, 406, 407, 408, 416,
420, 434, 443, 450, 455, 462, 473, 483
Gilbert, Dr. William (1544–1603), “De magnete magnetisque
corporibus et de magno magnete tellure; Physiologia nova,
plurimis et argumentis et experimentis demonstrata,” 1st
edition, Londini, 1600; 2nd edition, Sedini, 1628; 3rd edition,
Sedini, 1633; “De mundo nostro sub lunario Philosophia nova
...”: Amsterdam, 1651, vii, xi, xiv, xvii, xix, 11, 17, 37, 40,
42, 47, 48, 53, 63, 65, 69, 71, 76, 79, 80, 82–92, 94, 97, 99,
100, 101, 104, 105, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113–116, 118, 120,
121, 123, 124, 141, 146, 159, 160, 211, 277, 501, 502, 503,
504, 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 511, 513, 514, 515, 516,
517, 518, 519, 520, 522, 523, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530,
531, 532, 533, 534, 536, 537, 538, 539, 540, 541, 542, 545–546
Gilbert, Dr. William, accounts of early writers, navigators and
others named in “De Magnete ...,” 501–542
Gilbert, Dr. William, his experiments and discoveries, designated,
in “De Magnete ...,” by the larger asterisks, 545–546
Gilbert, Rev. Wm., 91
Gilgil, the Mauretanian (_at_ Agricola, Georgius), 501
Gilmore, John (_at_ Zoroaster), 542
Gilpin, George, Clerk of the London Royal Society, “Observations on
the variation and on the dip ...”: London, 1806 (Phil. Trans.
for 1806, pp. 385–419), 238
Gineau. _See_ Lefevre-Gineau.
Ginguené, Pierre Louis, 44, 506, 507
Ginn and Company, 504
Giobert, C. A. (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Gioberti, Giulio A. _See_ Biblioteca Italiana, _also_ Giulio
(Giorn. Fis. Med., I. 188, 1792).
Gioia--Goia--Flavio, _Amalphus_, Gioia Joannes, an Italian pilot
said to have been at Positano near Amalfi, 56–59, 73, 81, 211,
523
Giordiani (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Giornale Astro-meteorologico of Toaldo, Padua, 253
Giornale dei letterati d’Italia ...: Venezia and Firenze, 1710.
_See_ Zeno, Caterino, Pietro.
Giornale dell’ Italiana letteratura, 66 Vols.: Padova, 1802–1828,
248, 254, 330
Giornale dell’ I.R. Istituto Lombardo. _See_ Biblioteca Italiana.
Giornale del Sc. Contemporanea: Messina.
Giornale di fisica, chimica e storia naturale, edited by L. V. and
G. Brugnatelli, Brunacci and Configliachi, 10 Vols. 1808–1817.
Giornale di fisica. _See_ Nuovo Cimento;
_also_ Matteucci, Carlo.
Giornale di medicina pratica. _See_ Breva, V. L., 300
Giornale di Pavia. _See_ Brugnatelli, L. V.
Giornale di scienze.... _See_ Verona Poligrafo.
Giornale Enciclopedico di Vicenza, 1779–1784, 253
Giornale fisico-chimico Italiano, 2 Vols. 1851–1852. _See_
Zantedeschi, F.
Giornale fisico-medico ..., 20 Vols. 1792–1796. _See_ Brugnatelli,
L. V., 248
Giornale Sc. d’una Soc. Fil. di Torino, 257, 296
Giornale sulle scienze ...: Treviso, 18 Vols. 1821–1830.
Giornale Toscano di scienze med. fis. e natur: Pisa, 1840.
Giovene, G. M. (Mem. Soc. Ital., Vols. 8, 9 and 22), 1799–1841.
Giovini, Sarpi: Brussels, 1836, 113
Giraldi--Giraldus--Lilius Giacomo Gregorius, “Libellus de re
nautica,” 1540, 57–58, 63
Girardi and Walter (_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 298
Girardin (Nouv. de la Républ. des lettres et des arts, 1779), 385
Giraud-Soulavie, Abbé, 273
Gironi (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V., A.D. 1802), 363
Girtannier, Christophe (1760–1800), 417
Giuli, G. (Ann. del Reg. Lombardo-Veneto, Vol. X. p. 30, 1840).
Giuli, G., and Linari-Santi (Ann. del Reg. Lombardo-Veneto, Vol.
IX. p. 200, 1839).
Giulio--Julio--Sur les effets du fluide galvanique appliqué à
differentes plantes ... (Bibliot. Ital., I. 28: Turin, 1803).
Giulio--Julio--e Rossi, “De excitabilitate contractionum ...”:
Turin, 1800, 257, 284, 295, 305, 306, 326, 327, 350, 419
Giulio--Julio--Gioberti, Vassalli-Eandi, e Rossi. _See_ Biblioteca
Italiana.
Gladstone, Dr. J. H., 466, 498
Gladstone, The Right Hon. William Ewart, 6
Glanvill--Glanvil--Joseph (1636–1680), called Saducismus--
Sadducismus--Triumphatus, 57, 127–129
Glanvilla--Glanville. _See_ Bartholomæus de Glanvilla.
Glareamus, Heinrich Loriti (1488–1563). _See_ Loritus, 535
“Glasgow Mechanics’ Magazine and Annals of Philosophy.” First
issued at Glasgow during 1824.
Glasgow Observatory, 417
Glasgow Roy. Phil. Soc., 20
Glasgow University, 309, 425
Gleig, Dr. G. (_at_ Robison, John, A.D. 1793–1797), 311
Globus Mundi, the first book in which the name “America” is
mentioned, 535
Gloesener (Comptes Rendus, XXVI. 336; _also_ XXVII. 23: Paris,
1848).
Glycon of Athens, sculptor of the Farnese Hercules, 543
Gmelin, Christian (son of Johann Conrad Gmelin), 451
Gmelin, Christian Gottlob (1792–1860), “Experimenta electricitatem
...”; “Analys. d. turmalins ...” (Schweigger’s Journ., XXXI.
1821); “Handbuch der Chemie ...,” 221, 287, 297, 352, 359, 370,
403, 406, 446, 447, 449, 451, 464, 476, 481, 493, 496, 498
Gmelin, Eberhard, 451
Gmelin family, 450
Gmelin, Ferdinand Gottlob von (1782–1848), 451
Gmelin, Johann Conrad (1707–1759), 450
Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1748–1804), 451
Gmelin, Johann Georg (1674–1728), 450
Gmelin, Johann Georg (1709–1755), 450
Gmelin, Leopold (1788–1853), “Handbuch d. theoret. chemie,” 2 Vols.
1817–1829 (Handbook of Chemistry, translated and edited by
Henry Watts, 1848–1861), 153, 286, 296, 446, 447, 449–451, 496
Gmelin, Philip Friedrich (1722–1768), 450
Gmelin, Samuel Gottlieb (1744–1774), 450
Göbel, Severin, 552
Goclenius, Rudolphus, the younger (1572–1621), 27, 245, 553
Godigno, N., 553
Godin deo Delonaio--Odonais--Louis, 145
Godwin, Dr. Francis (_at_ Wilkins, John, A.D. 1641), 119
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749–1832), greatest of German poets,
58, 331
Goldsmith, Oliver (1728–1774), “Survey of experimental philosophy,
magnetism and electricity,” 2 Vols.: London, 1776.
Golitsuni--Gallitzin--Dmitry Aleksyrevich, Prince (1738–1803), 242,
262
Gomperz--Gompertz--Theodor, 8, 504, 511, 522
Gonzalus, Oviedus--Gonzalo Fernando de Oviedo y Valdès (1478–1557),
532
“Good Words,” 7, 28, 87, 88
Goodsir, Prof. (_at_ Geoffroy, St. Hilaire Etienne, A.D. 1803), 375
Gordon, Andreas, 168, 203, 229, 239;
“Phænomena electricitatis exposita”; “Philosophia”; “Tentamen ...
electricitatis”; “Versuche ... electricität.”
Gordon, James Edward Henry, “Physical treatise on electricity and
magnetism”; “Traité expérimental ...,” 239, 492
Gore, George, “Theory and practice of electro-deposition ...”; “On
the electrical relations of metals ...”; “Art of
electro-metallurgy,” 24, 352
Goropius, Henricus Becanus--Joannes Becano (1518–1572), 211, 517;
“Hispanica Ioannis Goropii Becani,” 1580, 211
Gorton, John (_d._ 1835). _See_ “General Biographical Dictionary.”
Gosse, Edmund (_at_ Browne, Sir Th., A.D. 1646), 124
Gothaische Gelehrte Zeitungen, 240
Göttingen, Abhandlung d. Gött. Gesselschaft d. Wiss., 445
Göttingen, “Magazin für Allgemeine natur ...,” 11, 256, 257, 263,
298,
(_at_ Lichtenberg, G. C., A.D. 1777), 250
Göttingen Observatory, 220
Göttingen, Societas regia Scientiarum Göttingensis (Commentarii
Soc. Reg. Scient. Götting.), 28 Vols.: 1752–1808, 8, 220, 314,
451
Göttingen University (_at_ Lichtenberg, G. C., A.D. 1777), 250
Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen, 246, 455
Göttingischen gemein. Abhand., 216
Gottling’s Almanach, 383
Gottoin of Coma, the Canon, 277
Gottshed, J. C., 555
Gouget, “Origin of Laws,” 10
Gough, John (_at_ Berzelius, J. J. F. von, A.D. 1802–1806), 370
Gould, Benjamin Apthorp, Jr. (_b._ 1824) (astronomer), 407
Gourdon, Victor Pierre (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, A.D. 1883), 385
Govi, Gilberto (1826–1889), “Volta e la telegrafia elettrica ...”:
Turin, 1868; “Romagnosi e l’elettro-magnetismo ...,” 1869,
365, 366
Gow, James, of Cambridge, 39, 520, 541
Gower, John, “Confessio Amantis,” 58
Græsse, Jean George Théodore, “Trésor de livres rares et précieux”:
Dresde, 1861, 63, 81, 531, 539
Graham, George (1675–1751), mentioned at Porret, Robert, A.D. 1816
(Phil. Trans., 1724, 1725, 1748), 146–157, 191, 266, 426, 441,
444
Graham, Richard (_at_ A.D. 1745), 175
Graham, T., “Elements of Chemistry,” 2 Vols., 441, 491
(Phil. Mag. or Annals, I. 107, 1827).
Gralath, Daniel (1729–1809), “Elektrische Bibliothek”: Danzig,
1754, 1756; “Geschichte der Electricität”: Danzig, 1747, 1754,
1756, 174, 178, 185, 186–187
Grandamicus--Grandami--Jacobus, 120, 146
Grand Dictionnaire Historique, 1740, by Louis Moreri.
Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIX^e siècle, Pierre Larousse,
1866–1876, 15 Vols., 2, 24
Grandeau (mentioned at Bertholon de St. Lazare, A.D. 1780–1781),
259
Grande Encyclopédie des sciences, des lettres et des arts, 2
Grant, R., “History of physical astronomy.”
Grapengieser, Dr. C. J. C., “Versuche den Galvanismus ...,” 269,
325, 326, 330, 332, 419
Gravesande. _See_ S’Gravesande.
Gray, Asa (1810–1888), 259, 260, 323
Gray, Edward Whittaker (1748–1807), 237
Gray--Grey--Stephen (_d._ 1736), xiv, 153–155, 161, 162, 167, 177,
193, 214, 217, 240
(Phil. Trans., abridged, VI., VIII., 1720, 1723, 1731, 1734–1735,
1735–1736; _also_ Phil. Trans., unabridged, XXXVII.
1731–1732; XXXIX. 1735–1736 and 1738).
Gray, John. _See_ Royal Society.
“Great Divide,” 315
Greaves, John (1602–1652), 120
Green and Hazard, authors of “Epitome of electricity and
magnetism,” published at Philadelphia, 1809.
Green, George (1793–1841), “An essay on the application of
mathematical analysis to the theories of magnetism and
electricity”: London, 1828, 262
Green, J., “Electro-magnetism”: Philad., 1827.
Greenslet, Ferris (_at_ Glanvill, Joseph, A.D. 1665), 129
Grégoire du Tour, 140
Grégoire, Louis, “Dictionnaire Encyclopédique des Sciences”;
“Dictionnaire classique d’histoire,” 262
Gregorio, D., “Lettera intorno all’ elettricità ...,” 1693, 554
Gregorovius, Ferdinand, “History of ... Middle Ages,” translated by
Annie Hamilton, 1896, 539
Gregory, David (1661–1708), observations on laws of magnetic
action, 145
Gregory, George (1754–1808), “Economy of nature,” 263, 306,
322–323, 496
Gregory, Olinthus Gilbert (1774–1841), 434
Gregory, William, London, 1850, 140
Gregory XIII (_at_ Bacon, Sir Francis, A.D. 1620), 102
Gren, Friedrich Albert Carl (1760–1798). _See_ Journal der physik,
220, 248, 249, 271, 284, 326
Grenoble University, 536
Gresham College, 107, 117
Grew, Nehemiah (1641–1712), 159, 160, 547; “Musæum regalis
societatis,” Royal Society Transactions.
Grey, Zachary (1688–1766), 99
Griffin, J. J. (_at_ Gmelin, Leopold, A.D. 1819), 450
Grimaldi, Francesco Maria (1618–1663), 113, 127, 141
Grimaldi, G., “Dissertazione ... della bussola”: Roma, 1741, 58, 61
Grimelli, G., “Storia ... dell’ elettro metallurgia ...
lessicologica”: Modena, 1844.
Grindel, David Hieronymus, “Russischer Jahrbuch für der chemie und
pharmacie,” 368
Griscom, Prof. (_at_ Hare, Robert, A.D. 1819), 447
Gnselini, Francesco, “Vita de Fra Paolo Sarpi,” 111
Grofton (_at_ A.D. 1676), 135
Gröningen--Groeningne--Academy of, 277
Gronov-Gronovius, Jacobus (Phil. Trans., LXV.), 299
Gross, Johann Friedrich, 273, 556
Grote, George, “Plato,” “Greece,” 11, 504, 537
Grotius, Hugo--De Groot (1583–1645), 517–518
Grotthus, Theodor, Baron von (1785–1822), 390–392, 419
Groue, Francis (_at_ Kratzenstein, C. G., A.D. 1745), 171
Grouemann (Archives Néerlandaises), 142
Grout, Jonathan, Jr. (_at_ A.D. 1800), 337
Grove, Sir William Robert (1811–1896), 391, 426
Growth of Industrial Art (_at_ Grout, J., Jr., A.D. 1800), 337
Gruber, Johann Gottfried. _See_ Ersch and Gruber.
Grucker, Emile (_at_ Plotinus of Alexandria), 534
Grummert, Gottfried Heinrich, 172
Grundig, Christoph Gottlob (1707–1780), “Archiv. der mathematik und
physik,” 1841–1855.
“Grundriss der Chemie,” 1833, edited by Friedrich Wohler.
Gruner, Christian Gottfried (_at_ Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786), 285
Gruter, John, the great humanist and critic (1520–1627), is said to
have edited the “... De mundo nostro...,” 1651, of William
Gilbert (Wheeler Catalogue, No. 131).
Guadagni, G., 1744 (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
“Guardian” (_at_ Strada Famianus, A.D. 1617), 99
Guericke, Otto von (1602–1686), “Experimenta nova ...,” 125, 126,
130, 132, 150
Guérin, A. J., “Histoire Générale et particulière de
l’électricité,” 1752, 420, 556
Guerino detto il Meschino, 57. _See_ Andrew the Florentine.
Gueront, Auguste, 208, 224, 361
Guette, Johann Conrad (_b._ 1747), “Beschreibung ...”: Nuremberg,
1790. It contains a bibliography and history of electricity.
Guide to the literature of botany. _See_ Jackson, B. D. J.
Guido delle Colonne--Io Colonna da Messina, 44
Guillen, Felipe (_at_ A.D. 1530–1542), 70
Guillotin, Joseph Ignace (1738–1814), 305
Guinicelli, Guido, of Bologna (1240–1276), 16, 43, 44.
_Consult_ Biog. Gén. (Hœfer), Vol. XXII. p. 754;
_also_ Biogr. Univ., XVIII. 214.
Guisan, F. S., “De Gymnoto” (_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 299
Guitard, M. T., “Histoire de l’électricité médicale”: Paris; 1854,
179
Guitard, T. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Gull, W. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Gunter, Edmund (1581–1626), 107, 117
Günther, “Etwas von elektrophor ...”: Leipzig, 1783, 381
Gurney, Sir Goldeworthy (1793–1875), 426
Gustavson, Col. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Gutenberg, Johann (_c._ 1398–1468), 508
Gutle, J. C., “Zaubermechanik od Beschreibung ...,” 1794, 557
Guye, Philippe A., “Journal de Chimie-Physique”: Genève, 392
Guyot--Guiot--de Provins, xix, 28, 30, 56. His poem on the magnet
is to be found in Legrand d’Aussy’s “Fabliaux ...,” 1781, _and
also_ in Lorimer’s “Concise Essay ...,” 1795. _See_ “Nouv.
Biogr. Gén.” (Hœfer), XXVIII. 951
Guyot, “Nouvelles récréations physiques et mathématiques,” 224
Gyges, ring of (_at_ Thales of Miletus, 600–580 B.C.), 8
_Gymnotus electricus_, 20, 129, 230, 241, 299, 319, 335, 374, 493
H
Haarlem Batavi Scientific Society, 279, 367
Haarlem Teylerian Society, 277, 278, 292
Hachette, Jean Nicholas Pierre (1769–1834), 290, 375–376, 420, 476
(Annales de Chimie, LXV. 1808; XXXVII. 1828; LI. 1834).
_See_ Désormes.
Hachette et Ampère (Journal de Physique, Septembre 1820).
Hachette et Thénard.
Hacker, P. W., “Zur theorie des magnetismus”: Nürnberg, 1856, 160
Haen, Antoni de, “Ratio Medendi in Noscomio practico ...,” 1760,
212, 213
Hagen. “Memoriæ Philosophorum,” 97
Hagenbach-Bischoff, Jacob Eduard (Arch. Sc. Phys. Nat., Ser. III.
pp. 476–482. Velocity of current propagation on telegraph lines
experimented upon found to be 42,000 miles per second), Geneva,
1884.
Hahm, Friedrich von (_at_ Walsh, John, A.D. 1773), 240
Haidinger, W. Ritter von, “Der meteorstein fäll ...”: Wien, 1866,
1868.
Hain, Ludovico, “Repertorium Bibliographicorum,” 502, 540
Hakewill, George (1578–1649), “An apologie ...,” 108, 211, 516, 523
Hakluyt--Hackluyt--Richard (1553–1616); Hakluyt Society, 58, 69,
70, 90, 115, 520, 522, 523, 525, 560–564; “Principall
navigations ...”; “Voyages....”
Haldane, Lieut.-Col. Henry, 270, 338, 393, 419
Haldat du Lys, Charles Nicholas Alexandra de (1770–1852), 277
Hale, Edward Everett, “Franklin in France,” 1887, 205, 207, 227,
250, 252, 288, 289
Hale, Sir Matthew (1609–1676), “Magnetismus magnus ...”: London,
1695, 554.
(Molecular magnets mentioned at p. 55 of above-named work.)
Hale, “Statical Essays,” 189
Hales, Reverend Stephen (1677–1761), 188, 200. _See_ Copley Medal.
Hali, Abbas (died _c._ A.D. 995), 26, 517;
“Liber totius medicinæ ...,” 1523.
Hall (mentioned at Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Hall, Elias F., 560
Hall, Joseph, Bishop of Norwich, “the English Seneca” (1574–1656),
16, 20
Hall, Sir James (mentioned at A.D. 1805), 392
Hallam, Henry (1777–1859), 61, 90, 113, 560–563;
“History of the Middle Ages”; “Introduction to the literature of
the fifteenth and sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.”
Halle, Abhandl. d. Naturf. Gesellsch., 414
Halle, Annalen der Physik, von Gilbert, L. W. Continued under name
of Annalen der Physik und Chemie.
Hallé, Jean N., 247, 249, 270, 305, 326, 333, 354, 393
Hallé, P. (_at_ Naudé, Gabriel, A.D. 1625), 108
Haller, Albert von (1708–1777), “Elementa Physiologiæ”;
“Bibliotheca Botanica,” 332, 385, 529, 538
Halley, Edmund, English Astronomer Royal (1656–1724), 70, 78, 118,
134, 137–142, 165, 214, 273, 301, 315, 444, 472, 530, 547
Halliwell, James Orchard, 531
Hallock, Prof. William, xii
Hamberger, Prof. Georg Erhard, 170
Hamburg, “Magazin der neuesten ... reisebeschreibungen,” 273
Hamburgisches Magazin, 216, 273, 320
Hamel, Joseph J. von (1788–1862), “Historical account of the
introduction of the galvanic and electro-magnetic telegraph”:
London, 1859, 365, 384, 407, 421, 422.
_See_ “Regia Scientiarum.”
Hamel, J. T., and Cooke, W. F.: London, 1859.
Hamilton (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van, A.D. 1784), 273
Hamilton, A. _See_ Gregorius.
Hamilton, Hugh (1729–1805), 308
(Scelta d’ Opuscoli, XXXI. 3, 1776). “Phil. essays ...
observations on the aurora ...”: London, 1767.
Hamilton, James, Sixth Duke of Abercorn (1656–1734), 159–160, 554;
“Calculations ... virtue of loadstones,” 1729.
Hamilton, Sir William, “Lectures on metaphysics and logic,” 40
Hammer, William J., xi
Hammond, Robert, “The electric light in our homes”: London, 1884.
Hamy, Ernest Theodore, “Bibliothèque d’histoire scientifique”:
Paris, 1908.
Handbuch der Allgemeine Chemie, 262
Handbuch der Chemie. _See_ Liebig, Justus von.
Handbuch der naturlehre. _See_ Muncke, G. W.
Handbuch des magnetismus. _See_ Lamont, Johann, Leipzig.
Handbuch die æltere medicine. _See_ Charlant, J. L.
Handbuch für die literatur, by Rosenmüeller, E. F. C., 528
Hankel, Wilhelm Gottlieb (1814–1899), 153, 205, 426
(König. Sächische Gesells. d. Wissen, 1851, 1856, 1857, 1858,
1859, 1861, 1865; Poggendorff, Ann., LXXXI. 1850).
Hansen, Peter Andreas (mentioned at Hanstsen, C., A.D. 1819), 444
Hansteen, Christopher (1784–1873), 28, 29, 141, 157, 225, 267, 308,
442, 444–446, 457, 480;
“Untersuchungen über den magnetismus der erde ...”: Christiania,
1819 (Poggendorff’s Annals, 1825–1855; Phil. Mag., LIX. 248;
Phil. Mag. or Annals, II. 324; Nyt Mag. for
Naturvidenskabene, 1839, 1841, 1842, 1845–1851; Acad. Roy. de
Belgique, 1853).
Harcourt, College of, 280
Hare, Robert (1781–1858), 256, 278, 308, 337, 356, 373, 389,
446–449, 460
(Phil. Mag., LIV. 206, 1819; LVII. 284, 1821; LXII. 8, 1823;
Phil. Mag. or Annals, VII. 114 and 171, 1829; Amer. Phil.
Soc. Trans., V. 1837; VI. 1839; VII. 1841).
Hare, Robert, and Allen, Z. (Amer. Phil. Soc. Trans., VI. 297,
1839).
Hariot--Harriot--Hariott--Thomas (1560–1621), 76, 519;
“On magnetic variations” (Poggendorff, I. 1019).
Harisse, Henri, 69
Harper’s Magazine: New York, 61
Harris’ Life of Charles II. (_at_ Boyle, Robert, A.D. 1675), 130
Harris, Sir William Snow (1781–1867); “Rudimentary Electricity”;
“Rudimentary Magnetism”; “Frictionary Electricity”; “Nature of
Thunderstorms”; “Rudimentary Galvanism”; on lightning
conductors (Annals of Electricity, IV. 484; Nautical Magazine,
1841, 1852, 1853), 15, 24, 134, 149, 156, 177, 178, 190, 191,
195, 204, 205, 212, 225, 229, 231, 238, 239, 250, 256, 277,
280, 290, 292, 315, 335, 380, 407, 412, 415, 423, 427, 446,
448, 455, 458, 461, 467, 468–471, 476, 481, 493, 498
Harrison, Frederick C., “The new calendar of great men,” 44
Harsdorffer, Georg Philippi, Senator of Nuremberg, 125
Harsu, Jacques de (1730–1784), 246;
“Recueil des effets salutaires de l’aimant ...,” 1783.
Harte, Richard (_at_ Mesmer, F. A., A.D. 1772), 237
Hartmann, Franz, “Life of ... Paracelsus,” 1887, 65
Hartmann, Georg (1489–1564). To him is due the earliest
determination of magnetic declination _on land_, March 4, 1544;
its discovery _on sea_ is due to Columbus, September 13, 1492.
“Entdeckte ... diamagn. inclination ... des magnets ...,” 1544,
70–71, 77, 266
Hartmann, Johann Friedrich (_d._ 1800), 216, 320;
“Encyclopädie der elekt. wissenschaften ...”: Bremen, 1784 (Hamb.
Mag., XXIV. 1759; XXV. 1761).
Hartmann, Philipp Jacob (1648–1707), 8, 554;
“Succini Prussici physica et civilis historia ...,” 1677 (Phil.
Trans. abridged, II. 473; Phil. Trans. unabridged, XXI. 5,
49).
Hartshorn, T. C. (_at_ Deleuze, J. Philippe F., A.D. 1813), 425
Hartsoeker, Nicolas (1656–1725), 151;
“Conjectures physiques,” 1706; “Cours de physique,” 1730.
Hartwig, Dr. G. (_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 299
Hartzheim, Josephus (_at_ Cusanus, N. K.), 510
Harvard College--University--62, 63, 417, 452, 534
Harvey--Harvy--Gideon (1640–1700); “Archelogia philosophica
nova ...”: London, 1663; “Remarks on the influence of magnetism
on rates of chronometers.”
Harvey, William (1578–1657), 90, 121, 336
Harward, O., “Discourse of ... lightning,” 1604, 553
Hatchett, Charles (1765–1847), 286, 387, 454, 476
Hatchett, “On the electro-magnetic experiments of Oersted and
Ampère,” 1821 (Phil. Mag., LVII. 40).
Hauch, Adam Wilhelm von (1755–1838), “Memoir ...,” 249, 337, 454
(Vidensk. Selsk. Skrift Ny Samml, IV. 1793).
Hauch and Forchammer, 454
Hauff, Johann Karl Friedrich (1766–1846), “Neuer galvan. Apparat
...,” 1803–1804 (Gilbert’s Annal, XV. 1803; XVIII. 1804), 285
Hauksbee, Francis (died _c._ 1713), 149–151, 156, 168, 181, 191,
229, 252, 444
(Phil. Trans., XXIV. 1706, 1707–1709, 1711–1712).
Hauréau, Jean Barthélémy (1812–1896), “Histoire de la philosophie
scholastique,” x, 37, 39, 41, 505, 526
Hausch, M. G., 93, 96; “Epistolæ ...”
Hausen--Hausenius--Christian Augustus (1692–1743), 168
Haussmann, J. F. L. (_at_ Zamboni, G., A.D. 1812), 420
(Crell’s Chem. Annal., 1803, II. 207).
Haüy--Hauey--Le Père, René Just (1743–1822), 153, 273, 286–287,
295, 300, 353, 374, 415, 465;
“Traité élementaire de physique,” 3rd ed., 2 Vols. 1821 (Soc.
Philomatique an 5, p. 34, an 12, p. 191; Phil. Mag., XX. 120,
XXXVIII. 81; Mém. du Museum, Vol. III.).
Havgk (_at_ Reinhold, J. C. L., A.D. 1797–1798), 327
Haward (_at_ A.D. 1676), 134
Hawkins, John, 211, 523
Haygarth, Dr. J. (mentioned at Reinhold, J. C. L., A.D. 1797–1798),
328
Hazlitt, William Carew, “Collections and Notes,” 1876, 95, 300
“Heat and light consist of the conflict of the electricities....”
Thus stated by Oersted, H. C., in a note appended to the
translation of “Experimenta circa ...,” 1820, made by him for
Thomson’s “Annals of Philosophy.”
Hebenstreit, Jean Ernest (1703–1757), (_at_ Reinhold, J. C. L.,
A.D. 1797–1798), 327
Hecker, Auguste Frédéric (1743–1811), 332
Hedonville, Sieur de (_at_ Le Journal des Sçavans), 550
Heer. _See_ Vorsselman de Heer.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770–1831), 536
Heidel, Wolfgang, Ernst, 554
Heidmann, J. A., 285, 393; “Theory of galvanic electricity founded
on experience” (Phil. Mag., XXVIII. 97, 1807).
Heidmann, J. H., “Observations physico-electriques” (Journ. di
Chimie, VI. 190).
Heineken, C. (Phil. Mag. or Annals, II. 362, 411, 1827).
Heineken, N. S. (_at_ Schwenter, Daniell, A.D. 1600), 81
Heinrich, Placidus (1758–1825), 420; “Die Phosphorescenz der
Körper,” 1811, 1812, 1814, 1815, 1820
(Schweigg. Journ., IV. 1812; XIII. 1814; XV. 1815; XXIX. 1820;
Gilb. Ann., XXVII. 1807).
Heinze, Johann Georg (1719–1801), 280
Helancius, alludes to the electro-magnetical power of the _betyli_,
17
Helebrandt (_at_ Heidmann, J. A., A.D. 1806), 393
Helfenzrieder, J. E. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Helferricht, Adolf, 32
Helfferich, “Raymond Lully”: Berlin, 1888, 32
Heliodorus of Emesa in Syria (fl. _c._ third century A.D.), 8
Helix and magnet, experimental distinction between (Faraday), 486
Hell--Höll--Maximilian (1720–1792), 26, 233, 236, 246, 308;
“Ephemerides ad Meridian ...”: Vienna, 1757–1791; “Ephemerides,
An 1777. Appendix Auroræ theoria.”
Hellant, Anders (_d._ 1789) (Schwedische Akad. Abhandl., XVIII. 68;
XXXIX. 285), 308
Heller, Theodor Ægidius von (1759–1810), 218, 248, 271, 320
(Gren’s New Journ., II. 1795; IV. 1797; Gilb. Annal., IV. 1800).
Hellmann, Dr. G., 45, 46, 68, 77, 78, 79, 81, 92, 119, 138, 509,
531;
“Neudrucke von schriften und Karten,” 1898; “Rara magnetica,”
1898.
Hellwag, Christoph Friedrich (1754–1835), 285
Hellwag, C. F., and Jacobi, M., “Umfahrungen ... des galvanismus
...,” 1802.
Helmholtz, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von (Pogg. Annal., LXXXIII.
1851; LXXXIX. 1853).
Helmont, Johann Baptist van (1577–1644), 103–106;
“De magnetica ... curatione”: Paris, 1621;
“Ternary of paradoxes, magnetic cure of wounds....” Translation
of Dr. W. Charlton, London, 1650.
Helmuth, J. H., “Über d. Enstchung des Nordlichts,” 1777, 308
Helsham, Dr. (_at_ Ferguson, James, A.D. 1770), 232
Helsingfors, University of, 179
Helvetius, J. F., 1663 and 1677, 554;
“Disputatio philosophica de magnete.”
Helvig--Helwig--C. G. (Gilbert’s Annalen, LI. S. 2, S. 10, 1815),
195, 417, 419
Hemman, M., “Medico Sur. Essays”: Berlin, 1778, 64
Hemmer, Johann Jacob (1733–1790), 29, 258, 270, 308, 386, 417, 426,
556;
“Sur l’électricité des métaux”: Paris, 1780;
“On experiments with an electrophorus” (Mém. de l’acad. de
Mannheim, Vol. IV. p. 112; Acad. Theod. Palat. Commentat.
Vols. IV. V. VI.).
Henckel, Johann Friedrich (1679–1744), “Pyritologia ...,” 273
Henley--Henly--William (_d._ 1779), 228, 237–238, 249, 252, 305,
320, 362, 403
Henley, William, and Ronayne, T. (Phil. Trans., 1772, p. 137).
Henley, W. T., “Télégraphe électrique dans lequel les piles sont
remplacées par des électro-aimants” (Comptes Rendus, XXX. 412,
1850).
Henn, “De Amperi principiis ...,” 1850, 476
Henri (mentioned at Brugnatelli, L. G., A.D. 1802), 362
Henricus (Regius), “Fundamenta physices,” 1646; “Philosophia
naturalis,” 1654, 554
Henrion, Denis (_at_ Leurechon, Jean, A.D. 1628), 109
Henry, Joseph (1797–1878) (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., V. 1835, 1837;
VI. 1839; VIII. 1843; Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., III. 165; IV.
179; Trans. Albany Institute, I. 22, 1831), 318, 322, 323, 337,
421, 447, 449, 459, 460, 472, 473, 476, 487, 488
Henry, Joseph, and Tan (or Ten) Eyck, Dr., “A work on the
application of electro-magnetism to mechanical purposes” (Phil.
Mag. or Annals, X. 314).
Henry, Lord Brougham, “Lives of Men of Letters and Science,” 1846,
457
Henry, Dr. William (1775–1836), “Elements of Experimental
Chemistry,” 1799; “On Sir Humphry Davy and Dr. Wollaston” (Phil.
Mag. or Ann., VII. 228; Phil. Mag., XXII. 183; XXXII. 277; XL.
337), 249, 270, 292, 347, 369, 392, 393, 419, 441, 449, 455, 473
Henry, W. C., “Memoirs of John Dalton,” 1854, 308, 490
Heraclidæ (descendants of Heracles--Hercules), 4, 5.
_See_ “New Int. Cyclop.,” IX. 789.
Heraclides of Pontus and Ecphantus (died _c._ 330 B.C.), 519, 530,
532, 533, 543
Heraclitus, Greek philosopher (fl. _c._ 500 B.C.), mentioned by
Gilbert, Wm., in _De Magnete_, Book V. Chap. XII. _See_ Zeller,
Eduard.
Herbelot, Barthélémy d’, “Bibli. Orientali; on Dictionnaire
Universel,” 541
Herbert, Joseph Elder von (1725–1794), 229, 273;
“Theoriæ phænomenorum electricorum,” 1772, 1778.
Herculean stone--native magnet (_at_ 337–330 B.C.), 13
Hercules, Temples of, 13
Herlicius, D., “Tractatus de fulmine ...”: Starg, 1604, 553
Herembstads (_at_ Humboldt, F. H. A., A.D. 1799), 332
Hermann, Daniel, “De rara et lacorta succino Borussiaco insitio,”
1580, 1600.
Hermes (Trismegistus)--the Egyptian god _Thoth_--looked upon by the
Greeks as the originator of learning, 519, 542
Hermestaedt (_at_ Reinhold, J. C. L., A.D. 1797–1798), 327
Hermolaus Barbarus, “H. B. Patritii Veneti et Aquileinsis ...,”
1516, 82, 541
Hero--Heron--of Alexandria (fl. third century B.C.), 520
Herschel, Prof. Alexander Stewart (mentioned at Chladni, E. F. F.),
313
Herschel, Sir Frederick William (1738–1822), 158.
_See_ “Pioneers of Science,” by Sir Oliver Lodge, 1905, Lecture
XII. and Index, pp. 402–403.
Herschel, Sir John Frederick William, son of the preceding
(1792–1871); “Preliminary discourse on the study of natural
philosophy,” 1831; “Revised instructions ...” for Royal
Society, 1842, 76, 99, 101, 102, 140, 141, 158, 212, 262, 297,
300, 322, 369, 395, 455, 458, 466, 471, 476, 481
Hertz--Herz--Heinrich Rudolf, Professor of Physics in Bonn
University (1857–1894), 184, 331
Hervart, Joannes Fridericus, “Admiranda Ethnicæ ...,” 15, 106
Hervart, Johann George (1554–1622), 106
Hevelius--Hevel--Hewelcke Joannes (1611–1687), 130
(Phil. Trans. 1670, p. 2059).
Heyden, J. M. van der, “Mémoire sur l’électro-magnétisme” (Journal
de Phys. Chim. et d’Hist. Nat., Vol. 94), Paris, 1822.
Hiao-wou-ti, Emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty, 5
Hibbard (mentioned at Ampère, A. M., A.D. 1820), 476
Hien Toung, ascended Chinese throne, A.D. 806, 28
Higgs, Paget (_at_ Oersted, H. C., A.D. 1820), 454
Highton, Edward, 148, 242, 248, 286, 316, 318, 337, 359, 407, 436,
439, 476;
“The electric telegraph; its history and progress”: London, 1852.
Hilaire. _See_ Geoffroy, Saint Hilaire.
Hildeberti--Gildebert--French writer (_c._ A.D. 1055–1133), 526
Hildebrand, A. (_at_ Jacotot, Pierre, A.D. 1804), 387
Hildebrandt, Georg Friedrich (1764–1816), 311
(Gilbert’s Ann., XXI. 1805; XXX. 1808;
Gehlen’s Neues Allgem. Jour. d. Chemie, VI. 1808;
Schweigger’s Journ., I. 1811; XI. 1814).
Hill, Sir John (_c._ 1716–1775); “A general natural history,” 1748;
“Theophrastus’ History of Stones,” _De lapidibus_, 2nd ed.
1774, 13
Hiller, L. H., “Mysterium artis ...,” 1682, 554
Hillyer, mentioned at Mercator, 563
Hin-tchin completed in A.D. 121 the celebrated Chinese dictionary
“Choue-Wen,” 21
Hiörter. _See_ Hjorter.
Hipparchus the Rhodian--Abraxis (_b._ 160–145 (?)
B.C.)--Hipparchian, 32, 108, 513, 520–522, 533, 537
Hippias of Elis (_c._ 460, B.C.), 15
Hippocrates, “father of medical science” (_c._ 460–357 B.C.), 14,
40, 270, 506, 511, 540
Hirt, Aloys (1759–1837), “Der Tempel Salomonis”: Berlin, 1803, 5, 9
(Ronalds’ Catalogue, p. 246).
Hisinger, W. (1766–1852), “Forsk med. elektriska ...”: Stockholm,
336, 369, 419.
_See_ Berzelius, _also_ Ideler, C. L.
Histoire abrégée, par Dalibard, 175
Histoire académique du magnétisme animal. _See_ Mojon.
“Histoire (Chinoise) traduite du Thoung-Kian-Kang-Mou”: Paris,
1777, 2
Histoire Chr. d’Abbeville, par Nicolas Sanson, 108
Histoire critique des pratiques superstitieuses, 148
Histoire de l’Arianisme, 144
Histoire de l’astronomie au 18^e siècle. _See_ Delambre, J. B. J.
Histoire de la Bibliothèque Mazarine, par Alf. Franklin, 108
Histoire de la boussole. _See_ Boddært, P. D. M.
Histoire de la chimie. _See_ Hœfer, M. F.
Histoire ... de la dynastie de Tang, 21
Histoire de l’électricité medicale. _See_ Guitard, M. T.
Histoire de la littérature Romaine. _See_ Schöll, Carl.
Histoire de la Médicine Arabe, par L. Leclerc, 541
Histoire de la médicine, par J. Freind, 505.
_See also_ Sprengel, K. P. J.
Histoire de la philosophie. _See_ Rémusat, Charles de.
Histoire de la télégraphie. _See_ Bonel, A.; Chappe, I. U. J.;
_also_ Mangin M.; Bonel, A.; Reynard, J. J.
Histoire de l’Université de Paris, 39
Histoire des auteurs sacrés, par Léonce Celier, 525
Histoire des météores. _See_ Rambosson, J.
Histoire des physiciens (Desaguliers, Boyle, etc.). _See_ Séverien,
Alexandre.
Histoire des sciences. _See_ Maupied, F. L. M.
Histoire des sciences mathématiques.... _See_ Marie, J. F.
Histoire des sciences mathématiques ... à la fin du 17^e siècle,
par Guillaume Libri (1803–1869), 45
Histoire des sciences mathématiques et physiques chez les Belges.
_See_ Quetelot, L. A. J.
Histoire des sciences naturelles, par Georges Cuvier, 190, 202
“Histoire du Galvanisme ...” _See_ Electricity, galvanic, history
of.
Histoire ecclésiastique, par Lenain de Tillemont, 525
Histoire générale des mathématiques, Charles Bossut, 147
Histoire littéraire de la France, 33, 526, 531
Historia Ecclesiastica, by Claude Fleury, 525
Historia Gymnasii Patavavini, 528
“Historia rerum Norvegicarum of Torffæus,” 44
Historia ... Veterum Persarum, by Thomas Hyde, 141
Historia Univ. Par. _See_ Du Boulay.
Historiæ Animalium Angliæ, 204
“Historiæ Hierosolimitanæ” of Jacobus de Vitry, 31
Historical account of astronomy. _See_ Narisson, John.
Historical Magazine, 209
Historical Memoirs on Galvanism. _See_ Schaub, J.
Historical sketch of the Electric Telegraph, by A. Jones, 1852.
Histories of telegraphy, by I. U. J. Chappe, 301
History and heroes of the Art of Medicine, 132
History and present state of Galvanism. _See_ Bostock, John.
History and progress of the electric telegraph. _See_ Sabine,
Robert.
History of antiquity. _See_ Duncker, Max.
History of Chaldea, 2
History of China, Chronological tables, 1
History of classical Greek literature, 511
History of Electric Science. _See_ Bakewell, Frederick C.
History of electricity. _See_ Electricity, galvanic, history of.
History of Greek mathematics, 520
History of Latin Christianity. _See_ Milman.
History of Magnetism. _See_ Magnetism, history of.
History of mathematics. _See_ Ball, W. W. R.
History of natural philosophy. _See_ Forbes, J. D.
“History of navigation from its origin to this time” (1704), 522
History of Norway, 44
History of scientific ideas, by Whewell, 499
History of Spanish Literature, Geo. Tickner, 532
History of philosophy from Thales to Comte, 534
History of the Crusades, 31
History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, by Gibbon
(Milman), 525
History of the Philosophy of History. _See_ Flint, Robert.
History of the telegraph. _See_ p. 458 of the Index, Vol. II. of
Catalogue of Wheeler Gift to the Amer. Inst. of Electrical
Engineers, 1909. _See also_ Sabine, Robert; Jones, A.; Chappe,
I. U. J., 301
History of things lost, 1715, 81
History of wireless telegraphy, by J. J. Fahie, x
History philosophically illustrated. _See_ Miller, Dr. George.
Hjortberg, G. F. (K. Schwed. Akad. Abh., Vol. 27, pp. 200, 280;
Vol. 30, p. 99), Leipzig, 1765, 1768, 385
Hjorter--Hiörter--Olav--Olof Peter (1696–1750), 139, 168, 273, 308;
“Von der Magnet-Nadel ... vestorbenen A. Celsius ...,” 1747.
Hoadley, B., and Wilson, B., “Observations ... electrical
experiments ...,” 1756, 185
Hoang-ti, Chinese Emperor (_at_ 2637 B.C.), 1, 2, 28
Hobart Town--Hobarton--place at which important magnetical
observations were made by Edward Sabine in 1841, 1843, 267
Hodson, F. M., “Encyclopædia Mancuniensis ...”: Manchester, 1813.
Hody, Humphrey (1659–1706), 43
Hœfer, Johann F. Christian, Charles M. Ferdinand (1811–?);
“Histoire de la Chimie”; “Histoire de l’astronomie”;
“Nouvelle Biographie Générale,” 34, 44, 71, 505, 517, 529, 531
Hœfer. _See_ “Nouvelle Biographie Générale.”
Hofberg, Hermann, 165, 370; “Svenskt. Biografiskt Handlexikon.”
Hoff, Jacobus Hendricus van’t. _See_ Van’t Hoff.
Höffding, Harold, “A history of modern philosophy,” 94
Hoffmann, C. L. (_at_ Faraday, Michael), 497, and _at_ 1787, 556
Hoffmann, Johann Christian (_b._ 1768), “Anweirsung ...,” 557;
“Praktische ... elektrisermachinen ...”: Leipzig, 1795.
Hoffmann, Privy Councillor of Mayence, 451
Holden, Edward S. (_at_ Galileo, A.D. 1632), 117; (_at_ Copernicus,
N.), 508
Holder, William (1616–1698), Royal Society Transactions, 548
Holland, Frederick May (_at_ Ficino, Marsiglio), 515
Holland, Philemon (1552–1637), The naturall historie of C. Plinius
Secundus, 11, 13, 18, 26, 124.
_See_ Pliny.
Hollick, F. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799), 330
Hollmann, Samuel Christian (1696–1787), “Of electrical fire” (Phil.
Trans., X. 271, 1744–1745.
Holmgren, K. A., “Recherches ... l’influence de la température sur
le magnetisme” (Upsala Acad., 1855, 1859).
Holsbeck, H. van (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Holtz, Wilhelm Theodor Bernhard, “Ueber die elektrische ...”:
Berlin, 1878; “Zur theorie der influenzelektrisismaschine”:
Greifewald, 1878 (Ann. Phys. und Chem., Vol. 126, pp. 157–171,
1865), 179
Holywood. _See_ Sacro Bosco.
Hombre-Firmas, Louis Augustin, Baron d’ (1785–1857), 423, 424
Home, Sir Everard (1756–1832) (_at_ Banks, Sir Joseph, A.D. 1820),
456
Homer, father of Greek poetry (flourished according to Herodotus
ninth century B.C.), 5, 6, 23, 29
Homes, Henry Guy, translator of Al Gazel, 38
Hondius, Jodocus, 562–564
Honorius, d’Autun (Phil. Mag., XXXV. 108), 35
Hood, T., “The use of both the globes,” 1592
Hooke, Dr. Robert (1635–1703), 26, 130, 142–143, 147, 301, 399,
434, 547
Hooker, Sir J. D. (_at_ A.D. 1781), 259
Hooper, Dr. William, “Rational Recreations,” 241
Hopf, C. G. “Dissert. sistens ... theoriæ,” 1794, 557
Hopkinson, Thomas (1709–1751), “On the effect of points in
electricity.”
Hopkinson, T., and Rittenhouse, D. (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. O.S.
II.) 178, 198, 252, 283, 492
Hoppe, Edmund, “Geschichte ...,” 1884, 224, 319
Horrebow--Horreboe--Christian (1718–1776), 158
Horrebow--Horreboe--Nicolas (1712–1760), 158
Horrebow--Horreboe--Peter (1728–1812), 158
Horrebow--Horreboe--Peter (1679–1764), 157–158, 508
Horrox--Horrockes--Jeremiah (1619–1641), 96
Horsford, Eben Norton (_b._ 1818), “Cabot’s Landfall ...
Norumbega,” 115.
_Consult_ “Appleton’s Cyclopædia,” III. 265.
Hortenz--Hortentz--A. B. (mentioned at A.D. 1805), 392
(Phil. Mag., XXIV. 91, 1806).
Horus (the Egyptian deity Hôr), 14, 64
Hottinger, Johann Heinrich, “Bibliothecarius quadripartitus,” 1664,
40
Houtman and Davis, 563
Houzeau, Jean Charles, et Lancaster, Albert, “Bibliographie
générale de l’Astronomie,” 20, 40, 54, 58, 63, 68, 75, 93, 94,
96, 97, 106, 115, 116, 122, 127, 134, 138, 142, 143, 147, 152,
158, 181, 267, 293, 304, 314, 335, 412, 432, 446, 462, 481,
501, 503, 505, 506, 507, 508, 510, 511, 515, 517, 519, 522,
527, 530, 531, 533, 536, 537, 540, 541
Howard, Luke (_at_ Wells, C. C., A.D. 1795), 323
(Phil. Mag., XVI. 97, 334, 1803; LVII. 81, 1821).
Howldy, Thomas (Phil. Mag., XLIII. 241, 363, 1814; XLVI. 401, 1815;
XLVIII. 285, 1816; Phil. Mag. or Annals, I. 343, 1827), 427,
429
Hoy, James (Tilloch’s Phil. Mag., LI. 422, 1818), 308
Hubner, Lorenz (1753–1809), 272, 274
(_at_ Swinden, J. H. van, A.D. 1784), “Abhandlung ...” (Neue
Philos. Abhand. d. Baier Akad. d. Wiss., II. 353–384).
Hudson, Thomas, “Electricity”: London, 1806.
Hues--Hood--Robert (1553–1632), _at_ 76, 109, 522;
“On magnetic variations.”
Hufeland, C. W., “Journal de médecine pratique,” 304, 327, 333, 385
Hugenius. _See_ Huygens _below_.
Hughes de Bercy. _See_ Ugo di Bercy.
Hulme, N., “A continuation of the experiments ... Canton’s
phosphorus,” 1801 (Phil. Trans, for 1800, part I. p. 161; for
1801, p. 403), 556
Hulsius, Levinus, “Descriptio et usus ...,” 1597, 71
Hultsch, Friedrich (_at_ Hero of Alexandria), 520
Humane Society, Transactions of, 238, 305
Humboldt, Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von (1769–1859), Aphorismi
ex doctrina ... voyage ... dans les années, 1799–1804; “Asie
Centrale (Central Asien) ... Recherches sur les chaines de
montagnes ...”: Paris, 1843; Cosmos: Sketch of a physical
description of the universe (this was translated into English
by Lieut.-Col. Edward and Mrs. Sabine, also by H. Faye, by C.
Galusky and by E. C. Otté); Examen critique de l’histoire de la
géographie ... et des progrès de l’astronomie nautique: Paris,
1836–1837; Expériences sur le galvanisme. _See_ Jadelot, J. F.
N., _at_ A.D. 1799; Kritische Untersuchungen; “Observations sur
l’anguille électrique”: Paris, 1806; Relation historique du
voyage aux régions equinoctiales; “Views of Nature ...,”
translated by E. C. Otté and H. G. Bohn; “Versuche über der
elektrischen fische”: Jena, 1806; Voyage zoologique. _See_
Klaproth.
Humboldt, F. H. A. von, and Biot, J. B. (Phil. Mag., XXII. 248,
249, 1815).
Humboldt, F. H. A. von, and Boupland, “Untersuchungen ...”: Paris,
1810.
Humboldt, F. H. A. von, and Gay-Lussac, L. J. (Phil. Mag., XXIII.
356, 1806). _See_ Copley Medal and the following reference
numbers.
Humboldt, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 20, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31,
32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 42, 44, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 60, 63, 64,
66, 67, 69, 70, 77, 78, 82, 87, 88, 91, 92, 93, 96, 98, 113,
114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 129, 132, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142,
153, 157, 158, 165, 168, 193, 196, 207, 208, 230, 249, 254,
255, 262, 266, 270, 267, 277, 294, 299, 313, 314, 318, 321,
326, 327, 330, 335, 337, 344, 354, 380, 389, 393, 402, 412,
417, 419, 443, 444, 445, 446, 454, 460, 462, 476, 478, 479,
480, 481, 483, 498, 503, 510, 515, 521, 530, 537
Hume, David, “History of England,” 66, 522
Hunaci, A. (_at_ Aquinas, St. Thomas), 505
Hunt, Robert, F.R.S. _See_ Walker, William, Jr.
Hunter, George, of York (_at_ Fowler, Richard, A.D. 1793), 307
Hunter, John (1728–1793), 240, 279, 298, 299, 331, 436
(Phil. Trans., 1773, 1775; Opuscoli Scelti, XXII. 364).
Hutchins, Thomas (_at_ Lorimer, Dr. John, A.D. 1775), 243;
“Expériences ... sur l’électricité galvanique ...” (Journ. de
Chimie de Van Mons, No. VI. p. 289).
Hutchinson, Benjamin, “Biographia Medica ...,” 1799, 92
Hutton, Charles. _See_ Royal Society.
Hutton, Dr., of Woolwich, “Phil. and Math. Dictionary,” 54, 80,
220, 400, 462
Huxham, John (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308 (Phil. Trans.,
XLVI. 472).
Huxley, Leonard (_at_ Faraday, Michael, A.D. 1821), 499
Huxley, Prof. the Right Hon. Thomas Henry (1825–1895), “Science and
Education”; “Science Culture,” 228, 499
Huygens--Huyghens--Huyhens--Hugenius--Christian (1529–1695), 151,
152, 235, 357
Hyde, Thomas (_at_ Zoroaster), 541
I
Iamblichus, Greek writer and head of Syrian Neoplatonism (fl.
second century A.D.); Life of Pythagoras, 2, 515, 537
Iatromathematical School founded by Borelli, which became the
Accademia del Cimento, 96
Ibn Ahmed, Ibn Roschd. _See_ Averroës.
Ibn Siná, Al Rayic. _See_ Avicenna.
Ibn Yahga. _See_ Avemplace.
Iceland spar and other crystals. _See_ references _at_ pp. 153
(Leméry, etc.), and _at_ pp. 355–357, Lehot, Huyghens, etc.
Ideler, Christian Ludwig (1766–1846), 521
(Pogg. Annalen, XXVI. 1832); “Handbuch der mathematischen und
technischen chronologie.”
Idrisi. _See_ Edrisi.
“Iliad” of Homer, translation by Pope, 7
“Illustrated London News,” 440
“Il Nuovo Cimento, Giornale di fisica ...” _See_ Nuovo Cimento.
“Il Poligrafo, Giornale di scienze ...”: Verona, 420
Image du monde--Imago mundi--Mirroir du monde, 35
Imhof, Maximus (1758–1817), “Theoria electricitatis ...,” 1790
(Gilb., Ann., XVIII, 1804).
Imperial Cyclopædia, also English and Penny Cyclopædias and Mech.
Dict. by Charles Knight, 4, 11, 18, 27, 29, 31, 56, 57, 59, 66,
69, 148, 277, 284, 335, 397, 440, 446, 475
“Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography,” published by Wm.
McKenzie, 82, 117, 129, 285
Imp. reale istituto veneto di scienze, lettere ed arte; “Atti delle
adunanze”: Venezia. _See_ Perego, Antonio.
Inclination. _See_ Variation.
Inclination. Word introduced by Henry Bond to denote magnetic dip.
Inclinometer. _See_ Lloyd, Humphrey.
Indagine. _See_ Jæger, Johann Ludolph.
Index to the present work. _See_ Encyclopædia Britannica.
Indicator, galvano-magnetic, 412
Induction, magneto-electric, Faraday’s discovery, 484–487
Induction memoirs. _See_ Wurtmann, Elie François.
“Industrie Moderne:” Bruxelles, vii
Influence or induction machine, 337
Ingenhousz--Ingen-housz--Jan (1730–1799), 230, 239, 249, 251, 252,
256–258, 278, 280, 282, 299, 448
(Phil. Trans., 1775, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1788, 1789;
Journal de Physique, XXXV. 1789).
“Ingénieur (L’), Electricien,” publication commenced in Paris
during 1861.
Inglis, Gavin, theory of waterspouts (Phil. Mag., LIII. 216, 1818).
Ingram (_at_ Walsh, John, A.D. 1773), 240
Innocenti, G. (_at_ A.D. 1805), 393
(Nuova Scelta d’Opusc., II. 96, 1807).
Institut des mathématiques et physiques, 409
“Institut, L’,” publication commenced in Paris during 1833.
Institut National des Sciences et des Arts. Mémoires: Paris, 178,
228, 247, 248, 277, 284, 288, 318, 333, 335, 339, 349, 350,
351, 352, 354, 355, 375, 376, 377, 380, 386, 388, 389, 410,
412, 415, 454, 455, 462, 468, 477
Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, xiv. The “Journal” was
commenced in 1872.
_Intensity_, the most important element of terrestrial magnetism,
76, 250.
_See_ Borda.
“Internationale Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift und Bericht ueber die
Elektrische Austellung”: Vienna, 1884.
International Encyclopædia (New), Dodd, Meade and Co.: New York,
34, 38, 39, 64, 92, 392, 445, 513
Invisible or Philosophical College, which has since become the
Royal Society, 130
Ionian School (_at_ School of Athens), 542
Ionides, S. A. (_at_ Lully, Raymond, A.D. 1235–1315), 32
Ions, 391, 480
Irish Academy, Transactions, 263, 317, 419
Irish Royal Society, 419
Irvine, Christopher (1638–1685), “Medicina magnetica ...”:
Edinburgh, 1656, 554
Irving, Washington (1783–1859), History of the life ... Columbus,
32, 66
Isidore--Isodorus Hispalensis (_c._ A.D. 560–636), Bishop of
Seville from A.D. 600 to 630, “Originum sive Etymologiarum,”
Lib. XX. 17, 18, 20
Islands of eruption, or marine volcanoes, 417
Isomerism (_at_ Mitscherlich, E., A.D. 1820), 471
Isomorphism discovered by Mitscherlich, 471
Istituto delle scienze ed. arti liberali: Bologna, 2 Vols.
1745–1748.
Istituto Nazion. Ital., 248
Istituto R. Lombardo-Veneto, Memorie, Giornale, Atti, etc. _See_
Lombardy, 141, 248, 257, 420
Italian Society, Memorie di matematica e fisica. _See_ Societa
Italiana.
Ivory, Sir James (1765–1842). _See_ p. 645 of Cates’ Dictionary
(Phil. Mag., LX. 81, 1822), 410
Izarn, Joseph (Giuseppe) (1766–1836), “Manuel du galvanisme”:
Paris, 1805; “Lithologie atmosphériques ...”: 223, 275, 282,
306, 315, 349, 350, 355, 359, 366, 367, 376, 383, 391.
_See_ Romagnosi, G. D., “Manuale del galvanismo”: Firenze, 1805.
J
J. G. S. (entered at A.D. 1707), 152
Jachim, George. _See_ Rhactius.
Jackson, A. V. W. (entered at Zoroaster), 541
Jackson, Benjamin Daydon, “Guide to the literature of Botany,” 153
Jackson, Charles Thomas (_b._ 1805), “Electro-magnetic telegraph”:
Boston, 1849, 234
Jacobi, Joseph (1774–1813), “Elementi di Fisica ...”
Jacobi, Moritz Hermann von (1801–1874), 285;
“On the application of electro-magnetism to the movement of
machines”: London, 1837 (Bull. Phys. Math. du St. Petersburg,
I. 129, 1842; II., 1844; Pogg. Annal., XL. 1837).
Jacopi, Joseph (1779–1813), 409
Jacopo. _See_ Riccati-Jacopo.
Jacotot, Pierre (1755–1821), 386
Jacquet de Malzet, Louis Sebastien (1715–1800), 387, 556
Jacquin, Nicolas Joseph Baron (1727–1817), 347, 422
Jadelot, J. Fr. Nicolas, was a son of the very celebrated doctor
Nicolas Jadelot (1738–1793) and translated Humboldt’s work on
galvanism (1738–1793), 326, 330
Jæger--Jäger--Johann Rudolph (Indagine) (1728–1787).
Jæger--Jäger--Karl Christopher Friedrich von, of Wurtemberg, 363,
408, 421
Jahrbuch der Chemie und physik.... _See_ Nürnberg, 416
Jal, Augustus (1795–1873), “Dictionnaire Critique de biographie et
d’histoire,” 1867.
Jallabert, Giovanni Francisco (1689–1764), 263
Jallabert, Jean Louis (1712–1768), 179, 189, 209, 213, 229, 263,
385;
“Expériences sur l’électricité ...”: Genève, 1748, and Paris,
1749 (Mémoires de Paris, 1742, 1748).
James I of England, 82
Jameson’s Journal, 498
Jameson, Prof. Robert, of Edinburgh (1774–1854), 296, 465.
_See_ Edinburgh, Phil. Journal and New Phil. Journal.
Janet, Paul (_at_ Volta, Alessandro, A.D. 1775), 248
Janin de Combe Blanche, Jean (1730–1790), 304, 385
Japanese historical notes ... received about A.D. 543, “the wheel
which indicates the South,” 27
Jaques de Vitry. _See_ Vitry, James.
Jayme, Juan, and Francisco Galli, test a new declinatorium, 78
Jeans, William T., “Lives of the electricians,” 1887.
Jebb, Dr. Samuel (1694–1772), “Fratris Rogeri Bacon, edidit
Londini, 1733,” 42.
_See_ p. 700 of the “Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” 1908, Vol. X.
Jefferson, Thomas (1743–1826), 327–328
Jelgersma, W. B., “Specimen physicum ... electricitatem,” 1775, 556
Jelinek, C., “Beitrage ... meteorologischer apparate ...”: Wien,
1850 (Sitzungsbericht Wien Acad., V. 1850, II. Abtheil).
Jena--Iena--University, 403
Jenkin, Fleeming, “Précis of a lecture on construction of
telegraphic lines ...”: London, 1863.
Jenkin, William (_at_ Faraday, Michael, A.D. 1821), 487
Jessen, F. E., “Norge” (_at_ Torfæus, Th., A.D. 1266), 45
Jessenius, John (_at_ Brahé, Tycho, A.D. 1601), 93
Jest, E. F., “Macchina ideo-elettrica d’Armstrong e sulla nuova
pila di Bunsen”: Torina, 1844, 1845.
Jewett, Llewellyn (_at_ Wedgwood, Ralph, A.D. 1814), 429
Joachimus, Georgius, surnamed _Rhæticus_ (1514–1576), has many
works on Copernicus (Hœfer, “Nouv. Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XXVI.
716–718).
Joannes a Trinitate, “Disputationes animasticæ ...,” 1713
[Aristotle].
Joannes ab Incarnatione, “Joannis Duns Scoti ... Sententiarum
Petri Lombardi ...,” 1609.
Joannes Baptista Montanus. _See_ Montanus.
Joannes Baptista, “Philosophica Aristotelica Restituta,” 1748.
Joannes Baptista Porta. _See_ Porta.
Joannes Costæus. _See_ Costæus.
Joannes de Colonia, “Incipiunt questiones ...,” 1476 [Duns Scotus].
Joannes de Mechlinea, “Textus ... de anima Aristoteles ...,” 1491.
Joannes de Monte Regio, “Saphaeæ nobilis instrumenti astronomici,”
1534 [Müller, John, _Regiomontanus_].
Joannes de Rupeccissa, “Cœlum Philosophorum,” 1544; and “Liber ...
lapidis philosophorum,” 1613, 1702 [Aquinas, St. Thomas].
Joannes de Sacro Bosco. _See_ Holywood, John.
Joannes Franciscus Fernelius. _See_ Fernel.
Joannes Franciscus Offusius. _See_ Offusius.
Joannes Gioia. _See_ Gioia.
Joannes Glozaviensis, “Introductorium ... sphere materialis ...,”
1518 [Holywood, John--Sacro Bosco].
Joannes Isaacus, _Hollandus_, “Opera mineralia ... sive de lapide
philosophico ...,” 1616 (a hundred and fourteen experiments,
1596) [Paracelsus].
Joannes Langius. _See_ Langius.
Joannes Petrus, _Lucensis_, “Problemata Aristotelis ...,” 1501
[Alexander Aphrodiseus].
Joannes Scotus Erigena, “Ein beitrag zur geschichte der philosophic
... in Mittelalter”: München, 1861. _See_ Erigena.
Joannes Stobnicensis, “Introductio in Ptolemai Cosmographiam ...,”
1519 [Ptolemæus, Claudius].
Joannes Taisnier. _See_ Taisnier.
Jobert de Lamballe, Antoine Joseph (_b._ 1799), “Des Appareils
...”; “On medical electricity” (“Bulletin Général de
thérapeutique,” Vol. XXIII.; “Nouvelle Biographie Générale,”
XXVI. 769), 299, 300, 386
Jocher--Jœcher--Christian Gottlieb, “Compendiöses
Gelehrten-Lexicon”: Leipzig, 1750, 71, 107
Jode, Cornelius de, 563
Jodoigne, Bouvier de (Van Mons’ Journal, Nos. XII. and XL.), 388
John II, King of Portugal (1455–1495), 67
John IV, King of Portugal (1604–1656), 135, 136–137
John of Holywood. _See_ Sacro Bosco.
John of London. _See_ Peckham, John.
John of Rochelle. (_d._ 1271), 38
Johnson, Alvin L., “New Universal Cyclopædia,” edited by Charles
Kendall Adams, 5, 23, 38, 64, 78, 208, 284, 302, 310, 412, 446,
455, 462, 481, 487, 495
Johnson, E. J., “On the influence which magnetic needles exercise
over each other” (Phil. Trans. for 1834).
Johnston, J., “Thaumatographia naturalis,” 1665, 554
Johnstone, James (_at_ Faraday, Michael, A.D. 1821), 498
Jones, Alexander, “Historical sketch of the electric telegraph,”
159
Jones, G., “Observations on the Zodiacal Light ...,” 1856.
Jones, Henry Bence. _See_ Royal Society, _also_ 498
Jones, H. Lewis, “Medical Electricity,” 183, 189
Jones, J. Winter (_at_ Varthema, L. di, A.D. 1502), 69
Jones, Prof. Stanley (_at_ Porta, Giambattista della, A.D. 1558),
72
Jones, Thomas, “On his reflecting compass” (Gilb., Annal, LIV.
197, 508).
Jones, William (1675(?)-1740), “Epitome of navigation....”
Jones, William (1726–1800), “Essay on electricity”: London, 1799,
281;
Jones and Rittenhouse, 1793.
Jordan, C. J., “Engraving by galvanism” (Mechanics’ Magazine for
June, 1839).
Jordan, Johann Ludwig (mentioned at A.D. 1812), 419
Josephus, Flavius (_b._ A.D. 37), 9
Joubert, Marcel (_at_ Faraday, Michael, A.D. 1821), 499
Joule, James Prescott (_b._ 1818), 346
(Ann. of Electricity, IV. 203, 1839; IV. 474, 1840; V. 187, 1840;
V. 431, 1841; Phil. Mag., Ser. iii., XXIII. for 1843; Phil.
Mag. for Oct., Dec. 1851 and Jan. 7, 1852).
Jourdain, Amable Louis M. M. Bréchillet (1738–1818), 11, 38
Jourdain, Charles Marie Gabriel Bréchillet (_b._ 1817), 11
Jourdain, M., “Sur les traductions d’Aristotle,” 36
Journal de Chimie.... _See_ Mons, J. B. van.
Journal de Chimie et d’histoire naturelle. _See_ Moll, Gerit.
Journal de Chimie--Physique, de Philippe--A. Guye: Genève, 392
Journal de la société de pharmacie, 285, 306, 363
Journal de L’Ecole Polytechnique. _See_ Ecole Polytechnique.
Journal de Leipzig, 248, 285
Journal de Litterature médicale, 241
Journal de Médecine, 249, 255, 326, 402, 556.
_See also_ Bacher.
Journal de Paris, 265, 271, 284, 288, 300, 342, 351
Journal de Pharmacie, 493
Journal de Physiologie, 325
Journal de Physique. _See_ Rozier, Monge; de la Méthérie; begun as
“Introdn. sur la physique,” 140, 198, 201, 207, 218, 224, 229,
235, 240, 241, 243, 248, 249, 257, 258, 259, 261, 262, 266,
271, 273, 274, 275, 277, 279, 280, 281, 284, 285, 288, 292,
295, 298, 300, 302, 303, 304, 306, 313, 320, 324, 326, 328,
329, 330, 337, 341, 349, 350, 351, 355, 362, 375, 376, 379,
383, 388, 394, 401, 402, 416, 431, 453, 476, 556, 557
Journal der Chemie. _See_ Gehlen, A. F.
Journal der Physik, von Friedrich Albert Carl Gren (1760–1798):
Halle, Leipzig, 1790–1794; continued as Neues Journal der
Physik, von F. A. C. Gren: Leipzig, 1795–1797; continued as
Annalen der Physik, von (F. A. C. Gren) L. W. Gilbert: Halle,
1797–1808; Neue Folge, 1809–1818, Neueste Folge, 1819–1824;
continued as Annalen der Physik (und Chemie), von J. C.
Poggendorff: Leipzig 1824–1877, etc. “Journal für Chemie und
Physik ...,” edited by J. J. Bernhardi, C. F. Bucholz ...,
J. S. C. Schweigger and Dr. Meinecke: Nürnberg, 1811–1820, 220,
248, 249, 271, 284, 293, 303, 316, 320, 335, 449
Journal des Débats, 224, 377
Journal des Mines, 288, 314, 324, 388, 415
Journal des Savants--Sçavans. _See_ Annales des Sciences, viii, x,
xvii, 11, 16, 20, 24, 26, 32, 33, 37, 39, 40, 42, 43, 54, 55,
61, 65, 75, 91, 93, 94, 96, 105, 117, 121, 122, 125, 127, 129,
130, 134, 140, 143, 144, 151, 152, 153, 155, 162, 166, 171,
178, 183, 187, 189, 199, 204, 214, 229, 233, 235, 242, 247,
262, 280, 300, 322, 355, 370, 371, 375, 380, 389, 462, 476,
505, 508, 510, 514, 517, 520, 521, 522, 526, 533, 536, 538
Journal des travaux de l’académie de l’industrie française, 421
Journal du galvanisme. _See_ Nauche, J. L.
Journal Encyclopédique. _See_ Bologna.
Journal für die chemie und pharmacie. _See_ Gehlen, A. F. von.
Journal für die chemie und physik. _See_ Gehlen, A. F. von, _at_
Scherer, A. N.
Journal für chemie und physik. _See_ Gren as above, likewise
Scherer, Schweigger, _also_ Nürnberg.
Journal für praktische chemie. _See_ Erdmann, Scherer, _also_
Nürnberg.
Journal littéraire à la Haye, 155
Journal littéraire de Berlin, 263
“Journal of Arts and Sciences.” _See_ Newton’s.
Journal of British Astronomical Association, 93
Journal of natural philosophy, chemistry and the Arts, by William
Nicholson, publication commenced in London during 1797. After
Vol. 36, it was incorporated with the Phil. Mag. _See_ p. 548.
Journal of physiological medicine, 499
Journal of science and the arts. _See_ Dublin, _also_ Quarterly
Journal, _likewise_ Royal Institution, 418, 437
Journal of the British Astronomical Association, 93
Journal of the (British) Royal Institute. _See_ London.
Journal of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania,
edited by F. P. Jones and others, 27, 81, 199.
_See_ Franklin Institute.
Journal of the Horticultural Society, 257
Journal of the Royal Institution, 322
Journal of the Society of Arts: London. _See_ Society of Arts.
Journal of the Society of Telegraph Engineers, 440, 455
Journal of the Telegraph, 440
“Journal Télégraphique,” publication commenced at Berne during
1869.
Jove--Jovius--Paul--Paolo Jovio (1483–1552), Italian historian, 58,
211, 506, 507.
_See_ Moreri, L., Grand Dictionnaire, Vol. V. Pt. I, pp. 160–161.
Joyce, Jeremiah (1763–1816).
Jukes, J. Beete (_at_ Mitscherlich, E., A.D. 1820), 471
Julia-Fontenelle, Jean Simon Sébastien Eugène de (1780–1842),
“Manuel de l’électricité”; “Sur les combustions humaines
spontanées”; “Manuel de Physique,” 329
Julio. _See_ Giulio. Bibliothèque Italienne, 5 Vols., by Gioberti,
Vassalli-Eandi and Rossi.
Julius Cæsar Moderatus.
Julius Cæsar Scaliger. _See_ Scaliger.
Jungnitz, L. A., “Aphorismen über d. lehre von d. Elektricität”:
Breslau, 1794, 1796.
Junoblowiskiana Society, 285, 302, 303
Jurine, Louis (1751–1819), 331
Justin of Nassau Court and Olden Barnevelt, 518
K
Kaempfer, Engebrecht (1651–1716), 149, 230, 240
Kaemtz--Kamtz--Ludwig Friedrich (1801–1867), 185, 195, 249, 257,
308, 414, 416, 417;
“Lehrbuch der meteorologie,” “Untersuchungen ...,” 1826
(Schweigg. Journ., XXXVIII. 1823; XLV. 1825; LIII. and LXI.
1828 and 1831; LVI. 1829; Phil Mag., LXII. 441; Mém. des
Sar. Etrang., Vol. VI.; Bull. Phys. Math. Acad. St. Petersb.,
VII. 1849).
Kaestner, Karl Wilhelm Gottlieb--Kastner, Christian--(1783–1857),
220, 314, 408, 529;
“Archives für ... naturlehre,” 18 Vols.: Nürnberg, 1824, 1829;
“Archives für ... meteorologie,” 1830; “Medicin
Gelehrte-Lexikon.”
Kahm--Kalm--P. (mentioned at Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
(Schwedische Akad. Abhandl., an 1752, p. 153).
Kai-bara--Tok-sin, shows in the “Wa-zi-si” that the first magnetic
cars were constructed in Japan during A.D. 658, 27
Kapp, Friedrich, “Geschichte ...,” 508
Karlsruhe Polytechnische Schule.
Karsten, Carl Johann Bernhard (1782–1853), 511;
“Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Physik”: Leipzig, 1856.
Karsten, Gustav (_b._ 1820), “Allgemeine Physik.” One of the
editors of Vol. I. of the “Allg. Encycl. d. Physik.”
Karsten, Wenceslaus Johann Gustav (1732–1787), Anleitung ...
Kenntn. d. Natur, 1783.
Kast, Johann Joachim, “Questionum decades duæ de magnete”:
Strasburg, 1683.
Kastner--Kästner--Abraham G., “Geschichte der mathematik,” 93, 96,
115, 117, 147, 538, 541
Kazwini. _See_ Zakarizā.
Keferstein--Kefferstein--W., and Kupffer, D., 300
Keill, John (1671–1721), “Introductiones ad veram physicum,” 151,
163
Keir--Kier--James (Phil. Trans. for 1776) (1735–1820), 297
Keiser (_at_ Zamboni, Giuseppe, A.D. 1812), 420
Kelland, Rev. P. (_at_ Young, Thomas, A.D. 1807), 395
Kelly, John, Rector of Copford, “The life of J. Dollond ...
inventor of the achromatic telescope,” 214
Kelsch, M. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793) 308
(Commerc. Litt. Norimb., 1734).
Kelvin, Lord. _See_ Thomson, Sir William.
Kemp, M., “Description of a non-galvanic pile ...,” 1828 (Jameson’s
Journ., VI.).
Kempe, Rev. J. E. (_at_ Oersted, H. C., A.D. 1820), 455
Kempelen, Wolfgang von, 171
Kendall--Kendal--Abram--Abraham--English navigator, 69, 76, 522
Keou-tsoungchy, writes the earliest known description of a water
compass, 29
Kepler, Johann (1571–1630), 92, 93, 95, 141, 208, 266, 484, 508;
“Stella Martis,” “Epitome Astronomiæ Copernicanæ ...,” 1635.
_See_ Moreri, L., “Dictionnaire Historique ...,” Vol. V. Pt. 2,
p. 21;
Wundt, “Philosophische Studien,” Index, p. 34.
Kerckring, Theodor. _See_ Kirckringius.
Kerner, T. (_at_ Aldini, G., A.D. 1793), 305
Kerr, Robert (1755–1813), 297
Kew Observatory (_at_ Ronalds, Sir Francis, A.D. 1816), 440
Kiel University (_at_ Pfaff, C. H., A.D. 1821), 483
Kielmayer--Kielmaier--Karl Friedrich (1765–1844), 284, 302, 326;
“Dissertatio sistens ... de electricitate et galvanismo”:
Tubingen, 1802; “Examen experimentorum ... effectus magnetis
...”: Tubingen, 1813.
Kienmayer, Franz von (_d._ 1802), “Sur une nouvelle manière de
préparer l’amalgame electrique ...”: Paris, 1788 (Jour. de
Phys., XXXIII. 1788, 97; Opusc. Scelti, XII. 3, 1789).
Kierski, M. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386;
“Dissertatio de electricitatis ...”: Berolini, 1854.
Kies, Johann (1713–1871), “De effectibus electricitatis ...”:
Tubingen, 1775.
Kiesser (Archiv., IV. 62), 401
Kilian, Franz M. (_at_ Aldini, G., A.D. 1793), 306
King, Rev. C. W., “Antique gems,” 18, 526
King-che-so, the oldest known monument of sculptured stone, 3
King, Edward, “Remarks concerning stones said to have fallen from
the clouds, both in these days and in ancient times”: London,
1796.
King’s College, Cambridge, 549
Kingsley, Charles (_at_ Plotinus of Alexandria), 534
Kingsley and Silliman, “An account of meteoric stones ...” (Phil.
Mag., XXX. 232, 1808; Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., O.S. vi., Pt.
II. 1818).
Kin-Koung-yuan, the name of the magnetic cars first made in A.D.
806–820, 27, 28
Kinnersley, Ebenezer (1711–1778), 221–223, 228, 234, 320, 367, 379;
“New experiments in electricity” (Phil. Trans. for 1763); “On
some electrical experiments with charcoal” (Phil. Trans. for
1773).
“Kiobenhaven Selskab. Skrifter som udi ... ere Tremlagde,” 1745.
Kippingius, Henricus (_d._ 1678), “Antiq. Rom. de Exped. Mar.,” 5.
_See_ p. 32 of Moreri, L., “Grand Dictionnaire ...,” Vol. V.
Kippis, Andrew, “Biographia Britannica”: London, 1793.
Kirby, Thomas, “Analysis of electricity and fire ...,” 1777.
Kircher, Athanasius (1601–1680), 5, 18, 53, 63, 120–121, 125, 130,
146, 160;
“Ars magnetis ... prodigiosis effectibus magnetis,” 1631;
“Magnes, sive de arte magnetica,” 1641, 1643, 1654;
“Prælusiones magneticæ” (Pogg. I. 1259), 1645; “Magneticum
naturæ regnum,” 1667. _See_ pp. 32–33, 63 of Moreri, L.,
“Grand Dictionnaire ...,” Vol. V.
Kirchhoff--Kirchoff--Gustav Robert (1824–1877), Helmholtz, Hermann
Ludwig Ferdinand (1821–1894), and Siemens, Ernst Werner
(1816–1892), “Verhandlungen der Kgl. Preussischen Akademie
...”: Berlin, 1880. An important paper on lightning conductors.
Kirchhoff--Kirchoff--Nicolaus Anton Johann (1725–1800), “Zarüstung,
die Wirkung ...” (Gött. Mag., T. I. 1780, St. ii. pp. 322–326).
Kirchmaier, Georg Caspar (1635–1700), “De fulmine et tonitru,”
1659; “De luce, igne ac perennibus lucernis”: Viteberg, 1676,
1677 (Miscell. Acad. Nat. Cur. 1677 and 1685, Pogg. I. 1261,
1676–1693).
Kirchmaier, Sebastian, “De filis meteoricis ...”: Viteberg, 1666.
Kirchmaier, Theodor, “De virgula divinatrice” (Pogg. I. 1262),
1678, 401
Kirchner, Carl (_at_ Plotinus of Alexandria), 534
Kirkringius--Kirckring--Theodor “... spicilegium anatomicum,” 147
Kirkwood, Daniel, “Meteoric Astronomy,” 1867.
Kirwan, Richard (1733–1812), 263 (Phil. Mag., XXXIV. 247, 1809).
Kirwanian Society of Dublin, 418, 419
Kjobenhavn, “Nyt bibliothek fer physik ...,” 453, 455
Kjobenhavn, “Oversigt over det ... forhandlinger ...,” 453, 454
Klaproth, Julius (1783–1835), “Lettre à Mr. de Humboldt sur
l’invention de la boussole”: Paris, 1834, 1, 3, 5, 22, 23, 24,
27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 43, 54, 56, 61, 69, 72, 77, 115, 153
Klaproth, Martin Heinrich (1743–1817), 315;
“Des masses pierreuses et métalliques tombées de l’atmosphère”
(Mém. de l’Acad. R. de Berlin, for 1803; Gehlen, Jour. f.
Chem. v. Physik, VIII. 1809).
Klein, G., 284, 305, 326, 385
(Mém. de la Soc. de Haarlem, Vol. I.).
Klein, S., “Dissertatio” (_at_ Avicenna), 40
Kleist, E. C. von (_at_ Plotinus of Alexandria), 534
Kleist, Ewald Georg von (_d._ 1748), inventor of the Leyden phial.
[_See_ note in Ronalds’ Catalogue, p. 268, _also_ Nos. 323 and
460 of the Catalogue of the Wheeler Gift, edited by Wm. D.
Weaver. _See likewise_ the Cunæus entry herein], 173–175
Klenke (_at_ Humboldt, F. H. A., A.D. 1799), 335
Klindworth, J. A., 249
Klingenstierna--Klingensternia--Samuel, Swedish mathematician
(1689–1765); “Dissertatio de electricitate,” 1740, 1742; “Tal
om de naysta zön vid electriciteten,” 1755, 187
Klingenstierna, S., and Brande, W. T., “Dissertatio de magnetismo
artificiale,” 1752.
Klinkosch, Joseph Thaddäus (1734–1778), 274, 387
(“Mém. de l’Acad. de Prague,” III. 218).
Kloerich, F. W., “Versuche über d. Wirkungen d. Magnets ...”:
Göttingen, 1765, 246
Kluge, Karl Alexander Ferdinand, animal magnetism: Amsterdam, 1812
(in “Proeve eener voorstellung ...”).
Klugel, Georg Simon (1739–1812), 326
Knight, Charles, Cyclopædia (1791–1873). _See also_ English
Cyclopædia, Imperial Cyclopædia, Penny Cyclopædia, Mechanical
Dictionary, 4, 11, 18, 27, 29, 31, 56, 57, 59, 66, 69, 148,
277, 284, 335, 397, 440, 446, 475
Knight, Gowin (1713–1772), 180, 190, 265, 272, 276
(Phil. Trans., XLIII. 161, 361; XLIV. 656).
Knockenhauer, Karl Wilhelm (_b._ 1805), 476
(Sitzungsberichten d. Wien Acad. I. 1852; XV. 1855; XXVII. 1857),
“Uber die gesetze des magnetismus nach Ampère’s theorie”
(Poggendorff Annalen, XXXIV. 481).
Knox, Dr. Robert (_at_ Bancroft, E. N., A.D. 1769), 230
Koate, President of the London College of Surgeons, 304
Kobell, Franz von (_b._ 1803), “Die Galvanographie ...,” 1842, 1846
(Schweigg. Journ., LXIV. 1832; Gelehrt Anzeig d. Münch. Acad.
1834, 1843, 1850).
Kœnen, Hendrik Jakob (_at_ Grotius, Hugo), 518
Kœnio, H., “Fulminum theoria meteor ...,” 1631, 553
Koestlin--Koeslin--Carl Heinrich, “Examen ... effectus magnetis
...,” 1813, 243
Kohl, Fred. Georg (_at_ Brugmans, Anton, A.D. 1778), 255
Kohl, Dr. Johann Georg, collection of early maps, 62, 63, 533, 562
Kohlrausch, R. H. (Pogg. Annal., LXXII. 1847 to XCVIII. 1856);
“Theory of the electric residue in the Leyden Jar”: London,
1854.
Kohlrausch, R. H., and Weber, Wm. Ed., 489;
“Elektrodynamische Maasbestimmungen ...,” 1856.
Kohlreif, G. A. (_at_ Lavoisier, A. L., A.D. 1781), 262
“Kön. baïerische akademie der wissenschaften,” 383
“Kongl. svenska vetenskaps Academien,” Handlingar, Stockholm, p.
168, 453
Konversations-Lexikon. _See_ Brockhaus, Meyers, “Conversations.”
Kopp, J. H., “Dissertatio ... causis combustionis spontaneæ in
corpore humano pactæ,” 1800.
Koten, J. H. van, “De galvanische stroom ...”: Amsterdam, 1856.
Koupho, Chinese physicist, discourse on the loadstone, 23
Krafft, Georg Wolfgang (1701–1754), is the author of “Prælectiones
in physicam theoreticam,” “Observationes meteorologicæ ...,”
“De viribus attractionis magneticæ experimenta,” 140, 308, 554
Krafft, Wolfgang Ludwig (1743–1814), 141, 249, 257, 308, 402;
“Tentamen theoriæ electrophori,” 1778 (Novi Comment. Acad.
Petropol., XV. 586; XVII. 695; XIX. 610; Acta Petrop., 1778).
Krais, J., translator of Lucanus’ “Pharsalia,” 140
Kramer, G. E., Über telegraphen--schreib apparate, 1851 (Dingler’s
Polytech. Journ., CXIX. and CXXI. for 1851).
Kramer, G. E., and Belli, Giuseppe, “Sulla produzione dell’ Ozono
...,” 1844, 1845.
Kratzenstein, Christian Gottlieb (1723–1795), 170–172, 213;
“Theoria electricit. more geometrico explicata”: Halle, 1746.
Krayenhoff, Cornelius Rudolph Theodor van (1758–1840), and Van
Troostwijk, A. P., “De l’appl. de l’électricité ...,” 1788, 385
Kreil, Karl (_b._ 1798), “Jahrbücher ... für Meteorologie und
Erdmagnetismus von Kreil,” “Magnetische und geographische ...,”
1846, 1855, 1862 (Sitzungsberichte d. Wien Acad., III. 1849;
IV. 1850; VIII. and IX. 1852; XXXVI., No. 16).
Kries, Friedrich Christian (1768–1849), “Von d. magnet.
Erscheinungen,” 1827.
Krische, August Bernhard (_at_ Heraclides), 519
Kruger, Georg (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Kruger, Johann Gottlob (1715–1759), 174;
“Diss. de electricitatis Musschenbroekianæ ...,” 1756.
Krunitz, Johann Georg (1728–1796), 298, 326, 385, 556;
“Verzeichnis der vornehmsten schriften der electricität und den
electrischen curen,” 1769.
Krunitz--Kirtz--Johann Georg (1728–1796), 298, 385
Krziwaneck, J., “De electricitate ...,” 1839, 328
Ktesias. _See_ Ctesias.
Kuhlmann, Quirinus (1652–1689), “Kircheriana de arte magna sciendi
...”: London, 1681.
Kuhn (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Kuhn--Kuehn--Karl (1816–1869), “Handbuch der angewandten
elektricitätslehre ...”: Leipzig, 1866, 264, 385, 413, 420
Kuhn--Kuehn--Karl Gottlob (1754–1840), “Traité de l’électricité,”
1771; “Die nuest. Entdeckungen ... elektricität ...,” 1796,
1797.
Kung-foo-Whing is said to have invented a method of transmitting
sound through wires by the _thumthsein_, A.D. 968, 28
Kupffer--Kupfer--Adolpte Theodor (_b._ 1799), “Annales de
l’Observatoire physique central de l’empire de Russie ...,”
1850–1859.
Kupffer--Kupfer--D., and Keferstein, W. (_at_ Shaw, John, A.D.
1791), 300
L
La Beaume, Michael, “Du galvanisme”: Paris, 1828, 330, 385
“La Bible” of Guyot de Provins, 30
La Boissière, “Notice sur les travaux ...,” 10
Laborde, Jean Baptiste de (_d._ 1777), “Le clavecin électrique,”
1761, 555
La Caille (_at_ Lambert, J. H., A.D. 1766–1776), 225
Lacépède, Bernard Germain Etienne de la Ville, Comte de
(1756–1825), “Essai sur l’électricité naturelle et
artificielle,” 2 Vols. 1781, 273, 556
Lachmann, M. (_at_ Haüy, René, A.D. 1787), 288
La Condamine, Charles Marie de (1701–1774), 165
La Coste, Christophile de, 516
La Croix, Paul, “Science and literature of the middle ages,” 54,
540
Lacque, Du (_at_ Milly, N. C. De Thy, A.D. 1771), 235
Lactantius, Lucius Cœlius Firmianus (died _c._ A.D. 325–326),
“Divinarum Institutionum,” 523–525
Lacy, H. de, “Du galvanisme médical...,” 1849, 330
Laet, Jan de (1593–1640), “De gemmis et lapidibus,” 1647, 17
“La France littéraire, ou Dictionnaire Bibliographique des
Savants,” par Joseph M. Quérard, 59
Lagos, Vincente Rodriguez de (sixteenth to seventeenth century), 69
La Grande Encyclopédie. _See_ Larousse, Pierre, _also_ Berthelot,
M. P. E.
Lagrange, Joseph Louis, Comte de, Membre de l’Institut, F.R.S.
(1736–1813), 116, 133, 224, 318, 409, 462.
_See_ Wundt, Wilhelm, “Philosophische Studien,” Index, pp. 35–36.
Lagrange, La Place, etc., “Rapport sur un nouveau télégraphe des
citoyens Bréguet, L. F. C., et Bétancourt”: Paris, 1798.
La Grave--Lagrave, 304, 419;
“Expériences galvaniques...,” (Journal de Physique, an XI, pp.
159, 233, 472).
La Hire, Philippe de, “...New sort of magnetical compass...,”
(Phil. Trans. for 1687, p. 344), 141, 144, 145, 148, 268
Lalande--La Lande--Joseph Jérome le François de (1732–1807), 95,
233, 300, 301, 477
(Journal des Savants, Nov. 1792); “Abrégé de l’astronomie.” _See_
“Bibliographie Astronomique.”
“La Lumière Electrique,” publication commenced in Paris during
1879, vii, 24, 140, 154, 199, 208, 224, 269, 361, 416, 422,
455, 470, 476, 481, 499
Lamanon, Robert de Paul, Chevalier de (1752–1787), 250
Lamartillière (_at_ Aldini, G., A.D. 1793), 305
Lamballe. _See_ Jobert de Lamballe.
Lambert, A. J. (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F., A.D. 1794), 314
Lambert, Alexandre, “Historique de la télégraphie ... ses systèmes
divers”: Paris, 1862.
Lambert, Johann Heinrich (1728–1777), 156, 220, 224–225, 309, 315,
444
Lambeth Palace, 329
Lamé, Gabriel (_b._ 1795), “Cours de physique de l’Ecole
Polytechnique,” 2 Vols. 1837, 195
La Méthérie, Jean Claude de (1743–1817), 261, 270, 281–282, 299,
303, 435
(Journal de Physique, XLII. 252; LIII. and LIV.; Annali di Chim.
di Brugnatelli, XIX. 156, 1802).
Lamirault, H., et Cie., 14, 80
Lamont, Johann (1805–1879), 71, 233, 275;
“Handbuch des magnetismus” (Allgem. Encyclop. der Physik, XV.
1867); “Annalen für meteorologie ...”: Munchen, 1842;
“Magnetismus der erde”: Berlin, 1846.
Lamotte-Fouqué, Frederic Henri Charles, Baron de (1777–1843), 75
Lampadius, Wilhelm August (1772–1842), “Versuche und Beobachtungen
über die elektricität ...,” 1793, 1804.
“Lamp of Life,” 104
Lamy, François (1636–1711), “Conjectures physiques ...,” 1689.
Lana-Lanis--Franciscus de--Lana Terzi--Pertius de Lanis
(1631–1687), 53, 110, 554.
_See_ p. 718, Cates’ Dictionary.
“La Nature,” 171, 260
“Lancet,” 97
Lancetti, Vincenzio, “Biographia Cremonese”: Milano, 1819–1822, 71
Landnama-Bok--Landnamabok, 28
Lando. _See_ Mongiardini.
Landriani, G. B., “Nova electricitatis theoria ...,” 1755, 555
Landriani, Marsiglio (_d._ 1816 ...), 278, 284;
“On an improved electrophorus” (Scelta d’Opuscoli, 12 mo., XIX.
73, 1776); (Mayer’s Samml. “Phys. Aufsäge der Gesellsch.
Böhmischer Naturf,” III.) Letters from Van Marum in 1789 and
1791.
Lane, Timothy (1734–1807), 228, 282;
“On the magnetic attraction of oxides of iron” (Phil. Mag.,
XXIII. 253); Description of Mr. Lane’s electrometer (Phil.
Trans., LVII. 451, 1768).
Lang, Andrew, “Sagas of the Kings of Norway,” 115
Lang, Victor von (Sitzungb. Wien. Acad., XXXI. No. 18, 1858; LIX.
1869).
Langbein, Dr. Geo., “A complete treatise on the electro-deposition
of metals,” 24
Langenbucher, Jacob (_at_ Gay-Lussac, J. L., A.D. 1804), 389
Langius, Joannes, “Epistolorum medicinalium,” 1589, 17, 27, 82
Langworthy, Charles Cunningham, “View of the Perkinian
electricity,” 1798, 328
Lanis, P. Francisci Tertii de, 53, 110
La Pérouse--Jean François de Galaup, Comte de (_b._ 1741), 249
La Péyrouse--Pérouse--Philippe (1744–1818), “Description d’un
météore ...” (Toulouse Academy, 1^{ere} Série IV. 189, 1790),
250
Lapide Bononiensi: Mentzel, Chn., 1673; Montalbani, Ovido, 1634;
Licetus, 1640; Mentzel, 554
Lapis electricus of Linnæus, 13, 153
Lapis fulminaris, 218
Lapis heracleus, 15
Lapis herculaneus, 15
Lapis lyncurius, 13, 218
La Place, Capt. Cyrille Pierre Théodore (_b._ 1793), 462
La Place, Pierre Simon, Marquis de (1749–1827), 96, 141, 247, 261,
262, 318, 344, 349, 377, 378, 386, 409, 416, 426, 459,
460–462, 463, 475, 480.
_See_ Wundt, Wilhelm, “Philosophische Studien,” Index, pp. 35–36.
La Place, P. S., and Lavoisier, A. L. (Mémoires de Paris for 1781),
462
Larcher, Cassius, Daubancourt, and Zanetti, F. M., 306
(Ann. de Chim., XLV. 195).
Lardner, Dionysius (1793–1859), “Manual of electricity ...”;
“Handbooks of Electricity, etc.”; “Lectures on Science and
Art”; Cabinet Library, 12 Vols.; Cabinet Cyclopædia, 134
Vols., 8, 10, 80, 115, 138, 157, 207, 227, 336, 339, 347, 379,
390, 392, 417, 455, 473, 476
Lardner, Nathaniel (1684–1768), “Credibility of the gospel history
...,” 25
La Rive, Auguste Arthur De (_b._ 1801), “Recherches sur la cause de
l’électricité ...”; “Essai historique”; “Traité d’électricité
...”; “A treatise on electricity ...,” 1853, 1856, 1858;
“Archives de l’électricité; supplément à la Bibliothèque
Universelle De Genève” (Ann. de Chimie, XXXVII. 225, 1828;
Phil. Mag. or Annals, III. 151, _also_ the Quarterly Journal,
XXXV. 161, 1828; Phil. Trans, for 1847; pt. 1, 10, 107, 139,
140, 185, 259, 263, 292, 300, 305, 308, 321, 330, 347, 352,
359, 365, 384, 385, 387, 391, 406, 407, 418, 420, 434, 441,
454, 472, 473, 476, 491, 495
La Rive and Marcet (Geneva, Soc. de Phys., VI. 503, 1833).
Larousse, Pierre Athanase (1817–1875), “Grand Dictionnaire
Universel du XIX^e siècle ... Biographie, etc.”; “Revue
Encyclopédique,” 2, 10, 21, 38, 41, 45, 64, 65, 68, 69, 80, 81,
91, 94, 97, 98, 103, 105, 106, 107, 109, 114, 117, 120, 121,
122, 127, 128, 130, 132, 148, 149, 158, 190, 253, 255, 259,
282, 286, 288, 289, 294, 295, 296, 306, 324, 350, 353, 359,
361, 367, 376, 383, 385, 386, 387, 402, 408, 409, 414, 420,
424, 428, 456, 464, 471, 483, 498, 501, 502, 505, 507, 508,
509, 510, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 519, 520, 521,
525, 526, 527, 529, 531, 532, 533, 534, 536, 538, 539, 540
Larousse, Pierre, “La Grande Encyclopédie,” 31 Vols. 1886–1903; “Le
Nouveau Larousse” (Claude Augé), 1, 2, 14, 20, 31, 33, 34, 38,
39, 41, 44, 79, 80, 81, 91, 94, 97, 117, 122, 141, 148, 166,
170, 196, 208, 211, 236, 259, 262, 264, 370, 400, 434, 506,
509, 511, 513, 516, 517, 518, 519, 520, 521, 526, 528, 530,
531, 532, 540
Larrey, Dominique Jean, Baron de (1776–1842) (Acad. des Sciences,
XVIII. 417).
Larrey, Felix Hippolyte, Baron de (1810–1852), 284
La Rue, W. de, “On the structure of electro-precipitated metals”
(Journal of the Chemical Society, article CXXX. p. 300).
Las Casas, Barthélémy de (1474–1566), 66
Lassell, J. and C. (_at_ Humboldt, Alex von), 335
Lassone, Jean Joseph Marie François de, 263, 385
(Recueil sur l’électricité medicale, I. 245, 1763).
Lasthenia, one of the most distinguished disciples of Plato (born
_c._ 420 B.C.), 543
Latini, Brunetto (1230–1294), “Les livres dou Trésor,” XIX.; “Il
Tesoro,” 1474. Ronalds says it “contains one of the oldest
documents on the knowledge in Europe of the compass.”
Laugier, André (1770–1832), on meteoric stones (Phil. Mag., XXVI.
II; LVI. 157; Annales de Ch., LVIII. 261; Ann. de Ch. et de
Phys., XIII. 441).
Laurencin, Paul, “Le Télégraphe,” 12, 264
Lausanne, Mémoires de la Société Physique de Lausanne, 91, 293
Lautz, G. (_at_ Lynschoten, J. H. van), 526
Laverine (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799) (Opusc. Scelti, XXII.
132, 1803), 330
Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent (1743–1794), 236, 261–262, 263, 297,
355, 386, 416, 426, 429, 461, 462;
“Opuscules physiques et chimiques,” 1774, 1801. _See_ La Place,
P. S., “Traité élémentaire de chimie ... dans un ordre
nouveau ...,” 2 Vols. 1789, 1801.
Law, Alexander (_at_ A.D. 1808), 400
Law, Dr. (_at_ A.D. 1675), 133
Lawrence, R. M., 330, 386,
“On the application of electricity ...,” 1853; “Galvanism, its
medical application and uses,” 1857.
Lawrence, Sir Edwin Durning, xii
Leader, John Temple (_at_ Kendall, A.), 523
Lebailif--Lebaillif (_at_ Faraday, Michael, A.D., 1821), 494
Le Bas. _See_ Dictionnaire Encyclopédique de la France.
Le Blanc, Richard (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803, and
_at_ Cardanus, H.), 385, 507
Le Bouvier-Desmortiers, Urbain René Thomas (1739–1827), 410.
_See_ Desmortiers.
Le Breton, “Histoire” (_at_ St. Elmo, A.D. 304), 24, 229
Le Breton, Mme. J., “Hist. et Appl. de l’électricité,” 1884, 268,
454
Le Brun (_at_ Journal des Savants), 551
Le Brun, Pierre (1661–1729), 148, 401
Le Cat, Claude Nicolas (1700–1768), “Mémoire sur l’électricité,”
1746, 128, 178
Lechman, M. (1707–1778), on the tourmaline (_at_ Æpinus,
F. M. U. T., A.D. 1759), 218, 287
Leclerc, Jean Georges Louis, Comte de Buffon (1707–1788),
“Histoire naturelle,” 127 Vols.; “Histoire des Minéraux,” 5
Vols.; “Théorie de la Terre,” 1, 7, 30, 33, 37, 55, 60, 61,
161, 200, 218, 259, 299, 320, 332, 359
Leclerc, Lucien, “Histoire de la médecine arabe,” 541
Lecluse--Lescluse--Charles de (1524–1609).
Le Comus. _See_ Le Dru.
“Le Cosmos,” Paris, 57, 115, 134, 140, 209, 264, 302, 365, 401,
440
“Le Courrier du Livre,” 32
Lectures on Electricity. _See_ Sturgeon, William.
Le Dru, Nicholas Philippe--called Le Comus, Le Camus, also Cosnier
(1731–1807), 224, 229, 235, 385;
Cosnier (Le Dru), Maloet, Darcet and others are named in report
made in Paris during 1783.
Lee, Sidney. _See_ “Dictionary of National Biography.”
Leeson, “Experiments ... electro-chemical decomposition of water
...” (Ann. of Elect., IV. 238), 337
Lefevre-Gineau, Louis (1751–1829), 389
Lefroy, J. H. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
(Phil. Mag., 3rd Series, XXXVI. 457, 1850).
Lefroy, J. H., and Richardson, Sir John, “Magnetical and
Meteorological Observations ...”
“Le Globe,” 412
Le Grave (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N., A.D. 1799), 330
Legros and Onimus (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Le Hardy, Major Charles, 399
Lehmann, Johann Gottlob (_d._ 1767), “Abhandlung von Phosphoris,”
“Von magnet Theilen im Sande” (Mém. de la Soc. de Haarlem, XI.
Pt. I. 1769), 273
Lehmann, Otto, of Karlsruhe, “Die elektrischen lichterscheinungen
...”
Lehot, C. J., “Observations sur le galvanisme et le magnétisme”
(Jour. de Phys., an 9, LII. 135, 1801), 270, 348, 355, 419
Lehre von der Electricität. _See_ Wiedemann, Gustav.
Lehre von Galvanismus und Electro-Magnetismus. _See_ Wiedemann, Gustav.
Lehrbuch der Allgemeine Chemie. _See_ Ostwald, F. W.
Lehrbuch der Chemie, 5 Vols. Leipzig, 1848. _See_ Berzelius,
J. J. F. von.
Lehrbuch der Komischen Physik. _See_ Muller, J. H. J.
Lehrbuch der Meteorologie. _See_ Kaemtz, L. F.
Lehrbuch der Physik und Meteorologie. _See_ Müller-Pouillet.
Lehrbuch der Physik zum Gebrauche: Mannheim, 1836. _See_
Eisenlohr, W.
Lehrbuch der Physiologie des Mens Körpers: Erlangen, 312
Leibnitz--Leibniz--Gottfried Wilhelm von (1646–1716), 147, 152
Leidenfrost, Ludwig Christoph, “... Miscellanea experimenta circa
electricitatem,” 1781.
Leipzig--Lipsiæ--“Acta Eruditorum ...,” “Indices generales ...,”
117 Vols., 306
Leipzig, “Allgemeines Magazin der Natur-Kunst und Wissenschaft.”
Leipzig, “Commentarii de rebus in scientia naturali et medicina
gestis,” von C. G. Ludwig, 37 Vols. Lipsiæ, 1752–1798, 130, 285
Leipzig Society. “Abhandlungen ... Wissenschaften.”
Leipzig University, 162
Leitch, John, “Hieroglyphic Essays and Correspondence,” 396
Leithead, William, “Electricity; its nature, operation ...,” 1837,
29, 129, 135, 149, 153, 240, 241, 376, 383, 443
Leland--Leyland--John (1506–1552), 42
Lelandri, Contessi G. (Ann. Reg. Lomb. Veneto), 347
Lelewell, Joachim. _See_ Géographie de Moyen-Âge, 62
Lelong, Le P. Jacques, “Bibliotheca sacra,” 1709, 538
Le Lorrain de Vallemont. _See_ Vallemont.
Lemaire--Le Maire (Mém. Acad. de Paris, 1745, 1750), 190
Leméry, Louis (1667–1743), exhibits the tourmaline--_lapis
electricus_, 153, 218, 442, 465
Leméry, Nicholas (_at_ Leméry, Louis, A.D. 1717), 153
Lemoine--Moreau. _See_ Dureau.
“Le Moniteur,” 359, 380
“Le Moniteur Scientifique.” _See_ Quesneville, Dr. G. A.
Lemnius--Lemmeus--Lieven--Levinus (1505–1568), “De miraculis
occultis naturæ ...,” first edition, Antwerpiæ, 1559 (“The
Secret miracles of nature,” wherein he described the mariner’s
compass), 5, 87, 538, 553
Lemonnier--Le Monnier--Louis Guillaume (Mém. de Paris, 1746, 1752;
Philos. Trans. for 1746, p. 290).
Lemonnier--Le Monnier--Pierre Claude Charles (1715–1799), “Lois du
magnétisme ... dans les différentes parties du globe terrestre
...”: Paris, 1776–1778, 176, 177–178, 200, 232, 320
(Mém. de Paris, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1777–1779). Le
Monnier, according to Brit. Museum Catalogue; Nouvelle
Biographie Générale, 1859, XXX. 621; Poggendorff
Handwörterbuch. Lemonnier, according to Encycl. Britannica,
1911, XVI. 416; Biographie Universelle, XXIV. 95–97; New
Intern. Encycl., 1915, XIII. 765; Dict. of Gen. Biogr., 1881,
p. 744.
Not mentioned in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 1883, Band 18,
1906, Band 51, or in either Meyer’s or Brockhaus’
Konversations-Lexikon.
Lemoyne des Essarts, Nicholas Toussaint, “Siècles Littéraires,” 190
Lemprière, John (_b._ 1824), English author, “Bibliotheca
Classica,” 1788, 518
Lemström, K. S., Professor at Helsingfors. _See_ Lenström.
Lenain de Tillemont. _See_ Tillemont.
Lenglet du Fresnoy, Nicole (1674–1755), “Methode ...,” 1772, Vol.
XIV. contains an outline of the history of science and art.
Lenoble--Le Noble--Mr. L’Abbé, Chanoine de la Collégiale de Vernon
sur Seine en Normandie, “Aimants artificiels d’une très grande
force” (Mém. de Paris, 1772, Hist., p. 17), 26, 253.
_See_ Thouret, _also_ Ronalds’ Catalogue, p. 296.
“Le Nouveau Larousse illustré,” par Claude Augé, 7 Vols. 1901–1904.
Lenström, Selim (_at_ Aurora Borealis), 139, 179, 180
Lenz, Heinrich Friedrich Emil (1804–1865), 423
(Mém. et Bull. de l’Acad. de St. Petersb., 1831, 1836–1839,
1844–1858; Pogg. Ann., XXXI. for 1834, XXXIV. for 1835).
Lenz, R. (Mém. et Bull. de l’Acad. de St. Petersb., 1862, 1866).
Leonardus, Camillus (fl. sixteenth century A.D.), 17, 26, 57, 73,
82;
“Speculum lapidum,” 1502, 1516 (“The mirror of stones,” 1750).
_See_ Græsse, “Trésor de livres ...,” Vol. IV. p. 165.
Leopold of Tuscany, 96
Leopoldino-Carolino. _See_ Breslau.
Leotaud--Leotaudus, Leotandus--Vincent (1595–1672), 120, 160, 554;
“R. P. Vincentii Leotaudi ... magnetologia ... magnetis
philosophia,” 1668.
Leprince--Le Prince, “Nouvelle théorie de l’aurore boréale ...,”
1817, 308
Le Roi--Le Roy--and D’Arcy, 177
Le Roux de Lincy, 34
Leroux--Le Roux--François Pierre, “Etudes sur les machines
electro-magnétiques ...” (Ann. de Chim. et Phys., Ser. IV. Vol.
X. pp. 201–291). Deals with the _Peltier and Thomson effects_.
Le Roy--Le Roi--Jean Baptiste (_d._ 1800), 177, 198, 208, 240, 273,
302, 303, 320
Lesage--Le Sage--Georges Louis, Jr. (1724–1803), “Traité de
Physique ...,” 209, 241–242, 255
Lesage--Le Sage--Georges Louis, Sr. (1676–1759), “Des corps
terrestres et des météores,” 242
Leslie, Sir John (1766–1832), 134, 192, 225, 295–296, 315, 440,
479, 498;
“Observations on electrical theories,” 1824. _See_ Rumford Medal.
“Treatises on natural philosophy ...” (Phil. Mag., XLII. 44,
1813).
“Les Mondes,” 248, 365. _See_ Moigno.
Le télégraphe. _See_ Laurencin, Paul.
Letheby, H., “An account ... _gymnotus electricus_ ...,” 1842, 299
Letronne, Jean Antoine, “Mém. de l’Acad. des Inscriptions,” 533
Leucippus, Greek philosopher, disciple of Zeno (fl. fifth century
B.C.), 512, 543
Leupold, electrical machine, 150
Leurechon, Jean, French poet (1591–1670). _See_ Van Etten.
Leuwenhoeck, Anthony van (Phil. Trans., XIX. for 1695–1697, p.
512), 245, 246
Levasseur (mentioned at Agrippa, H. C.), 502
Lewes, George Henry, “History of philosophy from Thales to
Comte,” 534
Lewis, Meriwether, on the zodiacal light, 141
Lexell, Anders Johann (1740–1784).
Leyden Jar discovered by E. G. von Kleist, Nov. 4, 1745, 173
Leyden Jar principle employed by Bozolus for transmitting
intelligence, 226
Leyden University, 169, 518
Leyes de las Partidas. _See_ Alfonso el IX.
Leymarie, Alex. (1732–1796) “Une nouvelle ... tourmaline,” 1850
(Toulouse Acad. 3^e Série), 287–288
Liais, E., “Pendule electro-magnétique” (Mém. de la Soc. de
Cherbourg, II. 294, IV. 205).
Libanius, Greek Sophist (A.D. 314–393). _See_ Nouv. Biogr. de
Hœfer, 1860, XXI. 110–113.
Libavius, Andreas (1560–1616), 124;
“Alchymia ... medico physico chemico,” 1606.
Libes, Antoine (1752–1832), 131, 277, 353;
“Théorie de l’électricité ...”; “Histoire philosophique des
progrès de la physique”; “Traité élémentaire de physique”
(electricity by pressure); “Dictionnaire de physique.”
Library of American Biography. _See_ Jared Sparks.
Library of Literary Criticism. _See_ Moulton, Ch. W.
Library of Useful Knowledge, 103, 204, 219, 220, 226, 228, 256,
264, 278, 280, 282, 287, 290, 380, 423, 431, 455, 458, 460,
467, 471, 475, 476, 481, 498
“Library, The,” 122
Libri Carrucci dalla Sommaia (Guglielmo Bruto Icilio Timoleone)
(1803–1869), “Histoire des sciences mathématiques en Italie
depuis la renaissance des lettres jusqu’à la fin du 17^e
siècle,” 4 Vols. 1835, 1838–1848, 1865; “Catalogues ...”;
Nouvelle Biogr. Gén. V. 922; 16, 23, 30, 33, 35, 43, 44, 45,
53, 55, 57, 61, 64, 66, 75, 97, 106, 110, 114, 116, 117, 126,
140, 299, 506, 510, 515, 522, 524, 525, 527, 531
Liceti, Fortunio (1577–1657).
Licetus, Fortunatus (1577–1657), “Litheosphorus ... lapide
Bononiensi lucern ...,” 1640.
Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph (1744–1799). Discovered the double
electrophorus, as explained in his “De novo methodo ...”:
Göttingen, 1779; “An Dr. Exleben ...” (Gött. Mag., J. i., S.
ii. 216–220, 1780), 250
Lichtenberg, Ludwig Christian (1738–1812).
Lichtenberg, L. C., and Michaelis, G. A., concerning Solomon’s
temple, 10
Lichtenberg, L. C., and Voigt, J. H. (1751–1823), “Magazin für das
neueste aus der Physik ...,” 249, 256, 257, 280, 313, 316, 431,
449
Lieberkuhn--Lieberkyn--Dr. Johann Nathaniel, of the Berlin Academy
(1711–1756), makes known Kleist’s discovery of the Leyden Jar,
173, 174
Liebig, J., and Kopp, J. H., “Jahresbericht über ... chemie,
physik, etc.”
Liebig, Justus--Justin--Freiherr von, 491, 494
(Poggendorff, J. C., “Handwörterbuch,” pp. 1455–1460);
“Handwörterbuch der ... chemie, von Liebig, Poggendorff,
Wöhler, etc.”; “Annalen der pharmacie....”
Lientandi, “Magnetologia”: Lugdini Bat., 1668.
Light, finite velocity of, discovered by Rœmer, Olaus, 157
Lightning and thunder attracted and directed by the ancients, 9,
294
Lightning and thunder inoculated into clouds by bombs, 368
Lightning, many sources recognised by Etruscans and Romans, 9
Lightning-rod Conference, Report of, 198, 199
Lightning rods on ancient temples, 600 B.C., 9
Liliencron, Rochus, 34
Lilliehöök, C. B., “Voyages ... in Scandinavia,” 1842, 139
Linari-Santi, P. (1777–1858), 298, 337;
“Sur les propriétés électriques ... de la torpille”: Genève,
1837–1838; “Sull elettricità animale”: Napoli, 1843 (Bibl.
Univ., 1837–1838; Fusinieri, Ann. Sc. R. Lomb.-Veneto,
1839; Bibl. Ital., Vol. XCII. 258; Rendiconto dell’ Acad.
di Napoli, II. 1843).
Linari-Santi, P., and Guili, G. (Ann. del Reg. Lomb.-Veneto, IX.
200, 1839).
Linari-Santi, P., and Palmieri, Luigi (Rendiconto dell’ Acad, di
Napoli, III. 1844).
Linck, Johann Wilhelm (1760–1805), “De raga torpedine,” 1788, 298
Lincy, Le Roux de, and Tisserand, L. M., 34
Lind, James (_d._ 1794), 331
Linden, Joannes Antonides van der, “De Scriptio Medicis,” 26, 508,
513, 517, 531
Line of no magnetic variation. _See_ Columbus, Christopher, 65
Linguet, Simon Henri Nicholas (1736–1794), “Mémoire ... moyen
d’établir des signaux par la lumière,” 1782, 265
Lining, Dr. John, 196, 320 (“Mém. de Paris,” 1755).
Linnæus--Linné--Carl von (1707–1778), “Flora Zeylanica” (on the
tourmaline), 1747; (K. Schwed. Akad. Abh., XXIV. 291; VI. 93;
VIII. 61; Acta Holminensio, XXIV. 292, 1762), 13, 153, 192,
288, 297, 385, 450, 451, 456
Linnean Society of New England, Transactions, 298
Linnstrom, H., “Schwedisches Bücher-Lexikon,” 1830–1865.
Lion, Moise, “Electricité statique, Histoire et recherches
nouvelles”: Paris, 1868.
Lipenius, Martinus, “Navigatio Salomonis Ophiritica illustrata,”
1660, 33, 73, 87
Lippincott, Joshua Ballinger (1816–1886), “General Biographical
Dictionary,” 470
Lisbon Academy, “Memorias da Acad. Real das Sciencas da Lisboa,”
12 Vols.
Lisieux College, 254
Lister, Dr. Martin (1638–1712), “Collection Académique,” 204, 288,
402, 548
Li-tchi-tchin, celebrated Chinese naturalist, 77
Literary and Philosophical Society, Manchester. _See_ Manchester.
Literary Digest, 57
Literary Gazette, 412
Littré and Sainte Beuve, 476
Littré, M. E. (_at_ Ampère, A. M., A.D. 1820), 476
“Living Authors” (_at_ Gregory, George, A.D. 1796), 324
Livio Sanuto (fl. sixteenth century A.D.), “Geografia ... della
bussola e dell’ Aguglia ...,” 1588, 65, 69, 114, 115
Livy. _See_ Titus Livius (Phil. Trans., XLVIII., Pt. 1, p. 211).
Lloyd, Humphrey (_b._ 1800), 28, 138;
“A treatise on magnetism,”: London, 1874; “Remarks on the theory
of the compound magnetic needle”; “Account of the Induction
Inclinometer ...” (Trans. Royal Irish Acad., XVII. 1836; XIX,
1840 and 1841; XXI. 1843; XXII. 1849; XXIV. 1862; Proceedings
Royal Irish Acad., 1848, 1850, 1853, 1861, 1862).
Lloyd, Sabine, and Ross, “Observations ... terrestrial magnetic
force in Ireland” (Report of the British Association for 1835).
Loadstone. _See_ Lodestone.
Lobe, W., “De vi corporum electrica,” 1743, 555
Lobb, Harry (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386;
“A popular treatise on curative electricity ...,” 1867.
Locke, John (1792–1856), works of (_at_ Kendall, Abram), 522
(Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., VI. 1839).
Locrian, The, 8
Loder, M. Juste Chrétien de (1753–1832), (_at_ Pearson, George,
A.D. 1797), 326, 333
Lodestone’s lifting power, 134, 159
Lodestone--Loadstone--first discovered at Magnesia in Lydia, 146.
_See_ Magnet, Magnes. Its use in antiquity for directive
purposes.
_See_ Ferguson, _also_ Barrow, Sir John, “Voyage en Chine,” 1805.
Lodestone, magnet, armed, 86, 100
Lodestones, different descriptions of, 13; virtue of (Earl of
Abercorn), 554
Lodge, Sir Oliver, “Pioneers of Science,” 462. _See_ Rumford Medal.
Lofft, Capel (Phil. Mag., LI. 109, 203, 1818), 314
Logan (Phil. Trans., 1735), 195
Lohier fils, “Globules lumineux,” 1746, 555
Lohmeir, P., “De fulmine,” 1676 (Pogg., I. 1491).
Lo-Luz--Lo-Looz--Robert de, “Recherches ... pour prouver le
magnétisme universel,” 1788.
Lombardi, Antonio (_b._ 1768), “Storia della letteratura Italiana
...,” 6 Vols. (Mem. Soc. Ital., Vol. XX.), 330
Lombardo-Veneto (Venetian Lombardy Imperial Royal Institution).
_See_ Istituto, Lombardy, Fusinieri, Giuli.
Lombardus, Petrus--Peter Lombard--Bishop of Lyons (fl. twelfth
century A.D.), “Sententiarum, Libri IIII.,” 41.
_See_ Joannes ab Incarnatione.
Lombardy--Lombardo-Veneto, “Giornale dell’ I.R. Istituto Lombardo
di scienze, lettere ed arti, e Biblioteca Italiana,” 25 Vols.:
Milano, 1841–1856, is the suite of the “Biblioteca Italiana,”
which ran from 1816 to 1840. Memorie--also Atti--dell’ I.R.
Istituto Lombardo di scienze, lettere ed arti, 1843–1848.
Lomond--Lomont--Claude Jean Baptiste (1749–1830), 285
Lomonosow--Remonozow--Michael Wassiljewitsch (1711–1765), 204
Lomonosow--Remonozow and Grischow, A. N. (1726–1760), “Orationes de
meteoris electricis explicationes ...,” 1755.
London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag. and Journal of Science. _See_
Philosophical Magazine.
London Chemical Society, 394
London College of Surgeons, 178, 304
London, Edinburgh and Dublin Phil. Mag. and Journ. of Sc. _See_
Philosophical Magazine.
London Electrical Society, 468
London Encyclopædia, 22 Vols. 1839.
London Geological Society, 359, 371
London, Guy’s Hospital, 443
London Institution, 371, 372, 458
London Mechanics’ Register. _See_ New London.
London Mining Journal, 498
London, Royal Astronomical Society, 433, 462
London, Royal Society. _See_ Royal Society, London.
London. _See_ Journal of the Society of Arts, Nicholson’s “Journal
of Nat. Phil ...,” “Phil. Magazine ...,” “Electrical Society,”
“Royal Society,” “Royal Institution,” “Pharmaceutical Journal.”
London University, 498
Long’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains, 259
Longfellow, Henry W., “Golden Legend,” “Evangeline,” 24, 260
Longinus, Cæsar, “Trinium magicum ...,” 1630, 553
Lonicerus, Janus--Lonicer, Joannes, 26, 553;
“Compendium de meteoris ex Aristotelo, Plinio et Pontano,” 1548;
“In Dioscoridæ Anazarbei de re medica ...”
Lonmyer, C. _See_ Loumeyer, C.
Loomis, Elias, Observations on magnetic dip--intensity--“The aurora
borealis” (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., New Series, VII. 1841,
VIII. 1843, IX. 1846; Phil. Mag. for Nov. 1847), 140
Lopez de Gomara, Francisco, 211
Lor, M. de, 195, 200, 320, 416
(De Lor and Dalibard’s experiments, Ronalds’ Catalogue, p. 123).
Lorenzini, Stephani (_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 298
Lorgna, Antonio Maria (1736–1796), 253
(Opus. Scelti, IV. 235, 1781); “Lettera (al Toaldo) sur
Parafulmini.”
Lorimer, Dr. John (1732–1795), “Essay on magnetism,” 1795, 30, 243,
281
(Phil. Trans., 1775).
Loritus, Henricus de Glaris--Gareanus, 535, 536
Lorraine, Duke of, 160
Lottin, Victor Charles (1795–1858), 139;
“Sur les aurores boréales” (Ann. Maritim, LIX. 1839).
Louis, Antoine (1723–1792), “Observations sur l’électricité ...,”
1747, 186
Louis IX, King of France, 56;
Louis XI, 538;
Louis XIII, 107;
Louis XIV, 130;
Louis XV., 229
Louise de Savoy, 502
Loumeyer, C. (_at_ Montanus, Arias Benedictus), 528
Lous, Christian Karl (1724–1804), “Tentamina experimentorum ...”:
Copenhagen, 1773
Louvre, Catalogue of manuscripts, 14
Lovejoy, B. G. (_at_ Bacon, Sir Francis, A.D. 1620), 102
Lovering, Prof. Joseph, 498
Lovett--Lovet--Richard (1692–1780), “Subtil--Subtile--Medium
Proved,” 133, 212–213, 229, 269
Lowenörn (_at_ Aurora Borealis), 139; “Uber den magnet ...,” 1802
Lower (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
Löwig, C. von, “Repertorium für organische chemie”: Zurich.
Lowndes, F., “Observations on medical electricity ...,” 1787, 385
Lowndes, William Thomas, “Bibliographer’s Manual of English
Literature,” 4 Vols. 1834, 547, 548
Lowthorp, John. _See_ Royal Society.
Loxodromes, 509
Lozeran du Fech, Louis Antoine (_d._ 1755), “Observation d’un
phénomène céleste,” 1730 (“Mémoire de Trevoux” for 1730, 1732).
Luc, Jean André de--Deluc (1727–1817), 176, 249, 364, 388, 405,
417, 418, 419, 420, 428, 433, 434, 438, 440, 447;
“Traité élémentaire sur le fluide electrico-galvanique,” 2 Vols.
1804 (Phil. Mag., XLIV. 248, XLV. 97, 329, L. 392). One of
his dry piles rings bells for over forty years, 405
Lucanus (A.D. 39–65), Marcus Annæus, “Pharsalia,” 140
Lucchesini, Signorè Marchese (_at_ Walsh, John, A.D. 1773), 240
Lucretius, Titus Carus (99–56 B.C.), “De rerum natura” (The nature
of things), 7, 14, 19, 21, 33, 73, 524, 544
Luderus, G., “De methodis ... declin. ... magnetis ...,” 1718, 554
Lüdicke--Ludecke--August Friedrich (1748–1822) (Gilbert Annalen,
IX. 1801 and 1802; L. 1815, LXVIII. 1821).
Ludolff--Leudolff--Christian Friedrich (1707–1763), 170, 200, 320
(Mém. Acad. Roy. Berlin, 1744), 320
Ludwig, Christian Friedrich, “Scriptores ... minores ...,”: Lipsiæ,
1791–1795, 304, 327, 332
Ludwig, Christian Gottlieb. _See_ Leipzig.
Ludwig, Christian Theophile (1709–1773).
Lughi (_at_ Pearson, George, A.D. 1797), 326
Lullin, Amédæ--Amadeus (1695–1756), “Dissertatio physica de
electricitate ...,” 1776, 226, 271
Lully--Lull--Raymundius Lullius (_c._ A.D. 1254–1315), 31–33, 505
Luloffs, Johannes (1711–1768) (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308;
“De aurora boreali ...,” 1731.
“Lumière Electrique.” _See_ “La Lumière Electrique.”
Lunar diurnal magnetic variation, 267
Lunar volcanoes, 462
Lund and Muschmann, 446
Lundborg, J. M., “De electricitate atmospheræ,” 1791.
Lusitanus, Amatus, Joan Roderigo Amato (1511–1568), 27, 525, 528
Lusson, F., “Les origines de l’électricité”: La Rochelle, 1882.
Luther and Grotius, 519
Luther, Martin (1483–1546), 508
Lyly, John (_c._ 1554–1606), “Euphues,” 16
_Lyncurium._ See _Lapis_, 8, 13, 15, 17, 176.
_See also_ Watson, Wm., 1759 (Phil. Trans., LI. 1759) and
Napione, C. A. Q., 1795.
Lynschoten, Jan Huygan van (1563–1611), 525
Lyon, Rev. John (_at_ Adams, George, A.D. 1785), 281
Lyons--Lyon (Lugduni), Academy of Sciences; Comptes Rendus,
Historie, Mémoires, etc., 337;
Histoire de l’Acad. Royale des Sciences ... de Lyon, par T. B.
Dumas, 1839.
Lyons--Lyon--College of, 163
Lyons--Lyon--Congrès scientifique. _See_ Pétetin, J. H. D.
Lyons--Lyon--Société d’Etudes Scientifiques, Bulletin, etc.: Lyon,
1874, etc.
Lyons, T. A., Electro-magnetic phenomena, 54, 56
M
MacAdie, Alexander (_at_ Electricity of the Atmosphere), 319
Macaire, J. F. (_at_ Alexander Tilloch), 392
Macaulay, Thomas Babington (1800–1859), “Essays,” 99, 102, 132
MacCrindle, author of “Ancient India,” as described by Ktesias, 10
MacCulloch, “Traités ... boussole”: Paris, 1853, 61
Macdonald, Lieut.-Col. John (1759–1831), method of telegraphing,
400, 442
MacGowan, George, 262
Macgregor, J. (“Journal of the Society of Arts,” May 20, 1859), 291
Machado, Barb., “Bibliotheca Lusitana,” 516, 531
Machiavelli, Nicolo (1469–1527), 114
Machines, electrical. _See_ Electrical Machines.
Machometes Aractensis. _See_ Albategnius, 527
MacKendrick, Dr. John Gray (_at_ Kirwan, Richard), 263
MacKenzie, William. _See_ “Imp. Dict. of Univ. Biography.”
MacMahon, Rev. John H., “Metaphysics of Aristotle,” 310
MacMillan, Walter G., “Treatise on electro-metallurgy,” 24
Macquer, Pierre Joseph (_at_ Fourcroy, A. F. de), 354
Macrinus, M. Opelius (A.D. 164–218), 12
Macvey, Napier (1776–1847), 296
Madeira Arrais--Madeyra Arraez (Duarte). _See_ Arrais.
Madison, Rev. James (1749–1812), 327, 328
Mädler--Maedler--Johann Heinrich von, “Geschichte der
Himmelskunde,” 513
Madrid, Gazette de, 318
Maffei, Francisco Scipione de (1675–1755), 321, 505, 554
Magalotti--Magolotti--Lorenzo (1637–1712), Saggi Accad. del
Cimento, 1666–1761.
“Magaz. Sc. de Göttingen,” 10
Magazin der neuesten ... reisebeschreibungen.
“Magazin encyclopédique ...,” par Millin de Grandmaison, Aubin
Louis. _See_ Rafn, C. G.
Magazin für das neueste aus der physik. _See_ Lichtenberg and
Voigt.
Magazin für naturvidenskaberne. _See_ Christiana.
Magazin für ... naturkunden, von Voigt, J. H., 12 vols., Jena and
Weimar, 380
Magazine of American History, 115
Magellan--Magalhaeus--Magalhäes--Ferdinand, commanded in 1520 the
first expedition around the world, 67, 288.
[Magellan--Magalhaeus--Joào Hyazinthe, F.R.S., was a very
prominent astronomical writer.]
Magendie, François, 325, 385
Maggiotto, F., upon a new electrical machine, 254
Magi: loadstone so called in their honour, 13
Magliabechiana Library at Florence, 57
Magliozzi, M., “Notizia ... bussola,” 61
Magne-crystallic action: Poisson, 1811, 411; Faraday, _at_ 1821,
495;
Tyndall, _at_ Poisson, 1811, 411,
and also in Phil., Mag. for 1851, 1856 and 1870.
Magnesian stone, 13
Magnet--loadstone--armed, 86, 100
Magnet--_magnes_--the loadstone. [_See_ Chambers’ Cyclopædia, Vol.
III.], 12–13, 145–146
Magnet and helix, experimental distinction between, 486
Magnet, applications for medical relief, 26
Magnet, artificial. _See_ Hamilton, 159;
Knight, 180;
Antheaulme, Du Hamel, Le Maire, 190;
Michell, John, 191;
Canton, 206;
Æpinus, 217;
Gregory, 323
Magnet, elliptical. _See_ Treméry, J. L., 324
Magnet, Ethiopian, said to repel iron. _See_ Maiolus, “Dies
Caniculares ...,” 1597, p. 781.
Magnet, _filar_ suspension, first mentioned by Leonardus Camillus,
“Speculum Lapidum,” 1610, p. 129
Magnet, first English work on the, Norman Robert, “The newe
attractive,” 1592.
Magnet, its four virtues or operations, according to Sir Francis
Bacon, 100
Magnet, its threefold power, attractive, directive and inductive.
_See_ Oberst, Joseph, “Conjecturæ ...”: Augsburg, 1760.
Magnet, mathematical theory of the (_at_ Hansteen, C., A.D. 1819),
444
Magnet, molecular, first suggested by Kirwan, R., 263.
_See_ Hale, Matthew, “Magnetismus magnus ...”: London, 1695.
Magnet, native, its different names, etc. _See_ B.C. 1022, 600–580,
337–330, 321, 285–247, 60–56; _also_ A.D. 121, 265, 295–334, 400,
1111–1117, 1490–1541.
Magnet, natural and artificial. _See_ Gregory, G., 322
Magnet, powdered. _See_ Ingen-housz, 256, and Marcel (_at_
Swinden), 273
Magnet, writers on the subject. _See_ Zahn, Johann--Joannes
(1641–1707);
Schott, Gaspar (1608–1666) in his “Magia universali ...”:
Bamberg, 1677;
Boyle, Robert (1627–1691), “Some Considerations ...,” 1664, p.
15; Ruard, Andala (1665–1727), in his “Exercitationes ...,”
1709;
Pfundt, Ehrenfried in his “Disputatio Physica de magnete,” 1673;
Bertrand, Elie (1712–1790), “Dictionnaire Universel”: Avignon,
1763, p. 14.
Magnetic and electric forces, analogy between, 383
Magnetic Atlas or Variation Charts: Bianco, Andrea, 1436, 62;
Halley, Edmund, 1683, 137;
Churchman, John (mention made of Halley, Lambert, Mountaine and
Dodson, Wilke) 1794, 315;
Barlow, Peter, 1820, 458
Magnetic Attractions and repulsions, 156
Magnetic Cars, Carriages. _See_ Chariots.
Magnetic Curves, 156
Magnetic Declination, causes of the, 164
Magnetic Declination, first announced in print by Falero,
Francisco, in 1535, 67–68
Magnetic Declination, history of, by Carli, Gian Rinaldo
(1720–1785), “Dissertazione ...”: Venice, 1747.
Magnetic Dip, earliest known observations in U.S.A., 258–259
Magnetic Expedition, 333 (Humboldt), 445 (Hansteen).
Magnetic Fluids, two, theory of: Wilcke, J.C. (mentions Coulomb,
276, and Poisson, 410), 1757, 215, 276;
Brugmans, Anton, in 1778, 215;
Prevost, Pierre (1751–1839), “De l’origine ...”: Genève, 1788;
Treméry, J. L., in 1797.
Magnetic Force, law of the decrement of, 334
Magnetic Force, laws of, by Dr. Brooke Taylor, 156
Magnetic Forces, causes and mechanism of, 164
Magnetic Induction by electric currents, discovered by Arago, 478
Magnetic Influence, earliest known application of, 2637 B.C.
Magnetic Intensity and dip or inclination, Gay-Lussac, 1804, 389
Magnetic Islands and mountains, 71
Magnetic Measurement, absolute, by Poisson, 411
Magnetic Plants, 259–261
Magnetic Poles: Halley, 1683, 137; Euler, Albert, 1766, 214;
Brewster, 1820, 465;
Royal Society of London, “Miscellanea Curiosa”: London, 1726.
Magnetic Properties of metals developed by percussion, 482
Magnetic Rotatory Polarization. _See_ Cadozza, G., _likewise_ Arago
_at_ p. 478
Magnetic Sand: Butterfield in 1698 and Desaguliers and
Musschenbroek in 1733, 174, 175
Magnetic Society. _See_ Paris.
Magnetic Stations, 267, 334
Magnetic Stones, 512
Magnetic Storms, so named by Humboldt, 334
Magnetic Suspension of statues, tombs, etc., 18, 73, 123, 222
Magnetical compass of new design by De la Hire (Phil. Trans., 1687,
p. 344), 145
Magneticks (Phil. Trans. abridged, Vol. X. Pt. I. Chap. iv. pp.
1–20, for 1756).
“Magnetischen vereins ...,” Resultate ... von Gauss ...: Göttingen,
1836–1841.
Magnetism and Electricity, analogy between, 163, 272
Magnetism, Animal: Mesmer, 235–237; Puységur, 236, 425
Magnetism, Animal, and its curative powers, detailed by Kluge (Karl
Alexander Ferdinand) in “Proeve eener voorstelling ...”:
Amsterdam, 1812.
Magnetism, Animal, and magnetism, mineral, division established by
Kircher, Athan, in his “Magneticum Naturæ ...”: Amsterdam,
1667.
Magnetism, Animal, history of. _See_ Mojon.
Magnetism, Animal. _See_ Report of Franklin, B.: Philadelphia, 1837
(2nd ed.);
_also_ Petrus, P. B., “Etude ...”: Pise, 1852, p. 237.
Magnetism, History of, by Wilcke, J. C., “Tal om Magnetem ...”:
Stockholm, 1764, _also_ by Murhard, F. W. A., and _likewise_ by
Churchman, John, in “Magnetic Atlas ...”: London, 1794.
Magnetism imparted to iron bar without a magnet, 300
Magnetism imparted to non-ferruginous substances, 163
Magnetism, influence of heat upon, 458
Magnetism, its effect on plants, 257
Magnetism--_Magnetisme_--this noun first employed by Barlow, Wm.,
in his “Magneticall Advertisements ...”: London, 1616.
Magnetism, Mathematical, theory of, Hansteen, Chr. (1784–1873),
“Untersuchungen ...,” 1819, Chap. v., 444–446
Magnetism, Mechanical, production of, by Boyle, R., in his “Works
...,” 1699–1700 (Vol. II. p. 323), 131, 132
Magnetism of salts of the magnetic metals (Phil. Mag., Ser. IV.
Vol. XXX. pp. 366–370, 1865).
Magnetism, Rotatory, Arago (1820), 478;
Cadozza, Harris, 469;
Barlow, 458.
_Consult_ “Table Analytique de, Annales de Ch. et de Phys.,”
Index pp. 257–258. _See_ Electro-magnetic Rotations.
Magnetism, theories of. _See_ Theories.
Magnetism, universal prevalence of, in all bodies (Arago), 479
“Magnetist,” published at Frankfort, 556
Magneto-electric induction, discovered by Faraday, 484–487
Magnetometer of Bidone, Georgio (1781–1889), “Description ...”:
Turin, 1807; _also_ of Scoresby, 1821, and of Lloyd, H., “Proc.
Royal Irish Academy.”
Magnus, L. _See_ Gomperz.
Magnus, Professor G. (_at_ Gmelin, L.) 450
Magrini, L. (_at_ Oersted, H. C.), 455
Magrinus. _See_ Arnaldus de Villa Nova.
Mahaffy, John P., 122, 511
Mahomet, 73, 91, 123, 222, 527, 541, 542.
For Mahomets’ tomb, etc. (magnetic suspension of) _see_ Sir
Thomas Browne, “Pseudodoxia Epidemica ...,” 1646; Van Etten,
Henry, “Mathematical Recreations ...,” 1674; Weston, Wynant
van, “Mathematische ...,” 1662–1663; Guyot, E. G.
(1706–1786), “Nouvelles Récréations ...,” published in
1769–1770.
Mahon, Lord, third Earl of Stanhope (1753–1816), 184, 254, 255,
275, 310
Mailla--Maillac--Joseph Anne Marie de Moyriac de (1679–1748), 1–2
Maimbourg, Louis (1610–1686), 144
Maimbray--De Maimbray--of Edinburgh, 179, 282
Maimonides--Moses Ben Maimon (_at_ Cordova _c._ A.D. 1132), 40
Maindron, Ernest (_at_ Mesmer, F. A.), 237; (_at_ Volta, A.), 248
Maiolus--Maiolo--Majolus--Simon (1520–1597), Bishop of Volturara,
“Colloginas”; “Dies Caniculares ...,” 19, 33, 160
Mair, John, credited with the discovery of the secular variation of
the declination, 1635, 117
Mairan, Jean Jacques d’Ortous de (1678–1711), “Traité de physique
...,” 1731, 139, 140, 141, 142, 309
Maisiat, Michel (1770–1822), “... changements faits à la boussole
...”: Paris, 1818. Contains a brief history of the mariner’s
compass.
Maissas--Meissas--Alexandre André de (_b._ 1800), 352
Majocchi, Giovanni Alessandro (_d._ 1854), “Annali di Fisica,
Chimica, etc.”: Milano, 28 Vols. 420
Majus (_i. e._ May), Heinrich, “Disp. de tonitru”; “Disp. de
fulmine” (Pogg., II. 21, 1673), 199
Makium, constructs a novel magnetic chariot, 22
_Malapterurus_--at one time called _Malapterus-electricus_, 192,
374
Malcolm, Sir John (_at_ Zoroaster), 542
Malfanti, G., “Le météore ...,” 1586, 553
Mallemans de Messanges, C. (1653–1723), “Nouveau système de
l’aimant”: Paris, 1680.
Mallet, Charles Auguste (_b._ 1807), “Manuel de philosophic,” 1835.
Mallet, Charles François (1766–1853) (Annales des Ponts et
Chaussées).
Mallet, Clément. _See_ Clément Mallet.
Mallet du Pan, Jacques (1749–1800), “Mercure historique,” 265
Mallet-Favre, Jacques André (1740–1790), Swiss astronomer, “De acus
magneticæ ...”; “Observations astronomiques ...,” 249
Mallet, Friedrich (1728–1797), “Description mathématique du globe,”
232
Maloet. _See_ Le Dru, Maloet, Cosnier, Darcet ..., 229, 385
Malte-Brun, Victor Adolphe, “Géographie Universelle,” 1816, 93
Malus, Etienne Louis (1775–1812), 480–481
Malzet. _See_ Jacquet de Malzet.
Manardus, Joannes, “Epistolarum medicinalium ...,” 1549, 27
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Trans. and Memoirs,
10, 16, 24, 134, 165
Mandeville, Sir John (born _c._ 1300), 67, 72.
_See_ Biogr. Univ. de Michaud, Vol. XXVI. p. 32; Dict. of Nat.
Biogr., Vol. XXXVI. pp. 23–29, and the works of H. Cordier
therein named.
Manetto--Manetho--Manathou, on the magnet stone, 14.
At pp. 51–54 of Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren’s “Manual of
Ancient History,” Oxford, 1833, it is said that Manetto was
a celebrated high priest at Heliopolis who flourished under
the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 260 B.C. He wrote
the _Ægyptica_, and his authenticity is now completely
established. _Consult_ George Stanley Faber, _Horæ Mosaicæ_,
I. 251; George Rawlinson’s “Bampton Lectures,” p. 56; William
Osburn, “Monumental History of Egypt,” II. 606–608; J. P.
Cory, “Of the writings of Manetto, translated from the
Greek.”
Manget, Jean Jacques, “Bibliotheca Scriptorum Medicorum,” 528
Mangin, l’Abbé (_d._ 1772), “Histoire Générale ... de l’électricité
...”: Paris, 3 Vols. 1752, 555
Manheim--Mannheim--Academy of Sciences, Theodoro Palatina,
Historia, Memoria et Commentationes, 29, 285, 289
Manheim--Mannheim--Electoral Meteorol. Society, Transactions, 285,
320
Mann, Théodore Augustin (1735–1809), “Sur les marées aériennes
...,” 1792, 289, 320
Mannevilette, Jean Baptiste N. D. Après de (1707–1780), “Le nouveau
quartier” (Hadley’s quadrant), 1739
Mansill, Richard (_at_ Faraday), 499
Mansion, Paul, “Note ... astronomie ancienne,” 533
Manual of Chemistry. _See_ Brande, W. T.
Manual of Classical Biography. _See_ Moss, J. W.
Manual of Electro-metallurgy. _See_ Napier, James; Shaw, George.
Manual of Magnetism. _See_ Davis, Daniel.
Manuel de l’électricité. _See_ Delaunay, Veau.
Manuel du libraire et de l’amateur de livres par Jacques C. Brunet,
Paris, 71
Maplet, John (_d._ 1592), “A Greene Forest or a Naturall Historie,”
16
Marais, Paul, “Bibliothèque Mazarine,” xi
Maraldi, James Philip (_at_ Cassini), 268
Marana, G. P., “L’espion ...,” 1684; “Letters writ ...,” 1734, 554,
555
Marat, Jean Paul (1744–1793), 269, 385 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel).
Marbodeus Gallus, surnamed Pelliciarius (1035–1125), 17, 26, 74,
82, 513
Marcel, Arnold, 149, 206, 273, 292
Marcellus Empiricus (fl. end fourth century), “De medicamentis
...,” 24, 26
Marcet, Mrs., “Conversations on chemistry,” 322, 323, 497
Marciana Library at Venice, 111
Marcilius Ficinus. _See_ Ficino.
Marco Polo. _See_ Polo, Marco.
Marcorelle and Darguier (_at_ Dalton, J.), 308
Mardonius, Persian general (_d._ 479 B.C.), fire signals, 4
Maréchaux, Peter Ludwig (_b._ 1764), 388, 394, 420
Margarita Philosophica of Father Gregorius Reisch, 34–35
Margueritte (_at_ Pepys, W. H., Sr.), 372
Mariani Parthenii Electricorum, 227
Marianini, Stefano Giovanni (1790–1866), 325, 330, 355, 385
Maricourt, Pierre de. _See_ Peregrinus.
Marie Davy (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 386
Marie, J. E. Maximilien, “Hist. des Sc. Mathématiques et
Physiques,” 12 Vols. 1883–1888, 147, 152, 412, 506
Marin, Th. (_at_ De Romas), 204
Mariners’ compass, history of the. _See_ Maissiat, Michel
(1770–1822), “Mémoire ...,” 1818, viii, 59–61, 141;
Keou-tsoungchy, A.D. 1111–1117, 29;
Guyot de Provins, A.D. 1190–1210, 30;
Bianco, Andrea, A.D. 1436, 62–63;
Voltaire, F. M. A. de, A.D. 1327–1377, 58, 104
Marinette, or compass, 56
Marinière, or loadstone, 30
Markham, C. R., translator of Acosta’s “Natural ... history of the
Indies,” 21
Marni, “Sulla formazione ...” (_at_ Alexander Tilloch), 392
Marrherr, P. A. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 1765, 385
Marrigues à Montfort l’Amaury (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 1773, 385
Marsh, J. (_at_ Ampère), 476, 477
Marshall, Charles. _See_ Morrison, Charles, 208–209
Marsigli, Luigi Fernandino, Conte (1658–1730), 419
Martianus, Minneus Felix Capella (fl. early fifth century).
Martin, Adam Georg (_b._ 1812), “Repertorium der Galvanoplastik und
Galvanostegie,” 2 Vols. 1856.
Martin, A. R. (Vetensk. Akad. Abh. 1758 and 1761).
Martin, Benjamin (1704–1782), “Bibliotheca Technologica,” 1737;
“Essay on Electricity ...,” 1746; “Biographia Philosophica,”
1764; “Philosophia Britannica,” 1747, 95, 131, 170, 252, 315
Martin de Brettes, “Appareils chrono-électriques ...,” 1858.
Martin-Haug, I., “Essays ...,” 1862 (_at_ Zoroaster), 542
Martin, Henri, “Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal,” ix
Martin, Henry (_at_ Oersted), 455
Martin, Louis Henri, Baron (1810–1883), “Sur ... Héron
d’Alexandrie,” 520
Martin, “Météorologie ...” (_at_ Aurora Borealis), 139
Martin, Thomas Henri (1813–1884), 8, 10, 15, 18, 72, 520;
“De l’aimant, de ses noms divers,” 1861; “Du succin, de ses noms
divers,” 1860; “La foudre, l’électricité ...,” 1866;
“Observations ... electriques ...,” 1865; “Les attractions
... magnétiques ...,” 1865.
Martineau, James (_at_ Priestley, Joseph), 228
Martyn and Chambers, “The Phil. Hist. and Mem. of the Royal Academy
at Paris,”: London, 1742, 145
Martyn, John--also Eames and Martyn. _See_ Royal Society.
Marum, Martin van (1750–1837), 231, 247, 257, 277–280, 337, 384,
448, 455, 483
Marzari, G., e Toaldo, G., 253, 254
Masars--Mazars--de Cazelès. _See_ Cazelès, 229
Mascagni, P. (_at_ Brugnatelli), 363
Mascuelli, G. (_at_ Bolton, J. F.), 245
Mason, Col. David, 223, 234, 235
Maspero, Gaston Camille Charles (_b._ 1846), “Dawn of
Civilization,” 14, 299
“Massachusetts Gazette,” 223
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, xi
Massé, J. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Massuet, Pierre, “Essais ...,” 1751, 175
_Materia subtilis._ _See_ Subtle.
Maternus, G. C. Cilano de, 1743 (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Mather, Encrease--Increase (1639–1723), 135
Matteini--Matheini--Luigi (_at_ Sarpi, Pietro), 112
Matteucci, Carlo (1811–1868), 135, 241, 284, 298, 330, 355, 374,
385, 409, 426, 441, 469, 493;
“... Giornale de Fisica ...,” 1853; “Traité des phenomènes ...,”
1844; “Sur l’électricité animale ...,” 1834; “Richerche
Elettro ...,” 1846; “Recherches physiques ...,” 1837;
“Manuale di teleg. elett ...,” 1850; Mémoires, in Annales de
Chimie. ... Vols. 27, 28, 34. _See_ Cates’ “Dictionary of
General Biography,” 3rd ed. 1880, p. 848.
Matteucci, P. (_at_ Dalton, J.), “De aurora boreali ...”: Bononioe,
1747, 308
Matthæus Silvaticus. _See_ Silvaticus, 529
Matthieu, C. (_at_ Galvani, L.), 285
Matthieu de Messine, the notary of Lentino, 15–16
Matthiolus, Petrus Andreas (1500–1577), 27, 526;
“Commentaries on Dioscorides,” 1598; “P. A. M. ... opera ... de
materia medica,” 1596.
Maty, Dr. Matthew, Secretary of the English Royal Society
(1718–1776), 170, 272
Maty, Paul Henry, son of Dr. Matthew Maty, editor of the
Philosophical Transactions (1745–1787), 547.
_See_ “Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XXXVII. 1894, pp. 78–79.
Matzenauer, E. (_at_ Dalton, J.), 308
Maudonnet, Pierre, “Siger de Brabant ...,” 37, 505
Mauduyt, Antoine René (1731–1815), 229, 263, 269, 270, 302, 385
Maufras, M. D. de, translator of F. de Navarette’s “Recherches
...,” 531
Maunder, Samuel, “Biographical Treasury,” “Dictionary of Univ.
Biog.,” 1838, 148
Maunoir, Professor (_at_ Schwenter, D.), 81
Maupied, F. L. M., “Histoire des Sciences,” 37, 103, 404
Maupin, Georges (_at_ Leurechon, J.), 109
Maurice, 1810 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 385
Maurius, “Sphera volgare ...,” 1537, 553
Mauro, Fiorentino (1494–1556), “Sphera volgare ...”: Venice, 1537.
Maurolycus--Maurolico--Franciscus, Abbas Messanensis (1494–1575),
72, 115, 527; “D. F. A. ... Opuscula mathematica ...,” 1575.
Maver, William, Jr., “Wireless telegraphy,” 19
Maxwell, James Clerk (1831–1879), “The electrical researches of the
Hon. Henry Cavendish,” on title page, xiii, 184, 239, 252.
_See_ Rumford Medal.
Maxwell, William, “Medicina magnetica ...,” 1679, 135, 245, 301
May, Gustav, “Die Weltliteratur der Electricitaet und des
Magnetismus von 1860–1883 ...”: Wien, 1884. [The English
edition, “A bibliography of electricity and magnetism,
1860–1883,” was published in London, also in 1884.]
Maycock, J. D. (_at_ Luc, J. A. de; _also at_ Donovan, Michael),
406, 419
Mayer, A. F. J. C., “Spicilegium ...”: Bonnæ, 1843, 298
Mayer, Alfred Marshall (1836–1906), 92, 140, 310, 324, 472, 473,
487, 495
Mayer, And., “Dissert. sistens ...,” 1777.
Mayer, B. E., “Hist. of Mod. Philos.,” 1900, 94
Mayer, G. F. (Poligrafo di Verona, ii, 97, 1836).
Mayer, Johan Tobias, junior (1752–1830), 220, 416
Mayer, Johan Tobias, senior (1723–1762), 220, 252
Mayer, Johann (1754–1807), “Abhandlungen ...,” 1793, 249, 285
Mayer, Joseph (1752–1814), Abh. Bohm. Gesellsch. d. Wiss., 1785.
Mayer--Meyer--F. C., “De luce boreali ...,” 1726, 308
Mayo, Herbert (_at_ Faraday, M.), 487
Mazéas, L’Abbé Jean Mathurin (1716–1801), eminent mathematician,
brother of Guillaume Mazéas (1742–1776) the well-known chanoine
of Vannes, F.R.S., 200, 201, 320
Mazzuchelli, Frederigo, “Raccolta d’Opuscoli,” 501
Mazzuchelli, Giovanni Maria, Conte de (1707–1765), 64, 71;
“Gli Scrittori d’Italia ...”: Brescia, 1753–1763.
Meade, William, “On the origin and progress of galvanism”: Dublin,
1805, 285
Mechanical Dictionary. _See_ Knight.
“Mechanics’ Journal.” _See_ Practical Mechanics’ Journal.
“Mechanics’ Magazine” (_at_ Nicholson, Wm.), 337
Médecine éclairée par les sciences physiques, 303
Medhurst, George--first germ of pneumatic telegraphy, 408
Medical Facts, 229
Medical Library and Historical Journal, 147
Medicina magnetica. _See_ Maxwell, Wm.
Medicin Gelehrten-Lexikon, 529
Medicinisch-chirurgische Zeitung. _See_ Ackermann, J. F.
Medicinisches-Schrifsteller Lexicon. _See_ Callisen.
Medina, Pedro da--Piedro de (born _c._ 1493), denies variation of
compass in “Arte del Navegar,” 63, 64, 68
Meersch, P. C. van der, 539
Megascope, invented by J. A. C. Charles, 288–289
Megerlin, Peter (_d._ 1686) (_at_ Bernoulli family), 147
Mehu, M. C. _See_ Sestier, Félix.
Mehun, Giovanni di, 61
Meidinger, J. Ferdinand (1726–1777), 258
Meissas. _See_ Maissas.
Meissner, G., and Meyerstein, J., “Uber ein neues galvanometer
...,” 1859.
Mela--Pomponius (fl. in first century), “De situ orbis,” 506, 553
Melchior, Adam (_at_ Cordus, Valerius), 508
Mellarde of Turin, 1749, 385
Melloni, Macedonio (1798–1854), “Magnetismo delle Rocce,” 1853,
1854, 1857.
Melseu, M. (_at_ Diwish, P.), 209
Mémoires de mathématique et physique, 183, 204, 274, 277, 320, 426
Mémoires de Turin, 140
Mémoires des savants étrangers, 204, 320
Mémoires des sciences mathématiques de France, 412
Mémoires des sociétés savantes et littéraires de la Republique
Française, 285, 328, 349, 350, 352, 355, 389
Mémoires récréatifs. _See_ Robertson.
“Memoirs for the ingenious ...,” 145
“Men of the Time” (_at_ Faraday, M.), 498
Mendenhall, Thomas Corwin, 321
Mendoza, Juan Gonzales de, “History of the Kingdom of China”
(1540–1617), 77
Mendoza y Rios, José de, “Tratado de Navegacion,” 120
Menelaus--Mileus--Milleus (fl. end first century A.D.), 527, 541
Menippus (_at_ Browne, Sir Thomas), 123
Menken, F. O. (_at_ Fracastorio, H.), 515
Menon, L’Abbé (_at_ Maimbray, M.), 179
Menon, M., “Influence de l’électricité sur la végétation,” 257
Mentzel, M. Chn., “De lapide Bononiensi ...,” 1673, 554
Mercator, Gerard Kremer--Kaufmann, Mercator’s Projection, xvii, 80,
510, 518, 559–564
(Nouvelle Biographie Générale, Vol. XXXV. p. 11).
Merckleim, George Abraham, “Lindenius Renovatus,” 508, 538
“Mercure de France,” 243, 259, 265, 556.
_See_ Décade.
Mercurial phosphorus (Hauksbec), 150
Mergey, Antoine Eugène, “Etude sur les travaux de De Romas,” 204,
337
Merivale, Charles, “History of the Romans,” 8
Merry, W. W., and Riddell, Jas., translators of Homer’s “Odyssey,”
6
Mersenne, Marin (1588–1648), 109, 120, 122, 130, 527
Merula Gaudentius (fl. early sixteenth century), 108, 299, 527–528
(Società Storica Lombarda), “Biblioteca Historica Italica”;
“Memorabilium ...,” 1556.
Merula, Paulus, “Cosmographiæ Generalis ...,” 1605, 72, 515
Merveilleux (Le) dans l’antiquité. _See_ Chassang, M. A.
Merz, Heinrich (_at_ Fraunhofer, J. von), 433
Meschino, Il. _See_ Guerino.
Mesmer, Friedrich Anton (1733–1815), 64, 233, 235–237
“Messager des Sciences et des Arts:” Gand, 1823, 274
Messanges. _See_ Mallemans.
Messines, Matthieu de, 15
Metals and minerals, electricity of. _See_ Electricity of metals
and minerals.
Metals, electrically revivified by Beccaria, 207
Meteoric stones (_at_ Fourcroy, Antoine), 313, 354.
_See also_ Salverte.
Meteorites, Meteorolites, Meteors. _See_ Aerolites; _also_,
Phipson, 286, 313, 314, 315, 376, 380
“Météorographie ...” by P. N. Changeux, 1776, 556
Meteors. _See_ Stanhusius, Mich.; _also_ Trew, Abdias.
Meteyard, Miss, “Life of Wedgwood,” 430
Méthérie, J. C. de la. _See_ La Méthérie.
Meton--Meto--celebrated Athenian mathematician (fl. 432 B.C.), 544
Metrodorus (_at_ School of Athens), 544.
Greek philosopher of Chios (fl. beginning fourth century A.D.),
was pupil of Democritus. Another Greek philosopher of the
same name was brother of Timocrates and flourished A.D.
230–277. Another Metrodorus, Greek philosopher and traveller,
living first century B.C., was a native of Scepsis and the
author of many important works.
Metzger, Johann Jacob (1783–1853), Electrical plate machine, 256
Meusel, Johann Georg, 233
Meyer, “Chymische Versuche ...; sull’ elettricità animale ...” (Sue
i 127), 1792.
Meyer, Com., “... virtù della calamita ...”: Roma, 1696.
Meyer, Ernst van (_at_ Lavoisier, A. L.), 262
Meyer, F. C., de luce boreali, 140
Meyer, H. von, of Frankfort (Archiv. f. d. Ges. Natural, XIV. p.
342), 288
Meyer, Herman Joseph (1796–1856), Meyer’s Konversations-Lexikon:
Leipzig und Wien, 30, 152, 262, 335, 389, 392, 559
Meyer, Johann Friedrich (1705–1765), “Chymische Versuche ...
elektrischen materie ...,” 1764, 555
Meyer, Johann Karl Friedrich (1733–1811), “Versuche mit der von
Pallas ...,” 1776, 1777 and 1780, 346
Meyer, Moritz (Deutsche Klinik, 1857, No. 9), 386
Meyer, W. H. Theodor, “Bestimmungen ...” 1857, and “Beobachtungen
...,” 1858.
Meyerstein, J. _See_ Meissner and Meyerstein.
Meygenberg, Conrad van, “Book of Nature,” 34
Mezzini (_at_ Aldini, G.), 305, and (_at_ Reinhold, J. C. L.), 327
Mical, L’Abbé N. (1780–1844), 171. _See_ “Nouv. Biog. Gén.,” XXXV.
312.
Micali, Joseph (1780–1844), “L’Italie avant la domination des
Romains,” 8
Micanzio, Fra Fulgentio, 110, 113
Michael de Montaigne (1533–1592) (“Nouv. Biog. Gén.,” XXXVI. 55),
299–300
Michaelis, Jean David P. (1717–1791), 5, 9, 10, 326, 332
Michaud frères, “Biographie Universelle Ancienne et Moderne”:
Paris et Leipzig, 1811–1853, 2, 12, 25, 45, 58, 68, 71, 93,
95, 106, 122, 140, 146, 148, 163, 164, 170, 186, 189, 203,
208, 220, 232, 233, 235, 236, 243, 258, 259, 263, 265, 277,
280, 292, 301, 303, 306, 370, 400, 406, 455, 456, 464, 518,
527
Michaud, Joseph François, “History of the Crusades,” 31
Michell--Michel--John (1724–1793), Artificial magnets, 191, 206,
217
Michelotti, V., “Précis de nouvelles expériences galvaniques,”
1809, 295
Middeldorpf, A., 1854 (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Middleton, Capt. Christopher (_d._ 1770), 267
Miers, Prof. H. A. (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F.), 315
Migne, Jacques Paul (1800–1875), “Patrologiæ cursus completus,”
1854
Milano--Milan--Effemeridi Chim. Mediche, 363
Miles, Rev. Henry of Tooting, 172
“Militaire Spectateur Hollandais,” 397
Miller and Daniell (Phil. Trans. for 1844, Part I.).
Miller (_at_ Philostratus, Flavius), 533
Miller, Benigne Emmanuel Clément (Revue de Biographie Analytique,
par E. C. Miller et G. A. Aubenas, 1804).
Miller, George, D.D. (1764–1848), “History Philosophically
Illustrated from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French
Revolution, 1832” (Dublin Academy, VII. 139); “Elements of
Natural Philosophy,” 1799, 23, 32, 33, 42, 55, 56, 57, 61, 66,
96, 102, 116, 130, 134, 248, 262, 284, 441
Miller, Gerh. And., “Schreiben ... d. elektricität ...,” 1746.
Miller, Hugh, “Essays ... scientific”: Edinburgh, 1862.
Miller, Samuel, D.D., “Retrospect ...,” 3 Vols. 1805, 10
Miller, William Allen, “Chemistry ...,” 1871, 433, 467, 470
Milliet--De Chales--Dechales Claudius François (1621–1678), “L’Art
de naviguer”: Paris, 1677; “Cursus, seu mundus mathematicus
...,” 1690, 1674, 110, 146, 273
Millin de Grandmaison, Aubin Louis (1759–1818), “Magazin
Encyclopédique,” 1795; “Annales Encyclopédiques,” 1795, 384,
451
Milly, Nicolas Christiern, Comte de Thy (1728–1784), 235, 264
Milman, Henry Hart, D.D. (1791–1868), “History of Latin
Christianity,” 36, 42, 144, 505, 523.
_See_ Gibbon.
Milner, Thomas (1719–1797), “Exp. and Obs. in electricity,” 1783,
367, 556
_Mimosa pudica_ and _mimosa sensitiva_ (_at_ Dutrochet, Schmuck
and _at_ Ingen-housz), 257, 464
Mines are fired by electricity in 1749, 189.
It has already been noted (_at_ A.D. 1745, 176) that Watson
exploded gunpowder (Phil. Trans. abridged, X. 288), and
reference should be made to Franklin’s letter to Collinson,
July 27, 1750, as well as to Priestley’s History (1775
edition, p. 78) and to Schilling’s report of the explosion
of mines by galvanic currents, as mentioned herein, A.D.
1812, 421
Mining Journal. _See_ London Mining Journal.
Minkeller, M., 249
Minotto (_at_ Zamboni, Giuseppe), 420
Miot (_at_ Chappe, Claude), 301.
Mirmont, De la Ville de, 18
“Mirror of Nature” of Vincent de Beauvais, 34
Mirus, C. E. (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
“Miscellanea ... Tauriniensa,” 224
Mitscherlich, Eilard--Eilhert--M. (Allgem. Deutsche Biographie,
XXII. 15–22), 471
Mizauld, Antoine (_at_ Schott, Gaspar), 126
Mochetti, Francisco (_d._ 1839), 424
Mœurs, de Reg. Athen., 5
Moigno, Abbé François Napoléon Marie (1804–1884), Aumonier du Lycée
Louis Le Grand, “Traité de télégraphie électrique”; “Les
Mondes”; “Le Cosmos, Revue encyclopédique hebdomadaire”: Paris,
1852–1870, 98, 242, 248, 365, 440, 556
Moillet, Mrs. Amelia, “Sketch of the life of James Keir,” 297
Mojon, Benedetto, junior, “Sur l’application ...,” 1845, 386
Mojon, Benedetto, senior (1784–1849), “Histoire académique du
magnétisme animal,” 1841.
Mojon, Benoit, “Réflections ...” (Journ. du Galvan., XI. p. 168).
Mojon, Giuseppe--Joseph (_at_ Romagnosi, G. D. G. G.), 366
Molenier, Jacob, “Essai sur le mécanisme de l’électricité,” 229
Molinier, Victor, “Notice ... boussole au XIII^e siècle,” 61
Molitor, N. K. (_at_ Ingen-housz, Johan), 258
Moll--Gerhard--Gerrit, of Utrecht (1785–1838), “Sur des expériences
electro-magnétiques” (Brewster’s Journal of Science, III.
1830). _Consult_ “Journal de Chimie et d’Histoire Naturelle,”
Vol. 94, pp. 377–388; Moll and Van Beck (Journal de Physique,
XCII. 1821); Moll, Van Rees and Van den Bos (Gilb. Ann. LXXII.
1822), 272, 273, 473
Moller, D. W. (_at_ Solinus, Caius Julius), 540
Möller, P. L., 440, 450
Mollet, Joseph (1758–1829), “Cours élémentaire de physique
expérimentale,” 2 Vols. 1822 (Acad. de Lyon, Mai, 1823), 226,
367
Molyneux, Emery (_at_ Hues--Hood--Robert), 522, 562, 563
Mombret, Eugène Coquebert (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F.), 314
Monardus, Nicolas, 27, 516
“Monatliche correspondenz ... von Zach”: Gotha, 1800–1813, 462
Moncel. _See_ Du Moncel.
Moncomy, Balthazar de, 126
Mond, Dr. Robert L., xii
Monge, Gaspard, Comte de Péluse (1746–1818), 247, 294, 328, 375,
407, 417, 477.
_See_ Jal’s Dictionary, 878–879.
Mongiardini and Lando, “Sul Galvanismo ...”: Genova, 1803, 330
Moniteur. _See_ Le Moniteur.
“Moniteur Scientifique.” _See_ Quesneville, Gustave Augustin.
Monro, Alexander (1733–1817), “Experiments ...,” 1793, 1794, 306,
327
Monroe, Paul, “A Cyclopædia of Education”: New York, 1913.
Mons, Jean Baptiste van (1765–1842), “Journal de Chimie”
(complément aux Annales de Chimie), Bruxelles, 1802, 231, 248,
285, 306, 326, 337, 341, 350, 353, 362, 363, 367, 381, 383,
384, 388, 400, 452
Montagnana, Bartholomeo (born _c._ A.D. 1400), 528
Montagu, Basil (_at_ Bacon, Sir Francis), 102
Montaigne, Michael de. _See_ Michel de Montaigne.
Montanus, Arias Benedictus (1527–1598), 528
Montanus, Joannes Baptista (1488–1551), “Metaphrasis summaria
...,” 1551, 26, 525, 528
Montbéliard, Guénaud de (_at_ Morveau, L. B. Guyton de), 233
“Monthly Magazine,” publication commenced in London during 1796,
43, 229, 381
Monti and Gironi (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V.), 363
Montpellier, Academy of Sciences, Histoire de la Société Royale,
Mémoires, Recueils, etc., 276
Montpellier, Annales de la Société de Médecine (Ecole de Médecine),
328, 507
Montpellier, Catalogues méthodiques des livres scientifiques,
1855–1856.
Montpellier, Faculté de, 506
Montravel, Tardy de (_at_ Amoretti, Carlo), 401
Montucla, Jean Etienne (1725–1799), “Histoire des Mathématiques,”
79, 81, 122, 123, 171, 220, 401, 505, 506, 510, 520, 521,
527, 531
Moon, Robert. _See_ Fresnel.
Moore, Bishop of Norwich (_at_ Rohault, Jacques), 129
Moore, Sir John (1761–1809), 397
Morales, G. de, 1605, 553
Morant, Philip (_at_ Gilbert, William), 92
Moreau, on the electrical organs of fishes, 300
Moreri, Louis (1643–1680), “Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique,”
1740, 163, 513
Morgagni, Giovanni Battista (1682–1771), 147, 148
Morgan, George Cadogan (1754–1798), 282
Morgan, J., 1815 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 385
Morhof, Daniel George (1639–1691), “Polyhistor ... et rerum
commentarii,” 1688, 55
Morichini, Domenico Pini (1773–1836), 423–424
Morieni, Romani, “De re metallica”: Parisiis, 1559, 502
Morin, Jean Baptiste (1583–1656), 183, 187
Moringo--Moringuo--Gerardus (_at_ Augustine, Aurelius, Saint), 25
Morlet (_at_ Hansteen, Christoph), 446
Morley, Henry (_at_ Agrippa, H. C.), 502; (_at_ Cardanus, H.), 507
Morozzo--Morotius--Carlo Luigi, Comte de (1744–1804), 295
Morrell, Thomas, “Elements of the History of Phil. and Sc.,” 108,
268
Morris, George S., translator of Ueberweg’s “Hist. of Phil.,” 26,
32, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 102
Morris, William, 6
Morrison, Charles (fl. 1753), 208–209, 241
(Dict. Nat. Biogr., 1909, Vol. XIII. p. 1004).
Morse, Prof. Samuel Finley Breese. _See_ Prime, Samuel Irenæus, 197
Mortenson, “Dissertatio de electricitate ...,” 1740, 1742, 555
Mortimer, Cromwell (_d._ 1752), 154, 155, 547.
_See_ Royal Society.
Morveau, Baron Louis Bernard Guyton de (1737–1816), 233, 236, 247,
333, 354, 372, 392.
_See_ Paris, Annales de Chimie.
Moscati, Pietro (_at_ Ingen-housz, Johan), 257
Moser, L., and Riess, R. T., 423
Moser, Ludwig, “Über d. n. magnetischen Entdeckungen,” 1834, 423;
“Repertorium der physik.”
_See_ Dove, Heinrich Wilhelm.
Moses (_at_ the Etruscans), 9
Moss, Joseph William, “Manual of Classical Biography,” 11, 18
Motte, Benjamin. _See_ Royal Society.
Mottelay, Paul F., xiv, 92
Moulton, Chas. Wells, “Library of Literary Criticism,” 62, 102,
124, 132, 134, 199, 216, 228
Moulton, John Fletcher (_b._ 1844). _See_ Spottiswoode, William.
Mountaine, W., and Dodson, J., 165, 267, 315, 555
Mountaine, William, “Epitome of the Art of Navigation,” 1744, 165,
166.
He was associated with James Dodson, in the publication of “An
account of the methods used to describe lines on Dr. Halley’s
chart,” 1746.
Mouzin, P. (_at_ Bolten, J. F.), 246
Moyes, Henry, “Heads of a course of lectures on the philosophy of
chemistry,” 1780, 270, 342, 347
Muirhead, James Patrick, translator of Arago’s “Eloge of James
Watt,” 126, 190, 228, 313
Muirhead, Professor Lockhardt, 462
Müller, G. F. (_at_ Gmelin Family), 450
Müller, Johann Heinrich Jacob, “Lehrbuch der Kosmichen Physik,”
1856, 1865 and 1872, 140, 288;
Diamagnetism (Pogg. Ann., Vol. 83 for 1851).
Müller, Johannes, German scientist and astronomer, known as
_Regiomontanus_ (1436–1476), 67.
_See_ Joannes de Monte Regio.
Müller--Mueller--Gerhard Andreas (1718–1762), 450
Muller-Pouillet, “Lehrbuch der physik und meteorologie,” 2 Vols.
1868–1869.
Mulloch, F. G. A., “Democriti Abderitæ ...,” 1843, 511
Multiplicator: Nobili and Antinovi: in 1822. _See_ Oersted in
1825–1826.
Multiplier, electro-magnetic of Schweigger (_at_ A.D. 1811),
413–414
Multiplier of Colladon, and of Henry, at pp. 112, 242, of
Ronalds’ Catalogue.
Multiplier of electricity of Cavallo, 244
Mumenthaler, John Jacob (1729–1813), _at_ Ingen-housz, 249, 257
Muncke, Georg Wilhelm (1772–1847), “Handbuch der naturlehre,” 2
Vols. 1829–1830, 308, 422.
_See_ his numerous articles on magnetism, etc., in Gilb. Ann.,
Pogg. Ann. and Schweig. Journ.
Mundt, electrical machine of silken strips, 449
Mung-khi-py-than, 23, 29
Munich--München--Academie. _See_ Bavarian Academy.
Munich--München--Royal Society, 381
Munichs, M. (_at_ Gallitzin, D. A.), 243
Munk, Salomon, “Mélanges de philosophie Juive et arabe,” 39
Munk, William, “The roll of the College ...,” 91, 97, 105, 359
Munro, Alexander, 306, 332, 419
Murat, A. M., “Antiq. Italiana,” 36
Muratori, Ludovico Antonio, “Antiquitates Italiæ Medii Aevi.,” 539
Murhard, Fr. W. A., “Versuch einer historisch-chronologischen
bibliographie des magnetismus”: Kassel, 1797.
Muriates produced by galvanic decomposition of water, 392
Murray, Dr. John (_d._ 1820), 428
Murray, J. (Phil. Mag., LIV. 39), 314, 424
Murray, Lord George (1761–1803), 316, 389, 437
Murray, John (1756–1851) (_at_ Oersted, H. C.), 455, and _at_ 419,
428–429
Musæum Regalis Societatis. _See_ Grew, Nehemiah.
Musæum Septalianum. _See_ Terzagus.
Muschmann--Musschman--M., Prof. of Chemistry at Christiana
University, 442, 446
Musée de Chantilly, Manuscript of “La Cité de Dieu,” xix
Musée Tyler, Haarlem, Archives.
Museum d’histoire naturelle, Mémoires, 240, 288, 298, 300, 374
Musgrave William (1655–1721), Royal Society Transactions, 547
Muspratt, James Sheridan, “Chemistry,” 134
Musschenbroek--Musschenbroek--Petrus van (1692–1761), Professor of
Natural Philosophy in the University of Leyden, “Essai de
Physique,” “Recueil d’expériences,” 111, 138, 156, 173, 174,
175, 176, 191, 204, 270, 299, 320
Mydorge, Claude (1585–1647), 109
Mylius, J. Ch. (1710–1757), 320
Myrepsus. _See_ Nicolaus.
N
Næggerath and Steininger (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F., A.D. 1794), 315
Nairne, Edward (1726–1806), “Experiments ... to show the advantage
of elevated pointed conductors” (Phil. Trans., 1778, p. 823),
237, 238, 243, 252, 264, 265.
_See also_ Phil. Trans., 1772, p. 496; 1774, p. 79; 1780, p. 334;
1783, p. 223.
Namias, Giacinto _(b._ 1810) (“Giornale Veneto di scienze mediche,”
V. 3, 1860), “Della elettricità applicata alla medicina,” 1851.
Namur, Jean Pie (_b._ 1804), “Bibliographie Académique Belge ...,”
1838, 256
Nancy, Mémoires de, 277
Nancy, Société Royale, 512
Napier, James (1810–1884), “A manual of electro-metallurgy,” 339,
359;
“On Electrical Endosmoses” (Chem. Soc. Mem. and Proceed., III. 28).
Napier, Macvey, “Memoir of Sir John Leslie,” 296
Naples, “Atti, Memorie, Rendiconto, della Reale Academia della
scienze ...,” 495
Naples, the first academy of sciences, established in 1560, 75
Naples. _See_ Palmieri, Luigi.
Napoléon Bonaparte, 247, 248, 338, 339, 361
Naram-Sin (_at_ 2637 B.C.), 2
Narducci, Enrico (1832–1893), 50
Narrien, John, “Historical account of astronomy,” 521
National Academy of Sciences. _See_ Washington.
“Natura (La),” publication commenced by Rodolfo Capparrera in
Florence during 1877, as “L’Elettricita.”
“Naturæ Novitates,” publication commenced in Berlin during 1879.
“Nature” of Parmenides, 532
“Nature,” publication commenced in London during 1869, 31, 63, 77,
93, 99, 107, 128, 140, 440
“Naturwissenschaftliche abhandlungen am Dorpat,” 1823, 368
Nauche, Jacques Louis (1776–1843), “Journal du Galvanisme,” 280,
305, 326, 330, 337, 363, 453
Naudé, Gabriel (1600–1653), “Apologie ...,” 107, 502, 538.
_See_ account of his many curious books at p. 232, Vol. I. _See_
III. of “Notes and Queries.”
Naumann, Karl Friedrich (_b._ 1797), “Krystallographie,” 1825,
1830, 1841, 1850, 1852, 1854, 1856 (Pogg. Ann., III. 1825,
XXXV. 1835).
Nautical Magazine (or Journal), London, 1832, etc., 61, 468
Nautonnier--Nautoniez--Guillaume de, Sicur de Castelfranco,
“Mécometrie de l’eymant ...,” 1602–1604, 63
Navagero, A., “Orationes ... carmin ... nonulla ...,” 1555, 553
Navarrete, D. Martin Fernandez de (1765–1844), “Discurso historico
...,” “Recherches ... sciences nautiques,” 60, 509, 531
Neander, Johann August Wilhelm, 25
Nebel, Daniel Wilhelm (1735–1805), “De magnete artificiali”:
Utrecht, 1756; “De electricitatis neu medico,” 1758.
Nebel, W. B. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
Necker de Saussure, Louis Albert (_b._ 1786) (Bibl. Univ., Feb.
1830).
Neckham, Alexander (1157–1217), Abbot of St. Mary’s, 31;
“De Utensilibus”; “De natura rerum.”
Needham, John Tuberville. _See_ Mem. de Brux., IV. 1783; “Dict. of
Nat. Biogr.,” 1894, Vol. XL. p. 157.
Neef, Christian Ernst (1782–1849) (Pogg. Annal., XXXVI. 1835; XLVI.
1439; L. 1840), “Nachschrift ... über elektromagnetismus,”
1821, 423
Negro, Salvatore dal (1768–1839), “Dell’ elettricismo
idro-metallico”: Padova, 1802; Ann. delle scienze del Regno
Lombardo-Veneto, II. 109;
III. 1833; IV. 1834; V. 165; Mem. Soc. Ital., XXI. 323, 1837.
Nelis, Corneille François de, of Malines (1736–1798), 288, 434, 435
Nelli, Giovanni Battista Clemente, “Vita de Galileo,” 116, 117
Neophron, Athenian poet who flourished fifth century B.C., 543
Neoplatonism, Plotinus the father of, 534
Netherlands, Royal Institute of, 272
Neubauer, Adolf (1832–1907), 35
“Neudrucke ...” of Dr. G. Hellmann, 531
“Neue Freie Presse” of Vienna, 421
“Neues Allgemeines Journal der Chemie.” _See_ Gehlen, A. F. von,
_at_ Scherer, A. N.
“Neues Conversations-Lexicon”: Köln and Bonn.
“Neues Journal für chemie und physik.” _See_ Gehlen, A. F. von _at_
Scherer, A. N.
“Neuesten entdeckungen in der Chemie,” Crell, L. F. F., 254
“Neuestes Conversations-Lexicon”: Wien.
Neumann, Carl, “Theorie der Electricitäts ...,” 1863, 1864.
Neumann, Franz Ernst (_at_ Hare, Robert, A.D. 1819), 449
(Crell’s Journ., XXVI. 1843).
Neumann, K. A., “Über meteorolithen ...,” 1813 (Gilb. Ann., XLII.
1812; XLIII. 1813).
Neumayer, G., “Bericht ... meteorsteines ...,” 1869.
Neve, T., “... concerning an aurora australis ...” (Phil. Trans.,
XLI. 843).
New Annual Register, 323
“New Cyclopædia or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences,” 45
Vols. _See_ Rees, Abraham.
New England Magazine, 499
New General Biographical Dictionary, Rose, H. James, 2, 20, 24, 40,
43, 45, 68, 95, 107, 122, 156, 163, 202, 296, 533
“New London Mechanics’ Register and Magazine of Science and the
Useful Arts,” publication commenced in London during 1824.
Newton, John, “Astronomia Britannica,” 1657.
“Newton’s Journal of Arts and Sciences,” publication commenced in
London by W. Newton during 1820.
Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727), 58, 92, 95, 129, 132–134, 140, 145,
146, 150, 155, 159, 168, 181, 183, 225, 229, 238, 253, 315,
340, 461, 466, 472, 473, 484, 496
New York Columbian, 418
Neyreneuf, François Vincent, 426
Niamias, G. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Nicander of Colophon (fl. second century B.C.), 97, 529
Nicephorus, Callistus Xanthopoulos (fl. _c._ A.D. 1330), 142;
“Historia Eccles. ...”
Niceron, Jean Pierre (1685–1738), “Mémoires pour servir à
l’histoire des hommes illustres,” 97, 211, 507, 514, 527, 539
Nicetas--Hicetas--of Syracuse (fl. fourth century B.C.), 519, 530
Nicholas, Emperor of Russia, 422
Nicholas of Lynne (Carmelite astronomer, _at_ Lully, Raymond).
Nicholl, J. F., “Life of Sebastian Cabot,” 69
Nichols, Edward L., xii
Nichols, Philip (_at_ Kendal, Abram), 523
Nichols, Professor, “Cyclopædia of the physical sciences,” 461
Nicholson and Carlisle, 270, 337, 369, 419, 435
Nicholson, William (1753–1815), editor of the “Journal of Natural
Philosophy,” “British Cyclopædia,” etc.
Nicholson’s “Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the
Arts,” commenced in 1802, 36 Vols., 165, 208, 228, 231, 241,
245, 248, 249, 270, 278, 280, 281, 296, 298, 302, 304, 322,
325, 330, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341, 342, 347, 349, 359,
362, 363, 367, 369, 370, 383, 386, 387, 388, 393, 394, 398,
405, 406, 407, 428, 431, 443, 449
Nicklès, François Joseph Jérôme (_b._ 1820) (Comptes Rendus, année
1851), “Recherches sur l’aimantation,” 1855.
Nicodemo, Francisco, “Bibliotheca Napolitana,” 1699, 516
Nicolas, Lieut. Nicolas Harris (_at_ Pasley, C. W., A.D. 1808), 398
Nicolas, Pierre François (1743–1816), “... électricité comme
remède ...,” 1782, 385
Nicolas, Sir Harris (_at_ A.D. 1327–1377), 59
Nicolaus _Myrepsus_ (fl. thirteenth century A.D.), 27, 529
Niebuhr, Karsten--Carstens (1733–1815), celebrated German
traveller, “Voyage en Egypte”; “Ansicht der Chemischen
Naturgesetze,” 61, 453.
_See_ “Journal des Savants” for Feb. 1818.
Nierembergius, Eusebius (_at_ Zahn, F. J., A.D. 1696), 146
Nierop, Dirck van, “Nederduytsche Astronomia ...”: Amsterdam, 1658.
Niño, Pedro Alonzo (1468–1505), 60
Nipher, Francis Eugène, “The Volt, the Ohm and the Ampère”:
practical electrical units (Journ. Ass. Engin. Soc., Vol. VII.
pp. 83, 89: New York, 1888).
Nivelet, François, “Electricité médicale ...,” 1860–1863, 386
Noad, Henry Minchin (1815–1877), “Lectures on electricity ...,”
1839, 1844; “A manual of electricity ...,” 1855, 1857, 77, 122,
140, 145, 150, 176, 181, 196, 205, 206, 207, 225, 227, 228,
231, 239, 250, 252, 271, 274, 287, 291, 292, 297, 308, 318,
325, 330, 334, 335, 337, 339, 340, 347, 355, 356, 373, 378,
379, 380, 391, 407, 409, 418, 423, 437, 440, 447, 448, 455,
457, 458, 459, 460, 465, 467, 469, 470, 471, 475, 476, 481,
483, 489, 493
Nobili and Antinovi, “Sopra la forza elettromotrice del
magnetismo,” 1831, 1832 (Ann. del Reg. Lomb. Veneto, II. 96,
832;
Phil. Mag. for June 1832).
Nobili, Leopoldo (1784–1835), 285, 413, 472, 473, 475, 477, 479
(Bibl. Univ., XXV. 1824; Ital. Soc. Mem., XX. p. 173; Pogg.
Annal., XXXIII. 1834).
Noectus, C. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Noël, Bonaventura d’Argonne. _See_ Vigneul-Marville.
Noggerath, Jacob (_b._ 1788), 314
(Phil. Mag. or Annals, II. 46, 1827; Schweigg. Journ., III. p.
224, 1828).
Noggerath, J., and Bischof, C. G. C. (Schweigg. Journ., XLIII.
825, 1825).
Noggerath, J., and Reuss, G. C. H. (Phil. Mag., VIII. 174, 1830).
Nollet, Jean Antoine (1700–1770) (Mém. de Paris, 1745, Hist., p. 4,
Mém., p. 107; _also_ 1746, Hist., p. 1, Mém., p. 1, and 1747,
Hist., p. 1, Mém., p. 102; Phil. Trans., XLV. 187; XLVI. 368),
168, 174, 179, 180, 181–183, 185, 187, 188, 189, 193, 199, 201,
220, 224, 249, 257, 282, 320, 332, 554
Nomak. _See_ Romisch.
Nonius, Petrus. _See_ Nuñez.
Nooth, John Merwin, M.D., 278
Nordenskjold, Nils Adolf Erik (1832–1901), “Periplus,” 1897, 63,
139
“Nordisches Archiv. für d. Nat. v. Arzeneiw.,” 257
“Nördlischen Kätter für die chemie ...” _See_ Scherer, A. N.
Norman, Robert (fl. 1590), “The newe attractive, or account of the
first invention of the dipping needle,” xiv, 70, 75–77, 97,
112, 115, 250, 266
“North British Review,” 466
Norumbega, the lost city of New England, 115
Norwood, Richard (1589–1675), “The Seaman’s Practice ...,” 1719.
“Notes and Queries,” 75
Nouveau Larousse, Claude Augé, 1, 25, 131, 262
“Nouvelle Biographie Générale depuis les temps les plus reculés
jusqu’à nos jours,” edited by Dr. Hœfer, 2, 5, 10, 16, 21, 24,
25, 31, 32, 38, 39, 41, 44, 45, 54, 58, 64, 68, 71, 79, 80, 81,
90, 93, 95, 97, 104, 106, 108, 109, 117, 122, 130, 137, 141,
145, 163, 164, 166, 170, 179, 186, 187, 190, 192, 196, 202,
205, 207, 233, 253, 255, 259, 262, 263, 265, 281, 282, 288,
289, 294, 296, 298, 301, 312, 347, 350, 359, 361, 367, 383,
386, 401, 434, 455, 462, 464, 483, 498, 501, 502, 504, 505,
506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518,
519, 520, 521, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533,
534, 536, 537, 538, 539, 540
Nouvelliste, Le, 298
Novara. _See_ Dominicus Maria Ferrariensis.
Novelli. _See_ Paola Antonia (_at_ Aquinas), 505
Novellucci, his electric plate machine, 256, 482
(Antologia di Firenze, August 1824, p. 159).
Novum Organum--Novum Organon--of Francis Bacon; Novum Organum,
London, 1620, 1650, 1802; Lug. B., 1645, 1650; Oxford, 1878,
1889; Novum Organon, Lips., 1840; Clarend., 1813; Nuovo Organo,
Bassano, 1788; Neues Organon, Berlin, 1793, xiv, 90, 92, 99,
103
Noya-Caraffa, Giovanni, Duke of (1715–1768), “Recueil de Mém.
Æpinus” (Phil. Trans., LI. Pt. I, p. 396, 1759), 17, 193, 218
Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, 9
Nuneberg, M. (_at_ Ingen-housz, A.D. 1779), 257
(Scelta d’Opus., XVII. 113).
Nuñez--Nonius--Petrus (1492–1577), 530
Nouva Collezione d’Opuscoli scientifici ...: Bologna, 257
Nouva Scelta d’Opuscoli, Interessanti sulle scienze, 2 Vols.:
Milano, 1804–1807. _See_ Amoretti, Carlo.
Nuovi annali della scienze naturali: Bologna.
Nuovi Lincei. _See_ Rome, Accad. Ponteficia.
Nuovo Cimento, “Giornale di fisica, chimica ...,” edited by
Matteucci and others, at Pisa and Torino.
Nürnberg, “Neues Journal für chemie und physik,” von Schweigger,
J. S. Ch. von Vols. 1–30, 1811–1820 (30 Vols.), Vols. 31–42,
1821–1824 (12 Vols.); “Jahrbuch der chemie und physik ...,”
Vols. 43–54, 1825–1828 (12 Vols.), Vols. 55–60, 1829–1830 (6
Vols.), Vols. 61–69, 1831–1833 (9 Vols.); “Journal für
praktische chemie,” von Erdmann, Otto Linné, Vols. 1–108,
1834–1869 (108 Vols.), Vols. 1–14, 1870–1876 (14 Vols.).
Nyerup, Rasmus, “Univ. Annalen,” 158
Nyrén, Magnus (_at_ Swedenborg, Em., A.D. 1734), 165
Nysten, Pierre Hubert (1771–1818), “Nouvelles expériences
galvaniques,” 305
“Nyt Bibliothek fer Physik ...”: Kjobenhavn, 453, 455
“Nyt Magazin fer naturvidenskaberne:” Christiana, 29, 446
O
Oberst, J., “Conjecturæ ... magnetis naturam ...,” 1760, 555
Obert, Klindworth and Minkeler (_at_ Ingen-housz, J., A.D. 1779),
257, 249
Observations sur la physique. _See_ Rozier, François, 258–259;
Scudder, “Catalogue,” 1879, p. 110.
Oderigo, Nicolo, xx
Odier, Louis (1748–1817), 81, 82, 240
“Odyssey” of Homer, 5, 6
Oersted, Hans Christian (1770–1851), vii, 64, 81, 222, 345, 365,
366, 367, 376, 380, 381, 383, 384, 412, 413, 414, 421, 451–455,
456, 465, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 478, 482, 484
(Phil. Mag., XXIII. 129; LVI. 394; LIX. 462; Phil. Mag. or
Annals, VIII, 230; Gehlen IV. Jour., III. 1804; VIII. 1808;
Voigt’s Mag., III. 412; Schweigg. Jour., XX. 1817; XXIX.
1820; XXXII. and XXXIII. 1821; XXVIII. 1821–1822; LIII. 1828;
Ann. Ch. et Phys., XXII. 1823; Oversigt over det Kongl.
danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Forhandlinger, 1822–1823,
1823–1824, 1825–1826, and almost every year up to 1840
inclusively).
Offord, J., Jr. (_at_ 321 B.C.), ix
Offusius, Joannes Franciscus, “De divina astrorum facultate,” 1570,
11
Ohm, Georg Simon (1787–1854). _See_ Nipher, Francis Eugène, “Die
galvanische Kelte mathematisch bearbeitet,” 1827; “Grundzüge
der physik ...,” 1854, 384, 460
Ohm, Martin, brother of Georg Simon, “Spirit of mathematical
analysis ...,” 1843.
Ohm’s Law, xiv, 384. _Consult_ Crystal, George (“Electrician,” Vol.
XXV. p. 309, 1890); Hopkinson, John (1849–1898), Lectures at
Inst. Civil. Eng., London, Vol. I. pp. 81–106, 1844;
Kohlrausch, R. H. A., _also_ Tyndall, John (Phil. Mag., Ser.
IV. Vol. III. pp. 321–330, 1852); Raymond, Jules, “Recherches
... loi d’Ohm,” 1870; Webb, F. C. (Phil. Mag., Ser. IV. Vol.
XXXV. pp. 325–333, 1868).
Oken, Lorenz, 403–404
Olaus, Magnus, “Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus,” 1555, 71,
527
Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthaüs (1758–1840), on the Zodiacal
Light, etc., 141, 345, 462
Oldenberg, Henry, Secretary of the Royal Society (1615?-1677), 142,
547
Olfers, J. F. M., “Die-gattung torpedo ...,” 1831 (_at_ Shaw,
George, A.D. 1791), 298
Oliva, Joannes, Map of the World, A.D. 1613, 63
Oliva, Salvatore, Atlas showing both Americas, A.D. 1620, 63
Oliver, A., of Salem, Mass., Theories of lightning, thunderstorms
and waterspouts (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., O.S. II. 74, 101).
Olmstead--Olmsted--Denison (1791–1859), 141, 457, 458, 461;
“On the zodiacal light”; “Introduction to natural history.”
Omar Khayyám--Kheyyám (_d._ 1123), 38
Omont, Henri, xi
Ongania (_at_ A.D. 1436), 63
Onimus and Legros, “Traité d’électricité médicale,” 386
“Onomasticon Literarium.” _See_ Sax--Sachs.
“Operator, The,” publication commenced in New York during the year
1874; afterwards became “The Operator and the Electrical
World.”
Oppermanno--Oppermanus--Septimus Andreas, 325, 326, 385.
Oppianus (fl. second century A.D.), “Halieutica,” 11
Opuscoli Act. Erudit.: Lips., 130
Opuscoli filosofici ..., 2 Vols.: Milano, 1827.
Opuscoli matematici e fisici ...: Milano, 257, 271, 295, 298
Opuscoli scelti sulle scienze e sulle arti, 22 Vols.: Milano and
Bologna; Nuova collezione d’opuscoli scientifici ... 5 Vols.:
Bologna, 1817–1824; Fr. Cardinali, Fr. Ovioli, and others, 175,
208, 241, 243, 248, 253, 254, 257, 258, 263, 270, 271, 272,
280, 281, 284, 295, 299, 306, 335, 347, 401.
_See_ Amoretti and “Scelta di opuscoli interessanti ...”
Orb of Coition, 100
Orb of Virtue--Orbis Virtutis, 86, 100
Organe électrique artificiel. _See_ Volta.
Oribasius Sardianus (born _c._ A.D. 325), 26, 531
Origanus _recte_ Tost David, “Annorum Posterorium, XXX.,” 1609.
Origen, also called Adamantus (_c._ A.D. 185–254), 38
Orioli, F. _See_ Opuscoli Scelti ..., 258
Orléans, “Société Royale des sciences ...,” Annales.
Ormoy, Abbé d’, 282
Orosius (fl. fifth century A.D.), Historarium.
Orphei Argonautica of A. C. Eschenbach, 554
Orpheus, Vedic Ribhu, “Argonautica,” “Lythica,” “Bacchia,” etc.,
edited by the very distinguished Greek scholar, Andrea
Christian Eschenbach of Nuremberg (1663–1705), 519, 530–531
Orsini, Count de Rosenberg, 10
Ortell--Oertel--Abraham (1527–1598), 63
Osann, Gottfried Wilhelm (_b._ 1797), ten articles in Poggendorff’s
Annalen on Electricity, Meteoric Iron, Phosphorescence, etc.,
from Vol. VIII. 1826 to Vol. CVI. 1859; Grundzüge der lehre von
dem magnetismus und der elektricität, 1847.
Osbun, Prof., of Salem, Mass., 234
Osmose. _See_ Endosmosis and Exosmosis.
Osorius--Osorio--de Fonseca, Jeronimo (_b._ 1506), “Histoire du
Portugal,” Genève, 1581, 68
Ostertag, Johann Philipp (1734–1801), “... die Kentnisse der Alten
von der Electricität” (Neue Abhandl. der Baierischen Akad., IV.
113, 1785); “Antiquarische Abhandl. über Gewitterelektricitat,”
1810.
Ostroy, van, 559
Ostwald, Friedrich Wilhelm (_b._ 1853), “Lehrbuch der Allgemeine
Chemie” and “Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie,” 1887;
established with Jacobus Hendrikus Van’t Hoff; “Elektrochemie,”
1896; “Ostwald’s Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften”:
Leipzig, 284, 391, 455
Otté, E. C. _See_ Humbolt, Alex. von “Cosmos.”
Otto’s letter to Benjamin Franklin, 67
Oudry, “Applications en grand de la galvanoplastie et de
l’électro-métallurgie,” 1868.
Oughtred, W., “Descrip. ... double horiz. ... dyal ...,” 1674, 552
“Oversigt over det Kongl. danska Videnskabernes Selskabs
Forhandliger ...”: Kjobenhavn, 453, 454
Ovid, Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.-A.D. 18), “Fastorum, libri
xii”; “Metam. ... Numa ... Jupiter Elicius,” A.D. 17, 10, 462
Oviedo, Luis de, “Methodo de la coleccion ... medicinas simples,”
1622, 27
Oviedus, Gonzales. _See_ Gonzalus Oviedus.
Ovioli, F. _See_ Opuscoli Scelti, 257
Owen, Dr. Richard (1804–1892), 404
Owen, John--Oweni, Ioan (1560–1622), 523
Oxford University, Library, etc., 40, 99, 145, 151, 405, 497, 513,
530
Ozanam, Antoine Frédéric (1813–1853), 504
Ozanam, Jacques (1640–1717), “Récréations mathématiques,” 4 Vols.
1721, 1724, etc., 401
P
Pacchiani, Francesco Giuseppe (1771–1835), 392, 393, 419, 483
(Nuova Scelta d’Opuscoli, I. 277, 1804; Phil. Mag., XXIV. 176,
1806; Ann. Chim. di Brugnatelli, XXII. pp. 125, 135, 144,
1805).
Pac̄ifico, Salomone Ireneo (A.D. 776–846), 60
Pacini, Filippo (1812–1883), 299,
“Sopra l’organo elettrico del Siluro elettrico del Nilo ...,”
1846.
Pacinotti, Antonio (_b._ 1841), “Descrizione di una machinetta
elettro-magnetica ...,” 1864. This is the author’s
_ring-armature with closed coils_ (Catal. of Wheeler Gift, No.
1601).
Pacinotti, L. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Padova--Padua--Accademia, Saggi, Memorie, etc., 140, 253, 303, 304,
528
Padova--Padua--Annali della scienze naturali, 363
Padova--Padua--“Giornale Astro-Meteoroligico,” 254
Padova--Padua--Observatory, 254
Padova--Padua--University, 253, 455, 460, 499, 502, 506, 515, 528
Padova--Padua--University, history of, by Boulay, 505
Pæologue. _See_ Paléologue.
Pagani, O. M. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385, on
medical electricity.
Page, Charles Grafton (1812–1868), on new electrical instruments,
induction, etc., etc. (Silliman’s Journal, XXVI.-XLIX.; Bibl.
Univ., X. 398), 234, 283
Page, Charles G., and Rittenhouse, D. (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc.,
O.S. II. pp. 173, 175, 1786).
Page, John, of Williamsburg (_at_ Rittenhouse, David, A.D. 1786),
282
Paisley, Lord, “Experiments on his loadstone,” 161.
_See_ Hamilton, James (Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 245, 1729–1730).
Pajot-Laforest (_at_ Aldini, Giovanni, A.D. 1793), 305
Palagi, A., “Nuove sperienze sull’ elettricità telluro-atmosferica”
(Rendiconto dell’ Accad. delle scienze dell’ Ist. d’ Bologna,
1858, p. 72).
Paléologue, Georges Maurice, “L’Art Chinois,” 2, 3 (Acta Acad.
Petropol., I. 1778; Phil. Trans. for 1776, 1778).
Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis (A.D. 368–430), says that
lodestone attracts the nails of ships....
Pallas, Peter Simon (1741–1811), 314, 451
Palm, G. A., “Der magnet in alterthum,” 1867, 15
Palma (Siciliano) Richerche medico-elettriche (mentioned by
Bertholon, 1749).
Palmer, W. (_at_ Pasley, C. W., A.D. 1808), 397
Palmieri, Luigi (_b._ 1807), 337, 416, 420; Annali del Reale
Osservatorio meteorologico ... Napoli, 1859 (Rendiconto dell’
Accad. di Napoli, IV. 1845; Giornale I.R. Istit. Lomb., N.S.
4, II. 346).
Palmieri, Luigi, and Linari-Santi, P., 337
Palmstedt, Carl (_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 299
Pameyer, George (_at_ A.D. 1250), 34
Pancirollus, Guido (1523–1599), 22, 81, 123
Pander, Christian Heinrich, “Beiträge zur naturk,” 368
Pandulph, “History of Naples,” 211
Panormitano: name given to Anthony of Bologna.
_Pantarbe_, 10, 533
Paoli, Adrian (_at_ 600–580 B.C.), 10
Paolo, Rev. Maestro. _See_ Sarpi.
Paolo. _See_ Paulus Æginæ.
Paolo, the Venetian. _See_ Marco Polo--Paulum Venetum.
Papadapoli, Nicolaus Comnenus, 528
Para, “Cours complet ...,” 1772, 556
Paracelsus (1493–1541), 26, 64–65, 104, 301, 513, 529.
_See_ Joannes Isaacus, _Hollandus_.
Paramagnetism, 494, 495
Paris, Académie Royale des Sciénces de L’Institut de France;
Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires, X. and _passim_; La
Connaissance des temps; Histoire et Mémoires de l’Académie,
Table des articles ... depuis 1666 jusqu’en 1770 par Rozier,
François (1734–1793); Recueil des pièces.
Paris, Annales de Chimie, par Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, etc.,
1789–1815.
Paris, Annales de Chimie et de Physique, par Gay-Lussac. From
January 1st, 1914, the work was divided into two distinct
monthly sections: “Annales de Chimie” and “Annales de
Physique.”
Paris, Astronomical Society, 481
Paris, Bureau des Longitudes, 481
Paris, Ecole-Faculté de Médecine, 273, 274, 284, 384, 385, 538
Paris, Faculté des Sciences, 373, 374
Paris, John Ayrton (1785–1856), “Life of Sir Humphry Davy,” 340,
341, 347
Paris, Magnetic Society, 425
Paris, Mémoires de, 207, 253, 268, 271, 279, 302, 320, 460
Paris Observatoire, 157, 268, 301, 477, 481, 482
Paris, Palais des Tuileries, telegraph erected upon, 329
Paris, “Paris et ses historiens,” 34
Paris Societies in addition to those elsewhere mentioned. _See_
Académie des Sciences, 1666–1790; Galvani Society; Institut
Nationale; Journal; Société d’Encouragement; Société de
Médecine; Société Médicale d’émulation; Société Philomatique;
Société Philotechnique.
Paris University, 16, 530
Parke, translator of J. G. de Mendoza’s “History of the Kingdom
of China,” 77
Parma University, 365
Parmenides of Elea (fl. fifth century B.C.) founder of the Eleatic
Greek School of Philosophy, 511, 532, 543
Parrot, Georg Friedrich (1767–1852), 195, 308, 367, 368;
“Handbuch der Physik,” 195, 420.
_See_ Voltaic pile, chemical theory of (Voigt’s Mag., IV. 1802;
Gilb. Annal., XII. XXI. LV. LX. LXI.; Ann. de Chim. et
Phys., XLVI.).
Parry (afterwards Sir), W. E., his magnetical observations, 139,
457
Parshall, Dr. Horace Field, xii
Parthey, Gustav Friedrich Constantin, 520
Partington, C. F. (_at_ A.D. 1770), 232
Partington, M. (_at_ Molenier, Jacob, A.D. 1768), 229
Pascalis, P. A., Mémoire sur l’électricité médicale, 1819, 385
Pasley, Sir Charles William (1780–1861), Telegraph, 397–398, 399,
442, 439 (Phil. Mag., XXIX. XXXV.).
Pasqual, A. R., “Descr. ... aguja nautica,” 1789, 556
Pastoret, Claude Emmanuel J. P. de, 542
Pasumot, Fra., “Observations sur les effets de la foudre,” 1774,
556
Paterson, William, Lieut.-Gov. of New South Wales (1755–1810), “On
a new electrical fish, the _Tetrodon electricus_” (Phil. Mag.
for 1786), 297
Patterson, Prof. Robert (1743–1824) (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., O.S.
II. 251, III. 321).
Patterson, R. M., on electricity from steam (Silliman’s Jour., XI.
1841).
Pauli, Adrian, 8
Paulian, Aimé Henri (1722–1801), 183, 205, 555
Paulsohm, P. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
Paulum Venetum. _See_ Polo, Marco, _at_ A.D. 1271.
Paulus Ægenita--Æginata--Paul of Ægina, Greek physician (fl.
seventh century A.D.), 20, 519
Paulus Jovius, “Historiarum sui temporis ...,” 1552, 58, 506, 507
Paulus Venetus. _See_ Sarpi, Pietro, herein, _at_ A.D. 1632.
Pauly, August Friedrich von, “Real-Encyclop. der class.
Alterthums ...,” 25
Pauthier, Jean Pierre Guillaume, “Chine Ancienne,” 2, 3
Pavia, Rivista di Fisica, Mat. e Sc. Naturali, 57
Pavia University, 246, 284, 361, 424
Payssé, M., Expérience relative au galvanisme, 285, 306
Pazienti, A., “Dell’ azione ... dell’ elettrico e del magnetismo
...,” 1846 (Giornale Veneto di Scienza Medicale, V. Ser. II.
1855).
Peabody, Col. Francis (_at_ A.D. 1771), 234
Peacock, Dr. George (_at_ Young, Thomas, A.D. 1807), 396
Pearson, George (1751–1828), 324, 375 (Phil. Mag., XV. 274, 1803).
Pearson, Karl, “Grammar of Science,” 102
Pearson, Richard. _See_ Royal Society.
Peart, Edward (1756–1824), “On electric atmospheres,” 1793, 312,
556
Peckham, John (John of London), 42, 45
Péclet, Jean Claude Eugène (1793–1857), “Essai historique sur
l’électricité” (Ann. Chim. et Phys. an 1841, 3^e Série).
Pedacius, Greek botanist, 11
Pedemontani, Alexander, “De secretis ...,” 1560, 553
Peel, W., on the production of muriates (Phil. Mag., XXIII. 257),
392, 419
Peirce, Prof. C. Saunders, xx
Pell, John, “Gellibrand’s discourse on the variation of the
magnetic needle,” 119
Pellechet, Marie, “Catalogue général des incunables,” 26, 37, 501,
504
Pelletan, Charles (_at_ Volta, Alessandro, A.D. 1775), 247;
_also_ (_at_ Humboldt, Alex. von., A.D. 1799), 333, _and_ (_at_
Fourcroy, Ant. Fr. de. A.D. 1801), 354
Pelletan, Philippe Jean (_at_ Volta, A.D. 1775), 247
Pelliciarius. _See_ Marbodeus Gallus.
Peltier, Jean Charles Athanase (1785–1845), discoverer of the
_Peltier effect_. _See_ Le Roux, F. P. (Proc. Birmingham
Philos. Soc., Vol. V. pp. 53–56, 1886; Edinb. New Philos.
Journ., Vol. XXXVII. pp. 298–304 and Vol. XXXVIII. pp. 97–101,
1844–1845; Ann. Ch. et Phys., 1834, 1836, 1839). The well-known
Peltier electroscope was anticipated by Milner, Thomas
(1719–1797), in his “Experiments ...,” 1783, 204, 367, 381, 416
Peltierin (“Annales de Chimie,” LXV. p. 330), 321
Penada, Jacopo (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Pennsylvania University, 278, 319, 373, 435, 446
Penny Cyclopædia, edited by Charles Knight, 4, 11, 12, 19, 127,
264, 302, 317, 322, 438, 441
Penrose, F., “Treatise on electricity,” 1752; “Essay on magnetism,”
1753, 555
People’s Cyclopædia, 240
Pepper, J. H., “Cyclopædic Science,” “Voltiac electricity,” 223,
256, 304, 305, 336, 339
Pepys, Samuel, “Diary,” 127
Pepys, William Haseldine, Jr., 373
Pepys, William Haseldine, Sr. (1775–1856), 289, 338, 371–373, 378,
393, 403
Percival, Thomas (1740–1804), “Medical and experimental essays,”
386
Perego, Antonio (_b._ 1787), “Relatione sul fulmine caduto in Iseo”
(Comment. Ateneo Brescia, 1834, for aerolites, and 1842, p. 77,
for a new electroscope); “Atti delle Adunanze dell’ Imp. Reale
Istituto Veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti,” 1846.
Peregrinus--Peregrini, Petrus de Maricourt (fl. thirteenth century,
A.D.), “De Magnete ...”: Augsburgi, 1558, vii, xi, xiv, xix,
xx, 33, 42, 44, 45–54, 57, 72, 73, 76, 83, 87, 88, 110, 112,
115, 526, 544
Perewoschtschikow--Perevoschtchikoff--Demetrius (_b._ 1760)
(Bulletino della Soc. Imp. dei Naturalisti di Mosca, 1829).
Periander of Corinth (fl. _c._ 625 B.C.), 7
Pericles (_at_ Anaxagoras), 503
Period of the five (Chinese) Emperors, 1
Perkins, Benjamin Douglas Elisha (1741–1799), Perkinism, 327; “The
influence of metallic tractors on the human body,” 1798, 1799.
Perkins, John, “Conjectures concerning winds and waterspouts,” 1786
(Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., II. 335).
Péron, François (1775–1810), “Voyage de découvertes ...,” 1807.
Péron F., and Freycinet L., “Voyages ...,” 1816, 442
Perpetual motion engine, 50, 52, 53, 86, 120
Perry, John (_at_ Faraday, Michael, A.D. 1821), 492
Person, Charles Cleophas (_b._ 1801), 330;
“Théorie du Galvanisme ...,” 1831; Medical Galvanism (Journal des
Connaissances médico-chirurgicales, 1853; Journal de Physiol.
Expér., 1830, X. 216).
Peschel, C. F., “Elements of Physics,” 3 Vols. 1845.
Peschel, Oscar Ferdinand (_at_ Bianco, Andrea, A.D. 1436), 64
Peter the Lombard. _See_ Monroe “Cyclopædia,” Vol. IV. p. 660, and
its very numerous references, 41
Peters, C. A. F. _See_ “Zeitschrift für populäre.”
Petersburg. _See_ Saint Petersburg.
Petersdorff, F. C. von (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F., A.D. 1794), 314
Petersen, Frederick Christian (1786–1856), 333
Peterson, William (1755–1810), Lieut.-Gov. of New South Wales, 297
Petetin, Jacques Henri Désiré (1744–1808), 229, 351, 385;
“Nouveau mécanisme de l’électricité,” 1802; “Théorie du
galvanisme ...,” 1803; Société de santé de Lyon, Actes, etc.
Petit, Fédéric (_b._ 1810), on meteors, etc. (Toulouse Academy
Reports, 3rd and 4th Series, for 1844, 1846, 1848, 1849, 1855),
315
Petit, P., “A letter ... where ... a globous magnet called
_terrella_ and the variation of the variation is examined”
(Phil. Trans. 1667, p. 502).
Petit-Radel, Philippe (1749–1815), 305
Petrequin (_at_ Pearson, George, A.D. 1797), 325
Petri de Bergamo, 505
Petri de Vineis. _See_ Des Vignes, Pierre.
Petri, H. (_at_ Cusanus), 510
Petrina, F. A., “Entdeckungen im Galvano-Voltaismus,” 249, 258
(Baumgartner, Andreas Zeitschrift f. Phys., V. 1837).
Petrini, Pietro (1785–1822)--Petrini, P., and Cioni, M., 337, 392
Petropol. _See_ St. Petersburg.
Petrus Aponus--Apponensis--Apianus. _See_ Abano, 501
Petrus Lombardus. _See_ Peter the Lombard.
Petrus Nonius. _See_ Nuñez, Pedro, 530
Petrus Plancius--Plancius Peter, 94, 533
Peurbach, Georg von (1423–1461), Novæ theoriæ planetarum, 512
Pezzani, André (_at_ Lactantius, L. C. F.), 525
Pezzi, Cesare G. (_at_ Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786), 283–284
Pfaff, Christian Heinrich, of Kiel (1773–1852)--Pfaff, C. H., and
Michaelis, G. A., 195, 270, 278, 285, 327, 331, 332, 333, 335,
353, 385, 393, 419, 493
(Gren’s Journal, VIII.; Ann. der Chemie, XXXIV. 307; Soc.
Philom., II. 181, 1796; Gilb. Ann., Vols. VII. and LXXIV.;
Phil. Mag., XXVII. 338; Schweigger’s Journal, Vols. I.-LXIV.;
Gehlen’s Jour. f. Chem. v. Phys. for 1806 and 1808).
Pfaff, Johann Wilhelm Andreas (1774–1835)--Pfaff, J. W. A., and
Schweigger J. S. C., 415
Pfalzbayr Beiträge for 1782, 285, 330
Pfluger, E. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
(Monatsberichte d. Berlin Akad., 1858).
Phæacians, the, 6 (dwellers on the mythical island of Scheria).
Phædo--Phœdo--Phædrus. _See_ Plato.
Pharmaceutical Journal, London, 308
Pharos, Temple of, 18
Phenix of Alexandria (_at_ School of Athens), 544
“Phil. Graec. vet. relig.,” 511
Philadelphia, College of, 222
Philadelphia. _See_ American Museum, American Philosophical
Society, Academy of Natural Sciences, Journal of the Franklin
Institute.
Philip, Dr. Wilson (_at_ Bostock, John, A.D. 1818), 325, 443
Philip II, King of Spain, 77, 527
Philipeaux (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 386
Philips, R., “Electrical formation of crystallized sulphuret”
(Phil. Mag. or Annals, VII. 226, 1830).
Phillips, John, 249, 257
Phillips, Laurence Barnett, “Dict. of Biogr. Ref.,” 1871, 300
Phillips, Sir Richard (1778–1851), one of the editors of the
“Philosophical Magazine,” 285, 428, 464, 466, 497
Philo, Judæus (_b._ 20–10 B.C.) “Libellus de Opificio Mundi,” 20
Philolaus, the Pythagorian (fl. _c._ 374 B.C.), 532, 537
Philosophia Britannica. _See_ Martin, Benjamin.
Philosophia Magnetica, 1629, of Nicolaus Cabæus was the second
Latin book published on electricity; Gilbert’s _De Magnete_,
1600, being the first.
Philosophia Moysaica. _See_ Fludd, Robert, 554
Philosophia Naturalis, 1654. _See_ Regius, Henricus (Le Roy).
Philosophia Pollingana ... 1730. _See_ Amort, Eusebius.
Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary. _See_ Hutton.
Philosophical: “History and Memoirs of the Royal Academy of
Sciences at Paris”: London, 1742. _See_ Académie Royale des
Sciences, Paris.
Philosophical Magazine--Philosophical Magazine and Journal ...;
Philosophical Magazine or Annals of Chemistry ...; London and
Edinburgh Phil. Mag. and Journal of Science; London, Edinburgh,
and Dublin Phil. Mag. and Journ. of Sc., edited by Brewster,
Kane Phillips, Taylor, Tilloch and others: under name of
Tilloch’s Ph. Mag., etc.
Philosophical Magazine, etc., xvii, 43, 61, 81, 133, 140, 143, 148,
165, 178, 195, 201, 212, 214, 218, 221, 225, 229, 230, 231,
246, 248, 249, 252, 256, 258, 263, 270, 277, 279, 281, 285,
288, 289, 291, 295, 296, 297, 298, 300, 305, 306, 308, 311,
314, 315, 326, 329, 330, 335, 337, 338, 347, 348, 349, 354,
359, 362, 363, 367, 371, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377, 380, 381,
382, 383, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 397, 398, 399,
400, 403, 405, 406, 411, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 423,
424, 426, 427, 428, 429, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 440,
442, 444, 446, 448, 449, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457,
458, 460, 464, 466, 467, 468, 469, 471, 476, 477, 479, 481,
483, 486, 487, 488, 492, 494, 495, 496, 498, 499, 549–550
Philosophical Society, Cambridge, England.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. _See_ Royal
Society, London.
Philostratus, Flavius (born _c_. 180–170 B.C.), 8, 533
Phipson, T. L., on Phosphorescence, Meteors, Aerolites, etc., 1858,
1862, 1867.
Phlogiston--Phlogistic theory from Boyle to Lavoisier, 261, 262,
362
Phædo of Aristotle, 537
Phœnicians, the, along the Syrian coast, 5, 7, 536; Phœnician star.
Phœnicians. _See_ Court de Gébelin, Antoine (1725–1784), “Monde
primitif ...,” 1781; _also_ Huet, Pierre Daniel (1630–1725),
“History ...,” 1717.
Phonograph, suggested _at_ (A.D. 1745), 171; _also at_ (A.D.
1620–1655), 103,
and _at_ (A.D. 1641), 119
Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople (_c._ 820–891), 7, 541
Photometers of Lambert, Leslie, and Count Rumford, 225
Photometry (Photometria), 225
“Physikal ... Worterbuch ...,” edited by Gehler, J. S. T., 248
Physical Society of London, Proceedings, etc., publication
commenced in London during 1876.
Physikalische-Bibliothek. _See_ Erxleben.
“Physiologische Darstellung der Lebenskräfte,” 284
Pianciani, Giambattista (_b._ 1784) (Bibl. Ital., XCIX. 97, 1835)
(_at_ Shaw, George, A.D. 1791), 298
Picard, Jean (1620–1682), first observed electric light _in
vacuo_, 132, 146, 268
(Anc. Mém. Paris, II. X.; Bibl. Ital., XCIX. 42).
Picchioni, L. (Bibl. Ital., XCVI. 404, 1839).
Piccinelli, G. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
(Opusc. Scelti, VIII. 310, Milano, 1785).
Piccolomini, Alessandro, _archivesco di Patrasso_, “De la sphera
del mondo ...,” 1540.
Pickel, Georg (1751–1838), animal electricity, etc., 249, 257, 385
Pickering, Charles (_at_ Schouten, G. C., A.D. 1616), 98
Pictet, Marc Auguste (1752–1825), “On atmospheric electricity,”
199, 309, 327, 331, 407
Pictorio, Georg (_at_ A.D. 430), 26
Piderit, J. R. A., “Dissertatio ...,” 1745, 555
Piezo electricity: electricity developed by pressure, as in some
crystals.
Pigafetta, Francisco Antonio (1491–1534), “Trattato di navigazione
...,” 67, 68
Pignotti, Lorenzo (1739–1812), 299, 392
Pigram, W. (_at_ Bolten, J. F., A.D. 1775), 246
Pilatre de Rozier, Jean François (1756–1785), “Sur la cause de la
foudre” and “Sur des expériences électriques”: Paris,
1780–1781, 288, 554
(Journ. de Physique, XVI. and XVII.).
Pilkington, James, Bishop of Durham (1520–1576), 232
Pinaud, A., Electro-dynamics, etc. (Reports of the Toulouse Academy
for 1843, 1844, 1846).
Pincio, Leon, “Biblioteca ...,” 516
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, 320
Pine, T., “On the connection between electricity and vegetation”
(Annals of Electricity, IV. 421), 257
Pineda, Juan de, Spanish Jesuit (_c._ 1557–1637), 5
Pinkerton, John (_at_ A.D. 1809), 402
Pinson, P. C., “Essai ... applications de l’électricité à la
médecine,” 1857, 386
“Pioneers of Science.” _See_ Lodge, Sir Oliver.
Pisa University, 392
Piso, Lucius Calpurnius, “Die Lorazischen ...” von A. Michaelis,
1877, 10
Pittacus (_c._ 652–569 B.C.), 7
Pivati, Johannes Francisco (1689–1764), 185, 186, 263;
“Della elettricità medica ...,” 1747.
Pivia and Matteucci, 384
Pixii, Hypolite, Jr., Magneto-elect. apparatus (Ann. de Chimie
for July 1832).
Pizarro, 475
Placidus, Heinrich (Schweigger’s Journal, XV.), 420
Plana, Giovanni Antonio Amadeo (_b._ 1781), Memoirs on the theory
of magnetism, on the distribution of electricity, etc. (Mém. de
Turin, Ser. II. Vol. III. 1844, 1845, 1864).
Plancius, Peter (1552–1622), 94, 532–533, 560
Plant electricity, researches on, 259–261
Planta, Martin de (1727–1772), 229, 256
(In Allg. deutsche Biblioth. XXIV. Anh. Abth., p. 549, 1760).
Plat, Sir Hugh (1552–1611), “Jewel House of Art and Nature,” 1653,
74, 124
Plata, F. M., “Dissertatio de electricitate,” 1749, 555
Plate of air electrically charged, 313
Platea, Francis Piazza (_d._ at Bologna, A.D. 1460) (_at_ A.D.
450), 27
Plateau, M. J. (_at_ 285–247 B.C.), 18
Plato, Athenian philosopher (_c._ 427–347 B.C.)--Platonists--“Ion”;
“Timæus”; “Phædrus”; “Phædo,” etc. _See_ Monroe
“Cyclopædia ...,” Vol. IV. pp. 722–725; 7, 8, 13, 15, 20, 43,
270, 515, 525, 533, 534, 538, 544
Plattes, Gabriel, 124, 125
Plautus, Titus Maccius (_c._ 254–184 B.C.). The greatest comic poet
of ancient Rome. The “Bacchides,” etc., the _editio princeps_
of his works appeared at Venice in 1472.
Playfair, John (1748–1819), 99, 122, 156, 295, 296, 311;
“Outlines of natural philosophy,” 2 Vols. 1812–1816; “Magnetising
power of violet rays” (Phil. Mag., LIII. 155, 1817).
Playfair, Lyon Lord (1818–1898), 122, 423.
_See_ Vapereau, G., “Dictionnaire ...,” p. 1260.
Pliny--Plinius Cæcilius Secundus (Caius) A.D. 23–79), “...
Naturalis Historiæ ...,” 1st edition: Venetiis, 1469; “Naturæ
Historiarum”: Venice, 1497; “Hist. Mundi ...” (History of the
World, English translation by Philemon Holland, London, 1634).
_See_ Græsse, V. 337; “New Int. Cycl.,” XVIII. 733, title page,
xix, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24, 26, 29, 43, 67,
72, 74, 97, 123, 124, 270, 503, 506, 510, 540
Plon, Nourrit et Compagnie, xii
Plot, Robert (1640–1696), Catalogue of electrical bodies (Phil.
Trans., XX. 384, 1698), 547
Plotinus of Alexandria (fl. A.D. 205–270), 534
Pluanski, “Thèse sur Duns Scott,” 41
Plücker, Julius (_b._ 1801), 412, 495.
On diamagnetism, etc. (Crell’s Journal, XXXV. 1847; Phil. Mag.
for June 1849; Phil. Trans. 1858; Scientific Memoirs, Vol. V.
Pt. XIX. p. 253; Pogg. Annal., LXXII.-CX.); “On the magnetic
relation ... of the optic axis of crystals....”
Plumptre, Edward Hayes (1821–1891), refers to the system of posts
organised by Persian kings; “The divina commedia,” 4, 41, 43,
44, 60
Pluquet, François André Adrien, 513
Plurality of worlds, roundness of earth, etc., 525
_Plus_ and _minus_ theory of electricity: Watson, 175;
Wilson, 184;
and Franklin, 196
Plutarch (_c._ A.D. 46–120), 4, 11, 14, 20, 74, 124, 140, 524, 525;
“Life of Quintus Sertorius,” “Placit. Philos.,” “Quæstiones
Platonicæ,” “Quæstiones Conviviales” (Phil. Trans., Watson,
XLVIII. Part. I.).
Plymouth Institution, Transactions of the, 470
Poëy, A., “Météorologie ...,” 1861; “Bibliographic cyclonique ...,”
1866 (Comptes Rendus, XLIII. 1856, XLIV. 1857; Annuaire de la
Soc. Météorol. de France, VIII. 75, 1860, IX. 42, 1861).
Poggendorff, Johann Christian (1796–1877),
“Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch ...”: Leipzig, 1863;
“Annalen der physik und chemie” (begun in 1824); “Geschichte
der physik”: Leipzig, 1879, 8, 31, 66, 71, 75, 82, 90, 107,
140, 175, 199, 209, 214, 242, 254, 256, 258, 259, 263, 267,
271, 275, 280, 284, 292, 298, 302, 303, 306, 323, 324, 325,
326, 335, 350, 353, 359, 360, 364, 367, 370, 376, 383, 385,
387, 391, 395, 402, 408, 414, 415, 416, 423, 428, 432, 434,
441, 443, 444, 446, 449, 450, 451, 454, 460, 464, 467, 468,
471, 473, 476, 481, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494,
495, 498
Poggioli, M. P., “Nouvelle application de l’électricité par
frottement sans commotion” (Mémoire lu à l’Institut, Oct. 31,
1853), 257, 386
Pohl, Georg Friedrich (1788–1849), on electro-magnetism, etc.
(Gilb. Ann., LXIX. LXXI. LXXIV. LXXV.; Kastner’s Archives, VI.
1825, IX. 1826, XI. 1827, XIII. and XIV. 1828), 478
“Points _versus_ knobs,” famous controversy commenced in 1772 by
Benjamin Wilson (1708–1778), author of “A treatise on
electricity ...”: London, 1750, and of “Observations on
lightning ...”: London, 1773. _See also_ Pringle, Sir Joseph,
250–252
Poisson, Siméon Denis (1781–1840), 141, 215, 313, 375, 378,
409–412, 469, 479, 495
(Société Philomatique, 11, p. 180, 1803, _also_ for 1824, p. 49,
for 1825, p. 82, and for 1826, p. 19; Mém. de l’Institut,
1811; Mém. Acad. Roy. des Sciences, V. pp. 247, 488, VI. p.
441).
Poisson, S. D., Gay-Lussac, and others, “Instruction sur les
paratonnerres...,” 1824.
Pokorny of Prague, “Kronika Prace,” 209
Polarization, chromatic, by reflection, also coloured, 480
Polarization, rotatory. _See_ Magnetic rotatory polarization. _See_
Cadozza, Giovanni.
Polcastro, G. B., “Notizia sopre ... Pacchiani ...”: Padova, 1805,
392
Poleni, Marquis Giovanni de (1683–1761), 139, 253, 308;
“Sopra l’aurora boreale ...”
Poles, magnetic, two--Bond _at_ A.D. 1646.
Poles of a loadstone: _See_ Petrus Peregrinus _at_ A.D. 1269, 46,
47, 48, 49, 54;
_also_ Gilbert _at_ A.D. 1600, 83, 86
Poli, Giuseppe Sarevio (1746–1825), 199, 308;
“Elementi de Fisica,” 5 Vols. 1802, 1824 (Opus. Scelti, II. 382).
Polidori, Luigi Eustachio (_b._ 1830) (Ann. di Chim. di
Brugnatelli, V. 30, 1794).
Poligrafo, H., “Giornale di scienze ...”: Verona.
Polinière, Pierre (1671–1734), 148, 163;
“Expériences de physique ...,” 1709, 1734, 1741.
Pollak (_at_ Zamboni, G., A.D. 1812), 420
Polo, Marco--Paulum Venetum--is said to have brought the compass
from China into Italy, A.D. 1271–1295. _See_, for complete
bibliographies, the references at p. 55 herein, _also_ the
work published in 1818 by P. Zurla on Marco Polo and other
celebrated navigators, and _likewise_ Charton Edouard, 55, 67,
527
Polybius, Greek statesman and historian (_c._ 205–120 B.C.), 19,
434
Polyglott Bible of Arias Montanus, 528
Polytechnic Central Journal, 422.
The publication called “Polytechnic Journal” was begun in
1839–1840.
Polytechnic School of Paris. _See_ Ecole Polytechnique.
Polytechnisches Centralblatt, 414
Polytechnisches Journal von Dingler, J. F.: Stuttgart and Tübingen,
Vols. 1–50, 1820–1833, 50 Vols.; Vols. 51–100, 1834–1846, 50
Vols.; Vols. 100–150, 1846–1858, 50 Vols.; Vols. 151–200,
1859–1871, 50 Vols.; Vols. 201–211, 1871–1874, 11 Vols.; Vols.
212–222, 1874–1876, 11 Vols.; Vol. 329, August 1, 1914.
Pomparium Melam. (_at_ Barbarus, H.), 506
Poncelet, Polycarpe (fl. second half of eighteenth century), 226
Pontano, Giovanni Giovano (1426–1503), “Liber de meteoris ...”:
Strasburg, 45
Pontin, Magnus Martin de (1781–1858), 340, 343, 369, 419
Pontin, M. M. de, and Berzelius, J. J. F. von, 370
Poole, R. L. (_at_ Duns Scotus), 41
Pope, Alexander, translator of the “Odyssey” of Homer, 6, 7
Popham, Rear-Admiral Sir Home Riggs (1762–1820), 317, 400, 437, 439
“Popular Science Monthly:” New York, 92, 117, 315, 508
Porna and Arnaud, Medical electricity, 1787, 385
Porphyry--Porphyrïus--Greek historian (A.D. 233–304), whose most
distinguished pupil was Iamblichus, author of “Life of
Pythagoras,” 534
Porret, Robert (1783–1868), Voltaic Endosmose, etc. (Ann. of Phil.,
VIII. 1816), 440–441
Porta, Joannes Baptista--Giambattista della Porta (1538–1615),
“Magiæ Naturalis,” 1588; “Magia Naturalis ...,” 1558 (“Natural
Magick ...,” 1658), 13, 19, 72–75, 87, 110, 112, 124
Portolan, the oldest dated is that of Pietro Visconti, dated 1311,
63
Positivism, founder of, 534
Possidius, Saint, Bishop of Calama (_at_ A.D. 426), 25
Posts, the first institution of, ascribed to Diodorus Siculus
(“Notes and Queries,” Oct. 31, 1863, p. 356).
Potamian, Brother, 92
Potocki, Count Jeroslas, 407
Potter, Richard (_b._ 1799) (Majocchi’s Annali di Fisica ...,
1843).
Potthast, August. _See_ “Bibliotheca Historica ...”
Pouillet, Claude Servais Mathias (1790–1868), “Eléments de physique
expérimentale et de météorologie ...,” 1829, 195, 258, 312,
319, 373, 389, 416, 417, 426, 434, 461. _See_ Dezebry,
“Dictionnaire ...,” p. 2306;
_also_ Muller-Pouillet (Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., IV. 1837, XX.
1845, XXIX. 1849, XXXI. 28; Comptes Rendus, IV. 513, 785,
XIX. 1384, LXIV. 1867).
Poujoulat, Jean Joseph François, “Histoire de Saint Augustin,”
1845, 25
Power, Henry, “Experimental philosophy ...,” 1664, 554
Pownall, “On the ether suggested by Sir Isaac Newton ...” (Phil.
Mag., XVIII. 155).
Poynt Attractive--poynt respective--of Robert Norman, 76
Præpositas, name sometimes given to Nicolaus Myrepsus, 529
Prætorius (Richter), Joh., “De cometis ...”: Norimberg, 1579.
“Practical Mechanic,” Glasgow, 26, 233, 454, 498
“Practical Mechanics’ Journal,” publication commenced at Glasgow
by W. and J. H. Johnson during 1848.
Prague--Prag--Academy, Memoirs, 387; “Prague News,” 209
Pravaz (_at_ Pearson, George, A.D. 1797), 325
Prechtl, Johann Joseph (1778–1854), 407, 424
(Gehlen’s Journal, VIII. 1809; Schweigg. Journ., IV. 1812, XXXVI.
1822).
Preller, Ludwig (1809–1861), 512
Premoli, Carlo P., “Nova electricitatis theoria ...,” 1755, 555
Prémontrés, Order of, at Celle, 145
Prescott, George Bartlett (1831–1894), 277, 290;
“History, theory and practice of the electric telegraph,” “The
speaking telephone.”
Prescott, William Hickling, “Account of the Emperor Charles V’s
life,” 36, 114
Presles, Raoul de, “La cité de Dieu,” xix
Prévost, Jean Louis, on animal electricity, 1823, 1843.
Prevost, Pierre (1751–1839), “De l’origine des forces magnétiques”:
Genève, 1788, 242, 315, 325, 481
Price, Dr. James (1752–1783) (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D.
1803), 282, 385
Prichett, Professor C. W., 142
Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804), 17, 29, 90, 131, 132, 150, 155, 162,
163, 164, 166, 168, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 183, 187, 189,
195, 197, 198, 204, 205, 206, 212, 213, 224, 227–228, 238,
240, 241, 256, 258, 262, 264, 322, 415, 418.
_See_ Krunitz-Kirtz, Johann Georg (1728–1796).
Prieto, A. (_at_ Dalton, John, A.D. 1793), 308
Prieur-Duvernois, Claude Antoine (1763–1832), 280
Prime, Samuel Irenæus (1812–1885), 367, 407, 421, 422, 436, 455,
474, 481;
“Life of S. F. B. Morse.”
Prince, Rev. John (1643–1723) (_at_ A.D. 1771), 234;
“Worthies of Devon,” 107
Princeton College, 246, 421
“Principes de Physiologie,” 284
Principles of Physics. _See_ Silliman, Benjamin.
Pringle, Sir John, Bart. (1707–1782), 232, 240, 243, 250–252, 456,
457.
_See_ Copley Medal.
Priscian--Theodorus Priscianus--Greek physician (fl. fourth century
A.D.), “Rerum medicarum,” 7
Pritzel, G. A., “Thesaurus literaturæ Botanicæ,” 153, 170, 501,
506, 508, 516, 525, 529, 532, 540
Proclus--Procullus--head of the later Neoplatonists (A.D. 410–485),
2, 117, 533, 537.
_See_ Taylor, Thomas.
Procopius, De bello Vandal, lib. II. Cap. II. Stars on spears, 24
Proctor, Richard Anthony (1837–1888), “Old and new astronomy,” 93,
138, 433
Prokorny of Prague, “Kronika Prace,” 209
Prutenic (Prussian) Astronomic Tables, 512–513
Pryce, William, “Mineralogia Cornubiensis ...,” 401
Psellus, M. C., “De lapidum virt. ...,” 1745, 555
Ptolemæus, Claudius, the great geographer (fl. middle second
century A.D.), 40, 62, 72, 117, 124, 507, 508, 512, 513, 527,
533, 534–536, 539, 544. _See_ Joannes Stobnicensis.
Ptolemæus II, _Philadelphus_ (308–247 B.C.), son of Ptolemy Soter
(367–283 B.C.), one of Alexander the Great’s generals, 18, 67,
74, 94, 114
Ptolemy Soter, 18. _See_ Ptolemæus II.
Puccinotti, F. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
Pulkowa (Russia) Observatory, 165
Pulvermacher, Isaac Louis (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D.
1803), 386; Medical electricity, 1859.
Purchas, Samuel (1575–1626), author of “Purchas, his pilgrimage
...,” 1625, 523
Pusckin, Comte de, 285
Puteanus, Bernardus, of Bruges, 562
Puteanus, Guilielmus--Dupuis (fl. sixteenth century A.D.), 536
Putnam, George Haven, “Books and their makers during the middle
ages,” 25
Puységur, Armand Marie Jacques de Chastonet, Marquis de
(1752–1825), “Magnétisme Animal,” 236, 237, 425.
_See_ Dezebry, “Dictionnaire ...,” p. 2348.
Pyro-electricity: Davy (1800), 346;
Haüy (1787), 286;
Brewster (1820), 465
Pyrometus. _See_ Josiah Wedgwood’s tapered gauge.
“Pyrotechnie,” by Biringuccio, 553
Pyrrho, Greek philosopher (360–270 B.C.), 543
Pythagoras (569–470 B.C.)--Pythagorian--Pythagorician, 503, 511,
524, 530, 532, 533, 536–537, 542, 544
Pythagorean school or sect, complete exposition of, 537, 544
Q
Quaritch, Bernard, 561–564
Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, formerly
the Journal of Science and the Arts, edited by Brande, W. T.,
at the Royal Institution, London, 308, 359, 367, 373, 440, 484,
497
Quarterly Review, 348, 359, 396
Quatrefages de Bréan, Jean Louis Armand de (_b._ 1810), 375
Queens’ College, Cambridge, 191
Quellmalz, Samuel Theodor (1696–1758), 167, 264, 385, 554;
Dissertatio de magnete (Pogg., II. 548, 1722; Commerc. Litt.
Norimb., V. and VI.).
Querard, Joseph Marie (1797–1865). _See_ “La France Littéraire,”
_also_ “Bibliothèque Voltairienne,” 59, 186, 192
Quesneville, Dr. Gustave Augustin. _See_ “Le Moniteur
Scientifique,” _also_ “Revue Scientifique et industrielle,” 30
Vols. 1840–9 to date, 18, 143, 247, 258, 259, 262, 280, 392
Quet, Jean Antoine (_b._ 1810), “Des divers phénomènes
electriques,” 1853 (Comptes Rendus, XXXIV. 805, XXXV. 279,
XXXVI. 1853).
Quetelet, Lambert Adolphe Jacques (1796–1874), 81, 314, 341;
“Annales de l’Observatoire de Bruxelles”; “Histoire des sciences
mathém. et physiques chez les Belges” (Mém. de l’Acad. de
Bruxelles, 1830, 1831, 1839, 1840; Phil. Mag., Ser. IV. Vol.
I. April 1851, p. 329, on atmospheric electricity).
Quetelet, L. A. J., and Zantedeschi, Francesco, “Sur les courants
Electriques telluro-atmosphériques ...” (Bulletins de l’Acad.
Royale de Belgique, 2^e série, XV. No. 5).
Quétif, Jacques, and Echard, J., “Scriptores Ordinis Prædicatorum
...,” 37
Quincke, Georg Hermann, “Sammlung ... elektrische Ströme,”
1856–1861, 441
Quinet de Certines, “Théorie de l’aimant ...,” 1809.
Quinet, J., “Exposé ... aiguille aimantée ...,” 1826.
Quinquet, “Observations sur les paratonnerres.”
Quintine, L’Abbé de la, “Dissertation sur le magnétisme des corps,”
1732.
Quintus Sertorius, 3
R
Rabiqueau, Charles A., “Le spectacle du feu élémentaire,” 204, 555
Racagni, Giuseppe Maria (1741–1822), 412
Raccolta di documenti ... della R. C. Columb, 66
Raccolta d’opuscoli scientifici ... by Calogera, Angelo: Venezia,
1728–1757, 51 Vols. The Nuova Raccolta ... 1754–1787 consists
of 42 Vols. _See_ Calogera, 140, 308
Raccolta Ferrarese di Opuscoli Scientifici ... di Autori Ital.
..., 298
Raccolta Pratica di scienze, 248
Rackstrow, B., “Miscellaneous Observations ...,” 1748, 555
Rafn, C.G., Nyt bibliothek for physik ...: Kjobenhavn; “Magazin
Encyclopédique,” 257, 306, 330
Ragozin, Z. A., History of Chaldea, 2
_Raia torpedo_, 135, 240, 298–299, 374
Raleigh, Sir Walter, xiv
Rambosson, J., Histoire des Météores, 1868–1869. _See_ Meteorites,
etc.
Ramis of Munich (_at_ Gay-Lussac, J. L.), 388, 389
Rammelsberg, C. (_at_ Haüy, Le Père R. J.), 288
Ramsden, Jesse (1735–1800), 229, 256, 280
Ramus, Joachim Frederick (1686–1769) (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Ramusio--Rannusio--Giovanni Battista (1485–1557), “... Navigationi
et viaggi ...”: Venezia, 1554–1556, folio, 60, 66, 515
Randolph, P. B., author of “Pre-Adamite Man,” 12
Ranke, Leopold von (1795–1886), 94, 102
Rankine, William John Macquorn (1820–1872), 347, 392
Ranzi--Renzi--Salvatore de, 299, 507
Rao, Cesare, “I. Meteori,” 1582, 553
Raphael, “School of Athens,” 542–544
Rapin, Nicholas (1540–1608), 16
Rashdall, Hastings, “Universities Europe ...,” 539
Ratte, E. H. de (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Rattray, Sylvester, 1662, 554
Rauch, C. V., 1851 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, A.), 386
Raulet, Mr. (_at_ Dalibard, T. F.), 200
Rawley, Dr. (_at_ Sir Francis Bacon), 101
Rawlinson, George, “History of Herodotus,” 19, 542
Rayleigh, John William Strutt, Lord (_at_ Faraday, M.), 493. _See_
Copley Medal, _also_ Royal Medal.
Raymond, Rossiter W. (_at_ Amoretti, Carlo), 401
Read, John I., Condenser of electricity, 289, 290, 312–313, 320,
360, 375
Reæl, Laurens, “Observatien ... (am) æn de magneetsteen ...,” 131,
554
“Reale Istituto Lombardo di scienze e lettere,” Atti, Rendiconti,
Giornale, Memorie: Milano, 141
Réaumur, René Antoine Forchault de (1683–1757), 160, 173, 181, 240,
257, 270, 298, 299
Récamier, M. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Records of general science, 159
Recueil de traités sur l’électricité, 1748, 555
Recueil d’expériences sur l’aimant, 1686, 554
Recueil Périodique de la Société de Médecine de Paris. _See_
Sédillot, Jean;
_also_ Paris, Société de Médecine.
Recueil Périodique de Litt. Méd. Etrangère. _See_ Crichton, A.
Redi, Francesco (1626–1697), “Esperienze interno a diverse cose
naturali ...”: Firenze, 1671, 135, 230, 270
Rees, Abraham (1743–1825), “New Cyclopædia or Universal Dictionary
of Arts and Sciences,” 45 Vols. 1819, 92, 193, 392, 394
Rees, W. van. _See_ Moll.
Reibelt, Johannes Joseph Adam, “De physicis ... magnetis mysteriis
...,” 1731, 555
Reich, Ferdinand (_b._ 1799), 416
Reichenbach, George von (1772–1826), 432.
_See_ Encycl. Britan., XXIII. 49; Brockhaus, XIII. 719.
Reichenbach, Karl Ludwig Friedrich Baron von (1788–1869), 12, 140,
401;
Physico-Physiological Researches, 1851 (translations by John
Ashburner and Dr. Wm. Gregory); “Odische Begebenheiten. ...,”
1862; “Odische Lohe ...,” 1867; “Odische Erwiederungen ...,”
1886.
Reichenberger, J. N. (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van), 274
Reichenstein, F. J. Muller von (1740–1825) (_at_ Haüy, Le Père René
Just), 288
Reichsanzeiger, German publication, 325, 326, 383
Reggio, Nicolas de (_at_ Myrepsius, Nicolaus), 529
Reg. Societa Economica di Firenze, 330
_Regiomontanus._ See Müller, John, 67
“Register of the Arts and Sciences,” publication commenced in
London during 1824.
Regius, Henricus--Le Roy (1598–1679), “Philosophia Naturalis”:
Amsterdam, 1654.
Regnault, Le Père Noël (1683–1762), 161
Reid, David Boswell (1805–1863), and Bain, Alex. (1818–1877),
Elements of chemistry and electricity.
Reid, James D., “The telegraph in America,” 226, 337, 418, 430, 440
Reid, Thomas. _See_ Royal Society.
Reil, J. C., Archives, “Uber thierische elektricität” (Gren’s
Journal, VI. 1792), 285, 327, 393, 557
Reinhold, Johann Christoph Leopold (1769–1809), “Geschichte des
galvanismus,” 326, 364, 393
Reinholdus, Erasmus. _See_ Erasmus.
Reinzer, Frank, “Meteorologia ...”: Augsburg, 1709.
Reisch, Father Gregorius, “Margarita Philosophica,” 35, 553
Reiser’s plate machine, 256
Reiss, Wilhelm (_in_ Poggendorff’s Annalen), 258
Reitlinger, E. (_at_ Lichtenberg, G. C.), 250;
“Ueber ... elektricität auf Springbrunnen” (Aus den
Sitzungsberichten Wien, 1859 and 1860).
“Reliquary, The,” 67, 130
Remak, R., 1856, 1860, 1865 (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Remmelinus, Joannes L. V., 553
Rémusat, Charles François Marie, Comte de (1797–1875), “Histoire de
la Philosophie” (Bacon, etc.), 125, 128, 134.
_See_ Dezebry, “Dictionnaire général ...,” pp. 2404–5.
Rémusat, Jean Pierre Abel (1788–1832). _See_ Dezebry, “Dictionnaire
général ...,” p. 2404.
Renan, Joseph Ernest, “L’Averroës et L’Averroïsme,” 39
Renatus, Cartesius. _See_ Descartes.
Renaudot, Eusèbe (1646–1720), “Anciennes relations ... Chine,” 60
Rennefort, Souchu de, “L’aiman mystique,” 1689, 554
Rennie, George Banks (_at_ A.D. 1752), 203
Renwick, James (1790–1863), 282
Renzi, Antonio, “La divina commedia,” 1882. Dante is at A.D.
1265–1321, 43–44
Répertoire et sources historiques.... _See_ Chevalier, W. J.
Répertorium der experimental physik. _See_ Fechner, Gustav Theodor.
Repertorium der galvanoplastik und galvanostegie. _See_ Martin,
Adam Georg.
Repertorium der physik. _See_ Exner, Prof. Franz.
Repertorium der physik, 8 Vols.: Berlin, 1837–1849. _See_ Dove,
Heinrich Wilhelm von, and Moser, Ludwig F. These 8 Vols. are a
continuation of Fechner’s Repertorium mentioned above.
Repertorium für chemie ...: Hannover und Leipzig. _See_ Ellwert,
J. K. P. von.
Repertorium für organische chemie. _See_ Löwig, C. von.
Repertorium für physikalische technik ... experimental physik....
_See_ Carl, Dr. P.
Repertory of the Arts and Manufactures, 424, 434.
It became “The Repertory of Patent Inventions” during 1794.
Restelli, A., 1846 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 386
Resti-Ferrari, G. _See_ Zamboni, G., 420
Return stroke, or lateral shock of an electrical discharge, 184,
255
Reuss, Jeremias David (1750–1837), “Repertorium commentationum
...”; “De re electrica”: Berlin and Göttingen, 245, 263, 308,
328, 330, 386, 557
Reusser--Reiser--of Geneva (Voigt’s Magazin, VII. 57, IX. 183),
226, 315–316
Reveroni--St. Cyr, Jacques Antoine, Baron de (1767–1829), 292
Revillas, D., 1738 (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Revue Britannique. _See_ Sédillot, L. P. E. A.
Revue des Deux-Mondes, 476, 483
Revue Encyclopédique ...: Paris, 1819.
Revue Générale des Sciences, 140, 248
“Revue Internationale de l’Electricité et de ses applications,”
publication commenced by A. Montpellier in Paris during 1885;
afterwards incorporated with “L’Electricien.”
Revue Scientifique. _See_ Quesneville.
Reyger, G., 1756 (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Reymond du Bois. _See_ Du-Bois, Reymond.
Reynaud, J. J., “De la télégraphie ... résumé historique ...”:
Marseille, 1851.
Reynolds, J. R., 1872 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 386
Rezia and Brugnatelli (_at_ Brugnatelli, L. V.), 363
Rhæticus--Rheticus--Rhætius--surname of George Joachim (1514–1576),
508
Rhazès--Rasis--Muhammad Ibn Zakarīyā] (born _c._ middle ninth
century A.D. in Rai, Persia), “De Simplicis, ad Almansorem,”
26, 516, 529, 537, 538
“Rheinische Beiträgen zur Gelehrsamkeit” for 1781, 285
Riadore, J. F., 1845 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 386
Riccioli, Giovanni Battista (1598–1671), “Almagestum Novum,” 1651,
54, 55, 67, 93, 127
Richard, Rudolph (_at_ Swinden, J. H. van), 273
Richard II, King of England (1367–1400), 58
Richer, Jean, French philosopher who died in 1696, 129
Richer, T. (_at_ Shaw, George), Observations on electrical fishes,
230, 299
Richerand, Balthasar Anthelm, Baron (1779–1840), 284
Richmann, George William (1711–1753), Professor in St. Petersburg,
killed by atmospheric electricity, 204, 320
Richter, Georg Friedrich (1691–1742), 270, 365
Richter, J.--Heidelberg, 1882--(_at_ School of Athens), 544
Richter, Lamballe and Erdmon, 386
Rico-y-Sinobas, M., 1853 (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Riddell, James. _See_ Merry, W. W., 6
Ridley, Marke (1560–1624), 79, 80, 97, 141
Ridlon, Gideon Tibbetts, “Ancient Ryedales,” 97
Ridolfi, Marquis Cosimo di, 256, 423, 477, 482
Riecke, “Rudolf Clausius”: Göttingen, 1889 (_at_ Grotthus, Baron
von), 392
Riess, Peter Theophil (_b._ 1805), 420, 423;
“Die lehre von der Reibunge-Elektricität,” 2 Vols. 1853, 1858,
1867.
Riess, P. T., and Faraday, M., 498
Riess, P. T., and Moser, L., 423;
“On the magnetising power of the solar rays,” 1830 (Phil. Mag. or
Annals, VIII. 155).
Riess, P. T., and Rose, G., “Über d. Pyro-Elektricität d. minerale
...” (Abhandl. d. Berlin Acad., 1843).
Riffault, Anatole, et Chompré, N. M., 390, 391, 394
Riffault des Hêtres, Jean René Denis (1752–1826), 394, 429.
He also experimented with Chompré.
Rinklake (_Mimosa Pudica_), 257
Rinmann, S. (_at_ Haüy, Le Père René Just), 288
Ristoro d’Arezzo. _See_ d’Arezzo.
Ritchie, William (1790–1837), 225, 476
Rittenhouse, David (1732–1796), 282–283
Ritter, Dr. Heinrich (1791–1869), “Histoire de la philosophie
ancienne” (History of ancient philosophy; Geschichte der
philosophie), 41, 352, 353, 503, 504, 510, 512, 532, 533, 537,
542;
Ritter and Preller, 512
Ritter, Johann Wilhelm (1776–1810), 257, 327, 335, 349, 380–384,
393, 419, 464;
Ritter and Amorette, 1804.
Rive. _See_ La Rive.
Rivière--Rivoire--Antoine, “Traité ...,” 253
Rivista di Fisica, Mat. e Sc. Nat. Pavia, 57
Rivista, G. Ital., 58
Rivista Scientifico-Industriale. _See_ Vimercati, G.
Rivius, Johannes, “Vitæ D. Aur. Augustini,” 1646, 25
Robert on the electrophorus, 249
Robert, M., makes ascension with Prof. Charles, 288
Roberti de Valle Rotho, 1495, 553
Roberts and Donaldson (_at_ Lactantius, L. C. F.), 525
Roberts-Austen, Prof. Sir William Chandler (1843–1902), 372
Robertson, Abraham (1751–1826), 251
Robertson, Dr. William, Principal of the University of Edinburgh
(1721–1793), “History of the reign of Charles V,” “Historical
Disquisition ...”: Basle, 1792, 36, 61, 114
Robertson, Etienne Gaspard Robert (1763–1837), “Mémoires
Récréatifs,” “Scientifiques,” “Acide Galvanique,” 248, 249,
275, 284, 342, 350–351, 419
Robertson, John M., “Philosophical Works of Francis Bacon,” 102
Robertson, Rev. Alexander, “Fra Paolo Sarpi ...,” 113
Robertus de Fluctibus. _See_ Fludd.
Robertus, J., “Curationis Magneticæ ...,” 245
Robespierre, Francis Maximilien Joseph Isidore de (1758–1794),
268–269
Robillard, M. _See_ Argentelle.
Robin, Charles (_at_ Shaw, George), 298, 300; and (_at_ Pepys,
W. H., Sr.), 375
Robins, B. (_at_ Watson, Wm.), 175; and (_at_ Romagnosi,
G. D. G.), 367
Robinson, Thomas Romney (1792–1882) (Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., XXII.
1–24, 291–311, 499–524).
Robiquet, Henri Edme (1822–1860), “... théorie de Franklin sur la
nature du fluide electrique ...,” 1854.
Robison, John (1739–1805), 88, 89, 146, 156, 180, 225, 268, 307,
308–311, 327, 466, 498
Robson, W., translator of the “Historiæ Hierosolimitanæ ...,” 31
Roch, M. (_at_ Ampère, A. M.), 476
Roche, Ed. A. (_at_ Coulomb, C. A. de), 276
Rochegude, Mr. de, 16
Rodwell, George Farrer, “A Dictionaryof Science,” 1871.
Rœmer, Olaus (1644–1710), 157
Roeth, Eduard (_at_ Pythagoras), 537
Roger, D. J. N. Lud, “Specimen Physiologicum,” 241
Rogers, Wm. B., 369, 413, 453, 473
Roget, Peter Mark (1779–1869), 383, 467, 473, 475, 476
Rogge, H. C., “Bibliotheca Grotiana,” 518
Rohault, Jacques (1620–1675), 113, 122, 125, 129, 160.
_See_ Jal’s “Dictionaire,” p. 1075.
Rohde’s “Système complet de signaux,” 400
Rohrbacher, François René, “Ecclesiastical History,” 34
Roiffé, Jacques C. F. de la Perrière de (_d._ 1776), 212
Rollin, Charles, “Ancient History” (1661–1741), 19, 504, 537, 542
Romagnosi, Gian Domenico (1761–1835), 365–367.
For Romagnosi’s experiment, _see_ Ronalds’ Catalogue, pp.
436–437. _Consult_, likewise, the following:--
Aldini, Giovanni (1762–1834), “Essai théorique ...”: Paris, 1804.
Ayrton, Wm. Ed. (1847–1908), “Electricity as a motive power”:
Sheffield, 1879.
Cantu, Cesare (1807–1895), “Notizia di G. Romagnosi”: Prato,
1840; Milano, 1835.
Davy, Sir H. (1778–1829), “On the magnetic phenomenon ...”
(Philos. Mag., Ser. I. Vol. LVIII. pp. 43–50), London, 1820.
Govi, Gilberto (1826–1889), “Romagnosi ...”: Torino, 1869.
Izarn, Joseph (1766–1834), “Manuel du Galvanisme”: Paris, 1805.
Siemens, Sir Chas. Wm. (1822–1883), “On the progress of the
electric telegraph” (Journ. Soc. of Arts, Vol. VI. pp.
348–358), London, 1858.
Tommasi, Donato (_b._ 1848), “Histoire des sciences ...”
(“Cosmos-les-Mondes,” Ser. IV. Vol. V. pp. 326–328), Paris,
1882.
Zantedeschi, Feo (1797–1873), “L’elettromagnestismo ...”: Trent,
1859; “Trattato ...”: Venice, 1845.
Romas, de, Kite experiments, 203–204, 320
Romershausen, E., Marburg, 1851 and 1853, 257
Romich and Fajdiga, also Romich and Nomak, 492
Rommereul, General (_at_ Alexandre, Jean), 361
Ronalds, Sir Francis (1788–1873), “Catalogue of books and papers
relating to electricity ...”: London, 1880, xiv, 5, 121, 140,
148, 179, 183, 199, 202, 208, 223, 229, 248, 253, 269, 290,
337, 366, 388, 389, 406, 423, 424, 438–440, 483, 550
Ronayne, Thomas, 201, 238, 270, 320
Rondelet, Guillaume (1507–1566), 270
Rose, Rev. Hugh James (1795–1838), English divine, who projected
the “New General Bibliographical Dictionary,” carried on by
his brother, Henry John Rose (1800–1873), 95, 531
Rose of the winds--wind roses--roses des vents--compass card, 59,
63, 509
Rosel (_at_ Humboldt, F. H. Alex. von), 332
Rosenberg, A. G., 1745, 555
Rosenberger, Ferdinand (_at_ Guericke, Otto von), 126
Rosenmüller, Ernst Friedrich Carl, 528
Rosenthal, J., 1862 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 386
Rosicrucians, 65
Rosier. _See_ Rozier.
Rosny, Léon de, “Les peuples orientaux ...,” 5
Ross, David (_at_ Cassini, J. J. D.), 267
Ross, Sir James Clark (1800–1862) (Ronalds’ Catalogue, p. 440), 458
Ross, Sir John (1777–1856). _See_ Ronalds’ Catalogue, p. 441,
_also_ pp. 457 and 458 herein.
Rossel, Admiral de, magnetic observations, 250
Rossetti, Francisco (1833–1895). _See_ Bibliografia Italiana.
Rossi, Francesco (_d._ 1841), “Expériences galvaniques ...” See
Giulio.
Rossi-Rubeis, B. M. de, 505
Rossignol, Jean Pierre (_b._ A.D. 1804), “Les métaux dans
l’antiquité ...,” 1863.
Rossler, T. F., 1776, 556
Rost, J. L. (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Rotatory Polarization. _See_ Cadozza, Giovanni, _also_ Arago,
D. F. J.
_See_ Magnetism, rotatory.
Rotterdam, “Bataafsch genootschap ...”: Verhandelingen, 292
(Batavian society of experimental philosophy; Mém. de la société
de physique experimentale).
Rouelle, G. F. (_at_ Milly, N. C. de), 235
Rouget’s observations on the _gymnotus electricus_, 230
Roul (_at_ Zamboni, G.), 420
Rouland and Detienne (_at_ Volta, Alessandro), 249
Rouland, N., “Electricité appliquée aux végétaux,” 257, 449
Roundness of the earth and antipodes ridiculed, 523–525
Rouppe (_at_ Galvani, Aloysio), 285
Rousseau, Jean Jacques (_at_ Alexandre, Jean), 360
Roussel (_at_ Galvani, Aloysio), 284
Roux, Augustin, “Expériences Nouvelles,” 255
Roux, F. I., “Conservation des plaques ...,” 1866, 347
Roveredo, Gazetta di, 367
Rowles, S. (_at_ Heraclides), 519
Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, the philosophical history and
memoirs of ..., Vols. I.-V. _See_ Paris, Académie Royale.
Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain, London, 471, 481
Royal Institution of Great Britain, Proceedings, etc., 277, 307,
322, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 344, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373,
395, 396, 425, 433, 467, 474, 478, 482, 484, 488, 489, 496,
497, 498, 499.
_See_ “Journal of Science and the Arts,” _also_ “Journal of the
Roy. Inst.,” _likewise_ the “Quarterly Journal of Science,
Literature, and the Arts.”
Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, Proceedings, etc., 263, 521
Royal Medal, awarded to Michael Faraday, 498.
The very first award of the Royal Medal was made to John Dalton
in 1826. Its other recipients embrace Sir Humphry Davy,
1827; Sir David Brewster, 1830; Michael Faraday, 1835, and
1846; Lord Rayleigh, 1882.
Royal Society of Edinburgh, Proceedings, etc., 140, 142, 466
Royal Society of Literature, Transactions, etc., 14
Royal Society of London:--
Abstracts of the papers printed, 140, 158, 243, 249, 277, 347,
348, 372, 387, 436, 437, 458, 460, 471, 477, 481, 482
(continued as “Proceedings of the Royal Society of London”).
Catalogue of Scientific Papers compiled and published by the,
158, 220, 233, 255, 257, 258, 263, 277, 298, 314, 315, 335,
347, 348, 353, 355, 359, 364, 368, 370, 373, 375, 376, 379,
384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 391, 394, 395, 401, 402, 403,
408, 412, 414, 415, 416, 426, 428, 441, 446, 449, 450, 454,
456, 460, 462, 464, 466, 470, 471, 476, 477, 481, 483, 496,
499
Histories of the: by Birch, Thomas, 132, 175, 183, 195, 272;
by Sprat, Thomas, 132;
by Thomson, Thomas, 90, 105, 132, 150, 152, 155, 156, 162, 167,
189, 190, 196, 214, 218, 221, 222, 227, 239, 248, 251, 256,
263, 268, 284, 288, 347, 355, 456;
by Weld, Charles Richard, 66, 75, 103, 114, 132, 155, 167, 168,
187, 191, 196, 239, 252, 446, 456, 462
Proceedings of the: a continuation of the “Abstracts,” 548
The Abridged Philosophical Transactions of the: by Baddam,
Benjamin, 8, 92, 95, 119, 138, 141, 145, 149, 150, 153, 155,
157, 160, 162, 175, 549; by Eames and Martyn, 138, 149, 155,
156, 157, 160, 175, 246, 549; by Eames, John (_d._ 1744),
549
(_see_ Eames and Martyn, Dict. of Nat. Biogr., XVI. 313);
by Gray, John (1800–1875), 549 (_see_ Read and Gray);
by Hutton, Charles (1737–1823), 15, 27, 95, 97, 119, 130, 131,
138, 141, 143, 145, 149, 150, 153, 155, 156, 157, 160, 162,
166, 167, 173, 175, 176, 178, 181, 183, 185, 188, 191, 199,
200, 201, 205, 207, 219, 221, 223, 226, 229, 232, 237, 238,
240, 241, 243, 245, 249, 252, 256, 265, 291, 297, 298, 299,
313, 322, 336, 502, 549;
by Jones, Henry Bence (1814–1873), 141, 150, 156, 498, 549;
by Lowthorp, John, 119, 138, 143, 145, 160, 549;
by Martyn, John (1699–1768), 154, 155, 157, 162, 166, 167, 173,
175, 176, 177, 178, 180, 181, 183, 185, 189, 267, 549 (_see_
Eames and Martyn);
by Motte, Benjamin (_d._ 1738), 549 (Dict. Nat. Biogr., XXXIX.
194);
by Pearson, Richard (1765–1826), 549;
by Reid, Thomas (1710–1796) (Reid and Gray), 138, 155, 156, 157,
160, 175, 246, 549; by Shaw, George (1751–1813), 298, 374,
549
The Unabridged Philosophical Transactions of the, viii, ix, xvii,
8, 15, 17, 27, 29, 92, 96, 118, 127, 130, 131, 134, 135, 138,
139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155,
156, 157, 158, 160, 162, 165, 166, 167, 172, 174, 175, 176,
177, 178, 180, 181, 183, 185, 186, 188, 189, 191, 195, 196,
199, 200, 201, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 209, 212, 213, 218,
219, 221, 222, 223, 225, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 235, 237,
238, 239, 240, 241, 243, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 251, 255,
256, 257, 258, 265, 267, 271, 273, 278, 284, 289, 290, 291,
296, 297, 298, 308, 313, 314, 315, 320, 322, 325, 326, 336,
337, 339, 340, 344, 347, 348, 357, 359, 367, 371, 372, 373,
387, 393, 396, 399, 402, 403, 405, 417, 418, 426, 431, 433,
436, 437, 440, 446, 449, 458, 460, 465, 466, 467, 469, 470,
471, 476, 477, 478, 479, 481, 482, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488,
490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 497, 499, 547–549, 554, 555,
557
Rozier--Rosier--Abbé François (1734–1793), 10, 140, 193, 198, 208,
248, 249, 253, 257, 263, 266, 271, 277, 280, 281, 299, 300,
302;
“Tableau du travail annuel de toutes les Académies de l’Europe
...” Vol. I. Paris, 1772. Continued as “Observations sur la
physique,” Vols. II. to XLIII., and as “Journal de Physique,”
Vols. XLIV. to date. “Nouvelle Table ... depuis 1666 jusqu’en
1770.” _See_ Paris, Académie Royale des Sciences.
Rozier, Pilatre de. _See_ Pilatre de Rozier (_at_ Charles,
J. A. C.), 288
Rudolf, Alexander J. (_at_ Halley, Edmund), 138
Rudolf, II, Emperor of Germany, 95
Rudolfi, Karl Asmund (1771–1832), 192
Ruellius, Joannes (1479–1537), 8, 27, 124, 538;
“De natura stirpium ...,” 1536; “De medicinali materia ...,”
1543, a fuller description of which is: “Dioscorides ... de
medicinali ... Ioanne Ruellio Suessionessi interprete ...”
Rueus, Franciscus--François de la Rue (1520–1585), 538;
“De gemmis aliquot ...,” 1547.
Ruffinus--Rufinus--Tyrannus, “Prosper d’Aquitaine,” 19
Ruhmkorff, Heinrich Daniel (1803–1877), “Appareil d’induction
électrique,” 1850–1851 (Du Moncel, Th., “Notice sur l’appareil
...”: Paris, 1855); Verdu and Ruhmkorff in Comptes Rendus,
XXXVI. 649–652.
Ruland, Martin, “A lexicon of alchemy or alchemical dictionary”:
London, 1892, 17
Rumford, Count. _See_ Thompson, Sir Benjamin.
Rumford Medal, 344, 481, 498.
The very first award of the Rumford Medal was made to Count
Rumford in 1800. He had already received the Copley Medal in
1792. Amongst other prominent recipients of the Rumford Medal
may be mentioned: Sir David Brewster, 1818 (besides the
Copley Medal, 1815, and the Royal Medal, 1830); James Clerk
Maxwell, 1860; John Tyndall, 1864; Sir John Leslie, 1884; and
Sir Oliver Lodge, 1898.
Runeberg, E. F., 1757 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 385
Rupert, Prince Robert of Bavaria (1619–1682), 127
Russell, J. Rutherfurd, 65, 105, 132
Rutherford, Dr. (_at_ Fowler, Richard), 307
Rutty, William (1687–1730), edited the Phil. Trans. Nos. 309–406.
Ruysch, Johan--Reisch--Reysch, “Map of the world”: Rome, 1508, 524
Rysselberghe, F. van, Simultaneous transmission of telegraphic and
telephonic messages on one line. This method was fully
described by Charles Mourlon in his “Système ...”: Brussels,
1884 and 1887.
Ryther, Augustus, 563
S
Saavedra, Antonimo Suarez, “Tratado de telegrafia”: Barcelona,
1880, 318;
“Rivista,” 313, 318
Sabatier--Sabathier--Raphael Bienvenu (1732–1811), 247, 333, 354.
_See_ Dezebry, Ch., “Dictionnaire ...,” p. 2497.
Sabine, Robert (1837–1884), “History and Progress of the electric
telegraph,” 1869, 208, 223, 284, 286, 316, 366;
“On the electrical properties of selenium” (Phil. Mag., Ser. V.
Vol. V. pp. 401–415, 1878).
Sabine, Sir Edward, P.R.S. (1788–1883), 82, 115, 194, 220, 267,
377, 385, 457.
_See_ Humboldt, Cosmos; _also_ Cates’ Dictionary, p. 1539.
Sacchetti, F. (_at_ Aëtius, Amidenus), 27
Sacharoff of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, 388
Sachs, Michael (1808–1864), 36; “Encycl. Brit.,” 1911, XXIII. 973.
Sacro Bosco--Sacrobusto--Joannes de--John of Holywood (thirteenth
century), 530–531.
_See_ Joannes Glozariensis.
Sage, B. G. (1740–1824), “Recherches ... galvanisme,” 285
Sagredus--Sagredo--Iohannes Franciscus (_b._ 1616), 79, 115, 116
Saigi (_at_ Faraday, Michael), 494
Saignette, M., “Sur l’électricité de la torpille,” 240
Saillant et Nyon, “Mémoires concernant l’histoire ...”: Paris,
1788, 1, 2, 3, 21, 28, 259
Saint Allais, de, “Art de vérifier les dates des faits
historiques”: Paris, 1819, 2. “l’Art de vérifier les dates” is
also by Clément (François), 1770, 1783, 1818, 1819, 1820.
Saint Amand, Walkiers de, Electrical machine, 280, 448.
_See_ Amand.
Saint Augustine, “De Civitate Dei,” xx, 20, 26, 41, 73, 74, 79
Saint Cyr. _See_ Reveroni.
Saint Elmo (St. Erasmus), Bishop of Formiæ, 23–24, 125, 161.
St. Elmo’s fire.
Saint Fond, Faujas de (_at_ Saussure, H. B. de), 271
Saint Hilaire. _See_ Geoffroy, Saint Hilaire.
Saint Honorat de Lerius, La vie de, 16
Saintiot, Mr. de (_at_ Aldini, Giovanni), 306
Saint Julien’s electrical machine, 257
Saint Leger de Soissons, Mr. l’Abbé de, 126
Saint Louis (and his consort Marguerite de Provence), 33, 54
Saint Paul’s Cathedral, 210, 231, 232
Saint Petersburg, Imperial Academy of Science. Transactions,
Comment., Actes, Mémoires, etc., 140, 141, 204, 206, 214, 217,
218, 229, 232, 242, 249, 273, 274, 309, 314, 368, 388, 402,
421, 450
Saint Sauveur, Charles Poyen (_at_ Mesmer, F. A.), 237
Saint Vincent, Bory de, “Annales Générales,” 255
Sainte Beuve, Charles Augustin (1804–1869), Portraits Littéraires.
_See_ Dezebry, Ch. (“Dictionnaire ...,” p. 2511), 108, 476
Sainte Marthe, Scévole de, “Elogia Gallorum Doctrina illustrium,”
1737, 513, 537
Salem Gazette, concerning new Electric Light Station in 1889,
233–234, 235
Salerno, School of (_at_ Silvaticus, M. M.), 539
Salimbene, a Minorite, “Chronicles of Parma,” 16
Salmanazar (_at_ Albertus Magnus), 35
Salmasius, Ludovicus, “Commentary upon Solinus,” 22, 513
Salmonsen, J., “Konversations-Leksikon,” 121
Salva, Don Francisco (1747–1808), 317
Salverte, Anne Joseph Eusèbe Baconnière (1771–1839), “Philosophy
of Magic,” “Des sciences occultes,” 1, 9, 10, 19, 56, 401, 542.
_See_ Phil. Mag., XV., 354 for meteoric stones.
Salviana (_at_ Wilkinson, C. H.), 270
Salviatus--Salviati--Leonardo (_at_ Hamilton, James), 159
Salzburg Med. Chir. Zeitung, 249, 451
Sanctis, Dr. B. de (Phil. Mag., LX. 199, 1822; and LXI. 70, 123).
Sandys, J. E., “Classical Scholarship,” 34, 39
San Martino, Gian Battista (1739–1800) (_at_ Amoretti, Carlo), 401;
“Memoria ...,” 1785, 257
Sans Abbé (_at_ Molenier, Jacob), 229 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 385
Sanson, Nicolas (_at_ Naudé, Gabriel), 108
Santa Cruz, Alonzo de, magnetic charts, 70
Santanelli, F. (_at_ Chappe, Claude), 301, and at p. 554
Santarem, M. F. Barros de (1790–1856), “Essai sur l’histoire de la
cosmographie et de la cartographie pendant le moyen-âge,” 1436,
62
Santes de Ardonyis. _See_ Ardoniis.
Santi Linari. _See_ Linari, Santi.
Sanuto, Livio. _See_ Livio Sanuto.
Sargon of Agadé, remotest authentic date yet arrived at in history,
2
Sarlandière, Jean Baptista (_at_ Pearson, George), 325,
and (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 385
Sarpi, Pietro--Pietro Soave, Polano--better known by his Servitan
monastic appellation, Fra Paolo--Paulus Venetus (1552–1623),
xiv, 75, 78, 90, 110–114, 116;
“Istoria del Concilio Tridentino,” 1619, 1620, 1632;
History of the Council of Trent, 1676;
Histoire du Concile de Trente, 1736.
Sarrabat, Nicholas (_at_ Desaguliers, J. T.), 167
“Saturday Review,” London, 155, 227, 424
Saunders, Admiral (_at_ Robison, John), 309
Saussure, Horace Benedict de (1740–1799), 253, 257, 270–271, 273,
288, 295, 320, 416, 417, 426, 462
Saussure, Nicholas Theodore de (1767–1845), the son of Horace de
Saussure.
Sauvages de la Croix, François Boissier Deshais (1706–1776), 229,
263, 332, 385
Savants étrangers, Mémoires, 204, 288, 380
Savart. _See_ Savary.
Savary--Savart--Félix (1791–1841), 379, 380, 472, 482.
_See_ Dezebry, Ch., Dictionnaire, p. 2545.
Savérien, Alexandre (1722–1805), “Histoire des physiciens”
(Desaguliers, Boyle, etc., being Vol. VI. of his “Histoire des
philosophes ...”), Paris, 1768.
Savery, Servington, “Magnetical observationsand experiments,”
1729–1730 (Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 295), 160
Savi, Paolo (1798–1871), “Etudes anatomiques sur la torpille”
(Matteucci, Carlo v., 1844), 298
Savioli, G., “Dissertatio in causam physicam auroræ borealis,”
1789, 308
Sawyer’s electro-chemical telegraph, 338
Sax--Sachs--M., “Onomasticon Literarium,” 97
Saxo--_Grammaticus_--“Saxonis Gram. Historia Danica,” 71
Saxthorph, Friedrich (_d._ 1806), “Elektricitätsläre,” 2 Vols.
1802–3, 216
Saxton’s Atlas (_at_ Mercator), 563
Sbaralea, Joannes Hyacinthus (_at_ Silvaticus, M. M.), 539
Scaliger, Joseph Justus (1540–1609), French scholar, “De
emendatione ...,” 518
Scaliger, Julius Cæsar (1484–1558), Italian scholar, wrote
commentaries on Aristotle and on Theophrastus, etc., “De
subtilitate ad Cardanum,” 1557, 115, 516, 532, 538–539
Scarella, Giambattista (1711–1779), “De Magnete,” 1759, 139
Scarpa, Antonio (1747–1832), 331, 333, 409
Scelta di Opuscoli interesanti tradotti de varie lingue, 36 Vols.,
Milano, 1775–1777. Continued as Opuscoli scelti sulle scienze
e sulle arti, 7 Vols. 1778–1784.
Scelta di Opuscoli, Milano. _See_ Amoretti, _also_ Soave.
Scelta di Opuscoli scientifici e literati, 224
Sc. de Ste Marthe. _See_ Sainte Marthe.
Schäffer, Jacob Christian (1718–1790), “Kräfte ... elektrophors
...,” 237, 249, 257
Schaffer, J. G., 1776 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 385
Schaffner’s Manual. _See_ Shaffner.
Scharpff, Franz Anton (_at_ Cardinal de Cusa), 510
Schaub, J. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330; Gmelin and Schaub, 451
(Archiv. f. Pharm. v. A. Med. Ph., 1802).
Scheele, Carl Wilhelm, “Chemical Essays ...,” 1786.
Scheible, J. (_at_ Hermes Trismegistus), 519
Schelhorn--Schellhorn--Johann Georg, 202
Schellen, Thomas Joseph Heinrich (1818–1844), “Die
elektromagnetische telegraphie ...,” 316
Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von (1775–1854).
Scherer, Alexander Nicoläus (1771–1824), 249, 391;
“Allgemeine nördlische annalen der chemie ...,” 1819–1822, which
was a continuation of “Nördlischen blätter für die chemie
...,” published at Halle and Saint Petersburg, 1817–1818;
“Allgemeines Journal der chemie,” 10 Vols., 1798–1803, continued
as “Neues allgemeines Journal der chemie,” 1803–1805, by A.
F. von Gehlen, who subsequently named it “Journal für die
chemie und physik ...,” 1806–1810. It was continued at
Nürnberg as “Neues Journal für chemie und physik” by Johann
Salomo Christoph von Schweigger, 1811–1833, and united,
during 1834, with the “Journal für praktische chemie” of Otto
Linné Erdmann, who afterwards published the well-known
“Lehrbuch der chemie.” The “Journal für praktische chemie”
was in its 90th Vol. July 1914. _See_ Nürnberg.
Scherer, J. B. A. von, “Über d. meteorsteine ...”: Leipzig, 1809.
Scheuchzer, J. J. (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Schiele, Johann Georg, “Bibliotheca Enucleata ...” (“Acus magnetica
...”), Ulm, 1679.
Schielen, J. G., 1679, 554
Schiller (_at_ Faraday, Michael), 492
Schilling, Godefredus W. Gulielmus, “Diatribe de morbo in Europa
...,” 230, 240, 299
Schilling, Johann Jacob (_b._ 1702), “Observationes ...,”
1734–1737.
Schilling, Pawel Lwowitsch, Baron of Kannstadt (1786–1837),
420–423, 445
Schinz, Salomon (1734–1784), “Specimen physicum de electricitate
...,” 1776, 1777, 556
Schlegel, J. William, 326, 327
Schlichtegroll, Adolph Heinrich Friedrich von, 233
Schmid’s “Allgemeine Encyklopædie ...”: Iena, 1840.
Schmidt (_at_ Zamboni, Giuseppe), 420
Schmidt, George C. (_at_ Van Swinden, J. H. van), 274
Schmidt, J. F. J., “Das Zodiacallicht,” 1856, 142
Schmidt, N. E. A., “Vom magnete ...,” 1765, 556
Schmuck, Edmund Joseph (_b._ 1771) (_at_ Ingen-housz, Johan), 257;
“On the action of galvanic electricity on the _mimosa
pudica_....”
Schoell, Maximilien Samson Frédéric (1766–1833), “Hist. de la litt.
Grecque,” 25
Schöll, Carl, “Hist. de la lit. romaine,” 525 (_at_ Themistius),
541
Scholz, B. (_at_ Jäger, K. C. F. van), 364
Schönbein, Christian Friedrich (1799–1868), 296, 297, 498;
Schönbein and Faraday (Pogg. Ann., Vols. 37 to 109).
School of Athens--Scuola d’Atene--by Raphael, xvii, 542–544
Schott, P. Gaspar (1608–1666), “Ars magnetica ...,” etc., etc., 53,
125, 126
Schouten, Guillaume Cornelissen--Wilhelm Cornelisz, 97–98
Schreiber (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F.), 314
Schreibers, Karl Franz Anton von (1775–1852) (_at_ Chladni,
E. F. F.), 315, 420
Schubert on zodiacal light, 141
Schuberth, E. (_at_ Paracelsus, 1490–1541), 65
Schübler, Gustav (1787–1834), 292, 320, 406, 416, 420
Schultze, “Zur Kentniss ... elect. ... fische,” 300
Schumacher, Heinrich Christian (1780–1850), 345, 432, 481
Schuster, Sir Arthur, xii
“Schwed. Akad. Abhandlungen ...,” 216, 221, 257, 288
Schwed. Magazine, 221
Schwed. Musæum, 216
Schweigger, Johann, Salomo Christoph (1779–1857), “Journal (also
Neues Journal) für die chemie und physik,” 1811–1833; “Über
das elektron der Alten ...,” 1848; “Introd. to mythology
through natural history.” _See_ Nürnberg, Scherer, 13, 257,
293, 314, 315, 358, 388, 389, 391, 407, 408, 412, 413, 414,
415, 416, 420, 424, 447, 451, 452, 455, 472, 475, 476, 483
Schweigger--Seidel, Franz W., 414
Schwenkenhardt, M. (_at_ Ingen-housz, Johan), 257
Schwenter, Daniel. _See_ Sunde.
“Science,” publication commenced in New York during 1880, 67, 75
“Science and literature of the middle ages.” _See_ Lacroix, Paul.
“Science et Arts,” 337
“Sciences mathématiques en Italie, Histoire des,” by Libri,
G. B. I. T., 4 Vols. 1838–1848.
“Sciences mathématiques et physiques chez les Belges, Histoire
des,” by Quetelet, L. A. J.: Bruxelles, 1852.
“Scientiarum et artium istitutum bononiense ...,” Commentarii, 254
“Scientific American” and “Scientific American Supplement,”
published respectively in New York during 1845 and 1876, to
date, 10, 11, 109, 135, 138, 139, 142, 176, 178, 191, 193, 208,
209, 224, 226, 230, 240, 241, 250, 259, 263, 291, 292, 302,
310, 318, 329, 335, 336, 348, 361, 370, 389, 414, 420, 421,
422, 424, 433, 434, 436, 440, 447, 455, 460, 476, 481, 499
“Scientific Gazette,” publication commenced by C. F. Partington in
London during 1825.
Scientific Memoirs. _See_ Taylor, Richard.
“Scientific Progress,” 315
Scientific Researches. _See_ Sturgeon, William.
“Scienziati Italiani,” Atti, Pisa, 1840–1847.
Scina, Domenico Ragona (1765–1837), 527;
“Esperienze e scoperte sull’ elettro-magnetismo,” “Elementi di
fisica generale” (also “fisica particolarle”), 1809, 1829,
1842, 1843.
Scolopendra electrica, scolopendra subterranea, 298
Scoresby, William (1789–1857), 276, 482
“Scot’s Magazine,” 208, 209
Scott, Sir Walter, “Lay of the last Minstrel,” 4
Scotus, Joannes Duns. _See_ Duns Scotus.
Scotus, Michael Joannes (fl. thirteenth century A.D.), “De secretio
naturæ,” “Aristotelis opera ...,” 36
Scrantoni, J. M., 1740 (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Scribonius Largus Designationus (fl. first century A.D.), 20, 230;
Biog. Univ. de Michaud, Vol. XXVIII. pp. 589–595.
Scrinci, Dr., in “Prague News,” 209
Scudder, Samuel Hubbard, “Catalogue of scientific serials of all
countries”: Cambridge, Mass., 1879, ix, 547–550
Sebald, H., translator of H. C. Oersted’s “Leben ...,” 455
Sebastien and Cassini (_at_ Picard, Jean), 132
Secchi, R. P. Angelo (1818–1878), “Bulletino Meteorologico ...,”
314
Secondat de Montesquieu, Jean Baptiste, Baron (1716–1796),
“Histoire de l’électricité,” 1746, 1750, 131, 555;
“Observations de physique,” 1750.
Sedillot, Jean (1757–1840), founder of the Société de Médecine de
la Seine, “Recueil périodique de la Société de Médecine de
Paris ...,” 248, 284, 295–296, 306
Sedillot, Louis Pierre Eugène Amélie (1808–1875), 32, 93;
“Revue Britannique ...,” “Des savants arabes ...,” “Matériaux
... sciences mathématiques ...”
Seebeck, Thomas Johann (1770–1831), 344, 373, 380, 387, 395, 413,
414, 415, 454, 478, 494
Segnitz, F. L., “Specimen ... elect. animali,” 1790, 556
Seguin, Armand (_at_ Chladni, E. F. F.), 314;
_also_ (_at_ Fourcroy, A. F. de), 354
Seiferheld, G. H. (_at_ Hare, Robert), 449
Seiler, J. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Selenium, discovered by Berzelius, 369–370
Selenium, electrical properties of. _See_ Sabine, Robert.
Sellers--Seller--John (_at_ Savery, Servington), 160
Seleucus of Babylon (_at_ Nicetas of Syracuse), 530
Semaphores: B.C. 1084, 341, 232, 200;
_also_, Hooke 1684, Amontons 1704, Odier 1773, Dupuis 1778,
Chappe 1792, Edgeworth 1794, Murray, Gamble and Garnet 1795,
Pasley 1808, Parrot 1802, Davis 1805, Gregory 1815, Popham
and Bremmer 1816, Connolly 1817.
Sementini, L. (_at_ Amoretti, Carlo), 401
Senebier, Jean (1742–1809), “Catalogue ... manuscrits ...
Bibliothèque de Genève,” 1779, 54, 243, 258, 271, 294, 295
Seneca, Lucius Annæus (_c._ 4 B.C.-A.D. 65), “Quæstiones
Naturales,” 8, 20, 24, 533
Senft, A. A., 1778 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 385
Senguerd, W., “Philosophia naturalis ...,” 1681, 554
Serantoni, J. M., 1740 (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Serapio, Mauritanus, 17, 26
Serapis, temple of, at Alexandria, 18
Sercy--Bercy--Ugo di, 61
Seres, William--Willyam (_at_ Strype, A.D. 1754), 210
Serpieri, Alessandro, on the Zodiacal Light, 141
Serra, F. M. (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Serrano, D. Nicol M. (_at_ Montanus--Arias--Benedictus), 528
Serres, Pierre Marcel, J. de (_b._ 1783), 493
Sertorius Quintus (_d._ 72 B.C.), 4
Servetus, Michael--Serveto, Miguel, 535
Servius, Maurus Honoratus (fourth century), “Virgil,” 13
Servius, Petrus, 1643, 554
Servius Tullius, Roman king, 29
Sestier, Felix, et Méhu, C., “De la foudre ...,” 2 Vols. 1866, 199,
254
Seven wise men of Greece, 7
Severineus, Christopher, Bishop elect of Angola, 136
Severtius Jacobus--Jacques Severt, “De orbis catoptrici ...,” 1598,
115
Severus, Bishop of Milevis (_at_ Augustine, Saint), 25
Sewall, Rev. Frank (_at_ Swedenborg, Emmanuel), 165
Seylas--Seixas--y Lovera Francisco de, 71
Seypfer (_at_ Parrot, George Friedrich), 367
S’Gravesande, Willem Jakob Storen van (1688–1742), “Eléments de
Physique,” 152, 181, 270, 299
Sguario-Squario--Euseb., “Due dissertazione ...,” 1746, 308, 385,
555
Shaffner--Schaffner Taliaferro Preston (1818–1881), “Telegraph
Manual,” “Shaffner’s Telegraph Companion,” 7, 22, 277, 286,
302, 316, 318, 440, 454
Shakespeare, William (1564–1616), 16, 24, 195, 563, 564
Sharpe, Benjamin, _also_ John Robert at pp. 424 and 439
Sharpless, Stephen Paschall, “On some forms of the galvanic
battery” (Amer. Journ. of Science, Ser. III. Vol. I. pp.
247–251, 1871).
Shaw, George. _See_ Royal Society.
Shea, John Gilmary, 115
Shields, Charles W., “The final philosophy,” 35, 525
Short, James (_at_ Watson, William), 175
Shumiro-Accadian culture, 2
Siderites, 14, 15, 17
Siècles littéraires. _See_ Essarts.
Siemens, Ernest Werner von (1816–1892), 370, 408
(Pogg. Ann., 1845 to 1861).
Siemens, Sir Charles William (1822–1883), 408.
_See_ Romagnosi, _also_ Cates’ Dictionary, p. 1541.
Sieur de Castel Franco. _See_ Nautonnier.
Sigaud de la Fond, Jean René (1740–1810), 174, 235, 280, 385
Sighart, Dr. Joachim (_at_ Albertus Magnus), 37, 505
Sign of fire, transmission of messages, 10
Signorelli, Pietro Napoli, “Sull’ invenzione della bussola nautica
...,” 58
Silberschlag, J. E. (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Siljeström, Peter Adam (Vetensk Acad. Handl. 1814), 139
Silliman, Benjamin (1779–1864), “The American Journal of Science
and the Arts,” “Principles of Physics,” 22, 28, 29, 30, 56, 61,
139, 140, 157, 191, 289, 371, 389, 423, 440, 446, 447, 448,
449, 452, 468, 488, 495, 498, 499
Silow (_at_ Faraday, Michael), 492
_Silurus electricus_, 192, 299, 374
Silvaticus, Matthew (fl. A.D. 1344), 26, 82, 529, 539
Silvestre, Aug. François de (1762–1851), 102, 303, 306
Simmons, John, “An essay on the cause of lightning,” 1775, 556
Simon of Bruges. _See_ Stevinus.
Simon, Paul Louis (1767–1815), “Resultate d. galvanismus”: Berlin,
1801 (_at_ Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786), 284, 419
Simpson, Sir J. (_at_ Brewster, Sir David), 466
Singer, George John (1786–1817), “Elements of electricity ...,”
205, 249, 406, 419, 428, 429, 430–432, 434, 435, 470
Sinobas. _See_ Rico-y-Sinobas, 308
Sismondi, Jean Charles Leonard de (1773–1842), 37, 40;
“Historical view of the literature of the South of Europe.”
_See_ Dezebry, Ch., “Dictionnaire ...,” p. 2638.
Sixtus of Sienna (1520–1569), 504
Sjoesten, C. G., (_at_ Martin, Benjamin), 253
Skand. Lit. Selskabs Skrifter, 453
Skandia, “Svenska litteratur”: Upsala, 453
“Skandinaviska naturforskarnes ...”: Förhandlingar, 1842, 299
Skrimshire, W., Jr. (_at_ A.D. 1806), 393
Sloane, Sir Hans (1660–1753), Royal Society Transactions, 547
Sloane, William M., “Aristotle and the Arabs,” 37
Small, Robert (_at_ Kepler, Johann), 96
Smeaton, John (1724–1792) (Phil. Trans., XLVI. 513, 1749), 176,
202, 203
Smee, Alfred (1818–1877), “Elements of electro-metallurgy,” 363, 397
Smiles, Samuel, “Lives of the Engineers ...,” 203
Smith, Willoughby (1828–1891), 369–370;
“Selenium, its electrical qualities and the effect of light
thereon”: London, 1877.
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Bulletin, Reports, etc.,
etc., 140, 315, 324, 375, 389, 407, 413, 423, 455, 459, 476,
481, 499
Smuck--Schmuck--Edmond Joseph (_b._ 1771), 284, 326, 327, 332, 419
Snell--Snellius--van Roijen--Willebrood (1591–1626), “Eratosthenes
Batavus,” 1617, 521
Snow Harris. _See_ Harris, Sir William Snow.
Snyder, Carl, “The world machine,” 1907, 511, 512
Soave, Francesco (1743–1806), Scelta d’opuscoli, 1776, 1804; Nuova
scelta d’opuscoli, 1804, 208, 298, 401
Soc. Göttingen recent. Comment, 220
Soc. Hafniensis. _See_ Copenhagen.
Soc. Upsal, Nova Acta, 221
“Societa Italiana delle scienze;” Memoire di matematica y fisica,
Verona e Modena, 248, 249, 253, 254, 258, 294, 295, 298, 303,
306, 330, 413, 420, 423
“Societas regia scientiarum Göttingensis,” Commentationes, 8, 451
Société Académique de Laon, Bulletin de la, 94
Société Astronomique de France, Bulletin de la, 93
Société Chimique d’Arcueil, 236
Société d’Agriculture d’Autun, 285
Société d’Arcueil, Mémoires de Physique, 334, 386, 389
Société de Genève, Mémoires, etc., 140
Société de Médecine. _See_ Paris, _also_ Sédillot, Jean, 270, 284,
302
Société d’Emulation de Paris, 258, 284, 285
Société de Santé de Lyon. _See_ Petetin, Jacques H. D., 229
Société Galvani de Paris, opened October 24, 1802.
Société Hollandaise des sciences, Haarlem.
Société Internationale des Electriciens, Bulletin: Paris, 1884 to
date.
Société médicale d’émulation de Paris, Mémoires, 258, 284, 285, 557
Société Philomathèque, Paris, Bulletin des Sciences, 249, 274, 277,
279, 284, 288, 300, 301, 302, 303, 306, 314, 318, 324, 326,
335, 347, 349, 374, 376, 378, 380, 383, 385, 412, 482, 483
Société Physique. _See_ Lausanne.
Sociétés Savantes et Littéraires, Mémoires, 285
Sociétés Savantes. ... _See_ Tessier, Octave.
Society for the advancement of the Arts, Geneva, 270
Society for the encouragement of Arts, London, Transactions. _See_
Society of Arts.
Society of Arts ... Transactions, publication commenced in London
during 1783, 291, 305, 365, 367, 389, 397, 398, 399, 406, 407,
413, 437, 441, 442, 443, 458
Society of telegraph engineers, London, 440
Socrates (born _c._ 471–469), 7, 12, 503, 524, 543
Soirées littéraires. _See_ Coupé, J. M. L.
Sokolow (_at_ Richmann, G. W., A.D. 1753), 204
Solander, Daniel Charles (1736–1782), 456
Solinus, Caius Julius (fl. latter part second century, A.D.), 7,
17, 22, 43, 124, 512, 540;
“De situ et memorabilibus ...,” 1473; “De memoralibus (sic) mundi
...,” 1498; “De mirabilibus mundi ...,” 1500.
Solly, E. (_at_ Ingen-housz, A.D. 1779), 257
Solomon, King of Israel, 5
Solomon’s Temple. _See_ Temple of Solomon.
Solon (_c._ 638–558 B.C.), 7
Somer, John, Minorite astronomer (_at_ Lully, Raymond), 32
Somerset, Edward (1601–1667), 126
Sömmering, Samuel Thomas von (1755–1830), 284, 304, 331, 384,
406–407, 412, 420, 421, 422, 424, 435, 475
Sömmering, William (_at_ Sömmering, S. T. von, A.D. 1809), 407
Sommerville--Somerville, Mrs. Mary Fairfax (1780–1872), “Connection
of the Physical Sciences,” “On the earth ...,” 171, 377, 410,
423, 455, 460, 476, 479, 484
Sonnini de Manoncourt, Charles Nicolas Sigisbert (1751–1812), who,
with Virey, Julien Joseph, edited the important supplement to
“Buffon’s Natural History,” 6, 30, 33, 37, 55
Sophists (_at_ Philostratus, Flavius), 533
Sophocles, “Electra,” 507. _See also_ Euripides.
Sotacus describes five kinds of native magnets, 13
Souciet, P. Etienne (1671–1744), “Observations mathématiques ...”
(_at_ 2637 B.C.), 1
Soulavie. _See_ Giraud-Soulavie.
Spallanzani, Abbé Lazaro (1729–1799), 239, 240, 255, 258, 270, 271,
284, 298, 332, 355
Sparks, Jared, “Library of Am. Biography,” “Works of Benj.
Franklin,” 69, 199, 239, 252
Spath, J. L. (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Specific inductive capacity, discovered by Faraday, Michael, 239,
491, 492, 493
Specific inductive capacity of different gases (Brit. Assoc.
Report for 1880, pp. 197–201).
“Spectator” for Dec. 6, 1711 (_at_ Strada, F., A.D. 1617), 99
Spedding, Ellis and Heath, 99
Speed’s Atlas, mentioned at Mercator, 563
Spencer, Knight, 400
Speng--Spengel--Leonhard, “Alex. Aphrod. Quæstonium naturalium
...,” 1842; “Incerti ... Aristotelis ...,” 1842; “Anaximenis
... Aristotelis ad Alexandrum,” 1844, 27, 512
Spidberg, J. C. (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Spider thread filaments: Bennet 1787, Fontana 1793.
Spiegel, Friedrich (_at_ Zoroaster), 541
Spon, Charles, xi, 362
Spottiswoode, William (1825–1883), De la Rue, Warren, and Mueller,
Hugo, W. (Proc. Roy. Soc., XXIII. pp. 356–361).
Spottiswoode, W., and Moulton, John Fletcher (Phil. Trans., 1879,
pp. 165–229).
Sprat, Thomas, “History of the Royal Society,” 132
Spratt, Lieut. James (1771–1853), “Homograph ...,” 400
Spreng, Johann, “Hist. R. Herb,” 193
Sprengel, Kurt Polycarp Joachim, “Histoire de la médecine,” 529,
531, 538
Squario. _See_ Sguario.
Stabili, Francesco degli, the real name of Cecco d’Ascoli
(1257–1327), “Acerba,” xx, 524, 531
Stadius, eminent astronomer of the sixteenth century, who
succeeded, in the Paris University, the famous Peter
Ramus--Pierre de la Ramée (1515–1572), “Tabulæ Bergenses,”
1560, 510
Stahelin, C. (_at_ Harris, William Snow), 470
Stahl, George Ernest (1660–1734), 261, 262, 362
Stambio, C. (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Stanhope, Charles, third Earl of. _See_ Mahon, Lord.
Stanhusius, Mich., “De Meteoris ...,” 1572 and 1578.
Stanley, Sir Edward, of Tongue Castle, 121
Stanley, Venetia Anastasia, 121
Stark, Dr. James, of Edinburgh, 375
Stark, J. C. (_at_ Galvani, Luigi, A.D. 1786), 284
Stark, John, “Biographia Scotica”: Edinburgh, 1805, 311
Starke, Mariana (_at_ School of Athens), 542
Statistical Society, London, 471
Staunton, Sir George Thomas (1737–1801), “The history of the great
and mighty kingdom of China,” “Account of an Embassy,” 1, 21
Steavenson, Robert, “Dissert. de electricitate ...,” 1778, 556
Steele, Robert, “Gleanings from Barthol. de Glanvilla,” 16;
“Mediæval Lore,” 526
Steichen, Michel, “Vie et travaux de Simon Stevinus,” 79
Steiglehuer--Steiglehner--Cölestin (1738–1819), 272, 274
Steindachner, F. (_at_ Shaw, George), 299
Steinhaueser, Johannes Gottfried (1768–1825).
Steinheil, Karl August (1801–1870), 422
Steininger and Neggerath, 315
Stenischneider--Steinschneider--Moritz (1816–1907), “Intorno alla
calamita,” 38, 72
Stella, F. M. (_at_ Amoretti, Carlo), 401
Stens--Stensen--Niels--Nicolas, 1671, 270
Stephen, Leslie. _See_ “Dict. of National Biography.”
Stephens (_at_ Franklin, Benjamin), 196
Stepling, Jos. (_at_ Dalton, John), 308
Stevens, B. P., and Brown, xx.
Stevinus, Simon (1548–1628), called Simon of Bruges, 63, 78, 79,
80, 81, 102, 517.
_See_ Wright, Edward.
Stewart, Professor Balfour, “Lessons in elementary physics”:
London, 1872.
Stillingfleet, Edward (1635–1699), 147
Stobæus, Joannes (fl. _c._ A.D. 500), 24
Stockholm, Royal Academy of Sciences, 187, 232
Stockler de Borja, Franc. de (1759–1829), 530
Stoeckl, Albert, 39
Stœffler, Johann, “Cœlestium ... totius sphericæ ...,” 553
Stones, meteoric. _See_ Salverte.
Stow, John (1525–1605), 210, 211
Strabo, Greek historian (66–28 B.C.), 17, 67, 520, 533
Strada, Famianus, Italian Jesuit (1572–1649), “Prolusiones
Academicæ ...,” 82, 98, 123
Strato of Lampsacus, philosopher who lived in the reign of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, 542
Streizig of Verona (_at_ Gay-Lussac, J. L., A.D. 1804), 389
Stroemer--Stromer--Märten (1707–1770) 187
Struve, Christian August (1767–1807), 326, 385, 433
Strype, John (1643–1737), 210, 232
Stuart, Thomas (_at_ Ampère, A. M., A.D. 1820), 477
“Student, The, or Oxford and Cambridge Misc.,” 98
Stuebler--Stuber--Eugen, “Life of Franklin,” 199
Stuello, “Bibl. Scrip., S. J.”: Rome, 1676, 110
Stukeley, Rev. William (1687–1765), 187–189
Sturgeon, William (1783–1850), “Annals of Electricity,” 1836–1843;
“Lectures on Electricity”: London, 1842; “Scientific
Researches”: Bury, 1850; “Annals of Philosophical Discovery
...,” 79, 80, 140, 142, 162, 181, 199, 201, 204, 207, 223, 232,
239, 243, 245, 256, 257, 263, 296, 297, 304, 306, 330, 337,
339, 347, 359, 370, 384, 388, 394, 395, 397, 406, 407, 408,
414, 415, 420, 428, 432, 433, 440, 441, 454, 455, 460, 464,
468, 472, 476, 481, 482, 483, 491, 498
Sturla, Jarl--Snorri Sturlason, 44
Sturm, Johann Christoph, of the Altdorff University (1635–1703),
129–130
Sturmy’s “Mariner’s Magazine,” 143, 242
Stuvenius (_at_ Columbus, Christopher, A.D. 1492), 67
Subtle--subtil--subtile--matter (_materia subtilis_) subtile
medium, 57, 122, 133, 151, 174, 183, 212, 213, 214, 355, 360,
495
Succinum--Succini, 137, _also at_ p. 8.
Sue, Jean Joseph (1760–1830), “Recherches physiologiques,” 306
(Hœfer, “Biog. Gén.,” 1865, Vol. 44, pp. 620–621)
Sue, Pierre aîné (1739–1816), “Histoire du Galvanisme,” 247, 248,
249, 264, 275, 281, 285, 299, 301, 303, 306, 326, 328, 330,
350, 353, 355, 359, 361, 363, 376, 378, 383, 385
Suhm, Peter Frederik, “In effigien Torfæi ...” (_at_ A.D. 1266),
45
Suidas, author of a prominent Greek lexicon compiled during the
tenth century, 541
Sulzer, Johann Georg (1720–1779), 152, 223, 312, 419
Summanus, night source of lightning, 9
Sunde, Janus Hercules de (pseud. of Schwenter, Daniel, 1585–1636),
81, 125, 240
Sundelin, K., 1822 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine, A.D. 1803), 385
Suspension of statues, etc., in mid-air, 18, 123, 222, 527
“Svenska Vetenskaps Akademiens Handlingar” for 1740, 168
Swammerdam, Jan (1637–1682), 202
Swanwick, Anna, translator of Æschylus, 4
Swedenborg, Emmanuel (1688–1772), 163–165
Swedish Academy of Sciences, 190
Swickardus (_at_ Browne, Sir Thomas, A.D. 1646), 124
Swieten, Gerard van, pupil of Boerhaave (_at_ A.D. 1722), 157
Swiettiki of Denmark (_at_ A.D. 1745), 174
Swift, William (_at_ Henley, William T.), 237
Swinden, Jan Hendrik van (1746–1823), “Tentamina theoriæ
mathematicæ ...,” 1772; “Recueil de mémoires sur l’analogie de
l’électricité et du magnétisme ...,” 1784; “Analogia
electricitatis et magnetismi,” 1780–1781; “Positiones physicæ,”
1786, 65, 103, 106, 121, 131, 135, 140, 170, 199, 218, 224,
229, 230, 233, 237, 240, 254, 263, 271–274, 285, 309, 393
Sylvester, Charles (_at_ A.D. 1805, 1806 and 1812), 392, 394, 419
Symes, R., 1771 (_at_ Thillaye-Platel, Antoine), 385
Symmer, Robert (_d._ 1763), 161, 218–220, 221, 224, 409
Symonds, John Addington (_at_ Ficino, Marsiglio), 515
Symons, G. J. (_at_ Franklin, Benjamin), 199
Szuki--Shiki--or “Historical Memoirs of
Szu-ma-thsian”--Szu-mats’een--the greatest of all Chinese
historical works, 5
T
Table générale des Bulletins des sociétés savantes.
_See_ Tessier, Octave.
Tachard, Father Guy (_d._ 1714), 156
Tacitus, Publius Caius Cornelius (_c._ A.D. 54–120), “Germania,”
“Annals,” “Agricola,” etc., 140, 524.
_See_ “Annals of C. C. Tacitus.”
Tafel, Dr. R. L. (_at_ Swedenborg, E.), 163
Tafuri, Giovanni Bernardino, “Scrittori ... di Napoli,” 1749, 540
Taisnier, Jean--Joannes (Taisnier of Hainault--Hannonius)
(1509–1562), “De natura magnetis ...,” 1562, 13, 46, 53
Tait, Professor Peter Guthrie. _See_ Thomson, Sir William.
Talbot, Sir Gilbert, on magnetical remedies, 126
Talmud, designation of the loadstone, 15
Tamery, Prof. Paul, “Pour l’histoire de la science Helléne,” 8,
504, 511, 532
Tarchon, founder of Etruscan theurgism, 9
Tarde, J., “Les usages ... esguille aymantée,” 1621, 553
Tatum’s lectures (_at_ Faraday, Michael), 455, 496
Taylor and Phillips, editors of the Phil. Mag., 466
Taylor, Brook--Brooke, F.R.S. (1685–1731), 150, 155, 156, 191, 264
Taylor, Richard (1781–1858), “Scientific Memoirs,” 428, 495
Taylor, Thomas, translator of Iamblichus, the treatises of
Aristotle and the six books of Proclus, 2, 503, 537
Taylor, W. B., “Memoir of Joseph Henry,” 447, 460;
“(1) La longitude terrestre ...,” 1556; “Recherches sur les
propriétés magnetiques du fer,” 1862
Tcheou-Koung--Choung (Ki-tan), 3
Tchéyeou--Tchi-yeou--Chinese prince (_at_ 2637 B.C.), 1
Tchi-nan, chariot of the South, 3
Tchin-Thsang-Ki, 77
Tching-Onang, nephew of Tcheou-Koung, regent of the Chinese Empire,
3
Tchou-lou plains, 1
“Telegrafista (II),” publication commenced in Rome during 1881.
Telegrafo elettrico scintillante, 227
Telegraph Polygrammatic, 397
Telegraph-Anthropo of Knight Spencer employed as early as 1805, 400
Telegraph electro-chemical, the first, 407
Telegraph, Symbolic, also the Terrestrial Telegraph introduced by
Macdonald, 399
Telegraph: on the history of the word telegraph.
_See_ Axon, W. E. A.
_See_ History of the telegraph.
“Télégraphe, La.” _See_ Ternant.
“Telegrapher, The,” publication commenced in New York during 1864,
afterwards called “Journal of the Telegraph.”
“Telegraphic Journal,” publication commenced in London during 1864,
408
Telegraphic signals, first transmitted by voltaic electricity, 406
“Telegraphist, The,” publication commenced in London during 1883;
“The Telegraphist and Electrician” first appeared in London
during 1876.
Telegraphs, electric and galvanic. _See_ Electric Telegraphs.
Telegraphs, optical. _See_ Semaphores.
Telegraphy, histories of, 301: written by I. U. J. Chappe, Paris,
1824, and Le Mans, 1840; Bois, Victor, 1853–1856; Bonel, A.,
Paris, 1857; Mangin, M., 1752; Reynaud, J. J., 1851.
Telegraphy, oceanic: Brett in 1858; and Brigge, _also_ in 1858.
Telegraphy, pneumatic, by Medhurst, 408
Telegraphy, wireless, 10, 19
“Telephone, The,” “Review of electrical science”: London, 1889.
Telephoning--communicating sound through a wire--in 1667, 143
Telesio, Bernardino, “De rerum natura ...,” 1570.
Tellograph of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, 316
Templeman, in the “Nouvelliste,” 1759, 298
Temple of Jerusalem, never struck by lightning during 1000 years, 9
Temple of Diana at Ephesus, 18
Temple of Juno had its roof covered with sword blades, 9
Temple of Pharos, 18
Temple of Solomon, 10
Temple of Serapis at Alexandria, 18
Temples of Hercules, 13
Tentzel--Tentzelius--Andreas, “Medicina Diastalica,” 245
Tentzel, Wilhelm Ernst, “Collection Académique,” 229
Termeyer, Raimondo Maria de, 298, 299
Ternant, A. L., “Le Télégraphe,” 147, 264, 265
_Terrella_--_terrella-microge_, little earth, 47, 48, 50, 83, 86,
121.
_See_ Petit P.,
_also_ Wren, Sir Chr.
“Terrestrial Magnetism,” 59, 138, 140, 199.
_See also_ Bauer, L. A.
Terzagus, “Musæum Septalianum,” 159
Teske, J. G. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 385
Tessier, Henri Alexandre, “Eloges des hommes illustres,” 93, 515,
527, 539
Tessier, Octave, “Table générale des bulletins des sociétés
savantes”: Paris, 1873, 43
Tetens, J. N., “Schreiben ... magneteuren,” 1775, 246
_Tetraodon_--tetrodon--_electricus_, 298, 374
Teyler, Archives du Musée, 160
Teyler Van der Hulst, Pieter (1702–1778), “Tweede Genootschap,”
published at Haarlem, 1781, 280
Teylerian electrical machine, 292
Teylerian Society. _See_ Haarlem.
Thalen, J. R., “Recherches ... magnétiques du fer ...” (Nova Acta
Reg. Soc. Upsala, III. Série), 1862.
Thales of Miletus (639–548 B.C.), 7, 15, 515, 532, 534, 542, 543
Thatcher--Thacher--John Boyd, 66, 524
_Theamedes_ of the ancients believed to be identical with the
tourmaline, 17
Thebit-ben-Korah--Thebitius (836–901), 540–541
Thebitius. _See_ Thebit-ben-Korah.
Themistius (_c._ A.D. 315–390), “Oratio,” “Euphrades,” 10, 541
Thénard, Louis Jacques, Baron (1777–1857), 249, 338, 340, 347, 352,
354, 376, 380, 388, 389, 419, 480
Theodoric the Great (_c._ A.D. 454–526), 18
Theodorus, Emperor, 144 (entered at Louis Maimbourg).
Theodosius the Great (fl. 379–395), 24, 541
Theophrastus (372–286 B.C.), 7, 13, 21, 270, 530, 539, 543.
_See_ Scaliger, J. C.,
_also_ Hill, Sir John.
Theory, undulatory--Young, Dr. Thomas, 395
Thermo-dynamics, second law of, 346, 392.
The first law or principle of thermo-dynamics was enunciated by
the French physicist Carnot (Nicolas Leonard Sardi,
1796–1832).
Thermo-electric inversion, discovered by Prof. James Cummings.
Thermo-electric needle of Becquerel, 463
Thermo-electric tension of minerals (Phil. Mag., Ser. IV. Vol. XXX.
pp. 337–339, 1865).
Thermo-electricity: Dessaignes, 415; Seebeck, 415; Brewster, 465.
_See_ Cummings, James, and _consult_ Table Analytique des Annales
de Ch. et de Phys., Index, pp. 364–370.
Thermo-electrometer of Harris, 469
Thevenot, Melchisedech (1620–1692), “Recueil de Voyages,” 47, 53
Thibaud VI, Comte de Champagne, 33
Thicknesse, Ra. (_at_ Williamson, C. H.) 270
Thillaye, Jean Baptiste Jacques (1752–1822), 385
Thillaye-Platel, Antoine (1782–1806), 274, 384–385, 430
Thilly, Frank, 504, 505. _See_ Weber, Alfred.
Tholuck, Friedrich August Gottren (1799–1877), 38
Thoman, Fédor (_at_ Arago, D. F. J.), 480
Thomas Aquinas, Saint, Doctor Angelicus (1225–1274), 16, 35, 36,
37, 39, 57, 171, 505, 506.
_See_ Joannes de Rupescissa.
Thomas, John, “Univ. Pron. Dict.,” 146, 148
Thomas, Joseph (Dict. of Nat. Biogr.), 163, 286, 370
Thompson, A. T., translator of Salverte’s “Philosophy of Magic,” 1
Thompson, Benjamin, Count Rumford (1753–1814), 225, 346, 370–371.
_See_ Copley Medal,
_also_ Rumford Medal.
Thompson, Silvanus P. (1851–1916), Introduction, xi, xiii–xv, xvii,
xix, 45, 46, 54, 63, 92, 113, 189, 342, 498.
_See_ Aerolites.
Thoms, William T. (_at_ Strype, A.D. 1754), 210
Thomson, Allen (1809–1884), 425
Thomson, Elihu, xi, 184
Thomson, Thomas (1773–1852), “An outline of the sciences of heat
and electricity,” 1st ed. 1830; “Annals of Philosophy”: London,
1813–1826; “Outline of the Sciences ...”; “Annals of
Philosophy”; “History of the Royal Society”: London, 1812;
“History of Chemistry,” etc.; 90, 105, 132, 150, 152, 155, 156,
162, 167, 189, 190, 196, 199, 214, 218, 221, 222, 227, 233,
239, 248, 249, 251, 256, 262, 263, 268, 277, 284, 286, 313,
347, 363, 364, 370, 403, 408, 412, 414, 423, 427, 435, 440,
441, 443, 446, 449, 452, 455, 458, 461, 468, 478, 479
Thomson, Sir William, first Baron Kelvin of Largs (1824–1907),
dedication, x, xi, 87, 141, 218, 239, 321, 346, 371, 392, 411,
412, 413, 455, 470, 492, 493, 499.
_See_ Le Roux, F. P., Electro-dynamic qualities of metals (Phil.
Trans. Roy. Soc. for 1879, pp. 55–85).
Thor, son of Odin, personifies electricity, 13
Thore and Croissant (_at_ Hare, Robert), 449
Thorp, R. W. D. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 385
Thorpe, T. E., “Essays in historical chemistry,” 132, 189, 228,
239, 262, 347, 499
Thou, François Auguste de (_at_ Fracastorio, H.), 515
Thouin, André (compass plant), 259
Thoung-Kian-Kang-Mou, 2, 5
Thouret, Michel Augustin (1749–1810), “Rapport sur les aimants ...
Le Noble,” 1783; “Lettre sur le magnétisme animal,” 1784–1785,
245, 273
Thouret, T. Auguste (_at_ Mesmer, F. A.), 237
Thouri, de (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 385
Thouron, V. C., 505
Thouvenel, Pierre (1747–1815), “Mémoire physique ...,” 1781, 384,
401
Thrasyllus, the grammarian, 511
_Thumstein_, apparatus for transmitting sound through wires (_at_
A.D. 968), 28
Thunder and lightning attracted and directed by the ancients, 9,
294
Tiato (_at_ Toaldo, G.), 253
Tiberghien, Guillaume, “Essai théorique et historique sur la
génération des connaissances humaines,” 42, 102, 122, 504, 505,
511, 519
Tiberius, 20, 513
“Tidsskrift for naturvidenskaberne; af Orsted ...”: Kjobenhavn,
1822–1828, 455
Tillard--Tilland--Captain (islands of eruption), 417
Tillemont, Louis Sébastien Lenain de (1637–1698), “Histoire des
Empereurs,” “Mémoires Hist. Eccles.,” 25, 525, 541
Tillet, “Sur l’incendie,” 1760, 555
Tilloch, Alexander (1759–1825), one of the editors of the
“Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science,” 252, 381, 392,
396, 429, 434, 452, 467, 474, 478
Timæus (_c._ 352–256 B.C.), Greek historian, 8
Timæus. _See_ Plato.
“Times,” London, 134, 248
Timochares (_c._ 367–283 B.C.) (_at_ Ptolemy--Ptolemæus II), 18
Tinan, Barbier de (_at_ Toaldo, G.), 253
Tingry, P. F. (Journal de Physique, Vol. XLVII.), 557
Tipaldo, Emilio A. de, “Biografia degli Italiani illustri, nella
scienze ...”: Venezia, 1834, 253, 300, 303
Tiphys Batavus, 521
Tiraboschi, Girolamo (1731–1794), “Biblioteca Modenese,” “Storia
della litteratura Italiana,” 55, 113, 510, 514, 529, 540
Tisserand, L. M., “Paris et ses historiens,” 34
Tissot, “Historie de la philosophie,” 532
Titelmanni, Franc, “Naturalis Philos. Compendium,” 1571, 553
Titius--Tietz--Johann Daniel (1729–1796), “De electrici experimenti
...,” 1771; “Gemeinützige ...,” “Tableau du travail actuel de
toutes les Académies de l’Europe ...,” 158
Titus Livius (_b._ A.D. 59), Great Roman historian, generally
called Livy, 10, 24, 78
Toaldo, Giuseppe (1719–1798), 140, 253, 254, 271, 295
Todd, John T. (experiments on the _torpedo_), 436
Tolloy, Crimotel de (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Tomlinson, Charles, “Cyclopædia of useful arts and manufactures,”
317, 322, 337, 339, 437, 455, 470
Tommasi--Tomasi--Donato, of Paris (_b._ 1848), “Traité des piles
électriques,” 365, 376.
_See_ Romagnosi, G. D.
Tonkin, John, of Penzance, 339
Topaz, a talisman, 8
Torfæus, Thormodr (Phormodur Torfesen) (1636–1719), 44
_Torpedo_, torpille. _See also_ “_raia torpedo_,” _also_ Savi, P.,
11, 20, 136, 149, 229, 230, 239, 240, 241, 258, 270, 319, 334,
345, 346, 374, 409, 436, 493, 527
Torsion balance, invented by Coulomb, 275
Tortolini, Barnaba, “Annali di scienze ...,” 8 Vols.; “Annali di
matematica ...,” 1856–1861.
Toscanelli, Paul del Pozzo (1397–1482), 34;
Nouv. Biog. Gén. (Hœfer), Vol. 45, pp. 557–558.
Touche, Daillant de la, 164
Toulouse, Academy Reports, Mémoires, etc., 229, 288, 556
Tourdes, J. (_at_ Aldini, G.), 306
Tourmaline, 8, 13, 17, 152, 153, 184, 193, 218, 286, 287–288, 364,
451, 465
Tourtelle, Etienne, “Histoire philosophique de la médecine,” 65,
170
Toutain (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 386
Townsend, W. J., “The great schoolmen of the Middle Ages,” 37, 41,
505
Tozzetti, Targioni, “Atti e Memorie inedite dell’ Accademia del
Cimento ...,” 3 Vols.; _also_, “Notizie ...,” 3 Vols. 1780,
556
Trail--Traill, Thomas Stewart (1781–1862), 339, 465, 477
Tralles, Johann Georg (1763–1822) (“Allgemeine Deutsche
Biographie,” 1894, Vol. 38, pp. 494–495), 292–293, 331
Transactions Elec. Soc. Mannheim, 29.
_See_ “Academia electoralis scientiarum,” which is also called
“Academia Theodoro Palatina.”
Transmitting intelligence by wire; in early days said to have been
done by one of the Cleopatras, 12.
_See also_ Kung-foo-Whing (_at_ A.D. 968), 28
Tredwey, Robert (Phil. Trans., XIX. 711), 1698, 554
Trembley, A., on light caused by quicksilver shaken in glass tube,
175, 177, 555
Treméry, Jean Louis (1773–1851), 288, 324;
“Observations sur les aimants elliptiques,” 1797.
Trendelenberg, Friedrich Adolf (1802–1872), 544
Trent, History of the Council of, 90, 110, 528
Tressan, Louis Elizabeth de la Vergne de (1705–1783), 189, 385, 417
Treviranus, Gottfried Reinhold (1776–1837), 255, 257, 327, 557
Treviso Athenæum, “Memorie scientifiche ...,” 1817–1847, 253
Treviso Giornale, “Giornale sulle scienze ...,” 1821–1830.
Trévoux, Mémoires de, 551
Trew, Abdias, “De meteoris ...”: Argent, 1654.
Trichiurus electricus--trichiurus Indicus, 297, 298
Triennald, S. von, 308
Tries’ claim to Van Marum’s machine, 280
Trieste, School of Arts and Navigation, 407
Trinity College, at Cambridge, England, 4, 212, 319
Tripier, A. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 386
Trismegistus. _See_ Hermes.
Tristan, Comte J. de, 401
Trithemius, Johannes (1462–1516), author of “Steganographia ...,”
1606; “Annalium Hirsaugiensium ...,” 1690; “De scriptoribus
ecclesiasticis,” 37, 504, 554
Trommsdorff, Johann Barthelomaüs (1770–1837), 285, 352–353, 419
Troostwijk, Adriaan Paets van (1752–1837), and Deiman, Jean
Rodolph, 280, 291–292, 385
Trouvé (_at_ Zamboni, Giuseppe), 420
Tsching-Vang, second emperor of the Tcheou dynasty, 3
Tübingen. _See_ Gmelin family.
Tübingen, “Morgenblatt,” 351
Tübingen University, 284, 303, 433, 450, 451
Tufts, James H. _See_ Windelband’s “History of Philosophy.”
Tulk, Dr. Alfred, 404
Tullus Hostilius (672–640 B.C.), third legendary King of Rome, 9
Turnbull, Laurence (1821–1900), “Electro-magnetic Telegraph, with
an historical account of its progress”: Philad., 1853, 11, 317,
318, 368, 384, 407, 422, 436, 440, 455, 476
Turner, Robert, “Electricology; or a discourse upon electricity
...,” 1746, 554
Turner, William, “History of Philosophy,” 504
Turin--Torino--Academie Royale des Sciences or University, 30, 140,
209, 294, 295, 296, 302, 306, 367
Turin--Torino--Bibl. de, 284
Turin--Torino--College of Fine Arts, 294
Turin--Torino--Memorie della Soc. Agr., 257, 295
Turin--Torino--Normal College, 294
Turin--Torino--Nuova Encyclopedia Italiana. _See_ Bocardo.
Turin--Torino--Observatory, Annals of, 295
Turin--Torino. _See_ Giornale Scientifico d’una Soc. Fil.
Twast (_at_ A.D. 1812), 419
Two-fluid theory: Hare, 1823; Ingen-housz, 1778; Symner and Dufay,
409–410
Tycho Brahé (1546–1601), 92, 94, 95, 102, 508, 530, 533.
_See_ Jöcher, C. G., “Allgemeines Gel. Lex.,” pp. 1325–1327.
Tyndall, John (1820–1893), “Heat as a mode of motion,” vii, xiii,
14, 131, 132, 142, 166, 170, 173, 177, 231, 255, 282, 314, 344,
346, 380, 383, 396, 411, 433, 487, 489, 492, 495, 497, 498,
499.
_See_ “Lives of the Electricians,” by William T. Jeans, 1887;
“Lessons in Electricity.”
_Also_ Rumford Medal.
Typhon, bone of (Typhoëus, in Greek Legend), 14
U
Uberti, Bonifacio--Fazio degli (_d._ 1368), “Il Dittamondo ...
ridotto,” 44
Ueberweg, Dr. Friedrich (1826–1871), History of Philosophy,
translated by George S. Morris, 26, 32, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41,
102, 122, 504, 505, 507, 510, 511, 512, 518, 519, 532, 534,
537
Ughelli, Fernandino, “Italia Sacra,” 516
Ugo di Bercy (Sercy) (fl. thirteenth century A.D.), 56, 61.
_See_ Nouvelle Biographie Générale, of Hœfer, V. 783.
Ugollet at Venice, publisher of Ausonius’ “Mosella,” 18
Uhland, W. H. (_at_ Faraday), 498
Ulloa, Don Antonio de, Spanish mathematician (1716–1795). Makes the
earliest recorded reference to the Aurora Australis, 141,
165–166
Ulstadius, Philippus (fl. sixteenth century A.D.), “Cœlum
philosophorum”: Paris, 1544, 553
Undulatory theory of light, interferences in the, Dr. Young, 1807,
395
Unger, Johann Friedrich von (1716–1781), “Abhandlung von der natur
der Electricität”: Braunschweig, 1745 (Hamb. Magaz., VIII.
1751).
“United Service Journal,” 397
United States Japan Expedition (Zodiacal Light), 142
Universal Encyclopædia, 38
Universal Lexicon, Leipzig, 48
Université de Padone. _See_ Boulay, H. de.
Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages.
_See_ Rashdall, Hastings.
Unzer, T. C., 245
Upsala Academy (University), 141, 163, 168, 221, 387
Upsala Botanical Gardens, 259; Compass plant, 259
Upsala Royal Society, 232
Urbanitzky, Alfred von, “Electricity in the service of man ...,”
edited by Richard Wormell, and revised by R. Mullineux
Walmsley, London, 1886; “Les lampes électriques ...”: Paris,
1885 (Bibliothèque des Actualités Industrielles, No. IV.), 162,
219
Ure, Andrew (1778–1857), “Dictionary of Arts,” “Dictionary of
Chemistry,” 354, 370, 417–418, 440, 446, 455
Ursa Major: star referred to by William Gilbert in connection with
Marsilius Ficinus, Cardanus, Lucas Gauricus and Gaudentius
Merula, who believe it to influence magnetic variation, 108
Usiglio, C., 1844 (_at_ Jadelot, J. F. N.), 330
Ussher, Henry (1743–1790) (_at_ John Dalton), 308
V
_Van_: _all additional names with this prefix appear under the
names_.
Vacca, Andrea (1772–1826), 299
Vacca, Leopold (1732–1812), 299
_Vacuo, in._ Propagation of light _in vacuo_, 132, 182, 202, 294.
_See_ Picard, Jean (Anc. Mémoires, Paris, Vols. II. and X.);
Return of electric light _in vacuo_ (Grummert, G. H.), 172;
Attrition of bodies _in vacuo_ (Phil. Trans., XXIV. 2165);
Electric light _in vacuo_ (Dantzig, Memoirs, I. 417).
Vail, Alfred (1807–1859), “History of the American Electro-magnetic
Telegraph ...,” 286, 316, 436
Vairano, Josephus, “Diatriba de electricitate,” 1777, 556
Valenciennes (_at_ Arago), 481
Valens, Flavius, Roman Emperor, 144 (A.D. 328–378).
_See_ Moreri, L., “Grand Dict.,” Vol. VIII. pt. 3, p. 13; Hœfer,
“Nouv. Biog. Gén.,” Vol. XLV. pp. 855–856.
Valentinelli, Giuseppe, Royal Librarian of the Marciana, Venice,
111
Valentinus, Bazilius (fifteenth century)--Basil Valentine,
“Conclusiones ... magnect ...”: Rottm., 1632.
Valère, André, Biblio. Belgica, 538
Vallemont, Pierre Le Lorrain de (1649–1721), “La physique occulte,
en traité de la baguette divinatoire,” 1693; “Description de
l’aimant ...,” 1692, 110, 144, 401
Vallensis, Roberti, “Di veritate ...,” 1593 and 1612, 502
Vallerius, H. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 386
Vallesius--Valles de Corarrubias--Francisco, 538
Valli, Eusebio (1755–1816), 249, 270, 285, 302–303, 327, 393, 419
Vallot, Joseph, “Report on difference between chalcedony and
tourmaline,” 288
Vanderlot’s work on the Surinam Eel, 230
Van Etten, Henry, is _pseud._ of Jean Leurechon (1591–1670),
_q.v._, “Mathematical Recreations,” “Récréations
Mathématiques,” 109, 126, 127, 148, 401
Van Swinden. _See_ Swinden.
Van’t Hoff, Professor Jakobus Hendrikus (_b._ 1852, _d._ 1915). He
established, with F. W. Ostwald, the “Lehrbuch der Allegem.
Chemie” and “Zeitschrift für physikalische chemie”; “Dix années
dans l’histoire d’une théorie ...,” 1865.
_See_ Ostwald.
Vapereau, G., “Dictionnaire Universel des Contemporains”: Paris,
1893.
Vargas, Bernardo Perez de, “De re metallica,” 502
Variation and dip of the magnetic needle, observations on the.
_See_ Gilpin, George.
Variation charts: Barlow, 1820; Churchman, at 1790–1804; Halley,
1701; Bianco, 1436.
Variation denied by Medina, Pedro de, 63–64
Variation of the compass, first shown by Burrowes--Borough--in
1592, 77
Variation of the declination:--
_Annual_--Cassini at 1782–1791, 117, 266; Cause of errors
investigated, Flinders, 1801, 348; Dip or inclination,
Hartmann, 1544, 70;
Norman, 1576, 75–76;
Peregrinus (1269), 76
_Diurnal_ and _horary_--Beaufoy (1813), 427;
Graham, 1722, 117, 156;
Swinden, 1784, 273;
Cassini IV. 1784, 157, 273
_Intensity_--“The third and most important element of terrestrial
magnetism,” Borda, 1776, 249
_Secular_--Gellibrand, 1635, 117.
_See_ John Mair and John Pell, 1635.
Variation of the variation: Gellibrand, 1635, 117–118;
Wright, Edw., 80;
Petit, P. (Phil. Trans., 1667, p. 502).
Varley introduced the use of compressed air for message
transmission, 408
Varnhagen, Francisco, Adolfo de (_at_ Pedro Nuñez), 531
Varthema. _See_ Vertomannus.
Vasco da Gama. _See_ Gama.
Vasco, on Galvanism, 327
Vasquez y Morales, D. Jos., “Ensayo sobre la electricidad ...,”
1747, 555
Vassalli-Eandi, Antonio Maria (1761–1825).
_See_ Bibliothèque Italienne;
_also_ Mem. Accad. Torino, Vols. 6, 10, 12, 14, 22, 24, 26, 27,
30; Phil. Mag., XV. 319; Journal de Physique, 1799, 1800;
Biblioteca Oltremontana, 1787 and 1788, 9, 207, 224, 257,
259, 270, 274, 285, 294–296, 298, 305, 306, 331, 393, 401,
419, 514
Vauquelin, Louis Nicholas (1763–1829), 247, 333, 344, 349, 352,
354, 355, 389, 419
Veau de Launay. _See_ Delaunay.
Veaumorel, Caullet de, 265, 280
Veen, Otto van (Aquinas, St. Thomas), 505
Venanson, Flamminius--Flamnius, “De l’invention de la boussole
nautique,” 1808, 5, 17, 30, 31, 43, 54, 56, 57
Venetian Athenaeum--Ateneo di Venezia.
Venetian Imperial Royal Institution, Atti ... (_also_ Memorie)
dell’ I.R. Istituto Veneto di science....
Venetus, Paulus. _See_ Sarpi.
Venturi, Giambattista of Modena (1746–1822), 331, 333
Veratti, Giuseppe of Bologna (1707–1793), 186, 204, 213, 264, 384
Vergil--Virgil, “De inventoribus rerum.”
Vergil--Virgil (70–19 B.C.), Publius V. Maro, “Georgics,”
“Eclogues,” “Æneid,” etc., title page.
Vergilius--Virgilius--Bishop of Salzburg from 744 to the time of
his death during the year 784, 523
Verhand, van het Genootsch te Rotterdam, 280, 292
Vernier (_at_ Coulomb, C. A. de), 276
Verona Lyceum, 420
“Verona Poligrafo,” “Poligrafo, Giornale di scienze ...,” 420
Verrall, A. W., translator of the Agamemnon of Æschylus, 4
_Versorium_, introduced by Wm. Gilbert, 83
Vertommanus--Varthema--Ludovico di (_b._ 1480, _d._ early sixteenth
century), 69–70
Vespucci, Amerigo (1452–1512), Italian navigator, in whose honour
the new world was named America, Vespuccius Americus, 536, 537
Vetensk Akad. Nyr. Handl., 216, 257, 288, 299, 370
Vicenza, Giornale Enciclopedico, Vicenza 1779–1784, 253
Vicq d’Azyr, Felix (1748–1794). Sécr. Perpétuel Soc. Royale de
Médecine, 302, 303
“Vidensk. Salsk. Skrift. Ny Samml.,” 557.
_See_ Copenhagen Academy.
Videt, F. F. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 386
Viegeron, P. D., “Mémoire sur la force des pointes,” 252
Vienna Academy--“Kais. Akad. der Wissenschaften,” 250.
_See also_ p. 408.
Vienna Polytechnic Institute, 407, 408
“Vierteljehrschrift des Astronomischen Gesellschaft,” Leipzig,
1879, 165
Vieta, Francis (1540–1603), 90, 102, 109
Vigenere, Blaise de (1523–1596), 78
Vignaud, Henri, on Toscanelli and on Columbus, 34, 66
Vigneul--Marville--_pseud._ Noel Bonaventura d’Argonne--“Mélanges
d’histoire et de Littérature,” 1699–1701, 97
Vilette, M. F., Paper electrophorus, 249
Vilgerderson, Floke (_at_ Frode, the Wise), 28
Villeneuve, Arnaud de. _See_ Arnaldus de Villa Nova.
Villeneuve, O. de (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 385
Vimercati, Guido, Rivista Scientifico-Industriale.
Vincent and Boncompagni in “Bulletino di Bibliogr.,” Vol. IV., 520
Vincent de Beauvais (_c._ 1190–1264), xix, 16, 18, 33–35, 39, 40,
59
Vineis, P. de, 15
Vircy, Jules Joseph (1775–1847), “Dictionnaire des sciences
médicales,” 425
Virgil. _See_ Vergil.
Virginia University, 467
Virgula Divina or divining rod, at Amoretti, 401
Visconti--Visconte--Pietro, author of the oldest known portolan,
1311, 63
Vitalis, H., “De magnetica vulnerum curatione,” 1668, 554
Vitruvius, G.--Marcus Vitruvius Pollio--believed to have flourished
in the time of Julius Cæsar, 505, 510
Vitry, Jacobus de, Cardinal Bishop of Ptolemais (_d._ betw. 1240
and 1244), 30, 56, 59
Vivenzio, Le Chevalier G. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), “Teoria e
practica della elletricita medica,” 1784, 274, 385
Vogel, Johann Ludwig Andreas (1771–1840), “Die wunder des
magnetismus”: Erfurt, 1818.
Vogt, Joannis, author of “Catalogus Historico-Criticus,” 1793, xix
Voigt, Johann Heinrich (1751–1823), “Magazin für das Neueste aus
der Physik,” “Versuche ... magnetismus,” Iena, 1793; “Mag. für
Naturkunde ...”
_See_ Lichtenberg, 314, 316, 318, 327, 368, 380, 383, 452
Volhard, Jacob, in “Le Moniteur Scientifique,” 262
Volland--Voland--Mlle. (_at_ Ledru Comus), 224
Volpicelli, Paolo (1804–1879), “Intorno ... magnete,” “Sul cognito
fenomeno ...,” 71, 353, 470
Volt.... _See_ Nipher, Francis Eugène.
Volta, Alessandro (1745–1827). _See_ “Raccolta Voltania”: Como,
1899, 217, 224, 245, 246–249, 261, 274, 276, 277, 278, 279,
284, 285, 288, 293, 295, 304, 320, 327, 331, 332, 337, 338,
339, 349, 350, 351, 361, 368, 389, 395, 416, 419, 424, 426,
443, 447, 461, 462, 470, 483, 487, 490, 491.
_At_ p. 15, Vol. II. of Catalogue of the Wheeler Gift is mention
of Volta’s well-known letter to Sir Joseph Banks, wherein he
announces his discovery of the Voltaic pile, called by him
_Organe électrique artificiel_.
Voltaic electricity, first suggestion as to its chemical origin,
329
Voltaic pile, chemical theory of: Parrot, George Friedrich (1802,
1831, 1838), 367–368
Voltaic pile, preparation of ammoniacal amalgam, 388
Voltaire, F. M. Aronet de (1694–1778), “Essai sur les mœurs ...,”
56, 58–59, 61
Von Vang, first emperor of the Tcheou dynasty, 3
Vorsselmann de Heer, Pieter Otto Coenraad (1809–1841) (Algem.
Konst-en-Letterb., 1836–1838, _also_ Pogg. Ann., 1839, 1841).
Vossius, G., “De Scientiis Mathem ...,” 513
Vossius, Isaac, Canon of Windsor, “De Motu Morium ...,” 1663.
Vuccher, Jean Jacques, “De Secretis ...,” 1596, 26, 553
W
Wadding, Luc (1588–1657), “Annales Ord. Min ...,” “J. Duns Scoti
Opera” in 12 Volumes: Lyons, 1639, 39, 41
Wagenaar, Jan, “Histoire de la Hollande,” 534
Wagner (_at_ Zamboni), 420
Waite, Arthur Edward, “Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers,” 32,
64, 65
Waitz, Jacob Seigismund von (1698–1777), 170, 426
Wa-Kan-san siü-tson-ye, the great Japanese encyclopædia, describes
the compass, 153
Wakeley, Andrew, “The mariners’ compass rectified,” 555
Walchius (_at_ Wilkins, John, and _at_ Kratzenstein, C. G.), 119,
172
Wales, William (1734–1798), English mathematician, 242, 457
Walimer, father of Theodoric and King of the Goths, 29
Walker, Adam (1730–1821), 359–360
Walker and Mitchel (Astronomical Journal, Cambridge, Mass., 1848).
Walker, Charles Vincent (1811–1882), “Electrotype Manipulation,”
“Manual of Electricity, Magnetism and Meteorology,” 379, 384,
495;
Walker, C. V., and Lardner, Dionysius.
Walker, E. (Phil. Mag., XLI. XLII. XLIII., London, 1813–1814).
Walker, Edward, “Terrestrial and Cosmical Magnetism”: Cambridge,
1866, 77, 107, 168, 268, 335
Walker, Ezekiel (_at_ Bennet, Rev. Abraham, and _at_ Murray, John),
291, 429
Walker, Ralph, “Treatise on Magnetism” and “Treatise on the
magnet”: London, 1794 and 1798, 54, 77, 119, 137, 157, 191,
232, 249, 250, 546, 555
Walker, Richard (1679–1764), Royal Society Transactions, 547
Walker, S. C., “Researches ... meteors” (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc.,
1843).
Walker, William, Captain, “The magnetism of ships”: London, 1853,
69, 292, 348
Walker, William, senior (“Mem. of Dist. Men of Science”: London,
1862), 440
Walker, William, junior, and Hunt, Robert, “Memoirs of
distinguished men ...”: London, 1864.
Walkiers--Walckiers--de Saint-Amand. _See_ Amand.
Wall, Dr. William, 152, 193
Waller, A. D. (Plant electricity), 260
Waller, Richard, translator of Essays of the Accademio del Cimento,
London, 1684, 143
Wallerius, G. (_at_ Ingen-housz), 257
Wallis, John (1616–1703), 138, 141
Walmsley, R. Mullineux. _See_ Urbanitzky.
Walsh, John (1725–1795), 149, 230, 239–240, 241, 258, 270, 290,
298, 319
Waltenhofen, A. K. Elder von (Sitz. d. K. Akad. d. Wiss., Wien,
1863, 1869, 1870).
Walter and Girardi (Mem. Soc. Ital., III. 553), 298
Walter, Louis H., xi
Walton and Cotton, “Complete Angler,” 1847, 37, 65, 109, 507
Waltzemüller, Martinus Hylacomylus--Waldseemüller--“Cosmographiæ
Introductio,” 535–536
Ward, Henry (_at_ Pasley, C. W.), 398
Ward, John, “Lives of the Gresham Professors,” 143
Ward, Samuel (1617–1689), “Magnetis reductorium ...,” “Wonders of
the loadstone,” 1637 and 1639–1640, 554
Ward, Thomas (1640–1704), 172
Ware (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 386
Wargentin, Pierre Guillaume (1717–1783), 139, 157, 168, 190, 308
Waring, Edward John, “Bibliotheca Therapeutica,” 27
Warltire, John, 227, 228
Wartmann, Louis Elie François (1817–1886), author of many
scientific works. The most notable ones on induction appeared
at Geneva 1844, 1845, 1846–1850; “Mémoire sur les étoiles
filantes”: Bruxelles, 1839, 207, 257
Washington (D. C.) National Academy of Sciences, Memoir of, 321.
_See_ Smithsonian Institution.
Water decomposition, methods of and treatises on, 337
Watkins, Fcis. (_at_ Zamboni, G., and _at_ Faraday, M.), 420, 484
Watson, Sir William (1717–1787), 17, 159, 168, 175–177, 178, 186,
189, 196, 197, 198, 221, 227, 231, 251, 320, 385
Watt, Alexander (1823–1892), “Electro-Metallurgy ...,” 1860;
“Bibliotheca Britannica,” 4 Vols. 1824, 97, 238, 240
Watt, Gregory (1777–1804), 339
Watt, James (1736–1819), 126, 190, 208, 228, 297, 308, 339, 520
Watt, Robert, “Bibliotheca Britannica” (1774–1819), 131, 134, 170,
255, 540
Watts, Henry (1815–1884), “Dictionary of Chemistry,” “Dictionary
of Arts ...,” 417, 449
Weale, John, “Rudimentary series,” 366, 471
Weaver, William D., xi
Webb, Jonathan, of Salem, Mass., 234
Weber, Alfred, “History of Philosophy,” translated by Frank Thilly,
26, 41, 122, 504, 505
Weber, Joseph (_at_ Galvani, Aloysio), 285
Weber, Wilhelm Eduard (1804–1891), 3, 263, 314, 422, 445, 489.
_See_ Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777–1855).
Webster (_at_ Reinhold, J. C. L.), 327
Webster, Dr. J. W., Professor at Harvard College, 417
Webster, John (_at_ Murray, John), 429
Webster, Rev. W., translator of “Histoire de l’Arianisme,” 144
Wedgwood, Aaron, 429. He gives a brief notice of a writing
telegraph in his “Book of Remembrance ...”: London, 1814.
Wedgwood, Ralph, 429–430, 439
Wedgwood, Thomas, 429
Weidler, Christian Gottlieb (_at_ Erasmus, R.), 513
Weidler, Johann Friedrich (1692–1755), 122, 130, 308, 505
Weigel, Chr. Ehrenfried, “Grundriss ...,” 1777, 556
Weigsenborn of Weimar (_at_ Franklin, B.), 195
Weiss, Charles Samuel (1780–1856), 431, 432
Weiss, E., Electrometer, 431
Weisse, John A., “Origin ... Engl. language and literature,” 1879,
42
Weld, Charles Richard, “History of the Royal Society,” 66, 75, 103,
114, 132, 155, 167, 168, 181, 191, 196, 239, 252, 446, 456,
462, 471
Wells, Charles William (1757–1817) (Phil. Trans., 1795, p. 246),
“Observatione ... Galvani’s experiments”: London, 1795, 284,
322–323, 327, 419
Wells, D. A., “Annual of Scientific Discovery ...”: Boston, U.S.A.,
1850
Wenckebach--Wenkebach--Edouard (1813–1874), “De Magneto-elektrische
...,” 1838.
Wenckebach--Wenkebach--Wilhelm (1803–1847), “Sur Petrus
Adsigerius,” 48, 53, 54
Wennstrom, John, 358
Wens, Act. Hill, 253
Werner, C., “Die Scholastik ...”: Vienna, 1881, 41
Wernsdorf, Johann Christian, 19
Wesley, John (1703–1791), 212, 213, 216
Westcott’s magnetic guard for needle pointers, 443
(_at_ Pasley, C. W.), 398
Westen, Wynant van, 554
“Westminster Review,” London, 458
Weston--Wheldon, “Catalogue,” 124, 230
Westphal, T. J., “Nikolaus Kopernikus,” 508
Wetzel, Dr., of Upsal, 212
Weyer, Sylvain van de, “Lettres sur les Anglais ...,” 1854, 79, 81
Wheatstone, Sir Charles (1802–1875), 422, 430, 440;
Coke, W. F., and Wheatstone, Sir Chas.
Wheeler, Schuyler Skaats, Latimer Clark Library Catalogue, xiv
Wheldon’s Catalogue, 230
Wheler, Granville, 154, 155
Whewell, William (1794–1866), “History of the Inductive Sciences
...,” “Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences ...,” “Physical
Astronomy,” “History of Scientific Ideas,” “Astronomy and
Physics,” 30, 32, 42, 43, 59, 75, 89, 91, 94, 95, 96, 102, 103,
116, 117, 119, 120, 122, 131, 134, 138, 142, 147, 156, 157,
159, 171, 214, 220, 239, 370, 378, 391, 396, 404, 412, 414,
433, 445, 446, 451, 453, 460, 464, 467, 469, 471, 476, 479,
499, 481, 484, 485, 493, 495, 499, 508, 522
Whiston, William (1667–1752), 77, 150, 156, 191.
_See_ “Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. LXI. 1900, pp. 10–14.
White, A. Hastings, xi
White, Andrew D., author, 114
White, John, “A rich cabinet ... of inventions,” 135
White, M., associated with Stephen Grey, 161
Whitehouse’s pamphlet on the Atlantic Telegraph, 496
Wiard, Secretary of Mme. Du Deffand, 291
Wiedeburg, Johann Ernst Basilius (1733–1789), “Beobachtungen und
Muthmassungen ...”: Iena, 1771, 140, 308
Wiedemann, G. M. (Pogg. Annal. Volumes for 1848–1862).
Wiedemann, Gustav. Heinrich (1826–1899), “Die lehre von galvanismus
...,” 1861–1863; “Die lehre von der elektricität,” 1882–1885,
441, 498
Wiedemann, Rudolf Franz (Ann. Physik und Chemie, Vol. 89, pp.
497–531).
Wieglib, Johann Christian (1732–1801), editor of “Handbuch der
Allgem. Chemie,” “Die natuerliche ...”: Berlin, 1779, 262
Wien. _See_ Vienna.
Wilcke--Wlik--Johann Carl (1732–1796), 187, 205, 214–216, 217, 288,
315, 386, 410, 444
Wilde, Franz Samuel, “Expériences sur l’électricité des cascades,”
293
Wilkes, C., “Theory of Zodiacal Light,” 142
Wilkins, John, the fourteenth Bishop of Chester and first Secretary
of the Royal Society (1614–1672), “Mercury, or the secret and
swift messenger,” 119, 171, 437
Wilkins, Simon (_at_ Browne, Sir Thomas), 124
Wilkinson, Charles Henry (fl. 1800), “Elements of Galvanism in
theory and practice,” 2 Vols.: London, 1804; “Essay on the
Leyden Phial ...”: London, 1798, 140, 224, 228, 231, 237, 240,
249, 269–270, 279, 280, 281, 284, 289, 306, 307, 312, 323, 325,
326, 327, 331, 333, 337, 339, 347, 353, 355, 361, 365, 379,
385, 402, 419, 483
Wilkinson, George, of Sunderland, 229, 385
William IV, King of England, 466
William, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassell, 93
Williams, Professor Samuel, magnetic observations first made in
U.S., 259
Williamson, H., 230, 299
Willigen, V. T. M., van der, 160
Wilson, Benjamin (1708–1788), “Treatise on electricity,” 1750,
1752; “New experiments and observations ...,” 1777, 155, 176,
178, 180, 183–185, 202, 203, 209, 221, 231, 251, 252, 255,
320, 419.
_See_ Hoadley, Dr. Benjamin, and Wilson, Benjamin, “Observations
on a series of experiments ...”: London, 1756.
_See_ Copley Medal.
Wilson, George, 239, 374, 406
Wilson, James, F.R.S.E., 192, 297, 374
Wilson, Philip--Phillip, 325, 437
Wilson, W. (Phil. Mag., XXII. 260), 337
Winckler, Johann Heinrich (1703–1770), 162, 174, 176, 186, 198,
205, 321, 555
Windelband, Dr., “Hist. of Phil. translated by Jas. H. Tufts,” 37,
40, 41, 102, 122, 505, 510
Wind-roses. _See_ Rose of the winds.
Wingfield, John, “New method increasing ... capacity ... electric
jars,” 231.
_See_ Cuthbertson, John.
Winship, George P., “The Cabot Bibliography,” 69
Winsor, Justin, “Narrative and Critical History ...,” “Bibliography
of Ptolemy’s Geography” (1831–1897), “Description of John G.
Kohl’s Collection of Early Maps,” 62–63, 64, 66, 67, 115, 523,
524, 536
Winter, George K. (_at_ Ingen-housz, J. J.), 256
Winthorp, John (_at_ Newton, Sir Isaac), 134
Wireless Telegraphy, 10, 19
Wischoff, C., “De Wonderwerken Godts ...,” 1729, 555
Witson--Witsen--Nicholaes of Amsterdam, 149
Wittry, Abbé d’Everlange de, 259
Wittry de Abdt. (1764–1840), “On preparation of mosaic gold for
electric machines,” 431
Wöhler--Woehler--Friedrich (1800–1882), “Grundriss der Chemie,”
1833, 340, 370.
_See_ Wöhler, F., and Partsch, P. M., “Analyse des Meteoreis
...”: Wien, 1852; Wöhler, F., and Berzelius, J. J. F. von,
“Jahrsbericht ...,” 1822 to 1851; Cates, L. R., “Dict. of
General Biography,” p. 1552.
Wolf, C., “Histoire de l’observatoire depuis as fondation ...,” 267
Wolf, C., and Bina, A., “Physica experimentalis ...”: Venetiis
1753–1756, 555
Wolf, Christian (1679–1716) (Act. Erudit. 1716), 420
Wolf, M. (_at_ Horrebow, Peter), “Hist. Ordbog.,” 158
Wolf, R., “Geschichte der Astronomie ...,” “Über der Ozongchalt
...”
Wolfart, Dr. Carl Christian, of Berlin, 236
Wolfart, J. F., “Des Guiot von Provins”: Halle, 1861, 30
Wolfe, Samuel, of the Society of Dantzig, 174
Wolfius (_at_ Hauksbee, F., and _at_ Hausen, C. A.), 150, 169
Wolfram, Erdmann (1760–1828), 449 (Ferussac, Bulletin), 1824.
Wollaston, William Hyde (1766–1828), 221, 255, 280, 347, 356–359,
364, 365, 394, 403, 419, 433, 456, 478, 484, 488, 490, 496
Wood, Anthony à, “Athenæ Oxonienses,” 80, 81, 91, 92
Wood, John, 158, 175
Wood, Professor (_at_ Bennet, Rev. A.), 291
Woodbury, Hon. Levi, 368
Woods, S. (Phil. Mag., XXI. 289), 249
Woodward (_at_ Howldy, Thomas), 428
Woodward, Bernard Bolingbroke. _See_ Cates, W. L. R.
Woolinch, Royal Military Academy, 434, 457, 497
Worcester, Marquis of, 434
Wordsworth, Christopher, “Ecclesiastical Bibliography,” 513
“World Apple,” Behaim’s celebrated globe, 67
Wormell, Richard, 162, 219
Wornsdorff, “Poetæ Latinæ Minores,” 19
Worsley, Philip Stanhope, translator of Homer’s “Odyssey,” 6
Wotton (_at_ Boyle, Robert), 130, 131
Woulfe, M. (Phil. Trans., 1771), 431
Wren, Sir Christopher (1632–1723), contrives a _terrella_.
Wright, Edward, “The haven-finding art,” being a translation of the
“Portuum Investigandum ratio” of Stevin, Simon, 76, 80, 521,
522, 525, 533, 559–564
Wright, Gabriel (_at_ Nairne, Edward), 265
Wright, Thomas (1810–1877), “Chronicles and Memoirs ... middle
ages,” 1863, 31, 91
Writers, navigators and others alluded to in Giberts’ _De Magnete_,
XVII. 501–542
Wüllner (_at_ Faraday, M.), 492
Wundt, Wilhelm, “Philosophische Studien”: Leipzig, 1886.
Wünshendorff, E., “Traité de télégraphie sous-marine,” 407
Wüstenfeld--Wuestenfeld--Heinrich Ferdinand, “Geschichte der
Arabischen Aertze ...”: Göttingen, 1840, 38, 39, 519
X
Xenocrates of Chalcedon (396–314 B.C.), Greek philosopher, 543
Xenophanes of Colophon, contemporary of Anixamander and of
Pythagoras (sixth century B.C.), 532
Xenophon, Athenian historian (_c._ 434–355 B.C.), 12, 43, 196.
_See_ Moreri, Louis, “Grand Dictionnaire historique,” Vol. XVIII.
p. 74
Xerxes I (_c._ 519–465 B.C.), 4
Ximenes, Leonardo (1716–1786), “Osservazione dell’ Aurora boreale
...,” 1752–1753.
Y
Yates and Hansteen (Vol. II. Whewell’s Hist. of Ind. Sc.), 446
Yatman, Matthew, “Familiar analysis ... electricity and galvanism
...”: London, 1810; “Letter ... on Davy’s Galvanic girdle”:
London, 1811, 347
“Year Book of Facts in Science and the Arts,” discoveries in
electricity, etc., commenced in London during 1838.
Yelin, Chevalier Julius Konrad von (1771–1826), 327, 473, 477
Youmans, Dr. Edward Livingston, author of “Chemical Atlas,” 1856,
370
Young, Arthur (1741–1820), “Travels in France ...,” “Voyage
Agronomique en France,” 285, 286
Young, C. A., in American Journal of Science, 140
Young, Dr. Matthew (1750–1800), “Analysis of the principles of
natural philosophy,” 387, 405, 467
Young, Sir Thomas (1773–1829), “A course of lectures on natural
philosophy and the mechanical arts”: London, 1807; “Catalogue,”
34, 54, 92, 140, 155, 206, 221, 225, 238, 239, 245, 249, 250,
256, 258, 259, 268, 271, 276, 277, 284, 290, 298, 308, 309,
310, 311, 313, 330, 340, 346, 359, 364, 369, 386, 388, 395–396,
431, 462, 468
Yue-tchang-che, Chinese writer, 3
Yule, Colonel Sir Henry (reviewer of Marco Polo’s Travels), 55
Z
Zaccaire--Zachaire--Zacharias--Denis (1510–1556), 553
Zaccaria, F. A., “Annali letterari ...,” “Storia della
Elettricita ...”: Modena, 1762–1764.
Zach, Franz Xavier, Baron von, “Zach. Mon. Corr. ...,” “Allg. ...
Geographische Ephemeriden,” 462
Zachary, Bishop of Rome (_d._ A.D. 752), 523
Zahn, F. Joannes (1641–1707), 8, 145–146. His “Specula ...,” 3
Vols. 1696, gives a list of writers on the magnet.
Zakarīyā-Ibn-Muhammad Al-Kazwīnī, on Aerolites (Nuova scelta
d’Opuscoli, 9to, ii, 333).
Zamboni, Giuseppe (1776–1846), 249, 257, 364, 388, 420, 447;
Resti-Ferrari, G., “Elettroscopio ... del Zamboni”; Girolamo
Ferrari’s review of the five volumes of the “Corso elementare
di fisica,” published by R. Gerbi: Pisa, 1823–1825.
Zamboni, G., and Fusinieri, A., “Sulla teoria ...”: Padova, 1834,
420
Zanon, Bartolomeo, “Intorno un punto ...”: Belluno, 1840, 257
Zanotii, Francesco Maria (1692–1777), 306, 308.
_See_ Larcher.
Zantedeschi, Francesco (1797–1873), 183, 257, 298, 423, 426, 449.
_See_ Romagnosi, G. D., _also_ Giornale fisico-chimico; Annali
di fisica: Padova, 1849–1850.
Zedler, Johann Heinrich (_at_ Erasmus, R.), 512 (1706–1760);
“Grosses ... universal lexicon ...”
“Zeitschrift des Deutsch-Oesterreichischen Telegraphen-Vereins,”
commenced in Berlin during 1854 and was continued in 1872 as
“Annalen der Telegraphie ...”
Zeitschrift für Ægyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde, 14
Zeitschrift für Angewandte Elektricitätslehre, edited by Carl, Ph.,
and Uppenborn, F., Jr.
Zeitschrift für mathematischen und naturw. ... von Hoffmann:
Leipzig, 1870–1876.
Zeitschrift für physik und mathematik, edited by Ettinghausen, A.
von, and Baumgartner, Andreas, 10 Vols. published at Wien,
1806–1832, 432, 476
Zeitschrift für physikalische chemie. _See_ Ostwald, F. W.
Zeitschrift für populare mittheilungen ..., von Peters, C. A. F.:
Altona, 1858–1869, 446
Zeller, Dr. Edward (1814–1908), “History of Greek Philosophy,”
“Philosophie der Griechen,” 510, 511
Zend-Avesta (religious book of the Parsees), 541, 542
Zendrini, B. (_at_ John Dalton), 308
Zenger, M. W. (Sc. Am. Suppl., p. 10915), 139
Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoics, flourished in Cyprus during
third century B.C., and is said to have lived 92 years, 543
Zeno of Elea, the adopted son of Parmenides, born about 500 B.C.,
543
Zeno, Pietro Caterino, “Giornale de Letterati, d’Italia,” 1710, 506
Zetzsche, Karl Eduard (1830–1894), “Geschichte der Elektrischen
Telegraphie,” 316, 384, 421, 439
Zetzell, P., “Anmerkung von der lahmheit,” 1755, 264, 386
Ziemssen, H. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 386
Zimmermann, Wilhelm Ludwig (1780–1825) (Gilb. Annalen, Vol. 28, p.
483).
Zodiacal Light, 141–142, 380
_Zohron_ and _Aphron_, 33, 35
Zöllner, J. K. Friedrich, “Theory of Comets” (Auszug. in Pog. Ann.,
CIX. 1860), 140
Zoroaster--Zarath ’ustra--Zerdusht (_c._ 589–513 B.C.), 520, 542,
544.
_See_ Moreri, Louis, “Grand Dictionnaire Historique,” Vol. VIII.
p. 115.
Zosimus, Greek historian, who lived under Theodosius II (401–450),
is the first to call attention to the electrolytic separation
of metals, 24.
_See_ Moreri, Louis, “Grand Dictionnaire Historique,” Vol. VIII.
p. 116.
Zuccala, G. (_at_ Volta, Alessandro), 248
Zucchi, Nicolo--Zucchius Nicolaus--“Nova de machini philosophia,”
1649, 146, 554
Zuchold, E. A., “Bibliotheca Historico-Naturalis ...”: Göttingen.
Zurich, “Repertorium für organische chemie.” _See_ Löwig, C. von.
Zwinger, F. (_at_ Thillaye-Platel), 385
Zwinger, Theodor, “Scrutinum Magnetis” (1658–1724), 554
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Touching the antiquity of the Chinese nation, the distinguished
French author, J. P. Pauthier (“Chine,” Paris, 1839, pp. 20, 27), thus
expresses himself: “Son histoire authentique qu’elle fait remonter
avec ce charactère de certitude, jusqu’à la 61^e année du règne de
Hoang-ti, la première de leur premier cycle, 2637 ans avant notre
ère.... Le cycle de 60 années dont les séries se suivent depuis la
61^e année du règne de Hoang-ti, sans interruption et avec autant de
régularité que les siècles dans les computs Européens.” And Saillant
et Nyon (“Mémoires concernant l’histoire,” Vol. XIII. p. 76) add
conclusively: “Depuis l’année courante (1769) jusqu’à la 2637^e avant
l’ère Chrétienne, qui répond exactement à la 61^e du règne de Hoang-ti,
on peut sans crainte de s’égarer, suivre un des plus beaux sentiers de
l’histoire, pendant l’espace de 4406 ans.”
Incidentally, we may add that in his “History of Chaldea,” New York,
1866, pp. 195, 213, 364, Mr. Z. A. Ragozin says that that country can
point to a monumentally recorded date nearly 4000 B.C.--more than
Egypt can do--and he says, furthermore, “we cannot possibly accept a
date later than 4000 B.C. for the foreign immigration, and, for the
Shumiro-Accadian culture, less than 1000 years, thus taking us as far
back as 5000 B.C. The date of 3750 B.C. is that of Naram-Sin, and
3800 B.C. is now generally accepted for Sargon of Agadê--_perhaps the
remotest authentic date yet arrived at in history_. To such as are
inclined to doubt the authenticity of these early dates, as well as
the truthfulness of “the mensuration of divine periods,” and of “the
observations of celestial bodies throughout the whole of time,” it will
be interesting to note the following, taken from the Greek “Iamblichus”
translation of Thomas Taylor, Chiswick, 1821, p. 318: “Proclus (in
_Tim._, lib. iv. p. 277) informs us that the Chaldeans had observations
of the stars which embraced whole mundane periods ... likewise
confirmed by Cicero, who says (in his first book on Divination) that
they had records of the stars for the space of 370,000 years, and by
Diodorus Siculus (‘Bibl.,’ lib. xi. p. 118), who states that their
observations comprehended the space of 473,000 years!”
[2] “Le monument le plus ancien (de pierre sculptée) signalé
par le King-che-so porte sur une façade cette scène d’histoire:
‘Tcheou-Choung, régent de l’empire pendant la minorité de son
neveu Tching-Ouang (1110 av. J. C.) reçoit les envois du roi des
Yue-tchang-che.... Les anciens auteurs Chinois rapportent que ces
ambassadeurs offrirent à la cour de Chine des éléphants et des faisans
blancs et que pour leur retour Tcheou-Koung leur fit présent de chars
qui montraient le sud.’” (“L’art Chinois,” par M. Paléologue, Paris,
1888, pp. 132–134; J. P. Pauthier, “Chine,” p. 87.)
[3] While the Greeks steered by the Great Bear, which, if a more
visible, was a far more uncertain guide, the Phœnicians had, at an
early time, discovered a less conspicuous but more trustworthy guide
in the polar star, which the Greeks call _The Phœnician Star_
(“History of Antiquity,” Prof. Max Duncker, translated by Evelyn
Abbott, London, 1882, Vol. II. p. 293).
[4] The Etruscans “inquired, under the direction of technical rules,
into the hidden properties of nature, particularly those of the
electric phenomena.” “History of the Romans,” by Chas. Merivale, New
York, 1880, Vol. II. p. 395. (Cicero, “De Divin.,” i. 41–42; Diod.
Sic., v. 40; Senec., “Nat. Qu.,” ii. 32; Micali, “l’Italie,” ii. 246
foll.).
[5] In this Chapter I of Book II Gilbert says that Aristotle admits
only of two simple movements of his elements, from the centre and
toward the centre ... so that in the earth there is but one motion of
all its parts towards the centre of the world--a wild headlong falling.
Johannes Franciscus Offusius (the author of “De divina astrorum
facultate,” Paris, 1570), says he distinguishes several magnetic
movements, the first to the centre, the second to the pole, traversing
seventy-seven degrees, the third to iron, the fourth to a loadstone.
[6] At p. 16, note No. 4, of his “Dawn of Civilization,” New York,
1894, Mr. G. Maspero says that the well-known French archæologist,
Charles Théodule Deveria (1831–1871), was the first to prove that the
Egyptians believed the sky to be made of iron or steel. This was done
in his monograph entitled “Le fer et l’aimant, leur nom et leur usage
dans l’ancienne Egypte,” published originally at Paris during 1872
in “Mélanges d’Archéologie,” Vol. I. pp. 2–10; also by M. Charas, in
“l’antiquité Historique,” first edition, pp. 64–67, and at pp. 339–356,
Vol. V. of the “Bibliothèque Egyptologique,” issued in Paris during
1897. So well established was the belief in a sky-ceiling of iron,
says M. Charas, that it was preserved in common speech by means of
the name given to the metal itself, viz. _Bai-ni-pit_ (in the Coptic,
_Benipi_, _benipe_)--_metal of heaven_. Reference is thereto made in
“The Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature,” Vol. XIV. second
series, p. 291, by Mr. J. Offord, Jr., who speaks of the splendid and
exceedingly valuable papyrus in the Louvre “Catalogue des Manuscripts,”
Paris, 1874, pp. 170–171 of M. Deveria, who frequently referred to it
in the preparation of the monograph above alluded to upon Iron and
the Loadstone in Ancient Egypt (“Zeitschrift für Ægyptische Sprache
und Alterthumskunde”--Review founded by M. le Docteur H. Brugsch).
Deveria says: “Cette matière céleste (dont parle Plutarque) devait
être l’aimant, la substance d’Horus, la siderites des Romains, plutôt
que le fer non-magnétique, substance typhonienne.... Ils disent aussi
que la pierre d’aimant est un des os de Horus et le fer un des os de
Typhon: c’est Manathon qui nous l’apprend.” For Deveria, see “La Grande
Encyclopédie,” H. Lamirault et Cie., Paris, n. d., Vol. XIV. p. 375.
[7] The word _calamita_ was first used by the Italians. It is
employed by Petri de Vineis (Pierre des Vignes), Matthieu de Messine,
the notary of Lentino, and by Guido Guinicelli of Bologna (Libri,
“Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Vol. II. pp. 66–69). Consult likewise C.
Falconet, “Dissert. Histor.,” Paris, 1746; “Le Journal des Sçavans” for
July-December 1724, Vol. LXXV. pp. 22–28; W. Falconer, Vol. III. of the
“Mem. of the Society of Manchester,” also “Bibl. Britan.,” 1798, Vol.
VIII. p. 281.
In the “Essai d’un Glossaire Occitanien” (“Le Journal des Savants”
for June 1820, pp. 369–370) it is said about M. de Rochegude that
he discovered in “La Vie de St. Honorat de Lérins,” written by
Raimont Féraut in 1300, the words _caramida_, _caramita_, which he
interprets as _calamite_, _aimant_, _boussole_, and that he also read
in the “Bergeries” of Remy Belleau (1528–1577) the words _calamite
ou aiguille aimantée_. He found that Joachim du Bellay (1524–1560)
had written “Comme le fer qui suit la calamite,” and Nicholas Rapin
(1540–1608) “Tourne ma calamite,” but, after examining all the
ancient works obtainable, he concluded that the poem of Raimont
Féraut, admitted by him to have been translated from an old Latin
MS., is the earliest publication containing the word adopted by many
to designate the compass. The poem alluded to is the only one extant
of Raimont Féraut--Raymond Féraudi de Thoard--a troubadour, long at
the court of Charles II of Naples, who died about A.D. 1324 (“Biogr.
Génér.”--Hœfer--Vol. XVII. p. 354).
[8] “If an adamant be set by iron, it suffereth not the iron to come to
the magnet, but it draweth it by a manner of violence, from the magnet,
so that though the magnet draweth iron to itself, the adamant draweth
it away from the magnet” (Mediæval Lore, “Gleanings from Barthol. de
Glanvilla,” by Robert Steele, London, 1893, Chap. IX. p. 32). The great
“Liber de Proprietatibus Rerum,” which has been elsewhere cited in this
compilation, was undoubtedly written by Glanvilla (who, according to
Salimbene, author of the “Chronicles of Parma,” had been a professor of
theology in the Paris University) before the year 1260, for, as Steele
remarks, he cites Albertus Magnus, who was in Paris during 1248, but
does not quote from either Vincent de Beauvais, Thomas Aquinas, Roger
Bacon or Egidius Colonna, all of whom were in Paris during the second
half of the thirteenth century.
[9] It is scarcely necessary to add that the afore-named method of
suspension is impracticable. This curious problem was deemed worthy of
a memoir by M. J. Plateau, communicated to the “Académie des Sciences”
at its _séance_ of November 28, 1864 (“Le Moniteur Scientifique,”
par le Dr. Quesneville, Vol. VI. p. 1146).
[10] The “Historiæ Hierosolimitanæ” relates all that passed in the
kingdom of Jerusalem from 1177 to the siege of Ptolemais inclusively
(“History of the Crusades,” Joseph François Michaud, translated by W.
Robson, Vol. I. p. 456).
[11] THE ASTROLABE.--For descriptions of astrolabes used by
the Arabs, see pp. 338–357 of “Matériaux ... Sciences Mathém.,” by
L. A. Sedillot, Paris, 1845, and for plates showing the construction
of the compass and other nautical instruments of his time, consult
Crescentio (Bartolomeo), “Nautica Mediterranea,” Rome, 1602.
The invention of the astrolabe is ascribed to Hipparchus, and Chaucer’s
description in 1391 is the first book treating of it in time and
importance. In Chaucer’s “Treatise on the Astrolabe,” he declares his
intention of making use of the calendars of the reverend clerks John
Somer and Nicholas of Lynne. His reference here is to the Minorite
astronomer John Somer--Semur--Somerarius--and to the Carmelite
Nicholas, who was lecturer in theology at Oxford (“Dict. of Nat.
Biog.,” Vol. LIII. p. 219).
See the illustrated description of an astrolabe by S. A. Ionides, in
“Geog. Journ.” for Oct. 1904, pp. 411–417, accompanying references to
other works treating of astrolabes; “Le Courrier du Livre,” Quebec,
1899, Vol. III. p. 159, alluding to three works on the astrolabe of
Samuel Champlin and Geoffrey Chaucer; “Canada,” by J. G. Bourinot,
London, 1897, p. 79, with cut of Champlin’s lost astrolabe made in
Paris during 1603; also the entry for Nicholas Bion to be found herein
at A.D. 1702.
[12] Vincent de Beauvais desired to facilitate the pursuit of learning
by collecting into one large work everything useful to be known in art,
history, natural science and philosophy, “so that the great edifice of
science should be once more presented with all its halls and porticos
forming one harmonious whole, _domed_ over, if we may so express
ourselves, with theology and surmounted by the Cross” (“Eccl. History,”
Rohrbacher, Vol. XVIII. p. 444, quoted at pp. 86 and 89 of “Christian
Schools and Scholars,” London, 1867). His “Speculum Majus,” of which
the most trustworthy edition was that published at Strasbourg in ten
large folio volumes during 1473, consisted of three parts: “Speculum
Naturale,” 32 books and 3718 chapters; “Speculum Doctrinale,” 17 books
and 2374 chapters; “Speculum Historiale,” 31 books and 3793 chapters,
a total of 80 books and 9885 chapters (“Encycl. Britan.,” ninth ed.,
Vol. XXIV. p. 235; “Paris et ses historiens,” Paris, 1867, p. 100,
note, indicating that, according to Fabricius, the “Speculum Naturale”
mentions as many as 350 different names of Arabian, Greek and Latin
authors). The influence of the mediæval encyclopædias of Vincent
de Beauvais, Brunetto Latini and Bartholomew Anglicus on Western
Literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is presented
in Liliencron’s “Festrede,” München, 1876 (J. E. Sandys, “Classical
Scholarship,” 1903, p. 558).
[13] In his “De Mineralibus” (Lyons ed. 1651, Treat. III. lib. ii.
cap. 6, p. 243), Albertus says: “One angle ... is to the _zohron_
(north) ... but another angle of the magnet opposite to it attracts
to the _aphron_ (south).” Cardan (“De Subtilitate,” Lugduni,
1663); Salmanazar (Book II. “of the Egyptian Hermitus, 19 stars, and 15
stones, and 15 herbs, and 15 figures”: “on one side the magnet attracts
iron, on the other side repels it); Pietro d’ Abano (“Conciliator
Differentiarum,” Mantuæ, 1472, Diff. 51, p. 104, or the 1520 Venice
edition, p. 73: “know that a magnet is discovered which attracts iron
on one side and repels it on the other”).
[14] Albertus was the first schoolman who lectured on the Stagirite,
and who in his unbounded range of knowledge comprehends the whole
metaphysical, moral, physical, as well as logical system of Aristotle
(“History of Latin Christianity,” by the Rev. H. H. Milman, London,
1857, Vol. VI. pp. 270, 277). The first knowledge of the Aristotelian
philosophy in the Middle Ages was acquired by translators of
Aristotle’s works out of the Arabic. The Arabian commentators were
considered the most skilful and authentic guides in the study of his
system (“Hist. of the Reign of Charles V,” Robertson and Prescott,
Philad., 1883, Vol. I. p. 308; Conring, “Antiq. Acad.,” Diss. III.
p. 95, Supplem. p. 241; Murat, “Antiq. Ital.,” Vol. III. p. 392;
“Aristotle and the Arabs,” at pp. 257–268 of “Classical Studies in
Honour of Hy. Drissler,” New York, 1894; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1860, Vol.
II. pp. 215–216).
[15] See “Omar Khayyám and his position in the History of Sufism,” to
be found at end of the singularly attractive volume entitled “Sufi
Interpretations ...” by C. H. A. Bjerregaard, New York, 1902. For
an account of Omar Khayyám--Kheyyám (died in 1123), who was a very
distinguished Persian philosopher, mathematician, poet and astronomer,
also Director of the Bagdad Observatory, consult the ninth ed. of the
“Encycl. Britann.,” Vol. XVII. pp. 771–772; “La Grande Encycl.,” Vol.
XXV. pp. 372–373; “The Universal Cyclopædia,” Chas. Kendall Adams, New
York, 1900, Vol. VIII. p. 588.
[16] Identified by some authors as John Peckham, a disciple of St.
Bonaventura, who became Archbishop of Canterbury from 1278 to 1293
(“Christian Schools and Scholars,” by Augusta Th. Drane, London, 1867,
Vol. II. p. 172).
[17] To Peregrinus is due the first inception of the _terrella_.
He makes the magnet round, and says, “You must know that this stone
bears in itself a likeness of the heavens and contains two points,
one North and the other South, thus resembling the poles of the
sky....” In his Memoria Prima, “Sopra P. P. de Maricourt,” 1868, P.
D. Timoteo Bertelli Barnabita states (Chap. VI. p. 22) that, besides
the _terrella_, Gilbert appropriated other observations and
experiments of Peregrinus, and, farther on (Chap. VII. p. 28), he gives
us the following extract from Thévenot: “_L’on voit encore que la
pluspart des choses que l’on attribue à Gilbert et qui luy ont donné
la réputation de Père de la Philosophie de l’Ayman estaient scües dès
le treizième siècle._” This, says he (in a note, pp. 28–29), is
doubtless an exaggeration. That Gilbert took from P. Peregrinus his
_terrella_ and many excellent scientific plans on magnetism,
the ideas of others also, is probable, but it is indubitable that
much was his own, and that, for his time, his work is a _veritable
chef-d’œuvre_ of inductive and experimental method and the most
finished treatise on magnetism which had up to that time appeared.
In this connection, Bertelli adds (Part III. p. 92): “We must conclude
that historical truth was undoubtedly distorted when, for so long a
period, it was asserted and repeated, without any sufficient mature
investigation, that the famous William Gilbert of Colchester was the
real and sole founder of magnetism and of the inductive method in
experimental science. We certainly must not deny him the no small
merit which is his due, nor the share he had in the discoveries at
the commencement of the seventeenth century, but we must, likewise,
confess that the copious collection of facts which he gives us, and
the experimental and discursive method with which he presents them
is neither altogether his own nor is it new” (see W. Wenkebach, “Sur
Petrus Adsigerius,” Rome, 1865, p. 8; “Universal Lexicon,” Leipzig,
1741; N. Cabæus, “Phil. Magn.,” Ferrara, 1629, p. 23).
[18] In this same sense does Ristoro d’Arezzo write in his “La
Compositione del Mondo ... del 1282,” transcribed by Enrico Narducci,
Roma, 1859, pp. 172, 316, xi, xii. Ristoro calls the needle
_angola_ (lib. xxxix. p. 326,), which, says he, guides the mariner
and which is itself directed (_per la virtu del cielo_) by the
star called tramontane (pp. 110, 263–4, 326); see “Pietro Peregrino,”
Bertelli, 1858, pp. 55, 130.
[19] Dr. Geo. Miller names (“Hist. Phil. Ill.,” London, 1849, Vol. I.
p. 180, note) Guyot de Provins, Jacques de Vitry and Brunetto Latini,
as referring to the compass. He adds that the Chronicle of France
intimates the use of this instrument under the name of _marinette_
towards the time of the first of the voyages of the Crusaders
undertaken by Louis IX, and that Hughes de Bercy, a contemporary of
that prince, speaks of it as well known in that country. For these
reasons, says he, “the credit of the invention must be denied to Flavio
de Melfi, or Flavio Gioia, a Neapolitan, who is commonly said to have
constructed the first compass about the year 1302, on account of which
the province of Principato, in which he was born, bears one of these
instruments for its arms.
[20] It is interesting to note that the “Confessio Amantis,” which went
through as many as four editions before the year 1560, is a huge work
of nearly thirty-five thousand lines which was written at the desire of
King Richard II of England between the years 1377 and 1393.
[21] Les Roses des Vents n’apparaissent pas sur les cartes avant
le xvi^e siècle (“Annales de Géographie,” VI. 1897, p. 14 de la
Bibliographie). See A.D. 1436 entry.
[22] Incidentally, it may be mentioned that when the laws of Castile
were collected in a Code, during the reign of Alfonso the tenth,
surnamed _El Sabio_, the learned, the compilers divided the work
into seven volumes or parts (_siete partidas_) in order that
each volume or part might be dedicated to one of the seven letters
constituting Alfonso’s name (“Dedication of Books,” New York, 1881, pp.
17–18).
[23] See “Geographical Journal,” Vol. V. March 1895, No. 3,
“Pre-Columbian Discovery of America,” pp. 222, 224, 226, for sketches
of Andrea Bianco’s Map of 1448.
[24] In Kohl’s collection of early maps already alluded to as given
in “Harv. Univ. Bull.,” Vol. III, reference is made (p. 175) to the
portolano--A.D. 1426--of a Venetian hydrographer, Giacomo
Giraldi, which has been preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana and which
was reproduced at Venice by Ongania in 1881, also (p. 303) to the Map
of America published during 1570 by Abraham Oertel--Ortell--_b._
1527, _d._ 1598, and at p. 365 to the Map of the World by Joannes
Oliva, A.D. 1613, as well as to an Atlas by Salvatore Oliva,
A.D. 1620, showing both the Americas. In an article headed
“The first true Maps,” to be found in “Nature” of December 15, 1904,
pp. 159–161, mention is made that the oldest dated portolan is the
first of Pietro Vesconte--Visconti--executed in 1311.
[25] For Nautonniez, see Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol.
I. part ii. p. 1193, also J-G. T. Græsse, “Trésor de Livres Rares,”
Dresde, 1863, Vol. IV. p. 651, and Brunet, “Manuel,” p. 827, at
which latter appears the statement of M. Frère to the effect that
Guillaume de Nautonnier--Nautonniez--caused to be reprinted, under the
above-named title of “Mécométrie de l’Eymant,” the “Dialogue de la
Longitude” of Toussaincte de Bessard originally published at Rouen in
1574.
For the reported investigation of Pedro da Medina, who, Gilbert says,
(“De Magnete,” Book IV. chap. viii.) does not accept variation and has
with many errors disgraced the art of navigation, consult, preferably,
the Venetia 1555 edition entitled “L’Arte del navegar,” Libro sesto,
“Della Aguggia, over bossolo da navegar,” pp. cviii-cxvi. The leaf
xxiii contains a Map of America. This last-named map of the Nuevo Mundo
“may be taken to represent the results of Spanish discovery about 1540,
Pedro da Medina having been the official examiner of pilots. It is
interesting as showing the mouth of the Spirito Santo (the Mississippi)
and the lands around the river and gulf of St. Lawrence. The Island of
Cape Breton appears as part of Nova Scotia and of the mainland; but
Newfoundland is represented as three islands, divided from Northern
Canada by a much wider expanse of water than the actual Straits of
Belle Isle. This is, however, a striking instance of the great extent
of Medina’s geographical knowledge. The river Saguenay is shown at its
entry into the St. Lawrence, which is also a remarkable feature in so
early a map.”
[26] Behaim’s justly famous globe was made up from the authorities of
Ptolemy, Pliny and Strabo, as well as from the reports of Marco Polo’s
travels and the semi-fabulous travels of Sir John Mandeville (“English
Cyclopædia,” Vol. I. p. 617).
[27] Aguilhas, in Portuguese, signifies needles: Walker, “Magnetism of
Ships,” 1853, p. 2; Sir Thomas Browne, “Pseud. Epidem.,” Book II. p. 70.
[28] It is in the “Epistle Dedicatorie” to this work that Barlowe is
shown to have been the first to make use of the word _magnetisme_.
[29] “Imperial Dict. of Universal Biography,” Vol. II. p. 626.
[30] The earth itself is a magnet according to Gilbert, who considered
that the inflections of the lines of equal declination and inclination
depend upon the distribution of mass, the configuration of continents,
or the form and extent of the deep, intervening ocean basins. It
is difficult to connect the periodic variations which characterize
the three principal forms of magnetic phenomena (the isoclinic, the
isogonic and the isodynamic lines) with this rigid system of the
distribution of force and mass, unless we represent to ourselves the
attractive force of the material particles modified by similar periodic
changes of temperature in the interior of the terrestrial planet....
Of these lines, the isogonic are the most important in their immediate
application to navigation, whilst we find from the most recent views
that the isodynamic, especially those which indicate the horizontal
force, are the most valuable elements in the theory of terrestrial
magnetism (Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1859–1860, Vol. I. pp. 180–181, 185;
Vol. II. p. 334, wherein references are made to Gauss, “Resultate
der Beob. des Magn. Vereins,” 1838, s. 21; Sabine, “Report on the
Variations of the Magnetic Intensity,” p. 63).
[31] The reader is referred to Appendix I herein for “Accounts of early
writers and others alluded to in Gilbert’s ‘De Magnete,’ not already
disposed of throughout this Bibliographical History.” Gilbert says
that only a few points touching the loadstone are briefly mentioned by
Marbodeus Gallus, Albertus, Mattæus Silvaticus, Hermolaus Barbarus,
Camillus Leonhardus, Cornelius Agrippa, Fallopius, Joannes Langius,
Cardinal de Cusa, Hannibal Rosetius Calaber, all of whom repeat only
the figments of others.
[32] Sir Kenelm Digby (“Treatise of the Nature of Bodies,” 1645, Chap.
XX. p. 225) says that the manner in which Gilbert “arrived to discover
so much of magnetical philosophy” and “all the knowledge he got on the
subject, was by forming a little loadstone into the shape of the earth.
By which means he composed a wonderful designe, which was to make the
whole globe of the earth maniable; for he found the properties of the
whole earth in that little body ... which he could manage and try
experiments upon at his will....” In the note at p. 47 (P. Peregrinus,
A.D. 1269), it will be seen that the _terrella_ was constructed by
both in practically the same manner: only Peregrinus considered it
“a likeness to the heavens,” whilst Gilbert regarded it as the earth
itself.
[33] The magnetized versorium consisted of a piece of iron, or needle,
resting upon a point, or pin, and was put in motion, excited, by the
loadstone or natural magnet. The non-magnetized versorium was made of
any sort of metal, for use in electrical experiments (“De Magnete,”
Book II. chap. ii.; Book III. chap. i.).
[34] Asterisks. As Gilbert remarks in his Author’s Preface, he has set
over against “the great multitude” of his discoveries and experiments
larger and smaller asterisks according to their importance and their
subtility; all of his experiments having been, says he, “investigated
and again and again done and repeated under our eyes.” There are, in
all, 178 small and 21 large asterisks, some of them being attached to
illustrations, of which latter there are as many as 84 throughout the
work. See Appendix II herein.
[35] Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 170, and Vol. II. pp. 717–718.
[36] Sir Wm. Thomson, “Good Words,” 1879, p. 445.
We have already indicated several modes of construction, notably at
A.D. 1282 (Baïlak of Kibdjak), at A.D. 1558 (G. B. Porta), as well
as at A.D. 1597 (Wm. Barlowe), and it is interesting to observe how
all these vary, more particularly from the types described by Levinus
Lemnius in the “De Occulta Naturæ Miracula,” mentioned at B.C. 1033,
and by Martinus Lipenius in his “Navigatio Salomonis Ophiritica” noted
at A.D. 1250.
[37] “Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 341, or prior edition, 1849, Vol. II.
p. 726.
[38] “Good Words,” 1879, with a _facsimile_ of the title-page at
p. 383.
[39] According to Dr. John Davy, this “De Mundo Nostro,” which is but
little known, “is a very remarkable book, both in style and matter;
and there is a vigour and energy of expression belonging to it very
suitable to its originality. Possessed of a more minute and practical
knowledge of natural philosophy than Bacon, his opposition to the
philosophy of the schools was more searching and particular, and at the
same time probably little less efficient” (“Memoirs of the Life of Sir
Humphry Davy,” London, 1836, Vol. I. p. 311).
[40] Gilbert’s near kinsman, Rev. William Gilbert, of Brental Ely, in
Suffolk.
[41] At the first chapter of Books I., III. and IV.
[42] “Philosophia magnetica in qua magnetis natura penitus
explicatur....” An important work on the loadstone, in which the author
often confutes the published treatise of Dr. Gilbert of Colchester, and
quotes the inedited writings of L. Garzoni, who, even before Gilbert,
had made researches respecting the magnet. A curious chapter in the
“Philosophia” institutes a comparison between electrical and magnetical
attraction (Libri, “Catalogue,” 1871, Part. I. p. 161).
[43] It is in the afore-mentioned Book IV. chap. i. that Gilbert makes
mention of Norumbega, “the lost city of New England,” regarding which
latter very interesting particulars will be found in the following
publications: “Magazine of Amer. Hist.” for 1877, pp. 14, 321, and for
1886, p. 291; “New England’s Lost City Found”; Lang’s “Sagas of the
Kings of Norway”; “Antiquitates Americanæ,” Royal Soc. of Copenhagen;
Shea’s “Catholic Church in Colonial Days”; “Narrative and Critical
History of America,” by Justin Winsor, Boston, 1889, Vol. II. pp.
451, 453, 459, 472; Vol. III. pp. 169–218; Vol. IV. pp. 53, 71, 88,
91–99, 101, 152, 373, 384; Vol. V. p. 479; R. Hakluyt, “The Principal
Navigations,” Edinburgh, 1889, Vol. XIII. p. 162, note; J. G. Bourinot,
“Canada,” London, 1897, p. 28; Horsford, “Cabot’s Landfall in 1497, and
the site of Norumbega”; “Discovery of the Ancient City of Norumbega”;
also “Defences of Norumbega.”
[44] “That which first occasioned this Discourse, was the reading of
a little Pamphlet, stiled, _Nuntius Inanimatus_ (by Dr. Francis
Godwin); wherein he affirms that there are certain ways to discourse
with a Friend, though he were in a close Dungeon, in a besieged City,
or a hundred miles off.... After this, I did collect all such Notes
to this purpose, as I met with in the course of my other Studies.
From whence when I had received full satisfaction, I did for mine own
further delight compose them into this method.”--_The Author._
[45] In the second edition of Digby’s “The Immortality of Reasonable
Soules” (“a treatise on the soul proving its immortality”), published
during the year 1645, are to be found attractive portraits of himself
and of his wife, Venetia Anastasia Stanley, daughter of Sir Edward
Stanley, of Tongue Castle, one of the celebrated beauties of her day.
[46] Libri says (“Catal.,” 1861, Pt. II. p. 701) that the learned
Jesuit, Schott, seems to have been very conversant with angels, for
he not only dedicated his “Magia Naturalis” to an angel, but likewise
another of his works, the “Magia Arithmetica,” wherein he indicates
the total _number of the angels_ in existence, that number being
composed of sixty-eight numerical figures.
[47] “The meetings, from which the Royal Society originated, commenced
about the year 1645, a number of persons having then begun to assemble
for the consideration of all subjects connected with experimental
inquiries; all questions of theology and policy being expressly
precluded” (Dr. Geo. Miller, from Harris’s “Life of Charles II,” Vol.
I. p. 7, London, 1766).
[48] In the entry at p. 223, Part I of Libri’s “Catal.” for 1861 it is
said that, in the first volume of the works of A. S. Conti, who was the
intimate friend of Sir Isaac Newton, we find for the first time mention
of the fact that the aurora is supposed to be an electrical phenomenon.
[49] “La perte de l’illustre M. Huygens est inestimable, peu de gens le
savent autant que moi; il a égalé, à mon avis, la réputation de Galilée
et de Descartes, et, aidé par ce qu’ils avaient fait, il a surpassé
leurs découvertes.” (Extracted from a letter written by Leibnitz to
Bosange, July 26, 1695--“Journal des Savants,” for Nov. 1905, “Oeuvres
complètes de Christian Huygens,” La Haye, 1905.)
[50] Just here we may refer to the fact--for it is a fact--that the
electrical energy transmitted over a line, which may be many miles in
length, really does not travel by the wire connecting the two points.
It travels in the ether surrounding the wire. The wire itself is, in
fact, the guiding core of the disturbances in the ether which proceed
outward in all directions to unlimited distances. The guiding core
or conducting wire is needed to focalize or direct the delivery of
the energy. This curious conclusion of science, then, that the power
from the power-station wire travels in the space around the wires led
from the station, is one of the results of recent electrical studies,
just as with light those studies begun by Maxwell and Hertz have led
to the inevitable conclusion that the light of the candle, the light
of a kerosene lamp, and the light of a gas burner are all in essence
electrical phenomena, as are all forms of radiation in the ether
(“Electricity During the Nineteenth Century,” Prof. Elihu Thomson,
Washington, 1901).
[51] Mr. Andrew Crosse (1784–1855) was a distinguished English
scientist, author of “Experiments in Voltaic Electricity,” 1815,
alluded to in _Phil. Magazine_, Vol. XLVI. p. 421 and in Gilb.
“Ann.,” Bd. XLI. s. 60. See “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XIII. p. 223,
and the many references thereto annexed.
[52] “The first sound theory of chemistry was denominated the
_antiphlogistic_, in contradistinction to that of _phlogiston_, or the
principle of inflammability, which was first proposed by Beccher (born
at Spires in Germany in the year 1635) and then improved by Stahl, a
native of Anspach, in honour of whom it has been commonly denominated
the Stahlian theory. The difference between the two theories is briefly
this, that according to the earlier a body is conceived to be deprived
in combustion of a component principle, whereas according to the later
a component part of the atmosphere is conceived to be combined with it”
(Dr. Geo. Miller, from Thomson’s “History of Chemistry,” London, 1830,
Vol. I. pp. 246, 250, and Vol. II. pp. 99–100).
[53] Ueber die Ursache und die Gesetze der atmosphärischen
Elektricität. Von Prof. Franz Exner. Repertorium der Physik. Band XXII.
Heft 7.
[54] Ueber Atmosphärischen und Gewitter Elektricität. Meteor. Zeits. 1,
2, 3 and 4, 1885.
[55] Memoir of National Academy of Sciences.
[56] (_a_) Report of Chicago Meteorological Congress. Part II.
August 1893. (_b_) Zusammenstellung der Ergebnisse neuerer der
Arbeiten über atmosphärische Elektricität. Von J. Elster und H. Geitel.
Wissen. Beilage zum Jahresbericht des Herzoglichen Gymnasiums zu
Wolfenbuttel, 1897.
[57] (_a_) Observations of Atmospheric Electricity. American
Meteorological Journal, 1887. (_b_) Terrestrial Magnetism.
December 1897.
Consult Sir Wm. Thomson (Lord Kelvin), “Reprint of Papers on
Electro-statics and Magnetism,” London, 1884, second edition, pp.
192–239, Chapter (Article) XVI, “Atmospheric Electricity.”
[58] For Gauss and Weber: Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. pp. 172,
185–186; Vol. II. p. 720, and Vol. V, 1859, pp. 63, 71; “Encycl.
Brit.,” 1879, Vol. X. p. 116, and the 1902 ed. Vol. XXXIII. p. 798;
“Am. Journ. of Psych.,” Vol. IV. pp. 7–10; “New International Encycl.,”
1903, Vol. VIII. p. 159. The following curious array of figures is
selected from Gauss’ many interesting calculations. He found that the
earth’s magnetism is such as would result from the existence, in every
cubic yard of its mass, of six magnetized steel bars, each weighing one
pound. Compared with one such magnet, the magnetism of the earth is
represented by 8,464,000,000,000,000,000,000 (“Am. Ann. of Sc. Dis.,”
1852, p. iii).
[59] Whewell, “Hist. of Induc. Sci.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 244. It paved
the way for his subsequent identification of the forces of electricity,
galvanism and magnetism.
Prof. W. B. Rogers remarks that attempts to discover this connection
had been made with galvanic piles or batteries whose poles were not
connected by conductors, under the expectation that these would
show magnetical relations, although in such cases the electricity
accumulated at the extremities was evidently stagnant. It was reserved
for Oersted first to bring into prominent view the fact that it was
not while the electricity was thus at rest, but while it was flowing
through the wire connecting the two poles, that it exhibited magnetic
action, and that a wire thus carrying a current, while it had the
power of affecting a magnetic needle, was in turn susceptible of being
acted on by a magnet; and this was the initial step in the science of
electro-magnetism.
[60] See the 1839 ed. of “Experimental Researches”: I, “Voltaic
Electricity,” par. 268; II, “Ordinary Electricity,” par. 284; III,
“Magneto-Electricity,” par. 343; IV, “Thermo-Electricity,” par. 349; V,
“Animal Electricity,” par. 351.
[61] In English measure, the metre is ¹⁄₁₁ yd., the milligramme is ¹⁄₆₅
of a grain; the kilogramme is 2 lb. 3¼ oz.
[62] In the Summa of Theology was presented, says Ozanam Antoine
Frédéric, a vast synthesis of the moral sciences, in which was unfolded
all that could be known of God, of man and of their mutual relations--a
truly Catholic philosophy.... Sixtus of Sienna and Trithemius both
declare that St. Thomas explained _all_ the works of Aristotle and
that he was the first Latin Doctor who did so (“Christian Schools and
Scholars,” p. 81).
It may also be added that, in the estimation of one of his biographers,
the greatest of the many disciples of St. Thomas was, by far, Dante
Alighieri, in whose “Divina Commedia” the theology and philosophy of
the Middle Ages, as fixed by St. Thomas, have received the immortality
which poetry alone can bestow.
[63] Almagest was the name given to the great work of Aboulwéfa and was
afterwards often applied to astronomical writings treating of celestial
phenomena in general. The word is of Greek, not Arabic, origin, and
signifies a composition made up on a very extensive scale (“Journ. des
Savants,” December 1843, p. 725, and March 1845, p. 150). Almagest
was also the name given to the extensive astronomical work by Ptolemy
of Alexandria, which established the Ptolemaic System as astronomical
science for 1400 years, until overthrown by the system of Copernicus.
Ptolemy’s work (originally entitled “The Great Composition”), the Arabs
called by the Greek word, _magisté_, “greatest,” and, with the
addition by Arabic translators of their article _al_, “the,” the
hybrid name “Almagest” came into use (“Encycl. Amer.,” Vol. I. n. p.;
“Encycl. Britan.,” Edin., 1886, Vol. XX).
[64] See résumé concerning the Astrolabe at A.D.
1235–1315--Raymond Lully.
[65] Sacro Bosco, here alluded to, is John Holywood or Halifax--in
Latin, Johannes de Sacro Bosco or Sacro Busto--an English
mathematician, said to have studied at Oxford and to have afterwards
become a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Paris about the
year 1230. Sacro Bosco was one of the first, in the Middle Ages, to
avail himself of the Arabian writings on astronomy and is believed to
have condensed pretty much all the science therein contained in his own
well-known “Tractatus de Sphæra.” Of the latter, which was the second
astronomical work to appear in print and which was first issued at
Ferrara in 1472, there were, it is said, as many as twenty-four more
editions published before the year 1500. Houzeau says this “Tractatus”
was the standard for three centuries, and the writer in “La Grande
Encyclopédie,” Vol. XXIX. p. 44, states that there were more than
seventy Latin editions of it published between the fifteenth and the
seventeenth centuries.
He is also the author of numerous other works, including “De
Astrolabio” and a very meritorious “Tractatus de Arte Numerandi,” which
latter is reproduced at pp. 1–26 of the “Rara Mathematica” of Jas.
Orchard Halliwell, London, 1839.
The best commentary ever written on the astronomy of Sacro Bosco is
the “Commentarius in sphæram ... of Christopher Clavius,” called the
Euclid of his country. Clavius was born at Bamberg in 1538, died at
Rome in 1612, and, according to Houzeau, was the author of as many as
twenty-six different works on mathematics and astronomy. An almost
equally valuable Commentary on the Sphere of Sacro Bosco was written
by the famous encyclopedist Cecco d’Ascoli (1257–1327) whose real
name, as we have already been informed, was Francesco degli Stabili
(Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Vol. II. pp. 191–200, 525–526; Hœfer,
“Hist. de l’Astronomie,” Paris, 1873, p. 285; Alex. Chalmers, “Gen.
Biog. Dict.,” Vol. IX. pp. 1–3; Rose, “New Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Vol.
VI. p. 153; “Encycl. Brit.,” 1876, Vol. V. p. 282; Bertelli, “Pietro
Peregrino,” 1868, p. 129).
[66] Eudoxus, not before mentioned in this “Bibliographical History,”
was a native of Cnidus, Asia Minor, who flourished about 370
B.C. He was a pupil of Plato, and is frequently mentioned by
Aratus, Archimedes, Aristotle, Cicero, Hipparchus, Proclus, Ptolemy,
Seneca, Strabo, Vitruvius and others. Cicero calls him the greatest
astronomer that has ever lived, and Strabo quotes him as a very
distinguished mathematician.
[67] Apollonius of Tyana, a Pythagorean philosopher who lived in first
century after Christ and who, in the account of his extraordinary
travels through India, reports having seen the precious stone
_pantarbes_ casting rays of fire, and attracting all other gems,
which adhered to it like swarms of bees (“Engl. Cycl.,” Chas. Knight,
Biography, Vol. I. p. 266).
[68] Comte (Isidore Auguste Marie François-Xavier) (1798–1857). Very
celebrated French philosopher, founder of Positivism, called Le
Fondateur de la religion de l’humanité. Consult: Caird (Edward), “The
Social Philosophy and Religion of Comte.”
[69] With reference to the real discoverer, we can add here with
propriety the words of John Fiske: “No ingenuity of argument can take
from Columbus the glory of an achievement which has, and can have, no
parallel in the whole career of mankind. It was a thing that could be
done but once!”
[70] “... Aristotle adds that some say the earth being situated
in the centre, is rolled around the pole, as it is written in the
_Timæus_ ... there are three significations of the pole with
Plato. Thus, in the _Phædo_, he calls heaven the pole, and also
the extremities of the axis about which the heaven revolves. But, in
other places of the _Timæus_, and also in the present passage he
calls the axis the pole” (“The Treatises of Aristotle,” Thos. Taylor,
London, 1807, p. 235; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 695, note).
The Earth “is said by Plato to be conglobed about the pole, which is
extended through the universe; because she (the Earth) is contained
and compressed about its axis. For the axis also is the pole. And the
pole is thus now denominated because the universe revolves about it
... on this account, the pole is said by Plato to be extended through
the universe, as entirely pervading the centre of the Earth” (“The Six
Books of Proclus,” Thos. Taylor, London, 1816, Book VII. chap. xxii.
pp. 172–173).
[71] It was for a copy of the valuable works of this popular Arabian
physician, which he borrowed from “La Faculté de Médecine” of Paris,
that Louis XI had to deposit in pledge a large quantity of plate and
had, besides, to procure a nobleman to join him as surety in a Deed
binding himself under great forfeiture to restore these extraordinarily
scarce books (Gabr. Naudé, “Additions à l’histoire de Louis XI,” par
Comines, Vol. IV. p. 281). Rhazès was born and brought up at Rai,
the most northern town of Irak Ajemi, where he is said to have died
A.D. 923 or 932 (“Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. V. pp. 69–70).
[72] The School of Salerno and the introduction of Arabian sciences
into Italy are discussed with learning and judgment by Muratori
(Lodovico Antonio), “Antiquitates Italiæ Medii Aevi.,” Vol. III.
pp. 932–940, and by Giannone (Pietro), “Istoria Civile del Regno di
Napoli,” Vol. II. pp. 119–127). Consult, likewise, for the Salerno
school, “Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages,” by Hastings
Rashdall, Oxford, 1895, Chap. III. pp. 75–86, and also pp. 306–307,
Vol. IV. part i. of the “History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages
...” of Ferdinand Gregorovius, tr. by Annie Hamilton, London, 1896.
[73] Extracted from “Information and Directions for Travellers,” by
Mariana Starke, 8th ed., John Murray, London, 1832.
[74] Vol. III has at p. 688 an Index and an advertisement to the effect
that two more volumes by Benjamin Motte will continue the work from
1700 to 1720.
[75] Benjamin Motte edited in 1721 an abridgment 1700–1720, in three
volumes which “was very incorrect and was severely handled by a rival
editor, Hy. Jones, fellow of King’s College, Cambridge” (“Dict. of Nat.
Biogr.,” Vol. XXXIX. p. 194).
[76] These volumes, IV and V, are generally adopted, instead of those
by Benjamin Motte, “a printer who had issued a bad abridgment of the
same portion” before that of Henry Jones (“Dict. Nat. Biogr.,” Vol.
XXX. p. 109).
[77] This volume is in two parts, separately paged, and is by some
designated as the volume VI to take the place of one of those of Eames
and Martyn.
[78] Volume VII is followed by an Index to the previous seven volumes.
[79] John Martyn published, between 1734 and 1756, five volumes
comprising the Transactions from 1719 to 1750 (“Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,”
Vol. XXXVI. p. 318). The last two volumes are marked Vol. X. parts i.
and ii.
[80] Hutton’s Abridgment contains ... many biographical memoirs of
deceased members of the Royal Society, as well as some rare tracts not
readily found elsewhere.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the
original.
3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
4. Where appropriate, the original spelling has been retained.
5. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.
6. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
7. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74764 ***