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," 46 '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."-Eloge 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.

CHARLES GRIFFIN & COMPANY LIMITED

12 EXETER STREET, STRAND, W.C. 2

[All rights reserved,]

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

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.

To follow Title.]

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.