Fig. 17.—An Electrified Glass Rod will Attract Small Bits of Paper.
The use of amber begins with the dawn of civilization. Amber beads have been found in the royal tombs at Mycenae and at various places throughout Sardinia, dating from at least two thousand years before our era.
Amber was used by the ancient world as a jewel and for decoration.
The ancient Syrian woman used distaffs made of amber for spinning. As the spindle whirled around it often rubbed against the spinner’s garments and thus became electrified, as amber always does when it is rubbed. Then on nearing the ground it drew to itself the dust or bits of chaff or leaves lying there, or sometimes perhaps attracted the fringe of the clothing.
The spinner easily saw this, because the bits of chaff which were thus attracted would become entangled in her thread unless she were careful. The amber spindle was, therefore, called the "harpaga" or "clutcher," for it seemed to seize such light bodies as if it had invisible talons, which not only grasped but held on.
This was probably the first intelligent observation of an electrical effect.
In the eighteenth century, when Benjamin Franklin performed his famous kite experiment, electricity was believed to be a sort of fiery atmospheric discharge which could be captured in small quantities and stored in receptacles such as Leyden jars.
Franklin was the first to prove that the lightning discharges taking place in the heavens are electrical.
The story of his experiment is very interesting.