In recent times, many people have come to accept the impression that modern science leads to such an exclusive occupation with things material, that scientists almost inevitably lose sight of the deeper significance of the world of mystery in which humanity finds itself placed on this planet. The lives of these great pioneers in electricity, however, do not lend the slightest evidence in confirmation of any such impression. They were all of them firm believers in the existence of Providence, of a Creator, of man's responsibility for his acts to that Creator, and of a hereafter of reward and punishment where the sanction of responsibility shall be fulfilled. Besides, they were men characterized by some of the best qualities in human nature. Their fellows liked them for their unselfishness, for their readiness to help others, for their devotedness to their work and to their duties as teachers, citizens and patriots. Almost without exception, they were as far above the average of mankind in their personal ethics as they were in their intellectual qualities.
The lives of such men, who were inspiring forces in their day, are as illuminating as they are instructive and encouraging. Perhaps never more than now do we need such inspiration and illumination to lift life to a higher plane of purpose and accomplishment, than that to which it is so prone to sink when material interests attract almost exclusive attention.
[CONTENTS]
| Peregrinus and Columbus | [1] |
| Norman and Gilbert | [29] |
| Franklin and some contemporaries | [68] |
| Galvani, discoverer of animal electricity | [133] |
| Volta, the founder of electrical science | [162] |
| Coulomb | [188] |
| Hans Christian Oersted | [205] |
| André Marie Ampère | [232] |
| Ohm, the founder of mathematical electricity | [258] |
| Faraday | [299] |
| Clerk Maxwell | [334] |
| Lord Kelvin | [361] |
[ILLUSTRATIONS]
| The double pivoted needle of Petrus Peregrinus | [17] |
| First pivoted compass, Peregrinus, 1269 | [19] |
| Magnetic Declination at New York | [21] |
| " " " San Francisco | [21] |
| " " in London, in 1580 and 1907 | [23] |
| First dip-circle, invented by Norman in 1576 | [29] |
| Norman's illustration of magnetic dip | [31] |
| Gilbert's orb of virtue, 1600 | [32] |
| Behavior of compass-needle on a terrella or spherical lodestone | [44] |
| Gilbert's "versorium" or electroscope | [69] |
| Gordon's electric chimes, 1745 | [75] |
| Modern form of Leyden jar, with movable coatings | [87] |
| Three coated panes in series | [89] |
| " panes in parallel | [89] |
| " jars in parallel | [90] |
| " jars in cascade | [90] |
| Discharge by alternate contacts | [94] |
| Tassel of long threads or light strips of paper | [101] |
| Procopius Divisch (1696-1765) | [108] |
| The Divisch lightning conductor (1754) | [111] |
| Set of pointed rods | [112] |
| Galvani (portrait) opposite page | [133] |
| Volta " " " | [162] |
| Oersted " " " | [205] |
| The Magnetic effect of an electric current | [209] |
| Magnetic field surrounding a conductor carrying a current | [212] |
| Magnetic whirl surrounding a wire through which a current is passing | [213] |
| Ampère's molecular currents | [214] |
| The "sympathetic telegraph" from Cabeo's Philosophia Magnetica, 1629 | [216] |
| The "sympathetic telegraph" from Turner's Ars Notoria, 1657 | [218] |
| Ampère (portrait) opposite page | [232] |
| Faraday " " " | [299] |
| Clerk Maxwell (portrait) opposite page | [334] |
| Lord Kelvin " " " | [361] |