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.