[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).