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.
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)