We know that it was the strong analogies which exist between electricity and magnetism that led experimentalists to seek for proofs that would identify them as one and the same thing, and it was the result of Professor Oersted's experiment to which I have already referred that first identified them.
Probably the time is not far distant when it will be possible to demonstrate clearly that heat and electricity are as closely allied; then, knowing the great analogies existing between heat and light, may we not find that heat, light, and electricity are modifications of the same force or property, susceptible under varying conditions of producing the phenomena now designated by those terms? For instance, friction will first produce electricity, then heat, and lastly light.
As is well known, heat and light are reflected by metals; I was therefore anxious to learn whether electricity could be reflected in the same way. In order to ascertain this, spiral B was placed in this position, which you will observe is parallel to the lines of force emitted by spiral A. In this position no induced current is set up therein, so the galvanometer is not affected; but when this plate of metal is placed at this angle it intercepts the lines of force, which cause it to radiate, and the secondary lines of force are intercepted and converted into induced currents by spiral B to the power indicated by the galvanometer. Thus the phenomenon of reflection appears to be produced in a somewhat similar manner to reflection of heat and light. The whole arrangement of this experiment is as shown on the sheet before you numbered 5, which I need not, I think, more fully explain to you than by saying that the secondary lines of force are represented by the dotted lines.
Supported in this wooden frame marked C is a spiral similar in construction to the one marked B, but in this case the copper wire is 0.044 inch in diameter, silk-covered, and consists of 365 turns, with a total length of 605 yards; its resistance is 10.2 ohms, the whole is inclosed between two thick sheets of card paper. The two ends of the spiral are attached to two terminals placed one on either side of the frame, a wire from one of the terminals is connected to one pole of a battery of 25 Leclanche cells, the other pole being connected with one terminal of a reverser, the second terminal of which is connected to the other terminal of the spiral.
Now, if this very small spiral which is in circuit with the galvanometer and a reverser be placed parallel to the center of spiral C, a very large deflection will be seen on the galvanometer scale; this will gradually diminish as the smaller spiral is passed slowly over the face of the larger, until on nearing the edge of the latter the smaller spiral will cease to be affected by the inductive lines of force from spiral C, and consequently the galvanometer indicates no deflection. But if this smaller spiral be placed at a different angle to the larger one, it is, as you observe by the deflection of the galvanometer, again affected. This experiment is analogous to the one illustrated by diagram 6, which represents the result of an experiment made to ascertain the relative strength of capability or producing inductive effects of different parts of a straight electro-magnet.
A, Fig. 1, represents the iron core, PP the primary coil, connected at pleasure to one Grove cell, B, by means of the key, K; S, a small secondary coil free to move along the primary coil while in circuit with the galvanometer, G. The relative strength of any particular spot can be obtained by moving the coil, S, exactly over the required position. The small secondary coil is only cut at right angles when it is placed in the center of the magnet, and as it is moved toward either pole so the lines of force cut it more and more obliquely. From this it would appear that the results obtained are not purely dependent upon the strength of the portion of the magnet over which the secondary coil is placed, but principally upon the angle at which the lines of force cut the coil so placed. It does not follow, therefore, that the center of the magnet is its strongest part, as the results of the experiments at first sight appear to show.
It was while engaged on those experiments that I discovered that a telephone was affected when not in any way connected with the spiral, but simply placed so that the lines of force proceeding from the spiral impinged upon the iron diaphragm of the telephone. Please to bear in mind that the direction of the lines of force emitted from the spiral is such that, starting from any point on one of its faces, a circle is described extending to a similar point on the opposite side. The diameter of the circles described decreases from infinity as the points from which they start recede from the center toward the circumference. From points near the circumference these circles or curves are very small. To illustrate this to you, the reverser now in circuit with spiral C will be replaced by a simple make and break arrangement, consisting on a small electro-magnet fixed between the prongs of a tuning-fork, and so connected that electro-magnet influences the arms of the fork, causing them to vibrate to a certain pitch. The apparatus is placed in a distant room to prevent the sound being heard here, as I wish to make it inductively audible to you. For that purpose I have here a light spiral which is in circuit with this telephone. Now, by placing the spiral in front of spiral C, the telephone reproduces the sound given out by the tuning-fork so loudly that I have no doubt all of you can hear it. Here is another spiral similar in every respect to spiral C. This is in circuit with a battery and an ordinary mechanical make and break arrangement, the sound given off by which I will now make audible to you in the same way that I did the sound of the tuning-fork. Now you hear it. I will change from the one spiral to the other several times, as I want to make you acquainted with the sounds of both, so that you will have no difficulty in distinguishing them, the one from the other.
There are suspended in this room self-luminous bodies which enable us by their rays or lines of force to see the non-luminous bodies with which we are surrounded. There are also radiating in all directions from me while speaking lines of force or sound waves which affect more or less each one of you. But there are also in addition to, and quite independent of, the lines of force just mentioned, magnetic lines of force which are too subtle to be recognized by human beings, consequently, figuratively, we are both blind and deaf to them. However, they can be made manifest either by their notion on a suspended magnet or on a conducting body moving across them; the former showing its results by attraction and repulsion, the latter by the production of an electric current. For instance, by connecting the small flat spiral of copper wire in direct circuit with the galvanometer, you will perceive that the slightest movement of the spiral generates a current of sufficient strength to very sensibly affect the galvanometer; and as you observe, the amplitude of the deflection depends upon the speed and direction in which the spiral is moved. We know that by moving a conductor of electricity in a magnetic field we are able to produce an electric current of sufficient intensity to produce light resembling in all its phases that of solar light; but to produce these strong currents, very powerful artificial magnetic fields have to be generated, and the conductor has to be moved therein at a great expenditure of heat energy. May not the time arrive when we shall no longer require these artificial and costly means, but have learned how to adopt those forces of nature which we now so much neglect? One ampere of current passing through an ordinary incandescent lamp will produce a light equal to ten candles, and I have shown that by simply moving this small flat spiral a current is induced in it from the earth's magnetic field equal to 0.0007 ampere. With these facts before us, surely it would not be boldness to predict that a time may arrive when the energy of the wind or tide will be employed to produce from the magnetic lines of force given out by the earth's magnetism electrical currents far surpassing anything we have yet seen or of which we have heard. Therefore let us not despise the smallness of the force, but rather consider it an element of power from which might arise conditions far higher in degree, and which we might not recognize as the same as this developed in its incipient stage.
If the galvanometer be replaced by a telephone, no matter how the spiral be moved, no sound will be heard, simply because the induced currents produced consist of comparatively slow undulations, and not of sharp variations suitable for a telephone. But by placing in circuit this mechanical make and break arrangement the interruptions of the current are at once audible, and by regulating the movement of the spiral I can send signals, which, if they had been prearranged, might have enabled us to communicate intelligence to each other by means of the earth's magnetism. I show this experiment more with a view to illustrate the fact that for experiments on induction both instruments are necessary, as each makes manifest those currents adapted to itself.
The lines of force of light, heat, and sound can be artificially produced and intensified, and the more intense--they are the more we perceive their effects on our eyes, ears, or bodies. But it is not so with the lines of magnetic force, for it matters not how much their power is increased--they appear in no way to affect us. Their presence can, however, be made manifest to our eyes or ears by mechanical appliances. I have already shown you how this can be done by means of either a galvanometer or a telephone in circuit with a spiral wire.