Bibliographical history of electricity & magnetism, chronologically arranged

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
                                  OF
                        ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM

  [Illustration: _St. Augustine._ “_La Cité de Dieu._”

  _from a manuscript in the Musée de Chantilly._]




                        BIBLIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
                                  OF
                        ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM
                       CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED


                   RESEARCHES INTO THE DOMAIN OF THE
             EARLY SCIENCES, ESPECIALLY FROM THE PERIOD OF
       THE REVIVAL OF SCHOLASTICISM, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER
        ACCOUNTS OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS
                      THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE AGES


                              COMPILED BY

                      PAUL FLEURY MOTTELAY, Ph.D.

                               AUTHOR OF
“GILBERT OF COLCHESTER,” “THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY,” ETC.


                     WITH INTRODUCTION BY THE LATE
               PROF. SILVANUS P. THOMPSON, D.Sc., F.R.S.

                            AND FOREWORD BY
              SIR R. T. GLAZEBROOK, K.C.B., D.Sc., F.R.S.


    “Historia, quoquo modo scripta delectat.”--_Pliny._

    “Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.”--_Virgil._

    “Il importe beaucoup de connaître l’histoire de la science à
        laquelle on s’attache.”--_Éloge de Boerhaave._

    “It is of great advantage to the student of any subject to read in
    the original memoirs on that subject, for science is always most
    completely assimilated when it is found in its nascent state. Every
    student of science should, in fact, be an antiquary in his
    subject.”--_J. Clerk Maxwell._

    “Les tâtonnements de nos prédécesseurs nous apprennent à marcher
    avec plus de sûreté, et l’on ne sait jamais mieux conduire la
    science en avant que lorsqu’on sait le chemin qu’elle a parcouru
    jusqu’à nous.”--_J. P. Rossignol._


                     WITH FRONTISPIECE AND PLATES

  [Illustration]

                                LONDON
                   CHARLES GRIFFIN & COMPANY LIMITED
                   12 EXETER STREET, STRAND, W.C. 2
                                 1922

                       [_All rights reserved._]


                      PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
                     RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
                           BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

  [Illustration:

    PORTRAIT OF
    THE AUTHOR

    TAKEN FOR
    A PASSPORT TO FRANCE
    A FEW WEEKS
    BEFORE HIS DEATH]




                               FOREWORD

                                  BY

           SIR RICHARD T. GLAZEBROOK, K.C.B., D.Sc., F.R.S.

       _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)
    L’aigulette pas force de vertu
    A ma dame tot le mont (monde) retennue
    Qui sa beauté connoit et aperçoit.”

And when one passes to more recent years, there is not a name one knows
omitted from the list. There are also many included who all contributed
in some way to the growth of natural knowledge, but who can only be
known to the few, the very few, who have burrowed in past records
scattered far and wide with the perseverance, the patience, and the
skill of Dr. Mottelay.

And he has discovered interesting facts without number, and at the same
time has supported his case with full references to original works. To
the question, How can I find out what--some unknown writer--has written
about Electricity? there can in future be but one answer: Look him
up in Dr. Mottelay’s _Bibliographical History_. Our debt to the
author is no small one; our regrets that he is not here to be gratified
by the reception his book must meet with are deep and sincere.

The Great War delayed the issue of the book.