=A.D. 1739.=--Desaguliers (Jean Theophile), chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Chandos, gives an account of his first experiments on the phenomena of electricity at pp. 186, 193, 196, 198, 200, 209, 634, 637, 638 and 661 of Vol. XLI of the _Phil. Trans._ for 1739. Some of these experiments were made on the 15th of April, 1738, at H.R.H. the Prince of Wales’ house at Cliefden. He was the first to divide bodies into “electrics,” or non-conductors, and “non-electrics,” or conductors. He ranked pure _air_ amongst his electrics (Tyndall, Lecture I) and stated that “cold air in frosty weather, when vapours rise least of all, is preferable for electrical purposes to warm air in summer, when the heat raises the vapours” (_Phil. Trans._, John Martyn abridgment, Vol. VIII. p. 437). It was Desaguliers who announced that he could render bars of iron magnetic, either by striking them sharply against the ground while in a vertical position or by striking them with a hammer when placed at right angles to the magnetic meridian. His “Dissertation Concerning Electricity” London, 1742, which won for him the grand prize of the Bordeaux Academy, is said to be the second work on the subject published in the English language, the first having been Boyle’s “Mechanical Origin and Production of Electricity,” mentioned at A.D. 1675. Desaguliers was the second to receive the Copley medal, it having been previously bestowed by the Royal Society only upon Stephen Grey, who obtained it in 1731 and 1732 for his “New Electrical Experiments.” The list of recipients of this distinguished honour, given by C. R. Weld at p. 385, Vol. I of the “History of the Royal Society,” shows that Desaguliers received _three_ Copley medals; these were awarded him during the years 1734, 1736 and 1741, for his “Experiments in Natural Philosophy.” John Canton was given two of the medals, in 1751 and 1764, the only other electrician similarly favoured being Michael Faraday, who received them during the years 1832 and 1838, while Sir Humphry Davy is credited with only one, conferred upon him in 1805. “Can Britain ... ... Permit the weeping muse to tell How poor neglected Desaguliers fell? How he, who taught two gracious kings to view, All Boyle ennobled, and all Bacon knew, Died in a cell, without a friend to save, Without a guinea, and without a grave?” Cawthorn, “Vanity of Human Enjoyments,” V. 147–154.