Electric apparatus and appliances; Electrical engineering -- Juvenile literature
Man has not yet found a means whereby he can make a heat without
increasing the temperature, as nature does it in the glow worm, or in
the firefly. A certain electric energy will produce both light and heat,
but it is found that much more of this energy is used in the heat than
in the light.
What wonderful possibilities are in store for the inventor who can make
a heatless light! It is a direction for the exercise of ingenuity that
will well repay any efforts.
_Curious Superstitions Concerning Electricity_
Electricity, as exhibited in light, has been the great marvel of all
times. The word electricity itself comes from the thunderbolt of the
ancient God Zeus, which is known to be synonymous with the thunderbolt
and the lightning.
Magnetism, which we know to be only another form of electricity, was not
regarded the same as electricity by the ancients. Iron which had the
property to attract, was first found near the town of Magnesia, in
Lydia, and for that reason was called magnetism.
Later on, a glimmer of the truth seemed to dawn on the early scientists,
when they saw the resemblance between the actions of the amber and the
loadstone, as both attracted particles. And here another curious thing
resulted. Amber will attract particles other than metals. The magnet did
not; and from this imperfect observation and understanding, grew a
belief that electricity, or magnetism would attract all substances, even
human flesh, and many devices were made from magnets, and used as cures
for the gout, and to affect the brain, or to remove pain.
Even as early as 2,500 years before the birth of Christ the Chinese knew
of the properties of the magnet, and also discovered that a bar of the
permanent magnet would arrange itself north and south, like the
mariners' compass. There is no evidence, however, that it was used as a
mariner's compass until centuries afterwards.
But the matter connected with light, as an electrical development, which
interests us, is its manifestations to the ancients in the form of
lightning. The electricity of the earth concentrates itself on the tops
of mountains, or in sharp peaks, and accounts for the magnificent
electrical displays always found in mountainous regions.
Some years ago, a noted scientist, Dr. Siemens, while standing on the
top of the great pyramid of Cheops, in Egypt, during a storm, noted that
an electrical discharge flowed from his hand when extended toward the
heavens. The current manifested itself in such a manner that the hissing
noise was plainly perceptible.
The literature of all ages and of all countries shows that this
manifestation of electrical discharges was noted, and became the subject
of discussions among learned men.
All these displays were regarded as the bolts of an angry God, and
historians give many accounts of instances where, in His anger, He sent
down the lightning to destroy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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