[4] On the Continent, experimental work in other fields was already in progress, thanks to the genius of Descartes, Galileo and other founders of modern science. Gilbert, like Harvey, spent some years in Italy, coming under the direct influence of the great Italian physicist-astronomer-physician Galileo. Harvey was in Padua (1598-1602) during Galileo’s professoriate. The introduction of scientific methods in England at this time may well be credited to Italian and French influences. [5] Gilbert’s book is usually referred to simply as “The Magnet,” but the full title is: “Concerning the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and Concerning the Great Magnet the Earth: A New Natural History (Physiologia) Demonstrated by Many Arguments and Experiments.” [6] Magnetite does not always possess polarity. It is called “lodestone” only when it does. It occurs not only in the form of more or less massive stones, but also as loose sand and in earthy forms. [7] The fact that a lodestone possesses two “poles” was discovered in the thirteenth century by Petrus Peregrinus, of Picardy, while he was experimenting with a spherical lodestone and a needle. [8] From notes taken at a lecture by Dr. See before the California Academy of Sciences in 1922. Dr. See, in charge of the United States Naval Observatory at Mare Island (California), presented in the lecture “A New Theory of the Ether,” in which he outlined the grounds upon which he based his new theory of a direct connection between magnetism and universal gravitation. It is highly interesting, in this connection, to learn that Dr. Albert Einstein, in collaboration with Professor Eddington (of Cambridge)—working on the principle of Relativity—has discovered a connection between the earth’s power of attraction (gravitation) and electricity. CHAPTER 3 PIONEERS IN ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY The Danish physicist, Hans Christian Örsted, professor of natural philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, showed us, more than a century ago, that a magnetic needle can be deflected by an electric current. He had been led by theoretical considerations to assume that there must be a correlation between electric and magnetic forces. While yet a young man, Örsted endeavored by persevering experimentation to prove the correctness of his theory. While he did not expect a parallel action of the two forces, he was firmly convinced that magnetism and electricity were inseparable twins. He noted that both heat and light radiated from a conductor when heated to incandescence. He also assumed that magnetic forces are radiated from a conductor traversed by electricity.