Electricity and Magnetism — Context and Discussion

The writer has spent much of his time for thirty-five years in the study of electricity and in inventing appliances for purposes of transmitting intelligence electrically between distant points, and is perhaps more familiar with the phenomena of electricity than with those of any other branch of physics; yet he finds it still the most difficult of all the natural sciences to explain. To give any satisfactory theory as to its place with and relation to other forms of energy is a perplexing problem.

It is said that Lord Kelvin lately made the statement that no advance had been made in explaining the real nature of electricity for fifty years. While this statement--if he really made it--is rather broad, it must be acknowledged that all the theories so far advanced are little better than guesses. But there is value in guessing, for one man's guess may lead to another that is better, and, as it is rarely the case that each one does not give us a little different view of the matter, it may be that out of the multiplicity of guesses there may some time be a suggestion given to some investigator that will solve the problem, or at least carry the theme farther back and establish its true relationship to the other forms of energy. I cannot but think that there is yet a simple statement to be made of Energy in its relation to Matter that will establish a closer relationship between the different branches of physical science. And this, most likely, will be brought about by a better understanding of the nature of the interstellar substance called Ether, and its relation to all forms and conditions of sensible matter and energy.

In the talks that will follow it will be the endeavor of the writer to give such a simple and popular exposition of the phenomena and applications of electricity, in a general way only, that the popular reader may get, at least, an elementary understanding of the subject so far as it is known. As we have said, the descriptions will have to be elementary, for nothing else can be done without such elaborate technical drawings and specifications as would be impossible in our limited space, and would not be clear to the ordinary reader who knows nothing of the science.

Thousands who are employed in various ways with enterprises, the foundations of which are electrical, know nothing of electricity as a science. A friend of mine, who is a professor of physics in one of our colleges, was traveling a few years ago, and in his wanderings he came across some sort of a factory where an electric motor was employed. Being on the alert for information, he stepped in and introduced himself to the engineer, and began asking him questions about the electric motor of which he had charge. The professor could talk ohm, ampères, and volts smoothly, and he "fired" some of these electrotechnical names at the engineer. The engineer looked at him blankly and said: "You can't prove it by me. I don't know what you're talking about. All I know is to turn on the juice and let her buzz." How much "juice" is wasted in this cut-and-dry world of ours and how much could be saved if only all were even fairly intelligent regarding the laws of nature! A great deal of the business of this world is run on the "let her buzz" theory, and the public pays for the waste. It will continue to be so until a higher order of intelligence is more generally diffused among the people. A fountain can rise no higher than its source. A business will never exceed the intelligence that is put into it, nor will a government ever be greater than its people.

Let us begin the subject of electricity by going somewhat into its past history. It is always well to know the history of any subject we are studying, for we often profit as much by the mistakes of others as by their successes. I shall also give the theories advanced by different investigators, and if I should have any thoughts of my own on the subject I shall be free to give them, for I have just as good a right to make a guess as any one. It must be confessed, however, that the older I grow the less I feel that I know about the subject of electricity, or anything else, in comparison with what I see there is yet to be known. I once met a young man who had just graduated from college, and in his conversation he stated that he had taken a course in electricity. I asked him how long he had studied the subject. He said "three months." I asked him if he understood it--and he said that he did. I told him that he was the man that the world was looking for; that I had studied it for thirty years and did not understand it yet.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing"--for it puffs us up, and we feel that we know it all and have the world in our grasp; but after we have tried our "little learning" on the world for a while and have received the many hard knocks that are sure to come, we are sooner or later brought up in front of the mirror of experience, and we "see ourselves as others see us," and are not satisfied with the view.

Whatever the theories may be regarding electricity, and however unsatisfactory they may be, there are certain well-defined facts and phenomena that are of the greatest importance to the world. These we may understand: and to this end let us especially direct our efforts.

HISTORY OF ELECTRICAL SCIENCE.

Electricity as a well-developed science is not old. Those of us who have lived fifty years have seen nearly all its development so far as it has been applied to useful purposes, and those who have lived over twenty-five years have seen the major portion of its development.

Thales of Miletus, 600 B.C., discovered, or at least described, the properties of amber when rubbed, showing that it had the power to attract and repel light substances, such as straws, dry leaves, etc. And from the Greek word for amber--elektron--came the name electricity, denoting this peculiar property. Theophrastus and Pliny made the same observations; the former about 321 B.C., and the latter about 70 A.D. It is also said that the ancients had observed the effects of animal electricity, such as that of the fish called the torpedo. Pliny and Aristotle both speak of its power to paralyze the feet of men and animals, and to first benumb the fish which it then preyed upon. It is also recorded that a freed-man of Tiberius was cured of the gout by the shocks of the torpedo. It is further recorded that Wolimer, the King of the Goths, was able to emit sparks from his body.

Coming down to more modern times--A.D. 1600--we find Dr. Gilbert, an Englishman, taking up the investigation of the electrical properties of various substances when submitted to friction, and formulating them in the order of their importance. In these experiments we have the beginnings of what has since developed into a great science. He made the discovery that when the air was dry he could soon electrify the substances rubbed, but when it was damp it took much longer and sometimes he failed altogether. In 1705 Francis Hawksbee, an experimental philosopher, discovered that mercury could be rendered luminous by agitating it in an exhausted receiver. (It is a question whether this phenomenon should not be classed with that of phosphorescence rather than electricity.) The number of investigators was so great that all of them cannot be mentioned. It often happens that those who do really most for a science are never known to fame. A number of people will make small contributions till the structure has by degrees assumed large proportions, when finally some one comes along and puts a gilded dome on it and the whole structure takes his name. This is eminently true of many of the more important developments in the science and applications of electricity during the last twenty-five or thirty years.

Following Hawksbee may be mentioned Stephen Gray, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Wall, M. Dupay and others. Dupay discovered the two conditions of electrical excitation known now as positive and negative conditions. In 1745 the Leyden jar was invented. It takes its name from the city of Leyden, where its use was first discovered. It is a glass jar, coated inside and out with tin-foil. The inside coating is connected with a brass knob at the top, through which it can be charged with electricity. The inner and outer coatings must not be continuous but insulated from each other. The author's name is not known, but it is said that three different persons invented it independently, to wit, a monk by the name of Kleist, a man by the name of Cuneus, and Professor Muschenbroeck of Leyden. This was an important invention, as it was the forerunner of our own Franklin's discoveries and a necessary part of his outfit with which he established the identity of lightning and electricity. Every American schoolboy has heard, from Fourth of July orations, how "Franklin caught the forked lightning from the clouds and tamed it and made it subservient to the will of man." How my boyish soul used to be stirred to its depths by this oratorical display of electrical fireworks!

Franklin had long entertained the idea that the lightning of the clouds was identical with what is called frictional electricity, and he waited long for a church spire to be erected in his adopted home, the Quaker City, in order that he might make the test and settle the question. But the Quakers did not believe in spires, and Franklin's patience had a limit.

Franklin had the theory that most investigators had at that time, that electricity was a fluid and that certain substances had the power to hold it. There were two theories prevalent in those days--both fluid theories. One theory was that there were two fluids, a positive and a negative. Franklin held to the theory of a single fluid, and that the phenomenon of electricity was present only when the balance or natural amount of electricity was disturbed. According to this theory, a body charged with positive electricity had an excessive amount, and, of course, some other body somewhere else had less than nature had allotted to it; hence it was charged with negative electricity. A Leyden jar, for instance, having one of its coatings (say the inside) charged with positive or + electricity, the other coating will be charged with negative or - electricity. The former was only a name for an amount above normal and the latter a name for a shortage or lack of the normal amount.

As we have said, Franklin believed in the identity of lightning and electricity, and he waited long for an opportunity to demonstrate his theory. He had the Leyden jar, and now all he needed was to establish some suitable connection between a thunder-cloud and the earth.

Previous to 1750 Franklin had written a paper in which he showed the likeness between the lightning spark and that of frictional electricity. He showed that both sparks move in crooked lines--as we see it in a storm-cloud, that both strike the highest or nearest points, that both inflame combustibles, fuse metals, render needles magnetic and destroy animal life. All this did not definitely establish their identity in the mind of Franklin, and he waited long for an opportunity, and finally, finding that no one presented itself, he did what many men have had to do in other matters; he made one.

In the month of June, 1752, tired of waiting for a steeple to be erected, Franklin devised a plan that was much better and probably saved the experiment from failure; for the steeple would probably not have been high enough. He constructed a kite by making a cross of light cedar rods, fastening the four ends to the four corners of a large silk handkerchief. He fixed a loop to tie the kite string to and balanced it with a tail, as boys do nowadays. He fixed a pointed wire to the upper end of one of the cross sticks for a lightning-rod, and then waited for a thunder-storm. When it came, with the help of his boy, he sent up the kite. He tied a loop of silk ribbon on the end of the string next his hand--as silk was known to be an insulator or non-conductor--and having tied a key to the string he waited the result, standing within a door to prevent the silk loop from getting wet and thus destroying its insulating qualities. The cloud had nearly passed and he feared his long waited for experiment had failed, when he noticed the loose fibers of the string standing out in every direction, and saw that they were attracted by the approach of his finger. The rain now wet the string and made a better conductor of it. Soon he could draw sparks with his knuckle from the key. He charged a Leyden jar with this electrical current from the thunder-cloud, and performed all the experiments with it that he had done with ordinary electricity, thus establishing the identity of the two and confirming beyond a doubt what he had long before believed was true. In after experiments Franklin found that sometimes the electricity of the clouds was positive and at other times negative. From this experiment Franklin conceived the idea of erecting lightning-rods to protect buildings, which are used to this day.

The news spread all over Europe, not through the medium of electricity, however, but as soon as sailing vessels and stage-coaches could carry it. Many philosophers repeated the experiments and at least one man sacrificed his life through his interest in the new discovery. In 1753 Professor Richman of St. Petersburg erected on his house a metal rod which terminated in a Leyden jar in one of the rooms. On the 31st of May he was attending a meeting of the Academy of Sciences. He heard a roll of thunder and hurried home to watch his apparatus. He and one of the assistants were watching the apparatus when a stroke of lightning came down the rod and leaped to the professor's head. He was standing too near it and was instantly killed.

Passing over many names of men who followed in the wake of Franklin we come to the next era-making discovery, namely, that of galvanic electricity. In the year 1790 an incident occurred in the household of one Luigi Galvani, an Italian physician and anatomist, that led to a new and important branch of electrical science. Galvani's wife was preparing some frogs for soup, and having skinned them placed them on a table near a newly charged electric machine. A scalpel was on the table and had been in contact with the machine. She accidentally touched one of the frogs to the point of the scalpel, when, lo! the frog kicked, and the kick of that dead frog changed the whole face of electrical science. She called her husband and he repeated the experiment, and also appropriated the discovery as well, and he has had the credit of it ever since, when really his wife made the discovery. Galvani supposed it to be animal electricity and clung to that theory the rest of his life, making many experiments and publishing their results; but the discovery led others to solve the problem.

Alessandro Volta, a professor of natural philosophy at Pavia, Italy, was, it must be said, the founder of the science of galvanic or voltaic electricity. Stimulated by the discovery of Galvani he attributed the action of the frog's muscles, not to animal electricity, but to some chemical action between the metals that touched it. To prove his theory, he constructed a pile made of alternate layers of zinc, copper, and a cloth or pasteboard saturated in some saline solution. By repeating these trios--copper, zinc, and the saturated cloth--he attained a pile that would give a powerful shock. It is called the Voltaic Pile.

I have a clear idea of the construction of this form of pile, founded on experience. It was my habit when a boy to make everything that I found described, if it were possible. The bottom of my mother's wash-boiler was copper, and just the thing to make the square plates of copper to match the zinc ones, made from another piece of domestic furniture used under the stove. I shocked my mother twice--first with the voltaic pile that I had constructed, and again when she found out where the metal plates came from. The sequel to all this was--but why dwell upon a painful subject!

Galvanism and voltaic electricity are the same. Volta was the first to construct what is termed the galvanic battery. The unit of electrical pressure or electromotive force is called the volt, and takes its name from Volta, the great founder of the science of galvanic or voltaic electricity. From this pile constructed by Volta innumerable forms of batteries have been devised. The evolution of the galvanic battery in all its forms, from Volta to the present day, would fill a large volume if all were described.

The discoveries of Michael Faraday (1791-1867), the distinguished English chemist and physicist, led to another phase of the science that has revolutionized modern life. Faraday made an experiment that contains the germ of all forms of the modern dynamo, which is a machine of comparatively recent development. He found that by winding a piece of insulated wire around a piece of soft iron and bringing the two ends (of the wire) very close together, and then placing the iron across the poles of a permanent magnet and suddenly jerking it away, a spark would pass between the two ends of the wire that was wound around the piece of soft iron. Here was an incipient dynamo-electric machine--the germ of that which plays such an important part in our modern civilization.

Having brought our history down to the present day, it would seem scarcely necessary to recite that which everybody knows. It is well, however, to call a halt once in a while and compare our present conditions of civilization with those of the past. Our world is filled with croakers who are always sighing for the good old days. But we can easily imagine that if they could go back to those days their croaking would be still louder than it is.

Before the advent of electricity many things were impossible that are easy now. In the old days the world was very, very large; now, thanks to electricity, it is knocking at the door of every man's house. The lumbering stage-coach that was formerly our limited express--limited to thirty or forty miles a day--has been supplanted by one that covers 1000 miles in the same time, and this high rate of speed is made possible only by the use of the electric telegraph.

In the old days all Europe could be involved in a great war and the news of it would be weeks in reaching our shores, but now the firing of the first gun is heard at every fireside the world over, almost before the smoke has cleared away. Our planet is threaded with iron nerves that run over mountains and under seas, whose trembling atoms, thrilled with the electric fire, speak to us daily and hourly of the great throbbing life of the whole civilized world.

Electricity has given us a voice that can be heard a thousand miles, and not only heard, but recognized. It has given us a pen that will write our autograph in New York, although we are still in Chicago. It has given us the best light, both from an optical and a sanitary standpoint, that the world has ever seen. The old-fashioned, jogging horse-car has been supplanted by the electric "trolley," and we no longer have our feelings harrowed with pity for the poor old steeds that pulled those lumbering coaches through the streets, with men and women crowded in and hanging on to straps, while everybody trod on every other body's toes.

"In olden times we took a car Drawn by a horse, if going far, And felt that we were blest; Now the conductor takes the fare And puts a broomstick in the air-- And lightning does the rest.

"In other days, along the street, A glimmering lantern led the feet, When on a midnight stroll; But now we catch, when night is nigh, A piece of lightning from the sky And stick it on a pole.