Chapter LIX: Book II: chap. ii.; Book III. chap. i.)

[34] Asterisks. As Gilbert remarks in his Author’s Preface, he has set over against “the great multitude” of his discoveries and experiments larger and smaller asterisks according to their importance and their subtility; all of his experiments having been, says he, “investigated and again and again done and repeated under our eyes.” There are, in all, 178 small and 21 large asterisks, some of them being attached to illustrations, of which latter there are as many as 84 throughout the work. See Appendix II herein.

[35] Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. p. 170, and Vol. II. pp. 717–718.

[36] Sir Wm. Thomson, “Good Words,” 1879, p. 445.

We have already indicated several modes of construction, notably at A.D. 1282 (Baïlak of Kibdjak), at A.D. 1558 (G. B. Porta), as well as at A.D. 1597 (Wm. Barlowe), and it is interesting to observe how all these vary, more particularly from the types described by Levinus Lemnius in the “De Occulta Naturæ Miracula,” mentioned at B.C. 1033, and by Martinus Lipenius in his “Navigatio Salomonis Ophiritica” noted at A.D. 1250.

[37] “Cosmos,” 1860, Vol. II. p. 341, or prior edition, 1849, Vol. II. p. 726.

[38] “Good Words,” 1879, with a _facsimile_ of the title-page at p. 383.

[39] According to Dr. John Davy, this “De Mundo Nostro,” which is but little known, “is a very remarkable book, both in style and matter; and there is a vigour and energy of expression belonging to it very suitable to its originality. Possessed of a more minute and practical knowledge of natural philosophy than Bacon, his opposition to the philosophy of the schools was more searching and particular, and at the same time probably little less efficient” (“Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy,” London, 1836, Vol. I. p. 311).

[40] Gilbert’s near kinsman, Rev. William Gilbert, of Brental Ely, in Suffolk.

[41] At the first chapter of Books I., III. and IV.

[42] “Philosophia magnetica in qua magnetis natura penitus explicatur....” An important work on the loadstone, in which the author often confutes the published treatise of Dr. Gilbert of Colchester, and quotes the inedited writings of L. Garzoni, who, even before Gilbert, had made researches respecting the magnet. A curious chapter in the “Philosophia” institutes a comparison between electrical and magnetical attraction (Libri, “Catalogue,” 1871, Part. I. p. 161).

[43] It is in the afore-mentioned Book IV. chap. i. that Gilbert makes mention of Norumbega, “the lost city of New England,” regarding which latter very interesting particulars will be found in the following publications: “Magazine of Amer. Hist.” for 1877, pp. 14, 321, and for 1886, p. 291; “New England’s Lost City Found”; Lang’s “Sagas of the Kings of Norway”; “Antiquitates Americanæ,” Royal Soc. of Copenhagen; Shea’s “Catholic Church in Colonial Days”; “Narrative and Critical History of America,” by Justin Winsor, Boston, 1889, Vol. II. pp. 451, 453, 459, 472; Vol. III. pp. 169–218; Vol. IV. pp. 53, 71, 88, 91–99, 101, 152, 373, 384; Vol. V. p. 479; R. Hakluyt, “The Principal Navigations,” Edinburgh, 1889, Vol. XIII. p. 162, note; J. G. Bourinot, “Canada,” London, 1897, p. 28; Horsford, “Cabot’s Landfall in 1497, and the site of Norumbega”; “Discovery of the Ancient City of Norumbega”; also “Defences of Norumbega.”

[44] “That which first occasioned this Discourse, was the reading of a little Pamphlet, stiled, _Nuntius Inanimatus_ (by Dr. Francis Godwin); wherein he affirms that there are certain ways to discourse with a Friend, though he were in a close Dungeon, in a besieged City, or a hundred miles off.... After this, I did collect all such Notes to this purpose, as I met with in the course of my other Studies. From whence when I had received full satisfaction, I did for mine own further delight compose them into this method.”--_The Author._

[45] In the second edition of Digby’s “The Immortality of Reasonable Soules” (“a treatise on the soul proving its immortality”), published during the year 1645, are to be found attractive portraits of himself and of his wife, Venetia Anastasia Stanley, daughter of Sir Edward Stanley, of Tongue Castle, one of the celebrated beauties of her day.

[46] Libri says (“Catal.,” 1861, Pt. II. p. 701) that the learned Jesuit, Schott, seems to have been very conversant with angels, for he not only dedicated his “Magia Naturalis” to an angel, but likewise another of his works, the “Magia Arithmetica,” wherein he indicates the total _number of the angels_ in existence, that number being composed of sixty-eight numerical figures.

[47] “The meetings, from which the Royal Society originated, commenced about the year 1645, a number of persons having then begun to assemble for the consideration of all subjects connected with experimental inquiries; all questions of theology and policy being expressly precluded” (Dr. Geo. Miller, from Harris’s “Life of Charles II,” Vol. I. p. 7, London, 1766).

[48] In the entry at p. 223, Part I of Libri’s “Catal.” for 1861 it is said that, in the first volume of the works of A. S. Conti, who was the intimate friend of Sir Isaac Newton, we find for the first time mention of the fact that the aurora is supposed to be an electrical phenomenon.

[49] “La perte de l’illustre M. Huygens est inestimable, peu de gens le savent autant que moi; il a égalé, à mon avis, la réputation de Galilée et de Descartes, et, aidé par ce qu’ils avaient fait, il a surpassé leurs découvertes.” (Extracted from a letter written by Leibnitz to Bosange, July 26, 1695--“Journal des Savants,” for Nov. 1905, “Oeuvres complètes de Christian Huygens,” La Haye, 1905.)

[50] Just here we may refer to the fact--for it is a fact--that the electrical energy transmitted over a line, which may be many miles in length, really does not travel by the wire connecting the two points. It travels in the ether surrounding the wire. The wire itself is, in fact, the guiding core of the disturbances in the ether which proceed outward in all directions to unlimited distances. The guiding core or conducting wire is needed to focalize or direct the delivery of the energy. This curious conclusion of science, then, that the power from the power-station wire travels in the space around the wires led from the station, is one of the results of recent electrical studies, just as with light those studies begun by Maxwell and Hertz have led to the inevitable conclusion that the light of the candle, the light of a kerosene lamp, and the light of a gas burner are all in essence electrical phenomena, as are all forms of radiation in the ether (“Electricity During the Nineteenth Century,” Prof. Elihu Thomson, Washington, 1901).

[51] Mr. Andrew Crosse (1784–1855) was a distinguished English scientist, author of “Experiments in Voltaic Electricity,” 1815, alluded to in _Phil. Magazine_, Vol. XLVI. p. 421 and in Gilb. “Ann.,” Bd. XLI. s. 60. See “Dict. of Nat. Biog.,” Vol. XIII. p. 223, and the many references thereto annexed.

[52] “The first sound theory of chemistry was denominated the _antiphlogistic_, in contradistinction to that of _phlogiston_, or the principle of inflammability, which was first proposed by Beccher (born at Spires in Germany in the year 1635) and then improved by Stahl, a native of Anspach, in honour of whom it has been commonly denominated the Stahlian theory. The difference between the two theories is briefly this, that according to the earlier a body is conceived to be deprived in combustion of a component principle, whereas according to the later a component part of the atmosphere is conceived to be combined with it” (Dr. Geo. Miller, from Thomson’s “History of Chemistry,” London, 1830, Vol. I. pp. 246, 250, and Vol. II. pp. 99–100).

[53] Ueber die Ursache und die Gesetze der atmosphärischen Elektricität. Von Prof. Franz Exner. Repertorium der Physik. Band XXII. Heft 7.

[54] Ueber Atmosphärischen und Gewitter Elektricität. Meteor. Zeits. 1, 2, 3 and 4, 1885.

[55] Memoir of National Academy of Sciences.

[56] (_a_) Report of Chicago Meteorological Congress. Part II. August 1893. (_b_) Zusammenstellung der Ergebnisse neuerer der Arbeiten über atmosphärische Elektricität. Von J. Elster und H. Geitel. Wissen. Beilage zum Jahresbericht des Herzoglichen Gymnasiums zu Wolfenbuttel, 1897.

[57] (_a_) Observations of Atmospheric Electricity. American Meteorological Journal, 1887. (_b_) Terrestrial Magnetism. December 1897.

Consult Sir Wm. Thomson (Lord Kelvin), “Reprint of Papers on Electro-statics and Magnetism,” London, 1884, second edition, pp. 192–239, Chapter (Article) XVI, “Atmospheric Electricity.”

[58] For Gauss and Weber: Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. I. pp. 172, 185–186; Vol. II. p. 720, and Vol. V, 1859, pp. 63, 71; “Encycl. Brit.,” 1879, Vol. X. p. 116, and the 1902 ed. Vol. XXXIII. p. 798; “Am. Journ. of Psych.,” Vol. IV. pp. 7–10; “New International Encycl.,” 1903, Vol. VIII. p. 159. The following curious array of figures is selected from Gauss’ many interesting calculations. He found that the earth’s magnetism is such as would result from the existence, in every cubic yard of its mass, of six magnetized steel bars, each weighing one pound. Compared with one such magnet, the magnetism of the earth is represented by 8,464,000,000,000,000,000,000 (“Am. Ann. of Sc. Dis.,” 1852, p. iii).

[59] Whewell, “Hist. of Induc. Sci.,” 1859, Vol. II. p. 244. It paved the way for his subsequent identification of the forces of electricity, galvanism and magnetism.

Prof. W. B. Rogers remarks that attempts to discover this connection had been made with galvanic piles or batteries whose poles were not connected by conductors, under the expectation that these would show magnetical relations, although in such cases the electricity accumulated at the extremities was evidently stagnant. It was reserved for Oersted first to bring into prominent view the fact that it was not while the electricity was thus at rest, but while it was flowing through the wire connecting the two poles, that it exhibited magnetic action, and that a wire thus carrying a current, while it had the power of affecting a magnetic needle, was in turn susceptible of being acted on by a magnet; and this was the initial step in the science of electro-magnetism.

[60] See the 1839 ed. of “Experimental Researches”: I, “Voltaic Electricity,” par. 268; II, “Ordinary Electricity,” par. 284; III, “Magneto-Electricity,” par. 343; IV, “Thermo-Electricity,” par. 349; V, “Animal Electricity,” par. 351.

[61] In English measure, the metre is ¹⁄₁₁ yd., the milligramme is ¹⁄₆₅ of a grain; the kilogramme is 2 lb. 3¼ oz.

[62] In the Summa of Theology was presented, says Ozanam Antoine Frédéric, a vast synthesis of the moral sciences, in which was unfolded all that could be known of God, of man and of their mutual relations--a truly Catholic philosophy.... Sixtus of Sienna and Trithemius both declare that St. Thomas explained _all_ the works of Aristotle and that he was the first Latin Doctor who did so (“Christian Schools and Scholars,” p. 81).

It may also be added that, in the estimation of one of his biographers, the greatest of the many disciples of St. Thomas was, by far, Dante Alighieri, in whose “Divina Commedia” the theology and philosophy of the Middle Ages, as fixed by St. Thomas, have received the immortality which poetry alone can bestow.

[63] Almagest was the name given to the great work of Aboulwéfa and was afterwards often applied to astronomical writings treating of celestial phenomena in general. The word is of Greek, not Arabic, origin, and signifies a composition made up on a very extensive scale (“Journ. des Savants,” December 1843, p. 725, and March 1845, p. 150). Almagest was also the name given to the extensive astronomical work by Ptolemy of Alexandria, which established the Ptolemaic System as astronomical science for 1400 years, until overthrown by the system of Copernicus. Ptolemy’s work (originally entitled “The Great Composition”), the Arabs called by the Greek word, _magisté_, “greatest,” and, with the addition by Arabic translators of their article _al_, “the,” the hybrid name “Almagest” came into use (“Encycl. Amer.,” Vol. I. n. p.; “Encycl. Britan.,” Edin., 1886, Vol. XX).

[64] See résumé concerning the Astrolabe at A.D. 1235–1315--Raymond Lully.

[65] Sacro Bosco, here alluded to, is John Holywood or Halifax--in Latin, Johannes de Sacro Bosco or Sacro Busto--an English mathematician, said to have studied at Oxford and to have afterwards become a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Paris about the year 1230. Sacro Bosco was one of the first, in the Middle Ages, to avail himself of the Arabian writings on astronomy and is believed to have condensed pretty much all the science therein contained in his own well-known “Tractatus de Sphæra.” Of the latter, which was the second astronomical work to appear in print and which was first issued at Ferrara in 1472, there were, it is said, as many as twenty-four more editions published before the year 1500. Houzeau says this “Tractatus” was the standard for three centuries, and the writer in “La Grande Encyclopédie,” Vol. XXIX. p. 44, states that there were more than seventy Latin editions of it published between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries.

He is also the author of numerous other works, including “De Astrolabio” and a very meritorious “Tractatus de Arte Numerandi,” which latter is reproduced at pp. 1–26 of the “Rara Mathematica” of Jas. Orchard Halliwell, London, 1839.

The best commentary ever written on the astronomy of Sacro Bosco is the “Commentarius in sphæram ... of Christopher Clavius,” called the Euclid of his country. Clavius was born at Bamberg in 1538, died at Rome in 1612, and, according to Houzeau, was the author of as many as twenty-six different works on mathematics and astronomy. An almost equally valuable Commentary on the Sphere of Sacro Bosco was written by the famous encyclopedist Cecco d’Ascoli (1257–1327) whose real name, as we have already been informed, was Francesco degli Stabili (Libri, “Hist. des Sc. Mathém.,” Vol. II. pp. 191–200, 525–526; Hœfer, “Hist. de l’Astronomie,” Paris, 1873, p. 285; Alex. Chalmers, “Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Vol. IX. pp. 1–3; Rose, “New Gen. Biog. Dict.,” Vol. VI. p. 153; “Encycl. Brit.,” 1876, Vol. V. p. 282; Bertelli, “Pietro Peregrino,” 1868, p. 129).

[66] Eudoxus, not before mentioned in this “Bibliographical History,” was a native of Cnidus, Asia Minor, who flourished about 370 B.C. He was a pupil of Plato, and is frequently mentioned by Aratus, Archimedes, Aristotle, Cicero, Hipparchus, Proclus, Ptolemy, Seneca, Strabo, Vitruvius and others. Cicero calls him the greatest astronomer that has ever lived, and Strabo quotes him as a very distinguished mathematician.

[67] Apollonius of Tyana, a Pythagorean philosopher who lived in first century after Christ and who, in the account of his extraordinary travels through India, reports having seen the precious stone _pantarbes_ casting rays of fire, and attracting all other gems, which adhered to it like swarms of bees (“Engl. Cycl.,” Chas. Knight, Biography, Vol. I. p. 266).

[68] Comte (Isidore Auguste Marie François-Xavier) (1798–1857). Very celebrated French philosopher, founder of Positivism, called Le Fondateur de la religion de l’humanité. Consult: Caird (Edward), “The Social Philosophy and Religion of Comte.”

[69] With reference to the real discoverer, we can add here with propriety the words of John Fiske: “No ingenuity of argument can take from Columbus the glory of an achievement which has, and can have, no parallel in the whole career of mankind. It was a thing that could be done but once!”

[70] “... Aristotle adds that some say the earth being situated in the centre, is rolled around the pole, as it is written in the _Timæus_ ... there are three significations of the pole with Plato. Thus, in the _Phædo_, he calls heaven the pole, and also the extremities of the axis about which the heaven revolves. But, in other places of the _Timæus_, and also in the present passage he calls the axis the pole” (“The Treatises of Aristotle,” Thos. Taylor, London, 1807, p. 235; Humboldt, “Cosmos,” 1849, Vol. II. p. 695, note). The Earth “is said by Plato to be conglobed about the pole, which is extended through the universe; because she (the Earth) is contained and compressed about its axis. For the axis also is the pole. And the pole is thus now denominated because the universe revolves about it ... on this account, the pole is said by Plato to be extended through the universe, as entirely pervading the centre of the Earth” (“The Six Books of Proclus,” Thos. Taylor, London, 1816, Book VII. chap. xxii. pp. 172–173).

[71] It was for a copy of the valuable works of this popular Arabian physician, which he borrowed from “La Faculté de Médecine” of Paris, that Louis XI had to deposit in pledge a large quantity of plate and had, besides, to procure a nobleman to join him as surety in a Deed binding himself under great forfeiture to restore these extraordinarily scarce books (Gabr. Naudé, “Additions à l’histoire de Louis XI,” par Comines, Vol. IV. p. 281). Rhazès was born and brought up at Rai, the most northern town of Irak Ajemi, where he is said to have died A.D. 923 or 932 (“Engl. Cycl.,” Vol. V. pp. 69–70).

[72] The School of Salerno and the introduction of Arabian sciences into Italy are discussed with learning and judgment by Muratori (Lodovico Antonio), “Antiquitates Italiæ Medii Aevi.,” Vol. III. pp. 932–940, and by Giannone (Pietro), “Istoria Civile del Regno di Napoli,” Vol. II. pp. 119–127). Consult, likewise, for the Salerno school, “Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages,” by Hastings Rashdall, Oxford, 1895, Chap. III. pp. 75–86, and also pp. 306–307, Vol. IV. part i. of the “History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages ...” of Ferdinand Gregorovius, tr. by Annie Hamilton, London, 1896.

[73] Extracted from “Information and Directions for Travellers,” by Mariana Starke, 8th ed., John Murray, London, 1832.

[74] Vol. III has at p. 688 an Index and an advertisement to the effect that two more volumes by Benjamin Motte will continue the work from 1700 to 1720.

[75] Benjamin Motte edited in 1721 an abridgment 1700–1720, in three volumes which “was very incorrect and was severely handled by a rival editor, Hy. Jones, fellow of King’s College, Cambridge” (“Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XXXIX. p. 194).

[76] These volumes, IV and V, are generally adopted, instead of those by Benjamin Motte, “a printer who had issued a bad abridgment of the same portion” before that of Henry Jones (“Dict. Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XXX. p. 109).

[77] This volume is in two parts, separately paged, and is by some designated as the volume VI to take the place of one of those of Eames and Martyn.

[78] Volume VII is followed by an Index to the previous seven volumes.

[79] John Martyn published, between 1734 and 1756, five volumes comprising the Transactions from 1719 to 1750 (“Dict. of Nat. Biogr.,” Vol. XXXVI. p. 318). The last two volumes are marked Vol. X. parts i. and ii.

[80] Hutton’s Abridgment contains ... many biographical memoirs of deceased members of the Royal Society, as well as some rare tracts not readily found elsewhere.

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.

2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.

3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

4. Where appropriate, the original spelling has been retained.

5. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or X^{xx}.

6. Italics are shown as _xxx_.

7. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.