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66 THE PHONOGRAM. THE FOUNDERS OF ELECTRICAL SCIENCE. BY KKUX DAHX, I’H. I». No. 2.—OTTO VON GUERICKE. I N the preceding paper we gave a sketch of Dr. William Gilbert, of Colchester, England, one of Queen Elizabeth’s physicians, and pointed out the fact that to him belongs witlfbut question the honor of being recognized and called the father of electricity, and also that his fa- mous work, entitled Dc Magtiete % published in the year 1600, may be regard- ed as the cradle of that branch of science that has given us the telegraph, the electric light, the dynamo, the electric motor, the telephone, and many other wonderful and useful things that have so pro- foundly affected the world. The next name on the list of the piongers who pushed their in- vestigations into this new field of science, is that of the illustrious Otto von Guer- icke, burgomas- ter of Magde- burg, and the in- ventor of the air-pump. To him science is also indebted for the first electrical machine. Among the substances recognized by Gil- bert as |K)ssessing the same property as am- ber, was sulphur. Exactly seventy-two years after Gilbert published his famous treatise on the “Magnet,” namely, in 1672, Guericke published his work also in Latin, entitled Experiment a Xora Mag debit rgica Je Vacuo Spatio. In it he described the method of preparing his machine, and we quote his own words: “ l ake a spherical glass bottle as big as a child’s head; fill it with small pieces of sulphur, and bring it near the fire so as to melt the sulphur. Then let it become cold, and break the glass in order to get out the sphere of sulphur, which you will keep in a dry place. If you like, you may make a hole through it, so that it can be turned round on ail iron axis, and the globe will then l>c ready for use.” Very simple, indeed, but with this machine, if such it can be called, Guericke discovered that light substances which had been attracted by the excited sulphur were afterward repelled until they had touch- ed some other body. In other words, that elec- tricity was man- ifested by repul- sion as well as attraction. Moreover, with it he first notic- ed the elect tic sparhfi and that was the real genesis of the electric light.” As was to be ex- ex pected, so it happened-—his comparatively weak machine was rapidlv improved and made more pow- erful. That " Science move* but slowly, slowly. Creeping on from point to point ” is true to-day, and, strictly speaking, prob- ably always will be. But there is no ques- tion that as it gathers volume and momen- tum it will grow with accelerating speed, adding knowledge unto knowledge. If sci- ence l>e likened unto a river, and if Gilbert be considered as the fountain-head, then Guericke is the first important tributary. So far, then—Gilbert and Guericke.