168 THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY. 



Finally, 1 have it as a tradition that once Pouillet, showing in a 

 lecture the properties of an unusually powerful electro-magnet, was so 

 rash as to break Avith both his hands the exciting current so as to 

 show that the magnetic force had instantly, almost wholly, disappeared. 

 He received a shock which came near striking him down. We now 

 know that the extra-current of rupture had run through his body. 



The experiments made before the days of Faraday show how obscure 

 is the path that leads to the unknown and how hard it is to put to a 

 practical use the precepts of philosophers, although their principle may 

 be excellent. The induction currents hud been sought after without 

 being found; they were found without being seen. The best minds had 

 a preconceived notion of them which no doubt would have soon taken 

 the shape of demonstrated facts, but so many failures only enhance the 

 feme of the true originator of modern electricity. We can thus realize 

 how bitter were the feelings of Ampere, who had had this signal dis- 

 covery within his grasp; and after all he left in the history of sciences 

 a good enough record to preclude envy of his successors. 



As to Faraday, he lived in a world of notions that were peculiarly his 

 own. He had but little regard for old paths and followed the lead of 

 his genius. He was a skillful expei'imenter and knew how to interpret 

 phenomena in accordance with what seemed to him to most closely 

 conform to nature, heedless of accepted theories and current ideas. To 

 indiscreet questions on the subject of his present experiments he would 

 answer with the most sincere modesty: "Do not ask me; I am seeking 

 for absurdities." 



It has subsequently been found that the induction currents are a 

 necessary consequence of the general laws and that they might have 

 been foreseen; foresight is easy as an afterthought. 



It would be superfluous to dwell on the universal applicability of the 

 inductive currents. They are found in telegraphs, in our house bells, 

 in that recent wonder the telephone; they are the key to the present 

 condition of industrial electricity; they are displayed in the indirect 

 effects of lightning, in those produced ujion telegraphic circuits by 

 the variations of terrestrial magnetism, in the grand apparitions of the 

 polar auroras; they even seem to respond on our globe to the physical 

 disturbances which incessantly affect the solar mass, and thus enable 

 us to perceive through the vacuum of space, if not the celestial har- 

 mony, at least the echo of the terrific commotions of which the center of 

 our planetary system is the seat. 



At the same time Faraday resumed the study of electrical influence, 

 a question that was thought to have been solved long ago, and pre- 

 sented a new interpretation. The conception of the force lines, which 

 was the fruit of that study, has made it possible to i)ut into physical 

 shape, so to speak, the most abstract results of analysis. Faraday 

 gave prominence to this fruitful conception by a succession of skillfully 

 conducted experiments and intuitive deductions. It could properly be 



