92 THE INTELLECTUAL RISE IN ELECTRICITY. 



The last description of the ancient magnetic contriv- 

 ances is given by Ruffinus, 1 writing in 390, and he men- 

 tions those in the Serapeum in Alexandria, as merely 

 intended to deceive the people. A little window was ar- 

 ranged near the statute of Serapis, so that, at sunrise, a 

 beam would fall upon the lips ; and this the priests 

 explained as the sun's morning salutation ; while, at sun- 

 set, an iron figure of the sun, delicately counterbalanced, 

 was made to rise by the attraction of a magnet concealed 

 in the roof, and that was the sun's good-night. "But 

 there were so many other means of deception," adds the 

 chronicler hopelessly, "that it is impossible to tell them 

 all." It is said that while the image of Serapis was falling 

 under the blows of a battle-axe in the hands of one of the 

 destroying party which Archbishop Theophilus, in his 

 furious zeal, led to the Serapeum, a stray invader wander- 

 ing through the recesses of the temple, found the hidden 

 magnet in the roof, and removed it ; and, thereupon, a 

 four-horse chariot, which had been suspended in the air, 

 came crashing to the pavement. 2 



The last part of the narration is often criticised as fabu- 

 lous, under the assumption that the four-horse chariot, 

 which probably was the iron image of the sun described 

 by Ruffinus, was caused to float in the air with no support 

 save magnetic attraction ; but if, as Ruffinus states, it was 

 carried on the arm of a balanced lever, the improbability 

 is not so manifest. 



During the four centuries of undivided Roman empire, 

 beginning with the reign of Augustus Caesar and ending 

 with that of Constantine (306 A. D.), the names of Dioscor- 

 ides the Cilician, 3 and Galen of Pergamus, 4 stand out most 

 prominently as observers of nature. But Galen tells us 

 merely that the magnet and the Heraclean stone are the 

 same thing, and resemble haematite or bloodstone ; and 



1 Hist. Eccles., lib. ii., 294. 



2 Draper : Int. Dev. of Europe, i.. 320. 



8 Lib. 5, c., 100. *Lib. Sim. Med., ix. 



