266 THE INTELLECTUAL RISE IN ELECTRICITY. 



been made that his magnetic experiments involved an 

 actual outlay of over ^5,000 sterling, 1 and Gilbert him- 

 self avers in his preface that, in his endeavor to discover 

 the true substance of the earth, he examined matters ob- 

 tained from lofty mountains, sea depths and hidden 

 mines from which it may be inferred that he had made a 

 large collection of rare substances, which, in those days, 

 must have involved great outlay. So also, in describing 

 one of his experiments, he speaks of testing the supposed 

 magnetizing effect of seventy-five diamonds. It is evi- 

 dent, moreover, that all of his practical research was made 

 with the utmost attention to detail, that his tests were re- 

 peated over and over again, sometimes with very slight 

 variations. They form a great multitude of experiments 

 and discoveries dug up, he says, with much pains and 

 sleepless nights and at great cost; and "all of them done 

 again and again under my own eyes." 



It was impossible for. such an intellect as that of Gil- 

 bert not to draw comparisons between knowledge based 

 on the magnificent discoveries of the Italian anatomists, 

 and that founded on the pedantic re-readings of Galen 

 about which the English physicians ceaselessly wrangled ; 

 or between the intelligence which sought, at the bedside, 

 the best modes of assisting the vis medicatrix naturtz, and 

 the quacks, whom he denounces as prescribing gold and 

 emerald and practicing wretched imposture for money. 

 To him who has learned the art of questioning nature, 

 there belongs a potent armament adaptable to all needs. 

 The study of the obscure functions of the human organs 

 and that of the equally obscure phenomena of the lode- 

 stone involved, in both instances, "sure experiments and 

 demonstrated arguments" the same care "to look for 

 knowledge not in books but in things" and the handling 

 of bodies "carefully, skillfully and deftly." The skill 

 trained to one task was inevitably trained in all essentials 



1 Fuller: Worthies of England, 16. Morhof: Polyhist. Lit. Lubeck, 

 1732, Vol. II., 3d ed., 409- 



