Energy. 65 



mysterious properties of the loadstone have been the 

 wonder and awe of mankind. To these forces men 

 have at different times accorded divine homage and 

 ascribed universal sway ; but it is only in recent 

 years that their deep import has been surmised. 

 Many scientists and sages, from Bacon onwards, 

 including Newton, Gilbert, and Schelling, founded 

 great expectations on the infinite possibilities 

 obviously contained in magnetism, and laboured 

 zealously to exalt it to the highest pinnacle of 

 science ; but the necessary evidence has been so 

 long in accumulating that its unparalleled importance, 

 in virtually underlying all other natural laws, is only 

 becoming apparent to-day. 



Gilbert and Schelling indeed audaciously announced 

 that " Polarity " was the universal law of nature ; but 

 they were preaching ahead of their times. That they 

 failed to graft their views on the science of the age, 

 was due to no flaw in their principles and no un- 

 soundness in their reasoning, but chiefly to an 

 insufficiency of evidence, coupled with the general 

 incompetence, prejudice, and timidity of mankind. 

 So far as their own crude knowledge buoyed them 

 on, they doubtless saw the road clear to their own 

 mind's eye, but they lacked the data wherewith to 

 sweep the cobwebs of hoarded beliefs from the optics 

 of their contemporaries. Truth truly is ever victorious, 

 but only when equipped with the sword of victory — 

 knowledge — and this they had not. They were too 



advanced in thought for the physical knowledge of 



E 



