66 Nature's 



was the electromagnet. I had no money; and 

 there was no one that believed I could do it, and 

 if I could " what good would come of it ?" I 

 made friends with a blacksmith by keeping 

 flies off a horse while he nailed the shoes on, 

 and " blowing the bellows " and occasionally 

 using the " sledge " for him. When I thought 

 the obligation had accumulated a sufficient 

 " voltage " (to express it electrically) I com- 

 municated to the blacksmith the situation and 

 what I wanted. 



The good-natured old fellow was not long in 

 bending up a U magnet of soft iron and forg- 

 ing out an armature. The next step was to 

 wind the U with insulated wire. The only 

 thing that I had ever seen of the kind was an 

 iron wire called " bonnet " wire that was wrap- 

 ped with cotton thread. This, however, was 

 not available, so I captured a piece of brass 

 bell-wire and wound strips of cotton cloth 

 around it for insulation and in that way 

 completed the magnet. 



Now everything was ready but the battery. 

 I wrnt at its construction witlj a feeling al- 

 most akin to awe, for I could not believe that 

 it would do as described in the book. I pro- 

 < 'u red L candy-jar from the grocer and found 

 some pieces of sheet zinc and copper. These I 

 rolled together into loose spirals and placed 

 one inside the other so that they would not 

 touch, when I was ready for the solution. The 



