CHAPTER V. 



DISCOVERY OF THE LAWS OF ELECTRO-MAGNETIC 

 ACTION. 



ON attempting to analyze the electro-magnetic 

 phenomena observed by Oersted and others 

 into their simplest forms, they appeared, at least 

 at first sight, to be different from any mechanical 

 actions which had yet been observed. It seemed 

 as if the conducting wire exerted on the pole of the 

 magnet a force which was not attractive or repul- 

 sive, but transverse; not tending to draw the 

 point acted on nearer, or to push it further off, in 

 the line which reached from the acting point, but 

 urging it to move at right angles to this line. The 

 forces appeared to be such as Kepler had dreamt 

 of in the infancy of mechanical conceptions ; rather 

 than such as those of which Newton had established 

 the existence in the solar system, and such as he, 

 and all his successors, had supposed to be the only 

 kinds of force which exist in nature. The north 

 pole of the needle moved as if it were impelled 

 by a vortex revolving round the wire in one direc- 

 tion, while the south pole seemed to be driven by 

 an opposite vortex. The case seemed novel, and 

 almost paradoxical. 



It was soon established by experiments, made 

 in a great variety of forms, that the mechanical 



