SCIENCE: J. J. CARTY 13 



wound by Henry himself. Even the very wire was insulated 

 with his own hands. Insulated electrical wire, which now seems so 

 common to us that we may perhaps fancy it has always existed, 

 was not an article of manufacture in Henry's time. In fact, it 

 appears that to Henry belongs the credit of having first thought of 

 applying an insulated covering to the wire used for winding electro- 

 magnets. Earlier electromagnets had all consisted of a varnished 

 iron core wound about with a few turns of bare wire. Electro- 

 magnets with many turns of insulated wire, such as are used in 

 every telephone and telegraph instrument and form part of every 

 dynamo and motor, were first devised and their superiority demon- 

 strated to the scientific world by Joseph Henry. 



These historic relics are valued possessions of Princeton Uni- 

 versity, where for years they have been carefully guarded by 

 Henry's scientific successors. Because of their very great desire to 

 assist the Research Council in its work, the authorities of the 

 University have generously permitted me to bring this apparatus 

 to Washington to perform this experiment before you. 



At the time this experiment in natural philosophy was performed 

 by Henry, no one could dream of the wonderful possibilities which 

 it was destined to open to us. The value of this discovery is not to 

 be measured merely by the billions of dollars worth of electrical 

 property which it has made possible. This property has now be- 

 come such a fundamental part of the mechanism of modern civiliza- 

 tion that, if it were suddenly withdrawn from use, the world's in- 

 dustries would become deranged, its communications paralyzed, 

 and transportation would become so disorganized that millions 

 would starve and disorder inconceivable supervene. 



That such remarkable results should have followed from this 

 simple experiment conducted by a philosopher seeking only for 

 the truth, surely no one could have foretold. For any practical 

 purpose these old magnets never had a value greater than so much 

 junk, but in the hands of the philosopher they have brought endless 

 advantages which will continue to accrue to the benefit of mankind 

 as long as civilization endures. 



In order to encourage those engaged in the industries and in the 

 practical arts and in commerce to make contributions to the support 

 of scientific discovery in the universities and other institutions, and 

 more particularly in order to justify them from a business standpoint 

 in so doing, it is necessary to demonstrate the pecuniary value of 



