228 MKMOUIAl- OF .lOSKI'll JIHNltY. 



nia}^n(;ti<! txilcj^^raplj Hi'iieo iiivonUid. . They ticttlcd Siitisfactorily (in 

 Jiailovv'.s pliiiisc) tli(! "only (jiicstion which coiiKl rciider llio result 

 doubtful;" and though derived from the magnet, were obviously 

 lus aj)|»li(;ablo to the galvanometer needle.* I'rofessor Moll, the 

 foremoHt ol I*iUro[»eans in the eleeLro-inagiietie chase, an<l close 

 upon Ihe heels of Henry in oik; portion of his researches, pro- 

 duc<;d a |)o\v<;rful "<pianti(y" iiiagnel, but one hopelessly and ladi- 

 cally incapacitated from any Hn<;h appli<;ation. 



It JH i<lle to say in disparag<!meiit of these successes, that in IIkj 

 competitive race of luimerous distinguished investigators in the fieltl^ 

 diligently searching into tlu; conditions of the new-found agency, 

 the same results would sooner or. later have been reached by others. 

 For of what discovery or invention may not the same be 8aid? 

 Oidy those who have sought in the twilight of uncertainty, can 

 appreciate the vast <;con<jmy of ellbrt by j)rompt dir(;ctions to the 

 path from one who has gained an advance. Not for what might be, 

 but f<»r (h(! actual bestowal, docs be who tirst grasj)S a valuable (ruth 

 nuirit the return of at least a gratefid reeognition. 



If these result.s aj)parently 8o simple when announcetl by llciury, 

 have never been justly appreciated either at home or abroad, no 

 such comi)laint ever esca[)(!d their author. Mo HU(;h thought seems 

 ever to have occurred to his artless nature. For him the one suUi- 

 cient incentive and reeom[)ense was the advan(!(!ment of himself and 

 others in tlui knowle<lgeof nature's laws. With the telegraph con- 

 Hciiously within his grasp, he was well content to leave to others the 

 glory and the emoluments of its realization. 



At the beginning of the year 1831, Henry had suspended around 

 th(! walls of one of the; upp(!r rooms in the Albany Acadi;my, a mile 

 of copper bell-wire interposed in a circuit between a small Oruick- 

 shanks batUny and an "intciiisity" n»agn<!t of (continuous fme <H)il. A 

 narrow steel rod (a permanent juagnet) pivoted to swing horizontally 

 like the (!ompjiss needle, was arranged so that one end remained in 



•"For circuits of email rosUtiiiico, giilvunoinctors of Hmull rCHlKtrinco miiBt bo 

 UHOd. For clrciillHof larKO rcslKtuiictt, gulvantiinclcrH of liirh't) rcHlHlmico iiiu.st uIho 

 buuHiid; not Unit llmlr ntHlHtaiicd U any iidvuiitagi;, bill bL-caiiHo wo cannot liavis a 

 ({alviiiioinctcr adapted to Indlt^ilit virry Htnall <'iirr(;nlH wUlidiit bavliif^u vory largo 

 iiiiiiib<;r af liirna In tbo coll, and this Involvi-H ncccHHarlly a lain" rc^slstanco." 

 I'rolcHHor K. .ItJiilcIn, Khclriciti/ and Mili/)i<sli^)n, J2iiio. London, and Nuw Yi)rU, 1873, 

 cliui>. Iv. Hoot. H, li. HI). 



