1883.I Recent Progress of Electricity. 465 
magnetic, — that is to say, so imbued with his spirit as to 
have the power of attracting to itself, and holding firmly, 
portions of the same metal equal or even greater in weight 
than itself. A variety, too, of this metal, named loadstone, 
is to be found in various parts of the world, which has the 
same quality, with the addition of being able — by close con- 
tact and repeated embraces — to communicate it permanently 
to other members of the ferric family. And in connection 
with these latter an important passage in the history of 
Electron has now to be mentioned. 
These magnets, as they are called, have a tendency to 
arrange themselves, and when allowed perfect freedom of 
motion do arrange themselves, in a line parallel, or almost 
parallel, to the axis of the earth, one of their ends or poles 
always pointing to the northern and the other to the southern 
pole of the earth, — a wonderful property which is taken ad- 
vantage of (and has been for many centuries) in the form of 
the mariner’s compass, for the safe guidance of ships across 
the pathless ocean. But less than one century ago a 
Danish savant , named Oersted, discovered another singular 
peculiarity of these magnetic imps, namely, that the instant 
they find themselves in the immediate presence of Electron 
they make a reverential sign of obeisance to him, which he 
doubtless (in some way to us invisible) acknowledges. If 
he approach them in front they turn to him by a movement 
to the right ; if he approach them from behind they face 
round to him by the left, always retaining their position 
across or at right angles to his path, during the presence of 
their great chief. 
Little did Oersted foresee the important uses afterwards 
to be made of the little odd peculiarity he had discovered ; 
but succeeding wise men who have given themselves to the 
service of Electron, by taking advantage of this devoted 
attachment of these small magnets, have devised a way by 
which persons living at the greatest distance from each other 
can hold almost immediate correspondence. And this is the 
way in which this God-like achievement can be accom- 
plished : — A copper or iron wire is laid either above or under 
the ground, or along the bottom of the sea, of any length 
from a few yards to thousands of miles, and the Geni, being 
exorcised secundum artem from his place of concealment, can 
be sent by qualified assistants or operators along this friendly 
path to the place intended, where he is made to pass across 
one or more of the magnetic imps, who instantly give him 
the quasi-military salute just described. These transmis- 
sions and salutes can be repeated so rapidly, and timed and 
