4 oo On Electricity and its Present Applications. [July, 
water, and food ; but no prison or solid walls, no laws or 
ingenuity of man, can deprive them of the presence and 
mmistrations of this all-pervading spirit. The toad or frog 
shut up for hundreds of years in a solid rock can be kept 
alive by this, the only pabulum vitce which can have acces 
The invaluable services of Electron, too, for specific pur- 
poses are also at the constant command and use of a 
mankind. The breast of mother Earth can be tapped, so to 
speak, anywhere and at any time, and the necessary supply 
of energy drawn from it, provided the individual has the 
requisite knowledge and skill to use the appropriate means 
for the purpose. These means, in the present state of our 
knowledge, are, it must be admitted, somewhat complicated 
and expensive, and sometimes not even devoid of dangei ; 
but in the progressive advancement of Science and expe- 
rience there is no doubt the means will yet be discovered ly 
which his services, whenever and wherever they are wanted, 
will ultimately be much more readily and simply brought 
within the reach of mankind. 
When Electron is made closely to embrace and to pass 
repeatedly round a portion of his favourite metal, it be- 
comes 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. This faCt or phenomenon forms the 
basis of what may be called the science of EleCtro-mag- 
netism, and is the source of the motive (electromotive) 
power which is the great agent in many of the achievements 
of Electron. A variety, too, of the metal iron, called 
Loadstone, is to be found in some parts of the world which 
has the same quality, with the addition of being able, by 
close contaCt and repeated embraces, to communicate it 
permanently to other members of the ferric family. And in 
connection with these 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 ot 
motion do arrange themselves, in a line parallel, or nearly 
parallel, to the axis of the Earth,— a wonderful property, 
which is taken advantage of (and has been for many 
centuries) in the form of the mariner’s compass, lor the sale 
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, name y, 
that the instant they find themselves in the presence ot 
