The Newly -Discovered Force. 
[April, 
196 
the muscles of the frog, but for twenty years prior to that 
observation he had been studying the phenomena of elec- 
tricity : it was by accident that Oersted discovered that a 
needle in the neighbourhood of a coil in which a galvanic 
current was circulating was put at right angles to the coil, 
but for fifteen years he had been seeking to accomplish this 
objeCt. The spark of this new force coming from the core 
of a small magnet was accidentally discovered by Mr. Edison 
on the night of November 22nd, 1875 ; it has been often 
seen before by practical electricians and by others, and it 
had been assumed to be induCtive electricity ; it had been 
seen before by Mr. Edison, and had been unnoticed, but 
here, as everywhere, it was proved that the eye sees what 
it brings the means of seeing, — that it is not the eye, but 
the brain behind the eye that sees ; for this time the spark 
was observed by one made specially alert by long practice 
in original experimental research in this department of 
enquiry. 
If these experiments shall be so far confirmed as to be- 
come accepted by those physicists and physiologists who 
are competent to deal with questions of this nature, the 
discovery must assume great importance. It is forty-five 
years since any force has been introduced into science — the 
discovery of induced electricity by Faraday, dating from 
the year 1830. It is eighty-nine years since the discovery 
of galvanism ; seventy-six years since the invention of the 
voltaic pile ; one hundred and twenty-three years since 
Franklin, by his kite experiment, showed the identity of 
electricity and lightning ; one hundred and thirty years 
since the discovery of the Leyden jar; and two hundred 
and seventy-five years since the publication of Dr. Gilbert’s 
*■ TraCtatus de Magnete,” that marks the birth of the 
science of electricity. 
Questions of Priority . 
Close on the heels of every alleged discovery follow ques- 
tions of priority. Already it has been claimed that the 
experiments of Riess, the great German authority on statical 
electricity, in obtaining weak sparks from the Leyden jar 
and Holtz machine, had really anticipated the experiments 
recorded in this paper. It is just to say that no such claim 
has been made or would be made by Riess himself, nor in- 
deed by any one familiar with both series of experiments. 
The weak sparks of Riess were sparks of statical elec- 
tricity ; they exhibited polarity, and in other respeCts 
