Abstract
IN the Annals of Science, 1, No. 1, January 1936, Mr. W. Cameron Walker, of Minchenden School, London, gives an interesting historical account of the detection and estimation of electric charges in the eighteenth century, Perhaps in no other branch of science could he have found a better illustration that progress in science is conditioned by the invention and improvement of instruments. Up to the time of Volta, Bennet's familiar gold leaf electroscope was the most sensitive detector of electricity. Its invention marks the end of a period of evolution beginning with the time when the experimenter obtained electrical charges by simply rubbing pieces of amber, glass or sulphur on his coat. Boyle and Newton had in turn extended the observations of Gilbert concerning the attractive powers of electrified bodies, while von Guericke came very near to anticipating Du Fay in the recognition of two opposite states of electricity. But to Hauksbee, with whom the story of the eighteenth century begins, belongs the credit of the first systematic investigation of ‘electric effluvia’. He was surprised to notice that threads enclosed in an ‘uncharged’ globe of glass were immediately affected by the approach of a rubbed rod of sealing wax. But he makes no reference to the repulsion of the threads. For this new step we have to wait until twenty years later. In 1767, when describing a Leyden jar, Priestley writes that what electricians chiefly want to know is ‘how high a phial is charged’. Methods of measuring this were soon described by Lane and Henly. Then we come to the wonderfully accurate experiments of Cavendish and the evolution of the condensing electrometer by Volta the most skilful worker in this field. We think Mr. Walker has done well to direct attention to the valuable work done by eighteenth century electricians.
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Electrical Measurements in the Eighteenth Century. Nature 137, 696 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137696a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137696a0