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Early Views of Electricity and Communication

Before the Christian era, electrical knowledge was confined to the facts that rubbed amber attracted light objects and that lodestone or magnetite exerted magnetic effects. It is stated1 that Homer noted these facts in the twelfth century B.C. In 1267, Bacon published his theories of the polar attraction of lodestone, which did much to stimulate thought along electrical lines.

After the appearance of Bacon's work, rumors were circulated about a "certain sympathetic needle" which could be used to transmit information over long distances. This needle is thought to have been first described1 in print by Porta in 1558. According to the rumors, which were unfounded, if both needles were magnetized from the same lodestone by rubbing, a movement of one needle, even though at a great distance, was supposed to cause a similar sympathetic movement in the needle of the other instrument. In this manner, it was supposed, communication could be established.


1 Superior numbers refer to the numbered references at the end of each chapter. The "1," for instance, refers the reader to the articles on the telegraph and telephone in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.


Home Early History of Electrical Communication Early Views of Electricity and Communication

Last Update: 2011-05-30