Makers of Electricity

BY

BROTHER POTAMIAN, F.S.C., D.Sc., Lond.
PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS IN MANHATTAN COLLEGE, N. Y.

AND

JAMES J. WALSH, M. D., Ph.D., LL.D.
DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF NERVOUS DISEASES AND OF THE HISTORYOF MEDICINE AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE;PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGYAT THE CATHEDRAL COLLEGE, NEW YORK

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
1909

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PREFACE

This volume represents an effort in the direction ofwhat may be called the biographical history of electricity.The controlling idea in its preparation was toprovide brief yet reasonably complete sketches of thelives of the great pioneer workers in electricity, theground-breaking investigators who went distinctly beyondthe bounds of what was known before their time,not merely to add a fringe of information to previousknowledge, but to make it easy for succeeding generationsto reach conclusions in electrical science that wouldhave been quite impossible until their revealing workwas done. The lives of these men are not only interestingas scientific history, but especially as human documents,showing the sort of men who are likely to makegreat advances in science and, above all, demonstratingwhat the outlook of such original thinkers was on all thegreat problems of the world around us.

In recent times, many people have come to accept theimpression that modern science leads to such an exclusiveoccupation with things material, that scientistsalmost inevitably lose sight of the deeper significance ofthe world of mystery in which humanity finds itselfplaced on this planet. The lives of these great pioneersin electricity, however, do not lend the slightest evidencein confirmation of any such impression. They were allof them firm believers in the existence of Providence, ofa Creator, of man's responsibility for his acts to thatCreator, and of a hereafter of reward and punishmentwhere the sanction of responsibility shall be fulfilled.Besides, they were men characterized by some of thebest qualities in human nature. Their fellows likedthem for their unselfishness, for their readiness to helpothers, for their devotedness to their work and to theirduties as teachers, citizens and patriots. Almost withoutexception, they were as far above the average ofmankind in their personal ethics as they were in theirintellectual qualities.

The lives of such men, who were inspiring forces intheir day, are as illuminating as they are instructive andencouraging. Perhaps never more than now do we needsuch inspiration and illumination to lift life to a higherplane of purpose and accomplishment, than that to whichit is so prone to sink when material interests attractalmost exclusive attention.

CONTENTS