The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-23

the Chinese as long ago as 26OO B. C, although they made no practical use of tie discovery. The first electricity Intentionally generated was produced by the Greeks about the year oOo E. .. polishing amber for ornamental pur- poses. It was soon noticed that II piece of amber was rubbed with silk, 1t became possessed of a peculiar power which 1t did not possess before. 1t was not until some years later known as electricity. At first, accord ing to the ancient superstition, the mysterious force was looked upon as magic. It was long known that the loadstone would attract pieces of iron, but 1t was not until 1900 A. D. that man discovered that 1t would point north and south If suspended and al- lowed to swing freely. Several na- tions discovered this phenomena about the same time. but the first practical use of the compass was made in 1492. when Columbus discovered America the home of electricity. AS there was no other method of obtaining magnets other than rubbing the steel on the loadstone, all the compasses were made in this way.
 It was in the year 1752 that Ben Franklin sent up his kite and told the world that electricity generated by rubbing amber, glass and sulphur was the same as the lightning in the sky. This discovery inspired the scientists of that day to give a great deal of time and attention to the study of electric ity, and Franklin has since been called the originator of the science of cleo trieity.
 A new method of generating cleo. tricity by chemical action was discoy- cred by Volta in 1795. Tradition has it that he one day hung some frog legs on an iron hook in front of his house. The acids in the flesh acted upon the iron, and, dripping upon q copper railing just underneath, gener- ated chemical electricity which caused the muscles in the legs to twitch every time they strengthened out and touched the copper. Studying this problem, he used copper and zinc plates sep arated by wet clothes for the first chemical battery. a few years later 1t was discovered that steady current of electricity could be developed by submerging the zinc and copper plates in an acid bath. In 1900 Sir Humphrey Dayy made the largest battery in the world, one of 20O0 volts. and obtain ed eurren of sufficient strength to make a strong arc when the wires carving the electricity were separated just trlfle From this simple experiment was born the arc light of today. Soon after this it was found that q number of turns of insulated wilH around soft iron bar produced a magnet, 'rhen the current was turned on, and there after it was no long, necessary to utilize tn old loadstone.
 In 1882 Faraday discovered that If a coil of wire was aroueht near a mag net a current of electricity was gener- ated. From this simple experiment the great dynamos and generators Of today Were evolved. So in 800 B. c. elec. tricity was generated by friction; In 1793 A. D. by chemical action, and in 1892 A. D. by magnetism.
 Thus in brief is the history of electricity. If was long in coming. but the progress in it's development during the last few years by the Gen. eral Electric company and other con- cerns seems little short of the magic first associated with the hidden force by the ancient Greeks. Littlo did '',ev dream of the force and power within their grasp, and 1t is even hard for us today to associate the little loadstone with tho mammoth 12,000 horsepower generators of New York and Chicago power houses. or the 6000 horsepower induction motors of the Adirondack pulp mills, recently installed by the General Electric company.
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