for many years court physician, and Queen Elizabeth ultimately
settled upon him a pension that enabled him to continue his
researches in pure science.

His investigations in chemistry, although supposed to be of great
importance, are mostly lost; but his great work, De Magnete, on
which he labored for upwards of eighteen years, is a work of
sufficient importance, as Hallam says, "to raise a lasting
reputation for its author." From its first appearance it created
a profound impression upon the learned men of the continent,
although in England Gilbert's theories seem to have been somewhat
less favorably received. Galileo freely expressed his admiration
for the work and its author; Bacon, who admired the author, did
not express the same admiration for his theories; but Dr.
Priestley, later, declared him to be "the father of modern
electricity."

Strangely enough, Gilbert's book had never been translated into
English, or apparently into any other language, until recent
years, although at the time of its publication certain learned
men, unable to read the book in the original, had asked that it
should be. By this neglect, or oversight, a great number of
general readers as well as many scientists, through succeeding
centuries, have been deprived of the benefit of writings that
contained a good share of the fundamental facts about magnetism
as known to-day.

Gilbert was the first to discover that the earth is a great
magnet, and he not only gave the name of "pole" to the
extremities of the magnetic needle, but also spoke of these