at work, whether by way of profession or of hobby, finding out ever new
manifestations of its powers.

The mood that prevailed in those days among men engaged in electrical
research is well reflected in a letter written by the Englishman,
Walsh, after he had established the electric nature of the shocks given
by certain fishes, to Benjamin Franklin, who shortly before had
discovered the natural occurrence of electricity in the atmosphere:

'I rejoice in addressing these communications to You. He, who predicted
and shewed that electricity wings the formidable bolt of the
Atmosphere, will hear with attention that in the deep it speeds a
humbler bolt, silent and invisible; He, who analysed the electrical
Phial, will hear with pleasure that its laws prevail in animate Phials;
He, who by Reason became an electrician, will hear with reverence of an
instinctive electrician, gifted in his birth with a wonderful
apparatus, and with the skill to use it.' (Phil. Trans. 1773.)

Dare one believe that in electricity the soul of nature had been
discovered? This was the question which at that time stirred the hearts
of very many in Europe. Doctors had already sought to arouse new
vitality in their patients by the use of strong electric shocks;
attempts had even been made to bring the dead back to life by such
means. . In a time like ours, when we are primarily concerned with the
practical application of scientific discoveries, we are mostly
accustomed to regard such flights of thought from a past age as nothing
but the unessential accompaniment of youthful, immature science, and to
smile at them accordingly as historical curiosities. This is a mistake,
for we then overlook how within them was hidden an inkling of the
truth, however wrongly conceived at the time, and we ignore the role