An introduction to mathematics, by A. N. Whitehead.

32 INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICS
and fantastic hypotheses, though it may be
doubted whether our modern scientific discoveries in connection with electricity are not
more astonishing than any of the magical
explanations of savages. The Greeks knew
that amber (Greek, electron) when rubbed
would attract light and dry bodies. In
1600 A.D., Dr. Gilbert, of Colchester, published
the first work on the subject in which any
scientific method is followed. He made a
list of substances possessing properties similar
to those of amber; he must also have the
credit of connecting, however vaguely, electric
and magnetic phenomena. At the end of the
seventeenth and throughout the eighteenth
century knowledge advanced. Electrical
machines were made, sparks were obtained
from them; and the Leyden Jar was invented, by which these effects could be intensified. Some organized knowledge was
being obtained; but still no relevent mathematical ideas had been found out. Franklin,
in the year 1752, sent a kite into the clouds
and proved that thunderstorms were electrical.
Meanwhile from the earliest epoch (2634
B. c.) the Chinesehad utilizedthe characteristic
property of the compass needle, but do not
seem to have connected it with any theoretical
ideas. The really profound changes in human
life all have their ultimate origin in knowledge