[TCML] The earliest electrical experiment and reference books

[Jeff Behary <jeff_behary@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear TCML:
Just as Tesla and other pioneering inventors often do not get the credit
they deserve, they also often get credit for things that were pre-discovered
centuries before - 
fluorescent lighting was first experimented with in the early 1700s by
Francis Haukesbee.  Most do not know that name, yet after reading some of
his novel experiments
it is hard to imagine why history has forgotten such a curious experimenter.
Slightly off topic but priceless references for Tesla Coilers wanting a
different perspective
on materials and historical developments.

As an American and Tesla enthusiast I was most surprised to read Ben
Franklin?s ?Experiments and Observations of Electricity, Performed at
Philadelphia?.
This is every bit as entertaining as a Tesla lecture, and in some ways even
more.   Many people that were influential in the formation of America had
witnessed
and experimented along these lines, and their philosophies were greatly
influenced by people like Franklin and Joseph Priestley, whose ?History And
Present State Of
Electricity? in 1777 was almost 4? thick.  It is an amazing work!

Most of these are not on my website, but a few are ? I have printed hard
copies of each book here for reference.  The squashed collection of reprints
occupies a full 6 foot of shelf space.
That?s a lot of paper, and a few quarts of ink!  But well worth every drop.

The earliest reference to an electrical machine was Otto von Guericke?s
latin book of Magdeburg experiments from the late 1600s.
We currently have acrylic globes if anyone wants to replicate 1700s style
machines:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2012/Ode/index.htm 

They are not nearly as inefficient as history leads us to believe.  You can
generate sparks several inches long and can charge leyden ?phials? (jars)
to hold 1 ½? sparks easily.

Some photos and excerpts can be seen in our lecture slides:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/2012/FIT_PDF/index.htm 

A big surprise for me is that the English of the 1700s is very readable and
easy to understand.  More than the 1800s.  Everything is written casual and
with a great
enthusiasm and curiosity on the topics.  Great stuff.

G. C. Morgan, Lectures on Electricity (1794)

John Brice Becket, An Essay On Electricity (MDCCLXXIII)

B. Rackstrow, Miscellaneous Observations together with a Collection Of
Experiments 

on Electricity

John Theophilus Desaguliers, A Dissertation concerning Electricity
(MDCCXLII)

The Description and Use of Nairne's Patent Electrical Machine (MDCCLXXXIII)

An Account of the Repetition of an Experiment touching Motion given Bodies
included in a Glass, By The Approach Of A Finger To The Outside:  With Other
Experiments on the Effluvia Of Glass by Mr. Francis Hauksbee

An Account of an Experiment, shewing that an Object may become visible
through such an Opake body as Pitch in the Dark, while its under the
Circumstances of Attrition and a Vacuum.  By Francis Hawksbee

An Account of Experiments concerning Proportion of the Power of the
Load-Stone at different Distances.  By Francis Hawksbee

Experiments on the Production and Propagation of Light from the Phosphorus
in Vacuo, made before the Royal Society, By Francis Hawksbee

Several Experiments On The Attrition of Bodies in Vacuo.  By Francis
Hawksbee

A Description of the machine for giving swift motion to Bodies in Vacuo,
without Admitting the External Air.  By Francis Hawksbee

An Account of an Experiment made November 21, 1705, shewing that Light is
Producibile upon swift attrition of Amber on Wollen in Vacuo.  By Francis
Hawksbee

Shewing The Necessity of the Air's Presence (at least some degree of it) in
the Production of Fire, upon the Attrition of Flint and Steel.  By Francis
Hawksbee

Touching the Production of Purple Light, upon the Attrition of Glass on
Wollen in Vacuo together with the Phaenomena of the same Experiment at
several Tryals.  By Francis Hawksbee

Touching The Production of a Considerable Light, upon the Attrition of Glass
on Glass in Vacuo, and in Common Air.  By Francis Hawksbee

Touching the Production of Light upon the Attrition of Glass on Glass under
Water.  By Francis Hawksbee

Several Experiments shewing the strange Effects of the Effluvia of Glass,
produceable on the Motion and Attrition of it.  By Francis Hawksbee

Several Experiments on the Mercurial Phosphorus:  

 

Shewing that Light in Produceable from Mercury, by Passing Common Air
through a Body of it, after the Receiver is exhausted.

 

Shewing that Mercury will Appear as a Shower of Fire, Whilst descending in
Vacuo from the Top to the Bottom of a tall Receiver.  

 

Shewing that it requires not so thin a Medium as is made by the weight of
the Mercury in the Torricilian Experiment, to produce the Mercurial
Phosphore.

 

Shewing that a Considerable Light may be Produced from Mercury in a Glass,
by giving it Motion before the Receiver is Quite Exhausted.

 

Shewing Very Odd flashes of Light, Upon the Repetition of the Experiment,
Resembling a Shower of Fire.

 

Shewing the Abundance of Particles of Light as discoverable by shaking
Quicksilver in a Glass even in Open Air.

 

By Francis Hawksbee  

An Account of an Experiment touching the Production of Considerable Light
upon a slight Attrition of a Glass Globe Exhausted of its Air, with other
Remarkable Occurences.  By Francis Hawksbee

Experiments and Observations Tending To Illustrate The Nature and Properties
of Electricity.  By William Watson (MDCCXLVI)

An Epitome of Electricity and Galvanism.  Jacob Green, 1809

Miscellaneous Experiments and Remarks on Electricity, The Air Pump, and the
Barometer with a Description of an Electrometer of a New Construction.  A.
Brook, 1797.

Electrical Experiments Illustrating the Theory, Practice, and Application of
the Science of Free or Frictional Electricity Containing the Methods of
Making and Managing Electrical Apparatus of Every Description.  G. W.
Francis, 1854

The History and Present State Of Electricity with Original Experiments by
Joseph Priestley, Volumes I, II, and III (MDCCLXVII)

Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds Of Air and other Branches of
Natural Philosophy in Three Volumes.  By Joseph Priestley  (MDCCXC)

Leading Proofs in Favour of the Franklinian System, John Lyon (1791)

Familiar Introduction To Electricty, Joseph Priestley (1769)

Principles of Electricity, Charles Viscount Mahon (1779)

Experiments And Observations in Electricity, William Henly (1777)

Observations on a Series Of Electrical Experiments by Dr Hoadly and Mr
Wilson (MDCCLVI)

An Introduction To Electricity in Six Sections by James Ferguson (MDCCLXX)

Practical Electricity and Galvanism by John Cuthbertson, 1807

Elements of Electricity and Electro-Chemistry, George Singer (1814)

An Essay On Electricity, Fifth Edition, George Adams (1799)

Obervations on Curing Disorders with Factitious Air, Loftus Wood (1780)

Eulogium on Dr. Franklin

Medical and Philosophical Essay on the Theory of Gout; Practical
Observations of the Effects of Negative Electricity (MDCCLXXX)

New Experiments On Electricity, Tiberius Cavallo

Treatise on Magnetism In Theory and Practice, Tiberius Cavallo (1745)

An Essay of the Medicinal Properties of Factitious Airs with an Appendix on
the Nature of Blood, Tiberius Cavallo (1798)

A Complete Treatise On Electricity in Theory and Practice with Original
Experiments by Tiberius Cavallo Volumes I and II (MDCCXCV)

New Experiments upon the Leyden Phial, respecting the Termination of
Conductors by Benjamin Wilson (1778)

An Essay On The Theory and Practice of Medical Electricity, Tiberius Cavallo
(MDCCLXXXI)

The Monthly Review or Literary Journal From January to June, inclusive,
MDCCLXXXVI, by Several Hands, Volume LXXIV

Ottonis de Geuricke - Experimenta Nova (un vocantur) Magdeburgica de Vacuo
Spatio (1672)

Endless Amusement; A Collection of Nearly 400 Entertaining Experiments
(1821)

Elements of Static Electricity with Full Description of the Holtz and Töpler
Machines and their mode of operating.  Philip Atkinson (1887)

Considerations on the Efficacy of Electricity in Removing Female
Obstructions by John Birch, Surgeon, MDCCLXXX

History of Induction:  The American Claim to the Induction Coil and its
Electrostatic Developments by Charles Grafton Page in Three Parts (1867)

Experiments in Electricity:  In a Letter from Father Beccaria, Professor of
Experimental Philosophy at Turin, to Benjamin Franklin (1760)

Experiments on Electricity Performed At Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin
(MCDDLXIX)

Letters and Papers on Electricity, Benjamin Franklin  (1747-1787)

 

Jeff Behary

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