Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/38

 He piled up alternate disks of zinc and copper, kept separate by the interposition of moistened pasteboard, and with this simple apparatus he obtained absolute control over the movements of the Spirit. He compelled him to travel along metal wires of any length; to force asunder the elementary atoms of water; to bring to light substances hitherto unknown, and to perform a hundred other feats equally wonderful. The Spirit was vanquished—the lightning was chained—and man reigned supreme.

It had long been suspected that the magnet owed its peculiar properties to the Amber Spirit, but the occult relation that subsisted between them had never been detected. This mystery was now cleared up by a Danish philosopher. He caused the Spirit to travel along a wire from south to north, and beneath this wire he placed a compass-needle. The Spirit passed, and lo! the magic needle moved, and assumed a position at right angles with the wire. It no longer pointed to the north, but obeyed the peremptory mandates of the potent Spirit. New facts were soon brought to light; thus it was shown that the Spirit could render iron magnetic. A copper wire was coiled round a bar of soft iron, and our Spirit was made to run along the wire; the iron at once became a powerful magnet, and exhibited all the properties of the loadstone.