An address delivered before the Suffolk District Medical Society : at its first anniversary meeting, Boston, April 27, 1850 / by John Jeffries.

  • Jeffries, John, 1796-1876.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address delivered before the Suffolk District Medical Society : at its first anniversary meeting, Boston, April 27, 1850 / by John Jeffries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    the lightning's flash. Electro-magnetism, which had engaged the attention only of some philosophers, at the time when Oersted first described the nature, and the operation of the combination of its compo- nent parts, drew the observation of the scientific world, when it was practically applied in furnishing a time-keeper, more useful and correct than even the sun-dial. Its power was then estimated, and it was applied as a mechanical force. But it did not fix the attention of that great mass of semi-scientific men — who ask not, so much, What is it \ as, What can it do? until the construction of the Electric Telegraph. The first flash over the wires, was as if an electric shock had passed through mankind. Mens minds, already strained, were over-excited by observing this new wonder; and now, not satisfied with the marvellous result of speaking, to be heard for hundreds of miles, and even from country to country, in a few seconds of time, the common people wished and expected that matter, as well as mind, should be conveyed over the electric wires: that something like electric steam was to carry material things in safety as quick as the passage of light. Other scientific discoveries have served to increase and to continue this reign of the imagination over the judgment. The introduction of the Phototype, by Daguerre, attracted the attention, and excited the wonder of the world; and the later improvements in the application of this principle, by Talbot, rais-