266

Erasmus about the commencement of the sixteenth century,and became a fashionable pursuit among the nobility of bothsexes during the reigns of Henry VIII. , Edward VI. , Mary,and Elizabeth . The unfortunate and innocent Lady Jane Grey , who, in 1554, at the early age of seventeen, was be-headed by order of Mary, was regarded as a prodigy inlearning and useful acquirements. Besides the accomplish-ments incidental to her sex, she was able to write Greekwith facility and eloquence, and was not only expert in theFrench and Italian languages, but had acquired a considerableknowledge of the Hebrew , Chaldee and Arabic ; the generaldiffusion of knowledge, and the foundation of public schools,may be therefore ascribed to the middle of the sixteenthcentury.

ELECTRICITY. This word is derived from elektron, theGreek for amber, that being the first substance in which theexistence of an electric fluid capable of being excited andaccumulated was observed by Thales, of Miletus, who flou-rished 600 years before Christ. Electricity, however, consi-dered as a science, is but of modern origin William Gilbert ,a physician in London , in the year 1600, being the earliestwriter on the subject, he enumerates many substances, suchas precious stones, glass and wax, as possessing attractiveproperties when excited by friction. Boyle, about the year1670, first discovered that a diamond when rubbed with anykind of stuff, was not only electrical, but also emitted light ina dark room. Hawksbee in 1709, mentions the great electricpower of glass, the light proceeding from it, and the noiseoccasioned by it, together with a variety of phcenomenarelating to electrical attraction and repulsion.

■ The first electrical machine was a globe of sulphur, con-structed by the celebrated Otto de Guerricke, Consul ofMagdeburgh, about the year 1660: glass cylinders wereshortly afterwards discovered to be much more powerful;