Electricity

[Gk.] This name was originally ap¬ various chemical heatiug, luminous, mag¬ netic, and mechanical effects. Electricity is considered under the two heads of (i) Stat¬ ical or Frictional Electricity; and (2) Current or Voltaic Electricity. As early as 600 B.C., Thales and other Greek philosophers discovered that amber (hence the name elec¬ tricity, from Gk. elec¬ tron, amber) when rubbed with silk at¬ tracted light bodies and about 1600 A.D., Dr. Gilbert found that gla , sulphur, sealing wax, resin, and many other bodies were pos¬ se ed of the same property. When gla is rubbed with silk, the gla is said to be