Go, demand

Of mighty Nature, if 'twas ever meant

That we should pry far off and be unraised,
That we should pore, and dwindle as we pore,
Viewing all objects unremittingly

In disconnexion dead and spiritless;
And still dividing, and dividing still,
Break down all grandeur, still unsatisfied
With the perverse attempt, while littleness
May yet become more little; waging thus
An impious warfare 'gainst the very life
Of our own souls.

WORDSWORTH, Excursion.

BOOK XI.

THE

MECHANICO-CHEMICAL SCIENCES.

HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY.

PARVA metu primo: mox sese extollit in auras,
Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit.
En. iv. 176.

A timid breath at first, a transient touch,
How soon it swells from little into much!
Runs o'er the ground, and springs into the air,
And fills the tempest's gloom, the lightning's glare;
While denser darkness than the central storm
Conceals the secrets of its inward form.