HANS CHRISTIAN OERSTED.
Whatever may be thought of the value of controversy in other departments
of knowledge, it has certainly proved useful in the progress of
experimental science. Witness the animated and prolonged discussion
which took place between Volta and Galvani, and which led to enduring
results for the welfare of mankind. Wishing to prove the correctness of
his theory of electrification by contact against Galvani's animal
electricity, Volta devoted himself unremittingly to experimentation
until, in the century year 1800, his brilliant work culminated in the
invention of the "pile" or electric battery which bears his name.
A suspicion had been growing for many years in the minds of physicists,
that there must be some degree of relationship, probably an intimate
one, between magnetism and electricity, between magnetic and electric
forces. In the year 1785, van Swinden, a celebrated Dutch physicist,
published a work on electricity in which he described and commented upon
a number of analogies which he had observed between the two orders of
phenomena; but, voluminous as was the work, it threw no light on the
nature of the suspected relationship.
It was well known, in the case of houses and ships struck by lightning,
that knives, forks and other articles made of steel were often found to
be permanently magnetized. Following up this pregnant observation,
experimenters often sought to impart magnetic properties to steel
needles by Leyden-jar discharges, but with indifferent success.
Sometimes there would be a trace of magnetism left and sometimes none.
In no case was it possible to say beforehand which end of the
knitting-needle would have north polarity and which south.
Though we are better equipped to-day for research work than were our
predecessors in the electrical field fifty years ago, we are still
unable to predict the polarity that will result in a bar of iron from a
given condenser discharge. The uncertainty arises from the fact
disclosed by Joseph Henry in 1842 and well known to-day that, under
ordinary circumstances, all such discharges consist of a rush of
electricity to and fro, that is, they give rise to an oscillatory
current of exceedingly short duration. Were it otherwise, that is, were
the discharge unidirectional, the needle would always be magnetized to a
degree of intensity proportional to the energy released; and it would be
possible in every case to foretell with certainty the resulting polarity
which the needle would acquire.
With the advent of the voltaic battery, a generator which supplies a
steady flow of current in one direction, the interesting problem of
relationship between electric and magnetic forces was again attacked;
and this time with considerable success.
Probably the earliest investigator afield was Romagnosi, an Italian
physician residing in Trent (Tyrol), who, in the year 1802, published in
the "Gazetta" of his town an account of an experiment which he had made,
and which showed that he was working on promising lines. What he did was
this: having connected one end of a silver chain to a voltaic pile, and
having carried the chain through a glass tube for the purpose of
insulation, he presented the free end, terminating in a knob, to a
compass-needle, also insulated. At first, the needle was attracted; and,
after contact, repelled. Whatever Romagnosi thought of his experiment
and its theoretical bearing, the attraction and subsequent repulsion of
the compass-needle which he said he observed were electrostatic and not
electromagnetic effects. The Italian physician was indeed on the verge
of a great discovery; but he halted in his course and lost his
opportunity.
Mojon, Professor of chemistry in Genoa, was a little more fortunate,
though he, too, failed to improve his opportunities. In 1804, he sought
to magnetize steel needles by placing them for a period of twenty days
in circuit with a battery of one hundred elements of the crown-of-cups
type, and had the satisfaction of finding them permanently magnetized
when withdrawn from the circuit. Unlike the electrostatic effect of his
fellow-countryman Romagnosi, this was unquestionably an electromagnetic
effect, the first link in the long chain connecting electricity with
magnetism.
That this result attracted wide attention at the time, as it well
deserved, is evident from the notice given by Izarn in his "Manuel du
Galvanisme," and by Aldini in his "Essai Théorique et expérimental sur
le Galvanisme," both of which were published in Paris in the same year,
1804.
Though the manuals of Izarn and Aldini served to give a fresh impetus to
the quest of the relationship between electricity and magnetism, it was
not, however, until the year 1820 that the cardinal discovery was made
by one philosopher and the intimate relationship revealed by another.
Then all Europe rang with the names of Oersted, the fortunate discoverer
of the "magnetic effect" of the electric current, and Ampère, whose
masterly analysis disclosed the nature of the long-sought-for
connection. In the delight of the hour, men called Oersted the Columbus,
and Ampère the Newton, of electricity.
Though a philosopher of a high order and lecturer of interest and
brilliancy, Oersted was, nevertheless, a poor experimentalist. He was
fine in the abstract, awkward in the concrete. Often did he call for the
assistance of a student to perform an experiment for the class under his
direction. Hansteen, who is celebrated for his very fine work in
terrestrial magnetism, often had this privilege, for he was clear of
mind and deft of hand. Writing to Faraday, he said: "Oersted was a man
of genious, but very unsuccessful as a demonstrator, for he could not
manipulate instruments."
In seeking for some evidence of a physical interaction between
electricity and magnetism, Oersted on one occasion, placed a wire
conveying a current vertically across a compass-needle; and, on
obtaining no result, seemed greatly disappointed. He evidently expected
the needle to respond in some way to the energy of the current; and so
it would have responded had he placed the wire in any other position
than the particular one which he selected. The Danish philosopher now
hesitates; and for lack of coolness, patience and resourcefulness, runs
the risk of losing the crowning glory of his life. He is disappointed at
his failure; and for the nonce, contents himself with brooding over it.
[Illustration: FIG. 22 The magnetic effect of an electric current.
Oersted, 1820]
On another occasion, having a stronger battery at his disposal, he
determined to try the experiment again, in the hope that the greater
energy at his command would provoke the magnet to respond. This time, he
stretched the wire over and parallel to the compass needle, when, to
his intense delight, the magnet turned aside as soon as the circuit was
closed. The result was pronounced and instantaneous. The Professor, an
enthusiast by nature, waxed warm over his good fortune, and well might
he do so, as the discovery which he had just made was destined to
revolutionize existing modes of transmitting intelligence to distant
parts and bring remotest countries into direct, and immediate relation
with one another.
That Oersted fell into ecstasy over his success was but natural, though
it is not stated that he exhibited his enthusiasm by the performance of
any unusual feat. When Lavoisier made a discovery, he was wont to take
hold of his assistant and go dancing around with him for sheer joy.
After making a certain successful experiment in his laboratory,
Gay-Lussac gave vent to his feelings by dancing round the room, and
clapping his hands the while. It is related that, when Davy saw the
first globules of potassium burst through the crust of potash and take
fire, his delight knew no bounds. He also took to dancing, and some time
had to elapse before he was sufficiently composed to continue his work.
Even the cool and self-possessed Faraday occasionally waxed warm on
seeing his efforts crowned with success. It is said that, when he got a
wire conveying a current to revolve round the pole of a magnet, he
rubbed his hands vigorously and danced around the table, his face
beaming with delight: "There they go, there they go; we have succeeded
at last," he said. He then gleefully proposed to cease work for the day
and spend the evening at Astley's seeing the feats of well-trained
horses!
Having realized that his experiment was one of fundamental importance in
physical theory, our philosopher proceeds to repeat it under varying
conditions. He places the wire conveying the current in front of the
needle, behind it, under it, across it; he reverses the current in each
case, and notices the direction in which the needle turns. Though he
states results very clearly, he gives no general rule whereby the
direction of the deflection may be foretold from that of the current. A
_memoria technica_ to meet all cases that may occur was needed, and was
promptly supplied by Ampère, who, with a flash of genius, devised the
rule of the little swimmer. Others have been added since, such as the
cork-screw rule and the rule involving the outspread right hand; but the
swimmer appeals in a manner quite its own to the fancy of the youthful
student. It pleases while it instructs; it is ingenious while yet
remarkably simple.
It has been said that the Philosopher of Copenhagen was led by mere
accident to the experiment which will hand his name down the ages; but
inasmuch as he was looking, during thirteen years, for a result
analogous to the one which he obtained, it is only right to give him
full credit for the success which he achieved. It has been well
remarked, that the seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating
around us, but take root only in minds well prepared to receive them.
Accidents of the Oersted type happen only to men who deserve them, as
was the case with Musschenbroek and Galvani in the eighteenth century,
and with Roentgen in the nineteenth. The electrification of a flask of
water, the twitching of frogs' legs in response to electric sparks, and
the blackening of a sensitive screen by a distant, shielded Crookes's
tube, led to the electrostatic condenser in the first case, to
"galvanism" in the second, and to the photography of the invisible in
the third.
Writing of Oersted's discovery, Faraday said that "It burst open the
gates of a domain in science, dark till then, and filled it with a flood
of light."
The discovery of 1820 was hailed throughout Europe by an extraordinary
outburst of enthusiasm. Oersted was complimented and congratulated on
all sides. Honors were showered upon him: the Royal Society of London
awarded him the Copley medal; the French Academy of Sciences gave him
its gold medal for the physico-mathematical sciences; Prussia conferred
upon him the Ordre pour le Mérite, and his own country made him a Knight
of the Daneborg.
Oersted lost no time in preparing a memoir on the subject of his work, a
copy of which was sent to the learned societies and most renowned
philosophers of Europe. The memoir, which was written in Latin and dated
July 21st, 1820, consisted of four quarto pages with the title
"Experiments on the effect of the electric conflict on the magnetic
needle."
A perusal of this paper brings home the conviction that Oersted realized
fairly well the forces which came into play in his experiment; for in
one place, he speaks of the effect as due to a transverse force
emanating from the conductor conveying the current, and again as a
conflict acting in a revolving manner around the wire. A complete
statement of the nature of the mechanical force exerted by a conductor
conveying a current on a magnetic needle was given almost immediately by
Ampère, a master analyst and accomplished experimentalist.
[Illustration: FIG. 23 Magnetic field surrounding a conductor carrying a
current]
It will stand for all time in the history of science, that in less than
two months after the publication of Oersted's memoir, Ampère succeeded
in showing the mechanical effect in magnitude and direction of an
element of current not only on the magnetic needle itself, but also on a
similar element of an adjacent conductor conveying a current, thereby
founding a new science in the department of physics, the science of
electro-dynamics.
Oersted does not appear to have given thought to the practical
possibilities of his discovery. While appreciating the utilitarian in
science, he evidently preferred the pursuit of knowledge for its own
sake. In a discourse which he delivered in 1814 before the University of
Copenhagen, he put himself on record when he said that "The real laborer
in the scientific field chooses knowledge as his highest aim."
So said Plato ages before, and so said Archimedes, who held that it was
undesirable for a philosopher to seek to apply the discoveries of
science to any practical end. The screw which he invented, his catapults
and burning mirrors, show, however, that when necessary the Syracusan
mathematician could come down from the serene heights of investigation
to the prosaic arena of application.
Before Oersted spoke of "the real laborer," Thomas Young had affirmed
that "Those who possess the genuine spirit of scientific investigation
are content to proceed in their researches without inquiring at every
step what they gain by their newly discovered lights, and to what
practical purposes they are applicable."
[Illustration: FIG. 24 Magnetic whirl surrounding a wire through which a
current is passing]
Young's most illustrious successor in the Royal Institution, Michael
Faraday, devoted himself calmly but unflinchingly to research work, in
the conviction that no discovery, however remote in its nature, from the
subject of daily observation, could with reason be declared wholly
inapplicable to the benefit of mankind. After discovering in 1831 that
electric currents could be produced by the relative motion of magnets
and coils of wire, a discovery which is the basis of all the electric
engineering of our day, Faraday constructed several experimental
machines embodying this principle, and then turned away abruptly from
the work, saying, "I had rather been desirous of discovering new facts
and new relations dependent on magneto-electric induction than of
exalting the force of those already obtained, being assured that the
latter would find their full development hereafter."
Our own Joseph Henry, whose sterling merit is universally recognized,
beautifully said in this connection: "He who loves truth for its own
sake feels that its highest claims are lowered by being continually
summoned to the bar of immediate and palpable utility."
Oersted seems to have shared the opinion largely held by the scientific
men of his day, that electricity is mainly a magnetic phenomenon.
Ampère, for one, did not think so, as is evident from the beautiful
theory which he devised to explain the magnetism of a bar by minute
electric currents flowing round each individual molecule of the iron. To
the French physicist, magnetism was purely an electrical phenomenon.
[Illustration: FIG. 25 Ampère's molecular currents]
Though propounded more than eighty years ago, this theory is still in
harmony with all facts and phenomena in the domain of magnetism known
to-day. It is important to remember, when thinking of this physical
theory, that the Amperian currents in question are confined to the
molecule, and that they do not flow from one molecule to another.
Critics have urged against the theory that the molecules must be heated
by the circulation of these elementary currents, to which objection it
has been replied that, as we know nothing of the nature of the molecule,
we cannot say that it offers any resistance to the current; and,
therefore, we cannot affirm that there is any development of heat due to
the circulation of these elementary currents.
It is to Ampère's credit that he was also the first to propose a
practical application of Oersted's discovery, an application that was
nothing less than the electric telegraph itself. He suggested that the
deflection of the magnetic needle could be used for the transmission of
signals from one place to another by means of as many needles and
circuits as there are letters in the alphabet. If Ampère had only
recalled the optical and mechanical telegraphs in use in his day, such
as the swinging of lanterns by night and wigwagging of flags and the
movements of semaphores by day, he might have reduced his twenty-four
circuits to one, using the two elements, viz., motion of the needle to
the right and motion to the left, to make up the entire alphabet. Morse
substituted the dot and the dash for these deflections, and thus
rendered the reception of messages automatic and permanent.
In connection with this proposal to use a magnetic needle for the
transmission of intelligence, the reader will no doubt recall the
lover's telegraph, so beautifully described by Addison in the
"Spectator" for December 6th, 1711; but ingeniously conceived as it was,
this magnetic telegraph was purely and simply a creation of the
imagination.
This canny conceit has been attributed to Cardinal Bembo, the elegant
scholar and private secretary to Pope Leo X.; but it was his friend
Porta, the versatile philosopher, who made it widely known by the vivid
description which he gave of it in his celebrated work on "Natural
Magic," published at Naples in 1558.
This sympathetic telegraph consisted, we are told, of a magnetic needle
poised in the center of a dial-plate, with the letters of the alphabet
written around it. The two fortunate individuals privileged to hold
_wireless_ correspondence with each other having agreed as to the day
and the hour, proceed to the room in which the wonderful instrument is
kept, where, as soon as one of them turns the needle of his transmitter
to a letter, the distant needle turns at once in sympathy to the same
letter on its dial!
Such is the power of magnetic sympathy, that the instruments will work
successfully though hills, forests, lakes or mountains intervene! Porta
has it: "To a friend at a distance shut up in prison, we may relate our
minds; which, I do not doubt, may be done by means of compasses having
the alphabet written around them."
[Illustration: FIG. 26 The "sympathetic telegraph" from Cabeo's
_Philosophia Magnetica_, 1629]
This sympathetic magnetic telegraph figures extensively in the
scientific literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: some
believed in the figment, others condemned it. Addison described it in
elegant prose, and Akenside in beautiful verse. Perhaps the most famous
composition on the subject is a short Latin poem, written, after the
style and vein of Lucretius, in 1617 by Famianus Strada, an Italian
Jesuit. A few years after its publication in the author's "Prolusiones,"
a metrical translation was made by Hakewill and inserted on page 285 of
his "Apologie, or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God," 1630.
Owing to the interest that attaches to this celebrated composition and
the difficulty of getting Hakewill's "Apologie," we append his version
of the poem.
The Loade above all other stones hath this strange property
If sundry steels thereto or needles you apply,
Such force and motion thence they draw that they
incline
To turn them to the Bear, which near the Pole doth shine.
Nay, more, as many steels as touch that virtuous stone
In strange and wondrous sort conspiring all in one
Together move themselves and situate together:
As if one of those steels at Rome be stirred, the other
The self-same way will stir though they far distant be,
And all through Nature's force and secret sympathy;
Well then if you of aught would fain advise your friend
That dwells far off, to whom no letter you can send;
A large smooth round table make, write down the
crisscross row
In order on the verge thereof, and then bestow
The needle in the midst which touch'd the Loade that so
What note soe'er you list, it straight may turn unto.
Then frame another orb in all respects like this
Describe the edge and lay the steel thereon likewise,
The steel which from the self-same Magnes motion drew;
This orb send with thy friend what time he bids adieu.
But on the days agree at first, when you do mean to
prove
If the steel stir, and to what letter it doth move.
This done, if with thy friend thou closely wouldst
advise,
Who in a country off far distant from thee lies,
Take thou the orb and steel which on the orb was set
The crisscross on the edge thou seest in order writ.
What notes will frame thy words, to them direct thy
steel
And it sometimes to this, sometimes to that note wheel
Turning it round about so often till you find
You have compounded all the meaning of your mind.
Thy friend that dwells far off, O strange! doth plainly
see
The steel so stir though it by no man stirréd be,
Running now here, now there: he conscious of the plot
As the steel-guide pursues, and reads from note to note.
Then gathering into words those notes, he clearly sees
What's needful to be done, the needle truchman is.
Now, when the steel doth cease its motion; if thy friend
Think it convenient answer back to send,
The same course he may take; and, with his needle
write
Touching the several notes which so he list indite.
Would God, men would be pleased to put this course in
use,
Their letters would arrive more speedy and more sure,
No rivers would them stop nor thieves them intercept;
Princes with their own hands, their business might effect.
We scribes, from black sea 'scaped, at length with hearty
wills
At th' altar of the Loade would consecrate our quills.
Another translation of the poem was made by Dr. Samuel Ward and
published at the end of his "Wonders of the Loadstone," 1640.
[Illustration: FIG. 27 The "sympathetic telegraph" from Turner's _Ars
Notoria_, 1657]
Ampère's suggestion, made, as we have seen, in the year 1820, was not
the first proposal to use electricity for telegraphic purposes. Already,
in 1753, a writer in _The Scots Magazine_, signing himself C. M.
(Charles Morrison, of Greenock, according to Sir David Brewster, and
Charles Marshall, of Paisley, according to Latimer Clark), outlined a
method involving the use of frictional electricity; and Lesage, of
Geneva, constructed a short experimental line, in 1774, consisting of
twenty-four wires and a pith-ball electroscope. But the man who attained
the greatest success in the employment of static electricity for this
purpose was Ronalds, of London, who, in 1816, erected a single-wire line
eight miles long in his gardens at Hammersmith, with a pair of
pith-balls and a rotating disc for receiving instrument.
When well satisfied that his system was practicable and reliable,
Ronalds wrote to the head of the intelligence department in London
urging the adoption of his invention for the public service; but he was
promptly brought to realize the scant encouragement so often extended to
inventors by persons in high places, that responsible official politely
informing him "that telegraphs of all kinds are wholly unnecessary," and
that no other than the mechanical one in daily use would be adopted.
When penning these words, the representative of the British government
must have forgotten the experience of 1812, when the result of the
battle of Salamanca was semaphored from Plymouth to London, on which
occasion a fog cut off the message after the transmission of the first
two words, "Wellington defeated," the remainder of the despatch, "the
French at Salamanca," reaching the capital only on the following
morning!
A rapid sketch of the life of our philosopher, whose discovery of the
magnetic effect of the voltaic current in 1820 led to the invention of
the electric telegraph, cannot be without interest.
Hans Christian Oersted was born on August 14th, 1777, in the little town
of Rudkjöbing, in the island of Langeland, Denmark. Being the son of
poor parents, his early years were spent in very narrow circumstances.
He and his younger brother were mainly indebted to their own efforts for
whatever instruction they received in the rudiments of learning. The
town in which they lived being small, offered few opportunities for
education, even if the family exchequer had been such as to permit the
boys to take advantage of them. There was a German wigmaker in the
place, however, who was a little more advanced in knowledge than the
generality of the townspeople. He and his wife liked the Oersted boys,
who were very frequently to be found in the wigmaker's shop. The good
housewife taught them to read, while the artist himself taught them a
little German. Hans Christian advanced so rapidly in his studies that he
acquired a reputation for precociousness, which, with the usual
prejudice against bright children, made the neighbors shake their heads
prophetically and say: "The child will not live; he is too bright to
last long."
Hans Christian learned the elements of arithmetic from an old
school-book which he picked up by chance; and no sooner had he advanced
a little, than he set about instructing his brother. Very probably, the
teacher benefited quite as much by this process of instruction as the
pupil. Adversity is a good school for the formation of character as well
as for the acquisition of knowledge. It is evident, from the lives of
such men as Oersted, Faraday, Kepler, Ohm, and others who were brought
up in the lap of poverty, that it is not so much educational opportunity
that is needed for the development of mind which we call education, as
the earnest determination and the abiding desire to have it. Even
boyhood creates its own opportunities for education despite intervening
obstacles, if it has only a decided eagerness, a pronounced thirst for
knowledge.
About the time that the young Oersteds entered their teens, their father
secured the services of a private teacher to give them some instruction
in the rudiments of Latin and Greek. This accidental preceptor was only
a wandering student who happened to be in the place at the time; but the
boys, in their eagerness to learn, derived more benefit from his lessons
than many boys of their age often do nowadays from the help and
encouragement of a carefully selected and academically equipped tutor.
At the age of twelve, Oersted senior was taken into his father's
apothecary-shop in quality of assistant, a position which seemed
destined to put an end to all opportunities for further advancement in
the path of learning. When a boy goes into a drug-store in an official
capacity, his future career is usually settled; he is a druggist to the
end. His new avocation, however, proved to be the beginning of new
intellectual activities for Oersted. The chemical side of his work
became a source of new information to him, and also a stimulus to learn
all that he could of chemistry and kindred subjects. Science became a
hobby with the young apothecary, and everything relating to it appealed
to him. What Hans learned, he as usual imparted to his brother, who was
already becoming interested in other departments of learning, especially
the law.
The desire of the boys to advance grew with their stock of knowledge.
Accordingly, when, in 1794, Hans was only seventeen years of age and his
brother sixteen, they both matriculated at the University of Copenhagen.
Their father was able to help them but little, so that they were obliged
to live quietly and sparingly, a condition distinctly favorable to
consecutive and efficient study. They became so successful in their
pursuits that they soon began to attract attention. Having passed
creditable examinations, they were recommended for pecuniary assistance
from an educational fund established by the government for the purpose.
Even then, as receipts were hardly equal to expenses, they sought to
increase their little revenue by giving private lessons in their leisure
hours. Here we have a striking example of what may be accomplished by
men who work their way through College in the teeth of adverse
circumstances; in these two brothers, we have proof of the truth that it
is the student's mind, his willingness and determination to work, that
count in education more than the golden opportunities that may fall to
his lot.
In the year 1799, Oersted prepared a thesis on "The Architectonics of
Natural Metaphysics," which won for him his Doctorate in Philosophy.
Though the young Doctor did not hesitate to discuss metaphysical
problems and even to disagree with Kant at a time when most Teutonic
minds were deeply under the influence of the philosopher of Königsberg,
his chief interests, however, centered in the experimental sciences, in
physics and chemistry.
In spite of his devotedness to science, Oersted allowed himself, by way
of distraction, an occasional excursion into the field of literature. A
great literary and artistic movement was making itself felt in the
northern part of Europe at the time. The æsthetic awakening of the
Teutonic nations had come after three centuries of religious and
political unrest, ill adapted to intellectual development. Lessing and
Winkelmann, Goethe and Schiller, the two Schlegels and Klopstock as well
as the young poets, Uhland and Koerner, were either already at work or
were about to enter on their distinguished careers, and the neighboring
Scandinavian nations were beginning to be seriously affected by the
movement which was going on among their brethren. In the third year of
his university course, Oersted entered the lists as a competitor for
literary honors on the question, "What are the Limits of Prose and
Poetry?" and had the satisfaction of winning the gold medal offered for
the contest. In spite of this episode, indicative of devotedness to the
muses, Oersted passed a brilliant pharmaceutical examination; and in the
following year succeeded in capturing another prize, this time for a
medical essay.
After such a period of preparation, it might be expected that a
brilliant career would open up for Oersted; but, unfortunately, he could
not afford to wait for slow academic rewards, as it was absolutely
necessary for him to set about earning his livelihood. For this purpose,
shortly after graduation, he accepted the position of manager of a
drug-store. As the salary attached to the office was rather slender, he
increased his resources by giving lectures in the evening on the
familiar subjects of chemistry, natural philosophy and metaphysics.
About this time, the _wanderlust_, or passion for travel, took
possession of our young philosopher; and under its influence, he
resolved to see for himself what men of scientific avocations were doing
in France and in Germany. His own pinched circumstances would not allow
him to undertake such a journey; but he was fortunate enough to win a
_stipendium cappelianum_ which allowed him to travel at the expense of
the government for a period of five years, though he used it only for
three. If ever pecuniary aid was productive of enduring results, it was
so in this case.
In 1801, at the age of twenty-four, Oersted set out from Copenhagen on
his grand tour, determined to make it a scientific as well as
sentimental journey. In Germany, which he first visited, he met
Klaproth, the orientalist; Werner, the mineralogist; Olbers the
astronomer; the philosophers Fichte, Schelling and the two Schlegels;
and above all, the young and brilliant physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter,
who discussed with him the theory of the wonderful "pile" invented by
Volta in the previous year, 1800.
In Paris, Oersted spent about fifteen months, during which time he was
in habitual relations with many of the savants who were just then
reflecting great lustre on French science. To mention but a few: there
was Cuvier, the leading naturalist of his age; Abbé Haüy,
crystallographer of world-wide reputation; Biot, the brilliant expounder
of physics; Charles, the discoverer of the law which bears his name;
Berthollet, the associate of Monge the mathematician, and Lavoisier, the
chemist.
On his return to the Danish capital in 1804, Oersted delivered courses
of lectures on electricity and magnetism, light and heat, before
numerous and cultured audiences; and such was the success which he
achieved that he was appointed, at the age of twenty-nine, to the chair
of physics in the University of Copenhagen.
For nearly forty-five years he was destined to occupy this academical
position, so that his connection with that seat of learning rounded out
the full period of half a century.
While sedulously occupied with the duties of his chair and the pursuit
of his favorite scientific subjects, Oersted was not unmindful of his
civic and altruistic obligations. He frequently gave popular scientific
lectures, which were open to women as well as to men. He helped in the
organization of a bureau through which lectures would be given in
various parts of the country, and thus became a pioneer in what we call
to-day the university extension movement. When democratic ideas began to
be discussed in Denmark after the French Revolution of 1830, Oersted
was one of those who took part in the onward movement for the betterment
of the people. In 1835, he coöperated in the foundation of the Society
for the Freedom of the Press; and when Christian VIII. ascended the
throne, he addressed the new monarch in a speech of liberal tendency,
hailing him because of the interest which he took in the advancement of
science and in the uplift of the masses.
An idea of the position accorded to Oersted by his colleagues in the
world of science may be gathered from an address made by Sir John
Herschel at the closing session of the Southampton meeting of the
British Association in 1836, in which the distinguished astronomer said:
"In science, there is but one direction which the needle will take when
pointed towards the European continent, and that is towards my esteemed
friend, Professor Oersted. To look at his cool manner, who would think
that he wielded such an intense power, capable of altering the whole
state of science, and almost the knowledge of the world? He has at this
meeting developed some of those recondite and remarkable forces of
nature which he was the first to discover, and which went almost to the
extent of obliging us to alter our views on the most ordinary laws of
energy and motion. He elaborated his ideas with slowness and certainty,
bringing them forward only after a long lapse of time. How often did I
wish to Heaven that we could trample down, and strike forever to earth,
the hasty generalizations which mark the present age, and bring up
another and safer system of investigation, such as that which marked the
inquiries of our friend? It was in deep recesses, as it were, of a cell,
that a faint idea first occurred to Oersted. He waited long and calmly
for the dawn which at length broke upon him, altering the whole
relations of science and life. The electric telegraph and other wonders
of modern science were but mere effervescences from the surface of this
deep, recondite discovery of his. If we were to characterize, by any
figure, the usefulness of Oersted to science, we would regard him as a
fertilizing shower descending from heaven, which brought forth a new
crop, delightful to the eye and pleasing to the heart."
It may be noticed that in Oersted's day early specialization was
fortunately unknown. His education was broad and his intellectual
activities broader still. Quite as interesting as many of his scientific
researches are some of his contributions to philosophy and some of his
views on the significance of the material universe. Oersted, a man of
the world with a wide range of interests and a philosopher who lived at
high intellectual altitudes, was one of the all-round men in the history
of thought who took active part in science, in literature, in politics
and in social problems. He had the opportunity of meeting many of the
renowned scientists and philosophers of the century, and had been very
closely in touch with some of them. He was a regular attendant at
scientific congresses, in which he distinguished himself by the leading
part which he took in their deliberations. His opinions, therefore, on
the great problems of life, religious, moral, social and political,
challenge our respect even where they do not compel our approval. Our
Danish philosopher deserves, then, to stand as the spokesman of his
generation of savants on the great questions that concern man's
relations to his fellow-men, to an all-wise Providence and to an
enduring hereafter. His opinions on these matters are all the more
interesting because they are in open contradiction with what is
sometimes thought to be the views of scientists on such subjects.
One of the passages of his paper on "All Existence, a Dominion of
Reason," contains some surprising anticipations of ideas that created a
great stir in the intellectual world some fifty years ago. In 1846, that
is, thirteen years before the publication of Darwin's "Origin of
Species," Oersted discussed evolution and suggested explanations that
are generally considered to have been forced from apologists when
compelled to take up the work of reconciling Christian doctrines with
scientific conclusions.
Writing in the middle 'forties, he said: "If we are now thoroughly
convinced that everything in the material world is produced from similar
particles of matter, by the same forces and in obedience to the same
laws, we must allow that the planets have been formed according to the
same laws as our own earth. They have been in process of development
during immeasurable periods of time, and have undergone numerous
transformations which have also influenced the vegetable and animal
kingdoms of those remote periods. The lower forms of life advanced by
gradual stages to higher and more complex states of organization, till
at length (in a comparatively recent period) a self-conscious being was
evolved, the crowning work of this long-continued process of
development. Accordingly, we must allow a similar order of organic
development to take place on the other planets of our solar family.
There may be some which have not as yet attained the same degree of
development that we have reached; but everywhere throughout the
universe, creatures endowed with reason appear in due time, just as man
appeared on our own globe. Their understanding is intimately connected
with the organs of sense which they possess; therefore, the nature of
their mental faculties cannot be essentially different from our own.
That I may avoid even the appearance of materialism, I must direct
attention to the conciliatory principle, that the natural environment
from which man springs must be recognized as the work of the eternal,
creative Spirit. In other words, our conception of the universe is
incomplete, if not comprehended as a constant and continuous work of the
eternally creating Spirit."
Thus far Oersted; let us here recall what Lord Kelvin, the
representative scientist of his day, quoted with approval on a memorable
occasion from the Danish scientist with regard to the basic truths of
science, philosophy and religion. "It will not be foreign to our purpose
if, called upon by the solemnities of this day, we endeavor to establish
our conviction of the harmony that subsists between religion and
science, by showing how the man of science must look upon his pursuits,
if he understands them rightly, as an exercise of religion.
"If my purpose here was merely to show that science necessarily
engenders piety, I should appeal to the great truth everywhere
recognized, that the essence of all religion consists in love toward
God. The conclusion would then be easy, that love of Him from whom all
truth proceeds must create the desire to acknowledge truth in all her
paths; but as we desire here to recognize science herself as a religious
duty, it will be requisite for us to penetrate deeper into its nature.
It is obvious, therefore, that the searching eye of man, whether he
regards his own inward being or the creation surrounding him, is always
led to the Eternal Source of all things. In all inquiry, the ultimate
aim is to discover that which really exists and to contemplate it in
its pure light apart from all that deceives the careless observer by
only a seeming existence. The philosopher will then comprehend what,
amidst ceaseless change, is the Constant and Uncreated, which is hidden
behind unnumbered creations, the bond of union which keeps things
together in spite of their manifold divisions and separations. He must
soon acknowledge that the independent can only be the constant and the
constant the independent, and that true unity is inseparable from either
of these. And thus it is in the nature of thought that it finds no quiet
resting place, no pause, except in the invariable, eternal, uncaused,
all-causing, all-comprehensive Omniscience.
"But, if this one-sided view does not satisfy him, if he seeks to
examine the world with the eye of experience, he perceives that all
those things of whose reality the multitude feels most assured never
have an enduring existence, but are always on the road between birth and
death. If he now properly comprehends the whole array of nature, he
perceives that it is not merely an idea or an abstract notion, as it is
called; but that reason and the power to which everything is indebted
for its essential nature are only the revelation of a self-sustained
Being. How can he, when he sees this, be otherwise animated than by the
deepest feeling of humility, of devotion and of love? If anyone has
learned a different lesson from his observation of nature, it could only
be because he lost his way amidst the dispersion and variety of creation
and had not looked upwards to the eternal unity of truth."
As already said, Oersted lived to celebrate the fiftieth year of his
connection with his university. This was in November, 1850, on which
occasion his friends, pupils and the public generally united together
in honoring him as a professor whose warm and animated lectures
enraptured audiences; as a leader in the scientific advance of the
times; and as a Christian to whom nature was but a manifestation of the
Deity's combined wisdom and creative power.
The aged scientist, much touched by this popular demonstration as well
as by the tokens of esteem given him by the King, spoke of this jubilee
celebration as the happiest day of his life. The reader will recall
another great man, great in the world of politics and great on the field
of battle, who said that the happiest day of _his_ life was that of his
first communion.
A few months after celebrating his golden jubilee, Oersted passed away,
after a short illness, on March 9th, 1851, deeply mourned by all.
Oersted was eminent as a scholar and equally eminent as a man; lenient
in his judgment of others, he was strict with regard to himself; simple
in his ways and frugal in living, he was benevolent to others, being
always ready to give a helping hand wherever needed. To such a man may
well be applied these beautiful words with which Priestley begins his
"History of Electricity": "A life spent in the contemplation of the
productions of divine power, wisdom and goodness, would be a life of
devotion. The more we see of the wonderful structure of the world and of
the laws of nature, the more clearly do we comprehend their admirable
uses to make all percipient creation happy, a sentiment which cannot but
fill the heart with unbounded love, gratitude and joy."
A statue to the memory of Oersted was unveiled in Copenhagen on
September 25th, 1876, in presence of the King of Denmark, the King of
Greece, the Danish Crown Prince and members of the Royal family, as well
as numerous high officials, representatives of learned societies and a
vast body of students and people assembled together to do honor to a man
who was distinguished alike by his scientific attainments and
philosophical acumen, and who, during his long life, never faltered in
his devotedness to the welfare of his country as he never weakened in
his defense of the great truths of religion.
BROTHER POTAMIAN.