WHEN Thales of Miletus
Went to the store one day
And bought a bit of amber,
In a real human way
He got a piece of woolen
To rub it up a bit,
And lo, the lint and dust grains
Were drawn at once to it.
“Ha,” said old Thales, “’tis certain,
A man half blind could see,
This friction has begotten
Some unseen energy.”
To-day that power is doing
The labor of the earth.
How much were Thales’s amber
And piece of woolen worth?