Book XI
THE MECHANICO-CHEMICAL SCIENCES.
HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY.
Parva metu primo: mox sese extollit in auras,
Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit.
Æn. 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.