Electricity and Magnetism

Elisha Gray explains electricity through its history, its competing theories and the machines that bring it into daily life. Writing for general readers, he draws on thirty-five years of study and electrical invention to connect scientific questions with practical uses. The chapters move from magnetism and currents to generators, telegraphs, telephones and the use of power at Niagara Falls. His opening also makes room for uncertainty, treating explanations of electricity as ideas still open to investigation.

The personal recollections give the technical discussion a particular voice. Gray recalls seeing his nephew experiment with an induction coil and describes the electrical transmission of musical tones. He distinguishes melody from harmony while explaining principles connected with the telephone. Read today, the volume offers a historical view of electrical science and of an inventor's efforts to make difficult concepts understandable. Its blend of explanation, anecdote and reflection also shows how an observation at home can prompt further work in a laboratory.