Note 158 — ABUNDANCE OF CORN

Footnote 158: (return) Thales, the chief of the seven wise men of Greece, detected the existence of electricity in amber about 600 years before the Christian era. He was the first who observed attraction to be the distinguishing property of amber; and he was so forcibly struck with this singular discovery, that he was almost led to suppose that it possessed animation. The term electricity is derived from the Greek word [Greek: ηλεκτρον], amber. See Remarks on Electricity and Galvanism, by M. La Beaume, p. 29.