Experimenta circa effectum conflictus elecrici in acum magneticam. In: Journal für Chemie und Physik (Schweigger's Journal), vol. 29, pp. 275-281 by OERSTED, Hans Christian - 1820

Nürnberg: In der Schrag'schen Buchhandlung, 1820. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 8vo (199 x 118 mm). Entire volume: viii, 1-50, [4], 55-96, [4]; 101-204; 245-256, [4]; 261-384, [4]; 389-520, [4] pp., folding table facing p. 50 and 2 folding engraved plates; pp. 205-44 are skipped (pagination error). Contemporary sprinkled half calf over marbled boards, spine with some gilt tooling and gilt-lettered paper label, red-dyed edges (rebacked, corners slightly bumped, minor rubbing). Text with even light browning, occasional minor spotting. Provenance: Act. Ges. f. Anilin-Fabrikation* (ink stamps to front and rear pastedowns, title and a few text pages). A very good copy, collated and complete. ----

VERY RARE FIRST PUBLISHED EDITION of the announcement of the electromagnetic effect, preceeded ony by a half-sheet of text privately printed on behalf of the author the same year in a very small number and which is of utmost rarity. Also included in this volume is "Neuere electro-magnetische Versuche von Oerstedt in Kopenhagen" (pp. 364-369), and Oersted's report on the first isolation of piperine (pp. 80-82).
"Oersted was a disciple of die German school of Nationalphilosophie, which believed in the unity of physical forces. He had predicted the existence of the electro-magnetic effect as early as 1812, in defiance of current scientific doctrines disallowing the possibility of conversion of forces and despite Coulomb's apparent proof that electricity and magnetism were distinct phenomena. He set out to deduce from the nature of electricity the conditions under which it was converted to magnetism, and to prove their existence by experiment. His efforts were unsuccessful until, in die winter of 1819-1820, he placed a magnetic needle parallel to a current-carrying wire and saw that the needle was disturbed. Resuming his experiments in the summer of 1820, Oersted ascertained that a circular magnetic field surrounded his current-carrying wire, and that a magnetic needle brought into this field would set itself tangent to the circle. Oersted's discovery opened up a new epoch in the history of physics, making possible Ampère's creation of electrodynamics, and Faraday's demonstration of the unity of all forms of electricity" (Norman).
"In 'Experiments and Observations on Electricity', first published in London, 1751, Benjamin Franklin stated his theory that the nature of lightning is electrical. In 1752, with his kite experiments he proved it and was on the way to demonstrating the identity of all forms of electricity. In 1760, however, J. H. van Swiden dismissed the possibility of an affinity between electricity and magnetism (De Attractione, Leiden). In 1802, on the other hand, Adam Walker in the second edition of his A System of Familiar Philosophy (first edition, 1799), among many striking opinions on the monistic nature of electricity, light and heat, declared categorically 'I think we have infinite data in favour of an electro-magnetic fluid'. Oersted, the son of an impoverished apothecary in Rudkjoping, in 1812 discussed in his Ansicht der chemischen Naturgesetze ('View of the Natural Laws of Chemistry') the identity of chemical and electrical forces. [...] It was after lecturing to students in his own rooms in the Noerragade, Copenhagen, in 1819 or 1820 that he invited a few of them to stay on to witness an experiment - the possible deflection of a compass-needle by an adjacent electric current. The experiment was successful; but only just; and Oersted repeated it many times before venturing on 21 July to proclaim the identity of magnetism and electricity in this four-page paper entitled 'Experiments relative to the Effect of the Contiguity of Electricity to a Magnetic Needle'. The results were as important as they were widespread. References: Sparrow 152 and Evans 36 (both for this journal issue); DSB X, p.185. Dibner 61, PMM 282 and Norman 1606 (for the private print). Visit our website for further reading and images!