The Extraordinary Electrician: One Man’s “Little Creatures”

The Extraordinary Electrician: One Man’s “Little Creatures”

By Mr Ghaz 22, 2009

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The Extraordinary Electrician: One Man’s “Little Creatures”

The time: the early years of the 19th century. The setting an ancient manor house in an isolated valley in the west of England. A scientist is engaged in a very elaborate series of experiments with electricity.

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Outside the laboratory, copper wires suspended on poles run for more than a mile into the countryside. Inside, mysterious equipment – coils of wire, weirdly shaped jars, strange crystals, saucers of murky liquid – glows and pulsates. The few local people who dare to approach the mansion tell of explosions, of bolts of lightning that strike when no storms are near, and of the reclusive, secretive nature of the scientist himself.

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One day comes news that confirms everyone’s darkest suspicions: their sinister neighbor has created life in one of his jars.

As Strange as Fiction

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Despite its gothic trappings, the tale is true. Andrew Crosse was a gentleman-scholar who devoted his life to the study of the new science electricity. In 1837 one of his experiments brought him attention and created a mystery that has excited controversy among scientists ever since.

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The sequence of events that culminated in the experiments for which Crosse became notorious began around 1807. After visiting a cave covered with crystals, Crosse was determined to discover the process by which they had formed. He was convinced that “the crystalline matter which lined the roof of this cave was caused by some peculiar upward attraction; and …I felt assured that it was electric attraction.”