sciences, we like to go back to the
hesitations of the first hour, and trace, step by step, the history of
the progress made, so as to assign to each one that portion of the
merit that belongs to him in the common work. When we thus cast a
retrospective glance we find ourselves in the presence of one strange
fact, and that is the simultaneousness of discoveries. That an
absolutely original idea, fertile in practical consequences, should
rise at a given moment in a fine brain is well; we admire the
discovery, and, in spite of us, a little surprise mingles with our
admiration. But is it not a truly curious thing that _several_
individuals should have had at nearly the same time that idea that was
so astonishing in one? This, however, is a fact that the history of
electrical inventions offers more than one example of. No one ignores
the fact that the invention of the telephone gave rise to a notorious
lawsuit, two inventors having had this ingenious apparatus patented on
the same day and at nearly the same hour. This is one example among a
thousand. In the history of dynamo-electric machines it is an equally
delicate matter to fix upon the one to whom belongs the honor of
having first clearly conceived the possibility of engendering
continuous currents.

We do not wish to take up this debate nor to go over the history of
the question again. Every one knows that the first continuous current
electric generator whose form was practical is due to Zenobius Gramme,
and dates back to July, 1871, an epoch at which appeared a memoir
(entitled "Note upon a magneto-electric machine that produces
continuous currents") that was read to the Academy of Sciences by Mr.
Jamin. Ten years previous, Pacinotti had had a glimpse of the
phenomenon, and of its practical realization, but was unfortunately
unable to appreciate the importance of his discovery and the benefit
that might be reaped from it. It is of slight consequence whether
Gramme knew of this experiment or not, for the glory that attaches to
his name could not be diminished for all that. But an interesting fact
that we propose to dwell upon now has recently been brought to light
in an electrical review published at Vienna.[1] It results from
documents whose authenticity cannot be doubted that, as far back as
1867, Mr. L. Pfaundler, a professor at Innsbruck, very clearly
announced the reversibility of a magneto-electric motor constructed by
Kravogl, a mechanician of the same place,