ABSTRACT
An ingenious inventor wrote to the Admiralty in 1940 suggesting a simple method of winning the war. The Earth’s magnetism was discovered by William Gilbert, an eminent practitioner of alchemy and medicine, who was physician to Queen Elizabeth I from 1601 to 1603. He also served King James I even more briefly in the same capacity, and died of the plague in November 1603. Live volcanoes discharge products of three kinds. Firstly, there is lava or molten rock. Volcanic action was much more vigorous in ancient times than it is today; consequently, large areas of the Earth’s outer layer have been deposited in the form of lava. Secondly, an erupting volcano produces huge amounts of steam, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and foul-smelling vapours. Thirdly, as these volatile materials force their way to the surface they break up the overlying rocks and scatter them for many miles.
