Canton, JOHN

Canton, JOHN, electrician, born at Stroud, 31st July 1718, was apprenticed to a cloth-weaver, but early showed a bent towards scientific studies. In 1737 he settled as a schoolmaster in London, and, becoming famous for his experiments in electricity, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1749. He repeated and verified Franklin's experiments and hypotheses; he invented an electroscope and an electrometer; he originated experiments in induction; he was the first to make powerful artificial magnets; and in 1762 he demonstrated the compressibility of water. His name is permanently associated with 'Canton's phosphorus,' discovered by him in 1768—an impure sulphide of calcium, prepared by heating calcined oyster-shells with sulphur in a closed crucible. After being exposed to light, it shines in the dark like luminous paint (see CALCIUM). Canton, who was a friend of Priestley's, died 22d March 1772.