History of grounding/earthing practices in the united states

The history of using the earth as an electrical conductor for man-made electricity for the past 270 years is detailed in this paper. In the beginning man-made electricity used the earth; the surface of the terrestrial ball we live on, as a conductor to return the continuous flowing electric current back to the source for 140 years. Edison realized that using the earth as an electrical conductor presented a health hazard to humans and animals. For a brief quarter of a century the earth was not used as a conductor for continuously flowing man-made electricity. In hindsight, one could reach the conclusion that the lack of knowledge of man-made electricity allowed what seemed to the correct action at the time, later would prove to be harmful to the human race and other animals. The fascinating history of using the earth for 270 years for conducting man-made electricity has a bright future.