More than the diamond Koh-i-noor, which glitters among their crown jewels, they prize the dull pebble which is wiser than a man, whose poles turn themselves to the poles of the world, and whose axis is parallel to the axis of the world. Now, their toys are steam and galvanism.

The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Comprising His Essays, Lectures, Poems, and Orations (ed. 1866)