Arkansas democratic banner., 1851-06-10
Electro- Magnetism versus steam.

The j3yS 0f steam appear t0 be counted. Is power IS rapidly arriyIng t1 is acme and ynSt aS certain as science continues, to PFogTsSs, just 50 certain IS steam destined to decline, and to be sa- pegse1ed by some other power. The rap-l pra= gress of steam has been such, that al the present moment there IS not HavIgabe rver on the glcbe whose waters are n1t nagl-ated by steamers, and scarcely a sel whose waves are not piaugl1d by steamships, The dominion of steam S so Fapidly widening that in a few years more the globe will i be constantly circumnavigated by gigantic steam vessels.
 ! But though steam is so rapidly taking the place ef all other means of locomgtiaa t itself IS Dot tLe ne ptus alfrg of motive power. Another half cen i tury will see steam rapidly declining as motive power and electro aaag7,etisB as rapidly taking s place. Of the ruti, of thiS prophetic declaration, we have better evidence than that winch Robert Fulton was able b advance nearly half centu0 ago. regarding the progress Gf steam naviEatiOn- Robert Fulton thought he had almost performed 8 miracle n propeling boat by steam, on tle i Hudson, al the rate of three miies an hour; and upon such a wonderful achievement he ventuged to predict tha, all of our rivers would soon be nayigated by steamhoa;s His anticjpationS have l long since been more than realized.
 What, then, may We not anticipate for the boo motive agency of eleetrO-Ina guetIsm, when, lR | first essay of it's locomotive powerS Professor age at Washington, has succeeded Ia prOpelhus a loco motive railroad track a the late of niasteen rt;lgs an hour This ceyainIy Spea Ks moro for the sacceSs ct electro magnetism, IS locomotive agent than Fulton's experiments dii for that Of steam. The pTaciseabtiity of the application of ] thls new agent, as motive power, may now be considered as demonstrated We have at last found care for inc evils of Steam-p -power-a desl- deratum that has been bong sought. Steam IS !iAe fire, a moSt powerful servant. when properly man aged but terrible agent of destruction whenever ] Il ceases to te watched. \ steam engine is q frightful magazine of death and run, which by no known means can be rendered absolutely safe; for iu the first place IS management must be tntrus- led to men who are, even with the best intentions hable Co err u judgment, and who cannot in all cases perceive defects n the comphcatA0 machI- aery of a steam engine. Every part may appear perfect when n fact there IS some fatal defect. either .a the materials or ln the workmanship winch 70 eye could discover unt,t after an Catas- traphc had revealed !t.
 Al oi these seriaas and psumouutablc objections 10 steam, are entirely inappieabie o Electro mag uetlstr, which exeFts is immense power lndepen- denty 1f fire. steam CT smoke; and an explosion Is impossible, since there IS nothing to explode Electro magnetism is a f9Tce ey srywherc present. and one wbich nature readily yielts 70 naa's con trol. l. requires machinery of the greatest s.u- p3icty Of construction, compared with that of The steam engine. and occupies much less space.
 The Science of Electro magnetism $ the crea- tlon of Crested, in isIs. His leading pnncple is that kalyauic current flowing around sofi iron continues to flow. b1ttte ti7 Crested rnagnc that he had discovered princ pie that might be- made t1 supersede The sgeaey Of steam; thus conferring upon maTtktfij aH iResumable gift, and rendering himself one of ths greatest bensfseigys of the hu- man race
 Congress, We believe appropriated S20;@0 to Prof. Page to prosecute his experiments. The hsp- py results of hls labors will 5c hailed with ioy tfetgtre,i the civilized world and he himself will have acquired nicho ID the temple Of science in the midst of taose of Franklin Jenner Fulton and Watt Loa. Caar1sr.