Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-06-01
KLErrnIn LIaMr.

y certainly far from impossible that man
\ who are now living may witness pr
: ducts of genius yet unthought of, whicl
4 for usefulness, may be ranked with ID
4 locomotive, the telegraph and the phOts
graph. Indeed, we are not visionary j
4 believing that we are already advancin
!, into the shadow of something whic
= may be as admirable and useful as an
Z Of them. Recent advances in scieBe
/, seem to indicate plainly the path whic
!. / promises to lead TO one of the most be
neficent developments.
: II has been demonstrated that what W
call light. heat and electricity, and sup
/ posed to be peculiar kinds of matter, are
after all, only forms or modes of motion
, that the motions which constitute thei
: peculiarities have no greater difference
, among themselves than the motions 0
, our ordinary machines. 1t has beel
! demonstrated that they may be con
, verted into each othef-thAt either o
them may be converted into ordinary
! motion-and, conversely, that ordinary
j motion may be converted into either 0
them. In other words, their production
and operation involve simple question:
of mechanics. The precise amount o
mechanical force required to produe'
heat and electricity have been exactly
and mathematicslly determined. Thus
the force of the falling of weight Of one
pound a distance of T72 feet win producs
heat Just sufficient to raise a pound o
water one degree Fahrenheit. This ex
act Transformation of falling force int
heat may be accomplished with thC
greatest ease. The converse, however
we have not yet reached in practice. II
our attempts by the steam engine to gel
heat into ordinary useful motion, We
practically realize only about five pei
cent. of what we strive after. Tt is pos
sible that, before the nineteenth century
closes, we shall learn how to secure all
or nearly all, Of that ninety-tive per cent
which How escapes US. When We have
that knowledge, one pound Of fuel which
We use for generating power may have
its present value multiplied nearly twenty
fold
The Iabors of scientific men, within
the last five years, have developed meth
DDS of transforming ordinary force into
electricity. When these methods are put
into the most practical form, we shall
have electricity so cheap that its Rppli-
cations may be multiplied a hundred
fold.
Practical results have not been so fully
| obtained in attempts to transform me-
chanical force into light. But what we
know il sufficient to fill US with the
most exalted expectations. The possi-
| bilities are too bright even for dreams.
The precise amount of force required to
| produce a given degree of light has not
6esn determined, mainly for the reason
! that it is so smsa that eludes our meas
urement. 1t is asserted by sAFans tLst
the strength Of a child woald be sufficient
| to turn night into day for the city Of
! New York, provided that strength were
/ wholly converted into, and should reap
pear as, light. May not this be accom-
plished ip the nineteenth century?
But, concerning electric light, wonder
| full things are already accom- plished facts,
We have TRANSFORMER force into light
through the medium of electricity, and
| the process has been q success. Such a
| light promises to come, ere long, into
general use.
Through experiments in France and
England, and official arrangements for
tests in the United States, indicate the
Importance attached to electricity for
Illuminating lighthouses. The results at
Cape La Heve on the French, and at
Dungeness on the British coast, prove
that in elegr weather, the electric light
against 90) than the best lights ever Ge-
fore shown at those points, while the
advantages are still greater In thick
weather, as its density, whiteness and
brillisney enable it to penetrate fogs that
almost totally obscure other lights. The
successful experiments Of the French
lighthouse board, c0rroborated by the
British experiments, may well encourage
oHr American lighthouse board in the
tests about 10 ne Instituted in this eOun-
try, especially Is the difficulties Yh,ch
cause the British authorities to hesitate
about introducing the electric light gem
orally along their coasts {" lest their
heavy machinery might break down ~
are understood to have been overcome
by inventions of American genius.
1t may be added that ths bFillianey Of
the electric light will actually throw
shadows from the flames of street lamps
on a wall distant about 1900 feet, and
that it surpasses sunlight in photograph
ing-effecting the object in one-third Of
the time required by Sol himself Some
Of the British photographers now use the
electric light atf1sdght for much Of their
work, especially for copying and enlarg-
ing pictures-a profitable part Of their
business,
The occasional workingof the Atlantic
cable both being throwni into one circuit
Of nearly 5000 miles by the infinites-
imally small battery in ladyis thimble
has 30 utterly reyolqtioniged the notions
Of electricians and tel6graRhers a09eernz
ing the power required for working that
vast telegraphic circuit, that intelligent
people are now scarcely surprised at the
latest assertions concerning the illiElit-
oh oh
electric-LAsilt, SnG the quality of that
light compared with solar light.
The electrical display on top Of the
Massachusetts state house one fourth OF
July night, which shed a food Of light
THAT epabled people to read newspapers
on Boston gomRol, v4s useful in indi- |
eating what may be profitably done by
apparatus less clumsy and less costly. So /
also with the weighty machinery
that produces brilliant results in fog or
clear weather off the Dungeness light /
house on the British coast. Simplify and /
cheaper the mode of effecting such re- {
suits, and what IL there 10 prevent the 4
general use of electricity in producing (
light? Why should not our streets and 1
our harbors, our factories and workshops, I
our offices and our bones, be thus brill 4
liantly and cheaply Illuminated, now
that American scientific skill has devised /
certain modes of producing electric light /
which are claimed to be more econom-
ical and more etFectiye than any of the
methods hitherto employed ~
We scarcely open a foreign scientific
Journal without finding allusions to vaFi-
Gus Uses foF which electric light are EN-
ployed, or about to be employed. One of
the latest papers says that one Of these
lights is arranged for service on board
the Prince Jerome, Prince NaPoleon's
yacht-not to illuminate the vessel itself,
hut, on the contrary, to throw light on
other objects, such as a vessel, or a coast,
for purposes of attack or defense. For
such uses, especially in case of fog, this
light promises to prove very valuable, as
ships at fall speed, o. lying-to, or at an
ohOrage, can thus be kept free from dan
ger OF collisions, and, in battle, the CD
iect to be attacked can be Illuminated,
- However late In the lield of practical
says the London Chemical
NeICs, 4" the electric light, once estab-
lished ON board of a vessel, will become
a necessary adjunct to the marine and
tFansRort service," and Invaluable on
board of the geet passenger steamers.
' The illumination Of this same light
for railways, at the stations, and the APP
thereto, at curves, and other
WISE" says Partisan writer, "has been
he order OF the day, and the subject of
ieep study for soMe weeks past" and
he experiments on the East railway Of
France are said to have been " so sHc-
,essfHl, that there is reason to expect the
pest results" Why may not this new
light be aGvantageously used OF looomo-
ives?
Maltitudinous ways will be found for
employing a light so powerful, and so
,asily and cheaply generated and,
lrofiting by experience of the way
hey do these things in France" and in
our American Inventors, who
lain to have edevised still better methods,
an hardly fail to meet prompt and
roper attention from people who are an-
loyed and over-taxed by the effiGvia and
Of the gas companies.
GEORGIA. ITEMS.
Bishop O'Neil (CathOlie) Of the GeOr-
ia diocese, left Savannah this week for
he grand convocatiOn Of cardinals and
bishops at Rome.
The Albany Nesos Of the 26th, says
he recent rain has revived everything
xceediagly, and cotton that last week
vas thought ready to die, is looking !
inely. The wheat IN this locality Is now
bout all harvested. The yield in gen
raj is light, and the crop was also linn
ted.
Mr. John z. Robinson, of Newman,
as presented the Herald, of that place, !
p;slN e~..oa ~yarxr taroa rfna ohorrfca