The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-10-31
Edison at Work.

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The following is from an article in
Scribner for November, entitled "a
Night with Edison: :"
There is nowhere such another in
genious mind, but there is also nowhere
such aiworker. When in search of some
special object he allows himself abso-
lutely no rest. At Newark he mounted
to the loft of his factory with five men,
ON the occasion of the apparent failure
of the printing machine he had taken a
contract to furnish, and declared he
would never come down till it worked.
1t took sixty hours of continuous labor,
but it worked, and then he slept for
thirty. The rout ne of his day is a
routine of grand processes and enno-
bling ideas. Nowhere else probably
would such day be possible. There
are not fortunes, if there were capacity,
to carry on the bushes of pure scientific
research ON such scale. His whole
great establishment is occupied not in
manufacturing, nor primarily in projects
for profitable returns,-though these
follow,-but in new reflections, new
combinations, in wrestling from Nature,
inch by inch, the domain she would
have kept hidden. He comes in the
morning and reads his letters. He over
looks his men and the experiments of
his assistants. The element of hazard
enters into these somewhat. There are
a great number in progress,-the action
of chemicals upon various substances or
upon each other, or the phenomena of
substances subjected to the various
forces at command Strips Of ivory,
for instance, in a certain oil in six
weeks become transparent. A globule
of mercury in water, then with little
potassium added, takes various shapes
for the opposite poles of the battery,
retires coquettishly or is attracted,
forms in whirlpools, changes color, or
becomes immobile. There is no use at
once for these results, but they are re-
corded in voluminous notebooks. When
the proper time comes they are borne
in mind; some one of them may form
the connecting link in the chain of an
invaluable discovery. Then perhaps he
tests for the thousandth time bis carbon
telephone for new projections, and then
goes on carrying forward a step each of
the works in progress, or becomes
wholly yengrossed, according to his mood,
in one. rus
In spite of the fact that the motive of
his retreat to Menlo Park was in good
part to escape them, numerous visitors
arrive. 1t is the Mecca of continuous
pilgrimage of scientists, reporters for
the journals, and curiosity-hunters.
Yesterday troop of one hundred and
seventy-fve persons brought by gen.
tleman who had asked the privilege of
presenting a few friends-to-morrow
special train of visitors from Boston is
announced. He receives all affably,
submitting himself and his inventions to
he gazed at without reserve. One won
ders, next to his phonograph, at his
good humor.
"Still, shall blow up somebody yet" !"
he says, laughing. Il am considering
the idea of fixing a wire connecting
with a battery that knocks over every
body that touches the gate. sl.''-' =
He sits down at the phonograph, fixes
a double mouth-piece to it and sum-
mons one of his assistants, while
another places himself at an organ in
the corner. They sing in two parts
"John Browns Body" AS the sonor-
Gus music rises and fills the long apart
ment, one gazes musingly yet with a
secret thrill. 1t is like assisting at
some strange, new rite-a martial chant
of rejoicing in the greatness of new
era full of sublime promise and dissi-
patton of mysteries.