Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-06-28
iCinciunati Enquirer. !

iCincinnati Enquiror.l
A special correspondent, to whom
HAs assigned the duty Of interview
ing the great inventor of the day,
|hGa performed the task, and begs
loave to place before the Enquirer's
headers the results Of his labors:
A few moments walk from the
|otation brought him within view Of
|Menlo Park. Entering by the side
door, be found himself in a long
rooni, distinguished principally by
|the presence of all that pertains to
that mysterious full, electricity,
land was soon in the presence Of
the man Of the house. He at once
made known his errand, and
|pFopounded the inquiry, "What
are you going to do next!'
He seemed at first inclined
/ % give 1t up, but encouraged by the
Information that the visitor was an
|omIssary OF the Bulletin, he I'M
|bosomed himself freely. First
Reckoning our commissioner to his
|private office, he closed aud bolted
She door, and, taking from . box
beneath the table thin, oblong
metal plate, and q metal ball
Weighing, say fifteen or twenty
bounds, he suspended the plate
about five feet in the air, and, con-
meeting by thumb-screws on the
under side an electric battery, he
rolled the ball to . point under.
meath the plate and released 1t.
What was our reporters astonish-
ment to see it slowly rise till the
under side Of the plate was attain
cd, where it lazily rolled back and
forth as toy balloon would have
done.
The VISITORS countenance being
An Interrogation point, he quietly
remarked, $50 much for your law
OF gravity.n shave you overcome
the law of gravity?" we asked.
"Its all bosh," he responded.
"Fhen what becomes of the uni
verse?'' "What became OF it
when tie Ptolemaic sys-
tenn of astronomy went
down; when any dear old
hobby that we have taken in with
our milk goes to the wall? 1t will
7. move on. Our textbooks will be
changed, and for attraction of gray
ity they will read electrical affin.
ity.' The earth attracts all matter
within its compass, not alone be.
cause 1t is the largest body, but be.
cause it il the grand reservoir Of
electricity.
"TAking this as an axiom, have
eudeavored to analyze the subtitle
fluid. I find that it has variou:
properties that the world is igno
rant of. To know them is to b.
able to take advantage of them
That suspended ball is an illustra'
tlon Of my meaning. | simply
neutralize the electrical affinity
between the ball and the earth
and place it in affinity with the
plate, and it floats in ether. / re-
store its affinity thus,n and be tool
\ one of the wires out of the binding
4 post, and it fell to the earth with 9
4 dull thud that attested its weight
What will be the practical re-
suits Of your wonderful discovery"
we inquired. at will revolution.
lie mechanical powers. You wish
to move block of granite, or cal
of merchandise; you have only
to disturb it's equilibrium tt
the required extent, and Il
VIII rise ten or twenty
feet in the air as you wish, and
then you have only the resistance
of the atmosphere to overcome in
propelling 1t to its destination.
And the problem OF aerial naviga-
ton will be solved" said he, COM
plotting the sentence. ''Indeed,
the more l investigate, the more l
am convinced that electricity, like
the genie of Aladdin's wonderful
lamp, when invoked by the
hand of Science, will rise
up as an all-powerful servant to
mans bidding. 1t is Natures mo-
tor. Man, blindly cropping after
hidden powers, stumbled upon 1t;
but, like the ignorant boor who
fiuds o priceless diamond, and
knows not its value, man puts this
power of the gods in swaddling
clothes and makes of 1t an errand
boy. What base use forsooth -