The New York herald., 1879-12-29

81 a. The master spirit moves about busy
ana commonpace. have said before that all study.
ouf acne divine Elison- He has not reached his
~s<.w AR b. hndng himself ablo TO neglect appear
Anee~-thAt shibboieth OF society. Ho never was
. uay man. Mind you. he Is only thirty-one
years old. though he looks oidor. You talk
10 him. and be answers volubly. You scruti-
ni<s him for some sign OF tho hre of his
genius In his eyes. IL dawns upon you
as YOU look at and listen to him that you have
been using false standard with him all tho time.
You have bsen thinking OF great writer's. great
orators. great statesmen. You have been thinking
OF exceptional men of different order. You never
troubled yourself about tho oppression Of a steam
engine or q cotton spindle. Remem ber. then. that
before Edison you in the presence of
the greatest machine OF the present genera
sion. his brain the motor. 1t is tho modern fancy
that the faces of the old gods expressoncss of
emotion. because they were indifferent to pain or
pleasure simply looking straight on In the plane of
their power. Edison's face. like theirs. Is expires
sonlesa lie has tho high full forehead OF the man OF
brains tho strong jaw and chin Of the of action
the set mouth Of tho man OF determination. The
nose. long and slightly retrousst. seems to spoil
the picture but It combative nose. You look to
the eyes to see these features localized % It were
but you are disappointed. They are shade some
how between light gray aud light brown. You ex-
pect them peer into your face but the look is only
that of calm examination quickly concluded. He
Is slightly deaf. and that rerhaps lends some
thing. has been said. to the blankness Of
his shaven face. It is fesh mask Of
thought. He bends ovor some work as stand be-
fore him. The oye does not seem to sharpen as he
eyebrows--the only indication that the busy brain
IL working atits hardest again. He does not lilo an
terruptions-.who does f-so do not interrupts; but
after while ne rsps and talkssI nut bent dear
reader. Intervening him. but what he says Is
generally worth the telling. sr
- THE WIZARD rALRAA ,s-@ !, cs
Leaning back in . chair. with his soft felt hat
tho back Of his head white silk handkerchief
lessy knoted around his throat instead Of collar
ecktie his vest buttoned here and there he is per-
fectly at ease.
"How many Lights did you say. Bachelor. were lit
to-nights'
'.Fifty three"
Thus it began. There were half . dozen Of us.
all but the writer veteran Menlo Parkites. We sat
around. Edison leaned back in chair. put his feet
up on a bench. lit cigar and chatted. By and by
conversation. which seldom in his presence leaves
the circle Of mechanics back to the great ques
ton OF gas versus electricity for lighting.
Edison. ''they would not say much that's absurd,
Thay talk the loss in subdivision Of electricity,
as il that settled everything. The trouble with
electric lighting Is that 1t started at the wrong end
gas had started at burners that consumed $50 feet
rer hour you would have heard the same hubbub
about loss by subdivision The electric light started
out with great lights that dazzle the eye. and
of which the photometer tells you the great in
tensity, but the same light power divided into ten
lights properly distributed would give you double
illumination. You know that light decreases with
the square Of the distance. With gas II il the
as tho electric hgh-the loss Of available light by
concentration against excess Of light In GER
tain small area. Thirty gas jets in one burner
will not give half much light thirty separate
gas Jets properly distributed over the same
space Then to cost-and that 10 the great thing
to bear in mind-the sihgle thirty-jet gas burner
can be fed at ono and one-half feet OF gas per
burner tho thirty jets in thirty separate burners
viii require ave feet each. Here YOU see the loss 10
the difference between forty-ave feet and $50 feet
los feet per hour. But nobody talks Of that now.
because gas begun ut the right end-the little one
In electricity we began with great lights, and now
the talk is all about the loss In small ones. 'See
they say. Edison only gets 100 candle power for
every Lorse power. while We. the voltaic men.
get 1000 candles per horse power Very well. but
we have compensating gains. Who wants
1000 candles in his house2 It is no
more the popular want than 800 candle gas
gets. Now, as to the voltaic arc. II 10
generally admitted with that light that the cost Of
the carbon candles ia three times the cost of the
horse power. They first Of all lose half by their
concentrated light that takes 500 candles off, They
have to pay the price Of four horse power for their
remaining 500 candles. which brings their candle
power advantage down to . fraction"
ooh. IT'S all jealousy with them." said some one
In q corner.
"It's want of thought" said olson, quietly.
''Did you read Professor Mallett's letter to the
HERALD" asked. "in which he spoke Of platinic
chloride for toughening the hlamentf"
eyes," said Edison; cit won't do. The Arst effect
Ia to drive of the chlorine and leave pure platinum,
which increases the conductivity; that s it gives
lower resistance. In short time the nament gives
way altogether. forming . new compound, tho car
buret Of platinum"
"Some people are afraid Of your system giving out
because Of its complexityr'
srMPLrcrry ELECTRICITY
''I give you my word that electricity IL hundred
times simpler than gas. Just read good work on
gas and for yourself. Electricity Is cheap sim
pie aud enduring. II cannot be said that one city
will havo purer. clearer smoker or coorod
electricity than another II s constant unvaryng as
the supply conditional There no business that ID
subject to criticism as gas making. The COM
plants about bad gas are innumerablo Do you
know. by the way. that some stokers get thou
sands moro cubic feet out Of ton Of coal than
others?
because of their greater skillf
"Exacuy; II is brains.'
There pause for . moment. whom Edison
said suddenly
"Put brains in tho machinery. and you havo solved
tho question"
There was another pause and some one said, soto
pocs. and Of course unheard by Edison. The more
you think Of that the stronger It sounds.''
THE RESERVOIR
"They say" remarked, "one fatal defect is that
you do not store your electricity. the gas men
gas-that you have no reservoir"
'.Ihey don't think about It," replied Edison.
"what IL q reservoir but reserve force? What