Morning journal and courier., 1880-01-24

money for the crops is just beginning to be
 put into circulation and the demand for al
 kinds of luxuries is larger than has ever been known before in the history of our nation,
 particularly in the West and Northwest.
 After examining with care the dress of people
 in the places I visit may say that never
 saw so much money fairly Iavished on clothes
 as of late. This is not true of any particular
 city, but it is everywhere. Formerly you
 would see it in Boston more than in other places, but remember day before yesterday
 seeing in Baltimore the persons pass in the
 public street, and observing this matter of
 dress cannot call to mind seeing more ele-
 gant dresses or richer trimming. Take the
 article of silk, for example. It is worn in
 such elegant patterns and of such a quality
 and seen so much, one would think
 it cost no more than calico Again,
 take sealskin cloaks, which never were
 more expensive than to-day, and yet they are
 worn, not of the old and short pattern, but
 long and trimmed with that still scarcer kind
 of the same material that costs more than the
 garment itself. And if you wish to take
 our Rulings" the more expensive
 I make them the better the sale.
 Goods costing 75 cents to $1 per ward
 find ready market, and they cannot be pro-
 ducsd as fast as sell them. What does all this
 show Just what we have all hoped for and
 looked for-prosperity and good times. May
 it last. MCS
 Edfson's system Of Electric Lightning.
 Concerning the article on the electric light
 in Scribner for February, by Mir. Edisons
 mathematician, the editor received this note.
 EDITOR SCREEN ERs MONTHLY,
 U1on s1 snG have ave % seaa the paper by MT Francis count % of & my invention of the Electric Light.
 Yours truly, THOMAS A. EDISON.
 Mir. Edison's idea in regard to the electric light was that, in all respects, it should take the place of gas. Following the analogy of water, the inventor conceived of a system which should resemble the Holly water works. AS the water is pumped directly into pipes which convey it under pressure to the point where it is to be used, so the electricity is to be forced into the wires and delivered under pressure at its destination. In the case of water, after being used, it flows away by means Of 8 sewer-pipe, and is lost. But it is easy to imagine that the water used in work ing machinery, for instance, instead of being lost might be returned to the pumps and used over and over again. With such a sys- tenn as this, we should have perfect analogy to the Edison electric lighting system The electricity, after being distributed under pres sure and used, is returned to the central sta tion. As the light results from no consump- tion of a material, but is mere transmutation of the energy exerted in the pumping process, it is therefore seen that all which is essential to an electric lighting system is the genera tor Cor pump the two lines of wire, one dis tributing the electricity, the other bringing it back, and a lamp which transmutes into light the energy carried by the electricity when it passes from one wire to the other, and in which the energy of the pressure expresses itself as the light. In Edison's invention the amount of electricity delivered in the lamp is determined by the size and resistance in the carbon, just as in water the amount of flow is determined by the size of the open ings. As great many small jets of water can be supplied from one pipe, so great many lamps or small escapes for electricity can be furnished from one wire.
 As in the case of water, the amount of work done by electricity either as illuminant or dependent quite as much upon the pressure from which it escapes as upon the quantity passing through the wires. We might have system of lamps which could give certain amount of light from large pressure, or another system which would give an equal amount of light from a small quantity of electricity escaping under high pressure. As in either case the amount of electricity flowing through wire, it will be readily seen that the application of pressure made by MT. Edison obviates the main diff culty in the way of subdivision G. e., in the way of the domestic use of the electric ight) namely, the enormous size and cost of con ductors. The well-known principle of the erect cf pressure upon the dynamic power of electricity had never been utilized becauss the proper lamp was still unknown. The lamp is MT. Edison's main discovery. Iu order to utilize this, one of the plans devised by him was to make the flow of electricity in termittent. Enough was allowed to escape in short time, say one-third to keep the lamp all the time supplied. It of course would re- qulre @ large wire to furnish the quantity of electricity needed, yet two-thirds of the time the wire would be inactive, during which pc riod it could be used to supply two other lamps constructed OF the same principle. Ac. cording to the doctrine of probabilities, one third of large number of lamps would be in use all the time. Such being the case, the cost of a conductor would be divided among three lamps. The lamps were so construct cd as to burn steadily all the while, although the electricity was passing through them only one third of the time.
 Besides the enormous practical value of the electric light, as domestic illuminant and mo- tor, it furnishes most striking and beautiful illustration of the convertibiity of force. Mir. Edison's system of lighting gives a completed cycle of change. The sunlight pour sd upon the rank of vegetation of the carbon ferrous forests was gathered and stored up, and has been waiting through the ages to be again into light. The latent force during the primeval days, and garnered up in the coal beds, is converted, ,fter passing in the steam engine through the phases of chemical, molecular and mechanical :orce, into electricity, which only waits the ouch of the inventors genius to flash out nto million domestic suns to illuminate g myriad of homes.