New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-09-19
THE ELECTRIC EXHIBITION.
WIGHT TURNED INTO DAY.

AND LGHTnoUsEs--TBE MUSIC OF TUE SPHERES
HEARING AN OPERA BY ELECTROMAGNETIC
TRICKY IN THE HoUsEHoLD-THE WONDERS OF
"THE EDISON RooM"-ADDIIONs YET TO DE
MADE-ADMIRABLE FEATURES IN THE ARRANGE
NII,NT OF THE EXHIBITION.
IFKoM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.l
PARIS, Aug 3l.-The night is misty and damp
Che chronic state OF things this summer--as we set
ont across the Place COncOrde for the Exhibition.
Gan that be a fret No. only the diilnscd glare from
the glazed roof OF the palace reflected on the clouds
Az we get abreast of the building in the Champs
Elysees the great Maxim regulator on the roof gives
ms a preliminary exhibition on its own account
yerring and whirling, and sending its broad sheaf
of white rays In every directOn at one moment the
ObeGsk in the Place stands tall and bright almost
like the needle its name IMPLIES against the gloom
of he Tuileries; then with swing which we can
see cutting the dense rainy air like the whisk of
comets TAIL round it sweeps tingng the trees over
by the Cafe DIES Ambassadors with a dazzling
CHASTITY green, and putting to shame the dull red
lamps of the carriages which in long line, like so
many glowwOrms, are crawling up the avenue, till
il falls full on the grand outlines of the Arc de
Tromphe which crowns the slope almost mile
AWAY setting il out sharp and cold against the
black sky and lighting up the Place de PEtole till,
if is said we ght read the newspaper by It's glare
without further aid. Cross in front of the main en-
trance beneath the handsome electric lantern with
side door, red press ticket getting entrance
little ahead Of the less favored crowd at the great
porch.
The fine entrance corridor, with its rich cream
tinted architecture. is bright with the light of
era Pisen globes. We pass into the nave and
pause for instant to take iii the general effect.
very fine one, certainly. The building, as THE
TRIBUNE's readers will recollect. forms great
nave, nearly quarter of mile in length by per-
al in hrna xyitb pbp5
glazed roof, and lofty gallery runHing entirely
round the nave from which open large rooms and
halls the north side and ends. The whole of the
vast central space is abaze with more than 200
lights, strung along the galleries, hung from the
roofs of pavilions, dotted in among the machines,
and beaming down from masts, standards and col
umns How active has been the work of invention
Ill this department will be evident from glance at
the mere list of names-Jamn, Jaspar, Reynier,
Debrun, Gramme, Maxim, Comp on Brockie, An
drews Siemens BeTjot, Meritens. Lontin, Weston.
Brush Ser1n, Wilde and Chertcnts, not TO mention
the inventor of the so-called "Sole" lamp, who
certainly will not fail from undue modesty. All
these syst ms them represented tonight with
their glittering candles, in Numbers from five SIX
to sixty each Surely the game of throwing light"
could hardly be played with finer company OF con-
testants fairer field. 1t is the very carnival
of illumination, yet the general effect is far
mellow and pleasant TO the eye than might
have been anticipated. The ingenious optican
who applied for the privilege of selling
colored spectaeles at the door would be likely to
drive poor trade the legendary parsonage
who made it his business to smoke glasses for
eclipses, Unless sit directly under, or stare
directly at of the great globes, the effect is FAR
from unpleasant. 1t would be too much to say in
the vulgar phrase, that the BULL ling is as light as
day." but in most parts of it, fancy for most prac-
teal purposes of wOrk-reading, drawing or other
..-l.A
CANT Let MS guess at it as something near the Cht
of pretty cloudy foggy dav, far less equab V
diffuSed, bur- on the other hand, immensely richer
warmer and more cheerful.
Come up for a moment into the north gallery, and
let pick out the lights rather more in detail re-
Numbering that with tho exception of a Swami
chandelier there in the British section ut our
right, all these lights OF the pretty little
incandescent bulbs which we have admired so
often in New-York shall find rows and clusters
presently i'll the gallery chambers behind us
Down on the main floor, just front, two daz-
cling white candles light up the two sections of
whimsical greenhouse, whose inventor purp SEES
during the whole exhibition to expose his plants as
nearly alike possible in growth and vgor at the
outset-the lot to electric light, and
the other to daylight. The comparative effect to be
noted at the close ought to be interesting to boan-
lists and organic chemists. Far off at The left in the
southeast corner, catch the clear, steady radi-
ance of the Brush globes. and wish we may be here
long enough to he working of his immense reg
ulator, with carbon pencils big a stout bamboo
cane. and a hiss, when it gets irrIta ed like the
escape valve of q steam engine. OF at our right a
line of small but peculiarly intense sparks without
globes shows where the JaInin candles are glowing
away between the prongs of heir iron horsesh0es
altogether the queerest form of burner in the build
ing Those dusky reddish globes off in the east cor
ner " Soleils." The fine, steady lights near ia
are of the Siemens pattern and those immense fei-
lows down there planted on ampions about the CEN
trail pond with their purple glow. and bad habit of
turning all sorts of colors every few minutes are
JablOchkoffs We made their acquaintance two or
three years ago, the Avenue de POpera. They
were among the first electric lights to come and a
very brief glance around the exhibition shows that
they will be the first to 60 Then there are the
GTammes, and the-but dear this will never do ,
If we set ont to make descriptive catalogue we
shall be here till midnight
For some time we have been trying to explain two
sets of moving rehectors. the dancing will-'o-
the-wisplke. in every direction roof and walls
IN avery distracting manner; the other line of
alternate white and crimson CLEANS moving in
stately procession round the galleries like
the ghosts of dead lanterns come back to the
scene of their former glory. The first is thrown
from the funpel-shaped reflector of the Scr1n reou
lator. the culbate "topsy- turvy" lamp as he
calls it. 1t has the evident merit, unlike other
regulators, of burning equally well in any position :
hence the corkscrew motion which has so puzzled
us, and which makes 1t specially fit for light-sh
and sea-going vessels The steadily moving reilec-
tons come from the alternate plain and colored
slides of the lantern in the great phare or lighthouse
forty feet high, which it's base of artificial
rock work from the little pond in the centre of the
Ietn N OoO vera md amin DO