The Red Cloud chief., 1881-08-25
StOrel Enc:-g.

gan TO promise us that III a yer. short
time our houses would be lighted with
electricity more brilliantly AMI cheaplY
than they ever had been in any way;
bat the panic among ih" gas com AN cs
soon passc | away and stock again rules
n high rates. Ii Is no doubt true.
however. that our hopes in this respect
have been deferred through unlocked
for obstacles to the practical app let
ton Of the principle and not throu IN
any mistake about the principle Itself.
Public pla :es r actually lighted 10y
electricity; and private PAGES are not
vet so lighted only becau,. of the di.li-
Guilty OF furn shing the iilum nat NJ
agent economically. The same ON
ment upon other unfamiliar use, #
electric force is Just and obvious. 1t
has long been believed That the day
would come when raiiro ,dtTinS would
be moved by electricity; bit II IS only
Just no that we are able To say that
the day has actually cone. At all
event, the experiments made upon ths
electric rsilroid near Berlin seem to
have solved Inc problem.
But still more wonderful results in this
branch of practical science are reported.
The world was aStoni~hcd wheI Prof.
Morse started an electric spark upon a
wire Journey AMI compelled II to record
a message at lis journeys en- /. ll'h-
erto the varied apple lton at the force
has been a mere expansion of this con
ccptiOn. ut least in this respect. that
tie force has worked upon an unbrokcn
line Oh operations. It's communications,
so 10 speak. have not been cut. SO far
as this the force which carries a mes
SAGE from New York To Albany, the
force which runs through the cable. be-
meath the Atlantic. AMI the force which
bv and by Will Ii ght Il whole city work
in the same uninterrupted way. But IL
seems 10 be quite another thing 10 pa k
electricity in your trunk at New York.
check il TO Albany, and there make it
TO do, with unimpa re | allcrty and eff
feet. the work which it would do here.
Yet this is the startling result which our
esteemed contemporary, the London
Times, has been instrumental in bring
ING about. Other esteemed contcmpO-
rarics have made them selves famous by
-'tiao- III h'"' =" - "''''A
mnvemcntS-newS sometimes OF which
the commanding Generals concerned in
the events were themselves ignorant;
in piercing the heart of Africa, aid in
making renewed search for the pole.
But if all which is suggested grows out
% Il recent Journey oi a correspondent
of the Times from Pari, to Glasgow. that
newspaper has celebrated itself more
successfully than anv OF the others.
On the gth of May NJ Faurc. of Paris,
charged four batteries with electricity,
incloSei them in Il wooden box measIr-
i'm Il cubic foot AMI handed the box to
the Tins CORRESPONDENT. who seventy
two hourS later delivered it To Sir Will
lam Thompson. of the Glasgow Uni
verSitv. The remainder of the story is
told by Prof. Thompson in a letter to
the Tines: When the batteries were
tlken from the box it was found that
they hal lost little or nothing of their
stored electric energy. by measure
ment and by other tests the force was
shown to be when it arrived in Glasgow
substantially what it was when it quit
ted Paris. This, we repeat. seemS TO
be something very different from send
ing electricity along a wire, whether TO
write a message or To light 4 lamp. In
these cases the working of the fore is
unbroken between the place where it is
evolved and the place whereof is finally
applied; but in the latest case there is
no such connection. In other words.
the storage of electric energy. if it is
m accomplished fact. may be pro tuct-
i've of the largest results. Whom the
correspondent handed the box to the
profeSsor-provided. of course, all that
is suggested to pass-he may b.
said to have S~ymboliZed a coming V
luton in many methods OF modern life.
With stored energy every householder
may keep his electric light supply in
his own cellar; with stored energy ships
NAV plow their way across n ocean
without the aid of steam or the fuel
which is consumed in creating it; with
stored energy railroads NAV be Opcr-
ated free from smoke and cinderS; with
stored energy manufactures may be
conducted on n large or small sc lie
safely and ineXpenSively; with stored
energy coal may be largely dispensed
with, and the question. What will be-
come of England when her mines are
exhausted? will be of no consequence.
The Times itself looks forward to this
solution of the problem with pleasing
anticipations and hints at 4 London
..smnkeless and clean. uncontaminite ted
either by the solid or by the gaseou.
products of combustion" 1t is unset
fish enough further to show how Amer
lea NAV turn stored energy TO the most
profitable account. Looking upon the
Falls of Niagara as "the natural and
proper chief motor of the continent
it saws that we may yet see stored cleo
~tricity, evolved bv this enormous
water-power. carried by electric rail-
roads to all parts of this country for
use for all the purposes tor which coal
is now directly or indirectly used. In
that event we may have some to spare
for shipment TO Europe.
All of these things may happen, but
conservative people will bear in mind
the possibility hat they may not hap
pen in the time of any person now liv-
inc. Still, who shall say?-N. I. ECen.
ing Post.