New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-09-26
THE ELECTRIC EXHIBITION.
A WILDERNESS OF WONDERS.


TRICrTY ON THE NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. BY
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. CHICKENS BY LIGHT
NING-THE SCIENCE OF F!vE-HUNDRED
FOUNDER NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. BfTWEEN \
SCIENCE AND HUMAN NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. AT
PENDANTS AND ADMIRABLE ARRANGEMENTS.
tFRoN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRibUNEI
PARIS Sept. Son our next visit to the Electric
Exhibition we hurry at 10 the Sale des Audi
f;o,s but alas it is an off night for the Opera,
and the Comedie Franchise, which should be heard
every evening, is inaudible by reason of derange-
ment in the wires. So must substitute machine
magnetism for that personal kind which sparles in
the acting of Coquelin and Croizette. In tins
matter of deranged wires by the way, the electric
machinery is not without its dangers. In the read
ingroom night or two ago. two different lines came
into contact and current got short circuIted
as it is technically called. by which accident too
strong force poured through line not able
81 carry ii of. The result was red hot wires and
wall somewhat snged Much the thing Ia D.
pened recently down in the machine department
only this time an Over-zealous dynamo became I'M
duly excited and in its revolutionary zeal got up
small condagraton. which had to be cooled of with
a few buckets of water.
In default of drama. let us 60 back to the United
States Commission and start afresh on our walk
westward. Pray notioe the Otto gas motors which
lie next IN way, where simple gas-ppe enables
you to run, in the cleanest and most commodious
One-pony-power engine. which would work in
closet, mp to ffty-horse-power machine which
with cell ng room enough-you might put in your
dinino-roOm They not electric, themselves
but, Falsafko, the cause of electricity in others
just beyond, along the southwest wa1 arc ranged
the great black. groaning, blazing, Tuning boilers
and furnaces which supply the motor force-olici-
ally furnished by the French Commissioned the
exhibitors. Those who supply their own power
do INT ma hav IN dray m thpI
common stock, and Just here naturally, cluster the
dvnamos. the little ventrcles. it were. of the
circulation with which the vast building shines
like The day. 1t is strangely fascinating corner
the big furnaces. black. with fiery Threats, loom
ing in the background, further forward the steam
engines with their polished steel flashing the
white light from the candles. the great fifteen feet
f1v wheels whrling in every direction belts fan
ping and swapping and valves kissing, and still
nearer the pathway, the queer little generators
whirring and buzzing at their work while the
grimy wOrkmen sit around in picturesque groups or
move about ong and adjusting. and curious
visitors peer the ratings the whole under
glare of lights bringing out sharp high tones
against black shadows in a way which Rembrandt
might have envied. Don't touch that arm9ture il
looks perfectly smooth but i'll its thirty revolutions
"a second YOU don't see the invisible fringe of
bobbins. One poor fellow who tried it the other
dav found it very ragged edge" indeed, and
hope. too. you have left your watch at homo; the
initiated here always do so. cheap, twenty
franc saucepans which can't be spoiled for
watches like men, are sadly subject to current in
fluences, and given to adopt the tone of the com
pany they keep. late repentance. it is said
dcmagnetizes them but for the time they apt to
be rendered quite useless.
Here at the south find the last cleo
trical "sonsation,''-an ordinary dynamo two
busily pumping force into the famous Faure Plante
batteries eRmdqasnears. Very plain little black
boxes they about the thing to pack books or
old clothes in. apparently. Whence. then their
wonderful power? Let me try to state it in few
words AZ it was given me last week. If pure sheet
lead he dipped in acid solution. and current of
electricity sent through tho whole. tho lead oxy-
dies rapidly, being thereto tempted and stimulated
by the force. The result, then, the sheet of lead
with its coating of peroxidcs is a sort Of crystal
lncd, concrete recorder storing rather-of
the forco which helped produce it. If this oxygen
be tempted out of the lead, 10 you now all
the force straghtway comes to light again. And
this temptation is offered by other lead-pure and
in similar sheets-lad face to face with the others
with diaphragm of chemically mostened mate
rial between-an old, case-hardened chemical
sinner Selling on the first chance to tarnish the
purity of youth and innocence. The electric ten
sion the eagerness with which the overcharged and
over-oxydzed lead longs, so to speak to part with
of its oxygen to the yet urtarnished metal is
transformed into electric force in the process of
transfer 1t is not the only occasion when we shall
find close analogies between physics and physiology
and metals and acids acting with desires, pre-
fercnces and caprices which look almost human.
just opposite, among wilderness of curious
things, some tall railway signal posts. and
at their foot miniature track, with q beautifully
finished train, several yards long to illustrate the
way in which electricity may be taken up, on
vertical brush beneath the locomotive. from raised
conductors lying between the rails, thence to be
sent through the wheels and rails to the signals and
so make the sleepy switchman signal tender an
evil of the past Just beyond, too, come two or
three superb machines-steam lOcomobles, furnished
with Siemens generators, worked from the engine
and operating arc-lights, with paraboc reflector
aud set of lenses which must throw magnificent
sheat of rays to a great distance. They are meant
for engineering operations, military movements, in
trenches or field, and the like.
Don't lnger about the buffet, appropriately set
at tho west end. The legend over the entrance,
"Restaurant des Ambassadeurs,D tells whole
story for the parent establishment is famous for its
expensive good things. The viands are nice, very,
but the prices are naughty, and for two three
francs you can restore as much FIBRE presently. at
the Bouillon de la Madeleine" as here for six CT
eight.
Here, right in front, with its striped roof and
carpeted floor, stands pavilion of wonders, the
Ministere DIES Postes ct Telegrdphes. For here, i'm
prints is the other sensation of the day. the photo
phone. In the whole family of substances nothing
you know, surpasses the element seenium for deli
cate sensitiveness and sympathetic vibration,
especially under light SO here you have a plain
gas other lamp inclosed in dark lantern and
throwing its light to either hand through funnel
<uf.o and mo uI;I