The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-10-13
THE PROGRESS OF ELECTRICITY.

NllC iululNs
THE PROGRESS OF ELECTRICITY.
The progress which is being made in the
variety of uses of electricity is at once won
derful and gratifying. Cities are now being
lighted by lamps lit by the electric cur
rent locomotives are being run by IL;
sewing machines are ABANDONING the foot
treadle for it; balloons are being
navigated by it; engines are being
driven through its agency; diseases are be-
ing cured through its application; operct-
tas and music boxes are sonding forth
their sweet sounds. by its means
we have our messages sent in the twinkling
of an eye across the waters over or beneath
them, and through the land; we converse
voices for hundreds of miles, hearing them
speak to us as the warm w,rd breath leaves
the lips. And SO we might go on through
columns. What as yet undevcloped wonders
and mysteries it is soon or latct disclose to
us is past our comprehension or fancy, 1t
has become part and parcel ofthc sciences,
the arts, the professions, the household.
But thus far its most practical contribu-
ton, always emitting the telegraph and its
concomitant enterprises, lies in the dircc-
ton of illumination power and properties.
Sir Humphrey Dayy once said that it would
be as easy to bring down bit of the moon
to light London as to illuminate ii by gas.
Only short time after that all England was
lit after the manner just previously pro-
nounced impossible. And, yet, when the
streets of that same London were for the
first time thus illuminated, pco-
pie fled in. terror, fearing explosions
and apprehcnsive, too that the smell of the
gas would breed ncurable disease. Only
the other day people pooh-poohed in the
same style as to objections against the
electric light, and yet this is making its
way with rapid strides in the great metro
polls for public and private purposes in
the streets, in factories, in theatres, N
hotels, in stores and in residences. What
is true ofits capital city is quickly growing
to be true of England at large, And what is
true of England is being actually realized
in numbcress places, in the United States.
Its entire practcability and safety Las,
therefore, been put under the test in the
several forms in which it is apt to be most
generally required. The other of the chief
| elements is the cost. Ever since the days of
Volta and Faraday the problem has been to
| obtain, first, n machine that.could operate
anumber of lamps in single current and
second, lamp that could successfully work
upon circuit with a large number of other
lamps, so that all would burn uni
formly. These desderata seen,
now 10 have been attained
and the electric light would appear to be in
fair way to eclipse gas, as gas once cclipsed
the oil lamp and the candle. The nearer at
night we can approach daylight the longer
is our life prolonged. Has the reader ever
stopped to consider how shortened would
be our lives if this thing of artificial light
were to be suddenly taken from us. To
bed with the chickens would be the rule.
Civilization would go backward, and
the work, whatever its nature, now
performed at, night, could be. done
only by means of the sunboams
Slumber would be the rule under the Cy
merriam system, and thieves, who delight il
darkness would ply their avocations with
impunity, unless every house and spot
were policed by vigilant. sentine
to avert the evils best done
in the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and he'll itsol
breathes out
4 Contagion to the world and drinks hot blood,
And does such business as the better day
Would quake to look on"
Evening amuscments would be n
more, and learning would relapse into
worse state than ever it was in the dar
ages. Wherefore, the vast importance {
the world of good, efficient, artificial light
The accomplishment will be one of the tr
umphs Of this nineteenth century
and the sooner this last, greg
wonder of electricity applicatio
shall yield for the general good its promise
bcneRccnce, the better for the ago, We
not wish to see the gas companies suile
nor need they, nor will they. A new d,
mand for new article in any ones depar
ment of business can best be supplied b
him who is in the business, and if I'll
, electric light surpasscs the gas in a
) desired properties and requirements, the
the old gas companies are the ones in be.
position to supply that demand
II e-s--s-----
PERSPECTIVE.