The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-07-13
4 Glance at Progress.

50 From the printers block has grown
the rough wood cut, the copper plate,
followed by the steel engraving, the
flithographic, photo-li -lithographic and
photo-e engraving processes that enable us
toI oIproduce in q few hours fac-similes to
any scale of the most elaborately lined
drawing. BY the aid ofthe camera we
can reduce the proportions of-the ele-.
phant to those of a mouse without dis
torting line, and enlarge those Of
microscopic animalcnl@ tolthe scale Of
q mammoth without disturbing the ap-
parent relations of the most minute
parts, a,.s4 eaA
Equally astonishing is the increase IN
the facilities for communicating with.
distant places. The mail rider was sue
eeeded by the coach, the railroad train
and steamboat. But people had been
dreaming of a realization of. the old
Jesl1it's prophecy, uttered in the fif-
steenth century, thatin time people could
communicate their thoughts to great
distances BY means of cords or wires
stretched from place to place. A
wire was laid to Washington
and needles, whose movements
were arranged to indicate the. let
ters of the alphabet, were operated by
the electrical impulse, SO that men COM.
munieated their thoughts and expressed
their desires overtwo hundred and forty
miles. Invention followed invention
until we find many messages going over.
one wire at the same. time. Can any-
thing excel thisp Is It possible that dis
tance is to be wholly Conquered The
bottom of the. Atlantic has been made
the bed on which are stretched mighty
cahles.s Wires network continents.
Calcutta and San Francisco are brought
within an hour communication.
Pshaw! this is nothing. We talk now.
with as much ease through five hundred
miles of wire as across a. parlor The:
next discovery may be one that will ep-
able us to see things hundreds of D,:ses
away by some curious teleoptic sppara-
tas operated by the electric wire that will
at once bring men visibly face to face
while they converse Through the tele-s
phone. Distance is no more. s 1t is Time
that remains unconquered. s
But surely Time, the;ilestroyer, will
remain supreme. Nothing sof human
fashioning win survive. his assaults.
Even the mountains bow sheir cru1nblinra
heads before him and the great rivers;
hide Themselves in his presence. There
il nothing so enduring as time. The
fleeing sounds of the song of merry
music, of sighs and ghter-these are
athe contrasts in nduranee to time. Tlsevs
are heard and are dead forever That
might be said before Edison discovered
the phonograph. Now sounds are fixed
for all time in enduring metal.
They are heard and sleep to- awake
again In a successiono utterances whose
sameness proves that the chords or words
held chained In that metallic prison have
become immortal in their alliance with.
the imperishable. Darkness, first assailed
with the pine torch, was followed ND by,
the rudge grease lamp, the candle OF
tafloW, sperm oil and wax Finally coal
gas was discovered by the, interchangeable
searchers, and light shone on many parts
of the realm of darkness. Gas was res
garded as the light Of the futures It has
come IN 2 year or two to be regarded as
an oid-fashioned light ofthe past. What
will replace it2 Wecannot preserve sum
do not want it. The earth, the air, all
matter is the reservoir of our light, and
we will draw, on it as we desire. The
mysterious essence Of force and action.
Electricity Is our prisoner. IA I,
In. ancient days disturbances, and
clashings of terrestrial forces were re.
garded rs the struggles of contending
gods and helpless man stood awe struck
by the warfare which threatened him
Inomentarily with destruction How
bravely we have got over all that now!
Our stately steamers plow the domain of
Neptune with contemptuous disregard
for his powers. We can tell when, how
and whence the storms are coming, and
by our control Of electricity we send the.
news away in advance Of the tempest,
bidding all prepare for its COMING. As
tronomy IS revealing new spheres In the
immensity Of space, satellites Of planets
and new stars revolving within the burn4
ing radius of the suns immediate IN
fluence.. The sspectroscope is telling us
what these distant worlds are made OF; ]
and speculative science is penetrating
where the ordinary calculations. OF dis
tance cannot follow. Chefnistfy reanhes
the elemental baseof matter and sDlidi-
hes gases. Physiology anatomises IN
tusorig from the awful depths of the.
ocean. Perhaps the day is not, distant
when the surface of the earth will be as
familiar in all its details as chat Of Union
Square, because gHQgraph hers are inde-
fatIgable IN their researches. Over the
wide, wide world Of civilization there hi
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