Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-04-05
Future Electric Triumphs.

Those people who groaned over the ex-
haustion OF trade, during the dull times
from 1874 to 1879, were the men of little
faith. While they sat down to sigh, like
for other worlds TO conquer,
the hard fate which had placed
them in the universe at time when all
the work to be done by man was nearly
other men, who knew how
to labor and to wait, were toiling to ex
tract from nature the secrets by which the
wayward children of men might he yet
further benefited. We have grown famil
lar with the wonders of steam and ocean
telegraphy; but the miracle of sending a
message round the globe in few minutes,
was, not so many years ago, an incredibili.
ty. The future of telegraphy, when its first
applications were made to the uses of
practical life, was beyond the range of the
liveiest fancy and the widest imas ination
barely conceived the possibilities of what
are now the prosaic facts of daily expert
ence.
1t will he similar with electric Lighting
That art is yet in its infancy. We have
had illustrations, in DR.. Faure's portable
box and the Maxim light, of what it is ca
pable of becoming, and the lord mayors
guests at the Guidhall, at the converSaz-
lone in connection with the medical con-
gress, had an opportunity of seeing the
light under some of its newer conditions.
The experiments were unanimously pro
nounced successful. The light has been
proved to be divsble in almost any quan.
tity, and is free from the worst defects
noticed in former experiments on large
SCALE 1t was void of that disagreeabe
hardness that is common, and is also of the
wavy movements in seeming ebb and flow
which are so painful to the eye.
If electricity can be adapted to the pur-
pose of lighting rooms and public plac es
it is evident that there is vast field of en-
terprise before it. Enterprise has founC
its new world to conquer, and wonderful
world it is. There is no reason why withir
the next few years VIC should not see oul
chief public buildings lit by the electric
light. The treasures of the British museum
will then be thrown open 10 the toiline
mechanic; the wealth of our picture-gal
leries and art exhibitions will be more
than doubled when their riches bless mill
ions who would never have seen then
but for the electric light; and as gas is more
and more superseded, we shall be deliv
greater or less degree attends that mode
of lighting. Our factories and warehouses
will cease to be pesthouses, where the
glare and unwholesome heat of gas under
mine many thousand goodly constitu
tions; our printing offices will be cool anC
airy instead of the purgatorial regions they
are at present; and we shall no Longer
be afraid of the tasteful and graceful
painting and adornment Of our private
houses lest the fumes of gas should spoi
them.
The gas.scare few years ago was no
groundless-it was only premature. Pub
lie opinion Judged rightly that the new
electric light would take the place of gas
but it allowed too little time for the transi
tion. 1t will still be a work of years. Blu
the work will be done finally, TO the vas
advantages of future generations, whicl
will sea, celv be able to understand how
we of the nineteenth century allowed our
selves 10 be poisoned by the light we useC
and the air we breathed.
Nor is the future of electricity limited
to the triumphs of electric light. Elec
tricity is the dainty Ariel" at the biddin!
of the magician Pruspero, that can sinl
lleets. or lie couched in the cowslip's bell
1t runs the round of nature, and is con
vertible into sound, light or heat, becaus
it is itself force.
And ms force it can rival the feats O
steam. The time will probably come whel
the portable electricity which will ligh
our houses will also drive our cars ant
carriages, when steam power shall bccom
obsolete us horsepower for haulage pur
poses, and VIC shall have our supplies o
electricity as we now have our supplies 0
gas and water. This is no longer mcr
speculation. 1t is realized so far that th
enterprise Of the city is able TO claim
for its purposes. Electricity must endur
the fate to which most beneiicent agencie
Of nature are subjected in turn rs they ar
made available for the uses Of the huma
family. 1t must be yoked to the promo
ter's ear. 1t must be made the nstrumen
of money-making. Aud n potent instru
ment it will prove in the hands of whoevc
has possession of tho patent for its use
london World.