Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-03-11
RLECTRrC LIsnTInG.


Probably many readers OF the APPEAL
may have noticed that for some time past
nothing has been heard Of electric lighting.
We have given the lFst electric news We
could 6nd, aud That referred TO a new cleo
tiic reiiwsy in England, % lac noted Slsf'a.
Whether the road il SUCCESS We have not
been able, at present, to discover. Theques-
lion OF electric lightiR seems TO be 10 an
obscure state, and considering the power of
the electric light this is a angular fsci.
Electric Lighting az against gas, how does it
stand? As far as can be judged gas seens
to have the best OF it after all the fright I'D
selling Of gas shares there has been. This
is humiitating for the electric folks when
We remember all the high pretentions they
have set up, but The case stands, our old
Memphis friend Edison does not appear, 70
far, to justify the expectations be aroused.
His incsndesceDt lights have been put in
over large district in the business part of
New York, including Wall street, but the
New York pspers have nothing to say
about the result The last sccount we saw
of them stated that the dynames, all put
upon the came premises, would not run as
wsnted unless they run in palsations ad-
justtd TO each other. This contingency not
having been foreseen had not been provided
for, and much confusion was the result. An
article in Wilford's New York Microe9sm
gives some intelligence from which We gather
| what follows. 1t was at first announced that
Edison's discoveries would supersede gas,
and many in alarm sold their gas shares at
a LOSE, while Edison's electric-light shares
went up to high figure. But all this is re-
versed cow. The platinum wires tried for
iucsndescent lights failed, by lucky hit
carbon proved q substitute for mild sort of
light with nothing of the bright sparkle of
gas. Whole buildings and even blocks are
now Lighted up by the incandescent lamp,
but is it financial success as az Ainst gas?
The authority we quote learns that it is not,
| but probably costs double as much as gas
As no full report has yet been Issued this
opinion cannot be verified. According to state
menis made in London even the arc light,
the cheapest the electricians have vet fur
hisheUI - muCu nlOIo eApeueiNS luaH gas
light of the same power. These things, and
the dying away OF the noisy claims that
were made for The electric light but. little
time ago, are not in conformity with the
views that have been given out. The hriiA
liaucy and managebleness of the electric
light make it very valuable for many pur-
poses, so as to insure its use even at great
er expense than gaslight. This is a dis.
ooursging account where such strong expec-
tations had been held out. These expecta-
tious may be ful6lled, but they are not at
present. 1t is we'll, however, that the reader
should remember that we have no knowls dye
OF how vast the resources of electricity may
be- The subtitle element, whatever lis ma
ture, is everywhere in and around US. We
appare ntly live in it So fishes live in the ses,
and means CT collecting it and controlling it,
and making it subservieut to the wants of
man, such as we have at present no idea of
are yet possible. We cannot, therefore, give
up the thought Of electrical lighting. 1t is
only in the experimental state, and ia appar.
emily susceptible of infinite Improvement,
and keen brains and industrious hands are
at work on it. One material point, how
ever, at present is that gas holds its own we'll
agsinst electricity, and appears likely 10 do
| so for some time to come.