Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1883-11-22
ELECTRIC LIGuT.
An Interesting Experiment. In Paris Forty
Years Ago,

Years Ago,
1t is not easy to remember, says The
Boston Advertiser, how many years
have passed since the earlier oxperi-
ments in pubic with electric lights,
and how many difficulties have been
found in the way of their practical use
after sanguine inventors have been
sure of success.
The following letter, with the head
ing here given to it, was published in a
London journal forty years ago, in the
autumn of 1913:
GAsIIGHT SUPERSEDED BY ELECTRICITY.
A letter from Paris, dated Oct. 2l
4 1881 gives the following interesting
account of the first public trial of an
experiment which has been moro than
four years In preparation, for fixing at
a given point the electric fluid, and
making it applicable TO the purpose of
lighting the streets and private houses:
On one of the bases Of the statues
called tho Pavilion de Lille, on the
Place de Ia Concorde, glass globe Of
apparently twelve or thirteen inches in
diameter, with u movable reflector,
was fixed in connection with n voltaic
battery, and at n little before , O'Clock
the electric fluid was thrown into it by
n conductor. At this time all the gaS.
lights of the place, about one hundred
in number, were burning. As soon MS
the electric light appeared the nearest
gas lights had the same dull, thick,
and heavy appearance that oil lamps
have by the side of gas; soon atterward
the saslights were eXtnguished, and
the electric light shown forth in all its
brlliancy. Within one hundred yards
of the light it was easy to read the
smallest print; it was, in fact, as light
as day. The astonishment of tho us.
sembled multitude was very great, and
their delight as strong as their aston
ishment. The estimate made by the
scientific persons who were present was
that tho electric light was equal to
twenty of the gaS-lampS, and, COnsc-
quently, that five of those lights would
suffice to light the whole place most
brilliantly. As regards the expense of
production, nothing positive has trans
pircd, but | think | might safely as
sumo that it would be considerably
less than that Of the generation of gas,
while the first outlay for machinery and
conductors would not amount to Il
twentieth part of that required for
gas-works. There would also be an
other great advantage in tho electric
light. II gives out no bad smell; it
emits none of those elements which,
in the burning of gas, are so injurious
to health, and explosion would be I'M
possible. The only danger that would
arise would be at the battery itself, but
that would be at tho control of COM
pctcnt persons; and even in this respect
there would he no danger, even to un-
sElllful persons, with an apparatus of
moderate size. Internal lighting would
be rs practicable rs external lighting,
for by conductors the iluid would be
conveyed TO every part OF the house.
Tho experiment performed last might
was with voltaic battery of two hum
drcd pairs, composed astOllows: |. An
outer globe of glass. 2. In this globe
"rdy nnJ ,,lnnnoI IN ,,d nit,'io ociJ
cm",,innJ ""I, M "" ,Eo ontrr +" ' mIohn % "1 In
.T',"'''oU ~ ''u J,a, 'oUu, ., ,,aI :"
;,'o oo,io,nI W i'%, VI , "i, Gio ,Is; II""Gu
a;N m N'''%t"''m ,hf , M"" "''n ,, ,I'n"t ho "
n,,no,, "o, ' Lot,ol,. o Inv ,o U", ,"r1j ~ o%o
v""'o nun o,,inJnr ani,nn m ,"o Pot''1I nf ,;ro
,,inuccj n%,U % in ocidni,,oJ ] wn5nr Tho RI %I, riIo
o. IN thn ~ Tr|' pn"iii"n do I IIo. thn w 'o ,
nmnor mT "r ,u cnnd"otor fro Wv ' ,h" Wv rooc oIo
o",t coI''"nIo'J I ,,';, oi ',"' '',u y"" 'T'V, ~
ar' pon,' ",eI hh "I," ,ha ,G" n ho ~
np o''p,A s,ooo 'it l,n ''tu I ."T "i an n,'' ~
n"v vl"rSIp roTnco "S 'of IVY ",, ;,orsn U
i'I','"T' PiJ''u.o % ''', 'uV '"'o',.' ,