Delta chief., 1885-07-22
An Interview With Edison. "A New Force

| AL AnNIVIcW WIN Lul6On.ssA new fOfCe
Anew York interviewer recently paid
a visit to the work shop of Mr.. Edison,
and among other things gives the fol-
lowing: Perhaps the most interesting
thing he had to say was respecting his
exploration for ''new force" At
present he calls 1t simply xyz. He
does not pretend to know what it is. He
says that there are many phenomena
which are not explained by any force
yet recognized, and it is these which he
| is gong to investigate. Vibrations of
matter at the rate of $4,000 a second
produce the highest sound we can hear.
Between these and the vibrations which,
at the rate of millions per second, cause
the sensation of heat, there Is large
gap; and between these and the vibra-
tions which give the sensation of color
there Is another gap. These gaps, Edi-
son believes, are filed by vibrations as
yet unmeasured. which constitute the
new, or unnamed, force he is in search
of.
z He brought out from a drawer sundry
ose sheets on which he had sketched
number of machines he had project
ed. which respond to some influence
sun uhuShueu. L Jot luese doWn uc
they occur to me-" he said, land when
l get enough of them together shall
have the machines made and try to
generalize my observations"
Think of it! A man in this skeptical
century who dares to believe in a dis
covery beyond all discoveries. Here is
student Of nature who is not afraid TO
have the spirit of GalIleo er Kepler
or an Isaac Newton. What do you
think OF tho nature of matter?"
asked. The answer was prompt: 81 do
not believe that matter is inert, acted
upon by an outside force. To me it
seems that every atom is possessed OF
certain amount of primitive intelli-
gence. Look at the thousand ways in
which atoms Of hydrogen combine with
those of other elements, forming the
most diverse substances. Do you mean
to say that they do this without intelli-
gence? When they get together in GER
tain forms they make animals of the
lower orders. Finally, they combine in
man. who represents the total intelli-
gence Of all the atoms.n
But where does this intelligence
come from originality"
''From some greater power than our
selves"
"Do You then believe in an intelligent
Creator, a personal Godp" was the next
question.
Certainly" SAID Mr.. Edison. "The
existence of such God. in my mind,
can almos: be proved from chemis-
try"
Lucretius thought that all atoms were
moved by feelings of love or hate
what we call attraction or repulsion.
Edison's idea is far more subtle. since
he allows the atoms only germ Of in
telligence. II also seems to be quite
in keeping with the doctrine of evolu-
ton. while il contains nothing that is
not in harmony with the idealism of
the Platonists. And so we discover
down on Avenue b, in the prosaic city
Of New York, philosopher who be-
lieves in personal God, and is at
tho same time the foremost exponent
Of applied science. Curious that he
should be at work here, night after
night, In ths midst of million Of peo-
Pile, only few hundred of whom know
how he is employed during the noe
turnal hours! As usual thing he works
until 5 or 6 in the morning. his supper
basket remaining untouched beside
him, and it is often Q O'Clock Of the
next day before he leaves the bench of
the laboratory. II can't think out
anything he says, except when I'm
experimenting. have a library Of
6,00o scientific works, but somehow l
can't find what l want in books.
How do make calculationsp Well, I
don't know. exactly. l can't do 1t on
paper. have TO be moving around" ="
So there he goes, moving around,
thinking and working with his hands,
in the big sombre building. while the
city is asleep He is the controlling
power OF several large factories, a mil
lionaire, a man of business. marvel
lous inventor; yet he is as simple and
happy as n child, when, in an old seer
sucker dressing gown, he can manipu-
lac n: will and without. interruption
the mysterious forces and properties of