Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-02-25
ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA.
The Hidden Force That operates
the Telegraph, the Telephone
and the Incandescent Light.

In the realm OF physics, teeming with
wonderful revelations of hidden forces,
there is no more interesting study for the
votary OF science than the progressive
elimination of electrical phenomena
machinery pas a pas with an advancing
civilization, its beginnings coeval with
the Isthmian games, and its singular
manifestation the subject of philosophic
disquisition in the groves OF Athens long
before the dawn OF the Christian era. The
story OF the evolution OF the laws govern
ing this all-pervading force, and its grad
ual subordination to the uses Of man, is
one of the most wondrous and absorbing
interest.
The name electricity was first applied
to the force of which am treating by
an English philosopher, three centuries
ago, and was doubtless derived from the
Greek word "electron," by which amber
was known, after it was discovered that
this resin when subjected to friction had
the property Of attracting particles OF
matter.
During the eighteenth century the work
of discovery went on apace. The uni
versatility of the distribution of the electric
force, or, as it was frequently called, the
electric fluid" was demonstrated in
various ways by Jealous investigators,
and the science began to have settled
nomenclature.
Soon it was discovered that certain
bodies were conductors of the electric
fluid, while others could be made to be
non-conductors; then, that electric cir
cults could be completed through the
earth. During the latter part of this
century there were quite number Of
brilliant intellects concentrated on cleo
tric work. Cavendish revealed to his
contemporaries the high conductivity Of
iron; Coulomb invented the Torsion bal
ance for the measurement OF electric
action; Galvani, operating on frogs, led
up to the invention OF the Voltaic battery.
1t had been noticed that electrical excl
tation was frequently accompanied by q
sharp, swapping noise, and by flashes Of
light, and the resemblance of this light
to lightning was apparent. The begin
ming of the present century marked the
commencement of an era of important ex-
perimental result-Ampere defined mag
netism and electricity in explanation OF
the fact that a current passed through a
wire DETECTED magnetic needle; the
construction of the electro-magnet soon
followed, and ut last Professor Faraday,
one Of the most noted physicists OF orr
time, devoted the last years of his life to
the calculation of electrical phenomena,
resulting in their practical application to
the uses of man, to which DIR. Ohm's
In,, ,rI 80, oc IL l..
very sensibly contributes.
Inventors of new batteries, ingenios
machinery for generating the force, and
schemes of what was then considered the
most ridiculously Utopian character,
were as thick as leaves in Valambrosa-
the most ultra OF all the ideas promul-
gated by these inventive geniuses being
an electric telegraph and an electric
light-Utopian then, important factors
now in the every day life of civilized
communities.
1t is not my intention to follow the
numerous applications of electricity
through its manifold qualifications in the
arts and sciences, however congenial to
my tastes such an enterprise might be,
but it may not be uninteresting before
proceeding to discussion OF electric
lighting to glance, If nothing more, at
some OF the other leading applications OF
electrical phenomena.
First in order, then, and nearly coinci-
dent in date with the early demonstra-
tons of the electric force rs an illuminant,
is the electric telegraph. Wheatstone's
needle instrument in England, and
Morse's sound instruments in America,
were patented in the year 1887, and
since that time the work of improvement
in wires, batteries and instruments has
never ceas ed-new industries have been
called into being to supply the parapher-
malta OF. electrical operation, submarine
telegraphy has sprung up into life, SPAN
ming the ocean with arterial ways
through which pulsate messages OF veal
or woe-potential factors i'm our intellect
ual and business growth.
In mechanics the electro-motor threat
ems to displace the horsepower in the
movement of our tram-cars, and engi-
neers are anticipating date, not by any
means remote, when electricity will SUI
persede steam, both in navigation, where
the coal bunkers occupy large percent
age OF available area and on land in stu.
atoms where fuel is inaccessible or dear.
In the domain OF philosophic research,
the functions OF applied electricity are as
wonderful as they are varied. The pro-
fession OF medicine claims it as curative
agent, and by the aid OF the electric light,
ingenously manipulated, the most as
founding results have been obtained from
the illumination of the interior living
human body in aid OF the diagnosis OF
diseases; by the use OF electricity, the
operation OF signal bells and other ar
rangements OF Il cognate character, rail-
way engineers have been enabled to sens
slblly lessen the percentage OF accident,
and to greatly facilitate the movement of
trains, and lastly, in this rapid review of
outlying fields, comes the telephone.
There is something weird, and at the
same time esthetically satisfactory, lis
tening through the telephone to the
voice OF friend one hundred miles dis
tant, recognizing the infections of voice
and mannerisms OF speech, and to realize
his individuality as if present in propria
persona. In the busy narts OF commerce
the telephone has become by habit
necessity, but in the outlying districts OF
tins country, in the Businesses OF the
Rocky Mountains, and on the plains CON
Meeting isolated communities, the tele-
phone has an appreciable value which
the denizens OF our cities can hardly be
expected to understand. BY its aid the
vlcissltudes OF mountain mining have
been greatly ameliorated, and the profit
able management oil extensive herds Of
cattle grazing on the western plains has
been rendered possible.
Equal, however, ii not surprising in
interest all that ! have said respecting
the bpnpiirput nnnlinatinno of fI,n aIo.,,.:.,