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.

10 In the realm of physics, teeming wit
st wonderful revelations OF hidden force
nd there is no more interesting study for tn
IL votary of science than the progressiy
r. elimination of electrical phenomena
wv machinery pas pas with an advancin
in civilization, its beginnings coevaf wit
n the Isthmian games, and its singula
manifestation the subject of philosophi
he disquisition in the groves of Athens Ion
lg before the dawn of the Christian era TIL
l. story OF the evolution of the laws govern
r.. ing this all-pervading force, and its grad
Y, ual subordination to the uses Of man, j
l. one of the most wondrous and absorbing
e interest.
i The name electricity was first applied
e to the force OF which am treating BY
r an English philosopher, three centuries
q ago, and was doubtless derived from the
4 Greek word 'electron," by which amber
e was known, after it was discovered thai
this resin when subjected to friction had
t the property of attracting particles OF
e 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
| Il Al Il
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 lntellects concentrated on cleo
tic work. Cavendish revealed to his
contemporaries the high conductivity of
iron; Coulomb invented the Torsion bal
ance Tor 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
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-
PSAAhASihodi uClluGu uldO-
netism and electricity in explanation Of
the fact that current passed through a
wire detected magnetic needle; the
construction OF the electromagnetic soon
followed, and at last Professor Faraday,
one on! OF the most noted physicists of our
time, devoted the last years of his life to
the elucldation of electrical phenomena,
resulting in their practical application to
tho nf 70 IL r.. |
learned demonstration of electrical law
very sensibly contributes.
Inventors of new batteries. ingenios
machinery for generating the force, and
schemes of what was then considered the
most ridiculouslly Utopian character,
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
1t is not my intention to follow the
numerous applications of electricity :
through its manifold ramifcations in the !;
arts ar sciences, however congenial to {
my tas les such an enterprise might be.
but it may not be uninteresting before Y
to discussion of electric T
lighting to glance, if nothing more, at +
some of the other leading applications of /
electrical phenomena. Il
First in order, then, and nearly coinci- T.
lent in date with the early 'demonstra "
ions OF the electric force as an illuminant.
the electric telegraph Wheatstone's
needle instrument in England, and .,
Morse's sound instruments in America. ~
we're patented in the year 1887. and :. =,
nce that time the work of improvement W
n wires, batteries and instruments has -.
lever ceas ed-new industries have been D
aiied into being to supply the parapher- q;
lalia of electrical operation, submarine 81
geography has sprung up into life, span II
ing the ocean with arterial WAYS II
through which pulsate messages OF veal D
Woe-potentlal factors in our intellect
al and business growth. 49,
In mechanics the electro-motor threat ~.
ms to dlsplace the horsepower in the ~ ~.
loVement OF our tram-cars, and engi- VI VI
GERS are anticipating date, not by any az
leans remote, when electricity will SUI ~
ersede steam, both in navigation, where a -,
lie coal bunkers occupy a large percent IL IL
e OF available area. and on land in stu. g sso
ions where fuel is inaccessible or dear va va
In the domain of philosophic research 4u
e functions OF applied electricity are as oil
onderful as they are varied. The pro- Gll
sslon OF medicine claims it as curative re Ne
ent. and by the aid of the electric LIGHT W
genlously manipulated, the most as, ~,
undlng results have been obtained from ti!a
e illumination of the interior livino OF OF
imam body in aid of the diagnosis Of Ine
'eases: by the use of electricity the rei'
Grafton OF signal bells and other ar, pro
ngements of a cognate character, rail PR Pro
y engineers have been enabled to sens oo
ny lessen the percentage of accident 4
q 10 greatly facilitate the movement of :
ms, and lastly, in this rapid review Of o
Lying fields, comes the telephone. wei
There is something weird, and at the Was
ne time esthetically satisfactory, lis was
ing through the telephone to the aye e
&c OF friend one hundred miles dis NJ ~
It, recognizing the infections of voice no.
mannerisms of speech, and to realize Ier
Individuality as if present in propria zee eeee
soma. In the busy lnarts of commerce Ior
telephone has become by habit a a a,ad
esslty, but in the outlying districts of M Anu
), country, in the businesses of the NJ =,
Ky Mountains, and on the plains con- ~. W
ting isolated communities, the tele- cltlz
ne mas an appreciable value which ~ ~
denlzens OF our cities can hardly be III
ected TO understand. By it's aid the ''i ~,
q greatly amaliorotad on iIN ts nave and
management NJ awio n., .hI p[oht, bill
lie GRAZING On tho wastar,, neios Vi Fork
rendered noss;hIe p's''i'' HAS memo
quail. however If NOT srrn TIL
rest all that 7 have sold rossg III Acco
applications Of th vsp p1ag the
:, is the discovery OF the incandescent 4 .heae