Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-11-11
THE GENIE ELECTION.
A Factor Which Performs an Important
Part In the Operations of Nature.

| A Factor Which Performs an Important
Part In the Operations of Nature.
Madison Buell., the repeater chief OF
the Western Union Telegraph Com
| pany, recently read paper before the
Electrical Society of Buffalo on the spirit
| of electricity, or, as he calls it, The
Genie Electron." The genie performs
an important part IN almost all the OPP
erations of nature, but generally in so
quiet manner that his presence is
never known or even suspected, except
in the occurrence of something calcu-
lated to arouse him to anger or opposi-
ton. 1T is" said Mr.. Buell., I'm the
bright clouds, far above the earth, that
he sometimes likes to nestle, or when
their bases touch the mountains, and
their white tops shine in the far-off
ether, he will stretch forth his powerful
form and seem to battle himself in the
tenderest purple of distance. At other
times he will softly breathe his spirit in
the air, sigh, and send his moan along
the woods and moorish fens, and up
among the loose, disiointed cliffs as the
sad notes Of the coming storm. When
the black winged leg ons of tempest
arise, he delights N leaping from cloud
to cloud. and the tremendous roar of h s
voice is rolled back from the noun
tain's bosom as the recognition of the
dazzling brightness of his flashing eye.
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast,
And pleased th' Almighty's order to per
form.
Rides in the whirlwind and directs the
storm
The exhib ton of his fearful strenth at
such times makes towards of Us all.
Fear, full of feeble fancies. makes US
weak and humanity, loosens in us every
power and allows cur imagination to
create fantastic shapes of the hideous
ruin he may cause. The immensely of
his force naturally inspires mankind
with terror and awe. and, until recent
~, they have looked upon him more in
the light of Gods minister of punish
ment and destruction than as the friend
ly and beneficent, though powerful, be-
ing they are discovering him to be. His
favorite place of retirement is IN the
deep interior of the earth, and while
thus pent up, and finding no ready
means of escape, he will sometimes
break the bonds of his prison, and in
doing so shake the earth for miles
around, leaving great rents in it, over
turning buildings, destroying Life and
property, as was so forcibly demon
strated in the earthquakes at Charleston
and vicinity"
After referring in detail to some of
the famous earthquakes of modern
times, Mr.. Buell. asked whether it is not
possible that the cause of these dis
turbance is due to the chemical action
of which ..Electron' is supposed to be
10 4 'oEA hny tha r..
cles of different kinds of matter are free
to mingle with each other, which by
means of heat, air, water and
other media, they can be made to do,
.Electron' can make them change their
arrangements and can subject them to
such magical transformations that they
became entirely new substances, with
qualities essentially different from their
previous condition. The presence of SUBJ
terranean waters is ableto bring about
greater and more prompt accumulation
of electricity in the parts of the ground
that are near to them, the metallic veins
or conducting rocks that penetrate to
great depths and extend to great dis
tances are apt to convey, according to
their direction, any quantity of 'Elec-
irons spirit. Might not the subterra-
mean noises, very similar to rolling
thunder, which generally precede and
frequently accompany violent earth
quakes. be caused by the explosion of
this accumulated electricity, and which
we might term subterranean ightningP
If we obtain such enormous quantities
of his spirit on Il small scale, as we do
from our voltaic cells and from our
dynamo machinery, is there any reason
to doubt that in the interior of our
globe, where all the operations of nature
are carried on upon u scale of magni-
tude almost beyond our conception,
when discharge of this nature does
occur, that it can be of sufficient force
to produce undulatory waves. and to
lift the crust of the earth at such points
as the force may happen to be the great
est?"-N 7. Ereni,sg Post.