The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-10-27
The Advancement of the Science
of Electricity.
IT'S DANGERS AND ADVANTAGES.
The Peculiar Effect of the Fluid Upon the HUI
man BOdy-EIectrical Executions Some
Fatal Results.
For THE SUNDAY HERALD

When horse travel first gave way to
steam locomotion, the era of terrible cal
antilles incident to fast travel began also.
The han1loom is a slow contrivance in
deed, but poorly adapted to this present
age Of speel-a snail in comparison with
the lightning shuttles of modern times:
yet it was attended by no possibilities of
boiler explosions and all their disastrous
consequences.
Man has learned to capture the waters of
the heavens, and to store the same in vast
reservoirs of his own construction; but Il is
entails constant threat of inundation and
death
Natural forces may be made subject to
human control, but they are much like re-
bellious slaves, held only by the chain and
the lash, and ever on the alert to rise in
mutiny, and show their cruel capabilities
as masters.
These remarks are most forcibly apollo
able 10 the subject of mans latest and
greatest conquest-the power of the light
ming flash. The advancement of
the science of electricity during the
immediate past is phenomenal. Scar
cely a week of the last five years
has been unmarked with some great
achievement in the application of electrical
energy to the service of human kind. That
potent force has been trained to do the
balor of an errand boy, torch bearer,
and a draft horse; yet not whit of its
fiery and death dealing power has been
lost Out of the harness, it is as unframed
as ever.
The roll of the manned and killed of 1883
and 1889 has been greatly swollen through
accidents by electric agency. Such mis-
haps are most frequent in connection
with electric light installations; the
telegraph, and the telephone, and
even most electric car circuits, en-
plOying currents of comparatively
low power. The intensity of the cur
rents for electric illumination IS, however,
of q fatal degree. Whenever we pass be-
meath wire alive with such a current, our
danger is as that Of the hair hung sword.
Circuit wires are frequently torn
loose from their insulated fastenings by
storms and other forces of violence, and
oftentimes with very serious effect. Even
when not brought to the ground, the
wire may be so displaced as to
make contact with telegraph or telephone
conductors, and it's deadly current be di-
verted. This is danger to which the legis-
lators of the nation are awakening. Great
as are the conyeniences of electric appli-
duCCS, OuC DCOp4C Cldlu1 DItltCI1Ou 1TOul 50
cruel foe.
There is an uncertainty about accidents
of the kind, which, of itself is sufficient to
inspire deep dread. People are usually
afraid of mysteries. During the last week
of September, a fatality of a somewhat
unusual nature was reported from Balti-
more. Ar eight years-O boy, Kern by
name, while leaning out of an upper win
dow came in contact with an electric light
tr-ira nd ir,poaISn+,1,-
body, losing it's balance, fell from the
window TO the street. Another instance
one John Powers, of New York, an en-
ployee of the electric light company, took
hold of wire while standing on a step
ladder, but in electrical communication
with the earth. Through the effects of the
shock he was thrown from his position
and was dead when assistance reached him,
though it is not known whether the current
or the fall killed him.
Frequently in cases of death from cleo
tricity, the body of the victim shows IN
mistakabie evidences of the passage of the
current, while in other instances all such in
dications are absent. This fact is perpIex-
ing. During August last, report came
from Brighton, England, to the effect that
death had befalleu an operator in a manu-
featuring establishment of that place, from
an accidental contact with the conducting
wire of the Illuminating apparatus. a post
mortem examination was made, without re
vealing any abnormal condition in the
vital organs of the deceased, and
the only unusual appearance noted was
"a mark half way round the neck as if
grazed by the wire.'
The London Lancet recorded case in
1884, in which the unfortunate victim had
met his death through accidentally touch
ing dynamo machine in action. A slight
blister was observed on the finger of the
deceased with which contact had been
made, and this was the only indication
of the cause of death. In numerous in
stances, however, as already recorded. no
mark at all has been left by the fatal cur
rent; death has been sudden and inexplic-
able
The consideration Of this feature has
already started an agitation which bids
fair TO soon become general, in favor
of governments requiring careful
skilled examination, and if necessary
a post norton investigation, in every
instance Of death from electricity; that all
of the seemingly scant pathological eyi
dence in such cases may be understood.
The matter is of Importance. A cause Of
death, characterized by no distinguishing
marks, is terrifying. In all probability
such a method will soon be turned to Grim
in9l purposes; and every possible effort
should be made to meet such while yet it is
but possibility instead of a reality.
Speaking of the fatal effects of electrical
currents naturally suggests the popular
topic of electrical executions. 1t is gener-
ally known that this procedure has been
legalized by the. legislature of the
state Of New York, though as yet
no judgment rendered under this
law has been carried into effect.
1t is the general impression among many
who are well qualified to judge, that the
act referred to was discussed under the
heat of prejudice ana passed in undue
haste. The expert testimony brought be-
fore the legislative committee having the
matter in hand, was far from impartial. 1t
is claimed indeed that much of the so
called scientific advice deduced at the
investigation was actuated by desire for
personal enrichment. 1t is safe for US to
say that less is known, even by electrical
specialists, of the circumstances of death
from this than from any other common
cause. The intensity OF current needed
to produce fatal results is indeed
among the vaguest of uncertainties. One
might as well try to specify the requisite
degree of force with which man should
be struck on the head to be successfully
killed.
AS long as electricity encounters no re
sistance, the force passes without visible
violence; it is in overcoming resistance
that electrical energy is manifested. A
powerful current may traverse a wire of
silver with but little physical effect; the
same current would probably raise to white
heat, and perhaps even volatilize wire of
iron or of platinum. The lightning
of the clouds is quietly neutralized by the
action of a metallic conductor, while a
wooden pole would be shattered by its pas
sage.
The human body is of no certain degree
of conductivity; and consequently the in
tensity of shock which person may safely
take cannot be determined. An eminent