, 1889-10-31
new YORK LETTER.
THE DEADLY CUR
RENT.
Fast Mail to the West
Eclipse Of the Sun.
New YORK, October ~, 1889

The question of what shall he done
/ with the electric light and telegraph
wires has again been forced uppeFmost
by the horrible death of lineman Feeks
who was slowly roasted for nearly an
hour by the electric current OH top of a
| telegraph pole III sight of ten thousand
/ people. This Is the eighth victim of the
/ deadly current inside of eighteen
| months, and public feeling has been
aroused 20 snch pitch that something
must he done without delay to pre-
vent further sacrifice. 1t looked at
one time rs if the city would order
every pole chopped down Immediately,
| and il fact, something of the sort was
done by the mayor, but the companies
sued down an injunction, the result
being the shutting of Of nearly every
electric light in the city. Darkness has
therefore been our lot during the past
week, except in places where gas or
oil was still available. The board of
health has taken Il hand in the fight
and demands that the amount of elec-
tricity in the wires he reduced to a
point of safety, or, to Use an expression
now on evcryOne's lips, 250 ''voits."
By the way, one of the most interest
ing developments about this whole
electric excitement is the glibncss, with
which everyone speaks of the subject.
Volts, ampercs, dynamos, alternating
currents, incandcscent systems, etc,
are few Of the terms which are flung
at Us in very indiscrimtnate manner
from every side. Truly, we are only
beginning to realize the power of this
wondrous force, We are only standing
on the threshold of an age when clec-
tricity will be king.
FAST MAIL TO CHICAGO.
The new southwestern Limited"
just placed in service on the New York
Central, Lake Shore and Big Four
lines is n very important train, on ac-
count of the shortening of time used i'll
transmission of the mails between New
York and the west. The government
has made arrangements to send two
railway pOst-office cars on this train,
which leaves New York at $50 A. NJ.
and reaches Chicago ut $50 the next
morning, twenty-siX hours running
time from New York, counting the diff
ference in time. The large force of
clerks carried on these cars will enable
them to have the mail fully distributed
so that ii will be delivered i'll Chicago
before II o'clock the morning after it
leaves New York.
To PHOTOGRAPH TIE sun.
The United States expedition TO OBJ
serve the total eclipse of the sun on
Dec. 22d, departed from Brooklyn
Navy Yard one morning last week.
The war-ship Pensacola, which carried
this small army of scientists, is bound
for st. Baul de Leando, on the west
coast of Africa. The party includes
Prof. David Todd, leader; Prof. f. ].
LoOmis, of Washington; c. n. Orr, of
the Clarke University, Worcester,
Mass; l.. II. Jacoby, astronomer, re-
presenting Columbia College; Harry
Brown, of the Washington National
Museum; H. S. Davis of Princeton; and
Photographer Carbutt of Philadelphia.
They take along cargo of instruments.
There are spectroscopes, microscopes,
instruments for recording the bright
ness of the solar rays, cloud recorders,
thermometers for measuring the velocity
of the wind, neuphoscopes for observ-
ing the movement of the clouds, and
instruments for taking the temperature
of the seas depths. The expedition
will locate at the village of MuXima, 75
miles inland and will be gone five
months. They expect to get the finest
photograph of the suns corona ever OBJ
tanned. The corona is Latin for the
crown, or substance which apparently
encircles the sun. 1t can be seen only
! for few hours in century-during n
total eclipse-and no one knows what
1t is made of; hence the Importance of
going thousands of miles to see it.
EDWIN ARLINGTON.