Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16

tricity. will be universally used Some
idea may be gained OF the SUI pcrior power OF
the new motors, by stating that it will then
only require three days to go to Europe, and
only two or three days will be consumed in
a railroad trip to California. The factory
that run, which now consumes a great
quantity of coal daily, will need only a
small basketful of coal to keep it going all
dav, Great factories that annually burn
thousands of tons of coal will be run on sew
ersl TONS say two or three, or a few more
per annum, saving many thousands of dol
lars. The cost of living, the cost of goods,
the cost of nearly everything will be re-
duced. 1t will cost nothing to make ice.
1t will be a revolution, not to throw anyone
out of employment, not to ruin any industry,
but to benefit mankind and civilization in
general
LOOKING FORWARD HOPEFULLY.
'I have never ceased to work on the prob
lem, therefore have hope. 1t may be
years before get much nearer the solution
and it may be directly. Certainly, have
enough ambition to wish to solve the great
riddle. 1t is the problem of the age, but it
may be left for future generations to work
out Perhaps greater minds In the centuries
10 come will find it easy and laugh at our
ignorance. Is it not incredible that the
ancient Romans and Greeks, who had so
much culture, who were living in high
state of civilization, possessed Of wonderful
reasoning powers, quick to perceive, should
not know anything at all about electricity?
Their minds did not conceive or have any
inkling of the power of electricity, or, in
deed, what it was and the only interpreta-
tion is that they had their limitations in in
tellect Nature did so much for them and
no more, and they could not 60 beyond their
ignorance.
'In a Thousand years from now, or even
sooner, the people who exist then may have
minds that can see and understand easily
phenomena which are now a mystery to us.
We may be looked upon as an ignorant race
and what we have done considered nothing.
believe in the higher development of the
human intellect, and it will only require
time for minds to become almost infinite.
We now look upon the achievements we have
accomplished in science as something be-
yond the comprehension of people who
lived several centuries ago. We may oc-
cupy q relatively like position to those who
come after US centuries hence"
"Are you trying to discover anything be-
sides the problem you have mentioned?
DISCOVERY VERSUS INVENTION.
81 never try to discover anything-be-
cause | am an inventor. There is big diff
ference between a discovery and an inven-
tion. Discovery is an accident and an in
veution is a creation. Mr.. Bell discovered
the telephone; he did not invent it in
vented the talking part"
did YOU not discover how to send du-
plex messages?'
mo, L did not simply invented or
studied out the system of sending duplex
messages. Invention requires work-yes,
months and often years OF hard application.
Probably the inventor makes a discovery
that will enable him to complete his inven-
tion. After long work perhaps some little
thing is discovered that gives the case prin-
ciple the inventor Is seeking. But never
think OF making a discovery A great
many people enormously suppose that Sir
Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravi-
tation. He never discovered, but he in
vented the law of gravitation. All that
romance about his sitting under the apple
tree and making the discovery by seeing an
apple fall reads beautifully, but it is not in
consonance with the facts. He invented the
law of grsvitation to explain certain phe-
nomena of nature. Even after he invented |
the law Of graYitation he was doubtful |
about it, because some calculations he had |
made in regard to the moon he believed to |
be inaccurate. Some years afterward q
q great mathematician worked out the propo-
Eition correctly, and SO proved Sir Isaac
Newton's law of gravItation. Discoveries
as rule, are made by inventors, men who
spend their time trying to study out prob
lens"
NOT A SCIENTIFIC MAN.
'Often an inventor is coniounded with
scientists l am not a scientific man, and
make no pretense in that direction. What
ever 1 attempt to invent, L have a specific
end In vlew-viz., to apply 1t to commercial
uses. am not a wizard, pouring over
books and weighing nice words of logic to
prove theories"
"Do you believe in scientific men?"
'Yes, in some of them, when it comes to
certain practical questions. But suppose,
for instance, that committee of 25 great
savans should be appointed to investigate
and tell the hidden power OF water and its
application. Well, these learned gentle
men might write for half century and pile
MP volumes and yet we would not be able to
do any more with water than we do now.
No more would We know about it..
''It was reported once that you had in
vented a process to convert dirt into food?"
THAT was an April fool joke. But great
strides are being made in that direction. In
Germany recently a scientific association
met and reported upon an invention that
will, at least, enable the world to produce
more edible stuff. These chemists, headed
by Victor Meyer, who is now one of the
greatest living chemists and an American
boy, have discovered that food can be made
from wood. The ceIlulose in wood has the
same formula as sugar and starch and can
be converted into various edibles. And
these edlbles, of course, will not be at all
unpalatable or unwholesome. People have
wrong ideas about many of the edibles
made artihcially. Many are just as healthy
as the natural product. You perhaps have
heard that butter is often made out of mud
from the bottom Of the Thames river 1t is
not actually from the mud, but from the
grease from sewers that gathers in the mud.
Why, oleomargarine is good, if not better,
and, to my ideas, decidedly more whole
some and purer than butter, if made in an
honest way. 1t is often made by dishonest
people and therefore is impure. No doubt
some manufacturers make it better and
purer than others, but when bad people, In
order to get bigger profits, manufacture
cheap oleomargarine it forces others to
adopt the same dishonest method"
DANGER FROM ELECTRICITY.
"As the use of electricity becomes more
universal will not the death rate from scci-
dents be accordingly increased?"
mo, but the death rate Will be reduced
to a minimum, or rather there will be none
at all. There is no reason why death should
occur from coming in contact with electric
wires. Dishonesty, greed and recklessness
are really the causes for all the deaths that
occur from electric wires, and there is a
remedy. An electric company will deliber-
ately use small, cheap copper wires that
carry strong, deadly current, when for a
larger outlay OF money large conner wires