Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-09
No Limit to Electrical Progress.

From the Electrical Review.
As We sweep, in the swiftly flying car OF
industrial progress, past so many marvellous
achievements in the field of electricity, and
realize how prolific has been its contributions
to the comfort of society, We are forced 70 ask
the question: HAS not the ground in this art
been fully worked and its fertility been taxed 10
its utmost limit But If we examine carefully
the passing scene We need not ponder long 70
feel convinced that the end is not vet The
great null where genius carries Its grist 70 be
stir ed and ground-the Patent Ofice-lsvs
Its books open TO the public once a week; new
customers are constantly arriving and the old
ones appear regularly on its pages Occasional
discoveries of latent principles never dreamed
of by Old philosophers, show that even in the
scientific aspect this art is in its infancy and
every find OF this kind opens up a new realm
Of exploration by being harnessed 20 bits OF
metal and made TO pertem useful work. 10
requires no prophet to foresee that ''still
there's more TO follow" Electricity is a splen-
did vineyard to labor in and offers up plenty
OF room for thinking workmen. The strong
tendency of the human mind to follow a beaten
path has brought about high degree of per-
lection in methods OF application already
mapped out. The dynamo. the motor.
the telegraph aud other generically
old forms of apparatus have been improved TO
high degree of refinement, but there are
many chances for an investigator in by-paths
and malgned primary battery may some day bob
up serenely with lambert smile that will put
TO shame the proud pretenslons of storage
cells. An efficient gas battery would have a
wide range of commercial application with
nothing TO be consumed but gases "a material
light IN weight and capable of compact storage
The problem of rapid transit might be neatly
solved, and 1t Is quite possible that the DYNAMO
electric machine will fluid competitor for
local uses. In the laboratory OF ma
4rnra a.
generation Of atmospheric electricity
and cloud charging, but no man has yet learned
the secret so as TO copy the action. May II not
be possible that the physical disntegration OF
water into vapor creates an intermOlecuiar dis
turDance which rouSes the mysterious agenR
1t would seem if the twin sisters heat and
electricity do not yoke well together. One
always sneaks out of the back door when the
other enters the front One makes the place
too warm TO hold the other. In the action OF
thermal batteries electricity is put 90 rout bv
the entering heat. and even in primary bat
teries the same little personal idlosyUcrasy is
dominant. for heat is developed by com
bustion OF the active electrode; on the
other hand, when sportiye current OF
electricity glides like a ieet-footed Mer-
curry into a conductor. heat immediately va
Gates the premises. These phenomena
sign boards on a promising by-path. and one,
as yet, very slightly explored; thermal bat
teries are full of promise. The day Is not far
distant when the glory of the telephone will
be eelipsed by visual telegraphy. few foot
prints have already been made in this path.
The end Is not inaccessible. and when II shall
have been reached many OF will be sur
prised that We did not see IL ourselves. Freight
Transmission is another path full of promise.
Perhaps by the time Of the worlds fair Chi
cago can ask New York for a loan of V and
be accommodated the same afternoon With a
straight overhead raIl and enough current
200 miles an hour is within the range Of possi-
bIlity.
The scope of electrical accomplishment
widens every day. What seems like the
present horizon only an apparent limit;
we move on the margin will keep continually
shifting like the junction of earth and SKY,
and both in science and industrial art the COM
ing generation will find the vista of the future
as bright with promise as that of the past u
rich in gifts.